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SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE; 


OR 


CONTRIBUTIONS 


MPROVEMENT  OF  SCHOOL-HOUSES 


THE    UNITED    STATES. 


BY  HENRY  BARNARD, 

COMMISSIONER    OF   PUBLIC    SCHOOLS   IN    RHODE    ISLAND. 


FOURTH    EDITION. 

NEW  YORK: . 
PUBLISHED   BY  A.  S.  BARNES  &  CO. 
CINCINNATI :— H.  W.  DERBY  &  CO. 
1850. 


L3  aAof 


PREFACE. 


The  following  contribution  to  the  improvement  of  school-houses,  was 
originally  prepared  by  the  author  in  1838,  as  one  of  a  series  of  addresses 
designed  for  popular  and  miscellaneous  audiences,  and  as  such,  was 
delivered  in  various  towns  in  Connecticut  during  the  four  years  he  acted 
as  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Commissioners  of  Common  Schools  for  that 
State.  It  was  printed  for  the  first  time  in  the  Connecticut  Common 
School  Journal  in  the  winter  of  1S41;  and  again,  in  1842,  as  one  of  the 
documents  appended  to  his  Annual  Report  to  the  Board  for  that  year. 
Since  that  date  it  has  been  repeatedly  published,  each  time  with  addi- 
tional plans  ana  descriptions  of  new  and  convenient  school-houses,  until 
upwards  of  twenty  thousand  copies  have  been  gratuitously  circulated  in 
the  States  where  the  author  has  been  called  upon  to  labor  in  the  cause 
of  common-school  improvement,  or  among  the  friends  of  popular  educa- 
tion in  other  parts  of  the  country.  At  the  suggestion  of  many  of  these 
friends,  the  work  has  been  put  into  the  hands  of  a  publishing  house,  to 
be  brought  before  the  public,  in  the  hope  that  it  may  still  continue  to 
help  those  who  are  looking  round  for  approved  plans  of  school-houses,  by 
introducing  them  to  the  results  of  much  study,  observation  and  experi- 
ence on  the  part  of  many  laborers  in  this  department  of  public  education. 
It  was  the  wish  of  the  author  to  revise  that  portion  of  the  work  in  which 
the  general  principles  of  school  architecture  are  discussed,  and  to  arrange 
the  various  plans  and  descriptions  of  improvements  in  the  construction, 
internal  arrangement,  and  furniture  of  school-houses,  which  have  been 
added  to  each  successive  edition  in  the  order  of  time  in  which  they  have 
been  brought  to  his  notice,  under  appropriate  heads.  But  his  time  is  too 
much  absorbed  in  the  immediate  and  pressing  duties  of  his  office,  to  admit 
of  his  doing  any  thing  beyond  a  general  superintendence  of  the  publica- 
tion, and  the  preparation  of  a  few  additional  plans,  for  this  edition. 

With  such  views,  therefore,  as  the  essay  originally  presented,  and 
with  such  modifications  and  additions  as  he  has  been  able  to  embody  in 
each  successive  edition,  it  is  now  committed  to  the  hands  of  the  pub- 
Ushers.     These  views  were  formed  after  a  careful  consideration  of  the 


Q  PREFACE. 

subject  in  its  various  relations,  direct  and  indirect,  to  the  health,  manners, 
morals,  and  intellectual  progress  of  children,  and  the  health  and  success 
of  the  teacher,  both  in  government  and  instruction.  The  subject  was 
forced  on  the  attention  of  the  author  in  the  very  outset  of  his  labors  in 
the  field  of  public  education.  U*o  where  he  would,  in  city  or  country,  he 
encountered  the  district  school-house,  standing  in  disgraceful  contrast 
with  every  other  structure  designed  for  public  or  domestic  use.  Its  loca- 
tion, construction,  furniture  and  arrangements,  seemed  intended  to  hinder, 
and  not  promote,  to  defeat  and  not  perfect,  the  workiwhich  was  to  be 
carried  on  ivithin  and  without  its  walls.  (-The  attention  of  parents  and 
school  officers  was  early  and  earnestly  called  to  the  close  connection 
between  a  good  school-house  and  a  good  school,  and  to  the  great  prin- 
ciple that  to  make  an  edifice  good  for  school  purposes,  it  should  be  budt 
for  children  at  school,  and  their  teachers;  for  children  differing  in 
age,  sex,  size,  and  studies,  and  therefore  requiring  different  accommoda- 
tions ;  for  children  engaged  sometimes  in  study  and  sometimes  in  recita- 
tion ;  for  children  whose  health  and  success  in  study  require  that  they 
shall  be  frequently,  and  every  day,  in  the  open  air,  for  exercise  and  recre- 
ation, and  at  all  times  supplied  with  pure  air  to  breathe ;  for  children  who 
are  to  occupy  it  in  the  hot  days  of  summer,  and  the  cold  days  of  winter, 
and  to  occupy  it  for  periods  of  time  in  different  parts  of  the  day,  in  posi- 
tions which  become  wearisome,  if  the  seats  are  not  in  all  respects  com- 
fortableWd  which  may  affect  symmetry  of  form  and  length  of  life,  if  the 
construction  and  relative  heights  of  the  seats  and  desks  which  they  occupy 
are  not  properly  attended  to ;  for  children  whose  manners  and  morals, — 
whose  habits  of  order,  cleanliness  and  punctuality, — whose  temper,  love  of 
study,  and  of  the  school,  are  in  no  inconsiderable  degree  affected  by  the 
attractive  or  repulsive  location  and  appearance,  the  inexpensive  out-door 
arrangements,  and  the  internal  construction  of  the  place  where  they 
spend  or  should  spend  a  large  part  of  the  most  impressible  period  of  their 
lives.  This  place,  too,  it  should  be  borne  in  mind,  is  to  be  occupied  by  a 
teacher  whose  own  health  and  daily  happiness areaffected  by  most  of  the 
various  circumstances  above  alluded  to.  and  whose  best  plans  of  order, 
classification,  discipline  and  recitation,  may  be  utterly  baffled,  or  greatly 
promoted,  by  the  manner  in  which  the  school-house  may  be  located, 
lighted,  warmed,  ventilated  and  seated. 

.  With  these  general  views  of  school  architecture,  this  essay  was 
originally  Avritten.  The  author  will  be  happy  to  receive  from  any 
quarter,  plans  and  descriptions  of  new  school-houses,  and  to  insert  them 
in  subsequent  editions  of  this  work,  with  proper  acknowledgment  for  the 
same. 

H.  BARNARD. 

Office  of  Commissioner  of  Public  Schools, 
Providence,  R.  I.,  January  1,  1848. 


CONTENTS, 


PREFACE  

*     •     •     o       5 

INTRODUCTION   ... 

•     •     •  .15 

Condition  of  School-houses  in  Massachusetts  .  i  * 

"  "  New  York      .       '  .     .'.'.'.'  .'  {? 

Vermont 22 

«  New  Hampshire     .     .     .",.*."  24 

4S  Connecticut       ..*......  25 

,,  '  Maine    .     . '  .  '  . '  20 

c«  Rhode  Island    .     .     .     .     .     ."."..  30 

Michigan     .     .     .     .     .     .'.'.'.'  31 

SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE 39 

I.  Common  Errors  to  be  avoided      .....  oq 

II.  General  Principles  to  be  observed      .  .  4n 

1.  Location— Style— Construction    .     .     .  '     '     In 

2.  Size '■"*■•:•       *V 

3-  Light '.'.'.'. 1 

4.  Ventilation *  ** 

5.  Temperature '  rn 

6.  Seats  and  and  Desks  for  Scholar's    ' .   '     '  '     '     '  « 

7.  Arrangements  for  Teacher  ....  J, 

8.  Apparatus   ....  ?' 

9.  Library *  .     .'.'.'.'.*. *j° 

10.  Yard  and  Internal  Arrangements  .   '.    '.   '.   '.    ".    '.   \   '  §\ 

HI.  Plans  oe  School-houses  .    .  nn 

63 

1.  Plans  recommended  by  practical  teachers  and  educators  ...     64 

2.  Plan  recommended  by  Mr.  Mann,  1838  .      '     '     '     '     '     '  A 
Elustration.-Fhn  for  School-room  for  fifty-six  seais  and' desks  05 

«    pi  ™n  for  union  district  school-houses    ....     65 

3.  Plans  recommended  by  Mr.  G.  B.  Emerson    .     .     .  '  .  ra 

mustratum.-Veravective  of  School-house,  outbuildings    .'.67 

;/0ntL,    ^?ctlon'  Fences,  Trees,  &c.     ...  68 

Movable  Blackboard      .  Sn 

*            Double  Fireplace     .     .     .     .'.'.'.'.'.'     '  79 

"            Ventilating  Apparatus .     .  71 

«            School-room  for  one  hundred  and  twenty  pupils  72 

a    Plo      k     »/r     School-room  ^r  forty-eight  pupils     ...  72 

4.  Plans  by  Messrs.  Town  and  Davis  73 


g  CONTENTS. 

Plans  of  School-houses. 

Illustration. — Perspective  of  Octagonal  School-house   ...  73 

"            Ground  plan  of         do.                do.          ...  74 

"            Plan  of  Ventilation       .     . 75 

"            Perspective  of  School-house  in  pointed  style  .  76 
"            Front  elevation  of  a  two  story  building,  by  H. 

Austin 76 

5.  Plan  by  Rev.  Thomas  Dick,  D.  D 77 

Illustration — Plan  of  Grounds  and  School-room      ....  77 

6.  Plan  by  A.  D.  Lord,  M.  D 78 

Illustration. — Plan  of  School-room  for  forty-eight  pupils       .  78 

7.  Plan  by  Ira  Mayhew 294 

Illustration. — Plan  of  School-room  for  seventy-six  pupils     .  294 

8.  Plans  for  schools  of  different  grades  and  systems  of  instruction   79 

9.  Plan  for  Schools  on  the  Monitorial  system,  recommended  by 

the  British  and  Foreign  School  Society 81 

Illustration- — Plan  of  School-room 82 

10.  Plans  for  Schools  on  the  Bell  or  Madras  system,  recommend- 

ed by  the  National  Society 82 

Illustration- — Plan  of  School-room 82 

11.  Plans  for  Schools  on  the  Mixed  System,  recommended  by 

the  Committee  of  Council  on  Education 83 

Illustration. — Plan  of  School-room  for  fifty-six  pupils  divided 

by  a  screen 83 

"            Plan  of  School-room  for  three  hundred  pupils  .  84 

"            Plan  of  Desks 84 

12.  Plans  for  School-room  and  Grounds   for  Infant  and  Primary 

Schools 85 

Illustration. — Plan  of  School-room  and  grounds,  by  Chambers  85 

"            Rotary  Swing, 86 

"            Plan  of  School-room  by  Wilderspin     ....  87 

"            Play-ground 283 

2.  Plans  and  Description  of  School-houses  recently  erected.    .     .  90 

1.  District  School-house  in  Windsor,  Conn 90 

Illustration. — Perspective  of  House  and  Grounds      ....  90 

"            School-room  with  single  Seats  and  Desks  .     .  91 

"            Range  of  Seats  and  Desks 91 

"            Top  of  a  desk 91 

"            Section  of  seat  and  desk 91 

Side  elevation  of  the   above  plan  modified  in  a 

Primary  School-house  in  Hartford    ...  92 

Ground  plan  of  do ....  92 

2.  District  School-house  in  Hartford,  Conn 93 

Illustration. — Front  Elevation 93 

"            Section  of  Desk  and  Chair 94 

"           Range  of  Desks  and  Chairs 94 

Section  of  Seat  and  Desk  for  young  pupils      .  94 

Leaf-desk  and  Chair 94 

Ground  plan  with  seats  for  fifty  pupils  ...  95 

"            Movable  Stand,  or  Easel  for  Blackboard     .     .  95 

Section  of  Gallery  for  Primary  Department    .  95 

"  Movable  Blackboard .96 

"            Bench  for  little  children 96 

"  View  of  Whiting  street  Primary  School-house 

in  New  Haven,  in  the  same  style  ....  97 

3.  High  School-house  in  Middletown 98 

Illustration. — Front  and  Side  Elevation 98 

"            Transverse  Section 98 

"            Plan  of  School-room  on  first  floor 99 


CONTENTS. 


Plans  of  School-houses. 


4.  School-house  of  Public  School  Society  in  New  York  City    .     100 

Illustration. — Public  School-house,  No.  17 .  101 

"  Ground  plan   of  School-room   on  first  floor  for 

Primary  Department 101 

"  Ground  plan  of  School-room  on  second  floor  for 

Boys'  Department 102 

"  Plan  of  Primary  School-house — Play-ground..     103 

"  "  "  "  Second  floor     .  103 

"  "  "  "  Third  floor      .     103 

"  Section  of  Gallery  for  young  children     .     .     .104 

"  Sand  Desk     . 104 

"  Desk,  and  Revolving  cast-iron  Chair  ....   104 

"  Monitor's  Desks 104 

"  Mott's  Revolving  cast-iron  Chair 105 

"  Mott's  cast-iron  Scroll  Stanchions  for  desks  .     105 

"  Perspective  of  Public  School-House,  No.  17    .115 

"  Front  Elevation  of  Primary  School-house      .     Ill 

Report  of  Committee  on  Seats  without  backs 106 

Extracts  from  Mott's  Circular  respecting  Chair  and  Desk     .     107 
History  of  the  Public  School  Society  of  New  York   ....  109 

5.  High  School-house  in  Lowell 112 

Illustration. — Front  Elevation 112 

"  School-room  on  first  floor 113 

6.  East  Grammar  School-house,  Salem 114 

Illustration. — Plan  of  first  floor — Primary  School   ....     116 

"  Plan  of  second  floor 117 

7-  Description  of  Latin  and  English  High  School-house  in  Salem  118 

Illustration- — Kimball's  Chair  and  Desk 120 

"  Desk  and  Seat  in  Newburyport  High  School 

for  Girls 120 

8.  Normal  School-houses 121 

History  of  Normal  Schools 121 

State  Normal  School  in  New  York 123 

State  Normal  Schools  in  Massachusetts 132 

State  Normal  School-house  in  Massachusetts       .....     136 
Illustrations. — Bridgewater  State  Normal  School-house     .     .  136 
"  "  "  "  "  Front  elevation  136 

"  "  "  "  "  Lower  story       137 

"  "  "  "  "  Upper  story  .     138 

"  Westfield  State  Normal  School-house  ....  139 

"  "  "  "  "  Front  elevation  139 

"  "  "  "  "  Lower  story     .  141 

"  "     _       "  "  "  Upper  story   .     141 

9. -Public  School-houses  in  Boston 166 

Organization  of  the  Public  Schools  of  Boston 166~ 

Expenditures  for  School-houses  and  other  school  purposes  .     171 

Expenditures  for  the  same  object  in  the  State, 172 

Primary  School-house  in  Sheaf  street 176 

Illustration. — First  floor  and  play-ground 177 

"  Second  floor 179 

"  Third  floor 180 

"  School  Chair 181 

"  Section  of  second  story     ........   181 

"  Section  of  cold-air  and  smoke  flues   ....     182 

"  Section  of  ventilating  flues     ...'...  183 

"  Section  exhibiting  the  heating  and  ventilating 

apparatus 184 

Ventilation  of  privies 186 

Modifications  of  the   Sheaf  street  plan 188 

Tllusti  ation- — First  story        ...... 188 


10 

Plans  of  School-houses- 


CONTENTS. 


Illustration. — Second  story "...     188 

"  Third  story 189 

Brimmer  Grammar  School-house 198 

Illustration. — First  floor 198 

"  Second  and  Third  floors 199 

"  Chair  and  Desk 200 

"  Chair  and  Desk  in  Eliot  School 200 

"  Primary  School  Bench 200 

"  Improved  School  Furniture 201 

"  Section  of  Chair  and  Desk  in  Latin  High  School  201 

"  Ingraham's  Primary  School  Chair 201 

"  Wales'  American  School  Chair  and  Desk    .    .     202 

"  Wales'  Bowdoin  School  Chair 203 

"  Wales'  Hancock  School  Chair 204 

"  Ross'  Improved  School  Chair  and  Desk  .     .     .  205 

"  Rhode  Island  School  Desk  and  Seat  ....     205 

Bowdoin  Grammar  School-house 206 

Illustration- — First  and  second  story 207 

"  Third  story 207 

Quincy  Grammar  School-house 208 

Illustration. — First  floor  . 209 

10-  Putnam  Free  School-house,  Newburyport,  Mass.      .     .     .    P'O 

Illustration- — Perspective •  i  0 

"  First  floor ^2 

"  Second  floor 213 

11.  High  School-house  in  Hartford,  Conn 214 

Illustration- — Perspective 218 

"  Ground  plan  of  yard,  basement,  &c 219 

"  First  floor 220 

"  Second  floor 220 

"  Transverse  section 221 

"  Section  of  ventilating  flues   .......     221 

"  Hanks'  Furnace 222 

"  Desk  and  Chair .     223 

12.  Free  Academy  in  the  City  of  New  York 223 

Illustration- — Perspective 225 

Considerations  and  facts  relating  to  Public  High  Schools     .     .  225 

14.  Public  School-houses  in  Providence,  R.  1 233 

Primary  School-house 234 

Illustration. — Perspective 234 

"  Ground  plan 235 

Top  of  Desk 236 

"  Section  of  Seat  and  Bench    <•'.'.....  236 

intermediate  School-house ■ 236 

Illustration. — Perspective       237 

"  Section  of  ventilation 236 

"  Plan  of  School-room 239 

"  Section  of  Writing  Desk  and  Chair  ....     239 

Grammar  School-house 240 

Illustration. — Perspective 241 

Plan  of  yard,  basement,  &c 242 

"  Plan  of  first  floor 243 

"  Plan  of  second  floor 244 

"  Transverse  section  .    • .     245 

High  School-house 246 

Illustration. — Perspective 247 

"  Basement  story 248 

'"  First  story 249 

"  Second  story 250 

45  Movable  Desk  and  Chair 251 


contents  1 1 

Plans  of  School  Houses. 

14.  Public  School-houses  in  Providence,  continued  . .     .     .     .    250 
Illustration. — Vertical  section  of  Furnace 250 

Modification  of  Plans  of  Grammar  and  Primary  School-houses  .     252 
Illustration. — Elevation  of  new  Intermediate  School-house  .  252 

15.  Plans  of  School-houses  recently  erected  in  Rhode  Island    .     273 

General  principles  observed  in 274 

Plans  of  School-houses  with  one  School-room,  with  illustra- 
tions    280 

Primary  School-house  in  Westerly 284 

"  "  Allendale 285 

"  "  Glocester 286 

"  "  Barrington 288 

"  "  Cranston 292 

"  "  Clayville     „ 292 

"  "  Centreville 294 

Plan  of  School-houses  with  two  or  more  School  rooms      .     .  295 

Public  High  School  in  Warren,  two  rooms 305 

Union  School-house  in  Chepachet,  three  rooms    ....  309 

"  "  Pawtucket,  four  rooms     ....  310 

Village  School-house  in  Centredale,  two  rooms    ....  313 

"  "  Washington  Village,  two  rooms  .  314 

i.  Plans  for  School-houses,  containing  Apartments  for  the  Teacher. 

1.  Plan  for  School  of  thirty  pupils,  and  teachers' apartments     .     260 
Illustration- — Front  Elevation 262 

Side  Elevation 262 

2-  Plan  for  school-room  for  fifty-six  pupils 260 

,    Illustration. — Front  Elevation 262 

"  Side  Elevation 262 

3.  Plan  for  school  of  eighty  pupils 260 

Illustration. — Front  Elevation 263 

"  Side  Elevation 263 

4.  Plan  for  school  of  one  hundred  and  ten  pupils 260 

Illustration. — Front  Elevation 263 

"  Side  Elevation 264 

5.  Plan  for  school  of  one  hundred  and  twelve  pupils    ....     260 
Illustration. — Side  Elevation 264 

6.  Plan  for  school  of  three  hundred  pupils 260 

Illustration. — Front  Elevation 265 

7.  Plan  of  school  for  three  hundred  and  twenty-six  pupils    .     .    261 
Illustration. — Front  Elevation 266 

8.  Plan  for  Infant  or  Primary  School,  of  223  pupils       ....  260 
Illustration- — Front  Elevation      . ' 267 

9.  Plan  for  two  Schools,  each  with  150  pupils 262 

Illustration- — Front  Elevation 267 

10.  Plan  for  two  Schools,  each  with  200  pupils 261 

Illustration- — Front  Elevation .     267 

11.  Plan  for  three  Schools,  of  436  pupils 261 

Illustration. — Front  Elevation 269 

12.  Plan  for  School-house  of  two  stories,  for  two  schools     .    .     .261 
Illustration. — Front  Elevation 269 

13.  Plan  for  School-house  of  two  stories,  by  George  Godwin   .     .  261 
Illustration. — Front  Elevation 270' 

14.  Plan  of  Willesdon  School,  H.  E.  Kendall,  Jr 261 

Illustration. — Front  Elevation 271 

IV.  Apparatus 321 

.1.  List  of  Apparatus  for  Primary  and  District  Schools  .     .     .    .322 

2.  "  "  Grammar  Schools 323 

3.  "  "  High  Schools    .     .     . 324 


J2  CONTENTS. 

Miscellaneous  Suggestions. 

V.  Library 379 

1.  Catalogue  of  Books  on  Education 379 

2.  "  "       of  Reference  in  the  School-room    .     . 

3.  "  "       for  juvenile  and  adult  reading     .... 

VI.  Miscellaneous  Suggestions. 

1.  Plans  of  Ventilation  and  Warming. 

Plan  recommended  by  George  B.  Emerson 70 

Illustration. — Double  Fireplace 70 

"  Ventilating  Apparatus 71 

Plan  recommended  by  Town  and  Davis 75 

Illustration. — Aperture  and  cap  for  ventilation 75 

Plan  adopted  in  Washington  District  School-house     ....        93 
Plan  recommended  in  Minutes  of  Council  on  Education      .    .    .  142 
Illustration. — Section  of  building  showing  openings  for  fresh 

air,  flues  for  foul  air,  &c 142 

Mott's  Receiving  and  Exhausting  Cowl,  for  ventilation    .     .     .     142 

Illustration. — Receiving  Cowl 142 

"  Exhausting  Cowl 142 

Plan  adopted  in  Primary  School-house  in  New  York     ....  143 

Illustration. — Section,  &c 143 

Plan  of  ventilation  by  Frederick  Emerson 144 

Illustration. — Ejector 144 

"  Injector 144 

Plans  adopted  in  the  Public  School-houses  of  Boston  in  1847    .     145 
Illustration- — Diagram,  exhibiting  the  state  of  ventilation,  be- 
fore the  new  plan  was  adopted       .     ...   148 
"  Plan  of  ventilation   introduced  into  the  Eliot 

School-house 150 

Plan  of  ventilation  in  the  Endicott  School-house  151 
General  plan  of  warming  and  ventilation  re- 
commended       152 

Section  of  Chilson's  Furnace 155 

"  Elevation  of  Boston  ventilating  Stove    .     .     .     155 

Section  of         "  "  '*....   155 

Emerson's  Ejecting  Ventilator       156 

Injecting  Ventilator 157 

"  Elevation  of  Ventiducts 158 

Cold  air  ducts  and  smoke-flues 159 

Section  of  building  of  two  stories,  showing  situ- 
ation of  furnace,  stove,  air  ducts,  &c   .     .     159 

"  First  floor  of  do 160 

"  Second  floor  do 160 

Rules  of  the  School  Committee  relative  to  the  use  of  stoves, 

.  furnaces,  and  ventilators 161 

Hosking  on  the  ventilation  of  buildings 162 

Plan  adopted  in  a  Primary  School-house  in  Boston 182 

Illustration. — Section  of  cold  air  and  smoke  flues    ....     182 

Section  of  ventilating  flues 183 

Plan  of  arranging  heating  apparatus    ....     185 

"  Ventilation  of  privies 186 

Plan  adopted  in  the  High  School-house  in  Hartford      ....     216 
Illustration. — Plan  showing  situation  of  Furnaces,  ventilating 

flues 219 

Section  showing  ventilating  flues,  &c.       .     .     .  218 

"      _     Hanks'  Furnace     . 220 

Plan  adopted  in  the  Providence  Grammar  Schools       ....     236 
Illustration- — Section  of  ventilators    .........  236 


CONTENTS. 


13 


Miscellaneous  Suggestions. 


Illustration- — Section  of  furnace 250 

Plan  adopted  in  District  School-house  in  Centermill      ....  313 
Illustration. — Ground  plan,  showing  smoke  and  ventilation  flues  313 

Millar's  Ventilating  School  Stove 

Mott's  "  "  "  .     .    .    . 290 

Regulations  respecting  ventilation,  fires,  &c,  in  Manual  of  Pub- 
lic School  Society 392 

.  School  Furniture,  Fixtures,  <5fc. 

Hints  respecting  Blackboards 375 

Illustration. — Movable  Blackboard       >  375 

"  Movable  Stand  or  Easel 375 

"  Table  convertible  into  Blackboard   ....     374 

Directions  for  making  black  plaster 376 

Ingraham's  Composition  for  black  surface 375 

Slate  Blackboard 376 

Canvas  Blackboard 376 

Directions  for  making  Crayons 376 

Desks,  Seats,  and  Chairs  for  Scholars 

Illustration- — Plan  of  Desk,  with  seat  attached,  for  one  or  two 

scholars,  made  of  wood 91,236 

Plan  of  Desk  with  seat  attached,  with  iron  ends 

or  support 120,205 

Plan  of  Desk,  with  wood  ends  or  support        .     .     91 

"  "    used  in  Providence      236 

"  "     Eliot's  School,  Boston  200 

"  cast  iron  ends — Kimball       .      120 

"  "    Boston  Latin  School  201 

"  "  Wales'    .     .     202 

"  "  Ross'    .     .     .205 

"  "  Mott's     .     .     105 

Plan  of  a  Chair  with  cast  iron  support — Mott's    105 

"  "  Providence    .  239 

*  "  Wales'    .     .     202 

"  "  Kimballs'      .  115 

"  "  Ross'        .  .    205 

Movable  Desk  and  Seat  used  in  Providence       .  250 

Primary  School  Bench  used  in  Boston       .     .    201 

Primary  School  or  Sand  Desk  used  in  New  York  104 

Boston  Primary  School  Chair 201 

Gallery  for  Infant  or  Primary  School.     .       95  104 

Desks,  &c.  for  Teachers 272 

Illustration. — Plans  of  &c 272 

3.  Regulations  for  the  use  and  Preservation  of  School-houses, 

Furniture,  <5fc 391 

Rules  adopted  by  School  Committees  in  Rhode  Island  .     .     .391 
Regulations  in  Manual  of  Public  School  Society  of  N.  York  .     392 

Regulations  in  Chauncy-Hall  School,  Boston 396 

Mr.  Thayer's  Remarks  respecting        398 

4.  Dedicatory  Exercises 402 

School  celebration  in  Salem,  Mass .  402 

Address  by  George  B.  Emerson 402 

"  G.  F.  Thayer 405 

Dedication  at  Pawtucket,  Rhode  Island .  408 

Address  of  President  Wayland 408 

Address  of  Rev.  Mr.  Osgood 414 

Dedication  of  High  School  in  Cambridge,  Mass 417 

Address  of  President  Everett        41ft 

5.  Priced  Catalogue  of  Books  on  Education,  Apparatus,  Maps,  <j-c  324 
Index     


NTRODUCTION, 


Lest  the  author  should  be  thought  to  exaggerate  the  defi 
ciences  of  school-houses  as  they  have  been  heretofore  constructed, 
and  as  they  are  now  almost  universally  found  wherever  public 
attention  has  not  been  earnestly,  perseveringly,  and  judiciously 
called  to  their  improvement,  the  following  extracts  from  recent 
official  school  documents  are  inserted,  respecting  the  condition 
of  school-houses  in  States  where  public  education  has  received 
the  most  attention.  The  facts  herein  stated  show  that,  while 
some  advance  has  been  made  within  a  few  years  past,  both  in 
public  opinion  and  public  action,  still  the  standard  of  actual 
attainment  is  very  low,  and  the  disastrous  consequences  of  neg- 
lect are  not  sufficiently,  or  generally  appreciated. 

MASSACHUSETTS. 
/—i 

Extracts  from  the  '(^Report  of  the  Secretary  (Hon.  Horace  Mann)  of 
the  Board  of  Education  for  1846."~J 

"For  years  the  condition  of  this  class  of  edifices,  throughout  the  State, 
taken  as  a  whole,  had  been  growing  worse  and  worse.  Time  and  decay 
were  always  doing  their  work,  while  only  here  and  there,  with  wide 
spaces  between,  was  any  notice  taken  of  their  silent  ravages ;  and,  in 
still  fewer  instances,  were  these  ravages  repaired.  Hence,  notwith- 
standing the  improved  condition  of  all  other  classes  of  buildings,  general 
dilapidation  was  the  fate  of  these.  Industry  and  the  increasing  pecu- 
niary ability  which  it  creates,  had  given  Lcomfort,  neatness,  and  even 
elegance  to  private  dwellings^  Public  spirit  had  erected  commodious 
and  costly  churches.  Counties,  though  largely  taxed,  had  yet  uncom- 
plainingly paid  for  handsome  and  spacious  court-houses  and  public  offices. 
Humanity  had  been  at  work,  and  had  made  generous  and  noble  provision 
for  the  pauper,  the  blind,  the  deaf  and  dumb,  the  insane.  Even  jails  and 
houses  of  correction,-+the  receptacles  of  felons  and  other  offenders 
against  the  laws  of  God  and  man,  had,  in  many  instances,  been  trans- 
formed, by  the  more  enlightened  spirit  of  the  age,  into  comfortable  and 
healthful  residences.  The  Genius  of  architecture,  as  if  she  had  made 
adequate  provision  for  all  mankind,  extended  her  sheltering  care  over  the 
brute  creation.     Better  stables  were  provided  for  cattle,  better  folds  for 

^heep,  and  even  the  unclean  beasts  felt  the  improving  hand  of  reform. 

(jBut  in  the  mean  time  the  school-houses,  to  which  the  children  should 
have  been  wooed  by  every  attraction,  were  suffered  to  go  where  age  and 
She  elements  would  carry  "them; 


16  INTRODUCTION. 

In  1837,  not  one  third  part  of  the  Public  School-houses  in  Massachu- 
setts would  have  been  considered  tenantable  by  any  decent  family,  ou+ 
of  the  poor-house,  or  in  it.  As  an  incentive  to  neatness  and  decency 
children  were  sent  to  a  house  whose  walls  and  floors  were  indeed  painted, 
but  they  were  painted,  all  too  thickly,  by  smoke  and  filth ;  whose  benches 
and  doors  were  covered  with  carved  work,  but  they  were  the  gross  and 
obscene  carvings  of  impure  hands;  whose  vestibule,  after  the  oriental 
fashion,  was  converted  into  a  veranda,  but  the  metamorphosis  which 
changed  its  architectural  style,  consisted  in  laying  it  bare  of  its  outer 
covering.  The  modesty  and  chastity  of  the  sexes,  at  their  tenderest  age, 
was  to  be  cultivated  and  cherished,  in  places,  which  oftentimes  were  as 
destitute  of  all  suitable  accommodations,  as  a  camp  or  a  caravan.  The 
brain  was  to  be  worked  amid  gases  that  stupefied  it.  The  virtues  of 
generosity  and  forbearance  were  to  be  acquired  where  sharp  discomfort 
and  pain  tempted  each  one  to  seize  more  than  his  own  share  of  relief, 
and  thus  to  strengthen  every  selfish  propensity. 

At  the  time  referred  to,  the  school-houses  in  Massachusetts  were  an 
opprobrium  to  the  State;  and  if  there  be  any  one  who  thinks  this 
expression  too  strong,  he  may  satisfy  himself  of  its  correctness  by 
inspecting  some  of  the  few  specimens  of  them  which  still  remain. 

The  earliest  effort  at  reform  was  directed  towards  this  class  of  build- 
ings. By  presenting  the  idea  of  taxation,  this  measure  encountered  the 
opposition  of  one  of  the  strongest  passions  of  the  age.  Not  only  the 
sordid  and  avaricious,  but  even  those,  whose  virtue  of  frugality,  by  the 
force  of  habit,  had  been  imperceptibly  sliding  into  the  vice  of  parsimony, 
felt  the  alarm.  Men  of  fortune,  without  children,  and  men  who  had 
reared  a  family  of  children,  and  borne  the  expenses  of  their  education, 
fancied  they  saw  something  of  injustice  in  being  called  to  pay  for  the 
education  of  others ;  and  too  often  their  fancies  started  up  into  spectres 
of  all  imaginable  oppression  and  wrong.  The  school  districts  were  the 
scene  where  the  contending  parties  arrayed  themselves  against  each 
other;  the  school-house  itself  their  arena.  From  time  immemorial,  it 
had  been  the  custom  to  hold  school  district  meetings  in  the  school-house. 
Hither,  according  to  ancient  usage,  the  voters  were  summoned  to  come. 
In  this  forum,  the  question  was  to  be  decided,  whether  a  new  edifice 
should  be  erected,  or  Avhether  the  ability  of  the  old  one  to  stand  upon  its 
foundations  for  another  season,  should  be  tried.  Regard  for  the  health, 
the  decent  manners,  the  intellectual  progress  and  the  moral  welfare  of  the 
children,  common  humanity,  policy,  duty,  the  highest  worldly  interests  of 
the  race,  were  marshalled  on  one  side,  demanding  a  change ;  selfishness, 
cupidity,  insensibility  to  the  wants  and  the  welfare  of  others,  and  that 
fallacious  plea,  that  because  the  school-house  had  answered  the  purpose 
so  long,  therefore  it  would  continue  to  answer  it  still  longer, — an  argument 
which  would  make  all  houses,  and  roads,  and  garments,  and  every  thing 
made  by  human  hands,  last  forever, — resisted  the  change.  The  dis 
graceful  contrast  between  the  school-house  and  all  other  edifices,  whether 
public  or  private,  in  its  vicinity ;  the  immense  physical  and  spiritual  sacri- 
fices which  its  condition  inflicted  upon  the  rising  generation,  were  often 
and  unavailingly  urged ;  but  there  was  always  one  argument  which  the 
advocates  for  reform  could  use  with  irresistible  effect, — the  school-house 
itself.  Cold  winds,  whistling  through  crannies  and  chinks  and  broken 
windows,  told  with  merciless  effect  upon  the  opponents.  The  ardor  of 
opposition  was  cooled  by  snow-blasts  rushing  up  through  the  floor.  Pain- 
imparting  seats  made  it  impossible  for  the  objectors  to  listen  patiently 
even  to  arguments  on  their  own  side ;  and  it  was  obvious  that  the  tears 
they  shed  were  less  attributable  to  any  wrongs  which  they  feared,  than 
to  the  volumes  of  smoke  which  belched  out  with  every  gust  of  wind,  from 


SCHOOL  HOUSES  AS  THEY  ARE.  \<J 

broken  funnels  and  chimneys.  Such  was  the  case  in  some  houses.  In 
others,  opposite  evils  prevailed ;  and  the  heat  and  stifling  air  and  nau- 
seating effluvia  were  such  as  a  grown  man  has  hardly  been  compelled  to 
live  in,  since  the  time  of  Jonah. 

Though  insensible  to  arguments  addressed  to  reason  and  conscience, 
yet  the  senses  and  muscles  and  nerves  of  this  class  of  men  were  less 
hardened  than  their  hearts ;  and  the  colds  and  cramps,  the  exhaustion  and 
debility,  which  they  carried  home,  worked  mightily  for  their  conversion  to 
truth.     Under  such  circumstances,  persuasion  became,  compulsory. 

Could  the  leaders  of  the  opposition  have  transferred  /"he  debate  to  some 
commodious  public  hall,  or  to  their  own  spacious  and  elegant  mansions, 
they  might  have  bid  defiance  to  humanity  and  remained  masters  of  the 
field.  But  the  party  of  reform  held  them  relentlessly  to  the  battle-ground ; 
and  there  the  cause  of  progress  triumphed,  on  the  very  spot  where  it  had 
been  so  long  dishonored. 

During  the  five  years  immediately  succeeding  the  report  made  by  the 
Board  of  Education  to  the  Legislature,  on  the  subject  of  school-houses, 
the  sums  expended  for  the  erection  or  repair  of  this  class  of  buildings  fell 
but  little  short  of  seven  hundred  thousand  dollars.  Since  that  time,  from 
the  best  information  obtained,  I  suppose  the  sum  expended  on  this  one 
item  to  be  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  annually. 
Every  year  adds  some  new  improvement  to  the  construction  and  arrange- 
ment of  these  edifices. 

In  regard  to  this  great  change  in  school-houses, — it  would  hardly  be  too 
much  to  call  it  a  revolution, — the  school  committees  have  done  an  excel- 
lent work, — or  rather,  they  have  begun  it ; — it  is  not  yet  done.  Their 
annual  reports,  read  in  open  town  meeting,  or  printed  and  circulated 
among  the  inhabitants,  afterwards  embodied  in  the  Abstracts  and  distri- 
buted to  all  the  members  of  the  government,  to  all  towns  and  school  com- 
mittees have  enlightened  and  convinced  a  State. 


NEW-YORK. 

Extract^oto  the  "  Annual  Report  of  tlie  Superintendent  (Hon.  Samuel 

Young)  of  Common  Schools,  made  to  the  Legislature,  January  13, 

1844." 

"The  whole  number  of  school-houses  visited  and  inspected  by  the 
county  superintendents  during  the  year  was  9,368:  of  which  7,685  were  of 
framed  wood ;  446  of  brick ;  523  of  stone,  and  707  of  logs.  Of  these, 
3,160  were  found  in  good  repair ;  2,870  in  ordinary  and  comfortable  repair, 
and  3,319  in  bad  repair,  or  totally  unfit  for  school  purposes.  The  number 
furnished  with  more  than  one  room  was  544,  leaving  8,795  with  one  room 
only.  The  number  furnished  with  suitable  play-grounds  is  1,541 ;  the 
number  not  so  furnished,  7,313.  The  number  furnished  with  a  single 
privy  is,  1,810 ;  those  with  privies  containing  separate  apartments  for  male 
and  female  pupils,  1,012 ;  while  the  number  of  those  not  furnished  with 
any  privy  whatever,  is  6,423.  The  number  suitably  furnished  with  con- 
venient seats,  desks,  &c,  is  reported  at  3,282,  and  the  number  not  so  fur- 
nished, at  5,972.  The  number  furnished  with  proper  facilities  for  ventila- 
tion is  stated  at  1,518 ;  while  the  number  not  provided  with  these  essen- 
tial requisites  of  health  and  comfort  is  7,889. 

No  subject  connected  with  the  interests  of  elementary  instructioa 
affords  a  source  of  such  mortifying  and  humiliating  reflections  as  that  of 
the  condition  of  a  large  portion  of  the  school-houses,  as  presented  in  the 
above  enumeration.  One-third  only  of  the  whole  number  visited,  were 
found  in  good  repair :  another  third  in  ordinary  and  comfortable  conditioa 

2 


18  INTRODUCTION. 

only  in  this  respect — in  other  words,  barely  sufficient  for  the  convenience 
and  accommodation  of  the  teachers  and  pupils ;  while  the  remainder,  con- 
sisting of  3.319,  were  to  all  intents  and  purposes  unfit  for  the  reception  of 
man  or  beast. 

But  544  out  of  9,368  houses  visited,  contained  more  than  one  room ; 
7,313  were  destitute  of  any  suitable  play-ground;  nearly  six  thousand 
were  unfurnished  with  convenient  seats  and  desks ;  nearly  eight  thousand 
destitute  of  the  proper  facilities  for  ventilation ;  and  upwards  of  six  thou- 
sand without  a  privy  of  any  sort ;  while  of  the  remainder  but  about  one 
thousand  were  pro  Aded  with  privies  containing  different  apartments  for 
male  and  female  pupils !  Andjrt  is  in  these  miserable  abodes  of  accumu- 
lated dirt  and  filth,  deprived  of  wholesome  air,  or  exposed  without  adequate 
protection  to  the  assaults  of  the  elements,  with  no  facilities  for  necessary 
exercise  or  relaxation,  no  convenience  for  prosecuting  their  studies/, 
crowded  together  on  benches  not  admitting  of  a  moment's  rest  in  any 
position,  and  debarred  the  possibility  of  yielding  to  the  ordinary  calls  of 
nature  without  violent  inroads  upon  modesty  and  shame ;  that  upwards 
of  two  hundred  thousand  children,  scattered  over  various  parts  of  the 
State,  are  compelled  to  spend  an  average  period  of  eight  months  during 
each  year  of  their  pupilage !  \Here  the  first  lessons  of  human  life,  the 
incipient  principles  of  morality,  and  ;the  rules  of  social  intercourse  are  to 
be  impressed  upon  the  plastic  mind7\  The  boy  is  here  to  receive  the 
model  of  his  permanent  character,  a*nd  to  imbibe  the  elements  of  his 
future  career;  and  here  the  instinctive  delicacy  of  the  young  female, one 
of  the  characteristic  ornaments  of  the  sex,  is  to  be  expanded  into  matu- 
rity by  precept  and  example !  |Is  it  strange,  under  such  circumstances, 
that  an  early  and  invincible  repugnance  to  the  acquisition  of  knowledge 
is  imbibed  by  the  youthful  mind ;  that  the  school-house  is  regarded  with 
unconcealed  aversion  and  disgust,  and  that  parents  who  have  acy  desire 
to  preserve  the  health  and  the  morals  of  their  children,  exclude J;hem 
from  the  district  school,  and  provide  instruction  for  them  elsewhere?^ 

If  legislation  could  reach  and  remedy  the  evil,  the  law-making  power 
would  be  earnestly  invoked.  But  where  the  ordinary  mandates  of 
humanity,  and  the  laws  of  parental  feeling  written  by  the  finger  of 
heaven  on  the  human  heart,  are  obliterated  or  powerless,  all  statutory 
provisions  would  be  idle  and  vain.  In  some  instances  during  the  past 
year,  comfortable  school-houses  have  been  erected  to  supply  the  place  of 
miserable  and  dilapidated  tenements  which  for  years  had  been  a  disgrace 
to  the  inhabitants.  Perhaps  the  contagion  of  such  worthy  examples  may 
spread ;  and  that  which  seems  to  have  been  beyond  the  influence  of  the 
ordinary  impulses  of  humanity,  may  be  accomplished  by  the  power  of 
example  or  the  dread  of  shame. 

The  expense  of  constructing  and  maintaining  convenient  buildings, 
and  all  other  proper  appliances  for  the  education  of  the  young,  is  a  mere 
trifle  when  contrasted  with  the  beneficial  results  which  inevitably  follow. 

Of  all  the  expenditures  which  are  calculated  to  subserve  the  wants  or 
gratify  the  caprices  of  man,  there  are  none  which  confer  such  important 
and  durable  blessings  as  those  which  are  applied  to  the  cultivation  and 
expansion  of  the  moral  and  intellectual  powers.  It  is  by  such  cultivation 
that  human  happiness  is  graduated,  and  that  from  the  most  debased  of 
the  savage  tribes,  nation  rises  above  nation  in  the  scale  of  prosperity  and 
civilization.  The  penuriousness  which  has  been  manifested  on  this  sub- 
ject, and  the  reckless  profligacy  exhibited  on  others,  is  strongly  charac- 
teristic of  the  past.  In  future  times,  when  the  light  of  science  shall  be 
more  widely  diffused,  and  when  the  education  of  the  young  shall  claim 
and  receive  the  consideration  it  deserves,  a  retrospection  to  the  records  of 
the  past  will  exhibit  preceding  generations  in  no  enviable  point  of  view. 


SCHOOL-HOUSES  AS  THEY  ARE.  JQ 

The  following  remarks  and  extracts  from  the  Reports  of  the  special 
visiters  appointed  by  the  State  Superintendent  (Hon.  John  C.  Spencer) 
in  each  of  the  counties,  for  1840,  and  for  1841,  are  taken  from  Part  I  of 
that  admirable  work,  the  "  School  and  the  Schoolmaster,"  Part  I,  by  Prof. 
(now  Bishop)  Potter,  and  Part  II,  by  George  B.  Emerson,  Esq.,  of 
Boston. 

"  I  ask,  then,  first,  are  our  common  schools  places  of  agreeable  resort, 
calculated  to  promote  health,  and  to  connect  pleasant  associations  with 
study  ? 

Ans.  Say  the  visiters,  in  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  affluent  towns  of 
the  south-eastern  section  of  the  state,  'It  may  be  remarked,  generally 
that  the  school-houses  are  built  in  the  old  style,  are  too  small  to  be  con- 
venient, and,  with  one  exception,  too  near  the  public  roads,  generally 
having  no  other  play-ground.'  Twelve  districts  were  visited  in  this 
town. — See  Report  of  Visiters  (1840),  p.  47. 

Say  the  visiters  of  another  large  and  wealthy  town  in  the  central  part 
of  the  state,  '  Out  of  the  20  schools  they  visited,  10  of  the  school-houses 
were  in  bad  repair,  and  many  of  them  not  worth  repairing.  In  none 
were  any  means  provided  for  the  ventilation  of  the  room.  In  many  of 
the  districts,  the  school-rooms  are  too  small  for  the  number  of  scholars. 
The  location  of  the  school-houses  is  generally  pleasant.  There  are,  how- 
ever, but  few  instances  where  play-grounds  are  attached,  and  their  condi- 
tion as  to  privies  is  very  bad.  The  arrangement  of  seats  and  desks  is 
generally  very  bad,  and  inconvenient  to  both  scholars  and  teachers. 
Most  of  them  are.  without  backs.'— P.  28  (Rep.,  1840.) 

From  another  town  in  the  north-western  part  of  the  state,  containing  a 
large  population,  and  twenty-two  school  districts,  the  visiters  report  of 
district  No.  1,  that  the  school-house  is  large  and  commodious,  but  scan- 
dalously cut  and  marked ;  the  school-room  but  tolerably  clean ;  the  privies 
very  filthy,  and  no  means  of  ventilation  but  by  opening  the  door  or 
raising  the  window.  No.  2  has  an  old  school-house ;  the  room  not  clean; 
seats  and  desks  well  arranged,  but  cut  and  marked ;  no  ventilation ;  the 
children  healthy,  but  not  clean.  No.  3  has  an  old  frame  building,  but 
warm  and  comfortable.  No.  4  has  a  very  poor,  dilapidated  old  frame 
school-house,  though  the  inhabitants  are  generally  wealthy  for  that 
country.  No.  5  has  a  frame  school-house,  old  and  in  bad  condition; 
school-room  not  clean ;  seats  and  desks  not  convenient ;  No.  6  has  a  frame 
school-house,  old  and  in  bad  condition ;  the  school-room  is  not  clean ;  no 
cup  or  pail  for  drinking  water.  No.  7  has  a  log  school-house,  in  a  very 
bad  condition;  desks  and  seats  are  inconvenient.  'Here,  too,'  say  the 
visiters,  '  society  is  good,  and  people  mostly  in  easy  circumstances,  but 
the  school-house  very  unbecoming  such  inhabitants.     It  does  not  com- 

Kare  well  with  their  dwellings.'  No.  8,  say  the  visiters,  is  '  a  hard  case.' 
To.  9  has  a  frame  house  in  good  condition  and  in  a  pleasant  location,  but 
is  '  too  small  for  the  number  of  children.'  No.  10  has  a  log  school-house. 
No.  11  has  a  'log  shanty  for  a  school-house,  not  fit  for  any  school.'  No. 
12  a  log  house.  No.  13  has  a  log  shanty,  in  bad  condition,  not  pleasantly 
located,  school-room  not  clean.  'The  school-house  or  hovel  in  this  dis- 
trict is  so  cold  in  winter,  so  small  and  inconvenient,  that  little  can  be  done 
towards  preserving  order  or  advancing  education  among  so  many  schol- 
ars ;  some  poor  inhabitants  and  some  in  good  circumstances ;  might  have 
a  better  school-house.'  No.  14  has  a  good  frame  house,  in  good  condi- 
tion, pleasant  location,  with  ample  and  beautiful  play-ground ;  school-room 
in  clean  condition.     The  visiters  add,  '  In  this  district  the  inhabitants  are 


20  INTRODUCTION. 

poor,  and  the  scholars  attend  irregularly ;  the  house  was  built  by  one  man 
in  low  circumstances,  who  has  a  large  family  of  boys  to  educate  ;  a  noble 
act.''  No.  15  has  a  frame  house,  in  a  good,  warm,  and  comfortable  con- 
dition, with  a  pleasant  and  retired  location  and  a  play-ground.  No.  16  has 
a  log  shanty  for  a  school-house.  No.  17,  '•  no  regular  school-house  other 
than  some  old  log  house.'  No.  18,  no  school-house.  No.  19,  a  log  shanty. 
No.  20  and  21  are  new  districts.  No.  22  has  a  frame  school-house,  in 
good  repair  and  pleasantly  situated.  Thus,  out  of  twenty-two  school- 
houses,  not  more  than  five  are  reported  as  respectable  or  comfortable ; 
none  have  any  proper  means  of  ventilation ;  eight,  are  built  of  logs ;  and 
but  one  of  them,  according  to  the  visiters,  has  a  privy. — Report  (1840), 
p.  142. 

It  is  also  a  subject  of  frequent  complaint  in  these  reports,  that  the  seats 
are  too  high  (too  high,  say  the  visiters  in  one  case,  for  a  man  of  six  feet, 
and  all  alike),  and  are,  therefore,  uncomfortable  for  the  children,  as  well 
as  productive  of  much  disorder.  '  We  have  found,'  says  the  report  from 
one  town,  '  except  in  one  school,  all  the  seats  and  desks  much  too  high, 
and  in  that  one  they  were  recently  cut  down  at  our  recommendation.  In 
many  of  our  schools,  a  considerable  number  of  children  are  crowded  into 
the  same  seat,  and  commonly  those  seated  beyond  the  entering  place 
have  no  means  of  getting  at  their  seats  but  by  climbing  over  those 
already  seated,  and  to  the  ruin  of  all  regard  to  cleanliness.' 

'  We  have  witnessed  much  uneasiness,  if  not  suffering,  among  the 
children,  from  the  dangling  of  their  legs  from  a  high  seat,  and,  with  the 
one  exception,  have  seen  them  attempting  to  write  on  desks  so  high  that, 
instead  of  the  elbow  resting  to  assist  the  hand  in  guiding  the  pen,  the 
whole  arm  has,  of  necessity,  been  stretched  out ;  for,  if  they  did  not  this, 
they  must  write  rather  by  guess  than  sight,  unless  some  one  may  have 
the  fortune  to  be  near-sighted,  and,  from  this  defect,  succeed  in  seeing  his 
work.  This  is  a  great  evil,  and  ought  to  be  remedied  before  we  complain 
of  the  incompetency  of  teachers.' — Report  (1S41),  p.  38. 

These  specimens  will  serve  to  show  how  far  many  of  the  school- 
houses,  in  this  state,  are  pleasant  places  of  resort,  or  study,  and  in  what 
degree  they  are  likely  to  inspire  a  respect  for  education,  or  a  desire  to 
enjoy  and  improve  its  advantages.  [The  condition  and  aspect  of  the 
building,  with  its  appendages  and  surrounding  landscape,  are  inseparably 
associated,  in  a  child's  mind,  with  his  first  day  at  school,  and  his  first 
thoughts  about  education^  Is  it  well,  then,  that  these  earliest,  most 
lasting,  and  most  controlling  associations,  should  be  charged  with  so 
much  that  is  offensive  ?  Is  it  to  be  expected,  that  the  youthful  mind  can 
regard  that  as  the  cause,  next  to  religion,  most  important  of  all  others, 
which  is  upheld  and  promoted,  in  such  buildings,  as  the  district  school- 
house  usually  is  1  Among  the  most  comfortless  and  wretched  tenements, 
which  the  pupil  ever  enters,  he  thinks  of  it  with  repugnance ;  the  tasks 
which  it  imposes,  he  dreads ;  and  he  at  length  takes  his  leave  of  it,  as  of 
a  prison,  from  which  he  is  but  too  happy  to  escape. 

This  seems  to  me  to  be  the  greatest  evil  connected  with  our  school- 
houses.  But  their  deleterious  effect  on  health,  is  also  to  be  considered. 
Air  which  has  been  once  respired  by  the  lungs,  parts  with  its  healthy 
properties,  and  is  no  longer  fit  for  use.  Hence  a  number  of  persons, 
breathing  the  air  of  the  same  apartment,  soon  contaminate  it,  unless  the 
space  is  ver}?  large,  or  unless  there  is  some  provision  for  the  introduction 
of  fresh,  as  well  as  the  exclusion  of  foul  air.  This  ventilation  is  espe- 
cially important  for  school-houses,  since  the}''  are  usually  small  in  propor- 
tion to  the  number  of  scholars ;  the  scholars  remain  together  a  long  while 
at  once,  and  are  less  cleanly  in  their  personal  habits  than  adults.  Yet, 
important  as  it  is,  probably  not  one  common  school  in  fifty,  in  this  state. 


SCHOOL-HOUSES  AS  THEY  ARE. 


21 


will  be  found  supplied  with  adequate  means  to  effect  it.  The  cracks  and 
crevices,  which  abound  in  our  school-houses,  admit  quite  enough  of.  cold 
air  in  winter,  but  not  enough  of  fresh.  What  is  wanted  at  that  season, 
for  both  health  and  economy,  is  a  constant  supply  of  fresh  warm  air ;  and 
this  is  easily  obtained  by  causing  the  air,  as  it  enters  from  without,  to 
pass  through  heated  flues,  or  over  heated  surfaces. 

It  is  also  important,  to  the  health  of  scholars  and  teachers  in  common 
schools,  that  the  rooms  should  be  larger  and  have  higher  ceilings ;  and 
that  much  more  scrupulous  attention  should  be  paid  to  the  cleanliness  of 
both  the  room  and  its  inmates.  '  An  evil,'  say  the  visiters  of  one  of  the 
towns,  '  greater  than  the  variety  of  school-books  or  the  want  of  necessary 
apparatus,  is  having  school-rooms  so  unskilfully  made  and  arranged. 
Of  our  13  school-rooms,  only  3  are  ten  feet  high,  and  of  the  residue  only 
one  is  over  eight  feet.  The  stupidity  arising  from  foul,  oft-breathed  air, 
is  set  down  as  a  grave  charge  against  the  capacity  of  the  scholars  or  the 
energy  of  the  teacher.  A  room  for  30  children,  allowing  12  square  feet 
for  each  child,  is  low  at  10  feet,  and  for  every  additional  ten  children  an 
extra  foot  in  elevation  is  absolutely  necessary,  to  enable  the  occupants  ol 
the  room  to  breathe  freely.' — Report  (1841),  p.  38. 

Are  common  schools  so  conducted,  as  to  promote  habits  of  neatness  and 
order ;  and  cultivate  good  manners  and  refined  feelings  ? 

From  the  quotations  already  made  from  the  reports  of  visiters,  it 
appears  that  the  school-rooms,  in  many  cases,  were  not  clean ;  and  the 
same  thing  is  often  alleged  of  the  children.  I  will  add  but  one  other 
passage,  to  which  I  happen  to  open  on  p.  39  of  the  Report  (1840).  It 
relates  to  a  town  containing  24  school  districts,  of  which  16  were  visited. 
Of  these  16,  one  quarter  are  represented  to  have  been  almost  entirely 
regardless  of  neatness  and  order,  viz.:  No.  4  [ has  a  dirty  school-room, 
and  the  appearance  of  the  children  was  dirty  and  sickly.'  No.  2  'has  a 
dirty  school-room,  inconveniently  arranged,  arid  ventilated  all  over ;'  the 
children  '  rather  dirty,'  and  no  means  of  supplying  fresh  water  except 
from  the  neighbor's  pails  and  cups.  No.  3  has  •  an  extremely  dirty  school- 
room, without  ventilation,  the  children  not  clean,  and  no  convenience  for 
water.'  No.  24  '  has  a  school-house  out  of  repair,  dirty,  and  inconvenient 
in  its  arrangements.' 

It  is  also  a  subject  of  almost  universal  complaint,  that  the  school-houses 
are  without  privies.  On  an  average,  probably  not  more  than  one  in 
twenty,  of  the  school-houses  throughout  the  state,  has  this  appendage ; 
and  in  these,  it  was  almost  invariably  found,  by  the  visiters,  to  be  in  a  bad 
state.  This  fact  speaks  volumes,  of  the  attention,  which  is  paid  at  these 
schools,  to  delicacy  of  manners,  and  refinement  of  feeling.  None  but  the 
very  poorest  families  think  of  living  without  such  a  convenience  at  home; 
and  a  man,  who  should  build  a  good  dwelling-house,  but  provide  no  place 
for  retirement  when  performing  the  most  private  offices  of  nature,  would 
be  thought  to  give  the  clearest  evidence  of  a  coarse  and  brutal  mind. 
Yet  respectable  parents  allow  their  children  to  go  to  a  school  where  this 
is  the  case ;  and  where  the  evil  is  greatly  aggravated  bv  the  fact,  that 
numbers  of  both  sexes  are  collected,  and  that,  too,  at  an  age  of  extreme 
levity,  and  when  the  youthful  mind  is  prone  to  the  indulgence  of  a  pru- 
rient imagination.  Says  one  of  the  visiters  (Report,  1840,  p.  77),  'In 
most  cases  in  this  town,  the  scholars,  male  and  female,  are  turned  promis- 
cuously and  simultaneously  into  the  public  highway,  without  the  shelter 
of  so  much  (in  the  old  districts)  as  a  '  stump'  for  a  covert  to  the  calls  of 
nature.  The  baneful  tendency,  on  the  young  and  pliant  sensibilities,  of 
this  barbarous  custom,  are  truly  lamentable.'  So  the  visiters  of  one  of 
the  largest  and  oldest  counties :  '  We  regret  to  perceive  that  many  of  the 
districts  have  neglected  to  erect  privies  for  the  use  of  the  children  at 


22  INTRODUCTION. 

school.  This  is  a  lamentable  error.  The  injury  to  the  taste  and  morais 
of  the  children  which  will  naturally  result  from  this  neglect,  is  of  a  char- 
acter much  more  serious  than  the  discomfort  which  is  obviously  produced 
by  it.'— {Report,  1840,  p.  131.)" 


VERMONT. 

Extract  from  the  "  First  Annual  Report  of  the  State  Superintendent 

(Hon.  Horace  Eaton,)  of  Common  Schools,  October,  1846,"  made  to  the 

Legislature. 

"  It  might  occur  to  any  one  in  travelling  through  the  State,  that  our 
school-houses  are  almost  uniformly  located  in  an  uninteresting  and  un- 
suitable spot,  and  that  the  buildings  themselves  too  generally  exhibit  an 
unfavorable,  and  even  repulsive  aspect.  Yet  by  giving  some  license  to 
the  imagination  it  might  be  supposed  that,  notwithstanding  their  location 
and  external  aspect  were  so  forbidding,  the  internal  appearance  would  be 
more  cheerful  and  pleasant — or  at  least,  that  the  arrangement  and  con- 
struction within  would  be  comfortably  adapted  to  the  purposes  which  the 
school-house  was  intended  to  fulfil.  But  an  actual  inspection  of  by  far 
the  greatest  number  of  the  school-houses  in  the  State,  by  County  Super- 
intendents, discloses  the  unpleasant  fact,  that  oriinarily  the  interior  does 
but  correspond  with  the  exterior,  or  is,  if  possible,  still  worse.  A  very 
large  proportion  of  these  buildings  throughout  the  State  must  be  set. 
down  as  in  a  miserable  condition.  The  melancholy  fact  is  established  by 
the  concurrent  report  of  all  our  County  Superintendents,  that  in  every 
quarter  of  the  State  they  are,  as  a  class,  altogether  unsuited  to  their 
high  purposes.  Probably  nine-tenths  of  them  are  located  upon  the  line 
of  the  highway ;  and  as  the  geographical  centre  of  the  district  usually 
determines  their  situation,  aside  from  the  relation  with  the  road,  it  is  a 
rare  chance  that  one  is  not  placed  in  an  exposed,  unpleasant  and  uncom- 
fortable spot.  In  some  cases — especially  in  villages — their  location 
seems  to  be  determined  by  the  worth,  or  rather  by  the  worthlesmess  of 
the  ground  on  which  they  stand — that  being  selected  which  is  of  the 
least  value  for  any  other  purpose.  Seldom  or  never  do  we  see  our  school- 
houses  surrounded  by  trees  or  shrubbery,  to  serve  the  purpose  which 
they  might  serve  so  well — that  of  delighting  the  eye,  gratifying  the 
taste,  and  contributing  to  the  physical  comfort,  by  shielding  from  the 
scorching  sun  of  summer,  and  breaking  the  bleak  winds  of  winter.  And 
from  buildings  thus  situated  and  thus  exposed,  pupils  are  turned  out  into 
the  streets  for  their  sports,  and  for  other  purposes  still  more  indispensable. 
What  better  results  could  be  expected  under  such  a  system  than  that 
our  ' girls  should  become  hoydens  and  our  boys  blackguards?'  Indeed 
it  would  be  a  happy  event,  if  in  no  case  results  still  more  melancholy  and 
disastrous  than  this  were  realized. 

But  this  notice  of  ordinary  deficiencies  does  not  cover  the  whole  ground 
of  error  in  regard  to  the  situation  of  school-houses.  In  some  cases  they 
are  brought  into  close  connection  with  positive  nuisances.  In  a  case 
which  has  fallen  under  the  Superintendent's  own  personal  observation, 
one  side  of  the  school-house  forms  part  of  the  fence  of  a  hog-yard,  into 
which,  during  the  summer,  the  calves  from  an  extensive  dairy  establish- 
ment have  been  thrown  from  time  to  time,  (disgusting  and  revolting 
spectacle !)  to  be  rent  and  devoured  before  the  eyes  of  teacher  and  pu- 
pils— except  such  portions  of  the  mutilated  and  mangled  carcasses  as 
were  left  by  the  animals  to  go  to  decay,  as  they  lay  exposed  to  the  sun 
and  storm.  It  is  true  the  windows  on  the  side  of  the  building  adjoining 
the  yard,  were  generally  observed  to  be  closed,  in  order  to  shut  out  the 


SCHOOL-HOUSES  AS  THEY  ARE.  23 

almost  insupportable  stench  which  arose  from  the  decomposing  remains. 
But  this  closure  of  windows  could,  in  no  great  degree,  '  abate  the  nui- 
sance ;'  for  not  a  breath  of  air  could  enter  the  house  from  any  direction 
but  it  must  come  saturated  with  the  disgusting  and  sickening  odor  that 
loaded  the  atmosphere  around.  It  needs  no  professional  learning  to  tell 
the  deleterious  influence  upon  health,  which  must  be  exerted  by  such  an 
agency,  operating  for  continuous  hours. 

Such  cases,  it  is  hoped  and  believed,  are  exceedingly  rare.  But  it  is 
much  to  be  feared  that  the  usual  exemption  enjoyed  by  teachers  and  pu- 
pils, from  even  such  outrages  upon  their  senses  and  sensibilities,  as  have 
been  detailed,  is  to  be  attributed  to  the  fact  that  such  arrangements  are 
not  ordinarily  convenient,  rather  than  to  any  prevailing  conviction  of 
their  impropriety,  or  any  general  and  settled  purpose  to  avoid  them. 
The  case  is  named  as  at  least  strong  evidence  that  the  pertinency  of  con- 
siderations, involving  a  regard  either  to  taste,  comfort,  or  even  health  it- 
self, is  generally  overlooked  or  disregarded,  in  fixing  upon  a  site  for  a 
school-house.  At  all  events  these  purposes  are  all  exposed  to  be  violated 
under  the  prevailing  neglect  of  districts  to  secure  the  possession  of  suf- 
ficient ground  for  a  yard  around  the  school-house.  But  it  would  seem 
unnecessary  to  urge,  beyond  the  bare  suggestion,  the  importance  of  pro- 
viding for  school-houses,  a  comfortable  location,  a  sufficient  yard  and 
play-ground,  a  wood-house  and  other  out-buildings,  a  convenient  access 
to  water,  and  the  surrounding  of  the  premises  with  shade-trees  which 
might  serve  for  shelter,  as  well  as  delight  the  eye,  and  aid  to  render  the 
school-house — what  it  should  be — one  of  the  most  attracting  and  delight- 
ful places  of  resort  upon  the  face  of  the  earth.  It  should  be  such,  that 
when  the  child  shall  have  changed  into  the  gray-haired  man,  and  his 
memory  wanders  back  through  the  long  vista  of  vanished  years,  seeking 
for  some  object  on  which  it  may  repose,  this  shall  be  the  spot  where  it 
shall  love  to  rest. 

In  the  construction  of  the  school-house — embracing  its  material,  style 
of  architecture,  and  finish — as  little  care  and  taste  are  exhibited,  as 
might  be  expected  from  the  indifference  manifested  in  regard  to  its  loca- 
tion and  surrounding  circumstances.  Cheapness  of  construction  seems, 
in  most,  cases,  to  be  the  great  governing  principle,  which  decides  upon 
its  materials,  its  form,  and  all  its  internal  arrangements.  No  complaint 
on  this  score  could  justly  be  made,  if  the  general  condition  of  these  build- 
ings Avere  clearly  and  fairly  attributed  to  want  of  ability.  But  while  our 
other  edifices,  both  public  and  private,  have  improved  in  elegance,  con- 
venience, and  taste,  with  the  increasing  wealth  of  our  citizens,  our  school- 
houses  linger  in  the  rear  and  bear  the  impress  of  a  former  age.  In  this 
respect. 

'  That  which  in  days  of  yore  we  were 
We  at  the  present  moment  are. ' 

Low  walls  might  be  instanced  as  one  of  the  prevailing  defects  in 
school-house  architecture.  The  quantity  of  air  contained  in  a  school- 
room of  the  usual  height,  is  so  small  as  to  be  soon  exhausted  of  its  oxy- 
gen ;  and  the  dullness,  headache  and  depression  which  succeed  to  this 
result,  are  but  too  well  known  and  too  often  felt,  although  they  may  fail 
of  being  attributed  to  their  true  cause.  And  why  should  our  children  be 
robbed  of  a  comfortable  supply  of  that  pure  and  wholesome  air,  with 
which  our  Creator,  in  the  largeness  and  richness  of  his  bounty,  has  sur- 
rounded the  earth  and  filled  the  sky  ?  But  if  the  condition  of  the  house 
is  such,  as  in  part  to  prevent  the  injurious  effects  arising  from  a  deficiency 
of  pure  air,  by  means  of  broken  windows  and  gaping  crevices — then 
colds,  coughs  and  as  the  ultimate  and  crowning  result — consumption — 


24  INTRODUCTION. 

(and  of  this  disease,  what  thousands  of  cases  have  had  their  foundations 
laid  in  the  school-house !)  must  be  the  consequence  of  this  sort  of  ex 
posure.  This  is  true  in  regard  to  all  classes  and  conditions  of  pupils. 
But  it  should  be  distinctly  kept  in  mind,  although  it  is  ordinarily  overlooked 
and  forgotten,  that  children  accustomed  to  be  comfortably  protected 
against  cold  or  vicissitudes  of  temperature,  at  home,  will  inevitably  suffer 
the  more  when  exposed  to  them  in  the  school-house.  And  here  is  an  ad- 
ditional reason  why  these  structures  should  be  improved,  as  our  dwelling 
houses  are  generally  becoming  more  comfortable. 

But  there  is  not  room  here  for  details — not  even  to  exhibit  this  topic  in 
all  its  important  bearings.  And  it  has  been  thus  hinted  at  only  to  prove 
that  the  general  charge  of  faulty  construction  is  not  wholly  unfounded. 

It  was  the  purpose  of  the  Superintendent  to  discuss  at  some  length, 
the  pernicious  influence  exerted,  both  upon  the  health  of  pupils,  and 
their  progress  in  learning,  by  the  miserable  structures  in  which  the  State 
abounds,  but  the  extent  of  the  remarks  already  made  precludes  it. 

One  cause  of  the  prevailing  fault  in  regard  to  the  construction  and  in- 
ternal arrangement  of  school-houses,  doubtless,  is  the  want  of  proper 
models.  Districts,  when  about  erecting  a  school-house,  cannot  well  do 
more  than  follow  the  examples  before  them.  To  form  the  plan  of  a 
proper  school-house— one  well  adapted  to  all  the  various  ends  which 
should  be  sought,  such  as  the  convenience,  comfort,  and  health  of  pupils, 
convenience  for  supervision  and  conduct  of  the  school,  and  facilities  for 
the  most  successful  prosecution  of  study — would  require  such  an  extent 
of  observation  and  so  full  an  acquaintance  with  the  laws  of  health,  of 
mind  and  morals — and  then  such  a  skill  in  designing  a  structure  in  which 
all  the  necessary  conditions  should  be  observed  and  secured,  that  it  would 
be  unreasonable  to  expect  that  a  district  could  command  them,  without 
an  opportunity  to  avail  itself  of  the  experience  and  observation  of  others. 
And  districts  have  almost  universally  felt  this  lack  of  guidance.  But  it 
is  believed  that  hereafter,  information  on  the  subject  of  school-house  t 
architecture,  will  be  more  accessible ;  and  if,  as  a  first  step,  some  one 
district  in  every  town  in  the  State  would  avail  itself  of  the  necessary 
information,  and  make  a  vigorous  effort  to  secure  the  erection  of  a  well 
located,  well  planned,  and  well  constructed  school-house,  they  would  per- 
form an  act  of  high  public  beneficence,  as  well  as  confer  upon  themselves 
an  inestimable  blessing.  And  shall  not  one  or  two  years  realize  the  ac- 
complishment of  this  noble  purpose  ?     What  district  will  lead  the  van  1 


NEW  HAMPSHIEE. 

Extracts  from  the  "  Report  of  the  Commissioner,  {Prof  Haddock,  of 

Dartmouth  College)  of  Common  Schools,  to  the  Legislature  of  New 

Hampshire,  June  Session,  1847." 

"  The  success  of  our  whole  system  depends  as  much  on  a  thorough  re- 
form in  the  construction  and  care  of  school-houses  as  upon  any  other 
single  circumstance  whatever. 

It  is  wonderful,  and  when  their  attention  is  called  to  it,  strikes  the  in- 
habitants of  the  Districts  themselves  as|really  unaccountable,  that  care- 
ful and  anxious  parents  have  been  content  to  confine  their  children  for  so 
many  hours  a  day  through  a  large  part  of  the  severest  and  most  trying 
seasons  of  the  year,  in  houses  so  ill  constructed,  so  badly  ventilated,  so 
imperfectly  warmed,  so  dirty,  so  instinct  with  vulgar  ideas,  and  so  utterly 
repugnant  to  all  habits  of  neatness,  thought,  taste,  or  purity^  There  are 
multitudes  of  houses  in  the  State,  not  only  inconveniently  located,  and 
awkwardly  planned,  but  absolutely  dangerous  to   health  and  morals. 


« 


SCHOOL-HOUSES  AS  THEY  ARE.  25 

And  it  has  struck  me  with  the  greater  surprise,  that  this  is  true  not  only  of 
the  thinly  peopled  parts  of  the  State,  but  of  flourishing  villages.  In  one 
of  the  largest  towns  the  principal  District  School  was  kept,  the  last  win- 
ter, in  a  dilapidated,  rickety,  uncouth,  slovenly  edifice,  hardly  more  com- 
fortable than  some  barns  within  sight  of  it.  In  one  enterprising  village 
the  school-house,  as  I  looked  at  it  from  a  little  distance,  appeared  deci- 
dedly the  shabbiest  and  most  neglected  building,  not  to  say  dwelling, 
within  reach  of  my  eye.  I  have  been  in  houses,  which  no  scrubbing 
could  keep  clean;  they  were  never  made  to  be  clean:  and  this,  in  places, 
where  private  taste  is  adorning  the  town  with  the  ornaments  of  architec- 
ture and  enriching  the  country  with  the  fruits  of  rural  industry. 

It  is,  however,  encouraging  to  find,  that  a  better  feeling  is  coming  to 
prevail  on  this  subject.  Many  districts  are  rebuilding,  and,  in  most  in- 
stances, upon  an  improved  plan.  Some  examples  have  been  set  of  good 
'udgment  and  liberal  expenditure  for  this  important  object.  And  it  is 
.oped,  that  other  districts  will  be  stimulated  to  imitate  them. 
Whenever  a  new  house  is  to  be  erected,  it  should  first  be  carefully  lo- 
cated, so  as  best  to  accommodate  the  whole  district,  and  by  all  means,  on 
an  open,  healthy,  agreeable  site,  with  ample  room  about  it  on  all  sides, 
and  out  of  the  way  of  floods  of  water  or  of  dust.  The  young  spirit  loves 
the  free  air  and  the  cheerful  day ;  and  when  confined,  as  for  some  six 
hours  it  must  be,  the  confinement  should  be  as  little  unnatural  and  un- 
wholesome as  possible.  The  cheapest  medicine  for  the  body  is  good  air 
and  plenty  of  room ;  and  the  most  indispensable  pre-requisite  to  sane 
thjught  is  a  beautiful  and  happy  place  to  think  in.  The  house  itself 
should  be  large ;  so  large  that  the  vacant  floor  may  about  equal  the 
space  occupied  by  the  seats.  The  difference  of  ten  feet  in  length  is  not 
great  in  point  of  expense;  in  point  of  comfort  it  may  be  incalculable. 
The  walls  should  be  twelve  feet  high  at  least;  and  an  opening  made  in 
the  ceiling  for  the  escape  of  the  overheated  and  corrupted  air.  This 
should  be  made  to  be  closed  at  pleasure.  Not  more  than  two  scholars 
should  sit  on  one  seat;  and  the  seats  should  be  roomy  and  easy.  These 
are  the  great  points  in  a  school-house.  If  the  architecture  is  neat,  and 
the  grounds  tastefully  laid  out,  and  every  depredation  immediately  re- 
paired, every  stain  removed  at  once,  not  only  will  the  house  answer  the 
essential  purposes  of  health  and  comfort,  but  prove  a  material  auxiliary 
in  elevating  the  minds  and  correcting  the  habits  of  those  who  receive 
their  education  in  it." 


CONNECTICUT. 

Extract  from  the  "  First  Annual  Report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Board 
of  Commissioners  of  Common  Schools,  for  1838-39. 
\^In  the  whole  field  of  school  improvement  there  is  no  more  pressing 
need  of  immediate  action  than  herefj  I  present  with  much  hesitation, 
the  result  of  my  examinations  as  to  several  hundred  school-houses  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  State.  I  will  say,  generally,  that  the  location  of  the 
school-house,  instead  of  being  retired,  shaded,  healthy,  attractive,  is  in 
some  cases  decidedly  unhealthy,  exposed  freely  to  the  sun  and  storm,  and 
in  nearly  all,  on  one  or  more  public  streets,  where  the  passing  of  objects, 
the  noise  and  the  dust,  are  a  perpetual  annoyance  to  teacher  and  scholar, 
— that  no  play-ground  is  afforded  for  the  scholar  except  the  highway, — 
that  the  size  is  too  small  for  even  the  average  attendance  of  the  scholars, 
— that  not  one  in  a  hundred  has  any  other  provision  for  a  constant  supply 
of  that  indispensable  element  of  health  and  life,  pure  air,  except  the 
rents  and  crevices  which  time  and  wanton  mischief  have  made ;  that  the 


2(3  INTRODUCTION. 

seats  and  desks  are  not,  in  a  majority  of  cases,  adapted  to  children  of  different 
sizes  and  ages,  but  on  the  other  hand  are  calculated  to  induce  physical 
deformity,  and  ill-health,  and  not  in  a  few  instances  (I  state  this  on  the 
authority  of  physicians  who  were  professionally  acquainted  with  the 
cases.)  have  actually  resulted  in  this — and  that  in  the  mode  of  warming 
rooms,  sufficient  regard  is  not  had  either  to  the  comfort  and  health  of  the 
scholar,  or  to  economy. 

That  1  have  not  stated  these  deficiencies  too  strongly.  I  beg  leave  to 
efer  you  to  the  accompanying  returns,  respecting  the  condition  of  school- 
ouses  in  more  than  eight  hundred  districts  in  the  State,  and  in  more 
than  forty  particulars  in  each.  These  returns  were  made  from  actual 
inspection  and  measurement  of  school-houses  by  teachers  and  others. 
An  abstract  of  them  in  part  will  be  found  annexed,  together  with  ex- 
tracts from  letters  received  from  school  officers  on  the  subject.  I  might 
accumulate  evidence  of  the  necessity  of  improvement  here  for  every 
district  in  the  State.  Without  improvement  in  many  particulars  which 
concern  the  health,  the  manners  and  morals  of  those  who  attend  school, 
it  is  in  vain  to  expect  that  parents  who  put  a  proper  estimate,  not  only 
on  the  intellectual,  but  the  physical  and  moral  culture  of  their  children, 
will  send  to  the  district  school.  |dt  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  children 
acquire  a  distaste  for  stud™  and  a  reluctance  to  attend  school,  so  long  as 
school-houses  are  associated  with  hours  of  prolonged  weariness  and  actual 
suffering  from  a  scanty  supply  of  pure  air,  and  seats  and  desks  so  ar- 
ranged and  constructed  as  to  war  against  their  physical  organization. 
These  things  are  not  forgotten  by  parents  in  the  construction  of  churches, 
nor  have  the  public  neglected  to  provide  for  a  constant  supply  of  pure 
air  in  the  work-shops  and  sleeping-rooms  of  the  State  Prison  at  Wethers- 
field,  or  the  County  Gaol  at  Hartford." 

The  following  extracts  are  from  the  communications  referred  to  in 
the  above  Report: 

"In  one  hundred  and  four  districts  in  one  county,  there  are  thirty- 
one  school-houses  which  may  be  considered  as  being  in  very  good  repair, 
and  seventy-three  of  which  are  more  or  less  out  of  repair.  Among  them 
there  are  but  seven  which  are  constructed  in  such  a  manner  as  to  be 
comfortable  and  convenient.  In  three  the  scholars  all  face  the  teacher, 
and  in  six  or  seven  others,  they  sit  so  as  to  face  the  centre  of  the  room. 
In  the  others  the  desks  are  confined  to  the  walls  on  three  sides  of  the 
room,  and  have  seats  in  front  of  them.  By  this  arrangement  the  larger 
scholars  sit  with  their  backs  to  the  teacher,  except  while  engaged  in 
reading  and  spelling.  In  the  first  position  they  have  no  support  at  all 
for  the  back,  and  in  the  latter,  the  edge  of  the  desk  is  all  that  is  afforded. 
The  younger  scholars  are  seated  in  the  centre  of  the  room  on  low  seats 
which  in  eighty  districts  are  provided  with  backs.  In  the  remaining 
twenty-four  districts,  these  seats  have  not  backs.  In  eight  districts,  two 
rooms  are  occupied  by  the  school,  and  in  ninety-six  districts,  only  one 
room.  The  rooms  used,  will  average  about  twenty  feet  square,  and  eight 
feet  in  height.  In  seventy-five  districts,  close  stoves  are  used  for  warm- 
ing the  houses,  and  in  twenty-three,  stoves  and  fire-places,  and  in  six, 
fire-places  alone.  In  none  of  these  houses  has  any  provision  been  made 
for  ventilation. 

In  no  case  is  a  scraper,  or  a  mat  for  the  feet  provided.  In  one  hundred 
districts  they  have  no  play-ground  except  the  highway,  or  the  land  of  in- 
dividuals. In  about  forty  districts  a  few  shade  trees  maybe  found  within 
twenty  or  thirty  rods  of  the  school-house.  Eighty-nine  houses  stand  in 
the  highway,  in  all  or  in  part.  One  district  has  provided  globes  for  the 
use  of  the  school,  and  made  arrangements  for  procuring  philosophical 
and  chemical  apparatus.     Twenty-nine  districts  have  blackboards5  and 


SCHOOL-HOUSES  AS  THEY  ARE.  27 

three  have  some  maps,  and  one,  a  clock.  All  are  destitute  of  a  library, 
thermometer,  and  recitation  rooms.  In  country  districts,  the  entry  serves 
as  a  wood-room,  and  place  for  hats  and  cloaks.  In  country  towns,  from 
thirty  to  fifty  scholars  are  usually  crowded  into  a  room  calculated  for  only 
twenty  or  twenty-five. 

In  another  county,  out  of  sixty-two  school  houses,  nineteen  are  located 
in  the  highway,  and  the  ground  on  which  the  others  stand  cannot  be 
worth  on  an  average  twelve  dollars  for  each.  Thirteen  are  bounded  by 
two  roads.  Sixteen  are  in  noisy  and  improper  neighborhoods.  None 
have  any  shade  trees,  or  any  of  those  adornments  which  are  resorted  to 
to  make  our  homes  pleasant  and  healthy.  Twenty-six  are  in  good  repair ; 
nineteen  are  much  out  of  repair;  one  hundred  and  seventy-six  squares  ol 
glass  are  broken ;  and  very  few  are  sufficiently  protected  from  cold  air 
from  beneath ;  twenty-five  have  crevices  to  admit  the  wind  from  every 
quarter.  Thirty-eight  have  never  been  white-washed  ;  none  have  blinds 
and  other  arrangements  to  admit  the  proper  degree  of  light;  little  or  no 
provisions  are  made  for  securing  habits  of  neatness  and  ord«r,  by  proper 
places  for  hats,  cloaks,  &c.  &c;  in  forty-eight  instances  the  desks  are  at- 
tached to  the  walls,  so  that  scholars  sit  with  their  backs  to  the  teacher  while 
engaged  in  their  studies ;  and  when  they  face  him  they  are  obliged  to  lean,  it 
they  rest  at  all,  against  the  edge  of  the  desk  for  support ;  in  fifty-two,  the 
seats  are  without  backs,  and  that  in  most,  the  seats  are  not  of  proper 
elevation  for  children  of  different  sizes,  nor  are  they  so  adapted  to  the 
desks  that  the  scholars  could  write  without  violating  the  laws  of  their 
organization,  and  inducing  deformity  and  ill-health;  thirty-eight  out  of 
the  sixty-four  are  altogether  unprovided  with  the  means  of  ventilation, 
except  through  the  crevices  about  the  floors  and  sides  of  the  room. 

In  another  county,  out  of  fifty  school-houses  taken  at  hazard  from  the 
returns  for  the  county,  forty  are  all  or  in  part  in  the  public  highway; 
twelve  are  in  situations  which  are  wet  and  disagreeable ;  not  one  of  these 
have  any  play-ground  '  except  the  gardens  and  orchards  '  of  neighbors  ; 
but  two  are  ventilated  by  an  opening  in  the  ceiling ;  in  thirty,  the  scholars 
face  the  walls,  or  the  windows  which  are  in  all  cases  without  blinds  or 
shades ;  in  five  only  are  the  seats  and  desks  properly  arranged  and  of 
proper  heights,  so  as  to  favor  the  health,  the  comfort,  or  the  progress  of 
the  pupils ;  and  in  all,  the  dimensions  of  the  room  are  altogether  too  con- 
tracted for  even  the  average  attendance  of  the  district. 

In  another  county,  out  of  forty  school-houses,  but  one  has  any  provision 
for  ventilation ;  but  seven  have  seats  with  backs  in  any  case ;  the  average 
height  of  the  school-rooms  is  seven  feet ;  the  average  breadth  seventeen  and 
a  half  feet ;  the  average  length,  eighteen  and  a  half  feet,  while  the  average 
attendance  is  over  thirty  children  to  each. 

I  have  been  greatly  discouraged  by  the  entire  destitution  of  maps, 
globes,  and  other  school  apparatus ;  by  witnessing  among  the  small 
scholars  great  suffering,  and  the  probable  commencement  of  disease  and 
deformity,  for  want  of  proper  support  for  the  back  and  feet ;  and  an 
almost  entire  neglect  of  those  out-door  conveniences  which  a  civilized 
people  are  said  never  to  forget  or  allude  to.  But  the  ill  location  of  the 
school-houses,  bad  seats  and  desks,  the  entire  want  of  school-libraries, 
globes,  and  (often)  of  suitable  books,  might  be  the  better  borne  with, 
were  not  the  children  shut  out  from  any  tolerable  enjoyment  of  the  vital 
air  of  heaven.  Fifty,  sixty,  or  seventy  little  ones  are  often  crowded 
together  into  a  close  room  quite  insufficient  to  give  pure  air  to  one  quarter 
of  the  number." 

"  As  I  passed  from  one  school  society  to  another,  I  had  an  opportunity 
to  see  many  of  the  school-houses ;  for  they  stand  generally  on  the  high- 


28  INTRODUCTION. 

way,  and  some  near  the  travelled  path.  They  are  in  keeping  with 
the  school-houses  in  other  parts  of  the  State.  '  They  are  not  beautiful 
outward,'  and  in  some  which  I  entered  I  found  very  little  in  the  internal 
structure  and  arrangement  to  approve.  The  desks,  as  usual,  are  where 
they  never  ought  to  be,  against  the  sides  of  the  school-room  and  against 
one  end.  of  the  same  height  for  all  the  children,  who  want  desks,  what- 
ever be  their  size  and  age.  The  seats  are  so  high  that  some  of  the 
children  cannot  get  their  feet  to  the  floor ;  and  in  others  the  height  of  the 
desks  and  seats  are  disproportionate.  While  at  these  desks,  (which  are 
often  too  narrow.)  the  children  are  tempted  to  be  looking  out  at  the  win- 
dows at  every  passing  object,  and  are  liable  at  times  to  be  incommoded 
by  the  too  intense  rays  of  the  sun,  by  the  air,  or  cold ;  their  backs  are 
toward  their  teacher,  and  not  their  faces.  In  getting  over  their  bench  to 
the  desks,  and  then  in  turning  round  from  them,  they  annoy  one  another 
and  distract  the  school,  while  the  edge  of  the  desk,  often  hacked,  acts  al- 
ternately upon  the  breast  and  back  like  a  kind  of  saw-fish.  In  some 
instances  still,  the  barbarous  custom  remains,  of  seating  the  little  children 
on  benches  without  backs,  raised  so  high  that  their  feet  hang  dangling." 

The  following  extracts  are  taken  from  official  documents,  published  in 
1846  and  1847,  and  fair  specimens  of  the  manner  in  which  school-houses 
are  spoken  of,  in  the  reports  of  local  committees,  from  different  parts  of 
the  State. 

"  In  one  district  the  school-house  stands  on  the  highway,  with  eighty 
pupils  enrolled  as  in  attendance,  in  a  room  nineteen  and  a  half  feet 
square,  without  any  outbuildings  of  any  kind. 

In  another  in  the  same  town,  the  school-house  is  less  than  seven  feet 
high,  and  the  narrow  slab  seats  are  twenty-one  inches  high,  (four  inches 
higher  than  ordinary  chairs.)  The  walls,  desks,  &c,  are  cut  and  marked 
with  all  sorts  of  images,  some  of  which  would  make  heathens  blush. 

In  another,  the  room  is  fourteen  feet  square,  and  six  feet  five  inches 
high.     The  walls  are  very  black." 

"  In  this  town  there  is  one  of  the  most  venerable  school  servants  in  the 
State.  The  room  is  small,  and  less  than  seven  feet  high.  Slab  seats 
extend  around  three  sides  of  the  room,  and  are  too  high  for  men.  The 
skill  of  several  generations  must  have  been  expended  in  illustrating  the 
walls  with  lamp  smoke  and  coal  images.  The  crevices  of  the  floor  will 
admit  any  quantity  of  cold  air.  The  door  sill  and  part  of  the  house 
sill  have  rotted  away.  The  day  I  visited  it,  the  teacher  and  pupils  were 
huddled  around  the  stove." 

"  In  one  district,  the  house  stands  near  the  travelled  road,  is  low  and 
small,  being  only  seventeen  feet  by  seventeen,  and  seven  feet  two 
inches  high,  for  the  accommodation  of  sixty  or  seventy  pupils.  The 
seats  on  the  outside  are  from  seventeen  to  eighteen  inches.  The 
walls,  door,  and  sides  of  the  house  are  disfigured  with  obscene  images." 

"  There  are  only  three  good  school-houses  in  the  society ;  only  three 
that  have  any  out-houses.  The  rest  of  the  school-houses  are  in  a  miser- 
able condition.  One  is  thirty-five  or  forty  years  old.  Most  of  them 
have  only  slab  seats,  with  the  legs  sticking  through,  upwards,  like 
hatchel-teeth,  and  high  enough  to  keep  the  legs  of  the  occupants  swing- 
ing. They  are  as  uncomfortable  to  little  children  as  a  pillory.  Seats 
and  desks  are  adorned  with  every  embellishment  tha*  the  ingenuity  o. 
professional  whittlers  can  devise." 


SCHOOL-HOUSES  AS  THEY  ARE.  29 

"  Two  of  our  school-houses,  those  in  the  two  largest  districts,  are  in  a 
bad  condition,  old,  unpainted  and  inconvenient.  They  are  built  and  con- 
structed inside  on  the  old  Connecticut  plan.  Only  one  row  of  desks,  and 
that  fastened  to  the  wall  of  the  school-room,  running  quite  around  it ; 
and  long  forms,  without  backs  to  rest  on,  the  scholars  silting  with  their 
backs  to  the  centre  of  the  room.  The  other  two  are  in  better  condition, 
though  one  is  constructed  on  the  same  plan  as  above.  The  out-buildings 
are  in  bad  condition  generally.  One  school-house  has  no  out-building 
nor  wood-house.     One  school-house  only  is  painted  outside." 

"  Of  the  nine  school-houses  in  this  society,  not  one  is  really  what  they 
all  ought  to  be,  for  the  morals,  health,  and  intellectual  improvement  of 
the  pupils.  Four  of  them  are  considered  tolerably  good,  having  one  out- 
building, the  other  five  are  hardly  passable.  The  desks  in  most  or  all  of 
them  are  where  they  never  ought  to  be,  against  the  sides  of  the  room 
and  against  one  end,  and  with  few  exceptions,  all  of  a  height,  with  poor 
accommodations  for  loose  clothes,  hats,  &c;  all  located  on  or  near  some 
highway ;  no  play-ground  attached  to  any  of  them,  except  the  highway." 


MAINE. 

Extract  from  a  special  "  Report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Ed 

,  ttcation,  upon  the  subject  of  School-Houses.'''' 

\"_ It  is  worthy  of  note,  and  of  most  serious  consideration,  that  a  ma- 
jority of  the  returns  speak  of  ill-constructed  school-houses  as  one  of  the 
most  prominent  'defects  in  the  practical  operation  of  the'  law  establishing 
common-schools.'J  The  strength  and  uniformity  of  the  language  made 
use  of,  as  well  as  the  numerous  applications  to  the  members  of  the  board, 
and  their  secretary,  for  information  upon  this  subject,  leave  no  room  for 
doubt  as  to  the  existence  of  a  wide-spread  evil;  an  evil,  the  deleterious 
influence  of  which,  unless  it  is  reformed,  and  that  speedily,  is  not  to  be  con- 
fined to  the  present  generation,  but  must  be  entailed  upon  posterity.  In 
remarking  upon  this  subject,  as  long  ago  as|_1832,  it  was  said  by  the 
board  of  censors  of  the  American  Institute  of  Instruction,  that  '  if  we 
were  called  upon  to  name  the  most  prominent  defect  in  the  schools  of  our 
country ;  that  which  contributes  most,  directly  and  indirectly,  to  retard 
the  progress  of  public  education,  and  which  most  loudly  calls  for  a 
prompt  and  thorough  reform,  it  would  be  the  want  of  spacious  and  con- 
venient school-houses.'  From  every  indication,  there  is  reason  to  believe 
that  the  remark  is  applicable,  to  our  school-houses,  in  their  present  con- 
dition, as  it  was  when  made.\  For  the  purpose  of  contributing,  in  some 
small  degree,  towards  effecting  a  reform  for  which  so  urgent  a  necessity 
exists,  and  rendering  some  assistance,  in  the  way  of  counsel,  to  those  who 
are  about  erecting  new  school-houses,  or  remodelling  old  ones,  this  report 
is  prepared,  under  the  direction  of  the  board.  It  makes  no  claim  to  origi- 
nality of  thought  or  language  ;  it  is,  in  fact,  a  mere  compilation  of  the 
thoughts  and  language  of  others  who  have  given  the  subject  a  carefin 
investigation,  whose  opinions  are  the  result  of  close  observation  and  long 
experience,  and  are  therefore  entitled  to  our  confidence  and  respect.  To 
save  the  necessity  of  giving  credit,  upon  almost  every  page  of  this  report 
for  borrowed  language,  as  well  as  ideas,  it  may  here  be  remarked,  that 
the  principal  sources  from  which  the  information  herewith  communicated 
has  been  compiled,  are,  the  reports  upon  the  subject  of  school-houses,  by 
Hon.  Horace  Mann  and  Henry  Barnard,  Esq.,  and  'The  School-master,' 
by  Mr.  George  B.  Emerson ;  gentlemen  to  whom,  for  their  efforts  in  the 


30 


INTRODUCTION. 


cause,  a  large  debt  of  gratitude  is  due  from  the  friends  of  education ;  a 
debt  which  can  be  discharged  in  no  manner  more  acceptable  to  them, 
than  by  entering  into  their  labors,  and  adopting  and  reducing  to  practice 
their  very  valuable  suggestions." 


MODE  ISLAND. 

Extracts  from  "  Report  on  the  condition  and  improvement  of  the  Pub- 
lic Schools  of  Rhode  Island,  submitted  Nov.  1, 1845,  by  Henry  Barnard. 
Commissioner  of  Public  Schools." 

"  The  condition  of  the  school-houses,  was,  in  my  circuit  through  the 
schools,  brought  early  and  constantly  under  my  notice,  and  to  effect  an 
immediate  and  thorough  reform,  public  attention  was  early  and  earnestly 
called  to  the  subject.  The  many  and  great  evils  to  the  health,  manners, 
morals,  and  intellectual  habits  of  children,  which  grow  out  of  their  bad 
and  defective  construction  and  appurtenances,  were  discussed  and  ex- 
posed, and  the  advantages  of  more  complete  and  convenient  structures 
pointed  out.  In  compliance  with  the  request  of  the  Committee  on  Edu- 
cation, a  law  authorizing  school  districts  to  lay  and  collect  a  tax  to  repair 
the  old,  and  build  new  school-houses,  was  drafted  and  passed ;  and  in 
pursuance  of  a  resolution  of  the  General  Assembly,  a  document  was  pre- 
pared embodying  the  results  of  my  observations  and  reflections  on  the 
general  principles  of  school-architecture,  and  such  plans  and  descriptions 
of  various  structures  recently  erected,  for  large  and  small,  city  and  coun- 
try districts,  and  for  schools  of  different  grades,  as  would  enable  any  com- 
mittee to  act  understandingly.  in  framing  a  plan  suitable  to  the  wants  of 
any  particular  district  or  school.  The  same  document  was  afterwards 
abridged  and  distributed  widely,  as  one  of  the  'Educational  Tracts,' 
over  the  state.  I  have  secured  the  building  of  at  least  one  school-house 
in  each  county,  which  can  be  pointed  to  as  a  model  in  all  the  essential 
features  of  location,  construction,  warming,  ventilation,  seats  and  desks, 
and  other  internal  and  external  arrangements. 

During  the  past  two  years,  more  than  fifty  school-houses  have  been 
erected,  or  so  thoroughly  repaired,  as  to  be  substantially  new — and  most 
of  them  after  plans  and  directions  given  in  the  above  document,  or  fur- 
nished directly  by  myself,  on  application  from  districts  or  committees." 

"Of  these,  (three  hundred  and  twelve  school-houses  visited.)  twenty- 
nine  were  owned  by  towns  in  their  corporate  capacity;  one  hundred  and 
forty-seven  by  proprietors ;  and  one  hundred  ancl  forty-five  by  school  dis- 
tricts. Of  two  hundred  and  eighty  school-houses  from  which  full  re- 
turns were  received,  including  those  in  Providence,  twenty-five  were  in 
very  good  repair;  sixty-two  were  in  ordinary  repair;  and  eighty-six 
were  pronounced  totally  unfit  for  school  purposes ;  sixty-five  were  located 
in  the  public  highway,  and  one  hundred  and  eighty  directly  on  the  line 
of  the  road,  without  any  yard,  or  out-buildings  attached ;  and  but  twenty- 
one  had  a  play-ground  inclosed.  In  over  two  hundred  school-rooms,  the 
average  height  was  less  than  eight  feet,  without  any  opening  in  the  ceil- 
ing, or  other  effectual  means  for  ventilation ;  the  seats  and  desks  were 
calculated  for  more  than  two  pupils,  arranged  on  two  or  three  sides  of 
the  room,  and  in  most  instances,  where  the  results  of  actual  measurement 
was  given,  the  highest  seats  were  over  eighteen  inches  from  the  floor, 
and  the  lowest,  except  in  twenty-five  schools,  were  over  fourteen  inches 
for  the  youngest  pupils,  and  these  seats  were  unprovided  with  backs. 
Two  hundred  and  seventy  schools  were  unfurnished  with  a  clock,  black- 
board, or  thermometer,  and  only  five  were  provided  with  a  scraper  and 
mat  for  the  feet." 


SCHOOL-HOUSES  AS  THEY  ARE.  %\ 

"Such  was  the  condition  of  most  of  the  places  where  the  public  schools 
were  kept  in  the  winter  of  1843-44.  in  the  counties  of  Kent,  Washington 
and  Newport,  and  in  not  a  few  districts  in  the  counties  of  Providence  and 
Bristol.  In  some  districts,  an  apartment  in  an  old  shop  or  dwelling-house 
was  fitted  up  as  a  school-room;  and  in  eleven  towns,. the  school-houses, 
such  as  they  were,  were  owned  by  proprietors,  to  whom  in  many  in- 
stances, the  districts  paid  in  rent  a  larger  amount  than  would  have  been 
the  interest  on  the  cost  of  a  new  and  commodious  school  house.  Since 
the  passage  of  the  Act  of  January,  1844,  empowering  school  districts  to 
purchase,  repair,  build  and  furnish  school-houses,  and  since  public  atten- 
tion was  called  to  the  evils  and  inconvenience  of  the  old  structures,  and  to 
better  plans  of  construction  and  internal  arrangement,  by  public  addresses, 
and  the  circulation  of  documents,  the  work  of  renovation  in  this  depart- 
ment of  school  improvement  has  gone  on  rapidly.  If  the  same  progress 
can  be  made  for  three  years  more,  Rhode  Island  can  show,  in  proportion 
to  the  number  of  school  districts;  more  specimens  of  good  houses,  and 
fewer  dilapidated,  inconvenient  and  unhealthy  structures  of  this  kind,  than 
any  other  state.  To  bring  about  thus  early  this  great  and  desirable 
result,  I  can  suggest  nothing  beyond  the  vigorous  prosecution  of  the 
same  measures  which  have  proved  so  successful  during  the  past  two 
years. 

1.  The  public  mind  in  the  backward  districts  must  be  aroused  to  an 
active  sense  of  the  close  connection  of  a  good  school-house  with  a  good 
school,  by  addresses,  discussions,  conversation  and  printed  documents  on 
the  subject,  and  by  the  actual  results  of  such  houses  in  neighboring  dis- 
tricts and  towns. 

2.  Men  of  wealth  and  intelligence  in  their  several  neighborhoods,  and 
capitalists,  in  villages  where  the}r  have  a  pecuniary  interest,  can  continue 
to  exert  their  influence  in  this  department  of  improvement. 

3.  School  committees  of  every  town  can  refuse  to  draw  orders  in  favor 
of  any  district  which  will  not  provide  a  healthy  and  convenient  school- 
room for  the  children  of  the  district ;  and  to  approve  plans  for  the  repairs 
of  an  old,  or  the  construction  of  a  new  house,  vvhich  are  to  be  paid  for  by 
a  tax  on  the  property  of  the  district,  unless  such  plans  embrace  the  essen- 
tial features  of  a  good  school-house. 

4.  The  Commissioner  of  Public  Schools  must  continue  to  furnish  gra- 
tuitously, plans  and  directions  for  the  construction  and  arrangement  of 
school-houses,  and  to  call  the  attention  of  builders  and  committees  to  such 
structures  as  can  be  safely  designated  as  models. 

Districts  should  make  regulations  to  preserve  the  school-house  and 
appendages  from  injury  or  defacement,  and  authorizing  the  trustees  to 
make  all  necessary  repairs,  without  the  formality  of  a  special  vote  on  the 
subject." 

MICHIGAN. 

Extracts  from  "Annual  Report  of  the  Superintendent  (Hon.  Ira  May 
heiv,)  of  Public  Instruction  of  the  State  of  Michigan,  submitted  Decem- 
ber 10,  1817." 

"  The  place  where  our  country's  youth  receive  their  first  instruction,  and 
where  nineteen  twentieths  of  them  complete  their  scholastic  training 
claims  early  attention.  We  may  then  profitably  dwell  upon  the  condi- 
tion of  our  common  school-houses. 

In  some  instances  school-houses  are  favorably  located,  being  situated 
on  dry,  hard  ground,  in  a  retired  though  central  part  of  the  district,  in  the 
midst  of  a  natural  or  artificial  grove.  But  they  are  usually  located  with- 
out reference  to  taste,  or  the  health  and  comfort  of  teacher  or  children. 
They  are  generally  on  one  corner  of  public  roads,  and  sometimes  adja- 


32  INTRODUCTION. 

cent  to  a  cooper's  shop,  or  between  a  blacksmith's  shop  and  a  saw-mill. 
They  are  not  ^infrequently  placed  upon  an  acute  angle,  where  a  road 
forks,  and  sometimes  in  turning  that  angle  the  travel  is  chiefly  behind 
the  school-house,  Reaving  it  on  a  small  triangle,  bounded  on  all  sides  by 
public  roads. 

At  other  times  the  school-house  is  situated  on- a  low  and  worthless 
piece  of  ground,  with  a  sluggish  stream  of  water  in  its  vicinity,  which 
sometimes  even  passes  under  the  school-house.  The  comfort  and  health 
even  of  children  are  thus  sacrificed  to  the  parsimony  of  their  parents. 

Scholars  very  generally  step  from  the  school-house  directly  into  the 
highway.  Indeed,  school-houses  are  frequently  one  half  in  the  highway, 
and  the  other  half  in  the  adjacent  field,  as  though  they  were  unfit  for 
either.     This  is  the  case  even  in  some  of  our  principal  villages. 

School-houses  are  sometimes  situated  in  the  middle  of  the  highway,  a 
portion  of  the  travel  being  on  each  side  of  them.  When  scholars  are  en- 
gaged in  their  recreations,  they  are  exposed  to  bleak  winds  and  the  in- 
clemency of  the  weather  one  portion  of  the  year,  and  the  scorching  rays 
of  the  meridian  sun  another  portion.  Moreover,  their  recreations  must 
be  conducted  in  the  street,  or  they  trespass  upon  their  neighbors'  premi- 
ses. Such  situations  can  hardly  be  expected  to  exert  the  most  favorable 
influence  upon  the  habits  and  character  of  the  rising  generation.     *    * 

Although  there  is  a  great  variety  in  the  dimensions  of  school-houses, 
yet  there  are  few  less  than  sixteen  by  eighteen  feet  on  the  ground,  and 
fewer  still  larger  than  twenty-four  by  thirty  feet.  Exclusive  of  entry  and 
closets,  when  they  are  furnished  with  these  appendages,  school-houses 
are  not  usually  larger  than  twenty  by  twenty-four  feet  on  the  ground, 
and  seven  feet  in  height.  They  are,  indeed,  more  frequently  smaller 
than  larger.  School-houses  of  these  dimensions  have  a  capacity  of  three 
thousand  three  hundred  and  sixty  cubic  feet,  and  are  usually  occupied  by 
at  least  forty-five  scholars  in  the  winter  season.  Not  unfrequently  sixty 
or  seventy,  and  occasionally  more  than  a  hundred  scholars  occupy  a  room 
of  this  size. 

A  simple  arithmetical  computation  will  abundantly  satisfy  any  person 
who  is  acquainted  with  the  composition  of  the  atmosphere,  the  influence 
of  respiration  upon  its  fitness  to  sustain  animal  life,  and  the  quantity  of 
air  that  enters  the  lungs  at  each  inspiration,  that  a  school-room  of  the 
preceding  dimensions  does  not.  contain  a  sufficient  quantity  of  air  to  sus- 
tain the  healthy  respiration  of  even  forty-Jive  scholars,  three  hours,  the 
usual  length  of  each  session  ;  and  frequently  the  school-house  is  imper- 
fectly ventilated  between  the  sessions  at  noon,  or  indeed,  for  several  days 
in  succession. 

The  ordinary  facilities  for  ventilating  school-rooms,  are  opening  a  door, 
or  raising  the  lower  sash  of  the  windows.  The  prevailing  practice  with 
refrence  to  their  ventilation,  is  opening  and  closing  the  door,  as  the  schol- 
ars enter  and  pass  out  of  the  school-house,  before  school,  during  the  re- 
cesses, and  at  noon.  Ventilation,  as  such,  I  may  safely  say,  has  not 
hitherto  been  practiced  in  one  school  in  fifty.  It  is  true,  the  door  has  been 
occasionally  set  open  a  few  minutes,  and  the  windows  have  been  raised, 
but  the  object  has  been,  either  to  let  the  smoke  pass  out  of  the  room,  or 
to  cool  it  when  it  has  become  too  warm,  not  to  ventilate  it.  Ventila- 
tion, by  opening  a  door  or  raising  the  windows,  is  imperfect,  and  fre- 
quently injurious.  A  more  effectual  and  safer  method  of  ventilation,  is 
to  lower  the  upper  sash  of  the  windows,  or,  in  very  cold  or  stormy 
weather,  to  open  a  ventilator  in  the  ceiling,  and  allow  the  vitiated  air  to 
escape  into  the  attic.  In  this  case,  there  should  be  a  free  communication 
between  the  attic  and  the  outer  air,  by  means  of  a  lattice  window,  or 
otherwise.  A  ventilator  may  be  constructed  in  connection  with  the 
chimney,  by  carrying  up  a  partition  in  the  middle.     One  half  the  chim- 


SCHOOL-HOUSES  AS  THEY  ARE. 


33 


ney,  in  this  case,  may  be  used  for  a  smoke  flue,  and  the  other  half  for  a 
ventilator. 

There  are  few  school-houses  the  internal  construction  of  which  is  in  all 
respects  alike ;  yet,  by  far  the  majority  of  them  will  rank  in  one  of  the 
three  following  classes : 

1.  The  first  class  embraces  those  which  are  constructed  with  one  or 
two  tiers  of  desks  along  each  side  of  the  house,  and  across  one  end  of  it ; 
the  outer  seat  having  the  wall  of  the  house  for  its  back,  and  the  front  of 
each  tier  of  desks  constituting  the  back  to  the  next  inner  seat.  There  is 
usually  an  alley  on  each  side  of  the  house  and  at  the  end  of  it,  leaving 
the  seats  of  sufficient  length  to  accommodate  from  five  to  eight  scholars. 
Those  sitting  next  the  alleys  can  pass  to  and  from  their  seats  without 
discommoding  others.  All  the  rest,  (usually  not  less  than  three-fourths 
the  entire  number,)  disturb  from  one  to  five  or  six  scholars  every  time 
they  pass  to  or  from  their  seats;  unless,  (which  is  about  as  commonly 
practiced,  especially  with  the  scholars  most  distant  from  the  alleys.)  they 
climb  over  the  desks  in  front  of  them. 

Occasionally  the  desks  are  shorter,  accommodating  three  or  four  schol- 
ars; and,  sometimes,  they  are  intended  to  accommodate  two  scholars  only, 
so  that  each  of  them,  (excepting  the  outer  ones  at  the  end  desks,)  sits  ad- 
jacent to  an  alley,  and  can  pass  to  and  from  his  seat  without  disturbing 
others.  There  is  usually  a  desk,  or  table,  for  the  teacher's  use,  (or  at 
least  &  place  for  one.)  at  the  end  of  the  house  not  occupied  by  the  cross 
seats. 

2.  The  second  class  embraces  those  in  which  the  desks  extend  across 
the  house,  with  an  alley  through  the  middle  of  it  lengthwise,  and  occa- 
sionally one  around  the  outside  of  the  room.  All  the  desks  of  the  second 
class  front  the  teacher's  desk  or  table. 

3.  The  third  class  embraces  those  which  are  constructed  with  a  row  of 
desks  along  each  side  of  the  house,  and  across  one  end  of  it,  the  desks 
fronting  the  walls  of  the  house,  so  that  the  backs  of  the  scholars,  while 
sitting  at  them,  are  turned  towards  the  teacher.  In  this  class  of  houses 
there  are  usually  three  long  seats  without  backs,  just  within  the  desks. 
Sometimes  the  seats  are  joined  at  the  corners  so  as  to  continue  unbroken, 
twice  the  length  of  the  house  and  once  its  width,  a  distance  of  forty-five 
or  fifty  feet.  There  is  usually  a  second  tier  of  seats,  and  sometimes  desks 
within  them,  fronting  the  central  part  of  the  room. 

There  is  one  impropriety  in  the  construction  of  a  majority  of  school- 
houses.  The  desks  are  generally  constructed  with  close  fronts  extend- 
ing to  the  floor,  whereby  a  free  circulation  of  air,  and  consequent  equili- 
brium of  temperature,  are  interrupted,  which  would  take  place  were  the 
seats  and  desks  so  arranged  as  to  allow  suitable  channels  of  communica- 
tion. The  scholars  behind  the  desks  are  necessarily  troubled  with  cold 
feet,  unless  the  room  is  kept  too  warm.  Were  this  evil  removed,  the 
first  class,  with  short  desks,  would  constitute  a  very  comfortable  and  con- 
venient arrangement,  except  from  the  circumstance  that  the  children  are 
placed  opposite  each  other,  which  is  a  serious  evil,  especially  where  both 
sexes  are  in  the  same  room,  as  is  the  case  in  nearly  all  of  our  common 
schools. 

Another  objection  to  long  desks,  is  the  inconvenience  to  which  the 
scholars  are  subjected  in  passing  to  and  from  their  seats.  This  objection 
exists  to  a  considerable  extent  in  the  second  class  of  houses,  especially 
where  there  is  not  an  alley  around  the  outside  of  the  room.  Were  it  not 
for  this  inconvenience, — which  might  be  obviated  by  introducing  a  greater 
number  of  alleys  and  shortening  the  desks,  so  as  to  accommodate  but  two 
scholars,  each  of  whom  would  sit  adjacent  to  an  alley,  and  could  pass  to 
and  from  his  seat  without  disturbing  others — the  second  would,  in  my 
judgment,  constitute  the  preferable  plan.     All  the  scholars  should  faca 

3 


34  INTRODUCTION. 

the  teacher,  but  none  of  them  should  face  each  other.  This  is  particu- 
larly important  where  both  sexes  attend  the  same  school. 

And  what  shall  I  say  of  the  third  class  ? — I  can  readily  enumerate 
some  of  its  inconveniences,  but  its  real  advantages  are,  in  my  opinion, 
few.  The  following  are  some  of  the  inconveniences :  1.  There  is  little 
or  no  uniformity,  usually,  in  the  position  of  the  scholars.  Some  of  them 
face  the  walls,  others  the  inner  part  of  the  room,  and  others  still  sit  astride 
the  seat.  2.  When  the  teacher  desires  the  attention  of  the  school,  a  por- 
tion of  the  scholars  must  either  turn  about,  or  sit  with  their  backs  towards 
him,  while  he  addresses  them.  3.  In  changing  their  positions  in  foul 
weather,  the  scholars  are  apt  to  muddy  the  seats,  and  the  clothes  of  those 
who  sit  adjacent  to  them.  4.  The  change  of  position  is  frequently  em- 
barrassing to  the  girls.  '  5.  Front  lights  are  less  pleasant,  and  more  inju- 
rious to  the  eyes,  than  side  lights  or  back  ones  are.  6.  Sitting  on  a  plane 
seat,  without  a  back,  is  uncomfortable,  and  often  engenders  disease  of  the 
spine,  especially  in  childhood  and  youth. 

The  principal  supposed  advantage  of  this  construction  is,  I  believe,  that 
it  affords  the  teacher  a  better  opportunity  for  detecting  the  scholars  when 
engaged  in  mischief.  I  do  not  see  how  any  material  advantage  of  this 
kind  can  exist,  till  the  bodies  of  children  become  transparent. 

But  were  the  supposed  advantage  real,  it  seems  to  me  to  be  tempting 
children  to  do  wrong,  to  give  the  teacher  an  opportunity  of  displaying  his 
skill  in  detecting  them.  When  children  cannot  see  their  teacher,  they 
frequently  think  he  cannot  see  them,  and  conduct  accordingly. 

There  are  several  inconveniences  not  yet  specified,  existing  to  a  less 
or  greater  extent,  in  each  of  the  three  classes  of  houses  I  have  described. 

1.  The  height  of  the  seats,  although  sometimes  adjusted  with  great 
care,  is  frequently  determined  without  any  apparent  regard  to  the  size 
and  comfort  of  the  scholars  who  are  to  occupy  them.  I  have  visited 
many  schools  in  which  the  majority  of  the  scholars  reverse  the  ordinary 
practice  of  standing  up  and  sitting  down.  They  literally  sit  up  and  stand 
down,  their  heads  being  higher  while  sitting  than  when  standing. 

2.  The  desks,  with  their  close  fronts,  are  frequently  several  inches  too 
high.  I  have  visited  many  schools  in  which  all  that  could  be  seen  of  a 
majority  of  the  scholars  occupying  the  back  seats,  was  a  part  of  their 
heads,  and  that,  too,  when  they  sat  erect  upon  their  seats.  The  desks, 
moreover,  are  frequently  inclined  twenty-five  or  thirty  degrees,  so  that  a 
book  laid  upon  them  immediately  slides  off.  An  inclination  of  one  inch 
to  the  foot  will  be  found  more  convenient  than  greater  obliquity.  A 
space  of  three  inches  on  the  most  distant  portion  of  the  desk,  should  be 
left  horizontal,  for  inkstands,  pencils,  pens,  etc. 

3.  The  floor  is  sometimes  considerably  inclined,  for  the  purpose,  I  sup- 
pose, of  giving  the  teacher  a  better  opportunity  of  seeing  the  more  dis- 
tant scholars.  The  whole  school  is  not  only  subjected  to  the  inconven- 
ience of  walking  up  and  down  an  inclined  plane,  but  what  is  much  worse, 
when  scholars  sit  upon  their  seats,  and  rest  their  feet  upon  the  floor, 
when  within  reach,  they  are  constantly  sliding  from  under  them. 

School-houses  are  not  generally  furnished  with  suitable  conveniences 
for  disposing  of  the  loose  wearing  apparel  of  the  scholars,  their  dinners, 
etc.  There  are  sometimes  a  few  nails  or  shelves,  in  a  common  entry, 
through  which  all  the  scholars  pass,  upon  which  a  portion  of  their  clothes 
may  be  hung  or  laid,  and  where  dinners  may  be  deposited.  But  in  such 
cases,  the  outside  door  is  usually  left  open,  the  rain  and  snow  beat  in,  and 
the  scholars,  in  haste  to  get  their  own  clothes,  frequently  pull  down  as 
many  more,  which  are  trampled  under  foot.  Moreover,  the  dinners  are 
frozen,  and  not  unfrequently  they  are  devoured  by  dogs,  and  even  by  the 
hogs  that  run  in  the  street.  But  the  majority  of  school-houses  are  not 
furnished  with  an  entry ;  and  where  there  is  one,  frequently  not  even  a 


SCHOOL-HOUSES  AS  THEY  ARE.  35 

nail  can  be  found  in  it,  upon  which  a  single  article  of  clothing  may  be 
hung.  Neither  are  there  nails  or  shelves  for  this  purpose  within  the 
school-room.  Scholars  generally  are  obliged  to  throw  their  clothes 
across  the  desks,  upon  the  seats,  or  into  the  windows. 

School-houses  are  generally  warmed  by  means  of  stoves,  some  of 
which  are  in  a  good  condition,  and  supplied  with  dry  wood  from  the  wood- 
house.  The  instances,  however,  in  which  such  facilities  for  warming 
exist,  are  comparatively  few.  It  is  much  more  common  to  see  cracked 
and  broken  stoves,  the  doors  without  either  hinges  or  latch,  and  rusty  pipe 
of  various  sizes.  Green  wood,  and  that  which  is  old  and  partly  decayed, 
either  drenched  with  rain  or  covered  with  snow,  is  much  more  frequently 
used  for  fuel,  than  sound,  seasoned  wood,  protected  from  the  weather  by 
a  suitable  wood-house.  With  this  state  of  tilings,  it  is  difficult  to  kindle 
a  fire,  which  burns  poorly,  at  best,  when  kindled.  The  room  is  filled 
with  smoke  a  considerable  part  of  the  time,  especially  in  stormy  weather. 
The  school  is  frequently  interrupted  two  or  three  times  a  day,  to  fasten 
together  and  tie  up  the  stove  pipe.  This  may  seem  a  little  like  exagger- 
ation. I  know  there  are  many  exceptions.  But  in  a  majority  of  in- 
stances some  of  these  inconveniences  exist,  and  the  most  of  them  are 
united  in  more  cases  than  people  are  aware  of.  I  have  heard  trustees 
and  patrons  who  have  visited  their  school  with  me,  for  the  first  time  in 
several  years,  say,  "  We  ought  to  have  some  dry  wood  to  kindle  with ;" 
"  I  did'nt  know  as  it  was  so  smoky ;"  "  We  must  get  some  new  pipe ; 
really  our  stove  is  getting  dangerous,"  etc.  And  some  of  the  boys  have 
relieved  the  embarrassment  of  their  parents  by  saying,  "  It  don't  smoke 
near  as  bad  to-day  as  it  does  sometimes." 

The  principal  reason  why  the  stoves  in  our  school-houses  are  so  cracked 
and  broken,  and  why  the  pipes  are  so  rusty  and  open,  lies  in  the  circum- 
stance that  green  wood  from  the  snow  bank,  is  used  for  fuel,  instead  of 
dry  wood  from  the  wood-house.  There  are  at  least  three  reasons  why 
this  is  poor  policy. 

1.  It  takes  at  least  double  the  amount  of  wood.  A  considerable  portion 
of  the  otherwise  sensible  heat  becomes  latent  in  the  conversion  of  ice, 
snow  and  moisture  into  steam. 

2.  The  steam  thus  generated  cracks  the  stove  and  rusts  the  pipe,  so 
that  they  will  not  last  one  half  as  long  as  though  dry  wood  from  the  wood- 
house  were  used.     And, 

3.  It  is  impossible  to  preserve  an  even  temperature.  Sometimes  it  is 
too  cold,  and  at  other  times  it  is  too  warm.  Several  teachers  have  in- 
formed me  that  in  order  to  keep  their  fires  from  going  out,  it  was  neces- 
sary to  have  their  stoves  constantly  full  of  wood,  that  a  portion  of  it 
might  be  seasoning  while  the  rest  was  burning.  Moreover,  very  offen- 
sive and  injurious  gases  are  generated  in  this  manner. 

There  are,  perhaps,  in  the  majority  of  school-houses,  a  pail  for  water, 
cup,  and  broom,  and  a  chair  for  the  teacher.  Some  one  or  more  of  these 
are  frequently  wanting.  I  need  hardly  say  every  school-house  shoiild  be 
supplied  with  them  all.  In  addition  to  these,  every  school-house  should 
be  furnished  with  the  following  articles : — 1.  An  evaporating  dish  for  the 
stove,  which  should  be  supplied  with  clean  pure  water.  2.  A  thermom- 
eter, by  which  the  temperature  of  the  room  may  be  regulated.  3.  A 
clock,  by  which  the  time  of  beginning  and  closing  school,  and  conducting 
all  its  exercises,  may  be  governed.  4.  A  shovel  and  tongs.  5.  An  ash- 
pail  and  ash-house.  For  want  of  these,  much  filth  is  frequently  suffered 
to  accumulate  in  and  about  the  school-house,  and  not  unfrequently  the 
house  itself  takes  fire  and  burns  down.  6.  A  wood-house,  well  supplied 
with  seasoned  wood.  7.  A  well,  with  provisions  not  only  for  drinking, 
but  for  the  cleanliness  of  pupils.  8.  At  last,  though  not  least,  in  this  con- 
nection, two  privies,  in  the  rear  of  the  school-house,  separated  by  a  high 


36  INTRODUCTION. 

close  fence,  one  for  the  boys  and  the  other  for  the  girls.  For  want  o. 
these  indispensable  appendages  of  civilization,  the  delicacy  of  children 
is  frequently  offended,  and  their  morals  corrupted.  Nay,  more,  the  un- 
natural detention  of  the  faces,  when  nature  calls  for  an  evacuation,  is  fre- 
quently the  foundation  for  chronic  diseases,  and  the' principal  cause  of 
permanent  ill  health,  resulting  not  unfrequently  in  premature  death. 

In  architectural  appearance,  school-houses  have  more  resembled  barns, 
sheds  for  cattle,  or  mechanic  shops,  than  Temples  of  Science, — windows 
are  broken — benches  are  mutilated — desks  are  cut  up — wood  is  unpro- 
vided— out  buildings  are  neglected — obscene  images  and  vulgar  deline- 
ations meet  the  eye  without  and  within — the  plastering  is  smoked  and 
patched — the  roof  is  so  open  as  to  let  in  a  flood  of  water  in  a  storm,  suffi- 
cient to  drown  out  a  school,  were  not  the  floor  equally  open." 

We  close  this  mass  of  testimony  as  to  the  deplorable  condition  of 
the  common,  or  public  school-houses  in  States  where  public  instruc- 
tion has  received  the  most  attention,  with  an  extract  from  a'  "  Report 
Jon   School-houses  published  by  order  of  the  Directors  of  the  Essex 
County  Teachers'  Association  in  1833." 

"  There  is  one  subject  more  to  which  we  must  be  permitted  to  refer. 
One  in  which  the  morals  of  the  young  are  intimately  connected,  one  in 
which  parents,  instructors,  and  scholars,  should  unite  their  efforts  to  pro- 
duce a  reform ;  there  should  be  nothing  in  or  about  school-houses,  calcu- 
lated to  defile  the  mind,  corrupt  the  heart,  or  excite  unholy  and  forbidden 
appetites ;  yet  considering  the  various  character  of  those  brought  together 
incur  public  schools,  and  considering  also  how  inventive  are  corrupt, 
minds,  in  exhibiting  openly  the  defilement  which  reigns  within,  Ave  do  not 
know  but  we  must  expect  that  school-houses,  as  well  as  other  public 
buildings,  and  even  fences,  will  continue  to  bear  occasional  marks  both  of 
lust  and  profaneness.  But  we  must  confess  that  the  general  apathy 
which  apparently  exists  on  this  subject,  does  appear  strange  to  us.  It  is 
a  humbling  fact,  that  in  many  of  these  houses,  there  are  highly  indecent, 
profane,  and  libidinous  marks,  images  and  expressions,  some  of  which  are 
spread  out  in  broad  characters  on  the  walls,  where  they  unavoidably 
meet  the  eyes  of  all  who  come  into  the  house,  or  being  on  the  outside, 
salute  the  traveler  as  he  passes  by,  wounding  the  delicate,  and  annoying 
the  moral  sensibilities  of  the  heart.  "While  there  is  still  a  much  greater 
number  in  smaller  character,  upon  the  tables  and  seats  of  the  students, 
and  even  in  some  instances,  of  the  instructors,  constantly  before  the  eyes 
of  those  who  happen  to  occupy  them.  How  contaminating  these  must 
be,  no  one  can  be  entirely  insensible.  And  yet  how  unalarmed,  or  if  not 
entirely  unalarmed,  how  little  is  the  mind  of  community  directed  to  the 
subject,  and  how  little  effort  put  forth  to  stay  this  fountain  of  corruption. 
We  will  mention  as  evidence  of  the  public  apathy,  one  house  which  we 
suppose  is  this  day,  it  certainly  was  a  kw  months  since,  defiled  by  images 
and  expressions  of  the  kind  referred  to,  spread  out  in  open  observation 
upon  its  walls,  which  are  known  to  have  been  there  for  eight  or  ten 
years.  In  this  building  during  all  this  time,  the  summer  and  winter 
schools  have  been  kept ;  here  the  district  have  held  their  business  meet- 
ings; here  frequently  has  been  the  singing-school;  here,  too,  religious 
meetings  have  often  been  held ;  here,  too,  the  school  committee,  the  fathers, 
mothers,  and  friends  of  the  children,  have  come  to  witness  the  progress 
of  their  children  in  knowledge  and  virtue ;  all  of  whom  must  have  wit- 
nessed, and  been  ashamed  of  their  defilement,  and  yet  no  effectual  effort 
has  been  put  forth  to  remove  them.     Such  things  ought  not  to  be ;  thev 


SCHOOL-HOUSES  AS  THEY  ARE. 


37 


can.  to  a  considerable  extent,  be  prevented.     The  community  are  not 
therefore  altogether  clear  in  this  matter.  r 

We  will  close  these  remarks  by  observing  thatlafter  an  extensive  and 
careful  examination  of  the  state  of  a  great  number  of  school-houses  in  this  •/ 
and  other  States,  we  are  constrained  to  believe,  that  in  regard  to  accom- 
modation, the  convicts  in  the  State  Prisons,  ^except  those  condemned  to 
solitary  and  perpetual  confinement,  and  we  are  not  certain  that  in  all 
cases  these  should  be  excepted,[are  better  provided  for,  than  the  dear 
children  of  New  England,  the  glory  of  the  present,  and  the  hope  of  the 
coming  agfe.  And  when  we  regard  the  deleterious  effect  whicffihe  want 
of  accommodation  and  other  imperfectionsjiri  and  about  these  buildings, 
must  have  upon  the  growth,  health,  and  perfectness  of  the  bodily  system, 
upon  the  mental  and  moral  power,  upon  the  tender  and  delicate  feeling 
of  the  heart,  we  must  suppose  Ehere  is  as  pressing  a  call  for  the  direct 
interference  of  the  wise  and  benevolent,  to  produce  an  improvement,  as 
there  is  for  the  efforts  of  the  Prison  Discipline  Society^or  for  many  of  the 
benevolent  exertions  of  the  day.  And  we  do  most  solemnly  and  affec- 
tionately call  upon  all,  according  to  their  situation  in  life,  to  direct  their 
attention  to  the  subject ;  for  the  bodies,  the  minds,  the  hearts  of  the  young 
and  rising  generation  require  this.  It  is  a  service  due  to  the  present  and 
future  generation.     A  service  due  to  their  bodies  and  souls." 


SCHOOL  ABCHITECTURE 


In  treating  of  School  Architecture,  it  will  be  convenient  to  pre- 
sent— 

I.  Common  Errors  to  be  avoided. 
II.  General  Principles  to  be  observed. 

Ill  Plans  and  directions  for  erecting  and  fitting  up  school-houses 
adapted  to  the  varying  circumstances  of  country  and  city,  of  a 
small,  and  a  large  number  of  scholars,  of  schools  of  different 
grades  and  of  different  systems  of  instruction. 

I.  COMMON  ERRORS  IN  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

Under  this  head  it  will  be  sufficient  to  enumerate  the  principal 
features  of  school-houses  as  they  are. 

They  are,  almost  universally,  badly  located,  exposed  to  the  noise, 
dust  and  danger  of  the  highway,  unattractive,  if  not  positively  repul- 
sive in  their  external  and  internal  appearance,  and  built  at  the  least 
possible  expense  of  material  and  labor. 

They  are  too  small.  There  is  no  separate  entry  for  boys  and  girls 
appropriately  fitted  up  ;  no  sufficient  space  for  the  convenient  seating 
and  necessary  movements  of  the  scholars  ;  no  platform,  desk,  or  re- 
citation room  for  the  teacher. 

They  are  badly  lighted.  The  windows  are  inserted  on  three  or 
four  sides  of  the  room,  without  blinds  or  curtains  to  prevent  the  in- 
convenience and  danger  from  cross-lights,  and  the  excess  of  light 
falling  directly  on  the  eyes  or  reflected  from  the  book,  and  the  dis- 
tracting influence  of  passing  objects  and  events  out  of  doors. 

They  are  not  properly  ventilated.  The  purity  of  the  atmosphere 
is  not  preserved  by  providing  for  the  escape  of  such  portions  of  the 
air  as  have  become  offensive  and  poisonous  by  the  process  of  breath- 
ing, and  by  the  matter  which  is  constantly  escaping  from  the  lungs 
in  vapor,  and  from  the  surface  of  the  body  in  insensible  perspiration. 

They  are  imperfectly  warmed.  The  rush  of  cold  air  through 
cracks  and  defects  in  the  doors,  windows,  floor  and  plastering  is  not 
guarded  against.  The  air  which  is  heated  is  already  impure  from 
having  been  breathed,  and  made  more  so  by  noxious  gases  arising 
from  the  burning  of  floating  particles  of  vegetable  and  animal  matter 
coming  in  contact  with  the  hot  iron.     The  heat  is  not  equally  dif- 


40  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

fused,  so  that  one  portion  of  a  school-room  is  frequently  overheated, 
while  another  portion,  especially  the  floor,  is  too  cold. 

They  are  not  furnished  with  seats  and  desks,  properly  made  and 
adjusted  to  each  other,  and  arranged  in  such  a  manner  as  to  promote 
tfii  comfort  and  convenience  of  the  scholars,  and  the  easy  supervision 
on  the  part  of  the  teacher.  The  seats  are  too  high  and  too  long,  with 
no  suitable  support  for  the  back,  and  especially  for  the  younger  chil- 
dren. The  desks  are  too  high  for  the  seats,  and  are  either  attached 
to  the  wall  on  three  sides  of  the  room,  so  that  the  faces  of  the  schol- 
ars are  turned  from  the  teacher,  and  a  portion  of  them  at  least  are 
tempted  constantly  to  look  out  at  the  windows, — or  the  seats  are  at- 
tached to  the  wall  on  opposite  sides,  and  the  scholars  sit  facing  each 
other.  The  aisles  are  not  so  arranged  that  each  scholar  can  go  to 
and  from  his  seat,  change  his  position,  have  access  to  his  books,  at- 
tend to  his  own  business,  be  seen  and  approached  by  the  teacher, 
without  incommoding  any  other. 

They  are  not  provided  with  blackboards,  maps,  clock,  thermometer, 
and  other  apparatus  and  fixtures  which  are  indispensable  to  a  well 
regulated  and  instructed  school. 

They  are  deficient  in  all  of  those  in  and  out-door  arrangements 
which  help  to  promote  habits  of  order,  and  neatness,  and  cultivate 
delicacy  of  manners  and  refinement  of  feeling.  There  are  no  ver- 
dure, trees,  shrubbery  and  flowers  for  the  eye,  no  scrapers  and  mats 
for  the  feet,  no  hooks  and  shelves  for  cloaks  and  hats,  no  well,  no 
sink,  basin  and  towels  to  secure  cleanliness,  and  no  places  of  retire- 
ment for  children  of  either  sex,  when  performing  the  most  private 
offices  of  nature. 


II.    GENERAL  PRINCIPLES  OF  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

] .     Location — Style — Construction. 

The  location  should  be  dry,  quiet,  pleasant,  and  in  every  respect 
healthy.  To  secure  these  points  and  avoid  the  evils  which  must  in- 
evitably result  from  a  low  and  damp,  or  a  bleak  and  unsheltered  site, 
noisy  and  dirty  thoroughfares,  or  the  vicinity  of  places  of  idle  and 
dissipated  resort,  it  will  sometimes  be  necessary  to  select  alocation 
a  little  removed  from  the  territorial  center  of  the  district,  llf  possi- 
ble, it  should  overlook  a  delightful  country,  present  a  choice  of  sun- 
hine  and  shade,  of  trees  and  flowers^and  be  sheltered  from  the  pre- 
vailing winds  of  winter  by  a  hill-top,  or  a  barrier  of  evergreens.  (VAs 
many  of  the  pleasant  influences  of  nature  as  possible  should  be  gath- 
ered in  and  around  that  spot,  where  the  earliest,  most,  lasting,  and 
most  controlling  associations  of  a  child's  mind  are  forme di 

In  the  city  or  populous  village,  a  rear  lot,  with  access  from  two  or 
more  streets,  should  be  preferred,  not  only  on  the  ground  of  economy, 
but  because  the  convenience  and  safety  of  the  children  in  going  to 
and  from  school,  the  quiet  of  the  school-room,  and  the  advantage  of  a 
more  spacious  and  retired  play-ground  will  be  secured. 

In  the  country,  it  will  sometimes  be  desirable  for  two  or  more  dis- 
tricts to  unite  and  erect  a  school-house  at  some  point,  to  which  ali 


LOCATION— SIZE— LIGHT.  4  J 

the  older  children  can  go  from  all  parts  of  the  associated  districts, 
while  the  younger  attend  school  in  their  several  districts.  In  this 
way  the  school-houses  can  be  more  appropriately  fitted  up,  and  the 
advantage  of  a  more  perfect  classification  in  respect  both  to  instruc- 
tion and  government,  as  well  as  a  wiser  economy  in  the  employ- 
ment of  teachers,  be  gained. 

(JThe  style  of  the  exterior  should  exhibit  good,  architectural  propor- 
tion, and  be  calculated  to  inspire  children  and  the  community  gene- 
rally with  respect  for  the  object  to  which  it  is  devoted1',;  It  should 
bear  a  favorable  comparison,  in  respect  to  attractiveness,  convenience 
and  durability,  with  other  public  edifices,  instead  of  standing  in  re- 
pulsive and  disgraceful  contrast  with  them.  [Every  school-house 
should  be  a  temple,  consecrated  in  prayer  to  the  physical,  intellectu- 
al, and  moral  culture  of  every  child  in  the  community  and  be  asso- 
ciated in  every  heart  with  the  earliest  and  strongest  impressions  of 
truth,  justice,  patriotism,  and  religion. 

The  school-house  should  be  constructed  throughout  in  a  workman- 
like manner.  No  public  edifice  more  deserves,  or  will  better  repay, 
the  skill,  labor,  and  expense,  which  may  be  necessary  to  attain  this 
object,  for  here  the  health,  tastes,  manners,  minds,  and  morals  of  each 
successive  generation  of  children  will  be,  in  a  great  measure,  deter- 
mined for  time  and  eternity. 

2.     Size. 

In  determining  the  size  of  a  school-house,  due  regard  must  be  had 
to  the  following  particulars. — 

First. — A  separate  entry,  or  lobby,  for  each  sex,  furnished  with 
scraper,  mat,  hooks  or  shelves,  sink,  basin  and  towels.  A  separate 
entry  thus  furnished,  will  prevent  much  confusion,  rudeness,  and  im- 
propriety, and  promote  the  health,  refinement,  and  orderly  habits  of 
children. 

Second. — A  room,  or  rooms,  large  enough  to  allow,  1st,  each  occu- 
pant a  suitable  quantity  of  pure  air,  i.  e.  at  least  150  cubic  feet ;  2d,  to 
go  to  and  from  his  seaUwithout  disturbing  any  one  else  ;  3d,  to  sit 
comfortably  in  his  seat,  and  engage  in  his  various  studies  with  unre- 
stricted freedom  of  motion ;  and,  4th,  to  enable  the  teacher  to  ap- 
proach each  scholar  in  his  seat,  pass  conveniently  to  any  part,  of  the 
room,  supervise  the  whole  school,  and  conduct  the  readings  and  re- 
citation of  the  several  classes  properly  arranged. 

Third. — One  or  more  rooms  for  recitation,  apparatus,  library,  and 
other  purposes. 

3.     Light. 

The  arrangements  for  light  should  be  such  as  to  admit  an  abun- 
dance to  every  part  of  the  room,  and  prevent  the  inconvenience  and 
danger  of  any  excess,  glare,  or  reflection,  or  of  cross-light.  A  dome, 
or  sky-light,  or  windows  set  high,  admit  and  distribute  the  light  moss 
steadily  and  equally,  and  with  the  least  interruption  from  shadows. 
Light  from  the  north  is  less  variable,  but  imparts  less  of  cheerfulness 
and  warmth  than  from  other  directions.     Windows  should  be  insert- 


42  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

ed  only  on  two  sides  of  the  room,  at  least  three  and  a  half  or  four 
feet  from  the  floor,  and  should  be  higher  and  larger,  and  fewer  in 
number  than  is  now  common.  There  should  be  no  windows  directly 
back  of  the  teacher,  or  on  the  side  towards  which  the  scholars  face, 
unless  the  light  is  modified  by  curtains  or  by  ground  glass.  Every 
window  should  be  suspended  with  weights,  and  furnished  with  blinds 
and  curtains ;  and  if  in  a  much  frequented  street,  the  lower  sash 
should  be  glazed  with  ground  glass. 

4.     Ventilation. 

Every  school-room  should  be  provided  with  means  of  ventilation, 
or  of  renewing  the  vital  portions  of  the  atmosphere  which  are  con- 
stantly absorbed,  and  of  removing  impurities  which  at  the  same  time 
are  generated,  by  the  breathing  and  insensible  perspiration  of  teacher 
and  pupils,  and  by  burning  fires  and  lights. 

The  importance  of  some  arrangements,  to  effect  a  constant  supply  Oi 
pure  air,  not  only  in  school-rooms,  but  in  any  room  where  living  be- 
ings congregate  in  numbers  for  business  or  pleasure,  and  where  fires 
or  lights  are  kept  burning,  has  been  strangely  overlooked,  to  the  inevit- 
able sacrifice  of  health,  comfort,  and  all  cheerful  and  successful  labor. 
We  practically  defeat  the  beautiful  arrangements  of  our  Creator  by 
which  the  purity  of  the  air  would  otherwise  be  preserved  by  its  own 
constant  renewal,  and  the  harmonious  growth  and  support  of  the 
animal  and  vegetable  world  maintained.  We  voluntarily  stint  our- 
selves in  the  quantity  and  quality  of  an  article,  which  is  more  neces- 
sary to  our  growth,  health  and  comfort,  than  food  or  drink,  and  which 
our  beneficent  Father  has  furnished  pure,  without  money  and  without 
price,  to  our  very  lips,  and  so  abundantly  that  we  are,  or  should  be  ii 
we  did  not  prevent  it,  literally  immersed  in  it  all  our  lives  long. 

The  atmosphere  which  surrounds  our  earth  to  the  height,  of  forty-five 
miles,  and  in  which  we  live,  and  move,  and  have  our  being,  is  com- 
posed mainly  of  two  ingredients,  oxygen  and  nitrogen,  with  a  slight 
admixture  of  carbonic  acid.  The  first  is  called  the  vital  principle,  the 
breath  of  life,  because  by  forming  and  purifying  the  blood  it  alone  sus- 
tains life,  and  supports  combustion.  But  to  sustain  these  processes, 
there  is  a  constant  consumption  of  this  ingredient  going  on,  and,  as  will 
be  seen  by  the  facts  in  the  case,  the  formation  and  accumulation  of 
another  ingredient,  carbonic  acid,  which  is  deadly  hostile  to  animal  life 
and  combustion.  This  gas  is  sometimes  found  in  wells,  and  will  there 
extinguish  a  lighted  candle  if  lowered  into  it,  (and  which  should  al- 
ways be  lowered  into  a  well  before  any  person  ventures  down)  and  is 
not  an  uncommon  cause  of  death  in  such  places.  It  is  almost  always 
present  in  deep  mines  and  at  the  bottom  of  caverns.  Near  Naples 
there  is  one  of  this  description,  called  the  Grotto  del  Cane,  or  the 
Grotto  of  the  Dog,  because  the  guides  who  accompany  strangers  to 
the  interesting  spots  in  the  vicinity  of  Naples,  usually  take  a  dog  along 
with  them  to  show  the  effects  of  this  gas  upon  animal  life.  Being 
heavier  than  common  air  it  flows  along  the  bottom  of  the  cavern,  and 
although  it  does  not  reach  as  high  as  the  mouth  or  nostrils  of  a  grown 
man,  no  sooner  does  a  dog  venture  into  it,  than  the  animal  is  seized 
with  convulsions,  gasps  and  would,  die  if  not  dragged  out  of  it  into  the 


VENTILATION. 


43 


pure  air.  When  recovered,  the  dog  shows  no  more  disposition  to  return 
to  the  cavern,  though  called  by  his  own  name,  than  some  children 
do  to  go  to  places  called  school-houses,  where  experiments  almost  as 
cruel  are  daily  and  hourly  tried.  But  this  gas,  bad  as  it  is  in  reference 
to  animal  life  and  fires,  is  the  essential  agent  by  which  our  earth  is 
clothed  with  the  beauty  of  vegetation,  foliage,  and  flowers,  and  in  their 
growth  and  development,  helps  to  create  or  rather  manufacture  the  ox- 
ygen, which  every  breathing  creature  and  burning  fire  must  consume. 
The  problem  to  be  solved  is  how  shall  we  least  mar  the  beautiful  ar- 
rangement of  Providence,  and  appropriate  to  our  own  use  as  little  as 
possible  of  that,  which  though  death  to  us,  is  the  breath  and  the  life 
blood  of  vegetation. 

The  air  which  we  breathe,  if  pure,  when  taken  into  the  mouth  and 
nostrils,  is  composed  in  every  one  hundred  parts,  of  21  oxygen,  78 
nitrogen,  and  1  of  carbonic  acid.  After  traversing  the  innumerable 
cells  into  which  the  lungs  are  divided  and  subdivided,  and  there  coming 
into  close  contact  with  the  blood,  these  proportions  are  essentially  chan- 
ged, and  when  breathed  out,  the  same  quantity  of  air  containes  8  per 
cent,  less  of  oxygen,  and  8  per  cent,  more  of  carbonic  acid.  If  in  this 
condition  (without  being  renewed,)  it  is  breathed  again,  it  is  deprived  of 
another  quantity  of  oxygen,  and  loaded  with  the  same  amount  of  car- 
bonic acid.  Each  successive  act  of  breathing  reduces  in  this  way, 
and  in  this  proportion,  the  vital  principle  of  the  air,  and  increases  in 
the  same  proportion  that  which  destroys  life.  But  in  the  mean  time 
what  has  been  going  on  in  the  lungs  with  regard  to  the  blood  ?  This 
fluid,  after  traversing  the  whole  frame,  from  the  heart  to  the  extrem- 
ities, parting  all  along  with  its  heat,  and  ministering  its  nourishing  par- 
ticles to  the  growth  and  preservation  of  the  body,  returns  to  the  heart 
changed  in  color,  deprived  somewhat  of  its  vitality,  and  loaded  with 
impurities.  In  this  condition,  for  the  purpose  of  renewing  its  color, 
its  vitality  and  its  purity,  it  makes  the  circuit  of  the  lungs,  where  by 
means  of  innumerable  little  vessels,  inclosing  like  a  delicate  net 
work  each  individual  air  cell,  every  one  of  its  finest  particles  comes 
into  close  contact  with  the  air  which  has  been  breathed.  If  this  air 
has  its  due  proportion  of  oxygen,  the  color  of  the  blood  changes  from 
a  dark  purple  to  a  bright  scarlet ;  its  vital  warmth  is  restored,  and  its 
impurities,  by  the  union  of  the  oxygen  of  the  air  with  the  carbon  of 
blood,  of  which  these  impurities  are  made  up,  are  thrown  off  in  the 
form  of  carbonic  acid.  Thus  vitalized  and  purified,  it  enters  the  heart 
to  be  sent  out  again  through  the  system  on  its  errand  of  life  and  be- 
neficence, to  build  up  and  repair  the  solid  frame  work  of  the  body,  give 
tone  and  vigor  to  its  muscles  and  restring  all  its  nerves  to  vibrate  in 
unison  with  the  glorious  sights  and  thrilling  sounds  of  nature,  and  the 
still  sad  music  of  humanity. 

But  in  case  the  air  with  which  the  blood  comes  in  contact,  through 
the  thin  membranes  that  constitute  the  cells  of  the  lungs,  does  not 
contain  its  due  proportion  of  oxygen,  viz.  20  or  21  per  cent,  as  when 
it  has  once  been  breathed,  then  the  blood  returns  to  the  heart  unen- 
dued  with  newness  of  life,  and  loaded  with  carbon  and  other  impurities 
which  unfit  it  for  the  purposes  of  nourishment,  the  repair,  and  main- 


44  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

tenance  of  the  vigorous  actions  of  all  the  parts,  and  especially  of  the 
brain,  and  spinal  column,  the  great  fountains  of  nervous  power.  Ii 
this  process  is  long  continued,  even  though  the  air  be  but  slightly  de- 
teriorated, the  effects  will  be  evident  in  the  languid  and  feeble  action 
of  the  muscles,  the  sunken  eye,  the  squalid  hue  of  the  skin,  the  unnat- 
ural irritability  of  the  nervous  system,  a  disinclination  to  all  mental 
and  bodily  exertion,  and  a  tendency  to  stupor,  headache  and  fainting. 
If  the  air  is  very  impure,  i.  e;  has  but  little  or  no  oxygen  and  much 
carbonic  acid,  then  the  imperfect  and  poisoned  blood  will  act  with  a 
peculiar  and  malignant  energy  on  the  whole  system,  and  especially 
on  the  brain,  and  convulsions,  apoplexy,  and  death  must  ensue. 

Abundant  instances  of  the  beneficent  effects  of  pure  air,  and  the 
injurious  and  fatal  results  of  breathing  that  which  is  impure,  might  be 
cited  from  the  history  of  hospitals  and  prisons,  and  writers  generally 
on  health  and  education.  In  the  Dublin  Hospital,  between  the  years 
1781  and  1785,  out  of  7650  children,  2944  died  within  a  fortnight  oi 
their  birth — that  is,  more  than  one  in  three.  Dr.  Clark,  the  physician, 
suspecting  the  cause  to  be  an  imperfeet  supply  of  pure  air,  caused  it  to 
be  introduced  by  means  of  pipes  into  all  of  the  apartments,  and  in  con- 
sequence, during  the  three  following  years,  only  165  out  of  4242  died 
within  the  two  first  weeks  of  their  birth — that  is  less  than  one  in  twen- 
ty. Dr.  Buchan,  at  a  little  earlier  date,  by  the  same  arrangement  re- 
duced the  mortality  of  children  in  a  hospital  in  Yorkshire,  from  fifty 
in  one  hundred  to  one  in  fifty.  In  these  two  cases  there  was  an  im- 
mense saving  of  human  life.  But  the  good  done  by  these  intelligent 
and  observing  physicians  was  not  confined  to  these  hospitals.  For 
in  a  few  years,  the  results  of  their  observation  and  labors  led  to  the 
introduction  of  more  perfect  arrangements  for  a  supply  of  pure  air  in 
all  structures  of  a  similar  character  in  England  and  elsewhere.  And 
at  this  hour  there  are  hospitals  in  this  country  and  in  England,  in 
which  there  is  a  larger  number  of  cubic  feet  of  air,  and  that  kept  pure 
by  perfect  means  of  ventilation,  allowed  to  each  patient,  than  is  contain- 
ed in  many  school-rooms  occupied  by  20,  30,  or  40  children,  heated 
with  a  close  stove,  and  provided  with  no  means  of  ventilation  except 
such  as  time  and  decay  have  made. 

The  diminished  mortality  of  prisons,  and  the  almost  entire  disap- 
pearance of  that  terible  scourge,  the  jail  fever,  so  frequent  before  the 
days  of  Howard,  is  to  be  attributed  mainly  to  the  larger  allowance 
and  regular  supply  of  pure  air  secured  by  improved  principles  of  pris- 
on architecture  and  discipline.  There  are  instances  on  record,  where 
the  inmates  of  prisons  have  escaped  the  visitation  of  some  prevalent 
sickness,  solely  on  the  ground  of  their  cells  being  better  provided 
with  pure  air,  than  the  dwelling-houses  all  around  them.  The  pris- 
oners in  the  Tolbooth,  in  Edinburgh,  were  unaffected  by  the  plague 
which  caused  such  dreadful  mortality  in  that  city,  in  1645,  and  thi9 
exemption  was  attributed  to  their  better  supply  of  pure  air.  Humboldt 
in  his  Personal  Narrative,  mentions  the  case  of  a  seaman  who  was  at 
the  point  of  death,  and  was  obliged  to  be  removed  from  his  hammock, 
which  brought  his  face  to  within  a  foot  of  the  deck,  into  the  open  air 
in  order  to  have  the  sacrament  administered  according  to  the  forms  of 


VENTILATION.  45 

tlie  Catholic  Church.  In  this  place  he  was  expected  to  die,  but  the 
change  from  the  stagnant,  impure  atmosphere  in  which  his  hammock 
was  hung,  to  the  fresh,  purer  atmosphere  of  the  deck,  enabled  the 
powers  of  life  to  rally,  and  from  that  moment  he  began  to  recover. 
Even  the  miserable  remnant  of  the  party  who  were  confined  in  the 
Black  Hole  of  Calcutta,  sick  as  they  were  of  a  malignant,  putrid  fever, 
recovered  on  being  admitted  to  the  fresh  air  of  heaven,  under  proper 
medical  treatment.  But  the  history  of  this  whole  affair  is  a  terrible 
lesson  on  this  subject,  which  though  often  repeated,  cannot,  be  too 
often  dwelt  upon.  This  Black  Hole  is  a  prison  in  Calcutta,  ]  8  feet 
square,  into  which  the  Nabob  of  Bengal  after  the  capture  of  Fort 
William  from  the  British  in  1756,  thrust  146  English  prisoners.  The 
only  opening  to  the  air,  except  the  door,  was  by  two  windows  on  the 
same  side,  strongly  barred  with  iron.  Immediately  on  the  closing  ot 
the  door  a  profuse  perspiration  burst  out  on  every  prisoner.  In  less 
than  an  hour  their  thirst  became  intolerable,  and  their  breathing  dif- 
ficult. The  cry  was  universal  and  incessant  for  air  and  water,  but 
the  former  could  only  come  in  through  the  grated  windows,  and  the  lat- 
ter, when  supplied  by  the  guards  without,  only  aggravated  their  dis- 
tress. All  struggled  to  get  near  the  windows,  and  in  this  death-strug- 
gle as  it  were,  many  were  trampled  under  foot.  In  less  than  three 
hours  several  had  died,  and  nearly  all  the  rest  were  delirious  and 
prayed  for  death  in  any  form.  On  the  opening  of  the  doors  at  six 
o'clock  in  the  morning,  less  than  eleven  hours  after  it  was  closed,  death 
had  indeed  come  to  the  relief  of  123  out  of  the  146,  and  the  remain- 
der had  sunk  down  on  their  dead  bodies  sick  with  a  putrid  fever.  Now 
what  did  all  this  anguish,  and  these  murderous  results  spring  from  ? 
From  breathing  over  and  over  again  air  which  had  become  vitiated 
and  poisonous  by  passing  repeatedly  through  the  lungs,  and  by  exhal- 
ations from  the  surface  of  the  bodies  of  the  persons  confined  there. 
"  This  terrible  example,"  says  Dr.  Combe  in  his  Principles  of  Phys- 
iology, "  ought  not  to  be  lost  upon  us,  and  if  results  so  appalling  arise 
from  the  extreme  corruption  of  the  air,  results,  less  obvious  and  sud- 
den, but  no  less  certain,  may  be  expected  from  every  lesser  degree 
of  impurity." 

"  In  our  school-rooms,"  says  Dr.  Bell,  "  churches,  hospitals  and 
places  of  pifblic  evening  amusements,  and  even  in  our  private  dor- 
mitories, we  not  unfrequently  make  near  approaches  to  the  summa 
ry  poisoning  process  of  the  Black  Hole  at  Calcutta."  We  do  not 
appreciate  the  magnitude  of  the  evils  produced  by  breathing  frequent- 
ly, even  for  a  short  period  at  any  one  time,  a  vitiated  atmosphere, 
because  the  ultimate  results  are  both  remote,  and  the  accumulation  or 
repeated  exposures.  Besides,  the  immediate  effects  may  be  not  only 
slight,  but  may  apparently  disappear  on  our  breathing  again  a  free  and 
pure  air,  so  that  we  forget  to  appreciate  the  temporary  inconvenience 
or  suffering,  and  to  refer  them  to  their  true  cause.  How  often  do  we 
retire  at  night,  perfectly  well,  and  rise  up  in  the  morning  unrefreshed 
with  sleep,  with  an  aching  head,  a  feverish  skin,  and  a  sick  stomach, 
without  reflecting  that  these  symptoms  of  a  diseased  system  are  the 
necessary  effects  of  breathing  the  atmosphere  of  a  chamber,  narrow 


46  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

in  its  dimensions,  closed  against  any  fresh  supply  from  without,  and 
not  unlikely,  made  still  more  close  by  a  curtained  bed,  and  exhausted 
of  even  its  small  quantity  of  oxygen,  by  a  burning  fire  or  lamp? 
These  same  causes,  a  little  longer  in  operation,  or  a  little  more  active, 
would  produce  death  as  surely,  although  not  as  suddenly,  as  a  pan 
of  ignited  charcoal  in  the  room.  Who  has  not  noticed  that  the  faint- 
ing and  sickness  which  so  often  visit  persons,  and  especially  females 
of  delicate  health  in  crowded  churches  and  lecture-rooms,  only  occurs 
after  the  air  has  become  overheated  and  vitiated,  by  having  been  a 
long  time  breathed,  and  that  an  exposure  to  the  open  air  generally 
restores  the  irregular  or  suspended  circulation  of  the  blood  1  In  the 
relief  and  newness  of  life  which  we  experience  on  emerging  from  such 
places  of  crowded  resort,  we  forget  that  the  weariness  and  languor, 
both  of  mind  and  body  which  we  suffered  within,  were  mainly  the 
depressing  effects  of  the  imperfectly  vitalized  blood,  and  that  the  relief 
is  simply  the  renovated  life  and  vigor,  which  the  same  blood,  purified 
of  its  carbon  by  coming  in  contact  with  the  oxygen  of  the  air,  imparts 
to  the  whole  system,  and  especially  to  the  brain.  But  in  spite  of  our 
forgetfulness  of  the  cause,  or  the  apparent  disappearance  of  the  tem- 
porary inconvenience  and  distress,  which  should  warn  us  to  beware- 
of  a  repetition  of  the  same  offence  against  the  laws  of  comfort  and 
health,  repeated  exposures  are  sure  to  induce  or  develope  any  tendency 
to  disease,  especially  of  a  pulmonary  or  nervous  character,  in  our  con- 
stitutions, and  to  undermine  slowly  the  firmest  health.  Who  can  look 
round  on  a  workshop  of  fifteen  or  twenty  females,  breathing  the 
same  unrenewed  atmosphere,  and  sitting  perhaps  in  a  position  which 
constrains  the  free  play  of  the  lungs,  and  not  feel  that  disease,  and 
in  all  probability,  disease  in  the  form  of  that  fell  destroyer  of  our  fair 
countrywomen,  consumption,  will  select  from  among  those  industrious 
girls,  its  ill  starred  victims  ?  The  languor,  debility,  loss  of  appetite, 
difficulty  of  breathing,  coughs,  distortion  of  the  frame,  (fallen  away 
from  the  roundness  natural  to  youth  and  health,)  nervous  irritability, 
and  chronic  affections  of  various  kinds,  so  common  among  females 
in  factories,  even  in  our  own  healthy  New  England,  or  those  who 
have  retired  from  such  factories  to  their  own  homes  to  die,  or  wear 
out  a  dying  life  all  their  days,  are  the  natural  fruits  of  an  exposure,, 
day  after  day,  to  an  atmosphere  constantly  becoming  more  impure- 
from  the  vitiated  breath  of  forty  or  fifty  persons,  and  rendered  still 
more  unfit  for  respiration  by  dust  and  minute  particles  floating  in 
it,  tending  to  irritate  the  already  inflamed  and  sensitive  mem  ;rane 
which  incloses  the  air  cells  of  the  lungs.  To  this  exposure  in  the 
workroom  should  be  added  the  want  of  cheerful  exercise,  and  inno- 
cent recreation  in  the  open  air,  and  the  custom  of  herding  together 
at  night  in  the  small,  unventilated  sleeping  apartments  of  our  factory 
boarding-houses. 

In  the  school-room  the  same  poisoning  process  goes  on  day  after 
day,  and  if  the  work  is  less  summary,  it  is  in  the  end  more  extensive- 
ly fatal,  than  in  the  Black  Hole  of  Calcutta.  Every  man  and  wo'nan, 
who  received  any  portion  of  their  early  education  in  the  ct  >mmon  school^ 
can  testify  to  the  narrow  dimensions',,  and  low  ceiling  of  the  school" 


VENTILATION. 


47 


rooms,  and  to  the  discomfort  arising  from  the  close,  stagnant,  offen- 
sive atmosphere,  which  they  were  obliged  to  breathe.  Who  does 
not  remember  the  comparative  freshness  and  vigor  of  mind  and  body 
with  which  the  morning's  study  and  recitations  were  begun,  and  the 
languor  and  weariness  of  body,  the  confusion  of  mind,  the  dry 
skin,  the  flushed  cheek,  the  aching  head,  the  sickening  sensations, 
the  unnatural  demand  for  drink,  the  thousand  excuses  to  get  out  of 
doors,  which  came  along  in  succession  as  the  day  advanced,  and  espe- 
cially in  a  winter's  afternoon,  when  the  overheated  and  unrenewed 
atmosphere  had  become  obvious  to  every  sense  ?  These  were  nature's 
signals  of  distress,  and  who  can  forget  the  delicious  sensations  with 
which  her  holy  breath,  when  admitted  on  the  occasional  opening  of 
the  door,  would  visit  the  brow  and  face,  and  be  felt  all  along  the  revi- 
talized blood,  or  the  newness  of  life  with  which  nerve,  muscle,  and 
mind  were  endued  by  free  exercise  in  the  open  air  at  the  recess,  and 
the  close  of  the  school?  Let  any  one  who  is  sceptical  on  this  point 
visit  the  school  of  his  own  district,  where  his  own  children  perhaps  are 
condemned  to  a  shorter  allowance  of  pure  air  than  the  criminals  of  the 
State,  and  he  cannot  fail  to  see  in  the  pale  and  wearied  countenances 
of  the  pupils,  the  languor  and  uneasiness  manifested,  especially  by  the 
younger  children,  and  exhaustion  and  irritability  of  the  teacher,  a  de- 
monstration that  the  atmosphere  of  the  room  is  no  longer  such  as  the 
comfort,  health  and  cheerful  labor  of  both  teacher  and  pupils  require. 

In  this  way  the  seeds  of  disease  are  sown  broadcast  among 
the  young,  and  especially  among  teachers  of  delicate  health.  "  In 
looking  back,"  says  the  venerable  Dr.  Woodbridge  in  a  communication 
on  school-houses  to  the  American  Institute  of  Instruction,  "  upon  the 
languor  of  fifty  years  of  labor  as  a  teacher,  reiterated  with  many  a 
weary  day,  I  attribute  a  great  proportion  of  it  to  mephetic  air  ;  nor  can 
I  doubt,  that  it  has  compelled  many  worthy  and  promising  teachers 
to  quit  the  employment.  Neither  can  I  doubt,  that  it  has  been  the 
great  cause  of  their  subsequently  sickly  habits  and  untimely  decease."' 
A  physician  in  Massachusetts,  selected  two  schools,  of  nearly  the- 
same  number  of  children,  belonging  to  families  of  the  same  condition 
of  life,  and  no  causes,  independent  of  the  circumstances  of  their  sev- 
eral school-houses,  were  known  to  affect  their  health.  One  house- 
was  dry  and  properly  ventilated — the  other  damp,  and  not  ventilated. 
In  the  former,  during  a  period  of  forty-five  days,  five  scholars  were- 
absent  from  sickness  to  the  amount  in  the  whole  of  twenty  days.  In 
the  latter,  during  the  same  period  of  time  and  from  the  same  cause, 
nineteen  children  were  absent  to  an  amount  in  all  of  one  hundred  and 
forty-five  days,  and  the  appearance  of  the  children  not  thus  detained 
by  sickness  indicated  a  marked  difference  in  their  condition  as  to 
health. 

The  necessity  of  renewing  the  atmosphere,  does  not  arise  solely 
from  the  consumption  of  the  oxygen,  and  the  constant  generation  of 
carbonic  acid,  but  from  the  presence  of  other  destructive  agents,  and 
impurities.  There  is  carburetted  hydrogen,  which  Dr.  Dunglinson 
in  his  Physiology,  characterizes,  "as  very  depressing  to  the  vita! 
unctions.     Even  when  largely  diluted  with  atmospheric  air,  it  occa 


48  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

sions  vertigo,  sickness,  diminution  of  the  force  and  velocity  Oi 
the  pulse,  reduction  of  muscular  vigor  and  every  symptom  of  di- 
minished power."  There  is  also  sulphuretted  hydrogen,  which  the 
same  author  says,  in  its  pure  state,  kills  instantly,  and  in  its  dilu- 
ted state,  produces  powerful  sedative  effects  on  the  pulse,  muscles, 
and  whole  nervous  system.  There  are  also  offensive  and  destructive 
impurities  arising  from  the  decomposition  of  animal  and  vegeta- 
ble matter  in  contact  with  the  stove,  or  dissolved  in  the  evaporating 
dish. 

The  objects  to  be  attained  are — the  removal  of  such  impurities,  as 
have  been  referred  to,  and  which  are  constantly  generated,  wher- 
ever there  is  animal  life  and  burning  fires,  and  the  due  supply  of  that 
vital  principle,  which  is  constantly  consumed  by  breathing  and  com- 
bustion. The  first  can  be  in  no  other  way  effectually  secured,  but 
by  making  provision  for  its  escape  into  the  open  air,  both  at  the  top 
and  the  bottom  of  the  room;  and  the  second,  but  by  introducing  a 
current  of  pure  air  from  the  outside  of  the  building,  warmed  in  win- 
ter by  a  furnace,  or  in  some  other  mode,  before  entering  the  room. 
The  two  processes  should  go  on  together — i.  e.  the  escape  of  the 
vitiated  air  from  within,  and  the  introduction  of  the  pure  air  from 
without.  The  common  fireplace  and  chimney  secures  the  first  ob- 
ject very  effectually,  for  there  is  always  a  strong  current  of  air  near 
the  floor,  towards  the  fire,  to  support  combustion,  and  supply  the  par- 
tial vacuum  in  the  chimney  occasioned  by  the  ascending  column  of 
smoke  and  rarified  air,  and  in  this  current  the  carbonic  acid  and  other 
impurities  will  be  drawn  into  the  fire  and  up  the  chimney.  But  there 
is  such  an  enormous  waste  of  heat  in  these  fireplaces,  and  such  a 
constant  influx  of  cold  air  through  every  crevice  in  the  imperfect  fit- 
tings of  the  doors  and  windows,  to  supply  the  current  always  ascend- 
ing the  chimney,  that  this  mode  of  ventilation  should  not  be  relied 
on.  The  common  mode  of  ventilating,  by  opening  a  window  or  door, 
although  better  than  none,  is  also  imperfect  and  objectionable ;  as 
the  cold  air  falls  directly  on  the  head,  neck,  and  other  exposed  parts 
of  the  body,  when  every  pore  is  open,  and  thus  causes  discomfort, 
catarrh,  and  other  more  serious  evils,  to  those  sitting  near,  besides 
reducing  the  temperature  of  the  whole  room  too  suddenly  and  too 
low.     This  mode,  however,  should  be  resorted  to  at  recess. 

There  should  be  one  or  more  openings,  expressly  for  ventilation, 
both  at  the  top  and  the  bottom  of  the  room,  of  not  less  than  twelve 
inches  square,  capable  of  being  wholly  or  partially  closed  by  a  slide 
of  wood  or  metal,  and,  if  possible,  these  openings,  or  the  receptacle 
into  which  they  discharge,  should  be  connected  with  the  chimney  or 
smoke-flue,  in  which  there  is  already  a  column  of  heated  air.  By  an 
opening  in  or  near  the  ceiling,  the  warmer  impurities  (and  air  when 
heated,  and  especially  when  over-heated,  will  retain  noxious  gases 
longer)  will  pass  off.  By  an  opening  near  the  floor,  into  the  smoke- 
flue,  the  colder  impurities  (and  carbonic  acid,  and  the  other  noxious 
gases,  which  at  first  rise,  soon  diffuse  themselves  through  the  at- 
mosphere, cool,  and  subside  towards  the  floor)  will  be  drawn  in  to 
supply  the  current  of  heated  air  and  smoke  ascending  the  chimney   . 


VENTILATION.  ^g 

These  openings,  however,  may  let  cold  air  in,  and  will  not  always 
secure  the  proper  ventilation  of  a  school-room,  unless  there  is  a  cur- 
rent of  pure  warm  air  flowing  in  at  the  same  time.  Whenever  there 
is  such  a  current  there  will  be  a  greater  economy,  as  well  as  a  more 
rapid  and  uniform  diffusion  of  the  heat,  by  inserting  the  outlet  for  the 
vitiated  air  near  the  floor,  and  at  the  greatest  distance  from  the  inlet 
of  warm  air. 

The  ventilation  of  factories,  mines,  reading  rooms,  and  halls  in- 
tended for  large  assemblies  of  people,  has  received,  of  late,  much  at- 
tention from  men  of  science  and  large  practical  views  in  England. 
In  factories,  the  large  apartments  are  heated  by  steam  or  hot  water 
pipes,  and  the  air  which  has  become  vitiated  by  breathing  and  per- 
spiration, is  drawn  out  by  a  fan-ventilator.  This  contrivance  resem- 
bles somewhat  our  common  fanning  mill,  or  machine  for  winnowing 
grain.  The  impure  air  of  the  room  is  drawn  into  the  fan  to  supply 
that  which  is  condensed  by  the  revolving  wings,  and  forced  out 
through  a  pipe  leading  into  the  open  air. 

In  the  House  of  Commons,  the  rapid  change  of  air  is  effected  by 
means  of  an  artificial  draft  in  a  chimney  erected  on  the  outside  of 
the  building,  and  in  which  a  large  fire  is  kept  burning,  for  this  pur- 
pose solely.  The  fresh  air  from  without  is  first  introduced  through 
a  perforated  wall  into  a  chamber  below,  connected  by  doors  with  an 
apartment  containing  the  hot  water  apparatus  for  warming  the  house. 
The  pure  air  can  chen  be  warmed  or  not,  according  to  the  season  of 
the  year,  before  it  passes  into  the  apartments  above.  This  is  done, 
not  by  rising  in  a  large  volume,  through  one  or  two  openings,  but  im- 
perceptibly through  a  large  number  of  very  small  holes  in  the  floor. 
The  air  thus  admitted,  after  becoming  vitiated  by  respiration  and 
combustion,  escapes  through  apertures  concealed  in  the  ornaments 
of  the  ceiling  into  a  common  flue  or  receptacle  above,  which  is  con- 
nected by  a  descending  pipe  with  the  chimney  noticed  before.  In 
warm  weather,  the  air,  before  passing  into  the  house,  is  cooled  and 
freshened  by  jets  of  water  playing  through  it,  and  by  the  melting  of 
bags  of  ice  suspended  in  the  chamber  below. 

The  rooms  of  the  Wellington  Club,  Liverpool,  are  warmed  and 
ventilated  in  nearly  the  same  way.  The  air  from  without  is  first 
cleansed  from  all  particles  of  coal  dust,  and  other  impurities,  by 
being  passed  through  water,  and  then  brought  to  the  right  tempera- 
ture by  steam  pipes  in  the  air-chamber  below.  It  is  then  forced  into 
the  room  by  a  revolving  fan  through  a  band  of  minutely  perforated 
zinc,  which  skirts  the  large  apartments.  Concealed  in  the  ornament- 
al work  of  the  ceiling,  are  openings  communicating  with  an  air- 
chamber  above,  in  which  is  a  chimney  shaft,  and  in  the  draft  pro- 
duced by  a  fire  in  this,  the  vitiated  air  is  carried  off  so  rapidly  that 
the  odor  of  a  small  quantity  of  rose-water  poured  into  the  air-cham- 
ber below,  is,  in  a  few  seconds,  perceptible  in  every  part  of  the 
room. 

The  principles  involved  in  the  expensive  modes  of  ventilation 
above  described,  can  be  carried  out  in  any  apartment  heated  by  a  fur- 
nace or   other  modes  of  warming  pure  air  before  it  is  introduced 

4 


50  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

which  will  be  treated  of  in  speaking  of  the  temperature  of  school 
rooms. 

There  is  a  mischievous  error  prevailing,  that  if  a  room  is  kept  at 
a  low  temperature  there  is  no  need  of  ventilation.  Dr.  Alcott  men- 
tions the  case  of  a  teacher,  who  when  asked  if  she  did  not  find  it  diffi- 
cult to  keep  her  room  ventilated,  replied,  "  not  at  all,  it  is  one  of  the 
coldest  rooms  in  the  city."  The  necessity  of  ventilation  arises  from 
he  consumption  of  the  oxygen  and  the  generation  and  accumu- 
ation  of  carbonic  acid  principally  in  breathing,  and  both  of  these  pro- 
cesses can  go  on  and  do  go  on,  in  a  cold  room,  as  well  as  in  a  warm  one, 
if  human  beings  are  collected  in  it,  and  goes  on  rapidly  and  fatally  ac- 
cording to  the  number  of  persons  and  the  size  and  closeness  of  the 
apartment.  Dr.  Arnott,  in  his  work  on  "  warming  and  ventilating," 
mentions  a  striking  instance  of  popular  ignorance  with  respect  to  this 
subject,  and  of  a  mischievous  practice  founded  upon  that  ignorance 
among  some  poor  girls  in  Buckinghamshire,  England,  who  gain- 
ed their  livelihood  by  lace-makitvg.  To  save  the  expense  of  fire 
they  were  wont  in  winter  to  choosy  among  the  rooms  belonging  to 
their  families,  the  smallest  which  would  contain  to  the  number 
of  twenty  or  thirty  of  them,  and  then  to  congregate  and  keep  them- 
selves warm  at  their  work  by  breathing.  The  atmosphere  of  the  room, 
as  might  have  been  expected  by  any  one  acquainted  with  its  consti- 
tution and  the  process  going  on,  although  unperceived  by  themselves, 
soon  became  exceedingly  offensive  to  a  stranger  entering,  as  well  as 
highly  injurious  to  them.  The  pale  faces,  broken  health  and  early 
deaths  of  many  of  these  ignorant  self-destroyers  were  the  identical  re- 
sults, a  little  more  remote,  which  are  caused  by  the  atmosphere  of  our 
school-rooms,  churches,  manufactories  and  other  places  where  men 
women  or  children,  are  crowded  together.  These  results  are  quick- 
ened in  an  overheated  atmosphere,  because  such  air  has  less  oxygen, 
and  retains  the  impure  gases  longer.  Still  the  scenes  of  death  and 
misery  in  the  Black  Hole  of  Calcutta  would  have  taken  place,  if  the 
same  prison-house  had  been  in  Greenland. 

5.  Temperature. 

The  means  of  producing,  diffusing  and  duly  regulating  artificial 
heat  in  a  school-room,  is,  in  a  climate  like  ours,  another  of  the  indis- 
pensable conditions  of  health,  comfort  and  successful  labor.  To 
effect  this,  the  structure,  must  not  be  "  a  summer-house  for  winter 
.residence,"  but  be  calculated  to  keep  out  the  cold  wind  and  espe- 
cially to  prevent  its  entering  at  cracks,  and  defects  in  the  doors,  win- 
dows, floors,  and  plastering,  so  as  to  fall  suddenly  and  directly  only 
on  the  feet,  neck,  or  other  sensitive  and  exposed  portions  of  the  body. 
Fuel  of  the  right  kind,  in  the  right  condition,  in  suitable  quantity  and 
in  due  season  must  be  provided.  The  best  modes  of  consuming  it  so 
as  to  extract  its  heat  and  diffuse  it  equally  through  all  parts  of  the 
.room  and  "„i,ain  it  as  long  as  is  safe,  must  be  resorted  to.  The  means 
of  re^  mating  it,  so  as  to  keep  up  a  uniform  temperature  in  different 
,paits  of  the  room,  and  to  graduate  it  to  the  varying  circumstance  s  of  a 


WARMING.  g  l 

school  at  different  periods  of  the  day,  and  in  different  states  of  the 
weather,  must  not  be  overlooked. 

The  open  stove  with  large  pipe,  not  bending  till  the  horizontal  part 
is  carried  ten  or  twelve  feet  above  the  heads  of  the  children,  affords 
as  effectual,  economical  and  unobjectionable  a  mode  of  consuming  the 
fuel  and  disseminating  the  heat  as  any  stove  of  this  kind.  It  is  far 
superior  in  point  of  economy  to  the  open  fireplace,  as  ordinari- 
ly constructed,  in  which  near  seven  eights  of  the  heat  evolved  ascends 
the  chimney  and  only  one  eighth,  or  according  to  Rumford  and  Frank- 
lin, only  one  fifteenth  is  radiated  from  the  front  of  the  fire  into 
the  room.  It  has  to  some  extent  the  cheerful  light  of  the  open  fire, 
to  which  habit,  and  association  have  attached  us,  and  the  advantages 
of  the  latter,  in  opening  broadly  near  the  floor,  and  thus  drawing  in 
the  colder  air  with  the  carbonic  acid  in  the  current  which  goes 
to  sustain  the  combustion  and  ascend  the  large  pipe  of  the  stove. 
Unless  the  common  mode  of  constructing  fireplaces  and  chim- 
neys can  be  greatly  improved,  or  the  original  Franklin  fireplace 
or  the  double  fireplace  be  substituted,  there  is  no  advantage  in  the  open 
fireplace  which  cannot  be  secured  in  the  large  open  stove.  The  orig- 
inal Franklin  stove,  or  fireplace  was  constructed  of  cast  iron,  and  by 
means  of  a  circuitous  chimney  or  smoke  flue,  which  was  surround- 
ed and  intersected  by  air  passages,  opening  at  one  end  out  of  doors, 
and  at  the  other  into  the  room,  the  heat  of  the  fire  was  retained, 
and  a  current  of  fresh  warm  air  was  constantly  flowing  into  the  room. 
This  is  quite  a  different  thing  from  the  ordinary  open  fireplace.  The 
double  fireplace  is  a  modification  of  Franklin's  plan.  It  is  made  from 
any  common  fireplace  by  inserting  within  it  another  fireplace  made 
of  soap  stone,  leaving  an  empty  space  of  about  an  inch  in  depth,  be- 
tween the  two,  so  that  when  finished  the  back  and  sides  may  be  hol- 
low. This  hollow  space,  communicates  at  one  end  with  the  open  air 
by  a  pipe,  and  the  other  opens  into  the  room,  on  the  side  of  the  chim- 
ney. In  this  fireplace  the  advantages  of  an  open  fire  of  wood  orcoa 
can  be  enjoyed  at  the  same  time  a  current  of  air  is  warmed  ir 
the  rear  of  the  fire. 

Various  plans  have  been  proposed  and  adopted,  to  make  the  com- 
mon stove,  whether  close  or  open,  serviceable  in  warming  pure  air 
before  it  is  thrown  into  the  room.  Mr.  Woodbridge  in  his  essay  on 
school-houses,  describes  one  as  follows  : — the  stove  is  inclosed  on 
three  sides  in  a  case  of  sheet  iron,  leaving  a  space  of  two  or  three 
inches  beneath  and  around  the  stove,  and  as  it  rises  around  it  becomes 
warmed  before  it  enters  the  room  at  the  top  of  the  case.  The  case 
is  movable  so  as  to  allow  of  the  cleaning  out  of  any  dust  which  might 
collect  between  it  and  the  stove.  Mr.  Palmer  in  his  Manual  for 
Teachers,  secures  the  same  object  by  conducting  the  air  from  without, 
into  a  passage  which  traverses  the  bottom  of  the  stove  five  or  six  times 
before  it  enters  the  room,  and  thus  becomes  warm. 

In  Millar's  patent  ventilating  school-house  stove  the  air  is  conducted 
from  without,  into  a  chamber  below  the  fire-plate,  and  after  circulating 
through  pipes  around  the  fire,  escapes  into  the  room.  A  more  minute 
description  will  be  given  in  the  second  part  of  this  essay. 


52  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

The  same  thing  can  be  secured  by  a  similar  arrangement  connect" 
ed  with  stoves  for  burning  arthracite  coal.  In  the  Olmsted  stove,  for 
instance,  the  pure  air  from  without  can  be  made  to  pass  in  con- 
tact with  the  exterior,  as  well  as  the  interior  surface  of  the  radiators 
and  thus  be  warmed  before  entering  the  room.  This  stove  has  an 
advantage,  in  admiting  of  the  slow  combustion  of  billets  of  wood  in 
connection  with  nut  or  pea  coal,  and  thus  maintaining  a  fire  which 
will  keep  up  a  uniform  temperature  of  the  proper  degree  at  the 
cheapest  rate.  The  large  radiating  surface,  which  is  nothing  more 
than  prolonged  pipe,  conveniently  arranged,  imbibes  and  diffuses  all 
the  heat  evolved  by  the  combustion  of  the  fuel,  so  that  at  the  point  where 
it  enters  the  chimney,  the  heat  of  the  pipe  is  scarcely  perceptible. 

The  best  mode,  however,  at  the  same  time  of  warming  and  ventila- 
ting a  school-room,  especially  if  it  is  large,  is  by  pure  air  heated  in  a 
stove  or  furnace  placed  in  the  cellar  or  a  room  lower  than  the  one  to  be 
warmed.  No  portion  of  the  room,  or  the  movements  of  the  scholars, 
or  the  supervision  of  the  teacher,  are  encumbered  or  interrupted  by 
stove  or  pipe.  The  fire  in  such  places  can  be  maintained  with- 
out noise  and  without  throwing  dust  or  smoke  into  the  room.  The  of- 
fensive odors  and  impurities  of  burnt  air,  or  rather  of  particles  of  veg- 
etable or  animal  matter  floating  in  the  air,  are  not  experienced.  The 
heat  can  be  conducted  into  the  room  at  different  points,  and  is 
thus  diffused  so  as  to  secure  a  uniform  summer  temperature  in  every 
part  of  it.  A  room  thus  heated,  even  without  any  special  arrangements 
for  this  object,  will  be  tolerably  well  ventilated,  for  the  constant  influx 
of  warm  pure  air  into  the  room  will  force  that  which  is  already  in  it  out 
at  every  crack  and  crevice,  and  thus  reverse  the  process  which  is  or- 
dinarily going  on  in  every  school-room.  By  an  opening  or  rather  sev- 
eral small  openings  into  the  ceiling,  or  a  flue,  which  in  either  case 
should  connect  with  the  outer  air,  the  escape  of  the  impure  air  will 
be  more  effectually  secured. 

But  whatever  may  be  the  mode  of  warming  adopted,  whether  bjr 
open  fireplace,  or  grate,  stove  for  wood  or  coal,  or  furnace,  the  tem- 
perature of  the  room  should  be  uniform,  and  of  the  proper  degree  in 
every  part.  Not  a  child  should  be  exposed  to  sudden  and  extreme 
changes  of  temperature,  or  compelled  when  overheated,  or  at  any  time, 
to  sit  against  an  inlet  of  cold  air,  or,  with  cold  feet.  This  last  is  a  vi- 
olation of  an  indispensable  condition  of  health.  To  secure  a  uniform 
temperature,  a  thermometer  will  not  only  be  convenient,  but  necessary. 
It  cannot  be  ascertained,  for  different  parts  of  a  room  or  for  thirty  or 
forty  persons,  differently  circumstanced  as  to  heat  or  cold,  or  differ- 
ently employed,  some  of  whom  are  seated,  some  standing  or  changing 
their  position  from  time  to  time,  without  some  less  variable  and  uncer- 
tain standard  than  the  teacher's  feelings.  However  anxious  he  may 
be  to  make  every  scholar  comfortable,  he  cannot  be  conscious  at  all 
times  of  the  differing  circumstances  in  which  they  are  placed.  He  is 
not  exposed  to  the  rush  of  cold  air  from  a  broken  or  loose  window,  or 
from  cracks  in  the  ceiling,  or  the  floor.  He  is  not  roasted  by  a  seat 
too  near  the  stove.  He  is  not  liable  to  a  stagnation  of  the  blood  in 
he  feet  from  want  of  exercise  or  an  inconvenient  bench.     Even  though 


WARMING.  gg 

ae  were  capable  of  thus  sympathizing  with,  them,  the  temperature  01 
the  room  after  the  fire  is  thoroughly  going,  and  the  doors  closed,  mav 
pass  gradually  from  65°  to  90°  without  the  change  becoming  percep- 
tible. Now  though  we  may  breathe  freely  in  such  an  atmosphere, 
gradually  heated,  we  cannot  pass  into  the  open  air  40°  or  50°  colder, 
as  would  be  the  case  on  most  winter  days,  and  much  less  receive  a 
current  of  such  air  on  a  portion,  and  a  sensitive  portion  of  the  body, 
without  great  danger.  With  a  thermometer  in  the  room,  the  begin- 
ning and  progress  of  such  a  change  would  be  indicated,  and  could 
be  guarded  against. 

In  our  arrangement  for  artificial  warmth,  especially  in  all  stoves  for 
burning  anthracite  coal,  where  intense  heat  is  liable  to  be  communi- 
cated to  the  iron  surface,  if  we  would  preserve  the  purity  of  the  atmos- 
phere at  all  degrees  of  temperature,  it  is  necessary  to  secure  the 
presence  of  a  certain  quantity  of  moisture.  The  difference  between 
winds  blowing  from  different  quarters,  as  to  health  and  comfort,  is 
principally  owing  to  the  proportion  of  moisture  they  contain.  When- 
ever the  air  has  less  than  its  due  proportion,  it  becomes  powerfully 
absorbent  of  it  in  every  thing  with  which  it  comes  in  contact,  whether 
vegetable  or  animal.  Hence  the  impression  of  burnt  air,  the  disagree- 
able sensation  of  dryness  on  the  surface  of  the  body,  and  the  delicate 
membrane  of  the  throat,  the  shrinking  and  cracking  of  furniture,  the 
blight  and  withering  of  plants,  which  are  universally  experienced  in  a 
dry  and  overheated  apartment.  Most  of  these  and  other  effects  may 
be  avoided  by  not  overheating  the  air,  but  not  altogether.  There  is 
a  difference  in  the  moisture  of  the  atmosphere  at  different  times, 
without  reference  to  artificial  warmth,  and  however  careful  we  may 
be  to  maintain  a  uniform  low  temperature  in  a  school-room,  we  are 
liable  to  experience  some  of  the  inconveniences  above  referred  to. 
These  can  be  avoided,  even  where  the  room  is  overheated,  by  an  evap- 
orating dish  supplied  with  pure  water.  The  water  should  be  frequent- 
ly changed.  The  gathering  and  settling  of  dirt  and  other  impurities 
in  the  vessel  containing  the  water  can  be  guarded  against  by  closing 
the  top  except  .to  admit  a  suspended  linen  or  cotton  cloth,  which  will 
absorb  the  water  and  give  it  out  again  from  its  exposed  surface. 

6.    Seats  and  Desks  for  Scholars. 

In  the  construction  and  arrangement  of  the  seats  and  desks  of  a 
school-room,  due  regard  should  be  had  to  the  convenience,  comfort 
and  health  of  those  who  are  to  occupy  them.  To  secure  these  ob- 
jects, they  should  be  made  for  the  young  and  not  for  grown  persons, 
and  of  varying  heights,  for  children  of  different  ages,  from  four 
years  and  under,  to  sixteen  and  upwards.  They  should  be  adapted 
to  each  other  and  the  purposes  for  which  they  will  be  used,  such 
as  writing  and  ciphering,  so  as  to  prevent  any  awkward,  incon- 
venient or  unhealthy  positions  of  the  limbs,  chest  or  spine.  They 
should  be  easy  of  access,  so  that  every  scholar  can  go  to  and  from  his 
seat  and  change  his  position,  and  the  teacher  can  approach  each  scholar 
and  give  the  required   attention  and  instruction,  without  disturbing 


54  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

any  other  person  than  the  one  concerned.  They  should  be  so  arranged 
as  to  facilitate  habits  of  attention,  take  away  all  temptation  and  en- 
couragement to  violate  the  rules  of  the  school  on  the  part  of  any 
scholar,  and  admit  of  the  constant  and  complete  supervision  of  the 
whole  school  by  the  teacher. 

Each  scholar  should  be  furnished  with  a  seat  and  desk,  properly 
adapted  to  each  other,  as  to  height  and  distance,  and  of  varying  heights, 
the  seats  from  nine  inches  and  a  half,  to  fifteen  and  a  half,  with 
desks  to  correspond)  for  children  of  different  age  or  size.  The  seat 
should  be  so  made,  that  the  feet  of  every  child  when  properly  seated, 
can  rest  on  the  floor,  and  the  upper  and  lower  part  of  the  leg  form 
a  right-angle  at  the  knee  ;  and  the  back,  whether  separated  from,  or 
forming  part  of  the  adjoining  desk  behind,  should  recline  to  cor- 
respond with  the  natural  curves  of  the  spine  and  the  shoulders. 
The  seat  should  be  made,  as  far  as  possible,  like  a  convenient  chair. 

The  desk  for  a  single  scholar  should  be,  at  least,  two  feet  long 
(two  and  a  half  is  better)  by  eighteen  inches  wide,  with  a  shelf  be- 
neath for  books,  and  an  opening  in  the  backside  to  receive  a  slate. 
The  upper  surface  of  the  desk,  except  three  or  four  inches  of 
the  most  distant  portion,  should  slope  one  inch  in  a  foot.  On 
the  level  portion,  along  the  line  of  the  slope  there  should  be  a  groove 
to  prevent  pens  and  pencils  from  rolling  off,  and  an  opening  to 
receive  an  inkstand.  The  top  of  the  inkstand  should  be  on  a  level 
with  the  desk,  and  be  covered  by  a  metallic  lid.  The  end  pieces  or 
supporters  of  the  desk  should  be  so  made  as  to  interfere  as  little  as 
possible  with  sweeping. 

If  the  desk  is  made  to  accommodate  two  scholars  on  one  seat, 
a  partition,  extending  from  the  floor  for  four  or  five  inches  above  the 
surface  of  the  desk,  should  separate  them,  and  if  possible  they  should 
belong  to  different  classes,  so  that  one  will  be  in  his  seat,  while  the 
other  is  at  recitation. 

The  desk  should  nor  be  removed  from  the  seat  either  in  distance 
or  height,  so  far  as  to  require  the  body,  the  neck  or  the  chest  to  be 
bent  forward  in  a  constrained  manner,  or  the  elbow  or  shoulder  blades 
to  be  painfully  elevated  whenever  the  scholar  is  writing  or  ciphering. 
These  last  positions,  to  which  so  many  children  are  forced  by  the 
badly  constructed  seats  and  desks  of  our  ordinary  school-houses,  have 
led  not  unfrequently  to  distortions  of  the  form,  and  particularly  to  spi- 
nal affections  of  the  most  distressing  character.  Such  marked  results 
are  principally  confined  to  females  of  delicate  constitutions  and  stu- 
dious and  sedentary  habits.  While  boys  and  young  men  engage  in 
active  exercise  and  sport  during  the  recess  and  at  the  close  of  the 
school,  and  thus  give  relief  to  the  overstrained  and  unnaturally  applied 
muscles,  and  restore  the  spring  or  elasticity  to  the  cushion-like 
substance  which  gives  flexibility  to  the  spinal  column ;  girls  ex- 
ercise less  in  the  open  air,  indulge  but  little  in  those  sports  which 
give  variety  of  motions  to  the  joints  and  muscles,  and  are  confined 
to  duties  and  studies  which  require  their  being  seated  out  of  school 
hours  too  much  and  too  long  at  any  one  time. 

The  effects  of  the  posture  above  described,  in  writing  or  ciphering 


SEATS  AND  DESKS  FOR  PUPILS.  55 

are  increased  and  even  induced  by  their  being  compelled  to  lean  against 
the  narrow  edge  of  the  writing  desk,  when  their  faces  are  turned  to- 
wards the  teacher.  This  edge  comes  against  the  weakest  portion  of 
the  back,  and  the  inconvenience  or  pain  forces  those  exposed  to  it,  to 
find  relief  by  resting  the  elbows  on  the  desk,  and  thus  giving  an  un- 
natural elevation  to  the  shoulder-blades — or  if  no  support  of  the  kind 
is  provided,  they  lean  against  each  other,  support  the  back  by  closing 
the  hands  over  the  knee,  or  resort  to  some  other  awkward  or  unnatural 
position,  which  if  long  continued  will  cause  more  or  less  of  structural 
deviation,  amounting  not  unfrequently  to  positive  disease  or  deformity. 

Dr.  Woodward  in  a  communication  appended  to  Mr.  Mann's  Re- 
port, remarks : — "  High  and  narrow  seats  are  not  only  extremely  un- 
comfortable for  the  young  scholar,  tending  constantly  to  make  him 
restless  and  noisy,  disturbing  his  temper  and  preventing  his  attention 
to  his  books  ;  but  they  have  also  a  direct  tendency  to  produce  deformity 
of  his  limbs.  As  the  limbs  of  children  are  pliable  or  flexible,  they  are 
made  to  grow  out  of  shape  by  such  awkward  and  unnatural  positions. 

"  Seats  without  backs  have  an  equally  unfavorable  influence  upon 
the  spinal  column.  If  no  rest  is  afforded  the  backs  of  children  while 
seated,  they  almost  necessarily  assume  a  bent  and  crooked  position. 
Such  a  position  often  assumed  and  long  continued,  tends  to  that  defor- 
mity which  has  become  extremely  common  with  children  in  modern 
times  ;  and  leads  to  diseases  of  the  spine  in  innumerable  instances, 
especially  with  delicate  female  children." 

Dr.  J.  V.  C.  Smith,  of  Boston,  in  his  Anatomical  Class  Book, 
says  :— "  There  is  a  radical  defect  in  the  seats  of  our  school-rooms. 
Malformation  of  the  bones,  narrow  chests,  coughs  ending  in  consump- 
tion and  death  in  middle  life,  besides  a  multitude  of  minor  ills,  have 
often  had  their  origin  in  the  school-room."  Again,  "  To  these  wretch- 
ed articles,  viz.  badly  constructed  seats  and  writing  desks,  are  we  to 
look  in  some  measure  for  the  cause  of  so  many  distortions  of  the  bones, 
spinal  diseases,  chronic  affections  now  so  prevalent  throughout  the 
country." 

Dr.  Warren,  in  his  admirable  lecture  before  the  American  Institute 
of  Instruction,  in  1830,  which  should  be  in  the  hand  of  every  teacher 
and  parent,  says  : — "  In  the  course  of  my  observation,  I  have  been 
able  to  satisfy  myself  that  about  one  half  the  young  females  brought 
up  as  they  are  at  present,  undergo  some  visible  and  obvious  change  of 
structure  ;  that  a  considerable  number  are  the  subjects  of  great  and 
permanent  deviations,  and  that  not  a  few  entirely  lose  their  health  from 
the  manner  in  which  they  are  reared."  And  among  the  causes  which 
lead  to  such  mournful  results,  he  enumerates  the  unnatural  elevation 
of  the  right  shoulder,  the  habit  of  bending  the  neck,  and  the  stooping; 
posture  of  the  body  when  engaged  in  writing,  or  similar  exercises  at. 
school. 

No  child  should  under  any  circumstances  be  long,  or  frequently  ex- 
posed to  any  one  or  all  of  these  causes  of  discomfort,  deformity  or  dis- 
ease. Seats  and  desks  can  be  as  easily  and  cheaply  made  of  different 
heights,  and  for  convenient  and  healthy  postures,  as  they  are  now, 
without  reference  to  any  such  considerations.     If  desks  must  be  at- 


56  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

tached  to  sides  uf  the  room,  which  is  objectionable  in  respect  to  ease 
of  supervision,  habits  of  study,  as  well  as  the  morals,  manners  and 
health  of  children,  then  let  the  seats  be  provided  with  a  movable  back 
like  those  in  rail-road  cars  and  in  no  case  be  made  for  more  than  two. 
The  kind  of  back  referred  to,  is  cheap  and  convenient  for  desks  con- 
structed and  arranged  on  any  other  plan.  It  not  only  affords  a  proper 
support  to  the  back,  but.  will  allow  of  the  scholars  standing  up  behind 
he  seat  for  reading  or  recitation,  or  even  for  a  frequent  change  of  po- 
sition which  is  so  much  overlooked  in  schools,  and  by  students 
of  every  grade.  No  position,  if  long  continued,  is  more  irksome  or 
more  unhealthy,  or  at  least  operates  so  insidiously,  and  yet  directly  to 
derange  the  circulation  and  other  vital  functions,  as  sitting,  especially 
upright,  or  with  the  neck  and  chest  bent  forward.  To  young  children, 
it  is  cruel  in  the  extreme,  and  wars  directly  with  all  healthy  and  sym- 
metrical growth,  besides  ruining  the  temper,  and  imparting  a  lasting 
distaste  to  study,  the  school-room,  and  the  teacher. 

Little  children  are  made  to  suffer,  and  many  of  them  permanently, 
from  being  forced  to  sit  long  in  one  position,  without  any  occupation 
for  mind  or  muscles,  on  seats  without  backs  and  so  high  that  their  feet 
cannot  touch,  much  less  rest  on  the  floor.  Nothing  but  the  fear  of 
punishment,  or  its  frequent  application,  can  keep  a  live  child  still  under 
such  circumstances,  and  even  that,  cannot  do  it  long.  Who  has  not 
an  aching  remembrance  of  the  torture  of  this  unnatural  confinement;, 
and  the  burning  sense  of  injustice,  for  punishment  inflicted  for  some 
unavoidable  manifestation  of  uneasiness  and  pain  !  Even  though  the 
seats  are  as  comfortable  as  can  be  made,  young  children  cannot  and 
should  not  be  kept  still  upon  them  long  at  a  time,  and  never  without 
something  innocent  or  useful  to  do,  and  under  no  circumstances,  lon- 
ger than  twenty-five  or  thirty  minutes  in  one  position,  nor  so  long  at 
one  study,  and  that  with  frequent  and  free  exercise  in  the  open  air. 
To  accomplish  this,  great  and  radical  changes  in  the  views  and  prac- 
tice of  teachers,  parents  and  the  community  must  take  place.  No 
where,  in  the  whole  department  of  practical  education,  is  a  gradual 
change  more  needed,  or  should  be  sooner  commenced. 

If  school-houses  are  to  consist  of  but  one  room  for  all  the  children, 
regard  must  be  had  to  the  varying  circumstances  of  the  winter  and 
summer  school.  In  the  former,  the  larger  and  older  children  predom- 
inate, and  in  the  latter,  the  younger  and  smaller,  and  yet  in  both,  the 
younger  and  smaller  are  sadly  neglected,  not  only  in  matters  of  in- 
struction, but  in  physical  comfort.  In  summer,  they,  or  at  least,  a  por- 
tion of  them,  are  seated  "  beyond  soundings,"  on  seats  intended  and 
occupied  by  the  older  scholars  in  winter ;  and  in  winter,  they  are  packed 
away  on  smooth,  high,  backless  slabs,  and  in  a  roasting  proximity  to 
the  fire.  Now  there  is  no  way  of  remedying  this  state  of  things,  but 
by  having  a  school-room  large  enough  to  accommodate  all  who  may 
attend,  and  to  have  seats  and  appropriate  desks  for  all  the  children, 
be  they  young  or  old,  large  or  small.  In  the  winter,  let  so  many  of 
the  seats  and  desks  for  the  smaller  children  as  are  not  wanted  be  re- 
moved to  the  attic,  or  the  wood-room,  and  their  places  supplied  by  some 
for  the  older,  and  in  the  summer  let  this  arrangement  be  reversed. 


ARRANGEMENTS  FOR  TEACHER.  57 

The  most  effectual  way  of  securing  appropriate  accommodations 
for  children  of  different  age  and  size,  is  to  have  two  or  more  school- 
rooms, one  of  which  shall  be  for  the  younger,  and  be  fitted  up  accord- 
ingly. At  one  end,  with  no  windows  in  the  wall,  should  be  a  plat- 
form of  seats  rising  one  above  the  other,  on  which  the  children  can 
be  arranged  at  suitable  times,  for  inspection  as  to  cleanliness,  for  man- 
ual exercise,  and  for  all  simultaneous  exercises,  such  as  singing, 
simple  operations  of  mental  arithmetic,  reading  of  scriptural  and  other 
moral  stories,  and  lessons  on  real  objects,  pictures  and  other  visible 
illustrations.  The  gallery  is  an  economical  arrangement  in  respect 
to  space  and  expense,  and  enables  the  children  to  fix  their  eye  more 
easily  on  the  teacher,  and  the  teacher  to  observe,  explain,  be  heard, 
and  direct  more  perfectly  every  movement  of  the  children,  and  both 
teacher  and  children,  to  profit  by  the  great  principle  of  social  sympa- 
thy, and  imitation.  Along  the  sides  of  the  room  should  be  a  pas- 
sage at  least  two  feet  wide,  and  then  a  desk,  so  made  as  to  hold  a 
thin  layer  of  sand,  and  receive  a  slate  for  each  scholar,  no  matter 
how  young.  The  center  of  the  room  should  be  unencumbered  with 
fixtures  of  any  kind,  so  as  to  allow  of  the  arrangement  of  the  school 
into  drafts  or  classes,  and  the  free  movements  of  the  children  when  ne- 
cessary. Whatever  may  be  the  intellectual  and  moral  exercises  of 
schools  for  small  children,  they  should  be  varied  and  in  such  a  man- 
ner as  to  require  frequent  and  varied  physical  movements — both  change 
of  position  and  place,  from  sitting  to  standing,  from  desk  to  gallery, 
marching,  clapping  of  hands,  and  other  exercises  of  the  joints  and  mus- 
cles which  shall  bring  them  all  into  play,  singing,  &c.  Even  with 
this  diversity  of  occupation  in  doors,  young  children,  whose  healthy 
and  symmetrical  growth  is  governed  by  the  great  laws  of  constant  and 
cheerful  motion,  require  gamboling,  frolicsome  exercises  for  ten  or 
fifteen  minutes,  as  often  as  every  hour  they  are  mentally  occupied,  in 
the  open  air,  if  it  is  pleasant,  or  in  the  woodshed  or  other  cover- 
ed building,  in  damp  or  rainy  weather.  A  play-ground,  safe  from  all 
exposure  of  the  health  and  limbs  of  children,  large  enough  to  allow 
of  trundling  the  hoop,  and  of  free  exercise  of  the  limbs,  supplied 
with  a  circular  swing,  &c,  is  an  indispensable  appendage  to  a  school 
where  children  are  to  be  reared  with  vigorous  and  symmetrical  bodies 

7.  Arrangements  for  Teacher. 

The  arrangements  for  the  teacher  should  be  such,  that  he  can  sur 
vey  the  whole  school  at  a  glance,  address  his  instruction,  when  neces- 
sary, to  the  whole  school,  approach  each  scholar  in  his  seat  without 
incommoding  any  other,  and  conduct  the  recitations  most  convenient- 
ly to  himself,  and  with  the  least  interference  with  the  study  of  the 
school. 

With  this  view,  his  seat  and  desk  should  be  placed  in  front  of  the 
school  on  a  raised  platform ;  the  aisles  should  be  so  arranged  as  to 
separate  each  range  of  the  scholars'  seats ;  and  an  open  space,  or 
appropriate  seats,  should  be  provided  for  the  reciting  classes,  in  front 
or  the  side  of  his  desk ;  or  what  would  be  better,  a  recitation  room , 


58  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

opening  from  the  platform,  or  else  a  special  platform  in  the  rear  of  the 
school. 

The  teacher's  desk  should  be  sufficiently  large,  and  appropri- 
ately fitted  up,  to  accommodate  his  books  of  reference  and  apparatus. 

The  recitation  room,  or  place  for  recitation,  wherever  it  may  be, 
should  be  furnished  with  blackboards,  stands  for  hanging  maps  and 
diagrams,  and  all  appropriate  apparatus. 

If  a  platform  or  area  for  recitation  is  provided  in  the  rear  of  the 
chool,  the  attention  of  the  scholars  while  reciting  will  be  less  likely 
to  be  disturbed,  as  the  ear  only  will  be  attracted  by  what  is  going  on, 
and  the  teacher  can  overlook  the  school,  while  conducting  the  recita- 
tions. 

The  teacher  should  not,  however,  occupy  any  one  position  perma- 
nently, or  the  mischievous  scholars  will  shape  thek-  devices  for 
concealment  accordingly,  and  a  position  in  the  rear  of  the  school,  ex- 
cept for  convenience  in  recitation,  is  better  calculated  to  detect  than 
prevent  transgression.  The  eye  of  the  teacher,  that  great  instrument 
of  moral  discipline,  cannot  invite  confidence,  or  meet  the  answering 
confidence  of  the  pupil. 

8.  Apparatus. 

No  school-room  can  be  considered  complete  which  is  not  provided 
with  such  fixtures,  and  means  of  visible  illustration,  as  will  aid  the 
teacher  in  cultivating  in  his  pupils,  habits  of  correct  observation,  com 
parison,  and  classification,  and  in  making  the  knowledge  communi- 
cated by  books  orally,  accurate,  vivid  and  practical. 

One  blackboard,  at  least,  is  indispensably  necessary.  This  should 
be  so  placed,  as  to  be  easily  accessible,  and  in  full  view  of  the  whole 
school.  The  larger  it  is,  the  more  useful  it  can  be  made.  The 
board  should  be  free  from  knots,  or  cracks,  well  seasoned,  smoothly 
planed,  and  then  rubbed  with  sand-paper,  and  painted  black,  without 
varnish.  On  the  lower  side  should  be  placed  a  trough  to  receive  the 
chalk  or  crayon,  tin  or  brass  holders,  (called  port-crayons)  a  rubber  of 
cloth,  wash-leather,  or  sponge.  If  the  board  is  broad,  or  in  two 
or  more  parts,  it  should  be  kept  from  warping  or  opening  by  cleates 
of  iron  or  wood  on  the  back  side  or  ends. 

If  there  is  but  one  blackboard,  it  should  be  movable,  so  as  to  be 
used  in  different  parts  of  the  room.  For  this  purpose,  it  must  be  sus- 
pended on  hooks,  or  rings  inserted  in  the  upper  edge,  or  what  is  bet- 
ter, on  a  movable  frame,  like  the  painter's  easel.  It  is  better, 
and  will  add  but  little  to  the  expense,  to  provide,  in  addition  to  the 
large  one,  directly  back  of  the  teacher,  two  or  three  smaller  and 
portable  ones.  Every  recitation  room  should  be  lined  with  black 
boards. 

Each  desk  should  be  furnished  with  a  slate,  pencil  holder  and 
sponge.  A  slate  to  every  scholar,  young  or  old,  is,  if  possible, 
more  necessary  than  a  blackboard.  It  is  a  miserable  economy 
to  withhold  slates  from  children  on  account  of  their  liability  to  be  bro- 
ken.    The  saving  in  the  wear  and  tear  of  books,  effected  by  the  use 


APPARATUS.  59 

of  slates,  will  more  than  pay  for  the  latter,  especially  if  they  are  set 
in  a  good  oak  frame,  fastened  tightly  around  the  corners  by  a  band 
of  sheet  iron,  or  even  by  cord  or  wire.  The  iron  or  wire,  if  used, 
should  not  project  beyond  the  surface  of  the  frame,  or  it  will  scratch 
the  desk.  The  most  appropriate  place  for  the  slate  is  an  opening  in 
the  backside  of  the  desk.  The  pencil  holder  can  be  made  of  brass 
or  tin,  about  the  size  of  a  quill,  with  two  slits  at  the  end  into  which 
a  short  peice  of  pencil  can  be  put.  Without  such  a  holder,  no  child 
should  be  allowed  to  use  a  short  pencil.  He  will  immediately  ac- 
quire the  habit  of  contracting  his  fingers  around  it,  so  as  to  unfit  him- 
self for  holding  a  pen  properly.  If  pencil  holders  are  not  provided, 
a  long  pencil  should  be,  and  the  brittleness  of  the  common  slate  pen- 
cil can  be  obviated  by  rolling  it  up  in  strong  paper  covered  with  paste. 
When  dry,  the  paper  and  pencil  can  be  shaped  like  an  ordinary 
lead  pencil. 

With  the  blackboard  and  slate,  there  is  no  study  from  the  simplest 
rudiments  up  to  the  highest  department  of  science  which  cannot  be  il- 
lustrated and  taught  to  better  advantage,  'than  without  them,  while 
there  are  some  to  whose  attainment  they  are  absolutely  indispensable. 
It  is  painful  to  go  into  our  schools,  and  see  how  many  little  children 
are  trying  to  sit  still,  with  no  occupation  for  the  hands,  the  eye,  or  the 
mind,  who  might  be  innocently  and  usefully  employed,  in  a  sand 
desk,  or  with  a  slate  and  pencil,  in  printing  the  alphabet,  combining 
letters,  syllables,  or  words,  copying  the  outlines  of  angles,  circles,  sol- 
ids, or  maps,  diagrams,  real  objects ;  thus  acquiring  knowledge 
as  well  as  correctness  of  eye  and  rapidity  of  hand,  which  will  be  of 
great  use  afterwards  in  learning  to  write  and  draw  with  the  pen  on 
paper.  It  will  be  found  invariably  that  children,  who  begin  early 
with  the  use  of  the  slate,  and  the  blackboard,  in  writing,  drawing, 
spelling,  arithmetic,  grammar,  are  more  accurate,  rapid  and  practical 
scholars  than  others  much  older  and  with  better  opportunities  in  other 
respects,  who  have  not  been  accustomed  to  their  use.  The  above 
articles  of  apparatus  may  be  considered  indispensable,  and  should 
not  be  left  to  the  chance  supply  of  parents.  But  there  are  other  means 
in  training  the  senses  and  forming  correct  elementary  ideas  which 
should  be  provided  as  far  as  practicable. 

A  clock,  which  strikes  at  stated  intervals,  is  indispensable  to  a  just 
distribution  of  the  teacher's  time  and  attention  among  the  various 
classes  and  studies  of  the  school,  and  may  be  made  highly  useful  in 
imparting  a  correct  elementary  knowledge,  of  the  comparative  lengths 
of  different  portions  of  time,  from  a  second  to  a  century,  and  so  of  the 
chronology  of  the  human  race. 

The  measure  of  an  inch,  foot,  yard,  and  rod,  marked  off  on  the  edge 
of  the  blackboard,  will  give  a  correct  and  visible  standard  of  distance, 
to  which  all  statements,  or  references  in  the  lessons  can  be  brought 
to  the  test. 

The  cardinal  points  accurately  ascertained  by  the  compass,  paint- 
ed on  the  ceiling,  or  on  the  teacher's  platform,  and  associated  by  fre- 
quent references  of  the  teacher,  with  the  parts  of  the  heavens  in  which 
the  sun  rises  and  sets,  will  be  of  incalculable  service  in  the  study  of 


QO  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

geography.  In  this  connection,  and  as  introductory  to  drawing, 
plans  of  the  school-house,  playground,  village-green,  district,  town, 
and  county,  will  lead  children  to  an  accurate  conception  of  states, 
continents,  the  earth,  and  the  system  of  which  it  forms  a  part.  The 
ideas  connected  with  the  subjects  last  named,  cannot  be  properly  un- 
derstood without  a  globe,  tellurium,  orrery  and  similar  apparatus. 

Counters,  or  flat  pieces  of  wood  about  an  inch  long  and  half  an  inch 
wide,  a  numeral  frame,  real  measures  of  every  kind,  linear,  superfi- 
cial, solid  and  liquid,  weights,  models  and  diagrams  of  the  geometri- 
cal forms,  and  solids, — articles  which  the  pupil  can  touch,  see,  exam- 
ine, experiment  with,  copy  on  the  slate  or  blackboard,  will  prove 
invaluable  helps  in  teaching  children  to  form  correct  elementary  ideas 
of  number,  size,  distance,  form,  and  measurement. 

The  study  of  geography  and  history  can  be  made  far  more  useful 
and  interesting  by  pictures  representing  the  great  curiosities  of  nature 
and  art,  views  of  cities,  and  other  places  memorable  for  great  events, 
the  manners,  dress,  edifices,  ruins  &c,  peculiar  to  each  country. 
One  set  of  plates,  could  answer  very  well  for  all  the  schools  of  a  so- 
ciety or  town,  and  pass  in  succession  through  the  several  districts. 

For  the  study  of  the  natural  sciences,  and  there  is  no  study  which 
can  be  made  more  useful  or  delightful  in  the  hands  of  a  judicious 
teacher,  cheap  collections  of  minerals,  and  specimens  or  drawings  of 
plants  and  animals,  would  not  only  be  useful  but  necessary.  In  this 
department  the  children  could  collect  their  own  cabinets,  and  an  inter- 
change of  specimens  between  the  different  districts  and  towns  be  ef- 
fected. Some  of  the  hot  days  of  summer  had  better  be  spent  in  the 
fields,  or  the  woods  in  search  of  the  beautiful  things  which  God  has 
scattered  over  the  earth  and  through  it,  with  a  teacher,  who  has 
a  taste  for  natural  science,  than  in  the  hot,  unshaded  school-house  of 
many  districts. 

The  Magic  Lantern  in  almost  any  of  its  improved  forms,  and  espe- 
cially in  Carpenter's,  is  accompanied  with  diagrams  to  illustrate  as- 
tronomy, natural  history,  cities,  landscapes,  costumes,  &c,  which 
bring  the  objects  and  truths  represented  so  vividly  before  the  younsr, 
that  they  never  can  forget  them. 

The  inefficiency  of  school  education  of  every  name,  is  mainly  ow- 
ing to  the  want  of  such  cheap  and  simple  aids  as  have  been  briefly 
alluded  to  above,  and  of  methods  of  instruction  based  upon,  and 
adapted  to  them,  begun  early  and  continued  throughout  the  whole 
course.  Hence  much  of  the  knowledge  of  early  life  is  forgotten,  and 
more  of  it  lies  in  dead,  useless,  unassimilated  masses,  in  the  memory. 
It  does  not  originate,  or  mould,  or  color  the  meditations  of  the  closet, 
and  is  not  felt  in  the  labor  of  the  field,  the  workshop,  or  any  of  the 
departments  of  practical  life.  The  knowledge  then  found'  availa- 
ble is  the  result  of  self-education,  the  education  attained  after  leaving 
school  by  observation,  experience  and  reading.  Under  any  opportu- 
nities of  school  education,  this  self-education  must  be  the  main  re- 
liance, and  the  great  object  of  all  regular  school  arrangements  should 
be  to  wake  up  the  spirit,  and  begin  the  work  of  self-culture  as  early 
and  widely  as  possible. 


APPARATUS  AND  LIBRARY.  Q\ 


9.  Library. 


The  school-house  is  the  appropriate  depository  of  the  district  libra- 
ry, and  a  library  of  well  selected  books,  open  to  the  teacher,  children, 
and  adults  generally  of  the  district,  for  reference  and  reading,  gives 
completeness  to  the  permanent  means  of  school  and  self-education, 
which  can  be  embraced  in  the  arrangement  of  a  school-house. 

The  teacher  should  be  able  to  extend  his  own  acquaintance  with 
the  studies  pursued,  and  to  illustrate  and  explain  any  name,  date,  event, 
terms  of  art  or  science,  or  other  allusion  or  question  which  might 
occur  in  the  regular  lesson,  or  which  the  natural  curiosity  of  children, 
if  encouraged,  would  suggest.  Above  all  should  he  be  furnished 
with  the  best  books  which  have  been  published  on  education,  and  es- 
pecially with  that  class  which  have  special  reference  to  the  duties 
and  labors  of  the  school-room,  and  have  been  prepared  by  experienced 
and  successful  teachers. 

Children,  even  the  youngest,  should  be  provided  with  such  books, 
adapted  to  their  age  and  capacity,  as  will  invest  their  studies  with  new 
interest,  help  them  to  observe  and  understand  what  they  see  and  hear 
by  the  road  side,  in  the  field  and  in  their  daily  conversations,  and  form 
a  high  standard  to  aim  at  in  manners,  morals  and  intellectual  attain- 
ments. Many  an  idle  hour  would  thus  be  redeemed,  and  the  process 
of  self-culture  be  commenced,  which  would  go  on  long  after  their 
school-life  was  ended. 

The  farmer,  mechanic,  manufacturer,  and  in  fine,  all  the  inhabit- 
ants of  a  district,  of  both  sexes,  and  in  every  condition  and  employ- 
ment of  life,  should  have  books  which  will  shed  light  and  dignity  on 
their  several  vocations,  help  them  better  to  understand  the  history  and 
condition  of  the  world,  and  country  in  which  they  live,  their  own 
nature,  and  their  relations  and  duties  to  society,  themselves  and  their 
Creator.  All  that  is  wanted  to  fill  the  community  with  diligent  and 
profitable  readers  among  all  classes,  is  to  gratify  the  natural  curios- 
ity of  every  child  "  to  know,"  to  convert  that  curiosity  into  a  well 
regulated  taste,  and  confirm  that  taste  into  a  habit,  by  easy  access  to 
a  library  of  appropriate  books. 

Without  such  books  the  instruction  of  the  school-room  does  not  be- 
come practically  useful,  and  the  art  of  printing  is  not  made  available 
to  the  poor  as  well  as  the  rich.  The  rich  can  always  command  more 
or  less  of  the  valuable  works  which  the  teeming  press  of  the  day  is 
throwing  off,  but  the  poor  must  depend  for  their  reading,  on  such 
books  as  public  libraries,  easily  accessible,  or  the  benevolence  of  more 
favored  individuals,  may  supply. 

Wherever  such  libraries  have  existed,  especially  in  connection 
with  the  advantages  of  superior  schools,  and  an  educated  ministry 
they  have- called  forth  talent  and  virtue,  which  would  otherwise  have 
been  buried  in  poverty  and  ignorance,  to  elevate,  bless,  and  purify  so- 
ciety. The  establishment  of  a  library  in  every  school-house,  will 
bring  thfe  mighty  instrument  of  good  books  to  act  more  directly  and 
more  broadly  on  the  entire  population  of  a  state,  than  it  has  ever  yet 


62  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

done,  for  i   will  open  the  fountains  of  knowledge  without  money,  and 
without  price,  to  the  humble  and  the  elevated,  the  poor  and  the  rich. 

10.   Yard  and  External  Arrangements. 

The  external  arrangement  of  a  school-house,  as  connected  with  its 
attractiveness  and  convenience,  and  the  health,  manners,  morals,  love 
of  study  and  proficiency  of  the  pupils,  must  not  be  overlooked. 

The  building  should  not  only  be  located  on  a  dry,  healthy  and  plea- 
sant site,  but  be  surrounded  by  a  yard,  of  never  less  than  half  an  acre, 
protected  by  a  neat  and  substantial  inclosure.  This  yard  should  be 
large  enough  in  front,  for  all  to  occupy  in  common  for  recreation  and 
sport,  and  planted  with  oaks,  elms,  maples,  and  other  shady  trees, 
tastefully  arranged  in  groups,  and  around  the  sides.  In  the  rear  of  the 
building,  it  should  be  divided  by  a  high,  and  close  fence,  and  one  por- 
tion, appropriately  fitted  up,  should  be  assigned  exclusively  for  the 
use  of  the  bovs,  and  the  other,  for  the  girls.  Over  this  entire  arrange- 
ment, the  most  perfect  neatness,  seclusion,  order  and  propriety  should 
be  enforced,  and  every  thing  calculated  to  defile  the  mind,  or  wound 
the  delicacy  or  the  modesty  of  the  most  sensitive,  should  receive  at- 
tention in  private,  and  be  made  a  matter  of  parental  advice  and 
co-operation. 

In  cities  and  populous  districts,  particular  attention  should  be  paid 
to  the  playground,  as  connected  with  the  physical  education  of  chil- 
dren. In  the  best  conducted  schools,  the  playground  is  now  regard- 
ed as  the  uncovered  school-room,  where  the  real  dispositions,  and  habits 
of  the  pupils  are  more  palpably  developed,  and  can  be  more  wisely 
trained,  than  under  the  restraint  of  an  ordinary  school-room.  These 
grounds  are  provided  with  circular  swings,  and  are  large  enough  for 
various  athletic  games.  To  protect  the  children  in  their  sports  in 
inclement  weather,  in  some  places,  the  school-house  is  built  on  piers; 
in  others,  the  basement  story  is  properly  fitted  up,  and  thrown  open 
as  a  playground  ;  and  in  others,  the  wood,  or  coal  shed  is  built 
large  for  that  purpose.  Under  any  circumstances  the  school-room 
should  not  be  used  for  any  other,  than  purposes  of  study  and  conver- 
sation. 

An  appropriate  place  for  fuel  should  be  provided,  which,  it  may 
be  well  to  remark,  should  be  supplied  of  the  right  quality,  in  proper 
quantity,  in  due  season,  and  in  the  right  condition  for  being  used. 

Every  school-house  should  have  its  own  well,  with  suitable  arrange- 
ments for  drink,  and  for  the  cleanliness  of  the  pupils. 

A  bell  is  always  found  an  essential  help  in  securing  punctual  at 
tendance,  and  determining  when  the  time  of  recess  begins  and  ends. 


III.    PLANS  OF  SCHOOL-HOUSES. 

In  determining  the  details  of  construction  and  arrangement  for  a 
school-house,  due  regard  must,  of  course,  be  had  to  the  varying  cir- 
cumstances of  country  and  city,  of  a  large  and  a  small  number  of 
scholars,  of  schools  of  different  grades,  and  of  different  systems  of 
instruction. 

1.  In  by  far  the  largest  number  of  country  districts  as  they  are 
now  situated,  there  will  be  but  one  school-room,  with  a  smaller  room 
for  recitations  and  other  purposes  needed.  This  must  be  arranged 
and  fitted  up  for  scholars  of  all  ages,  for  the  varying  circumstances  of 
a  summer  and  of  a  winter  school,  and  for  other  purposes,  religious 
and  secular,  than  those  of  a  school,  and  in  every  particular  of  con- 
struction and  arrangement,  the  closest  economy  of  material  and  labor 
must  be  studied.  A  union  of  two  or  more  districts  for  the  purpose  of 
maintaining  in  each  a  school  for  the  younger  children,  and  in  the 
center  of  the  associated  districts  a  school  for  the  older  children  of  all, 
or,  what  would  be  better,  a  consolidation  of  two  or  more  districts  into 
one,  for  these  and  all  other  school  purposes,  would  do  away  with  the 
almost  insuperable  difficulties  which  now  exist  in  country  districts, 
in  the  way  of  comfortable  and  attractive  school-houses,  as  well  as  of 
thoroughly  governed  and  instructed  schools. 

2.  In  small  villages,  or  populous  country  districts,  at  least  two 
school-rooms  should  be  provided,  and  as  there  will  be  other  places  for 
public  meetings  of  various  kinds,  each  room  should  be  appropriated 
and  fitted  up  exclusively  for  the  use  of  the  younger  or  the  older 
pupils.  It  is  better,  on  many  accounts,  to  have  two  schools  on  the 
same  floor,  than  one  above  the  other. 

3.  In  large  villages  and  cities,  a  better  classification  of  the  schools 
can  be  adopted,  and,  of  course,  more  completeness  can  be  given  to 
the  construction  and  arrangement  of  the  buildings  and  rooms  appro- 
priated to  each  grade  of  schools.  This  classification  should  embrace 
at  least  three  grades — viz.  Primary,  with  an  infant  department ;  Sec- 
ondary, or  Grammar  ;  Superior,  or  High  Schools.  In  manufacturing 
villages,  and  in  certain  sections  of  large  cities,  regularly  organized 
Infant  Schools  should  be  established  and  devoted  mainly  to  the  cul- 
ture of  the  morals,  manners,  language  and  health  of  very  young 
children. 

4.  The  arrangement  as  to  supervision,  instruction  and  recitations, 
must  have  reference  to  the  size  of  the  school ;  the  number  of  teachers 
and  assistants  ;  the  general  organization  of  the  school,  whether  in 
one  room  for  study,  and  separate  class  rooms  for  recitation,  or  the 
several  classes  in  distinct  rooms  under  appropriate  teachers,  each 
teacher  having  specified  studies  ;  and  the  method  of  instruction  pur- 
sued, whether  the  mutual,  simultaneous,  or  mixed. 

Since  the  year  1830,  and  especially  since  1838,  much  ingenuity 
has  been  expended  by  practical  teachers  and  architects,  in  devising 
and  perfecting  plans  of  school-houses,  with  all  the  details  of  con- 
struction and  fixtures,  modified  to  suit  the  varied  circumstances  enu- 
merated above,  specimens  of  which,  with  explanations  and  descrip- 
tions, will  be  here  given. 


64  school  architecture. 

1.  Plans  of  School-houses  recommended  by  practical 
Teachers  and  Educators. 

Plan,  &c.  recommended  by  Dr.  Alcott,  and  by  the  American  Insti 
tute  of  Instruction. 

In  1830  the  American  Institute  of  Instruction  offered  a  premium  for  the 
best  Essay  "  On  the  Construction  of  School-houses"  which  was  awarded  in 
Aug.  1831,  to  Dr.  William  A.  Alcott,  of  Hartford.  The  Prize  Essay*  was 
published  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Institute  of  the  same  year,  together  with 
a  "  Plan  for  a  Village  School-house,'1''  devised  by  a  Committee  of  the  Direc- 
tors of  the  Institute. 

The  plan  of  the  school-room  recommended  by  Dr.  Alcott,  although  less 
complete  in  some  of  its  details,  is  substantially  the  same  as  that  recommended 
by  Mr.  Mann,  and  can  be  easily  understood  by  reference  to  the  cut  of  the 
latter  on  the  opposite  page.  The  room,  to  accommodate  56  pupils  each,  with 
a  separate  seat  and  desk,  and  from  8  to  16  small  children  with  seats  for  two, 
should  be  40  ft.  long  by  30  wide.  The  teacher's  platform  occupies  the  north 
end  of  the  room,  towards  which  all  the  scholars  face  when  in  their  seats. 
Each  scholar  is  provided  with  a  seat  and  desk,  (each  2  ft.  by  14  inches,)  the 
front  of  one  desk  constituting  the  back  of  the  seat  beyond.  The  top  of  the 
desk  is  level,  with  a  box  and  lid  for  books,  &c.  The  aisles  on  each  side  of  the 
room,  are  2  feet  wide,  and  those  between  each  range  of  seats  and  desk  is  18 
inches.  A  place  for  recitation  8  feet  wide  extends  across  the  whole  width  of 
the  room,  in  the  rear,  with  movable  blackboards.  The  room  can  be  warmed 
by  stove,  placed  as  in  the  cut  referred  to,  or  by  air  heated  by  furnace  or  stove 
in  the  basement.  The  room  is  ventilated  by  openings  in  the  ceiling.  A 
thermometer,  library,  museum,  &c,  are  to  be  furnished. 

In  the  "  Plan  for  a  village  School-house,''''  the  school-room  is  48  ft.  long  by 
35  wide,  to  accommodate  eighty  scholars  with  separate  seats.  The  details 
of  the  arrangements  are  nearly  the  same  as  were  at  that  date  recommended 
for  schools  on  the  Lancasterian  plan,  and  as  are  now  recommended  by  the 
British  and  Foreign  School  Society — except  that  the  floor  of  the  room  is 
level,  and  the  seats  are  provided  with  backs.  In  the  explanations  accompany- 
ing the  plan,  the  Directors  recommend,  that  in  villages  and  populous  neigh- 
borhoods, the  children  be  classified  according  to  age  and  attainment  into  s 
series  of  schools,  and  that  appropriate  rooms  for  each  school  be  provided. 

Plan  recommended  by  Horace  Mann. 

In  1838,  Mr.  Mann  submitted  a  Report  on  School-houses,  supplementary  to 
his  "  First  Annual  Report  as  Secretary  of  the  Massachusetts  Board  of  Edu- 
cation," which  discusses  the  whole  subject  of  school  architecture  with  great 
fulness  and  ability.  This  document  may  be  found  entire  in  the  Massachu- 
setts Common  School  Journal,  Vol  1.,  and  nearly  so,  in  the  Connecticut 
Common  School  Journal,  Vol.  1.,  and  the  New  York  District  School  Journal, 
Vol.  3.  It  fixed  public  attention  on  the  defects  of  these  edifices,  and  has  led 
to  extensive  improvement  all  over  that  Commonwealth.  During  the  five 
years  immediately  following  its  publication,  over  $516,000  were  expended  in 
the  construction  of  405  new  houses,  including  land,  fixtures,  &c,  and  over 
$118,000,  in  the  substantial  repairs  of  429  more.  The  larger  portion  of  the 
first  sum  has  been  expended  in  the  cities  and  large  villages  in  the  eastern  part 
of  the  state,  where  may  now  be  seen  specimens  of  the  best  school-houses,  and 
the  best  schools,  in  our  country.  The  following  plan  embodies  substan- 
tially the  views  submitted  by  Mr.  Mann,  in  his  Report. 

*  This  Essay  of  Dr.  Alcott  was  the  pioneer  publication  on  this  subject.  It  was  fol- 
lowed in  1S33  by  a  "  Report  on  School-houses"  prepared  by  the  Rev.  G.  B.  Perry,  and 
published  by  the  Essex  County  Teacher's  Association.  This  last  is  a  searching  and: 
vigorous  exposition  of  the  evils  resulting  from  the  defective  construction,  and  arrange 
ments  of  school-houses,  as  they  were  at  that  date  almost  universally  found'. 


PLAN  OF  DISTRICT  SCHOOL-HOUSE  BY  MR.  MANN. 


65 


* 


A.  Represents  the  teacher's  desk.  B  B.  Teacher's  platform,  from  1  to  2  ft.  in  height. 
C.  Step  for  ascending  the  platform.  L  L.  Cases  for  books,  apparatus,  cabinet,  &c. 
H.  Pupils' single  desks,  2  ft.  by  18  inches.  M.  Pupils'  seat,  1  ft.  by  20  inches.  7.  Aisles, 
1  ft.  6  inches  in  width.  D.  Place  for  stove,  if  one  be  used.  E.  Room  for  recitation,  for 
retiring  in  case  of  sudden  indisposition,  for  interview  with  parents,  when  necessary,  &c. 
It  may  also  be  used  for  the  library,  &c.  F  F  F  F  F.  Doors  into  the  boys'  and  girls' 
entries — from  the  entries  into  the  school-room,  and  from  the  school- room  into  the  recita- 
tion room.     G  G  G  G.  Windows.     The  windows  on  the  sides  are  not  lettered. 

For  section  of  seat  and  desk  constructed  after  Mr.  Mann's 
plan,  see  p.  47.  To  avoid  the  necessity  of  fitting  up  the 
same  school-room  for  old  and  young,  and  the  inefficiency  of 
such  country  schools  as  we  now  have,  Mr.  Mann  proposed 
in  this  Report  a  union,  for  instance  of  four  districts  which 
did  not  cover  more  than  four  miles  square,  and  the  erection 
of  four  primary  school-houses,  (a  a  a  a)  for  the  younger  chil- 
dren of  each  district,  to  be  taught  by  female  teachers,  and 
one  central  or  high  school,  (A)  for  the  older  children  of  the 
four  districts,  taught  by  a  well  qualified  male  teacher.  This 
plan  is  recommended  for  its  wise  use  of  the  means  of  She 
districts,  and  the  efficiency  of  the  instruction  given, 

5 


66  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

Plans,  &c,  recommended  by  George  B,  Emerson. 

The  ^School  and  Schoolmaster,"*  contains  a  very  valuable  chapter  on 
school-houses,  by  Mr.  Emerson,  the  President  of  the  American  Institute  of 
Instruction,  illustrated  by  drawings,  which,  with  the  permission  of  the  authors' 
and  publishers  are  introduced  here.  The  whole  chapter,  as  the  production 
of  one  of  the  most  eminent  teachers  and  writers  on  education  of  the  age, 
should  be  studied  by  every  one  who  would  become  thoroughly  acquainted  with 
he  subject.     Most  of  his  valuable  suggestions  are  subjoined. 

Situation. -j-So  much  do  the  future  health,  vigor,  taste,  and  moral  principles 
f  the  pupil  depend  upon  the  position,  arrangement,  and  construction  of  the 
school-house,  that  everything  about  it  is  important^}  When  the  most  desira- 
ble situation  can  be  selected,  and  the  laws  of  health  and  the  dictates  of  taste 
may  be  consulted,  it  should  be  placed  on  firm  ground,  on  the  southern  declivi- 
ty of  a  gently  sloping  hill,  open  to  the  southwest,  from  which  quarter  comes 
the  pleasantest  winds  in  summer,  and  protected  on  the  northeast  by  the  top  of 
the  hill  or  by  a  thick  wood.  From  the  road  it  should  be  remote  enough  to 
escape  the  noise,  and  dust,  and  danger,  and  yet  near  enough  to  be  easily 
accessible  by  a  path  or  walk,  always  dry.  About  it  should  be  ample  space, 
a  part  open  for  a  play-ground,  a  part  to  be  laid  out  in  plots  for  flowers  and 
shrubs,  with  winding  alleys  for  walks.  Damp  places,  in  the  vicinity  of  stag- 
nant pools  or  unwholesome  marshes,  and  bleak  hilltops  or  dusty  plains,  should 
be  carefully  avoided.  Tall  trees  should  partially  shade  the  grounds,  not  in 
stiff  rows  or  heavy  clumps,  but  scattered  irregularly  as  if  by  the  hand  of  Na- 
ture. Our  native  forests  present  such  a  choice  of  beautiful  trees,  that  the 
grounds  must  be  very  extensive  to  afford  room  for  even  a  single  fine  speci- 
men of  each;  yet  this  should,  if  possible,  be  done,  for  children  ought  early  to 
become  familiar  with  the  names,  appearance,  and  properties  of  these  noblest 
of  inanimate  things.  The  border  of  a  natural  wood  may  often  be  chosen  for 
the  site  of  a  school ;  but  if  it  is  to  be  thinned  out,  or  if  trees  are  to  be  planted, 
and,  from  limited  space,  a  selection  is  to  be  made,  the  kingly,  magnificent 
oaks,  the  stately  hickories,  the  spreading  beech  for  its  deep  mass  of  shade, 
the  maples  for  their  rich  and  abundant  foliage,  the  majestic  elm,  the  useful 
ash,  the  soft  and  graceful  birches,  and  the  towering,  columnar  sycamore, 
claim  precedence.  Next  may  come  the  picturesque  locusts,  with  their  hang- 
ing, fragrant  flowers  ;  the  tulip-tree ;  the  hemlock,  best  of  evergreens  ;  the 
celtis,  or  sweet  gum  ;  the  nyssa,  or  tupelo,  with  horizontal  branches  and  pol- 
ished leaves  ;  the  walnut  and  butternut,  the  native  poplar,  and  the  aspen. 

Of  extremely  beautiful  American  shrubs,  the  number  is  so  great  that  I  have 
no  room  for  a  list.  What  place  intended  to  form  the  taste  of  the  young, 
should  be  without  the  kalmias,  rhododendrons,  cornels,  roses,  viburnums, 
magnolias,  clethras,  honeysuckles,  and  spireeas  1  And  whoever  goes  into  the 
woods  to  gather  these,  will  find  a  multitude  of  others  which  he  will  hardly 
consent  to  leave  behind.  The  hilltop  should  be  planted  with  evergreens, 
forming,  at  all  seasons,  a  barrier  against  the  winds  from  the  north  and  east. 

Of  the  flower  plots,  little  need  be  said.  They  must  be  left  to  the  taste  of 
the  teacher,  and  of  cultivated  persons  in  the  district.  I  can  only  recommend 
our  wild  American  plants,  and  again  remind  the  reader,  that  there  is  hardly  a 

*  The  "  School  and  Schoolmaster,"  a  Manual  for  the  use  of  Teachers,  Employers, 
Trustees,  Inspectors,  &c,  &c,  of  Common  Schools.  Part  1.  By  Alonzo  Potter,  D.  D. 
Part  II.  By  George  B.  Emerson,  pp.552.  Harper  &  Brothers,  82  Cliff  street,  New 
York.     Price,  $1. 

This  excellent  treatise,  the  most  valuable  contribution  yet  made  to  the  educational  lit- 
«rature  of  our  country,  was  prepared  and  published  originally  at  the  expense  of  James 
Wadsworth,  Esq.,  nf  Geneseo,  W.  Y.,  in  1842.  By  him  a  copy  was  presented  to  each  of 
the  11,000  school  districts  of  that  state.  Following  this  noble  example,  the  Hon.  Martin 
Brimmer,  the  present  mayor  of  the  city  of  Boston,  caused  to  be  printed,  at  his  expense, 
such  a  number  of  copies  as  would  supply  one  copy  each  to  all  the  school  districts,  and 
one  copy  each  to  all  the  boards  of  school  committee  men,  in  Massachusetts. 

The  work  should  be  scattered  broadcast  through  every  state  in  the  Union.  In  large 
orders,  or  for  gratuitous  distribution,  it  can  be  had  of  the  publishers  at  a  very  low  rate. 


&%lh£? 


PLAN  OF  DISTRICT  SCHOOL-HOrSE,  BY  MR.  G.  B.  EMERSON.  QQ 

country  town  in  New  York  or  New  England,  from  whose  woods  and  mead- 
ows a, hundred  kinds  of  flowers  might  not  be  transplanted,  of  beauty  enough 
to  form  the  chief  ornament  of  a  German  or  English  garden,  which  are  now 
neglected  .only  because  they  are  common  and  wild.  Garden  flowers  need  not 
be  excluded  ;  and  if  either  these  or  the  former  are  cultivated,  the  great  ob- 
ject, to  present  something  to  refine  and  inform  the  taste,  will  be,  in  some  de- 
gree, accomplished. 

If  proper  inclosed  play-grounds  are  provided,  the  master  may  often  be  pres- 
ent at  the  sports,  and  thus  become  acquainted  with  the  character,  of  his  pu- 
pils. If  children  are  compelled  to  resort  to  the  highway  for  their  amusements, 
we  ought  not  to  wonder^that  they  should  be  contaminated  by  the  vices,  brawl- 
ings,  and  profanities,  which  belong  to  frequenters  of  highways. 

Size. — The  room  should  be  sufficiently  large  to  allow  every  pupil,  1.  to  sit 
comfortably  at  his  desk  ;  2.  to  leave  it  without  disturbing  any  one  else  ;  3.  to 
see  explanations  on  his  lessons,  and  to  recite  without  being  incommoded  or 
incommoding  others  ;  4.  to  breathe  a  wholesome  atmosphere. 

If  the  first  three  objects  are  fully  provided  for,  the  space  on  the  floor  will  be 
sufficient.  But  to  secure  the  advantage  of  an  adequate  supply  of  air,  the  room 
must  be  not  less  than  10,  and,  if  possible,  12  or  14,  feet  high. 

Arrangement. — For  the  accommodation  of  56  scholars,  so  as  to  give  ample 
room  for  moving,  for  recitations,  and  for  air,  the  dimensions  of  the  house 
should  be  38  feet  by  25,  and  10  feet  in  height  within.  This  will  allow  an  en- 
try of  14  feet  by  7|,  lighted  by  a  window,  to  be  furnished  with  wooden  pegs 
for  the  accommodation  of  clothes  ;  a  wood-room,  10  feet  by  7*,  to  serve  also 
as  an  entry  for  girls  at  recess,  or  as  a  recitation  room ;  a  space  behind  the 
desks  8  feet  wide,  lor  fireplace,  passage,  and  recitations,  with  permanent 
seats  against  the  wall  10  or  11  inches  wide  ;  a  platform,  7  feet  wide,  for  the 
teacher,  with  the  library,  blackboards,  globes,  and  other  apparatus  for  teach- 
ing ;  the  remaining  space  to  bp  occupied  by  the  desks  and  seats  of  the  schol- 
ars. For  every  additional  8  scholars  the  room  maybe  lengthened  2^  feet. 
The  desks  and  seats  for  scholars  should  be  of  different  dimensions.  A  desk 
for  two  maybe  3h  or  4  feet  long.  If  the  younger  children  are  placed  nearest 
the  master's  desk,  the  desks  in  the  front  range  may  be  13  inches  wide,  the 
two  next  14,  the  two  next  15,  and  the  two  most  remote  lb,  with  the  height, 
respectively,  of  24,  25,  26,  and  27  inches.  The  seats  should  vary  in  like 
manner.  Those  in  the  front  range  should  be  10  inches  wide,  in  the  two  next 
Wk,  in  the  two  next  11,  in  the  two  last  llj  or  12  ;  and  13.*,  14,  15,  and  16 
inches,  respectively,  high.     All  edges  and  corners  are  to  be  carefully  rounded. 

It  is  very  desirable  that  the  north  end  of  the  school-house  be  occupied  by 
the  master's  desk  ;  that  this  end  be  a  dead  Wall ;  that  the  front  be  towards 
the  south  ;  and  that  the  desks  be  so  placed  that  the  pupils,  as  they  sit  at  them, 
shall  look  towards  the  north.  The  advantages  of  this  arrangement  are,  1. 
that  the  scholars  will  obtain  more  correct  ideas  upon  the  elements  of  geo- 
graphy, as  all  maps  suppose  the  reader  to  be  looking  northward  ;  2.  the 
north  wall,  having  no  windows,  will  exclude  the  severest  cold  of  winter  ; 
3.  the  scholars  will,  in  this  case,  look  towards  a  dead  wall,  and  thus  avoid 
the  great  evil  of  facing  a  glare  of  light  ;  or,  if  a  window  or  two  be  allowed  in 
the  north  wall,  the  light  coming  from  that  quarter  is  less  vivid,  and,  therefore, 
less  dangerous,  than  that  which  comes  from  any  other  ;  4.  the  door,  being 
on  the  south,  will  open  towards  the  winds  which  prevail  in  summer,  and /rem 
the  cold  winds  of  winter. 

If,  from  necessity,  the  house  must  front  northward,  the  master's  desk 
should  be  still  in  the  north  end  of  the  room,  and  the  scholars,  when  seated, 
look  in  that  direction. 

The  end  of  the  room  occupied  by  the  master  should  be  fitted  with  shelves 
for  a  library  and  for  philosophical  apparatus  and  collections  of  natural  curios 
ities,  such  as  rocks,  minerals,  plants,  and  shells,  for  globes  and  for  black- 
boards. The  books,  apparatus,  and  collections  should  be  concealed  and  pro- 
tected by  doors,  which  may  be  made  perfectly  plain  and  without  panels,  so  as 
to  be  painted  black  and  serve  as  blackboards.  They  may  be  conveniently 
divided  by  pilasters  into  three  portions,  the  middle  one  for  books,  the  others 


70 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


for  apparatus  and  collections.  On  one  of  the  pilasters  may  be  the  clock  ;  on 
the  other  a  barometer  and  thermometer;  on  shelves  in  the  corners,  the 
globes,  and  over  the  library  in  the  center,  the  study  card.  One  of  the  pilas- 
ters may  form  part  of  the  ventilating  tube.  The  master's  platform  may  be 
raised  eight  inches.  For  all  these  purposes,  the  space  in  front  ot  the  ranges 
of  scholars'  desks,  should  be  not  less 
than  seven  or  eight  feet  wide  ;  ten 
or  twelve  would  be  much  better. 
The  sides  and  front  of  this  space 
hould  be  furnished  with  seats  ten 
or  eleven  inches  wide,  for  recitation. 
By  means  of  a  large  movable  black- 
board, this  space  may  be,  in  case  of 
need,  converted  into  two,  so  that 
two  classes  may  recite  at  a  time. 
In  a  school  intended  to  accommo- 
date more  than  64  pupils,  there 
ought  also  to  be  a  space  for  recita- 
tion in  the  south  end  of  the  room, 
separable  by  movable  blackboards 
into  two. 

The  entry  should  be  lighted  by  a 
window,  and  be  furnished  with 
wooden  or  iron  pins  for  the  accom- 
modation of  hats,  bonnets,  and 
cloaks ;  and  there  should  be  a  wood- 
closet  large  enough  to  contain  two 
or  three  cords  of  wood,  which  may, 
if  it  is  preferred,  be  used  as  a  recita- 
tion room. 

By  making  the  ceiling  of  the  entry  and  wood-closet  only  seven  feet  high, 
two  commodious  rooms  for  recitation  may  be  formed  above  them,  lighted 
from  the  window  over  the  front  door,  and  accessible  by  stairs  from  within  the 
school-room. 

.Warming. — In     a     suitable    position,  e  £ 

pointed  out  in  the  plates,  near  the  door, 
let  a  common  brick  fireplace  be  built.  Let 
this  be  inclosed,  on  the  back  and  on  each 
side,  by  a  casing  of  brick,  leaving,  be- 
tween the  fireplace  and  the  casing,  a  space 
of  four  or  five  inches,  which  will  be  heat- 
ed through  the  back  and  jambs.  Into  this 
space  let  the  air  be  admitted  from  beneath 
by  a  box  24  inches  wide  and  6  or  8  deep, 
leading  from  the  external  atmosphere  by 
an  opening  beneath  the  front  door,  or  at 
some  other  convenient  place.  The  brick 
casing  should  be  continued  up  as  high  as 
six  or  eight  inches  above  the  top  of  the 
fireplace,  where  it  may  open  into  the  room 
by  lateral  orifices,  to  be  commanded  by 
iron  doors,  through  which  the  heated  air 
will  enter  the  room.  If  these  are  lower, 
part  of  the  warm  air  will  find  its  way  into 
the  fireplace.     The  brick  chimney  should 


Mov-i 


Blackboard. 


i 


Fireplace. 


A.  Horizontal  section.  B.  Perpendicular  section,  c.  Brick  walls,  4  inches  thick. 
d.  Air  space  between  the  walls,  e.  Solid  fronts  of  masonry.  /.  Air  box  for  supply  of  fresh 
air,  extending  beneath  the  floor  to  the  front  door.  #.  Openings  on  the  sides  of  the  fire- 
place, for  the  heated  air  to  pass  into  the  room.  h.  Front  of  the  fireplace  and  mantelpiece. 
i.  Iron  smoke  flue,  8  inches  diameter,  j,  Space  between  the  fireplace  and  wall,  k  Par- 
tition wall.    I.  Floor. 


PLAN  OF  DISTRICT  SCHOOL-HOUSE,  BV  MR.  G.  B.  EMERSON. 


71 


rise  at  least  two  or  three  feet  above  the  hollow  back,  and  may  be  surmounted 
by  a  flat  iron,  soap-stone,  or  brick  top,  with  an  opening  for  a  smoke-pipe, 
which  may  be  thence  conducted  to  any  part  of  the  room.  The  smoke-pipe 
should  rise  a  foot,  then  pass  to  one  side,  and  then  over  a  passage,  to  the  oppo- 
site extremity  of  the  room,  where  it  should  ascend  perpendicularly,  and  issue 
above  the  roof.  The  fireplace  should  be  provided  with  iron  doors,  by  which 
it  may  be  completely  closed. 

The  advantages  of  this  double  fireplace  are,  1.  the  fire,  being  made  against 
brick,  imparts  to  the  air  of  the  apartment  none  of  the  deleterious  qualities 
which  are  produced  by  a  common  iron  stove,  but  gives  the  pleasant  heat  of  an 
open  fireplace  ;  2.  none  of  the  heat  of  the  fuel  will  be  lost,  as  the  smoke-pipe 
may  be  extended  far  enough  to  communicate  nearly  all  the  heat  contained  in 
the  smoke  ;  3.  the  current  of  air  heated  within  the  hollow  back,  and  constant- 
ly pouring  into  the  room,  will  diffuse  an  equable  heat  throughout  every  part ; 
4.  the  pressure  of  the  air  of  the  room  will  be  constantly  outward,  little  cold 
will  enter  by  cracks  and  windows,  and  the  fireplace  will  have  no  tendency  to 
smoke  ;  5.  by  means  of  the  iron  doors,  the  fire  may  be  completely  controlled, 
increased  or  diminished  at  pleasure,  with  the  advantages  of  an  air-tight  stove. 
For  that  purpose,  there  must  be  a  valve  or  slide  near  the  bottom  of  one  of  the 
doors. 

If,  instead  of  this  fireplace,  a  common  stove  be  adopted,  it  should  be  placed 
above  the  air-passage,  which  may  be  commanded  by  a  valve  or  register  in  the 
floor,  so  as  to  admit  or  exclude  air. 

Ventilation. — A  room  warmed  by  such  a  fireplace  as  that  just  described, 
may  be  easily  ventilated.  If  a  current  of  air  is  constantly  pouring  in,  a  cur- 
rent of  the  same  size  will  rush  out  wherever  it  can  find  an  outlet,  and  with  it 
will  carry  the  impurities  wherewith  the  air  of  an  occupied  room  is  always 
charged.  For  the  first  part  of  the  morning,  the  open  fireplace  may  suffice. 
But  this,  though  a  very  effectual,  is  not  an  economical  ventilator  ;  and  when 
the  issue  through  this  is  closed, 
jome  other  must  be  provided.  The 
most  effective  ventilator  for  throw- 
ing out  foul  air,  is  one  opening  into 
a  tube  which  incloses  the  smoke- 
flue  at  the  point  where  it  passes 
through  the  roof.  Warm  air  natu- 
rally rises.  If  a  portion  of  the 
smoke-flue  be  inclosed  by  a  tin  tube, 
it  will  warm  the  air  within  this  tube, 
and  give  it  a  tendency  to  rise.  If, 
then,  a  wooden  tube,  opening  near 
the  floor,  be  made  to  communicate, 
by  its  upper  extremity,  with  the  tin 
tube,  an  upward  current  will  take 
place  in  it,  which  will  always  act 
whenever  the  smoke-flue  is  ivarm. 

It  is  better,  but  not  absolutely  es- 
sential, that  the  opening  into  the  CScaIe  8  feet  t0  an  inch-' 
wooden  tube  be  near  the  floor.     The                      Ventilating  Apparatus. 
carbonic    acid   thrown   out   by   the       A-  A'r  D0X>  1  foot  square,  or  24  inches  by  6, 
lungs  rises,  with  the  warm  breath,  ?overed  b5'  the  pilaster,  and  opening  at  the  floor, 
and  the  perspirable  matter  from  the  VL      b»»e_of  the  pilaster.    B.  Round  iron  tube 
Skin,    with  the  warm,  invisible  va-   \5*  lnfes  m  dmmeter,  being  a  continuation  of 
\    ii-     j.         <•,!      '  ""^""^  "a,     the  air  box,  through  the  center  of  which  passes 
por,  to  the  top  of  the  room.     There  C.  The  smoke  flue,  8  inches  in  diameter.     D 
both  soon   cool,  and  sink  towards  Caps  to  keep  out  the  rain. 
the  floor  ;  and  both  carbonic  air  and 

the  vapor  bearing  the  perspirable  matter  are  pretty  rapidly  and  equally  dif- 
fused through  every  part  of  the  room. 

Seats  and  Desks.— Instead  of  a  seat  and  desk  for  each  pupil,  Mr.  Emer- 
son recommends  that  two  seats  should  be  contiguous.  In  his  drawings,  the? 
desk  is  perfectly  level  like  a  table,  and  the  back  to  the  seat  is  perpendicular- 


72 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


SCHOOL    FOR    ONE    HUNDRED    AND    TWENTY    PUPILS. 


fa, 

*     ""1 

X.l  \ 

. 

Afc£ 

\_j 

ffloooonsooooo- 

lOOOlMMtDOQ 


© 


Br 


B 


51  feet  by  31  feet  outside.]  [Scale  16  feet  to  the  inch. 

D.  Entrance  door.  E.  Entry.  F.  Fireplace.  C.  Wool  closet.  T.  Teacher's  plat- 
form, a.  Apparatus  shelves,  t.  Air  tube  beneath  the  floor,  d.  Doors,  g.  Globes.  I.  Li 
brary  shelves,  m.  Master's  table  and'  seat.  p.  Passages,  r.  Recitation  seats,  s.  Schol- 
ars' desks  and  seats,  rs.  Stairs  to  recitation  rooms  in  the  attic.  ?>.  Ventilator,  w.  Win- 
dows,    b.  Movable' blackboard,     as.  Air  space  behind  the  fireplace. 


21  feet  by  SS  feet  outside.] 

D.  Entrance  door.  E.  Entry.  F.  Fireplace.  C.  Wood  closet,  or  recitation  room 
T.  Teacher's  platform,  a.  Apparatus  shelves,  t.  Air  tube  beneath  the  floor,  d.  Doors 
p.  Globes.  I.  Library  shelves,  m.  Master's  table  and  seat.  p.  Passages,  r.  Recitation 
seats,  s.  Scholars' desks  and  seats,  v. .  Ventilator.  W.Windows.  6.  Movable  black- 
board,    a,  s.  Air  space  behind  the  fireplace. 


OCTAGONAL  PLAN  FOR  DISTRICT  SCHOOL.HOUSE. 


73 


Plans,  &c,  of  an  Octagonal  School-house. 
Furnished  for  the  "School  and  School-master,'1''  by  Messrs.  Town  and  Davis. 


Fig.  1. 

This  design  for  a  school-house  intends  to  exhibit  a  model  of  fitness  and  close 
economy.  The  principles  of  fitness  are,  1.  Ample  dimensions,  with  very 
nearly  the  least  possible  length  of  wall  for  its  Enclosure,  the  roof  being  con- 
structed without  tie  beams,  the  upper  and  lower  ends  of  the  rafters  being:  held 
by  the  wall  plates  and  frame  at  the  foot  of  the  lantern.  The  ceiling  may 
show  the  timber-work  of  the  roof,  or  it  may  be  plastered.  ?.  Light,  a  uniform 
temperature,  and  a  free  ventilation,  secured  by  a  lantern  light,  thus  avoiding 
lateral  windows  (except  for  air  in  summer,)  and  gaining  wall-room  for  black- 
boards, maps,  models,  and  illustrations.  Side  windows  are  shown  in  the 
view,  and  may  be  made  an  addition  by  those  who  doubt  the  efficiency  of  the 
lantern  light.  (The  lantern  is  not  only  best  for  light,  but  it  is  essential  for  a 
free  ventilation.)  With  such  a  light,  admitted  equally  to  all  the  desks,  there 
will  be  no  inconvenience  from  shadows.  The  attention  of  the  scholars  will 
not  be  distracted  by  occurrences  or  objects  out  of  doors.  There  will  be  less 
expense  for  broken  glass,  as  the  sashes  will  be  removed  from  ordinary  acci- 
dents. The  room,  according  to  this  plan,  is  heated  by  a  fire  in  the  center, 
either  in  a  stove  or  grate,  with  a  pipe  going  directly  through  the  roof  of  the 
lantern,  and  finishing  outside  in  a  sheet-iron  vase,  or  other  appropriate  cap. 
The  pipe  can  be  tastefully  fashioned,  with  a  hot-air  chamber  near  the  floor,  so 
as  to  afford  a  large  radiating  surface  before  the  heat  is  allowed  to  escape. 
This  will  secure  a  uniform  temperature  in  every  part  of  the  room,  at  the  same 
time  that  the  inconvenience  from  a  pipe  passing  directly  over  the  heads  of 
children,  is  avoided.  The  octagonal  shape  will  admit  of  any  number  of  seats 
and  desks,  (according  to  the  size  of  the  room,)  arranged  parallel  with  the  sides, 
constructed  as  described  in  specification,  or  on  such  principles  as  may  be  pre- 
ferred. The  master's  seat  may  be  in  the  center  of  the  room,  and  the  seats  be 
eo  constructed  that  the  scholars  may  sit  with  their  backs  to  the  center,  by 
which  their  attention  will  not  be  diverted  by  facing  other  scholars  on  the  op- 
posite side,  and  yet  so  that  at  times  they  may  all  face  the  master,  and  the 
whole  school  be  formed  into  one  class.  The  lobby  next  to  the  front  door  is 
made  large,  (8  by  20)  so  that  it  may  serve  for  a  recitation-room.     This  lobby 


74 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


is  to  finish  eight  feet  high, 
the  inside  wall  to  show  like 
a  screen,  not  rising  to  the 
roof,  and  the  space  above 
be  open  to  the  school- 
room, and  used  to  put 
away  or  station  school  ap- 
paratus. This  screen-like 
wall  may  he  hung  with  /ffj 
Lats  and  clothes,  or  the  j|$ 
Liangular  space  next  the  '' 
window  may  be  inclosed 
for  this  purpose.  The 
face  of  the  octagon  oppo- 
site to  the  porch,  has  a 
wood-house  attached  to  it, 
serving  as  a  sheltered  way 
to  a  double  privy  beyond. 
This  woodhouse  is  open 
on  two  sides,  to  admit  of 
a  cross  draught  of  air, 
preventing  the  possibility 
of  a  nuisance.  Other 
wing-rooms  (A  A)  may  be 


Fie.  2. 


attached  to  the  remaining  sides  of  the  octagon,  if  additional  conveniences  for 
closets,  library,  or  recitation-rooms  be  desired. 

The  mode  here  suggested,  of  a  lantern  in  the  center  of  the  roof  for  lighting 
all  common  school-houses-,  is  so  great  a  change  from  common  usage  in  our 
country,  that  it  requires  full  and  clear  explanations  for  its  execution,  and  plain 
and  satisfactory  reasons  for  its  general  adoption,  and  of  its  great  excellence  in 
preference  to  the  common  mode.     They  are  as  follows,  viz.  : 

1.  A  skylight  is  well  known  to  be  far  better  and  stronger  than  light  from 
the  sides  of  the  building  in  cloudy  weather,  and  in  morning  and  evening.  The 
difference  is  of  the  greatest  importance.  In  short  days  (the  most  used  for 
schools)  it  is  still  more  so. 

2.  The  light  is  far  better  for  all  kinds  of  study  than  side  light,  from  its  quiet 
uniformity  and  equal  distribution. 

3.  For  smaller  houses,  the  lantern  may  be  square,  a  simple  form  easily 
constructed.  The  sides,  whether  square  or  octagonal,  should  incline  like  the 
drawing,  but  not  so  much  as  to  allow  water  condensed  on  its  inside  to  drop 
off,  but  run  down  on  the  inside  to  the  bottom,  which  should  be  so  formed  as 
to  conduct  it  out  by  a  small  aperture  at  each  bottom  pane  of  glass. - 

4.  The  glass  required  to  light  a  school-room  equally  well  with  side  lights 
would  be  double  what  would  be  required  here,  and  the  lantern  would  be  se- 
cure from  common  accidents,  by  which  a  great  part  of  the  glass  is  every  year 
broken. 

5.  The  strong  propensity  which  scholars  have  to  look  out  by  a  side  win- 
dow would  be  mostly  prevented,  as  the  shutters  to  side  apertures  would  only 
be  opened  when  the  warm  weather  would  require  it  for  air,  but  never  in  cool 
weather,  and  therefore  no  glass  would  be  used.  The  shutters  being  made 
very  tight,  by  calking,  in  winter,  would  make  the  school-room  much  warmer 
than  has  been  common ;  and,  being  so  well  ventilated,  and  so  high  in  the  cen- 
ter, it  would  be  more  healthy. 

6.  The  stove,  furnace,  or  open  grate,  being  in  the  center  of  the  room,  has 
great  advantages,  from  diffusing  the  heat  to  all  parts,  and  equally  to  all  the 
scholars ;  it  also  admits  the  pipe  to  go  perpendicularly  up,  without  any  incon- 
venience, and  it  greatly  facilitates  the  ventilation,  and  the  retention  or  escape 
of  heat,  by  means  of  the  sliding  cap  above. 

Construction. — Foundation  of   hard  stone,  laid  with  mor- 

)  tar ;  the  superstructure  framed  and   covered  with  1  \  plank, 

Wwmt  tongued,  grooved,  and  put  on  vertically,  with  a  fillet,,  chamfered 


OCTAGONAL  PLAN  FOR  DISTRICT  SCHOOL.IIOUSE. 


75 


at  the  edges,  over  the  joint,  as  here  shown.  In  our  view,  a  rustic 
character  is  given  to  the  design  by  covering  the  sides  with  slabs  ;  the  curved 
side  out,  tongued  and  grooved,  without  a  fillet  over  the  joint ;  or  formed  of 
logs  placed'vertically,  and  lathed  and  plastered  on  the  inside.  The  sides  di- 
minish slightly  upward.  A  rustic  porch  is  also  shown,  the  columns  of  cedar 
boles,  with  vines  trained  upon  them.  The  door  is  battened,  with  braces  upon 
the  outside,  curved  as  shown,  with  a  strip  around  the  edge.  It  is  four  feet 
wide,  seven  high,  in  two  folds,  one  half  to  be  used  in  inclement  weather. 
The  cornice  projects  two  feet  six  inches,  better  to  defend  the  boarding  ;  and 
may  show  the  ends  of  the  rafters.  Roof  covered  with  tin,  slate  or  shingles. 
Dripping  eaves  are  intended,  without  gutters.  The  roof  of  an  octagonal 
building  of  ordinary  dimensions  may  with  ease  and  perfect  safety  be  con- 
structed without  tie  beams  or  a  garret  floor  (which  is,  in  all  cases  of  school- 
houses,  waste  room,  very  much  increasing  the  exposure  to  fire,  as  well  as 
the  expense.)  The  wall-plates,  in  this  case,  become  ties,  and  must  be  well 
secured,  so  as  to  form  one  connected  hoop,  capable  of  counteracting  the  pres- 
sure outward  of  the  angular  rafters.  The  sides  of  the  roof  will  abut  at  top 
against  a  similar  timber  octagonal  frame,  immediately  at  the  foot  of  the  lan- 
tern cupola.  This  frame  must  be  sufficient  to  resist  the  pressure  inward  of 
the  roof  (which  is  greater  or  less,  as  the  roof  is  more  or  less  inclined  in  its 
pitch,)  in  the  same  manner  as  the  tie-plates  must  resist  the  pressure  outward. 
This  security  is  given  in  an  easy  and  cheap  manner  ;  and  may  be  given  en- 
tirely by  the  roof  boarding,  if  it  is  properly  nailed  to  the  angular  rafters,  and 
runs  horizontally  round  the  roof.  By  this  kind  of  roof,  great  additional  height 
is  given  to  the  room  by  camp-ceiling ;  that  is,  by  planing  the  rafters  and  roof- 
boards,  or  by  lathing  and  plastering  on  a  thin  half-inch  board  ceiling,  immedi- 
ately on  the  underside  of  the  rafters,  as  may  be  most  economically  perform- 
ed. This  extra  height  in  the  center  will  admit  of  low  side-walls,  from  seven 
to  ten  feet  in  the  clear,  according  to  the  size  and  importance  of  the  buildings 
and,  at  the  same  time,  by  the  most  simple 
principle  of  philosophy,  conduct  the  heated 
foul  air  up  to  the  central  aperture,  which 
should  be  left  open  quite  round  the  pipe  of  the 
stove,  or  open  grate  standing  in  the  center  of 
the  room.  This  aperture  and  cap,  with  the 
ventilator,  is  shown  by  the  figure  adjoining, 
which  is  to  a  scale  of  half  an  inch  to  a  foot. 
The  ventilator  is  drawn  raised,  and  the  dot- 
ted lines  show  it  let  down  upon  the  roof.  It 
may  be  of  any  required  size,  say  two   feet 

ide  and  twelve  inches  high,  sliding  up  and 

vn  between  the  stovepipe  and  an  outward 
■.,  se,  forming  a  cap  to  exclude  water.  This 
>ip  maybe  pushed  up  or  let  down  by  a  rod 
amxed  to  the  under  edge,  and  lying  against 
the  smokepipe. 

In  the  design  given,  the  side-walls  are  ten 
feet  high,  and  the  lantern  fifteen  feet  above 
the  floor  ;  eight  feet  in  diameter,  four  feet 

high.  The  sashes  may  open  for  additional  ventilation,  if  required,  by  turning 
on  lateral  pivots,  regulated  by  cords  attached  to  the  edges  above.  The 
breadth  of  each  desk  is  seventeen  inches,  with  a  shelf  beneath  for  books,  and 
an  opening  in  the  back  to  receive  a  slate.  The  highest  desks  are  twenty- 
seven  inches,  inclined  to  thirty,  and  the  front  forms  the  back  of  the  seat  be- 
fore it.  The  seat  is  ten  to  twelve  inches  wide,  fifteen  high,  and  each  pupil  is 
allowed  a  space  of  two  feet,  side  to  side. 

For  the  sake  of  variety,  we  have  given  a  design  in  the  pointed  style,  revised 

from  a  sketch  by ,  an  amateur  in  architecture.     Any  rectangular  plan 

will  suit  it ;  and  the  principles  of  light  and  ventilation  dwelt  upon  in  the  de- 
scription of  the  octagon  design,  may  be  adapted  to  this.    The  principal  light 


5 


J> 


76 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


Fig.  3. 

is  from  one  large  mullioned  window  in  the  rear  end.  The  side  openings  are 
for  air  in  summer — not  glazed,  but  closed  with  tight  shutters.  The  same  ven- 
tilating cap  is  shown,  and  height  is  gained  in  the  roof  by  framing  with  collar 
^earns  set  up  four  or  five  feet  above  the  eaves.  The  sides,  if  not  of  brick  or 
stone,  may  be  boarded  vertically,   as  before  described. 


PLAN  OF  VILLAGE  SCHOOL-GROUND  BY  DR.  DICK. 


77 


P:.AN    OP    SciIOOL-ROOM    AND    GROUNDS    FOR    A    VjLLAGE    SdlOOL. 

The  following  sketch  by  Dr.  Dick,  (author  of  Mental  Illumination),  of  the 
plan  and  accommodations  of  a  Village  School  is  copied  from  the  Pennsylvania 
Common  School  Journal,  vol.  1,  p.  120. 


A.  B — Covered  walks  for  exercise  in  winter  and  rainy  days.  C.  D.  E.  F— 
Plats  for  flowers,  shrubs,  evergreens,  and  a  few  forest  trees.  G.  H — Circles 
with  twelve  compartments  each,  for  a  different  class  of  plants.  I.  K — Yards 
divided  with  a  wall,  with  suitable  accommodations  for  either  sex.  L— Portion 
of  ground,  smoothed  and  graveled  for  play-ground,  with  circular  swing,  &c. 
M— Room,  50  by  30  feet,  and  14  feet  high.  N.  N  —  Class-rooms,  18  by  15, 
S.  T.— Closets  for  apparatus,  &e. 


78 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


Plan  of  District  School-Room,  recommended  By  Dr.  A.  D  Lord, 
Columbus,  Ohio. 

The  following  plan  and  description  are  copied  from  the  Ohio 
School  Journal,  Vol.  II.,  edited  by  Dr.  Lord,  Superintendent  of  the 
Common  Schools  of  Columbus,  Ohio. 


I 

EZZ 

i 


I 

H 

G 

o    c 


The  building  here  presented  should  be  26  by  36  feet  on  the  ground,  or,  as 
least,  25  by  35  feet  inside.     The  plan  is  drawn  on  a  scale  of  ten  feet  to  the  inch. 

A  C — Entries  8  feet  square,  one  for  each  sex. 

B— Library  and  apparatus  room,  8  by  9  feet,  which  may  be  used  for  a  recita- 
tion room  for  small  sized  classes. 

D— Teacher's  platform,  behind  which,  on  the  wall,  should  be  a  blackboard  12 
feet  long  by  5  feet  wide. 

E  E  E  E— Recitation  seats,  those  on  the  sides  placed  against  the  wall,  those 
in  front  of  the  platform  haying  backs  and  being  moyable. 

F  F  F— Free  space,  at  least  two  feet  wide,  next  the  wall  on  three  sides  of  the 
room. 

G— Desk,  for  two  pupils,  four  feet  long  by  18  inches  wide. 

H — Seat,    "    "        do   .      "      "    13      "         " 

I— Centre  aisle  two  feet  wide ;  the  aisles  on  either  side  of  this  should  be  from 
18  to  24  inches  wide. 

The  area  on  either  side  and  in  front  of  the  Teacher's  platform,  is  intended 
tor  reading  and  spelling  classes,  and  any  other  class  exercises  in  which  the 
pupils  stand ;  and  the  space  next  the  wali  may  be  used  to  arrange  the  greater 
part  ot  the  school  as  one  class  in  any  general' exercises  requiring  it. 

Four  windows  are  represented  on  each  side  of  the  house,  and  two  on  the  end 
opposite  the  Teacher's  stand.  The  door  to  the  Library-room  opens  from  one 
oi  the  entries,  and  the  room  is  lighted  by  a  large  window  in  the  front  end  of  the 
house. 


PLANS  FOR  SCHOOLS  OF  DIFFERENT  GRADES.  79 

Pian,  &c,  of   School-rooms  for  Schools   of  different  grades  and 

DIFFERENT    SYSTEMS    OF    INSTRUCTION. 

The  plans  and  remarks  for  arranging  school-rooms  thus  far,  are  more  par- 
ticularly applicable  to  comparatively  small,  or  country  schools,  where  the  in- 
struction and  government  is  conducted  by  one  teacher,  with  at  most  but  one 
assistant.  A  few  remarks  explanatory  of  the  terms  used  by  writers  on  edu- 
cation, when  speaking  of  systems  of  organization  and  instruction,  may  be 
useful  to  a  full  comprehension  of  the  principles  of  arrangement  embraced  in 
the  plans  which  follow. 

1.  The  individual  method  is  the  practice  on  the  part  of  the  teacher,  of  calling 
up  each  scholar  by  himself  for  recitation,  or  giving  instruction  to  each  scholar 
in  his  seat,  or  calling  up  classes  and  hearing  each  scholar  individually,  which 
is  practically  the  same-thing.  This  method  will  answer  a  valuable  end  in  a 
very  small  school,  and  must  be  introduced  to  some  extent  in  our  small  country 
districts  where  there  are  children  of  every  age,  and  in  a  great  variety  of 
studies,  and  of  different  degrees  of  proficiency  in  each  study.  It  prevails, 
however,  altogether  too  generally,  even  in  larger  districts  which  admit  of  a 
classification  of  children  into  schools  of  different  grades,  and  of  the  children 
in,  each  grade  of  schools.  This  classification  is  the  first  great  step  towards 
school  improvement. 

2.  In  the  simultaneous  method,  the  whole  school,  together,  or  in  succes- 
sive classes  carefully  arranged  according  to  their  intellectual  proficiency,  is 
instructed  directly  by  the  teacher.  Questions  and  explanations  are  addressed 
to  the  whole  school,  or  the  whole  class,  as  the  case  may  be,  and  answers  are 
given  by  all  together,  or  by  some  one  pointed  out  by  the  teacher,  while  all 
must  show  by  some  silent  sign,  there  ability  to  do  so.  This  method  keeps 
every  mind  attentive,  gives  confidence  to  the  timid,  admits  of  the  liveliness 
of  oral  and  interrogative  instruction,  economizes  the  time  and  labor  of  the 
teacher,  and  enlists  the  great  principle  of  sympathy  of  numbers  engaged  in 
common  pursuit.  The  extent  to  which  this  method  can  be  properly  carried, 
will  depend  not  so  much  op  the  size  of  the  schools,  as  on  the  fact  that  the 
school  is  composed  of  children  in  the  same  studies,  and  of  the  same  proficien- 
cy.    This  method  ought  not  to  exclude  entirely  individual  instruction. 

When  the  number  of  children  increases  beyond  that  which  one  teacher  can 
conveniently  instruct  together,  or  in  successive  classes,  he  must  adopt  the 
monitorial,  the  mixed,  or  the  F&cher  system,  for  such  classes  as  he  cannot 
superintend  or  teach. 

3.  By  the  monitorial  or  mutual  method,  is  understood  the  practice  of  em- 
ploying the  advanced  pupils,  and  many  of  them  very  young,  to  assist  in  the  su- 
pervision and  instruction  of  the  school,  or  of  particular  classes,  as  systematized 
by  Mr.  Lancaster,  or  Dr.  Bell,  and  as  pursued  in  the  schools  connected  with 
the  National,  and  the  British  and  Foreign  School  Societies,  England.  This 
method,  in  different  countries,  on  its  first  promulgation,  attracted  much  of 
public  favor,  on  account  of  its  economy,  especially  in  populous  districts. 
In  England  it  still  receives  the  sanction  of  the  two  great  Societies 
named  above.  In  Germany  it  was  never  adopted  in  the  public  schools.  In 
Holland  it  was  tried,  and  abandoned,  but  not  without  modifying  very  material- 
ly the  methods  of  instruction  before  pursued,  and  finally  leading  to  the  adoption 
of  the  mixed  method.  In  the  large  cities  of  the  United  States,  it  was  early 
adopted,  but  there  is  hardly  a  school  in  the  whole  country  now  conducted  on 
the  pure  monitorial  or  Lancasterian  system,  although  there  are  many  so 
called.  As  pursued  in  the  excellent  schools  of  the  New  York  Public  School 
Society,  it  is  nearly  the  mixed  method  as  understood  and  practiced  in  Hol- 
land, and  as  recommended  by  the  Committee  of  Council  on  Education  in 
England. 

With  these  modifications,  and  the  limitation  of  the  duties  of  the  younger 
monitors  to  keeping  the  registers,  heading  the  classes  in  marching  to  and 
from  their  class-rooms,  or  the  playground,  taking  charge  of  books,  &c,  and  in 
other  matters  of  order  and  mechanical  arrangements,  the  monitorial  system 
might  be  advantageously  adopted  in  schools  of  every  grade,  and  of  any  sys- 
tem of  instruction. 


80  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

4.  The  mixed  method,  as  the  term  is  generally  understood,  is  a  modifica- 
tion of  the  simultaneous  and  monitorial  system,  in  which  the  principal  teacher, 
while  he  has  the  superintendence  at  all  times  of  the  whole  school,  and 
gives  general  instruction  at  certain  hours,  and  in  certain  studies,  to  the  whole 
school,  as  well  as  to  particular  classes,  employs  in  the  work  of  class  instruc- 
tion, assistants  who  are  better  instructed,  and,  as  a  general  rule,  are  older  than 
those  employed  as  monitors  under  the  Lancasterian  system,  and  are  not  yet 
qualified  to  have  the  whole  charge  of  a  school.  For  example,  in  Holland, 
"  every  school  produces  two  classes  of  assistants,  who  are  most  usefully  and 
economically  employed  in  aiding  him  in  the  management  and  instruction  of 
the  school,  and  may  be  called  pupil  teachers  and  assistant  teachers.  By 
pupil  teacher  is  meant  a  young  teacher,  in  the  first  instance  introduced  to  the 
notice  of  the  master  by  his  good  qualities,  as  one  of  the  best  instructed  and 
most  intelligent  of  the  children  ;  whose  attainments  and  skill  are  full  of 
promise  ;  and  who,  having  consented  to  remain  at  a  low  rate  of  remuneration 
in  the 'School,  is  further  rewarded  by  being  enabled  to  avail  himself  of  the  op- 
portunities afforded  him  for  attaining  practical  skill  in  the  art  of  teaching,  by 
daily  practice  in  the  school,  and  by  the  gratuitous  superintendence  of  his 
reading  and  studies  by  the  master,  from  whom  he  receives  lessons  on  technical 
subjects  of  school  instruction  every  evening-  He  commonly  remains  in  the 
school  in  the  rank  of  papil  teacher  from  the  age  of  14  to  that  of  17,  daily  im- 
bibing a  more  intimate  acquaintance  with  school  management,  and  all  the 
matter  of  instruction  in  elementary  schools,  and  he  then  proceeds,  by  attend- 
ance at  a  Normal  school,  or  by  further  proficiency  attained  by  his  own  exer- 
tions, to  qualify  himself  to  act  as  an  assistant  teacher.  The  assistant,  teacher 
prepared  by  these  preliminary  studies  in  the  elementary  Normal  school  com- 
mences his  duties  at  18  or  20  years  of  age. 

Assistants  thus  reared  in  the  atmosphere  of  schools  are  exceedingly  pre- 
ferable to  the  best  instructed  men  who  are  not  familiarized  by  daily  habitude 
with  the  minutest  details  of  school  management.  Such  assistants  constantly 
replenish  the  ranks  of  the  teachers  with  men,  all  the  hopes  of  whose  youth 
have  been  directed  towards  success  in  the  profession  of  a  schoolmaster,  and 
whose  greatest  ambition  is  to  be  distinguished  by  the  excellence  of  their 
schools. 

5.  The  Fiicher  system,  as  it  is  termed  in  Germany  where  it  is.  most  popu- 
lar, consists  in  employing  separate  teachers  for  separate  studies,  or  as  we 
should  apply  it  here,  for  distinct  departments  of  government,  and  of  instruc- 
tion. This  is  the  principle  on  which  instruction  in  our  colleges  and  most  of 
our  higher  seminaries  is  given,  and  is  in  reality  the  mixed  method  carried  to 
its  highest  perfection.  The  vital  error  in  our  common  schools,  as  they  are 
now  organized,  is  the  practice  of  employing  one  teacher  for  the  government 
and  instruction  of  fifty  or  sixty  children  of  every  age,  of  both  sexes,  in  a 
great  variety  of  studies,  and  in  different  stages  of  proficiency  in  each  study. 
It  is  very  rare  to  find  a  teacher  with  the  varied  qualifications,  which  success 
under  these  circumstances  presupposes,  while  it  is  not  very  difficult  to  find  a 
teacher  with  talent  and  experience  sufficient  to  teach  some  one  study,  or  a 
few  cognate  branches,  as  an  assistant,  acting  under  the  general  direction  of  a 
well  qualified  principal. 

Any  school  organization  and  arrangements  would  be  imperfect  which  did 
not  include  the  systematic  training  and  instruction  of  very  young  children, 
especially  in  cities  and  manufacturing  villages.  Whatever  may  have  been 
done  by  others  at  an  earlier  date,  it  seems  to  be  generally  conceded  now,  that 
to  Mr.  Wilderspin  belongs  the  credit  of  having  reduced  infant  education  to 
the  science  which  it  now  is.  It  was  unfortunate  for  the  improvement  of  the 
quality  of  education  given  in  our  schools,  that  the  infant  school  system  was 
tried  in  this  country,  without  a  full  comprehension  of  its  legitimate  principles, 
methods  and  end,  and  that  the  experiment  was  abandoned  so  hastily.  Its 
partial  and  temporary  success,  however,  led  to  the  extension  and  improvement 
of  our  primary  schools,  and  this  circumstance  renders  the  sv«cess  of  any 
well  directed  effort  for  their  re-establishment  more  certain. 


PLANS  FOR  SCHOOLS  ON  THE  MONITORIAL  PLAN.  §[ 

Plans,  &c,  for  Schools  on  the  Monitorial  or  Mutual  System. 

The  "  Manual  of  the  System  of  Primary  Instruction  pursued  in  the  Mode! 
Schools  of  the  British  and  Foreign  School  Society,"  published  in  1839,  con- 
tains the  following  remarks  on  the  arrangement  for  schools  of  mutual  in- 
struction connected  with  that  Society. 

The  school-room  should  be  a  parallelogram,  the  length  about  twice  the 
breadth. 

The  height  of  the  walls  should  be  proportioned  to  the  length  of  the  room, 
and  may  be  varied  from  11  to  19  feet.  It  is  recommended  that  the  walls  be 
worked  fair  and  lime  whitened,  in  order  to  give  a  neat  and  clean  appearance, 
reflect  light,  and  contribute  to  the  preservation  of  health.  As  it  is  of  great 
importance  to  admit  as  much  light  as  possible  into  the  school,  there  must  be 
a  considerable  number  of  windows,  each  of  which  should  be  fixed  in  a  wooden 
frame,  and  movable  upon  pins  or  pivots  in  the  center,  so  that  by  drawing  the 
upper  part  into  the  room,  the  school  may  be  sufficiently  ventilated  in  hot 
weather — a  circumstance  of  the  utmost  importance  to  be  attended  to,  as  the 
health  of  the  pupils  in  a  great  measure  depends  upon  it. 

The  lower  parts  of  the  windows  should  be  at  least  6  feet  from  the  floor,  in 
order  that  the  light  may  not  be  inconvenient,  and  the  walls  be  at  liberty  for 
the  reading  lessons,  &c,  which  are  to  be  attached  to  it ;  if  piers  are  required, 
they  should  be  on  the  outside  of  the  building. 

There  should  be  holes  in  the  roof,  or  in  the  wall  near  it,  to  let  foul  air 
escape.  This  may  be  effected  by  a  sufficient  number  of  tubes  so  contrived 
that  they  can  be  opened  or  shut  at  pleasure,  and  at  the  same  time  fresh  air  be 
admitted  from  the  outside  of  the  building  by  tubes  communicating  with  the 
lower  part  of  the  room. 

All  projections  in  the  walls,  as  well  as  pillars  to  support  the  roof,  ought  to 
be  avoided;  for  they  interfere  with  the  arrangement  of  the  school,  and  ob- 
struct the  view  of  the  master  and  of  visiters.  But  if  pillars  are  necessary, 
they  should  be  placed  at  each  end  of  the  desks,  but  never  in  the  middle  of  the 
room. 

Roman  Cement,  cast  into  flags,  and  jointed  with  the  same  material,  forms  a 
good  flooring  ;  it  is  perfectly  dry  and  durable,'  and  emits  but  little  sound. 

In  order  that  all  the  children  may  be  completely  seen  by  the  master,  it  is  of 
great  importance  that  the  floor  should  be  an  inclined  plane,  rising  one  foot  in 
twenty  from  the  master's  desk,  to  the  upper  end  of  the  room,  where  the  high- 
est or  eighth  class  is  situated. 

At  the  lower  end  is  the  platform,  elevated  in  proportion  to  the  length  of  the 
room  from  2  to  3  feet.  The  length  and  breadth  of  the  platform  must  be  in 
proportion  to  the  size  of  the  room. 

The  center  of  the  platform  is  the  place  for  the  master's  desk  ;  and  on  each 
side  there  may  be  a  small  desk  for  the  principal  monitors. 

The  entrance  door  should  be  on  the  side  of  the  platform,  in  order  that  visit- 
ers on  entering  the  school,  may  have  a  commanding  view  of  all  the  children 
at  once. 

Whatever  be  the  size  of  the  school-room,  it  may  be  sufficiently  warmed  by 
means  of  one  or  two  stoves  placed  at  the  extremities  of  the  apartment.  But 
the  most  uniform  and  constant  temperature  is  obtained  by  steam,  when  con- 
ducted along  the  lower  parts  of  the  room  through  pipes,  or  by  heated  air  con- 
veyed into  the  room  through  tubes  communicating  with  a  stove,  which  is  sur- 
rounded by  a  close  casing  of  iron,  leaving  a  sufficient  space  for  a  current  of 
fresh  air  to  be  brought  in  through  a  tube  :  this,  coming  in  contact  with  the 
stove  and  the  outside  of  the  flue  or  iron  chimney  which  passes  through  the 
casing,  is  heated,  and  may  be  discharged  into  the  room  by  means  of  iron 
pipes.     This  method  has  been  found  to  answer  extremely  well. 

The  middle  of  the  room  is  occupied  by  the  forms  and  desk,  a  passage  being 
left  between  the  ends  of  the  forms  and  the  wall,  5  or  6  feet  broad,  where  the 
children  form  semicircles  for  reading. 

The  forms  and  desks  must  be  fixed  firmly  in  the  ground  ;  the  legs  or  sup- 
ports should  be  6  inches  broad  and  2  inches  thick,  but  cast  iron  legs  are  pre- 

6 


g£  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

ferable,  as  they  support  the  desk-board  with  equal  firmness,  occupy  less  room, 
and  have  a  neater  appearance  ;  their  number  of  course  will  be  in  proportion 
to  the  length  of  the  forms.  A  form  20  feet  long  will  require  five,  and  they 
must  be  so  placed,  that  the  supports  of  the  forms  may  not  be  immediately 
opposite  to  those  of  the  desks  ;  the  corners  of  the  desks  and  forms  are  to  be 
made  round,  in  order  that  the  children  may  not  hurt  themselves. 

The  general  rules  for  fitting  up 
school-rooms  are, — 1.  One  foot  for 
the  space  or  passage  between  a  form 
and  the  next  desk. 

2.  Three  inches  for  the  horizontal 
space  between  a  desk  and  its  form. 

3.  Nine  inches  for  the  breadth  of  a 
desk,  and  six  for  the  breadth  of  a 
form. 

4.  Twenty-eight  inches  for  the 
height  of  a  desk,  and  sixteen  for  the 
height  of  a  form. 

5.  Eighteen  inches  in  length  of  the 
desk  for  every  child  to  occupy  while 
seated  upon  his  form. 

6.  From  five  to  six  feet  for  the 
passage  between  the  walls  and  the 
ends  of  the  forms  and  desks. 

The   semi-circles    for  the  reading 
>  classes  are   formed    opposite   to  the 
wall,  and  are  marked  by  an  incision 
in  the  floor. 

Dimensions  of  school-rooms  for 
300  children,  length,  62^  ft.,  breadth, 
34  feet ;  for  200  do.  55  by  28  ;  for 
150  do.  52|  feet  by  25. 


School-room  for  56  scholars. 


D 


1 

D 

i 

The  following  suggestions  are  abridged  from  the  "  General  Observations  on 
the  construction  and  arrangements  of 
school-rooms,  See."  published  by  the 
National  Society,  London. 

The  form  of  the  room  should  be  ob- 
long. If  the  room  is  built  large  to  ac- 
commodate boys  and  girls  together,  it 
may  be  divided  by  a  frame  partition, 
made  to  slide  upon  rollers  in  an  iron 
groove. 

The  superficial  area  should  include 
7  square  feet  for  each  child  :  hence, 
50  children  will  require  350  ft ;  80  do. 
560  ft.  ;  100  do.  700  ft.,  &c. 

The  desks  are  generally  attached  to 
the  wall,  and  consist  of  a  horizontal 
ledge  two  or  three  inches  wide  to  re- 
ceive the  inkstand,  and  an  inclined 
plane  ten  inches  wide,  made  to  let 
down  by  hinges  and  movable  brackets. 
The  benches  or  forms  are  ten  inches 
wide,  and  supported  by  standards  of 
cast  iron. 

The  benches  for  the  classes  in  reci- 
tation, are  arranged  in  the  floor  with- 
out desks.     The  floor  is  entirely  level. 


□ 


D 


D 


h 


PLANS  FOR  SCHOOLS  ON  THE  MIXED  SVSTEM. 


83 


Plans,  &c,  for  Schools  on  the  Mixed  and  Packer  System. 

The  two  plans  on  the  preceding  page,  for  schools  of  56  children,  arranged  on 
the  monitorial  or  mutual  system,  are  taken  from  the  "  Minutes  of  the  Com- 
mittee of-  Council  on  Education,  1840,  relative  to  Plans  of  School-houses." 
In  each  plan,  given  in  the  "  Minutes,"  the  arrangement  of  the  school-room  is 
delineated,  1.  according  to  the  system  of 'mutual  instruction,  distinguishing,  as 
above,  that  of  the  National  Society  from  that  of  the  British  and  Foreign 
School  Society  ;  and  2.  according  to  the  mixed  method,  in  which  a  modifica- 
tion of  the  mutual  system,  through  the  agency  of  better  instructed  and  paid 
monitors,  or  pupil  teachers,  is  employed  in  combination  with  the  simultaneous 
method.  Thus,  on  the  same  sheet,  with  the  school-room  for  56  children  on 
the  mutual  system,  there  is  also  the  following  plan  on  the  mixed  system. 

The  school-room  is  18  feet  _ 
wide  by  31  long,  the  space  (20 
feet  by  12)  occupied  by  the 
desks  and  seats  being  divided 
into  two  parts,  one  for  boys  and 
the  other  for  girls,  by  a  mova- 
ble partition.  The  desks  and 
benches  are  arranged  on  a 
series  of  platforms,  rising  each 
6  inches  above  the  preceding 
one.-  The  school,  if  taught  on 
the  mixed  method  recommended 
would  be  divided  into  four  class- 
es, the  boys  of  the  first  class 
occupying  the  first  bench  on  one 
side,  and  the  girls,  do.  on  the 
other,  &c,  and  employing  one 
pupil  teacher  and  four  monitors. 
The  teacher  would  give  general 
instruction  from  the  platform  to 
the  whole  school,  and  hear  any 
class  separately,  arranged  in  a 
circle  around  him.  Two  other 
classes  might  be  heard  in  the 
entry,  or  class  rooms  attached. 
(The  plan  in  this  cut  is  modified 
slightly  from  the  original  inprint 
when  it  is  connected  with  the  dwelling  house.) 

The  "  Minutes"  contain  four  series  of  plans,  each  presenting  a  different 
arrangement. 

In  the  first  series,  there  are  five  plans  for  schools  varying  from  30  to  56 
scholars,  each  with  the  classes  arranged  and  seated  as  above,  and  two  of  them 
presenting  additional  accommodations  for  an  infant  department,  one  of  20, 
and  the  other  of  30  children. 

In  the  second  series,  there  is  a  separate  range  of  desks  for  each  class,  with 
five  varieties  of  arrangements,  to  accommodate  60  to  100  children,  with  a 
separate  room  for  an  infant  school  in  two.  In  this  series  preference  is  ex- 
pressed for  the  plan  copied  from  the  model  school  of  the  Normal  School  of 
Dejon.  In  this  plan,  the  room  is  56  feet  by  16,  divided  into  two  apartments, 
each  28  by  16,  one  for  55  boys  and  the  other  for  55  girls.  Each  department 
is  divided  into  three  classes,  one  class  occupying  a  group  of  desks,  rising  on 
platforms  directly  in  front  of  the  teacher,  and  the  other  two,  one  on  the  left, 
and  the  other  on  the  right,  so  that  they  form  a  sort  of  amphitheater  around  the 
level  portion  of  the  floor  occupied  by  the  teacher.  Each  class  can  be  taught 
separately,  occupying  its  own  group  of  desks,  as  arranged  around  the  teacher's 
desk. 

In  the  third  series  the  accommodations  ascend  from  144  children,  and  150 
infants,  to  an  indefinitely  greater  number,  by  a  larger  or  smaller  number  of 
class-rooms  arranged  on  each  side  of  a  central  school-hall,  which  is  lighted  by 
sky-lights. 


<s4 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


=w 


tst 


9 


JSL 


JSL 


The  following  plan  of  a  building 
exhibits  the  arrangement  of  a  school 
for  three  hundred  children,  including 
one  hundred  and  fifty  in  an  infant 
school.  A  is  a  private  room  or 
study  for  the  principal.  B  is  the 
school  hall  (54  ft.  by  27)  for  the  as- 
semblage of  the  whole  school  for 
morning  and  evening  prayers,  and 
other  general  exercises,  and  for  the 
occupancy  of  the  infant  school,  and 
C  the  gallery  of  the  latter.  I>,  T>, 
D,  D,  are  four  class-rooms,  (each 
19  by  17)  each  again  divided  by  a 
partition  into  two,  so  that  both  cars 
be  superintended  by  one  assistant 
teacher,  and  one  pupil  teacher.  Each  subdivision  of  class-room  will  accom- 
modate about  40  scholars  each.  The  boys  and  the  girls  under  eleven  years 
arranged  according  to  attainments,  each  on  separate  benches  are  taught 
together,  while  those  over  eleven  years  are  taught  separately  in  class-rooms 
appropriated  to  each.  This  arrangement  affords  greater  facilities  for  giving 
to  the  instruction  of  the  older  children  such  a  particular  character  as  will 
prepare  them  for  the  application  of  their  knowledge  to  the  actual  duties  of 
life.  Such  knowledge  must  difFer,  in  a  class  of  boys,  from  that  given  in  a 
class  of  girls. 

In  the  fourth  series,  the  same  principles  of  arrangements  are  observed,  ex- 
cept that  the  boys  and  girls  occupy  rooms  on  different  floors. 

In  all  of  the  plans  recommended  in  the  "  Minutes,"  of  the  Committee,  ac- 
commodations are  provided  for  1.  the  technical  instruction  of  the  children 
in  classes  carefully  arranged  according  to  their  intellectual  proficiency;  2.  for 
the  general  instruction  and  exercises  of  the  whole  school  ;  and,  3d,  for  the 
residence  of  the  teacher.  This  last  feature  is  common  to  almost  all  school 
houses  in  Europe^  and  the  use  of  the  same  constitutes  a  part  of  the  teacher's 
compensation.  In  the  larger  structures  of  Prussia  and  Saxony,  there  is  an 
entire  room  appropriated  to  each  class.  Thus  in  a  school-house  for  600  chil- 
dren, at  Berlin,  there  are  eight  rooms,  and  in  these  rooms  the  children  are 
classed  according  to  their  ages,  capacities  and  attainments.  Eight  masters 
are  employed,  besides  auxiliary  masters  for  special  purposes ;  and  two  mis- 
..  tresses,  for  teaching  at  certain  hours  sewing  and  knitting  to  the  girls. 

The  "  Minutes"  contain  many  valuable  suggestions  respecting  the  location, 
ventilation,  and  warming  of  school-rooms,  similar  to  what  has  been  already 
printed.  The  following  section  exhibits  three  forms  of  desks.  The  stand 
ards  are  of  wrought  or  cast  iron. 


Desk  with  Lid. 


Simple  Desk, 


Desk  with  Shelf. 


PLAN  FOR  INFANT  SCHOOL-HOUSE  AND  GROUNDS.' 


85 


Flan,  &c,  of  School-room  and  Grounds  for  an  Infant  School. 

The  following  plan  and  explanations  are  condensed  from  a  valuable  manu- 
al for  teachers  in  infant  and  primary  schools,  entitled  "  Infant  Education," 
one  of  Chambers'  Educational  Course,  published  at  Edinburgh,  in  1840.  It 
is  nearly  similar  to  the  plan  recommended  by  Mr.  Wilderspin  in  his  "  Infant 
School  System,"  and  his  "  Education  for  the  Young,"  and  by  Mr.  Stow,  -in 
the  "  Manual  on  the  Training  System  for  Infant  and  Juvenile  Schools." 


Play  Ground— 80  ft.  by  60. 


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86 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


The  house  should  stand  in  a  dry  and  airy  situation,  large  enough  to  allow 
a  spacious  play  ground.  No  pains  should  be  spared  on  this  principal  and  par- 
amount department  of  a  proper  infant  school.  The  more  extensive  the 
ground  may  be,  the  better  ;  but  the  smallest  size  for  200  children  ought  to  be 
100  feet  in  length,  by  at  least  60  in  breadth.  It  should  be  walled  round,  not 
so  much  to  prevent  the  children  from  straying,  as  to  exclude  intruders  upon 
them,  while  at  play  :  for  this  purpose,  a  wall  or  close  paling,  not  lower  than 
six  feet  high,  will  be  found  sufficient.  With  the  exception  of  a  flower  border, 
from  four  to  six  feet  broad  all  round,  lay  the  whole  ground,  after  leveling  and 
draining  it  thoroughly,  with  small  binding  gravel,  which  must  be  always  kept 
in  repair,  and  well  swept  of  loose  stones.  Watch  the  gravel,  and  prevent  the 
children  making  holes  in  it  to  form  pools  in  wet  weather;  dress  the  flower 
border,  and  keep  it  always  neat ;  stock  it  well  with  flowers  and  shrubs,  and 
make  it  as  gay  and  beautiful  as  possible.  Train  on  the  walls  cherry  and  other 
fruit  trees  and  currant  bushes  ;  place  some  ornaments  and  tasteful  decora- 
tions in  different  parts  of  the  border — as  a  honeysuckle  bower,  &c,  and  sepa- 
rate the  dressed  ground  from  the  graveled  area  by  a  border  of  strawberry 
plants,  which  may  be  protected  from  the  feet  of  the  children  by  a  skirting  of 
wood  on  the  outside,  three  inches  high,  and  painted  green,  all  round  the 
ground.  Something  even  approaching  to  elegance  in  the  dressing  and  decking 
of  the  playground,  will  afford  a  lesson  which  may  contribute  to  refinement 
and  comfort  for  life.  It  will  lead  not  only  to  clean  and  comfortable  dwellings, 
but  to  a  taste  for  decoration  and  beauty,  which  will  tend  mainly  to  expel 
coarseness,  discomfort,  dirt,  and  vice,  from  the  economy  of  the  humbler 
classes. 

For  the  excellent  and  safe  exercise  afforded  by  the  Rotary  Swing,  erect,  at 
the  distance  of  thirty  feet  from  each  other,  two  posts  or  masts,  from  sixteen 
to  eighteen  feet  high  above  the  ground  ;  nine  inches  diameter  at  the  foot,  di- 
minishing to  seven  and  a 
half  at  top ;  of  good  well- 
seasoned,  hard  timber; 
charred  with  fire,  about 
three  feet  under  ground, 
fixed  in  sleepers,  and 
bound  at  top  with  a  strong 
iron  hoop.  In  the  mid- 
dle of  the  top  of  the  post 
is  sunk  perpendicularly 
a  cylindrical  hole,  ten 
inches  deep,  and  two 
inches  in  diameter,  made 
strong  by  an  iron  ring 
two  inches  broad  within 
the  top,  and  by  a  piece  of 
iron  an  inch  thick  to  fill 
up  the  bottom,  tightly 
fixed  in.  A  strong  pivot 
of  iron,  of  diameter  to 
turn  easily  in  the  socket 
described,  but  with  as 
little  lateral  play  as  pos- 
sible, is  placed  vertically 
in  the  hole,  its  upper  end 
standing  4  inches  above 
it.  On  this  pivot,  as  an 
axle,  and  close  to  the 
top  of  the  post,  but  so  as 
to  turn  easily,  is  fixed  a 
wheel  of  iron,  twenty- 
four  inches  diameter, 
strengthened     by     four 


Rotary  Swing. 


PLAN  FOR  INFANT  SCHOOL-HOUSE  AND  GROUNDS.  gf 

spokes,  something  like  a  common  roasting-jack  wheel,  but  a  little  larger.  The 
rim  should  be  flat,  two  inches  broad,  and  half  an  inch  thick.  In  this  rim  are 
six  holes.or  eyes,  in  which  rivet  six  strong  iron  hooks,  made  to  turn  in  the 
holes,  to  prevent  the  rope  from  twisting.  To  these  hooks  are  fixed  six  well- 
chosen  ropes,  an  inch  diameter,  and  each  reaching  down  to  within  two  feet  of 
the  ground,  having  half-a-dozen  knots,  or  small  wooden  balls,  fixed  with  nails, 
a  foot  from  each  other,  beginning  at  the  lower  extremity,  and  ascending  to 
six  feet  from  the  ground.  A  tin  cap,  like  a  lamp  cover,  is  placed  on  the  top 
of  the  whole  machine,  fixed  to  the  prolongation  of  the  pivot,  and  a  little  larger 
than  the  wheel,  to  protect  it  from  wet.  To  this,  or  to  the  wheel  itself,  a  few 
waggoners'  bells  appended,  would  have  a  cheerful  effect  on  the  children. 
The  operation  of  this  swing  must,  from  the  annexed  cut,  be  obvious.  Four, 
or  even  six  children,  lay  hold  of  a  rope  each,  as  high  as  they  can  reach,  and, 
starting  at  the  same  instant,  run  a  few  steps  in  the  circle,  then  suspend  them- 
selves by  thejr  hands,  drop  their  feet  and  run  again  when  fresh  impulse  is 
wanted  ;  again  swing  round,  and  so  on.  A  child  of  three  or  four  years  old, 
will  often  fly  several  times  round  the  circle  without  touching  the  ground. 
There  is  not  a  muscle  in  the  body  which  is  not  thus  exercised  ;  and  to  render 
the  exercise  equal  to  both  halves  of  the  body,  it  is  important  that,  after  sever- 
al rounds  in  one  direction,  the  party  should  stop,  change  the  hands,  and  go 
round  in  the  opposite  direction.  To  prevent  fatigue,  and  to  equalize  the  ex- 
ercise among  the  pupils,  the  rule  should  be,  that  each  six  pupils  should  have 
thirty  or  forty  rounds,  and  resign  the  ropes  to  six  more,  who  have  counted 
the  rotations. 

Toys  being  discarded  as  of  no  use,  or  real  pleasure,  the  only  ■plaything  of 
the  playground  consists  of  bricks  for  building,  made  of  wood,  four  inches  by 
two  and  one  and  a-half.  Some  hundreds  of  these,  very  equally  made,  should 
be  kept  in  a  large  box  in  a  corner  of  the  ground,  as  the  quieter  children  delight 
to  build  houses  and  castles  with  them  ;  the  condition,  however,  always  to  be, 
that  they  shall  correctly  and  conscientiously  replace  in  the  box  the  full  com- 
plement or  tale  of  bricks  they  take  out ;  in  which  rule,  too,  there  is  more  than 
one  lesson. 

In  a  corner  of  the  playground,  concealed  by  shrubbery,  are  two  water  clos- 
ets for  the  children,  with  six  or  eight  seats  in  each  ;  that  for  the  boys  is  sepa- 
rate from,  and  entered  by,  a  different  passage  from  that  for  the  girls.  Sup- 
ply the  closets  well  with  water,  which,  from  a  cistern  at  the  upper  end,  shall 
run  along  with  a  slope  under  all  the  seats,  into  a  sewer,  or  a  pit  in  the  ground. 
See  that  the  closets  are  in  no  way  misused,  or  abused.  The  eye  of  the  teach- 
er and  mistress  should  often  be  here,  for  the  sake  both  of  cleanliness  and 
delicacy.  Mr.  Wilderspin  recommends  the  closets  being  built  adjoining  the 
small  class-room,  with  small  apertures  for  the  teacher's  eye  in  the  class-room 
wall,  covered  with  a  spring  lid,  and  commanding  the  range  of  the  place. 
There  is  nothing  in  which  children,  especially  in  the  humbler  ranks,  require 
more  training. 


3    £ 


3    Z 


The  annexed  cut  r—  —  ,i-~*°~™' P 
represents  an  infant 
school-room,  modi- 
fied in  a  few  unim- 
portant particulars, 
from  the  ground  plan 
recommended  by 
Mr.  Wilderspin  in 
his  "  Early  Educa- 
tion" published  in 
1840.  The  original 
plan  embraces  a 
dwelling     for     the 

teacher's  family,  and  two  school-rooms,  one  for  the  boys  and  the  other  for  the 
girls,  each  school  having  a  gallery,  class-room,  and  playground.  The  school- 
room is  about  60  feet  long  by  38  wide,  and  the  class-rooms  each  13  ft.  by  10. 
D.  Desks  and  Seats.     G.  Gallery,  capable  of  accommodating  100  children. 


3 


88 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


The  chief  requisites  in  an  infant-school  play-ground  are  the  following  : 
A  Climbing  Stand  ;  a  Horizontal  Bar;  Parallel  Bars  ;  Wooden  Swings;  a 
Double  Inclined  Plane. 

The  Climbing  Stand  consists  essentially 
of  a  frame-work  of  poles,  which  support  ropes 
for  climbing-  One  of  the  most  simple  and 
economical  is  made  of  two  ordinary  scaffold 
poles,  planed  smooth  and  painted,  which  sup- 
port a  transverse  beam  having  books,  to 
which  the  ropes  are  attached. 

The  dimensions  may  be  as  follows:  Length 
of  perpendicular  poles,  15  feet,  of  which  4 
feet  are  sunk  in  the  ground  ;  circumference 
of  poles  at  the  surface  of  the  ground,  14 
inches  ;  length  of  transverse  beam  at  top,  9 
feet.  To  this  beam  are  attached,  by  screw- 
ing in,  two  iron  hooks,' which  support  the 
ropes;  these  are  \h  inches  in  diameter,  to 
afford  a  firm  grasp  to  the  hand.  In  order 
that  the  ropes  may  not  wear  through  where  attached  to  the  hooks,  they  are 
spliced  round  an  iron  ring,  which  is  grooved  on  the  outer  surface  to  give  a 
firmer  hold  to  the  rope.  Both  the  ropes  should  he  attached  to  the  bottom  of 
the  poles  so  as  to  hang  loosely  :  if  not  fastened  at  the  bottom,  the  children 
use  them  as  swings  while  clinging  to  them,  and  are  apt  to  injure  themselves 
by  falling,  or  others  by  coming  violently  in  contact  with  them. 

No  apparatus  is  more  advantageous  :  it  is  economical  in  its  erection,  and 
not  liable  to  get  out  of  order  ;  it  affords  exercise  to  a  number  of  children  at 
the  same  time,  a  succession  being  constantly  engaged  in  climbing  and  de- 
scending the  ropes  and  poles  ;  the  muscular  exertion  is  not  violent,  but 
decidedly  beneficial,  expanding  the  chest,  and  giving  power  and  freedom  of 
motion  to  the  arms.  This  exercise  is  also  quite  free  from  danger,  the  chil- 
dren never  advancing  higher  up  the  ropes  than  they  feel  themselves  secure. 
During  the  seven  years  the  Home  and  Colonial  Infant-school  has  been 
established,  200  children  have  been  the  average  attendance,  but  no  accidents 
have  occurred  from  the  use  of  the  climbing-stand. 

The  Horizontal  Bar  consists  of  a  wooden  bar  formed  of  beech,  red  deal, 
or  some  other  tough  wood  not  apt  to  splinter  or  warp,  about  three  inches  in 
diameter,  and  usually  six  feet  long,  turned  or  planed  round  and  smooth,  in 
order  that  the  hands  may  not  be  blistered  by  the  friction. 

Every  play-ground  should  possess  two  or  three  of  these  useful  additions  ; 
one  6  feet  from  the  ground,  another  5  feet,  and  a  third  4  feet  high, — each  one 
being  supported  and  fixed  firmly  by  a  post  at  both  ends.  Or  they  may  be 
arranged  so  that  four  posts  will  support  the  three  bars.  The  exercises  per- 
formed on  the  horizontal  bars  consist  in  the  child  remaining  suspended  by 
the  arms  and  hands  ;  in  drawing  the  body  up  so  as  to  look  over  the  bar  sev- 
eral times  in  succession  ;  in  traversing  from  one  end  of  the  bar  to  the  other 
(suspended  by  the  hands,)  both  backwards  and  forwards  ;  in  swinging  the 
body  whilst  suspended  from  the  bar. 


=sn 


PLAY-GROUND  OF  INFANT-SCHOOL. 


89 


The  Parallel  Bar  consists  of  two  bars 
placed  parallel  with  one  another,  each  being 
from  6  -to  8  feet  long,  4  inches  deep  by  2 
inches  wide,  with  the  corners  rounded  off. 
The  posts  that  support  these  bars  in  their  po- 
sition should  be  18  inches  apart.  The  bars 
should  project  four  inches  beyond  the  post. 
Two  sets  of  parallel  bars  are  advantageous,  one  being  2  feet  9  inches  high 
for  the  younger  children,  the  other  4  feet  high  for  the  elder. 

The  exercises  on  these  bars  consist  in  supporting  the  body  on  the  arms, 
one  hand  resting  on  each  bar,  and  by  moving  each  hand  alternately,  proceed- 
ing forwards  and  backwards  along  the  bars ;  in  swinging  the  body  between 
the  arms  ;  and  in  springing  over  the  bar  on  each  side,  both  backwards  and 
forwards. 

The  Wooden  Springs  afford  a  kind  of  exercise  extremely  popular  with 
the  younger  children,  who  are  not  sufficiently  active  to  take  part  in  the  other 
exercises.  Each  swing  consists  of  two  distinct  parts  :  1.  A  piece  of  2-inch 
deal,  1  foot  wide  and  3  feet  long,  one  end  of  which  is  sunk  firmly  in  the 
ground,  the  other  projecting  18  inches  above  the  surface.  At  each  edge  of 
this  piece  is  screwed  on  an  iron  plate,  with  an  eye  to  receive  the  iron  pivot 
on  which  the  upper  piece  works.  The  upper,  or  horizontal  piece,  is  made  of 
2-inch  plank,  1  foot  wide  and  12  feet  long.  At  each  end  of  this  piece  three 
handles,  formed  of  lg-inch  deal,  are  strongly  mortised  in,  1  foot  apart,  thus 
forming  seats  for  three  children  at  each  end.  Between  the  handles  the 
plank  should  be  rounded  at  the  edges,  so  as  to  form  an  easy  seat.  At  the 
under  surface  of  each  end  a  small  block  of  wood  is  fixed,  to  prevent  the 
plank  wearing  by  striking  the  ground. 

The  above  directions  should  be  adhered  to.  If  the  support  be  made  lower, 
the  motion  of  the  swing  is  much  lessened ;  if  the  plank  be  made  shorter,  or 
the  support  higher,  the  swing  approaches  too  nearly  to  the  perpendicular, 
and  serious  accidents  may  ensue  from  the  children  being  thrown  violently 
from  the  seats.  The  whole  should  be  made  as  stout  as  recommended,  other- 
wise it  is  apt  to  break  from  the  violent  action. 


The  Double  Inclined  Plane  is  adapted  more  especially  for  the  younger  chil- 
dren. It  consists  merely  of  a  support  of  two-inch  deal,  1  foot  wide,  and  pro- 
jecting 3  feet  from  the  ground.  On  this  is  laid  the  ends  of  two  planks,  each 
12  feet  long,  1  foot  wide,  and  1J  inch  in  thickness.  On  the  upper  surface  of 
each  plank  may  be  nailed,  at  intervals  of  eight  or  ten  inches,  small  cross- 
pieces,  to  prevent  the  feet  slipping. 


The  use  of  the  inclined  plane  is,  that  by  ascending  and  descending  it,  chil- 
dren acquire  a  facility  in  balancing  themselves.  The  exercise  is  beneficial, 
as  it  calls  into  action  the  muscles  of  the  legs  and  even  of  the  body.  It  also 
furnishes  an  excellent  situation  to  jump  from,  as  the  children  can  themselves 
vary  the  height  of  the  leap  at  pleasure. 

The  general  use  of  all  these  various  exercises  is,  that  the  different  muscles 
of  the  body  may  be  strengthened,  and  the  children  thus  fitted  for  a  future  life 
of  labor,  and  better  prepared  to  escape  in  case  of  accidents. 


90  school  architecture. 

2.   Plans  and  descriptions  of  School-houses  recently 

ERECTED. 

The  following  school-houses  are  selected  for  representation  and  descrip- 
tion, not  because  they  are  superior  to  all  others,  or  are  unexceptionable  in 
every  respect,  but  because  the  plans  could  be  conveniently  obtained,  and  in 
them  all,  the  great  principles  of  school-architecture  are  observed. 

Plans,  &c,  of  School-house,  District  No.  6,  Windsor,  Ct. 


The  building  stands  60  ft.  from  the  highway,  near  the  center  of  an  ele- 
vated lot  which  slopes  a  little  to  the  south  and  east.  Much  the  larger  por- 
tion of  the  lot  is  in  front,  affording  a  pleasant  play  ground,  whde  in  the  rear 
there  is  a  woodshed,  and  other  appropriate  buildings,  with  a  separate  yard 
for  boys  and  girls.  The  walls  are  of  brick,  and  are  hollow,  so  as  to  save 
expense  in  securing  the  antaes  or  pilasters,  and  to  prevent  dampness. 
This  building  is  33  ft.  6  inches  long,  21  ft.  8  inches  wide,  and  18  ft.  9 
inches  high  from  the  ground  to  the  eaves,  including  2  ft.  base  or  under- 
pinning. 

The  entries  A  A,  one  for  boys  and  the  other  for  girls,  are  in  the  rear  ol 
the  building,  through  the  woodshed,  which,  with  the  yard,  is  also  divided  by 
a  partition.  Each  entry  is  7  ft.  3  inches,  by  9  ft.  3  inches,  and  is  supplied 
with  a  scraper  and  mat  for  the  feet,  and  shelves  and  hooks  for  outer  gar- 
ments. 

The  school-room  is  24  ft.  5  inches  long,  by  19  ft.  4  inches  wide,  and  15 
ft.  6  inches  high  in  the  clear,  allowing  an  area  of  472  ft.  including  the  re- 
cess for  the  teacher's  platform,  and  an  allowance  of  200  cubic  feet  of  air  to 
a  school  of  36. 

The  teacher's  platform  B,  is  5  ft.  2  inches  wide,  by  6  ft.  deep,  including 
3  ft.  of  recess,  and  9  inches  high.  On  it  stands  a  table,  the  legs  of  which 
are  set  into  the  floor,  so  as  to  be  firm,  and  at  the  same  time  movable,  in 
case  the  platform  is  needed  for  declamation,  or  other  exercises  of  th& 


DISTRICT    SCHOOL-HOUSE,    WINDSOR. 


91 


scholars.  Back  of  the  teacher  is  a  range  of  shelves  b,  already  supplied  with  a 
library  of  near  400  volumes,  and  a  globe,  outline  maps,  and  other  apparatus. 
On  the  top  of  the  case  is  a  clock.  A  blackboard  5  ft.  by  4,  is  suspended 
on  weights,  and  steadied  by  a  groove  on  each  end,  so  as  to  admit  of  being 
raised  and  lowered  by  the  teacher,  directly  in  front  of  the  book  case,  and  in 
full  view  of  the  whole  school.  At  the  bottom  of  the  blackboard  is  a  trough  to 
receive  the  chalk  and  the  sponge,  or  soft  cloth. 


The  passages  D  D,  are  2  ft.  wide,  and  extend  round  the  room ;  E  E  are 
15  inches,  and  allow  of  easy  access  to  the  seats  and  desks  on  either  hand. 
F  is  5  ft.  3  inches,  and  in  the  center  stands  an  open  stove  0,  the  pipe  of 
which  goes  into  one  of  the  flues,  a.  The  temperature  is  regulated  by  a  ther- 
mometer. 

Each  pupil  is  provided  with  a  desk  G,  and  seat  H,  the  front  of  the  former, 
constituting  the  back  or  support  of  the  latter,  which  slopes  2-J-  inches  in  16. 
The  seat  also  inclines  a  little  from  the 

edge.         The     seats     vary     in     height,  jv""K F?""'T 

from    9£    inches    to    17,    the    youngest  ri  rT ^_7  Q 

children    occupying    those    nearest    the 

platform.  The  desks  are  2  ft.  long  by  18  inches  wide,  with  a  shelf  beneath 
for  books,  and  a  groove  on  the  back  side  b,  (Fig.  4)  to  receive  a  slate,  with 
which  each  desk  is  furnished  by  the  district.  The  upper  surface  of  the 
desk,  except  3  inches  of  the  most  distant  portion,  slopes  1  inch  in  a  foot, 
and  the  edge  is  in  the  same  perpendicular  line  with  the  front  of  the  seat 
The  level   portion  of  the   desk  has  a  groove  running   along  the  line  of  the 


Top  of  Desk. 


Section  of  Seat  and  Desk. 


slope  a,  (Fig.  4)  so  as  to  prevent  pencils  and  pens  from  rolling  off,  and  an 
opening  c,  (Fig  8)  to  receive  an  inkstand,  which  is  covered  by  a  metal- 
lic lid. 

The  windows,  I,  three  on  the  north  and  three  on  the  south  side,  contain 
each  40  panes  of  8  by  10  glass,  are  hung  (both  upper  and  lower  sash)  with 
weights  so  as  to  admit  of  being  raised  or  lowered  conveniently.    The  sills 


92  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

are  three  feet  from  the  floor.  Those  on  the  south  side  are  provided  with  cur- 
tains and  blinds. 

The  proper  ventilation  of  the  room  is  provided  for  by  the  lowering  of  the 
upper  sash,  and  by  an  opening  14  inches  by  18,  near  the  ceiling,  into  a  flue, 
(Fig.  2.)  a,  which  leads  into  the  open  air.  This  opening  can  be  enlarged, 
diminished,  or  entirely  closed  by  a  shutter  controlled  by  a  cord. 

The  sides  of  the  room  are  ceiled  all  round  with  wood  as  high  as  the  win- 
dow sill,  which,  as  well  as  the  rest  of  the  wood  work  of  the  interior,  is 
painted  to  resemble  oak. 


The  following  cuts  represent  a  modification  of  the  Windsor  plan,  as  prepared 


M,Ulllii.li,iiiNlml„.,liaiiiuii,„i 


|j|"H       ' 


Side  Elevation. 


for  a  Primary  School  in  Hartford.     The  entries  (A  A)  are  smaller.     The 
teacher's  platform  is  at  the  end,  so  as  to  overlook  both  yards  in  the  rear. 


Ground  Plan. 


DISTRICT  SCHOOL-HOUSE  IN  HARTFORD.  93 

Plans,  &c,  op  a  School-house  in  Washington  District,  Hartford,  Ct. 

This  house  is  calculated  to  accommodate  at  least  one  hundred  children, 
divided  into  a  lower  and  upper  department.  For  the  present,  the  basement 
is  not  fitted  up,  and  the  upper  room  is  arranged  for  a  school  of  at  least 
sixty  pupils,  of  the  ordinary  school  age,  and  is  recommended  for  country 
districts  of  that  number  of  children. 

The  building  stands  back 
24  feet  from  the  highway, 
on  a  dry,  pleasant  site,  and 
at  a  distance  from  any 
other  building.  The  lot 
includes  a  quarter  of  an 
acre,  and  is  divided  in  the 
rear  into  two  yards,  one 
for  the  boys,  and  the  other 
for  the  girls. 

It  is  built  of  brick,  with 
some  reference  to  the  laws 
of  good  taste,  as  well  as 
comfort  and  convenience. 
The  wood  work  of  the  in- 
terior is  painted  to  resem- 
ble oak. 

The  exterior  dimensions 
are  40  by  26  feet.  The 
recess  occupied  by  the  col- 
umns is  4  by  8  feet;  entry 
or  lobby,  (Fig.  2,  A)  is  8 
ft.  wide  ;  the  upper  school- 
room is  30  by  25  feet,  and 
14  high  in  the  clear;  the 
space  in  front  of  the  desk 

is  8  ft.  6  inches  wide  ;  the  side  aisles  (C  C)  are  3  feet  wide ;  the  space  in 
the  rear  (F)  4  feet  wide,  and  the  aisles  between  the  desks  (D  D)  each  2 
feet  7  inches  ;  each  range  of  desks  is  18  feet  long  by  4  feet  wide. 

The  entrance  is  in  front  into  a  lobby  (A)  one  side  of  which  (a)  is  appropri- 
ated to  the  girls  and  the  other  (b)  to  the  boys,  and  each  side  is  fitted  up  with 
shelves,  (a  a)  and  hooks  for  hats,  and  outer  garments.  Scrapers,  (r  r)  mats, 
(t  t)  and  a  shelf  (c)  for  pail,  wash  basin,  towel,  drinking  cup,  &c,  are  pro- 
vided for  the  comfort  and  convenience  of  the  children,  and  to  enable  the 
teacher  to  enforce  habits  of  neatness,  order  and  propriety. 

There  are  three  windows  on  the  north,  and  three  on  the  south  side,  each 
with  32  lights  of  12  by  8  inch  glass.  These  windows  are  inserted  nearly  4 
feet  from  the  floor,  are  hung  (both  upper  and  lower  sash)  with  weights,  and 
provided  with  Venetian  blinds. 

There  is  an  opening  near  the  floor,  and  another  near  the  top  of  the  room, 
into  a  flue  (i)  which  leads  into  the  open  air.  These  openings  can  be  en- 
larged, diminished,  or  entirely  closed,  at  the  discretion  of  the  teacher.  The 
windows  can  also  be  conveniently  lowered  or  raised,  both  at  the  top  and  the 
bottom. 

The  room  is  warmed  by  a  close  wood  stove,  (S)  the  pipe  from  which  is 
carried  ten  feet  above  the  heads  of  the  children  into  the  smoke  flue  (h). 
The  heat  is  regulated  by  a  thermometer. 

There  are  three  ranges  of  seats  and  desks,  capable  of  accommodating, 
when  completed,  18  scholars  each.  In  the  first  range  the  back  seat  is  18 
inches  high,  and  the  desk,  (the  front  edge)  29  inches  from  the  floor,  and  the 
front  seat  11  inches,  and  the  corresponding  desk,  23  inches  ;  in  the  second, 
the  same  proportion  is  observed,  except  that  the  whole  range  is  1  inch  low- 
er, and  the  third,  one  inch  lower  than  the  second ;  i.  e.  the  back  seat  of 
the  third  range  is  16  inches,  and  the  corresponding  desk,  27  inches,  and  the 


Fie.  1. 


94 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


front  seat  9  inches,  and  the 
desk  21  inches  from  the  floor. 
Each  scholar  is  provided  with 
a  chair,  (Fig.  3)  detached 
from  the  desk  behind,  and 
fastened  to  the  floor  by  an  iron 
pedestal.  Each  range  of  desks 
is  divided  by  a  partition  ex- 
tending from  the  floor  to  four 
inches  above  the  surface  of 
the  desk.  .  This  partition,  to 
which  the  desks  are  attached, 
gives  great  firmness  to  each, 
and  at  the  same  time  separates 
the  scholars  from  each  other, 
and  economizes  room.  Each 
desk  is  two  feet  long,  (it 
should  be  2  ft.  6  inches)  and 
from  13  to  18  inches  wide, 
with  a  shelf  beneath  for  books.  The  upper  surface  of  the  desk,  except 
3  inches  of  the  most  distant  portion,  slopes  1  inch  in  a  foot.  Along  the 
edge  of  the  slope  and  the  level  portion,  is  a  groove,  to  prevent  pens  and 
pencils  from  rolling  off,  and  in  the  level  part  an  opening  (b)  to  receive  a 
slate,  (and  there  should  have  been  another  (c)  for  the  inkstand,  with  a  butt 
or  metallic  lid  to  close  over  it.  Each  desk  should  also  have  a  sponge,  pen 
wiper,  and  pencil  holder,  (a  tin  tube,)  attached  to  it.) 


Range  of  Seats  and  Desks. 


^F 


To  accommodate  six  of  the 
oldest  and  largest  scholars  in 
winter,  a  desk  like  a  table  leaf, 
will  be  attached  to  the  highest 
end  of  each  range  (Fig.  2, 4,  e 
e  e)  and  to  accommodate  the  , 
same  number  of  the  smallest 
in  summer,  sand  desks,  (Fig. 
5)  can  be  placed  at  the  lowest 
end  (d  d).  The  smaller 
children  will  ultimately  be 
accommodated  in  the  lower 


The  platform  (B)  for  the  teacher,  occupies  the  space  between  the  doors 
which  open  into  the  school-room,  and  is  9  feet  long,  4  feet  6  inches  wide,  and 
9  inches  high.  On  it  is  a  desk,  (Fig.  2)  4  feet  long  by  2  feet  wide,  support- 
ed by  two  (v  v)  hollow  pedestals,  which  will  accommodate  the  books,  &c, 
of  the  teacher.  The  lid  of  the  desk  is  a  slope,  but  can  be  supported  by 
slides  in  the  box  of  the  desk  so  as  to  be  a  level.  From  the  platform  the 
teacher  can  conduct  the  instruction  of  his  classes,  arranged  around  it,  or  on 
either  side,  or  in  the  area,  (L)  in  the  rear  of  the  school,  and  at  the  same 
time  have  the  rest  of  the  school  under  his  supervision. 

Each  desk  is  furnished  with  a  slate  of  the  best  quality,  and  made  strong 
by  a  band  of  iron  over  the  corners  fastened  with  screws.  Behind  the 
teacher,  and  in  full  view  of  the  whole  school,  and  accessible  to  the  reciting 
classes,  is  a  blackboard  9  feet  long  by  4  feet  6  inches  wide,  with  a  trough  at 


DISTRICT  SCHOOL-HOUSE  IN  HARTFORD. 


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the  bottom  to  receive  the  chalk  or  crayon,  a  sponge  or  soft  leather.  Over 
the  black-board,  are  the  printed  and  written  alphabet,  arithmetical  and  geo 
metrical  figures,  the  pauses,  &c,  for  copying  or  general  exercise.  Along 
the  edge  of  the  blackboard,  the  length  of  an  inch,  foot,  yard,  &c,  are  de- 
signated. Over  the  teacher's  platform,  on  the  ceiling,  the  cardinal  points  of 
the  compass  are  to  be'  painted.  In  a  case  (G)  4  feet  wide,  15  inches  deep, 
and  7  feet  high,  in  the  rear  of  the  room,  there  is  a  terrestrial  and  celestial 
globe,  an  orrery,  a  set  of  geometrical  solids,  a  set  of  alphabetical  and  draw- 
ing cards,  arithmetical  blocks,  and  a  numerical  frame,  a  model  to  illustrate 
cube  root,  a  set  of  outline  maps  and  historical  charts,  a  movable  stand  to 
support  maps,  diagrams,  movable  blackboards,  &c.  On  the  western  wall, 
on  each  side  of  the  window,  are  the  eastern  and  western  hemispheres,  each 
six  feet  in  diameter.  There  are  also  maps  of  Connecticut,  Massachusetts, 
and  the  United  States,  and  Catherwood's  plan  of  Jerusalem,  together  with 
maps  illustrative  of  the  history  of  the  bible.  An  eight-day  clock  is  also 
provided. 

The  library  case  (E)  is  of  the  same  size  as  the  apparatus  closet,  and  con- 
tains already  nearly  400  volumes. 


Fig.  7. 


The  movable  stand  for  blackboard  (Fig  6)  is  like  a  painter's  easel. 
u.  Pins  on  which  the  board  rests,  c.  Hinge  or  joint  to  the  supporting  legs 
which  are  braced  by  hook  b. 

The  primary  department  may  be  fitted  up  with  a  gallery,  (Fig.  7)  as  is 
recommended  by  Mr.  Wilderspin  for  infant  schools,  consisting  of  a  series 
of  seats,  ascending  from  the  floor.  The  first  or  lowest  is  8  inches ;  each 
ascending,  one  being  one  inch  higher  than  the  next  before  it. 


96 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


Fig.  8. 


A  cheap  movable  blackboard  was  made  for  the  primary  department  as  is 
represented  in  (Fig.   8,)  and  a  movable  bench,  (Fig.  9)  on  which   the 


Fig.  9. 

children  are  separated  by  a  little  compartment  (A,)  for  books,  which  also 
serves  as  a  support  for  the  arms. 

The  blackboards  are  furnished  with  crayons  prepared  after  directions, 
given  by  Prof.  Turner,  of  the  American  Asylum  for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb,  as 
follows. 

"  Take  5  pounds  of  Paris  White,  1  pound  of  Wheat  Flour,  wet  with  water, 
and  knead  it  well,  make  it  so  stiff  that  it  will  not  stick  to  the  table,  but  not  so 
stiff  as  to  crumble  and  fall  to  pieces  when  it  is  rolled  under  the  hand. 

To  roll  out  the  crayons  to  the  proper  size,  two  boards  are  needed,  one,  to 
roll  them  on  ;  the  other  to  roll  them  with.  The  first  should  be  a  smooth  pine 
board  three  feet  long  and  nine  inches  wide.  The  other  should  also  be  pine, 
a  foot  long  and  nine  inches  wide,  having  nailed  on  the  under  side  near  each 
edge  a  slip  of  wood  one  third  of  an  inch  thick,  in  order  to  raise  it  so  much 
above  the  under  board  as  that  the  crayon  when  brought  to  its  proper  size, 
may  lie  between  them  without  being  flattened. 

The  mass  is  rolled  into  a  ball  and  slices  are  cut  from  one  side  of  it  about 
one  third  of  an  inch  thick  ;  these  slices  are  again  cut  into  strips  about  four 
inches  long  and  one  third  of  an  inch  wide,  and  rolled  separately  between  these 
boards  until  smooth  and  round. 

Near  at  hand  should  be  another  board  3  feet  long  and  4  inches  wide,  across 
which  each  crayon,  as  it  is  made,  should  be  laid,  so  that  the  ends  may  project 
on  each  side — the  crayons  should  be  laid  in  close  contact  and  straight.  When 
the  board  is  filled,  the  ends  should  all  be  trimmed  off  so  as  to  make  the  crayons 
as  long  as  the  width  of  the  board.  It  is  then  laid  in  the  sun,  if  in  hot  weather, 
or  if  in  winter,  near  a  stove  or  fire-place,  where  the  crayons  may  dry  gradu- 
ally, which  will  require  twelve  hours.  When  thoroughly  dry  they  are  fit  for 
use. 

An  experienced  hand  will  make  150  in  an  hour.  We  sell  them  at  50  cents 
for  a  single  hundred — and  less  by  the  quantity." 


The  Windsor  and  Washington  District  school-houses  were  constructed 
and  fitted  up  in  1839 — 40,  mainly  after  plans  furnished  by  the  Secretary  of 
the  Board  of  Commissioners  of  Common  Schools  of  Connecticut,  who  was 
anxious  to  have  one  or  two  structures  to  which  he  could  refer  when  lec- 
turing and  writing  on  the  subject,  as,  in  some  respects,  models  of  taste, 
comfort,  and  convenience,  for  a  country  school-house. 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

Plan,  &c,  of  High  School,  Middletown,  Ct, 


The  High  School  building  is  located  on  Parsonage  street,  away  from  the 
business  part  of  the  city.  The  lot  is  227  ft.  on  the  street,  by  200  ft.  deep, 
and  is  divided  into  two  equal  parts,  one  of  which  is  appropriated  to  the  boys, 
and  the  other  to  the  girls.  The  building  stands  near  the  center  of  the  lot, 
east  and  west,  and  12  feet  from  the  street.  The  entrances  are  on  the  sids 
next  to  the  street. 


Fig.  2.    Transverse  Section. 

A.  Basement,  90  ft.  by  50,  and  9  ft.  in  the  clear.  B.  Male  De» 
partment,  50  ft.  by  47,  and  12  ft.  high  in  the  clear,  with  two  reeitatioa 
rooms  25  ft.  by  12.  C.  Female  Department,  same  dimensions  as 
Male  Department.  D.  Attic  arched,  appropriated  for  calistkeaic 
exercises. 


PUBLIC  HIGH  SCHOOL-HOUSE,  MIDDLETOWN. 


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Fig.  3.    Male  Department. 

_  The  exterior  dimensions  of  the  building  are  72  ft.  by  54.  It  is  two  stories 
high,  with  a  basement  9  ft.  in  the  clear,  and  an  arched  attic,  6  ft.  to  the 
spring  of  the  arch.  The  first  story  is  occupied  by  the  male  department, 
and  the  second  by  the  girls'  department.  The  basement  will  be  used  as  a 
play  ground  for  the  boys  in  wet  weather,  and  the  attic  is  appropriated  for 
calisthenic  exercises  for  the  girls,  and  meetings  of  the  whole  school. 

The  lower  school-room  is  50  ft.  by  47,  and  12  ft.  high  in  the  clear,  with 
two  recitation  rooms,  each  25  ft.  by  12.  The  entrance  is  from  the  East, 
near  the  end,  into  a  lobby  (A)  8  ft.  wide,  and  fitted  up  with  scraper,  mats, 
hooks,  &e.  &e. 

The  desks  are  so  placed,  that  the  scholars  face  towards  the  teacher's 
platform,  (D)  which  is  against  the  northern  partition,  separating  the  school- 
room from  the  entry.  The  desks  are  placed  in  seven  ranges,  containing 
each  12  desks,  each  desk  accommodating  two  scholars,  and  the  front  of  one 
desk  constituting  the  back  of  the  preceding  one.  The  seats  and  desks  are 
painted  green.  Each  range  is  separated  from  the  other  by  an  aisle  18  inch- 
es wide,  and  the  whole  body  of  desks  is  surrounded  or  three  sides  by  an 
open  space  (C  C)  6  feet  wide. 

On  each  side  of  the  teacher's  platform  (D)  there  is  a  platform  with  an 
open  space  (B)  in  front,  of  10  ft.,  of  half  the  elevation,  for  two  assistants. 
In  the  rear  of  the  platform  is  a  room  (E)  appropriated  to  the  teacher. 

The  recitation  rooms  are  separated  from  the  school-room  by  a  glass  par- 
tition.    Two  sides  of  each  is  occupied  by  blackboards. 

The  school-rooms  and  recitation  rooms  are  ventilated  by  openings  at  the 
top  and  bottom,  into  eight  flues  carried  up  in  the  wall  into  the  space  between 
the  areh  of  the  attic  and  the  roof.  This  space  communicates  at  all  times 
with  the  open  air  by  a  grating  at  either  end,  (as  indicated  in  Fig.  1  and  2.) 

The  school-room  is  heated  by  two  furnaces  in  the  basement,  the  hot  air 
ascending  through  the  openings  (r  r)  into  the  lower  room,  and  carried  into 
the  second  story  and  attic,  by  conductors  (ff.) 

There  are  six  large  windows  to  the  school-room,  and  one  to  each  recita- 
tion room.  The  windows  are  protected  by  Venetian  blinds,  which  are  never 
opened.     The  amount  of  light  is  graduated  by  opening  or  closing  the  slats. 

The  girls'  school-room  is  on  the  second  floor,  and  is,  in  every  respect 
?ike  the  one  below.  Both  rooms  are  well  supplied  with  blackboards,  an 
with,  a  set  of  Mitchell's  series  of  Outline  Maps,  and  globes. 


1(J0  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

Plan  and  Description  of  Public  School,  No.  17,  New  York. 

The  following  plans  and  explanation  of  a  "  Public  School"  and  a  "  Primary 
School"  are  copied  from  the  "  Thirty-ninth  Annual  Report  of  the  Trustees 
of  the  Public  School  Society  of  New  York."  The  plans  after  which  the 
school-houses  of  this  Society  were  originally  constructed,  as  well  as  the 
methods  of  instruction  pursued  in  their  schools,  were  adopted  from  those 
recommended  by  Joseph  Lancaster,  and  the  British  and  Foreign  School 
Society.  These  plans  and  methods  have  been  from  time  to  time  essentially 
modified,  until  they  can  no  longer  be  characterized  as  Lancasterian  or  Moni- 
torial, but  the  plans  and  methods  of  the  Public  School  Society  of  New 
York.  There  are  two  grades  of  schools,  the  higher  called  the  Public 
Schools,  and  the  lower,  called  the  Public  Primary  Schools.  Those  schools 
of  the  primary  grade,  which  are  in  the  buildings  appropriated  to  the  higher 
schools,  are  designated  Primary  Departments,  to  distinguish  them  from  the 
Primaries  taught  in  separate  buildings.  The  system  of  instruction  pursued 
in  the  Primary  Departments  was  originally  the  Infant  School  system,  and 
still  retains  many  of  the  methods  of  that  system.  The  school-rooms  were, 
therefore,  constructed  and  furnished  in  reference  to  simultaneous  exercises 
of  the  whole  school,  to  oral  instruction  with  visible  illustrations,  and  to 
physical  movements  of  various  kinds. 

Public  School,  No.  17,  is  in  13th  Street,  between  the  7th  and  8th  Avenues, 
on  the  centre  of  a  lot  of  ground  100  feet  front  and  rear,  by  103|  feet  deep. 
The  main  building  is  42  feet  front,  and  80  feet  deep ;  the  stair  building  (in 
the  rear,)  is  21  by  14  feet.  The  main  building  is  49  feet  high,  from  the 
pavement  to  the  eaves.  The  first  story  of  the  front  of  the  main  building 
is  of  brown  stone,  polished,  as  is  also  the  bases  and  caps  of  the  pilasters. 
The  walls  are  all  of  brick  (including  the  front  fences) ;  the  front  being  of 
(what  are  called)  Philadelphia  pressed  bricks  ;  the  front  cornice  is  of  wood, 
and  painted  white. 

The  windows  of  the  lower  story,  contain  each  30,  and  the  two  upper 
stories  each  40  panes  of  glass,  12  by  10  inches :  the  sashes  are  all  hung 
with  weights  and  cords,  so  that  they  may  be  raised  or  lowered  at  pleasure. 

The  rooms  are  all  wainscoted,  as  high  as  the  window  sills  :  the  wain- 
scoting, doors,  and  desks  are  all  grained  in  imitation  of  oak :  the  doors, 
window  casings,  and  sashes  are  painted  white.  The  rooms  are  ventilated 
by  means  of  six  blinds,  2  by  3  feet,  being  placed  in  the  ceiling  between  the 
timbers,  and  two  or  three  bricks  being  left  out  opposite  the  blinds,  in  the  out- 
side walls. 

The  first  story  is  11  feet  6  inches  high  in  the  clear,  and  is  occupied  as  a 
Primary  Department,  for  both  boys  and  girls,  and  contains  seats  for  150 
children  in  the  Front  Room,  (marked  A  on  Fig.  1.)  and  200  on  the  Gallery, 
(marked  M  on  Fig.  1) ;  making  in  all  350  seats  in  this  department. 

The  second  story  is  occupied  as  the  Girls'  department;  the  room  is  15| 
feet  high  in  the  clear,  and  contains  seats  for  252  scholars. 

The  third  story  is  occupied  as  the  Boys1  department ;  the  room  is  16|- 
feet  high  in  the  clear,  and  contains  seats  for  252  scholars  ;  making  in  all 
854  seats  in  the  building,  exclusive  of  the  seats  in  the  recitation  rooms. 

The  steps  in  the  stair  building,  by  which  the  scholars  enter  and  retire 
from  school,  are  of  blue  stone,  3  inches  thick  by  12  inches  wide,  and  are 
expected  to  last  as  long  as  any  part  of  the  building.  This  method  was 
adopted  to  avoid  the  necessity  of  putting  in  new  steps  every  few  years, 
(which  has  heretofore  been  necessary  where  wooden  steps  have  been  used,) 
and  also  to  lessen  the  noise  consequent  on  a  great  number  of  children  going 
either  up  or  down  wooden  steps,  at  the  same  time  ;  thus  far  the  experiment 
has  succeeded  admirably,  and  is  now  adopted  for  both  Public  and  Primary 
Schools* 


NEW  YORK  PUBLIC  SCHOOL-HOUSE. 
Fig  1.     Ground  plan  of  Primary  Department,  yards,  &c. 


101 


A. — Primary  School  room  39  by  38  feet. 
B— Infant  do       do     39  by  30  feet. 

C — Room  for  brooms,  pails,  &c. 
J — Boys'  ward-robe,  16V  by  8  feet. 
K— Girls'        do         12^  by  8  feet. 
M— Gallery,  32  by  11  feet— Seats  for 

200  children. 
N,  N— Desks,  each  16|  feet  long. 
0 — Teachers'  table. 
L — Main  entrance. 
R,  R — Entrance  to  the  yard. 
U,  U  do      to  Primary  department. 

V — Stairs  to  Girls'  and  Boys'  do. 
S — Scholars' entrance — Boys'  do. 
T  do  do  Girls'      do. 

Q— Sliding  doors— 28  by  9^  feet. 
P,  P — Stoves. 

Z,  Z — Flues  for  stove  pipes. 
I,  I— Play  ground,    102    by  26    feet; 


paved  with  brick.  F,  F — Privies, 
12  by  8  feet.  G,  G— Boxes  for 
sand— 3  by  2\  feet. 

D,  D— Wood-houses— 83  by  2\  feet,  and 
6|  feet  high;  the  front  of  which  is  made 
of  hemlock  strips,  4  by  2  inches,  set 
perpendicularly  2  inches  apart,  to  al 
low  a  free  circulation  of  air. 

E,  E — Roof  of  wood-houses — project- 
ing 3^  feet  beyond  the  front  of  the 
houses;  forming  a  shelter  for  the 
scholars  in  stormy  weather. 

H,  H — Gutters  of  blue  stone  to  con- 
duct the  waste  water  from  the  wood 
houses  and  yards  to  the  street. 

X — Court  Yard — Q\  wide  ;  blue  stone 
flagging.  Y,  Y — Stone  foundation 
blocks,  to  which  the  iron  railing  in 
front  is  secured. 


102 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE, 


NEW  YORK  PUBLIC  SCHOOL-HOUSE. 


103 


Plan  &c,  op  Primary  School,  New  York. 

The  main  building  is  25  feet  front,  by  62f  feet  deep  :  the  stair  building  is 
27  feet  by  11  feet  8  inches.  The  main  building  is  placed  6  or  8  feet  from 
the  line  of  the  street,  according  to  the  depth  of  the  lot.  The  walls  above 
the  ground  are  built  entirety  of  brick.  The  roof  is  of  tin  ;  and  the  gutters 
of  copper.  The  lower  doors  and  windows  have  iron  bars  inserted,  for 
safety,  and  to  admit  a  free  circulation  of  air  in  the  summer,  but  are  closed 
with  sashes  in  the  winter. 

Fig.  1.     Ground  plan  of  first  story,  or  play-ground. 

This  story  is  7^  feet  in  the  clear,  with  a  partition  wall  through  the  middle 
to  give  separate  play-grounds  for  the  boys'  and  girls'  schools.  This  wall  is  8 
inches  thick  ;  and  about  2\  feet  of  the  upper  part  is  open  work  for  ventilation. 

C,  C  —  Stairways.  L,  F  —  Places  for  pine  (kindling)  wood  —  under 
stairs.  E. — Sand  box  for  both  departments.  h,  h — Piles  of  wood  about 
4|  feet  high.  I,  I — Lines  on  which  the  scholars  are  marshaled,  previous 
to  entering  school.     1,  1,  1 — -Doors. 

Fig.  2  and  3.    Ground  plan  of  boys'  and  girls'  department,  each  60  by  32. 

D — Teachers'  platform  and  table,  (movable  rollers.)  d,  d — Desks  for 
scholars — the  black  dots  are  iron  chairs,  a — Cast  iron  lesson  stands — on 
which  two  lesson  boards  are  hung,  to  accommodate  classes  standing  on  the 
line  b,  b.  H — Class  Room,  g,  g,  g — Flues,  or  chimnies,  for  stove  pipes. 
f,  f,  f,  &c. — Air  flues,  or  recesses  for  ventilation,  extending  from  the  2d  story 
to  the  garret.  C — Stove — the  pipes  extend  from  the  stove  to  the  front  into 
the  Sue,  and  also  to  the  rear. 


104 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


The  gallery  consists  of  7  seats, 
varying  in  height  from  7  to  9  inches, 
each  seat  20  feet  long,  and  provided 
with  a  support  for  the  back.  These 
seats  will  accommodate  200  children. 
The  whole  is  set  2\  feet  from  the 
wall,  and  is  left  open  beneath — the 
space  being  used  as  a  wardrobe  for 
the  youngest  children. 

The  youngest  class  is  provided  with  a  desk,  having  a 
trench  (b)  painted  black  to  contain  a  thin  layer  of  sand,  in 
which  to  trace  letters,  and  rude  attempts  at  imitating  forms. 
Each  child  has  a  slate,  and  there  is  an  opening  in  the 
top  of  the  desk  (a)  to  receive  it  when  not  in  use. 

Since  the  erection  of  this  school-house  some  modifica- 
tions have  been  made  in  the  construction  of  the  desks  and 
seats.  Instead  of  the  long  bench  for  10  or  12  pupils,  each 
pupil  has  a  chair  similar  to  those  represented  below. 


The  desks  are  10^  inches  wide;  and  the  uprights,  or  legs,  are  cut  out 
on  the  edge  towards  the  chair.  The  highest  desk  is  1  foot  7  inches  on  the 
lowest  side  ;  the  lowest  1  foot  5  inches  The  chairs  are  12  and  10  inches. 
The  seat  of  the  chair  is  about  8  inches  wide,  and  is  intended  to  be  set  so 
that  the  front  of  the  seat  and  the  edge  of 'the  top  of  the  desk,  shall  be  perpen- 
dicular, one  with  the  other,  so  that  the  scholars  may  sit  erect,  and  receive 
the  benefit  of  the  back  of  the  chair  while  writing. 

The  desks  (Fig.  2.)  are  each  for  eight  scholars  and  vary  in  height — the 
highest,  which  are  most  distant  from  the  teacher,  being  on  the  lower  edge 
26  inches  f/om  the  floor,  and  requiring  a  seat  17^  inches  ;  and  the  lowest 
being  nearest  the  teacher,  being  17  inches  and  requiring  a  seat  10  inches 
from  the  floor.  Each  desk  has  an  appropriate  place  for  an  inkstand,  books, 
pen,  pen-wiper,  pencil,  and  slate  for  each  scholar.  The  slates  are  of  the  best 
quality,  bound  over  the  corners  with  a  band  of  iron  made  fast  to  the  frame 

The  seats  are  stools,  without 
backs — all  belonging  to  one  desk, 
being  attached  to  a  plank,  which  can 
be  moved,  although  it  is  ordinarily 
made  fast  to  the  floor.  There  is 
sufficient  space  between  each  stool, 
and  between  each  range  of  stools  and 
the  adjoining  desk,  to  allow  a  scholar 
to  leave  or  take  his  seat  without 
disturbing  any  other. 

The  monitors'  seat  and  desk  (F) 
are  elevated  about  five  inches  above 
the  rest,  so  as  to  command  a  view 
of  each  range  of  scholars'  seats  and 
desks.  The  top  of  the  monitors' 
desk  is  hung  with  hinges,  and  sup- 
ported by  a  movable  brace. 


NEW  YORK  PUBLIC  SCHOOL-HOUSE. 


105 


The  attention  of  the  Trustees  and  especially  of  a  committee  having  charge 
of  this  subject,  having  been  recently  called  to  the  importance  of  having  some 
support  provided  for  the  backs  of  the  older  as  well  as  the  youuger  scholars, 
has  resulted  in  the  introduction  of  MotPs  patent  revolving  cast-iron  chair 
into  several  of  the  new  Primary  Schools,  and  into  one  of  the  Public  Schools. 


The  chairs,  except  the  seat, 
are  made  of  cast  iron,  and  are  so 
constructed,  that  the  seat  and 
back  may  be  turned  round,  while 
the  bottom  being  screwed  fast 
to  the  floor,  remains  stationary. 


The  height  of  thelower  partof 
the  top  of  the  desk,  is  just  equal 
to  the  highest  part  of  the  back  of 
the  chair,  so  as  to  allow  it  to 
pass  under. 

The  front  edge  of  the  seat  is 
in  a  perpendicular  line  with  the 
edge  of  the  top  of  the  desk,  so 
that  the  scholar  is  required  to  sit 
erect,  when  engaged  in  writing 
or  studying,  and  the  same  time 
that  part  of  bis  back  which  re- 
quires support  is  fully  in  contact 
with  the  chair. 


These  chairs  are  made  of  four  sizes 
as  follows — 

No  1  is  10   in.  high,  and  requires  a  desk  17  in. 
"    2  "  12    "  "  "  "  19i " 

"    3  "  14    "  "  "  "  22    " 

"    4  "   16    "  "  "  "  24    " 

These  chairs  are  considered  so  ex- 
actly suited  to  the  wants  of  the  chil- 
dren, both  as  it  regards  ease  in  sitting, 
and  in  maintaining  order  while  taking, 
or  leaving  their  seats,  that  the  Com- 
mittee on  Primary  Schools  have  con- 
cluded to  recommend  them  wherever 
new  desks  are  needed. 

J.  L.  Mott,  264  Water-street,  has 
for  sale  cast  iron  lesson  stands ;  and 
cast  iron  standards  or  end  pieces  for 
school  desks  of  four  different  sizes; 
and  school  stoves  of  various  patters. 

The  chair  and  standard  have  been 
recently  introduced  into  many  public 
and  private  schools  in  the  city  of  New 
York  and  other  places. 


206  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


The  following  remarks   are  from  the  "  Report  of  the  Primary  School 

Committee  to  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society  of  New 

York,  on  the  use  of  seats  without  backs  : — 

'  •  s 

"  On  inquiry  of  the  female  teachers,  several  of  the  oldest  and  most  expe- 
rienced among  them  say,  that  instances  of  curved  spine  are  often  perceived 
among  their  scholars.  Individual  members  of  this  Board  have  noticed  simi- 
lar instances  ;  and  it  deserves  to  be  mentioned,  that  a  highly  respectable  and 
intelligent  foreign  gentleman,  who  is  deeply  interested  in  the  cause  of  educa- 
tion, on  a  late  visit  to  one  of  our  schools,  expressed  his  surprise  on  perceiving 
how  large  a  proportion  of  the  girls  were  round-shouldered  and  stooping  in 
their  figure." 

******* 

"  1st.  It  is  a  matter  of  notoriety  to  the  medical  profession,  that,  until 
about  thirty  or  forty  years  ago,  spinal  curvatures  were  very  little  known.  It 
is  only  since  "  the  schoolmaster  has  got  abroad," — only  since  so  great  and 
universal  an  impulse  has  been  given  to  education,  that  these  cases  have 
become  sufficiently  numerous  to  attract  the  particular  attention  of  medical 
men.  There  is  now  to  be  found  a  distinct  class  of  practitioners,  and  of 
machinists,  who  live  and  thrive  by  the  treatment  of  spinal  injuries. 

2d.  A  large  proportion  of  these  cases  can  be  distinctly  traced  to  causes 
connected  with  school  education.  Among  the  illiterate  in  all  countries,  these 
injuries  are  scarcely  known.  They  occur  most  frequently  in  schools  where 
females  are  much  confined  to  a  sitting  posture,  with  but  a  scanty  allowance 
of  those  robust  and  active  exercises  which  impart  power  to  the  muscular 
system,  and  invigorate  the  general  health. 

It  should  be  here  explained,  that  the  trunk  of  the  body  is  sustained  in  its 
erect  position,  solely  by  the  action  of  muscles.  Young  and  growing  femalea 
who  are  but  feebly  endowed  with  muscular  strength,  experience  such  a  sense 
of  weariness  in  sitting  upright,  as  to  be  induced,  from  necessity,  to  drop  the 
body  into  a  variety  of  curvatures ;  and  one  particular  curve  becoming  habit- 
ual and  long  persisted  in,  finally  ends  in  permanent  deformity.  The  influence 
of  exercise  in  preventing  the  evil,  is  precisely  that  which  it  has  on  the  arm 
of  a  blacksmith  ;  it  augments  the  bulk,  and  redoubles  the  power  of  the  mus- 
cles, and  gives  greater  firmness  and  security  to  the  joints. 

3d.  In  all  large  cities  there  are  many  children,  who,  from  infancy,  are 
strongly  predisposed  to  these  affections,  owing  to  a  constitutional  feebleness 
of  muscle,  or  an  unhealthy  condition  of  the  bones  or  joints.  These  require 
every  precaution,  during  the  course  of  their  education,  to  prevent  deformity. 

Supposing-  the  females  attending  our  schools  to  be  liable  to  spinal  injuries, 
are  these  injuries  owing  to  the  use  of  seats  without  backs  1  The  answer 
must  be,  that  they  are  instrumental  in  causing  them,  just  so  far  as  they  place 
the  scholar  under  the  necessity  of  seeking  relief  in  the  crooked  and  unhealthy 
attitudes  into  which  she  throws  her  body.  Another  question  of  similar  im- 
port, is  this : — Would  seats  with  back-supports  tend  to  prevent  these  injuries? 
A  similar  answer  must  be  given.  Such  seats  would  act  as  a  preventive,  just 
in  proportion  as  they  removed  the  temptation  and  the  necessity  for  indulging 
in  injurious  flexures  of  the  body.  When  we  see,  as  we  often  may,  a  girl  of 
rapid  growth,  of  yielding  joints,  and  of  feeble  muscles,  propping  the  weight 
of  her  body  on  her  elbows,  or,  by  way  of  change,  bringing  her  sides  alter- 
nately to  rest  on  the  desk  before  her,  can  we  doubt  for  a  moment,  that,  with 
a  back-support,  she  would  run  less  risk  of  injury  to  her  figure  1  And  in 
regard  to  those  children,  before  alluded  to,  as  having  a  natural  predisposition 
to  spinal  distortions,  seats  of  this  kind  would  be  indispensable  to  their 
safety  " 


MOTT'S  CAST  IRON  CHAIR. 


107 


Mott's  School  Chair  and  Desk. 
The  following  minute  description  of  Mott's  Patent  Revolving  Pivot 
Chair,  and  cast  iron  Scroll  Stanchions  for  School  Desks,  is   gathered 
from  a  circular  of  the  patentee : 

The  seat  of  the  chair  is  of  wood :  all  the  other  parts,  of  cast  iron.     The  desk 
stanchions  are  adjusted  to  the  height  of  the  chair — in  the  following  scale,  viz : 


No.  of  the 
Chair. 

Height  of 
Chair  Seat. 

Height  of  front 
edge  of  Desk. 

Width  of  Desk. 

™,mthfo°rf  Si       Distance 
scholar;     (not       between  the 
less.)                  1  rows  of  Desks. 

1 

2 
3 
4 

10  Inches. 
12      " 
14      " 
16      " 

17  Inches. 
19      " 
22      " 
24      " 

12  Inches. 
12      " 

14  " 

15  " 

17  Inches. 

18  " 
20      " 
22      « 

20  Inches. 
22      " 

24  " 

25  " 

The  first  column  denotes  the  number  of  the  dhair,  as  also  the  number  of  the 
desk  stanchions. 

Second  column,  the  height  of  the  seat  from  the  floor. 

Third  column,  the  height  of  the  front  edge  of  the  desk  from  the  floor. 

Fourth  column,  the  width  of  the  top  of  the  desk.  The  slope  of  the  desk  should 
rise  li  inch  to  the  foot ;  the  larger  desks  having  2j  to  3  inches  level  on  top  to 
accommodate  inkstands. 

Fifth  column,  the  length  of  desk  room  required  for  each  scholar.  It  should 
not  be  less  than  here  given. 

Sixth  column,  the  distance  that  should  be  allowed  between  the  desks,  from 
the  back  of  one  to  the  front  edge  of  the  other.  This  space  will  allow  a  passage 
between  the  chair  and  the  next  rear  desk.  The  number  of  scholars  at  a  desk 
need  not  be  limited. 

The  position  of  each  chair,  when  screwed  to  the  floor,  should  have  two-thirds 
of  the  allotted  desk  room  to  the  right  of  its  centre,  and  be  so  near  that  the  back 
of  the  chair,  in  its  revolution,  will  barely  clear  the  desk.  By  placing  the  chair 
as  described,  the  body  of  the  child  is  brought  in  close  proximity  to  the  desk, 
causing  the  back  of  the  person  to  rest,  at  all  times,  and  under  all  circumstances, 
against  the  back  of  the  chair.  By  a  happy  combination  of  the  chair  and  the 
height  of  the  desk,  the  children  readily  assume  a  position  that  is  most  convenient 
and  conducive  to  their  ultimate  health,  preventing  those  awkward  habits  sofre- 
quently  acquired  at  school,  and  which  are  always  so  annoying  to  teachers.  So 
uniform  is  the  effect  produced,  that  the  back  of  the  heads  of  twenty  children, 
seated  at  a  desk,  will  not  vary  one  inch  from  a  straight  line.  A  distinguished 
literary  lady,  visiting  one  of  the  New  York  Public  Schools,  observing  this  uni- 
formity in  the  position  of  the  children  when  seated,  inquired  of  the  female 
teacher,  how  she  managed  to  keep  them  so.  She  answered,  she  did  not  know; 
she  believed  the  one  adopted  it  because  the  other  did.  The  fact  is,  it  was  owing 
to  the  chair  and  desk. 

The  chairs  are  made  lower  than  usual,  so  that  the  feet  of  the  scholar  may 
rest  upon  the  floor,  and  the  muscles  of  the  thigh  do  not  tire  by  pressing  hard 
upon  the  front  edge  of  the  seat.  Fashion  has  had  more  influence  in  fixing  the 
height  of  our  chairs,  than  ease  or  convenience.  The  ladies  are  the  best  judges 
of  such  matters.  When  they  order  a  sewing  or  a  rocking  chair,  the  direction  is, 
make  it  low. 

The  following  testimony  was  furnished  by  an  eminent  physician  of  New 
York,  who  has  taken  a  lively  interest  in  the  progress  of  schools.  He  says  the 
advantages  of  this  chair  are  : — 

1st.  That  it  gives  an  easy  and  firm  support  to  the  muscles  of  the  back ;  so 
uniform  and  agreeable  that  the  posture  of  sitting  never  becomes  painful,  even 
though  continued  longer  than  is  ever  required  in  school. 

2d.  It  thus  effectually  prevents  that  unequal  and  irregular  action  of  the  mus- 
cles on  either  side  of  the  spine,. which,  in  delicate  children,  is  likely  to  result 
from  the  habit  of  sitting  upon  a  bench  or  stool  without  a  back,  and  which  has 
often  produced  in  such  children  a  curvature  of  the  spine,  and  other  deformities. 

3d.  Its  rotary  or  revolving  motion  affords  opportunities  for  that  kind  and  de- 


1 08  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

gree  of  exercise,  even  in  the  sitting  posture,  which  is  a  salutary  part  of  phys- 
ical education. 

4th.  Its  permanent  fixedness  on  the  floor  upon  a  pedestal,  secures  its  proper 
proximity  to  the  desk  in  front,  and  guards  against  the  leaning  or  reclining  po- 
sition which  results  from  a  movable  bench,  stool  or  chair,  which  may  be  nearer 
to  the  desk  at  one  time  than  at  another,  and  which  has  been  found  "wearisome 
to  children,  and  otherwise  detrimental  to  both  their  comfort  and  health. 

5th.  It  admits  of  being  adapted  to  the  size  and  height  of  children,  the  seat 
being  higher  or  lower,  and  its  relation  to  the  desk  in  front,  varied  as  the  chil- 
dren are  larger  or  smaller.  In  every  school  there  may  be  sufficient  diversity 
in  these  particulars  to  enable  the  judicious  teacher  to  select  seats  for  every 
scholar  which  shall  be  found  convenient  and  comfortable,  changing  them  as 
often  as  circumstances  may  require. 

Simple  as  the  chair  may  appear,  it  is  the  result  of  many  experiments  and 
much  time.  It  was  first  thought  that  an  ordinary  rotary  chair  would  answer 
the  purpose  ;  but  it  was  found  that  on  account  of  its  back,  the  chair,  when  al- 
lowed to  revolve,  could  not  be  placed  sufficiently  near  to  the  desk,  to  afford  the 
desired  support  to  the  back  of  the  scholar.  To  ascertain  the  proper  height  of 
the  chair,  a  large  number  of  children  were  measured ;  to  arrive  at  that  of  the 
desk,  the  length  of  arm  from  elbow  to  shoulder  was  taken,  as  it  was  thought 
that  this  might  be  a  guide.  The  length  differing  to  the  extent  of  an  inch  and  a 
half  in  children  of  the  same  stature,  resort  was  had,  in  connection  therewith,  to 
the  distance  of  sight.  Upon  experiment,  it  was  found  that  when  the  desks  were 
low,  the  back  of  the  child  was  too  much  curved ;  when  high,  the  body  was  too 
erect — a  medium  height  was  selected. 

The  chief  peculiarity  in  the  desk  is,  that  in  the  place  of  straight  wooden 
legs,  there  are  substituted  curved  cast  iron  stanchions  ;  the  obvious  advantages 
of  which  are,  that  they  occasion  no  interference  with  the  movements  of  the 
scholar  seated  opposite  or  near  to  them. 

Two  stanchions  are  necessary  for  a  single  desk.  Two,  also,  will  support  a 
desk  of  sufficient  length  to  accommodate  three  scholars ;  three,  to  accommo- 
date six  scholars;  four,  nine  scholars  ;  and  so  on  for  a  greater  number. 

The  expense  of  fitting  up  a  room  with  this  chair  and  desk,  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  varies  from  $1  50  to  $2  00  a  scholar,  aside  from  the  putting  up  of  the 
desks. 

Although  we  think  very  highly  of  these  chairs  in  some  respects,  we  have 
serious  objections  to  the  shape  and  material  of  the  iron  back  piece.  This  is 
too  low,  and  not  shaped  to  give  the  requisite  support  to  the  back  when  fatigued 
from  an  upright  or  any  other  position,  long  continued.  Children,  thinly  clad, 
and  of  delicate  constitution,  must  experience  inconvenience,  and  be  exposed  to 
more  serious  consequences,  from  the  rapid  conduction  of  heat  from  the  body, 
and  especially  from  the  spinal  column,  coming  as  the  iron  support  does,  across 
the  small  of  the  back.  We  can  see  no  objection  to  attaching  an  ordinary  shaped 
chair  seat  and  back  to  the  revolving  pedestal.  Indeed,  school  chairs  of  this  last 
description  are  manufactured  by  Mr.  Mott,  when  ordered. 

Since  the  above  paragraph  appeared  in  the  first  edition  of  this  work,  Mr. 
Mott  informs  us  that  he  has  modified  the  pattern  of  the  back  of  his  chair  to  ob- 
viate the  objections  therein  made.  The  back  piece  is  to  be  carried  higher,  and 
the  iron  is  to  be  covered  with  cloth  or  felt.  The  seat  is  also  to  be  covered  Avith 
a  stuffing  of  felt. 

Mr.  Mott  has  also  added  another  size,  both  of  his  chair  and  scroll  stanchions 
for  desks,  so  as  to  accommodate  better  the  oldest  class  of  scholars  in  our  pub- 
lic schools. 


public  school  society.  jq9 

Public  School  Society  op  New  York. 

Prior  to  1805.  the  only  schools  in  the  city  of  New  York  which  partook 
at  all  of  the  character  of  public  schools,  were  one  established  by  the 
"  Female  Association  for  the  Relief  of  the  Poor,"  in  1802,  and  those  sus- 
tained by  different  religious  denominations  for  the  gratuitous  education  of 
the  children  of  their  own  members.  These  were  few,  feebly  sustained, 
and  the  course  of  instruction  altogether  inadequate. 

In  April,  1805,  on  the  petition  of  De  Witt  Clinton  and  other  individu- 
als, a  "  free  school"  was  incorporated  by  the  legislature  for  the  education 
of  children  who  did  not  belong  to,  and  were  not  provided  for  by  any  reli- 
gious society.  This  school  was.  organized  in  May,  1806,  and  taught  on 
the  plan  then  recently  originated  by  Joseph  Lancaster. 

In  1S08,  the  institution  was  enlarged  by  the  legislature  under  the  name 
of  the  "  Free  School  Society  of  the  City  of  New- York,"  and  the  city 
corporation  presented  a  site  for  a  school-house,  and  entrusted  to  its  keep- 
ing the  education  of  the  children  of  the  alms-house. 

In  1809,  the  first  edifice  was  completed  and  dedicated  to  its  future  pur- 
poses in  an  address  by  De  Witt  Clinton,  the  president  of  the  society. 

In  1815,  the  society  received  its  quota  ($3,708)  of  the  first  apportion- 
ment of  the  State  Fund  for  the  support  of  Common  Schools. 

In  1821,  a  committee  of  the  society  were  instructed  to  correspond  with 
distinguished  educators,  in  Europe  and  the  United  States,  for  information 
on  the  subject  of  schools,  and  especially  the  education  of  the  poor.  This 
step  resulted  in  some  modifications  of  the  plans  of  the  society,  and  the 
methods  of  instruction  in  the  schools. 

In  1828,  the  first  primary  school  was  opened  in  the  Duane  street  build- 
ing, on  the  plan  of  the  infant  schools,  which  had  been  introduced  into  the 
large  cities  of  the  United  States,  under  voluntary  efforts.  The  result  was 
favorable.  It  drew  off  the  younger  scholars  from  the  other  schools  in  the 
same  building,  and  facilitated  the  instruction  and  government  in  both 
classes  of  schools.  This  school  was  for  a  time  under  the  joint  manage- 
ment of  the  society  and  a  committee  of  ladies  from  the  infant  school 
society.  At  this  time,  Mr.  Samuel  S.  Seton  was  employed  by  the  society 
as  an  agent  to  visit  the  families  of  the  poor,  to  make  known  the  benefits 
of  the  schools  and  secure  the  punctual  attendance  of  delinquent  scholars. 
This  step  led  to  a  knowledge  of  various  abuses,  and  the  introduction  of 
several  improvements.  Mr.  Seton  has  since  acted  as  the  Agent  of  the 
Society,  and  in  this  capacity  has  given  unity  to  all  of  the  operations  of 
the  several  committees  of  the  Board. 

In  1828-29,  the  schools  of  the  public  school  society  were  placed  more 
on  the  basis  of  ".  Common  Schools" — open  to  all,  not.  as  a  matter  of 
charity,  but  of  right,  and  supported  in  part  like  other  great  public  inter- 
ests, by  a  general  tax.  This  tax  was  one  eightieth  of  one  percent.,  and 
was  the  first  tax  raised  by  the  city  of  New  York,  for  the  support  of  Com- 
mon Schools;  the  memorial  by  which  the  attention  of  the  Common 
Council  was  called  to  the  subject  was  signed  principally  by  the  wealthiest 
citizens. 

In  the  winter  of  1832  a  large  committee  on  the  part  of  the  society,,  was 
appointed  to  examine  into  the  condition  of  the  schools,  and  propose  such 
modification  and  improvement,  as  might  be  considered  judicious.  To  aid 
the  committee  with  the  experience  of  other  cities,  two  of  their  number 
were  deputed  to  visit  Boston  and  examine  the  school  system  and  schools 
of  that  city.  This  committee  reported  certain  modifications,  which  were 
concurred  in  by  the  board.  These  modifications  were  the  establishment 
of  primary  schools,  under  female  teachers,  for  the  elementary  classes, 
with  some  simple  apparatus  for  visible  illustration;  an  extension  of  the 


HO  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

studies  in  the  upper  public  schools,  so  as  to  embrace  astronomy,  algebra, 
geometry,  trigonometry,  and  book-keeping ;  an  increase  of  the  salaries  or 
teachers,  the  substitution  of  assistant  teachers  for  certain  class  recitations 
and  reviews,  and  the  opening  of  recitation  rooms  for  this  purpose ;  the 
more  extended  use  of  blackboard,  maps,  globes,  and  other  apparatus  ;  and 
the  establishment  of  evening  schools  for  apprentices,  and  such  as  leave 
school  at  an  early  age. 

In  1834,  owing  to  the  increase  of  the  primary  schools,  a  school  was 
opened  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  were  employed  as  monitors  in  that 
class  of  schools.  This  plan  has  been  extended  so  as  to  embrace  such 
pupils  of  the  older  class  of  the  upper  schools,  as  from  their  peculiar  taste, 
industry  and  proficiency,  could  be  recommended  as  monitors  or  teachers. 
While  in  these  normal  schools,  they  are  denominated  "  cadets,"  and  such 
as  are  properly  qualified  are  promoted  to  the  station  of  monitors,  under 
pay,  and  so  on  to  "  passed  monitors,"  from  which  class  the  assistant 
teachers  are  to  be  selected.  These  schools  now  embrace  two  hundred 
pupils,  under  the  charge  of  nine  teachers,  and  have  already  furnished  the 
schools  with  a  number  of  teachers. 

In  1836.  owing  to  a  want  of  one  or  more  high  schools  in  the  system,  a 
number  of  scholarships  in  Columbia  College  and  the  University,  with 
their  preparatory  schools,  were  opened  by  those  having  the  management 
of  these  institutions,  for  such  scholars  of  the  public  schools  as  were  ad- 
vanced to  the  limit  of  the  instruction  there  provided.  In  1841-2,  simi- 
lar privileges  were  opened  in  the  Rutgers  Female  Institute,  for  a  certain 
number  of  girls. 

In  1842.  an  act  passed  the  legislature  which  altered  very  essentially 
the  system  of  public  schools  in  the  city  of  New  York,  by  providing  for  the 
appointment  of  School  Commissioners  in  the  several  wards,  who  together 
constitute  a  Board  of  Education. 

In  1S44,  Mr.  Josiah  Holbrook's  system  of  scientific  exchanges  and 
a  plan  of  oral  instruction  in  the  natural  sciences,  were  introduced 
into  the  schools  of  the  Society.  The  teachers  were  authorized  to 
allow  the  pupils  to  occupy  a  limited  portion  of  time  weekly  in  pre- 
paring specimens  of  writing,  mapping  and  drawing,  with  a  view  to 
the  exchanging  of  such  specimens  for  those  of  other  schools  in  this  and 
other  states.  These  exchanges  of  the  results  of  mental  and  artistical 
labors  on  the  part  of  the  pupils,  have  excited  a  most  healthful  rivalry, 
greatly  favorable  to  the  development  of  their  mental  faculties,  while  its 
moral  influences  have  been  decidedly  good.  Not  the  least  among  its 
benefits  has  been  the  cultivating  of  a  taste  for  the  art  of  drawing,  so  ne- 
cessary and  useful  a  part  of  common  school  education,  particularly  in 
those  pupils  designed  for  mechanical  pursuits.  Connected  with  the  oper- 
ations here  alluded  to,  was  a  plan  of  instruction  by  short  oral  lectures  on 
the  natural  sciences,  from  objects  collected  and  placed  in  the  school  cabi- 
nets by  the  pupils  themselves,  formed  into  associations  or  "  school  lyce- 
ums."  The  combined  operations  of  these  simple  but  effective  plans,  has 
already  been  productive  of  sensible  improvement  in  the  schools,  and  its 
benefits  thereby  extended  to  others.  As  an  evidence  that  this  new  plan 
of  operations  has  excited  renewed  interest  in  the  pupils  for  their  own  im- 
provement, and  an  increased  local  attachment  to  their  schools,  it  may  be 
stated,  that  by  the  voluntary  agency  of  the  pupils  themselves,  the  spon- 
taneous efforts  of  these  "  school  lyceums"  and  "  scientific  exchanges," 
some  of  the  schools  have  thus  acquired  extensive  cabinets  of  minerals, 
and  other  natural  objects,  with  much  valuable  philosophical  apparatus  for 
carrying  out  this  useful  plan  of  public  instruction. 

In  1845,  two  hundred  volumes  of  carefully  selected  books  were  added 
to  the  Libraries  of  all  the  Public  Schools  of  the  Society,  for  the  use  oi 
the  pupils. 


to 


112 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


Plans,  &c.  of  High-School,  Lowell. 
Fig.  ]. — End  Elevation. 


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The  house  stands  in  the  centre  of  a  lot  extending  from  Ann  to  Kirk  street, 
furnishing  separate  entrances,  yard,  and  play-ground  for  each  sex. 

The  house  is  of  brick,  84  feet  by  48,  with  two  stories,  each  14J  feet  in  the 
clear,  one  for  the  male  and  the  other  for  the  female  department,  and  an  attic, 
which  is  arched  and  fitted  up  for  a  writing  department. 

A,  A,  entrances  at  the  ends.  B,  B,  entries,  provided  with  hooks,  &c.  for 
hats,  bonnets,  and  outer  garments.  Cb,  Cb,  single  desks  and  seats.  E,  E, 
Teacher's  platform,  6i  feet  wide,  raised  6  inches  above  the  floor.  F,  Teach- 
er's desk.  G,  G,  aisles,  nearly  4  feet  in  width,  all  around  the  school-room. 
H,  room  for  library,  apparatus,  &c,  18£  by  12J  feet.  I,  recitation-room,  18£ 
by  12§  feet.  J,  J,  stairways  to  the  second  story.  K,  hot  air  pipe  from 
furnace. 

The  rooms  are  heated  by  furnaces  in  the  cellar,  and  ventilated  by  foui 
.openings  in  the  ceiling,  8  inches  by  16,  which  are  carried  out  in  flues  buil- 
for  this  purpose  in  the  chimneys.  Each  pupil  has  an  area  on  the  floor  o 
more  than  14  square  feet. 


PUBLIC  HIGH  SCHOOL-HOUSE,  LOWELL. 

Fig.  2.— Lower  School-Room. 


113 


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i  j  4  school  architecture 

Plan,  &c,  of  East  School,  Salem,  Mass. 

The  lot  on  which  the  house  stands  extends  from  Essex  street  to  Bath 
street. — There  is  a  sufficient  passage-way  on  each  side  of  the  house,  and 
access  from  each  street.  The  north  end  faces  the  common,  which  affords 
the  most  ample  play-ground,  always  open. 

The  exterior  dimensions  of  the  building  are  136  by  50  ft.  The  school- 
rooms are  65  by  36  ft.  and  15  ft.  high,  each  :  the  space  in  front  of  the  desks, 
65  by  4  ft.  6  inches  ;  the  space  occupied  by  the  desks,  59  by  25  ft. ;  the 
space  in  rear  of  the  desks,  65  by  6  ft.  6  inches  ;  the  floor  of  which  is  raised 
8  inches  above  the  floor  of  the  rooms  ;  the  side  aisles  are  3  ft.,  and  all  the 
other  aisles  18  inches  in  width. 

The  desks  are  so  placed  that  the  scholars  sit  with  their  faces  towards  the 
partition  which  separates  the  school-room  from  the  recitation  rooms,  the 
light  being  thus  admitted  in  their  rear  and  on  one  side. 

The  desks  are  4  ft  in  length,  and  of  four  sizes  in  width,  the  two  front 
ranges  being  16  inches,  the  two  next  15,  the  two  next  14,  and  the  two  next 
13.  The  desks  are  also  of  four  sizes  in  height ;  the  two  front  ranges  being, 
on  the  lower  side,  27  inches,  the  two  next  26,  the  two  next  25,  the  two 
next  24. 

The  desks  in  each  school-room  are  placed  in  ranges,  each  range  contain- 
ing eleven  desks,  and  each  desk  being  fitted  for  two  scholars  ;  so  that  176 
scholars  may  be  received  in  each  department,  or  352  in  the  whole  school. 
The  desks  are  constructed  like  tables,  with  turned  legs,  narrow  rails,  in- 
clined top  and  a  shelf  beneath.  The  legs  and  rails  are  of  birch,  stained  and 
varnished,  and  the  tops  of  cherry,  oiled  and  varnished.  The  legs  are  se- 
cured in  the  floor  by  tenons.  The  tables  of  the  teachers  are  constructed 
and  finished  like  the  desks  of  the  scholars. 

The  chairs  are  also  of  four  sizes ;  those  in  the  two  front  ranges  being  12 
by  12^ inches  in  the  seat,  (i.  e.  extreme  width,  the  sides  being  of  the  usual 
shape  of  chairs,)  and  16  inches  in  height,  and  those  in  the  succeeding  ranges 
being  reduced  in  height  in  proportion  to  the  desks,  and  also  varying  propor- 
tionally in  the  dimensions  of  the  seats. 

The  chairs  are  constructed  with  seats  of  bass  wood,  and  cherry  backs ; 
the  seats  and  backs  hollowed,  and  the  seats  resting  on  wooden  pedestals, 
secured  to  the  floor  by  tenons  and  screws. 

Upon  the  front  edge  of  the  raised  platform,  in  the  rear  of  the  desks,  set- 
tees are  placed,  which  are  of  the  same  length  as  the  desks,  and  are  placed 
in  corresponding  positions,  with  intervening  spaces  in  continuation  of  the 
aisles.  The  settees  are  placed  with  the  back  towards  the  desks,  and  are 
designed  exclusively  for  the  use  of  classes  attending  reviews  before  the 
principals.  The  settees  in  width  and  height  correspond  to  the  largest  size 
of  chairs,  and  are  constructed  of  the  same  materials,  and  finished  in  the  same 
style. 

In  the  center  and  at  the  extremities  of  the  range  of  settees,  are  placed 
tables,  (of  4  by  2  ft.  6  inches,  oval  shape,)  which  are  occupied  by  the  assist- 
ants, during  general  exercises,  when  the  station  of  the  principal  is  in  front 
of  the  desks,  the  middle  one  being  used  by  the  principal  when  attending 
reviews. 

Each  recitation  room  (18  by  10  ft.)  is  appropriated  to  a  single  course  of 
study,  as  marked  upon  the  plan,  and  is  therefore  used  exclusively  by  one 
assistant.  Three  sides  of  the  room  are  appropriated  to  seats,  being  lined 
with  cherry  wood,  (oiled  and  varnished)  to  a  height  reaching  above  the 
heads  of  the  scholars.  The  lining  is  projected  at  the  bottom,  so  as  to  fur- 
nish inclined  backs  to  the  seats,  which  are  constructed  of  cherry  wood,  13 
inches  in  width,  2  inches  thick,  with  hollowed  top  and  rounded  edge,  sup- 
ported on  turned  legs,  the  height  being  15£  inches  from  the  top  of  the  seat 
to  the  floor.  The  fourth  side  of  the  room,  opposite  the  window,  is  occupied 
by  a  blackboard  of  3  ft.  in  width,  which  extends  across  the  space  upon 
each  side  of  the  door. 

All  the  spaces  between  the  doors  and  windows  upon  the  four  sides  of  the 


EAST  GRAMMAR  SCHOOL-HOUSE,  SALEM. 


115 


school-rooms  are  occupied  by  blackboards.  In  the  spaces  between  the 
windows  upon  the  rear,  recesses  have  been  constructed,  which  are  fitted 
with  book-shelves,  and  are  closed  by  means  of  covers  in  front,  which  are 
raised  and  lowered  by  weights  and  pulleys.  These  covers  are  blackboards, 
and  are  so  finished  as  to  represent  sunken  panels.  Drawers  are  construct- 
ed beneath  the  blackboards  to  receive  the  sponges,  chalk,  &c. 

Circular  ventilators  are  placed  in  the  ceiling  of  each  school-room  and 
recitation  room  ;  three  in  each  school-room  of  3  ft.  in  diameter,  and  one  in 
each  recitation  room  of  2  ft.  in  diameter.  These  ventilators  are  solid  cov- 
ers of  wood,  hung  with  hinges,  over  apertures  of  corresponding  size,  and 
raised  or  lowered  by  means  of  cords  passing  over  pulleys,  through  the  ceil- 
ing into  the  room  below,  the  cords  terminating  in  loops,  which  are  fastened 
to  hooks  in  the  side  of  the  room.  When  the  ventilators  are  raised,  the  im- 
pure air  escapes  into  the  garret,  the  ventilation  of  which  is  also  provided 
for  by  means  of  the  circular  windows  in  the  gable  ends,  which  turn  on 
pivots  in  the  center,  and  are  opened  or  shut  by  cords  passing  over  pulleys 
in  the  same  manner  as  the  ventilators. 

Each  school-room  is  warmed  by  a  furnace,  placed  directly  under  the  cen- 
ter of  the  space  in  front  of  the  desks,  the  hot  air  ascending  through  a  circu- 
lar aperture  of  2  ft.  in  diameter,  which  is  represented  upon  the  plan.  The 
smoke-pipe,  (of  galvanized  iron)  is  conducted  upward  through  the  center  of 
this  aperture,  and  thence,  after  passing  a  considerable  distance  into  the 
school-room,  through  one  of  the  recitation  rooms  into  the  chimney,  which 
is  built  in  the  center  of  the  front  wall.  The  recitation  rooms  are  warmed 
by  means  of  apertures  at  the  top  and  bottom  respectively  of  the  partitions 
which  separate  them  from  the  school-rooms,  which  being  open  together, 
secure  a  rapid  equalization  of  temperature  in  all  the  rooms.  These  aper- 
tures are  fitted  to  be  closed,  with  revolving  shutters  above,  and  shutters 
hung  on  hinges  below. 

In  the  partition  wall  between  the  school-rooms,  is  a  clock  having  two 
faces,  and  thus  indicating  the  hour  to  the  occupants  in  each  room.  The 
clock  strikes  at  the  end  of  each  half  hour.  In  the  ante-rooms,  (marked  F, 
F,  on  the  plan  Fig.  1)  are  hooks  for  caps,  overcoats,  &c.  In  each  of  these 
rooms,  also,  there  is  a  pump  and  sink. 

In  the  loioer  story,  there  are  two  primary  school-rooms  36|-  ft.  by  24^- 
ft.,  each  seating  60  children.  Each  child  has  a  chair  firmly  fixed  to  the 
floor,  but  no  desk.  In  the  rear  there  is  an  appropriate  shelf  for  books, 
for  each  pupil,  numbered  to  correspond  with  the  number  on  the  chair.  In 
front  of  the  school,  there  is  a  blackboard  occupying  the  distance  between  the 
doors,  and  a  desk,  at  which  the  several  classes  stand  in  succession,  and 
copy  appropriate  exercises  on  the  slate  from  the  blackboard. 

For  this  school-house,  with  all  its  completeness  of  arrangements  and 
regulations,  the  city  of  Salem  is  indebted  mainly  to  the  indefatigable  exer- 
tions of  the  late  Mayor,  the  Hon.  Stephen  C.  Phillips.  During  the  three 
years  of  his  administration,  every  school-house  was  repaired  or  rebuilt, 
and  all  the  schools  brought  under  an  admirable  system.  On  leaving  his  of- 
fice, in  1842,  he  gave  to  the  city  for 
school  purposes,  his  salary  for 
three  years,  amounting  to  $2,400, 
which  has  been  applied  to  repair- 
ing and  refurnishing  the  High 
School  building,  which  is  now  a 
monument  of  his  taste  and  mu- 
nificence. 

The  High  School,  and  one  of 
the  new  primary  schoois,  are  fur- 
nished with  "  Kimball's  Improved 
School  Chair,"  which  for  strength, 
comfort,  and  style  of  finish,  is  su- 
it' h  School  Chair  Perior  to  any  otner  now  before  the  Primary  School  Chair. 
lg      c  oo       air.  pU^jc> 


116 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 
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118  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

Description  of  Latin  and  English  High  Schools,  Salem. 

The  interior  of  this  building  is  fitted  up  in  a  style  of  ornamental  and  useful 
elegance  which  has  no  parrallel  in  this  country. 

The  Latin  School  is  believed  to  be  the  first  Free  School  established  in  the 
United  States,  and  probably  in  the  world,  where  every  person  within  certaip 
geographical  limits,  and  possessing  certain  requisites  of  study,  has  an  equal 
right  of  admission,  free  of  cost.  It  was  founded  in  1637,  and  has  continued 
without  interruption,  giving  a  thorough  preparation  to  students  for  college,  to 
the  present  day.     The  English  High  School  was  established  in  1827. 

The  walls  of  the  Latin  Grammar  School  are  enriched  and  adorned  with 
inscriptions  in  the  Greek  and  Latin  language  and  character.  These  are  not 
merely  apothegms  of  wisdom,  but  mementoes  of  duty ;  they  are  fitted  to 
inspire  the  pupils  with  noble  sentiments,  and  are  the  appropriate  "  Genius  of 
the  Place.'''' 

The  interior  of  the  English  High  School  is  adorned  in  a  manner  no  less 
appropriate  and  useful. 

In  the  center  of  the  ceiling  is  the  circle  of  the  zodiac,  29  feet  in  diameter. 
The  ventilator,  3|  feet  in  diameter,  represents  the  sun,  the  spots  being  desig- 
nated upon  the  nucleus  in  conformity  to  the  latest  telescopic  observation. 
The  divergence  of  the  solar  rays  is  also  fully  exhibited.  The  earth  is  re- 
presented in  four  different  positions,  indicating  the  four  seasons.  The  moon 
also  is  described  in  its  orbit,  and  its  position  so  varied  as  to  exhibit  its  four 
principal  changes.  The  globular  figure  of  the  earth  is  clearly  shown,  and 
lines  are  inscribed  upon  it  representing  the  equator,  tropics,  and  polar  circles. 
The  hour  lines  are  also  marked  and  numbered.  The  border  of  the  circle  re- 
presents upon  its  outer  edge  the  signs  of  the  zodiac,  with  their  names,  and 
within,  the  names  of  the  months.  The  signs  are  divided  into  degrees,  and 
the  months  into  days,  both  of  which  are  numbered.  The  thirty-two  points  of 
the  compass  are  marked  upon  the  inner  edge,  the  true  north  and  magnetic 
north  both  correctly  indicated, — the  variation  of  the  needle  having  been  as- 
certained by  a  recent  series  of  observations. 

The  circle  of  the  zodiac,  as  thus  described,  being  enclosed  within  a  square 
panel,  the  exterior  spaces  in  the  four  angles  are  filled  up  as  follows  : 

The  western  angle  exhibits  the  planet  Saturn,  with  his  rings  and  belts,  as 
seen  through  a  telescope,  and  his  true  size  in  proportion  to  the  sun,  supposing 
the  circle  of  the  zodiac  to  represent  the  size  of  the  sun.  The  eastern  angle 
exhibits  Jupiter,  with  his  belts,  of  a  size  similarly  proportionate.  The  other 
primary  planets  and  the  moon  are  described  according  to  their  relative  sizes, 
in  the  southern  angle.  In  the  northern  angle  is  a  succession  of  figures,  de- 
signed to  represent  the  varying  apparent  size  of  the  sun,  as  seen  from  the 
different  planets.  In  the  ceiling  there  are  also  two  oblong  panels,  one  towards 
the  western,  the  other  towards  the  eastern  extremity.  The  western  panel 
contains  a  diagram,  which  illustrates,  by  their  relative  position,  the  distance 
of  the  several  planets,  primary  and  secondary,  from  the  sun,  which  is  placed 
at  one  end  of  the  panel.  The  several  planets  are  designated  by  their  signs, 
and  the  figures,  placed  opposite  to  each,  show  how  many  millions  of  miles  it 
is  distant  from  the  sun.  The  satellites  of  the  Earth,  Jupiter,  Saturn,  and 
Herschel,  are  described  as  revolving  in  their  orbits  around  their  respective 
primaries.  The  eastern  panel  contains  a  diagram,  which  illustrates  the  theo- 
ry of  the  solar  and  lunar  eclipses.  The  moon  is  represented  in  different 
parts  of  the  earth's  shadow,  and  also  directly  between  the  earth  and  the  sun. 

Upon  the  four  sides  of  the  room,  in  the  space  above  the  windows  and 
doors,  eight  panels  are  described,  containing  as  many  diagrams,  which  illus- 
trate successively  the  following  subjects  : — 

1.  The  different  phases  of  the  moon.  2.  The  apparent,  direct,  and  retro 
grade  motions  of  Mercury  and  Venus.  3.  The  moon's  parallax.  4.  The 
commencement,  progress,  and  termination  of  a  solar  eclipse.  5.  The  di- 
minution of  the  intensity  of  light,  and  the  force  of  attraction  in  proportion  to 
the  increase  of  the  squares  of  distance.  6.  The  transit  of  Venus  over  the 
sun's  disc.  7.  The  refraction  of  the  rays  of  light  by  the  atmosphere,  caus- 
ing the  sun,  or  other  celestial  bodies,  to  appear  above  the  horizon  when  actu- 


PUBLIC  HIGH  SCHOOL-ROUSE,  SALEM.  Jjg 

ally  below  it.  8.  The  theory  of  the  tides,  giving  distinct  views  of  the  full 
and  neap  tide,  as  caused  by  the  change  of  position  and  the  relative  attraction 
of  the  sun  and  moon. 

The  two  small  panels  over  the  entrance  doors  represent,  respectively,  the 
remarkable  comets  of  1680  and  1811,  and  the  theory  of  cometary  motion  as 
described  in  the  plates  attached  to  Blunt's  "Beauty  of  the  Heavens." 

The  diagram  in  the  large  panel  upon  the  north  side  of  the  recitation  plat- 
form represents  the  relative  height  of  the  principal  mountains  and  the  rela- 
tive length  of  the  principal  rivers  on  the  globe.  The  mountains  and  rivers 
are  all  numbered,  and  scales  of  distance  are  attached,  by  which  the  heights 
and  lengths  can  be 'readily  ascertained.  The  relative  elevation  of  particular 
countries,  cities  and  other  prominent  places,  the  limits  of  perpetual  snow,  of 
various  kinds  of  vegetation,  &'c,  are  distinctly  exhibited.  This  diagram  is  a 
copy  of  that  contained  in  Tanner's  Atlas. 

The  diagram  in  the  corresponding  panel  on  the  south  side  of  the  recitation 
platform  represents  a  geological  section,  the  various  strata  being  systematic- 
ally arranged  and  explained  by  an  index. 

The  space  between  the  windows  upon  the  north  and  south  sides  of  the 
room  are  occupied  by  inscriptions  in  which  the  diameter,  hourly  motion,  side- 
real period,  and  diurnal  rotation  of  the  several  primary  planets  and  the  earth's 
moon,  are  separately  stated,  according  to  calculations  furnished  for  the  pur- 
pose by  Professor  Peirce,  of  Cambridge.  The  hourly  motion  and  sidereal 
period  of  the  four  asteroids  are  also  stated  in  corresponding  inscriptions  upon 
the  western  side.  The  diameter  and  rotation  of  the  sun  are  inscribed  upon 
the  edge  of  the  circular  recess  beneath  the  ventilator. 

Over  the  frontispiece,  which  surmounts  the  recess  upon  the  teacher's  ros- 
trum, is  a  beautifully  executed  scroll  bearing  the  inscription, 

"  Order  is  Heaven's  first  Law." 

This  motto  may  be  regarded  as  equally  appropriate,  whether  viewed  as  ex- 
planatory of  the  celestial  phenomena  which  are  figured  upon  the  walls,  or  as 
euggesting  the  principle  which  should  guide  the  operations  of  the  school. 

The  clock  is  placed  within  the  recess,  upon  the  wall  of  which  the  course  of 
studies  prescribed  for  the  school,  and  arranged  into  two  divisions,  is  con- 
spicuously inscribed. 


Many  of  the  charity  schools  of  Holland  contain  paintings  of  no  incon- 
siderable excellence  and  value.  In  Germany,  wrhere  every  thing,  (excepting 
war  and  military  affairs,)  is  conducted  on  an  inexpensive  scale,  the  walls  of 
the  school-rooms  were  often  adorned  with  cheap  engravings  and  lithographs, 
of  distinguished  men,  of  birds,  beasts,  and  fishes  ; — and,  in  many  of  them,  a 
cabinet  of  natural  history  had  been  commenced.  And  throughout  all  Prus- 
sia and  Saxony,  a  most  delightful  impression  was  left  upon  my  mind  by  the 
character  of  the  persons  whose  portraits  were  thus  displayed.  Almost  with- 
out exception,  they  were  likenesses  of  good  men  rather  than  of  great  ones, — 
frequently  of  distinguished  educationists  and  benefactors  of  the  young, 
whose  countenances  were  radiant  with  the  light  of  benevolence,  and  the 
very  sight  of  which  was  a  moral  lesson  to  the  susceptible  hearts  of  children. 

In  the  new  building  for  the  "  poor  school"  at  Leipsic,  there  is  a  large  hall 
in  which  the  children  all  assemble  in  the  morning  for  devotional  purposes. 
Over  the  teacher's  desk,  or  pulpit,  is  a  painting  of  Christ  in  the  act  of  blessing 
little  children.  The  design  is  appropriate  and  beautiful.  Several  most  for- 
lorn-looking, half-naked  children  stand  before  him.  He  stretches  out  his 
arms  over  them,  and  blesses  them.  The  mother  stands  by  with  an  expres- 
sion of  rejoicing,  such  as  only  a  mother  can  feel.  The  little  children  look 
lovingly  up  into  the  face  of  the  Saviour.  Others  stand  around,  awaiting  his 
benediction.  In  the  back-ground  are  aged  men,  who  gaze  upon  the  spectacle 
with  mingled  love  for  the  children  and  reverence  for  their  benefactor. 
Hovering  above  is  a  group  of  angels,  hallowing  the  scene  with  their  pres- 
ence.— Mr   Mann's  Seventh  Annual  Report. 


120 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


Kimball's  Improved  School  Chairs  and  Desk. 
"  These  Chairs  combine  strength,  comfort,  and  style  of  finish.    They  are 
made  of  different  heights,  varying  from  eight  to  sixteen  inches,  and  for  Primary 
as  well  as  for  Grammar  and  "District  Schools. 


The  School  Desks  are  made  of  Pine,  Cherry,  or  Black  Walnut,  and  of 
heights  to  correspond  with  the  chairs.  The  iron  supporters  are  firmly  screwed 
to  the  floor,  and  are  braced  in  such  a  manner  that  there  is  not  the  least  motion.'; 

The  above  extracts  are  taken  from  the  Circular  of  James  Kimball.  109  or 
127  Essex  Street,  Salejn,  Mass. 

The  cuts  below  represent  a  view  of  the  desk  and  seat,  and  of  the  frame 
for  the  same,  used 
in  the  high  school 
for  girls  in  New- 
buryport  Mass. 
The  frame  is  cast 
iron,  to  which  the 
seat  and  desk 
is  attached  by 
screws.  The 

frame  is  strength- 
ened by  a  brace 
extending  from 
each  side  below 
the  seat. 


NORMAL  SCHOOLS. 


121 


Normal  Schools,  or  Teachers'  Seminaries. 

Before  presenting  plans  of  the  Normal  School-houses  recently 
erected  in  Massachusetts, — the  first  erected  in  this  hemisphere, — we 
propose  to  give  a  brief  sketch  of  the  history  of  Normal  Schools  in 
this  country  and  in  Europe,  with  references  to  books*  in  which  a 
minute  account  of  the  organization  of  particular  schools  can  be 
found. 

By  a  Normal f  School,  or  Teachers'  Seminary,  is  meant  an  insti- 
tution for  the  training  of  young  men  and  young  women  who  aim  to 
be  teachers,  to  a  thorough  and  practical  knowledge  of  the  duties  of  the 
school-room,  and  to  the  best  modes  of  reaching  the  heart  and  intel- 
lect, and  of  developing  and  building  up  the  whole  character  of  a 
child.  It  aims  to  do  for  the  young  and  inexperienced  teacher,  all 
that  the  direction  and  example  of  the  master-workman,  and  all  that 
the  experience  of  the  workshop  do  for  the  young  mechanic — all  that 
the  naval  and  military  schools  do  for  those  who  lead  in  any  capacity 
in  the  army  or  navy— all  that  the  law  school,  or  the  medical  school, 
or  the  theological  seminary  do  for  the  professions  of  law,  medicine, 
or  theology.  In  every  department  of  mechanical,  artistic,  or  profes- 
sional labor,  the  highest  skill  is  attained  only  after  long  and  appro- 
priate training  under  wise  superintendence ;  and  the  Normal  School 
aims  to  impart  this  previous  training  by  providing  a  thorough  course 
of  instruction,  under  competent  teachers,  with  reference  to  teaching 
the  same  things  to  others.  This  course  of  instruction  involves  the 
whole  art  of  teaching — a  knowledge  of  human  nature,  and  of  a 
child's  nature  in  particular — of  the  human  mind,  and  especially  of  a 
child's  mind,  and  of  the  order  in  which  its  several  faculties  should 
be  called  into  exercise  ;  of  the  best  motives  by  which  good  habits 
of  study  can  be  cultivated  in  the  young ;  of  the  arrangement  and 
classification  of  scholars,  and  of  the  best  means  and  appliances  for 
securing  obedience  and  order,  and  keeping  alive  an  interest  in  the 
daily  exercises  of  the  school.  And  this  art  of  teaching  must  be 
illustrated  and  exemplified  by  those  who  are  to  apply  it,  in  a  model 
school.  The  idea  of  such  a  school  is  not  a  mere  speculation  of 
ardent  benevolence — it  is  an  existing  reality  in  this  country  as  well 
as  in  Europe. 

The  first  school  specially  destined  for  educating  the  teacher  in  the 
principles  and  practice  of  his  profession,  was  instituted  by  Franke, 
in  connection  with  his  Orphan  House,  at  Halle,  in  1704.  Previous 
to  this  date,  lectures  on  the  art  of  teaching  were  delivered  in  con- 
nection with  the  higher  seminaries  of  education,  at  Gotha,  Wesel, 
and  Brunswick. 

In  1735,  the  first  regular  seminary  for  teachers  in  Prussia  was 

*  See  Catalogue  of  Books  on  Education,  p.  386. 

t  The  word  normal  is  derived  from  the  Latin,  norma,  signifying  a  square,  an 
instrument  used  by  builders,  a  rule,  &  pattern,  a  model.  In  the  adjective  form, 
normalis  signifies  right  by  the  square,  pattern,  or  model.  As  applied  to  a  school 
for  teachers,  the  word  normal  means  a  model  school  for  teachers,  an  institution 
where  correct  principles  of  teaching  are  taught,  and  where  the  art  of  teaching 
is  exemplified  in  correct  practice. 


122 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


established  in  Pomerania,  and  the  second  at  Berlin,  in  1748,  by 
Hecker,  a  pupil  of  Franke.  By  a  royal  ordinance  in  1752,  Frederic 
2d  enjoined  that  all  vacancies  in  the  country  schools  on  the  crown 
lands,  iu  certain  sections  of  his  kingdom,  should  be  supplied  by  pu- 
pils from  Hecker's  Seminary.  The  King  at  the  same  time  allowed 
an  annual  stipend  for  the  support  of  twelve  alumni  of  this  establish- 
ment, a  number  which  in  1788  was  raised  to  sixty.  In  1773,  the 
chools  established  at  Rekahn,  in  Brandenburg,  became  the  model 
Bchools  to  which  young  men  resorted  from  every  part  of  Germany 
to  be  trained  in  the  principles  and  practice  of  primary  instruction. 
Prior  to  1800,  there  were  but  six  of  these  institutions  in  Prussia. 
But  it  is  the  pride  and  glory  of  this  monarchy,  that  in  periods  of  the 
greatest  national  distress  and  disaster,  when  the  armies  of  France 
were  desolating  her  fields,  occupying  her  citadels,  and  diverting  her 
revenues,  the  great  work  of  improving  her  schools  was  never  lost 
sight  of.  The  establishment  of  teachers'  seminaries  still  went  for- 
ward ;  that  at  Konigsbnrg  in  1809,  at  Branersburg  in  1810,  and  at 
Breslau  in  1812.  But  not  content  with  establishing  these  semina- 
ries at  home,  the  most  promising  young  teachers  were  sent  into 
other  countries  to  acquire  a  knowledge  of  all  improvements  in  the 
science  and  art  of  education. 

Normal  Schools  were  introduced  into  Hanover  in  1757  ;  into  Aus- 
tria in  1767;  into  Switzerland  in  1805;  into  France  in  1808  ;  into 
Holland  in  1816  ;  into  Belgium  in  1843,  and  into  England  in  1842. 
In  Prussia  and  most  of  the  German  States,  there  are  now  enough 
of  these  institutions  to  supply  the  demand  for  teachers  in  the  public 
schools.  Saxony,  with  a  population  less  than  that  of  the  State  of 
New  York,  supports  five  Normal  Schools,  and  Saxe-Weimar,  with  a 
population  less  than  that  of  Connecticut,  supports  two.  Prussia,  with 
a  population  of  fourteen  millions,  has  at  this  time  forty-nine  semina- 
ries, in  which  there  are  nearly  three  thousand  teachers.  At  the  end 
of  three  years  after  leaving  the  seminary,  the  young  teachers  return 
for  a  re-examination. 

In  Great  Britain,  after  years  of  strenuous  effort  on  the  part  of  the 
friends  of  popular  education,  the  importance  of  Normal  Schools  as 
the  chief  means  for  improving  the  qualifications  of  teachers,  has 
been  recognized  by  the  Government.  The  Training  School  at 
Chelsea,  (called  St.  Mark's  College,)  under  the  management  of  the 
National  Society,  the  Normal  and  Model  School  of  the  British  and 
Foreign  School  Society,  the  Battersea  Training  School,  and  the 
Model  School  of  the  Infant  School  Society  in  England,  the  Model 
School  of  the  National  Board  for  Ireland,  the  Normal  Schools  at 
Edinburgh  and  Glasgow  in  Scotland,  are  all  aided  out  of  the  annual 
parliamentary  grant  for  education. 

In  this  country,  the  claims  of  these  institutions  were  first  distinctly 
presented  by  Rev.  Thomas  H.  Gallaudet,  of  Hartford,  Conn.,  in 
1825,  and  by  James  G.  Carter,  of  Lancaster,  Mass.,  in  a  series  of 
essays  on  the  subject,  and  by  William  Russell,  of  Boston^  in  the 
Journal  of  Education  for  1826.  One  fact  is  certain,  the  improve- 
ment of  schools  in  every  country  has  followed  hand  in  hand  with  the 
establishment,  multiplication,  and  improvement  of  Normal  Schools. 


NEW  YORK  STATE  NORMAL  SCHOOL.  123 

New  York  State  Normal  School. 

The  history  of  the  efforts  to  secure  a  professional  education  and 
training  for  the  teachers  of  common  schools  in  the  State  of  New  York, 
is  full  of  instruction  and  encouragement  to  those  who  are  laboring  in 
the  same  direction  in  other  States.  Among  the  earliest  and  most 
earnest  advocates  of  legislative  provision  on  this  subject,  stands  the 
name  of  De  Witt  Clinton.  In  his  message  to  the  Legislature  in  1819, 
Governor  Clinton  remarks : 

"  The  most  durable  impressions  are  derived  from  the  first  stages  oi 
education ;  ignorant  and  vicious  preceptors  and  injudicious  and  ill- 
arranged  systems  of  education  must  have  a  most  pernicious  influence 
upon  the  habits,  manners,  morals  and  minds  of  our  youth,  and  vitiate 
their  conduct  through  life."  In  1820,  he  used  the  following  language : 
"  The  education  of  youth  is  an  important  trust,  and  an  honorable  voca- 
tion, but  it  is  too  often  committed  to  unskillful  hands.  Liberal  encour- 
agement ought  to  be  dispensed  for  increasing  the  number  of  competent 
teachers."  In  1825,  after  speaking  of  the  cause  of  education  generally, 
the  Governor  says :  "  In  furtherance  of  this  invaluable  system,  I  recom- 
mend to  your  consideration  the  education  of  competent  teachers,"  &c. 

In  his  message  to  the  Legislature,  at  the  opening  of  the  session  of 
1826,  he  thus  adverts  to  the  subject  of  the  proper  preparation  of  common 
school  teachers : 

"  Our  system  of  instruction,  with  all  its  numerous  benefits,  is  still, 
however,  susceptible  of  improvement.  Ten  years  of  the  life  of  a  child 
may  now  be  spent  in  a  common  school.  In  two  years  the  elements  of 
instruction  may  be  acquired,  and  the  remaining  eight  years  must  either 
be  spent  in  repetition  or  idleness,  unless  the  teachers  of  common  schools 
are  competent  to  instruct  in  the  higher  branches  of  knowledge.  The 
outlines  of  geography,  algebra,  mineralogy,  agricultural  chemistry,  me- 
chanical philosophy,  surveying,  geometry,  astronomy,  political  economy 
and  ethics,  might  be  communicated  in  that  period  of  time,  by  able  pre- 
ceptors, without  essential  inteference  with  the  calls  of  domestic  industry. 
The  vocation  of  a  teacher  in  its  influence  on  the  character  and  destiny 
of  the  rising  and  all  future  generations,  has  either  not  been  fully  under- 
stood, or  duly  estimated.  It  is,  or  ought  to  be,  ranked  among  the  learned 
professions.  With  a  full  admission  of  the  merits  of  several  who  now 
officiate  in  that  capacity,  still  it  must  be  conceded  that  the  information  of 
many  of  the  instructors  of  our  common  schools  does  not  extend  beyond 
rudimental  education ;  that  our  expanding  population  requires  constant 
accession  to  their  numbers ;  and  that  to  realize  these  views,  it  is  neces- 
sary that  some  new  plan  for  obtaining  able  teachers  should  be  devised. 
I  therefore  recommend  a  seminary  for  the  education  of  teachers  in  those 
useful  branches  of  knowledge  which  are  proper  to  engraft  on  elementary 
attainments.  A  compliance  with  this  recommendation  will  have  the 
most  benign  influence  on  individual  happiness  and  social  prosperity." 

And  again,  in  his  message  in  1828,  Governor  Clinton  urges  the  subject 
on  the  attention  of  the  Legislature. 

"  It  may  be  taken  for  granted,  that  the  education  of  the  body  of  the 
people  can  never  attain  the  requisite  perfection  without  competent  in- 
structors, well  acquainted  with  the  outlines  of  literature  and  the  elements 
of  science."  He  recommends  with  this  view,  "  a  law  authorizing  the 
supervisors  of  each  county  to  raise  a  sum  not  exceeding  $2000,  provided 


124  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

that  the  same  sum  is  subscribed  by  individuals,  for  the  erection  of  a  suit- 
able edifice  for  a  Monitorial  High  School,  in  the  county  town.  I  can 
conceife  of  no  reasonable  objection  to  the  adoption  of  a  measure  so  well 
calculated  to  raise  the  character  of  our  school  masters,  and  to  double  the 
powers  of  our  artizans  by  giving  them  a  scientific  education." 

In  1826,  Hon.  John  C.  Spencer,  from  the  Literature  Committee  of  the 
Senate,  to  whom  the  message  of  Governor  Clinton  for  that  year  had 
been  referred,  made  a  report,  recommending  among  other  plans  for  the 
improvement  of  common  schools,  that  the  income  of  the  "  Literature 
Fund"  be  divided  among  the  academies  of  the  State,  not  in  reference  to 
the  number  of  classical  students  in  each,  but  "to  the  number  of  persons  in- 
structed in  each,  who  shall  have  been  licensed  as  teachers  of  common 
schools  by  a  proper  board."     He  thus  introduces  the  subject : 

"  In  the  view  which  the  committee  have  taken,  our  great  reliance  for 
nurseries  of  teachers  must  be  placed  on  our  colleges  and  academies.  If 
they  do  not  answer  this  purpose,  they  can  be  of  very  little  use.  That 
they  have  not  hitherto  been  more  extensively  useful  in  that  respect  is 
owing  to  inherent  defects  in  the  system  of  studies  pursued  there.  When 
the  heads  of  our  colleges  are  apprised  of  the  great  want  of  teachers 
which  it  is  so  completely  in  their  power  to  relieve,  if  not  supply,  it  is  but 
reasonable  to  expect  that  they  will  adopt  a  system  by  which  young  men 
whose  pursuits  do  not  require  a  knowledge  of  classics,  may  avail  them- 
selves of  the  talent  and  instruction  in  those  institutions,  suited  to  their 
wants,  without  being  compelled  also  to  receive  that  which  they  do  not 
want,  and  for  which  they  have  neither  time  nor  money." 

"  In  1827,  Mr.  Spencer,  from  the  same  Committee,  reported  a  bill  en- 
titled '  An  act  to  provide  permanent  funds  for  the  annual  appropriation 
to  common  schools,  to  increase  the  Literature  Fund,  and  to  promote  the 
education  of  teachers,'  by  Avhich  the  sum  of  $150,000  was  added  to  the 
Literature  Fund.  And  the  Regents  of  the  University  were  required 
annually  to  distribute  the  whole  income  of  this  fund  among  the  several 
incorporated  academies  and  seminaries,  which  then  were  or  might  there- 
after become  subject  to  their  visitation,  'in  proportion  to  the  number  of 
pupils  instructed  in  each  academy  or  seminary  for  six  months  during  the 
preceding  year,  who  shall  have  pursued  classical  studies,  or  the  higher 
branches  of  English  education,  or  both.'  In  the  report  accompanying 
this  bill,  which,  on  the  13th  of  April,  became  a  law,  the  committee  ex- 
pressly observe,  that  their  object  in" thus  increasing  this  fund  is  'to  pro- 
mote the  education  of  young  men  in  those  studies  which  will  prepare 
them  for  the  business  of  instruction,  which  it  is  hoped  may  be  accom- 
plished to  some  extent,  by  offering  inducements  to  the  trustees  of  acade- 
mies to  educate  pupils  of  that  description.'  'In  vain  will  you  have 
established  a  system  of  instruction ;  in  vain  will  you  appropriate  money 
to  educate  the  children  of  the  poor,  if  you  do  not  provide  persons  compe- 
tent to  execute  your  system,  and  to  teach  the  pupils  collected  in  the 
schools.  And  every  citizen  who  has  paid  attention  to  it  and  become  ac- 
quainted practically  with  the  situation  of  our  schools,  knows  that  the  in- 
competency of  the  great  mass  of  teachers  is  a  radical  defect  which 
impedes  the  whole  system,  frustrates  the  benevolent  designs  of  the 
Legislature,  and  defeats  the  hopes  and  wishes  of  all  who  feel  an  interest 
in  disseminating  the  blessings  of  education.'  'Having  undertaken  a 
.system  of  public  instruction,  it  is  the  solemn  duty  of  the  Legislature  to 
make  that  system  as  perfect  as  possible.     We  have  no  right  to  trifie  with 


NEW  YORK  STATE  NORMAL  SCHOOL.  ^25 

the  funds  of  our  constituents,  by  applying  them  in  a  mode  which  fails  to 
attain  the  intended  object.  Competent  teachers  of  common  schools  must 
be  proyided ;  the  academies  of  the  State  furnish  the  means  of  making 
that  provision.  There  are  funds  which  may  be  safely  and  properly 
applied  to  that  object,  and  if  there  were  none,  a  more  just,  patriotic,  and 
in  its  true  sense,  popular  reason  for  taxation  cannot  be  urged.  Let  us 
aid  the  efforts  of  meritorious  citizens  who  have  devoted  large  portions  of 
their  means  to  the  rearing  of  academies ;  let  us  reward  them  by  giving 
success  to  their  efforts;  let  us  sustain  seminaries  that  are  falling  into 
decay ;  let  us  revive  the  drooping  and  animate  the  prosperous,  by  cheer- 
ing rays  of  public  beneficence ;  and  thus  let  us  provide  nurseries  for  the 
education  of  our  children,  and  for  the  instruction  of  teachers  who  will 
expand  and  widen  and  deepen  the  great  stream  of  education,  until  it 
shah  reach  our  remotest  borders,  and  prepare  our  posterity  for  the  main- 
tenance of  the  glory  and  prosperity  of  their  country.' " 

The  legal  provision  for  the  better  education  of  teachers  rested  on  this 
basis  until  1834,  when  an  act  was  passed,  by  which  the  surplus  in- 
come of  the  Literature  Fund  over  twelve  thousand  dollars  was  placed  at 
the  disposal  of  the  Regents  of  the  University,  to  be  by  them  distributed 
to  such  academies,  subject  to  their  visitation  as  they  might  select,  and  to 
be  exclusively  devoted  to  the  education  of  teachers  for  the  common  schools, 
in  such  manner  and  under  such  regulations  as  they  might  prescribe. 

In  pursuance  of  the  provisions  of  the  act  of  2d  of  May,  1834,  author- 
izing the  Regents  of  the  University  to  apply  a  part  of  the  income  to  the 
Literature  Fund  to  the  education  of  common  school  teachers,  a  plan  was 
reported  on  the  8th  of  January,  1835,  by  Gen.  Dix,  from  the  committee 
appointed  for  that  purpose,  to  the  Regents  with  the  view  of  carrying 
into  effect  the  intention  of  the  act.  This  plan  was  approved  and  adopt- 
ed by  the  Regents  ;  and  one  academy  was  selected  in  each  of  the  eight 
Senate  districts,  charged  with  the  establishment  of  a  Department  spe- 
cially adapted  to  the  instruction  of  teachers  of  common  schools.  To  sup- 
port these  departments,  each  academy  received  from  the  Literature 
Fund,  a  sufficient  sum  to  procure  the  necessary  apparatus  for  the  illus- 
tration of  the  various  branches  required  to  be  taught ;  the  sum  of  $191 
to  be  appropriated  to  the  enlargement  of  the  academical  library ;  and  an 
annual  appropriation  of  $400  to  meet  the  increased  expense  which  might 
devolve  upon  the  institution  in  consequence  of  the  establishment  of  the 
teachers'  department. 

In  his  annual  Report  for  1836,  the  Superintendent  (Gen.  Dix.)  again 
adverts  to  the  fact,  that  in  the  adoption  of  this  system  '  the  Legislature 
has  merely  provided  for  the  more  complete  execution  of  a  design  long 
entertained,  so  far  as  respects  the  employment  of  the  academies  for  this 
purpose.  The  propriety  of  founding  separate  institutions,"  he  continues, 
°  upon  the  model  of  the  seminaries  for  teachers  in  Prussia,  was  for  several 
years  a  subject  of  public  discussion  in  this  State!  It  was  contended,  on 
the  one  hand,  that  such  institutions  would  be  more  likely  to  secure  the 
object  in  view;  and  on  the  other,  that  it  might  be  as  effectually  and 
more  readily  accomplished  through  the  organized  academies.'  After 
again  referring  to  the  act  of  April  13,  1S27,  he  concludes : 

"  Thus  although  the  plan  of  engrafting  upon  the  academies,  depart- 
ments for  the  preparation  of  teachers,  may  not  have  been  contemplated 
at  the  time,  yet  this  measure  is  to  be  regarded  only  as  a  more  complete 
development  of  the  design  of  the  Legislature  in  passing  the  act  refer- 
red to." 

"  By  the  8th  section  of  the  act  of  April  17,  1838,  appropriating  the  in- 
eome  of  the  United  States  Deposite  Fund  to  the  purposes  of  education, 


126  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

&c,  the  sum  of  $28,000  was  directed  to  be  annually  paid  over  to  the 
Literature  Fund,  and  apportioned  among  the  several  academies  of  the 
State;  and  by  the  9th  section,  it  was  made  the  duty  of  the  Re- 
gents of  the  University  '  to  require  every  academy  receiving  a 
distributive  share  of  public  money,  under  the  preceding  section  equal  to 
seven  hundred  dollars  per  annum,  to  establish  and  maintain  in  such 
academy,  a  department  for  the  instruction  of  common  school  teachers, 
under  the  direction  of  the  said  Regents,  as  a  condition  of  receiving  the 
distributive  share  of  every  such  academy.'  Under  this  provision  eight 
academies,  in  addition  to  those  designated  specially  for  this  purpose  by 
the  Regents,  established  departments  for  the  education  of  teachers. 

Desirous  of  knowing  the  practical  operation  of  the  departments  thus 
organized,  the  superintendent  (Mr.  Spencer)  during  the  summer  of 
1840,  commissioned  the  Rev.  Dr.  Potter  of  Union  College,  and  D.  H. 
Little,  Esq.  of  Cherry-Valley,  to  visit  these  institutions,  and  report  the 
result  of  their  examinations  to  the  department,  accompanied  by  such 
suggestions  as  they  might  deem  expedient.  Prof.  Potter  in  his  report, 
after  enumerating  the  various  advantages  and  defects  which  had  pre- 
sented themselves  to  his  observation  in  the  course  of  his  examination;, 
observes  in  conclusion : 

'  The  principal  evil  comiected  with  our  present  means  of  training 
teachers,  is,  that  they  contribute  to  supply  instructors  for  select  rather 
than  for  common  schools ;  and  that  for  want  of  special  exercises,  they 
perform  even  that  work  imperfectly.  I  would  suggest  whether  some 
means  might  not  be  adopted  for  training  a  class  of  teachers,  with  more 
especial  reference  to  country  common  schools,  and  to  primary  schools 
in  villages  and  cities  ;  teachers  whose  attainments  should  not  extend  much 
beyond  the  common  English  branches,  but  whose  minds  should  be  awa- 
kened by  proper  influence ;  who  should  be  made  familiar  by  practice 
with  the  best  modes  of  teaching ;  and  who  should  come  under  strong 
obligations  to  teach  for  at  least  two  or  three  years.  In  Prussia  and  France, 
normal  schools  are  supported  at  the  public  expense ;  most  of  the  pupils 
receive  both  board  and  tuition  gratuitously ;  but  at  the  close  of  the  course 
they  give  bonds  to  refund  the  whole  amount  received,  unless  they  teach 
under  the  direction  of  the  government  for  a  certain  number  of  years. 
That  such  schools,  devoted  exclusively  to  the  preparation  of  teaching, 
have  some  advantages  over  any  other  method,  is  sufficiently  apparent 
from  the  experience  of  other  nations :  and  it  has  occurred  to  me  that, 
as  supplementary  to  our  present  system,  the  establishment  of  one  in  this 
State  might  be  eminently  useful.  If  placed  under  proper  auspices  and 
located  near  the  Capitol,  where  it  could  enjoy  the  supervision  of  the  Su- 
perintendent of  Common  Schools,  and  be  visited  by  the  members  of  the 
Legislature,  it  might  contribute  in  many  ways  to  raise  the  tone  of  in- 
struction throughout  the  State.' 

From  an  examination  of  these  reports,  the  Superintendent  comes  to 
the  conclusion  that '  these  departments  ought  not  to  be  abandoned,  but 
sustained  and  encouraged,  and  the  means  of  establishing  a  large  numbei 
in  other  academies  provided.  They,  with  the  other  academies  and  col- 
leges of  the  State,  furnish  the  supply  of  teachers  indispensable  to  the 
maintenance  of  our  schools.'  He  recommends  '  the  extension  of  the 
public  patronage  to  all  the  academies  in  the  State,  to  enable  them  to 
establish  teachers'  departments ;  and  in  those  counties  where  there  are 
no  academies,  the  establishment  of  normal  schools.'  '  One  model  school 
or  more,'  he  thinks,  '  might  be  advantageously  established  in  some  cen- 
tral parts  of  the  State,  to  which  teachers,  and  those  intending  to  be  such, 
might  repair  to  acquire  the  best  methods  of  conducting  our  commoB 
schools.' 


NEW  YORK  STATE  NORMAL  SCHOOL.  127 

By  a  resolution  adopted  by  the  Regents  of  the  University,  on  the  4th 
of  May  of  the  same  year,  eight  additional  academies  were  designated 
for  the.  establishment  and  maintenance  of  teachers'  departments;  and  the 
appropriation  to  each  of  the  institutions  in  which  such  departments  had 
been  organized  by  the  Regents,  reduced  to  $300  per  annum.  At  this 
period,  including  the  academies  which  were  required,  under  the  act  of 
1838,  to  maintain  such  departments  in  consequence  of  the  receipt  of  a 
specified  portion  of  the  Literature  Fund,  the  number  of  academies  in 
which  departments  for  the  education  of  teachers  were  organized  was 
twenty-three,  and  the  number  of  students  taught  in  them  about  six 
hundred." 

The  above  facts  and  extracts  have  been  principally  gathered  from  a 
e  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Colleges,  Academies,  and  Common 
Schools,"  to  the  House  of  Representatives  in  1844,  of  which  Mr.  Hul- 
burd,  of  St.  Lawrence,  was  chairman,  and  the  author  of  the  able  docu- 
ment referred  to.  The  Committee,  on  passing  to  the  consideration  of 
a  State  Normal  School,  remark : 

"  From  this  recapitulation,  it  will  appear  that  the  principal  reliance 
of  the  friends  and  supporters  of  the  common  schools,  for  an  adequate 
supply  of  teachers,  has,  from  a  very  early  period,  been  upon  the  acade- 
mies-, that  the  inability  of  the  latter  to  supply  this  demand,  induced,  in  1827, 
an  increase  of  $150,000  of  the  fund,  applicable  to  their  support ;  and  this  for 
the  express  purpose  of  enabling  them  to  accomplish  this  object ;  that  the 
Regents  of  the  University,  the  guardians  of  these  institutions,  charac- 
terized this  increase  of  the  fund  as  an  unwonted  and  "  extraordinary  " 
act  of  liberality  on  the  part  of  the  State  towards  them  ;  explicitly  recog- 
nized the  condition,  or  rather  the  avowed  expectations  on  which  it  was 
granted ;  accepted  the  trust,  and  undertook  to  perform  those  conditions, 
and  to  fulfill  those  expectations ;  that,  to  use  the  language  of  one  of  the 
superintendents,  '  the  design  of  the  law  was  not  sustained  by  the  measures 
necessary  to  give  it  the  form  and  effect  of  a  system ;'  that  to  remedy 
this  evil,  one  academy  was  specially  designated  in  each  Senate  district 
with  an  endowment  of  $500  to  provide  the  necessary  means  and  facili- 
ities  of  instruction,  and  an  annual  appropriation  of  $400,  for  the  main- 
tenance of  a  department  for  the  education  of  teachers  ;  and  soon  after- 
wards the  sum  of  $28,000  added  to  the  Literature  Fund  from  the  avails 
of  the  U.  S.  Deposite  Fund,  while  eight  additional  academies  were 
required  to  organize  and  maintain  similar  departments ;  that,  finally,  the 
number  of  these  departments  was  augmented  to  twenty-three,  and  every 
exertion  put  forth  to  secure  the  great  results  originally  contemplated  in 
their  establishment ;  and  that  in  the  judgment  of  successive  superinten- 
dents of  common  schools,  the  Regents  of  the  University  and  the  most 
eminent  and  practical  friends  of  education  throughout  the  state,  these 
institutions,  whether  considered  in  the  aggregate  or  with  reference  to 
those  specially  designated,  from  time  to  time,  for  the  performance  of  this 
important  duty,  of  supplying  the  common  schools  with  competent  teachers, 
have  not  succeeded  in  the  accomplishment  of  that  object.  Having, 
therefore,  to  revert  again  to  the  language  of  the  superintendent  before 
referred  to,  '  proved  inadequate  to  the  ends  proposed,'  may  not  now  '  a 
change  of  plan  be  insisted  on  without  being  open  to  the  objection  of 
abandoning  a  system  which  has  not  been  fairly  tested  V  And  have  the 
academies  any  just  reason  to  complain,  if  they  are  not  longer  permitted 
to  enjoy  undiminished  the  liberal  appropriations  conferred  upon  them  by 
the  State  for  a  specific  object ;  an  object  which  they  have  not  been  able 
satisfactorily  to  accomplish  ?" 


|28  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

This  committee  having  satisfied  themselves  that  all  former  legislation 
on  this  subject  was  inadequate,  and  having  examined,  by  a  sub-com- 
mittee, the  Normal  Schools  of  Massachusetts,  and  inquired  into  their 
operation  in  other  countries,  recommended  the  establishment  of  a  Normal 
School  at  Albany,  "  for  the  education  and  training  of  teachers  for  com- 
mon schools,"  and  that  the  sum  of  $9,600  for  the  first  year,  and  $10,000 
annually  for  five  years  thereafter,  in  appropriations  for  its  support.  This 
recommendation  was  adopted  by  an  almost  unanimous  vote. 

This  institution  is  required  to  be  located  in  the  county  of  Albany;  and 
is  to  be  under  the  supervision,  management  and  direction  of  the  Superin- 
tendent of  Common  Schools  and  the  Regents  of  the  University,  who  are 
authorized  and  required  "from  time  to  time  to  make  all  needful  rales  and 
regulations ;  to  fix  the  number  and  compensation  of  teachers  and  others 
to  be  employed  therein ;  to  prescribe  the  preliminary  examination,  and 
the  terms  and  conditions  on  which  pupils  shall  be  received  and  instructed 
therein — the  number  of  pupils  from  the  respective  cities  and  counties, 
conforming  as  nearly  as  may  be  to  the  ratio  of  population — to  fix  the  lo- 
cation of  the  said  school,  and  the  terms  and  conditions  on  which  tbo 
grounds  and  buildings  therefor  shall  be  rented,  if  the  same  shall  not  be 
provided  by  the  corporation  of  the  city  of  Albany ;  and  to  provide  in  all 
things  for  the  good  government  and  management  of  the  said  school.'5 
They  are  required  to  appoint  a  board,  consisting  of  five  persons,  inclu- 
ding the  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools,  who  are  to  constitute  an 
executive  committee  for  the  care,  management  and  government  of  the 
school,  under  the  rules  prescribed  by  the  Board  of  Regents.  Such 
executive  committee,  are  to  make  full  and  detailed  reports  from  time  to 
time  to-  the  Superintendent  and  Regents,  and  among  other  things  to  re- 
commend such  rules  and  regulations  as  they  may  deem  proper  for  said 
schools. 

The  superintendent  and  Regents  are  required  annually  to  transmit  to 
the  Legislature  an  account  of  their  proceedings  and  expenditures,  together 
with  a  detailed  report  from  the  executive  committee,  relating  to  the  pro- 
gress, condition,  and  prospects  of  the  school. 

The  city  of  Albany  tendered  the  use  of  a  suitable  building,  free  of 
rent,  for  the  use  of  the  institution,  and  the  school  was  organized  and 
commenced  the  business  of  instruction  in  December,  1844,  under  the 
charge  of  David  P.  Page,  Esq.,  of  Newburyport,  Mass.,  as  Principal. 

The  following  members  composed  the  Executive  Committee,  under 
which  the  institution  was  organized:  Hon.  Samuel  Young,  State 
Superintendent,  Rev.  Alonzo  Potter,  D.  D.,  Rev.  Wm.  H.  Campbell 
Gideon  Hawley  and  Francis  DwigMi  Esqrs. 


NEW  YORK  STATE  NORMAL  SCHOOL.  [  29 

The  following  account  of  the  State  Normal  School  is  copied  from 
the  Annual  Circular  of  the  Executive  Committee,  for  1847. 

"  The  Normal  School  for  the  State  of  New  York,  was  established  by 
an  act  of  the  Legislature  in  1844,  '  for  the  instruction  and  practice  of 
Teachers  of  Common  Schools,  in  the  science  of  Education,  and  in  the 
art  of  Teaching.'  Its  sole  object  is  to  improve  the  teachers  of  Common 
Schools ;  and  the  course  of  study  and  conditions  of  admission  have  been 
adopted  with  reference  to  that  object. 

Each  county  in  the  State  is  entitled  to  send  to  the  School  a  number  of 
pupils,  (either  male  or  female,)  equal  to  twice  the  number  of  members  of 
the  Assembly  in  such  county.  The  pupils  are  appointed  by  the  county 
and  town  superintendents  at  a  meeting  called  by  the  county  super- 
intendent for  that  purpose.  Tins  meeting  should  be  held  and  the  ap- 
pointment made  at  least  two  weeks  before  the  commencement  of  each 
term,  or  as  soon  as  information  is  received  as  to  the  number  of  vacancies. 
A  list  of  the  vacancies  for  each  term  will  be  published  in  the  District  School 
Journal,  as  early  as  the  number  of  such  vacancies  can  be  ascertained, — 
usually  before  the  close  of  the  former  term. 

Pupils  once  admitted  to  the  school  will  have  the  right  to  remain  until 
they  graduate;  unless  they  forfeit  that  right  by  voluntarily  vacating 
their  place,  or  by  improper  conduct. 

Course  of  Study.  The  following  is  the  course  of  study  for  the 
school ;  and  a  thorough  acquaintance  with  the  whole  of  it,  on  the  part  of 
the  male  pupils,  is  made  a  condition  for  graduating : 

1.  Orthography,  Normal  Chart.  2.  Analysis  of  Derivative  Words. 
3.  Reading  and  Elocution.  4.  Writing,  Geography  and  Outline  Maps, 
(with  map  drawing.)  5.  English  Grammar,  (with  Composition.) 
6.  History  of  United  States.  7.  Human  Physiology.  8.  Mental  Arith- 
metic. 9.  Elementary  Arithmetic.  10.  Higher  Arithmetic.  11.  Ele- 
mentary Algebra.  12.  Higher  Algebra.  13.  Geometry,  Six  Books. 
14.  Plane  Trigonometry.  15.  Land  Surveying.  16.  Natural  Philoso- 
phy. 17.  Chemistry,  (with  experimental  lectures.)  18.  Intellectua* 
Philosophy.  19.  Moral  Philosophy.  20.  Constitutional  Law,  with 
select  parts  of  the  Statutes  of  this  State,  most  intimately  connected 
with  the  rights  and  duties  of  citizens.  21.  Rhetoric,  Lectures. 
22.  Theory  and  Practice  of  Teaching,  Lectures  and  Experimental 
School,  23.  Mathematical  Geography,  Use  of  Globes,  and  Elements  of 
Astronomy,  Lectures.  24.  Lessons  in  Drawing  and  Vocal  Music,  to  be 
given  to  all. 

The  same  course  of  study,  omitting  the  Higher  Algebra,  Plane  Trig- 
onometry and  Surveying,  must  be  attained  by  females  as  a  condition  of 
graduating. 

N.  B.  Any  of  the  pupils  who  desire  further  to  pursue  mathematics, 
can  be  allowed  to  do  so  after  completing  the  above  course  of  study. 

Qualification  of  Applicants.  Females  sent  to  the  school  must  be 
sixteen  years  of  age,  and  males  eighteen. 

The  superintendents,  in  making  their  appointments,  are  urged  to  pay 
no  regard  to  the  political  opinions  of  applicants.  The  selections  should 
be  made  with  reference  to  the  moral  worth  and  abilities  of  the  candidates. 
Decided  preference  ought  to  be  given  to  those,  who,  in  the  judgment  of 
the  superintendents,  give  the  highest  promise  of  becoming  the  most  effi- 
cient teachers  of  common  schools.     It  is  also  desirable  that  those  only 

9 


130  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

should  be  appointed  who  have  already  a  good  knowledge  of  the  common 
branches  of  study,  and  who  intend  to  remain  in  the  school  until  they 
graduate. 

Entrance.  All  the  pupils,  on  entering  the  school,  are  required  to 
sign  the  following  declaration: 

'  We  the  subscribers  hereby  declare,  that  it  is  our  intention  to  devote 
ourselves  to  the  business  of  teaching  district  schools,  and  that  our  sole  ob- 
ject in  resorting  to  this  Normal  School  is  the  better  to  prepare  ourselves 
for  that  important  duty.'' 

As  this  should  be  signed  in  good  faith  on  the  part  of  the  pupils,  they 
should  be  made  acquainted  with  its  import  before  they  are  appointed.  It 
is  expected  of  the  superintendents,  that  they  shall  select  such  as  will 
sacredly  fulfill  their  engagements  in  this  particular. 

Pupils  on  entering  the  school  are  subjected  to  a  thorough  examination, 
and  are  classified  according  to  their  previous  attainments.  The  time  re- 
quired to  accomplish  the  course  will  depend  upon  the  attainments  and 
talents  of  the  pupil,  varying  from  one  to  four  terms.  Very  few,  however, 
can  expect  to  graduate  in  one  term. 

Privileges  of  the  Pupils.  All  pupils  receive  their  tuition  free. 
They  are  also  furnished  with  the  use  of  text-books  without  charge; 
though  if  they  already  own  the  books  of  the  course,  they  would  do  well 
to  bring  them,  together  with  such  other  books  for  reference  as  they  may 
possess.  Moreover,  they  draw  a  small  sum  from  the  fund  for  the  support 
of  the  school,  to  defray  in  part  their  expenses. 

It  is  proposed  to  apportion  the  sum  of  $1,700  among  the  256  pupils, 
who  may  compose  the  school  during  the  next  term.  1.  Each  pupil  shall 
receive  three  cents  a  mile  on  the  distance  from  his  county  town  to  the 
city  of  Albany.  2.  The  remainder  of  the  $1,700  shall  then  be  divided 
equally  among  the  students  in  attendance. 

The  following  list  will  show  how  much  a  student  of  each  county  will 
receive,  during  the  ensuing  term : 

Albany,  $2.41;  Allegany,  $10.09;  Broome.  $6.76;  Cattaraugus, 
$11.17;  Cayuga,  $7.09;  Chautauque,  $12.49;  Chemung,  $8.35;  Che- 
nango, $5.41;  Clinton,  $7.27;  Columbia,  $3.28;  Cortland,  $6.67;  Dela- 
ware, $4.72;  Dutchess,  $4.66;  Erie,  $10.93;  Essex,  $6.19;  Franklin, 
$8.77;  Fulton,  $3.76;  Genesee,  $9.73;  Greene,  $3.43 ;  Hamilton,  $4.87; 
Herkimer,  $4.81;  Jefferson,  $7.21;  Kings,  $6.97;  Lewis,  $6.28;  Living- 
ston, $9.19;  Madison,  $5.44;  Monroe,  $8.98;  Montgomery,  $3,61 ;  New- 
York,  $6.85;  Niagara,  $10.72;  Oneida,  $5.29;  Onondaga,  $6.40;  Ontario, 
$8.26;  Orange,  $5.44;  Orleans,  $10.12;  Oswego,  $7.21;  Otsego,  $4.39; 
Putnam,  $5.59;  Q,ueens,  $7.63;  Rensselaer,  $2.59;  Richmond,  $7.32; 
Rockland,  $6.07;  Saratoga,  $4.78;  Schenectady,  $2.86;  Schoharie, 
$3.07;  Seneca,  $7.54;  St.  LaAvrence,  $8.59;  Steuben,  $8.89;  Suffolk, 
$9.16;  Sullivan,  $5.80;  Tioga,  $7.42;  Tompkins,  $7.31;  Ulster,  $4.15; 
Warren,  $4.27 ;  Washington,  $3.85 ;  Wayne,  $7.84;  Westchester,  $6.46; 
Wyoming,  $9.85 ;  Yates,  $7.96. 

It  is  proper  to  state,  that  if  the  number  of  pupils  is  less  than  256,  the 
sum  to  be  received  will  be  proportionately  increased.  The  above  sched- 
ule shows,  therefore,  the  minimum  sum  to  be  received  by  each  pupil. 
His  apportionment  cannot  be  less  than  as  above  stated,  and  it  may  be 
more. 

This  money  will  be  paid  at  the  close  of  the  term. 

Apparatus.  A  well  assorted  apparatus  has  been  procured,  sufficiently 
extensive  to  illustrate  all  the  important  principles  in  Natural  Philosophy, 
Chemistry,  and  Human  Physiology.  Extraordinary  facilities  for  the 
study  of  Physiology  are  afforded  by  the  Museum  of  the  Medical  College, 
which  is  open  at  all  hours  for  visiters. 


NEW  YORK  STATE  NORMAL  SCHOOL.  131 

Library.  Besides  an  abundant  supply  of  text-books  upon  all  the 
branches  of  the  course  of  study,  a  well  selected  miscellaneous  library  has 
been  procured,  to  which  all  the  pupils  may  have  access  free  of  charge. 
In  the  selection  of  this  library,  particular  care  has  been  exercised  to  pro- 
cure most  of  the  recent  works  upon  Education,  as  well  as  several  val- 
uable standard  works  upon  the  Natural  Sciences,  History,  Mathematics, 
&c.     The  State  library  is  also  freely  accessible  to  all. 

Terms  and  Vacations.  The  year  is  divided  into  two  terms,  so  as 
to  bring  the  vacations  into  April  and  October,  the  months  for  holding  the 
Teachers'  Institutes.  This  also  enables  the  pupils  to  take  advantage  of 
the  cheapness  of  traveling  by  the  various  means  of  water  communication 
in  the  State,  in  going  to  and  from  the  school. 

The  Summer  Term  commences  on  the  first  Monday  in  May,  and 
continues  twenty  weeks,  with  an  intermission  of  one  week  from  the 
first  of  July. 

The  Winter  Term  commences  on  the  first  Monday  in  Novemeer, 
and  continues  twenty-two  weeks,  with  an  intermission  from  Christmas 
to  New  Year's  day  inclusive. 

Prompt  Attendance.  As  the  school  will  open  on  Monday,  it  would 
be  for  the  advantage  of  the  pupils,  if  they  should  reach  Albany  by  the 
Thursday  or  Friday  preceding  the  day  of  opening.  The  Faculty  can 
then  aid  them  im  securing  suitable  places  for  boarding. 

As  the  examinations  of  the  pupils  preparatory  for  classification  will 
commence  on  the  first  day  of- the  term,  it  is  exceedingly  important  that 
all  the  pupils  should  report  themselves  on  the  first  morning.  Those  who 
arrive  a  day  after  the  time,  will  subject  not  only  the  teachers  to  much 
trouble,  but  themselves  also  to  the  rigors  of  a  private  examination. 
After  the  first  week,  no  student,  except  for  xhe  strongest  reasons,  shall  be 
allowed  to  enter  the  school. 

Price  of  Board.  The  price  of  board  in  respectable  families,  varies 
from  $1.50  to  $2.00,  exclusive  of  washing.  Young  gentlemen  by  taking 
a  room  and  boarding  themselves,  have  sustained  themselves  at  a  lower 
rate.     This  can  better  be  done  in  the  summer  term. 

The  ladies  and  gentlemen  are  not  allowed  to  board  in  the  same  fam- 
ilies. Particular  care  is  taken  to  be  assured  of  the  respectability  of  the 
families  who  propose  to  take  boarders,  before  they  are  recommended  t-o 
the  pupils. 

Experimental  School.  Two  spacious  rooms  in  the  building  are 
appropriated  to  the  accommodation  of  the  two  departments  of  this  school. 
These  two  departments  are  under  the  immediate  supervision  of  the  Per- 
manent Teacher,  who  is  a  graduate  of  the  Normal  School. 

The  object  of  this  school  is  to  afford  each  Normal  Pupil  an  opportunity 
of  practising  the  methods  of  instruction  and  discipline  inculcated  at  the 
Normal  School,  as  well  as  to  ascertain  his  'aptness  to  teach,'  and  to  dis- 
charge the  various  other  duties  pertaining  to  the  teacher's  responsible 
office.  Each  member  of  the  graduating  class  is  required  to  spend  at 
least  two  weeks  in  this  department 

In  the  experimental  School  there  are  ninety-three  pupils  between  the 
ages  of  six  and  sixteen  years.  Fifty-eight  of  these  are  free  pupils. 
The  free  seats  will  be  hereafter  given  exclusively  to  fatherless  children, 
residing  in  the  city  of  Albany.  This  is  in  consideration  of  an  appropria- 
tion by  the  city  to  defray  in  part  the  expense  of  fitting  up  one  of  the 
rooms  of  the  school.  The  remaining  thirty-five  pupils  are  charged 
$20  per  year  for  tuition  and  use  of  books.  This  charge  is  made  merely 
to  defray  the  expense  of  sustaining  the  school." 


132  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

State  Normal  Schools  in  Massachusetts. 

The  following  brief  account  of  the  history  and  organization  of 
the  State  Normal  Schools,  in  Massachusetts,  is  copied  from  the 
"  Tenth  Annual  Report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Educa- 
tion." 

"  In  a  communication  made  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Education 
to  the  Legislature,  dated  March  12,  1838,  it  was  stated  that  private  mu- 
nificence had  placed  at  his  disposal  the  sum  of  ten  thousand  dollars,  to  be 
expended,  under  the  direction  of  the  Board  of  Education,  for  qualifying 
teachers  for  our  Common  Schools,  on  condition  that  the  Legislature 
would  place  in  the  hands  of  the  Board  an  equal  sum,  to  be  expended  for 
the  same  purpose. 

On  the  19th  of  April,  of  the  same  year,  resolves  were  passed,  accepting 
the  proposition,  and  authorizing  the  Governor,  with  the  advice  and  con- 
sent of  the  Council,  to  draw  his  warrant  upon  the  treasurer  for  the  sum  o. 
ten  thousand  dollars,  to  be  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  Board  for  the 
purpose  specified  in  the  original  communication." 

The  following  is  a  copy  of  the  Resolve  and  of  the  Report  of  the 
Committee  on  the  subject : 

"  The  Joint  Committee,  to  whom  was  referred  the  communication  of  the  Hon, 
Horace  Mann,  Secretary  of  the  Board  of  Education,  relative  to  a  fund  for  the 
promotion  of  the  cause  of  popular  education  in  this  Commonwealth,  and  also 
the  memorial  of  the  Nantucket  County  Association  for  the  promotion  of  educa- 
tion, and  the  improvement  of  schools,  and  also  the  petition  and  memorial  of 
the  inhabitants  of  the  town  of  Nantucket,  on  the  same  subject,  having  duly  con- 
sidered the  matter  therein  embraced,  respectfully  report, 

That  the  highest  interest  in  Massachusetts  is,  and  will  always  continue  to 
be,  the  just  and  equal  instruction  of  all  her  citizens,  so  far  as  the  circumstances 
of  each  individual  will  permit  to  be  imparted  •,  that  her  chief  glory,  for  two 
hundred  years,  has  been  the  extent  to  which  this  instruction  was  diffused,  the 
result  of  the  provident  legislation,  to  promote  the  common  cause,  and  secure 
the  perpetuity  of  the  common  interest ;  that  for  many  years  a  well-grounded 
apprehension  has  been  entertained,  of  the  neglect  of  onr  common  town  schools 
by  large  portions  of  our  community,  and  of  the  comparative  degradation  to 
which  these  institutions  might  fall  from  such  neglect;  that  the  friends  of  uni- 
versal education  have  long  looked  to  the  Legislature  for  the  establishment  of 
one  or  more  seminaries  devoted  to  the  purpose  of  supplying  qualified  teachers, 
for  the  town  and  district  schools,  by  whose  action  alone  other  judicious  provi- 
sions of  the  law  could  be  carried  into  fall  effect  j  that  at  various  times,  the  delib- 
eration of  both  branches  of  the  General  Court  has  been  bestowed  upon  this, 
among  other  subjects,  most  intimately  relating  to  the  benefit  ol  the  rising  gen- 
eration and  of  all  generations  to  come,  particularly  when  the  provision  for 
instruction  of  school  teachers  was  specially  urged  on  their  consideration,  in 
1827,  by  the  message  of  the  Governor,  and  a  report  thereupon,  accompanied  by 
a  bill,  was  submitted  by  the  chairman,  now  a  member  of  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States,  following  out  to  their  fair  conclusions,  the  suggestion  of  the  Ex- 
ecutive, and  the  forcible  essays  of  a  distinguished  advocate  of  this  institution  at 
great  length,  published  and  widely  promulgated  ;  that  although  much  has  been 
done  within  two  or  three  years,  for  the  encouragement  of  our  town  schools  by 
positive  enactment,  and  more  by  the  liberal  spirit,  newly  awakened  in  our  sev- 
eral communities,  yet  the  number  of  competent  teachers  is  found,  by  universal 
experience,  so  far  inadequate  to  supply  the  demand  for  them,  as  to  be  the  prin- 
cipal obstacle  to  improvement,  and  the  greatest  deficiency  of  our  republic ;  that 
we  can  hardly  expect,  as  in  the  memorials  from  Nantucket  is  suggested,  to  re- 
move this  deficiency  even  in  a  partial  degree,  much  less  to  realize  the  comple- 
tion of  the  felicitous  system  of  our  free  schools,  without  adopting  means  for 


MASSACHUSETTS  STATE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS  J  33 

more  uniform  modes  of  tuition  and  government  in  them,  without  better  observ- 
ing the  rules  of  prudence  in  the  selection  of  our  common  books,  the  unlimited 
diversity  of  which  is  complained  of  throughout  the  State,  and  that  these  ben- 
efits may  reasonably  be  expected  to  follow  from  no  other  course  than  a  well- 
devised  scheme  in  full  operation,  for  the  education  of  teachers ;  that  the 
announcement,  in  the  communication  recently  received  from  the  Secretary  of 
the  Board  of  Education,  of  that  private  munificence,  which  offers  $10,000  to 
this  Commonwealth,  for  removal  of  this  general  want,  at  least  in  the  adoption 
of  initiatory  measures  of  remedy,  is  received  by  us  with  peculiar  pleasure,  and, 
in  order  that  the  General  Court  may  consummate  this  good,  by  carrying  forward 
the  benevolent  object  of  the  unknown  benefactor,  the  committee  conclude,  with 
recommending  the  passage  of  the  subjoined  resolutions. 

All  which  is  respectfully  submitted, 

James  Savage,  per  order. 

RESOLVES 

RELATIVE   TO    QUALIFYING  TEACHERS    FOR   COMMON   SCHOOLS 

Whereas,  by  letter  from  the  Honorable  Horace  Mann,  Secretary  of  the 
Board  of  Education,  addressed,  on  the  12th  March  current,  to  the  President  of 
the  Senate,  and  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  it  appears,  that 
private  munificence  has  placed  at  his  disposal  the  sum  of  ten  thousand  dollars, 
to  promote  the  cause  of  popular  education  in  Massachusetts,  on  condition  that 
the  Commonwealth  will  contribute  from  "unappropriated  funds,  the  same 
amount  in  aid  of  the  same  cause,  the  two  sums  to  be  drawn  upon  equally  from 
time  to  time,  as  needed,  and  to  be  disbursed  under  the  direction  of  the  Board  of 
Education  in  qualifying  teachers  for  our  Common  Schools ;  therefore, 

Resolved,  That  his  Excellency,  the  Governor,  be,  and  he  is  hereby  authorized 
and  requested,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  Council,  to  draw  his 
warrant  upon  the  Treasurer  of  the  Commonwealth  in  favor  of  the  Board  of 
Education,  for  the  sum  of  $10,000,  in  sueh  installments  and  at  such  times,  as 
said  Board  may  request :  provided,  said  Board,  in  their  request,  shall  certify, 
that  the  Secretary  of  said  Board  has  placed  at  their  disposal  an  amount  equal 
to  that  for  which  such  application  may  by  them  be  made  ;  both  sums  to  be  ex- 
pended, under  the  direction  of  said  Board,  in  qualifying  teachers  for  the  Com- 
mon Schools  in  Massachusetts. 

Resolved.,  That  the  Board  of  Education  shall  render  an  annual  account  of 
the  manner  in  which  said  moneys  have  been  by  them  expended." 

"The  Board,  after  mature  deliberation,  deeided  to  establish  three 
Normal  Sehoole ;  one  for  the  north-eastern,  one  for  the  south-eastern, 
and  one  for  the  western  part  of  the  State.  Accordingly,  one  was  opened 
at  Lexington,  in  the  county  of  Middlesex,  on  the  3d  day  of  July,  1839. 
This  school,  having  outgrown  its  accommodations  at  Lexington,  was  re- 
moved to  West  Newton,  in  the  same  county,  in  Sept.,  1844,  where  it  now 
occupies  a  commodious  building. 

The  second  Normal  School  was  opened  at  Barre,  in  the  county  of 
Worcester,  on  the  4th  day  of  September,  1839.  This  school  has  since 
been  removed  to  Westfield,  in  the  county  of  Hampden,  both  on  account 
of  the  insufficiency  of  the  accommodations  at  Barre,  and  because  the 
latter  place  is  situated  east  of  the  centre  of  population  of  the  western 
counties. 

The  third  school  was  opened  at  Bridgewater,  on  the  9th  day  of  Sept, 
1840,  and  is  permanently  loeated  at  that  place. 

For  the  two  last-named  schools,  there  had  been,  from  the  beginning, 
very  inadequate  school-room  accommodations.  In  the  winter  of  1845,  a 
memorial,  on  behalf  of  certain  friends  of  education  in  the  eity  of  Boston 
and  its  vicinity,  was  presented  to  the  Legislature,  offering  the  sum  of 
five  thousand  dollars,  to  be  obtained  by  private  subscriptions,  on  condition 
that  the  Legislature  would  give  an  equal  sum,  for  the  purpose  of  erecting 
two  Normal  School-houses ;  one  for  the  school  at  Westfield  and  one  for 
iihat  at  Bridgewater...    By  resolves  of  March  20, 1845;  the  proposition  oi 


X34  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

the  memorialists  was  accepted  and  the  grant  made  ;  and  by  the  same  re- 
solves it  was  ordered,  'that  the  schools  heretofore  known  as  Normal 
Schools,  shall  be  hereafter  designated  as  State  Normal  Schools.' 

The  school  at  West  Newton  is  appropriated  exclusively  to  females ; 
those  at  Bridgewater  and  Westfield  admit  both  sexes. 

Among  the  standing  regulations  adopted  by  the  Board,  for  the  govern- 
ment of  the  State  Normal  Schools,  are  the  following — most  of"  which 
were  adopted  in  the  beginning,  and  have  been  constantly  in  force ;  only  a 
few  modifications,  and  those  very  slight  ones,  having  since  been  intro- 
duced : 

Admission.  As  a  prerequisite  to  admission,  candidates  must  declare 
it  to  be  their  intention  to  qualify  themselves  to  become  school  teachers. 
If  they  belong  to  the  State,  or  have  an  intention  and  a  reasonable  ex- 
pectation of  keeping  school  in  the  State,  tuition  is  gratuitous.  Otherwise, 
a  tuition-fee  is  charged,  which  is  intended  to  be  about  the  same  as  is 
usually  charged  at  good  academies  in  the  same  neighborhood.  If  pupils, 
after  having  completed  a  course  of  study  at  the  State  Normal  Schools, 
immediately  engage  in  school  keeping,  but  leave  the  State,  or  enter  a 
private  school  or  an  academy,  they  are  considered  as  having  waived  the 
privilege  growing  out  of  their  declared  intention  to  keep  a  Common 
School  in  Massachusetts,  and  are  held  bound  in  honor  to  pay  a  tuition-fee 
for  their  instruction. 

If  males,  pupils  must  have  attained  the  age  of  seventeen  years  com- 
plete, and  of  sixteen,  if  females ;  and  they  must  be  free  from  any  disease 
or  infirmity,  which  would  unfit  them  for  the  office  of  school  teachers. 

They  must  undergo  an  examination,  and  prove  themselves  to  be  well 
versed  in  orthography,  reading,  writing,  English  grammar,  geography 
and  arithmetic. 

They  must  furnish  satisfactory  evidence  of  good  intellectual  capacity 
and  of  high  moral  character  and  principles. 

Examinations  for  admission  take  place  at  the  commencement  of  each 
term,  of  which  there  are  three  in  a  year. 

Term  of  Study.  At  West  Newton  and  Bridgewater,  the  minimum 
of  the  term  of  study  is  one  year,  and  this  must  be  in  consecutive  terms 
of  the  schools.  In  regard  to  the  school  at  Westfield,  owing  to  the 
unwillingness  of  the  pupils  in  that  section  of  the  State  to  remain  at  the 
school,  even  for  so  short  a  time  as  one  year,  the  rule  requiring  a  year's 
residence  has  been  from  time  to  time  suspended.  It  is  found  to  be 
universally  true,  that  those  applicants  whose  qualifications  are  best,  are 
desirous  to  remain  at  the  school  the  longest. 

Course  of  Study.  The  studies  first  to  be  attended  to  in  the  State 
Normal  Schools,  are  those  which  the  law  requires  to  be  taught  in  the 
district  schools,  namely,  orthography,  reading,  writing,  English  grammar, 
geography  and  arithmetic.  When  these  are  mastered,  those  of  a  higher 
order  will  be  progressively  taken. 

For  those  who  wish  to  remain  at  the  school  more  than  one  year,  and 
for  all  belonging  to  the  school,  so  far  as  their  previous  attainments  will 
permit,  the  following  course  is  arranged: 

1.  Orthography,  reading,  grammar,  composition,  rhetoric  and  logic. 

2.  Writing  and  drawing. 

3.  Arithmetic,  mental  and  written,  algebra,  geometry,  book-keeping, 
navigation,  surveying. 

4.  Geography,  ancient  and  modern,  with  chronology,  statistics  and 
general  history. 

5.  Human  Physiology,  and  hygiene  or  the  Laws  of  Health. 

6.  Mental  Philosophy. 

7.  Music. 


MASSACHUSETTS  STATE  NORMAL  SCHOOLS.  J  35 

8.  Constitution  and  History  of  Massachusetts  and  of  the  United  States. 

9.  Natural  Philosophy  and  Astronomy. 

10.  Natural  History. 

11.  The  principles  of  piety  and  morality,  common  to  all  sects  of 
Christians. 

12.  The  science  and  art  of  teaching  with  reference  to  ail 
the  above  named  studies. 

Religious  Exercises.  A  portion  of  the  Scriptures  shall  be  read 
daily,  in  every  State  Normal  School. 

Visiters.  Each  Normal  School  is  under  the  immediate  inspection  of 
a  Board  of  Visiters,  who  are  in  all  cases  to  be  members  of  the  Board  of 
Education,  except  that  the  Secretary  of  the  Board  may  be  appointed  as 
one  of  the  visiters  of  each  school. 

The  Board  appoints  one  Principal  Instructor  for  each  school,  who  is 
responsible  for  its  government  and  instruction,  subject  to  the  rules  of  the 
Board,  and  the  supervision  of  the  Visiters.  The  Visiters  of  the  respective 
schools  appoint  the  assistant  instructors  thereof. 

To  each  Normal  School,  an  Experimental  or  Model  School  is  attached. 
This  School  is  under  the  control  of  the  Principal  of  the  Normal  School. 
The  pupils  of  the  Normal  School  assist  in  teaching  it.  Here,  the  know- 
ledge which  they  acquire  in  the  science  of  teaching,  is  practically 
applied.  The  art  is  made  to  grow  out  of  the  science,  instead,  of  being 
empirical.  The  Principal  of  the  Normal  School  inspects  the  Model 
School  more  or  less,  daily.  He  observes  the  manner  in  which  his  own 
pupils  exemplify,  in  practice,  the  principles  he  has  taught  them.  Some- 
times, all  the  pupils  of  the  Normal  School,  together  with  the  Principal, 
visit  the  Model  School  in  a  body,  to  observe  the  manner  in  which  the  . 
teachers  of  the  latter,  for  the  time  being,  conduct  the  recitations  or  exer- 
cises. Then,  returning  to  their  own  school-room,  in  company  with  the 
assistant  teachers  themselves,  who  have  been  the  objects  of  inspection, 
each  one  is  called  upon  to  deliver  his  views,  whether  commendatory  or 
otherwise,  respecting  the  manner  in  which  the  work  has  been  performed. 
At  this  amicable  exposition  of  merits  and  defects,  the  Principal  of  the 
Normal  School  presides.  After  all  others  have  presented  their  views,  he 
delivers  his  own ;  and  thus  his  pupils,  at  the  threshold  of  their  practice, 
have  an  opportunity  to  acquire  confidence  in  a  good  cause,  of  which  they 
might  otherwise  entertain  doubts,  and  to  rectify  errors  which  otherwise 
would  fossilize  into  habit. 

The  salaries  of  the  teachers  of  the  State  Normal  Schools  are  paic  by 
the  State." 


136 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


Plans  and  Descriptions  of  the  Massachusetts  Normal 
School-Houses. 

The  following  plans  and  descriptions  are  copied  from  the  "  Tenth  Annua] 
Report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Massachusetts  Board  of  Education,"  with  the 
permission  of  the  Hon.  Horace  Mann,  by  whose  indefatigable  labors  these 
institutions  were  founded,  seconded  as  his  efforts  were  by  the  munificent 
donation  of  the  sum  of  ten  thousand  dollars,  from  the  Hon.  Edmund  Dwight, 
of  Boston. 

These  buildings  were  erected  partly  out  of  the  contribution  of  $5000,  sub- 
scribed originally  by  the  friends  of  Mr.  Mann,  as  a  testimony  of  their  esteem 
for  his  public  services,  and,  at  his  suggestion,  invested  in  this  way— thus  con- 
verging these  edifices  into  the  monuments  of  their  generosity,  and  of  his  self- 
Wiifiee. 


Bridgewateb  State  Normal  School-House. 
Fig.  1. — Front  Elevation. 


This  edifice  is  constructed  of  wood,  and  is  sixty-four  feet  by  forty-two,  and 
two  stories  in  height.  The  upper  story  is  divided  into  a  principal  school 
room,  forty-one  feet  by  forty,  and  two  recitation-moms,  &r>cr.  t-ve.ntj'  feat  b- 
twelve,  and  is  designed  for  the  N.  nnal  School.  The  Lower  st*»rjr  is"  fitted  u* 
for  a  Model  School. 


MASSACHUSETTS  STATE  NORMAL  SCHOOL-HOUSES  \  37 

Bridgewater  State  Normal  School-House. 
Fig.  2. — Lower  Story. 


B 


& 


MS  H 


D 


■ ■ 

9 1  SB 

13 

f " 

A. 

.A. 

■"""*S 

3) 

- 

*Sp3«i 

^SS^E^                        1 

D,  D — Doors,  one  for  males,  trie  other  for  females.  E,  E — Hall-entries, 
into  which  the  doors  D,  D  open,  19  feet  by  15.  A,  A — Stairways,  leading 
from  the  entries  to  the  Normal  School-room.  M,  S,  R — Model  School-room, 
40  feet  by  24,  with  single  seats  and  desks.  H — Entry-way,  6  feet  8  inches 
wide,  for  Model  School  scholars.  At  each  end  of  this  entry  is  an  outside 
door,  for  the  entrance  of  the  Model  School  scholars — a  separate  entrance  for 
each  sex.  G,  F — Laboratory  and  chemical  room,  or  lecture-room,  connected 
by  folding  doors.    The  two  rooms  40  feet  by  16.    B,  C — Back  stairways. 


J 38  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

Bridgewater  State  Normal  School-House. 
Fie.  3. — Upper  Story. 


A,  A— Separate  stairways,  for  the  different  sexes,  leading  from  the  lower 
entries  or  halls  to  the  Normal  School-room.  N,  S,  R— Normal  School-room, 
41  feet  by  40.  c,  c,  c— Single  seats,  d,  d— Double  desks.  P,  P,  P— Teachers- 
platform,  e,  e.  e,  e,  e — Behind  the  platform  are  recesses  in  the  partition  for 
a  library",  e',  e— Between  R,  R,  are  closets  for  apparatus.  R,  R— Recitation- 
rooms,  22  feet  by  12.    B,  C— Back  stairways. 


MASSACHUSETTS  STATE  NORMAL  SCHOOL-HOUSES.  \  39 

"Westfifld  State  Normal  School-House. 
Fig.  4.— Front  Elevation. 


This  edifice  is  of  brick,  of  the  size  of  sixty-two  feet  by  forty  feet,  with  a 
portico  of  eight  feet  at  each  end  of  the  building,  and  is  two  stories  in  height. 
The  Normal  School-room  is  about  forty  feet  square,  and  is  provided  with  two 
recitation-rooms.  The  first  story  is  fitted  up  with  a  room  large  enough  to 
accommodate  a  Model  School,  which  is  composed  of  the  children  of  one  of 
the  districts  in  the  town  of  Westfield,  the  district  having  paid  the  sum  of 
$1500  towards  the  erection  of  the  building,  and  being  obligated  to  pay  an 
agreed  proportion  of  the  expenses  of  fuel,  instraition,  &c, 


140 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


Westfield  State  Normal  School-House. 
Fig.  5.— Lower  Story. 


MASSACHUSETTS  STATE  NORMAL  SCHOOL-HOUSES. 


141 


Westfield  State  Normal  School-House. 
Fig.  6.— Upper  Story. 


S,  S — Stairways,  leading  from  entry  to  Normal  School-room.  N,  S,  R— 
Normal  School-room,  38  feet  by  37.  e,  e — Single  seats,  d,  d— Double  desks. 
P,  P — Platform,  with  recesses  in  the  partition  behind  for  a  library,  c,  c— 
Closets  for  apparatus.  R,  R— Recitation-rooms,  one  22  feet  by  11,  the  other 
22  feet  by  10J. 


142 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


Hints  respecting  Ventilation. 

The  annexed  section  exhibits  the  mode  recommended  in  the  "  Minutes  of 
the  Committee  of  Council  (England)  on  Education,"  for  regulating  a  supply 
of  fresh  air,  and  providing  for  the  escape  of  that  rendered  unfit  for  respi- 
ration in  school-houses  with  two  stories.  A,  A  and  G  are  gratings  commu- 
nicating by  a  passage  through 
the  external  wall  into  a  space 
under  the  floor,  by  which  cold 
pure  air  enters  at  B  and  D 
through  valvular  openings  in 
the  floors  into  each  apartment 
respectively.  The  extent  of 
these  openings  can  be  enlarged 
or  diminished  or  entirely  closed 
at  any  time  by  turning  the  valve 
or  register  with  which  each 
opening  should  be  furnished. 
At  C  and  E  the  impure  air  can 
be  allowed  to  escape  through 
valvular  openings  in  or  near 
the  ceiling ;  from  the  lower 
apartment,  by  means  of  a  flue 
in  or  along  the  wall  into  the 
open  space  between  the  upper 
ceiling  and  roof ;  and  from  the 
upper  apartment  directly  into 
the  same  space.  At  F  are  air 
grates  in  the  ends  of  the  build- 
ing through  which  the  warm  gl 
impure  air  escapes. 

The  mode  of  ventilation,  above  described  and  illustrated,  can  be  improved 
by  introducing  the  pure  cold  air  from  the  atmosphere  above  the  building  by 
one  of  Motfs  Receiving  Coiols  placed  on  the  tdp  of  a  recess  of  four  or  six 
inches  made  in  the  wall  if  built  of  brick,  or  of  a  flue  or  pipe  extending  from 
the  floor  to  the  roof,  and  discharging  it  into  the  room  by  a  valvular  opening 
in  the  floor.  The  escape  of  impure  air  can  be  hastened 
by  placing  one  or  more  of  Motfs  Exhausting  Cowls  on  a 
ventilating  flue  or  flues,  leading  directly  from  each  apart- 
ment above  the  roof  or  from  the  attic,  into  which  the  impure 
air  has  been  discharged.  The  flues  or  recess,  both  for  in- 
troducing pure  air,  and  discharging  that  which  has  become 
impure  should  have  two  openings  into  the  room,  one  near 
the  ceiling  and  the  other  at  the  floor.  These  flues  can  be 
constructed  without  any  additional  cost  for  mason  work, 
by  leaving  a  recess  of  4  inches  (in  a  12  inch  wall)  by  20 
inches,  and  continuing  it  through  the  coping  on  which  the 
cowl  is  placed.  The  furring  for  the  lath  being  1  inch,  leaves  Receiving  Cowl 
a  flue  of  100  square  inches.  The  beams,  floor,  and  ceiling 
will  complete  the  flue.  If  the  room  is  warmed  by  one  or 
more  stoves,  the  cold  air  should  be  introduced  within  a  few 
inches  of  the  bottom  of  the  stove.  The  openings  into  the 
flues  should  be  furnished  with  valves  or  doors,  and  should 
be  managed  so  as  to  admit  the  pure  cold  air  to  the  most 
heated  part  of  the  room,  and  effect  the  escape  from  that 
part  of  the  room  where  the  air  is  most  impure.  This  will 
vary  with  the  mode  of  heating  the  room,  whether  by  fire- 
place, stove,  or  furnace;  and  from  summer  to  winter. 
The  openings  for  the  escape  of  the  vitiated  air  should  be 
so  placed  as  to  cause  the  pure  air  warmed  by  contact  with 
the  stove,  or  flowing  in  from  a  furnace  below,  to  traverse 
the  whole  apartment. 

Exhausting  Cowl. 


VENTILATION.  J  43 

The  annexed  section  of  one  of  the  Primary  School  buildings  of  the  Public 
School  Society  of  New  York,  exhibits  the  mode  of  introducing  fresh  air  from 
out  of  doors,  beneath  the  stove,  {a  a  a,)  and  the  egress  of  the  impure  air  through 
openings  in  the  ceiling  (b  b  b).  Tims  a  current  of  pure  air  is  caused  to  flow 
through  the  apartment.  The  combined  effect  of  the  two,  is  represented  to  be  a 
sufficient  ventilation  of  the  building  where  this  mode  has  been  adopted,  espe- 
cially when  aided  by  Mott's  Exhausting  Cowl  on  the  top  of  the  ventilating  flue. 


The  flues  under  the  floor  and  over  the  ceiling  are  covered  with  cast  iron  piates 
about  twelve  inches  square,  of  a  light  casting,  and  full  of  small  holes;  those  in 
the  floor  plates  being  less  than  an  eighth  of  an  inch  diameter,  to  spread  the 
current  of  fresh  air  as  it  enters  the  apartment.  The  holes  in  the  ceiling  plates 
are  from  one  fourth  to  three  eighths  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  to  facilitate  the  es- 
cape of  the  impure  air. 

The  school-rooms  of  the  Public  School  Society  are  generally  warmed  by  wood 
stoves,  which  are  cast  with  thick  plates,  so  as  not  to  become  easily  over-heated. 

The  result  of  an  experiment  in  one  of  the  Primary  Schools,  to  heat  by 
wood  in  a  furnace,  showed  that  this  is  not  as  economical  a  mode  of  warming 
these  apartments  as  by  wood  in  stoves,  although  it  is  stated  that  "the  ventilation, 
it  must  be  confessed,  is  more  efficient " 

In  most  of  the  school-rooms,  the  ingress  of  fresh  air  is  secured  by  lowering 
the  upper  sash,  as  is  exhibited  in  the  side  drawing. 


(44 


SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE. 


Method  op  Ventilation,  by  Frederick  Emerson. 


Ejecting  Ventilator. 


Another  method  of  ventilating  buildings  has  been  recently  invented  by  Mr. 
Frederick  Emerson,  of  Boston,  which  is  acquiring  very  general  use  in  that  city 
and  its  vicinity.  In  the  complete  arrangement  of  his  plan,  Mr.  Emerson  em- 
ploys two  ventilators, — an  Ejector  and  an  Injector, — one  to  withdraw  the  im- 
pure air,  and  the  other  to  introduce  fresh  air.  These  ventilators  are  not 
dependent  on  a  vane,  but  perform  iheir  office  without  changing  position,  what- 
ever may  be  the  direction  of  the  wind,  even  if  it  be  inclined  or  vertical,  and 
however  fitful  its  changes.  It  is  the  peculiar  character  of  these  ventilators, 
that  distinguishes  his  plan,  and  for  them  he  has  obtained  letters  patent. 

The  Ejecting  Ventilator  consists  of  a  frustrum 
of  a  cone  attached  to  the  top  of  a  tube,  open  in 
its  whole  extent,  and  surmounted  by  a  fender, 
which  is  supported  upon  rods,  and  answers 
the  double  purpose  of  keeping  out  the  rain,  and 
of  so  directing  and  turning  a  blast  of  wind  upon 
the  structure,  as  that  in  whatever  direction  it  falls, 
the  effect,  that  of  causing  a  strong  upward  draft, 
will  be  very  uniform  and  constant. 

Each  of  these  ventilators  is  fixed  upon  the 
upper  end  of  a  tube  or  ventiduct,  that  pro- 
jects through  the  roof  of  the  building  into  the 
open  air,  and  extends  downward  into  the  room  to 
be  ventilated.  The  ventiduct  of  the  Ejector  is 
constructed  on  one  side  of  the  room,  opposite  the 
side  in  which  the  stove  or  other  means  of  warm- 
ing is  placed,  and  extends  from  the  ceiling  to  the 
floor.  In  this  ventiduct  (here  are  two  apertures 
— one  at  the  ceiling  and  the  other  at  the  floor — for 
the  escape  of  air.  The  aperture  at  the  floor  is 
twice  as  great  as  that  at  the  ceiling;  and  the  sum 
of  the  area  of  the  two  apertures  is  equal  to  the 
area  of  the  ventiduct. 

The  ventiduct  of  the  Injector  leads  into  the 
warm-air  chamber  of  a  ventilating  stove,  or  into 
a  furnace ;  so  that,  in  the  cold  season,  the  fresh 
air  becomes  warm  before  it  enters  the  room. 

The  Ejecting  ventilator,  without  the  Injector, 
will,  in  general,  be  found  sufficient  to  ventilate  a 
school-room.  It  should,  however,  be  used  in  con- 
nection with  a  ventilating  stove  or  furnace, 
through  which  the  quantum  of  warm  air  admitted 
into  the  room  is  equal  to  the  quantum  of  air  withdrawn  from  the  room.  Mr. 
Emerson  insists  on  the  admission  of  warm  air  into  a  school-room,  as  indis- 
pensable to  its  safe  ventilation ;  and  he  enforces  his  views  on  this  point,  by  re- 
fusing to  allow  his  ventilators  to  be  put  upon  any  school-house  that  is  not,  by 
some  means,  supplied  with  fresh  warmed  air.  He  objects  to  the  use  of  all  such 
stoves  and  furnaces  as  emit  their  heat  through  red-hot  iron,  and  recommends  that, 
where  anthracite  coal  is  used,  the  stove  or  furnace  in  which  it  is  burned,  be 
lined  with  brick  or  stone. 

The  size  of  the  ventilators  is  made  to  correspond  to  the  capacity  of  the 
room.  A  room  containing  fifty  scholars  is  found  to  require  an  Ejecting  ventila- 
tor whose  tube  is  fourteen  inches  in  diameter.  A  room  for  one  hundred  scholars 
requires  the  tube  to  be  eighteen  inches ;  and  a  room  for  two  hundred  scholars 
requires  it  to  be  twenty-four  inches. 

The  mode  of  using  Mr.  Emerson's  Ejecting  and  Injecting  Ventilators,  is 
illustrated  on  page  158  of  this  Essay,  and  described  in  the  extracts  from  the 
"Final  Report  of  the  Committee  on  Ventilation"  in  the  public  schools  of 
Boston. 


Injecting  Ventilator. 


boston  mode  of  ventilation.  \  45 

Methods  of  Ventilation  and  Warming,  recently  introduced 
into  the  School-Houses  of  Boston. 

In  February,  1846,  the  School  Committee  of  Boston  appointed 
Dr.  Henry  G.  Clark,  E.  G.  Loring,  Esq.,  and  Rev.  Charles  Brooks, 
a  Committee  "to  consider  the  subject  of  ventilation  of  the  school- 
houses  under  the  care  of  this  Board,  and  to  report  at  a  future  meeting 
some  method  of  remedying  the  very  defective  manner  in  which  it 
is  now  accomplished."  The  Committee  were  further  "  authorized 
to  ventilate  any  three  school-houses,  in  such  manner  as  they  may 
deem  expedient."  Under  these  instructions,  the  Committee  visited, 
and  carefully  examined  all  the  school-houses  under  the  care  of  the 
Board,  and  instituted  a  variety  of  experiments,  for  the  purpose  of 
determining  on  the  best  method  of  ventilation,  to  be  generally  intro- 
duced. In  December,  1846,  this  Committee  made  a  Report,  for  a 
copy  of  which  we  are  indebted  to  the  author,  Dr.  Clark,  by  whose 
agency  and  ingenuity  mainly,  these  great  improvements,  both  in  ven- 
tilation and  warming,  hereafter  detailed,  have  been  introduced  into 
the  Public  Schools  of  Boston.  We  are  also  indebted  to  Dr.  Clark 
for  the  use  of  the  cuts  by  which  this  Report,  and  a  subsequent  Re- 
port, are  illustrated.  We  shall  extract  largely  from  these  valuable 
documents,  with  the  permission  of  the  author.  It  will  be  seen  that 
the  views  here  recommended  are  substantially  the  same  with  those 
presented  under  the  head  of  Ventilation,  in  this  Treatise. 

"  Your  Committee  desire  to  call  the  attention  of  this  Board,  chiefly  to  the  con- 
sideration of  such  general  and  well  established  Physiological  and  Philosophical 
principles,  as  have  a  distinct  and  intimate  relation  to  the  subject  of  tins  Re- 
port, and  may  be  useful  in  its  elucidation. 

In  doing  this^  there  are  two  things  of  which  they  hope  to  satisfy  the  Board. 

First.  The  necessity  of  a  system  of  ventilation,  which  shall  furnish,  for  all 
the  pupils  in  the  Public  Schools  of  Boston,  at  all  times*  an  abundant  supply 
of  an  atmosphere  entirely  adapted,  in  its  purity  and  temperature,  to  the  pur- 
poses of  respiration. 

Secondly.  The  entire  failure  of  the  measures  heretofore  adopted  to  accom- 
plish this  desirable  end. 

The  function  of  Respiration,  is  that  process,  by  whose  agency  and  constant 
operation,  atmospheric  air  is  admitted  to  the  internal  surface  of  the  lungs,  and 
there  brought  into  close  contact  with  the  blood,  for  the  purpose  of  effecting 
certain  changes  in  it,  which  are  essential  to  the  continuance  of  life,  and  to 
maintain  the  integrity  of  the  bodily  organs.  During  this  process,  the  atmos- 
phere is  constantly  losing  its  oxygen,  which  is  carried  into  the  circulation, 
while,  at  the  same  time,  it  is  becoming  overcharged  with  the  carbonic  acid 
gas,  which  is  continually  thrown  off  from  the  lungs  by  respiration.  This  effete 
and  deadly  poison  spreads  itself  rapidly  into  all  parts  of  the  room. 

'  M.  Lassaigne  has  shown,  by  a  series  of  investigations,  that,  contrary  to  a. 
common  opinion,  the  air  in  a  room  which  has  served  for  respiration  without 
being  renewed,  contains  carbonic  acid  alike  in  every  part,  above  as  well  as  be- 
low; the  difference  in  proportion  is  but  slight ;  and,  where  appreciable,  there 
is  some  reason  to  believe  that  the  carbonic  acid  is  in  greater  quantity  in  the 
upper  parts  of  a  room.  These  experiments  establish  the  very  important  fact,  that 
all  the  air  of  a  room  must  be  changed,  in  order  to  restore  its  purity.'* 

Dr.  Wyman  makes  the  following  remarks  on  this  point :  '  Although  carbonic 

acid  is  a  much  heavier  gas  than  atmospheric  air,  it  does  not,  from  this  cause, 

fall  to  the  floor,  but  is  equally  diffused  through  the  room.    If  the  gas  is  formed 

ob  the  floor  without  change  of  temperature,  this  diffusion  may  not  take  place 

"Silliman's  Journal  for  September,  1846. 

10 


146  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

rapidly.  In  the  celebrated  Grotto  del  Cane,  carbonic  acid  escapes  from  the  floor, 
and  rises  to  a  certain  height,  which  is  pretty  well  defined  to  the  sight  on  the 
walls;  below  this  line,  a  dog  is  destroyed,  as  if  in  water;  above  it,  he  is  not 
affected.  An  analysis  of  the  air  above  and  below  a  brazier  has  been  made, 
and  it  was  found  equally  contaminated, — the  former  containing  4.65  per  cent., 
and  the  latter  4.5  per  cent,  of  carbonic  acid. 

'  From  the  experiments  of  M.  Devergie,  who  has  devoted  much  attention 
to  the  poisonous  effects  of  these  gasses,  it  appears,  that  the  heat  disengaged 
from  the  combustion  of  charcoal,  produces  an  equable  mixture  at  all  eleva- 
tions in  the  apartment ;  and  this  state  of  things  continues  as  long  as  the  room 
remains  warm ;  but  after  twelve  hours  or  more,  the  carbonic  acid  sinks,  and 
while  that  near  the  ceiling  contains  only  a  seventy-eighth,  that  near  the  floor 
contains  nearly  four  times  as  much,  or  a  nineteenth.'     (See  Prac.  Trea.  p.  77.) 

If  further  proof  be  needed,  to  establish  this  position,  we  have  other  testimony. 
During  respiration,  a  considerable  quantity  of  vapor  is  discharged  from  the 
lungs.  With  regard  to  this,  Mr.  Tredgold  says :  '  if  the  air  did  not  contain 
this  mixture  of  vapor,  it  would  not  rise  when  expelled ;  and  we  have  to  ad- 
mire one  of  those  simple  and  beautiful  arrangements,  by  which  our  all-wise 
Creator  has  provided  against  the  repeated  inhalation  of  the  same  air ;  for  a 
mixture  of  azote,  carbonic  acid  gas,  and  vapor,  at  the  temperature  it  is  eject- 
ed, is  much  lighter  than  common  air  even  at  the  same  temperature.  Hence,  it 
rises  with  such  velocity,  that  it  is  entirely  removed  from  us  before  it  becomes 
diffused  in  the  atmosphere.  But  as  all  gaseous  bodies  and  vapors  intimately 
mix  when  suffered  to  remain  in  contact,  we  see  how  important  it  is  that  venti- 
lation should  be  continual ;  that  the  noxious  gasses  should  be  expelled  as  soon 
as  generated ;  and  that  the  ventilation  should  be  from  the  upper  part  of  a 
room.'     (S  e  Tredgold  on  Warming,  fyc,  p.  70. 

If,  to  the  foul  efnuvia  ejected  from  the  lungs,  and  accumulating  in  an  apart- 
ment as  badly  ventilated  as  one  of  our  school-rooms,  be  added  the  fouler 
matter  thrown  into  the  air  from  the  insensible  perspiration  of  so  many  individuals, 
many  of  whom  are  of  uncleanly  habits  in  person  and  apparel,  it  is  apparent,  that, 
in  a  very  limited  period  of  time,  the  air,  in  a  perfectly  close  room,  would  become 
so  entirely  unfit  for  respiration,  that,  to  all  who  were  exposed  to  its  influence, 
submersion  in  water  could  not  be  more  certainly  fatal. 

The  terrible  effects  of  continued  exposure  to  carbonic  acid  gas  in  a  concen- 
trated form,  have  been  graphically  described  by  Howard,  in  his  account  of  the 
Black  Hole  of  Calcutta.  Of  one  hundred  and  forty-six  persons,  shut  up  in 
this  place  for  only  ten  hours,  without  any  other  means  of  ventilation  than  one 
small  opening,  but  twenty-six  were  found  alive,  when  it  came  to  be  opened ; 
and  most  of  these  suffered  afterward  from  malignant  fevers. 

The  fainting  of  feeble  persons  in  crowded  assemblies,  and  the  asphyxia,  so 
often  produced  in  those  who  descend  into  deep  wells  without  suitable  precau- 
tion, are  familiar  examples  of  the  same  noxious  effects  of  this  poison. 

In  has  been  usually  estimated,  that  every  individual,  by  respiration,  and  the 
various  exhalations  from  the  body,  consumes  or  renders  unfit  for  use,  at  least 
from  four  to  five  cubic  feet  of  air  per  minute.  This  is  probably  a  low  esti- 
mate ;  but  authors  of  good  repute  differ  considerably  on  this  point.  Mr.  Tred- 
gold's  remarks,  in  this  connection,  are  interesting  and  pertinent.  '  The  Phys- 
iological Chemists,'  says  he,  '  have  placed  in  our  hands  a  more  accurate 
means  of  measuring  the  deterioration  of  air  in  dwelling  rooms,  than  by  the 
best  eudiometer :  for  they  have  shown,  by  repeated  experiments  on  respira- 
tion, that  a  man  consumes  about  thirty-two  cubic  inches  of  oxygen  in  a  minute, 
which  is  replaced  by  an  equal  bulk  of  carbonic  acid  from  the  lungs.  Now, 
the  quantity  of  oxygen  in  atmospheric  air  is  about  one  fifth ;  hence  it  will  be 
found,  that  the  quantity  rendered  unfit  for  supporting  either  combustion  or  ani- 
mal life,  by  one  man,  in  one  minute,  is  nearly  one  hundred  and  sixty  cubic 
inches,  by  respiration  only.  But  a  man  makes  twenty  respirations  in  a  minute, 
and  draws  in  and  expels  forty  inches  of  air  at  each  respiration;  consequently, 
the  total  quantity  contaminated  in  one  minute,  by  passing  through  the  lungs,  is 
eight  hundred  cubic  inches.'*  The  other  sources  of  impurity,  which  should 
be  considered,  will  increase  the  estimate  to  the  amount  above  stated.  The 
amount  of  vapor  discharged  from  the  lungs,  and  thus  added  to  the  impurities 
of  the  air,  is  said  to  exceed  six  grains  per  minute.  It  has  also  been  shown 
'Tredgold  on  Warming,  &c,  p.  69 


BOSTON  MODE  OF  VENTILATION.  147 

that  air,  which  has  been  some  time  in  contact  with  the  skin,  becomes  almost 
entirely  converted  into  carbonic  acid. 

In  estimating  the  amount  of  fresh  air  to  be  supplied,  we  ought  not  merely  to 
look  at  what  the  system  will  tolerate,  but  that  amount  which  will  sustain  the 
highest  state  of  health  for  the  longest  time.  Dr.  Reid  recommends  at  least  ten 
cubic  feet  per  minute,  as  a  suitable  average  supply  for  each  individual ;  and 
states  that  his  estimate  is  the  result  of  an  '  extreme  variety  of  experiments, 
made  on  hundreds  of  different  constitutions,  supplied  one  by  one  with  given 
amounts  of  air,  and  also  in  numerous  assemblies  and  meetings,  where  there 
were  means  for  estimating  the  quantity  of  air  with  which  they  were  pro- 
vided.'    (Illustrations  of  Ventilation,  p.  116.) 

These  calculations  refer  to  adults ;  but  the  greater  delicacy  of  the  organiza- 
tion of  children,  and  their  feebler  ability  to  resist  the  action  of  deleterious 
agents,  together  with  their  greater  rapidity  of  respiration,  demand  for  them  at 
least  an  equal  supply.  Proceeding  upon  this  basis,  and  multiplying  the  amount 
required  per  minute,  by  the  minutes  of  a  school  session  of  three  hours,  we 
have  eighteen  hundred  cubic  feet  for  each  pupil,  and  for  two  hundred  and  fifty 
pupils — the  average  maximum  attendance  in  one  of  our  large  school-rooms, — 
450,000  cubic  feet,  as  the  requisite  quantity  for  each  half-day.  The  rooms 
contain  about  22,500  cubic  feet  only :  so  that  a  volume  of  air,  equal  to  the 
whole  cubic  contents  of  each  room,  should  be  supplied  and  removed,  in  some 
way,  ten  times  every  three  hours,  in  order  to  sustain  the  atmosphere  in  them  at 
a  point  which  is  perfectly  wholesome  and  salubrious.  For  such  a  purpose, 
the  present  means  are  so  entirely  inadequate,  that  it  was  found  that  the  air  of  a 
room  became  tainted  in  ten  or  fifteen  minutes.  In  ordinary  cases,  four  per 
cent,  of  the  air  expelled  from  the  lungs  is  carbonic  acid.  The  presence  of  five 
or  six  per  cent,  will  extinguish  a  lamp,  and  with  difficulty  support  life.  It  is 
therefore  certain,  that  the  air  would  become  deprived  of  all  its  best  properties 
in  one  school  session. 

Le  Blanc, — who  examined  many  public  and  private  buildings,  in  France 
and  elsewhere, — speaking  of  the  Chamber  of  Deputies,  where  sixty-four  cubic 
feet  of  fresh  air  per  minute,  were  alloAved  to  each  individual,  states,  that  ol 
10,000  parts  escaping  by  the  ventilator,  twenty-five  were  carbonic  acid ;  whik 
the  quantity  of  this  gas  ordinarily  present  in  the  atmosphere,  is  but  foTnnr 
Dr.  Reid  states,  that  he  never  gave  less  than  thirty  cubic  feet  of  air  a  minute, 
to  each  member  of  the  House  of  Commons,  when  the  room  was  crowded;  and 
once  he  introduced,  for  weeks  successively,  sixty  cubic  feet  a  minute,  to  each 
member. 

The  very  earliest  impressions  received  by  your  Committee,  in  their  visits  to 
the  school-houses,  satisfied  them  of  their  lamentable  condition  in  regard  to 
ventilation.  In  some  of  them,  they  found  the  air  so  bad,  that  it  could  be  per-, 
ceived  before  reaching  the  school-rooms,  and  in  the  open  entries ;  and  the  chil- 
dren, as  they  passed  up  and  down  the  stairs,  had  their  clothes  and  hair  percep- 
tibly impregnated  with  the  fostid  poison.  And  these  circumstances  existed  in 
houses,  where  the  open  windows  testified,  upon  our  entrance,  that  the  Masters 
had  endeavored  to  improve  the  atmosphere  by  all  the  means  placed  at  their 
disposal.  To  this  custom, — that  of  opening  windows  in  school  .hours, — the  In- 
structors are  compelled  to  resort,  for  relief;  and  this  expedient,  certainly,  is  the 
lesser  of  two  very  great  evils.  Your  Committee  found  in  their  visits  to  the 
school-houses,  during  the  severest  days  of  last  winter,  that  no  school-room 
had  less  than  three,  and  that  more  than  half  of  them  had  at  least  seven  windows 
open  for  the  admission  of  pure  air.  Yet  this  dangerous  and  injurious  practice 
only  mitigates  the  evils  of  bad  air,  by  creating  others.  It  produces  colds  and 
inflammatory  complaints,  and  the  air  still  remains  impure,  offensive,  and 
highly  deleterious  ;  sufficiently  so,  to  affect  the  delicate  organization  of  child- 
hood, to  blight  its  elasticity,  and  destroy  that  healthful  physical  action,  on 
which  depends  the  vigor  of  maturer  years. 

We  have  already  referred  to  some  of  the  more  violent  and  sudden  effects  of  ex- 
posure to  air  highly  charged  with  these  noxious  gasses.  There  are  others,  which 
are  more  remote,  and,  to  a  superficial  observer,  less  noticeable.  But  they  are 
not,  therefore,  of  less  importance.  The  grave  consequences  of  a  long-contin- 
ued exposure  to  an  atmosphere  but  a  little  below  the  standard  of  natural 
purity,  although  not  immediately  incompatible  with  life,  can  hardl ,  be  over- 


.43 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


stated.  These  effects  are  often  so  insidious  in  their  approach,  as  hardly  to  at- 
tract notice ;  they  are  therefore  the  more  necessary  to  be  provided  against  in 
advance. 

Children,  confined  in  the  atmosphere  of  these  schools,  soon  lose  the  ruddy 
and  cheerful  complexions  of  perfect  health  which  belong  to  youth,  and  acquire 
the  sallow  and  depressed  countenances  which  might  reasonably  be  expected  in 
over-worked  factory  operatives,  or  the  tenants  of  apartments  unvisited  by  the 
sun  or  air.  We  noticed  in  many  faces,  also,  particularly  towards  the  close  of 
a  school  session,  a  feverish  flush,  so  bright  that  it  might  easily  deceive  an  in- 
experienced eye,  and  be  mistaken  for  a  healthy  bloom.  Alas  !  it  was  only  a 
transient  and  ineffectual  effort  of  nature  to  produce,  by  overaction,  those  salu- 
tary changes  which  she  really  wanted  the  fencer  to  accomplish. 

The  condition  of  the  pupils,  depressed  as  they  are  by  these  influences,  is 
constantly  demanding  increased  exertions  from  their  Instructors,  while  the  re- 
quirements of  the  age  place  the  standard  of  education  at  an  elevation  suffi- 
ciently difficult  of  access  under  the  most  favorable  circumstances. 

Your  committee  are  satisfied,  therefore,  that  the  present  state  of  the  school- 
houses  daily  impairs  the  health  of  the  pupils  and  Instructors,  and  the  efficiency 
of  the  schools  for  the  purposes  of  instruction.  That  its  continuance  will  pro- 
duce, not  only  immediate  discomfort  and  disease,  but,  by  its  effect  on  the  con- 
stitutions of  the  children,  who  must  pass  in  them  a  large  portion  of  those 
years  most  susceptible  to  physical  injury,  will  directly  and  certainly  reduce 
the  amount  of  constitutional  vigor  hereafter  to  be  possessed  by  that  large  mass 
of  our  population,  which  now  and  hereafter  is  to  receive  its  education  in  these 
schools. 

Although  the  atmosphere  in  the  different  school-houses  varied  very  much  in 
particular  cases,  either  owing  to  the  time  of  the  visits,  or  from  the  amount  of 
attention  and  intelligence  of  the  Masters,  yet  in  none  of  them  was  it  at  all  sat- 
isfactory ;  not  one  of  them  was  furnished  with  any  useful  or  systematic  means 
of  ventilation.  Every  one,  in  order  to  be  kept  in  a  tolerably  comfortable  con- 
dition in  this  respect,  required  the  frequent  and  laborious  attention  of  the  In- 
structors, and  often  to  a  degree  which  must  have  seriously  interfered  with  their 
legitimate  duties. 

All  of  the  rooms  are  provided  with  registers,  in  or  near  the  ceiling,  ostensi- 
bly for  the  purpose  of  discharging  the  foul  air,  but  which  your  Committee  be- 
lieve to  be  almost  entirely  useless.  The  openings  through  the  roof  into  the 
open  air,  where  they  exist,  are  so  small,  as  to  be  quite  inadequate  to  relieve  the 
attics ;  so  that  the  bad  air  must  accumulate  there,  and,  after  becoming  condensed 
be  gradually  forced  back  again,  to  be  breathed  over  by  the  same  lungs 
which  have  already  rejected  it.  The  condition  of  the  apartments,  after  under- 
going a  repetition  of  such  a  process,  for  any  length  of  time,  can  easily  be 
imagined." 

A  reference  to  the  subjoined  diagram  will  explain  at  once  the  present  state 
of  the  Ventilation  of  the  School-Houses. 


a.  Heated  air  from  furnace. 

b.  Hot    air    escaping    through 
open  window. 

c.  Cold    air    entering   through 
open  window. 


BOSTON  MODE  OF  VENTILATION.  149 

It  may  be  a  matter  of  surprise,  to  some,  perhaps,  that  the  subject  of  ventila- 
ting our  school-rooms  has  not  long  ago  received  the  consideration  necessary 
.  to  remedy,  or  even  to  have  prevented  altogether,  the  evils  of  which  we  at  pres- 
ent complain.  But  these  evils  have  not  always  existed.  It  should  be  recol- 
lected, that  the  stoves  and  furnaces  now  in  common  use,  are  of  comparatively 
modern  date;  and  moreover,  that  the  ample  fireplaces,  which  they  have  dis- 
placed, always  proved  perfectly  efficient  ventilators,  although,  it  is  true,  some- 
what at  the  expense  of  comfort  and  fuel.  But  in  closing  the  fireplaces,  and  sub- 
stituting more  economical  methods  of  warming,  evils  of  far  greater  magnitude 
have  been  entailed  upon  us. 

It  is  evident,  that,  in  order  to  carry  into  operation  any  complete  system  of 
ventilation,  there  must  be  connected  with  it  some  apparatus  to  regulate  the 
temperature  of  the  air  to  be  admitted,  as  well  as  to  ensure  its  ample  supply. 
Your  committee  have  accordingly  examined,  with  much  care,  this  part  of  the 
subject.  A  majority  of  the  buildings  are  furnished  with  '  hot-air  furnaces,' 
situated  in  the  cellars  ;  the  remainder  with  stoves,  placed  in  the  school-rooms 
themselves.  Most  of  the  furnaces  possess  great  heating  powers, — indeed  much 
greater  than  is  necessary,  if  the  heat  generated  by  them  were  properly  econo- 
mized, or  could  be  made  available  ; — but,  as  now  constructed,  they  are  almost 
worse  than  useless,  consuming  large  quantities  of  fuel,  and,  at  the  same  time,  so 
overheating  the  air  which  passes  through  them,  as  to  deprive  it  of  some  of  its 
best  qualities,  and  render  it  unsuitable  for  respiration.  It  is  difficult  to  define, 
with  precision,  and  by  analysis,  the  changes  which  take  place  in  air  subjected 
to  the  action  of  metallic  surfaces,  at  a  high  temperature.  The  unpleasant 
dryness  of  the  air  can  be  detected,  very  readily,  by  the  senses  ;  and  the  head- 
ache, and  other  unpleasant  sensations,  experienced  by  those  who  breathe  such 
an  atmosphere,  would  seem  to  prove  a  deficiency  of  oxygen  and  electricity. 
The  rapid  oxydation  and  destruction  of  the  ironwork  of  the  furnaces  them- 
selves, also  tends  to  confirm  this  supposition.    _ 

It  has  been  ascertained,  by  repeated  examinations,  that  the  temperature  of 
the  air,  when  it  arrives  at  the  rooms,  is  often  as  high  as  50(P  and  6003  Fahren- 
heit. Of  course,  it  is  entirely  impossible  to  diffuse  air,  thus  heated,  in  the 
parts  of  the  room  occupied  by  the  pupils.  Much  of  it  passes  rapidly  out  of  the 
windows,  which  may  be  open;  the  rest  to  the  ceiling,  where  it  remains  until 
partially  cooled,  gradually  finding  its  way  down  by  the  walls  and  closed  win- 
dows, to  the  lower  parts  of  the  room.  The  consequences  are,  that,  while 
much  more  caloric  is  sent  into  the  apartment  than  is  requisite,  many  of  the 
pupils  are  compelled  to  remain  in  an  atmosphere  which  is  at  once  cold  and 
stagnant. 

The  source  of  the  cold  air  for  supplying  the  furnaces,  is  not  always  free 
from  objection ;  some  being  drawn  from  the  neighborhood  of  drains,  cesspools, 
&c.  This  is  a  radical  defect,  as  it  must  inevitably  affect  the  whole  air  of  the 
building.  The  boxes,  which  admit  the  cold  air  to  the  furnaces,  are  much  too 
contracted ;  some  of  them  being  only  a  few  inches  square,  when  their  capacity 
ought  to  be  nearly  as  many  feet.  The  air  enters  the  '  cold-air  '  chamber  of 
the  furnace,  at  its  top,  whence  it  is  intended  to  be  carried  down  between  thin 
brick  walls,  (which  should  be  cold,  but  which  are  often  heated  to  3003  Fahren- 
heit,) to  the  lower  part  of  the  furnace,  and  thence  into  the  '  hot-air '  chambers, 
and  so  on  to  the  rooms  above.  It  is  obvious  that  the  'hot-air'  chamber 
must  be  heated  to  a  temperature  far  beyond  that  of  the  '  cold-air '  chamber,  in 
order  to  compel  the  air,  against  its  own  natural  tendencies,  to  pass  into  it  with 
any  velocity  or  volume,  and  the  very  attempt  to  accomplish  this,  almost  de- 
feats itself;  as,  by  driving  the  fire  for  this  purpose,  the  '  cold-air '  chamber  be- 
comes still  hotter,  so  that  at  last  the  contest  is  decided  only  by  the  greater  cal- 
orific capabilities  which  the  iron  plates  possess  over  the  brick  wall.  At  any 
rate,  the  temperature  of  the  iron  is  frequently  raised  to  a  red  and  even  a 
white  heat,  by  running  the  furnaces  in  the  ordinary  way.  This  soon  destroys 
them,  and  they  require  consequently  to  be  frequently  renewed.  In  addition  to 
all  this  waste  of  fuel  and  material,  the  folly  of  attempting,  in  any  way,  to 
warm  school-rooms  whose  windows  are  freely  opened  to  the  admission  of  an 
atmosphere,  at  the  low  temperature  of  our  winter  climate,  may  well  claim  a 
oassing  notice. 


150  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

The  following  diagrams  will  exhibit  the  mode  in  which  the  two  houses  al- 
ready referred  to,  are  now  ventilated. 

Plan  of  the  Ventilation  of  the  Eliot  School-House. 


a.  a.  Cold  air  channels  to 
furnaces. 

b.  b.    Heated  air. 

The  arrows  show  the  cur- 
rents of  air  from  the  furnaces 
to  the  outlet  at  the  roof. 

c.  Gas  burner. 


This  house  was  entirety  without  any  external  opening  through  the  roof. 
The  other  arrangements  in  it  presented  nothing  peculiar.  The  '  exits  and  the 
entrances  '  were  all  as  deficient  in  capacity  as  usual.  The  first  care  was  to 
perforate  the  roof.  This  was  accordingly  done,  and  an  opening  of  sufficient 
size  made  to  carry  a  turn-cap  of  two  and  a  half  feet  in  diameter  in  its  smallest 
part.  The  cold-air  shaft,  with  an  area  of  only  one  hundred  and  forty  square 
inches,  was  enlarged  so  as  to  measure  six  hundred,  or  about  four  times  its  for- 
mer size.  The  necessary  repairing  of  one  furnace,  gave  us  an  opportunity  to 
enlarge  its  air-chamber  very  considerably.  Water,  for  evaporation,  was  placed 
within  a  chamber  of  the  furnace.  The  registers  in  the  rooms  opening  into  the 
attic,  being  below  the  ceiling,  were  raised  to  the  highest  point,  and  increased 
in  size. 

Although  we  think  the  want  of  connection  of  the  cowl  at  the  roof  with  the 
registers  from  the  rooms  by  closed  tubes,  a  decided  disadvantage,  we  were  sat- 
isfied, on  the  whole,  with  the  results ;  as  the  alterations  gave  great  relief. 
These  changes  were  made  during  the  month  of  February,  1846,  and  the  only 
inconvenience  suffered  during  the  winter,  was  the  occasional  rise  of  the 
temperature  to  five  or  ten  degrees  beyond  the  desired  point.  The  atmosphere 
has  lost  its  bad  odor  almost  entirely,  and  is  of  course  much  more  agreeable. 
A  gas  burner  has  lately  been  placed  in  the  throat  of  the  ventilator,  for  use 
when  extra  power  is  needed. 

Plan  op  the  Ventilation  op  the  Endicott  School-House. 


This  house,  as  well  as  the  preceding,  was  heated  by  furnaces  in  the  cellar, 
one  for  each  room.  Its  ventilating  flaes  were  arranged  in  a  better  manner  thau 
usual,  opening  into  little  separate  chimneys  which  pierced  the  roof  near  the 
copings.  But  they  had  proved  to  be  insufficient,  both  on  account  of  their  size 
and  situation.  They  were  also  affected  sensibly  by  down-gusts,  which  com- 
pletely reversed  their  action  in  certain  states  of  the  atmosphere  and  wind, 


BOSTON  MODE  OF  VENTILATION. 


151 


a.  a.    Currents    of  heated  air 
passing  to  the  ventilating  flues. 

b.  b.    Cold  air  channels. 

c.  c.    Cold  air  valves  opening 
upon  the  hot-air  currents. 

F.  F.     Furnaces. 
<§.    Stove  in  ventilator  in  the 
attic. 


After  enlarging  the  cold-air  shaft  to  a  proper  size,  it  was  thought  best,  (as  the 
hot-air  pipe  passed  through  the  brick  wall,  so  that  it  could  not  easily  be  altered,) 
to  make  an  opening  through  the  outer  wall  directly  behind  the  register  which 
delivered  the  hot-air  into  the  room.  An  aperture  of  sixteen  inches  square, 
commanded  by  a  revolving  damper,  was  therefore  cut.  It  has  been  found  to 
answer  exceedingly  well;  as  we  now  get  a  much  larger  volume,  of  more  tem- 
perate and  purer  air. 

For  the  delivery  of  the  bad  air,  the  following  arrangements  were  adopted. 
Large  wooden  boxes,  or  air-shafts,  were  carried  from  the  floor  of  each  story 
into  the  attic,  where  they  communicate,  by  closed  metal  pipes  of  the  same  size, 
with  a  tin  cylinder,  three  feet  in  diameter,  which  is  continued  to  the  roof,  ter- 
minating there  in  a  large  cowl.  There  are  openings,  at  the  top  and  bottom  of 
each  room,  into  the  ventilating  shafts,  which  can  be  used  separately,  or 
together,  as  the  state  of  the  atmosphere  requires. 

An  air-tight  coal  stove,  placed  within  the  drum,  in  the  attic,  completes  the 
apparatus.  This  has  been  only  recently  constructed ;  but  from  results  already 
produced,  there  is  no  doubt  of  its  entire  ability  to  accomplish  all  that  is 
desirable. 

The  same  general  statements  which  have  been  made  with  regard  to  the 
Grammar  School-houses,  will  apply  to  the  Primary  School-houses.  They  are 
undoubtedly  in  as  bad  a  condition,  to  say  the  least;  and  from  their  smaller  ca- 
pacities in  proportion  to  the  number  of  pupils  which  they  contain,  require 
particular  attention. 

For  ventilation  of  these,  and  the  Recitation  rooms,  which  resemble  them  in 
structure  and  size,  your  Committee  recommend  the  use  of  the  double  fireplace* 
or  the  Ventilating  Stove,  which  will  be  hereafter  described.  If  the  latter  be 
used,  ventilating  flues,  opening  at  the  ceiling,  must  be  carried  out  of  the  roof. 

It  only  remains  for  your  Committee  to  describe,  more  particularly,  the  system 
of  ventilation  which  they  consider  to  be,  in  its  general  features,  best  adapted 
for  the  school-houses  under  the  care  of  the  Board.  Much  of  it  has  al- 
ready been  anticipated  in  other  parts  of  this  Report;  and  the  following 
plan  will  show,  at  a  glance,  better  than  any  description  can  do,  its  particular 
features. 


:  See  page  38  of  this  Essay  for  a  diagram  and  description. 


152 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


Diagram   showing  the  best  general  plan  for  warming  and  ventilating 
the  Grammar  School-Houses. 


a.  a.  Cold-air  channel,  three  feet  in  diameter,  opening  underneath  tne 
Furnace. 

F.  Furnace,  three  feet  in  diameter  in  a  brick  chamber  ten  feet  square. 
The  walls  twelve  inches  thick. 

d.  Smoke  flue,  surmounted  with  Mr.  Tredgold's  chimney  top. 

b.  b.  b.  b.  Currents  of  warmed  air,  passing  from  the  furnace,  through  a  main 
flue  of  four  feet  in  diameter,  which  supplies  two  branch  flues.  From  these  the 
air  is  diffused  into  all  parts  of  the  room,  by  means  of  the  tablets  which  are 
placed  over  the  mouths  of  the  registers. 

e.  The  ventilating  shaft,  two  and  a  half  feet  in  diameter,  into  which  the 
foul  gasses  are  collected,  and  from  which  they  are  finally  discharged  into  the 
open  air. 

c.  An  Argand  Lamp,  to  be  lighted  from  the  attic. 

r.  r.  r.     Registers,  by  means  of  which  the  whole  circulation  is  controlled. 
The  Committee  recommend  attention  to  the  following  general  rules  for  Ven- 
tilation and  Warming. 

1.  The  air  must  be  taken  from  a  pure  source.  The  higher  parts  of  the 
building  are  the  best,  as  thereby  all  impurities,  which  often  contaminate  air 
taken  from  near  the  surface  of  the  ground,  are  avoided. 

2.  In  order  to  ensure  a  constant  and  abundant  supply,  the  air  shaft  must  be 
surmounted  with  a  cowl  or  hood  of  some  kind,  with  its  mouth  turned  towards 
the  wind. 

3.  The  fresh  air  should  in  all  cases  be  carried  entirely  beneath  the  fumaee* 


BOSTON  MODE  OF  VENTILATION. 


153 


If  the  cellar  is  wet  and  the  situation  low,  the  underground  culvert  or  channel 
should  be  of  brick,  laid  in  cement. 

4.  The  furnace  chamber  should  be  so  large  that  it  can  be  entered  at  any 
time,  without  the  necessity  of  taking  down  walls,  for  the  purpose  of  repairs,  or 
to  observe  the  temperature.  A  large  earthen  pan  for  the  evaporation  of  water 
should  never  be  omitted.  This  should  be  kept  always  perfectly  clean,  and  the 
water  required  to  be  frequently  changed. 

5.  A  thermometer  should  be  constantly  at  hand,  and  the  temperature  in  the 
warm-air  chamber  should  never  be  allowed  to  exceed  that  of  boiling  water.  A  still 
lower  temperature  is  often  desirable.  If  this  point  is'secured,  the  hot  air  can 
be  conducted  with  perfect  safety  under  floors,  or  into  any  part  of  the  building, 
for  its  better  diffusion. 

6.  The  openings  for  the  admission  of  the  warm  air  into  the  rooms,  should  be 
as  numerous  as  possible.  The  long  platform  occupied  by  the  teachers,  by  being 
perforated  in  front  for  its  whole  length,  would  be  an  excellent  diffusing  surface. 

7.  Openings  of  ample  size  must  be  made  in  the  highest  points  of  the  ceiling, 
to  be  connected  at  the  top  of  the  roof  with  a  turn-cap  or  louvre,  the  former 
being  always  surmounted  with  a  vane.  It  is  better  that  the  ceiling  should  be 
perforated  at  its  centre,  and  there  is  no  objection  to  running  the  ventilating 
shaft,  at  first,  horizontally,  if  the  perpendicular  and  terminal  portion  of  it  is  of 
considerable  length. 

8.  It  is  highly  important  to  have  a  power  of  some  sort,  within  the  apparatus  at  its 
top,  for  the  purpose  of  compelling  constant  action,  and  of  increasing  the  force  of 
the  apparatus,  whenever  the  state  of  the  weather,  or  the  crowding  of  the  room, 
render  it  necessary.*  For  this  purpose,  the  most  convenient  and  economical 
means  are  furnished  by  a  gas  burner,  an  Argand  lamp,  or  a  stove;  and  one  of 
these  should  be  in  cons.am  leadiness  for  use,  when  neither  the  velocity  of  the 
wind,  or  the  low  temperature  of  the  external  aimosphere  are  sufficient  to  pro- 
duce the  desired  effect. 

9.  All  the  openings  and  flues  for  the  admission  of  pure  air,  and  the  discharge 
of  the  foul  air,  should  be  of  the  maximum  size;  that  is,  they  should  be  calculated 
for  the  largest  numbers  which  the  apartment  is  ever  intended  to  accommodate. 

10.  Valves  must  be  placed  in  all  the  flues,  and  so  arranged  as  to  be  easily 
regulated  without  leaving  the  rooms  into  which  they  open. 

11.  The  best  average  temperature  for  school-rooms,  is  from  64°  to  68° 
Fahrenheit;  this  range  including  that  of  the  healthiest  climates  in  their  best 
seasons. 

For  the  purpose  of  summer  ventilation,  and  for  occasional  use  in  moderate 
weather,  fireplaces  of  good  size  should  be  constructed  in  all  the  new  houses,  at 
least.  They  should  always  be  double,  and  furnished  with  large  air  chambers, 
which  communicate  with  the  open  air.  When  not  in  use,  they  must  be  closed 
with  tight  boards  or  shutters,  as  they  would  otherwise  interfere  with  the  regular 
ventilation. 

With  these  arrangements,  intelligently  controlled  by  the  Teachers,  your 
Committee  believe  that  an  atmosphere  will  be  secured  which  will  be  perfectly 
agreeable  and  salubrious ;  which  will  lighten  the  labors  of  the  Teachers,  and 
promote  the  comfort,  health,  and  happiness,  of  the  thousands  of  children  who 
are  daily  congregated  in  our  Public  Schools." 

This  Report  was  received,  and  the  same  Committee  were  "  directed 
to  adapt  to  each  school-room  such  apparatus,  if  any,  as  may  be  re- 
quired to  secure  to  them  proper  ventilation  in  winter  and  summer, 
and  to  make  such  alterations  and  arrangements  of  the  furnaces  as 
may  be  required."  To  be  able  to  execute  this  order,  the  Committee 
applied  to  the  City  Authorities  for  an  appropriation  of  $4,000,  which 
was  readily  granted,  after  an  examination  by  a  Joint  Committee  of 
the  Board  of  Aldermen  and  Common  Council,  of  the  school-houses 
in  which  the  improved  ventilating  apparatus  had  been  introduced. 
The  following  is  an  extract  from  the  Report  of  the  Joint  Committee  t 

*  This  in  practice  has  not  been  found  necessary,  although  it  may  be  sometimes. 


154  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

"  In  order  to  be  fully  satisfied,  the  Committee  visited  the  Endicott  School, 
where  the  apparatus  was  in  operation.  The  day  was  exceedingly  wet  and  dis- 
agreeable, and  yet  the  air  of  the  rooms  was  found  in  an  unobjectionable  condi- 
tion. The  masters  fully  sustained  the  representations  of  the  petitioners ;  and 
from  their  statements,  as  well  as  from  their  own  observations,  the  Committee 
were  satisfied  of  the  beneficial  effects  of  said  apparatus. 

In  order,  however,  to  have  a  more  full  investigation  of  the  matter,  the  Com- 
Taittee,  on  a  subsequent  day,  visited  the  Johnson  School  and  the  Boylston 
School.  The  day  was  dry  and  cold,  and  they  found  the  air  in  the  Johnson 
School  in  a  tolerably  good  condition.  This  is  a  girls'  school;  and  it  is  well 
Known  that  the  pupils  in  such  schools  are  neater,  and  attend  in  cleaner  and 
more  tidy  apparel,  than  the  pupils  in  the  boys'  schools. 

In  the  Boylston  School,  however,  the  Committee  found  the  air  very  disagree- 
able and  oppressive ;  and  they  could  not  but  feel  the  importance  of  executing 
some  plan  of  relief." 

If  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means, — or  whatever  the  money- 
compelling  power  may  be  called — in  every  city,  and  town,  and  dis- 
trict, would  satisfy  themselves  by  actual  examination,  of  the  necessity 
of  a  more  perfect  system  of  ventilation  in  all  school-rooms,  or  in  all 
public  halls  where  a  large  number  of  human  beings  are  congregated 
for  a  considerable  length  of  time,  and  where  fires  or  lamps  are 
burning,  a  reform  would  be  speedily  introduced  in  this  respect. 

With  the  means  thus  placed  at  their  disposal,  the  Committee 
applied  themselves  diligently  to  the  duty  of  ventilating  the  school- . 
houses  — and  at  the  close  of  the  year,  they  had  the  satisfaction  of 
announcing  in  their  Final  Report,  "  that  the  Grammar  School-houses 
of  Boston  are  now  in  a  better  condition  in  respect  to  their  ventilation, 
than  any  other  Public  Schools  in  the  world."  The  Committee  thus 
sum  up  the  results  of  their  labors. 

"The  diversity  of  arrangement  and  the  modifications  in  our  plans  which  we 
have  been  compelled  by  circumstances  to  adopt,  have  had  their  advantages,  and 
enabled  us  to  arrive  at  the  best  results,  and  to  satisfy  ourselves  entirely  in  re- 
gard to  the  particular  set  of  apparatus  which  we  can  recommend  with  confi- 
dence for  future  use  as  decidedly  the  most  effective  and  convenient.  We  have 
therefore  furnished  drawings  and  specifications  of  the  set  of  apparatus  which 
we  recommend. 

CMlson's  Furnace. 

Your  Committee  have  made  themselves  acquainted  not  only  with  all  the 
Furnaces  which  have  been  manufactured  in  this  place,  and  its  neighborhood, 
but  with  all  those  which  have  been  exhibited  here  recently.  Most  of  them 
show  much  ingenuity  of  contrivance  and  excellence  of  workmanship ;  but  are 
all,  so  far  as  we  can  judge,  inferior  in  many  respects,  to  the  one  invented  by 
Mr.  Chilson,  a  model  and  plans  of  which  we  now  exhibit,  and  recommend  as 
superior  to  all  others. 

It  is  simple  in  its  structure,  easily  managed,  will  consume  the  fuel  perfectly, 
and  with  a  moderate  fire.  It  is  fitted  for  wood  or  coal.  The  fire  place  is  broad 
and  shallow,  and  is  lined  with  soapstone  or  fire-brick,  which  not  only  makes  it 
perfectly  safe  and  durable,  but  modifies  very  materially  the  usual  effect  of  the 
fire  upon  the  iron  pot. 

The  principal  radiating  surfaces  are  wrought  iron,  of  a  suitable  thickness 
for  service,  while  at  the  same  time  the  heat  of  the  smallest  fire  is  communi- 
cated immediately  to  the  air  chamber.  The  mode  of  setting  this  Furnace  we 
consider  essential ;  more  especially  the  plan  of  admitting  the  air  to  the  furnace 
at  its  lowest  point,  as  it  then  rises  naturally  into  the  apartments  above.    This 


BOSTON  MODE  OF  VENTILATION.  155 

process  commences  as  soon  as  the  temperature  is  raised  even  a  single  degree. 
The  outer  walls  remain  cold ;  the  floor  above  is  not  endangered,  and  the  whole 
building  is  rapidly  filled  with  an  atmosphere  which  is  at  once  salubrious  and 
delightful. 


Section  of  Chilson's  Furnace. 


Section. 

Ventilating  Stove. 

For  the  houses  which  we  found  without  the  Hot  Air  Furnaces,  as  also  lor 
the  Recitation  and  other  single  rooms,  the  invention  of  a  Stove  which  shoul 


156 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


answer  the  same  purpose  became  essential.  One  was  therefore  contrived  ;  ana 
having  been  found  in  its  earlier  and  ruder  forms  to  be  of  great  utility,  it  has 
since  been  improved  in  its  appearance,  as  well  as  in  the  convenience  of  its 
management. 

These  Stoves  are  composed  of  two  cylinders,  the  inner  containing  a  fire 
chamber,  which  is  lined  with  soap-stone  or  fire  brick,  while  the  outer  consti- 
tutes a  chamber  for  warming  the  air,  which  is  introduced  into  it  beneath  the 
inner  cylinder,  from  an  air  box  directly  connected  with  the  external  atmos- 
phere. 

They  possess  the  following  advantages : — 

1.  They  are  in  fact  furnaces,  having  distinct  and  capacious  air  chambers. 

2.  They  insure,  when  properly  set,  that  supply  of  fresh  air  which  is  indis- 
pensable to  the  proper  ventilation  of  any  apartment. 

3.  The  Regulating  Distributor,  which  is  movable  or  fixed,  as  may  be  de- 
sired, determines  with  great  accuracy  the  amount  and  temperature  of  the 
admitted  air. 

4.  The  outer  cylinder  is  never  hot  enough  to  burn  the  person  or  clothing,  or 
to  be  uncomfortable  to  those  who  are  situated  in  its  immediate  vicinity. 

5.  They  are  constructed  with  the  utmost  regard  to  efficiency,  durability, 
compactness,  and  neatness  of  appearance. 

These  Stoves  have  been  furnished  to  the  Schools  whenever  your  Committee 
have  required  their  use,  and  at  manufacturers'  prices,  without  any  profit  what- 
ever to  the  inventor  and  patentee. 

They  may  be  used  with  advantage  in  the  largest  rooms,  when  the  cellars  are 
unfit  for  Furnaces,  or  when  it  is  preferred  to  have  the  fire  in  the  room  itself. 
The  Johnson,  Wells,  Hawes,  and  Winthrop  School-houses  are  warmed  entirely 
by  them. 

The  discharging  ventiducts  have  been  made  in  various  ways;  some  of  wood, 
some  of  metal,  and  others  of  '  lath  and  plaster.'  Some  have  opened  at  the 
ceiling  only,  and  in  but  one  part  of  the  room,  while  others  have  been  equally 
divided  at  opposite  sides  of  the  apartment.  Our  rule  is  this: — If  the  Heating 
Apparatus  is  at  one  end  of  an  oblong  room,  the  ventiduct  is  placed  at  the  op- 
posite. If  the  stove  or  furnace  flue  is  at  the  middle  of  the  longest  side,  the 
ventiducts  are  placed  at  each  end,  and  are  of  course  reduced  to  one  half  the 
size  of  the  single  one. 

The  best  manner  of  constructing  them  is  shown  by  the  drawing.  Fig.  1,  and 
described  on  the  following  page. 

There  is  great  economy  in  carrying  the  boxes  to  the  floor  in  all  cases.  In 
i his  way  the  room  can  be  kept  warm  and  the  air  pure  in  the  coldest  and  most 
windy  days. 

The  registers  at  the  top  and  bottom  can  be  used  separately  or  together,  as 
may  be  desired. 

It  is  necessary  and  advantageous  to  apply  some  kind  of  cap  or  other  covering 
upon  the  ventiducts  where  they  terminate  above  the  roof.  It  is  necessary  as  a 
protection  from  the  rain  and  the  down  blasts  of  wind,  and  it  is  also  very  advan- 
tageous to  be  enabled  in  this  way  to  avail  our- 
selves of  the  power  of  the  wind  to  create  an  active 
upward  current.  We  used  at  first  the  turncap 
or  cowl  invented  by  Mr.  Espy,  and  with  satisfac- 
tory results.  It  is  undoubtedly  the  best  movable 
top  known;  but  is  noisy,  and  somewhat  liable  to 
get  out  of  working  order.  These  objections  to 
the  movable  tops  have  long  been  known,  and  va- 
rious stationary  tops  have  been  invented,  and  have 
been  partially  successful.  An  improved  Stationary 
Top,  or  Ejecting  Ventilator,  as  it  is  called,  has 
been  invented  during  the  past  year  by  Mr.  Em- 
erson. It  is  shown  in  the  drawing,  and  consists 
of  the  frustrum  of  a  cone  attached  to  the  top  of  a 
tube,  open  in  its  whole  extent,  and  surmounted 
by  a  fender  which  is  supported  upon  rods,  and 
answers  the  double  purpose  of  keeping  out  the  rain 
and  of  so  directing  or  turning  a  blast  of  wind  upon  the  structure,  as  that  in  what- 


Ejecting  Ventilator. 


BOSTON  MODE  OF  VENTILATION. 


157 


ever  direction  it  falls,  the  effect,  that  of  causing  a  strong  upward  draft,  will  be 
very  uniform  and  constant. 

Being  satisfied  that  this  Stationary  Ejector  possessed  all  the  advantages  of 
the  best,  tops  hitherto  known,  without  the  disadvantages  of  either  of  them,  we 
bave  adopted  it  for  several  of  the  houses  last  ventilated,  and  find  it  in  all  re- 
spects satisfactory.    We  therefore  recommend  it  for  general  use. 

The  Injector  may  generally  be  dispensed  Avith, 
but  in  situations  unfavorable  for  introducing  air, 
it  may  be  sometimes  found  convenient,  or  even 
necessary.  [Mr.  Emerson  recommends  the  use 
of  the  Injector,  whenever  a  ventilating  stove  or 
furnace  is  used,  so  as  to  secure  the  admission  of 
a  quantity  of  pure  air,  warmed  by  the  heating 
surfaces  of  the  stove  or  furnace,  equal  to  the 
quantity  of  air  rendered  impure  by  respiration 
withdrawn  by  the  Ejector.  He  refuses  to  allow 
his  ventilators  to  be  placed  upon  any  school-house 
which  is  not  supplied  with  fresh  warm  air."] 


Injecting  Ventilators. 


Ventiducts. 


The  discharging  ventiducts  should  be  situated  at  the  part  of  the  rooms  most 
distant  from  the  stove  or  register  of  the  furnace,  and  should  always,  if  possi- 
ble, be  constructed  in  or  upon  an  interior  wall  or  partition,  and  an  outer  brick 
wall  must,  if  possible,  be  avoided.  They  should  be  made  of  thoroughly  sea- 
soned sound  pine  boards,  smoothed  on  the  inner  sides,  and  put  together  with 
two-inch  iron  screws.  The  outside  finish  may  be  of  lath  and  plaster,  or  they 
may  be  projected  backwards  into  a  closet  or  entry,  as  shown  in  Figure  3. 
They  must  be  carried  entirely  to  the  floor,  and  should  be  fitted  at  the  top  and 
bottom  with  a  swivel  blind,  whose  capacity  is  equal  to  that  of  the  ventiduct  into 
which  it  opens.  This  blind  may  be  governed  by  stay  rods  or  pulleys.  The 
elevation  gives  a  view  of  the  ventiducts  for  a  building  of  three  stories, 
and  shows  the  best  mode  of  packing  them,  so  as  to  avoid  injuring  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  rooms. 

These  ventiducts  must  be  kept  entirely  separate  to  the  main  discharger  at  the 
roof,  as  any  other  arrangement  would  impair  or  destroy  their  utility. 

The  size  of  the  ventilators  and  ventiducts  must  correspond  to  the  capacity 
of  the  room,  and  the  number  it  is  intended  to  accommodate. 

A  room  containing  sixty  scholars  is  found  to  require  a  discharging  duct  of 
fourteen  inches  in  diameter.  A  room  for  one  hundred  scholars  requires  the 
tube  to  be  eighteen  inches ;  and  a  room  for  two  hundred  scholars  requires  it  to 
be  twenty-four  inches. 

The  fresh  air  ventiducts  should  exceed  in  capacity  those  for  carrying  off"  the 
impure"  air  by  about  fifty  percent;  so  that  there  will  then  always  be  a  sur- 
plus or  plenum  supply,  and  the  little  currents  of  cold  which  press  in  at  the 
crevices  of  the  doors  and  windows  will  be  entirely  prevented. 

The  section  shown  in  Fig.  3  exhibits  a  very  convenient  mode  of  bringing  the 
cold  air  to  the  ventilating  stoves  in  a  three  story  building  in  connection  with 
the  smoke  flues. 


158  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

Figure  1.  Figure  2. 


W,vh 


Elevation  of  Ventiducts. 


a.    Cold  air  ducts, 
d.    Smoke  flues 


BOSTON  MODE  OF  VENTILATION. 


159 


The  following  section,  (Fig.  3,)  and  plans  (Fig's.  4  and  5,)  exhibit  at  one 
view  an  example  of  a  building  of  two  stories  warmed  and  ventilated  by  the 
apparatus  and  in  the  manner  recommended. 


Figure  3. 


A.  Chilson's  Furnace. 

B.  The  Boston  School  Stove. 

C.  Emerson's  Ejector. 

a.  Cold  or  fresh  air  ducts. 

b.  Warmed  air  ducts. 

c.  Impure  air  ducts. 

d.  Smoke  flues. 


Che  letters  on  the  plans  correspond  to  those  in  the  section. 


160 


SCHOOL-HOUSE  ARCHITECTURE. 


Plans  of  First  and  Second  Floors. 
Figure  4. 


Second  Floor. 

A.    Furnace,    a.  a.  a.    Fresh  air  ducts,    b.  b.  b.    Warm  air  registers, 
c.  c.  c.    Impure  air  ducts.         / 

The  modes  of  ventilation  and  heating  above  described  and  illus 
trated,  were  unanimously  approved  by  the   school  committee,   and 
recommended   to   the    city   government,   for  introduction  into  the 
school-houses  which  may  be  hereafter  erected. 


BOSTON  MODE  OF  VENTILATION.  jgj 

The  Committee  append  to  their  Report  directions  for  the  manage- 
ment of  the  Stoves,  Furnaces  and  Ventiducts,  to  which  they  request 
the  attention  of  the  masters  of  the  Public  Schools,  in  conformity  to 
the  rule  of  the  Board,  which  requires  their  attention  to  the  Ventilation 
of  the  School-houses  under  their  care. 

Rules  relative  to  the  use  of  the  Stoves,  Furnaces  and  Ventilators. 

1.  To  kindle  the  fire. — Close  the  upper,  and  open  the  lower  registers  of  the 
ventiducts;  close  the  upper  door  of  the  stove  or  furnace  and  open  the  lower 
door;  place  the  cover  of  the  stove  one  or  two  inches  up. 

2.  After  the  room  becomes  warm — Raise  the  cover  of  the  stove  three  or  five 
inches ;  close  the  lower  door  of  the  stove  and  open  the  upper  door ;  open  the 
registers  of  the  ventiducts  about  half  their  width. 

3.  If  the  room  become  too  ivarm — Open  the  registers  full  width,  and  raise  the 
cover  of  the  stove  high  up,  keeping  the  upper  door  of  the  stove  or  furnace  open, 
and  the  lower  door  closed. 

4.  If  the  room  become  too  cool — Close  the  upper  registers,  (for  a  short  time 
only;)  close  the  upper  door  of  the  stove  and  open  the  lower  door;  drop  the 
cover  down  within  two  inches  of  the  sides. 

5.  Never  close  the  top  of  the  stove  entirely  down,  while  there  is  any  fire 
therein. 

6.  At  night,  on  leaving  the  room,  let  the  cover  of  the  stove  down  within  one 
inch  of  the  sides ;  close  the  lower  door,  and  open  the  upper  one ;  place  all  the 
registers  open  about  half  their  width. 

7.  Fill  the  water  basins  every  morning,  and  wash  them  twice  a  wTeek. 

The  fires  should  be  kept,  if  possible,  through  the  night,  by  covering  the  coal. 
The  coal  to  be  white  ash. 

Construction  of  Ventiducts. 

Since  the  first  edition  of  this  work  was  published,  the  following  note 
has  been  received  from  Dr.  Clark,  in  relation  to  the  structure  of  the  dis- 
charging ventiducts. 

Boston,  Feb.  12th,  1849. 

Henry  Barnard.  Esq.  : 

My  Dear  Sir,— Will  you  allow  me  to  ask  your  attention  to  a  single  matter  relating 
to  ventilation?  I  refer  to  the  construction,  situation,  and  proper  materials  of  the  venti- 
ducts which  are  intended  to  carry  off  the  foul  air.  In  almost  all  instances  within  my 
knowledge,  excepting  in  the  buildings  in  this  place,  which  have  been  ventilated  within 
twro  or  three  years  past,  these  discharging  ducts  are  made  of  brick  or  stone,  being  often, 
therefore,  also  built  in  the  outer  wall.  If  there  is  any  peculiar  advantage  in  our  school- 
house  ventilation,  its  success  is  very  much  owing  to  the  manner  of  locating  and  con- 
structing these  same  ejecting  ventiducts. 

The  brick  ducts  always  operate  downwards  ;  that  is  to  say,  the  air  has  a  constant  ten.' 
dency  to  fall  in  them,  and  they  will  never  "  draw"  in  the  proper  or  upward  direction,  with 
the  best  turncap  or  top  known,  unless  there  is  a  high  wind,  or  unless  artificial  power, 
such  as  afire,  or  a  fan  wheel  be  put  in  requisition.  Now  the  contrary  is  the  fact  with  the 
thin  wooden,  or  lath-and-plaster,  interior  ventiduct.  The  current  is  always  in  the  right  or 
uvward  direction.  They  are  warmed  to  the  temperature  of  the  room,  and  when  provided 
with  a  proper  top  will  operate  in  all  seasons.  Although  the  currents  will  vary  in  power 
and  rapidity,  yet.  while  almost  all  our  ventiducts  are  provided,  and  should  be,  with 
means  of  heating  by  lamps  or  otherwise,  I  believe  they  have  scarcely  had  occasion  to 
light  them.  So  that  any  impressions  formed  in  relation  to  this  part  of  the  subject  from 
the  English,  and  particularly  the  French  methods  of  ventilating  school-houses,  when  the 
brick  flues  are  always  used,  must  be  entirely  erroneous.  The  days  in  which  the  fires  in 
the  French  flues  would  be  forgotten  and  omitted,  or  be  permitted  to  go  out,  would  far  exceed 
the  number  of  those  in  which  our  ventiducts  would  not  act  in  the  most  perfect  manner 
icithout  any  power  at  all. 

I  would  not  have  troubled  you,  but  that  I  know  this  point,  from  much  practical  experi- 
ence, to  be  worthy  of  especial  attention,  and  in  case  you  should  publish  a  new  edition  of 
your  work  on  school-houses,  I  hope  it  may  be  considered. 

I  am,  dear  sir, 

Yours  very  truly, 
j  j  HENRY  G.  CLARK 


ig2  school  architecture. 

Ventilation  of  Buildings. 

The  ventilation  of  buildings  in  relation  to  public  health  in  large  towns 
is  now  attracting  much  attention  in  England.  The  following  valuable 
suggestions  are  taken  from  a  recent  work,  published  in  London,  ny  John 
Murray,  entitled,  "  A  guide  to  the  proper  regulation  of  buildings  in  towns 
as  a  means  of  promoting  and  securing  the  health,  comfort  and  safety  of 
the  inhabitants"  by  William  Hosking.  In  the  chapter  preceding  that 
from  which  these  extracts  are  taken,  the  author  discusses  the  subject  of 
drainage,  and  as  ventilation  as  applied  to  buildings  implies  both  the  means 
of  admitting  and  of  compelling  the  entrance  of  fresh  air,  and  the  means 
of  escape  and  of  compelling  the  exit  of  spent  or  otherwise  foul  air  from 
any  building,  and  from  the  several  apartments  with  which  a  building  may 
be  divided,  the  importance  of  a  system  of  drainage,  or  the  removal  of  all 
such  matters  as  are  offensive  to  any  sense,  or  capable  of.  under  any  cir- 
cumstances to  which  they  may  be  exposed,  of  causing  annoyance  and 
injury,  is  readily  understood. 

Perfect  scavengering  is  the  first  essential  to  cleanliness,  and  to  the  protection 
of  the  air  from  pollution  in  and  about  buildings,  the  excreta  arising  in  which  are 
dejected  into  dry  sand  or  gravel ;  whilst  the  soil-drainage  of  buildings  will  not 
supersede  the  necessity  of  scavengering,  nor,  having  regard  to  the  wholesome- 
ness  of  the  locality,  ought  it  to  be  preferred  to  the  dry  cesspool,  where  the  dry 
cesspool  is  available  to  the  effect  already  indicated,  unless  provision  be  first 
made  for  scouring  the  contents  away,  and  for  removing  directly  to  the  upper  air 
the  gases  which  they  will  evolve  in  their  psssage.* 

Doors  and  windows  ought  not  to  be  taken  into  consideration  in  connection 
with  the  ventilation  of  buildings ;  they  are  provided  for  facility  of  ingress  and 
egress  to  and  within  the  building,  and  for  admitting  light  to  the  several  apart- 
ments, and  cannot  be  applied  to  promote  ventilation  in  the  seasons,  and  under 
the  circumstances,  which  make  ventilation  most  highly  desirable.  It  is  not 
enough,  indeed,  to  set  a  window  or  a  door  open  to  admit  fresh  air  into  an  other- 
wise unventilated  apartment,  even  when  windows  and  doors  can  be  properly 
set  open.  The  air  must  be  drawn  in,  or  it  must  be  pressed  in,  and  in  either  case 
there  must  be  a  way  of  escape  for  that  Which  the  apartment  had  previously  con- 
tained; and  as  two  opposite  currents  of  the  same  kind  of  fluid  can  hardly  pass 
one  another  in  the  same  orifice,  the  ventilation  of  an  apartment — that  is,  the 
establishment  of  a  current  of  air  through  it — can  only  be  properly  effected  by 
the  establishment  of  opposite  currents  through  different  orifices.  In  this  man- 
ner it  will  be  found  that  a  fire-place,  with  an  open  flue  from  it  leading  to  the 
outer  air,  will  act  in  concert  with  an  open  window,  by  allowing  an  up-draught 
to  be  fed  by  the  window,  or  by  permitting  a  down-draught,  according  to  the 
state  of  the  atmosphere  and  the  direction  of  any  currents  of  wind,  or  as  there 
may  or  may  not  be  a  fire  in  the  chimney,  or  heat  affecting  its  flue  from  fire  in 
another  chimney.  But  the  state  of  the  atmosphere  is  uncertain,  currents  of 
winds  are  unsteady  and  changeable,  and,  moreover,  open  windows  are  seldom 
consistent  with  fires  as  sources  of  warmth,  and  the  common  domestic  focal  fire 
may  not,  therefore,  be  relied  upon  as  a  means  of  ventilating  an  apartment  in 
connection  with  open  windows.  Moreover,  one-third  of  the  life  of  civilized  man 
is  passed  in  apartments  within  buildings,  under  circumstances  which,  for  the 
most  part,  preclude  open  windows,  and  render  fires  either  inconvenient  or  un- 
necessary as  a  source  of  warmth.  One-third  of  the  lives  of  three-fourths  of 
the  people  of  England  is  passed,  however,  in  rooms  which  have  no  chimney  at 

*  In  coal  countries,  where  ash  and  cinder  arise  in  large  quantities  in  even  the  poorest  dwell- 
ings, and  go  to  the  ash-pit  or  dust-bin  with  animal  and  vegetable  refuse,  &c,  the  injury  to  the 
air  of  the  locality  from  defective  scavengering  is  not  so  great  as  in  London,  and  other  towns 
where  coal  is  dear. 


VENTILATION  OF  BUILDINGS. 


163 


ail,  or  of  which  the  chimney  opening  has  a  board  before  it,  and  of  which  the 
doors  and  windows  are  all  shut  as  closely  as  the  occupiers  can  shut  them.  In 
the  cases  of  the  few  who  may  indulge  in  bed-room  fires  in  the  winter,  or  of  those 
who  will  open  a  bed-chamber  window  an  inch  or  two  in  the  summer,  the  for- 
mer allow  the  fire  to  divide  with  them  the  pent-up  air  of  the  apartment,  and  the 
latter  shut  down  the  register-flap,  or  put  up  the  chimney-board,  to  prevent  the 
circulation,  which  the  state  of  the  atmosphere  or  of  the  wind  might  bring  about. 

But  although,  between  the  focal  fire  which  compels  air  to  enter,  and  the  chinks 
and  crannies  by  which,  when  doors  and  windows  are  shut,  the  air  is  compelled 
to  pass,  some  amount  of  ventilation  is  obtained  in  the  customary  day-rooms,  it 
is  mainly  through  the  lower  parts  of  a  room,  and  to  the  height  of  the  chimney- 
opening,  that  any  change  is  really  effected  ;  and  even  this  amount  of  ventilation 
is  not  obtained  without  exposing  the  occupiers  of  the  room  to  cold  draughts; 
whilst  in  summer  time,  when  the  air  of  an  apartment  is  sought  to  be  changed 
by  opposite  open  windows,  the  occupiers  are  exposed  to  draughts  which  are 
often  as  much  more  dangerous,  as  they  are  more  agreeable,  than  the  cold 
draughts  which  the  fire  compels  in  the  winter. 

Fire-places  and  their  flues,  and  doors  and  windows,  may,  therefore,  be  fully 
provided  in  any  building,  and  to  every  apartment  of  a  building,  and  the  build- 
ing, and  its  apartments  remain  wholly  unventilated  in  the  proper  sense  of  the 
term,  which — it  may  be  repeated  in  another  form — consists  in  the  continued  flow 
into  the  building,  and  into  its  apartments,  of  fresh  air,  in  a  state  to  be  agreeable 
as  it  regards  temperature,  and  in  a  manner  which  shall  not  constitute  a  sensible 
current,  and  the  consequent  ejection  from  the  building  of  spent  or  otherwise  de- 
teriorated air,  and  this  at  all  times  and  seasons.  But  air  is  an  inert  body,  and 
will  not  move  either  into  or  out  of  an  apartment,  unless  something  be  done  to 
induce  movement;  but  it  yields  ready  obedience  to  any  action  that  does  not 
seek  to  compress  it,  and  responds  freely  to  any  endeavour  to  draw  it.  It  will 
neither  enter  a  close  room,  unless  way  is  first  made  for  it  by  the  exit  of  what 
may  be  there  already ;  nor  will  it  submit,  without  resistance,  to  be  pressed  into 
a  close  room,  but  it  will  follow  in  at  one  opening  if  air  be  drawn  out  at  another, 
or  it  will  enter  and  drive/ out  what  might  be  already  in  possession  of  the  in- 
closed space  with  the  slightest  possible  force ;  that  is  to  say,  the  way  out  being 
as  large  as  the  way  by  which  the  air  is  pressed  in. 

Some  power  must,  thereibre,  be  employed  aud  applied  to  secure  the  move- 
ment of  air,  necessary,  in  the  first  place,  to  the  ventilation  of  a  building  or  of 
an  apartment,  and  irrespective  of  the  condition  of  the  air  as  to  temperature ; 
and  the  power  employed  should  be  certain  and  constant.  But  there  is  no  power 
placed  at  our  disposal  that  can  be  relied  upon  as  certain  and  constant,  Avithout 
involving  labor,  that  is  to  say,  expense  ;  whilst  the  purpose  under  consideration 
is  one,  of  which  the  people  generally  do  not  see  the  necessity  so  clearly,  nor  feel 
so  acutely,  as  to  induce  them  to-  be  at  charges  to  promote  it. 

People,  who  would  revolt  at  the  idea  of  drinking  out  of  the  same  cup  or  glass 
with  a  stranger,  or  even  with  a  guest,  suffer  no  annoyance  from,  and  feel  no  dis- 
gust at,  inhaling  what  has  already  passed  through  the  lungs  of  those  who  may 
be  shut  up  in  a  room  with  them,  however  close  the  room  maybe,  and  whether 
the  room  be  an  apartment  of  a  dwelling-house,  a  shop,  a  chapel,  a  church,  or  a 
theatre. 

Another  phase  of  foulness  as  it  regards  ventilation  is  found  in  the  practice  of 
the  tobacco-smoker,  whom  fastidiousness  would  prevent  from  taking  up  a  cigar 
that  had  been  between  the  lips  of  another;  but  who  seems  to  be  unconscious 
that,  although  the  expired  air  of  untainted  breath  may  rise  as  it  passes  the  lips, 
the  air  comes  dense,  and  tainted  with  a  nauseous  odour,  out  of  his  mouth,  and, 
refusing  to  rise,  is  perforce  inhaled  by  whoever  may  follow  the  same  way;  the 
squeamishness  being  exercised  in  his  own  favor,  and  the  grossness  to  the  loath- 
ing of  his  neighbors. 

But  although  power,  involving  expense  in  its  establishment,  maintenance, 
and  application,  is  necessary  to  effect  the  proper  and  complete  ventilation  of  any 
buildings  used  for  the  purposes  of  habitation  in  civilized  life,  a  much  greater 
approach  to  ventilation  than  is  generally  attained  maybe  made  without  the  ad- 
ditional expense  which  the  employment  of  a  certain  and  constant  power  would 
impose,  if  advantage  were  taken  of  the  agencies  which  nature  provides  without 
charge,  and  of  those  which  are  commonly  established  and  maintained  for  other 
'purposes.    The  agencies  provided  by  nature,  available  towards  the  ventilation  of 


IQ4  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

buildings,  consist  in  the  difference  in  density  of  the  atmosphere  at  different  ten?* 
peratures,  and  in  the  force  of  the  wind :  the  one  always,  to  some  extent,  availa- 
ble, as  between  the  inside  and  outside  of  a  building :  and  the  other  only  availa- 
ble when  it  is  in  force,  at  which  time,  however,  it  is  liable  to  act  with  more  than 
the  desired  effect,  if  the  means  of  its  application  be  adapted  to  render  its  send- 
ees of  use  when  it  acts  but  slightly.  These  agencies  being  taken  together, 
however,  and  aided  rather  than  checked,  as  they  would  be  according  to  the  com- 
mon practice,  by  the  heat  from  the  flues  of  the  fires  which  are  to  be  found  in 
every  dwelling-house,  at  least,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  all  the  year  round, 
will  be  found  to  do  much  if  properly  applied  to  ventilation  in  most  ordinary 
eases. 

Let  every  fire-place  be  connected  with  the  outer  air  by  a  flue,  tube,  or  other 
means  of  communication  in  the  wall,  or  through  or  under  the  floor,  opening  out 
at  the  lowest  level  above  ground  and  admitting  the  air  behind  the  range  or  stove, 
or  rather  behind  the  faces  or  cheeks  which  may  be  made  to  form  a  coffer  about 
the  fire-box  or  grate,  shut  off  at  the  top  by  a  metal  pkte,  or  by  the  boiler  if  it 
be  a  range,  or  by  tiles  set  to  that  effect;  and  make  openings  through  the  faces 
or  cheeks  at  the  level  of  the  hearth  to  let  in  air  before  the  fire,  and  so  that  the  fire 
may  be  fed  with  air  which  it  will  compel  to  enter,  and  be  spared  the  task  of 
checking  the  desired  up-draught  in  whatever  flue  or  flues  may  be  provided  to 
carry  off  the  foul  or  spent  air  from  the  apartment,  or  from  the  inside  of  the  house- 
generally.  If  the  air  so  delivered  by  the  special  provision  made  for  every  fire, 
is  in  sufficient  quantity— that  is  to  say,  if  the  way  for  it  be  large  enough,  and  it 
ought  for  the  purpose  to  be  equal  in  area  in  its  transverse  section  to  the  register- 
way  over  the  fire — there  will  be  no  draughts  in  the  room  when  the  doors  and 
windows  are  shut,  although  the  wind  may  force  currents  if  the  joints  be  badly 
made ;  and,  moreover,  the  air  admitted  to  feed  the  fire  will  take  up  warmth 
enough  from  the  grate,  in  passing  behind  and  about  it,  not  to  be  disagreeable  if 
it  escape  into  the  room  and  be  felt,  nor  detrimental  to  the  purposes  of  afire  used 
for  cooking. 

The  fires  being  thus  provided  with  air  for  the  purposes-,  as  well  as  with  vents 
for  the  products,  of  combustion,  will  make  no  demand  for  airupon  those  vents — 
that  is  to  say,  upon  their  own  smoke-flues,  but,  on  the  contrary,,  send  a  stronger 
draught  up  them.  In  such  case  the  chimney-flue  may  be  made  the  means  of 
removing  the  spent  air  from  the  room  itself  by  an  opening  made  under  the  ceil- 
ing into  the  flue.  But,  it  may  be  said,  there  will  be  an  effective  up-draught  only 
when  there  is  a  fire  burning  in  the  grate — and  that  is  true,  and  therein  the  oper- 
ation is  defective  for  the  full  purposes  of  ventilation ;  and,  it  may  be  added, 
that  it  does  not  yet  appear  in  what  manner  the  room' itself  is  to  be  supplied  with 
the  air  which,  when  spent,  will  be  drawn  into  the  flue  by  the  up-draught,  occa- 
sioned by  the  combustion  going  on  in  the  grate  when  there  is  a  fire.  And  to 
supply  the  deficiency  in  this  respect  without  resorting  to  the  clumsy,  dirty,  and 
uncomfortable  practice  of  letting  cold  air  in  behind  and  under  the  skirtings  of 
a  room,  the  current  of  sweet  air  coming  in  by  a  flue  or  tube,  and  delivering  itself 
behind  and  about  the  grate,  may  be  made  to  do  the  double  duty  of  feeding  the 
fire  and  supplying  the  room  for  the  purposes  of  respiration. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  inlet  for  fresh  air  to  the  fire  should  be  equal  in  area 
to  the  area  of  the  register  opening,  and  a  register  is  almost  essential,  over  the 
fire  ;  but  a  supply  by  such  an  inlet  will  be  in  excess  of  the  demand  of  combus- 
tion in  the  grate,  inasmuch  as  the  register  opening  must  bealways  large  enough 
to  carry  off  the  smoke,  or  steam  rather,  which  coal,  when  it  first  reaches  the 
fire,  throws  oft';  and  although  this  should  be  followed  by  a  full  body  of  air, 
much  of  what  the  fire  would  draw  in  will  pass  up  the  flue  un consumed,  when 
the  simple  purposes  of  combustion  alone  have  to  be  supplied.  The  register- 
flap  will  admit,  therefore,  of  being  partially  closed  during  the  long  intervals 
between  the  coalings  of  a  fire,  and  the  fresh  and  tempered  air  emerging  from 
the  openings  through  the  cheeks  of  the  grate  will  enter  the  room  to  supply  the 
place  of  what  the  chimney-flue  is  drawing  offby  the  orifice  under  the  ceiling.  By 
this  simple  process,  and  with  most  inexpensive  mechanical  arrangements,  every 
room  in  which  a  fire  is  employed  may  be  pleasantly  and  most  wholesomely  fed 
with  air,  and.be,  to  a  great  extent,  really  and  effectually  ventilated  so  long  as  a 
fire  is  employed. 

So  long  as  the  up-draught  is  certain,  that  is,  as  long  as  afire  is  burning  in  the 
grate  below,  and  the  fire  is  well  supplied  with  air,  there  will  be  no  danger  of 


VENTILATION  OF  BUILDINGS. 


165 


anything  coming  down  the  flue.  But  inasmuch  as  the  flue  is  a  smoke-flue,  and 
to  prevent  any  down-draught  from  dislodging  the  soot,  and  driving  i  t  through  the 
orifice  into  the  apartment,  it  is  necessary  to  apply  soine  simple  self-acting  valve 
which  shall  close  the  orifice  to  the  slightest  pressure  from  the  side  toward  the 
flue,  and  open  it  to  an  equally  slight  pressure  on  the  side  of  the  apartment. 
****  ***  *  *  *  * 

Power  may  be  applied  in  the  ventilation  of  buildings,  either — as  already  re- 
marked— by  forcing  in  the  fresh  air,  or  by  drawing  out  the  spent  air,  and  a  light 
and  simple  pump  of  not  more  than  a  turnspit  power  will  suffice  to  ventilate  al- 
most any  building  of  average  size,  to  the  extent  of  establishing  an  equable  and 
sufficient  current  of  air  through  it;  so  that,  whether  the  pump  be  worked  by  di- 
rect or  by  reversed  pumping  action,  there  be  both  an  inlet  and  an  outlet  fully 
equal  to  the  capacity  of  the  pump,  the  outlet  at  least  being  not  liable  to  be  acted 
Upon  by  any  currents  of  wind.  Thus,  if  there  be  an  apparatus  for  warming  air, 
it  should  be  placed  at  a  low  level,  in  free  communication  with  the  outer  air, 
which  should  be  warmed  in  its  way  into  the  building,  and  the  warmed  air  passing 
freely  into  the  building,  a  pump  applied  to  a  lift-case,  or  other  tube  or  flue  open- 
ing to  the  interior  at  a  high  level  diagonally  opposite  to  the  inlet,  and  worked  there, 
the  whole  of  the  air  in  the  building,  so  far  as  It  is  exposed  to  the  current,  may 
be  changed  in  a  time  that  can  be  calculated,  the  fresh  warm  air  taking  the 
place  of  what  is  removed — that  is,  if  all  the  other  inlets  besides  that  for  the 
warmed  air  be  closed,  and  the  warming  apparatus  and  its  means  of  warming 
be  sufficient;  and,  in  like  manner,  in  the  season  when  it  is  not  necessary  to 
warm  the  air  before  it  is  admitted,  the  same  action  will  change  the  air  and 
eause  substitution  of  fresh  for  foul,  though  the  ways  in  may  be  greatly  increased 
by  opened  windows  and  doors.  Conversely,  the  power  may  be  applied  at  the 
inlet  for  the  warmed  air,  when  the  reversed  action  of  the  pump  will  throw  air 
in ;  there  being,  as  a  matter  of  course,  a  way  out  provided;  when  the  spent  air, 
meeting  with  no  sensible  resistance,  will  pass  off  by  such  outlet,  and  so  thorough 
ventilation  will  be  effected. 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  remark  that  many  churches  are  supplied  with  a 
certain  and  constant  power,  so  placed  for  the  most  part,  with  reference  to  the 
body  of  the  church,  as  not  only  to  offer  itself,  but  to  offer  itself  in  the  most  con- 
venient place  for  the  purpose  of  promoting  the  effective  ventilation  of  the  build- 
ing whenever  its  services  may  be  required  Church  clocks  have,  or  ought  to 
have,  power  beyond  their  ordinary  work,  to  overcome  the  effect  of  the  highest 
wind  upon  the  hands,  so  that  every  church  dock  may  be  supposed  able  to  spare 
power  enough  to  work,  at  sufficient  speed,  the  light  pumps  necessary  in  any 
case  to  draw  off  the  spent  air  from  the  body  of  the  church.  And  the  church 
clock  is  placed  in  the  tower,  and  the  tower  rises  so  much  above  the  body  of  the 
church,  that  it  may  be  most  easily  made  to  act  as  the  ventilating  flue  to  the 
church.  Thus,  in  winter-time  the  withdrawal  of  the  cold  air  by  pumps  in  the 
tower,  fitted  into  flue-like  lift-cases  and  geared  to  the  clock,  will  give  the  warm- 
ing apparatus,  which  ought  perhaps  to  be  diagonally  opposite,  or  thereabouts, 
to  the  outlet  into  the  tower,  the  means  of  warming  the  church  in  a  much  shorter 
time  than  when  it  has  to  aet  upon  the  confined  and  inert  body  of  cold  air  which 
the  chureh  may  have  contained';  inasmuch  as  the  pumps  would,  in  withdraw- 
ing the  cold  air,  compel  the  fresh  air,  tempered  by  the  warming  apparatus,  to 
supply  its  plaee;  and  this  operation  being  effected  before  the  services  com- 
mence, the  church  would  not  be  felt  by  the  assembling  congregation  to  be  either 
cold  or  close,  and  the  ventilating  process  continuing,  the  spent  air  would  be  re- 
moved as  it  arose,  and  its  place  being  supplied  by  fresh  and  tempered  air  for 
respiration,  the  faintness  and  weariness  which  so  often  distress  a  congregation 
in  a  close  unventilated  church  would  never  be  felt:  nor  would  the  operation  be 
less  beneficial  in  summer-time,  when  the  horizontal  flaps  to  the  half-hopper 
windows  of  churches  stand,  without  such  operations,  unavailingly  open,  as  the 
cooler  outer  air  cannot  rise  to  flow  over  the  hoppers,  even  if  it  could  make  its 
way  in  against  the  pent-up  air  already  inclosed.  But  the  pumps  in  the  clock- 
tower,  worked  by  the  clock,  summer  as  well  as  winter,  and  drawing  the 
spent  and  heated  air  out  from  under  the  roof  or  ceiling  of  the  church,  would 
compel  the  outer  air  to  supply  its  place  within  the  church,  by  whatever  ways 
it  may  be  found  in  any  case  most  to  the  comfort  d£  the  .congregation  to  opera 
fer  its  adsaission. 


1(3(3  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

A  knowledge  of  the  organization  of  the  Public  Schools  of  Boston,  is 
necessary  to  a  ready  understanding  of  the  plans  of  the  new  school-houses 
recently  erected  in  that  city, — especially  of  the  new  Grammar  school- 
houses.  For  this  reason,  and  for  general  information,  we  have  drawn  up 
the  following  sketch  of  the  system. 

System  of  Public  Instruction  in  Boston,  Mass. 

The  system  of  Public  Instruction  in  Boston,  as  it  now  stands,  embra- 
cing Primary,  Grammar,  and  High  Schools,  is  the  growth  of  more  than 
two  centuries.  The  germ  of  the  whole  system  is  to  be  found  in  the  vote 
of  the  town  by  which  "  Brother  Philemon  Purmont  was  intreated  to  be- 
come school-master  for  the  teaching  and  nurturing  of  children  with  us," 
and  the  first  records  of  the  town  contain  a  sum  voted  for  the  "  maintenance 
of  a  free  school-master."  By  the  Act  of  the  General  Court  passed  1647, 
"  to  the  end  that  learning  should  not  be  buried  in  the  graves  of  our  fore- 
fathers," every  town  having  one  hundred  householders  was  required  to 
maintain  a  "free  grammar  school ;  the  master  whereof  being  able  to  in- 
struct youth  so  far  as  they  may  be  fitted  for  the  university."  In  that 
year  the  present  Latin  School  was  founded,  but  was  known  as  the  Gram- 
mar School  till  1713,  when  it  took  the  name  of  the  South  Latin  School, — a 
new  Grammar  school  having  been  established  in  that  year,  called  the 
North  Latin  School,  and  now  known  as  the  Eliot  school. 

In  16S4,  a  class  of  free  schools  called  writing  schools  were  founded,  to 
leach  children  to  'L  read  and  write."     Of  this  class  there  were  four  in  1785. 

In  1789,  the  schools  were  remodeled.  One  (the  North)  of  the  Latin 
Schools  were  discontinued,  and  "reading  schools"  (now  known  as  depart- 
ments under  the  Grammar  master)  were  established  in  separate  depart- 
ments from  the  "  writing  schools ;"  and  the  whole  placed  under  the 
direction  of  a  School  Committee  chosen  annually  by  the  town.  Previous 
to  this,  the  schools  were  under  the  inspection  of  the  Selectmen,  "  and  of 
such  gentlemen  of  liberal  education,  together  with  the  reverend  minis- 
ters" as  should  be  appointed  for  the  purpose. 

In  1S12,  a  separate  school  for  colored  children  was  established,  and 
called  the  Smith  School. 

In  1818,  the  School  Committee  were  instructed  by  a  vote  of  the  town 
to  appoint  three  persons  from  each  ward,  whose  duty  it  was  made  collec- 
tively, to  provide  instruction  for  children  between  the  ages  of  four  and 
seven  years,  out  of  the  sum  of  $5000,  appropriated  for  the  purpose  for 
that  year.  This  was  the  origin  of  the  Primary  Schools  of  Boston,  and  of 
this  class  of  schools  in  this  country.  Previous  to  this  date,  no  child  could 
be  sent  to  the  Grammar  schools,  until  he  could  read  the  English  language. 

In  1821  the  English  High  School  for  boys  was  begun,  and  its  success 
was  such,  as  to  lead  to  the  establishment  in  1825  of  the  High  School  for 
girls.  This  last  school  was  discontinued  in  a  Hew  years.  Its  place  is  in 
part  supplied  by  allowing  the  girls  to  remain  two  years  longer  than  the 
boys  in  the  Grammar  school.  But  the  fact  that  near  two-thirds  of  all  the 
scholars  in  the  private  schools  are  females,  shows  that  there  is  a  defi- 
ciency in  the  system  of  public  schools  in  reference  to  female  education. 

In  1828  ten  schools,  one  in  each  primary  district,  were  designated  t© 
receive  children  who  were  over  seven  years,  and  were  not  prepared  for 
the  Grammar  schools. 

The  following  is  the  organization  of  the  Public  Schools,  as  gathered 
from  the  Rules  and  Regulations  published  in  1848. 
ORGANIZATION  of  the  system. 

All  the  schools  of  the  city  are  under  the  superintendence  of  a  Board,  or 
General  School  Committee,  consisting  of  the  Mayor,  the  President  of  the 


SYSTEM  OF  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS  IN  BOSTON.  {Qf 

Common  Council,  and  twenty-four  persons,  annually  elected  in  each  ward 
of  the  city. 

The  Board  meet  for  organization  in  January,  and  regularly  on  the  first 
Tuesday  of  February,  May,  August  and  November.  In  January  there 
are  appointed  a  Primary  School  Committee,  consisting  of  a  suitable  num- 
ber of  gentlemen ;  a  sub-committee  of  visitation,  of  five  members  for 
the  Latin  and  English  High  Schools  respectively,  and  of  three  for  each 
of  the  Grammar  schools ;  a  committee  on  books,  of  five  members  ;  a  com- 
mittee on  music,  of  three  members ;  a  committee  of  conference  with  the 
Primary  school  committee,  of  three  members — and  a  committee  on  school- 
houses,  to  eonsist  also  of  three  members. 

The  Primary  school  committee  have  the  exclusive  management  of  the 
Primary  schools,  organize  by  themselves  with  their  own  sub-committees, 
and  fill  any  vacancy  which  may  occur  during  the  year. 

The  sub -committee  of  visitation  must  examine  the  classes  in  their  re- 
spective schools  at  least  once  each  quarter  of  the  year,  and  visit  them  at 
least  once  a  month,  and  report  in  writing  to  the  quarterly  meeting  of  the 
Board.  This  committee  decide  who  are  to  receive  the  six  medals  in  their 
respective  schools,  purchased  out  of  the  fund  left  for  that  purpose  by 
Franklin ;  take  cognizance  of  any  difficulties  in  the  school,  or  respecting 
it ;  supply  vacancies  temporarily  in  the  office  of  teacher,  and  generally 
take  good  care  of  their  respective  schools. 

The  committees  of  examination  must  visit  all  the  schools  for  which  they 
are  appointed,  in  May.  June  or  July,  and  critically  examine  all  the  pupils 
of  the  first  elass,  in  all  the  branches  taught  therein,  and  report  to  the 
board  ;  and  after  their  report  has  been  accepted,  it  shall  be  printed  and 
distributed  to  every  family  in  the  eity. 

Besides  the  specific  duties  assigned  to  each  member  on  the  several  sub- 
committees, each  member  must  consider  it  his  duty  to  watch  over  all  the 
public  schools,  to  attend  the  visitations,  exhibitions  and  examinations. 

All  the  instructers  are  elected  annually  in  August,  and  their  salaries 
fixed  for  the  year.  In  case  of  a  vacancy,  notice  must  be  given  in  the 
newspapers,  and  application  to  the  committee  must  be  made  in  writing  by 
the  candidates. 

PRIMARY    SCHOOLS. 

There  are  now  181  Primary  sehools  for  children  over  4  and  under  8 
years  of  age.  Each  school  receives  an  average  of  fifty  children  of  both 
sexes,  and  are  taught  by  female  teachers. 

In  these  schools,  the  alphabet,  pronouncing  and  spelling  words,  numer- 
ation and  combination  of  numbers,  the  stops  and  marks,  mental  arithme- 
tic and  reading,  are  attended  to.  On  Tuesday  and  Friday  instruction  is 
given  to  such  as  come  prepared  for  it  in  needle-work.  Oral  instruction 
and  exereises  on  the  slate  and  blackboard  constitute  a  part  of  the  daily 
exercises.  The  health  and  physical  comfort  of  the  pupils  receive  special 
attention-  For  this  purpose  there  are  three  recesses  of  ten  minutes  each, 
every  half  day.  When  the  weather,  or  the  arrangements  of  the  build- 
ing will  not  admit  of  out-door  exercises,  various  gymnastic  exercises  are 
gone  through  with  in  doors.  The  ventilation  of  the  rooms  is  now  made 
an  objeet  of  speeial  attention. 

In  these  sehools  the  stimulus  of  rewards  and  prizes  is  applied — ten 
dollars  being  annually  appropriated  to  each  school  for  this  purpose. 

At  the  age  of  7,  every  pupil,  who  can  spell  correctly,  and  read  fluently 
receives  a  certificate  of  recommendation  to  one  of  the  Grammar  schools. 
If  not  prepared  for  the  Grammar  school,  the  pupil  is  sent  to  what  may  be 
termed  the  intermediate  school  of  the  district. 

The  city  in  reference  to  this  class  of  schools  is  divided  into  a  conven- 
ient number  of  districts.    Each  school  is  under  the  special  charge  of  one 


168 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


person,  and  the  schools  of  the  district  are  under  the  supervision  of  a  board, 
composed  of  the  committee  of  each  school.  Each  member  must  visit  his 
own  school  once  a  month,  and  all  the  schools  in  his  district  at  least  once  a 
year.  The  first  classes  in  all  the  schools  of  a  district  are  examined 
together,  by  a  committee  of  the  Primary  school  committee  semi-annually 
at  one  place. 

The  Primary  School  Board,  composed  of  all  the  members  appointed  by 
the  School  Committee,  meet  for  organization  in  February,  and  appoint  a 
President,  Secretary,  an  Executive  Committee,  and  a  committee  on 
school-houses,  and  on  school-books. 

The  Executive  Committee  attend  to  the  semi-annual  examinations  of 
the  schools  of  each  district,  and  report  on  their  condition,  and  suggest 
plans  of  improvement.  They  hold  also  semi-annual  meetings  of  ail  the 
Primary  school  teachers. 

Grammar  Schools. 
The  following  are  the  names,  situation  and  date  of  the  establishment  of 
the  several  Grammar  Schools. 


1.  Eliot  School,    . 

2.  Jldams  School, 

3.  Franklin  School, 

4.  Mayhem  School, 

5.  Hawes  School, 

6.  Smith  School, 

7.  Boylston  School, 

8.  Bowdoin  School, 

9.  Hancock  School, 

10.  Wells  School, 

11.  Johnson  School, 

12.  Winthrop  School 

13.  Lyman  School, 

14.  Endicoti  School, 

15.  Mather  School, 

16.  Brimmer  School, 

17.  Phillips  School, 

18.  Otis  School,     . 

19.  Dwight  School, 

20.  Quincy  School, 


North  Bennet  St For  Boys. 

Mason  St For  Boys! 

Washington  St For  Girls. 

Hawkins  St For  Boys, 

South  Boston, For  Boys 

Belknap  St For  Boys 

Fort  Hill, .  For  Boys 

Myrtle  St For  Girls, 

Between  Richmond  and  Prince  sts.For  Girls, 

McLean  St For  Girls, 

Tremont  St For  Girls, 

East  St For  Girls, 

East  Boston, For  Boys 

Cooper  St For  Boys 

South  Boston, For  Boys 

Common  St For  Boys, 

Pinckney  St For  Boys, 

Lancaster  St For  Boys 

Concord  St For  Boys 

Tyler  St For  Boys, 


1713 

1717 

1785 

1803 

and  Girls,  .  .  .  1811 
and  Girls,  .  .  .  1812 
and  Girls,    .    .    .  1819 

1821 

......  1822 

1833 

....  1836 

....  1836 

and  Girls,    .    .     .  lSS^ 

and  Girls,    .     .     .  1840 

and  Girls,    .    .    .  1843 

....  1844 

1844 

and  Girls',    '.    '.    !  1844 

and  Girls,    .    .    .  1844 

....  1847 


Children  who  can  read  fluently  easy  prose  may  be  admitted  into 
the  Grammar  and  Writing  Schools  at  the  age  of  .eight  years.  They 
must  be  examined  by  the  grammar  master.  Children  above  eight  years 
of  age.  although  not  possessing  the  necessary  qualifications,  may  be 
admitted  by  a  special  permit  from  the  Sub-Committee  of  the  school, 
and  children  of  the  age  of  seven  years  may  be  admitted  when  they  shall 
satisfactorily  appear,  on  examination  by  the  grammar  master,  to  be  other- 
wise qualified  for  admission  ;  but  no  pupil  can  be  admitted  to  the  Gram- 
mar Schools  from  the  Primary  Schools,  without  a  permit  from  a  member 
of  the  Primary  School  Committee. 

Boys  are  not  permitted  to  retain  their  place  in  these  schools  beyond  the 
day  of  the  next  annual  exhibition,  after  they  have  arrived  at  fourteen 
years  of  age,  unless  by  special  leave  from  the  Sub-Committee.  Girls 
are  allowed  to  attend  these  schools  until  the  next  annual  exhibition,  after 
they  shall  have  arrived  at  the  age  of  sixteen. 

In  these  schools  are  taught  the  common  branches  of  an  English  edu- 
cation.    They  are  organized  on  three  different  plans. 

First  Plan.  In  the  Eliot,  Adams,  Franklin,  Boylston,  Bowdoin.  Han- 
cock, Wells,  Mather,  Brimmer,  Phillips  and  Otis  Schools,  there  are  two 
halls,  occupied  by  two  departments,  one  of  which  is  a  Grammar  and 
the  other  a  Writing  School.  The  pupils  are  organized  in  two  divis- 
ions. While  one  division  attends  the  Grammar,  the  other  attends  the 
Writing  School.  Thus  the  two  departments  exchange  pupils  half  daily. 
In  the  Grammar  department,  the  pupils  are  taught  chiefly  Spelling, 


SYSTEM  OF  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS  IN  BOSTON.  Jgg 

Reading,  English  Grammar,  Geography,  and  History ;  and  in  the  Wri- 
ting department,  Writing,  Arithmetic,  Algebra.  Natural  Philosophy,  and 
Drawing. 

Second  Plan.  In  the  Hawes,  Johnson,  Winthrop,  Lyman,  and  Endi- 
cott  Schools,  there  are  two  departments,  entirely  distinct,  each  under  the 
control  of  separate  instructers. 

Third  Plan.  The  Mayhew,  Dwight,  Quincy,  and  Smith  Schools,  are 
each  under  the  charge  of  one  head  master,  who  has  the  direction  of  the 
whole  course  of  education. 

In  the  schools  on  the  first  plan,  for  boys  exclusively,  each  department 
is  instructed  by  a  master,  an  usher,  and  a  female  assistant.  In  the 
schools  on  the  first  plan,  for  girls  exclusively,  each  department  is  in- 
structed by  a  master  and  three  female  assistants.  In  the  mixed  schools 
on  the  first  plan,  each  department  is  instructed  either  by  a  master,  an 
usher,  and  one  female  assistant,  or  by  a  master  and  three  female  assist- 
ants, at  the  option  of  the  Sub-Committee. 

In  the  schools  on  the  second  plan,  each  department  is  instructed  by  a 
master  and  three  female  assistants. 

The  schools  on  the  third  plan  are  each  instructed  by  a  master,  a  sub- 
master,  an  usher,  and  three  female  assistants. 

Each  school  or  department  is  allowed  a  teacher  for  every  fifty-five 
pupils  on  the  register,  and  an  additional  female  assistant  may  be  ap- 
pointed whenever  there  are  thirty  scholars  above  the  complement  for 
the  teachers  already  in  the  school  or  department;  and  whenever  the 
number  of  pupils  on  the  register  is  reduced  to  thirty  less  than  such  com- 
plement, one  female  assistant  is  removed  from  such  school  or  department. 
Pupils  in  the  schools  on  the  first  plan  shall  attend  equally  in  both  de- 
partments, unless  specially  permitted  by  the  Sub-Committee  to  attend 
generally  or  exclusively  in  one. 

Each  school  or  department  of  a  school  is  divided  into  four  classes,  sub- 
ject to  such  sub-divisions  as  the  master  may  judge  expedient. 

The  order  of  attendance  in  the  schools  on  the  first  plan,  where  both 
sexes  attend,  is  as  follows: — On  the  first  week  after  the  summer  vacation, 
the  boys  attend  the  Grammar  School,  and  the  girls  the  Writing  School  in 
the  morning ;  and  the  boys  attend  the  Writing  School  and  the  girls  the 
Grammar  School  in  the  afternoon.  The  week  following,  the  order  is  re- 
versed, and  this  alternation  continues  through  the  year ;  the  weeks  of 
vacation  not  being  counted. 

In  the  schools  on  the  first  plan,  where  only  one  sex  attends,  each  of  the 
four  classes  is  divided  into  two  divisions,  nearly  equal  in  numbers,  and  the 
order  of  attendance  is  as  follows:— On  the  first  week  after  the  summer 
vacation,  the  first  divisions  attend  the  Grammar  School  and  the  second 
divisions  the  Writing  School  in  the  morning ;  and  the  second  divisions 
attend  the  Grammar  School  and  the  first  divisions  the  Writing  School  in 
the  afternoon.  The  week  following  the  order  is  reversed,  and  this  alter- 
nation continues  through  the  year,  the  weeks  of  vacation  not  being  counted. 
In  the  schools  on  the  second  and  third  plans,  the  order  of  attendance  and 
the  sub-divisions  of  the  classes  are  arranged  by  the  Sub-Committees  of 
such  schools,  upon  consultation  with  the  instructers. 

English  High  School. 
This  school  is  situated  in  Bedford  street.  It  was  instituted  in  1821, 
with  the  design  of  furnishing  the  young  men  of  the  city,  who  are  not 
intended  for  a  collegiate  course  of  study,  and  who  have  enjoyed  the  usual 
advantages  of  the  other  public  schools,  with  the  means  of  completing  a 
good  English  education.  Here  is  given  instruction  in  the  elements  of 
mathematics  and  natural  philosophy,  with  their  application  to  the  sciences 
and  the  arts,  in  grammar,  rhetoric,  and  belles  lettres,  in  moral  philosophy, 


170  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

In  history,  natural  and  civil,  and  in  the  French  language.  This  institu- 
tion is  furnished  with  a  valuable  mathematical  and  philosophical  appara- 
tus, for  the  purpose  of  experiment  and  illustration. 

The  instructors  in  this  school  are,  a  master,  a  sub-master,  and  so  many- 
assistants  as  shall  give  one  instructor  to  every  thirty-five  pupils,  but  no 
additional  assistant.  It  is  allowed  for  less  than  twenty-one  additional  pupils. 
It  is  a  necessary  qualification  in  all  these  instructors,  that  they  have  been 
educated  at  some  respectable  college,  and  they  shall  be  competent  to  in- 
struct in  the  French  language. 

No  boy  can  be  admitted  as  a  member  of  this  school,  under  the  age  of 
twelve  years. 

The  pupils  are  arranged  in  divisions,  corresponding  to  their  respec- 
tive degrees  of  proficiency.  It  is  made  the  duty  of  the  master  to  exam- 
ine each  division  as  often  as  may  be  consistent  with  the  attention  due  to 
those  under  his  immediate  instruction. 

Individuals  are  advanced  according  to  their  scholarship,  and  no  faster ; 
and  none  are  permitted  to  remain  members  of  the  school  longer  than 
three  years. 

Each  class,  or  section,  is  occasionally  reviewed  in  its  appropriate 
studies ;  and,  once  a  quarter,  there  is  a  general  review  of  all  the  pre- 
vious studies. 

Latin  Grammar  School. 

This  school  is  situated  in  Bedford  street.  It  was  instituted  about  the 
middle  of  the  17th  century  The  Latin  Grammar  School  and  the  Eng- 
lish High  School,  complete  the  system  of  public  education,  enjoyed  alike 
by  all  classes  in  this  city. 

In  the  Latin  Grammar  School  the  rudiments  of  the  Latin  and  Greek 
languages  are  taught,  and  scholars  are  fully  qualified  for  the  most  respect- 
able colleges.  Instruction  is  also  given  in  Mathematics,  Geography, 
History,  Declamation,  and  English  Composition. 

The  instructors  in  this  school  are  a  master,  a  sub-master,  and  so  many 
assistants  as  shall  give  one  instructor  to  every  thirty-five  pupils,  but  no 
additional  assistant  is  allowed  for  less  than  twenty-one  additional  pu- 
pils. 

It  is  a  necessary  qualification  in  all  the  instructors  of  this  school  that 
they  have  been  educated  at  some  respectable  college. 

The  regular  course  of  instruction  continues  five  years,  and  no 
scholar  can  enjoy  the  privileges  of  this  school  beyond  that  term,  unless 
by  leave  of  the  Sub-Committee. 

These  schools  are  justly  the  pride  and  boast  of  the  city ;  and  the  senti- 
ment with  which  they  are  universally  regarded  is  beautifully  embodied 
in  the  following  extract  from  an  address  by  George  S.  Hillard,  Esq. 

The  schools  of  Boston  are  the  best  jewels  in  her  crown.  If  I  were  asked  by 
an  intelligent  stranger  to  point  out  to  him  our  most  valued  possessions.  I  would 
show  to  him — not  our  railroads,  our  warehouses,  filled  with  the  wealth  of  all 
the  earth,  our  ships,  our  busy  wharves  and  marts,  where  the  car  of  commerce 
is  ever  "  thundering  loud  with  her  ten  thousand  wheels,"  but  I  would  cany  him 
to  one  of  our  public  schools,  would  show  him  its  happy  and  intelligent  chil- 
dren, hushed  into  reverent  silence  at  their  teacher's  word,  or  humming  over 
their  tasks  with  a  sound  like  that  of  bees  in  June.  I  would  tell  him  that  here 
was  the  foundation  on  which  our  material  prosperity  was  reared,  that  here 
were  the  elements  from  which  we  constructed  the  State. 

Here  are  the  fountains  from  which  flow  those  streams  which  make  glad  our 
land.  The  schools  of  Boston  are  dear  to  my  heart.  Though  I  can  have  no 
personal  and  immediate  interest  in  them;  though  no  child  on  earth  calls  me 
father;  yet  most  gladly  do  I  contribute  to  their  support,  according  to  my  sub- 
stance;  and  when  I  see  a  father's  eyes  filled  with  pleasant  tears  as  he  hears 


SYSTEM  OF  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS  IN  BOSTON. 


171 


the  music  of  his  child's  voice  linked  to  some  strain  of  poetry  or  burst  of  elo- 
quence, I  can  sympathize  in  the  feeling  in  which  I  cannot  share.  May  the 
blessing  of  Heaven  rest  upon  our  schools.  They  are  an  object  worthy  of  all 
efforts  and  sacrifices.  We  should  leave  nothing  undone  which  may  tend  to 
make  them  more  excellent  and  more  useful.  For  this;  we  should  gather  into 
our  own  stores  all  the  harvest  of  experience  which  have  been  reaped  from 
other  soils.  The  present  is  an  age  of  progress.  The  claims  of  humanity  are 
now  beginning  to  be  heard  as  they  never  were  before.  The  movements  in 
favor  of  Peace,  of  Anti-Slavery,  of  Temperance,  of  Education,  of  Prison  Dis- 
cipline, all  spring  from  the  same  root —  a  sense  of  sympathy  and  brotherhood. 

Is  it  too  much  to  say  that  the  dawn  of  a  new  day  is  reddening  the  tops  of  the 
mountains'?  Higher  yet  may  that  light  ascend,  till  its  golden  shafts  have 
pierced  the  deepest  valleys  of  ignorance  and  sin!  Let  us  not  stand  idly  on 
the  brink,  while  the  tide  of  improvement  sweeps  by  us,  but  boldly  launch  our 
bark  upon  the  stream. 

We  live  in  a  community  ready  to  discern  and  to  do  that  which  is  right.  It 
should  be  a  source  of  gratitude  to  us  that  our  lot  is  cast  on  a  spot,  where  every 
good  and  worthy  faculty  may  find  appropriate  work  to  do.  When  I  behold 
this  city  that  we  love,  seated  upon  her  triple  throne  of  hills  with  her  mural 
crown  of  spires  and  domes  glittering  in  the  smokeless  air,  when  I  remember 
how  much  of  that  which  embellishes  and  dignifies  life  is  gathered  under  those 
roofs,  I  feel  that  he  has  not  lived  in  vain  who  has  contributed,  even  in  the 
smallest  measure,  to  the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  Boston.  And  how  can 
we  do  this  more  effectually  than  by  watching  over  her  schools, — by  making 
them  as  nearly  perfect  as  human  institutions  can  bel  For  this  object  let 
neither  wealth  nor  toil  be  spared.  Here  are  fountains  of  life;  as  they  are,  so 
will  its  issues  be.  The  child  is  father  to  the  man.  Make  our  schools  all  that 
they  can  be,  and  all  that  they  should  be,  and  we  shall  give  to  the  prosperity  of 
our  beloved  city  a  permanence  like  that  of  moral  truth.  It  will  become  an 
inevitable  necessity,  like  that  which  compels  the  heart  of  man  to  love  what  is 
lovely,  and  venerate  what  is  venerable. 

The  original  cost  of  the  public  school-houses,  exclusive  of  the  amount 
expended  from  time  to  time  for  alteration  or  repairs,  of  rebuilding  when 
destroyed  by  fire,  exceeds  $1,000,000. 

The  following  table  exhibits  the  expenditures  for  school-houses  and 
other  school  purposes,  by  the  City  of  Boston,  for  the  last  ten  years  end- 
ing in  May,  1848.  We  are  indebted  to  Joseph  W.  Ingraham,  Esq.,  who 
knows  the  history  and  statistics  of  the  public  schools  of  Boston  by  heart, 
for  these  statistics. 


For  new  houses,  rents,  and   repairs, 

Fuel,        

Furniture, 

Salaries  of  Teachers, 

Incidentals, 

Total 


iGrammnr  Schools 

$602/720"  9' 

27,622  12 

17,589  96 

857,824  91 

26,238  24 

'$1,531,996  20 


Primary  Schools. 

Total  for  all  the 
Schools.' 

$236,026  10 

20,864  27 

10,825  32 

293,986  45 

6,613  67 

$838,747  07 
48,486  39 
28,415  28 

1,151,811  36 
32,851  91 

$568,315  81 

$2,100,312  01 

The  following  are  the  items  of  expenditures  for  public  schools  for  the 
year  ending  May  1,  1848. 


For  new  houses,  rents,  and  repairs, 

Fuel 

Furniture,  and  Apparatus,      .     . 

Salaries, 

Incidentals, 

Total,       ........ 


Grammar  Schools. 

Primary  Schools 

Total  for  all  the 
Schools. 

$165,987  58 

4,381  27 

4.439  46 

114,925  80 

2,228  75 

$52,848  71 

4,896  74 

3,584  08 

47,950  64 

763  83 

$218,836  29 

9,277  95 

8,023  54 

162,876  44 

3,092  59 

$291,962  86 

$110,044  00 

$402,966  81 

The  above  tables  do  not  include  the  expenditures  for  the  support  of  the 
House  of  Reformation  for  Juvenile  offenderSj  which  is  a  part  of  the  educa- 
tional system  of  the  city. 


|72  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

It  is  to  be  feared  there  are  not  many  communities,  even  in  New  Eng- 
land, where  the  Chief  Magistrate,  elected  annually  by  the  people,  would 
have  the  courage  to  utter  the  following  noble  sentiments,  spoken  by 
Mayor  Q,uincy,  at  the  dedication  of  the  Gluincy  Grammar  School-house, 
June  26,  1848. 

As  Chairman  of  the  "  City  Fathers,"  he  did  not  hesitate  to  stand  there  and 
tell  the  tax-paying  community  that  they  had,  in  this  manner,  just  expended 
$200,000  of  their  money ;  and  he  was  confident  the  question  would  not  be 
asked,  Why  spend  so  much  1  Why  spend  more  for  popular  education  in  the 
city  of  Boston,  than  is  expended  in  the  whole  of  Great-Britain  1 

He  said,  if  but  once  in  a  century,  a  little  being  should  be  sent  into  this  world, 
of  most  delicate  and  beautiful  structure,  and  we  were  told  that  a  wonderful 
principle  pervaded  every  part  of  it,  capable  of  unlimited  expansion  and  hap- 
piness, capable  of  being  fitted  to  associate  with  angels  aud  becoming  the  friend 
of  God.:  or  if  it  should  receive  a  wrong  bias,  of  growing  up  in  enmity  against 
him,  and  incurring  everlasting  misery,-  could  any  expense  of  education  which 
would  contribute  to  save  from  such  misery  and  elevate  to  such  happiness,  be 
too  much"?  But,  instead  of  one  such  little  being,  24,000  were  now  entrusted  to 
the  care  of  the  "  City  Fathers,"  and  their  education,  in  this  world,  will  deter- 
mine their  future  destiny, — of  companionship  with  angels,  or  with  the  degraded 
wretched,  enemies  of  God. 

If  the  community  had  no  responsibility  in  the  matter,  how,  he  asked,  could 
it  spend  money  better  than  in  educating  these  children  1  But  they  would  soon 
control  the  affairs  of  Boston,  and,  to  a  great  extent,  of  the  Commonwealth. 
Nor  would  their  influence  stop  here.  "No  man  liveth  for  himself"  Each  ol 
these  children  would  form  a  centre  of  widening  influence,  whose  circumference 
might  yet  embrace  millions  of  minds,  and  extend  through  unnumbered  centu- 
ries. 

Here,  unlike  other  countries,  every  restraint  to  individual  elevation  is  thrown 
off.  All  have  the  most  perfect  liberty  that  can  be  enjoyed,  without  infringing 
upon  the  rights  of  others.  How  important  then,  that  each  child  should  be  ed- 
ucated to  understand  his  rights,  and  the  principles  and  habits  of  self-Govern- 
ment, 

We  are  all,  said  he,  in  a  partnership,  and  if  one  of  these  little  partners  suf- 
fers in  his  character,  the  whole  community  suffer  in  consequence. 

He  believed  that  nearly  half  of  the  400  boys  in  that  school  were  not  Ameri- 
cans. Many  of  their  parents  were  not  fitted  for  the  duties  of  a  Republic.  But 
these  children,  educated  side  by  side  with  our  own,  would  learn  self-govern- 
ment, and  be  trained  to  become  worthy  citizens  of  this  free  country. 

It  seemed,  he  said,  the  design  of  Providence  to  mix  races;  and  this  influx 
of  foreigners  might  constitute  the  very  elements  necessary  to  give  to  American 
character  its  highest  excellence.  Standing  on  such  a  moral  elevation,  as  Bos- 
ton did,  they  felt  it  a  duty  to  provide  for  the  education  of  all,  and  thus  present 
to  the  whole  country,  models  of  popular  education. 

His  policy  would  ever  be  to  inquire,  not  how  little  would  do  in  appropria- 
tions for  educational  purposes ;  but  how  much  could  be  judiciously  and  economi- 
cally expended?  And  he  believed  the  general  voice  of  the  citizens  of  Boston, 
would  continue  to  sustain  this  policy. 

The  liberality  with  which  public  schools  are  fostered  in  Massachusetts 
is  not  confined  to  Boston,  and  the  large  towns,  as  will  appear  from  the 
following  tables,  compiled  from  the  School  Returns  for  1844-45,  and  first 
published  in  this  form  in  Educational  Tract,  No.  3. 

No  state  in  the  Union, — no  country  in  the  world  can  show  returns  for 
the  same  number  of  towns,  which  argue  so  favorably  for  the  condition 
and  improvement  of  common  schools,  as  does  Table  No.  1,  which  exhibits 
the  condition  of  the  common  schools  in  several  important  particulars,  m 
twenty-nine  towns,  which  rank  highest  among  the  three  hundred  and  eight 
towns  in  the  .state. 


COMMON  SCHOOLS  IN  MASSACHUSETTS. 


173 


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COMMON  SCHOOLS  IN  MASSACHUSETTS. 


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176  school  architecture. 

Plans  and  Description  of  a  Primary  School-house,  Boston. 

Three  new  Primary  School-houses  were  erected  in  Boston,  in  1847,  under 
the  direction  of,  and  on  plans  furnished  by,  Joseph  W.  Ingraham,  Esq., 
Chairman  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Primary  School  Board,  and 
Chairman  of  their  Committee  on  School-houses.  Mr.  Ingraham  is  also  a 
member  of  the  Massachusetts  Board  of  Education.  He  has  devoted  himself 
assiduously,  and  without  compensation,  for  upwards  of  twenty-five  years,  to 
the  Primary  Schools  of  Boston,  and  the  cause  of  Education  generally  ;  and 
no  one  is  better  acquainted  than  he  with  what  the  wants  and  conveniences 
of  both  pupils  and  teachers  require  in  edifices  for  this  class  of  schools.  The 
following  very  minute  description  and  plans  were  kindly  furnished,  on  appli- 
cation, by  him.  The  plans  are  copied  from  those  appended  to  his  Address 
at  the  Dedication  (March  27,  1848)  of  one  of  the  School-houses,  —  that  in 
Sheafe  street.  They  will  be  found  worthy  the  attention  of  all  who  are  inter- 
ested in  school  architecture.  The  distinguished  Secretary  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Board  of  Education,  (Mr.  Mann,)  who  was  present  at  the  dedication 
of  this  building,  in  his  remarks  at  the  subsequent  dedication  of  another 
School-house  in  Boston,  referred  to  this  as  "  perfect  of  its  kind,"  and  said  it 
"  might  well  be  called  the  model  School-house  of  the  State,  and  in  School- 
houses  Massachusetts  was  a  model  for  the  world."  The  teachers  in  one  of 
these  buildings,  after  having  occupied  their  rooms  for  five  months,  say  they 
"cannot  imagine  any  improvement  that  can  be  made." 

The  City  of  Boston  is  so  compact,  and  land  is  so  very  expensive,  that  it  ia 
difficult  to  procure  sufficient  space  for  playgrounds  and  other  conveniences  ; 
but  the  Schoolhouses  erected  during  the  past  year,  (1847,)  are  better  pro- 
vided for,  in  this  respect,  than  any  others  in  the  City. 

There  were  three  Schoolhouses  erected  during  the  year  1847,  on  plans 
devised  and  furnished  by  Mr.  Ingraham,  the  Chairman  of  the  Primary  School 
Committee  on  Schoolhouses.  The  general  features  of  each  are  the  same, 
differing  only  in  consequence  of  the  size  and  location  of  the  lots  on  which 
they  are  erected. 

These  Schoolhouses  are  believed  to  possess  greater  conveniences,  for  the 
comfort  and  happiness  of  both  teachers  and  scholars,  than  any  others  ever 
before  constructed.  In  planning  them,  several  objects  were  had  in  view. 
Among  these,  were, 

The  desire  to  allow  to  each  scholar  sufficient  space,  and  have  the  rooms 
perfectly  heated  and  ventilated,  so  that  no  one  should  suffer  from  want  of 
room,  or  comfortable  and  pure  air : 

To  have  all  the  light  in  the  Schoolrooms  come  in  from  one  side,  and  that 
at  the  backs  of  the  scholars,  to  prevent  the  detrimental  effects  of  cross-lights, 
which  are  very  injurious  to  the  eyes  of  young  children  when  in  a  forming  state  : 

To  give  suitable  space,  on  the  walls,  for  the  display  of  maps,  charts,  pic- 
tures, &c,  and  provide  sufficient  recitation-rooms,  closets,  cabinets,  and  other 
necessary  conveniences : 

To  have  a  separate  entrance  for  each  school  : 

To  so  arrange  the  usual  out-door  conveniences,  that  the  scholars  should 
not  have  to  go  out  of  doors  in  stormy  weather,  or  down  stairs,  to  gain  access 
to  them,  and  at  the  same  time,  by  removing  them  from  the  play-ground,  to 
obviate  the  objections  which  have  been  made,  by  some  teachers,  to  having 
both  sexes  in  the  play-ground  at  the  same  time,  during  the  recesses: 


PRIMARY  St  HOOL-HOUSE. 


177 


Ingraham  Primary  School-House,  Boston. 

The  Schoolhouse,  to  which  the  following  description  and  plans  more  par- 
ticularly refer,  is  situated  in  Sheafe  street,  at  the  north  part  of  the  City,  and  on 
the  slope  of  Copp's  Hill,  famed  in  our  Revolutionary  history.  It  occupies  a 
space  of  twenty-six  by  fifty-three  feet,  exclusive  of  the  play-ground  in  front, 
between  it  and  the  street,  which  is  sixteen  by  fifty-three  feet.  This  front  is 
hardly  long  enough.  Sixty  feet  would  have  been  much  better.  The  main 
building  is  twenty-six  by  forty-four  feet ;  and  there  are  projections  at  each 
end, — one  on  the  west,  four  and  a  half  by  sixteen  and  a  half  feet,  contain- 
ing the  privies,  and  one  at  the  east  end,  three  and  a  half  by  twenty-one  and 
a  half  feet,  in  which  is  the  passage  from  the  lower  schoolroom  to  the  play- 
ground. 

The  building  is  three  stories  in  height.  Each  story  contains  a  Schoolroom, 
Recitation-rooms,  Closets,  Entries,  and  Privies,  and  is  finished  twelve  feet  high, 
in  the  clear.  Each  Schoolroom  is  lighted  by  four  windows,  which  are  all  on 
one  side.  The  first  floor  is  set  eighteen  inches  above  the  ground  at  the  front 
of  the  building.  The  Cellar  is  finished  seven  and  a  half  feet  high,  in  the 
clear ;  and  its  floor  is  on  a  level  with  the  surface  of  the  ground  at  the  back 
of  the  building,  where  is  the  entrance-door  to  the  first  story. 

The  Schoolrooms  in  the  first  and  second  stories  are  thirty  feet  in  length, 
by  twenty-two  feet  and  four  inches  in  width,  and  contain  six  hundred  and 
seventy  square  feet  of  floor.  That  in  the  third  story  is  thirty-two  feet  in 
length,  by  twenty-two  feet  and  nine  inches  in  breadth,  and  contains  seven 
hundred  and  thirty  square  feet  of  floor.  Thus  allowing  from  ten  to  twelve 
or  thirteen  square  feet  of  floor,  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  cubic  feet  of  air,  to 
each  scholar. 

The  following  diagram  will  show  the  arrangement  of  the  ground-floor, 
with  the  Play-ground  in  front. 


12 


Scale  16  feet  to  the-  inch. 


178  SCHOOL,  ARCHITECTURE. 

The  following  references  will  apply  to  the  ground-plan  of  each  of  the  three 
stories. 

1,  Entrance  to  First  Story,  by  a  door  under  the  window  W,  the  back  part  of  the 
building  being  eight  feet  lower  than  the  front. 

2,  3,  Entrance-doors  to  the  Second  and  Third  Stories. 

A,  A,  A,  Stairs  to  First  Story,  from  the  Entrance-door  1. 

B,  Blinds  in  Boys'  Privies. 

F,  Fireplace  or  Furnace-flue,  or  Stove,  when  one  is  used  instead  of  a  Furnace. 

G,  G,  Entrance-gates  to  Second  and  Third  Stories.  The  Iron  Fence  extends  the  whole 
length  of  the  front  on  the  street,  broken  only  by  these  two  gates. 

R,  R,  Recitation-rooms,  or  spaces  used  for  that  purpose.  In  the  first  story,  that  on  the 
right  being  the  entrance-passage  to  the  schoolroom,  and  that  on  the  left,  the  passage 
to  the  Second  Story. 

5,  S,  S,  S,  Large  Slates,  measuring  four  by  two  and  a  half  feet,  affixed  to  the  walls, 
instead  of  Blackboards. 

T,  T,  T,  Trees  in  Play-ground.     That  near  the  fence,  is  an  old  horse-chestnut  tree. 
U,  Umbrella  stands.     The  place  of  those  of  the  second  story  only  are  shown.    In 
the  other  stories,  they  are  also  in  the  entrance-passages. 
W,  W,  Windows. 
a,  Stairs  to  Second  Story. 

6,  o,  b,  In  second  story,  Entry,  and  place  for  Boys'  Clothes-hooks,  also  used  as  a. 
Recitation-room.     In  third  story,  place  for  Clothes-hooks. 

c,  In  second  story,  Door  into  the  Recitation-room  where  are  the  Sink  and  Girls' 
Clothes-hooks.  In  third  story,  Door  into  Recitation-room  where  is  the  Brush  Closet 
and  entrance  to  Girls'  Privy. 

d,  d,  d,  In  second  story,  Girls'  Clothes-hooks. 

e,  Sinks. 

f,  Privy  for  Girls.  g,  Privy  for  Boys.  h,  Trough  in  ditto. 

i,  i,  Space  between  the  walls  of  the  Privies  and  main  building,  for  more  perfect  ven- 
tilation, and  cutting  off  of  any  unpleasant  odor.  [This  space  is  here  too  much  con- 
tracted, on  account  of  the  want  of  room.    It  would  be  much  better,  if  greatly  increased.] 

k,  Entrance-door  to  Schoolroom,  through  which,  only,  scholars  are  allowed  to  enter. 
In  third  story,  the  passage  from  the  stairs  to  the  Entrance-door  is  through  the  Recita- 
tion-room. 

I,  Teachers'  Platforms,  six  feet  wide  and  twelve  feet  long,  raised  seven  inches  from 
the  floors. 

to,  Teachers'  Tables. 

n,  Ventiduct.  That  for  each  room  is  in  the  centre  of  that  room.  These  are  better 
shown  in  the  diagram  representing  the  Ventilating  arrangement,  (p.  183.) 

o,  o,  Closets,  in  the  vacant  spaces  on  the  sides  of  the  Ventiducts,  in  the  First  and 
Second  Stories.  In  first  story,  they  are  on  each  side  of  the  Ventiduct ;  in  second  story 
only  on  one  side.  In  the  third  story,  there  are  of  course  none.  See  the  diagram  of  the 
Ventilating  arrangement,  (p.  183.) 

p,p,  Ventiducts  for  other  rooms.  In  plan  of  second  story,  p  shows  the  position  of  the 
Ventiduct  for  first  story.  In  third  story  plan,  pp  show  the  positions  of  those  for  both 
the  lower  stories. 

q,  q,  q,  Childrens'  chairs,  arranged  in  the  second  story.  Their  form  is  represented  in 
another  diagram,  (p.  181.) 

r,  s,  t,  Hot-air  Flues  from  the  Furnace,  Cold-air  Flues  if  Stoves  are  used,  and  Smoke 
Flues.  These  will  be  better  understood  by  a  reference  to  the  diagram  explanatory  of 
the  Chimney  Pier,  (p.  182.) 

u,  u,  Cabinets  for  Minerals,  Shells,  and  other  objects  of  Natural  History  or  Curiosity. 

v,  Door  of  Recitation-room.  In  first  story,  this  door  leads  to  the  entry  in  which 
are  the  Sink,  Brush-Closet,  entrance  to  the  Privies,  and  passage  to  Second  Story.  In 
second  story,  it  leads  to  the  Recitation-room  where  is  the  Teacher's  Press-closet ;  and 
in  the  third  story,  to  that  in  which  are  the  Sink,  entrance  to  the  Privies,  aud  Stairs  to 
the  Attic. 

16,  Teacher's  Press-closet,  fitted  with  shelves  and  brass  clothes-hooks. 

x,  Closet  for  Brooms,  Brushes,  Coalhods,  &c.  That  for  the  first  story  is  under  the 
Second- Story  stairs. 

a,  a,  a,  Stairs  to  the  Third  Story. 

b,  b,  Doors  connecting  First  and  Second,  and  Second  and  Third  Stories. 

f,  Place  for  Fountain,  in  the  centre  of  the  Play-ground. 

g,  g.  g,  Grass-plats,  or  Flower-beds. 

p,  Passage  from  the  First-Story  Schoolroom  to  the  Play-ground. 

The  Plan  of  the  second  story,  on  the  next  page,  is  drawn  on  a  larger  scale, 
for  greater  convenience  in  showing  all  the  arrangements.  The  references  on 
this  diagram  are  more  copious  and  minute  than  on  either  of  the  others. 


PRIMARY   SCHOOL-HOUSE,   BOSTON. 


179 


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180 


SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE 


The  building  fronts  nearly  N.  N.  E.,  and  of  course  all  the  light  comes  into 
the  Schoolrooms  from  the  North.  At  the  same  time,  in  order  to  secure  the 
benefit  of  the  winds  that  prevail  in  Summer,  and  the  admission  of  "  a  streak 
of  sunshine,"  which  adds  so  much  to  the  cheerfulness  of  any  room,  and 
particularly  of  a  schoolroom,  there  are  windows  in  the  back  or  southerly 
wall,  opening  into  the  recitation-rooms  or  entries,  through  which,  and  the 
entrance-doors,  the  sunlight  finds  its  way  into  each  schoolroom.  The  Nea- 
politan proverb,  "Where  the  sun  does  not  come,  the  physician  must,"  has 
not  been  lost  sight  of;  though  it  must  be  confessed  that  we  have  not  been  able 
to  pay  so  much  attention  to  it  as  would  be  desirable. 

The  next  diagram,  which  is  on  the  same  scale  with  the  first,  will  show 
the  arrangement  of  the  third  story,  which  differs  from  the  first  and  second  in 
having  a  larger  schoolroom,  and  mor-e  space  for  recitation-rooms  ;  less  space 
being  occupied  for  stairways  than  in  the  other  stories.  The  partitions  at  the 
ends  are  set  one  foot  each  way  nearer  to  the  ends  of  the  building,  making 
the  Schoolroom  thirty-two' feet  in  length,  while  the  others  are  only  thirty. 

W        _  W  W  W 


Scale  16  feet  to  the  inch. 


It  will  be  seen,  that  the  ends  of  the  building  are  cut  off  from  the  school- 
rooms, by  entries,  stairways,  recitation-rooms,  &c,  and  the  back  and  end 
walls  are  left  blank,  for  convenience  in  displaying  Maps,  Charts,  Pictures,  &c, 
and  for  the  large  Slates,  used  instead  of  Blackboards.  As  ample  provision, 
as  was  practicable,  has  been  made  for  recitation-rooms,  closets,  and  other 
necessary  conveniences. 

It  will  be  seen,  from  the  Plans  of  the  different  Stories,  that  the  Entrance- 
door  (k)  to  each  Schoolroom  is  in  that  part  of  the  partition  nearest  to  the 
back  walls  ;  so  that,  on  entering  the  room,  the  Teacher's  Platform  is  directly 
before  the  scholar  or  visiter.  This  Plaiform  is  six  feet  wide  and  twelve  feet 
long,  and  is  raised  seven  inches  above  the  floor,  that  being  a  sufficient  height 
to  give  the  Teacher  a  full  view  of  the  whole  school.  In  the  transverse-sec- 
tional elevation,  (p.  184,)  the  raised  Platform  is  shown  at  P. 

On  this  Platform,  is  a  Table,  (m,)  instead  of  a  Desk,  that  being  the  more 
convenient  article  for  the  Teacher's  use.  On  it,  are  constantly  kept,  in  full 
view  of  the  scholars,  The  Laws  of  the  School, — the  Holy  Bible,  the  Rule 
and  Guide  of  Life,  the  Moral  and  Religious  Law ;  the  Dictionary,  the  Law 
of  Language,  the  Authority  for  Orthography  and  Orthoepy ;  and  the  Rules 
and  Regulations  of  the  Committee.  These  should  be  always  on  every 
Teacher's  table  or  desk,  and  should  be  frequently  appealed  to.  On  this 
Table,  also,  are  the  Record  Book  of  the  School,  Ink-standish,  Table  Bell, 
and  other  necessary  articles. 


PRIMARY    SCHOOL-HOUSE,    BOSTON. 


181 


In  front  of  the  Teacher's  Platform,  and  facing  it,  ar- 
ranged in  a  semi-circular  form,  as  shown  at  q  q  q,  in  the 
Plan  of  the  Second  Story,  are  the  Seats  for  the  schol- 
ars. These  are  comfortable  and  convenient  Arm-chairs, 
of  which  the  annexed  diagram  shows  the  form.  Each 
has  a  rack  at  the  side  (A)  for  convenience  in  holding 
the  books  or  slates  of  the  scholars.  These  chairs  were 
the  contrivance  of  Mr.  Ingraham,  and  were  introduced 
by  him  into  the  Primary  Schools,  in  1842,  since  which 
time,  the  Primary  School  Board  have  recommended  their 
introduction  into  all  their  schools,  in  preference  to  any 
other  seats,  and  about  one  hundred  and  thirty  of  the  one  hundred  and  sixty 
schools  are  now  supplied  with  them.  They  are  not  fastened  to  the  floor,  but 
can  be  moved  whenever  necessary ;  and  this  is  found  to  be  a  great  conve- 
nience, and  productive  of  no  disadvantage.  They  have  been  strongly  recom- 
mended by  the  Committees  on  School  and  Philosophical  Apparatus,  at  the 
Exhibitions  of  the  Massachusetts  Charitable  Mechanics'  Association,  in  1844 
and  1847,  and  premiums  were  awarded  for  them  in  both  those  years. 

The  following  diagram  is  an  elevation  of  the  Front  wall  of  the  Schoolroom, 
as  seen  from  the  Teacher's  Platform.  It  is  on  the  same  scale  with  the  pre- 
ceding Plan  of  the  Second  Story, — eight  feet  to  the  inch. 


Each  Schoolroom  is  lighted  by  four  windows  ;  and  in  the  central  pier,  be- 
tween the  windows,  are  the  Cold-air  and  Chimney  Fines,  or  the  Furnace 
Flues.  The  Fire-place,  or  Furnace  Flue,  is  represented  at  F,  as  in  the  pre- 
ceding Plans  of  the  different  Stories.  The  arrangement  of  the  Flues,  in  this 
pier,  will  be  seen  in  the  next  diagram. 

On  the  mantel-piece,  over  the  Furnace  Flue,  is,  in  one  room,  a  Vase  of  Na- 
tive Grasses,  or  Flowers,  and  in  the  others,  ornamental  Statues,  or  Statuettes, 
furnished  by  the  Teachers.     Above  this,  suspended  on  the  pier,  is  the  Clock. 

Between  the  other  windows,  are  Cabinets,  for  the  reception  of  Minerals, 
Shells,  and  other  objects  of  Natural  History  or  Curiosity.  Their  location  is 
seen  at  u  u,  in  the  Plans  of  the  respective  Stories.  There  are  two  of  these 
Cabinets  in  each  Schoolroom,  between  the  windows,  above  the  skirting,  and 
as  high  as  the  windows,  with  double  sash-doors,  of  cherry-wood,  hung  with 
brass  hinges,  fastened  with  thumb-slides  and  locks,  and  fitted  with  rosewood 
knobs.  There  are  twelve  shelves  in  each,  six  of  them  being  inclined,  with 
narrow  ledges  on  each,  to  prevent  the  specimens  from  rolling  off.  Immedi- 
ately below  them  are  small  Closets,  with  four  shelves  in  each,  and  double 
doors,  hung  and  fastened  in  the  same  manner  as  the  sash  doors. 

The  Blinds  of  the  Second  Story,  represented  in  this  diagram,  are  framed, 
two  parts  to  each  window,  and  are  hung  with  weights  and  pulleys,  in  the 
same  manner  as  the  window  sashes.  They  run  up  above  the  tops  of  the 
windows,  and  behind  the  skirting  of  the  next  story  above,  in  close  boxes,  and 


182 


SCHOOL     ARCHITECTURE. 


have  rings  on  the  bottom  rails,  to  draw  them  down.  In  this  elevation,  they 
are  shown  in  different  positions.  The  windows  in  the  First  Story  are  fitted 
with  Venetian  Blinds,  and  those  in  the  Third  Story  with  Inside  Shutter-Blinds. 
All  the  window-stools  are  wide,  and  contain  Vases  of  Native  Grasses,  or 
Flowers. 

Particular  attention  has  been  given  to  the  mode  of  Heating  and  Ventilating 
these  buildings  ;  and  provision  has  been  made  for  a  copious  and  constant  sup- 
ply of  fresh  air,  from  out-of-doors,  which  is  so  introduced,  that  it  is  suffi- 
ciently warmed  before  it  enters  the  Schoolrooms. 

The  Sheafe-street  building  is  heated  by  one  of  Chilson's  largest-sized  Fur- 
naces ;  though  it  was  originally  constructed  with  a  view  to  using  Dr.  Clark's 
excellent  Ventilating  Stoves,  as  in  the  other  two  buildings.* 

The  accompanying  diagram  shows  the  ar- 
rangement of  the  Cold-air  and  Smoke  Flues, 
as  arranged  for  the  Stoves.  It  will  be  well  to 
examine  it  in  connection  with  the  transverse- 
sectional  elevation,  (p.  184,)  and  the  Floor 
Plans  of  the  different  Stories,  (pp.  177,  179. 
180.) 

1,  2,  3,  Floorings  of  the  First,  Second,  and  Third 
Stories.  4,  Roof. 

CA,  Cold-air  Flue  for  First  Story,  which  deliv- 
ers the  air  from  without,  under  the  Stove,  as  shown 
at  C  A,  in  the  transverse-section,  (p.  184,)  and  at 
F,  in  the  floor-plans. 

r,  r,  Cold-air  Flue  for  Second  Story,  which  empties 
into  the  box  under  the  Stove,  at  CA,  in  the  Second 
Story  of  the  transverse-sectional  elevation.  It  cor- 
responds to  r,  in  the  Floor  Plans  of  the  first  and 
second  stories. 

t,  t,  Cold-air  Flue  for  Third  Story,  which  empties 
into  the  box  CA,  under  the  Stove  of  that  Story, 
as  seen  in  the  transverse-sectional  elevation,  and 
at  F,  in  the  Floor  Plan.  It  corresponds  to  t,  in  the 
Floor  Plans. 

These  Cold-air  Ducts  are  twelve  by  eighteen 
inches,  inside,  and  are  smoothly  plastered,  through- 
out.   This  is  hardly  large  enough,  however. 

s,  s.  Smoke  Flues.  That  of  First  Story  corre- 
sponds to  s,  in  the  floor  plan  of first  story,  and  to  r, 
in  those  of  the  second  and  third.  That  of  Second 
Story  corresponds  to  s,  in  second-story  Plan,  and  to 
t,  in  third-story  Plan.  That  of  Third  Story  cor- 
responds to  s,  on  the  Plan  of  that  Story. 

These  Smoke  Flues  are  eight  inches  square,  ;';?- 
side,  and  are  smoothly  plastered,  throughout.  That 
of  each  Story  commences  in  the  centre  of  the  pier 
in  the  room  to  which  it  belongs. 

[The  pier  in  which  these  Cold-air  Ducts  aiu; 
Smoke  Flues  are  placed,  is  wider  than  the  piers  be- 
tween the  other  windows,  in  order  to  allow  sufficient 
width  to  the  Ducts.     It  must  be  at  least  six  feet.] 

It  will  be  seen,  from  the  transverse-sectional 
elevation,  (p.  184,)  (the  Smoke  Flue  in  which 
is  represented  as  continuous,  it  not  being  prac- 
ticable to  show  the  bends,)  as  well  as  from 
the  Plans  of  each  Story,  that  the  arrangements 
,  for  Ventilation  are  directly  opposite  the  Chim- 
ney Flues.  The  Ventiducts  are  contained  in 
the  projecting  pier  back  of  the  Teachers' 
Platforms  and  Tables  shown  at  /,  m,  in  the 
Floor  Plans. 

It  has  already  been  stated,  that  particular  attention  has  been  paid  to  the 
*  Descriptions  and  Plans  of  this  Furnace  and  Stove  will  be  found  on  page  155 


Scale  10  feet  to  the  inch. 


PRIMARY    SCHOOL-HOUSE,    BOSTON. 


183 


mode  of  Ventilation ;  and  it  is  believed  that  the  system,  if  not  perfect,  is 
better  adapted  to  its  purpose  than  any  other.  The  Ventiduct  for  each  room 
is  of  sufficient  size  for  the  room ;  and  the  three  are  arranged  as  shown  in  the 
next  diagram.  It  will  be  seen,  that  the  Ventiduct  for  each  room  is  in  the 
centre  of  the  pier,  thus  avoiding  any  unsymmetrical  or  one-sided  (and  of 
course  unsightly)  appearance. 

1 , 2, 3, 4,  Floorings  of  the  First,  Second,  and  Third 
Stories,  and  Attic.  6,  Roof. 

c,  c,  c,  Ventiduct  of  First  Story,  commencing  in 
the  centre  of  the  pier.  Between  the  ceiling  of  "this 
room  and  the  floor  of  the  Second  Story,  this  flue  is 
turned  to  the  left,  and  then  continues  in  a  straight 
line  to  the  Attic,  where  it  contracts  and  empties  into 
the  Ventilator  V,  on  the  Roof. 

d,  d,  d,  Ventiduct  of  Second  Story,  also  commenc- 
ing in  the  centre  of  the  pier,  and  turning  to  the 
right,  between  the  ceiling  of  the  Second  and  floor 
of  the  Third  Story,  whence  it  is  continued  to  the 
Attic,  and  empties  into  the  Ventilator  V. 

e,  e,  Ventiduct  of  Third  Story,  also  emptying 
into  V. 

These  Ventiducts  are  made  of  thoroughly  sea- 
soned pine  boards,  smooth  on  the  inside,  and  put 
together  with  two-inch  screws.  Each,  as  will  be 
seen,  is  placed  in  the  centre  of  the  room  to  which 
it  belongs.  They  are  kept  entirely  separate  from, 
each  other,  through  their  whole  length,  from  their 
bases  to  the  point  where  they  are  discharged  into 
the  Ventilators  on  the  Roof.  Each  is  sixteen  inches 
square  inside,  through  its  whole  length  to  the  Attic, 
where,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  diagram,  each  is  made 
narrower  as  it  approaches  its  termination,  till  it  is 
only  eight  inches  in  width,  on  the  front,  the  three 
together  measuring  twenty-five  inches,  the  diame- 
ter of  the  base  of  the  Ventilator  on  the  roof.  As 
they  are  contracted,  however,  in  this  direction,  they 
are  gradually  enlarged  from  back  to  front,  so  that 
each  is  increased  from  sixteen  to  twenty -four  inches, 
the  three  together  then  forming  a  square  of  twenty- 
five  inches,  and  fitting  the  base  of  the  Ventilator 
into  which  they  are  discharged.  The  increase  in 
this  direction  will  be  better  seen  in  the  Elevation 
on  p.  184,  where  V  V  represents  one  Ventiduct, 
continued  from  the  lower  floor  to  the  Ventilator. 

V,  Ventilator,  on  the  Roof,  into  which  the  three 
Ventiducts  from  the  schoolrooms  are  discharged. 
This  is  twenty-five  inches  in  diameter.* 

v,  v,  Registers,  to  regulate  the  draught  of  air 
through  the  Ventiducts.  There  are  two  of  these 
in  each  Ventiduct,  —  one  at  the  bottom,  to  carry  off 
the  lower  and  heavier  stratum  of  foul  air,  which 
always  settles  near  the  floor ;  and  the  other  near 
the  ceiling  of  the  room,  for  the  escape  of  the  lighter 
impure  air,  which  ascends  with  the  heat  to  the  top 
of  the  room.  Each  of  these  Registers  has  a  swivel- 
blind,  fitted  with  a  stay-rod,  and  may  be  easily 
opened  or  closed  by  the  Teacher. 

o,  o,  Closets.  The  Ventiduct  of  each  Story  being 
in  the  centre  of  the  projecting  pier,  affords  room 
for  Closets,  on  each  side  in  the  First  Story,  and  on 
one  side  in  the  Second  Story,  as  shown  at  o  o.  There 
are  four  in  the  First  Story,  two  above  and  two  be- 
low the  wainscot.  In  the  Second  Story,  there  are 
two  only,  one  above  and  the  other  below  the  wain- 
scot ;  the  other  side  of  the  pier  being  occupied  by 
the  Ventiduct  of  the  First  Story.  In  the  Third 
Story  there  are  of  course  none.  Scale  10  feet  to  the  inch. 

*  A  description,  and  larger  plans,  of  this  Ventilator,  are  given  on  page  144. 


184 


SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE. 


1,2,  3, 4,  Floor- 
ings of  the  First 
Second,andThird, 
Stories,  and  the 
Attic. 

C,  The  Cellar. 

C  A,  Cold-air 
Boxes,  opening 
under  the  Stoves. 

S,  Smoke  Flue. 

P,  Teachers' 
Platforms. 

"  V,  Ventiduct, 
emptying  into  the 
Ventilator  on  the 
Roof. 

v,  v,  Ventiduct 
Registers. 

V,  Ventilator. 


Scale  10  feet  to  the  inch. 


PRIMARY    SCHOOL-HOUSE,    BOSTON.  185 

This  plan  of  arranging  the  Heating  and  Ventilating  apparatus  has  been 
adopted  by  the  Committee  on  Ventilation  of  the  Grammar  School  Board  ;* 
but  as  their  plans  and  diagrams  were  taken  from  Mr.  Ingraham's  first  draughts, 
before  his  final  arrangement  was  decided  upon,  they  are  not  so  complete  as 
these. 

The  preceding  diagram  gives  a  transverse-sectional  elevation  of  the  building. 

It  has  already  been  stated,  that  the  children  are  seated  with  their  backs  to 
the  light,  and  their  faces  towards  the  Teacher's  Table  and  the  wall  above  and 
on  either  side  of  it.  On  this  wall,  and  also  on  the  two  end  walls,  (as  shown 
in  the  transverse-section,)  are  suspended  Maps,  Charts,  and  Pictures,  not 
only  for  ornament,  but  for  the  communication  of  instruction.  Vases  of  Flow- 
ers and  Native  Grasses  ornament  the  window-stools  and  the  Teachers'  Tables  ; 
and  Statuettes  and  other  useful  ornaments  and  decorations  are  placed  in  vari- 
ous parts  of  the  rooms  :  so  that  whatever  meets  the  eyes  of  the  children  is 
intended  to  convey  useful  and  pleasing  impressions,  encouraging  and  gratify- 
ing the  love  of  the  beautiful,  and  combining  the  useful  with  the  agreeable. 
The  Cabinets  of  Minerals,  Shells,  and  other  objects  of  Natural  History  and 
Curiosity,  add  much  to  the  interest  and  beauty  of  the  rooms. 

On  the  back  wall,  on  either  side  of  the  Teacher's  Platform,  at  S  S  S  S,  are 
four  large  Slates,  in  cherry-wood  frames,  each  two  and  a  half  by  four  feet, 
used  instead  of  Blackboards.  These  Slates  are  far  preferable  to  the  best 
Blackboards,  and  cost  about  the  same  as  common  ones.  The  Teachers 
greatly  prefer  them  to  Blackboards.  In  using  them,  slate  pencils  are  of  course 
employed,  instead  of  chalk  or  crayons,  and  thus  the  dust  and  dirt  of  the  chalk 
or  crayons, — which  is  not  only  disagreeable  to  the  senses,  but  deleterious 
to  health,  by  being  drawn  into  the  lungs, — are  avoided.  These  Slates  may 
be  procured  in  Boston,  of  A.  Wilbur. 

Each  School  has  convenient  Recitation-rooms  ;  though,  in  consequence  of 
the  space  occupied  by  the  stairs  to  the  Second  and  Third  Stories,  the  lower 
Story  is  not  so  conveniently  accommodated,  in  this  respect,  as  could  be  de- 
sired. It  has,  however,  two  good  Entries,  which  are  used  for  this  purpose. 
In  the  Second  and  Third  Stories,  there  are  three  of  these  rooms,  of  which 
much  use  is  made.     Their  location  is  shown  in  the  Floor  Plans. 

In  these  ante-rooms,  are  Closets  for  Brooms,  Brushes,  and  other  necessary 
articles  of  that  description,  and  also  Press-closets,  furnished  with  shelves 
and  brass  clothes-hooks,  for  the  Teachers'  private  use.  In  these,  also,  are 
Sinks,  furnished  with  drawers  and  cupboards,  pails,  basins  and  ewers,  mugs, 
&c.  Pipes  leading  from  the  Sinks,  convey  the  waste  water  into  the  Vaults ; 
and  in  a  short  time,  the  waters  of  Lake  Cochituate  will  be  led  into  each  Story. 

Each  School  has  its  own  separate  entrance  ;  so  that  they  will  not  interfere 
with  each  other.  And  each  is  provided  with  sufficient  conveniences  in  its 
entry,  for  hanging  the  clothing  of  the  pupils,  thus  avoiding  the  necessity  of 
its  ever  being  brought  into  the  Schoolroom.  Each  has  also  two  Umbrella- 
stands  in  its  entry. 

In  the  Cellar,  are  placed  the  Furnace,  and  necessary  conveniences  attached 
to  it,  with  Bins  for  coal  and  wood.  Also  two  Rain-water  Butts,  one  at  each 
end,  which  receive  all  the  water  from  the  Roofs.  Being  connected  with 
each  other,  by  leaden  pipes,  under  ground,  the  water  in  both  stands  at  the 
same  level ;  and  a  pipe,  leading  from  the  top  of  one  of  them  into  the  Vault, 
prevents  their  ever  running  over. 

The  Cellar  is  paved  with  brick,  and  is  convenient  for  a  play-room,  when 
the  weather  is  too  stormy  for  the  children  to  go  out  of  doors  at  recess-time. 

Instead  of  having  the  usual  out-door  conveniences  in  the  yard,  they  are 
here  connected  with  the  entries  of  the  respective  schoolrooms,  so  that  no 
child  has  to  go  into  the  open  air,  except  for  play  in  recess-time,  or  to  go 

*  See  a  notice  of  their  plans  on  page  158. 


186 


SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE. 


home.     This  is  considered 
highest  importance. 


a  very  great  convenience,  and  a  matter  of  tfe® 


a,  a,  Surface  of 
8ne  water  in  the 
Ses  spool. 

b,  Outlet  to  the 
common  sewer. 

c,  c,  Surface  of 
the  ground  outside 
the  building. 

d,  d,  Floors  of 
First  Story,  of 
stone. 

e,  e,  Floors  of 
Second  Story. 

f,  f,  Floors  of 
Third  Story. 

g,  g,  Attic. 

I, 2,  S,  Seats  and 
Wells  of  First, 
Second,and  Third, 
Stories. 

V,V,V,  Venti- 
duct, ten  inches 
square  inside,  ex- 
tending from  with- 
in one  foot  of  the 
surface  of  the 
water  in  the  Sess- 
pool,  to  the  Ven- 
tilator on  the  roof 
Its  sides  are  repre- 
sented by  the  dot- 
ted lines 


Scale  10  feet  to  the  inch. 

The  preceding  transverse-section  will  show  the  peculiar  arrangement  of  the 
Privies  to  the  different  stories,  and  the  manner  in  which  all  unpleasant  conse- 
quences or  inconveniences  are,  it  is  believed,  effectually  guarded  against. 


PRIMARY    SCHOOL-HOUSE,    BOSTON.  187 

By  the  Plans  of  the  different  Stories,  it  will  be  seen,  that  the  Privies  are  in 
a  Projection  on  the  western  end  of  the  building,  the  wall  of  which  fs  sepa- 
rated from  that  of  the  main  building-,  by  the  space  i  i,  this  space  being  four 
inches  between  the  walls,  and  extending  from  the  floor  of  the  First  Story  to 
the  Attic.  The  doors  leading  from  the  entries  are  kept  closed,  by  strong 
springs;  and  at  B,  in  the  southern  wall,  is  a  Blind,  through  which  the  air 
constantly  passes  into  this  space,  and  up  to  the  Attic,  whence  it  is  conveyed 
in  a  tight  box  to  the  Ventilator  on  the  Roof.  Except  in  very  cold  or  stormy 
weather,  the  window  in  the  northern  side  is  kept  open,  (the  outer  blinds  be- 
ing closed,)  and  thus  the  whole  of  the  Projection  is  cut  off  from  the  main 
building  by  external  air.  The  space  between  the  Projection  and  the  main 
building  is  not,  however,  so  great  as  it  would  have  been  made,  had  there 
been  more  room. 

It  will  be  seen,  that  there  is  a  distinct  Well  to  each  Privy,  separated 
from  the  others  by  a  brick  wall  ending  below  the  surface  of  the  water  in  the 
sesspool.  Of  course,  the  only  odor  that  can  possibly  come  into  either  of  the 
apartments,  must  come  from  the  well  of  that  apartment,  there  being  no  com- 
munication with  any  other,  except  through  the  water.  And  as  every  time  it 
rains,  or  water  is  thrown  in  from  the  sinks,  the  water  in  the  sesspool  will  be 
changed,  and  washed  into  the  common  sewer,  it  would  seem  that  no  danger 
of  unpleasant  odor  need  be  feared.  When  the  City  water  is  carried  to  every 
floor  of  the  building,  the  conveniences  for  frequently  washing  out  the  sesspool 
will  be  greatly  increased. 

There  are  two  apartments  on  each  floor  ;  one  for  the  girls,  at/,  and  anoth- 
er for  the  boys,  at  g.  In  the  latter,  is  a  trough,  (A,)  with  a  sesspool,  and 
pipe  leading  into  the  well,  under  the  seat.  There  is  no  window  in  the  boys' 
apartment,  but  merely  the  blind,  B,  which  extends  from  the  floor  to  the  ceil- 
ing. The  girls'  apartment,  being  in  the  front  part  of  the  Projection,  is  pro- 
vided with  a  window  similar  to  the  others,  and  outside  blinds. 

Each  apartment  is  fitted  with  pine  risers,  seats,  and  covers.  The  covers 
are  hung  with  stout  duck  or  India-rubber  cloth,  instead  of  metal  hinges, 
which  would  be  liable  to  corrode,  and  are  so  arranged  that  they  will  fall  of 
themselves,  when  left.  The  edges  of  the  cloth  are  covered  with  narrow 
slats.  There  is  a  box  for  paper  in  each  apartment.  The  whole  finish  is 
equal  to  that  of  any  other  part  of  the  building. 

The  interior  plastering  of  all  the  walls  of  the  building  is  hard-finished, 
suitably  for  being  painted. 

All  the  Rooms,  Entries,  Stairways,  and  Privies,  are  skirted  up  as  high  as 
the  window-stools,  with  narrow  matched  beaded  lining,  gauged  to  a  width 
not  exceeding  seven  inches,  and  set  perpendicularly. 

The  interior  wood- work  of  the  lower  Schoolroom,  as  well  as  the  interior  of 
all  the  Closets  and  Cabinets,  is  painted  white.  The  skirting  of  the  Secona 
Story  is  of  maple,,  unpainted,  but  varnished.  All  the  rest  of  the  inside 
wood-work  is  painted  and  grained  in  imitation  of  maple,  and  varnished.  The 
outside  doors  are  painted  bronze.  The  blinds  are  painted  with  four  coats  of 
Paris  green,  and  varnished. 

In  some  other  schoolrooms  in  the  City,  the  interior  wood-work, — even  of 
common  white  pine, — has  been  left  unpainted,  but  varnished,  with  a  very  good 
effect ;  and  it  is  contemplated  to  have  some  of  the  new  Schoolhouses  soon  to  be 
erected,  finished  in  the  same  way.  White  pine,  stained  with  asphaltum,  and 
varnished,  presents  a  beautiful  finish,  and  is  cheaper  than  painting  or  graining. 

In  the  angles  formed  by  the  meeting  of  the  walls  with  the  ceiling  of  each 
room,  and  entirely  around  the  room,  are  placed  rods,  fitted  with  moveable 
rings,  for  convenience  in  suspending  maps,  charts,  and  pictures,  and  to  avoid 
the  necessity  of  driving  nails  into  the  walls. 

It  has  been  stated,  above,  that  the  space  between  the  Privies  and  the  maim 
building,  in  the  Sheafe  street  Schoolhouse,  is  not  so  great  as  is  desirable,  nor 


188 


SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE. 


as  it  would  have  been,  had  there  been  more  room.  In  the  Schoolhouse  in 
Tremont  street,  erected  at  the  same  time  with  that  in  Sheafe  street,  there 
being  sufficient  room  for  the  purpose,  the  Projection  containing  the  Privies 
is  nine  and  a  half  by  twelve  feet,  and  the  wells  of  the  Privies  are  seven  feet 
from  the  wall  of  the  main  building. 

The  following  Plans  were  prepared  for  a  new  arrangement  of  the  Sheafe 
street  Schoolhouse,  when  it  was  contemplated  to  occupy  a  space  eighty  feet 
in  depth,  extending  from  Sheafe  street  to  the  Avenue  in  the  rear.  In  these 
Plans,  the  Projection  for  the  Privies  is  about  ten  by  sixteen  feet ;  and  the 
entrance  to  each  of  the  Privies  is  six  feet  from  the  wall  of  the  main  building, 
and  separated  from  it  by  three  doors.  This  gives  them  as  much  space,  and 
separates  them  as  much  from  the  main  building,  as  is  needed. 

Plan  of  First  Story.     Scale  24  feet  to  the  inch. 
Playground  in  front. 


It  will  be  seen,  from  this  Plan,  that  the  building  was  to  have  an  end  front- 
ing on  Sheafe  street,  (from  which  it  was  to  be  set  back  nineteen  feet,)  and  a 
side  looking  into  two  of  the  Playgrounds,  each  of  which  was  to  be  twenty- 
seven  by  thirty  feet.  The  nineteen  feet  between  the  building  and  the  street, 
and  on  a  line  with  the  building,  the  whole  extent  of  the  fifty-three  feet  on 
Sheafe  street,  was  to  form  a  third  Playground. 

It  has  already  been  mentioned,  that  the  ground  at  the  rear  of  the  building, 
on  the  Avenue,  is  eight  feet  lower  than  at  the  front,  on  Sheafe  street ;  and 
the  scholars  of  the  lower  room  were  to  enter,  as  they  do  now,  from  the  Ave- 
nue, by  a  door  under  the  window  A,  and  pass  to  their  schoolroom  up  the 
stairs  a,  through  the  door  k.  Their  Playground  was  to  have  been  at  the 
front  end,  on  Sheafe  street,  to  which  they  were  to  pass  through  the  Recita- 
tion-room R,  and  out  by  the  door  1.  The  space  between  the  Privies  and  the 
main  building,  which  is  a  three-feet  passage,  is  shown  at  i,  as  in  the  former 
Plans,  pp.  177,  179,  180. 

The  Entrance-doors  for  the  second  and  third  stories  are  shown  at  2,  3. 

Plan  of  Second  Story. 


PRIMARY    SCHOOL-HOUSE,    BOSTON. 
Plan  of  Third  Story. 


189 


In  other  respects,  these  Plans  present  some  improvement  over  that  of  the 
present  building  in  Sheafe  street,  which  is  only  forty-four  feet  in  length, 
while  that  proposed  in  these  Plans  is  fifty  feet.  This,  of  course,  allows 
more  space  for  the  stairways,  Recitation-rooms,  &c. 

These  three  Plans  will  be  easily  understood,  by  comparing  them  with 
those  on  pp.  177,  179,  180,  181,  which  are  there  fully  explained. 


Some  persons,  perhaps,  may  think  that  ornaments  and  decorations,  such  as 
have  been  here  described,  are  not  necessary  in  a  Schoolhouse ;  though  none, 
we  presume,  will  think  them  out  of  place.  Why  should  not  the  places, 
where  both  Teachers  and  children  spend  so  large  a  portion  of  their  time,  be 
made  as  pleasant  and  attractive  as  possible  ?  The  Schoolroom  is  the  Teach- 
er's parlor  and  drawing-room  ;  and  should  always,  not  only  be  neat  and  tidy, 
but  exhibit  evidences  of  good  taste  and  useful  ornament.  Why  should  blank 
and  naked  walls,  presenting  a  cold  and  cheerless  aspect,  unrelieved  by  a  sin- 
gle pleasant  spot  or  speck  of  verdure,  be  the  only  or  principal  objects  to  meet 
the  eyes  of  the  young  inmates  of  these  establishments,  who  are  here  to  re- 
ceive those  first  impressions,  which,  as  they  are  the  most  lasting,  and  indeed 
almost  indelible,  should  always  be  useful,  and  promotive  of  some  useful  pur- 
pose? Everything  which  will  give  to  young  persons  "a  perception  of  the 
Beautiful,"  is  of  great  value  ;  and  everything  that  can  be  done  to  render  the 
interior  of  our  schoolrooms  pleasant  and  attractive,  is  of  importance.  "Why," 
says  Mrs.  Sigourney,  in  a  valuable  Essay  '  On  the  Perception  of  the  Beau- 
tiful,' "why  should  not  the  interior  of  our  schoolhouses  aim  at  somewhat 
of  the  taste  and  elegance  of  a  parlor1?  Might  not  the  vase  of  flowers  enrich 
the  mantelpiece,  and  the  walls  display,  not  only  well-executed  maps,  but  his- 
torical engravings  or  pictures?  and  the  bookshelves  be  crowned  with  the  bust 
of  Moralist  or  Sage,  Orator  or  Father  of  his  Country  ?  Is  it  alleged  that  the 
expense,  thus  incurred,  would  be  thrown  away,  the  beautiful  objects  defaced, 
and  the  fair  scenery  desecrated  ?  This  is  not  a  necessary  result.  I  have 
been  informed,  by  Teachers  who  had  made  the  greatest  advances  towards 
the  appropriate  and  elegant  accommodation  of  their  pupils,  that  it  was  not 
so.  They  have  said  it  was  easier  to  enforce  habits  of  neatness  and  order 
among  objeets  whose  taste  and  value  made  them  worthy  of  care,  than  amid1 
that  parsimony  of  apparatus,  whose  pitiful  meanness  operates  as  a  temptation 
to  waste  and  destroy."  And  it  will  always  also  be  found  that  those  schools- 
where  the  most  attention  has  been  paid  to  making  the  rooms  pleasant  and 
attractive  to  the  children,  will  be  the  most  orderly,  and  well  disciplined, 
while  in  those  held  in  ordinary  rooms,  where  no  attention  seems  to  be  given  to 
refinement  in  appearances,  the  pupils  are  also  proportionably  unrefined  and 
undisciplined. 


190  SCHOOL   .ARCHITECTURE. 

"  Let  the  communities,"  continues  Mrs.  Sigourney,  in  the  Essay  jus* 
quoted,  "  let  the  communities,  now  so  anxious  to  raise  the  standard  of  edu- 
cation, venture  the  experiment  of  a  more  liberal  adornment  of  the  dwellings 
devoted  to  it.  Let  them  put  more  faith  in  that  respect  for  the  beautiful,  which 
really  exists  in  the  young  heart,  and  requires  only  to  be  called  forth  and  nur- 
tured, to  become  an  ally  of  virtue  and  a  handmaid  to  religion.  Knowledge 
has  a  more  imposing  effect  on  the  young  mind,  when  it  stands,  like  the  Apos- 
tle with  the  gifts  of  healing,  at  the  '  beautiful  gate  of  the  Temple.'  Mem- 
ory looks  back  to  it,  more  joyously,  from  the  distant  or  desolated  tracks  of 
life,  for  the  bright  scenery  of  its  early  path."  "  But  when  the  young  chil- 
dren of  this  Republic  are  transferred  from  the  nursery  to  those  buildings, 
whose  structure,  imperfect  ventilation,  and  contracted  limits,  furnish  too 
strong  an  idea  of  a  prison,  the  little  spirits,  which  are  in  love  with  freedom 
and  the  fair  face  of  Nature,  learn  to  connect  the  rudiments  of  knowledge  with 
keen  associations  of  task-work,  discomfort,  and  thraldom."  "  I  hope  the  time 
is  coming, when  every  isolated  village  schoolhouse  shall  be  as  an  Attic  temple, 
on  whose  exterior  the  occupant  may  study  the  principles  of  symmetry  and 
of  grace.  Why  need  the  structures,  where  the  young  are  initiated  into 
those  virtues  which  make  life  beautiful,  be  divorced  from  taste,  or  devoid  of 
comfort'?" 

"  Do  any  reply,  that '  the  perception  of  the  Beautiful'  is  but  a  luxurious  sen- 
sation, and  may  be  dispensed  with  in  those  systems  of  education  which  this 
age  of  utility  establishes?  But  is  not  its  culture  the  more  demanded,  to 
throw  a  healthful  leaven  into  the  mass  of  society,  and  to  serve  as  some 
counterpoise  for  that  love  of  accumulation,  which  pervades  every  rank,  in- 
trudes into  every  recess,  and  spreads  even  in  consecrated  places  the  '  tables  of 
the  money-changers,  and  the  seats  of  such  as  sell  doves?' 

"  In  ancient  times,  the  appreciation  of  whatever  was  beautiful  in  the  frame 
of  Nature,  was  accounted  salutary,  by  philosophers  and  sages.  Galen  says, 
'  He  who  has  two  cakes  of  bread,  let  him  sell  one,  and  buy  some  flowers ; 
for  bread  is  food  for  the  body,  but  flowers  are  food  for  the  soul.'  " 

"  If  the  perception  of  the  Beautiful  may  be  made  conducive  to  present  im- 
provement, and  to  future  happiness ;  if  it  have  a  tendency  to  refine  and 
sublimate  the  character ;  ought  it  not  to  receive  culture  throughout  the  whole 
process  of  education  ?  It  takes  root,  most  naturally  and  deeply,  in  the  sim- 
ple and  loving  heart ;  and  is,  therefore,  peculiarly  fitted  to  the  early  years  of 
life,  when,  to  borrow  the  language  of  a  German  writer,  '  every  sweet  sound 
takes  a  sweet  odor  by  the  hand,  and  walks  in  through  the  open  door  of  the 
child's  heart.'  " 

We  insert  Mr.  Ingraham's  communication,  unabridged,  although  it  was 
drawn  up  by  him  as  the  material  out  of  which  we  should  prepare  a  descrip- 
tion. We  have  also  preserved  his  system  of  punctuation  and  capitalizing, 
though  it  differs  from  that  followed  in  other  parts  of  this  work. 

We  think  very  highly  of  the  plan  of  the  Sheafe  street  School-house. 
Any  objections  we  might  entertain  to  some  of  the  details,  could  be  easily 
obviated  in  places  where  land  is  not  so  expensive  as  in  Boston.  We  prefer, 
however,  to  see  the  Primary  School-house  with  but  one  story,  and  in  no 
case  with  more  than  two  stories.  In  cities,  the  basement,  under  the  school 
room,  should  always  be  paved,  and  fitted  up  for  a  covered  play-ground,  as 
is  the  case  in  Mr.  Ingraham's  plans. 

Mr.  Ingraham,  in  his  letter,  acknowledges  his  obligations  to  Mr.  F.  Em- 
erson, and  Dr.  Henry  G.  Clark,  for  valuable  aid  in  arranging  his  system  of 
ventilation,  and  also  to  Mr.  Joseph  E.  Billings,  the  Architect,  for  aid  in  the 
architectural  arrangements,  and  for  the  manner  in  which  the  working-  plans 
were  drawn. 


PRIMARY    SCHOOL-HOUSE,    BOSTON.  191 

Having  given  so  minute  a  description  of  this  School-house,  we  shall  confer 
a  favor  upon  such  of  our  readers  as  may  wish  to  erect  buildings  like  it,  if  we 
insert,  entire,  Me.  Ingraham's  original  Specification  for  the  workmen,  with 
such  modifications  as  he  proposes  to  introduce  into  the  new  buildings,  which 
are  to  be  erected  during  the  present  year,  (1848.) 

SPECIFICATION 

Of  materials  to  be  provided,  and  labor  performed,  in  the  erection  of  a  Primary  School- 
house,  to  be  built  on  a  lot  of  land  lying  upon  the  southerly  side  of  Sheafe  street, 
according  to  the  plans  of  Joseph  W.  Istgraham,  Chairman  of  the  Primary  School 
Committee  on  Schoolhouses,  as  exhibited  in  the  Drawings  made  by  Joseph  E. 
Billings,  Architect. 

DESCRIPTION. 

The  building  is  t©  fee  three  stories  high ;  each  Story  is  to  contain  a  Schoolroom, 
Recitation-rooms,  Entries,  and  Privies,  and  to  finish  twelve  feet  high,  in  the  clear. 
The  first  floor  is  to  be  set  eighteen  inches  above  the  ground,  at  the  front  of  the  build- 
ing. The  Cellar,  under  the  whole  building,  (except  the  entrance  to  the  first-story 
Schoolroom,  which  is  to  finish  six  feet  and  eight  inches,)  is  to  be  finished  seven  and 
one  half  feet  high,  in  the  clear.  The  main  building  is  to  measure  twenty-six  by  forty- 
four  feet,  upon  the  ground  plan,  above  the  underpinning ;  the  Projection  on  the  east 
end,  three  and  one  half  by  twenty  and  one  half  feet ;  and  the  Projection  containing  the 
Privies,  four  and  one  half  by  sixteen  and  one  half  feet.  The  Roof  is  to  have  an  inclina- 
tion of  thirty  degrees. 

The  Front  and  Side  Walls  of  the  main  building,  and  the  Front  Walls  of  the  Projec- 
tions, above  the  underpinning,  and  the  Rear  Wall  of  the  main  building  and  sides  of 
the  Projections,  from  the  level  of  the  ground  on  the  rear  of  the  lot,  are  to  be  built  of 
brick 

mason's  work. 

Excavating: 

The  Dirt  and  Rubbish  is  to  be  dug  out,  as  required,  for  the  Cellar,  the  Cellar- Walls, 
the  Vault,  and  the  Drains  ;  and  the  remainder  of  the  lot  is  to  be  graded  up,  on  an 
inclination  of  one  inch  to  a  foot,  from  Sheafe  street  to  the  front  of  the  building. 

All  the  rubbish,  and  the  dirt  that  is  not  required  for  filling  in,  is  to  be  removed  from 
the  premises.  All  the  Loam  is  to  be  carefully  taken  up,lcept  by  itself,  and  spread 
srpoa  the  surface  of  the  Playground,  as  may  be  directed  by  the  Committee. 

Rough  Stone. 

The  Footings  to  all  the  walls  and  piers,  and  the  Cellar  and  Foundation-walls,  are  to 
be  built  of  square-split  Sandy-Bay  or  duiney  cellar -stone.  The  Bottom  or  Footing- 
course  is  to  be  puddled  and  rammed  to  a  perfect  bed,  and  those  to  the  main  walls  and 
the  piers,  are  to  be  laid  entirely  below  the  level  of  the  cellar  floor.  The  Walls  are  to 
be  laid  in  lime  mortar ;  and  those  of  the  Cellar  are  to  b.e  faced  and  pointed  on  the 
inside.  The  Footings  are  to  be  eighteen  inches  rise.  Those  to  the  main  walls  are  to 
be  three  feet  in  width ;  those  to  the  projections  are  to  be  two  and  one  half  feet  in 
width  ;  and  those  to  the  piers  are  to  be  three  feet  square.  The  Front  Wall  of  the 
Cellar  is  to  be  two  feet  thick,  and  the  other  Walls  twenty  inches.  Good  and  sufficient 
Foundations  are  to  be  laid  for  the  Steps,  Window  Curbs,  &c. 

Hammered  Stone. 

The  Underpinning  to  the  front  walls  of  the  main  building  and  projections,  and  the 
Returns  at  the  first-story  Entranee-doors,  the  Steps  to  the  Entrance-doors,  the  Thresh- 
olds to  the  Entrance-doors  and  Gates,  the  Curbs,  Sills,  and  Caps,  to  the  cellar-windows, 
the  Curbs  to  the  sesspool,  the  Fence-stone,  and  the  Platform  steps  to  the  Entrance- 
doors,  are  to  be  of  Quincy  granite,  of  ex  en  color,  free  from  sap,  rust,  or  flaws,  fine- 
kammered,  with  all  the  returns,  rabbets,  washes,  &c.,  indicated  by  the  Drawings. 
The  Floors  to  the  Privies  on  the  first-story,  a  Moveable  Cover  to  the  Vault,  and 
Hearth-stone  in  each  Schoolroom,  are  to  be  of  North-River  Flagging-stoae.    Abort 


192 


SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE. 


three  quarters  ot  the  Playground  is  also  to  be  laid  with  North-River  Flagging-stone, 
as  may  be  hereafter  directed  by  the  Committee.  The  rest  of  the  Playground  is  to  be 
left  unpaved,  for  flower  beds,  &c. 

There  is  to  be  an  Iron  Strainer  fitted  to  the  Sesspool-cover.  The  Hearth-stones  are 
each  to  be  three  feet  square,  with  a  circular  hole  in  the  centre,  eighteen  inches  in 
diameter,  for  the  admission  of  the  cold  air  under  the  stove. 

Sand-stone. 

There  is  to  be  a  set  of  Caps  and  Sills  to  each  of  the  windows  in  the  brick  walls,  and 
Caps  to  the  entrance-doors.  The  Caps  to  the  doors  are  to  be  four  courses  rise,  and  ten 
inches  thick,  and  those  to  the  third-story  front  windows  eight  and  one  half  inches 
thick  :  the  other  Caps  are  to  be  four  inches  thick.  The  Sills  to  the  windows  are  to  be 
eight  inches  wide.  The  Sills  and  Caps  to  the  blind-openings,  in  the  rear  wall  of  the 
privies,  are  to  be  of  the  full  thickness  of  the  wall,  and  finished  on  all  sides.  There  is 
to  be  a  Moulded  Belt  on  the  front,  and  over  the  east  and  west  entrance-doors  ;  and  a 
Base  and  Cap  to  the  Chimney,  of  the  forms  shown  by  the  Drawings.  All  the  above  is 
to  be  of  the  first  quality  of  Connecticut  free-stone  ;  that  in  the  faced-brick-work  is  to  be 
sand-rubbed,  and  the  remainder  fine-chiselled. 

All  the  stone-work  is  to  be  set  in  lime-mortar,  and  Cramped,  Headed,  and  Pointed, 
as  required. 

Brick-work. 

The  Front  Walls,  above  the  underpinning,  the  Rear,  Side,  and  Privy  Walls,  from 
the  rough  stone,  the  Piers  in  the  cellar,  the  Backing-up  of  the  stone-work,  the  Lining 
of  the  Vault,  the  Walls  between  the  privies,  the  Sesspool,  the  Drains,  and  the  Flues, 
are  to  be  built  of  hard-burnt  Charlestown  (not  Fresh  Pond)  bricks,  excepting  the  Facing 
of  the  front  and  side  walls  of  the  main  building  and  the  front  walls  of  the  projections, 
the  Covings,  and  the  Chimney,  which  are  to  be  of  the  first  quality  of  pressed-brick, 
laid  plumb-bond,  tied  into  the  other  work  with  bond-irons  in  every  seventh  course. 

The  Front  Wall,  to  the  top  of  the  belting,  and  above  the  top  of  the  third-story  win- 
lows,  with  the  corner  Piers  on  each  side,  and  the  Rear  Wall,  from  the  bottom  to  the 
»p  of  the  first-story  floorings,  are  to  be  sixteen  inches  thick.  The  remainder  of  the 
Front  and  Rear  Walls,  the  Side  Walls  of  the  main  building,  and  the  Front  Walls  of 
the  Projections,  are  to  be  one  foot  thick.  The  Rear  and  Side  Walls  to  the  Privies,  the 
Side  Wall  to  the  easterly  Projection,  and  the  Walls  of  the  Sesspool,  are  to  be  eight 
inches  thick.  The  Lining  of  the  Vault,  and  the  Walls  between  the  Privies,  are  to  be 
four  inches  thick.  The  Bottom  of  the  Vault  is  to  be  laid  three  courses  thick.  The 
Piers  in  the  cellar  are  to  be  sixteen  inches  square,  on  the  ground. 

The  Vault,  (which  is  to  be  of  the  sesspool  plan,  and  so  arranged,  that  no  solid  matter 
shall  remain  in  the  vault,  but  shall  all  pass  off  into  the  common  sewer,)  Sesspool, 
Drains,  Wall  between  the  privies,  and  the  Hollow  Wall  between  the  privies  and 
main  building,  are  to  be  laid  throughout  with  cement-mortar,  and  plastered  inside, 
throughout,  with  the  same.  The  remainder  of  the  brick -work  is  to  he  done  with  lime- 
mortar.  The  Drains  are  to  be  barrel-form,  the  larger  one  to  be  of  sixteen  inches  bore, 
and  the  smaller  ones,  one  foot.     The  Vaults  are  to  be  not  less  than  six  feet  deep. 

The  Cellar,  and  the  Passage-way  from  the  east  end  of  the  building,  out  to  Margaret 
Avenue,  are  to  be  paved  with  the  best  paving-brick,  on  perfect  foundations  of  gravel 
and  sand. 

The  Cold-air  Flues  are  to  be  twelve  by  eighteen  inches,  inside,  and  the  Smoke  Flues 
eight  inches  square,  inside,  all  smoothly  plastered,  inside  and  out,  with  a  stout  coat  of 
lime-mortar.     The  Flues  are  to  be  arranged  as  shown  in  the  diagram.     [See  p.  182.] 

The  Cold-air  Flue  or  Box,  leading  horizontally  into  the  room  to  the  aperture  under 
the  Stove,  is  also  to  be  thoroughly  and  smoothly  plastered,  and  made  perfectly  secure 
from  danger  by  fire,  in  case  of  live  coals  or  ashes  dropping  into  it  from  the  Stove.  It 
is  to  be  fitted  with  a  valve,  having  a  handle  in  the  room,  to  regulate  the  admission  of 
air. 

Lathing  and  Plastering. 

All  the  Walls,  Ceilings,  and  Stairways,  throughout  the  first,  second,  and  third 
stories  of  the  main  building  and  the  Projections,  and  the  Ceiling  of  the  Cellar,  are  to 
be  Lathed  and  Plastered  with  a  stout  coat  of  lime  and  hair,  and  hard-finished;  smoothly, 
with  lime  and  sand,  for  painting  ;  excepting  the  Ceiling  of  the  Cellar,  which  is  to  be 
finished  on  the  hair-coat,  and  the  Wall  between  the  main  building  and  the  privies, 
which  is  to  be  plastered  upon  the  bricks.  The  Walls  of  the  Cellar  are  to  be  white- 
washed with  three  coats. 

Care  must  be  taken,  that  the  beads  on  the  corners  of  the  walls  and  stairways  ari  act 
plastered.    The  quirks  are  to  be  neatly  cut,  and  the  beads  kept  clean. 


PRIMARY   SCHOOL-HOUSE,   BOSTON.  193 

Slates,  Slating,  tyc. 

Smoothly-polished  Slates  are  to  be  set  into  the  back  wall  of  each  Schoolroom,  on 
each  side  of  the  Ventilating  Pier,  and  neatly  finished  around  the  edges.  They  are  to 
be  two  and  a  half  feet  wide,  and  ten  feet  in  the  whole  length.  They  may  be  m  slabs 
of  five  feet  each,  in  length.* 

The  Roof  is  to  be  Slated  with  the  best  of  Ladies'  Slates,  put  on  with  Composition- 
nails,  and  properly  secured  with  flashings  of  sheet  lead,  weighing  three-and-one-half- 
pounds  to  the  square  foot,  and  warranted  perfectly  tight  for  two  years. 

Coppering. 

There  are  to  be  moulded  Copper  Gutters,  on  the  front  and  sides  of  the  main  building 
and  front  and  rear  of  the  Projections,  worth  one  dollar  and  twenty-five  cents  per  foot. 
They  are  to  run  back  six  inches  under  the  slates. 

There  are  to  be  two  four-inch-square  Trunks,  from  the  gutters  to  the  water-butts  in 
the  cellar ;  three-inch  ones  from  the  rear  of  the  Projections  to  the  Vault ;  and  a  round 
one  from  each  butt  to  the  vault.  The  Trunks  are  to  be  made  of  twenty -four-ounce 
cold-rolled  copper,  put  up,  connected  with  the  gutters,  and  led  off  in  a  proper  manner, 
with  suitable  lead  pipes,  of  three  inches  in  diameter. 

Iron-work. 

There  is  to  be  in  each  Smoke  Flue  an  Iron  Casting,  with  a  funnel-hole  twenty-four 
inches  from  the  floor,  and  a  hole  below  for  clearing  out  the  mouth  of  the  flue  ;  each 
hole  to  be  fitted  with  a  tight  stopper. 

There  is  to  be  an  Iron  Fence,  on  the  line  of  Sheafe  street,  across  the  whole  front, 
with  two  Gates,  and  an  Iron  Grate  at  the  entrance  of  the  back  passage,  on  Margaret 
Avenue.  All  the  Gates  are  to  be  fitted  with  Lever  Locks,  and  Latches,  of  the  best 
quality,  and  small  duplicate  keys. 

There  is  to  be  an  Iron  Grating  to  each  of  the  cellar- window  curbs,  of  inch-and-a- 
quarter  by  one-quarter-inch  bars,  set  one  inch  from  centre  to  centre  ;  and  wire  netting 
above  it  in  front  of  the  windows. 

All  the  Iron-work  is  to  be  painted  with  three  coats  of  lacker. 

There  are  to  be  stout  Iron  Scrapers,  placed  at  each  door,  where  directed  by  the  Com- 
mittee. 

There  are  to  be  an  Iron  Strainer  to  the  Sesspool  Cover,  and  Strong  Iron  Rings  to 
the  Moveable  Cover  of  the  Vault. 

There  are  to  be  Composition  Rods,  in  all  the  angles  formed  by  the  meeting  of  the 
ceilings  and  inner  walls,  in  the  Schoolrooms  and  Recitation-rooms,  attached  by  neat 
staples,  and  fitted  with  Moveable  Brass  Rings,  at  suitable  distances,  for  hanging  charts, 
maps,  &c. 

CARPENTERS'   WORK. 

Framing. 

The  Floors  and  Roofs  are  to  be  Framed  in  the  manner  indicated  by  the  Drawings, 
with  good  sound  spruce  lumber,  of  the  following  dimensions : 

Principal  Flooring-Joists, 3  by  14  inches. 

Short  Flooring- Joists, 3  "  11  " 

Trimmers  and  Headers, 5  "  14  " 

Partition  Studs, 2  "    4  " 

Privy-Floor  Joists 2  "  10  " 

Attic-Floor  Joists, 2  "  10  " 

Ties  to  Roof  Trusses, 7  "  10    " 

Rafters  to  Trusses 7  "  12  " 

Collars, 7  "    9  " 

Purlins,     8  "    8  " 

Wall  Plates, .   .  3  "    8  " 

Small  Rafters,     3  "    6  " 

The  Flooring-Joists  are  to  be  worked  to  a  mould,  crowning  one  inch.  They  are  to 
nave  a  fair  bearing  of  four  inches  on  the  walls,  at  each  end,  and  to  be  bridged  with 
two  lines  of  Cross  Bridging. 

The  Trusses  in  the  Roof  are  to  be  fitted  with  Wrought-iron  Bolts,  one  inch  in 
diameter,  with  Heads,  perfect  Screws,  and  large  Washers  and  Nuts. 

*  These  large  Slates  may  be  procured  in  Boston,  and  cost  no  more  than  good  Blackboards. 
When  it  is  not  convenient  to  obtain  them,  the  walls,  where  Blackboards  are  needed,  may  be 
adapted  to  the  purpose,  by  mixing  the  Plastering  or  Hard-finish  with  Lampblack,  rubbing  it  dowa 
smoothly,  and  allowing  it  to  become  perfectly  dry  and  hard  before  it  is  used.  Or,  Blackboard* 
may  be  covered  with  the  composition  mentioned  on  p.  197. 

13 


194  SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE. 

The  Floor-Joists  are  to  be  framed  into  the  Trimmers,  and  the  Ceiling-Joists  of  the 
third  story  into  the  Ties  of  the  Roof- Trusses,  with  Tusk- Tenons,  and  properly  secured 
with  hard-wood  Pins. 

All  the  Partitions  in  the  main  building  are  to  be  set  with  two-by-four-inch  plank 
Studs,  so  as  to  give  five  nailings  to  a  lath,  thoroughly  bridged  throughout,  and  trussed 
over  the  openings. 

There  is  to  be  a  Lintel,  four  by  eight  inches,  over  each  window,  and  other  opening 
in  the  walls  that  requires  it,  and  under  the  withs  of  the  Privies,  with  a  fair  bearing 
of  eight  inches  at  each  end. 

Enclosing. 

The  Under-Floors  of  the  Rooms,  Entries,  Passages,  Platforms,  and  Privies,  in  each 
story,  and  the  Floor  of  the  Attic,  are  to  be  laid  with  No.  3  Pine  boards,  planed,  jointed, 
laid  close,  and  thoroughly  nailed.  The  Roofs  are  to  be  covered  with  Matched  boards, 
of  the  same  quality,  and  thoroughly  nailed. 

Furring. 

All  the  Walls,  throughout,  (excepting  the  cellar  walls,  the  back  walls  of  the  several 
privies,  and  the  side  walls  of  the  privies  next  to  the  main  building,)  and  all  the  Ceil- 
ings, Entries,  and  Stairways,  are  to  be  Furred  with  three-inch  Furrings  of  sound,  sea- 
soned, dry  No.  3  Pine  boards,  spaced  so  as  to  give  five  nailings  to  a  lath.  They  are 
to  be  put  on  the  walls  with  twelve-penny  nails,  and  on  the  ceilings  with  ten-pennies. 

Grounds,  three-fourths  of  an  inch  thick,  are  to  be  put  up  for  all  the  finish,  and  three- 
quarter-inch  Beads  on  all  the  angles  and  corners  of  the  walls  and  stairways.  The 
Beads  are  to  be  kept  clean. 

There  are  to  be  two  Strips  of  Furring  put  up,  (for  convenience  in  driving  nails  for 
hanging  charts,  &c.,)  extending  entirely  around  the  Schoolrooms,  at  distances  of  three 
and  eight  inches  from  the  ceilings  ;  and  also  similar  Strips  for  the  same  purpose,  set 
perpendicularly,  on  the  rear  and  sidewalls,  as  directed  by  the  Committee.  Also,  Com- 
position Rods,  in  the  angles  of  the  ceiling,  all  round  the  rooms,  with  Moveable  Rings  at 
suitable  distances,  for  picture  lines. 

Cold-air  Boxes,  and  Ventiducts. 

The  Cold  Air  is  to  be  taken  in  at  one  of  the  cellar-window  openings,  which  is  to  be 
finished  outside  with  a  plank  frame  and  coarse  iron-wire  netting. 

The  Air  is  to  be  conducted  into  the  Brick  Cold-air  Flue  of  each  Schoolroom,  in 
separate  Boxes,  each  twelve  by  eighteen  inches,  inside,  made  of  thoroughly-seasoned 
Pine  boards,  smoothed  on  the  inside,  and  put  together  with  two-inch  screws. 

The  Ventiducts,  or  Ventilating-Flues,  are  also  to  be  made  of  thoroughly-seasoned  Pine 
boards,  smoothed  on  the  inside,  and  put  together  with  two-inch  screws.  There  is  to 
be  a  separate  one  for  each  Schoolroom,  and  the  Privies,  and  each  is  to  be  fitted  with 
two  Swivel-blind  Openings,  or  Registers,  one  at  the  floor  and  the  other  at  the  ceil- 
ing, with  Stay-rods  to  regulate  them,  as  may  be  directed  by  the  Committee. 

There  are  to  be  two  Closets  on  each  side  of  this  Pier,  in  the  first  story,  and  on  one 
side,  in  the  second  story,  as  shown  in  the  diagram,  on  p.  183. 

The  Ventiducts,  or  Ventilating-Flues,  for  the  Schoolrooms,  are  each  to  be  sixteen 
Inches  square,  inside  ;  that  for  the  Privies  is  to  be  ten  inches  square,  inside.  The 
Swivel-blind  Openings  in  the  Schoolrooms  are  to  be  sixteen  by  twenty-four  inches  ; 
and  those  in  the  Privies  are  to  be  ten  inches  square. 

The  Ventiducts,  or  Ventilating-Flues,  for  the  Schoolrooms,  are  to  be  brought  together 
in  the  attic,  and  connected  with  the  Ventilator  on  the  main  Roof. 

The  Ventiduct,  or  Ventilating-Shaft,  for  the  Privies,  is  to  be  ten  inches  square,  and 
carried  down  to  within  one  foot  of  the  surface  of  the  water  in  the  Vault  or  Sesspool ; 
and  the  air  from  this  Shaft,  and  also  from  the  space  between  the  privies  and  the  maid 
building,  is  to  be  conducted  in  a  tight  box  over  the  ceilings  of  the  third-story  privies, 
to  the  Ventilator  on  the  ridge. 

Windows  and  Blinds. 

All  the  Windows,  (excepting  those  in  the  cellar,)  are  to  have  Double  Box  Frames, 
with  two-inch  pine  plank  Sills  and  Yokes,  inch  inside  and  outside  Casings,  one-and- 
one-fourth-inch  hard-pine  Pulley-styles,  five-eighths-of-an-inch  Inside  Beads,  and  five- 
sixteenths-of-an-inch  Parting  Beads. 

The  Sashes  are  to  be  made  of  pine,  one-and-three-fourths-inch  thick,  moulded  and 
coped.  They  are  all  to  be  double  hung  with  the  best  White  Window  Lines,  Iron 
Pulleys  with  steel  axles,  and  Round  Iron  Counter-weights.  All  the  Sashes  are  to  be 
fastened  with  strong  Bronzed  Sash-fastenings,  of  the  best  quality,  to  cost  five  dollars 
and  fifty  cents  per  dozen. 


PRIMARY    SCHOOL-HOTJSE,    BOSTON.  195 

All  the  Windows  in  the  first  and  second  stories  are  to  be  fitted  with  one-and-one- 
fourth-inch  Framed  Blinds,  two  parts  to  each  window,  hung  in  light  Box-frames,  with 
Weights,  Lines,  and  Pulleys,  in  the  same  manner  as  the  sashes,  excepting  that  they 
are  to  run  up  above  the  tops  of  the  windows,  in  close  boxes,  and  to  have  satisfac- 
tory Knobs,  Rings,  or  Handles,  on  the  bottom  rails,  to  draw  them  down. 

The  Windows  in  the  third  story  are  to  have  Inside  Shutter-Blinds,  one  inch  thick, 
made  in  eight  parts  to  each  window,  hung  with  Iron  Butt-hinges,  and  fitted  with 
Bronzed  Hooks  and  Staples,  and  Rosewood  Knobs. 

The  Openings  in  the  Rear  Wall  of  the  Privies  are  to  have  Stationary  Blinds,  four 
inches  thick,  and  reaching  to  the  floors.  The  Windows  in  the  Front  Wall  are  to  have 
Outside  Blinds,  one-and-three-fourths-inch  thick,  hung  and  fastened  in  the  usual 
manner. 

All  the  Windows,  and  the  Openings  in  the  Privy- Walls,  are  to  be  finished  with  one- 
and-one-fourth-inch  moulded  Architraves,  with  turned  Corner-blocks.  [Care  to  be 
taken  to  have  no  Architraves  or  Corner-blocks  omitted  on  one  side,  or  cut  partly  off.] 
Those  in  the  first  story  are  to  have  panel  Jambs,  and  Soffits  and  Stools.  Those  in  the 
second  story,  and  all  the  Openings  in  the  Privies,  are  to  have  Edge  and  Sill  Casings. 
Those  in  the  third  story  are  to  have  Elbows  to  the  Shutter-boxes,  moulded  panel  Sof- 
fits, and  wide  Stools. 

The  Cellar-Windows  are  to  be  made  with  plank  Frames,  rabbeted  for  the  sashes  ; 
and  are  to  have  Single  Sashes,  hung  with  Iron  Butt-hinges  to  the  tops  of  the  frames, 
fastened  with  strong  Iron  Buttons,  and  fitted  with  Catches  to  bold  them  open  when 
desired. 

There  is  to  be  a  Single  Stationary  Sash  over  each  Entrance-door,  made  in  six  lights. 

There  are  to  be  two  Skylights  in  the  Roof,  which  are  to  be  made  and  hung  in  a  neat 
and  substantial  manner,  and  properly  fitted  to  rise  and  fasten. 

There  is  to  be  a  Scuttle,  in  the  ceiling  of  the  third  story,  made,  cased,  and  hung,  in 
a  neat  and  substantial  manner. 

Doors. 

All  the  Doors,  throughout,  (excepting  the  Outside  ones,  which  are  to  be  two-and- 
one-fourth-inches  thick,  and  the  Closet  doors,  which  are  to  be  one-and-one-fourth- 
inch  thick,)  are  to  be  two  inches  thick,  made  in  four  moulded  Panels  each,  hung  with 
three  four-inch  iron  Butt-hinges,  and  fastened  (excepting  the  outside  ones)  with  Rob- 
inson's best  $2,50  Mortise  Locks,  with  Catches  and  Bolts,  Rosewood  Knobs,  Bronzed 
Trimmings,  and  small  duplicate  Keys  to  each.  The  Outside  Doors  are  to  be  fastened 
with  double-bolt  Lever  Locks  of  the  best  quality,  having  duplicate  keys  as  small  as 
practicable.  The  Privy  Doors  are  to  have  strong  Door-sprmgs,  in  addition  to  the  other 
trimmings. 

All  the  Inside  Doors,  excepting  those  to  the  closets,  are  to  be  finished  with  hard- 
pine  Sills,  two-inch  rabbeted  and  beaded  Frames,  and  Architraves  as  described  for 
the  Windows,  with  Plinths.  The  doors,  in  every  case,  to  be  set  so  far  from  the  walls, 
as  to  give  the  full  Architraves  and  Corner-blocks  on  both  sides. 

The  Outside  Doors  are  to  be  hung  to  three-inch  plank  Frames,  properly  dogged  to 
the  thresholds  and  wall,  and  finished  inside  like  the  Inside  Doors. 

The  Entrance  and  Cellar  Doors  are  to  be  four  feet  by  seven  feet  eight  inches.  The 
Inside  Doors  are  to  be  three  feet  by  seven  feet  four  inches.  The  Privy  Doors  are  to  be 
two  feet  six  inches,  by  seven  feet  four  inches. 

Stairs. 

The  Stairs  are  to  be  framed  with  deep  plank  Stringers  and  Winders,  as  shown  by 
the  Drawings.  They  are  to  be  finished  with  hard-pine  Risers,  one  inch  thick,  Treads 
one-and-one-fourth-inch  thick,  and  Balusters  one-and-one-eighth-inch  diameter.  The 
String  and  Gallery  finish  is  to  be  of  white  pine,  and  the  Posts,  Newels,  and  Rails,  of 
cherry.  The  bottom  Posts  are  to  be  seven  inches  in  diameter,  turned,  and  the  Rails 
three  inches  wide.  The  Rails  are  to  be  not  less  than  three  feet  high,  measuring  from 
the  nosing  of  the  Steps. 

There  are  to  be  two  Flights  of  Stairs  to  the  Cellar,  framed  with  plank  Stringers  and 
Winders,  and  finished  with  planed  pine  Risers  and  Treads,  and  close  Partitions  one- 
and-one-half-inch  thick,  matched  and  planed. 

There  is  to  be  a  neat  Flight  of  Portable  Steps,  to  ascend  from  the  third  story  to  the 
Attic,  and  others  to  ascend  from  the  Attic  to  the  Skylight  in  the  Roof. 

Skirting'. 

The  Rooms,  Entries,  Stairways,  and  Privies,  are  to  be  Skirted  up  as  high  as  the 
window  stools,  in  the  respective  stories,  (except  on  the  back  sides  of  the  Rooms,)  with 
narrow  matched  beaded  Lining,  not  to  exceed  seven  inches  in  width,  Capped  to  cor- 
respond with  the  nosing  of  the  window  stools.     The  Lining  is  to  be  gauged  to  a 


196  SCHOOL   ABCHITECTUBE. 

width,  and  set  perpendicularly.  That  on  the  back  Wall  is  to  be  fitted  to  the  Slates  w 
that  wall,  which  are  to  rest  on  the  Capping.  That  in  the  first  story  is  to  be  of  cherry- 
wood,  the  second  story  of  maple,  and  the  third  story  of  white-pine,  wrought  and  fin- 
ished smoothly,  suitable  for  being  stained  and  varnished  without  painting. 

Floorings,  tyc. 

The  Platforms  are  to  be  furred  up,  as  shown  by  the  Drawings,  and  the  Stairways, 
Platforms,  and  Hearths,  are  to  be  bordered,  and  the  Floors  to  be  laid,  with  narrow 
hard-pine  floorings,  perfectly  jointed  and  thoroughly  nailed.  The  Strips  are  to  be 
gauged  to  a  width  respectively  in  the  schoolrooms,  and  the  joints  are  to  be  broken,  at 
least  three  feet,  so  that  no  two  strips  of  different  widths  will  but  on  to  each  other. 

Cabinets,  Closets,  Clothes- Hooks,  <$•<?. 

There  are  to  be  two  Cabinets,  in  each  Schoolroom,  between  the  windows,  above  the 
skirting,  and  as  high  as  the  windows,  with  double  cherry  Sash-doors,  each  hung  with 
three  Brass  Hinges,  fastened  with  Thumb-catches  and  Locks,  and  fitted  with  Rosewood 
Knobs.  There  are  to  be  twelve  Shelves  in  each,  and  immediately  below  them  are  to 
be  small  Closets,  with  four  Shelves  in  each,  and  double  Doors,  hung  and  fastened  in 
the  same  manner  as  the  sash  doors.  The  shelves  are  to  be  placed  as  directed  by  the 
Committee.     Six  of  them  are  to  be  inclined,  with  two  narrow  ledges  on  each. 

There  are  to  be  two  Closets  in  each  side  of  the  Ventilating  Pier,  in  the  First  Story, 
and  two  in  one  side  in  the  Second  Story,  as  shown  at  o  o,  in  the  diagram  on  page  183. 
Each  Closet  is  to  be  fitted  with  three  shelves,  and  the  doors  are  to  be  hung  ana  fastened 
in  the  same  manner  as  the  Closets  under  the  Cabinets. 

There  is  to  be  for  each  Schoolroom,  where  directed  by  the  Committee,  a  Press- 
closet,  having  three  Shelves  on  one  side,  with  six  brass  double  Hat-and-Coat-Hooks, 
on  beaded  cherry-wood  cleats  ;  the  Door  to  be  neatly  hung,  fastened,  and  trimmed, 
similar  to  the  other  doors. 

There  is  to  be  in  the  entry  of  each  Schoolroom,  where  directed  by  the  Committee,  a 
Closet,  for  brushes,  brooms,  coal-hod,  &c,  two  by  three-and-one-half  feet,  made  with 
matched  boards,  and  fitted  with  three  Shelves  on  one  side,  and  eight  Hooks  on  the 
other  side  and  back.  The  Door  is  to  be  made,  hung,  and  fastened,  to  correspond  with 
the  other  doors. 

There  is  to  be  a  Sink,  attached  to  each  Schoolroom,  where  directed  by  the  Commit- 
tee, made  of  two-inch  pine  plank,  the  top  hung  with  stout  hinges,  and  with  Drawers  and 
Cupboards  below.  It  is  to  be  fitted  with  a  Composition  Sesspool,  lined  with  zinc,  and 
a  lead  Waste-pipe,  leading  to  the  vault.  Suitable  Pipes,  to  lead  the  City  water  into 
the  sink  in  each  story,  are  to  be  provided. 

There  is  to  be  a  Dumb-waiter  from  the  cellar  to  the  third  story,  opening  into  each 
story,  for  raising  coals,  wood,  &c. 

There  are  to  be  seventy  extra-stout  iron  double  Hat-and-Coat-Hooks,  to  each  School- 
room, put  up  on  beaded  cherry-wood  Cleats,  as  directed  by  the  Committee. 

There  are  to  be  two  Umbrella-stands,  in  each  Entry,  to  hold  six  umbrellas  each. 

Coal-Bins,  fyc. 

There  are  to  be  three  Coal- Bins  in  the  Cellar,  each  capable  of  holding  three  tons  of 
Coal,  having  Covers  hung  with  strong  wrought-iron  Hinges,  and  sliding  Gates,  with 
boxings  around  them  to  keep  the  Coal  fromthe  floor.  Also,  three  Closets  for  Kin- 
dlings, the  doors  to  be  hung  with  iron  Strap-hinges,  and  fastened  with  iron  Buttons. 

There  are  also  to  be  in  the  Cellar,  two  large  iron-bound  Water-butts,  with  metal 
Faucets. 

Privy- Finish. 

The  Privies  are  to  be  fitted  with  pine  Risers,  Seats,  and  Covers.  The  Covers  are 
to  be  hung  with  stout  Duck,  or  India-rubber  cloth,  instead  of  metal  Hinges  ;  the 
edges  of  the  cloth  to  be  covered  with  narrow  slats.  They  are  to  be  so  arranged,  that 
they  will  fall  of  themselves  when  left.  There  is  to  be  a  Box  for  paper  in  each  Privy, 
and  the  Boys'  Privies  are  to  have  Troughs,  lined  with  zine,  with  Sesspools.  The 
whole  finish  of  the  Privies  is  to  be  equal  to  that  of  the  other  parts  of  the  building. 

Painting. 

All  the  Hard- wood  Finish,  (except  the  Skirting  of  the  first  and  second  stories,  which 
is  to  be  varnished,)  is  to  be  oiled,  with  two  coats  of  boiled  Linseed-oil,  well  rubbed  in 
with  cloth. 

All  the  Outside  wood-work,  the  Copper-trunks,  and  the  inner  walls  throughout,  are 
to  be  prepared  and  painted  with  three  coats  of  Oil-and-Lead  paint,  of  such  color  as  the 
Committee  may  direct.    The  Outside^doors  are  to  be  painted  Bronze. 


PRIMARY   SCHOOL-HOUSE,    BOSTON.  197 

The  Insides  of  the  Closets  and  Cabinets  are  to  be  painted  white,  and  the  Teachers' 
Platforms  in  imitation  of  Marble.  The  Blinds  are  to  be  painted  with  four  coats  of 
Paris  Green,  and  Varnished.  The  third-story  skirting  is  to  be  stained  with  asphal- 
tum,  and- varnished.  The  rest  of  the  Inside  Pine  Finish  is  to  be  Putty-stopped,  Primed, 
and  Painted  and  Grained,  in  imitation  of  Oak,  Maple,  or  other  color,  as  directed  by 
the  Committee,  and  Varnished. 

All  the  Painting  and  Varnishing  is  to  be  equal  to  that  of  first-class  dwelling-houses. 

Glazing. 

All  the  Sashes,  throughout,  are  to  be  glazed  with  Crystal  Sheet  Glass,  of  double 
thickness,  and  of  the  best  quality.  Each  light  is  to  be  properly  Bedded,  Sprigged, 
and  Back-Puttied. 

The  Windows  are  to  hare  Lights  of  the  following  dimensions,  as  shown  in  the 
Drawings : 

First  Story,  Front  Windows,  eighteen  Lights,  each  eleven  by  fourteen  inches.  First 
Story,  Rear  Window,  twelve  Lights,  each  eleven  by  sixteen  inches.  That  in  the  west 
wall,  eight  Lights,  each  eleven  by  sixteen  inches. 

Second  Story,  Front  Windows,  eighteen  Lights,  each  eleven  by  fourteen  inches. 
Second  Story,  Rear  Windows,  eight  and  twelve  Lights,  each  eleven  by  sixteen  inches. 
Front  Window  in  easterly  Projection.,  twelve  Lights,  each  eleven  by  fourteen  inches. 

Third  Story,  Front  Windows,  twelve  Lights,  each  eleven  by  nineteen  inches.  Third 
Story,  Rear  Windows,  eight  and  twelve  Lights,  each  eleven  by  fifteen  inches.  Front 
Windows  in  easterly  Projection,  eight  Lights,  each  eleven  by  nineteen  inches. 

The  Cellar  Windows,  eight  Lights,  each  eight  by  ten  inches. 

The  Sashes  over  the  Doors,  each  six  Lights. 

The  Skylights  are  to  be  two  feet  six  inches  by  three  feet  six  inches. 

Ventilators. 
There  are  to  be  two  of  Emerson's  Patent  Ventilators,  of  galvanized  iron  ;  one  on 
the  Roof  of  the  Main  Building,  twenty-five  inches  in  diameter,  and  another  on  the 
Roof  of  the  Privies,  twelve  inches  in  diameter. 

Furniture. 
Eaeh  Schoolroom  is  to  be  furnished  with  sixty  Small  Arni-Chairs,  of  Mr.  Ingba- 
ham's  pattern,  such  as  are  used  in  the  other  Primary  Schools  in  the  City.*  Also,  with 
a  Table,  for  the  Teacher's  Platform,  four  feet  by  two,  (made  of  Mahogany,  Black  Wal- 
nut, or  Cherry-wood,  as  directed  by  the  Committee,)  furnished  with  two  Drawers,  and 
fitted  with  Locks,  Keys,  and  Rosewood  Knobs,  of  the  best  quality. 

Memorandum. 

No  bricks,  stone,  lumber,  or  other  building-materials,  of  any  description,  are  to  be 
placed  on  the  garden-plat ;  and  the  Trees  and  Garden  are  to  have  a  rough  box  built 
around  them,  for  their  preservation  from  injury.  No  lines  are  to  be  fastened  to  the 
Trees,  for  any  purpose  whatever. 

All  the  Lumber  is  to  be  well  and  thoroughly  seasoned ;  and  all  that  is  in  sight  is  to 
be  free  from  Shakes,  Sap,  and  Knots  ;  and  that  and  every  part  of  the  work  is  to  be  equal 
to  any  used  in  first-class  dwelling-houses. 


MS,  ingraham's  composition  for  blackboards. 

Lampblack  and  Flour  of  Emery,  mixed  with  Spirit-Varnish. 

No  more  Lampblaek  and  Flour  of  Emery  should  be  used,  than  are  sufiicient  to  give 
She  required  black  and  abrading  surface ;  and  the  Varnish  should  contain  only  sufficient 
gum  to  hold  the  ingredients  together,  and  eonfine  the  Composition  to  the  Board.  The 
ihinner  the  mixture,  the  better. 

The  Lampblack  chould  first  be  ground  with  a  small  quantity  of  Alcohol,  or  Spirit- 
Varnish,  to  free  it  from  lumps. 

The  Composition  should  be  applied  to  the  smoothly-planed  surface  of  a  Board,  with 
a  common  painter's  brush.  Let  it  become  thoroughly  dry  and  hard  before  it  is  used. 
Rub  it  down  with  pumice-stone,  or  a  piece  of  smooth  wood  covered  with  the  Compo- 
sition. 

Boards  prepared  in  this  way  are  almost  equal  to  Slates,  and  will  last  for  years  ;  and 
they  can  be  used  with  slate-peneils,  which  are  much  better  than  crayons  or  chalk,  on 
account  of  their  freedom  from  dust  and  dirt.  Crayon  or  chalk  dust  is  deleterious  to 
feealth,  as  well  as  to  cleanliness. 

This  Composition  may  also  be  used  on  the  walls. 

*  See  pp.        and  181. 


198 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE 


Plans,  &c,  of  Brimmer  Grammar  School,  Boston. 

This  building  was  erected  in  1843.  It  is  situated  on  Common-street,  near 
Washington.  It  is  74  leet  in  length  on  the  street,  by  52  feet  deep,  with 
three  stories.  The  entrance  is  in  the  center  of  the  front  into  a  hall  8  feet 
wide,  leading  through  into  the  yard  in  the  rear,  which  is  divided  by  a  wall 
into  three  portions.  The  passage  to  the  second  and  third  floors  is  by  a  double 
flight  of  stairs  near  liie  front  door. 

The  first  floor  is  occupied  by  two  Primary  School-rooms,  each  30  by  22 
feet,  and  11  feet  high  ;  and  the  Ward-room,  30  by  50  feet. 

The  school-room  on  the  second  floor  is  70  feet  by  37  feet  wide,  and  14  feet 
6  inches  high  between  the  bays.  The  ceiling  is  plastered  up  between  the 
bays,  (cross  timbers)  by  which  eighteen  inches  are  grained  in  height,  dividing 
the  ceiling  into  equal  compartments.     There  are  two  recitation  rooms,  one 


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on  each  side  the  entrance,  17  feet  6  inches,  by  11  feet  4  inches  each,  with 
two  windows  in  each  room,  and  benches  on  all  the  sides  for  the  pupils.  The 
school-room  is  lighted  on  three  sides,  and  contains  118  desks,  and  236  chairs, 
two  chairs  to  each  desk,  the  desks  and  chairs  being  of  four  sizes.  The  tops 
of  the  desks  are  cherry  wood,  and  the  chairs  are  Walesl  patent.  The  desks 
are  separated  by  aisles  one  foot  four  inches  in  width,  except  the  center  aisle, 
which  is  two  feet  wide. 

The  aisles  on  the  side  nearest  the  recitation-rooms,  are  three  feet  wide, 
and  those  at  each  end,  2  feet  6  inches  each.  The  platform  on  which  are 
the  desks  of  the  master  and  assistants,  is  eight  inches  high,  and  6  feet  6 


BRIMMER  GRAMMAR  SCHOOL-HOUSE,  BOSTON. 


139 


Inches  wide,  and  the  desks  are  so  placed  that  the  pupils  sit  with  their  backs 
to  the  platform ;  and  the  pupils  are  so  arranged  at  the  desks  in  classes  and 
sections,  that  when  one  class  is  reciting,  the  desk  is  only  occupied  by  one 
pupil.     The  windows  are  shaded  by  inside  blinds  painted  green. 

The  school-room  on  the  third  floor  is  of  the  same  size,  having  an  arched 
ceiling  13  feet  high  in  the  center,  with  recitation-rooms  and  other  arrange- 
ments similar  to  the  school-room  on  the  second  floor. 

The  building  is  warmed  by  two  furnaces,  and  ventilated  by  six  flues,  dis- 
charging into  the  attic,  from  which  the  impure  air  is  carried  off  by  copper 
ventilators  in  the  roof.  The  openings  into  the  flues  in  the  school-rooms  are 
controlled  by  Preston's  ventilators. 

The  frame  of  Preston's  Ventilator  is  made  of  a  flat  bar  of  iron  2|  by  ~ 
inch,  framed  at  the  corners,  the  end  at  each  corner  running  by  in  order  >,. 
receive  a  clamp  to  screw  the  frame  to  the  brick  work  ;  the  door  is  of  plate 
iron,  (yg-  wire  gage),  with  a  rod  passing  down  the  center  of  the  plate,  on  the 
back  side,  each  end  of  the  rod  running  by  the  plate  and  entering  the  frame, 
forming  a  pivot  on  which  the  plate  or  door  of  the. ventilator  turns.  The 
door  shuts  against  a  projection  in  the  frame. 


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The  Brimmer  school  has  two  masters,  one  in  each  room,  and  each  withi 
an  usher  and  female  assistant. 

[Since  the  above  description  was  first  published,  (in  1843)  the  seats  and.1 
desks  have  been  reversed,  so  that  the  pupils  sit  with  their  faces  to  the  plat- 
form- The  former  method  was  found  by  the  teacher  to  be  "  very  incon- 
venient, and  wholly  impracticable.  The  scholar  should  see  the  face  and' 
hear  the  voice  of  the  Principal  as  much  as  possible."] 


200 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


The  second  and  third  stories  are  furnished  with  Wales'  Patent  American 
School  Chair,  which  has  been  very  extensively  introduced  into  the  public 
schools  ot  Boston  and  vicinity. 


Wales'  American  School  Chair. 

The  seat  of  the  chair  is  based  upon  a 
pedestal  of  cast  iron,  having  no  joining  to 
get  loose  or  come  apart  in  the  arm,  and 
is  made  fast  by  screws  both  to  the  seat 
and  to  the  floor.  The  back  of  the  chair 
is  firmly  supported  by  the  middle  piece, 
which  passes  directly  from  the  top 
through  a  dove-tail  in  the  seat  into  the 
foot  of  the  pedestal.  These  chairs  are 
manufactured  by  S.  Wales,  Jr.,  66  Kil- 
by  street,  Boston,  of  any  height  from  8 
inches  to  17  inches  from  the  top  surface 
of  the  seat  to  the  floor. 

Mr.  Wales  has,  during  the  present 
year,  (1848,)  greatly  improved  the  style 
of  his  chairs,  and  now  manufactures  a 
desk  with  iron  supports  of  new  and  im- 
proved construction.  For  description, 
see  p.  202. 


thpT5l^Sks  in  the  Brimmer  Scho°l  are  more  like  the  one  represented  in 
the  accompanying  section  of  desk  and  chair  used  in  the   Eliot  Grammai 

O  A.  JLi. 


3ft.  HIT, 


The  cut  below  represents  the  bench  used  in  the  Primary  School  The 
scholars  are  separated  by  a  compartment,  A,  which  serves  as  a  rest  'for  the 
arm,  and  place  of  deposit  for  books. 


BOSTON  SCHOOL   FURNITURE. 


201 


Since  the  foregoing  style  of  chair  and  desk  was  introduced,  much  atten- 
tion has  been  paid  to  the  improvement  of  school  furniture,  with  a  view 
of  securing  convenience,  durability,  and  economy,  in  the  construction  both 
of  chairs  and  desks. 

The  Boston  Latin  High  School  Desk. 


The  above  cut  represents  an  end  view  of  a  new  style  of  desk  used 
in  the  Latin  High  School,  in  Bedford  street,  with  a  section  of  Wales' 
Patent  School  Chair.  The  standards  of  the  desks  are  made  of  cast 
iron,  and  are  braced  in  such  a  manner,  that  when  properly  secured  to  the 
floor,  there  is  not  the  least  motion.  The  curve  in  the  standard  facilitates 
the  use  of  the  broom  in  sweeping. 


The  Boston  Primary  School  Chair. 

These  Chairs  were  got  up  for  the  special  benefit  of  the  Boston  Primary 
Schools,  by  Joseph  W.  Ingraham,  Esq.,  Chairman  of  the  Primary  School 
Standing  Committee;  and  have  already  been  introduced,  by  order  of  the 
Primary  School  Board,  into  the  greater  portion  of  their  Schools. 


The  first  pattern,  is  a  Chair  with  a  Shelf  (s)  under  the  seat,  for  the  purpose 
■of  holding  the  Books,  Slates,  &c.  of  the  scholars. 

The  second  pattern  differs  from  the  first,  in  having,  instead  of  the  Shelf  a 
Rack  (a)  on  the  back  of  the  chair,  for  the  same  use  as  the  Shelf  in  the  pre- 
ceding pattern.  The  third  pattern  is  similar  to  the  second,  except  that  the 
Rack  (a)  is  placed  at  the  side,  instead  of  the  back,  of  the  chair.  The  latter  pat- 
tern (with  the  Rack  on  the  side)  is  that  now  adopted  in  the  Boston  Schools. 

These  chairs  are  manufactured  by  William  G.  Shattuck,  No.  80  Commercial 
Street,  Boston.  The  price  is  fifty  cents,  each,  for  those  with  the  Shelf,  and 
sixbii-five  cents  for  those  with  the  Rack. 


202  school  architecture. 

Wales'  School  Chairs  and  Desks. 


Wales'  American  School  Chairs  and  Desk. 

The  figures  above  represent  the  largest  size  of  Chairs  and  Desk,  as 
described  in  the  series  of  sizes  below,  the  height  decreasing  as  there  stated 
from  size  to  size. 

The  Chairs  represented  in  the  above  cut  are  based  upon  a  single  pedestal 
of  iron,  (instead  of  the.  usual  legs  of  a  chair  ;)  the  wood-work  of  the  Chair  is 
fastened  securely  upon  the  top  of  the  pedestal,  the  middle  piece  passes  directly 
from  the  top  into  the  foot  of  the  pedestal,  and  the  whole  is  firmly  screwed  to 
the  floor  of  the  school-room. 

The  Desk  above  is  intended  for  two  scholars,  being  in  form  and  style,  both 
in  wood  and  iron,  of  the  latest  pattern. 

The  supports  of  the  Desk  are  of  iron,  so  constructed  as  to  be  entirely  out 
of  the  way  of  the  scholar,  and  at  the  same  time  light  in  form,  and  perfectly 
strong  and  firm  in  their  position.  They  are  secured  to  the  wood-work  at  the 
top,  and  screwed  firmly  to  the  floor  of  the  school-room  at  the  bottom. 

The  whole  plan  embraces  Chairs  and  Desks  in  seven  sizes,  as  follows  : 


First  size. 
Second  size. 
Third  size. 
Fourth  size. 
Fifth  size. 
Sixth  size. 
Seventh  size. 


Chair  9  inches  high,  Desk,  side  next  the  scholar,  17  inches. 


19 

21 

23i 

25 

26* 

28 


Thus  combining  a  mode  of  furnishing  public  schools,  for  scholars  of  all  ages, 
which,  for  comfort,  durability,  and  ultimate  economy,  is  believed  to  be 
unequalled.  These  Chairs  have  been  very  generally  adopted  in  the  Schools  in 
Boston  and  the  New  England  States.  The  Chairs  or  Desks,  or  any  desired 
sizes  of  either,  can  be  had  separately. 


wales'  school  chairs  and  desks.  203 


Wales'  Bowdoin  School  Chair  and  Desk 

The  Chair  above  represented  is  finished  with  a  very  graceful  scroll  top 
and  ornamental  centre,  the  latter  passing  from  the  top  through  a  dovetail  in 
the  seat,  directly  into  the  foot  of  the  iron  pedestal  upon  which  it  is  based, 
thereby  securing  an  unequalled  degree  of  strength  and  durability,  with  com- 
fort and  beauty.  The  iron  pedestals  are  secured  firmly  to  the  wood- work  at 
the  top,  and  are  then  screwed  immovably  to  the  floor  pf  the  school -room. 

The  Desk  is  for  a  single  scholar,  but  can  be  made  of  any  length  in  the 
same  fashion,  accommodating  any  number  of  scholars  which  may  be  needful. 
It  rests  upon  iron  supports,  of  a  new  and  improved  construction,  which 
secures  great  firmness  and  strength. 

A  comparison  of  this  cut  with  that  preceding,  will  show  that  while  the  or- 
namental in  form  has  been  introduced  in  the  Bowdoin  School  Chair,  the  more 
important  elements  of  strength,  durability  and  comfort,  which  experience  has 
accorded  to  the  American  School  Chair,  have  not  been  omitted.  One 
secures  every  attainable  degree  of  strength  and  comfort,  at  the  lowest  price, 
Avhile  the  other  adds  to  all  these  a  greater  beauty  of  style,  with  the  price 
increased  in  proportion. 

The  size  in  the  drawing  is  of  a  Chair  of  16  inches,  with  a  Desk  of  28 
inches  in  height,  being  the  largest  of  the  series  of  seven  sizes,  which  may  be 
found  on  a  preceding  page,  in  the  description  of  the  American  School  Chair. 

560  of  these  Chairs  are  in  use  in  the  Bowdoin  School,  and  672  in  the 
Quincy  School,  in  Boston. 

The  Desk  is  of  a  later  pattern  than  those  in  either  of  the  schools  named. 
Chairs  or  Desks  of  this  style,  or  any  sizes  of  them,  can  be  had  separately,  if 
desired. 

It  is  now  about  ten  years,  since  the  manufacturer  first  invented  and  adopted 
the  iron  pedestal,  as  the  base  for  School  Chairs,  and  although  the  introduc- 
tion of  this  new  principle  has  been  slow,  it  has,  nevertheless,  been  sure  and 
satisfactory. 

The  knowledge  of  this  mode  of  setting  up  School  Chairs  and  Desks  on 
pedestals,  or  on  fancy  forms  of  iron,  as  illustrated  by  the  accompanying  cuts 
has  been  widely  extended,  and  has  met  with  the  universal  approbation  of  ex- 
perience. 


204  SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE. 


"Wales'  Hancock  School  Chair  and  Desk. 

The  figures  above  represent  the  largest  of  a  series  of  seven  sizes,  as 
described  on  a  preceding  page. 

The  Desk  is  for  a  single  scholar,  with  a  single  chair.  The  supports,  both 
of  the  Chairs  and  Desks,  are  of  iron,  secured  firmly  to  the  wood-work  of  the 
Chair  or  Desk  at  the  top,  and  to  the  floor  of  the  school-room  at  the  bottom. 

560  of  these  Chairs,  with  single  Desks,  are  in  the  Hancock  School,  in 
Boston. 

The  Desk  represented  in  the  drawing  is  of  a  later,  and,  it  is  believed,  a 
better  pattern  in  several  respects,  than  those  in  the  Hancock  School. 

Chairs  or  Desks  of  this  description  are  furnished  separately,  when 
desired. 

The  greatly  increased  demand  for  School  Furniture  of  this  description,  and 
indeed  for  an  improvement  in  School  Furniture  of  all  kinds,  has  induced  the 
subscriber  to  establish  a  Manufactory,  where,  under  his  own  direction, 
all  kinds  of  School  Furniture  will  be  manufactured  in  the  best  manner. 

Every  article  from  this  establishment  will  be  warranted. 

Before  closing  these  notices,  it  is  proper  to  observe  that  drawings  rarely 
give  the  complete  idea  of  the  thing,  either  in  style  or  proportion,  especially 
when  small  objects  are  intended  to  be  represented .  At  the  Ware-room  of  the 
Manufacturer,  samples  of  all  the  foregoing  styles  of  Desks  and  Chairs  are 
set  up,  as  if  in  actual  use  ;  and  all  persons  who  feel  interest  or  curiosity  in 
such  matters  are  invited  to  visit  and  examine  them.  It  is  only  by  such  an 
investigation  that  the  complete  idea  can  be  realized.  Orders  by  mail  or 
otherwise  will  be  executed  with  the  same  promptness  and  fidelity  as  if  pre- 
sented in  person. 

S.  Wales,  Jr.,  No.  14  Bromfield  street,  Boston. 

The  foregoing  drawings  and  description  of  School  Chairs  and  School  Desks, 
manufactured  by  S.  Wales,  Jun.,  14  Bromfield  street,  Boston,  Mass.,  are 
copied  from  the  circular  of  the  manufacturer,  by  permission. 


ROSS'S  SCHOOL  FURNITURE. 
Ross's  School  Chair  and  Desk. 


205 


The  above  cut  represents  a  new  style  of  school  chair  and  desk,  manu- 
factured by  Joseph  L.  Ross,  corner  of  Ivers  and  Hopkins  streets,  Boston. 

"  The  legs,  or  supports  of  the  desk  and  seat,  are  of  cast-iron,  of  clas- 
sical design,  conveniently  shaped  in  reference  to  sweeping,  and  are  firmly 
secured  to  the  wood-work  of  the  chair  and  desk,  and  to  the  floor. 

The  chairs  are  made  of  seven  sizes,  viz. :  9,  10,  12, 13,  14,  15,  and  16 
inches  high  from  the  floor  to  the  upper  surface  of  the  seat ;  and  the  desks 
are  manufactured  to  correspond  to  the  size  of  the  chairs." 

These  has  been  introduced  into  the  new  Public  High  School-house, 
Cambridge,  and  in  Charlestown,  and  into  several  of  the  new  Grammar 
School-houses  in  Boston,  and  have  given  entire  satisfaction  wherever  they 
have  been  introduced. 

Mr.  Ross  also  manufactures  tables  and  desks  for  the  use  of  teachers, 
eases  for  apparatus,  and  for  library,  and  other  furniture  for  school-rooms." 

Mr.  Ross  also  manufactures  a  style  of  school  desk,  with  seat  attached, 
which  has  been  introduced  very  extensively  into  village  and  country  dis- 
tricts in  Rhode  Island,  and  is  recommended  wherever  a  rigid  economy 
must  be  observed  in  furnishing  a  school-room.  The  end-piece,  or  sup- 
ports, both  of  the  desk  and  seat,  are  of  cast-iron,  and  the  wood-work  is 
attached  by  screws.  They  are  made  of  eight  sizes,  giving  a  seat  from 
ten  inches  to  seventeen,  and  a  desk  at  the  edge  next  to  the  scholar  from 
seventeen  to  twenty-six  inches  from  the  floor. 


206  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


Plan  and  Description  of  Bowdoin  Grammar  School-House. 

The  new  Bowdoin  School-house,  completed  in  1848.  is  situated  on  Myrtle 
street,  and  with  the  yard  occupies  an  area  of  about  75  feet  by  68  feet,  bounded 
on  each  of  the  four  sides  by  a  street.  It  is  built  of  brick  with  abasement  story 
of  hammered  granite,  and  measures  75  feet  9  inches  extreme  length  by  54  feet  6 
inches  extreme  breadth — having  three  stories,  the  first  and  second  being  13  feet, 
and  the  third,  15  feet  high  in  the  clear.  The  ground  descends  rapidly  from 
Myrtle  street,  thereby  securing  a  basement  of  15  feet  in  the  rear.  One  third  of 
which  is  finished  into  entries,  or  occupied  by  three  furnaces,  coal  bins,  pumps, 
&c,  and  the  remaining  two  thirds  is  open  to  the  yard,  thereby  affording  a  cov- 
ered play-ground  for  the  pupils. 

The  third  story  is  finished  into  one  hall  72  feet  long  by  38  feet  wide,  with  seats 
and  desks  for  180  pupils.  On  the  south  side  of  this  hall  there  are  two  recita- 
tion rooms,  each  16  feet  by  12  feet,  and  a  room  for  a  library,  &c.  There  are 
three  rooms  of  the  same  size  on  the  two  floors  below. 

The  second  story  is  divided  into  two  rooms  by  a  partition  wall,  each  of  which 
is  35  feet  by  38,  and  accommodates  90  pupils,  and  so  connected  by  sliding  doors 
that  all  the  pupils  of  both  schools  can  be  brought  under  the  eye  and  voice  of  the 
teacher. 

The  first  story  corresponds  to  the  second,  except  there  are  no  sliding  doors  in 
the  partition,  and  no  connection  between  the  room  except  through  the  front 
entry.     The  two  rooms  on  this  floor  have  each  seats  and  desks  for  100  pupils. 

Each  story  is  thoroughly  ventilated,  and  warmed  by  one  of  Chilson's  Fur- 
naces. In  each  furnace  the  air  chambers,  the  apertures  for  conducting  the  cold 
air  into  them,  and  the  flues  for  constructing  the  heated  air  into  the  rooms  in 
each  story,  being  all  large,  a  great  quantity  of  warm  air  is  constantly  rushing 
into  the  rooms,  and  the  ventilating  flues  or  ventiducts  being  so  constructed  and 
arranged  that  the  air  of  the  rooms  will  be  frequently  changed,  and  that  a  pure 
and  healthy  atmosphere  will  at  all  times  be  found  in  each  of  these  rooms,  pro- 
vided the  furnaces  are  properly  and  judiciously  managed.  On  the  top  of  the 
building  there  are  two  of  Emerson's  large  ventilators,  connected  with  the  attic 
and  ventilating  flues,  through  which  the  impure  air  passes  out  into  the  atmos- 
phere above. 

To  accommodate  pupils  who  come  to  school  with  wet  feet  or  clothes,  there 
is  an  open  fire  in  a  grate  in  one  of  the  recitation  rooms. 

Each  room  is  furnished  with  Wales'  American  School  Chair,  and  Ross's  Desk, 
and  both  desk  and  chair  are  in  material,  form  and  style,  as  described  on  page 
202  and  205. 

This  is  a  school  for  girls  only,  and  consists  of  two  departments,  one  of  which 
is  called  the  Grammar  department,  and  the  other  the  Writing  department;  the 
master  of  each  department  being  independent  of  the  other. 

The  number  of  assistant  female  teachers  in  each  department  of  this  school, 
when  full,  will  be  four,  the  teachers  in  each  department  being  independent  of 
the  master  and  teacher  in  the  other. 

The  master  of  the  Grammar  department  and  two  of  his  assistants  will  occupy 
the  large  hall  in  the  third  story,  and  his  other  two  assistants  will  occupy  one  of 
the  rooms  in  the  first  story. 

The  master  of  the  writing  department  and  two  of  his  assistants  will  occupy 
the  rooms  in  the  second  story,  and  his  other  two  assistants  will  occupy  the 
other  room  in  the  first  story,  each  master  being  the  superintendence  of  his  own 
department. 

The  school,  when  full,  will  be  divided  into  five  classes,  and  each  class  into 
two  divisions,  nearly  equal  in  numbers.  The  first  week  after  the  vacation  in 
August,  the  first  division  of  each  class  will  attend  in  the  grammar  department 
in  the  morning,  and  the  second  division  of  each  class  will  attend  in  the  writing 
department ;  and  in  the  afternoon,  the  second  division  of  each  class  will  attend 
in  the  grammar  department,  and  the  first,  in  the  writing  department.  The  next 
week,  this  order  of  attendance  is  to  be  reversed,  and  this  alteration  is  to  con- 
tinue through  the  year,  the  weeks  of  vacation  not  being  counted. 

This  house  and  the  Gluincy  Grammar  School-house  are  built  after  designs  by 
Mr.  Bryant. 


BOWDOIN  GRAMMAR  SCHOOL-HOUSE. 
Plan  op  First  and  Second  Floor. 


207 


A,  A,  Entrance  for  Pupils. 

B,  Ditto  for  Teacher. 

C,  C,  Study  halls,  each  35  by  38  feet ; 
with  seats  and  desks  for  100  pupils. 

D,  Sliding  door,  by  which  the  two 
rooms  on  the  second  floor  are  thrown 
into  one. 

E,  Study  hall,  72  feet  by  38. 

F,  F,  Two  recitation  rooms  on  each 
floor,  16  feet  by  12. 

G,  Room  10  feet  by  12,  for  library,  ap- 
paratus, &c. 


H,  Ross'  desk,  and  Wales'  chair. 

P,  Teacher's  platform  with  desk  for 
teacher  and  assistants. 

S,  S,  Staircase  leading  to  second  and 
third  floors. 

a,  Case  with  glass  doors  for  appara- 
tus. 

c,  Closet  for  Teacher. 

q,  Grate. 

r,  Hot  air  register. 

v,  Flues  for  ventilation. 


Plan  op  Third  Floor. 


208  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


Plan  and  Description  of  GIuincy  Grammar  School-House, 
Boston. 

This  building,  which  was  commenced  in  1847,  and  dedicated  on  the  26th  of 
June,  1848,  is  situated  on  a  lot  90  feet  by  130  feet,  extending  from  Tyler  street 
to  Hudson  street. 

The  ground  plan  is  in  the  form  of  a  cross,  the  exterior  dimensions  of  the  body 
being  80  feet  by  58  feet,  the  end  fronting  on  Tyler  street.  The  wings  are  12 
feet  in  front  by  36  feet  deep.  It  is  four  stories  high,  with  a  basement  8  feet  in 
the  clear,  for  the  furnaces  and  fuel,  and  an  attic  for  gymnastic  exercises. 

Each  wing  contains  a  front  and  back  entrance,  a  flight  of  stairs  from  the 
basement  to  the  attic,  and  a  room  on  each  floor  10  feet  by  11  feet,  connected 
with  a  school-room. 

The  fourth  story  of  the  body  is  finished  in  one  spacious  hall,  16  feet  high  in 
the  clear,  with  centre-pieces  and  a  cornice,  and  a  platform  at  each  end  22  feet 
by  11  feet,  and  22  inches  high.  It  is  furnished  with  settees  arranged  in  4  rows, 
sufficient  to  accommodate  700  children. 

The  third  floor  is  divided  by  a  corridor  8  feet  wide,  extending  across  the  main 
body  from  one  wing  to  the  other,  having  2  school-rooms  on  each  side. 

These  four  school-rooms  are  of  nearly  the  same  size,  averaging  about 
31 1  feet  by  26  J  feet,  and  13  feet  high.  Each  room  is  lighted  by  2  windows  at 
the  side,  and  2  at  the  end,  and  has  a  platform  for  the  teacher  24  feet  by  about  5£, 
with  one  end  towards  the  entrance  from  the  corridor,  and  on  the  other  end  is 
placed  a  book-case  of  cherry,  3J  feet  by  8  feet,  with  glazed  doors,  facing  the 
entrance. 

The  scholars'  desks  front  the  platform  and  the  windows  on  the  side  of  the 
building,  and  are  separated  by  aisles  1  foot  and  4  inches  wide.  They  are  2  feet 
in  length,  made  of  cherry-wood,  and  varnished  and  supported  by  cast  iron 
stands.    J.  L.  Ross,  maker.    Each  scholar  has  a  desk  by  himself. 

The  chair  is  made  by  Mr.  Wales,  of  Boston.  It  has  a  scroll  back  and  cast 
iron  support. 

Each  room  accommodates  56  pupils,  one  desk  and  chair  being  placed  on  a 
small  movable  platform  for  a  monitor. 

The  rooms  are  lined  with  composition  blackboards  3£  feet  wide,  2  feet  from 
the  floor. 

The  school-rooms  which  have  not  small  rooms  attached,  are  provided  with 
closets  for  the  children's  clothes.  There  are  2  sinks  in  the  corridor,  with  con- 
veniences for  introducing  Cochituate  water.  The  description  of  this  story  will 
answer  for  the  two  below  it,  as  the  first  three  are  essentially  the  same. 

The  windows  are  furnished  with  inside  blinds,  having  revolving  slats,  so  that 
the  light  may  be  regulated  with  great  ease. 

The  building  is  warmed  by  4  furnaces  placed  in  the  basement,  2  being  placed 
at  the  middle  of  each  end,  each  being  intended  to  warm  the  three  rooms  imme- 
diately over  it,  the  cast  iron  chimnies  being  relied  upon  for  heating  the  hall. 

Emerson's  system  of  ventilation  has  been  introduced  since  the  building  was 
finished,  each  room  having  a  separate  air-duct  to  the  roof,  14  inches  by  14  inches. 

The  apparatus  consists  of  the  Boston  Philosophical  set,  by  J.  M.  Wightman, 
Eayrs  and  Fairbanks'  globe,  2  sets  of  Pelton's  Outline  Maps,  and  one  of 
Mitchell's. 

A  library  costing  $200  has  been  furnished  by  the  donation  of  Mayor  GIuincy. 

To  protect  the  desks  from  injury,  the  slate-frames  are  all  required  to  be  cov- 
ered with  cloth,  and  each  scholar  is  to  provide  himself  with  a  convenient  box  to 
contain  his  pen,  pen-wiper,  pencils,  rubber,  &c.  Each  desk  has  an  inkstand 
sunk  into  the  right-hand  corner,  with  a  revolving  metalic  cover. 

The  building  is  calculated  for  but  one  school,  and  is  at  present  occupied  by 
but  one,  the  organization  of  which  is  adapted  to  the  arrangement  and  construc- 
tion of  the  house.  When  the  organization  is  complete,  the  school  will  be 
divided  into  4  classes,  each  class  containing  168  scholars,  and  each  class  into  3 
divisions.  At  present  the  3  lower  classes  contain  two  divisions  each,  and  the 
first  class  3. 

On  the  3rd  floor  are  the  first  division  of  the  first  class  ander  the  instruction  o/ 


CtfJINCY  SCHOOL-HOUSE. 


209 


the  Principal,  and  the  several  divisions  of  the  2d  class  instructed  by  assistants; 
On  the  2d  floor  is  the  2d  division  of  the  1st  class  instructed  by  the  sub-mas- 
ter, with  the  several  divisions  of  the  3d  class  under  assistants;  and  the  usher 
takes  the  3rd  division  of  the  1st  class,  with  the  several  divisions  of  the  4th  class 
on  the  1st  floor.  By  this  arrangement  the  government  is  rendered  compara- 
tively easy.  The  whole  school  is  brought  together  in  the  hall  for  devotional 
services,  and  other  general  exercises. 


Plan  of  First  Floor. 

A,  A,  Front  Door. 

B,  B,  Entries. 

C,  Corridor  or  Hall. 

T,  T,  T,  T,  Teachers'  Platform  24  feet  by  bh. 

r,  r,  r,  r,  Hot-air  flues. 

v,  v,  v,  v,  Preston's  Ventilators  for  controlling  the  flues  in  the  partition  wall, 
which  communicate  with  the  iron  smoke  pipes  near  the  top  of  the  building. 
This  plan  is  adopted  in  the  first  story  only. 

e,  e,  e,  e,  Indicates  the  location  of  the  flues  of  Emerson's  Ventilators  in  the 
second,  third  and  fourth  stories. 

s,  Sink. 

c,  c.  c,  c,  Closets. 

d,  d,  Closets  10  feet  by  11  feet 


14 


PUTNAM  FREE  SCHOOL-HOUSE.  211 


Plans   and   Description    of  the  Putnam    Free    School-House, 
Newburyport,  Mass. 

We  are  indebted  to  W.  H.  Wells,  Esq.,  the  gentleman  who  has 
been  selected  as  Principal  of  the  Putnam  Free  School,  and  to  whom 
the  work  of  organizing  this  important  institution  has  been  committed, 
for  the  following  plans  and  description. 

The  Putnam  Free  School  was  founded  by  Mr.  Oliver  Putnam,  a 
native  of  Newbury.  It  has  a  permanent  fund  of  fifty  thousand  dol- 
lars, besides  the  amount  invested  in  the  school-house  and  its  appur- 
tenances. 

The  number  of  pupils  to  be  admitted  at  the  opening  of  the  school 
(April,  1848,)  is  limited  by  the  Trustees  to  80.  No  pupil  can  be 
received  under  twelve  years  of  age,  nor  for  less  time  than  one  year. 

The  object  of  the  Institution  is  to  lead  pupils  through  an  extended 
course  of  English  studv.  It  is  open  to  students  from  any  portion  of 
the  country,  who  are  prepared  to  meet  the  requirements  for  admis- 
sion.    No  charge  is  made  for  tuition. 

This  building  is  situated  on  High  street,  directly  opposite  the  Common  or 
Mall.  It  is  constructed  of  brick,  with  corners,  door-sills,  underpinning,  steps, 
etc.,  of  freestone.  It  is  two  stories  in  height,  exclusive  of  a  basement  story, 
85  k  feet  in  length,  and  52  i  in  breadth. 

The  upper  story  is  divided  into  two  principal  school-rooms,  each  49i  feet  by 
40L  There  is  also  a  small  room  in  this  story  for  the  use  of  the  Principal. 
The  lower  story  contains  a  hall  for  lectures  and  other  general  exercises,  and 
four  recitation  rooms.  The  hall  is  44  feet  by  48|.  Two  of  the  recitation 
rooms  are  14  feet  by  17,  and  two  are  11  by  20. 

Each  of  the  principal  school-rooms  is  furnished  with  64  single  seats  and 
desks,  besides  recitation  chairs,  settees,  etc.  The  desks  are  made  of  cherry; 
and  both  the  desks  and  the  chairs  are  supported  by  iron  castings,  screwed 
firmly  to  the  floor.  In  form  and  construction,  they  are  similar  to  Kimball's 
"  Improved  School  Chairs  and  Desks." 

The  central  aisles  are  two  feet  and  eight  inches  in  width ;  the  side  aisles, 
four  feet  and  four  inches;  and  the  remaining  aisles,  two  feet. 

The  building  is  warmed  by  two  furnaces.  It  is  ventilated  by  six  flues  from 
the  hall  on  the  lower  floor,  six  from  each  of  the  school-rooms  on  the  second 
floor,  and  one  from  each  of  the  recitation  rooms.  Each  of  these  flues  has  two 
registers ;  one  near  the  floor,  and  the  other  near  the  ceiling.  The  two  princi- 
pal school-rooms  are  furnished  with  double  windows. 

The  institution  is  provided  with  ample  play-grounds  and  garden  plots,  back 
of  the  building  and  at  the  ends.    It  has  also  a  bell  weighing  340  lbs. 

The  first  appropriation  of  the  Trustees  for  the  purchase  of  apparatus,  is  one 
thousand  dollars.  Other  appropriations  will  probably  be  made,  as  the  wants 
of  the  school  may  require.  In  addition  to  the  apparatus  procured  by  the  Trus- 
tees, the  institution  is  to  have  the  use  of  an  achromatic  telescope,  which  will 
cost  between  three  and  four  hundred  dollars. 

The  cost  of  the  building  and  ground,  with  the  various  appurtenances,  exclu- 
sive of  apparatus,  has  amounted  to  twenty-six  thousand  dollars. 

The  accompanying  plans  give  a  correct  representation  of  the  arrangements 
on  the  two  principal  floors. 

The  building  was  erected  after  designs  and  specifications  by  Mr.  Bryant, 
Architect.  Boston, 


212 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


PUTNAM  FREE  SCHOOL-HOUSE.— LOWER  STORY 


H — Hall  for  lectures  and  other  general  exercises,  44  feet  by  48^.  A — Raised 
platform  for  desk.  D — Front  door.  (The  portico  in  front  does  not  appear  in  the 
plate.)  B,  B — Recitation  rooms,  11  feet  by  20.  R,  R — Reoitation  rooms,  14  feet 
by  17.  E,  E,  E,  E — Entries.  C,  C — Wash  closets,  under  the  stairs,  a,  a — Doors 
leading  to  the  basement  story,  d,  d,  d,  d,  d,  d,  d,  d,  d,  d — Doors,  v,  v,  v,  v,  v, 
v,  y,  t,  v,  v. — Ventilating  flues. 


PI  TNAM  FREE  SCHOOL-HOUSE,  NEWBURYPORT. 


213 


PUTNAM  FREE   SCHOOL-HOUSE.— UPPER  STORY. 


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M,  D— Room   for  Male  Department.     F,    D— Room  for  Female  Department. 

A,   A Raised   platforms   for  teachers'    desks.       L — Principal's   room.      C,   C — 

Closets,     p,  p — Raised  platforms  under  the  black-boards,    s,  s,  3,  s,  s,  s — Settees 
4,  d,  d,  d,  d,  d— Doors,     v,  v,  v,  v,  v,  v,  v,  v,  v,  v,  v,  v— Ventilating  flues 


214  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

Plans  and  Description  of  the  Public  High  School-House,  .    ■ 
Hartford,  Conn. 

The  Public  High  School-House  of  Hartford  was  built  after  more 
than  ordinary  search  for  the  best  plan,  (a  committee  having  visited 
Boston,  Lowell,  Salem,  Newburyport,  Worcester,  Providence,  and 
Middletown,  for  this  purpose,)  under  the  constant  oversight  of  a 
prudent,  practical  and  intelligent  building  committee,  and  with  due 
regard  to  a  wise  economy.  The  committee  were  limited  in  their 
expenditure  for  lot,  building,  and  fixtures,  to  $12,000;  and  when  it 
was  ascertained  that  a  suitable  building  could  not  be  constructed 
for  that  sum,  individuals  on  the  committee  immediately  contributed 
$2,400  out  of  their  own  pockets  to  complete  the  house  with  the 
latest  improvements.  The  committee  have  now  the  satisfaction  of 
knowing  that  their  contributions  and  personal  oversight  have  been 
mainly  instrumental  in  erecting  and  furnishing  the  most  complete 
structure  of  the  kind  in  New  England,  when  the  aggregate  cost  is 
taken  into  consideration. 

The  High  School  is  designed  for  both  males  and  females,  and  the  arrange- 
ments of  the  buildings,  and  the  grounds,  are  made  with  reference  to  the  separa- 
tion of  the  sexes,  so  far  as  this  is  desirable  in  the  same  school. 

The  lot  on  which  the  building  stands  is  at  the  corner  of  Asylum  and  Ann 
streets,  and  is  at  once  central,  and  large  enough  for  the  appropriate  yards.  The 
yards  are  separated  by  a  close  and  substantial  board  fence,  and  the  grounds  are 
well  laid  out  and  properly  inclosed ;  they  will  also  soon  be  planted  with  trees 
and  shrubbery.  The  building  is  of  brick,  three  stories  high,  upon  a  firm  stone 
basement.  Its  dimensions  are  50  by  75  feet.  The  basement  is  13  feet  in  the 
clear,  six  feet  of  which  are  above  the  level  of  the  yard.  This  part  of  the  build- 
ing is  occupied  by  furnaces,  coal  bins,  sinks,  pumps,  entrance  rooms,  &c.  At  one 
end,  and  on  two  opposite  sides  of  the  building,  a  stair  case  eleven  feet  in  width 
extends  from  each  of  the  two  entrance  rooms,  to  the  upper  story,  with  spacious 
landings  on  the  first  and  second  floors.  Two  rooms,  each  11  by  14  feet,  are  be- 
tween the  stair  cases,  the  one  on  the  first  floor  being  used  for  a  front  entry  to  the 
building,  and  the  one  on  the  second  floor  being  appropriated  to  the  Library 
and  Apparatus.  Two  closets,  eleven  by  four  feet  on  the  first  floor,  and  imme- 
diately beneath  the  stair  cases,  receive  the  outer  garments,  umbrellas,  &c,  of 
the  teachers. 

An  aisle  of  four  feet  four  inches  in  width  extends  between  the  desks  and 
outer  walls  of  the  rooms,  and  between  every  two  ranges  of  desks  is  an  aisle  of 
two  feet  four  inches  in  width.  An  aisle  of  eight  feet  in  width  passes  through 
the  middle  of  the  rooms,  parallel  to  the  narrower  passages.  A  space  of  five 
feet  in  width  is  likewise  reserved  between  the  remote  seats  in  the  ranges  and 
the  partition  wall  of  the  rooms.  Around  the  sides  of  the  rooms,  tastefully  con- 
structed settees  are  placed  for  occasional  recitations,  and  for  the  accommodation 
of  visiters,  and  in  the  upper  room  for  the  use  of  the  pupils  of  the  room  below, 
during  the  opening  and  closing  exercises  of  the  school. 

The  pupils,  when  seated,  face  the  teachers'  desks  and  platforms,which  occupy 
the  space  between  the  entrance  doors  of  each  room. 

A  blackboard,  or  black  plaster  surface,  forty  feet  long,  and  five  broad,  ex- 
tends between  the  doors  leading  to  the  recitation  rooms,  which  are  also  lined 
with  a  continuous  blackboard.  There  is  also  a  blackboard  extending  the 
entire  length  of  the  teachers'  platform  in  the  lower  room,  and  two  of  smaller  di- 
mensions in  the  room  above,  a  part  of  the  space  being  occupied  by  the  folding 
doors  leading  to  the  library  and  apparatus  room.  Twenty  chairs,  of  small  di- 
mensions and  sixteen  inches  in  height,  are  placed  around  each  recitation  room, 
♦hirteen  inches  apart  and  seven  inches  from  the  walls,  and  securely  fastened  to 
the  floor.    A  clock,  with  a  circular  gilt  frame  and  eighteen-inch  dial  plate,  is 


PUBLIC  HIGH  SCHOOL  HARTFORD.  215 

placed  over  the  teachers'  platform  in  each  school  room,  in  full  view  of  the  pupils. 
A  small  bell  is  also  placed  above  the  teachers'  platform  in  the  lower  room,  with 
a  wire  attached,  passing  to  the  desk  of  the  Principal,  in  the  room  above,  by 
which  the  time  of  recesses,  change  of  recitation  classes,  &c,  are  signified  to 
the  members  of  the  lower  rooms. 

The  school-rooms  in  the  first  and  second  stories  are  50  feet  square,  and  13  feet 
in  height — to  each  of  which,  two  recitation  rooms  12  by  23  feet  are  attached. 
The  large  rooms  are  furnished  with  "  Kimball's  improved  School  Chairs  and 
Desks,"  placed  in  six  ranges,  extending  back  from  the  teachers'  platforms,  ten 
esks  forming  a  range,  and  two  chairs  attached  to  each  desk,  furnishing  accom- 
odations in  each  room  for  120  pupils — 60  of  either  sex.  Ample  room  yet 
emains  in  front  of  these  ranges  to  increase  the  number  of  desks  when  the 
wants  of  the  school  demand  them.  The  desks  are  four  feet  in  length  and  one 
foot  four  inches  in  breadth,  constructed  of  cherry,  oiled  and  varnished.  The 
moderately  inclined  tops  am  fixed  to  the  end  supporters,  and  the  openings  for 
books  are  in  front  of  the  pupils.  Glass  inkstands  are  inserted  in  the  tops  of  the 
desks,  and  the  ink  protected  from  dust  and  the  action  of  the  atmosphere  by 
mahogany  covers  turning  on  pivots.  The  chairs  are  constructed  with  seats 
of  basswood,  hollowed,  and  backs  of  cherry,  moulded  both  to  add  beauty  to 
the  form  of  the  chair,  and  to  afford  support  and  comfort  to  the  occupants.  Ah 
are  neatly  stained  and  varnished,  and  they,  as  well  as  the  desks,  rest  on  iron 
supporters,  firmly  screwed  to  the  floor. 

The  entire  upper  story  is  converted  into  a  hall,  being  twelve  feet  in  height  at 
the  walls,  rising  thence  in  an  arch  to  the  height  of  seventeen  feet.  This  is  ap- 
propriated to  reading,  and  declamation,  and  for  the  female  department  of  the 
school,  to  daily  recess,  and  calisthenic  exercises.  A  moderately  raised  platform 
is  located  at  one  end,  above  which  an  extended  blackboard  is  placed,  and  settees 
are  ranged  around  the  walls ;  these,  properly  arranged,  together  with  the  settees 
from  the  lower  rooms,  which  are  easily  transported  above,  speedily  convert  the 
open  Hall  into  a  commodious  Lecture  room, — and  also  adapt  it  to  the  purposes 
of  public  examinations  and  exhibitions. 

In  each  of  the  two  entrance  rooms  are  placed  the  means  of  cleanliness  and 
comfort, — a  pump  of  the  most  approved  construction,  an  ample  sink,  two  wash 
basins  with  towels,  glass  drinking  tumblers,  and  a  looking-glass.  Kanges  ol 
hooks  for  hats,  coats,  bonnets,  cloaks,  &c,  extend  around  the  rooms,  and  are 
numbered  to  correspond  with  the  number  of  pupils,  of  each  sex,  which  the 
capacity  of  the  house  will  accommodate.  In  the  girls'  room,  pairs  of  small 
iron  hooks  are  placed  directly  beneath  the  bonnet  hooks,  and  twelve  inches  from 
the  floor,  for  holding  the  over-shoes.  In  the  boys'  room,  boot-jacks  are  pro- 
vided to  facilitate  the  exchange  of  boots  for  slippers  when  they  enter  the  build- 
ing— an  important  article,  and  of  which  no  one  in  this  department  of  the  school 
is  destitute.  A  thin  plank,  moderately  inclined  by  hollowing  the  upper  side,  is 
placed  upon  the  floor,  and  extends  around  the  walls  of  the  room,  to  receive  the 
boots  and  convey  the  melted  ice  and  snow  from  them,  by  a  pipe,  beneath  the 
floor.  A  large  umbrella  stand  is  furnished  in  each  of  the  two  entrance  rooms, 
also  with  pipes  for  conveying  away  the  water.  Stools  are  secured  to  the  floors 
for  convenience  in  exchanging  boots,  shoes,  &c.  Directly  under  the  stairs  is  an 
omnium  gatherum — an  appropriate  vessel,  in  which  are  carefully  deposited 
shreds  of  paper,  and  whatever  comes  under  the  denomination  of  Utter,- subject, 
of  course,  to  frequent  removal.  These  rooms,  in  common  with  the  others,  are 
carefully  warmed.  The  wainscoting  of  the  entrance' rooms,  and  the  stair  ease, 
is  formed  of  narrow  boards,  grooved  and  tongued,  placed  perpendicularly,  and 
crowned  with  a  simple  moulding.  The  railing  of  the  stair  case  is  of  black 
walnut.  A  paneled  wainscoting  reaching  from  the  floor  to  the  base  of  the 
windows,  extends  around  the  walls  of  the  remaining  rooms.  All  the  wood 
work,  including  the  library  and  apparatus  cases,  is  neatly  pain  ted,  oak-grained, 
and  varnished.  The  teachers'  tables  are  made  of  cherry,  eight  feet  in  length, 
and  two  feet  four  inches  in  breadth,  with  three  drawers  in  each,  and  are  sup- 
ported on  eight  legs.  A  movable  writing  desk  of  the  same  material  is  placed 
on  each.  Immediately  in  front  of  the  teachers'  desk  in  the  upper  room,  a  piano 
is  to  be  placed,  for  use  during  the  opening  and  closing  exercises  of  the  school, 
and  for  the  use  of  the  young  ladies  during  the  recesses.  Venetian  window 
blinds  with  rolling  slats,  are  placed  inside  the  windows,  and  being  of  a  slight 
buff  color,  they  modify  the  light  without  imparting  a  sombre  hue  to  the  room. 


215  .  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

The  building  is  warmed  throughout  by  two  of  Hanks'  Improved  Air  Heater, 
placed  in  the  basement. 

The  ventilation  of  the  school-rooms,  or  the  rapid  discharge  of  the  air  which 
has  become  impure  by  respiration,  is  most  thoroughly  secured  in  connection 
with  a  constant  influx  of  pure  warm  air  from  the  furnaces,  by  discharging  ven- 
tiducts or  flues,  situated  on  each  side  of  the  building  at  the  part  of  the  rooms 
most  distant  from  the  registers  of  the  furnaces.  The  ventiducts  of  each  room 
are  eighteen  inches  in  diameter,  and  are  carried  from  the  floor  entirely  separate 
to  the  Stationary  Top,  or  Ejector  above  the  roof.  The  openings  into  the  ven- 
tiducts, both  at  the  top  and  bottom  of  the  room,  are  two  feet  square,  and  are 
governed  by  a  sliding  door  or  blind. 

A  flight  of  stone  steps  leads  to  the  front  and  main  entrance  of  the  building. 
The  architectural  entrance  is  of  simple  design,  fourteen  feet  in  width,  and 
twenty  feet  in  height.  All  the  parts  are  wrought  from  dark  colored  stone,  and 
on  the  crowning  stone  of  the  entablature,  Public  High  School,  appears  in 
plain  and  prominent  relief.  Large  folding  doors,  with  side  and  top  lights,  close 
the  entrance. 

A  side  knob  commands  a  bell  suspended  in  the  Library  Room,  directly  behind 
the  Principal. 

A  broad  stone  walk  reaches  from  the  steps  to  the  street ;  flagging  walks  also 
extend  from  the  street  to  the  side  entrances  of  the  building,  and  thence  to  the 
outbuildings. 

The  Library  contains  an  Encyclopedia,  the  most  approved  Dictionaries,  both 
Classical  and  English,  and  other  important  books  of  reference  for  the  use  of  the 
School,  together  with  selected  works  for  the  direct  professional  reading  of  the 
teachers. 

Several  educational  and  scientific  periodicals  are  furnished  to  the  School, 
and  which  at  the  end  of  each  year  will  form  additional  volumes  for  the  Library. 

Pelton's  and  Olney's,  together  with  Mitchell's  new  series  of  outline  maps, 
published  by  J.  H.  Mather  &  Co.,  of  Hartford,  Ct.,  and  a  fourteen-inch  terres- 
trial globe,  aid  in  the  department  of  General  Geography. 

Mattison's  series  of  sixteen  astronomical  maps;  a  fourteen-inch  celestial 
globe ;  Vale's  improved  twenty-four-inch  celestial  globe  and  transparent  sphere ; 
a  magic  lantern,  with  sets  of  slides,  containing  thirty  accurate  telescopic  and 
astronomical  views;  a  reflecting  telescope  of  five  feet  focal  distance,  with 
magnifying  power  of  700,  and  Chamberlin's  best  Tellurium,  aid  in  the  depart- 
ment of  Astronomy. 

Historical  maps,  charts,  &c,  an  Isothermal  chart,  and  set  of  large  drawings 
to  illustrate  the  anatomical  structure,  and  the  physiological  functions  of  the 
system,  will  be  procured. 

The  following  apparatus  has  already  been  procured  to  aid  in  illustrating  and 
demonstrating  in  the  studies  named  : 

Mechanics. — Set  of  mechanical  powers,  arranged  in  a  mahogany  frame, 
comprising  three  levers,  each  sixteen  inches  long.  Five  sets  of  brass  pulleys 
strung  with  cord  and  properly  balanced.  Brass  weights  from  one  to  sixteen 
ounces.  Serew  and  lever  with  nut.  Screw  as  an  inclined  plane.  Ship  cap- 
stan. Wheel  and  axle.  "Wedge  in  two  parts.  Inclined  plane,  with  carriage. 
Movable  fulcrum  and  lever,  for  combining  the  power  of  screw  and  lever. 
Machine  for  illustrating  the  centrifugal  and  centripetal  forces — thirteen  experi- 
imentis. 

Pneumatics. — Air  Pump — frame  made  of  rose-wood  beautifully  polished — 
barrel  twelve  by  four  inches  inside ;  large  plate,  stop-cock,  and  barometer  in 
vacuo,  and  worked  with  a  polished  steel  lever  four  feet  in  length,  $85,00. 
Large  swelled,  n™en-top  bell  glass.  Several  plain  bell  glasses  of  smaller 
dimensions.  Bell  glass  with  brass  cap  to  receive  stop-cock.  Connector,  sliding 
rod,  &c.  Revolving  jet  in  vacuo.  Bursting  squares  and  wire  guard  for  same. 
Condensing  chamber  and  condensing  gauge.  Artificial  fountain,  with  exterior 
and  interior  jets.  Sheet  rubber  bag  in  vacuo,  illustrating  the  rarefaction  of 
confined  air  by  removing  the  pressure  of  the  external.  Mercury  tunnel  to  ex- 
hibit the  mercurial  shower,  porosity  of  wood,  pressure  of  the  air,  and  also  the 
luminous  shower.    Guinea  and  feather  tube.    Philosophical  water  hammer. 


PUPLIC  HIGH  SCHOOL,  HARTFC  RD.  217 

Apparatus  illustrating  the  absurdity  of  suction,  or  the  necessity  of  atmospheric 
pressure  to  the  operation  of  the  lifting  pump.  Torricellian  barometer  improved. 
Bell  in  vacuo.  Apparatus  illustrating  the  buoyancy  of  air,  gas,  &c.  Weighing 
air  and'  specific  gravity  apparatus.  Freezing  apparatus  with  thermometer. 
Condensing  syringe.  Cylindrical  open-top  bell  glasses,  three  sizes.  Hand  and 
bladder  glass,  to  illustrate  atmospheric  pressure.  Bladder  cap,  with  cap  and 
stop-cock.  Double  acting  exhauster  and  condenser.  Brass  hemispherical  caps 
with  handles,  stop-cock  and  stand.  Apparatus  to  illustrate  the  upward  pressure 
of  the  atmosphere.  Connecting  screws,  guard  screws,  sliding  rod,  with  pack- 
ing screws  and  binding  screws.  Flexible  hose  and  screw  connectors.  Hydro- 
gen bottle.  Lead  hose  for  conducting  gases.  Floating  bulbs  for  condensation. 
Sheet  rubber  and  sheet  rubber  bags.  Glass  bells  and  stems  for  freezing  appa- 
ratus. Pair  magnetic  swans.  Detonating  glass  tubes.  Wire  gauze,  to  illus- 
trate Davy's  safety  lamp. 

Hydrostatics. — Hydrostatic  bellows,  with  glass  and  brass  tubes,  glass  tun- 
nels, weights,  &c.  Pair  of  working  models  of  the  forcing  and  lifting  pump. 
Graduated  glass  jars  for  cubic  inches. 

Electricity. — Electrical  machine,  24  inch  plate,  $50,00.  Leyden  jar  of  four 
quarts.  Do.  do.  for  suspension  with  movable  rings  and  points.  Do.  do.  with 
sliding  discharger.  Electrometer  jar,  by  which  the  charge  may  be  measured, 
&c.  Electric  batteries  with  six  four-quart  jars.  Sliding,  directing  rod.  Spiral 
spotted  tube.  Jointed  discharger,  glass  handle.  Universal  discharger.  Insu- 
lating stand.  Electric  bells.  Wax  cylinder.  Thunder  house  with  fixtures. 
Gas  pistol.  Gas  generator  and  platina  igniter,  four  quarts.  Longhaired  man. 
Electric  float  wheel  and  point.  Abbe  Noloes'  globe.  Luminous  bell  glass. 
Electric  S.  Aurora  flask.  Electric  seasons  machine.  Elastic  rubber  ball. 
Ether  spoon.  Chamberlin's  cylindrical  gasometers,  for  oxygen  and  hydrogen, 
united,  forming  a  compound  blow  pipe,  $60,00.  Iron  retort  for  oxygen  gas. 
Metallic  reflectors  with  stand,  iron  ball  and  stands  and  a  thermometer.  Glass 
spirit  lamp.  Spirit  boiler  to  use  with  reflectors.  Dropping  tube.  Glass  tun- 
nels. G  raduated  glass  hydrometer.  Flask  with  screw-cap  admitting  thermom- 
eter. Platina  and  copper  pendant  spoons.  Brass  pipe  for  blowing  gas  bubbles. 
Hydrogen  gas  generator,  with  platina  sponge  for  lighting  a  long  detonating  jet. 
Lamp  stand.  Flexible  hose  for  transferring  and  conducting  gases.  Scales  and 
weights  for  chemical  purposes.  Pyrometer  with  two  lamps  and  rods.  Section 
model  of  the  high  pressure  engine. 

Galvanic  Magnetic  and  Electro  Magnetic. — Davis's  cylindric  battery. 
Steel  U  magnet  and  armature.  Magnetic  needles  and  stands.  Electromag- 
net. Electro  coil  and  hemispheric  magnets.  Terrestrial  helix.  Primary  coil 
and  handles  for  shocks.    Separable  helics  for  analysis  of  shocks. 

Optics. — Models  of  the  human  eye  in  three  parts.  Fig.  1st.  A  dissectible 
eye  four  inches  in  diameter,  showing  the  cornea,  iris,  ciliary  process,  choroid 
tunic,  crystalline  lens,  vitreous  hi,mor,  retina,  black  pigment,  optic  nerve,  &c. 
Fig.  2d.  Showing  the  eye  in  its  socket,  with  the  muscles.  Fig.  3d.  The  eye 
with  rays  of  light  passing  from  an  object  and  forming  the  image  on  the  retina. 
The  object  and  the  image  movable,  showing  the  cause  of  lens  light,  short  sight, 
and  perfect  sight. 

An  oxy-hydrogen  microscope  will  soon  be  added  in  this  department. 

With  the  above  apparatus  more  than  eight  hundred  experiments  can  be  per- 
formed. 

For  the  purpose  of  teaching  practical  surveying,  and  the  elements  of  en- 
gineering, a  Theodolite,  of  approved  English  manufacture,  is  provided.     Cost 


Other  apparatus  will  from  time  to  time  be  added,  as  the  wants  of  the  School 
may  require. 

Building  Committee. — A.  M.  Collins,  D.  F.  Robinson,  T.  Belknap,  J,  ML 
Buncb,  W.  Pease,  Jr.,  Edward  Button,  E.  D.  Tiffany, 


PUBLIC  HIGH  SCHOOL,  HARTFORD. 
Fig.  2— Ground  Plan,  Yard,  Basement,  &c. 


219 


A — Front  yard. 

B — Girls'  yard. 

C — Boys'  yard. 

D — Door. 

E — Boys'  entrance  rooms. 

G — Girls'  entrance  rooms. 

F — Furnace. 

S — Stairs. 

W — Windows. 

P — Privies,  with  screen,  doors,  &c. 

X— Gates. 


a — Cold  air  ducts. 

b— Warm  air  ducts. 

c — Foul  air  ducts  or  ventilating  flues. 

d — Smoke  pipe. 

e — Pump,  sink. 

f— Umbrella  stand. 

g — Hollowed  plank  to    receive   wet 

boots,  overshoes,  &c. 
o — Bins  for  hard  coal,  charcoal,  &C 
j— Close  board  fence. 


220 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


-Plan  op  First  Floor. 


sosnsnsnsnsnsDsasQsDsD 

'mosososflsosososa 


c 

Ik 


M 


V///,my//////2 


vJm 


sasastHHisasasasasDsn 


A — Front  entrance. 
B — Girls'  entrance. 
C — Boys'  entrance. 
I— Centre  aisle,  eight  feet. 

L — Aisle  between  each  range  of  seats  and  desks,  two  feet  four  inches. 
K — Side  aisle,  four  feet  four  inches. 
M — Space  five  feet  wide. 
T — Teachers'  platform  and  desk. 

R — Recitation  rooms,   each   twenty-three  feet  by  twelve,  furnished  with* 
twenty  chairs,  seven  inches  from  the  wall  and  thirteen  inches  apart. 
Q, — Library  and  apparatus,  from  eleven  feet  by  fourteen  feet. 
N — Kimball's  desk  and  two  chairs. 
O — Piano. 

r — Hot  air  registers. 
c — Ventilating  flue  or  foul  air  duct.    N — Settees. 


I 

sammomron 
3DOT[ffi[»ow[i 

^____^     c  

mfiE=rt=An./;  wwtwm — n — wi. 
Fig.  4— Plan  op  Second  Floob. 


PUBLIC  HIGH  SCHOOL,  HARTFORD.  221 

Figs.  5  and  6.    Plans  exhibiting  Mode  of  Ventilation. 


Fig.  5.  Transverse  section  exhibiting  the  manner  in  which  the  ventiducts  or 
tot  air  flues  are  carried  up  on  the  inside  of  the  walls,  under  the  roof,  till  they 
discharge  into  the  Stationary  Top  or  Ejector. 

Fig.  6.  Lateral  section  of  the  ventiducts  or  fou]  air  flues,  showing  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  flues  are  packed  together  and  carried  up  separately  from  the 
floor  of  each  room  until  they  discharge  into  the  common  Ejector.  The  cut  does 
not  represent  properly  the  manner  in  which  the  flues  are  carried  under  and  oui 
of  the  roof. 

Fig.  7.    Hanks'  Improved  Air  Heater. 


222 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE 


The  following  description  and  notice  of  Hanks'  Furnace  or  Im- 
proved Air  Heater,  which  has  worked  well  in  the  High  School,  is 
taken  from  the  Circular  of  the  Patentee. 

"  The  Air  Heater  is  set  in  the  cellar  or  basement  surrounded  by  a  double  brick 
wall — each  four  inches  thick  and  four  inches  apart,  arched  oyer  the  top,  leav- 
ing a  door  in  the  rear,  of  sufficient  size  to  take  out  the  Healer — the  door  to  be 
closed  with  two  thicknesses  of  tin  or  sheet  iron,  three  inches  apart.  At  the 
bottom  of  the  wall,  directly  under  the  pipes,  also  opposite  the  stove,  introduce 
a  supply  of  pure  air  from  outside  of  the  building — this  coming  in  contact  with 
the  heated  surfaces,  rises  rapidly  and  passes  off  into  tin  conductors  leading 
from  the  arch  over  the  Heater,  to  the  apartments  intended  to  be  warmed. 

The  peculiar  improvement  and  operation  of  this  Apparatus  is,  that  the  heat, 
^s  its  temperature  is  reduced,  passes  dovm  into  pipes  of  a  still  lower  temperature, 
and  at  the  lowest,  passes  off  into  the  chimney.  The  air  to  be  warmed,  is 
brought  first  in  contact  with  the  pipes  and  conductors  of  the  lowest  temperature, 
and  as  it  becomes  warm  and  rises,  is  brought  in  contact  with,  and  rises  among 
pipes  of  a  temperature  continually  and  regularly  increasing,  until  at  the  highest 
it  passes  off  into  conductors  leading  to  the  rooms.  Thus  the  current  oiheat  is 
directly  contrary  to  the  current  of  air  passing  into  the  apartments. 

It  will  radiate  more  heat,  with  a  given  quantity  of  fuel,  than  any  other  appa- 
ratus now  in  use  for  the  same  purpose. 

It  is  perfectly  accessible  at  all  times,  and  may  be  cleared  of  ashes  and  soot 
either  when  in  operation  or  not,  by  simply  opening  the  door  of  the  Radiator. 

All  the  coal  it  may  contain  can  always  be  seen  by  looking  in  at  the  "  feeding 
ioor;"  thus  it  may  at  once  be  known  if  the  quantity  and  quality  of  the  coal  is 
as  it  should  be. 

It  is  so  constructed  that  the  required  quantity  of  heat  can  always  be  had  and 
controlled,  diminished  or  increased  at  pleasure,  with  a  corresponding  consump- 
tion of  fuel." 


Fig.  8.    Kimball's  Improved  Chairs  and  Desk. 


For  description,  see  p.  116. 


free  academy,  new  york.  223 

Plan  and  Description  of  the  Free  Academy  in  the  City  of 
New  York. 

The  Free  Academy  is  situated  on  the  S.  E.  corner  of  Twenty-third  street  and 
Lexington  avenue,  in  the  upper  part  of  the  city,  being  convenient  of  access 
from  all  the  great  thoroughfares.  The  style  of  architecture,  in  which  the  build- 
ing is  erected,  is  the  same  as  that  of  the  town  halls  and  colleges  of  the  14th  cen- 
tury, in  Europe.  This  style  attained  its  greatest  perfection  in  the  Low  Coun- 
tries, and  especially  in  Belgium,  which  at  that  period  was  the  great  seat  of 
learning,  science  and  the  arts,  as  well  as  the  great  centre  of  the  commercial 
enterprise  of  Europe.  It  was  the  opinion  of  the  architect,  therefore,  apart  from 
the  economy  in  construction,  of  the  Gothic  style,  when  properly  managed,  that 
this  style  would  be  peculiarly  appropriate  for  the  High  School  of  the  city  of 
New  York,  and  was  also  well  adapted  to  the  materials  of  which  it  was  pro- 
posed to  construct  the  building,  many  of  the  old  halls  and  colleges  being  built 
of  brick.  The  architect,  Mr.  Renwick,  of  New  York,  in  a  letter  to  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Board  of  Education,  remarks, 

"  I  am  confident  that  the  style  I  have  adopted  is,  at  the  same  time  the  strong- 
est, the  cheapest,  and  the  one  best  adapted  to  the  purposes  of  heat  and  ven- 
tilation, being  the  only  one,  except  the  Norman,  in  which  chimneys  and  flues 
become  ornamental,  and  a  roof  of  high  pitch,  necessary  for  external  beauty, 
and  capable  of  being  intersected  by  dormer  windows,  which  latter  will  add  to 
the  beauty  of  the  building  and  to  the  convenience  of  lighting  and  ventilating 
the  great  hall,  in  the  roof. 

."As  you  (the  Board)  have  proposed,  with  perfect  correctness,  to  make  the 
great  hall  in  the  Gothic  style,  for  it  can  be  in  no  other  order,  placed  in  such  a 
position  immediately  beneath  the  roof,  and  is  capable  of  being  made  highly  or- 
namental in  such  a  place,  I  was  of  opinion  that  the  exterior  of  the  whole  build- 
ing should  accord  with  it,  as,  if  it  were  planned  in  any  other  style,  it  would  ap- 
pear inharmonious,  and  therefore  produce  an  unpleasant  effect  on  the  mind  by 
its  incongruity.  The  height  of  the  building,  too,  the  great  pitch  of  the  roof,  and 
the  numerous  chimneys  and  ventilating  flues  necessary  to  render  the  arrange- 
ment perfect,  would  entirely  preclude  the  adoption  of  the  Grecian,  Roman,  or 
modern  Italian  styles,  with  any  good  effect,  apart  from  their  being  much  more 
expensive,  and  less  beautiful. 

"  1  have  entered  at  length  into  the  reasons  which  guided  me  in  the  adoption 
of  a  style  for  the  building,  because  it  might  at  first  sight  appear  expensive,  and 
therefore  improper  for  such  an  institution.  You  will  at  once  perceive  the  great 
strength  which  the  buttresses  impart  to  the  building,  and  the  consequent  reduc- 
tion in  the  thickness  of  the  walls.  These  buttresses  will  also  serve  for  ventila- 
ting flues,  which  in  such  a  building  should  be  of  large  size,  in  order  to  prevent, 
as  far  as  possible,  any  friction  from  interfering  with  the  passage  of  the  currents 
of  air,  an  end  which  can  only  be  attained  by  large  and  smooth  flues." 

The  dimensions  of  the  building  are  as  follows  :  The  length  of  the  building, 
exclusive  of  all  projections,  is  125  feet,  and  the  breadth  80  feet.  The  height,  to 
the  eaves,  65  feet,  and  to  the  top  of  the  gable,  100  feet.  The  height  of  the  tow- 
ers, 110  feet 

The  building  is  divided  into  a  basement,  three  stories,  and  a  great  hall  under 
the  roof.  The  basement  is  nine  feet  in  height,  and  is  arched  to  afford  ground 
for  exercise  in  bad  weather.  In  it,  also,  are  the  janitors'  lodgings,  the  chemical 
laboratory,  and  the  closets  for  the  hats  and  clothes  of  the  students.  The  first, 
second  and  third  stories  are  divided  into  four  great  rooms  by  two  wide,  spacious 
halls,  which  are  carried  through  the  centre  of  the  building  longitudinally  and 
transversely.  Two  of  these  rooms,  on  each  floor,  are  again  divided,  affording 
smaller  rooms  for  recitation,  &c.  Above  these  stories  is  the  great  hall,  125 
feet  long  by  GO  feet  in  Meadth,  divided  by  the  king  and  queen  posts  of  the  roof, 
which  are  made  ornamental,  into  three  aisles,  the  centre  one  of  which  is  40  feet 
in  height,  and  the  two  side  aisles  each  20  feet  in  height.  The  ceiling  of  this 
room  is  of  wood  immediately  under  the  roof,  of  which  it  forms  part,  and  it  is 
ornamented  with  carved  ribs  of  wood,  in  the  manner  of  the  old  college  halls  at 
Oxford  and  Cambridge.  It  is  lighted  by  windows  at  the  ends  and  by  dormers 
in  the  roof,  and  when  finished,  will  probably  be  the  largest  and  finest  collegiate 
haL  in  this  country. 

The  expense  of  the  building,  complete,  without  the  furniture,  will  be  46,000 
dollars. 


224  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

The  Free  Academy  of  the  city  of  New  York  was  established  by 
the  Board  of  Education,  in  1847,  in  pursuance  of  authority  granted 
by  the  Legislature  on  the  memorial  of  the  Board,  and  on  condition 
that  the  question  of  its  establishment  should  be  submitted  to  the 
people  of  the  city,  and  a  majority  of  the  votes  given  should  be  in 
favor  of  the  proposition.  The  question  was  so  submitted  on  the  first 
Monday  of  June,  1847,  and  19,904  votes  were  given  in  favor  of  the 
same  to  3,409  against.  The  act  of  the  Legislature  authorized  the 
Board  to  erect  a  building  at  an  expense  of  $50,000,  and  to  raise  by 
tax  annually  for  its  support,  the  sum  of  $20,000,  exclusive  of  a  pro- 
portion of  the  State  Literature  Fund,  and  any  other  means  from  other 
sources  than  those  of  taxation.  Admission  into  the  Academy  is  con- 
fined to  those  who  have  been  pupils  in  the  public  schools  of  the  city. 
The  character  and  design  of  this  institution  may  be  gathered  from 
the  following  extracts  from  the  Memorial  of  the  Board : — 

"  It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  unavoidable  expense  of  a  regular  course  of  ed- 
ucation at  this  time,  is  greater  than  can  be  borne  by  the  heads  of  families  in 
this  city  pursuing  the  various  trades  and  occupations,  whose  business  occupies 
the  great  mass  of  the  people. 

"If  the  number  of  highly  educated  men  can,  with  a  trivial  addition  to  the 
public  expense,  be  greatly  multiplied  ;  if  these  benefits  can  be  rendered  acces- 
sible to  the  great  mass  of  young  men  who  cannot  now  indulge  the  hope  of  en- 
joying them  at  all,  if  pecuniary  inability  to  defray  the  present  expenses  of  a 
collegiate  education  can  cease  to  be  a  barrier  to  the  acquisition  of  it,  it  is  but 
reasonable  to  expect  that  in  a  brief  period  the  number  liberally  educated  in  this 
city  will  be  increased  at  least  four-fold. 

"  One  of  the  important  objects  designed  to  be  secured  by  establishing  a  Free 
Academy,  is  to  bring  the  advantages  of  the  best  education  that  any  school  in 
our  country  can  give,  within  the  reach  of  all  the  children  of  the  city  whose  ge- 
nius, capacity,  and  desire  of  attainment  are  such  as  to  render  it  reasonably  cer- 
tain thai  they  may  be  made,  and  by  such  means  would  become,  eminently  use- 
ful to  society. 

"  The  permanency  of  our  free  institutions,  the  future  state  of  society,  the  ex- 
tent to  which  the  laws  of  the  country  will  be  regarded,  and  social  quiet  and  or- 
der preserved,  depend  essentially  upon  the  virtue  and  intelligence  of  the  people. 

"  It  is  believed  that  a  liberal  education  of  the  largest  practicable  number  of 
the  young  men  who  may  propose  to  seek  the  means  of  subsistence  in  agricul- 
ture, mechanical,  or  other  productive  occupations,  would  exercise  a  genial  in- 
fluence upon  all  the  varied  relations  of  social  and  political  life  :  and  that  such 
an  education  would  not  tend  to  dissatisfy  them  with  such  pursuits. 

"  One  object  of  the  proposed  Free  Institution  is,  to  create  an  additional  inter- 
est in,  and  more  completely  popularize  the  Common  Schools,  it  is  believed 
that  they  will  be  regarded  with  additional  favor,  and  attended  with  increased 
satisfaction,  when  the  pupils  and  their  parents  feel  that  the  children  who  have 
received  their  primary  eddcation  in  these  schools,  can  be  admitted  to  all  the 
benefits  and  advantages  furnished  by  the  best  endowed  college  in  the  state, 
without  any  expense  whatever.  It  is  believed  that  such  an  institution  as  the 
proposed  Free  Academy  is  designed  to  be,  in  addition  to  the  great  benefits  it 
will  confer  by  annually  graduating  a  large  number  of  highly  educated  young 
men,  destined  to  pursue  some  of  all  the  various  pursuits  of  life,  would  stimu- 
late tens  of  thousands,  who  might  never  enter  this  academy,  to  additional  indus- 
try and  greater  advances  while  in  the  common  schools.  The  certainty  to  a 
young  man  of  good  abilities,  and  desirous  of  making  large  acquisitions  in 
knowledge,  of  having  the  opportunity  of  gaining  as  extensive  an  education  as 
can  be  acquired  in  any  institution  in  the  State,  if  his  parents  can  only  furnish 
him  the  means  to  subsist  at  home,  is  in  the  highest  degree  cheering,  while  the 
certainty  that  the  limited  earnings  of  his  parents  will  preclude  him,  in  the  ex- 
isting state  of  things,  from  having  anv  such  advantages,  tends  to  repress  all 
such  generous  aspirations,  paralyze  effort,  and  prevent  the  full  development  of 
his  ability  to  become  extensively  useful  to  the  class  in  which  his  lot  may  be 
cast,  or  to  society  at  large." 


226 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE, 


A.  Iron  or  brick  ash-pit. 

B.  Ash-pit  door. 

C.  Pot,    or    coal    Burner, 

with  or  without  soap- 
stone  lining. 

D.  Fire  chamber. 

E.  Lower    half  of  tubular 

drum. 

F.  Elliptical  tubes. 

G.  Upper    half  of   tubular 

drum. 

H.  Top  of  tubular  drum. 

I.    Cap  and  smoke-pipe. 

K.  Flat  radiator. 

L.  "Water  basin   or  evapo- 
rator. 

M.  Smoke  pipe  to  chimney. 

N.  Conductors  of  hot  air. 

N.  Cold  air  conductor  and 
chamber. 

P.  Feed  door. 

GL.  Hot  air  chamber. 

R.  Damper  in  globe    with 
rod  attached. 

S.  Pendulum      valve      for 
cleaning. 

-t—  Shows  the  direc- 
tion of  the  currents  of 
hot  or  cold  air. 


Fig.  3.— Culver's  Furnace. 


FREE  ACADEMY,  NEW  YORK. 


227 


The  mode  of  warming  and  ventilating  the  several  apartments  of  the  Free 
Academy  can  be  easily  understood  by  consulting  Figures  2,  3  and  4.  Four  of 
Culver's  furnaces  are  set  in  the  basement,  as  shown  in  Fig.  3.  A  large  quantity 
of  fresh  air  from  out  of  doors,  after  being  warmed  by  these  furnaces,  is  carried 
up  to  the  several  stories  by  pipes  in  the  division  walls,  (Fig.  2,)  and  is  admitted 
into  the  rooms  at  a  convenient  point,  as  indicated  in  Figures  5  and  6.  The  air 
of  each  room,  as  it  becomes  vitiated  by  respiration,  is  discharged  by  openings 
near  the  ceiling  into  the  buttresses,  which  are  constructed  hollow  and  finished 
smooth,  so  as  to  constitute  large  ventilating  flues.  Each  opening  is  fitted  with 
one  of  Culver's  Ventilators  or  Registers,  with  cords  attached,  by  which  the  ca- 
pacity of  the  opening  for  the  discharge  of  vitiated  air  can  be  enlarged  and  di- 
minished at  the  pleasure  of  the  teacher.  The  practical  working  of  the  furnaces 
and  flues  for  ventilation,  secures  the  object  aimed  at — a  genial  and  pure  atmos- 
phere at  all  times. 


Fig.  3. — Basement  Floor. 


The  above  cut  gives  an  incorrect  view  of  the  exterior  of  the  building,  but  a 
good  idea  of  the  internal  arrangement  of  the  basement  story. 


228 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


Fig  5.— Plan  op  First  Story. 


The  author  of  this  treatise  has  not  been  furnished  with  descriptions  of  this 
and  the  following-  plan,  but  a  general  idea  of  the  arrangement  of  the  room 
can  be  obtained  from  the  cuts  themselves,  and  from  the  description  on  page 
232.  The  building  contains  more  accommodations  than  any  similar  struc- 
ture in  any  of  our  large  cities,  according  to  the  cost. 


FREE  ACADEMY. 


229 


Fig.  6.— Plan  op  Second  Story. 


230 


school  architecture. 

Apparatus  foe.  Warming. 


The  thorough  ventilation,  the  constant  and  regular  change  of  the  at- 
mosphere of  a  school-room  cannot  be  secured  by  simply  providing  flues  or 
openings,  however  judiciously  constructed  and  placed,  for  the  escape  of 
the  air  which  has  become  impure  from  the  process  of  breathing  or  other 
causes.  These  flues  will  not  work  satisfactorily,  unless  a  mode  of  warm- 
ing the  room  is  adopted  by  which  a  large  supply  of  pure  fresh  air,  properly 
heated,  is  flowing  in  to  supply  the  place  of  that  which  is  escaping  by  mean& 
of  the  flues.  Among  the  various  modes  of  warming  school-rooms  and  public 
halls,  which  we  have  seen  in  full  and  successful  operation,  we  select  a  few, 
in  addition  to  those  described  in  other  parts  of  the  work,  as  worthy  of  the  par- 
ticular attention  of  committees  and  others,  who  are  looking  round  for  a 
heating  apparatus.  We  shall  use  the  cuts  and  description  by  which  the 
patentees  and  venders  have?chosen  to  make  their  several  modes  of  warm- 
ing known  to  the  public,  without  intending  to  decide  on  the  relative 
merits  of  any  one  mode. 

Culver's  Hot- Air  Furnace. 

Patented  and  Manufactured  by  Culver  &  Co.,  52  Cliff-street,  New  York. 

Culver's  Hot-Air  Furnace,  as  described  in  the  following  diagram  and 
explanations,  is  intended  for  hard  coal,  to  be  set  in  double  walls  of  brick 
masonry  in  cellar  or  basement,  below  the  rooms  to  be  warmed. 

Figure  1. 


A.  Iron  or  Briek  Ash  Pit. 

B.  Ash  Pit  door. 

C.  Pot,    or    coal    Burner, 

■with  or  without  soap- 
stone  lining. 

D.  Fire  Chamber. 

E.  Lower  half  of  Tabular 

drum. 

F.  Elliptical  tubes. 

G.  Upper  half  of  Tubular 

drum. 

EL  Top  of  Tubular  drum. 

L    Cap  and  smoke  pipe. 

K.  Flat  Radiator. 

L,  Water  bason  or  evapo- 
rator. 

M.  Smoke  pipe  to  chimney. 

N.  Conductors  of  Hot  Air. 

O.  Cold  air  conductor  and 
chamber. 

P.   Feed  door. 

d.  Hot- Air  chamber. 

R.  Damper  in  globe  with 
rod  attached. 

S.   Pendulum    valve     for 
cleaning. 

— f-  Shows  the  direc- 
tion of  the  currents  of 
hot  or  cold  air. 


CULVER'S  FURNACE. 


231 


Culver  &  Co.  also  make,  and  put  up,  various  sizes  of  Portable  Furnaces,  with 
metallic  coverings,  suitable  for  counting  rooms,  stores,  school- rooms  and  small 
houses,  warming  the  rooms  in  which  they  stand,  as  well  as  others  in  the  same 
building,  and  they  can  be  removed  in  summer  as  conveniently  as  stoves. 


Figure  2. 


Figure  3. 


r  1  It 


Figure  2  represents  a  section  of  large  size  Portable  Furnace  or  double  cas- 
ings  of  sheet  iron  or  zinc.     The  same  letters  for  reference  are  used  as  in  Fig.  1. 

Figure  3  represents  a  smaller  size  Portable  Furnace,  with  two  metal  cover- 
ings and  an  evaporating  dish  standing  upon  the  top  of  the  drum. 

The  peculiarities  and  advantages  of  the  Furnace  are  thus  set  forth: 

1.  Its  compact,  convenient  and  beautiful  form. 

2.  Its  great  durability ;  being  in  all  its  parts  of  cast  iron,  set  within  walls  of 
brick  masonry.  The  pot  or  burner  being  whole,  is  found  by  experience  to  be 
more  durable  than  those  made  of  rings  or  segments,  and  entirely  prevents  the 
admission  of  gas  into  the  hot-air  chamber. 

3.  The  great  radiating  surfaces  of  this  Furnace  exceed  those  of  any  other, 
and  being  nearly  all  perpendicular,  and  so  arranged  as  to  afford  no  chance  for 
the  soot,  light  coal  ashes  or  dust  to  collect  on  the  plates  and  prevent  the  trans- 
mission of  heat  through  them,  for  it  must  be  obvious  to  every  thinking  mind, 
that  if  a  radiating  surface  is  of  a  zig-zag,  or  any  other  form  that  prevehtn  the 
descent  of  dust  or  soot  in  a  perpendicular  line,  it  will  certainly  collect  dust  upon 
it,  and  just  so  much  surface  thus  covered  's  destroyed  for  radiating  purposes, 
and  in  the  same  proportion  will  a  greatex  consumption  of  fuel  be  required  to 
produce  a  given  result. 

These  furnaces  are  so  constructed  that  heat  acts  actively  upon  those  surfaces 
within,  and  produces  the  immediate  and  powerful  heating  of  the  cold  air  that 
is  admitted  to  the  outer  surface  from  the  atmosphere,  through  the  tubes  for  that 
purpose. 

4.  The  great  economy  in  the  use  of  fuel,  making  and  controlling  more  heat 
than  by  any  other  process  of  using  it. 

5.  The  joints  of  this  Furnace  are  so  constructed  that  the  expansion  and  con- 
traction of  the  metal  cannot  open  them  to  admit  gas  into  the  hot-air  chamber, 
and  it  can  be  cleaned  of  soot  and  ashes  easily,  without  the  necessity  of  taking 
down  or  breaking  a  joint;  its  action  is  simple,  as  easily  understood  and 
managed  as  a  cylinder  stove,  and  as  readily  repaired  and  kept  in  order,  and  the 
manner  of  "removing  the  deposits"  is  entirely  novel  and  most  efficient. 

6.  The  constant  current  of  the  pure  atmosphere  into  the  air  chamber,  with 


232 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


the  evaporation  for  tempering  it  to  any  degree  of  humidity,  gives  a  fine  health- 
ful ventilation,  and  a  soft  summer  temperature,  suited  to  the  most  delicate  con- 
stitution, and  without  injury  to  the  building  or  furniture. . 

The  above  described  Air  Heaters  are  manufactured  and  sold,  wholesale  and 
retail,  by  Culver  &  Co.,  who,  when  required,  set  them  in  double  walls  of  brick 
masonry,  with  cast  iron  smoke  pipe  to  chimneys,  and  conductors  of  hot  air.  of 
double  cross  tin,  terminating  with  registers  in  the  rooms,  and  secured  safely 
from  fire  by  tin  or  soap-stone  linings. 


Figure  4  represents  patterns  of  scroll  work  Registers  manufactured  by  Culver 
&:  Co.,  and  put  in  with  their  furnaces  if  desired.  The  registers  have  valves 
under  the  surface,  which  are  easily  controlled  by  means  of  the  star  centers. 
They  can  be  used  for  ventilating  purposes  as  well  as  for  admitting  warm  air. 

The  following  directions  are  given  in  Culver  &  Co.'s  Circular  for  the 
use  of  their  Furnace. 

Directions  for  Use. — In  kindling  the  fire,  the  valve  should  be  opened  by 
drawing  out  the  Damper  Rod  R,  so  as  to  let  the  smoke  pass  directly  through 
smoke  pipe  M  to  chimney. 

Shavings,  pine  wood,  or  charcoal,  should  be  thrown  into  the  pot  or  coal  burner 
C,  and  when  well  ignited,  put  in  about  half  a  hod  of  coal,  and  as  soon  as  it  also 
becomes  ignited,  fill  the  pot  two  thirds  full  of  coal,  and  push  the  damper  R  parti}'' 
in,  so  as  to  regulate  the  draught  and  heat  as  may  be  necessary.  The.  valve  may 
be  entirely  closed,  if  need  be,  so  as  to  retain  the  heat,  making  it  to  pass  through 
the  Flat  Radiator  K. 

In  moderate  weather,  when  little  heat  is  wanted,  put  two  shovels  full  of  ashes 
on  the  centre  of  the  fire,  and  by  regulating  the  draught,  you  can  make  one  fire 
last  24  hours  without  any  alteration ;  and  when  you  wish  to  renew  the  fire, 
poke  out  a  portion  of  the  ashes,  and  put  on  fresh  coal,  without  turning  the  grate. 

In  cold  weather,  however,  to  secure  a  brisk  fire,  the  crank  should  be  turned 
so  as  to  empty  the  pot  entirely  of  ashes,  and  commence  a  new  fire  at  least  once 
in  24  hours. 

When  there  is  too  much  heat  generated,  the  ash-pit  door,  B,  should  be  closed 
entirely,  and  the  damper  rod  partly  drawn  out,  and  if  this  is  not  sufficient,  the 
Register  in  feed-door  P  may  be  opened ;  the  heat  in  the  different  rooms  may  be 
regulated  by  opening  or  closing  the  Registers  ;  all  the  Registers  however  should 
never  be  closed  it  the  same  time,  unless  the  water  door  is  opened  to  let  out  the 
hot  air. 

The  cold-air  :onductor,  0,  should  always  be  open  when  the  Furnace  is  in 
operation. 


PUBLIC  SCHOOL-HOUSES,  PROVIDENCE.  233 


Plans  and  Descriptions  of  the  Public  School-Houses  in 
Providence,  R.  I. 

By  an  ordinance  of  the  City  Council  of  Providence,  m  the 
spring  of  1838,  the  public  schools  were  reorganized,  and  provision 
was  made  for  a  liberal  course  of  instruction,  in  schools  of  different 
grades,  for  all  the  children  of  the  city.  A  committee  was  appointed 
to  examine  into  the  condition  of  the  school-houses  then  occupied  by 
the  public  schools,  and  report  what  alterations,  improvements,  and 
additional  accommodations  were  required.  This  committee,  after  a 
full  investigation,  reported  in  favor  of  building  new  school-houses, 
on  large  and  eligible  .  sites,  in  different  parts  of  the  city.  After  a 
further  report  from  a  sub-committee,  who  had  visited  Boston,  Salem, 
Lowell,  and  New  Bedford,  for  the  purpose  of  examining  the  latest 
improvements  in  the  construction  of  school-houses,  and  the  style  and 
arrangements  of  seats  and  desks,  plans  for  the  different  grades  of 
schools  were  determined  on,  and  the  committee  were  authorized  to 
purchase  such  new  sites  as  should  be  required,  and  "  to  erect  such 
new  school-houses  as  maybe  necessary  to  carry  into  full  operation" 
the  new  ordinance.  This  committee  acted  with  great  discretion, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  with  wise  regard  to  the  accommodations  of 
the  public  schools ;  and  the  result  was,  that,  at  the  close  of  their 
work  in  1842,  no  city  in  the  United  States  could  show  so  many 
public  school-houses,  uniformly  well  built,  with  most  of  the  latest 
improvements,  as  Providence. 

Since  1842,  great  improvements  have  been  introduced  into  this 
class  of  buildings,  in  many  of  the  large  cities  and  villages  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, as  well  as  in  the  large  districts  of  Rhode  Island  ;  and  it 
is  feared,  that,  in  respect  to  ventilation,  size  of  recitation  rooms,  and 
suitable  accommodation  for  hats  and  outer  garments,  the  public 
school-houses  of  Providence  can  no  longer  claim  that  superiority 
in  school  architecture  which  has  been  heretofore  very  generally, 
and  most  justly,  accorded  to  them. 

From  the  Report  of  the  Building  Committee  to  the  City  Council, 
giving  the  details  of  their  proceedings  and  expenditures,  it  appears 
that  they  expended  in  the  purchase  of  lots  and  the  erection  of 
buildings,  $100,060.92.  Since  this  committee  completed  their 
duties,  ten  new  houses  have  been  erected,  making  the  aggregate 
amount  invested  by  the  city  in  school-houses,  lots,  and  furniture 
about  $150,000.  The  following  plans  and  descriptions  of  these 
houses  are  taken,  with  permission,  from  the  Report  of  Nathan 
Bishop,  Esq.,  Superintendent  of  Public  Schools  in  Providence 
dated  August,  1846. 


234 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE 


Primary  School-Houses. 


These  buildings  are  located  in  different  parts  of  the  city,  and  are  designed 
for  the  accommodation  of  children  from  four  to  six  or  seven  years  of  age,  or 
until  they  are  prepared  to  enter  the  intermediate  schools. 


No.  1.— View  of  a  Primary  School-House. 


These  school-houses  stand  back  from  thirty  to  sixty  feet  from  the  line  of 
the  street,  and  near  the  center  of  lots  varying  from  eighty  to  one  hundred  feet 
in  breadth,  and  from  one  hundred  to  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  in  length. 
Each  lot  is  inclosed  by  a  neat  and  substantial  fence,  six  feet  high,  and  is 
divided  into  two  yards— one  for  boys  and  the  other  for  girls— with  suitable 
out-buildings,  shade  trees,  and  shrubbery. 

These  houses  are  each  forty  feet  long"  by  thirty-three  feet  wide,  with  twelve- 
feet  posts,  built  of  wood,  in  a  plain,  substantial  manner,  and,  with  the  fences, 
are  painted  white,  presenting  a  neat  and  attractive  exterior. 

The  entrance  is  into  a  lobby  [A]  and  thence  into  an  open  area,  where  stands 
the  stove  [a].  A  portion  of  the  lobby  is  appropriated  to  bins  for  charcoal  [c] 
and  anthracite [d],  which  is  the  fuel  used  in  all  the  schools;  the  remainder [Bj 
is  occupied  by  a  sink,  and  as  depositories  for  brooms,  brushes,  &c.  Each 
room  is  arched,  thereby  securing  an  average  height  of  thirteen  feet,  with  an 
opening  in  the  center  of  the  arch,  two  feet  in  diameter,  for  ventilation.  The 
ventilator  is  controlled  by  a  cord  passing  over  a  pulley,  and  descending  into 
the  room  near  the  teacher's  desk  [b].  In  each  end  of  the  attic  is  a  circular 
window,  which,  turning  on  an  axis,  can  be  opened  and  closed  by  cords,  in  the 
same  manner  as  the  ventilator. 


PRIMARY  SCHOOL-HOUSE,  PROVIDENCE. 

r. — t~ 


235 


No.  2. — Interior  of  a  Primary  School-House. 


The  teacher's  platform  [C]  is  five  feet  wide,  twenty  feet  long,  and  seven 
inches  high,  with  a  black-board  ten  feet  long  and  three  feet  wide  on  the  wall 
in  the  rear. 

The  floor  is  of  inch  and  a  half  plank,  tongued  and  grooved ;  and,  for  the 
purpose  of  securing  warmth  and  firmness,  and  avoiding  noise,  is  laid  on 
cement. 

The  windows,  eleven  in  number,  of  twenty-four  lights,  of  seven  by  nine 
glass,  are  hung  with  weights,  and  furnished  with  inside  blinds.  The  sides  of 
the  room  and  entries  are  ceiled  all  round  with  wood  as  high  as  the  window- 
sills,  which  are  four  feet  from  the  floor.  The  rest  of  the  walls  are  plastered, 
and  covered  with  white  hard  finish.  Each  room  is  provided  with  sixty  seats 
[5]  and  desks  [f],  placed  in  six  ranges;  each  range  containing  ten  seats  and 
desks,  of  three  different  sizes,  and  each  seat  and  desk  accommodating  two 
scholars,  or  one  hundred  and  twenty  in  all. 

The  center  aisle  is  three  feet  and  a  half  wide,  and  each  of  the  others  about 
two  feet. 

The  desks  are  over  three  feet  long,  by  sixteen  inches  wide,  with  a  shelf 
beneath  for  books.  The  upper  surface  of  the  desk  fa],  except  about  two 
inches  at  the  top  [b],  slopes  one  inch  and  a  half  in  a  foot. 


236 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


6     a 


No   3. — View  of  Top  of  a  Desk,  and  Sectional  View  of  Primary  Seats  and  Desks. 

The  front  of  the  desk,  constituting  the  back  of  the  next  seat,  slopes  one 
inch  in  a  foot.  The  seat  also  inclines  a  very  little  from  the  edge.  The  seats 
are  of  four  different  sizes,  varying  from  seven  to  ten  inches  wide,  and  from 
nine  to  fourteen  inches  in  height,  the  lowest  being  nearest  the  teacher's 
platform. 


Intermediate  School-Houses. 


All  the  buildings  of  this  class  are  two  stories  high,  affording  accommoda- 
tions for  two  schools,  a  primary  and  an  intermediate.  These  houses  are 
generally  in  pleasant  situations,  on  large  lots,  varying  in  size  from  one  hundred 
feet  wide  by  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet  long,  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  by 
two  hundred  feet. 

Rows  of  shade  trees,  consisting  of  elms,  lindens,  and  maples,  are  planted 
along  the  side-walks  and  the  fences  inclosing  the  yards ;  and  evergreens,  the 
mountain  ash,  and  other  ornamental  trees,  are  placed  within  the  inclosures. 

These  houses  are  forty-four  feet  long,  by  thirty-three  feet  wide.  Some  of 
them  are  built  of  wood,  the  remainder  of  brick,  and  all  in  a  tasteful  and 
substantial  style. 

The  rooms  are  large,  and  easily  ventilated,  being  twelve  feet  in  the  clear, 
with  large  openings  in  the  ceiling  of  the  upper  room,  and  on  the  sides  in  the 
lower  room,  leading  into  flues  in  the  walls,  which  conduct  the  foul  air  into  the 
attic,  from  which  it  escapes  at  circular  windows  in  the  gables  of  the  buildings. 
These  flues  and  windows  can  be  opened  and  closed  by  cords  passing  over 
pulleys,  and  descending  into  the  rooms  below,  where  the  teachers  can  control 
them  with  ease. 


No.  5.— Sections  of  Ventilators. 


In  this  cut,  the  cord  [i],  passing  over  the  pulley  [j],  raising  [h],  hung  on 
hinges  at  [g-],  opens  wholly  or  partially  the  ventilator  [/],  a  circular  aperture 
three  feet  in  diameter.    The  plan  of  ventilating  the  lower  rooms  is  shown  on 


238 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


the  other  part  of  the  diagram,  in  which  [a]  represents  a  cord  running  over  a 
pulley,  and  attached  to  [e],  a  board  three  feet  long  by  one  foot  wide,  opening 
the  space  between  [b],  the  top  of  the  lower  room,  and  [d],  the  floor  of  the 
upper,  leading  into  the  flue  [e],  ascending  to  the  attic. 

The  windows,  nine  in  number  in  each  school-room,  of  twelve  lights,  of  ten 
by  sixteen  glass,  are  hung  with  weights,  so  as  to  be  easily  opened  at  top  and 
bottom,  and  furnished  with  Venetian  blinds  inside,  to  regulate  the  amount  of 
light  admitted. 

The  floors  are  of  hard  pine  boards,  an  inch  and  a  half  thick,  and  about  six 
inches  wide,  tongued  and  grooved,  and  laid  on  mortar,  as  a  protection  against 
fire,  for  the  prevention  of  noise,  and  to  secure  warmth  and  firmness.  All  the 
rooms,  entries,  and  stairways  are  ceiled  up  with  matched  boards  about  four 
feet,  as  high  as  the  window-sills.  The  remaining  portions  of  the  walls  are 
plastered,  and  coated  with  white  hard  finish. 


6   O    0  0    0  o 

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1      II      1  1      1 

O  O    O  0    o  o 

1     II     II     1 

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1      II      1  1      1 

o  o   o  o   o  o 

1     II     II     1 

1    II    It    1 

1     II     II     1 

1    II    1  1    1 

1     II     II     1 

1    II    II    1 

1     II     II     1 

1    II    II    1 

1     II     II     1 

o  o 


o  o 


o  o 


o  o 


o 
o  o 


o  o 


o  o 


o  o 


o  o  P  o  o 


o  o 


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rr 


o  o 


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so  OS     oo 


o  o 


1E3  H 


B  B 


A.     & 


No.  6. — Interior  of  an  Intermediate  School-House. 


The  walls  of  some  of  these  buildings  are  solid  stone-work,  faced  with 
brick ;  others  are  built  with  double  brick  walls,  as  above  shown,  connected  by 
ties  of  iron  or  brick. 


INTERMEDIATE  SCHOOL-HOUSE,  PROVIDENCE. 


239 


As  the  rooms  in  the  lower  stories  of  this  class  of  buildings  are  appropriated 
to  primary  schools,  and  are  furnished  in  the  same  manner  as  those  already 
described,  the  preceding  cut  is  intended  to  serve  the  double  purpose  of  exhibit- 
ing on- the  first  floor  only  the  improvements  on  the  former  plan,  and,  on  the 
second,  the  whole  view  of  a  room  for  an  intermediate  school. 

The  steps  [a,a,a]  are  broad,  granite  blocks,  with  scrapers  on  each  end. 
The  side  doors  [A,  A],  one  for  boys,  the  other  for  girls,  lead  into  entries,  eight 
feet  by  ten,  from  which  the  pupils  of  the  primary  schools  pass  through  the 
doors  [B,  B]  into  the  main  rooms,  which  differ  from  those  above  described,  in 
having  a  space  [o,  o],  two  feet  wide,  on  the  back  part  of  the  rooms,  for  reading 
and  other  class  exercises ;  and  the  recitation-room,  [D],  another  valuable 
improvement,  as  it  avoids  the  confusion  arising  from  having  two  recitations  in 
one  room  at  the  same  time. 

The  flight  of  stairs  in  each  entry,  commencing  at  the  points  [R,  R],  and 
ascending  in  the  direction  of  [1, 2, 3],  lands  on  the  open  space  [P]  in  the  upper 
entry,  from  which  the  pupils  pass  through  the  doors  [C,  C]  into  the  school- 
room. 

Coal-bins  and  convenient  closets,  for  brooms,  brushes,  &c,  are  built  under 
the  stairs,  in  the  lower  entries ;  and  similar  closets,  for  the  same  purposes,  are 
provided  in  the  upper  entries. 

The  large  area  [H,  H],  thirty  feet  long  by  seven  wide,  is  the  same  in  both 
the  rooms,  and  is  occupied  by  the  principal  teacher  in  each  school,  for  such 
class  exercises  as  may  be  more  conveniently  managed  there  than  in  the  other 
place  [o,  o],  left  for  the  same  purpose.  The  position  of  the  stove  [w]  is  such  as 
not  to  render  it  uncomfortably  warm  on  the  front  seats,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
not  to  interfere  with  the  passage  of  classes  through  the  door  [G]  into  the 
recitation-room  [D],  which  is  fourteen  feet  by  ten,  and,  like  all  the  school- 
rooms, furnished  with  black-boards.  The  lower  room  is  lighted  by  a  window 
over  the  front  door,  and  by  the  side-lights  ;  and  the  upper  one  by  a  double  or 
rnullion  window,  of  sixteen  lights,  of  ten  by  sixteen  glass. 

The  side  aisles  [m,  m]  are  two  feet  and  a  half  wide  ;  the  others  [P,  P,&c] 
are  only  eighteen  inches  wide,  except  the  middle  one  [C],  which  is  three  and 
a  half  feet.  The  passage  across  the  center  of  the  room  is  about  a  foot  and  a 
half  wide,  and  is  very  convenient  for  teachers  in  passing  to  the  different  parts 
of  the  room,  and  also  for  scholars  in  going  to  and  from  their  recitations. 

The  seats  and  desks,  in  the  front  part  of  this  room,  are  made  and  arranged 
on  the  same  plan  as  those  in  the  primary  school-rooms  above  described,  differ- 
ing from  them  only  in  being  one  size  larger.  The  lower  end,  or  foot  of  each 
perpendicular  support,  or  end-piece,  is  strongly  fastened  into  a  groove  in  a 
"shoe,"  or  piece  of  plank,  which,  being  screwed  to  the  floor,  secures  the  desks 
in  a  durable  manner,  and  in  a  firm  position. 

The  others  are  constructed  upon  a  different  plan,  designed  especially  for  the 
accommodation  of  pupils  while  writing.  These  desks  and  seats  are  "of  three 
different  sizes, 


No.  7. — Section  of  a' Writing-Desk  and  Seat. 


240  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

The  top  of  the  desk  [a]  is  of  pme,  one  inch  and  a  half  thick,  fifteen  inches 
wide,  and  three  feet  and  a  half  long.  These  desks  are  twenty-seven  inches 
high  on  the  front,  and  twenty-four  on  the  side  next  to  the  seats.  A  space 
about  three  inches  wide,  on  the  front  edge  of  the  top,  is  planed  down  to  a 
level,  and  an  inkstand  is  let  into  the  center  of  this,  even  with  the  surface,  and 
covered  with  a  small  lid.  The  ends  of  these  desks  are  an  inch  and  a  half 
thick,  and  fastened  by  a  strong  tenon  to  the  shoe  [c],  which  is  screwed  to  the 
floor.  The  front  of  the  desk,  and  the  shelf  [4],  for  books,  &c,  are  inch  boards ; 
the  whole  desk,  made  in  the  strongest  manner,  is  painted  a  pleasant  green,  and 
Tarnished.  In  the  next  smaller  size,  the  same  proportion  is  observed,  but  all 
the  dimensions  are  one  inch  less;  and  in  the  third,  or  smallest  size,  the  dimen- 
sions are  all  one  inch  less  than  in  the  second.  For  each  desk  there  are  two 
chairs,  resting  on  cast-iron  supporters  [d],  an  inch  and  a  quarter  in  diameter, 
with  a  wide  flange  at  each  end ;  the  upper  one,  screwed  to  the  under  side  of 
the  seat  [e],  is  a  little  smaller  than  the  lower,  which  is  fastened  to  the  floor  by 
five  strong  screws,  rendering  the  chair  almost  immovable.  The  largest  size 
seats  [e]  in  these  rooms  are  fourteen  inches  in  diameter  and  fifteen  inches 
high,  with  backs,  twenty-eight  inches  from  [g-]  to  the  top,  slanting  an  inch  and 
a  quarter  to  a  foot.  These  backs  are  made  with  three  slats,  fastened  by  strong 
tenons  into  a  top-piece,  like  some  styles  of  common  chairs,  and  screwed  to  the 
seat,  while  the  middle  one  extends  down  into  a  socket  on  the  foot  of  the  iron 
standard.  The  seats,  like  the  desks,  are  diminished  one  inch  for  the  middle 
size,  and  two  for  the  smallest,  preserving  the  proportions  in  the  different  sizes, 
which  adapts  them  to  the  sizes  of  the  desks. 


Grammar  School-Houses. 


There  are  six  buildings  of  this  class,  constructed  on  the  same  plan,  and  of 
the  same  size.  They  are  seventy  feet  long  by  forty  wide,  with  a  front  pro- 
jection, twenty-eight  feet  long  by  fourteen  feet  wide.  They  are  located  on 
very  large  lots,  varying  from  one  hundred  and  fifty  to  two  hundred  feet  long — 
from  a  hundred  and  twenty  to  a  hundred  and  fifty  feet  wide.  All  of  them, 
except  one,  are  on  corner  lots,  and  all  have  large  open  spaces  around  them. 
These,  and  all  the  other  public  school-houses  in  the  city,  are  protected  with 
GLuimby's  lightning-rods,  and  each  is  furnished  with  a  bell,  which  can  be  heard 
in  the  remotest  parts  of  its  district. 

In  the  accompanying  view,  No.  9,  the  engraver  has  represented  a  few  trees,  a 
little  larger  than  any  at  present  around  these  buildings,  because  he  could  not 
crowd  all  the  trees  and  shrubbery  into  the  picture,  without  obscuring  the  lower 
part  of  the  house. 

The  cut  on  p.  91,  No.  10,  is  a  ground  plan,  on  a  reduced  scale,  of  a  Grammar 
School-House,  including  a  general  view  of  the  cellar,  yards,  fences,  gates, 
sidewalks,  &c. 

The  yards  around  each  of  the  grammar  school-houses  contain  from  18,000 
to  20,000  square  feet,  or  between  a  third  and  half  an  acre.  These  grounds  are 
inclosed,  and  divided  into  three  separate  yards,  by  substantial  close  board 
fences  ■[/,/,/,/],  six  feet  high,  neatly  made,  and  painted  white.  The  boys' 
play-ground  [B],  and  that  of  the  girls  [G],  are  large;  but  the  front  yard  [E]  is 
small,  and,  not  being  occupied  by  pupils,  is  planted  with  trees  and  shrubbery. 
The  graveled  sidewalks  [s,  s,  s],  running  on  two  sides  of  all  the  grammar  school 
lots,  and  on  three  of  some  of  them,  are  shaded  by  rows  of  elms,  maples,  and 
lindens,  set  near  the  curb-stones.  The  gates  [A,  C,  D]  and  the  graveled  walks 
[d,  d,  d]  lead  to  the  front  and  the  two  side  doors  of  the  school-house ;  and  [/] 
is  a  large  gate  for  carting  in  coal,  &c.  The  out-buildings  [i,  i]  are  arranged 
with  a  large  number  of  separate  apartments  on  both  sides,  all  well  ventilated, 
each  furnished  with  a  door,  and  the  whole  surrounded  with  evergreens. 

In  the  plan  of  the  projection  [H]  the  stairway  [r]  leads  to  the  cellar,  which 
is  seven  feet  in  the  clear,  and  extends  under  the  whole  of  the  main  building. 
These  cellars  are  well  lighted,  having  eight  windows  [W,  W],  with  ten  lights 
df  seven  by  nine  glass.    The  windows,  being  hung  with  hinges  on  the  upper 


16 


242 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


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No. 10  . — Ground  Plan,  &.C.,  of  a  Grammar  School-House. 


side,  and  fastened  with  hooks  and  staples  at  the  lower  edge,  may  be  opened  by 
raising  them  intc  a  horizontal  position,  where  they  are  fastetied  with  hooks  as 
when  closed.  With  this  arrangement,  it  is  easy  to  keep  the  cellars  well  ven- 
tilated at  all  seasons.  The  openings  for  the  admission  of  coal  into  the  bins 
[o,o].  one  for  anthracite,  and  the  other  for  charcoal,  are  furnished  with  sheet- 
iron  shutters,  fastening  on  the  inside.  Every  school-house  has,  in  the  cellar, 
an  abundant  supply  of  good  water,  obtained  from  a  fountain,  or  from  a  well, 
which  is  generally  outside  of  the  building,  the  water  being  brought  in  by  a 
pump  [P].  A  supply  of  good  water  for  a  school-house  should  not  be  consid- 
ered merely  as  a  convenience,  but  as  absolutely  necessary. 

The  horizontal  section  of  a  furnace  [P]  shows  merely  the  ground  plan. 
The  cold  air  passes  through  [«]  to  the  air-chamber,  where  it  is  warmed  by  the 
fires  in  \_p,  pi,  two  cast-iron  cylinders,  fourteen  inches  in  diameter.  The 
evaporator  [e]  holds  about  fifteen  gallons  of  water,  which  is  kept  in  a  state  of 
rapid  evaporation,  thus  supplying  the  air-chamber  with  an  abundance  of 
moisture. 

In  the  plan  and  construction  of  the  various  parts  of  these  furnaces,  special 
pains  have  been  taken  to  remove  all  danger  of  fire — an  important  considera- 
tion, which  should  never  be  overlooked.  The  furnace  is  covered  with  stone, 
thickly  coated  with  mortar,  and  the  under  side  of  the  floor  above  is  lathed  and 
plastered,  not  only  above  the  furnace,  but  at  least  ten  feet  from  it  in  every 
direction. 

A  full  description  of  the  construction  and  operation  of  the  furnaces  used  in 
the  public  school-houses  will  be  given  under  another  diagram.  The  cellar 
walls  and  the  stone  piers  [c,  c,  c,  c,  c)  are  well  pointed,  and  the  whole  inside, 


GRAMMAR  SCHOOL-HOUSE,  PROVIDENCE, 


243 


including  the  wood-work  overhead,  is  neatly  whitewashed,  giving  this  apart- 
ment a  neat  and  pleasant  appearance. 

The  walls  of  all  these  buildings  are  of  stone,  about  two  feet  thick,  faced 
with  common  brick,  and  painted  a  tasteful  color. 


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No.  11. — Plan  of  the  First  Floor  of  a  Grarrimar  School-House. 

There  are  three  entrances  to  these  houses;  the  front  [A],  and  the  two  side 
doors  [B],  for  boys,  and  [G],  for  girls,  leading  into  the  entries  [P,  C,  C].  The 
front  is  a  large  double  door,  with  a  beautiful  frontice  of  fine  hammered  duincy 
granite.  At  all  the  outside  doors  are  two  or  three  hewn  granite  steps,  fur- 
nished with  four  or  six  scrapers  at  each  door. 

Pupils  belonging  to  the  schools  in  the  lower  story  pass  from  the  side  entries 
into  the  middle  one,  and,  ascending  two  steps  at  [a],  enter  their  respective 
rooms  [T,  S],  which  are  rather  larger  than  those  in  the  primary  and  interme- 
diate school-houses,  previously  described,  being  thirty-six  feet  by  thirty-two 
inside,  and  eleven  feet  high  in  the  clear. 

In  each  of  the  entries  [C,  C]  there  is  a  provision  [t,  t,  t,  f]  for  setting  up  um- 
brellas. It  resembles  a  ladder  placed  in  a  horizontal  position,  and  is  fastened 
to  the  ceiling  on  one  side,  and  supported  on  the  other  by  substantial  posts  of 
oak  or  other  strong  wood,  turned  in  a  tasteful  style,  and  set  into  the  floor. 

The  seals  and  desks  in  the  rooms  [T  and  S]  are  of  the  same  dimensions, 
and  arranged  in  the  same  manner  as  those  in  the  primary  and  the  intermediate 
school-rooms  before  described.  The  small  iron  posts  [c,  c,c,c],  about  two  and 
a  half  inches  in  diameter,  supporting  the  floor  above,  are  placed  against  the 
ends  of  the  seats,  so  close  as  not  to  obstruct  the  passages  at  all.  Besides  the 
platforms  [P,  P],  twenty  feet  by  six — the  tables,  three  feet  by  four,  for  the 
teachers,  and  the  closets  [I,  I],  for  brushes,  &c,  there  are  black-boards,  painted 
upon  the  walls,  extending  from  the  doors  [D,  D]  to  the  windows,  fourteen  feet 
long  by  four  wide,  with  the  lines  of  a  stave  painted  on  one  end,  to  aid  in 
giving  instruction  in  vocal  music. 


244 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


The  plan  of  ventilating  these  rooms  on  the  first  floor  is  represented  by  cut 
No.  5,  page  85.  Every  room  is  provided  with  two  ventilators,  each  three  feet 
long  by  about  twelve  inches  wide,  opening  into  flues  of  the  same  dimensions, 
leading  into  the  attic,  from  which  the  impure  air  escapes  at  circular  windows 
in  the  gables.  These  flues  should  have  extended  down  to  the  bottom  of  the 
rooms,  with  openings  on  a  level  with  the  floors,  so  that,  when  the  rooms  are 
warmed  with  air  from  the  furnaces  above  the  temperature  of  the  human 
breath,  they  might  be  ventilated  by  removing  the  foul  air  from  the  lower  parts, 
and  thus  causing  fresh,  warm  air  to  be  slowly  settling  down  upon  the  scholars 
— a  very  pleasant  and  healthful  mode  of  ventilation. 

These  rooms  are  well  warmed  by  heated  air,  admitted  through  registers 
[r,  /■],  eighteen  inches  in  diameter,  from  the  furnace  below,  from  which  [p,p] 
tin  pipes,  fourteen  inches  in  diameter,  convey  the  air  to  the  grammar  school- 
rooms in  the  second  story. 

These  rooms  are  large,  with  arched  ceilings,  measuring  twelve  feet  to  the 
foot  of  the  arch,  and  seventeen  to  its  crown.  They  are  each  provided  with 
two  ventilators,  three  feet  and  a  half  in  diameter,  placed  in  the  crown  of  the 
arch,  about  twenty  feet  apart. 

The  entrances  to  the  Grammar  School-rooms  are  by  two  short  flights  of 
stairs  on  a  side ;  from  the  lower  entries  to  [s,s],  spaces  about  three  feet  square, 


'*=!   _       ""-'         J—      ' 


No.  12. — Plan  of  a  Grammar  School-Room. 

anl  thence  to  [A,  A],  spaces  three  by  five  feet,  extending  from  the  top  of  the 
stairs  to  the  doors  opening  into  the  school-room. 

The  master's  table  [c],  as  well  as  tables  [d,  d],  for  the  assistants,  are 
movable.  The  large  area  [B,  B],  being  fourteen  inches  above  the  floor  of  the 
room,  is  eight  feet  wide  by  sixty-four  long,  with  large  closets  [u,  u]  at  the 
ends,  fitted  up  with  shelves,  &c,  for  the  use  of  the  teachers. 

The  school-room  is  warmed  by  heated  air,  admitted  at  the  registers,  [r,rj 
and  the  recitation-rooms  [R,  R]  in  the  same  manner,  by  the  small  registers, 
L?,r]  all  of  which  are  connected  with  the  furnace  in  the  cellar  by  large  tin 
pipes  or  conductors. 


GRAMMAR  SCHOOL-HOUSE,  PROVIDENCE. 


245 


The  black-boards,  four  feet  wide,  painted  upon  the  hard-finished  walls,  are 
indicated  by  the  lines  [b,b,b,  &c]  in  the  recitation-rooms,  and  along  the  walls 
behind  the  master's  table,  extending  on  each  side  to  the  windows  beyond,  [e,  e] 
making,  in  each  Grammar  School,  about  three  hundred  square  feet  of  black- 
board. 

The  long  benches  [e,  e]  are  used  for  seating  temporarily  new  pupils  on  their 
entering  school,  until  the  master  can  assign  them  regular  seats  ;  also  for  seat- 
ing visitors  at  the  quarterly  examinations.  The  space  [P,  P],  a  broad  step, 
eighteen  feet  long  and  two  feet  wide,  is  used  for  some  class  exercises  on  the 
black-boards.  The  passage  [t,  t],  about  eighteen  inches  wide,  running  the 
whole  length  of  the  room,  affords  great  facility  in  the  movements  of  pupils  to 
and  from  the  recitations  and  other  class  exercises.  The  master's  classes  gen- 
erally recite  in  the  space  [o,  o]  on  the  back  side  of  the  room,  four  feet  wide 
and  sixty-four  feet  long,  where  seats  are  placed  for  scholars  to  sit  during 
recitation,  when  it  is  necessary ;  and  the  same  accommodations  are  provided 
in  the  recitation-rooms. 

The  windows  [W,  W,  &c],  which  are  hung  with  weights,  and  furnished 
with  inside  blinds,  in  the  manner  before  described,  contain  twelve  lights  each, 
of  ten  by  sixteen  glass,  of  the  strongest  kind,  the  Saranac  or  Redford  glass. 

The  quantity  of  air  furnished  for  each  scholar  in  the  public  school-rooms  is 
a  matter  of  no  small  importance.  The  rooms  for  the  primary  and  the  inter- 
mediate schools — the  former  designed  to  accommodate  one  hundred  and 
twenty,  and  the  latter  only  ninety-six  pupils — contain  between  fifteen  and  six- 
teen thousand  cubic  feet  of  atmospheric  air.  The  rooms  for  the  grammar 
schools,  intended  to  accommodate  two  hundred  pupils,  contain  over  thirty-five 
thousand  cubic  feet,  after  a  suitable  deduction  for  the  furniture  is  made. 

This  estimate  allows  every  child,  when  the  rooms  are  not  crowded,  about 
one  hundred  and  fifty  cubic  feet  of  air  for  every  hour  and  a  half,  on  the  sup- 
position that  no  change  takes  place,  except  at  the  times  of  recess,  and  at  the 
close  of  each  session.  But  the  rate  at  which  warm  air  is  constantly  coming 
into  the  rooms  from  the  furnaces,  increases  the  allowance  for  every  child  to 
about  three  hundred  cubic  feet  for  every  hour  and  a  half. 


No.  13.— Transverse  Section  of  a  Grammar  School-House. 


246  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

The  preceding  cut  is  given  in  order  to  show  an  end  view,  the  projection,  belfry, 
rooms,  seats,  desks,  and  cellar.  An  imperfect  section  of  the  warming  appa- 
ratus is  presented,  giving  an  outline  of  the  plan  of  its  construction.  The 
smoke-pipe,  connected  with  [a],  the  heater,  coiled  twice  around  in  the  air- 
chamber,  passes  off  in  the  direction  of  [b,  b]  to  the  chimney.  The  short  tin 
pipes  [c,  c)  conduct  the  warm  air  into  the  lower  rooms ;  and  the  long  ones 
0,  e]  convey  it  to  the  rooms  in  the  second  story.  On  each  side  of  the  projec- 
tion over  the  door  [d]  is  a  window,  lighting  the  outside  entry,  and  also  the 
middle  entry  by  another  window  over  the  inside  door.  The  end  views  of  seats 
and  desks  do  not  represent  the  different  sizes  very  accurately,  but  sufficiently 
so  to  give  a  correct  idea  of  the  general  plan. 


The  High  School-House. 


This  building  occupies  an  elevated  and  beautiful  situation,  at  the  head  of 
President  street,  near  the  central  part  of  the  city.  ,  It  is  a  specimen  of  plain, 
but  tasteful  architecture,  on  which  the  eye  reposes  with  pleasure.  The  lot, 
somewhat  irregular  in  its  form,  is  equivalent  to  one  a  hundred  feet  by  a  hun- 
dred and  fifteen,  and  lies  on  a  gentle  hill-side,  rendering  it  easy  to  construct  a 
basement  almost  entirely  above  ground,  except  on  the  back  side.  The  exten- 
sive grounds  in  front,  and  on  either  side,  all  planted  with  trees,  and  separated 
from  the  High  School  only  by  the  width  of  the  streets,  add  much  to  the  beauty 
and  pleasantness  of  its  situation.  The  yards  around  it  are  inclosed  bv  a 
handsome  baluster  fence,  resting  in  front  on  heavy  blocks  of  rough  granite. 
The  steps  are  of  hewn  granite,  twelve  feet  long,  making  a  very  convenient 
entrance. 

The  High  School  being  designed  for  both  boys  and  girls,  an  entirely  separate 
entrance  is  provided  for  each  department.  The  front  door,  at  which  the  girls 
enter,  has  a  very  beautiful  frontispiece,  with  double  columns  (thus  providing 
for  large  side-lights),  and  a  heavy  ornamented  cap,  all  cut  from  duincy  granite 
in  the  best  style. 

The  door  in  the  circular  projection,  fronting  on  another  street,  has  also  a 
fine  frontispiece,  cut  from  duincy  granite. 

The  size  of  this  building  is  fifty  feet  by  seventy-six,  with  a  projection  of 
seven  feet.  The  walls  of  the  basement  are  of  stone,  three  feet  thick,  and  faced 
with  rough-hewn  granite,  laid  in  courses  twenty  inches  wide.  Each  stone  has 
a  "chiseled  draft,  fine  cut,"  an  inch  wide  around  the  face,  and  all  the  joints 
as  close  and  true  as  if  the  whole  were  fine  hammered.  The  remaining  por- 
tions of  the  walls,  diminishing  in  thickness  as  they  rise,  are  faced  with  the 
best  quality  of  Danvers  pressed  brick,  giving  the  building  a  beautiful  appear- 
ance. The  roof  is  covered  with  tin,  every  joint  soldered,  and  the  whole  sur- 
face kept  well  painted. 

The  rooms  in  the  basement  story,  which  is  twelve  feet  high  in  the  clear,  are 
separated  from  each  other  by  solid  brick  walls.  The  pupils  in  the  girls'  de- 
partment, entering  the  house  at  [A],  pass  into  the  large  lobby  [C],  twelve  feet 
by  twenty-eight,  from  which  they  can  go  to  all  parts  of  the  building  appro- 
priated to  their  use. 

The  furnace-room  [H]  has  a  brick  floor,  and  is  kept  in  as  good  order  as  the 
other  parts  of  the  house.  The  coal-bins  in,  n]  and  the  furnace  [F]  are  so  con- 
structed, that,  with  an  ordinary  degree  of  care,  the  room  may  be  kept  as  clean 
as  any  of  the  school-rooms.  The  arrangements  [m,  m]  for  setting  up  um- 
brellas have  been  described.  The  pump  [p],  accessible  to  all  in  the  girls' 
department,  connected  with  a  nice  sink,  lined  with  lead,  affords  an  abundant 
supply  of  excellent  water.  The  rooms  [E,  G,  I],  each  not  far  from  sixteen  by 
twenty-four  feet,  are  appropriated  as  the  Superintendent's  Office,  and  for  such 
meetings  of  the  School  Committee,  and  of  its  sub-committees,  as  may  be  ap- 
pointed there. 

The  large  lecture-room,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  lobby,  is  furnished  with 
settees,  which  will  accommodate  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  pupils.    On  the 


iliiit 


IS        if 


m  m        « 

=     :=  ■ " :.  ^- IB ■  II 




m^ 


Bill 


lift     I F"  i     -ii!lfll    •*'!>> 

I  ,  slii 

ft  1  I    ll: 


J»v-*..<l-"-"r;*?;' 


V  I  «ll    11*1  ■ 

II 
V7?1" 


248 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


No.  15. — Plan  of  the  Basement  of  High  School. 


platform  [P],  raised  seven  inches  from  the  floor,  a  long  table  or  counter  [d], 
made  convenient  for  experimental  lectures  in  Chemistry,  Natural  Philosophy, 
&c,  having  pneumatic  cisterns  for  holding  gasses.  At  [F,  &c]  are  suitable 
provisions  for  the  fires  used  in  the  preparations  of  chemical  experiments. 
The  pump  [p],  with  a  sink  like  the  other,  is  used  exclusively  by  the  pupils  in 
the  boys'  department. 

In  all  lectures,  and  other  exercises  in  this  room,  the  girls,  entering  at  [a], 
occupy  the  seats  on  the  right  of  [D],  the  middle  aisle.  The  boys,  entering  by 
descending  the  short  flight  of  stairs  [b~\,  are  seated  on  the  opposite  side  of  the 
room.  This  may  seem  like  descending  to  useless  particulars,  but  it  is  done  to 
show  that  there  are  no  grounds  for  the  objections  sometimes  made  against 
having  a  school  for  boys  and  for  girls  in  the  same  building,  where  the  depart- 
ments are  kept  entirely  separate,  except  in  exercises  in  vocal  music  and  occa- 
sional lectures.  The  boys  enter  the  house  at  the  end  door  [B],  which  is  six 
feet  above  the  basement  floor,  and,  by  a  short  flight  of  stairs,  they  reach  the 
first  story  at  [e]. 

The  three  rooms  [C,  D,  F]  are  appropriated  to  the  department  for  girls. 
They  are  easy  of  access  to  the  pupils,  who,  ascending  the  broad  flight  of 
stairs,  terminating  at  [B],  can  pass  readily  into  their  respective  rooms. 

The  course  of  instruction  in  the  school  occupying  three  years,  the  room  [D] 
is  appropriated  to  the  studies  for  the  first,  [E]  to  those  of  the  second,  and 
[F]  to  the  course  for  the  third  year.  In  each  room  there  are  three  sizes  of 
seats  and  desks,  and  their  arrangement  in  all  is  uniform.  The  largest  are  on 
the  back  side  of  the  room.  The  largest  desks  are  four  feet  eight  inches  long, 
and  twenty-two  inches  wide  on  the  top ;  the  middle  size  is  two  inches  smaller, 
and  the  other  is  reduced  in  the  same  proportions.  The  largest  seats  are  as 
high  as  common  chairs,  about  seventeen  inches,  and  the  remaining  sizes  are 
reduced  to  correspond  with  the  desks.  The  passages  around  the  sides  of  the 
rooms  vary  from  two  to  four  feet  wide,  and  those  between  the  rows  of  desks, 
from  eighteen  to  twenty-four  inches. 

On  the  raised  platforms  [P,  P,  P,  P]  are  the  teachers'  tables  [d,  d,  d,  d], 
covered  with  dark  woolen  cloth,  and  furnished  with  four  drawers  each.  The 
registers  [/,/,/,/]  admit  the  warm  air  from  the  furnace,  and  the  pipes  [^,^,p] 
conduct  it  into  the  rooms  in  the  upper  story.  The  passage  [£]  leads  into  the 
back  yard,  which  is  ornamented  with  a  variety  of  shrubbery. 


HIGH  SCHOOL-HOUSE,  PROVIDENCE. 


249 


No.  16.— Plan  of  the  First  Story  of  the  High  School. 


•  The  door  leading  from  the  room  [P]  is  used  only  for  teachers  and  visitors, 
except  when  the  two  departments  assemble  in  the  hall. 

In  the  room  [C]  the  boys  pursue  the  studies  prescribed  for  the  first  year; 
the  other  rooms  in  this  department  are  in  the  next  story. 

Pupils  ascending  from  the  area  [e],  by  two  circular  stairwajrs,  land  on  the 
broad  space  [a,  c],  from  which,  by  a  short  flight  of  stairs,  they  reach  [A],  in 
the  following  cut,  the  floor  of  the  upper  story,  which  is  sixteen  feet  in  the  clear. 


o  o.  o  o.  o  o,  ,o  o  o  o, 
I  I  1  I  1  I  I  I  I  I 
o  o,    o  o     o  o,    o  o,    o  o, 

O  O      O  O  B  o  o      o  o      o  o 

uzn  r     i  □  czzi  i      i 

o  o     o  o     o  o     o  o     o  o 


r    i  r~~i  i     i  rzz]  i     i 

0  o     o  o     o  o      o  o     o  o 

1  i  r~~i  i     i  i     i  i     \a- 

O  O      DO  coo      o  o      o   o 

rzzi  czn  rzzi  czzi  czz\ 

o  o     o  o      o  o      o  o     o  o 

i — i  cz3  uzd  cm  nzj 

oo     oo     oo      oo     o  o 


s 

No.  17.— Plan  of  the  Second  Story  of  the  High  School-House 


250 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


The  room  [B]  is  appropriated  to  the  middle  class,  and  [CJ  to  the  senio? 
class.    The  arrangement  of  the  seats  and  desks  are 
the  same   as  in  the  other  rooms,  exeept  they  are 
'movable — being-  screwed  to  a  frame  not  fastened  to 
the  floor,  as  shown  in  this  ent. 

The  cross  partition  [«] — see  cut  No.  17 — is  com- 
posed of  four  very  large  doors,  about  fourteen  feet 
square,  hung  with  weights  in  such  a  manner  that 
they  may  be  raised  into  the  attic,  thus  throwing  the  whole  upper  story  into  one 
large  hall — an  arrangement  by  which  one  room  can  be  changed  into  three,  and 
three  into  one,  as  the  occasion  may  require.  On  all  public  occasions,  such  as- 
CLuarterly  Examinations,,  aad  Annual  Exhibitions,  the  rooms  are  thus  thrown 
together,  and  the  seats  and  desks  turned  so  as  to  face  the  platform  [Pj,  in 
[E],  the  principal  hall. 

Observation  and  experiment,  relative  to  the  modes  of  wanning  the  public 
school-rooms,  have  proved  that  very  large  stoves,  eighteen  inches  in  diameter, 
render  the  temperature  of  the  rooms  more  uniform  and  pleasant,  and  that  they 
are  also  more  economical,  both  in  regard  to  the  amount  of  fuel  consumed,  and 
the  amount  of  repairs  required.  It  is  a  general  principle,  that  a  warming 
apparatus,  containing  a  large  quantity  of  fuel,  undergoing  a  slow  Gombustion, 
is  better  than  one  containing  a  small  quantity  of  fuel,  in  a  state  of  rapid  com- 
bustion. The  stoves  in  the  small  buildings,  and  the  furnaces  in  the  large 
ones,  are  constructed  on  this- principle. 

In  regard  to  the  construction  of  furnaces  for  warming  public  buildings  or 
private  dwellings,  so  much  depends  upon  circumstances,  that  no  specific  plan 
can  be  given  which  would  be  successful  in  all  cases.  One  familiar  with  the 
principles  which  regulate  the  motions  of  currents  of  air  at  different  tempera- 
tures, ean,  with  an  ordinary  degree  of  good  judgment  and  mechanical  skilly 
make  a  furnace  in  any  place,  where  one  can  be  made  at  all,  that  will  accom- 
plish all  which  the  laws  of  nature  will  permit. 

The  following  cut  is  intended  to  illustrate  two  plans  for  a  furnace. 


No.  18. — A  Vertical  Section  of  a  Furnace. 


In  the  first,  the  cold  air  is  admitted  afe  [a],  through  the  outside  walls  of  the 
fouilding,  and  descends  in  the  direction  described  by  the  arrows,  to  [r],  and 
thence  rises  to  the  top  of  the  furnace,  as  shown  by  the  arrows.  At  this  place, 
the  cold  air  diffuses  itself  over  the  whole  upper  surface,  about  eight  feet  by 
ten,  and  passes  down  between  the  double  walls  of  the  furnace,  in  the  spaces 
%  t\  which  extend  all  around  the  furnace,  and  rises  from  beneath,  through  a 


HIGH  SCHOOL-HOUSE,  PROVIDENCE.  251 

targe  opening  lb],  into  the  air-chamber,  where  it  is  heated  and  conducted  to 
the  rooms  by  large  pipes,  [/,  h].  The  object  of  this  mode  of  taking  in  air  is 
two-fold.  In  the  first  place,  the  constant  currents  of  cold  air,  passing  over  the 
top  of  the  furnace,  keep  that  surface  comparatively  cool,  and  also  keep  the 
floors  above  the  furnace  cool,  thus  removing  all  danger  of  setting  fire  to  the 
wood-work  over  the  furnace. 

In  the  second  place,  as  the  inside  walls  are  constantly  becoming  heated, 
and  the  currents  of  cold  air,  passing  down  on  all  sides  of  the  walls,  become 
ranfied  by  their  radiation,  and  thus,  as  it  were,  take  the  heat  from  the  outside 
of  the  inner  walls,  and  bring  it  round  into  the  air-chamber  again,  at  [b].  This 
is  not  mere  theory,  but  has  been  found  to  work  well  in  practice.  On  this 
plan,  the  outside  walls  are  kept  so  cool,  that  very  little  heat  is  wasted  by 
radiation. 

In  the  second  plan,  the  cold  air  is  admitted  as  before;  but,  instead  of 
ascending  from  [?■]  to  the  top  of  the  furnace,  it  passes  through  a  large  opening, 
directly  from  [r],  to  lp,p,p],  representing  small  piers,  supporting  the  inside 
walls,  and  thence  into  the  air-chamber  at  lb],  and  also  up  the  spaces  It,  t],  to 
the  top  Is],  from  which  the  air  warmed  by  coming  up  between  the  walls  is 
taken  into  the  rooms  by  separate  registers,  or  is  let  into  the  sides  of  the 
pipes  if.  A], 

By  this  plan,  the  air  passes  more  rapidly  through  the  air-chamber,  and  enters 
the  rooms  in  larger  quantities,  but  at  a  lower  temperature.  This  is  the  better 
mode,  if  the  furnace  be  properly  constructed  with  large  inlets  and  outlets  for 
air,  so  that  no  parts  become  highly  heated ;  otherwise,  the  wood- work  over  the 
furnace  will  be  in  some  danger  of  taking  fire.  The  general  defects  in  the 
construction  of  furnaces  are: — too  small  openings  for  the  admission  of  cold 
air — too  small  pipes  for  conveying  the  warm  air  in  all  horizontal  and  inclined 
directions — and  defective  dampers  in  the  perpendicular  pipes.  A  frequeni 
c,ause  of  failure  in  warming  public  buildings  and  private  dwellings  may  be 
found  in  the  ignorance  and  negligence  of  attendants. 

A  single  remark  will  close  this  report,  which  has  been  extended,  perhaps 
too  far  by  specific  details — a  want  of  which  is  often  complained  of  by  me- 
chanics who  are  engaged  in  building  school-houses. 

It  is  believed  to  be  best,  and,  all  things  considered,  cheapest,  in  the  end,  tc 
build  very  good  school-houses — to  make  their  external  appearance  pleasan 
and  attractive,  and  their  internal  arrangements  comfortable  and  convenient— 
to  keep  them  in  first-rate  order,  well  repaired,  and  always  clean. 

The  amount  of  damage  done  to  school  property  in  this  city  has  uniformly 
been  least  in  those  houses  in  Ajjhich  the  teachers  have  done  most  to  keep  ever; 
thing  in  very  good  order.  The  very  appearance  of  school  property  well  take', 
care  of  rebukes  the  spirit  of  mischief,  and  thus  elevates  the  taste  and  char 
acter  of  the  pupils. 

Respectfully  submitted. 

N.  BISHOP, 
Superintendent  of  Public  Schools, 

Providence,  August,  1846. 


252 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


Since  the  foregoing  Report  was  published,  important  alterations 
have  been  made  in  several  of  the  Grammar  and  Primary  School- 
houses  of  Providence.  In  the  Grammar  School-houses,  a  projection 
of  the  same  size  and  in  the  same  relative  position  as  that  in  front  of 
the  building,  is  carried  up  in  the  rear  so  as  to  secure  two  additional 
rooms  for  recitation  on  the  second  floor,  and  one  for  each  school- 
room on  the  first.  A  second  story  has  been  added  to  the  Primary 
School-houses,  so  as  to  accommodate  a  large  number  of  pupils,  and 
secure  a  better  classification  of  the  same.  The  Superintendent,  than 
whom  no  one  in  the  country  has  a  better  scientific  and  practical 
knowledge  of  the  subject,  has  devised  a  plan  of  ventilation,  at  once 
cheap  and  thorough,  which  will  be  carried  out  as  soon  as  means  for 
this  purpose  are  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  School  Committee  by 
the  City  Council. 

The  following  cut  presents  a  front  elevation  of  one  of  the  new 
Intermediate  School-houses  in  Providence,  designed  by  Mr.  Teft. 


The  only  private  school  edifice  in  Providence  which  can  be  com- 
pared with  the  Public  School-houses,  is  a  beautiful  structure  erected 
by  Mr.  John  Kingsbury,  at  his  own  expense,  after  plans  of  Mr.  Teft, 
for  the  accommodation  of  a  school  of  forty  girls.  This  house  is 
a  perfect  gem  in  school  architecture,  and  no  young  lady  can  be  edu- 
cated within  its  walls  without  receiving  not  only  the  benefit  of  its 
every  appliance  for  health,  comfort  and  neatness,  but  at  the  same 
time,  some  advancement  in  esthetical  culture  from  the  exhibition  of 
taste  all  around  her. 

The  improvements  in  education,  introduced  by  Mr.  Kingsbury  in 
his  private  school  from  1826  to  1838,  prepared  the  way  for  improve- 
ments in  the  organization  and  instruction  of  the  public  schools,  and 
the  improvement  of  the  latter  since  1840,  have  made  it  necessary  for 
Mr.  Kingsbury  to  take  and  maintain  still  higher  ground.  Mr. 
Kingsbury  has  always  given  his  best  efforts  to  improve  the  public 
schools. 


public  high  school.  253 

Public  High  School. 

In-the  preceding  pages  we  have  presented  a  variety  of  plans  for 
the  construction  and  internal  arrangements  of  buildings  designed  and 
erected  for  Public  High  Schools.  Whenever  and  wherever  the 
interest  of  the  community  can  be  sufficiently  awakened  to  call  for  a 
public  school  of  the  grade  generally  understood  by  the  term  High 
School,  there  will  be  no  difficulty  in  raising  the  funds  necessary  to 
erect  and  furnish  a  suitable  edifice  for  the  accommodation  of  the 
school.  It  may  not,  then,  be  amiss  in  this  place  to  present  a  few 
considerations  and  facts  bearing  upon  the  establishment  of  a  school 
of  this  grade  in  every  large  village  and  city  in  our  country. 

By  a  Public  or  Common  High  School,  is  intended  a  public  or 
common  school  for  the  older  and  more  advanced  scholars  of  the 
community  in  which  the  same  is  located,  in  a  course  of  instruction 
adapted  to  their  age,  and  intellectual  and  moral  wants,  and,  to  some 
extent,  to  their  future  pursuits  in  life.  It  is  common  or  public  in  the 
same  sense  in  which  the  district  school,  or  any  lower  grade  of  school 
established  and  supported  under  a  general  law  and  for  the  public 
benefit,  is  common  or  public.  It  is  open  to  all  the  children  of  the 
community  to  which  the  school  belongs,  under  such  regulations  as 
to  age,  attainments,  &c,  as  the  good  of  the  institution  may  require, 
or  the  community  mav^adopt.  A  Public  High  School  is  not  neces- 
sarily a  free  school.  [It  may  be  supported  by  a  fund,  a  public  tax, 
or  an  assessment  or  rate  of  tuition  per  scholar,  or  by  a  combination 
of  all,  or  any  two  of  these  modes7\  Much  less  is  it  a  public  or  com- 
mon school  in  the  sense  of  being-^cheap,  inferior,  ordinary.  To  be 
truly  a  public  school,  a  High  School  must  embrace  in  its  course  of 
instruction  studies  which  can  be  more  profitably  pursued  there  than 
in  public  schools  of  a  lower  grade,  or  which  gather  their  pupils  from 
a  more  circumscribed  territory,  and  as  profitably  as  in  any  private 
school  of  the  same  pretensions.  It  must  make  a  good  education 
common  in  the  highest  and  best  sense  of  the  word  common — common 
because  it  is  good  enough  for  the  best,  and  cheap  enough  for  the 
poorest  family  in  the  community.  It  would  be  a  mockery  of  the  idea 
of  such  a  school,  to  call  it  a  Public  High  School,  if  the  course  of 
instruction  pursued  in  it  is  not  higher  and  better  than  can  be  got  in 
public  schools  of  a  lower  grade,  or  if  it  does  not  meet  the  wants  of 
the  wealthiest  and  best  educated  families,  or,  if  the  course  of  instruc- 
tion is  liberal  and  thorough,  and  at  the  same  time  the  worthy  and 
talented  child  of  a  poor  family  is  shut  out  from  its  privileges  by  a 
high  rate  of  tuition.  The  school,  to  be  common  practically,  must  be 
both  cheap  and  good.~"\To  be  cheap,  its  support  must  be  provided  for  \ 
wholly  or  mainly  out  of  a  fund,  or  by  public  tax.  And  to  justify  the  ! 
imposition  of  a  public  tax,  the  advantages  of  such  a  school  rmiat 
accrue  to  the  whole  community.  It  must  be  shown  to  be  a  common 
benefit,  a  common  interest,  which  cannot  be  secured  so  well,  or  at 


254  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

all,  except  through  the  medium  of  taxation.  "What,  then,  are  the 
advantages  which  may  reasonably  be  anticipated  from  the  establish- 
ment of  a  Public  High  School,  properly  organized,  instructed,  and 
supervised  ? 

First.  Every  thing  which  is  now  done  in  the  several  district 
schools,  and  schools  of  lower  grade,  can  be  better  done,  and  in  a 
shorter  time,  because  the  teachers  will  be  relieved  from  the  neces- 
sity of  devoting  the  time  and  attention  now  required  by  few  of  the 
older  and  more  advanced  pupils,  and  can  bestow  all  their  time  and 
attention  upon  the  preparatory  studies  and  younger  children.  These 
studies  will  be  taught  in  methods  suited  to  the  age  and  attainments 
of  the  pupils.  A  right  beginning  can  thus  be  made  in  the  lower 
schools,  in  giving  a  thorough  practical  knowledge  of  elementary 
principles,  and  in  the  formation  of  correct  mental  and  moral  habits, 
which  are  indispensable  to  all  sound  education.  All  this  will  be 
done  under  the  additional  stimulus  of  being  early  and  thoroughly 
fitted  for  the  High  School. 

Second.  A  High  School  will  give  completeness  to  the  system  of 
public  instruction  which  may  be  in  operation.  It  will  make  suitable 
provision  for  the  older  and  more  advanced  pupils  of  both  sexes,  and 
will  admit  of  the  methods  of  instruction  and  discipline  which  cannot 
be  profitably  introduced  into  the  schools  below.  The  lower  grade 
of  schools — those  which  are  established  for  young  children, — require 
a  large  use  of  oral  and  simultaneous  methods,  and  a  frequent  change 
of  place  and  position  on  the  part  of  the  pupils.  The  higher  branches, 
especially  all  mathematical  subjects,  require  patient  application  and 
habits  of  abstraction  on  the  part  of  the  older  pupils,  which  can  with 
difficulty,  if  at  all,  be  attained  by  many  pupils  amid  a  multiplicity  of 
distracting  exercises,  movements,  and  sounds.  The  recitations  of 
this  class  of  pupils,  to  be  profitable  and  satisfactory,  must  be  con- 
ducted in  a  manner  which  requires  time,  discussion,  and  explanation, 
and  the  undivided  attention  both  of  pupils  and  teacher.  The  course 
of  instruction  provided  in  the  High  School  will  be  equal  in  extent 
and  value  to  that  which  may  be  given  in  any  private  school,  academy, 
or  female  seminary  in  the  place,  and  which  is  now  virtually  denied 
to  the  great  mass  of  the  children  by  the  burdensome  charge  of 
tuition. 

As  has  been  already  implied,  the  advantages  of  a  High  School 
should  not  be  confined  to  the  male  sex.  The-  great  influence  of  the 
female  sex,  as  daughters,  sisters,  wives,  mothers,  companions,  and 
teachers,  in  determining  the  manners,  morals,  and  intelligence  of  the 
whole  community,  leaves  no  room  to  question  the  necessity  of  pro- 
viding for  the  girls  the  best  means  of  intellectual  and  moral  culture. 
The  course  of  instruction  should  embrace  the  first  principles  of 
natural  and  mechanical  philosophy,  by  which  inventive  genius  and 
practical  skill  in  the  useful  arts  can  be  fostered ;  such  studies  as 
navigation,  book-keeping,  surveying,  botany,  chemistry,  and  kindred 
studies,  which  are  directly  connected  with  success  in  the  varied 
departments  of  domestic  and  inland  trade,  with  foreign  commerce, 
with  gardening,  agriculture,  the  manufacturing  and  domestic  arts; 


PUBLIC  HIGH  SCHOOL.  255 

such  studies  as  astronomy,  physiology,  the  history  of  our  own  state 
and  nation,  the  principles  of  our  state  and  national  constitutions, 
political  economy,  and  moral  science ;  in  fine,  such  a  course  of  study 
as  is  now  given  in  more  than  fifty  towns  and  cities  in  New  England, 
and  which  shall  prepare  every  young  man,  whose  parents  may  desire 
it,  for  business,  or  for  college,  and  give  to  every  young  woman  a  well 
disciplined  mind,  high  moral  aims,  refined  tastes,  gentle  and  graceful 
manners,  practical  views  of  her  own  duties,  and  these  resources  of 
health,  thought,  conversation,  and  occupation,  which  bless  alike  the 
highest  and  lowest  station  in  life.  When  such  a  course  is  provided 
and  carried  out,  the  true  idea  of  the  High  School  will  be  realized. 

Third  It  will  equalize  the  opportunities  of  a  good  education,  and 
exert  a  happy,  social  influence  throughout  the  whole  community  from 
which  it  gathers  its  scholars.  From  the  want  of  a  public  school  of 
this  character,  the  children  of  such  families  as  rely  exclusively  on 
the  district  school  are  isolated,  and  are  condemned  to  an  inferior 
education,  both  in  quality  and  quantity  ;  they  are  cut  off  from  the 
stimulus  and  sympathy  which  the  mingling  of  children  of  the  same 
age  from  different  parts  of  the  same  community  would  impart.  The 
benefits,  direct  and  indirect,  which  will  result  to  the  country  dis- 
tricts, or  poor  families  who  live  in  the  outskirts  of  the  city,  from  the 
establishment  of  a  school  of  this  class,  cannot  easily  be  overesti- 
mated. The  number  of  young  men  and  young  women  who  will 
receive  a  thorough  education,  qualifying  them  for  business,  and  to  be 
teachers,  will  increase  from  year  to  year  ;  and  the  number  who  will 
press  up  to  the  front  ranks  of  scholarship  in  the-school,  bearing  away 
the  palm  of  excellence  by  the  vigor  of  sound  minds  in  sound  bodies, 
of  minds  and  bodies  made  vigorous  by  long  walks  and  muscular  labor 
in  the  open  air,  will  be  greater  in  proportion  to  their  number  than 
from  the  city  districts.  It  will  do  both  classes  good,  the  children  of 
the  city,  and  the  children  of  the  country  districts,  to  measure  them- 
selves intellectually  in  the  same  fields  of  study,  and  to  subject  the 
peculiarities  of  their  respective  manners,  the  roughness  and  awk- 
wardness sometimes  characteristic  of  the  one,  and  the  artificiality 
and  flippancy  of  the  other.,  to  the  harmonizing  influence  of  reciprocal 
action  and  reaction.  The  isolation  and  estrangement  which  now 
divide  and  subdivide  the  community  into  country  and  city  clans, 
which,  if  not  hostile,  are  strangers  to  each  other,  will  give  place  to 
the  frequent  intercourse  and  esteem  of  individual  and  family  friend- 
ship, commenced  in  the  school-room,  and  on  the  play-ground  of  the 
school.  The  school  will  thus  become  a  bond  of  union,  a  channel  of 
sympathy,  a  spring-head  of  healthy  influence,  and  stimulus  to  the 
whole  commnnity. 

Fourth.  The  privileges  of  a  good  school  will  be  brought  within 
the  reach  of  all  classes  of  the  community,  and  will  actually  be  en- 
joyed by  children  of  the  same  age  from  families  of  the  most  diverse 
circumstances  as  to  wealth,  education,  and  occupation.  Side  by  side 
in  the  same  recitations,  heart  and  hand  in  the  same  sports,  pressing 
up  together  to  the  same  high  attainments  in  knowledge  and  charac- 
ters will  be  found  the  children  of  the  rich  and  poor,  the  more  and  the 


256  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

less  favored  in  outward  circumstances,  without  knowing  or  caring  to 
know  how  far  their  families  are  separated  by  the  arbitrary  distinc- 
tions which  divide  and  distract  society.  With  nearly  equal  oppor- 
tunities of  education  in  childhood  and  youth,  the  prizes  of  life,  its 
best  fields  of  usefulness,  and  sources  of  happiness  will  be  open  to 
all,  whatever  may  have  been  their  accidents  of  birth  and  fortune. 
From  many  obscure  and  humble  homes  in  the  city  and  in  the  country, 
will  be  called  forth  and  trained  inventive  talent,  productive  skill,  in- 
tellectual taste,  and  God-like  benevolence,  which  will  add  to  the 
general  wealth,  multiply  workshops,  increase  the  value  of  farms,  and 
carry  forward  every  moral  and  religious  enterprise  which  aims  to 
bless,  purify,  and  elevate  society. 

Fifth.  The  influence  which  the  annual  or  semi-annual  examina- 
tion of  candidates  for  admission  into  the  High  School,  will  operate 
as  a  powerful  and  abiding  stimulus  to  exertion  throughout  all  the 
lower  schools.  The  privileges  of  the  High  School  will  be  held 
forth  as  the  reward  of  exertion  in  the  lower  grade  of  schools ;  and 
promotion  to  it,  based  on  the  result  of  an  impartial  examination,  will 
form  an  unobjectional  standard  by  which  the  relative  standing  of  the 
different  schools  can  be  ascertained,  and  will  also  indicate  the  studies 
and  departments  of  education  to  which  the  teachers  in  particular 
schools  should  devote  special  attention.  This  influence  upon  the 
lower  schools,  upon  scholars  and  teachers,  upon  those  who  reach, 
and  those  who  do  not  reach  the  High  School,  will  be  worth  more 
than  all  it  costs,  independent  of  the  advantages  received  by  its  pupils. 
Sixth.  While  the  expenses  of  public  or  common  schools  will 
necessarily  be  increased  by  the  establishment  of  a  school  of  this  class, 
in  addition  to  those  already  supported,  the  aggregate  expenditures 
for  education,  including  public  and  private  schools,  will  be  diminished. 
Private  schools  of  the  same  relative  standing  will  be  discontinued 
for  want  of  patronage,  while  those  of  a  higher  grade,  if  really  called 
for  by  the  educational  wants  of  the  community,  will  be  improved.  A 
healthy  competition  will  necessarily  exist  between  the  public  and 
private  schools  of  the  highest  grade,  and  the  school  or  schools  which 
do  not  come  up  to  the  highest  mark,  must  go  down  in  public  estima- 
tion. Other  things  being  equal,  viz.,  school-houses,  teachers,  clas- 
sification, and  the  means  and  appliances  of  instruction,  the  public 
school  is  always  better  than  the  private.  From  the  uniform  experi- 
ence of  those  places  where  a  High  School  has  been  established,  it 
may  be  safely  stated,  that  there  will  be  an  annual  saving  in  the 
expenses  of  education  to  any  community,  equal  to  one  half  the  amount 
paid  for  tuition  in  private  schools,  and,  with  this  saving  of  expense, 
there  will  be  a  better  state  of  education. 

Seventh.  The  successful  establishment  of  a  High  School,  by  im- 
proving the  whole  system  of  common  schools,  and  interesting  a  larger 
number  of  families  in  the  prosperity  of  the  schools,  will  create  a 
better  public  sentiment  on  the  subject  than  has  heretofore  existed, 
and  the  schools  will  be  regarded  as  the  common  property,  the  com- 
mon glory,  the  common  security  of  the  whole  community.  The 
wealthy  will  feel  that  the  small  additional  tax  required  to  establish 


PUBLIC  HIGH  SCHOOL.  257 

and  sustain  this  school,  if  not  saved  to  them  in  the  diminished  tuition 
for  the  education  of  their  own  children  in  private  schools,  at  home 
and  abroad,  is  returned  to  them  a  hundred  fold  in  the  enterprise 
which  it  will,  quicken,  in  the  increased  value  given  to  property,  and 
in  the  number  of  families  which  will  resort  to  the  place  where  it  is 
located,  as  a  desirable  residence,  because  of  the  facilities  enjoyed 
for  a  good  education.  The  poor  will  feel  that,  whatever  may  betide 
them,  their  children  are  born  to  an  inheritance  more  valuable  than 
lands  or  shops,  in  the  free  access  to  institutions  where  as  good  an 
education  can  be  had  as  money  can  buy  at  home  or  abroad.  The 
stranger  will  be  invited  to  visit  not  only  the  institutions  which  public 
or  individual  benevolence  has  provided  for  the  poor,  the  orphan,  the 
deaf  mute,  and  the  criminal,  but  schools  where  the  children  and 
youth  of  the  community  are  trained  to  inventive  and  creative  habits 
of  mind,  to  a  practical  knowledge  of  the  fundamental  principles  of 
business,  to  sound  moral  habits,  refined  tastes,  and  respectful  man- 
ners. And  in  what  balance,  it  has  well  been  asked,  in  reference  to 
the  cost  of  good  public  schools,  as  compared  with  these  advantages, 
shall  we  weigh  the  value  of  cultivated,  intelligent,  energetic,  polished, 
and  virtuous  citizens  1  How  much  would  a  community  be  justified 
in  paying  for  a  physician  who  should  discover  or  practice  some  mode 
of  treatment  through  which  many  lives  should  be  preserved  ?  How 
much  for  a  judge,  who,  in  the  able  administration  of  the  laws,  should 
secure  many  fortunes,  or  rights  more  precious  than  fortunes,  that 
might  else  be  lost  ?  How  much  for  a  minister  of  religion  who  should 
be  the  instrument  of  saving  hundreds  from  vice  and  crime,  and  per- 
suading them  to  the  exertion  of  their  best  powers  for  the  common 
good  1  How  much  for  the  ingenious  inventor,  who,  proceeding  from 
the  first  principles  of  science  onward,  should  produce  some  improve- 
ment that  should  enlarge  all  the  comforts  of  society,  not  to  say  a 
steam-engine  or  a  magnetic  telegraph  ?  How  much  for  the  patriotic 
statesman,  who,  in  difficult  times,  becomes  the  savior  of  his  country  ? 
How  much  for  the  well-instructed  and  enterprising  merchant  who 
should  suggest  and  commence  the  branches  of  business  that  should 
bring  in  a  vast  accession  of  wealth  and  strength  ?  One  such  person 
as  any  of  these  might  repay  what  a  High  School  would  cost  for 
centuries.  Whether,  in  the  course  of  centuries,  every  High  School 
would  produce  one  such  person,  it  would  be  useless  to  prophesy. 
But  it  is  certain  that  it  would  produce  many  intelligent  citizens, 
intelligent  men  of  business,  intelligent  servants  of  the  state,  intelli- 
gent teachers,  intelligent  wives  and  daughters,  who,  in  their  several 
spheres,  would  repay  to  any  community  much  more  than  they  arid 
all  their  associates  had  received.  The  very  taxes  of  a  town,  in 
twenty  years,  will  be  lessened  by  the  existence  of  a  school  which 
will  continually  have  sent  forth  those  who  were  so  educated  as  to 
become  not  burdens  but  benefactors. 

These  results  have  been  realized  wherever  a  Public  High  School 
has  been  opened  under  circumstances  favorable  to  the  success  of  a 
private  school  of  the  same  grade, — wherever  a  good  school-house, 
good  regulations,  (for  admission,  attendance,  studies,  a»i  books,) 
good  teachers,  and  good  supervision  have  been  provided. 


258  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

The  Principal   of  the  Latin  High  School  of  Boston,  in  a  letter 

written  1846,  says, — 

"  There  is  no  institution  so  truly  republican  as  such  a  school  as  this.  While  we, 
the  present  teachers,  were  undergraduates  of  the  school,  the  rich  sent  their  sons 
to  the  school  because  it  was  the  best  that  could  be  found.  They  ascertained  that 
it  was  not  a  source  of  contamination,  but  that  their  boys  learned  here  to  compare 
themselves  with  others,  and  to  feel  the  necessity  of  something  more  that  mere 
wealth  to  gain  consideration.  At  that  time,  poor  men  sent  their  sons  hither  be- 
cause they  knew  that  they  here  would  get  that  education  which  they  could  afford 
togive  them  in  no  other  way.  They  gained  loo  by  intercourse  with  their  wealthier 
mates  a  polish  of  exterior  manners,  and  an  intellectual  turn  of  mind  which 
their  friends  could  appreciate  and  perceive,  although  they  could  not  tell  what  it 
was  that  had  been  acquired.  Oftentimes  also  the  poor  boy  would  take  the  lead 
of  his  more  pampered  classmate,  and  take  the  honors  of  the  school. 

In  a  class  lately  belonging  to  the  school  were  two  boys,  one  the  son  of  a  man 
of  extreme  wealth,  whose  property  cannot  be  less  than  $500,000;  and  the  other 
the  son  of  an  Irish  laborer  employed  by  the  city  at  a  dollar  a  day  to  sweep  the 
streets.     The  latter  boy  was  the  better  scholar." 

The  Principal  of  the  English  High  School  in  a  letter  writes, — 

"  The  school  under  my  charge  is  pricipally  composed  of  what  are  called  the 
middling  classes  of  our  city.  At  present,  about  one  third  of  my  pupils  are  sons 
of  merchants  ;  the  remaining  two  thirds  are  sons  of  professional  men,  mechan- 
ics and  others.  Some  of  our  best  scholars  are  sons  of  coopers,  lamplighters, 
and  day  laborers.  A  few  years  ago,  he  who  ranked,  the  last  year  of  his  course, 
as  our  third  scholar,  was  the  son  of  a  lamplighter,  and  worked  three  nights  per 
week,  during  his  whole  course,  to  save  his  father  the  expense  of  books,  &c, 
while  at  school.  This  year  my  second  (if  not  the  first,)  scholar,  is  a  cooper's 
son.  We  have  several  sons  of  clergymen  of  distinction  and  lawyers  of  emi- 
nence. Indeed,  the  school  is  a  perfect  example  of  the  poor  and  the  rich,  meet- 
ing on  common  ground  and  on  terms  quite  democratic. 

The  Principal  of  the  High  School  for  girls  in  Newburyport,  writes, 

"  The  Female  High  School  was  established  by  the  town  of  Newburyport 
nearly  three  years  since,  under  great  opposition.  It  was  the  desire  of  its  princi- 
pal advocates  to  make  it  such  a  school,  in  respect  to  the  course  of  instruction, 
and  facilities  for  acquiring  knowledge,  and  laying  the  foundation  for  usefulness, 
as  should  so  successfully  compete  with  our  best  private  schools,  as  to  supersede 
their  necessity." 

"  A  few  days  after  we  were  organized,  a  gentleman  came  into  the  school- 
room to  make  some  inquiries  respecting  the  classes  of  society  most  fully  rep- 
resented amongst  us.  I  was  totally  unable  to  give  him  the  desired  information, 
andjudging  from  the  appearance  of  the  individuals  of  my  charge,  I  could  form 
no  idea  as  to  who  were  the  children  of  poor  parents,  or  of  those  in  better  cir- 
cumstances. I  mentioned  the  names  of  the  parents  of  several,  which  I  had 
just  taken,  and,  amongst  others,  of  two  young  ladies  of  seventeen  or  eighteen 
years  of  age,  who,  at  that  moment,  it  being  recess,  were  walking  down  the 
room,  with  their  arms  closely  entwined  about  each  other's  necks.  '  The  first 
of  the  two,'  said  the  gentleman,  '  is  a  daughter  of  one  of  our  first  merchants, 
the  other  has  a  father  worse  than  none,  who  obtains  a  livelihood  from  one  of  the 
lowest  and  most  questionable  occupations,  and  is  himself  most  degraded.' 
These  two  young  ladies  were  classmates  for  more  than  two  years,  and  very 
nearly  equal  in  scholarship.  The  friendship  they  have  formed,  I  am  confident 
no  circumstances  of  station  in  life  can  ever  impair. 

"  We  have  had  in  our  number  many  from  the  best  families,  in  all  respects,  in 
the  place.  They  sit  side  by  side,  they  recite,  and  they  associate  most  freely 
with  those  of  the  humblest  parentage,  whose  widowed  mothers,  perhaps,  toil 
day  after  day,  at  a  wash-tub,  without  fear  of  contamination,  or,  as  I  honestly 
believe,  a  thought  of  the  differences  which  exist.  I  have,  at  present,  both  ex- 
tremes under  my  charge — the  child  of  affluence  and  the  child  of  low  parentage 
and  deep  poverty.  As  my  arrangements  of  pupils  in  divisions,  &c.  are,  most  of 
them,  alphabetical,  it  often  happens  that  the  two  extremes  are  brought  together. 
This  never  causes  a  murmur,  or  look  of  dislike. 


PUBLIC  HIGH  SCHOOL.  259 

A  member  of  the  School  Committee  of  Worcester,  Mass.,  writes  : 

"  Our  High  School  is  exceedingly  popular  with  all  classes,  and  in  the  school- 
rooms and  on  the  play-grounds,  the  children  of  the  richest  and  poorest  mingle 
■with  perfect  equality.  No  assumption, — no  jealousy  are  seen  among  them.  I 
have  been  charmed  with  this  republican  and  Christian  character  of  the  school. 
I  have  seen  the  children  of  parents  whose  wealth  was  estimated  by  hundreds  of 
thousands,  in  the  same  school-room  with  children  (and  those  last  among  the 
best  scholars  of  their  class)  whose  parents  have  been  assisted  year  after  year 
by  individual  charity.  The  manners,  habits,  and  moral  sentiments  of  this 
school  are  as  pure  and  high  as  in  any  academy,  or  female  seminary  of  the 
same  grade  in  the  commonwealth. 

"  To  the  improvements  of  our  public  schools,  which  has  been  going  steadily 
forward  since  1825,  does  this  town  owe  more  of  its  prosperity,  its  large  acces- 
sion of  families  from  abroad,  especially  of  industrious  and  skillful  mechanics, 
than  to  all  other  causes  combined.  As  a  mere  investment  of  capital,  men  of 
wealth  everywhere  cannot  do  better  with  a  portion  of  their  property  than 
to  build  elegant  and  attractive  school-houses,  and  open  in  them  free  schools 
of  the  highest  order  of  instruction.  They  will  then  see  gathering  around 
them  men,  it  may  be,  of  small  means,  but  of  practical  skill,  and  moral  and 
industrious  habits ;  that  class  of  families  who  feel  that  one  of  the  great  ends 
of  life  is  to  educate  their  children  well." 

A  correspondent  from  Brattleboro',  Vt.,  writes : 

"In  the  same  school-room,  seated  side  by  side,  according  to  age  and  attain- 
ments, are  eighty  children,  representing  all  classes  and  conditions  in  society. 
The  lad  or  miss,  whose  father  pays  a  school  tax  of  thirty-five  dollars,  by  the 
side  of  another  whose  expense  of  instruction  is  five  cents  per  awrvwm.  They 
play  cordially  and  happily  on  the  same  grounds,  and  pursue  the  same  studies — 
the  former  frequently  incited  by  the  native  superiority  and  practical  good  sense 
of  the  latter.  While  the  contact  corrects  the  factitious  gentility  and  false  ideas 
of  superiority  in  the  one,  it  encourages  cleanliness  and  good  breeding  in  the 
other." 

The  history  of  the  High  School  in  Providence  is  the  history  of 
almost  every  similar  institution. 

"  The  High  School  was  the  only  feature  of  our  system  which  encountered 
much  opposition.  When  first  proposed,  its  bearings  on  the  schools  below,  and 
in  various  ways  on  the  cause  of  education  in  the  city,  was  not  clearly  seen.  It 
was  opposed  because  it  was  "  aristocratic,"  "  because  it  was  unconstitutional 
to  tax  property  for  a  city  college,"  "  because  it  would  educate  children  above 
working  for  their  support,"  "  because  a  poor  boy  or  girl  would  never  be  seen  in 
it" — and  for  all  such  contradictory  reasons.  Before  it  became  a  part  of  the 
system,  the  question  of  its  adoption,  or  rejection,  was  submitted  directly  to  the 
people,  who  passed  in  its  favor  by  a  vote  of  two  thirds  of  all  the  legal  voters  of 
the  city.  Even  after  this  expression  of  popular  vote  in  its  favor,  and  after  the 
building  for  its  accommodation  was  erected,  there  was  a  considerable  minority 
who  circulated  a  petition  to  the  City  Council  against  its  going  into  operation. 
But  the  school  was  opened,  and  now  it  would  be  as  easy  to  strike  out  the  whole 
or  any  other  feature  of  the  system  as  this.  Its  influence  in  giving  stimulus  and 
steadiness  to  the  workings  of  the  lower  grade  of  schools, — in  giving  thorough- 
ness and  expansion  to  the  whole  course  of  instruction, — in  assisting  to  train 
teachers  for  our  city  and  country  schools, — and  in  bringing  together  the  older 
and  more  advanced  pupils,  of  either  sex,  from  families  of  every  profession,  oc- 
cupation and  location  in  the  city,  many  of  whom,  but  for  the  opportunities  of 
this  school,  would  enter  on  the  business  and  duties  of  life  with  an  imperfect 
education — has  demonstrated  its  own  usefulness  as  a  part  of  the  system,  and 
has  converted  its  opponents  into  friends." 

Testimony  of  the  same  character  might  be  adduced  from  Phila- 
delphia, Lowell,  New  Orleans,  and  every  place  where  a  school  of 
this  grade  has  been  established. 


260  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


Plans  of  School-Houses  with  Apartments  for  the  Teacher, 

In  the  "  Series  of  Plans  for  School-houses,"  published  by  the  Commit- 
tee of  Council  on  Education,  for  the  benefit  of  such  schools  as  apply  for 
the  benefit  of  the  Parliamentary  Grant  for  promoting  Public  Education 
in  Great  Britain,  provision  is  uniformly  made  for  apartments,  or  a  dwell- 
ing-house, for  the  master.  This  would  be  a  wise  and  economical  arrange- 
ment in  connection  with  our  district  and  village  school-houses.  The  prop- 
erty of  the  district  would  be  better  cared  for,  and  more  of  permanence 
and  character  would  soon  attach  to  the  employment  of  teaching,  if  suita- 
ble apartments  in  the  same  building  were  provided  for  the  teacher.  We 
do  not  propose  at  this  time  to  present  any  plan,  framed  in  reference  both 
to  the  accommodation  of  the  school  and  of  the  teacher,  but  have  made 
the  foregoing  statement  as  explanatory  of  some  peculiarities  in  the  fol- 
lowing plans,  copied  mostly  from  the  work  above  referred  to.  Our  object 
in  giving  the  following  plans  is  to  introduce  committees  and  others  to  a 
different  style  of  architecture  than  has  thus  far  been  adopted  in  structures 
of  this  kind.  It  will  not.  be  difficult  for  any  one  familiar  with  drafting 
plans  to  adapt  this  style  to  the  particular  wants  of  any  district  or  village. 

No.  1.  This  plan  contemplates  a  school-room  22  by  15  feet  for  30  chil- 
dren, with  apartments  for  the  master  consisting  of  one  sitting-room,  (13  by 
10)  one  bedroom.  (10  by  10,)  and  a  kitchen  (12  by  6,)  with  two  closets 
(6  by  6  each)  attached.  These  arrangements  are  limited  to  the  strictest 
simplicity.  The  small  window  in  the  wing  or  projection  lights  the  mas- 
ter's bed-room.  In  all  the  plans  an  independent  entrance  into  the  mas- 
ter's apartment  is  provided,  and  the  yards  are  also  distinct. 

No.  2.  In  this  plan  the  school-room  is  29  feet  by  18,  with  two  lobbies, 
and  a  closet  in  the  rear,  each  6  feet  by  4,  and  will  accommodate  56  pupils. 
The  arrangements  for  the  master  are  the  same  as  the  above. 

No.  3.  In  this  plan  the  school  room  is  36  feet  by  18,  and  will  accommo- 
date 80  children — with  separate  lobby,  or  entry  for  girls  and  boys,  each 
4  feet  by  12,  and  a  closet  of  the  same  size.  The  master's  apartments  are 
the  same  in  number  as  in  No.  1,  but  each  room  is  12  feet  by  12.  The 
master's  desk  is  between  the  windows  in  the  front  elevation. 

No.  4.  In  this  plan  there  are  two  school-rooms,  each  28  feet  by  16,  and 
capable  of  accommodating  55  pupils,  with  a  lobby  12  feet  by  5  on  each 
side,  into  which  the  door  represented  on  the  side  elevation  opens.  Be- 
tween the  lobbies  are  the  master's  bedroom  and  sitting  room,  each  13  feet 
by  12,  and  back  of  them  a  second  bedroom,  and  the  kitchen,  each  12  feet 
by  9.  The  teacher's  platform  and  desk  in  each  room  is  against  the  win- 
dows, which  are  painted  in  imitation  of  ground  glass. 

No.  5.  The  plan  of  which  this  is  the  front  elevation,  contemplates  a 
school-room  48  feet  by  19,  for  112  children,  to  be  taught  by  one  master 
and  two  pupil  teachers.  The  classes  are  separated  by  a  screen  extend- 
ing from  the  rear  of  the  room  to  the  teacher's  platform. 

No.  6.  This  plan  is  designed  to  accommodate  394  pupils — 150  belong- 
ing to  an  Infant  or  Primary  department.  The  arrangement  for  the  schools 
consists  of  a  large  hall  in  the  centre,  40  feet  by  24,  which  is  occupied  by 
the  Infant  school,  and  two  rooms,  each  32  by  18  feet — one  of  which  occu 
pies  the  wing  on  the  left,  and  the  other  being  back,  of  the  hall.  The 
hall  is  employed  every  morning  and  evening  for  prayers,  and  other  exer 
cises,  in  which  the  whole  school  can  engage. 

The  master's  house  contains  a  sitting-room,  two  bedrooms,  kitchen,  &c, 
aad  occupies  the  right  wing  of  the  building. 

No  7.  This  plan  is  intended  to  accommodate  the  Infant  or  Primary 
school,  of  150  pupils,  in  a  large  hall  in  the  main  building,  (the  front  of 
which  on  the  first  floor  is  occupied  by  the  master's  sitting  room,  with 


PLANS  OF  SCHOOL-HOUSES. 


261 


a  flight  of  stairs  leading  to  his  other  departments  in  the  second  story, 
in  the  basement)  and  300  or  400  pupils  in  four  class-rooms,  as  shown  in 
the  accompanying  drawing  on  a  re- 
duced scale.  The  Hall,  B,^is  54  feet 
by  27,  in  which  the  infant  school  is 
taught,  and  where  the  whole  school 
is  assembled  for  religious  and  other 
general  exercises.  Each  of  the 
four  class-rooms  D.  each  19  feet  by 
17,  is  divided  into  two  rooms  by  a 
screen,  both  of  which  is  under  the 
supervision  of  an  assistant  teacher, 
who  is  aided  in  instruction  by  one 
pupil  teacher. 

No.  8.  This  plan  is  designed  for 
an  infant  school  of  223  pupils.  The 
entrance  to  the  school  is  by  the 
porch  lighted  by  a  small  window, 
attached  to  a  slight  projection  on  the 
left,  with  the  end  towards  the  spec- 
tator. The  entrance  to  the  apart- 
ments of  the  teacher  is  by  the  other  porch  at  the  extreme  right. 

Nos.  9  and  10.  These  plans,  of  which  the  elevations  only  are  given,  will 
accommodate  each  three  schools — one  for  150  boys,  and  another  for  the 
same  number  of  girls,  and  a  third  for  a  school  of  150  infants. 

No.  11.  The  plan  of  which  a  front  elevation  is  given  on  page  268, 
will  accommodate  three  schools  (in  all  436  pupils)  on  the  same  floor,  and 
two  families.  Two  of  the  school-rooms  are  in  a  projection  extending 
back  60  feet  in  the  rear  of  the  centre  of  the  main  building. 

Nos.  12  and  13.  These  elevations  are  given  to  show  how  this  style  of 
architecture  can  be  adapted  to  buildings  of  two  stories. 

No.  14.  Plan  of  the  Willesdon  School,  drawn  and  published  by  H.  E. 
Kendall,  Jr.  This  house  will  accommodate  two  schools,  one  for  eighty 
boys  and  the  other  for  the  same  number  of  girls,  each  wing  entered  from 
the  side,  with  apartments  for  the  teacher  entered  by  the  porch  in  the 
centre.  The  building  is  in  the  mixed  Tudor  style,  and  is  built  of  brick. 
The  plinths  to  the  porches  are  of  stone,  and  the  window  copings,  cornice 
and  ornaments  are  executed  in  cement.  The  wood-work  is  finished  to 
imitate  oak.     The  whole  cost  less  than  $2000. 

This  plan  is  taken  from  "  Designs  for  Schools  and  School-houses,  by 
H.  E.  Kendall,  Jr.,  London,"  in  which  the  Architect  has  aimed  to  apply 
the  principles  of  Mediaeval  Architecture,  as  developed  in  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal and  collegiate  buildings  of  England  and  the  Low  Countries,  to  village 
schools.  The  work  referred  to,  contains  six  designs,  modelled  after 
schools  erected  by  the  author, — all  mediaeval  in  character,  and  all  com- 
bining ornament  with  simplicity.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  our  architects 
will  avail  themselves  of  the  opportunity  now  presented,  in  the  increased 
and  increasing  attention  paid  all  over  the  country  to  the  establishment 
and  improvement  of  public  schools  of  every  grade,  to  promote  a  taste  for 
the  propriety  and  beauty  of  their  art,  by  throwing  something  of  comeli- 
ness over  the  humblest  structure  designed  for  the  education  of  childhood 
and  youth,  and  thus  creating  and  stimulating  the  growing  taste  of  the 
©ommunity  for  the  study  of  Architecture. 


262 


SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE. 


Plan — No.  1.    Fbont  Eletation. 


Plan — No.  1.    Side  Elevation. 


Plan — No.  2.     Fkont  Elevation. 


Plan — No.  2.    Side  Elevation. 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


263 


Plan— No.  3.    Front  Elevation. 


Plan— No.  3.    Side  Elevation. 


Plan— No.  4.    Front  Elevation. 


264 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

Plan— No.  4.  Side  Elevation. 


Plan — No.  5.  Front  Elevation. 


Plan— No.  7.  Front  Elevation. 


=H=££i: 


270 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


Plan— No.  12.    Front  Elevation. 


Plan— No.  13.    Front  Elevation. 


272 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


No.  2. 


Teachers'  Desks. 

Much  ingenuity  has  been  expended  recently  in  devising  and  constructing 
Teachers'  Desks.  Some  of  them  are  very  simple,  being  a  plain  table  with  one 
or  two  drawers, — some  with  the  top  inclined,  and  others  with  the  top  level  ;— 
some  with  a  desk  in  the  centre  and  a  set  of  drawers  on  each  side ;  and  others, 
with  drawers  only  on  one  side ;  some  with  the  front  finished  in  a  library  case, 
and  the  lower  shelf  extending  into  the  platform  so  as  to  be  deep  enough  to  re- 
ceive large  maps  and  diagrams. 

This  (No.  1,)  is  a  style 
of  Teacher's  Desk  man-  No.  1. 

ufactured  by  Stephen 
Smith,  44  Cornhill,  Bos- 
ton, which  is  very  gener- 
rally  used  in  the  schools 
of  Boston  and  vicinity. 
It  is  made  of  cherry  6r 
mahogany,  and  5  ft.  long 
by  2  ft.  6  inches  wide — 
with  a  level  top,  covered 
with  cloth,  and  with  draw- 
ers on  each  side,  leav- 
ing an  open  space  for  the 
teacher's  feet.  The  front 
next  to  the  school  is  neat- 
ly finished. 

No.  2  represents  a  desk 
3  feet  long  by  2  feet  wide, 
made  generally,  in  style 
and  material,  like  No.  1, 
except  that  one  half  of  the 
top  is  flat,  and  the  other 
half  inclined. 

We  have  had  a  desk 
resembling  this  construct- 
ed with  a  drawing  board, 
of  nearly  the  same  size  of 
the  top  of  the  desk,  insert- 
ed like  a  drawer  immedi- 
ately below  it ;  and  also 
with  a  large  slate,  on 
which  the  teacher  could 
enter  all  minutes,  memo- 
randa, &c,  inserted  on  the 
right  immediately  over 
the  drawers  represented 
in  the  cut.  The  front  of 
either  of  these  desks  could 
be  neatly  finished  in  a 
case,  with  shelves  to  re- 
ceive the  books  of  refer- 
ence, where  they  could  be 
conveniently  consulted, 
and  also  protected  from 
the  dust. 

No.  3  is  a  style  of  mova- 
ble desk  and  stool,  on  a 
platform  raised  six  inches 
from  the  .floor,  recom- 
mended in  the  Minutes  of 
the  Committee  of  Council  on 
Education.  The  stand- 
ard is  of  iron  with  a  shelf 
below  the  desk. 


No.  3. 


SCHOOL-HOUSES  IN  RHODE  ISLAND. 


273 


Plans  and  Descriptions  of  School-Houses,  recently  erected 
in  Rhode  Island. 

Br  the  school  law  of  Rhode  Island,  as  revised  in  1845,  a  school 
district  cannot  receive  its  distributive  share  of  any  appropriation  made 
by  the  State,  or  the  town  in  which  the  district  is  located,  for  the 
support  of  public  schools,  unless  such  district  has  complied  with  the 
requirements  of  the  law,  and,  among  other  things,  unless  one  or  more 
public  schools  have  been  taught  in  the  district  by  a  teacher  properly 
qualified,  in  a  school-house  approved  by  the  school  committee  of  the  town., 
To  enable  the  districts  to  comply  with  this  provision  of  the  law,  the 
general  power  of  taxation,  for  this  and  other  school  purposes,  is  con- 
ferred on  a  majority  of  the  legal  voters  of  every  school  district.  To 
protect  the. property  of  a  minority,  and  especially  of  non-residents, 
from  an  abuse  of  this  power,  and,  at  the  same  time,  to  secure  a  suit- 
able school-house  for  the  district,  the  amount  of  tax  to  be  levied,  and 
the  location,  and  plan  of  the  school-house  must  be  approved  before- 
hand by  the  school  committee  of  the  town,  or  the  Commissioner  of 
Public  Schools  for  the  State.  It  is  also  made  the  duty  of  the  State 
Commissioner,  "to  diffuse,  as  widely  as  possible,  by  public  ad- 
dresses, and  personal  communication  with  school  officers, teachers,  and 
parents,  a  knowledge  of  existing  defects,  and  desirable  improvements 
in  the  administration  of  the  school  system."  Under  these  provisions 
much  has  been  done  towards  furnishing  the  public  schools  with 
spacious,  attractive,  and  convenient  school-houses.  Prior  to  1844, 
there  was  not  a  public  school-house  in  the  State,  out  of  Providence, 
which  could  be  pointed  to  as  a  model  in  the  essential  features  of  such 
a  structure.  In  one  half  of  the  towns,  the  public  schools  were  taught 
in  buildings  owned  by  proprietors,  many  of  which  were  erected, 
originally,  for  other  purposes,  and  all  of  them  were  unfit  for  children 
at  school ;  they  "were  badly  located,  small,  inconvenient,  and  dilapi- 
dated. The  attention  of  parents  and  school  officers  was  early,  ear- 
nestly, and  perseveringly  called  to  the  almost  necessary  connection 
between  a  good  school-house  and  a  good  school,  and  to  the  immense 
injury  done  to  the  comfort  and  health  of  children  by  the  too  common 
neglect  of  ventilation,  temperature,  and  furniture  of  school-rooms. 
The  subject  was  introduced  into  every  public  address,  as  a  preliminary 
step  in  the  work  of  educational  improvement.  Six  thousand  pam- 
phlets, containing  a  variety  of  plans  of  school-houses  for  large  and  small 
districts,  and  for  schools  of  different  grades,  were  scattered  over  the 
State.  Plans  and  details  of  construction  were  gratuitously  furnished 
to  builders  and  committees.  Efforts  were  made  to  get  up  at  least  one 
model  house  in  each  county,  in  which  the  true  principles  of  school 
architecture  should  be  carried  out,  and  could  be  seen.  Men  of 
wealth  and  intelligence  in  the  large  districts  were  seen  and  inter- 
ested in  the  erection  of  new  and  commodious  structures,  which  should 
be  ornamental  to  their  villages,  and  attractive  and  comfortable  to  the 
children.     School  committees  were  instructed  to  withhold  the  public 

18 


274 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


money  from  districts  whose  houses  should  be  considered  by  them  as 
not  school-worthy . 

The  results  have  fully  justified  the  practicability  of  these  and 
other  efforts — a  complete  renovation,  nay,  a  revolution,  having  passed 
over  the  school-houses  of  this  State.  Old,  dilapidated,  repulsive, 
inconvenient  houses  having  given  place  to  new,  neat,  attractive  and 
commodious  structures,  in  a  majority  of  the  districts.  Liberal  ap- 
propriations have  been  freely  voted ;  and  men  of  business  and  taste 
have  accepted  the  supervision  of  the  expenditure.  Rhode  Island  can 
now  boast  of  more  good  school-houses,  and  fewer  poor  ones,  in  pro- 
portion to  the  Avhole  number,  than  any  other  State — more  than  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  having  been  voluntarily  voted  for 
this  purpose  in  less  than  three  years,  not  including  the  city  of  Provi- 
dence. The  few  poor  houses  which  remain,  if  they  can  resist  much 
longer  the  attacks  of  the  elements,  cannot  stand  up  against  the  accu- 
mulating weight  of  public  condemnation. 

In  the  following  pages  will  be  found  plans  and  descriptions  of  a 
few  of  the  best  school-houses,  which  have  been  recently  erected  in 
Rhode  Island,  for  schools  of  different  grades.  They  are  not  pre- 
sented as  faultless  specimens  of  school-architecture,  but  as  embracing, 
each,  some  points  of  excellence,  either  in  style,  construction,  or  ar- 
rangement. 

Although  the  author  of  this  treatise,  as  Commissioner  of  Public 
Schools  for  Rhode  Island,  was  consulted  in  almost  every  instance  by 
the  local  building  committee,  and  was  always  gratified  in  having  op- 
portunities to  furnish  plans,  or  make  suggestions — yet  he  was  seldom 
able  to  persuade  the  committee,  or  the  carpenters,  to  carry  out  his 
plans  and  suggestions  thoroughly.  Something  would  be  taken  from 
the  height,  or  the  length,  or  the  breadth  ; — some  objections  would 
be  made  to  the  style  of  the  exterior  or  the  arrangement  of  the  inte- 
rior ; — the  plans  recommended  for  securing  warmth  and  ventilation 
were  almost  invariably  modified,  and  in  very  many  instances  entirely 
neglected.  He  desires,  therefore,  not  to  be  held  responsible  for  the 
details  of  any  one  house,  as  it  now  stands — for  being  thus  held  re- 
sponsible, he  should  probably  receive  credit  for  improvements  which 
others  are  as  much  entitled  to  as  himself,  and  should  in  more  in- 
stances be  held  accountable  for  errors  of  taste,  and  deficiencies  in 
internal  arrangements,  against  which  he  protested  with  those  having 
charge  of  the  building.  But  with  some  reservation,  most  of  the 
school-houses  recently  erected  in  Rhode  Island  can  be  pointed  to 
as  embracing  many  improvements  in  school  architecture.  To 
Mr.  Thomas  A.  Teft,  of  Providence,  much  credit  is  due  for  the 
taste  which  he  has  displayed  in  the  designs  furnished  by  him,  and 
for  the  elevations  which  he  drew  for  plans  furnished  or  suggested 
by  the  Commissioner.  He  should  not,  however,  be  held  responsible 
for  the  alterations  made  in  his  plans  by  the  committees  and  carpen- 
ters having  charge  of  the  erection  of  the  buildings  after  plans  furnished 
by  him. 

The  following  are  among  the  features  which  the  Commissioner  has 


PRINCIPLES  OF  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE.  275 

endea\>wed  to  secure  in  the  best  class  of  school  edifices,  respecting 
the  location,  or  plan  of  which  he  'was  consulted,  or  called  upon 
officially  to  act  : 

1.  A  location,  healthy,  accessible  from  all  parts  of  the  district; 
retired  from  the  dust,  noise,  and  danger  of  the  highway ;  at- 
tractive, from  its  choice  of  sun  and  shade,  and  commanding,  in  one 
or  more  directions,  the  cheap,  yet  priceless  educating  influences  of 
fine  scenery. 

2.  A  site  large  enough  to  admit  of  a  yard  in  front  of  the  building, 
either  common  to  the  whole  school  or  appropriated  to  greensward, 
flowers  and  shrubbery,  and  two  yards  in  the  rear,  one  for  each  sex, 
properly  inclosed,  and  fitted  up  with  rotary  swings,  and  other  means 
of  recreation  and  exercise,  and  with  privies,  which  a  civilized  people 
never  neglect. 

3.  Separate  entrances  to  the  school-room  for  each  sex ;  each  en- 
trance distinct  from  the  front  door,  and  fitted  up  with  scraper,  mats, 
and  old  broom  for  the  feet ;  with  hooks,  shelves,  &c,  for  hats,  over- 
coats, over-shoes,  and  umbrellas  ;  with  sink,  pump,  basin  and  towels, 
and  with  brooms  and  duster,  and  all  the  means  and  appliances 
necessary  to  secure  habits  of  order,  neatness  and  cleanliness. 

4.  School-room,  in  addition  to  the  space  required  by  aisles  and 
the  teacher's  platform,  sufficient  to  accommodate  with  a  seat  and 
desk,  not  only  each  scholar  in  the  district  who  is  in  the  habit  of  at- 
tending school,  but  all  who  may  be  entitled  to  attend  ;  with  verge 
enough  to  receive  the  children  of  industrious,  thoughtful,  and  reli- 
gious families,  who  are  sure  to  be  attracted  to  a  district  which  is 
blessed  with  a  good  school-house  and  a  good  school. 

5.  At  least,  one  spare  room  for  recitation,  library,  and  other  uses, 
to  every  school-room,  no  matter  how  small  the  school  may  be. 

6.  An  arrangement  of  the  windows,  so  as  to  secure  one  blank  wall, 
and  at  the  same  time,  the  cheerfulness  and  warmth  of  the  sunlight,  at 
all  times  of  the  day,  with  arrangements  to  modify  the  same  by  blinds, 
shutters,  or  curtains. 

7.  Apparatus  for  warming,  by  which  a  large  quantity  of  pure  air 
from  outside  of  the  building  can  be  moderately  heated,  and  intro- 
duced into  the  room  without  passing  over  a  red-hot  iron  surface,  and 
distributed  equally  to  different  parts  of  the  room. 

8.  A  cheap,  simple,  and  efficient  mode  of  ventilation,  by  which 
the  air  in  every  part  of  a  school-room,  which  is  constantly  becoming 
vitiated  by  respiration,  combustion,  or  other  causes,  may  be  constantly 
flowing  out  of  the  room,  and  its  place  filled  by  an  adequate  supply  of 
fresh  air  drawn  from  a  pure  source,  and  admitted  into  the  room  at 
the  right  temperature,  of  the  requisite  degree  of  moisture,  and  without 
any  perceptible  current. 

9.  A  desk  with  at  least  two  feet  of  top  surface,  and  in  no  case  for 
more  than  two  pupils,  inclined  towards  the  front  edge  one  inch  in  a 
foot,  except  two  to  three  inches  of  the  most  distant  portion,  which 
should  be  level,  and  covered  with  cloth  to  prevent  noise — fitted  with 
an  ink-pot  (supplied  with  a  lid  and  a  pen-wiper,)  and  a  slate,  with  a 
pencil-holder  and  a  sponge  attached,  and  supported  by  end-pieces  or 


27&  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

stanchion®,  curved  so  as  to  be  convenient  for  sweeping,  and  to  admit  of 
easy  access  to  the  seat — these  of  varying  heights  for  small  and 
large  pupils,  the  front  edge  of  each  desk  being  from  seven  to  nine- 
inches  (seven  for  the  lowest  and  nine  for  the  highest,)  higher  than 
the  front  edge  of  the  seat  or  chair  attached. 

10.  A  chair  or  bench  for  each  pupil,  and  in  no  ease  for  more  than 
two,  unless  separated  by  an  aisle,,  with  a  seat  hollowed  like  an  ordi- 
nary chair,  and  varying  in  height  from  ten  to  seventeen  inches  from 
the  outer  edge  to  the  floor,  so  that  each  pupil,  when  properly  seated, 
can  rest  his  feet  on  the  floor  without  the  muscles  of  the  thigh  press- 
ing hard  upon  the  front  edge  of  the  seat,  and  with  a  support  for  the 
muscles  of  the  back,  rising  above  the  shoulder-blades. 

11.  An  arrangement  of  the  seats  and  desks,  so  as  to  allow  of  an 
aisle  or  free  passage  of  at  least  two  feet  around  the  room,  and  be- 
tween each  range  of  seats  for  two  scholars,  and  so  as  to  bring  each 
scholar  under  the  supervision  of  the  teacher. 

12.  Arrangements  for  the  teacher,  such  as  a  separate  closet  for 
his  overcoat,  &c.ra  desk  for  his  papers-,  a  library  of  books  of  reference,, 
maps,  apparatus,  and  all  such  instrumentalities  by  which  his  capa- 
cities for  instruction  may  be  made  in  the  highest  degree  useful. 

13.  Accommodations  for  a  school  library  for  consultation  and  cir- 
culation among  the  pupils,  both  at  school  and  as  a  means  of  carrying 
on  the  work  of  self-education  at  their  homes,,  in  the  field,  or  the  work- 
shop, after  they  have  left  school. 

14.  A  design  in  good  taste  and  fit  proportion,  in  place  of  the 
wretched  perversions  of  architecture,  which  almost  universally  char- 
acterize the  district  school-houses  of  New  England. 

15.  While  making  suitable  accommodation  for  the  school,  it  will  be 
a  wise,  and,  all  things  considered,  an  economical  investment,  on  the 
part  of  many  districts,  to  provide  apartments  in  the  same  building,  or 
In  its  neighborhood,  for  the  teacher  and  his  family.  This  arrangement 
will  give  character  and  permanence  to  the  office  of  teaching,  and  at 
the  same  time  secure  better  supervision  for  the  school-house  and 
premises,  and  more  attention  to  the  manners  of  the  pupils  out  of 
school.  Provision  for  the  residence  of  the  teacher,  and  not  un- 
frequently  a  garden  for  his  cultivation,  is  made  in  connection  with  the 
parochial  schools  in  Scotland,  and  with  the  first  class  of  public  schools 
in  Germany. 

1 6.  Whenever  practicable,  the  privies  should  be  disconnected  from 
the  play-ground,  and  be  approached  from  a  covered  walk.  Perfect 
seclusion,  neatness  and  propriety  should  be  strictly  observed  in  re- 
lation to  them. 

17.  A  shed,  or  covered  walk,  or  the  basement  story  paved  under 
feet,  and  open  for  free  circulation  of  air  for  the  boys,  and  an  upper 
room  with  the  floor  deafened  and  properly  supported  for  calisthenic 
exercises  for  the  girls,  is  a  desirable  appendage  to  every  school. 

As  many  of  the  houses  described  are  provided  with  very  inad- 
equate means  of  warming  and  ventilation,  the  following  summary 
of  the  principles,  which  ought  to  be  regarded  in  all  arrangements  for 


PRINCIPLES  OF  VENTILATION.  ~277 

these  objects,  Is  given  as  the  result  of  much  observation,  reflection, 
and  experience. 

1.- The  location  of  the  school-house  must  be  healthy,  and  all 
•causes, — such  as  defective  drains,  stagnant  water,  decaying  animal  or 
vegetable  substances,  and  manufactures,  whose  operations  evolve 
offensive  and  deleterious  gases, — calculated  to  vitiate  the  external  at- 
mosphere, from  which  the  air  of  the  school-room  is  supplied,  must 
be  removed  or  obviated. 

2.  The  means  provided  for  ventilation  must  be  sufficient  to  secure 
the  object,  independent  of  doors  and  windows,  and  other  lateral 
openings,  which  are  intended  primarily  for  the  admission  of  light, 
passage  to  and  from  the  apartment,  and  similar  purposes.  Any  de- 
pendence on  the  opening  of  doors  and  windows,  except  in  summer, 
will  subject  the  occupants  of  the  room  near  such  .points  to  currents 
of  cold  air  when  the  pores  of  the  skin  are  open,  and  when  such  ex- 
treme and  rapid  changes  of  temperature  are  particularly  disagreeable 
and  dangerous. 

3.  Any  openings  in  the  ceiling  for  the  discharge  of  vitiated  air  into 
the  attic,  and  hence  to  the  exterior  of  the  building,  or  by  flues  carried 
up  in  the  wall,  no  matter  how  constructed  or  where  placed,  cannot 
be  depended  on  for  purposes  of  ventilation,  unless  systematic  ar- 
rangements are  adopted  to  effect,  In  concert  with  such  openings,  the 
introduction  and  diffusion  of  a  constant  and  abundant  supply  of  pure 
air,  in  the  right  condition  as  to  temperature  and  moisture. 

4.  All  stoves,  or  other  heating  apparatus,  standing  in  the  apartment 
.to  be  wanned,  and  heating  only  the  atmosphere  of  that  apartment, 
which  is  constantly  becoming  more  and  more  vitiated  by  respiration 
and  other  causes,  are  radically  defective,  and  should  be  altogether, 
without  delay,  and  forever  discarded. 

5.  Any  apparatus  for  warming  pure  air,  before  it  is  introduced  into 
the  school-room,  in  which  the  heating  surface  becomes  red-hot,  or 
the  air  is  warmed  above  the  temperature  of  boiling  water,  is  incon- 
sistent with  true  ventilation. 

6.  To  effect  the  combined  objects  of  warming  and  ventilation,  a 
large  quantity  of  moderately  heated  air  should  be  introduced  in  such 
a  manner  as  to  reach  every  portion  of  the  room,  and 'be  passed  off  by 
appropriate  openings  and  flues,  as  fast  as  its  oxygen  is  exhausted, 
and  it  becomes  vitiated  by  carbonic  acid  gas,  and  other  noxious 
qualities. 

7.  The  size  and  number  of  the  admission  flues  or  openings  will 
depend  on  the  size  of  the  school-room,  and  the  number  of  persons 
occupying  the  same  ■;  but  they  should  have  a  capacity  to  supply  every 
person  in'  the  room  with  at  least  five  cubic  feet  of  air  per  minute* 
Warm  air  can  be  introduced  at  a  high  as  well  as  a  low  point  from 
the  floor,  provided  there  is  an  exhaustive  power  in  the  discharging 
flues  sufficient  to  secure  a  powerful  ascending  current  of  vitiated  air 
from  openings  near  the  floor. 

8  Openings  into  flues  for  the  discharge  of  vitiated  air,  should  be 
made  at  such  points  in  the  room,  and  at  such  distances  from  the 
©penings  fox  the  admission  oi  pure  warm  air,  that  a  portion  of  the 


078  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

warm  air  will  traverse  every  part  of  tire  room,  and  impart  as  much 
warmth  as  possible,  before  it  becomes  vitiated  and  escapes  from  the 
apartment. 

These  openings  can  be  made  near  the  floor,  at  points  most  distant 
from  the  admission  flues,  provided  there  is  a  fire  draught,  or  other 
power  operating  in  the  discharging  flues,  sufficient  to  overcome  the 
natural  tendency  of  the  warm  air  in  the  room  to  ascend  to  the  ceiling  ; 
otherwise  they  should  be  inserted  in  or  near  the  ceiling. 

Openings  at  the  floor  are  recommended,  not  because  carbonic  acid 
gas,  being  heavier  than  the  other  elements  of  atmospheric  air,  settles 
to  the  floor,  (because,  owing  to  the  law  of  the  diffusion  of  gazes 
among  each  other,  carbonic  acid  gas  will  be  found  equally  diffused 
through  the  room,)  but  because,  when  it  can  be  drawn  off  at  the 
floor,  it  will  carry  along  with  it  the  cold  air  which  is  admitted  by 
open  doors,  and  at  cracks  and  crevices,  and  also  the  offensive  gases 
sometimes  found  in  school-rooms. 

9.  All  openings,  both  for  the  admission  and  discharge  of  air,  should 
be  fitted  with  valves  and  registers,  to  regulate  the  quantity  of  air  to 
pass  through  them.  The  quantity  of  air  to  be  admitted  should  be 
regulated  before  it  passes  over  the  heating  surface  ;  otherwise,  being 
confined  in  the  air  chamber  and  tubes,  the  excessive  heat  will  cause 
much  injury  to  the  pipes  and  the  woodwork  adjoining. 

10.  All  flues  for  ventilation,  not  intended  to  act  in  concert  with 
some  motive  power,  such  as  a  fan,  a  pump,  the  mechanism  of  a  clock, 
a  fire-draught,  a  jet  of  steam,  &c,  but  depending  solely  on  the  spon- 
taneous upward  movement  of  the  column  of  warm  air  within  them, 
should  be  made  large,  (of  a  capacity  equal  to  at  least  18  inches  in 
diameter,)  tight,  (except  the  openings  at  the  top  and  bottom  of  the 
room  ;)  smooth,  (if  made  of  boards,  the  boards  should  be  seasoned, 
matched,  and  planed  ;  if  made  of  bricks,  the  flue  should  be  round, 
and  finished  smooth,)  and  carried  up  on  the  inside  of  the  room,  or  in 
the  inner  wall,  with  as  few  angles  and  deviations  from  a  direct 
ascent  as  possible,  above  the  highest  point  of  the  roof. 

1 1 .  All  flues  for  the  discharge  of  vitiated  air,  even  when  properly 
constructed  and  placed,  and  even  when  acting  in  concert  with  a  cur- 
rent of  warm  air  flowing  into  the  room,  should  be  supplied  with  some 
simple,  reliable  exhaustive  power,  which  can  be  applied  at  all  sea- 
sons of  the  year,  and  with  a  force  varying  with  the  demands  of  the 
season,  and  the  condition  of  the  air  in  the  apartment. 

12.  The  most  simple,  economical,  and  reliable  motive  power 
available  in  most  school-houses  is  heat,  or  the  same  process  by 
which  the  natural  upward  movements  of  air  are  induced  and  sus- 
tained.    Heat  can  be  applied  to  the  column  of  air  in  a  ventilating  flue, 

1.  By  carrying  up  the  ventilating  flue  close  beside,  or  even  within 
the  smoke  flue,  which  is  used  in  connection  with  the  heating  appa- 
ratus. 

2.  By  carrying  up  the  smoke-pipe  within  the  ventilating  flue, 
either  the  whole  length,  or  in  the  upper  portion  only.  In  a  small 
school-room,  the  heat  from  the  smoke-pipe  carried  up  for  a  few  feet 
only  in  the  ventilating  flue  before  it  projects  above  the  roofs  is  a 


PRINCIPLES  OF  VENTILATION.  279 

motive  power  sufficient  to  sustain  a  constant  draught  of  cool  and 
vitiated  air,  into  an  opening  near  the  door. 

3.  -By  kindling  a  fire  at  the  bottom,  or  other  convenient  point  in 
the  ventilating  flue. 

If  the  same  flue  is  used  for  smoke  from  the  fire,  and  vitiated  air 
from  the  apartment,  some  simple  self-acting  valve  or  damper  should 
be  applied  to  the  opening  for  the  escape  of  the  vitiated  air,  which 
shall  close  at  the  slightest  pressure  from  the  inside  of  the  flue,  and 
thus  prevent  any  reverse  current,  or  down  draught,  earrying  smoke  and 
soot  into  the  apartment. 

4.  By  discharging  a  jet  of  steam,  or  a  portion  of  warm  air  from  the 
furnace,  or  other  warming  apparatus,  directly  into  the  ventilating  flue. 

Any  application  of  heat  by  which  the  temperature  of  the  air  in  the 
ventilating  flue  can  be  raised  above  the  temperature  of  the  apartment 
to  be  ventilated,  will' cause  a  flow  of  air  from  the  apartment  to  sus- 
tain the  combustion,  (if  there  is  a  fire  in  the  flue,)  and  to  supply  the 
partial  vacuum  in  the  flue,  which  is  caused  by  the  rarefaction  of  the 
air  in  the  same. 

In  all  school  buildings,  when  several  apartments  are  to  be  venti- 
lated, the  most  effectual,  and,  all  things  considered,  the  most  econom- 
ical, mode  of  securing  a  motive  power,  is  to  construct  an  upright 
brick  shaft  or  flue,  and  in  that  to  build  a  fire,  or  carry  up  the  smoke- 
pipe  of  the  stove,  furnace,  or  other  warming  apparatus  ;  and  then  to 
discharge  the  ventilating  flues  from  the  top  or  bottom  of  each  apart- 
ment, into  this  upright  shaft.  The  fire  draught,  will  create  a  partial 
vacuum  in  this  shaft,  to  fill  which,  a  draught  will  be  established  upon 
every  room  with  which  it  is  connected  by  lateral  flues.  Whenever 
a  shaft  of  this  kind  is  resorted  to,  the  flues  for  ventilation  may  be 
lateral,  and  the  openings  into  them  may  be  inserted  near  the  floor. 

13.  With  a  flue  properly  constructed,  so  as  to  facilitate  the  spon- 
taneous upward  movement  of  the  warm  air  within  it,  and  so  placed 
that  the  air  is  not  exposed  to  the  chilling  influence  of  external  cold, 
a  turncap,  constructed  after  the  plan  of  Emerson's  Ejector,  or  Mott's 
Exhausting  Cowl,  will  assist  the  ventilation,  and  especially  when 
there  are  any  currents  in  the  atmosphere.  But  such  caps  are  not 
sufficient  to  overcome  any  considerable  defects  in  the  construction  of 
the  ventilating  flues,  even  when  there  is  much  wind. 

14.  The  warming  and  ventilation  of  a  school-room  will  be  facili- 
tated by  appbying  a  double  sash  to  all  windows  having  a  northern 
and  eastern  exposure. 

15.  In  every  furnaee,  and  on  every  stove,  a  capacious  vessel  well 
supplied  with  fresh  water,  and  protected  from  the  dust,  should  be 
placed. 

16.  Every  school-room  should  be  furnished  with  two  thermometers 
placed  on  opposite  sides  in  the  room,  and  the  temperature  in  the 
winter  should  not  be  allowed  to  attain  beyond  68°  Fahrenheit  at  a 
level  of  four  feet  from  the  floor,  or  70°  at  the  height  of  six  feet. 

17.  The  necessity  for  ventilation  in  an  occupied  apartment  is  not 
obviated  by  merely  reducing  the  atmosphere  to  a  low  temperature. 


2gQ  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTUKE. 


Plans  of  School-Houses  with  one  School-room. 

The  largest  number  of  school-houses  which  are  erected  with  but 
one  school-room,  are  intended  for  District,  or  for  Primary  Schools. 

District  School. 

...By  a  District  School,  in  this  connection,  is  understood  a  public 
school  open  to  all  the  children  of  the  district,  of  both  sexes,  and  of 
the  school  age  recognized  by  the  practice  of  the  district,  or  the  regu- 
lations of  the  school  committee  of  the  town  to  which  such  district 
belongs.  It  is  an  unclassified  school]  and  is  taught  in  one  apartment, 
by  one  teacher,  usually  without  any  assistance  even  from  older  pupils 
of  the  school.  (it  varies  in  the  character  of  its  scholars,  and  its 
methods  of  instruction,  from  summer  to  winter,  and  from  winter  to 
summer.  In  summer,  the  younger  children  and  classes  in  the  ele- 
mentary studies  predominate,  and  in  the  winter  the  older  pupils,  and 
classes  in  the  more  advanced  studies,  whilst  some  of  both  extremes, 
as  to  age  and  studies,  are  to  be  found  in  both  the  winter  and  summer 
session  of  the  district  schoolj  This  variety  of  ages  and  studies,  and 
consequent  variety  of  classes,  increased  by  the  irregularity  of  at- 
tendance, is  not  only  a  serious  hinderanceto  the  proper  arrangement, 
instruction  and  government  of  the  school,  but  presents  almost  insu- 
perable obstacles  to  the  appropriate  construction  and  furniture  of  the 
school-house,  which  is  too  often  erected  on  the  smallest  possible 
scale  of  size  and  expense.  A  vast  amount  of  physical  suffering  and 
discomfort  to  the  pupils  is  the  necessary  result  of  crowding  the  older 
and  younger  pupils  into  a  small  apartment,  without  seats  and  furniture 
appropriate  to  either,  and  especially  when  no  precaution  has  been 
taken  to  adapt  the  supply  and  arrangements  of  seats  and  desks  ac- 
cording to  the  varying  circumstances  of  the  same  school  in  winter 
and  summer.  In  every  district,  or  unclassified  school,  the  school- 
room should  be  fitted  up  with  seats  and  desks  for  the  older  and 
younger  pupils,  sufficient  to  accommodate  the  maximum  attendance  of 
each  class  of  scholars  at  any  season  of  the  year.  And  if  this  cannot 
be  effected,  and  only  a  sufficient  number  of  seats  can  be  secured  to 
accommodate  the  highest  number  of  both  sexes  in  attendance  at  any 
one  time,  then  in  winter  the  seats  and  desks  for  the  smaller  children., 
should  be  removed  to  the  attic,  and  their  place  supplied  by  additional 
seats  and  desks  for  the  older  pupils ;  and  in  summer  this  arrange- 
ment should  be  reversed. 


Primary  Schools. 

By  a  Primary  School,  in  our  American  School  Systems,  is  under- 
stood, not  generally  an  Elementary  School,  embracing  a  course  of 
instruction  for  the  great  mass  of  the  children  of  the  community 


PRIMARY  SCHOOLS. 


281 


under  fourteen  years  of  age— rbut  specifically,  that  class  or  grade  of 
schools  which  receive  only  the  youngest  pupils,  and  those  least 
advanced  in  their  studies. 

Any  scheme  of  school  organization  will  be  imperfect  which  does 
not  include  special  arrangements  for  the  systematic  training  and  in- 
struction of  very  young  children,  especially  in  all  cities,  manufactur- 
ing villages,  and  large  neighborhoods.  [Among  the  population  of 
such  places,  many  parents  are  sure  to  be  found,  who,  for  want  of 
intelligence  or  leisure,  of  constancy  and  patience,  are  unfitted  to 
watch  the  first  blossoming  of  the  souls  of  their  children,  and  to  train 
them  to  good  physical  habits,  virtuous  impulses,  and  quick  and  accu- 
rate observations  ;  to  cleanliness,  obedience,  openness,  mutual  kind- 
liness, piety,  and  all  the  virtues  which  wise  and  far-seeing  parents 
desire  for  their  offspring.  The  general  result  of  the  home  training 
of  the  children  of  such  parents,  is  .the  neglect  of  all  moral  culture 
when  such  culture  is  most  valuable  Aand  the  acquisition  of  manners, 
personal  habits,  and  language,  which  the  best  school  training  at  a 
later  period  of  life  can  with  difficulty  correct  or  eradicate.  [To  meet 
the  wants  of  this  class  of  children,  Halls  of  Refuge  and  Infant 
Schools  were  originally  instituted  by  Oberlin,  Owen,  and  Wilderspin, 
and  now  constitute  under  these  names,  or  the  names  of  Primary 
Schools,  or  Primary  Departments,  a  most  important  branch  of  ele- 
mentary education,  whether  sustained  by  individual  charity,  or  as 
part  of  the  organization  of  public  instruction. 

No  one  at  all  acquainted  with  the  history  of  education  in  this  | 
country,  can  doubt  that  the  establishment  of  the  Primary  School  for 
children  under  six  years  of  age,  in  Boston,  in  1818,  as  a  distinct 
grade  ol  schools,  with  the  modifications  which  it  has  since  re- 
ceived there,  and  elsewhere,  from  the  principles  and  methods  of 
the  Infant  School  system,  has  led  to  most  important  improvements  in 
the  quality  and  quantity  of  instruction  in  our  public  schools,  and  the 
sooner  a  Primary  School  properly  organized,  furnished  and  man- 
aged, can  be  established  in  every  large  neighborhood,  and  especially 
in  the  "  infected  districts"  of  cities  and  manufacturing  villages,  the 
more  rapid  and  more  thorough  will  be  the  progress  of  education^ 
Its  doors  should  stand  wide  open  to  receive  such  children  as  are; 
abandoned  by  orphanage,  or,  worse  than  orphanage,  by  parental! 
neglect  and  example,  to  idle,  vicious,  and  pilfering  habits,  before  the  j 
corruptions  incident  to  their  situation  have  struck  deep  into  their 
moral  nature,  and  before  they  have'  fallen  under  the  alluring  and  j 
training  influences  and  instruction  of  bad  boys  who  infest  such 
regions,  polluting  the  atmosphere  by  their  profane  and  vulgar  speech, 
and  participating  in  every  street  brawl  and  low-bred  riot,  j  From  all 
such  influences,  the  earlier  the  children  of  the  poor  and  the  ignorant 
are  withdrawn,  and  placed  under  the  care  and  instruction  of  an 
Infant~sOr  Primary  School,  the  better  it  will  be  for  them  and  for 
society  \  But  in  every  localitylthe  Primary  School  should  be  estab- 
lished, and  brought  as  near  as  possible  to  the  homes  of  the  children, 
in  order  to  secure  their  early  and  regular  attendance,  and  to  relieve 
She  anxiety  of  parents  for  their  safety  on  their  way  to  and  from 


282 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


school.  The  peculiarities  of  play-ground,  school-room,  and  teachers 
required  for  this  class  of  schools,  should  be  carefully  studied,  and 
promptly  and  liberally  provided.  The  school-room  should  be  light, 
cheerful,  and  large  enough  for  the  evolutions  of  large  classes, — fur- 
nished with  appropriate  seats,  furniture,  apparatus,  and  means  of 
visible  illustration,  and  having  a  retired,  dry,  and  airy  play-ground, 
with  a  shelter  to  resort  to  in  inclement  weather,  and  with  flower 
borders,  shrubbery,  and  shade-trees,  which  they  should  be  taught  to 
love  and  respect.  The  play-ground  is  as  essential  as  the  school- 
room for  a  Primary  School,  and  is  indeed  the  uncovered  school- 
room of  physical  and  moral  education,  and  the  place  where  the 
manners  and  personal  habits  of  children  can  be  better  trained  than 
elsewhere.  With  them,  the  hours  of  play  and  study,  of  confinement 
and  recreation,  must  alternate  more  frequently  than  with  older  pupils. 

To  teach  these  schools  properly,  to  regulate  the  hours  of  play  and 
study  so  as  to  give  variety,  vivacity,  and  interest  to  all  of  the  exer- 
cises, without  over-exciting  the  nervous  system,  or  overtasking  any 
faculty  of  mind  or  body, — to  train  boys  and  girls  to  mild  dispositions, 
graceful  and  respectful  manners,  and  unquestioning  obedience, — to 
preserve  and  quicken  a  tenderness  and  sensibility  of  conscience  as  the 
instinctive  monitor  of  the  approach  of  wrong, — to  cultivate  the  senses 
to  habits  of  quick  and  accurate  observation  and  discrimination, — to 
prevent  the  formation  of  artificial  and  sing-song  tones, — to  teach  the 
use  of  the  voice,  and  of  simple,  ready,  and  correct  language,  and  to 
begin  in  this  way,  and  by  appropriate  exercises  in  drawing,  calcu- 
lation, and  lessons  on  the  properties  and  classification  of  objects,  the 
cultivation  of  the  intellectual  faculties, — to  do  all  these  things  and 
more,  require  in  the  teacher  a  rare  union  of  qualities,  seldom  found 
in  one  in  a  hundred  of  the  male  sex,  and  to  be  looked  for  with  the 
greatest  chance  of  success  among  females,  "  in  whose  own  hearts, 
love,  hope,  and  patience  have  first  kept  school,"  and  whose  laps 
seem  always  full  of  the  blossoms  of  knowledge,  to  be  showered  on 
the  heads  and  hearts  of  infancy  and  childhood.  In  the  right  educa- 
tion of  early  childhood,  must  we  look  for  a  corrective  of  the  evils  of 
society  in  our  large  cities  and  manufacturing  villages,  and  for  the 
beginning  of  a  better  and  higher  civilization  than  has  yet  blessed 
our  world.  The  earlier  we  can  establish,  in  every  populous  district, 
primary  schools,  under  female  teachers,  whose  hearts  are  made 
strong  by  deep  religious  principle, — who  have  faith  in  the  power  of 
Christian  love  steadily  exerted  to  fashion  anew  the  bad  manners,  and 
soften  the  harsh  and  self-willed  perverseness  of  neglected  children, — 
with  patience  to  begin  every  morning,  with  but  little,  if  any,  percep- 
tible advance  beyond  where  they  began  the  previous  morning, — with 
prompt  and  kind  sympathies,  and  ready  skill  in  music,  drawing,  and 
oral  methods,  the  better  it  will  be  for  the  cause  of  education,  and  for 
every  other  good  cause. 

The  following  plan  of  a  Play  Ground  for  an  Infant  or  Primary 
School  is  copied  from  "  Wilder spin's  Early  Education."  We  should 
prefer  to  see  an  accomplished  female  teacher  presiding  over  the 
scene. 


284 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


Primary  School  in  Westerly,  R.  I. 


The  above  cut  presents  a  sufficiently  correct  view  of  a  Primary  School- 
house  erected  in  Westerly  in  1846,  after  designs  by  Mr.  Teft,  of  Provi- 
dence, except  that  there  are  two  porches  or  entrances  in  front,  instead  of 
one,  as  shown  in  the  above  view.  The  porch  opens  into  a  spacious  entry 
furnished  with  hooks  and  shelves  for  hats,  bonnets,  &c,  and  a  sink,  with 
water-pail,  wash-bowls.  &c.  The  school-room  accommodates  sixty  pupils, 
with  a  desk  and  seat,  each  desk  accommodating  two  scholars.  In  the 
original  plan  there  were  to  be  thirty  chairs,  similar  to  the  Boston  Primary 
School  Chair,  but  the  committee  preferred  that  every  child  should  have 
a  desk,  in  which  a  slate  should  be  inserted. 

There  is  a  blackboard,  or  black  surface  in  front  of  the  scholars,  extend- 
ing between  the  two  entrance  doors,  and  across  the  entire  end  in  the  rear. 
Below  the  blackboard,  at  the  rear  end  of  the  school-room,  there  is  a  leaf 
in  which  slates  are  inserted,  where  the  young  children  can  copy,  or  other- 
wise amuse  themselves,  from  lessons  drawn  by  the  teacher  on  the  black- 
board above. 

The  play-ground  attached  is  spacious,  and  the  children  can  there  amuse 
and  recreate  themselves  in  the  open  air,  without  exposure  to  accidents 
from  passing  vehicles,.  &c. 

A  second  primary  school-house  on  the  same  plan  has  been  erected  in 
another  part  of  the  village. 

With  very  slight  modifications,  these  houses  can  be  pointed  to  as  safe 
models  for  Primary  school-houses. 

These  schools  receive  the  small  children,  while  the  older  attend  in  an 
intermediate  department  and  in  the  High  School  situated  in  the  centre  ot 
the  village.  These  schools,  as  at  present  organized  and  managed,  meet 
the  educational  wants  of  the  village. 


VILLAGE  SCHOOL-HOUSE. 


285 


Plan  of  V illage  School-house  in  Allendale,  N.  Providence,  R.  1. 


-  -V/^-^^v^  ^2^5 


m 


The  above  is  a  view  of  the  Village  school-house  erected  by  Z.  Allen. 
Esq.,  at  Allendale,  North  Providence,  after  designs  by  T.  A.  Teft,  or 
Providence.  It  is  situated  in  a  beautiful  grove,  on  a  little  knoll  which 
admits  of  a  basement  room  in  the  rear,  originally  designed  for  a  library 
and  reading  room  for  the  village,  but  now  occupied  by  a  Primary  school. 
It  is  built  of  stone  in  a  style  very  common  in  structures  of  this  kind  in 
England.  The  main  room,  which  is  intended  for  a  school-room,  although 
for  the  present  used  for  lectures,  and  religious  exercises,  is  very  appropri- 
ately finished— the  walls  being  made  to  represent  stone  work  of  a  very 
subdued  neutral  tint,  and  the  ceiling,  supported  by  wooden  tracery,  is  fin- 
ished partially  in  the  roof,  leaving  the  necessary  open  space  above  to  pro- 
tect the  room  from  the  effects  of  excessive  heat  and  cold.  The  ceiling, 
wainscoting,  seats,  desks  and  doors,  are  grained  in  imitation  of  oak.  It  is 
thoroughly  ventilated  and  warmed  by  air  heated  in  a  chamber  below. 

By  the  above  pleasing  specimen  of  the  Elizabethan  style,  and  other 
varieties  not  commonly  introduced  into  structures  of  this  kind,  Mr.  Teft 
has  broken,  in  Rhode  Island  at  least,  the  dull  monotony  of  wretched  per- 
versions of  architecture  which  characterize  the  village  and  country  school- 
houses  of  New  England.  We  shall  present  in  another  place  a  kw  speci- 
mens of  the  Elizabethan  style,  in  front  and  side  elevations,  for  large  and 
small  schools,  which  can  be  easily  modified  to  suit  the  wants  of  particular 
localities. 

In  many  neighborhoods  it  is  a  matter  of  economy  to  build  of  stone,  and 
where  this  is  the  case,  the  style  of  architecture  should  be  adapted  to  the 
material. 


286 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


Plan  of  District  School-House  in  Glocester,  R.  I. 


The  above  cut  represents  the  front  elevation  of  a  new  school-house  erected 
in  District  No.  13,  in  the  town  of  Glocester,  Rhode  Island,  which,  for  location, 
neatness,  and  proportion  in  the  external  appearance,  mode  of  seating,  warm- 
ing and  ventilation,  can  be  consulted  as  a  safe  model  for  small  agricultural 
districts.  The  cost  of  the  building  and  furniture  was  $600.  The  style  and 
arrangement  of  the  seats  and  desks  is  indicated  in  Figures  3  and  4  The  end 
pieces  are  of  cast  iron,  and  so  shaped,  as  to  facilitate  the  sweeping  of  the  room, 
and  the  pupils  getting  in  and  out  of  their  seats,  and  at  the  same  time  are  firm- 
ly attached  to  the  floor  by  screws.     This  building  is  30  feet  by  20  feet. 

The  room  is  heated  by  Mott's  Ventilating  School  Stove,  designed  both  for  wood 
and  hard  coal.  Fresh  air  is  introduced  from  outside  of  the  building  by  a  flue 
beneath  the  floor,  and  is  warmed  by  passing  along  the  heated  surfaces  of  the 
stove  as  indicated  in  the  following  section. 


A.  A  chamber,  for  coal  or 
wood. 

B.  A  revolving  grate  with  a  cam 
motion,  by  which  the  ashes 
are  easily  detached  and  made 
to  drop  into  the  ash-pit  be- 
low. 

C.  Ash-pit,  by  which  also  the 
draught  can  be  regulated,  and 
the  stove  made  an  air-tight. 

D.  Duct,  or  flue  under  the  floor, 
by  which  fresh  air  from  with- 
out is  admitted  under  and 
around  the  stove,  and  circu- 
lates in  the  direction  indi- 
cated by  the  arrows. 


DISTRICT  SCHOOL-HOUSE  IN  GLOCESTER. 


287 


The  smoke-pipe  is  carried  in  the  usual  way,  high  enough  to  prevent  any 
injurious  radiation  of  heat  upon  the  heads  of  the  pupils  below,  to  the  centre  of 
the  opposite  end  of  the  room,  where,  after  passing  through  the  ceiling,  it  enters 
the  ventilating  flue,  which,  commencing  at  the  floor,  is  carried  up  through  the 
attic  and  out  above  the  roof,  as  shown  in  Figures  3  and  4.  The  heat  of  the 
smoke-pipe  produces  a  lively  upward  current  of  the  air  in  the  upper  portion 
of  the  ventilating  flue,  sufficient  to  draw  off  the  lower  stratum  of  air  near  the 
floor,  and  at  the  same  time  draw  down,  and  diffuse  equally  through  the  room, 
the  fresh  air  which  is  introduced  and  warmed  by  the  stove  at  the  opposite  end. 


A — Front  entrance. 

E — Girls'  Entrance  and  lobby. 

C — Boys'        do.  do. 

D — Teachers'  platform. 

E — Seat  and  desk,  for  the  pupils. 

S — Mott's  ventilating  school  stove. 

V — Flue  for  ventilation. 


F — Seats  for  classes  at  recitation. 

d — Teacher's  desk. 

e — Library  of   reference  in  front  of 
teacher's  desk. 

c — Closets  for  school  library  and  ap- 
paratus. 

f — Fence  dividing  back  yard. 


288 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


Plan  of  District  School-House  in  Barrington,  R.  I. 


The  above  cut  represents  in  perspective  the  new  school-house  in  District  No. 
2,  in  the  town  of  Barrington,  Rhode  Island — the  most  attractive,  convenient, 
and  complete  structure  of  the  kind  in  any  agricultural  district  in  the  State — and, 
it  is  believed,  in  New  England. 

The  house  stands  back  from  the  highway  in  a  lot,  of  an  acre  in  extent,  and 
commands  an  extensive  view  up  and  down  Narraganset  Bay,  and  of  the  rich 
cultivated  fields  for  miles  in  every  other  direction. 

The  building  is  49  feet  long  by  25  wide,  and  12  feet  high  in  the  clear,  and 
is  built  after  working  plans  drawn  by  Mr.  Teft,  of  Providence. 

The  school-room  is  calculated  to  accommodate  64  pupils,  with  seats  and 
desks  each  for  two  pupils,  similar  to  the  folowing  cut,  and  arranged  as  in 
Figure  3. 

The  end-piece,  or  supports,  both  of  the  desk  and  seat,  are  of  cast-iron,  and 
the  wood-work  is  attached  by  screws.  They  are  made  of  eight  sizes,  giving  a 
seat  from  ten  inches  to  seventeen,  and  a  desk  at  the  edge  next  to  the  scholar 
from  seventeen  to  twenty-six  inches  from  the  floor. 


Each  pupil,  when  properly  seated,  can  rest  his  feet  on  the  floor  without  the 
muscle  of  the  thigh  pressing  hard  upon  the  front  edge  of  the  seat,  and  with  a 
support  for  the  muscles  of  the  back. 


DISTRICT  SCHOOL-HOUSE  IN  BARRINGTON. 


289 


The  yards  and  entrance  for  the  boys  and  girls  are  entirely  separate,  and  each 
is  appropriately  fitted  up  with  scraper,  mats,  broom,  water-pails,  sink,  hooks 
and  shelves. 


"~     ■     -  »»»-^ WSZZZ.  W222MZZZH 1 ......--.    -.,■         ■  , v,;M//.>„w/,/,))mimm//i/>, 


L        (S 


A — Front  entrance. 

B — Girls'  entrance  and  lobby,  fitted  up  with  mats,  scrapers,  hooks,  shelves. 

C — Boys'  entrance. 

D — Teacher's  platform. 

S — Boston  Ventilating  Stove. 

V — Flue  for  ventilation  surmounted,  by  Emerson's  Ejector. 

L — Cases  for  library. 

E — Closets  for  apparatus,  &c. 

The  school  is  well  supplied  with  blackboards,  maps,  globes,  and  diagrams, 
and  such  other  instrumentalities  as  are  necessary  and  useful  in  the  studies 
usually  taught  in  a  district  school. 

There  is  abundance  of  unoccupied  space  around  the  sides  of  the  room  and 
between  the  ranges  of  desks  10  allow  of  the  free  movements  of  the  teaeher  and 
of  the  pupils,  in  passing  to  and  from  their  seats. 

There  is  also  a  district  library  of  about  600  volumes,  containing  a  large 
number  of  books  of  reference,  such  as  Dictionaries,  Encyclopedia,  and  a  va- 
riety of  the  best  text  books  in  the  several  studies  of  the  school,  to  enable  the 
teacher  to  extend  his  knowledge,  and  illustrate  his  recitations  by  additional 
information. 

There  are  about  one  hundred  volumes  selected  with  reference  to  the  youngest 
class  of  children,  and  about  400  volumes  in  the  different  departments  of  useful 
knowledge,  calculated  for  circulation  among  the  older  pupils,  in  the  families 
of  the  district  generally. 

The  maps,  apparatus  and  library  were  purchased  by  the  Commissioner  or 
Public  Schools  at  an  expense  of  $250,  which  was  contributed  by  five  or  six 
individuals.     The  building,  furniture  and  land,  cost  about  $1200. 

The  school-room  is  warmed  and  ventilated  under  the  direction  of  Mr.Gard- 
ner  Chilson,  Boston,  by  one  of  the  Boston  Ventilating  Stoves,  and  by  a  flue- 
constructed  similar  to  those  recently  introduced  into  the  Boston  Public  School 
houses  by  Dr.  Henry  G.  Clark,  and  surmounted  by  Emerson's  Ejector. 

A  cut  and  description  of  this  stove,  and  of  MoWs  Ventilating  Stove  for  burn- 
ing wood  as  well  as  coal,  is  given  on  the  next  page. 

The  flue  for  ventilation  is  carried  up  in  the  partition  wall,  and  is  constructed. 
©f  well  seasoned  boards,  planed  smooth  on  the  inside. 

19 


290 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


Mott's  Ventilating  School-Stove,  for  burning  wood  or  coal. 

Patented  and  Manufactured  by  J.  L.  Mott,  264  Water-street,  N.  Y. 

By  this  stove  the  room  is  warmed  by  conducting  a  supply  of  moderately 
heated  pure  air  from  without,  as  well  as  by  direct  radiation  from  the  upper  por- 
tion of  the  stove. 

■  B  IBB 


IIS 

■  i'ul  ':■("■;■  •'■"  ^ ; ,  ■  -,,,  ■■■■-. ^  ■  -.-j-ri,.  -. . ..  :i-:.- .  ■■:  :■■;  li  1  felllBHIi 

■  :"  i::,:;'11-"':  V;/^'-r'!!!t|i;'1V^,li!|.;:!^sI'.;3l;,li;::.,|r! 


A.  Air  Chamber,  lor  coal  or 

wood. 

B.  A  revolving   grate  with  a 

cam  process,  by  which  the 
ashes  are  easily  detached 
and  made  to  drop  into  the 
ash-pit  below. 

C.  Ash-Pit,  by  which  also  the 

draft  can  be  regulated,  and 
the  stove  made  an  air-tight. 

D.  Duct,  or  flue  under  the  floor, 

by  which  fresh  air  from 
without  is  admitted  under 
and  around  the  stove,  and 
circulates  in  the  direction 
indicated  by  the  arrows. 


This,  and  all  stoves  designed  to  promote  ventilation  by  introducing  fresh  air 
from  without,  will  work  satisfactorily  only  where  a  flue  properly  constructed 
is  provided  to  carry  off  the  air  which  has  become  impure  from  respiration. 


BOSTON  SCHOOL  VENTILATING  STOVE. 


291 


Since  the  first  edition  of  this  volume  was  issued,  the  stove  and  furnace 
described  in  the  Report  on  the  Boston  Mode  of  Ventilation,  on  pages 
154,  155,  have  been  somewhat  modified  by  the  original  patentees,  so  as 
to  increase  the  radiating  surface,  and  thereby  secure  greater  economy  in 
the  consumption  of  the  fuel.  We  therefore  insert  the  new  drawings,  with 
descriptions  abridged  from  the  printed  Circulars  of  Mr.  Chilson, 

The  Boston  Ventilating  Stove  and  Portable  Ventilating 

Furnace. 

Patented  March  10th,  1848,  by  Henry  G.  Clark,  M.  £>.,  and  manufactured  by 

Gardner  Chilson,  Boston. 

The  Boston  Ventilating  Stove  is  composed  of  two  cylinders,  the  inner(Fig.  1,) 
containing  a  fire  chamber,  which  is  lined  with  soapstone  or  fire  brick,  and  is 
fitted  with  additional  smoke-pipes  to  increase  the  radiating  surface,  while  the 
outer  (Fig.  2,)  constitutes  a  chamber  for  wanning  the  air,  which  is  introduced 
into  it  beneath  the  inner  cylinder  by  a  flue  from  out  of  doors,  and  flows  out  at 
the  top,  to  which  there  is  a  movable  cap,  or  distributor  attached,  by  which  the 
opening  is  enlarged  or  diminished,  and  .thus  the  supply  and  temperature  of  the 
air  admitted  can  be  .easily  regulated. 

Fig.  1  Fig.  2. 


The  dark  arrows  show  the  course  of  the  air  in  its  passage  from  the  opening 
underneath  the  stove,  through  the  air-chamber,  into  the  apartment.  The  light 
arrows  show  the  circulation  of  the  smoke  through  the  various  radiating  pipes. 

This  stove  is  made  of  three  sizes,  varying  in  price  from  twenty-five  to  forty 
dollars.  It  received  a  silver  medal  at  the  Fifth  Exhibition  of  the  Massachusetts 
Charitable  Mechanic  Association,  and  has  been  introduced  with  signal  success 
into  many  school-houses  in  Boston,  Charlestown,  and  other  places. 

This  stove  can  be  advantageously  used  as  a  hall  stove  and  as  a  portable  fur- 
nace, under  circumstances  which  will  not  admit  of  a  brick  inclosure. 


292 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


More  than  sixty  District  school-houses  have  been  erected  in  Rhode  Island 
on  the  same  general  plan  as  that  presented  in  the  cuts  of  the  Barrington  and 
Glocester  school-house,  with  some  slight  variations  required  by  the  nature  of 
the  site,  or  the  peculiar  views  of  the  majority  of  the  district,  or  of  the  building 
committee,  in  each  case.  The  following  plans  present  some  of  these  modifi- 
cations.   The  first  is  34  ft.  by  25,  and  the  second,  36  ft.  by  27. 

Plan  of  School-House  in  District  No.  10,  Cranston. 


A — Front  entrance. 
B — Girls'  entrance. 
C — Boys'     do. 


D — Teacher's  platform. 
E — Library. 

S — Worcester    Ventilat- 
ing Stove. 


V — Flue  for  ventilation. 
F — Seat    and  desk  with 

iron  ends. 
s — Cold  air  duct. 


////////////////,/M/M/////////////////,x  \;;/MM;/vss//>///,ss////,///v//,/r/,/di\  V/////M//f//iMM///M,'M/M/M//M 


0 
0 

F 

o 

0 

o 

0 

0 

o 

W/MtefflMWM//W/>Ml///t- 


\lAJ^/////MMWfo//////JM>,'///r//,;i- 


M,/MM»mMW»MWm»,. 


Plan  of  School-House  at  Clayville,  Scituate. 


PLAN  OF  DISTRICT  SCHOOL-HOUSE.  293 

The  following  plan,  although  not  followed  throughout  in  any  school-house  in 
Rhode  Island,  presents  substantially  the  internal  arrangement  which  has  been 
adopted  in  several  instances,  as  in  the  school-house  at  Peacedale,  in  South 
Kingston,  at  Carolina  Mills  in  Richmond,  and  in  the  lower  room  of  the  acad- 
emy in  Kingston. 


0 

o 

o 

1° 

o 

0 

o 

0 

o 

0 

J° 

o 

0 

o 

0 

°r 

0 

o 

o 

- 

X 

o 

°L 

o 

o 

o 

o 

°r 

1° 

o 

o 

n° 

0 

°L 

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J° 

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G 

J° 

o 

o 
o 


The  following  cut,  which  is  copied  from  a  plan  of  a  district  school-house 
recommended  by  Dr.  Lord,  Superintendent  of  the  common  schools  of  Columbus, 
Ohio,  presents  the  plan  of  several  district  and  village  school-houses  erected 
in  Rhode  Island.     The  house  is  26  feet  by  36  feet  on  the  ground. 


H 

C5 

A — Entry  for  girls,  8  feet  square. 
C —   do.    for  boys,  do.  do. 

B — Library  and  apparatus  room. 
E— Recitation  seats. 
D — Teacher's  platform. 


H  G — Seat  and  desk  for  two  pupils, 

4  feet  long. 
F — Aisles,  2  feet  wide. 
I —    do.      18  inches  wide. 


294  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

Plan  of  School-House  in  Centreville,   Warwick,  R.  I. 

The  following  plan  presents  a  mode  ©£  seating  a  District  School-House  sins 
ilar  to  that  adopted  in  several  public  school-houses  in  the  city  of  New  York. 


_ 


Qp 


on 

o 
b 

b 
o 
o 

o 


Uo 


- : E 


l_ — :-—~l— -■:":. 


sESa 


-<     ■'■■■■■".:■  '     ■---    > 


vJi,w,Bmam. 


o 
o 

A 

o 
o 


The  building  is  50  feet  long  (beside'the  porch  5^  feet  in  front)  by  30  feet  wide 
A — Porch.  |R — Recitation-room  for  assistant. 

B — Girls''  entrance  and  lobby.  S— Stove: 

C—  Boys'  do.  T— Smoke  flue. 

D — Teacher's  platform.  V — Flue  for  ventilator. 

E — Mottrs  school  desk  and  chair. 

The  above  mode  of  seating  has  been  adopted  in  other  districts,  and  in  one  in- 
stance, with  the  desks  attached  at  one  end  to  the  wall,  as  in  the  following  plan 
recommended  by  Hon.  Ira  Mayhew.  There  are  serious  objections  to  this  ar- 
rangement of  the  seats  and  desk. 


D,  entrance  and  inner  doors.  W,  windows.  E,  entries,  lighted  over  doors, 
one  for  boys  and  the  other  for  girls.  A,  teacher's  platform.  B,  blackboardr 
reaching  entirely  across  the  end  of  the  house.  T,  teacher's  desk.  H,  desks  11 
feet  long,  except  the  two  next  the  entrance  doors.  C,  Mott:s  patent  cast-iron 
chairs.  S  stove.  O,  an  air  tube  under  the  floor,  through  which  pure  air  from 
without  is  introduced  beneath  the  stove,    L,  shelves  for  library,  apparatus,  etc. 


union  schools.  295 

Plans  of  School-Houses  for.  Union  Schools. 

Before  describing  a  few  of  the  best  school-houses  which  have 
been  recently  erected  in  the  large  villages  of  Rhode  Island,  for  two 
or  more  schools  of  different  grades  in  the  same  building,  a  brief  con- 
sideration of  the  importance  of  classification,  or  gradation,  as  ap- 
plied to  the  schools  of  a  district,  or  town,  cannot  be  deemed 
irrelevant. 

To  enable  children  to  derive  the  highest  degree  of  benefit  from 
their  attendance  at  school,  they  should  go  through  a  regular  course 
of  training  in  a  succession  of  classes,  and  schools  arranged  according 
to  similarity  of  age,  standing,  and  attainments,  under  teachers  pos- 
sessing the  qualifications  best  adapted  to  each  grade  of  school.  The 
practice  has  been  almost  universal  in  New  England,  and  in  other 
states  where  the  organization  of  the  schools  is  based  upon  the 
division  of  the  territory  into  school  districts,  to  provide  but  one 
school  for  as  many  children  of  both  sexes,  and  of  all  ages  from  four 
to  sixteen  years,  as  can  be  gathered  in  from  certain  territorial  limits, 
into  one  apartment,  under  one  teacher ;  a  female  teacher  in  summer, 
and  a  male  teacher  in  winter.  The  disadvantages  of  this  practice, 
both  to  pupils  and  teachers,  are  great  and  manifold. 

There  is  a  large  amount  of  physical  suffering  and  discomfort,  as 
well  as  great  hinderances  in  the  proper  arrangement  of  scholars  and 
classes,  caused  by  crowding  the  older  and  younger  pupils  into  the 
same  school-room,  without  seats  and  furniture  appropriate  to  either ; 
and  the  greatest  amount  of  suffering  and  discomfort  falls  upon  the 
young,  who  are  least  able  to  bear  it,  and  who,  in  consequence,  ac- 
quire a  distaste  to  study  and  the  school-room. 

The  work  of  education  going  on  in  such  schools,  cannot  be 
appropriate  and  progressive.  There  cannot,  be  a  regular  course  of 
discipline  and  instruction,  adapted  to  the  age  and  proficiency  of 
pupils — a  series  of  processes,  each  adapted  to  certain  periods  in  the 
development  of  the  mind  and  character,  the  first  intended  to  be  fol- 
lowed by  a  second,  and  the  second  by  a  third, — the  latter  always 
depending  on  the  earlier,  and  all  intended  to  be  conducted  on  the 
same  general  principles,  and  by  methods  varying  with  the  work  to 
be  done,  and  the  progress  already  made. 

With  the  older  and  younger  pupils  in  the  same  room,  there  cannot 
be  a  system  of  discipline  which  shall  be  equally  well  adapted  to  both 
classes.  If  it  secures  the  cheerful  obedience  and  subordination  of 
the  older,  it  will  press  with  unwise  severity  upon  the  younger 
pupils.  If  it  be  adapted  to  the  physical  wants,  and  peculiar  tem- 
peraments of  the  young,  it  will  endanger  the  good  order  and  habits 
of  study  of  the  more  advanced  pupils,  by  the  frequent  change  of 
posture  and  position,  and  other  indulgences  which  it  permits  and 
requires  of  the  former. 

With  studies  ranging  from  the  alphabet  and  the  simplest  rudiments 
of  knowledge,  to  the  higher  branches  of  an  English  education,  a 
variety  of  methods  of  instruction  and  illustration  are  called  for, 
which  are  seldom  found  together,  or  in  an  equal  degree,  in  the  same 


295  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

teacher,  and  which,  can  never  be  pursued  with  equal  success  in  the 
same  school-room.  The  elementary  principles  of  knowledge,  to  be 
made  intelligible  and  interesting  to  the  young,  must  be  presented  by 
a  large  use  of  the  oral  and  simultaneous  methods.  The  higher 
branches,  especially  all  mathematical  subjects,  require  patient  ap- 
plication and  habits  of  abstraction,  on  the  part  of  the  older  pupils, 
which  can  with  difficulty,  if  at  all,  be  attained  by  many  pupils,  amid 
a  multiplicity  of  distracting  exercises,  movements  and  sounds.  The 
recitations  of  this  class  of  pupils,  to  be  profitable  and  satisfactory, 
must  be  conducted  in  a  manner  which  requires  time,  discussion 
and  explanation,  and  the  undivided  attention  both  of  pupils  and 
teachers. 

From  the  number  of  class  and  individual  recitations,  to  be  attended 
to  during  each  half  day,  these  exercises  are  brief,  hurried,  and  of 
little  practical  value.  They  consist,  for  the  most  part,  of  senseless 
repetitions  of  the  words  of  a  book.  Instead  of  being  the  time  and 
place  where  the  real  business  of  teaching  is  done,  where  the 
ploughshare  of  interrogation  is  driven  down  into  the  acquirements  of 
each  pupil,  and  his  ability  to  comprehend  clearly,  remember  accu- 
rately, discriminate  wisely,  and  reason  closely,  is  cultivated  and 
tested, — where  the  difficult  principles  of  each  lesson  are  developed 
and  illustrated,  and  additional  information  imparted,  and  the  mind  of 
the  teacher  brought  in  direct  contact  with  the  mind  of  each  pupil,  to 
arouse,  interest,  and  direct  its  opening  powers — instead  of  all  this 
and  more,  the  brief  period  passed  in  recitation,  consists,  on  the  part 
of  the  teacher,  of  hearing  each  individual  and  class  in  regular  order, 
and  quick  succession,  repeat  words  from  a  book  ;  and  on  the  part  of 
the  pupils,  of  saying  their  lessons,  as  the  operation  is  significantly 
described  by  most  teachers,  when  they  summon  the  class  to  the 
stand.  In  the  mean  time  the  order  of  the  school  must  be  maintained, 
and  the  general  business  must  be  going  forward.  Little  children 
without  any  authorized  employment  for  their  eyes  and  hands,  and 
ever  active  curiosity,  must  be  made  to  sit  still,  while  every  muscle  is 
aching  from  suppressed  activity  ;  pens  must  be  mended,  copies  set, 
arithmetical  difficulties  solved,  excuses  for  tardiness  or  absence  re- 
ceived, questions  answered,  whisperings  allowed  or  suppressed,  and 
more  or  less  of  extempore  discipline  administered.  Were  it  not  a 
most  ruinous  waste  of  precious  time, — did  it  not  involve  the  deaden- 
ing, crushing,  distorting,  dwarfing  of  immortal  faculties  and  noble 
sensibilities, — were  it  not  an  utter  perversion  of  the  noble  objects 
for  which  schools  are  instituted,  it  would  be  difficult  to  conceive  of 
a  more  diverting  farce  than  an  ordinary  session  of  a  large  public 
school,  whose  chaotic  and  discordant  elements  have  not  been  reduced 
to  system  by  a  proper  classification.  The  teacher,  at  least  the  con- 
scientious teacher,  thinks  it  any  thing  but  a  farce  to  him.  Com- 
pelled to  hurry  from  one  study  to  another,  the  most  diverse, — from 
one  class  to  another,  requiring  a  knowledge  of  methods  altogether 
distinct, — from  one  recitation  to  another,  equally  brief  and  unsatis- 
factory, one  requiring  a  liveliness  of  manner,  which  he  does  not  feel 
and  cannot  assume,  and  the  other  closeness  of  attention  and  abstrac- 


GRADATION  OF  SCHOOLS.  297 

tion  of  thought,  which  he  cannot  give  amid  the  multiplicity  and 
variety  of  cares, — from  one  case  of  discipline  to  another,  pressing  on 
him  at  the  same  time, — he  goes  through  the  same  circuit  day  after 
day,  with  a  dizzy  brain  and  aching  heart,  and  brings  his  school  to  a 
close  with  a  feeling,  that  with  all  his  diligence  and  fidelity,  he  has 
accomplished  but  little  good. 

But  great  as  are  the  evils  of  a  want  of  proper  classification  of 
schools,  arising  from  the  causes  already  specified,  these  evils  are 
aggravated  by  the  almost  universal  practice  of  employing  one 
teacher  in  summer,  and  another  in  winter,  and  different  teachers 
each  successive  summer  and  winter.  Whatever  progress  one 
teacher  may  make  in  bringing  order  out  of  the  chaotic  elements  of  a 
large  public  school,  is  arrested  by  the  termination  of  his  school 
term.  His  experience  is  not  available  to  his  successor,  who  does 
not  come  into  the  school  until  after  an  interval  of  weeks  or  months, 
and  in  the  mean  time  the  former  teacher  has  left  the  town  or  state. 
The  new  teacher  is  a  stranger  to  the  children  and  their  parents,  is 
unacquainted  with  the  system  pursued  by  his  predecessor,  and  has 
himself  but  little  or  no  experience  in  the  business  ;  in  consequence, 
chaos  comes  back  again,  and  the  confusion  is  still  worse  confounded 
by  the  introduction  of  new  books,  for  every  teacher  prefers  to  teach 
from  the  books  in  which  he  studied,  or  which  he  has  been  accus- 
tomed to  teach,  and  many  teachers  cannot  teach  profitably  from  any 
other.  Weeks  are  thus  passed,  in  which  the  school  is  going  through 
the  process  of  organization,  and  the  pupils  are  becoming  accustomed 
to  the  methods  and  requirements  of  a  new  teacher — some  of  them 
are  put  back,  or  made  to  retrace  their  studies  in  new  books,  while 
others  are  pushed  forward  into  studies  for  which  they  are  not  pre- 
pared ;  and  at  the  end  of  three  or  four  months,  the  school  relapses 
into  chaos.     There  is  constant  change,  but  no  progress. 

This  want  of  system,  and  this  succession  of  new  teachers,  goes 
on  from  term  to  term,  and  year  to  year — a  process  which  would  in- 
volve any  other  interest  in  speedy  and  utter  ruin,  where  there  was 
not  provision  made  for  fresh  material  to  be  experimented  upon,  and 
counteracting  influences  at  work  to  restore,  or  at  least  obviate  the 
injury  done.  What  other  business  of  society  could  escape  utter 
wreck,  if  conducted  with  such  want  of  system, — with  such  constant 
disregard  of  the  fundamental  principle  of  the  division  of  labor,  and 
with  a  succession  of  new  agents  every  three  months,  none  of  them 
trained  to  the  details  of  the  business,  each  new  agent  acting  without 
any  knowledge  of  the  plan  of  his  predecessor,  or  any  well  settled 
plan  of  his  own  !  The  public  school  is  not  an  anomaly,  an  excep- 
tion, among  the  great  interests  of  society.  Its  success  or  failure  de- 
pends on  the  existence  or  absence  of  certain  conditions  ;  and  if 
complete  failure  does  not  follow  the  utter  neglect  of  these  conditions, 
it  is  because  every  term  brings  into  the  schools  a  fresh  supply  of 
children  to  be  experimented  upon,  and  sweeps  away  others  beyond 
the  reach  of  bad  school  instruction  and  discipline  ;  and  because  the 
minds  of  some  of  these  children  are,  for  a  portion  of  each  day,  left 


298 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


to  the  action  of  their  own  inherent  forces,  and  the  more  kindly  influ- 
ences of  nature,  the  family  and  society. 

Among  these  conditions  of  success  in  the  operation  of  a  system  of 
public  schools,  is  such  a  classification  of  the  scholars  as  shall  bring 
a  larger  number  of  similar  age  and  attainments,  at  all  times,  and  in 
every  stage  of  their  advancement,  under  teachers  of  the  right  qualifi- 
cations, and  shall  enable  these  teachers  to  act  upon  numbers  at  once, 
for  years  in  succession,  and  carry  them  all  forward  effectually  together, 
in  a  regular  course  of  instruction. 

The  great  principle  to  be  regarded  in  the  classification,  either  of 
the  schools  of  a  town  or  district,  or  of  scholars  in  the  same  school, 
is  equality  of  attainments,  which  will  generally  include  those  of  the 
same  age.  Those  who  have  gone  over  substantially  the  same  ground, 
or  reached,  or  nearly  reached  the  same  point  of  attainment  in  several 
studies,  should  be  put  together,  and  constitute,  whenever  their  num- 
bers will  authorize  it,  one  school.  These  again  should  be  arranged 
in  different  classes,  for  it  is  seldom  practicable,  even  if  it  were  ever 
desirable,  to  have  but  one  class  in  every  study  in  the  same  grade  of 
school.  Even  in  very  large  districts,  where  the  scholars  are  pro- 
moted from  a  school  of  a  lower  grade  to  one  of  a  higher,  after  being 
found  qualified  in  certain  studies,  it  is  seldom  that  any  considerable 
number  will  have  reached  a  common  standard  of  scholarship  in  all 
their  studies.  The  same  pupil  will  have  made  very  different  prog- 
ress in  different  branches.  He  will  stand  higher  in  one  and  lower 
in  another.  By  arranging  scholars  of  the  same  general  division  in 
different  classes,  no  pupil  need  be  detained  by  companions  who  have 
made,  or  can  make  less  progress,  or  be  hurried  over  lessons  and  sub- 
jects in  a  superficial  manner,  to  accommodate  the  more  rapid  ad- 
vancement of  others.  Although  equality  of  attainment  should  be 
regarded  as  the  general  principle,  some  regard  should  be  paid  to 
age,  and  other  circumstances.  A  large  boy  of  sixteen,  from  the 
deficiency  of  his  early  education,  Avhich  may  be  his  misfortune  and 
not  his  fault,  ought  not  to  be  put  into  a  school  or  class  of  little  chil- 
dren, although  their  attainments  may  be  in  advance  of  his.  This 
step  would  mortify  and  discourage  him.  In  such  extreme  cases,  that 
arrangement  will  be  best  which  will  give  the  individual  the  greatest 
chance  of  improvement,  with  the  least  discomfort  to  himself,  and 
hindrance  to  others.  Great  disparity  of  age  in  the  same  class,  or  the 
same  school,  is  unfavorable  to  uniform  and  efficient  discipline,  and 
the  adaptation  of  methods  of  teaching,  and  of  motives  to  application 
and  obedience.  Some  regard,  too,  should  be  had  to  the  preferences 
of  individuals,  especially  among  the  older  pupils,  and  their  probable 
destination  in  life.  The  mind  comes  into  the  requisitions  of  study 
more  readily,  and  works  with  higher  results,  when  led  onward  by 
the  heart. ;  and  the  utility  of  any  branch  of  study,  its  relations  to 
future  success  in  life,  once  clearly  apprehended,  becomes  a  power- 
ful motive  to  effort. 

Each  class  in  a  school  should  be  as  large  as  is  consistent  with 
thoroughness  and  minuteness  of  individual  examination,  and  practi- 


GRADATION  OP  SCHOOLS.  299 

cable,  without  bringing  together  individuals  of  diverse  capacity, 
knowledge,  and  habits  of  study.  A  good  teacher  can  teach  a  class 
of  forty  with  as  much  ease  as  a  class  of  ten,  and  with  far  more  profit 
to  each  individual,  than  if  the  same  amount  of  time  was  divided  up 
among  four  classes,  each  containing  one-fourth  of  the  whole  number. 
When  the  class  is  large,  there  is  a  spirit,  a  glow,  a  struggle  which 
can  never  be  infused  or  called  forth  in  a  small  class.  Whatever 
time  is  spent  upon  a  few,  which  could  have  been  as  profitably  spent 
on  a  larger  number,  is  a  loss  of  power  and  time  to  the  extent  of  the 
number  who  were  not  thus  benefited.  The  recitations  of  a  large 
class  must  be  more  varied,  both  as  to  order  and  methods,  so  as  to 
reach  those  whose  attention  would  wander  if  not  under  the  pressure 
of  constant  excitement,  or  might  become  slothful  from  inaction  or  a 
sense  of  security.  Some  studies  will  admit  of  a  larger  number  in  a 
class  than  others. 

The  number  of  classes  for  recitation  in  the  same  apartment,  by 
one  teacher,  should  be  small.  This  will  facilitate  the  proper  division 
of  labor  in  instruction,  and  allow  more  time  for  each  class.  The 
teacher  intrusted  with  the  care  of  but  few  studies,  and  few  recita- 
tions, can  have  no  excuse  but  indolence,  or  the  want  of  capacity,  if 
he  does  not  master  these  branches  thoroughly,  and  soon  acquire  the 
most  skillful  and  varied  methods  of  teaching  them.  His  attention 
will  not  be  distracted  by  a  multiplicity  and  variety  of  cares,  pressing 
upon  him  at  the  same  time.  This  principle  does  not  require  that 
every  school  should  be  small,  but  that  each  teacher  should  have  a 
small  number  of  studies  and  classes  to  superintend. 

In  a  large  school,  properly  classified,  a  division  of  labor  can  be 
introduced  in  the  department  of  government,  as  well  as  in  that  of 
instruction.  By  assigning  the  different  studies  to  a  sufficient  num- 
ber of  assistants,  in  separate  class-rooms,  each  well  qualified  to  teach 
the  branches  assigned,  the  principal  teacher  may  be  selected  with 
special  reference  to  his  ability  in  arranging  the  studies,  and  order  of 
exercises  of  the  school,  in  administering  its  discipline,  in  adapting 
moral  instruction  to  individual  scholars,  and  superintending  the 
operations  of  each  class-room,  so  as  to  secure  the  harmonious  action 
and  progress  of  every  department.  The  talents  and  tact  required  for 
these  and  similar  duties,  are  more  rarely  found  than  the  skill  and 
attainments  required  to  teach  successfully  a  particular  study.  When 
found,  the  influence  of  such  a  principal,  possessing  in  a  high  degree, 
the  executive  talent  spoken  of,  will  be  felt  through  every  class,  and 
by  every  subordinate  teacher,  giving  tone  and  efficiency  to  the  whole 
school. 

To  facilitate  the  introduction  of  these,  and  similar  principles  of 
classification,  into  the  organization  and  arrangements  of  the  schools 
of  a  town  or  district,  as  fast  and  as  far  as  the  circumstances  of  the 
population  will  admit,  the  following  provisions  should  be  engrafted 
into  the  school  system  of  every  state. 

1.  Every  town  should  be  clothed  with  all  the  powers  requisite  to 
establish  and  maintain  a  sufficient  number  of  schools  of  different 
grades,  at  convenient  locations,  to  accommodate  all  the  children  re- 


300  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

siding  within  their  respective  limits — irrespective  of  any  territorial 
division  of  the  town  into  school  districts. 

2.  Should  provision  be  made  for  the  creation  of  territorial  school 
districts,  a  gradation  of  districts  should  be  recognized,  and  every 
district  having  over  sixty  children  of  an  age  to  attend  school,  should 
be  obliged  to  maintain  a  primary  school  under  a  female  teacher  for 
the  young  pupils,  and  provide  a  secondary  school  for  the  older  and 
more  advanced  pupils. 

3.  No  village,  or  populous  district,  in-which  two  or  more  schools 
of  different  grades  for  the  younger  and  older  children  respectively, 
can  be  conveniently  established,  should  be  sub-divided  into  two  or 
more  independent  districts. 

4.  Any  two  or  more  adjoining  districts,  in  the  same,  or  adjoining 
towns,  should  be  authorized  to  establish  and  maintain  a  secondary 
school  for  the  older  and  more  advanced  pupils  of  such  districts,  for 
the  whole,  or  any  portion  of  the  year. 

5.  Any  district,  not  having  children  enough  to  require  the  perma- 
nent establishment  of  two  grades  of  schools,  should  be  authorized  to 
determine  the  periods  of  the  year  in  which  the  public  school  shall 
be  kept,  and  to  determine  the  age  and  studies  of  the  children  who 
shall  attend  at  any  particular  period  of  the  year,  and  also  to  send  the 
older  pupils  to  the  secondary  school  of  an  adjoining  district. 

The  extent  to  which  the  gradation  of  schools  can  be  carried,  in 
any  town  or  district,  and  the  limit  to  which  the  number  of  classes 
in  any  school  can  be  reduced,  will  depend  on  the  compactness, 
number,  and  other  circumstances  of  the  population,  in  that  town  or 
district,  and  the  number  and  age  of  the  pupils,  and  the  studies  and 
methods  of  instruction  in  that  school.  A  regular  gradation  of  schools 
might  embrace  Primary,  Secondary  and  High  Schools,  with  Inter- 
mediate Schools,  or  departments,  between  each  grade,  and  Supple- 
mentary Schools,  to  meet  the  wants  of  a  class  of  pupils  not  provided 
for  in  either  of  the  above  grades. 

1 .  Primary  Schools,  as  a  general  rule,  should  be  designed  for 
children  between  the  ages  of  three  and  eight  years,  with  a  further 
classification  of  the  very  youngest  children,  when  their  number  will 
admit  of  it.  These  schools  can  be  accommodated,  in  compact  villa- 
ges, in  the  same  building  with  the  Secondary  or  High  School ;  but 
in  most  large  districts,  it  will  be  necessary  and  desirable  to  locate 
them  in  different  neighborhoods,  to  meet  the  peculiarities  of  the  pop- 
ulation, and  facilitate  the  regular  attendance  of  very  young  children, 
and  relieve  the  anxiety  of  parents  for  their  safety  on  their  way  to  and 
from  school.  The  school-room  should  be  light,  cheerful,  and  large 
enough  for  the  evolutions  of  large  classes — furnished  with  appropri- 
ate seats,  furniture,  apparatus  and  means  of  visible  illustration,  and 
having  a  retired,  dry  and  airy  play-ground,  with  a  shelter  to  resort  to 
in  inclement  weather,  and  with  flower  borders,  shrubbery  and  shade 
trees,  which  they  should  be  taught  to  love  and  respect.  The  play- 
ground is  as  essential  as  the  school-room,  for  a  Primary  School,  and 
is  indeed  the  uncovered  school-room  of  physical  and  moral  educa- 


GRADATION  OF  SCHOOLS.  3Q1 

tion,  and  the  place  where  the  manners  and  personal  habits  of  children 
can  be  better  trained  than  elsewhere.  xWith  them,  the  hours  of  play 
and  study,  of  confinement  and  recreation,  must  alternate  more  fre- 
quently than  with  older  pupils.  To  teach  these  schools  properly, — 
to  regulate  the  hours  of  play  and  study  so  as  to  give  variety,  vivacity, 
and  interest  to  all  of  the  exercises,  without  over-exciting  the  nervous 
system,  or  over-tasking  any  faculty  of  mind  or  body, — to  train  boys 
and  girls  to  mild  dispositions,  graceful  and  respectful  manners,  and 
unquestioning  obedience, — to  cultivate  the  senses  to  habits  of  quick 
and  accurate  observation  and  discrimination, — to  prevent  the  forma- 
tion of  artificial  and  sing-song  tones, — to  teach  the  use  of  the  voice, 
and  of  simple,  ready  and  correct  language,  and  to  begin  in  this  way, 
and  by  appropriate  exercises  in  drawing,  calculation,  and  lessons  on 
the  properties  and  classification  of  objects,  the  cultivation  of  the 
intellectual  faculties, — to  do  all  these  things  and  more,  require  in 
the  teacher  a  rare  union  of  qualities,  seldom  found  in  one  in  a  hun- 
dred of  the  male  sex,  and  to  be  looked  for  with  the  greatest  chance 
of  success  among  females,  "  in  whose  own  hearts,  love,  hope  and 
patience,  have  first  kept  school." 

The  earlier  we  can  establish,  in  every  populous  district,  primary 
schools,  under  female  teachers,  whose  hearts  are  made  strong  by 
deep  religious  principle, — who  have  faith  in  the  power  of  Christian 
love  steadily  exerted  to  fashion  anew  the  bad  manners,  and  soften 
the  harsh  and  self-willed  perverseness  of  neglected  children, — with 
patience  to  begin  every  morning,  with  but  little  if  any  perceptible  ad- 
vance beyond  where  they  began  the  previous  morning, — with  prompt 
and  kind  sympathies,  and  ready  skill  in  music,  drawing,  and  oral 
methods,  the  better  it  will  be  for  the  cause  of  education,  and  for  ev- 
ery other  good  cause. 

2.  Secondary  Schools  should  receive  scholars  at  the  age  of  eight 
years,  or  about  that  age,  and  carry  them  forward  in  those  branches 
of  instruction  which  lie  at  the  foundation  of  all  useful  attainments  in 
knowledge,  and  are  indispensable  to  the  proper  exercise  and  devel- 
opment of  all  the  faculties  of  the  mind,  and  to  the  formation  of  good 
intellectual  tastes  and  habits  of  application.  If  the  primary  schools 
have  done  their  work  properly,  in  forming  habits  of  attention,  and 
teaching  practically  the  first  uses  of  language, — in  giving  clear  ideas 
of  the  elementary  principles  of  arithmetic,  geography,  and  the  sim- 
plest lessons  in  drawing,  the  scholars  of  a  well  conducted  secondary 
school,  who  will  attend  regularly  for  eight  or  ten  months  in  the  year, 
until  they  are  twelve  years  of  age,  can  acquire  as  thorough  knowl- 
edge of  reading,  arithmetic,  penmanship,  drawing,  geography,  history, 
and  the  use  of  the  language  in  composition  and  speech,  as  is  ever 
given  in  common  or  public  schools,  as  ordinarily  conducted,  to  chil- 
dren at  the  age  of  sixteen.  For  this  class  of  schools,  well  qualified 
female  teachers,  with  good  health,  self-command,  and  firmness,  are 
as  well  fitted  as  male  teachers.  But  if  the  school  is  large,  both  a 
male  and  female  teacher  should  be  employed,  as  the  influence  of 
both  are  needed  in  the  training  of  the  moral  character  and  manners. 


302 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


Schools  of  this  grade  should  be  furnished  with  class-rooms  for  reci- 
tations, and  if  large,  with  a  female  assistant  for  every  thirty  pupils. 

3.  High  Schools  should  receive  pupils  from  schools  of  the  grade 
below,  and  carry  them  forward  in  a  more  comprehensive  course  of 
instruction,  embracing  a  continuation  of  their  former  studies,  and 
especially  of  the  English  language,  and  drawing,  and  a  knowledge 
of  algebra,  geometry  and  trigonometry,  with  their  applications,  the 
elements  of  mechanics  and  natural  philosophy  and  chemistry,  natural 
history,  including  natural  theology,  mental  and  moral  science,  politi- 
cal economy,  physiology,  and  the  constitution  of  the  United  States. 
These  and  other  studies  should  form  the  course  of  instruction,  modi- 
fied according  to  the  sex,  age,  and  advancement,  and  to  some  extent, 
future  destination  of  the  pupils,  and  the  standard  fixed  by  the  intelli- 
gence and  intellectual  wants  of  the  district — a  course  which  should 
give  to  every  young  man  a  thorough  English  education,  preparatory 
to  the  pursuits  of  agriculture,  commerce,  trade,  manufactures,  and 
the  mechanical  arts,  and  if  desired,  for  college ;  and  to  every  young 
woman,  a  well  disciplined  mind,  high  moral  aims,  and  practical 
views  of  her  own  duties,  and  those  resources  of  health,  thought, 
manners  and  conversation,  which  bless  alike  the  highest  and  lowest 
stations  in  life.  All  which  is  now  done  in  private  schools  of  the 
highest  grade,  and  where  the  wants  of  any  considerable  portion  of 
the  community  create  such  private  schools,  should  be  provided  for 
in  the  system  of  public  schools,  so  that  the  same  advantages,  with- 
out being  abridged  or  denied  to  the  children  of  the  rich  and  the 
educated,  should  be  open  at  the  same  time  to  worthy  and  talented 
children  of  the  poorest  parent.  In  some  districts  a  part  of  the 
studies  of  this  grade  of  schools  might  be  embraced  in  the  Secondary 
Schools,  which  would  thus  take  the  place  of  the  High  School ;  in 
others,  the  High  School  could  be  open  for  only  portions  of  the  year  ; 
and  in  others,  two  departments,  or  two  schools,  one  for  either  sex, 
would  be  required.  However  constituted,  whether  as  one  depart- 
ment, or  two,  as  a  distinct  school,  or  as  part  of  a  secondary  school, 
or  an  ordinary  district  school,  and  for  the  whole  year,  or  part  of  the 
year,  something  of  the  kind  is  required  to  meet  the  wants  of  the 
whole  community,  and  relieve  the  public  schools  from  impotency. 
Unless  it  can  be  engrafted  upon  the  public  school  system,  or  rather 
unless  it  can  grow  up  and  out  of  the  system,  as  a  provision  made 
for  the  educational  wants  of  the  whole  community,  then  the  system 
will  never  gather  about  it  the  warmth  and  sustaining  confidence  and 
patronage  of  all  classes,  and  especially  of  those  who  know  best  the 
value  of  a  good  education,  and  are  willing  to  spend  time  and  money 
to  secure  it  for  their  own  children. 

4.  Intermediate  Schools  or  departments  will  be  needed  in  large 
districts,  to  receive  a  class  of  pupils  who  are  too  old  to  be  continued, 
without  wounding  their  self-esteem,  in  the  school  below,  or  interfering 
with  its  methods  of  discipline  and  instruction,  and  are  not  prepared 
in  attainments,  and  habits  of  study,  or  from  irregular  attendance,  to 
be  arranged  in  the  regular  classes  of  the  school  above. 

Connected  with  this  class  of  schools  there  might  be  opened  a 


GRADATION  OF  SCHOOLS. 


303 


school  or  department  for  those  who  cannot  attend  school  regularly, 
or  for  only  a  short  period  of  the  year,  or  who  may  wish  to  attend 
exclusively  to  a  few  studies.  There  is  no  place  for  this  class  of 
scholars,  in  a  regularly  constituted,  permanent  school,  in  a  large 
village. 

5.  Supplementary  Schools,  and  means  of  various  kinds  should  be 
provided  in  every  system  of  public  instruction,  for  cities  and  large 
villages,  to  supply  deficiencies  in  the  education  of  individuals  whose 
school  attendance  has  been  prematurely  abridged,  or  from  any  cause 
interfered  with,  and  to  carry  forward  as  far  and  as  long  as  practicable 
into  after  life,  the  training  and  attainments  commenced  in  childhood. 

Evening  Schools  should  be  opened  for  apprentices,  clerks,  and 
other  young  persons,  who  have  been  hurried  into  active  employment 
without  a  suitable  elementary  education.  In  these  schools,  those 
who  have  completed  the  ordinary  course  of  school  instruction,  could 
devote  themselves  to  such  studies  as  are  directly  connected  with 
their  several  trades  or  pursuits,  while  those  whose  early  education 
was  entirely  neglected,  can  supply,  to  some  extent,  such  deficiencies. 
It  is  not  beyond  the  legitimate  scope  of  a  system  of  public  instruc- 
tion, to  provide  for  the  education  of  adults,  who,  from  any  cause, 
in  early  life  were  deprived  of  advantages  of  school  instruction. 

Libraries,  and  courses  of  familiar  lectures,  with  practical  illustra- 
tions, collections  in  natural  history,  and  the  natural  sciences,  a  sys- 
tem of  scientific  exchanges  between  schools  of  the  same,  and  of 
different  towns, — these  and  other  means  of  extending  and  improving 
the  ordinary  instruction  of  the  school-room  and  of  early  life,  ought 
to  be  provided,  not  only  by  individual  enterprise  and  liberality,  but 
by  the  public,  and  the  authorities  entrusted  with  the  care  and  advance- 
ment of  popular  education. 

One  or  more  of  that  class  of  educational  institutions  known  as 
"  Reform  Schools,"  "  Schools  of  Industry,"  or  "  Schools  for  Juvenile 
Offenders,"  should  receive  such  children,  as  defying  the  restraining 
influence  of  parental  authority,  and  the  discipline  and  regulations  of 
the  public  schools,  or  such  as  are  abandoned  by  orphanage,  or  worse 
than  orphanage,  by  parental  neglect  or  example,  to  idle,  vicious  and 
pilfering  habits,  are  found  hanging  about  places  of  public  resort,  pol- 
luting the  atmosphere  by  their  profane  and  vulgar  speech,  alluring, 
to  their  own  bad  practices,  children  of  the  same,  and  other  conditions 
of  life,  and  originating  or  participating  in  every  street  brawl  and  low- 
bred riot.  Such  children  cannot  be  safely  gathered  into  the  public 
schools  ;  and  if  they  are,  their  vagrant  habits  are  chafed  by  the  re- 
straints of  school  discipline.  They  soon  become  irregular,  play 
truant,  are  punished  and  expelled,  and  from  that  time  their  course  is 
almost  uniformly  downward,  until  on  earth  there  is  no  lower  point  to 
reach. 

Accustomed,  as  many  such  children  have  been  from  infancy,  to 
sights  and  sounds  of  open  and  abandoned  profligacy,  trained  to  an 
utter  want  of  self-respect,  and  the  decencies  and  proprieties  of  life, 
as  exhibited  in  dress,  person,  manners  and  language,  strangers  to 
those  motives  of  self-improvement  which  spring  from  a  sense  of  so- 


304 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


cial,  moral  and  religious  obligation,  their  regeneration  involves  the 
harmonious  co-operation  of  earnest  philanthropy,  missionary  enter- 
prise, and  sanctified  wisdom.  The  districts  of  all  our  large  cities 
where  this  class  of  children  are  found,  are  the  appropriate  field  of 
home  missions,  of  unobtrusive  personal  effort  and  charity,  and  of 
systematized  plans  of  local  benevolence,  embracing  friendly  inter- 
course with  parents,  an  affectionate  interest  in  the  young,  the  gather- 
ing of  the  latter  into  week-day,  infant,  and  primary  schools,  and 
schools  where  the  use  of  the  needle,  and  other  forms  of  labor  appro- 
priate to  the  sex  and  age  of  the  pupils  can  be  given,  the  gathering 
of  both  old  and  young  into  Sabbath  schools  and  worshipping  assem- 
blies, the  circulation  of  books  and  tracts,  of  other  than  a  strictly 
religious  character,  the  encouragement  of  cheap,  innocent  and  hu- 
manizing games,  sports  and  festivities,  the  obtaining  employment  for 
adults  who  may  need  it,  and  procuring  situations  as  apprentices, 
clerks,  &c,  for  such  young  persons  as  may  be  qualified  by  age, 
capacity  and  character.  By  individual  efforts  and  the  combined 
efforts  of  many,  working  in  these  and  other  ways,  from  year  to  year, 
these  moral  jungles  can  be  broken  up, — these  infected  districts  can 
be  purified, — these  waste  places  of  society  can  be  reclaimed,  and 
many  abodes  of  penury,  ignorance  and  vice  can  be  converted  by  ed- 
ucation, economy  and  industry,  into  homes  of  comfort,  peace  and  joy. 


PUBLIC  HIGH  SCHOOL-HOUSE. 


305 


Public  School-House  in  Warren,  R.  I. 


Fig.  1. 


The  above  cut  exhibits  a  front  view  of  the  Public  School-house 
erected  in  the  village  of  Warren,  at  the  expense  of  the  town,  in 
1847-48,  after  drawings  made  by  Mr.  Teft,  of  Providence,  under  the 
directions  of  a  committee  of  the  town,  who  consulted  with  the  Com- 
missioner of  Public  Schools,  and  visited  Providence,  Boston,  Salem, 
Newhuryport  and  other  places,  in  order  to  ascertain  the  latest  im- 
provements in  school  architecture,  before  deciding  on  the  details  of 
the  plan.  To  this  committee,  and  particularly  to  two  of  its  members, 
Mr.  E.  W.  Burr  and  Mr.  G.  S.  Gardiner,  is  the  town  largely  indebted 
for  the  time  and  personal  supervision  which  they  devoted  to  this 
public  improvement,  from  its  first  inception  to  its  completion,  without 
any  other  reward  than  the  realization  of  their  wish  to  secure  for  their 
town  the  best  school-house,  for  the  amount  of  money  expended,  in 
the  State.  The  Commissioner  of  Public  Schools  remarked,  in  his 
address  at  the  dedication  of  the  house,  in  September,  1848,  "  that,  for 
location,  style,  construction,  means  of  warming,  ventilation,  and  clean- 
liness, and  for  the  beauty  and  convenience  of  the  seats  and  desks,  he 
had  not  seen  a  public  school-house  superior  to  this  in  New  England. 
It  is  a  monument  at  once  of  the  liberality  of  the  town,  and  of  a  wise 
economy  on  the  part  of  the  committee."  The  town  appropriated 
$10,000,  and  the  committee  expended  $8,594. 

The  opening  of  the  Public  School  in  this  edifice  was  followed  by 
a  large  increase  of  attendance  from  the  children  of  the  town. 
20 


306 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


The  lot  is  225  deep  and  100  feet  wide  for  a  depth  of  125  feet,  and  161  feet  wide 
for  the  remaining  64  feet.  It  is  divided  into  three  yards,  as  exhibited  in  the 
ground  plan,  (Fig.  2,)  each  substantially  inclosed,  and  planted  with  trees  and 
shrubbery. 

The  dimensions  of  the  building  are  62  feet  by  44  on  the  ground.  It  is  built  of 
brick  in  the  most  workmanlike  manner. 

Most  of  the  details  of  construction,  and  of  the  arrangement  in  the  interior,  are 
similar  to  those  described  on  page  214. 

Each  room  is  ventilated  by  openings  controlled  by  registers,  both  at  the  floor 
and  the  ceiling,  into  four  flues  carried  up  in  the  wall,  and  by  a  large  flue  con- 
structed of  thoroughly  seasoned  boards,  smooth  on  the  inside,  in  the  partition 
wall,  (Fig.  3,  x.) 

The  whole  building  is  uniformly  warmed  by  two  of  Culver's  furnaces  placed 
in  the  cellar. 

Every  means  of  cleanliness  are  provided,  such  as  scrapers,  mats,  sink  with 
pump,  wash  basin,  towels,  hooks  for  outer  garments,  umbrella  stands,  &c. 

The  tops  of  the  desks  are  covered  with  cloth,  and  the  aisles  are  to  be  cheaply 
carpeted,  so  as  to  diminish,  if  not  entirely  prevent,  the  noise  which  the  moving 
of  slates  and  books,  and  the  passing  to  and  fro,  occasion  in  a  school-room. 


A — Front  yard 

B — Girls'  yard. 

C — Boys'  yard. 

P — Privies. 

W— Well. 

F — Culver's  Furnace 


PUBLIC  HIGH  SCHOOLrHOUSE  IN  WA11REN. 
Fig.  3— First  Floor. 


30? 


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A — Front  entrance. 

B — Girls'  entrance,  with  mats,  scra- 
pers, hooks  for  clothes,  a  sink,  pump, 
basin,  Sec. 

C — Boys'  entrance  do. 

R — Recitation  rooms,  connected  by 
sliding  doors. 

R,  P — Platform  for  recitation,  with  a 
blackboard  in  the  rear. 

T — Teacher's  platform. 

S — Seats  and  desks;  see  page  205. 


Q. — Library  and  apparatus. 

w— Windows,   with   inside  Venetian 

blinds, 
c — Flues  for  ventilation  in  the  outer 

wall. 
x. — Flue    for    ventilation,  lined   with 

smooth,  well  seasoned  boards, 
y — Bell-rope,  accessible  to  the  teacher 

by  an  opening  in  the  wall. 
r — Hot  air  registers. 


E%.  4. — Second  Floor. 


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308 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


Union  School-House,  at  Woonsocket  and  Chepachet,  R.  I. 

By  the  school  law  of  Rhode  Island,  two  or  more  adjoining  school  districts  in 
the  same,  or  adjoining  towns,  may,  by  concurrent  vote,  agree  to  unite  for  the 
purpose  of  maintaining  a  secondary  or  grammar  school,  for  the  older  and  more 
advanced  pupils  of  such  associating  districts.  Under  this  provision  the  four 
school  districts  in  the  town  of  Cumberland,  which  comprise  the  village  of 
Woonsocket,  voted  to  unite  and  provide  a  school-house  for  the  more  advanced 
pupils,  leaving  the  younger  to  be  accommodated  in  their  respective  districts. 
The  Union  school-house  is  located  on  a  beautiful  site,  the  donation  of  Edward 
Harris,  Esq.,  and  is  built  substantially  after  the  plan  of  the  Warren  Public 
school-house,  already  described,  at  a  cost  of  $7,000.  The  following  are  the  front 
and  side  elevations,  as  originally  drawn  by  Mr.  Teft,  but  not  adopted  by  the 
committee. 


Side  Elevation. 


Front  Elevation. 

Under  the  provision  above  cited,  the  three  districts  into  which  the  village  of 
Chepachet,  in  the  town  of  Glocester,  is  divided,  voted  to  establish  a  Union 
School,  and  to  provide  a  suitable  house  for  the  same.  The  building  is  50  feet  by 
34,  with  two  stories,  and  stands  in  the  centre  of  a  large  lot,  a  little  removed  from 
the  main  street,  and  is  the  ornament  and  pride  of  the  village.  The  lower  floor 
is  divided  into  two  apartments ;  one  for  the  Primary,  and  the  other  for  an  Inter- 
mediate School,  for  the  younger  pupils  of  the  village,  while  the  Union  or  Sec- 
ondary School  occupies  the  whole  of  the  second  floor. 


UNION  SCHOOL-HOUSE  IN  CHEPACHET. 
Fig.  1.— Plan  op  First  Floor. 


309 


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A—Entrance  for  Girls  to  Secondary  School,  U. 

B—        "  "   Boys  "  "  " 

C —       "  "   Girls  to  Primar}',  E,  and  Intermediate  School,  F. 

D_       «  «    Boys  "  "  •'  "  " 

E — Primary  School-room. 

F — Intermediate      ': 

U — Secondary         -l  L — Manton  Gloeester  Library  of  900  volumes. 

R — Recitation  room.  S — Stove.     V — Flue  for  ventilation. 

G — Seat  and  desk  attached,  for  two  pupils,  with  iron  ends. 

Fig.  2. — Plan  of  Second  Floor. 


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310 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


Plan,  &c,  of  Union  School-House  in  Pawtucket,  R.  I 


Fig.  1— Perspective. 


This  school-house  is  calculated  to  accommodate,  on  the  first  floor,  a  Pri- 
mary School,  (D,)with  seats  and  desks  for  one  hundred  and  sixty  pupils;  two 
Intermediate  Schools,  (E,  E,)  for  sixty-four  pupils  each ;  and  on  the  second  floor 
a  High  School,  (P,)  for  one  hundred  and  seventy  pupils. 

The  building  is  warmed  and  ventilated  by  a  furnace  in  the  cellar,  from  which 
the  hot  air  is  conveyed  into  the  several  apartments,  as  indicated  by  the  regis- 
ters, (r,  r,  r,  r,)  in  Figs.  2  and  3,  and  discharged  by  flues  carried  up  in  the  walls, 
as  seen  at  v,  v,  v,  v. 

Each  school-room  is  furnished  with  an  appropriate  place  for  outer  garments, 
and  with  scrapers,  mats  and  other  means  of  neatness  and  cleanliness. 

The  boys  and  girls  have  each  a  separate  yard  in  the  rear,  and  separate  en- 
trances into  the  school-rooms. 

The  High  School  is  furnished  with  seats  and  desk  having  cast-iron  end 
pieces  similar  to  those  described  on  page  282. 

The  Primary  and  Intermediate  school-rooms  are  furnished  with  the  patent 
Revolving  Pivot  Chair,  and  School-desk,  manufactured  by  J.  L.  Mott,  264  Water 
street,  New  York.  The  seat  of  the  chair  is  wood ;  all  other  parts  are  of  cast- 
iron.  The  seat  and  back  turn  on  a  pivot,  while  the  pedestal  is  screwed  fast  to 
the  floor.  The  height  of  the  lower  part  of  the  top  of  the  desk  is  just  equal  to 
the  highest  part  of  the  back  of  the  chair,  so  as  to  allow  it  to  pass  under.  The 
front  edge  of  the  seat  is  in  a  perpendicular  line  with  the  edge  of  the  tap  of  the 
desk,  so  that  the  scholar  is  required  to  sit  erect  when  engaged  in  writing  or 
studying,  and  the  same  time  that  part  of  his  back  which  requires  support  is  fully 
in  contact  with  the  chair. 

Since  the  chairs  above  described  were  placed  in  this  house,  Mr.  Mott  has 
modified  the  patterns — so  as  to  carry  the  back  piece  higher,  and  thus  give  sup- 
port to  the  muscles  above  the  small  of  the  back.  The  iron  can  be  covered  with 
felt,  and  thus  the  rapid  conduction  of  heat  from  the  body,  especially  from  the 
spinal  column,  in  children  thinly  clad,  and  of  delicate  constitutions  may  be 
prevented. 


UNION  SCHOOL  HOUSE  IN  PAWTUCKET. 


311 


Union  School- House  in  Pawtucket. 


Fig.  2.— Plan  op  First  Floor. 


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A — Entrance  to  High  School. 

B — Entrance  for  Boys  to  the  Primary  and  Intermediate  Schools. 
C— Entrance  for  Girls  to  the  Primary  and  Intermediate  Schools. 
D — School-room,  30  feet  by  24,  for  Primary  School. 
E,  E —  "        "       40  feet  by  16,  for  Intermediate  Schools. 
F—       :<        "       40  feet  by  40,  for  High  School. 
G — Room  for  Apparatus,  &c. 
H — Recitation  room  to  High  School,  20  feet  by  16. 

I— K — Entrance  room,  one  for  Boys  and  the  other  for  Girls,  fitted  up  with 
hooks,  shelves,  wash-stand,  &c. 
T — Teacher's  desk  without  any  platform. 

Fig.  3. — Plan  op  Second  Floor — High  School. 


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DISTRICT  SCHOOL-HOUSE  IN  CENTREMILL. 


313 


Plan  and  Description  of  District  School-House  in  CentremelLj 
North  Providence,  R.  I. 


■~      . 


This  house  was  erected  after  designs  by  Mr.  Teft,  of  Providence.  It 
stands  back  from  the  highway,  on  an  elevated  site,  in  the  midst  of  a 
grove,  and  for  beauty  of  design 
and  convenience  of  arrangement, 
is  not  surpassed  by  any  similar 
structure  in  New  England.  It  is 
26  feet  by  51.  and  13  feet  high  in 
the  clear,  with  two  departments 
on  the  same  floor. 


A,  Boys'  entry,  G  feet  by  10. 

B,  Girls'  ditto. 

C,  Primary  department,  20  feet  by 
25,  with  desks  and  seats  attached 
for  70  pupils. 

D,  Secondary,  or  Grammar  depart- 
ment, 25  feet  by  25,  with  desks 
and  chairs  for  04  pupils;  see  p. 
120. 

r,  Register  for  hot  air. 

v,  v,  Flues  for  ventilation. 

c,  Closets  for  dinner  pails  of  those 

who  come  from  a  distance 
s,  Sink. 


The  smoke  pipe  is  carried  up  be- 
eween  the  ventilating  flues,  and  the 
top  of  the  chimney  is  finished  so  as  to 
accommodate  the  bell. 


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26 


314 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


The  persective  of  the  new  school-house  at  Centerdale,  North  Providence,  on 
the  preceding  page,  gives  a  very  inadequate  idea  of  the  proportion  and  style 
of  the  building  itself.  Better  justice  is  done  to  the  architect  in  the  view  on  the 
next  page,  of  Mr.  Kingsbury's  Female  Seminary  in  Providence. 


Plan  of  School-House  at  Washington  Village  in  Coventry,  R.  I. 

The  following  cut  presents  the  ground  plan  of  the  new  school-house  in  the 
village  of  Washington,  in  the  town  of  Coventry,  R.  I.  The  location  is  on  the 
high  ground  in  the  rear  of  the  village,  and  commands  an  extensive  prospect  in 
every  direction.  The  site  and  yard,  occupying  one  acre,  was  given  to  the  dis- 
trict by  Governor  Whipple.  The  whole  structure,  without  and  within,  is  an 
ornament  to  the  village,  and  ranks  among  the  best  school-houses  in  R.hode 
Island. 


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A — Boy's  entrance.  I  F — Desks  for  two,  with  iron  end-piece. 

B— Girl's  entrance.  G— Chairs  supported  on  iron  pedestal. 

C — Primary  school-room.  H— Register  for  hot  air. 

D — Secondary,  or  Grammar  Depart-   R— Flue  for  ventilation,  within  which 

ment.  is  carried  up  the  smoke-pipe. 

E — Teacher's  platform. 

The  two  school-rooms  can  be  thrown  into  one,  for  any  general  exercise  ot 
the  two  schools,  by  sliding  doors. 

The  two  rooms  are  uniformly  heated  by  a  furnace  in  the  basement. 

There  is  a  well,  sink,  basin,  mats,  scrapers,  bell,  and  all  the  necessary  fixtures 
and  appendages  of  a  school-house  of  the  first  class. 

The  cost  of  the  building  and  furniture  was  $2,300. 

The  district  possesses  a  library  of  upwards  of  four  hundred  volumes,  the  cost 
of  which  was  raised  by  subscription  in  the  District. 


:16 


SOHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


Chilson's  Air-Warming  and  Ventilating  Furnace, 
Patented  and  Manufactured  by  Gardner  Chilson,  Boston. 


The  construction  of  the  Air- Warming  and  Ventilating  Furnace  was  projected 
by  the  inventor,  to  obviate  the  serious,  if  not  fatal,  objections,  so  generally 
made,  to  the  use  of  furnaces  for  wanning  apartments,  where  a  fresh,  healthful 
atmospheric  air  is  required.  From  long  experience  in  putting  up  furnaces,  in 
which  coal  was  consumed  in  deep  iron  pots;  and  the  air  which  they  warmed  was 
made  to  pass  over  a  large  extent  of  iron  surface,  made  and  kept  red-hot,  he 
found  that  the  occupants  of  the  rooms  thus  warmed,  complained  that  the  air 
was  not  unfrequently  filled  with  the  gases  of  the  burning  coal,  and  was  at  all 
times  dry  and  stagnant,  causing,  especially  to  persons  of  a  nervous  tempera- 
ment, disagreeable  sensations  to  the  whole  system,  such  as  dizziness  of  the 
head,  headache,  inflammation  of  the  eyes  and  lungs,  dryness  of  the  lips  and 
skin,  &c.  He  found,  too,  by  his  own  experience  and  observation  in  the  manu- 
facture and  use  of  furnaces  of  this  kind,  that  there  was  an  unnecessary  con- 
sumption of  coal,  when  burnt  in  deep,  straight  and  narrow  pots,  causing  the 
coal  to  melt  and  run  to  cinders,  and  at  the  same  time  burning  out  the  pots,  and 
loosening  the  joints  of  the  furnace,  by  which  the  deadly  gases  escaped  into  the 
air-chambers,  and  hence  into  the  apartments  above.  These  objections,  both  on 
the  score  of  health  and  expense,  the  inventor  claims  that  he  has  thoroughly  ob- 
viated in  his  Air-Warming  and  Ventilating  Furnace,  and  at  the  same  time  pre- 
served all  the  advantages  heretofore  realized  from  this  mode  of  warming  build- 
ings.    The  advantages  of  the  Furnace  are — 

1.  The  fire-pot  is  constructed  on  the  most  economical  and  philosophical 
principles.  It  is  broad  and  shallow, — at  least  twice  as  broad  and  one  third  as 
deep  as  the  common  fire-pot ; — is  one  third  smaller  at  the  bottom  than  at  the 
top,  and  is  lined  with  fire-brick  or  soap-stone.  Thus  the  fire-bed  is  deep  enough 
to  keep  the  coal  well  ignited  with  a  slow  but  perfect  combustion,  while  the  en- 
tire heat  from  the  fuel  is  given  out  to  act  upon  the  radiating  surface  alone  and 
the  fire-pot  can  never  become  red-hot,  and  does  not  require  renewal.  This 
plan  for  burning  coal  is  original  with  the  inventor,  and  has  met  with  universal 
approbation. 

2.  The  radiating  surface  is  large,  and  so  placed  that  it  receives  the  immedi- 
ate and  natural  action  of  the  heat,  and  at  the  same  time  imparts  its  heat  in  the 


CHILSON'S  FURNACE.  3  [  7 

most  direct  and  uniform  manner  to  the  fresh  air  from  without,  -without  suffering 
waste  by  absorption  from  the  outer  walls  of 'the  air-chamber. 

3.  The  air-chamber  is  large,  and  the  fresh  air  is  admitted  and  discharged 
so  readily  and  uniformly  thai  no  portion  of  the  radiating  surface  can  ever  be- 
come overheated ;  and  a  delightful  summer  temperature  is  maintained  in  the 
rooms. 

4.  The  joints  of  the  furnace  are  so  constructed,  that,  even  if  the  iron-work 
was  liable,  like  other  furnaces,  to  crack  from  extreme  expansion,  by  being  over- 
heated, (which  it  is  not,)  the  gas  from  the  burning  coal  cannot  escape  into  the 
air-chamber. 

5.  There  are  no  horizontal  inner  surfaces  on  which  dust  and  soot  can  gather, 
which  do  not,  at  the  same  time,  clean  themselves,  or  admit  of  being  easily 
cleaned. 

6.  The  grate  in  the  fire-pot  is  so  constructed,  that  the  ashes  can  be  easily  de- 
tached, and  the  combustion  facilitated. 

7.  It  has  stood  all  the  test  which  sharp  rivalry  and  the  most  severe  philosophi- 
cal practical  science  could  apply  to  it,  and  has  thus  far  accomplished  all  that 
its  inventor  promised,  and  when  tried  in  the  same  building  with  other  fur- 
naces, has  uniformly  received  the  preference. 

Dr.  Bell,  Superintendent  of  the  McLean  Asylum  for  the  Insane,  who  has 
given  this  whole  subject  his  particular  attention,  in  his  Essay  on  the  Practical 
Methods  of  Ventilating  Buildings,  published  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Medical  Society  for  1848,  remarks  as  follows  : 

"  The  character  of  any  variety  of  the  hot-air  furnace  is  measured,  in  my 
judgment,  by  the  simplicity  of  its  construction,  its  non-liability  to  be  brought 
to  an  undue  degree  of  heat  in  any  part,  and  its  ready  receipt  and  emission  of 
air.  That  made  by  Mr.  Gardner  Chilson,  of  Boston,  with  an  air-chamber  of 
brick,  and  an  interspace  of  two  or  three  feet  in  width,  appears  to  me  to  combine 
all  the  essentials  attainable  of  this  mode  of  heating  air,  more  fully  than  any 
other  which  has  fallen  under  my  observation." 

In  1847,  the  School  Committee  of  Boston  sanctioned,  by  a  unanimous  vote, 
the  introduction  of  this  furnace  into  the  new  school-houses  to  be  erected  in 
that  city,  on  the  recommendation  of  a  sub-committee,  to  which  the  whole  sub- 
ject of  warming  and  ventilating  the  school-rooms  had  been  referred.  The  fol- 
lowing is  the  recommendation  referred  to. 

"  Your  Committee  have  made  themselves  acquainted  not  only  with  all  the 
Furnaces  which  have  been  manufactured  in  this  place,  and  its  neighborhood, 
but  with  all  those  which  have  been  exhibited  here  recently.  Most  of  them 
show  much  ingenuity  of  contrivance  and  excellence  of  workmanship  ;  but  are 
all,  so  far  as  we  can  judge,  inferior,  in  many  respects,  to  the  one  invented  by 
Mr.  Chilson,  a  model  and  plans  of  which  we  now  exhibit,  and  recommend  as 
superior  to  all  others. 

It  is  simple  in  its  structure,  easily  managed,  will  consume  the  fuel  perfectly, 
and  with  a  moderate  fire.  It  is  fitted  for  wood  or  coal.  The  fire-place  is  broad 
and  shallow,  and  is  lined  with  soapstone  or  fire-brick,  which  not  only  makes  it 
perfectly  safe  and  durable,  but  modifies  very  materially  the  usual  effect  of  the 
fire  upon  the  iron  pot. 

The  principal  radiating  surfaces  are  wrought  iron,  of  a  suitable  thickness 
for  service,  while  at  the  same  time  the  heat  of  the  smallest  fire  is  communi- 
cated immediately  to  the  air-chamber.  The  mode  of  setting  this  Furnace  we 
consider  essential ;  more  especially  the  plan  of  admitting  the  air  to  the  furnace 
at  its  lowest  point,  as  it  then  rises  naturally  into  the  apartments  above.  This 
process  commences  as  soon  as  the  temperature  is  raised  even  a  single  degree. 
The  outer  walls  remain  cold ;  the  floor  above  is  not  endangered,  and  the  whole 
building  is  rapidly  filled  with  an  atmosphere  which  is  at  once  salubrious  and 
delightful." 

This  Ventilating  Furnace  may  be  seen  in  the  Mayhew,  Dwight,  Hancock, 
Boylston,  Bowdoin,  and  Ingraham  school-houses,  in  Boston ;  also  in  several 
new  school-houses  in  Cambridge,  Roxbury,  Dorchester,  Springfield,  in  the 
Blind  Asylum  and  House  of  Industry,  South  Boston,  and  in  hundreds  of  pri- 
vate houses  in  Boston  and  its  vicinity. 


318 


busiinell's  furnace  and  schcol-stove. 
Bushnell's  Hot  Air  Furnace. 


Patented  and  Manufactured  by  Ezra  Clark,  Jr.,  61  Front  street,  Hartford. 

This  invention  was  projected  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Bushnell,  of  Hartford,  Conn., 
for  his  own  use,  and  by  his  consent  patented  in  his  name,  though  he  disclaims 
having  or  retaining  any  legal  interest  in  it,  or  title  to  income  from  it. 

In  this  furnace  the  fire-pot  or  burner  differs  from  others,  in  the  fact  that  the 
feeding-trunk  opens  directly  into  the  fire,  close  upon  the  grate,  and  not  above 
the  fire,  allowing  the  fire  to  be  stirred  above  the  grate  a'nd  through  the  feeding- 
trunk  itself.  A  stiff  poker  is  pushed  under  the  fire,  along  the  top  of  the  grate, 
and  then  is  borne  down,  as  a  lever,  throwing  up  the  coals  and  allowing  the 
ashes  to  fall  through.  The  dead  coals  and  cinders  will  thus  be  thrown  up  by 
the  action  of  the  poker,  and  may  be  taken  off  by  a  claw  or  a  small  iron  rake. 
The  fire  being  cleared  in  this  way,  the  grate  need  never  be  dropped,  and  the 
dirty  process  of  riddling  will  be  avoided.  The  ash-door  being  always  shut 
when  the  fire  is  stirred,  the  tender  will  not  be  enveloped  in  a  cloud  of  ashes. 
The  fire,  too,  may  be  stirred  and  cleared  when  it  is  in  full  action,  as  well  as 
at  any  other  time,  and  the  coals  will  never  be  rattled  down  into  a  close  state 
by  the  agitation,  so  as  to  choke  the  fire,  but  will  always  be  thrown  up  into  a 
light  and  open  condition,  so  as  to  facilitate  the  combustion. 

The  radiating  part  of  this  furnace,  that  which  extracts  the  heat,  is  distin- 
guished by  the  fact  that  the  cold  air  is  passed  into  the  furnace  chamber  through 
horizontal  iron  tubes  or  trunks,  between  which,  as  composing  the  sides  of  up- 
right tubes  or  trunks,  the  hot  gas  of  the  fire  is  circulating  and  giving  up  its 
heat  as  it  passes  off  into  the  chimney ;  so  that  the  cold  air,  in  its  coldest  state, 
is  brought  in  direct  contact  with  the  heated  furnace,  and  is  actually  heated  be- 
fore it  escapes  into  the  chamber  of  the  furnace.  Whereas  if  the  heated  sur- 
face were  left  to  act  only  upon  the  mixed  and  already  half-heated  air  of  the 
chamber,  in  the  ordinary  way,  the  difference  of  temperature  between  it  and  the 
air  in  contact  would  be  smaller,  and  therefore  less  heat  be  given  out  by  the 
same  amount  of  surface. 

While,  too,  the  air  is  passing  one  way  to  be  heated  inside  the  iron  trunks,  the 
hot  gas  is  passing  the  other  way  to  be  cooled  on  the  outside,  that  is,  up  and 
down  the  upright  trunks,  and  thus  the  mean  difference  of  temperature  is  kept 
the  greatest  possible  at  every  point.  The  greatest  amount  of  heat  will  be 
communicated  in  this  way,  by  the  least  amount  of  iron  surface ;  that  is,  in  the 
cheapest  manner  possible.  Meantime  the  construction  is  such  that  the  radia- 
tor will  clear  itself,  never  requiring  to  be  disturbed  until  it  is  worn  out.  Thus 
it  may  stand  from  season  to  season,  always  ready  for  use. 

The  fire-pot  or  burner  can  be  furnished  with  or  without  soap-stone  or  fire- 
brick lining. 

Ezra  Clark,  Jr.,  also  manufactures  a  Ventilating  SchooLHouse  Stove,  in- 
vented by  Dr.  Bushnell,  and  constructed  on  the  same  principle  as  his  Hot  Air 
Furnace,  but  intended  to  burn  wood.  Fresh  air  is  introduced  from  outside  the 
building  by  a  flue  below  the  floor,  and  is  warmed  before  it  is  discharged  into 
the  school-room.  The  stove  is  placed  in  the  school-room,  and  occupies  a 
space  of  not  more  than  two  and  a  half  feet  square.  The  exterior  is  finished 
aa  a  handsome  style,  and  the  cost  is  low. 


APPARATUS. 

In  addition  to  che  necessary  furniture  of  a  school,  such  as  seats,  desks; 
and  other  fixtures  and  articles  required  for  the  accommodation  of  pupils 
and  teacher,  and  the  order  and  cleanliness  of  the  premises,  every  school- 
room should  be  furnished  with  such  apparatus  as  shall  enable  the  teacher 
to  employ  the  hand  and  eye  of  every  pupil  in  illustration  and  experiment 
so  far  as  may  be  practicable  and  desirable  in  the  course  of  instruction 
pursued  in  the  school.  It  is  therefore  important,  in  the  internal  arrange- 
ment of  a  school-house,  to  have  regard  to  the  safe-keeping,  display,  and 
use  of  such  apparatus  as  the  grade  of  the  school,  for  which  the  house  is 
intended,  may  require.  A  few  suggestions  will  therefore  be  made  on 
these  points,  and  in  aid  of  committees  and  trustees  in  selecting  apparatus. 

1.  In  a  large  school,  and  in  schools  of  the  highest  grade,  there  will  be 
need  of  a  separate  apartment  appropriated  to  the  safe-keeping  of  the 
apparatus,  and  in  some  departments  of  instruction,  for  the  proper  use  of 
the  same.  But  in  small  schools,  and  as  far  as  practicable  in  all  schools, 
maps,  diagrams,  and  other  apparatus,  should  be  in  view  of  the  school  at 
all  times. 

This  will  not  only  add  to  the  attractions  of  the  school,  and  make  the 
school-room  look  like  a  workshop  of  education,  but.  will  awaken  a  desire 
in  the  pupils  to  know  the  uses  of  the  various  articles,  and  to  become  ac- 
quainted with  the  facts  and  principles  which  can  thus  be  seen,  heard,  or 
handled. 

2.  Such  articles  as  are  liable  to  be  injured  by  dust,  or  handling,  must 
be  provided  with  an  appropriate  room,  or  a  case  of  sufficient  size,  having 
glazed  and  sliding  doors,  and  convenient  shelves. 

The  doors  should  not  be  glazed  to  the  floor,  on  account  of  liability  to 
breakage,  and  also  to  admit  of  drawers  for  maps  and  diagrams,  and  a 
closet  for  such  articles  as  may  be  uninteresting  or  unseemly  to  the  eye, 
although  useful  in  their  place. 

The  shelves  should  be  movable,  so  as  to  admit  of  additions  of  larger 
or  smaller  specimens  of  apparatus,  and  also  of  such  arrangement  as  the 
varying  tastes  of  different  teachers  may  require. 

3.  There  should  be  a  table,  with  a  level  top,  and  capable  of  being  made 
perfectly  firm,  unless  the  teacher's  desk  can  be  so,  for  the  teacher  to  place 
his  apparatus  on,  when  in  use. 

4.  The  apparatus  of  every  school-room  should  be  selected  with  refer- 
ence to  the  grade  of  schools  to  which  it  is  appropriated,  and  in  Primary 
and  District  schools  in  particular,  should  be  of  simple  construction  and 
convenient  for  use. 

5.  As  far  as  practicable,  the  real  object  in  nature  and  art,  and  not  a 
diagram,  or  model,  should  be  secured. 


320  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

The  following  list  of  articles  is  necessarily  very  imperfect,  but  it  may 
help  to  guide  committees  in  their  search  after  apparatus. 

Articles  indispensable  in  Schools  of  every  Grade. 

A  clock. 

The  cardinal  points  of  the  heavens  painted  on  the  ceiling,  or  on  the 
teacher's  platform,  or  the  floor  of  the  recitation  room. 

As  much  blackboard,  or  black  surface  on  the  walls  of  the  school-room, 
and  the  recitation  rooms,  as  can  be  secured.  A  portion  of  this  black  sur- 
face should  be  in  full  view  of  the  whole  school,  for  passing  explanations; 
and  another  portion  out  of  the  way,  within  reach  of  the  smallest  pupils. 
One  or  more  movable  blackboards,  or  large  slate,  with  one  or  more  mova- 
ble stands  or  supporters. 

All  the  appendages  to  a  blackboard,  such  as  chalk,  crayons,  and  a  rub- 
ber of  soft  cloth,  leather,  or  sheepskin,  and  a  pointer. 

An  inkstand,  fixed  into  the  desk,  with  a  lid,  and  with  a  pen-wiper  at- 
tached. 

A  slate,  iron-bound  at  the  corners,  and  covered  with  list,  or  India-rub- 
ber cloth,  for  every  desk,  with  a  pencil-holder  and  sponge  attached.  A 
few  extra  slates  for  the  use  of  the  youngest  pupils,  under  the  care  and 
at  the  discretion  of  the  teacher. 

A  map  of  the  district,  town,  county,  and  state. 

A  terrestrial  globe,  properly  mounted,  or  suspended  by  a  wire. 

The  measure  of  an  inch,  foot,  yard,  and  rod,  marked  off  on  the  edge  of 
the  blackboard,  or  on  the  wall. 

Real  measures  of  all  kinds,  linear,  superficial,  solid,  and  liquid ;  as  a 
foot-rule,  a  yard-stick,  quarts,  bushels,  an  ounce,  pound,  &c,  for  the  ex- 
ercise of  the  eye  and  hand. 

Vases  for  flowers  and  natural  grasses. 

Apparatus  for  a  Primary  or  District  School. 
The  apparatus  for  this  class  of  schools  cannot  be  specified  with  much 
minuteness,  because  the  ages  of  the  pupils,  and  the  modes  of  instruction 
vary  so  much  in  different  localities.     The  following  list  embraces  the  ar- 
ticles purchased  for  Primary  and  District  schools  in  Rhode  Island : 
Movable  Lesson  Posts.     These  are  from  three  and  a  half  to  four  feet 
high,  and  are  variously  made  of  wood,  and  of  cast-iron.     It 
consists,  when  made  of  wood,  of  an  upright  piece  of  plank 
from  two  to  three  inches  square  at  the  bottom,  and  dimin- 
ishing regularly  to  the  top,  where  it  is  one  inch,  inserted 
in  a  round  or  cross  base  broad  e  migh  to  support  the  lesson 
board,  or  card,  which  is  suspended   by  a  ring  on  a  hook  at 
or  near  the  top  of  the  post. 

J.  L.  Mott,  264,  Water  street,  New  York,  manufactures 
for  the  Primary  schools  of  the  Public  School  Society  of 
New  York,  a  very  neat  cast-iron  lesson  stand. 

Reading  Lessons.  Colored  Prints, .  and  Diagrams  of 
various  kinds,  such  as  of  animals,  costumes,  trades,  &c, 
pasted  on  boards  of  wood  or  strong  pasteboard  ;  some  with, 

tand  others   without  printed  descriptions  beneath;    to  be 
suspended  at  appropriate  times  on  the  lesson  stands,  for 
class  exercises,  and  at  other  times,  on  the  walls,  or  deposited 
in  their  appropriate  places. 
In  this  list  should  be  included  the  numeration  table,  ta 
bles  for  reading  arithmetical  marks,  easy  lessons,  geometri 
cal  figures,  punctuation  marks,  outline  maps,  &c. 


SCHOOL  APPARATUS. 


321 

The  Gonigraph  is  a  small  instrument  composed  of  a  number  of  flat  rods 
connected  by  pivots,  which  can  be  put  into  all  possible  geometrical  figures 
that  consist  of  straight  lines  and  angles,  as  triangles,  squares,  pentagons, 
hexagons,  octagons,  &c. 


v==y 


The  Arithmeticon,  represented  in  the  annexed  cut,  is  a  most  useful  in- 
strument. In  an  oblong  open  frame,  twelve  rows  of  wooden  balls,  alter- 
nately black  and  white,  and  of  the  size  of  a  nutmeg  or  small  walnut,  and 
twelve  in  each  row,  are  strung  like  beads  on  strong  wires.  The  instru- 
ment, when  fixed  to  a  stand,  is  about  four  feet  high,  the  frame  being  one- 
fourth  part  broader  than  it  is  high.  It  may  be  made  much  smaller,  as 
in  the  cut.  When  it  is  used  to  exercise  the  children  in  arithmetic,  the 
teacher  or  monitor  stands  behind,  and  slides  the  balls  along  the  wires  from 
his  left  to  his  right,  calling  out  the  number  he  shifts,  as,  twice  two  are 
four,  thrice  two  are  six,  shifting  first  four  balls,  and  then  two  more.  As 
the  children  are  apt  to  confuse  the  balls  remaining  with  those  shifted,  a 
thin  board  covers  half  the  surface  on  the  side  next  the  children,  as  marked 
by  a  line  down  the  centre,  so  that  they  see  only  the  balls  shifted  to  the 
open  side. 


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Holbrookes  Scientific  Apparatus  embraces  a  variety  of  articles  which1 
will  be  found  highly  useful  in  the  District  school,  in  which  both  the  older 
and  younger  pupils  of  the  districts  are  ordinarily  gathered  at  the  same 
time,  and  under  one  teacher. 

The  following  articles  constitute  a  set  which  costs  $14.75,  including  a 
neat  box  with  lock  and  key i 

Tellurian;  Suspension  Orrery;  Gear  or  Wheel  Orrery  with  metal 
wheels  j  Globe  $  Orbit  Plain ;  Numerical  Frame ;  Geometrical  Forms 

21 


322  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

and  'Solids  ;  Twenty-Jive  Geological  Specimens ;  Geometry  ;  Scale  and 
Triangle;  Block  to  illustrate  Cube  Roots ;  Geometrical  Chart;  Manu- 
script Letters :  Text  Book. 

Mr.  Josiah  Holbrook  of  New  York,  whose  name  was  originally  con- 
nected with  this  set  of  apparatus,  and  with  which,  as  manufactured  under 
his  direction,  we  are  familiar,  disclaims  at  this  time  (1848)  any  responsi- 
bility for  the  articles  manufactured  by  Holbrook  &  Co.,  of  Ohio. 

This  gentleman,  so  long  and  so  favorably  known  from  his  connection 
with  Lyceums,  and  elementary  instruction,  is  now  residing  in  New  York, 
and  has  an  office  in  the  Hall  of  the  Public  School  Society.  There,  in 
connection  with  Mr.  Seton,  and  two  very  ingenious  workmen,  (Messrs. 
Riker,)  he  is  now  getting  up  apparatus  "which  shall  be  simple,  easily 
used,  readily  understood,  not  liable  to  get  out  of  order,  and  durable." 
The  following  is  a  list  of  articles  already  prepared  for  Primary  Schools  : 

A  Geological  Cabinet. ,  Geometricals,  embracing  plain  figures,  solids,  models 
of  crystals,  illustrations  of  insect  architecture  and  human  mechanism,  trans- 
posing and  revolving  figures,  all  illustrated  with  cuts  and  explanations  ;  a  globe 
with  maps  of  the  world  and  United  Stales ;  numeral  frame ;  a  simple  lever, 
with  weights;  a  syphon  and  glass  pump,  showing  the  weight  of  the  atmosphere 
in  raising  water;  an  air  bulb,  showing  the  expansive  power  of  heat,  simply  by 
the  hand;  a  simple  permanent  magnet;  also  an  electro-magnet,  a  microscope, 
a  simple  orrery,  and  First  Drawing  Book  for  children,  are  among  the  instru- 
ments fitted  to  make  clear,  distinct,  correct  and  lasting  first  impressions  upon 
young  minds,  before  reading-lessons  or  the  letters  of  the  alphabet  can  be  ren- 
dered intelligible  to  them. 

To  teach  Geography  and  History  properly,  the  following  maps  are 
desirable : 

Map  or  plan  of  the  school-room,  yard,  &c. 
Map  or  plan  of  the  District  or  Village. 
Map  or  plan  of  the  Town,  County,  and  State. 
Map  of  the  United  States. 
Map  of  North  America. 
Map  of  Europe. 
Map  of  the  World. 
Map  of  Palestine. 

Map  of  the  countries  mentioned  in  the  Bible  and  in  ancient  history. 
Map  of  Europe  during  the  middle  ages. 

Fitch's      Chirography,  or  plates  and  instruction  in  map-drawing. 
Series  of  Outline  Maps",  published  by  J.  H.  Mather  &  Co.,  Hartford,  Ct 
A  selection  from  Borgaus  &  Johnston's  Physical  Atlas,  published  in 
Edinburgh  in  1847,  viz. 

Rivers  in  America. 

Rivers  in  Europe  and  Asia. 

Mountain  chains  in  North  and  South  America. 

Mountain  chains  in  Europe  and  Asia. 

Regions  of  Earthquakes  and  Volcanoes. 

Geological  Map  of  America. 

Geological  Map  of  Europe. 

Distribution  of  Food-plants  over  the  world. 

Distribution  of  Animals. 

Distribution  of  Man. 
Colton's  Historical  Chart. 
Willard's  Map  of  Time. 
Mattison's  Astronomical  Maps. 
Page's  Normal  Chart  of  Elementary  Sounds. 


SCHOOL  APPARATUS. 


323 


Fulton's  Chirographic  Charts. 
Green's  Analysis  of  Sentences. 
Henry's  Family  and  School  Monitor. 
Wickham's  Drawing  Tablets. 


Apparatus  for  Grammar  Schools. 

The  School  Committee  of  Boston,  in  1847,  adopted  the  following  arti- 
cles as  a  set  of  Philosophical  Apparatus  for  the  Grammar  schools,  which 
was  selected  and  classified  by  Mr.  Wightman,  whose  long  experience  in 
manufacturing  apparatus  for  schools  of  every  grade,  admirably  qualified 
him  for  the  work : 


Laws  of  Matter. 

Apparatus  for  illustrating  Inertia. 

Pair  of  Lead  Hemispheres,  for  Co- 
hesion. 

Pair  of  Glass  Plates,  for  Capillary 
Attraction. 

Laws  of  Motion. 

Ivory  Balls  on  Stand,  for  Collision. 
Set  of  eight  illustrations  for  Centre 

of  Gravity. 
Sliding  Frame,  for  Composition  of 

Forces. 
Apparatus  for  illustrating  Central 

Forces. 


Mechanics. 

Complete  set  of  Mechanicals,  con- 
sisting of  Pulleys ;  Wheel  and 
Axle ;  Capstan ;  Screw ;  Inclined 
Plane ;  Wedge. 

Hydrostatics. 

Bent  Glass  Tube,  for  Fluid  Level. 
Mounted  Spirit  Level. 
Hydrometer  and  Jar,   for   Specific 

Gravity. 
Scales  and   Weights,  for   Specific 

Gravity. 
Hydrostatic  Bellows,  and  Paradox. 

Hydraulics. 

Lifting,  or  Common  Water  Pump. 
Forcing  Pump ;  illustrating  the  Fire 

Engine. 
Glass  Syphon  Cup ;  for  illustrating 

Intermitting  Springs. 
Glass  and  Metal  Syphons. 


Pneumatics. 

Patent  Lever  Air  Pump  and  Clamp. 

Three  Glass  Bell  Receivers,  adapt- 
ed to  the  Apparatus. 

Condensing  and  Exhausting  Syr- 
inge. 

Copper  Chamber,  for  Condensed 
Air  Fountain. 

Revolving  Jet  and  Glass  Barrel. 

Fountain  Glass,  Cock,  and  Jet  for 
Vacuum. 

Brass  Magdeburg  Hemispheres. 

Improved  Weight  Lifter  for  upward 
pressure. 

Iron  Weight  of  56  lbs.  and  Strap 
Flexible  Tube  and  Connectors 
for  Weight  Lifter. 

Brass  Plate  and  Sliding  Rod. 

Bolt  Head  and  Jar. 

Tall  Jar  and  Balloon. 

Hand  and  Bladder  Glasses. 

Wood  Cylinder  and  Plate. 

India  Rubber  Bag,  for  expansion  of 
air. 

Guinea  and  Feather  Apparatus. 

Glass  Flask  and  Stop-Cock,  for 
weighing  air. 

Electricity. 

Plate   Electrical  Machine. 
Pith  Ball  Electrometer. 
Electrical  Battery  of  four  Jars. 
Electrical  Discharger. 
Image  Plates  and   Figure. 
Insulated   Stool. 
Chime   of  Bells. 
Miser's   Plate,  for  shocks. 
Tissue  Figure,  Ball  and  Point. 
Electrical  Flyer  and  Tellurian. 
Electrical  Sportsman,  Jar  and  Birds. 
Mahogany    Thunder    House    and 
Pistol. 


324 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


Hydrogen  Gas  Generator. 
Chains,  Balls  of  Pith,  and  Amal- 
gam. 

Optics. 

Glass  Prism ;  and  pair  of  Lenses. 
Dissected   Eye  Ball,    showing  its 
arrangement. 

Magnetism. 

Magnetic  Needle  on  Stand. 
Pair  of  Magnetic  Swans. 
Glass  Vase  for  Magnetic  Swans. 
Horseshoe  Magnet. 


Astronomy. 

Improved  School  Orrery. 
Tellurian,  or,  Season  Machine. 

Arithmetic,  and  Geometry. 

Set  of  13   Geometrical  Figures  of 

Solids. 
Box  of  64  one  inch  Cubes,  for  Cube 

Root,  &c. 

Auxiliaries. 

Tin  Oiler. 

Glass  Funnel. 
Sulphuric  Acid. 

Set  of  Iron  Weights  for  Hydrostatic 
Paradox. 


Apparatus  for  High  Schools. 

The  articles  of  Apparatus  for  a  High  School,  will  depend  on  the  extent 
to  which  such  studies  as  Natural  Philosophy,  Chemistry,  &c,  are  carried, 
and  to  the  amount  of  money  which  can  be  expended.  We  have  drawn 
up  several  such  lists,  and  in  doing  so  have  been  governed  by  the  circum- 
stances mentioned.  As  the  best  guide  to  committees  and  teachers,  we 
shall  publish  in  another  place,  under  the  head  of  Priced  Catalogues,  &c. 
lists  of  such  articles  as  can  be  purchased  for  sums  of  money  varying  from 
$50  to  $1000. 


MITCHELL'S  OUTLINE  MAPS, 

PUBLISHED   BY 

3  H.  MATHER  &  CO.,  HARTFORD:   H.  H.  HAWLEY,  &  CO.,  UTICA. 


MITCHELL'S  OUTLINE  MAPS,    REVISED  AND  IMPROVED. 


This  series  of  Maps  have  been  thoroughly  revised  and  improved ;  being  ac- 
companied with  a  Manual  of  Geography,  combining  a  key  to  the  Maps. 
This  revised  series  consists  of  the  following  Maps. 


No.  5.  Europe, 
"    6.  Asia, 
"    7.  Africa. 
"    8.  Oceanica, 


4  sheets, 
1     " 
1     " 
1     " 


No.  1.  Hemispheres,  2  sheets, 

"    2.  North  America,  1     " 

"    3.  U.  States  &  Mexieo,  4     " 

"    4.  South  America,  1     " 

These  Maps  and  Manual  taken  in  connection,  form  a  system  of  elementary 
instruction  in  Geogrephy  and  Map-drawing,  independently  of  other  text  books. 
These  maps  on  a  reduced  seale  are  introduced  in  the  revised  edition  of  the 
Manual,  by  which  the  method  of  outline  instruction  ean  be  fully  carried  into 
effect. 

One  set  of  these  maps  for  the  school-room,  and  one  manual  to  eaeh  scholar, 
In  the  class,  enables  the  teachers  thoroughly  to  instruct  the  whole  class  simul- 
taneously. 

The  maps  are  backed  with  substantial  bleached  cloth,  the  coasts  water-lined, 
and  the  whole  beautifully  colored,  and  cased  in  a  portfolio,  accompanied  by 
one  manual  for  the  teacher. 

Price  per  set  $8. — Extra  Manuals  of  Geography  and  Key,  30  cents. 


MITCHELL'S  ORIGINAL  SERIES  OF  OUTLINE  MAPS. 

This  set  of  outlines,  being  the  first  and  only  full  series  embracing  separate 
State  Maps,  has  been  introduced  into  every  State  in  the  Union. 
This  series  is  arranged  in  the  following  order. 

No.  1.  The  world  represented  by   Hemis- 


2  sheets, 
1 


ts 


H 


pheres, 
"    2.  North  America, 
"     3.  U.  States  and  Territor's.  )  , 
"    4.  Mexico  and  Guatimala,   ) 
"    5.  Maine,  I 

u  6.  N.  Hampshire  and  Vt.  1 
"  7.  Mass.  R.  Island  and  Conn.  1 
"    8.  New  York,  1 

"  9.  N.  Jersey,  Penn.  and  Del.  1 
"  10.  Maryland  and  Virginia,  1 
"  11.  North  &  South  Carolina,  1 
"  12.  G«o.  Ala.  and  Florida,        1 

The  State  Maps  may  be  profitably  used  in  connection  with  the  revised  series, 
by  the  addition  of  one  key  to  the  full  set.  One,  or  any  number  of  the  State 
Maps,  will  be  supplied  to  order. 

Price  of  full  series,  $15. — Key  25  cents. — A  liberal  discount  to  the  trade 


No.  13.  Mississippi,  Louisiana  and 
sas, 
"  14.  Kentucky  and  Tennessee, 
"  15.  Ohio, 

"  16.  Indiana  and  Illinois, 
'•  17.  Michig'n  &  pt.  of  Wisc'n, 
"  18.  Missouri  and  part  of  Iowa, 
"  19.  South  America, 
"  20.  Europe, 

"  20.  Ex.Cent.andSouth'n.  Eu. 
"  21.  Asia, 
"  22.  Africa, 
"  23.  Oceanica, 


Arkan- 
sheet. 


326 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


VALE'S  GLOBE  AND  TRANSPARENT  SPHERE, 


Vale's  Globe  and  Transparent  Sphere,  -which  is  but  imperfectly  repre- 
sented in  the  above  drawing,  aims  to  accomplish  a  much  desired  object,  the 
conjunction  of  the  Terrestrial  and  Celestial  Globe,  on  so  simple  a  principle  that 
without  cogs  or  wheels,  all  the  apparent  and  real  motions  of  the  earth  and 
neavens  can  be  illustrated.  It  therefore  presents  great  facilities  for  pursuing 
together  the  study  of  Geography  and  Astronomy,  which  cannot  be  separated 
without  injury  to  each  other. 

The  outer  circle  supports  the  instrument.  In  this,  the  axis  slides,  by  which 
the  instrument  is  adjusted.  This  circle  is  capable  of  a  swivel  motion,  by 
which  the  antipodes,  and  the  seasons  in  relation  to  diiferent  positions  of  the  spec- 
tator, can  be  easily  exhibited. 


VALE'S  AND  CORNELL'S  GLOBES  327 

The  sphere  just  within  the  outer  circle,  represents  the  great  circles  of  the 
Heavens,  as  the  meridians,  equator,  ecliptic,  with  the  poles,  &c.  On  this  sphere 
can  be  placed  at  pleasure,  transparent  sections  of  the  Celestial  Sphere,  which 
are  not  shown  in  the  above  drawing.  One  or  more  quarter  sections  can  be  used 
at  a  time,  by  which  the  stars  can  be  seen  within  the  sphere,  or  as  they  appear 
to  the  earth  in  a  concave  heaven,  or  sphere.  On  this  transparent  celestial  globe, 
the  places  of  the  planets  and  moon  can  be  represented  by  wafers,  and  as  the 
sphere  revolves,  their  apparent  daily  motions  and  their  exact  places  for  every 
hour,  can  be  shown. 

The  solid  globe  within  the  sphere,  represents  the  Earth.  The  globe  will 
move  on  its  axis  to  represent  the  real  daily  motion  of  the  earth.  To  this  globe 
is  attached  a  small  Meridian,  on  which  is  placed  a  broad  surface  extending 
from  the  earth  within,  to  the  sphere  without,  by  which  the  horizon  is  represented 
to  a  little  traveller  attached  to  the  upper  surface  of  the  meridian.  The  trav- 
eller can  move  to  any  part  of  the  surface  of  the  earth,  and  the  horizon  moves 
with  him,  thus  dividing  the  heavens  into  the  visible  and  invisible  parts  to  such 
traveller,  and  thereby  representing  the  earth  and  heavens  as  they  really  appear. 

A  quadrant  accompanies  the  globe,  but  it  is  attached  to  the  heavens,  and  not 
to  the  earth.  It  has  a  swivel  motion,  and  thus  will  serve  to  measure  the  alti- 
tude of  the  sun,  &c,  at  all  times. 

The  best  fitted  up  Globes  have  a  compass  above  the  stand,  and  also  a  horizon- 
tal motion,  in  the  joint  of  the  stand,  which  is  very  convenient  in  large  instru- 
ments, as  it  enables  the  teacher  to  turn  the  instrument,  without  passing  round 
it  himself. 

The  instrument  is  accompanied  by  wires,  by  which  it  can  be  converted  into  a 
Planetarium.  By  elevating  the  North  end  of  the  axis  23i  degrees,  and  by  bring- 
ing the  traveller  under  the  arctic  circle,  and  by  turning  the  Sphere  till  the  eclip- 
tic coincides  with  the  horizon,  the  instrument  will  be  converted  into  a  planeta- 
rium, for  the  Globe  within  may  represent  the  sun,  the  ecliptic  the  real  passage 
of  the  Earth,  and  the  horizon  the  plane  of  the  ecliptic,  and  the  different  wires 
will  represent  the  orbits  of  both  the  inferior  and  superior  planets. 

With  equal  simplicity  the  instrument  can  be  used  as  a  Tellurian,  or  be 
converted  into  a  Sun  Dial,  and  by  it  the  principles  of  Dialing  can  be  explained. 

This  instrument  is  accompanied  by  a  pamphlet  containing  all  the  instructions 
for  its  use;  and  by  a  larger  book,  explanatory  of  the  elements  of  Astronomy, 
and  embracing  all  the  problems  of  "Keith  on  the  Globes,"  worked  out  on  this 
Globe  and  Sphere. 

The  above  instrument  is  manufactured  by  G.  Vale  &  Son,  No.  3,  Franklin 
Square,  (Pearl  street,)  New  York.  Prices,  common  size,  for  schools  and 
families,  from  $25  to  $30,  packed.  For  High  Schools  and  Institutes,  from  $75 
to  $95 ;  packing  extra. 


CORNELL'S 

IMPROVED  TERRESTRIAL  GLOBE. 

The  peculiarities  of  Cornell's 
Terrestrial  Globe  consist  in  repre- 
senting the  plane  of  the  ecliptic  in 
its  true  relative  position,  in  whatever 
position  the  globe  may  be  placed; 
and  in  having  a  day-circle  turning  on 
an  axis,  by  which  the  line  between 
day  and  night  may  be  shown  for  any 
day  in  the  calendar  to  which  the  in- 
dex may  be  turned. 

The  leading  principles  of  Geogra- 
phy and  Astronomy  may  be  illustra- 
ted on  this  globe,  and  the  most  im- 
portant problems  satisfactorily  solved. 

This  Globe  is  manufactured  in  Ro- 
chester, by  S.  Cornell,  and  is  sold  in 
all  of  the  large  cities,  for  $3  at  retail. 


§28  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

J.  H.  COLTON'S  MAPS,  CHAKTS,  &c, 

86  Cedar  street  New  Yor&. 

Colton's  Illustrated  and  Embellished  Steel  Plate  Map  of  the  World, 
on  Mercator's  Projection,  exhibiting  the  recent  Arctic  and  Antarctic  Dis- 
eoveries  and  Explorations,  &c,  &e. — 6  sheets,  80  by  60,  $10,00. 

The  Book  of  the  World,  containing  Geographical,  Historical,  and  Sta- 
tistical Descriptions  of  all  the  Countries  in  the  World,  illustrated  with  valua- 
ble Maps  and  Charts — in  2  volumes,.  1400  pages  octavo,  $5,00. 

Colton's  Map  of  the  World  on  Mercator's  Projection  reduced  from 
the  larger,  beautifully  engraved  on  copper — 1  sheet,  32  by  50  inches,  $1,25. 

Map  of  the.  Countries  mentioned' in.  the  New  Testament,  and  the  Tray- 
els  of  the  Apostles,  with  Ancient  and  Modern  Names,  from  the  most  authen- 
tic sources. — 1  sheet,  32  by  25,  $1,25. 

Map  of  Palestine,  from  the  latest  authorities,  chiefly  from  the  Maps  and 
drawings  of  Robinson  and  Smith,  with  corrections  and  additions  furnished  by 
the  Rev.  Dr.  E.  Robinson,  with  plans  of  Jerusalem,  and  the  journeyings  of  the 
Israelites. — 4  sheets,  80  by  62,  $6,00. 

Map  of  Palestine,  from  the  latest  authorities,  chiefly  from  the  Maps  and 
drawings  of  Robinson  and  Smith,  with  corrections  and  additions  furnished  by 
the  Rev.  Dr.  E.  Robinson,  with  a  plan  of  Jerusalem,  and  of  the  vicinity  of  Jertb~ 
salem.—2  sheets,  43  by  32,  $2,50.     Portable,.  $1 ,50. 

Map  of  Egypt,  the  Peninsula  of  Mt..  Sinai,  Arabia,  Petrea,  with  the  south- 
ern part  of  Palestine,  compiled  from  the  latest  authorities ;  showing  the  jour- 
neyings of  the  Children  of  Israel  from  Egypt  to  the  Holy  Land. — 1  sheet,  32 
by  25,  $1,50. 

Map  of  Europe,  by  J.  Pinkerton,  London,revised  and  corrected  from  the  latesi 
authorities. — 1  sheet,  32  by  25, $1,50. 

Map  of  France,  Belgium,  and  the  adjacent  countries,  by  J.  Pinkerton,  Lon- 
don, revised  and  corrected  from  the  latest  authorities. — 1  sheet,  32  by  25,  $1,50, 

Map  of  Asia,  by  J.  Pinkerton,  London,  revised  and  corrected  from  the  latest 
authorities. — 1  sheet,  32  by  25,  $1,50. 

Map  of  Africa,  by  J,  Pinkerton,  London,  revised  and  corrected  from  the 
latest  authorities. — 1  sheet,  32  by  25,  $1,50. 

Map  of  North  America,  from  the  latest  authorities. — 1  sheet,  29  by  26,  $1,25. 
Portable,  75ets. 

Map  of  South  America,  by  J.  Pinkerton,  London,  revised  and  corrected  from 
the  latest  authorities. — 1  sheet,  32  by  25,  $1,50. 

Map  of  the  West  Indies  and  Adjacent  Coasts,  by  J.  Pinkerton,  London, 
revised  and  corrected  from  the  latest  authorities. — 1  sheet,  32  by  25,  $1,50. 

Map  of  the  West  Indies,  with  part  of  Guatemala.  By  David  H.  Burr  — 
1  sheet,  26  by  22,  $1,00. 

A  Map  of  the  United  States,  the  British  Provinces,  Mexico  and  the 
West  Indies,  showing  the  country  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  Oeean.  Ex- 
traordinary pains  has  been  taken  to  make  this  Map  perfectly  reliable  and  au- 
thentic in  all  respects.  It  is  engraved  on  steel  in  the  best  style  of  the  art,  and 
is  a  very  perfect  Map  of  the  inhabited  portions  of  North  America.  In  schools 
and  seminaries  especially,  it  deserves  to  take  precedence  of  all  Maps  hereto- 
fore published  in  this  country. — 4  sheets,  6>2  by  55,  $5,00. 

Map  of  the  United  States  the  British  Provinces,  with  parts  of  Mexico 
and  the  West  Iudies — 1  sheets,  48  by  38,  $2,00. 

Map  of  the  United  States  of  America,  the  British  Provinces,  Mexico, 
the  West  Indies  and  Central  America,  with  parts  of  New  Granada  and 
Venezuela.  This  Map  has  been  most  carefully  compiled,  and  contains  much 
new  and  interesting  information,  it  is  highly  embellished  and  beautifully  ea» 
graved  on  steel. — 2  sheets,  45  by  36,  $2,50. 


COLTON'S  MAPS,  CHARTS,  &c.  329 

Map  of  the  State  op  New-York,  with  parts  of  the  adjacent  country,  embra- 
cing plans  of  the  Cities  and  some  of  the  larger  villages.  By  David  H.  Burr  — 
6  sheets,  60  by  50,  84,00. 

Map  op  the  City  and  County  of  New-York,  Brooklyn,  Williamsburgh, 
Jersey  City,  and  the  Adjacent  Waters. — 3  plates,  56  by  32,  $3,00. 

Map  of  the  State  of  Indiana,  compiled  from  the  United  States  Surveys,  by 
S.  D.  King;  exhibiting  the  sections  and  fractional  sections,  situation  and  boun- 
daries of' Counties,  the  location  of  Cities,  Villages  and  Post  Offices — Canals, 
Raiiroads  and  other  internal  improvements,  &c.  &c. — 6  sheets,  66  by  48,  $10,00. 

Map  of  the  State  of  Kentucky.  By  Dr.  Luke  Munsell. — 4  sheets,  53  by 
41,  $5,00. 

Sectional  Map  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  compiled  from  the  United  States 
Surveys.  Also,  exhibiting  the  internal  improvements;  distances  between 
Towns,  Villages  and  Post  Offices;  the  outlines  of  praries,  woodlands,  marshes, 
and  the  lands  donated  to  the  State  by  the  General  Government,  for  the  purpose  oi 
internal  improvements.  By  J.  M.  Peck,  John  Messinger  and  A.  J.  Mathew- 
son— 2  sheets,  43  by 32,  $2,50.    Portable,  $1,50. 

Map  of  the  Surveyed  Part  of  the  State  of  Michigan.  By  John  Fanner, 
1  sheet,  35  by  25,  $2,00.     Portable,  $1,50. 

The  Family  and  School  Monitor,  an  Educational  Chart,  by  James  Henry, 
Jr.  In  this  Chart  the  fundamental  maxims  in  Education,  Physical,  Moral  and 
Intellectual,  are  presented  in  such  a  manner,  as  to  fix  the  attention  and  impress 
the  memory.  It  cannot  fail  to  be  eminently  useiul ;  indeed,  we  believe  the  pub- 
lic will  regard  it  as  indispensable  to  every  family  and  school  in  our  country. — 2 
sheets,  42  by  32,  $1,50. 

Stream  of  Time,  or  Chart  of  Universal  History,  from  the  original  Ger- 
man of  Strauss,  revised  by  D.  Haskell. — 2  sheets,  48  by  32,  $2,50. 

A  Chronological  View  of  the  World,  exhibiting  the  leading  events  of  Uni- 
versal History;  the  origin  and  progress  of  the  arts  and  sciences,  the  obituary  of 
distinguished  men,  and  the  periods  in  which  they  nourished,  together  with  an 
account  of  the  appearance  of  comets,  and  a  complete  view  of  the  fall  of  meteoric 
stones  in  all  ages,  collected  chiefly  from  the  article  "  Chronology"  in  the  New 
Edinburgh  Encyclopedia,  edited  by  Sir  David  Brewster,  LL.  D.,  F.  R.  S.,  with 
an  enlarged  view  of  important  events,  particularly  in  regard  to  American  History, 
and  a  continuation  to  the  present  time,  collected  from  authentic  sources,  by 
Daniel  Haskell,  A.  M.,  Editor  of  McCullochs'  Universal  Gazetteer,  and  au- 
thor of  the  articles  relating  to  the  United  States  in  the  American  edition,  pp. 
267.    Book,  75cts. 

Missionary  Map  of  the  World,  presenting  to  the  eye,  at  one  view,  the  moral 
and  religious  condition  of  the  world,  and  the  effects  that  are  now  making  for 
its  evangelization.  It  is  so  colored  that  all  the  principal  religions  of  the  World, 
with  the  countries  in  which  they  prevail,  and  their  relation,  position  and  extent, 
are  distinguished  at  once,  together  with  the  principal  stations  of  the  various 
Missionary  Societies  in  our  own  and  other  countries.  It  is  on  cloth,  each  hem- 
isphere six  feet  in  diameter,  and  both  printed  on  one  piece  of  clolh'at  one  impres- 
sion, making  a  map  with  borders  160  by  80  inches,  and  so  finished  that  it  may 
be  easily  folded  and  conveyed  from  place  to  place,  and  suspended  in  any  large 
room.— 160  by  80,  $10,00. 

Portraits  of  the  Presidents,  and  Declaration  of  Independence. — 1  sheet, 
42  by  31,  $1,50. 

Chart  of  Rivers  and  Mountains,  showing  the  comparative  heights  of 
Mountains,  lengths  of  Rivers,  &c. — 1  sheet,  32  by  50  inches,  $1,25. 

Chart  of  National  Flags,  beautifully  colored,  27  by  25  inches,  $1,25. 


330  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

MITCHELL'S  NATIONAL  MAPS,  && 

North  East  Corner  of  Market  and  Seventh  sts.,  Philadelphia. 

The  subscriber  has  issued  greatly  Improved  Editions  of  his  large  Map  op  the 
World,  and  Reference  and  Distance  Map  of  the  United  States.  These 
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public, or  United  States  of  North  America,  are,  in  point  of  accuracy  and 
execution,  fully  equal,  in  every  respect,  to  any  Maps  hitherto  published  in  this 
country;  while  the  price  has  been  very  materially  reduced. 

The  Map  of  the  World,  on  Mercator's  Projection,  is  the  largest  and  most 
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sheets,  and  is  engraved,  printed,  colored,  and  mounted  in  the  most  elegant 
manner.  The  size  of  the  Map  is  six  feet  six  inches  from  East  to  West,  and 
four  feet  six  inches  from  North  to  South.  In  its  geographical  details,  this  Map 
represents  the  surface  of  the  earth  as  it  really  exists,  according  to  the  best  au- 
thorities; the  routes  and  tracks  of  the  most  celebrated  travellers  and  naviga- 
tors, from  the  first  voyage  of  Columbus,  to  that  of  Lieutenant  Wilkes,  are  dis- 
tinctly exhibited,  and  all  the  recent  Geographical  and  Nautical  Discoveries  in 
Africa,  America,  and  Australia,  and  in  the  Pacific,  Arctic,  and  Antarctic 
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ered by  the  United  States  Exploring  Expedition,  in  the  year  1840.  Accompa- 
nying the  Map  of  the  World  is  a  book  of  600  pages,  containing  a  Consulting 
Index,  by  the  use  of  which  any  item  represented  on  the  Map  may  be  readily 
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Republics,  &c,  &c,  on  the  Globe.     Price  eight  dollars. 

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on  a  scale  of  25  miles  to  an  inch,  comprising  the  various  States,  Counties, 
Townships,  &c,  in  the  Union ;  the  principal  travelling  routes,  with  the  dis- 
tances in  miles,  from  place  to  place ;  and  also  the  most  important  Canals,  Rail- 
roads, &c.  The  size  of  this  Map  is  six  feet  two  inches  from  East  to  West,  and 
four  feet  ten  inches  from  North  to  South.  The  accompanying  volume  of  400 
pages,  octavo,  includes  indexes  of  the  Counties,  Towns,  Rivers,  &c,  in  the 
United  States,  by  the  use  of  which,  in  connection  with  the  Map,  any  place  rep- 
resented on  the  latter  may  be  easily  found.  There  is  likewise  appended  to 
the  Accompaniment  a  general  description  of  the  United  States,  and  the  several 
States  and  Territories;  a  Synopsis  of  the  Census  of  1840,  alphabetically  ar- 
ranged, besides  various  items  of  useful  and  interesting  Statistical  information. 
Price  seven  dollars. 

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and  distinctness  of  its  lettering  and  engraving,  and  the  richness  of  its  col- 
oring. This  Map  measures  four  feet  two  inches  from  East  to  West,  by  three 
feet  six  inches  from  North  to  South.  Surrounding  the  general  Map  are  smaller 
Maps  of  thirty-two  of  the  principal  Cities  and  Towns,  with  their  vicinities ; 
also,  other  useful  matter.     Price  two  dollars. 

Mitchell's  Universal  Atlas,  containing  Maps  of  the  various  Empires, 
Kingdoms,  States  and  Republics  of  the  World,  with  a  special  Map  of  each  of 
the  United  States,  Plans  of  Cities,  &c,  comprehended  in  seventy-three  sheets, 
and  forming  a  series  of  one  hundred  and  seventeen  Maps,  Plans,  and  Sections. 

In  order  to  bring  this  valuable  and  comprehensive  Atlas  more  generally 
within  the  reach  of  the  public,  the  price  has  been  reduced  from  fourteen  to  ten 
dollars.  The  plates  (costing  more  than  twelve  thousand  dollars)  have  been  much 
improved,  and  the  edition  now  offered,  is  believed  to  be,  according  to  its  extent, 
correctness,  and  state  of  execution,  the  cheapest  work  of  the  kind  ever  pub- 
lished in  the  United  States. 

S.  AUGUSTUS  MITCHELL. 


CHAMBERLAIN'S 

PRICE  CATALOGUE. 


The  following1  catalogue  of  apparatus  has  been  introduced,  not  so  much 
to  show  where  such  instruments  can  be  obtained,  as  to  answer  the  frequent 
inquiry,  What  assortment  of  philosophical  apparatus  would  be  well  adapted 
to  our  school  or  academy,  and  what  would  it  cost  ? 

In  the  lists  have  been  marked  such  articles  as  constitute  a  well-arranged 
set  of  apparatus  ;  affording  as  many,  if  not  more  important  illustrations  in 
these  branches  of  science  than  can  be  obtained  by  any  other  combination 
of  instruments  or  sets  of  apparatus  comprising  the  same  number  of  articles. 
The  economy  of  the  selection  and  arrangement  will  be  understood  and 
appreciated  by  those  familiar  with  the  use  of  philosophical  instruments, 
when  we  say  that  no  less  than  twenty  of  the  pneumatic  instruments,  in 
set  marked  3,  for  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  may  be  used  in  connection 
with  the  electric,  adding  some  thirty-five  good  experiments  in  the  latter 
branch  of  science ;  while  some  fifteen  of  the  pneumatic  and  several  of  the 
electric  instruments  may  be  transferred  to,  and  used  in  connection  with,  the 
chemical  apparatus,  increasing  considerably  the  number  and  importance  of 
the  experiments. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  sets  are  composed  chiefly  of  such  instruments  aa 
are  absolutely  essential  to  give  a  ready  and  clear  illustration  of  the  prin- 
ciples designed  to  be  taught;  that  is,  a  machine  is  not  employed  when  the 
idea  can  as  well  be  given  on  the  blackboard.  On  this  point  we  find  a  great 
difference  of  opinion ;  while  one  requires  an  apparatus,  or  fixture  for  each 
experiment,  and  thinks  that  a  very  incomplete  assortment  which  does  not 
include  at  least  one  instrument  for  each  illustration,  another  perfects 
many  experiments  with  a  single  instrument,  or  at  least,  secures  three,  four 
or  more  complete  illustrations  by  the  use  of  two  simple  instruments. 


332  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

In  the  selection  of  instruments  composing  the  several  sets,  it  has  been 
sought  to  multiply  experiments  by  bringing  together  such  branches  of 
science  as  admit  of  the  instruments  in  each  being  properly  constructed, 
and  yet  well  adapted  for  illustrations  in  other  departments  of  science ;  for 
instance,  with  a  well  arranged  set  of  pneumatic  apparatus  we  have  many 
instruments  with  which  to  effect  not  a  few  fine  experiments  in  chemistry, 
electricity,  &c.  This  may  account  for  the  seeming  undue  prominence 
given  to  these  branches  of  science  in  making  up  of  sets. 

We  have  little  reluctance  in  offering  to  the  notice,  even  of  the  common 
schools  of  our  country,  apparatus  composed  of  such  a  variety  of  instru- 
ments, since  the  opinion  now  prevails,  that  the  instructor  should  not  only 
have  the  instruments,  but  possess  the  practical  skill  requisite  to  their  proper 
use  in  illustrating  and  applying  the  principles  of  natural  science. 

The  numbers  and  figures  following  refer  to  "  Chamberlain's  Illustrated 
Price  Catalogue  of  Philosophical  Instruments,"  "  Electric  Illustrations  and 
Experiments,"  "  Illustrated  Catalogue  of  Chemical  Apparatus,"  "  Pneumatic 
Experiments  and  Illustrations,"  &c,  in  which  a  description  of  the  instru- 
ment is  given,  with  some  two  hundred  and  fifty  experiments  in  pneumatics 
and  hydrostatics,  and  some  in  electrics. 

"Francis's  Chemical  Experiments"  (more  than  two  thousand  Experi- 
ments) will  be  found  a  valuable  accompaniment  of  the  chemical  apparatus  ; 
while  "  Davis's  Manual  of  Magnetism  "  treats  of  galvanism  and  its  kindred 
topics,  giving  a  list  of  experiments  and ,  illustrations  which  commend  it  to 
all  who  would  avail  themselves  of  the  aid  afforded  by  the  experience  of  a 
scientific  mechanic. 

We  may  here  state  that  the  apparatus  marked  3,  has  been  furnished  by 
Mr.  Chamberlain  to  the  following  grammar  schools  in  the  city  of  Boston, 
at  a  cost  of  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  each  set. 


Franklin  School, 
Brimmer       " 
Otis  " 

Phillips         " 
Mather  " 


Mayhew  School, 
Smith  " 

Dwight        " 
Winthrop     " 


The  instruments  marked  4  are  such  as  have  been  approved  and  used  in 
high  schools  and  academies  —  cost  about  four  hundred  dollars  —  and  have 
been  furnished  to  the  Normal  Schools  of  Massachusetts,  and  others.  The 
instruments  marked  6  compose  a  set  for  the  larger  schools  and  academies, 
and  have  been  furnished,  among  others,  to  the  Putnam  Free  School, 
W.  H.  Wells,  Principal,  Newburyport,  Mass.;  Central  High  School, 
E.  Smith,  Principal,  Cambridge,  Mass. ;  High  School,  Worcester,  Mass. ; 
Monson  Academy,  Rev.  C.  Hammond ;  High  School,  New  Bedford,  Mass. ; 
Boys'  High  School,  Salem,  Mass. ;  and  to  schools  and  academies  in  Provi- 
dence, R.  I.,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  Wilmington,  Del.,  Hartford,  Conn.,  Auburn, 
Ala.,  Burlington,  N.  J. ;  Williston  Seminary,  Easthampton,  Mass. 


APPARATUS. 


MECHANICS,  &c. 


10 


Fig.  1.  Glass  Plates  illustra- 
ting cohesive  attraction,  3 
and  4.  inch  diameter,  .  ."i  2  1,     2  00 

Set  of  Tubes  and  stand,  illus- 
trating capillary  attraction, 

i  2  1  50,  2  00 

Pair  of  Lead  Hemispheres  and 
Handles,  for  cohesive  at- 
traction,  i  21  00,  1  50 

Fig.  2.  Frame  and  six  Ivory 
Balls,  for  collision,  action 
and  reaction,  elasticity,  &c.  7  6  00 

Frame     and     six     Box-wood 

Balls, 123,  H  00 

Figs.  3  &  4.  A  set  of  eight  il- 
lustrations for  centre  of 
gravity, *  23677  00 

Fig.  5.  Table  with  Spring  Pis- 
tols and  Ball,  illustrating 
compound  forces,  &c.  6  00  &  8  00 

Fig.  6.  Whirling  Machine, 
with  eight  illustrations  of 
central  and  centrifugal  for- 
ces,  78  00 

Fig.  7.  Atwood's  machine  for 
the  laws  of  falling  bodies, 

50  00  &  100  00 
Fig.  8.  A  set  of  Mechanical 
Powers  arranged  in  a  ma- 
hogany frame  three  and  a 
half  feet  long  and  three  feet 
high ;  each  lever  is  eighteen 
inches  long;  four  sets  of 
pulleys  strung  with  silk  cord 
and  well  balanced;  brass 
weights  from  1  to  16  ounces ; 
screw  and  lever  with  nut; 
screw  as  an  inclined  plane ; 
ship  capstan;  wheel  and 
axle;  wedge  in  two  parts; 
inclined  plane  with  car- 
riage ;  movable  fulcrum  and 
lever,  for  combining  the 
power  of  screw  and  lever,2  3  6  7  35  00 


No.  Priw. 

11.  Mechanical    Powers,    larger 

size,  with  five  sets  largei 
size  pulleys ;  brass  weights 
from  1  to  48  oz.,  two  of  each ; 
wheel  and  axle,  has  seven 
graduations,  and  runs  on 
friction  rollers, $50  00 

12.  Mechanical  Powers,  arranged 

in  roseioood frame,  brass  le- 
vers ;  brass  wheel  with  steel 
axle,  has  gear  and  endless 
screw  and  crank  attached  to 
the  wheel  and  axle ;  is  in  all 
respects  a  highly  finished 
apparatus, 100  00 

13.  Hunter's  Screw,  in  frame, 6  00 

Note.  —  The  straps  to  all  the  pulleys  are 
unlike  those  generally  used  with  philosophical 
instruments.  They  are  of  cast  brass,  tastefully 
swelled  and  finished,  and  enclose  the  pulleys, 
which  turn  on  small  steel  pins,  and  are  sepa- 
rated one  from  the  other  by  partitions,  which 
not  only  sustain  the  centre  pin,  but  prevent 
the  difficulty  which  occurs  from  the  cords 
running  off. 

OPTICS. 

14.  Fig.  9.    A  set  of  Lenses  two 

inches  in  diameter,  edges 
finished,  in  box, 12678  00 

15.  A  set  of  Lenses  two  and  a 

half  inch, 10  00 

16.  A  set    of    Lenses    mounted, 

each  lens  in  a  Ring  or 
Holder,  which  may  be  ex- 
tended, raised,  or  lowered,  as 
the  experiment  or  illustra- 
tion may  require, 12  &  15  00 

Section  of  six  lenses, 4  00 

17.  Prisms,  four,  six,   and  eight 

inch, 12672,  &  3  00 

Mounted  Prisms, 2  &  5  00 

18.  Fig.  10.    Compound   Micro- 

scope, with  one,  two,  and 


334 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


No.  Price. 

three  ivory  slides,  four  ob- 
jects on  each ;  three  powers, 
and  the  common  fixtures 
and  conveniences  for  using  ; 
is  brass  mounted  and  neatly 
cased, 2#10  00 

19.  Compound  Microscope,  with 

four  powers,  which  may  be 
used  separately  or  com- 
bined ;  three  slides  with 
twelve  objects,  as  No.  18; 
slides  adjusted  to  the  focus 
by  rack  and  pinion ;  the  usu- 
al fixtures  and  a  list  of  the 
objects  are  cased  with  the 
instruments, 6  12  00 

20.  Compound  Microscope,  large 

size,  and  mounted  on  brass 
tripod  stand,  has  common 
fixtures, 7  15  00 

21.  Compound  Microscope,  large 

size,  with  six  powers ;  six 
slides  with  transparent  and 
opaque  objects  ;  a  large  con- 
densing lens  and  other  fix- 
tures in  keeping  with  a  first- 
rate  instrument, 25  00 

22.  A  large  tripod-mounted  Com- 

pound Microscope,  with  hor- 
izontal joint ;    six    powers, 
twenty-four      objects,     and 
eighteen  pieces  for  general 
use  with  the  instrument, ...  42  00 
There   is   accompanying,  an   accurate 
copperplate,    illustrative  of  each  micro- 
scope, with  all  its  parts,  and  a  minute 
description  of  their  uses. 

23.  Models  of  the  Human  Eye,  in 

three  parts, 12  00 

Fig.  11.  The  Eye  in  all  its 
parts,  (is  four  inches  in  di- 
ameter,) and  dissectible, 
showing  the  Cornea,  Iris, 
Ciliary  Process,  Choroid  Tu- 
nic, Crystalline  Lens,  Vitre- 
ous Humor,  Retina,  Black 
Pigment,  Optic  nerve,  &c. 

Fig.  12.  The  Eye  in  its  sock- 
et with  the  muscles. 

Fig.  13.  The  Eye  with  rays 
of  light  passing  from  an  ob- 
ject and  forming  the  image 
on  the  retina.  The  object 
and  image  are  movable, 
showing  the  cause  of  "  long 
sight,"  "  short  sight,"  and 
"perfect  sight." 

Fig.  14.  Section  view  of  Fig. 
11. 

ASTRONOMY,  &c. 

24.  Fig.  15.    Astronomical  Tele- 

scope on  brass  stand,  2  1-4 
inch  achromatic  object  glass, 
two  eye-pieces  or  powers  and 
sun-glasses,  forty-six  inches 
long,  with  four  draws  out,  in 


No.  Prise 
a  polished  velvet  lined  ma- 
hogany case, $  50  00 

25.  Telescope,  large  size ;  47  inch 

brass  tube ;  3  inch  achro- 
matic object  glass ;  one  eye- 
piece for  Terrestrial  and  two 
for  Celestial  objects;  rack 
and  pinion  adjustment  for 
eye-piece  ;  cased  as  No.  24; 
a  superior  and  cheap  instru- 
ment, at 150  00 

26.  Fig.    16.      Reflecting     Tele- 

scope, five  and  a  half  feet 
long,  mounted  five  and  a  half 
feet  high  on  tripod  stand, 
with  vertical  and  horizontal 
motion  by  micrometer-gear 
and  pinion,  as  represented  in 
the  cut,  seven  inch  reflec- 
tor ;  three  small  reflectors  ; 
three  eye-pieces  and  Finder,300  00 

27.  Fig.  18.  School  Orrery,  motion 

given  by  a  crank, J  7  00 

School  Orrery,  larger  size, 
better  finish, motion  given  to 
the  moon  around  the  earth,.  210  00 

28.  Fig.  19.  Spring  Orrery,  gold  gilt 

planets  ;  brass  arms  ;  5  inch 
sun  ;  stands  two  feet  high  ; 
spreads  3£  feet  from  Her- 
schel  to  Saturn  ;  motion  to 
the  moon  round  the  earth,  6  "  25  00 
If  motion  is  given  to  Jupiter's 

moons,  35  00 

29.  Fig.  20.  Spring   Orrery;   brass 

mounted  ;  extra  finish ;  mo- 
tion as  above, 45  00 

30.  Fig.    21.      Seasons     Machine, 

with  five  inch  sun  and  three 
inch  earth  ;  motions  all  cor- 
rect ;  giving  the  earth  on  its 
axis,  round  the  sun,  inclina- 
tion to  the  north,  aphelion 
and  perihelion  position  ; 
moon  round  the  earth ; 
moon's  nodes  ;  sun  on  his 
axis,   &c,  &c.,...  i2^  &12«0 

31.  Fig.    22.     Chamberlain's     im- 

proved high  mounted  Globes, 
13  inch  diameter  ;  stands  48 
inches  high,  on  iron  legs, 
neatly  bronzed,  with  cas- 
tors; the  pedestal  or  pillar 
is  of  mahogany,  and  receives 
the  hub  and  shaft  on  which 
the  Globe  is  mounted.  This 
arrangement  admits  of  a 
horizontal  rotary  motion  to 
the  whole  globe,  meridian 
and  horizon.    Price  per  pair,7  40  00 

32.  Thirteen     inch    Globes,     low 

mounted ;    pair, e  30  00 

33.  Ten  inch  Globes,  high  mount- 

ed, pair, 630  00 

34.  Ten  inch  Globes,  low  mount- 

ed, pair, 18  00 

35.  Six  inch  Globes,  low  mounted, 

pair, 210  00 


CHAMBERLAIN'S  CATAGOGUE  OF  APPARATUS. 


335 


No.  Price. 

36.  Five  inch  terrestrial, i  #2  00 

37.  Fig.  17.    Magic  Lantern,  with 

improved  Solar  Lamp  and 
Reflector — condensing  Len- 
ses four  inch  diameter,  will 
spread  a  two  and  half  inch 
painting  clear  and  distinct 
on  a  screen  twelve  feet  di- 
ameter,   6  7  25  00 

List  of  Slides  adapted  to  the  above 
lantern,  and  illustrative  of  subjects, 
as  follows :  — 

NATURAL  HISTORY. 

In  56  Sliders. 
Class  I.  —  MAMMALIA.— 24  Sliders. 

Slider  I. 
Human  Skull — Orang-Outang —  Long- 
armed  Ape  —  Variegated  Baboon. 
Slider  II. 
Dog-faced  Baboon — Proboscis  Monkey 

—  Fair    Monkey  —  Coaita,    or    Four- 
fingered  Monkey. 

Slider  III. 
Slow  Lemur — Ring-tailed    Macauco  — 
Flying  Lemur  —  Spectre  Bat. 
Slider  IV. 
Peruvian     Bat  —  Three-toed     Sloth  — 
Great     Ant-eater  —  Porcupine     Ant- 
eater. 

Slider  V. 

Little  Ant-eater —  Duck-billed  Platypus 

—  Long-tailed  Manis  —  Three-banded 
Armadillo. 

Slider  VI. 
Six-banded    Armadillo  —  Rhinoceros  — 
Elephant  —  Female     Elephant     and 
Young. 

Slider  VII. 
Sukotyro  —  Walrus  —  Common    Seal  — 
Crested  Seal. 

Slider  VIII. 
Newfoundland     Dog  —  "Wolf  —  Striped 
Hyaena  —  Fennec. 

Slider  IX. 
Lion  —  Lioness     and    Cubs  —  Tiger  — 
Leopard. 

Slider  X. 
Ounce  —  Serval  —  Ocelot  Cat — Lynx. 

Slider  XI. 
Ichneumon  and  Civet  Cat  —  Polecat  and 
Ferret  —  Striated  Weasel   and  Chin- 
chilli. 

Slider  XII. 
Otter  —  Polar  Bear — Common  Bear  — 
Opossum. 

Slider  XIII. 
Kangaroo  —  Mole  and  Radiated  Shrew 

—  Mulluca  and  Common  Hedge-hogs. 


Slider  XIV. 
Porcupine  —  Brazilian  Porcupine  —  Va 
negated  and  Spotted  Cavies  -<-  Beaver. 
Slider  XV. 
White  Mouse  and  Canada  Rat  —  Varie- 
gated and  Maryland  Marmot  —  Com- 
mon and  Flying  Squirrels. 

Slider  XVI. 
Gilt-tailed   and  Garden  Dormice  —  Jer 
boas  —  Hare  and  Syrian  Hyrax. 

Slider  XVII. 

Dromedary  —  Camel  —  Lama  —  Thibet 
Musk. 

Slider  XVIII. 
Elk  —  Rein  Deer  —  Fallow  Deer  —  Doe. 

Slider  XIX. 
Spotted  Axis  —  Camelopard —  Common. 
Antelope  —  Female  Antelope. 

Slider  XX. 
Nilghau — Ibex — Angora  Goat  —  Argali 

Slider  XXI. 
Cretan   Sheep  —  African   Sheep  —  Bison 

—  Zebu. 

Slider  XXII. 
Musk  Ox  —  Yak  —  Buffalo  —  Indian  Ox. 

Slider  XXIII. 
Zebra —  Hippopotamus  —  Tapir  —  Baby- 
roussa. 

Slider  XXIV. 
Narwhal  —  Common    Whale  —  Porpoise 

—  Skeleton  of  Porpoise.  45  00 

Class  II.  — BIRDS.  — 7  Sliders. 

Slider  I. 
Condor  —  Fulvous  Vulture  —  Golden  Ea- 
gle —  Barn  Owl. 

Slider  II. 
Cockatoo  —  Scaly-breasted    Parakeet  — ■ 
Green  Toucan  —  Rhinoceros  Bird. 

Slider  III. 
Vaillantian    Bird    of   Paradise  —  Red- 
throated  Humming    Bird  —  Summer 
Duck  —  Common  Pelican. 

Slider  IV. 
Patagonian  Penguin  —  Red  Flamingo  — 
Rose-colored  Spoonbill  —  Agami  Her- 
on. 

Slider  V. 

White    Stork  —  Common    Crane  —  Nu- 

midian  Crane  —  Chestnut  Jaccana. 

Slider  VI. 

Common  Ostrich  —  Southern  Apteryx  — 

Galeated  Cassowary  —  Hooded  Dodo. 

Slider  VII. 
Peacock  —  Argus   Pheasant  —  Crowned 
Pigeon  —  Tailor  Birds  and  Nest.  14  00 


336 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


Class  III. —AMPHIBIA.— 4  Sliders. 

Slider  I. 
Snake  Tortoise — Green  Turtle  —  Horned 
Frog  —  Pipa. 

Slider  II. 
Flying    Dragon  —  Crocodile  —  Dracaena 
Lizard  —  Basilisk. 

Slider  III. 
American   Guana  —  Chameleon  —  Siren 
—  Banded  Rattlesnake. 
Slider  IV. 
Great  Boa  —  Spectacle  Snake — Crimson- 
sided  Snake  —  Painted  Snake.       8  00 


Class  IV.  — FISHES.  — 5  Sliders. 
Slider  I. 
Muraena  —  Electrical  Gymnotus  —  Chor- 
dated  Stylephorus  —  Gemmeous  Drag- 
onet. 

Slider  II. 
John  Doree  —  Turbot  —  Angle  Fish  — 
Rostrated  Chaetodon. 

Slider  III. 
Pleat-nosed     Chaetodon  —  Long-finned 
Chaetodon  —  Flying    Gurnard  —  Tele- 
scope Carp. 

Slider  IV. 
Horned  Trunk-fish  —  Pyramidal  Trunk- 
fish  —  Short    Sun-fish  —  Sea-horse  — 
Pipe-fish. 

Slider  V. 
Foliated  Pipe-fish —  Harlequin  Angler  — 
Hammer-headed  Shark  —  Giorna  Ray. 
10  00 

Class  V.— INSECTS.  — 8  Sliders. 

J\T.  B.     Those,  marked  with  a  *  are  magnified  ; 

the  others  are  most  of  them  under  the  natural 

size. 

Slider  I. 
Stag  Beetle  and  *Curculio   Bacchus  — 

Kangaroo  Beetle  and  *Pausus  Micro- 

cephalus  —  *Asparagus    Beetle    and 

Cantharis  Faciata. 

Slider  II. 
*Curculio    Scropularia    and    *Lampyris 

Festiva  —  "Water  Beetle  and  Larvae  — 

Buprestis  Ocellata  and  *Attelabus  Me- 

lanurus. 

Slider  III. 
Great  Locust  —  Chinese  Lantern-fly  and 

Walking  Leaf— Mole  Cricket  and  *Ci- 

mex  Prasinus  (two  views.) 
Slider  IV. 
Telemachus  Butterfly,  with  Caterpillar 

and  Chrysalis  —  Sphinx  Ocellata,  with 

Caterpillar  and  Chrysalis  — Atlas  Moth. 
Slider  V. 
Dragon-fly    and   Larva  —  Nest    of   the 

Humble  Bee  —  *  Working  and  *Female 

Ants. 


Slider  VI. 

*Golden  Fly  and  Ichneumon  Ramidulus 
—  *Sheep  Gad-fly  and  *Diopsis  Ich- 
neumonea  —  *Human  Louse  and  *Lice 
from  different  Birds. 

Slider  VII. 

Termites,  or  "White  Ants,  male  and  fe- 
male—  a  magnified  view  of  a  Termite 
in  the  Pupa  state  (called  a  soldier ;)  in 
the  upper  part  of  the  slider  is  a  picture 
representing  a  distant  view  of  the  Hab- 
itations of  the  "White  Ants,  in  the  fore- 
ground of  which  are  several  Laborers 
and  a  Soldier,  of  the  natural  size  —  a 
*Flea,  with  the  Egg,  Larva,  and  Pupa. 
Slider  VIII. 

*A  Cheese  Mite  and  Garden  Spider— 
Cancer  Mantis  —  Scolopendra  Morsi- 
tans.  16  00 

Class  VI.  —  WORMS.  —  8  Sliders. 
Slider  I. 
Serrated  Tape-worm,  natural  size,  with  a 
separate  view  of  the  Head,  highly  mag- 
nified—  Nais  Serpentina,  magnified — 
Sea  Anemone  —  Brown  Holothuria. 
Slider  II. 
Phosphoric     Pyrosoma  —  Eight-armed 
Cuttle-fish  —  Balloon  Cuttle-fish — Me- 
dusa Pulmo. 

Slider  III. 
Medusa's  Head  Star-fish  —  Duck  Barna- 
cle —  Great  Sea  Pinna  —  Iceland  Scal- 
lop. 

Slider  IV. 
Paper  Nautilus,  with  the  animal  seated 
in  the   shell  —  Pearly  Nautilus,   with 
the   inhabitant  —  Tortoise-shell  Lim- 
pet, and  Veined  Volute. 
Slider  V. 
Snow-flaked  Volute  and  Waved  Turbo  — 
Corded  Murex  —  Anguina  Serpula  and 
Serpula  Vermicularis,  with  the  animal. 
Slider  VI. 
Green  Polypes,  natural  size  and  magni- 
fied—  Sea-bristle  Coralline,  magnified 
to  show  its  polype  heads  —  Tubularia 
Reptans,  magnified — Phosphoric  Sea- 
Pen. 

Slider  VII. 
Red  Coral,  with  a  small  branch  slightly 
magnified  to  show  its  polype  heads  — 
Thick-armed  Gorgonia  —  Cinnamon 
Madrepore  —  Madrepora,  Patella,  and 
Meandrites. 

Slider  VIII. 
Vorticella  Racemosa  and  a  group  of 
Wheel  Animals  —  a  group  of  Bell  Ani 
mals  and  a  group  of  the  Vorticella  Ur 
ceolaris  and  the  Sun  Animal —  groups 
of  the  Cercaria  Mutabilis,  Globe  Ani- 
mals, and  Paste  Eels. 
N.  B.  The  animals  in  this  Slider  are 
Microscopic  Animalcules.  16  00 


CHAMBERLAIN'S   CATALOGUE   OF   APPARATUS. 


337 


BOTANICAL  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

In  14  Sliders,  with  Compendium. 
Slider  I. 

1.  Cellular  Tissue. 

2.  Cellular  Ducts. 

3.  Woody  Fibre. 

4.  Spiral  Vessels. 

Slider  II. 

5.  Spiral  Vessels  in  Leaf. 

6.  Vascular  Ducts. 

7.  Forms  of  Roots. 

8.  Forms  of  Stem. 

Slider  III. 

9.  Section  of  Exogenous  Stem. 

10.  Section  of  Sassafras  Wood. 

11.  Sections  of  Endogenous  Stem. 

Slider  IV. 

12.  Fern  Stem. 

13.  Forms  of  Leaves. 

14.  Leaf  of  Gleditsia. 

15.  Pitchers  of  Nepenthes,  &e. 

Slider  V. 

16.  Pitcher  of  Dischidia. 

17.  Cuticle  and  Stomata. 

18.  Section  of  Apple  Leaf. 

19.  Section  of  Oleander  Leaf. 

Slider  VI. 

20.  Forms  of  Stamens. 

21.  Structure  of  Pistil. 

22.  Monstrous  Carpels. 

23.  Structure  of  Seed-vesseL 

Slider  VII. 

24.  Proeess  of  Fertilization. 

25.  Germination  of  Seed. 

26.  Algje  :  (Sea-weeds.) 

27.  Lichen  :  Iceland  Moss. 

Slider  VIII. 

28.  Fungus  :  Amanita. 

29.  Rafflesia  Arnoldi. 

30.  Chara  Flexilis. 

31.  Moss  :  Bryum  caespiticum. 

Slider  IX. 

32.  Tree-fern. 

33.  Endogens  :    Saccharum     officinale, 

(Sugar-cane.1) 

34.  Phoenix  daetylifera,  (Date  Palm.) 

35.  Colehieum  autumnale,  (Meadow  Saf- 

fron.) 

Slider  X. 

36.  Zingiber  officinale,  (Ginger  Plant.) 

37.  Exogens  :  Zamia  horrida. 

38.  Atropa   belladonna,  (Deadly    Night 

Shade.) 

Slider  XL 

39.  Linaria  communis,  (Snap-Dragon.) 

40.  Convolvulus  major. 

41.  Erieese,  (Heaths.) 

Slider  XII. 

42.  Anthemis  pyrethrum,  (Pellitory.) 

43.  Tamarindus  Indica,  (Tamarind.) 

44.  Camelia  Japonica. 

22 


Slider  XIII. 

45.  Passifiora  magniflora,  (Grenadilla.) 

46.  Cardamine  pratensis, (Lady's Smock.) 

47.  Ficus  earica,  (Fig.) 

Slider  XIV. 

48.  Cactus  speciosissima. 

49.  Ligusticum  Scoticum. 

50.  Myristiea  moschata,  (Nutmeg. )30  06 

SELECT  SCRIPTURE  SUBJECTS. 
In  12  Sliders. 
Slider  I. 
Adam  and  Eve  driven  out  of  Paradise. 

Gen.  iii.  24. 
Hagar  and  Ishmael  . . .  Gen.  xxi.  14. 
Isaac  blessing  Jacob  . .  Gen.  xxvii.  27. 

Slider  IL 
Joseph  sold  into  Egypt. 

Gen.  xxxvii.  28. 
Joseph  meeting  his  Father. 

Gen.  1.  1. 
The  finding  of  Moses.  .Exod.  ii.  5. 

Slider  III. 
The  Ark  of  the  Covenant. 

Exod.  xxv.  10. 
The  Dress  of  the  High  Priest. 

Exod.  xxviii.  4. 
The  Altar  of  Incense.. Exod.  xxx.  1. 

Slider  IV. 
The  Altar  of  Burnt-Offering. 

Exod.  xxvii.  1. 
An  Aaronite  or  Scribe. 

Exod.  xxviii.  40, 
The  Golden  Candlestick. 

Exod.  xxv.  31. 
Slider  V. 
Return  of  the  Spies  .  ..Num.  xiii.  23. 
The  Brazen  Serpent. .  .Num.  xxi.  9. 
Balaam  and  his  Ass. .  .Num.  xxii.  22. 

Slider  VI. 
Samson  and  the  Lion..«7w^.  xiv.  6. 
Presentation  of  Samuel. 

1st  Sam.  i.  28. 
Samuel  in  the  Temple.  1st  Sam.  iii.  10. 
Elijah  fed  by  Ravens.  .1st  Kings,  xvii.  6. 

Slider  VII. 
David  and  Goliath.. . .1st  Sam.  xvii.  5L 
David  dancing  before  the  Ark. 

2d  Sam.  vi.  14. 
Nathan  reproving  David. 

2d  Sam.  xii.  7. 
Slider  VIII. 

The  Annunciation Luke  i.  28. 

The  Birth  of  Christ.  ..Luke  ii.  16. 
Christ  brought  to  the  Temple. 

Luke  ii.  22. 
Slider  IX. 
The  Flight  into  Egypt. 

Matt.  ii.  13. 

The  Holy  Family Mark  i. 

Christ  and  the  Woman  of  Samaria. 

John  vt.  7. 


338 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


Slider  X. 
Christ  stilling  the  Tempest. 

Matt.  viii.  24. 
The  Good  Samaritan.  .Luke  x.  30. 
The  Lord  of  the  Vineyard  and  Laborer. 
Matt.  xx.  12. 
Slider  XL 
The  Return  of  the  Prodigal  Son. 

Luke  xv.  20. 
Trial  of  Peter's  Faith.  .Matt.  xiv.  29. 
Herodias  with  the   Head  of  John  the 

Baptist Mark  vi.  28. 

Slider  XII. 

The  Crucifixion John  xix.  30. 

The  "Women  at  the  Sepulchre. 

Mark  xvi.  5. 

The  Resurrection Matt,  xxviii.  9. 

The  Disciples  at  Emmaus. 

Luke  xxiv.  31. 

25  00 
PORTRAITS    OF    KINGS    AND 
QUEENS   OF  ENGLAND. 

From  "William  the  Conqueror  to 
Victoria. 

In  9  Sliders. 
Slider  I. 
"William  the  Conqueror. — "William  II. — 
Henry  I.  —  Stephen. 

Slider  II. 
Henry  II.  —  Richard  I.  —  John.  —  Hen- 
ry III. 

Slider  III. 
Edward  I. —Edward  II. —Edward  III. 

—  Richard  II. 

Slider  IV. 
Henry  IV.,  of  Bolingbroke.  — Henry  V., 
of  Monmouth.  —  Henry  VI.,  of  Wind- 
sor. —  Edward  IV. 

Slider  V. 
Edward  V.  —  Richard  III.  —  Henry  VII. 

—  Henry  VIII. 

Slider  VI. 
Edward   VI.  —  Mary   I.  —  Elizabeth.— 
James  I. 

Slider  VII. 
Charles  I.  —  Charles  II.  —  James  II. 

Slider  VIII. 

"William  III.  and  Mary  II.  —  Anne,   of 

the   Stuart    family.  —  George   I.,  of 

Hanover.  —  George  II. 

Slider  IX. 

George  III.  —  George  IV.  —  "William  IV. 

—  Victoria.  15  00 

VLEVVS  OF  PUBLIC  BUILDINGS, 

&c. 

In  4  Sliders. 

Slider  I. 

Tiew  of  Saint  Paul's  Cathedral,  London. 


—  The  Pavilion,  at  Brighton.      8outh- 
wark  Bridge,  London. 

Slider  II. 
View  of  Westminster  Abbey.  — View  of 
the  Cataract  of  Niagara.  —  Waterloo 
Bridge,  London. 

Slider  III. 

Saint  Peter's  Church,   at  Rome  —  Fin- 

gal's  Cave — The  Pantheon,  at  Paris. 

Slider  IV. 
View  of  Mount  St.  Michael,  Cornwall.  — 
The  Military  Hospital,  Paris. — View 
of  the  Island  of  Staffa.  8  00 

ASTRONOMICAL  DIAGRAMS. 

In  Eleven  Sliders,  packed  in  a  Box, 
with  a  Description. 

No.  Slider  I. 

1.  System  of  Ptolemy. 

2.  Copernicus. 

3. Tycho  Brahe. 

4.  Newton. 

Slider  II. 

5.  Telescopic  View  of  the  Moon. 

6.  Ditto  of  Jupiter. 
7-  ■  Saturn. 

Slider  III. 

8.  Comparative  Sizes  of  the  Planets. 

9.  Comparative  Distances  of  the  Planets. 

10.  Orbit  of  a  Comet. 

11.  The  Comet  of  1811. 

Slider  IV. 

12.  Signs  of  the  Zodiac. 

13.  Inclination  of  the  Planets'  Orbits. 

14.  Direct  and  Retrograde  Motion. 

Slider  V.    {Lever,  movable.] 

15.  Rotundity  of  the  Earth. 

Slider  VI. 

16.  The  Seasons. 

17.  Phases  of  the  Moon. 

18.  The  Earth's  Shadow. 

Slider  VII. 

19.  Cause  of  the  Sun's  Eclipse. 

20.  Ditto  Moon's  ditto. 

21.  Inclination  of  the  Moon's  Orbit. 

Slider  VIII.  {movable.) 

22.  Eclipse  of  the  Sun,  with  a  Transit  of 

Venus. 

Slider  IX.  {movable.') 

23.  Eclipse  of  the  Moon. 

Slider  X. 

24.  Spring  Tide  at  New  Moon. 

25.  Ditto  Full  Moon. 

26.  Neap  Tide. 

Slider  XI. 

27.  The  Constellation  Orion. 

28.  Ursa  Major. 

29.  Various  Nebulae. 

30.  A  Portion  of  the  Milky  "Way.6?  20  00 


CHAMBERLAIN'S  CATALOGUE  OP  APPARATUS. 


339 


CONSTELLATIONS. 

In  6  Sliders. 

Their  situation  with  regard  to  the  North 
Pole  is  denoted  by  an  Arrow. 


Aries  ■ 


Slider  I. 
■  Taurus  —  Gemini  ■ 


■  Cancer. 


Slider  II. 
Leo — Virgo  —  Libra  —  Scorpio. 

Slider  III. 
Sagittarius  —  Capricornus  —  Aquarius  — 
Pisces. 

Slider  IV. 
Draco   and  Ursa  Minor  —  Cepheus  and 
Cassiopea  —  Andromeda  and  Triangu- 
la —  Auriga. 

Slider  V. 
Perseus  and  Caput  Medusa? — Bootes  and 
Canes  Venetici  —  Hercules  and  Cer- 
berus—  Cygnus  and  Lyra. 

Slider  VI. 
Antinous   and    Aquila  —  Ophiucus    and 
Serpens — Canis  Major  and  Minor  — 
Cetus,  $9  00 

ASTRONOMICAL  DIAGRAMS. 

In  a  Set  of  30  Three-Inch  Sliders,  Double 
Glass,  each  Diagram  framed  sepa/rate. 

■Bo. 

1.  System  of  Ptolemy. 

2.  Copernicus. 

;3. Tycho  Brahe. 

4. Newton. 

5.  Telescopic  View  of  trie  Moon. 

5.  Ditto  at  three  different  periods  of  its 

increase. 
5.  Ditto  of  Venus,  with  Phases,  (three 

Views.) 
5.  Ditto  of  Mars. 
S.  Ditto  of  Jupiter. 

7.  Ditto  of  Saturn. 

8.  Comparative  Sizes  of  the  Planets. 

8.  Ditto,  the  colored  Circle  representing 

the  Sun. 

9.  Comparative  Distances  of  the  Planets. 

10.  Orbit  of  a  Comet. 

11.  Comet  of  1811. 

12.  Signs  of  the  Zodiac. 

13.  Inclination  of  the  Planets'  Orbits. 

14.  Direct  and  Retrograde  Motion. 

16.  The  Seasons. 

17.  Phases  of  the  Moon. 

18.  The  Earth's  Shadow. 

19.  Cause  of  the  Sun's  Eclipse. 

20.  Ditto  Moon's  ditto. 

21.  Inclination  of  the  Moon's  Orbit. 
27-  The  Constellation  Orion. 

28.  Ursa  Major. 

29.  Various  Nebula?. 

30.  A  Portion  of  the  Milky  Way. 

30.  A  Diagram  to  show  Meridians,  Par- 
allels, and  Circles. 

SO.  A  Diagram,  showing  the  various 
Zones,,  J3G  00 


REVOLVING    ASTRONOMICAL 
DIAGRAMS. 

THE  MOTION  PRODUCED    BY  RACK-WORK. 

In  a  Set  of  Nine  Sliders,  packed  in  a  Box, 
with  a  Lock. 

Slider  I. 
The  Solar  System,  showing  the  Revolu- 
tion of  all  the  Planets,  with  their  Sat- 
ellites, round  the  Sun. 

Slider  IL 
The  Earth's  Annual  Motion  round  the 
Sun,   showing   the   Parallelism  of  its 
Axis,  thus  producing  the  Seasons. 

Slider  IIL 
This  Diagram  illustrates  the   cause   of 
Spring  and  Neap  Tides,,  and  shows  the 
Moon's  Phases,,  during  its  Revolution. 

Slider  IV 

This  Diagram  illustrates  the  Apparent 
Direct  and  Retrograde  Motion  of  Ve- 
nus or  Mercury,  and  also  its  Stationary 
Appearanee. 

Slider  V 

A  Diagram  to  prove  the  Earth's  Rotun 
dity,  by  a  Ship  sailing  round  the  Globes 
and  a  line  drawn  from  the  eye  of  an 
observer  placed  on  an  eminence. 

Slider  VI. 
This  Diagram  illustrates  the  Eccentric 
Revolution  of  a  Comet  round  the  Sun, 
and  shows  the  appearance  of  its  Tail  at 
different  points  of  its  Orbit. 
Slider  VII. 
The  Diurnal  Motion  of  the  Earth,  show- 
ing the  Rising  and  Setting  of  the  Sun, 
illustrating  the  cause  of  Day  and  Night, 
'by  the  Earth's  Rotation  upon  its  Axis. 
Slider  VIII. 
This  Diagram  illustrates  the  Annual  Mo- 
tion of  the  Earth  round  the  Sun,  with 
the  Monthly  Lunations  of  the  Moon. 
Slider  IX. 
This  Diagram  shows  the  various  Eclipses 
of  the  Sun  with  the  Transit  of  Venus^ 
the   Sun  appears  as   seen  through  a 
Telescope,  $40  0® 

PNEUMATICS. 

No.  Fric«. 

1.  Fig.  1.     Air  Pump,  (Chamber- 

lain's American;)  rose-wood 
frame,  polished  ;  barrel,  13 
■by  4£  inches  ;  large  plate,  15 
inches  ;  small  do.,  6  inches ; 
three   gauges, .#150  0$ 

2.  Air  Pump,  superb    mahogany 

frame,  polished  ;  barrel  13  by 
4J  inches  ;  plate  15  inches  ; 
barometer  gauge  ;  otherwise 
as  No.  1, 125m 

3.  Air   Pump,   plain   mahogany 


340 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE 


No.  Pn«- 

frame,  varnished  ;  plate  13 
inches  ;  otherwise  as  No. 
2, , #100  00 

4.  Fig.  2.     Air  Pump,  rose-wood 

frame,  polished ;  barrel  12 
by  4  inches  ;  plate  12  inches  ; 
barometer  gauge, 100  00 

5.  Air  Pump,  extra  finished ;  rose- 

wood frame,  polished;  plate 
12  inches  ;  barrel  11  by  3£ 
inches;  barometer  gauge,.  ,7  85  00 

6.  Air  Pump,   mahogany   frame, 

varnished  ;  plate  12  inches  ; 
barrel  11  by  3i ;  common 
finish, 6775  00 

7.  Fig.  3.    Air  Pump,  two  barrels, 

7  by  2  inches  ;  plate  8  inches  ; 
works  with  double  lever ; 
mahogany  basement, 35  00 

8.  Air  Pump,  as  above  mounted, 

on  rose-wood  basement,  with 
parts  extra  finished, 40  00 

9.  Air  Pump,  as  above  mounted, 

on  a  splendid  serpentine 
basement,  extra  finished  in 
every  particular, 45  00 

10.  Fig.  4.     Air  Pump,  one  barrel, 

7  by  2  inches ;  works  with 
lever ;  plate  8  inches, 3  25  00 

11.  Fig.    5.     Air   Pump,    English 

form;  two  barrels,  two  plates, 

8  and  4  inch;    works  with 

rack  and  pinion, 40  00 

12.  Fig.  6.    Air  Pump,  two  barrels; 

one  plate,  8  inch, 25  00 

13.  Fig.  7.   Air  Pump,  plate,  6inch; 

one  barrel,  7  by  1$  inch  ;  pis- 
ton works  by  a  T  handle,  . .   10  00 

14.  Fig.  8.     Chamberlain's  Double 

Acting  Exhauster  and  Con- 
denser ;  barrel  7  by  1^-  inches,  7  8  00 

15.  Fig.  9.    Condensing   Syringe ; 

barrel  7  by  1£, 35  00 

16.  Fig.  10.  Stop-cock,  large  screw; 

3  inch,  #1  00;  3£  inch,  $1  25; 
4inch,#150;4£inch,#200; 
5inch, 2  50 

17.  Fig.  11.  Stop-cock,  small  screw, 

70  cents  ;  1J  inch,  80  cents  ; 
2  inch,  90  cents. 

18.  Fig.  12.       Connecting-Screw; 

fits  pump-plate 3456750 

19.  Fig.  13.  Double  Female  Screw- 

Coupling, s  ■»  56  7  50 

20.  Fig.   14.     Guard-Screw ;     fits 

pump-plate, 3  4  5  6  7  50 

21.  Fig.  15.  Screw- Plug,  for  closing 

brass  caps,  &c, 3  4  5  6  7  50 

22.  Fig.  16.  Double  Female  Coup- 

ling, large  and  small  screw,3 4  56 7  50 

23.  Fig.   17.       Gallows-Connecter 

and  Tip ;  male  screws, 1  25 

24»  Fig.    18.       Gallows-Connecter 

and  Tip  ;  female  screws,...     1  25 

25.  Fig.   19.    Flexible   Hose  and 

Screw-Connecter,  four  feet,.     2  00 

26.  Fig.  20.  Sliding-Rod  and  Brass 

Plate,  with  fixtures j 5  00 


No.  rate. 

27.  Fig.  21.  Sliding-Rod  and  Pack- 

ing-Screw, with  regulating 
Binding-Screws, 7  2  00 

28.  Fig.  22.  Sliding-Rod  and  Pack- 

ing-Screw, with  Ball-Han- 
dle ;  (used  with  Electrics,)3*56!  50 

29.  Fig.  23.  Swelled  Bell-Glasses  ; 

six  sizes ;  one  gallon,  #1  25  ; 
two  galls.,  $2  00  ;  four  galls., 
#4  00;  eight  galls.,  $7  00; 
ten  galls.,  #8  00  ;  twelve 
galls.,  $10  00;  and  ground 
to  fit  the  six  different  size 
pump-plates. 

30.  Fig.    24.      Swelled   Open-Top 

Bell-Glasses  ;  six  sizes  ;  ca- 
pacities and  dimensions  as 
No.  29 ;  one  gallon,  $2  00  ; 
two  galls.,  $3  50 ;  four  galls., 
#4  506 .  eight  galis.}  7  $8  00  ; 
ten  galls.,  #9  00  ;  twelve 
galls., 12  00 

31.  Fig.  25.    Plain    Bell-Glasses; 

eight  sizes  ;  half  pint,  30 
cents  ;  pint,  50  cents  ;  quart, 
75  cents ;  two  quarts,  $1  00 ; 
gallon,  $2  00 ;  two  galls., 
|3  00  ;  four  galls.,  #4  00  ; 
six  galls., 5  50 

32.  Fig.   26.      Bell-Glasses     with 

Glass  Stoppers  ;  eight  sizes  ; 
half  pint,  40  cents  ;  pint,  60 
cents  ;  quart,  $1  00  ;  two 
quarts,  %\  25;  three  quarts, 
$1  50;  gallon,  $2  25;  six 
quarts,  $3  00  ;  two  galls.,..    4  00 

33.  Fig.  27.  Bell-Glasses  with  brass 

Screw-Caps,  to  receive  a 
stop-cock,  connecter,  slid- 
ing-rod,  &c. ;  six  sizes  ;  two 
quarts,  $1  50  ;  three  quarts, 
$2  00  ;  four  quarts,  $2  50  ; 
six  quarts,  3  6  $3  00  ;  eight 
quarts,  6  7  #4  50  ;  ten  quarts,     5  50 

34.  Fig.  28.  Cylindrical  Open-Top 

Bell-Glass,  with  Glass  Cap  ; 
two  quarts,  §2  00  ;  four 
quarts,  $3  00  ;  eight  quarts,    5  00 

35.  Fig.  29.  Hand  Glass,  to  show 

pressure  of  the  air, 3  4  76 

36.  Fig.  30.   Bladder   Glass;    may 

be  used  as  a  Hand  Glass,  5  6  7 1  00 

37.  Fig  31.  Bladder-Cup,  Cap,  and 

Cock,  to  use  with  Condenser 
and  Condensing  Chamber, 
or  under  a  Bell-Glass ;  is 
used  for  the  Sheet  Rubber 
experiments,  &c, 345672  00 

38.  Fig.  32.    Cupping  Glass,  with 

Cap  and  Cock, 1  50 

39.  Fig.  33.  Hemispherical  Cups, 

with  Cock,  Handles,  and 
Stand  ;  5  inch  diameter,. . .  67  7  00 

40.  Hemispherical      Cups,      with 

Cock,  Handles,  and  Stand; 

3  inch  diameter, 3455  00 

41.  Fig.  35.  Stand,  Lever,  and  Ful- 

crum,   used    with     Hemi- 


CHAMBERLAIN'S   CATALOGUE  OF  APPARATUS. 


341 


No.  Price. 

spherical  Cups,  for  weighing 

a  column  of  air, 7  5  00 

42.  Fig.  37.  Apparatus  illustrating 

the  upward  pressure  of  the 
atmosphere  ;  Glass  Cylin- 
der, 4^  inches  diameter,  12 
long  ;  with  Piston  ;  5  inch 
brass  plate,  Hose,  and 
Screws,  Strap  for  connecting 
weight,  and  Tripod  Stand, 
three  feet  high, 12  00 

43.  Upward  Pressure  Apparatus ; 

Glass  Cylinder,  3£  by  10 
inches  ;  4  inch  Brass  Plate  ; 
Hose,  Strap,  and  30  inch 
Stand, 679  00 

44.  Fig.  38.  Upward  Pressure  Ap- 

paratus ;  Cylinder,  3  by  9 
inches ;  Brass  Plate,  3£ 
inches ;  Hose,  Strap,  and 
Stand, ..3<56  00 

45.  Fig.   39.   Brass   Cylinder  and 

Piston,  with  Weight,  to  il- 
lustrate the  power  of  ex- 
panding air, 4  00 

46.  Fig.  40.   Expansion  Fountain 

for  vacuum,  or  by  condensa- 
tion,     4  00 

47-  Fig.  41.  Revolving  Jet  in  vacuo, 
with  a  stand.  This  is  fig- 
ured and  arranged  for  sev- 
eral experiments,  and  re- 
ferred to  in  some  ten  or 
twelve  following, 3  4  567  1  25 

48.  Fig.  42.  Bursting  Squares,  for 

expansion  or  pressure  ;  per 
dozen,  boxed, .  ....45671  50 

49.  Fig.  42.  Wire  Guard,  for  Burst- 

ing Squares,  4  75 5  6  7 1  00 

50.  Fig.  43.  Brass  Cap  Valve,  for 

bursting  Squares, 4  5  6  7  25 

51.  Fig.  44.    Revolving    Jet    and 

Fountain  in  vacuo, 2  50 

52.  Revolving  Jet  and  Fountain  in 

vacuo,  with  valves  by  which 
the  water  returns  to  the 
chamber  as  the  air  is  let  into 
the  bell-glass,  and  the  ex- 
periment repeated, 3  50 

53.  Fig.   45.    Fountain   in  vacuo, 

the  treble   globe,    or  liquid 

transferrer, 7  3  00 

Fig.  46.     Explains  Revolving 
Jet  by  external  pressure,  &c. 

54.  Fig.  47-  Condensing  Chamber, 

&c,  arranged  for  experi- 
ments, and  figured  for  ex- 
planations ;    Chamber    and 

Cock.......... 345673  50 

Cock,  with  interior  and  exte- 
rior jets,   4  567  2   00 

Water-Pan  and  Tube,  6, *  s  6  7  75 

Paradox  Tunnel,      Jet,       and 

Balls, <5671  50 

65.  Fig.  48.  Condensation  Gauge 
and  Stand,  syphon  form,  in 
glass  case  ;  two  sizes,  7  2  50 
and 3  00 


No.  Price. 

58.  Fig.  49.  Air  Gun-Barrel,  3456 

100  and 71  25 

57.  Fig.  50.    Plate    Paradox    and 

Disc,  4=1  00  and „...67l  25 

58.  Fig.  51.   Pipe  and  Ball  Para- 

dox,45i  00  and s?j  25 

59.  Fig.  52      Flexible    Hose  and 

Jet, 345671    00 

60.  Fig.  53.  Brass  Jet,  for  water, 

air,  gas,  &c,  3  4  5  6  50  cents  and  7  75 
Fig.   54.    Revolving    Jet   and 

Stand, 345671  25 

Globe  Jet;  see  Exp,15,  page  25,  125 
Revolving  Stand,  for  Condens- 

sing  Chamber,  &c, 1  25 

Single  straight  Jet, 1  00 

61.  Reaction, or  Revolving  Wheels, 

#1  25  and 2  00 

62.  Double  Revolving  Jet, 2  00 

63.  Fig.  55.  Improved  Glass  Con- 

densing Chamber ;  capacity, 
two  quarts  ;  one  inch  thick  ; 
Screw-Cap  and  Stop-Cock,  7  10  00 

Pressure  Gauge,  for  experi- 
ments with  Glass  Chamber,  7  1  00 

Square  Vials,  for  experiment 
with  condensed  air  in  glass 
chamber,  per  dozen, 7  1  00 

Horizontal  Connecting  Piece, 

for  glass  chamber, 75 

Bell,  for  condensed  air  in  glass 

chamber, 7  1  00 

64.  Fig.   56.    Large   Copper   Con- 

densing Chamber,  ten  inches 
diameter,    with    Stop-Cock 

and  Interior  Jet, 10  00 

Fig.  57.  Long  Jet,  for  experi- 
ments with  fountains, 50 

65.  Fig.  58.    Artificial    Fountain, 

with  Cock,  Jets,  and  Stand, 
3453  00  and 675  00 

66.  Fig.  59.  Bolthead,  #1  00  and  7 1  50 
Glass  Jars,  for  various  experi- 
ments, 3  25  cents,  and. .  .4  5  6  7  1  00 

67.  Fig.   60.    Bacchus  in  vacuo ; 

brass  mounted 5  00 

68.  Fig.  61.    Bacchus  illustrated, 

«1  50  and 73  00 

69.  Fig.  62.    Sheet  Rubber  Bags, 

with  cap  and  hook,  3  4  5 1  50 

and «72  00 

70.  Fig.  63.    Lungs   Glass,    illus- 

trating the  mechanical  ac- 
tion of  the  lungs,  #2  00  and    3  00 

71.  Fig.  64.    Bell-Glass,   Jar,  and 

Bolthead,  illustrating  the 
expansion  of  air,  &c,  3456 
100  and.... 72  00 

72.  Fig.  65.  Brass  Plate  and  Wood 

Cylinder,  illustrating  the 
porosity  of  wood,  pressure 
of  air,  &c, 1  00 

73.  Fig.  66.  Wood  Cylinders  and 

Weights,  for  sinking  in  wa- 
ter, after  the  air  is  removed 
from  the  pores,  15  cts.,  and        25 

74.  Fig.  67-   Mercury  Tunnel,  for 

showing  porosity  of  wood, 


342 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


Wo.  Price. 

pressure  of  air,  electric  lu- 
minous shower,  &c,  ..34567  1  00 

75.  Fig.  68.  Float  Wheel,  illustra- 

ting the  resistance  of  air,  3  45  6 1  00 

76.  Fig.  69.  An  illustration  of  the 

materiality  of  air.  (Each 
part  has  been  priced  sepa- 
rately.)*'* 5  6  7 

77.  Fig.  70.    An    improved  Vane 

and  Mill,  for  vacuo, 77  00 

78.  Fig.  7L  Tall  Conical  Guinea 

and  Feather  Glass,  three 
feet  high,  $4  00  ;  three  and 
a  half  feet,  $6  00  ;  four  feet 
high,  eight  inch  diameter  at 
bottom,  four  inch  at  top,. . .     8  00 

Brass  Plate  to  use  with  Guinea 
and  Feather  Tube,  four  and 
five  inches  diameter,  $2  00' 
and... 3  00 

SlidingrRod  and  Drop  Button, 
for  guinea  and  feather  ex- 
periment ;  see  Fig.  20. 

Drop  Tables  (4)  for  guinea  and 

feather  experiment, 2  00 

79.  Fig.  72.   Guinea  and  Feather 

Tube,  capped  both  ends ; 
has  Stop-cock  and  Stand, 
Ball  and  Point  for  Electrici- 
ty, &c,  for  vacuum  or  con- 
densed air  ;  (see  experi- 
ments ;)  3  feet  long,  3  4  5  6 
5  00;  four  feet,  77  00;  5 
feet,  ^3  00;  6  feet,  #10  00; 
8  feet, 12  00 

80.  Fig.  73.  Philosophical  Water 

Hammer,  #1  00  and 2  00 

81.  Fig.  74.    Philosophical  Water 

Hammer,  with  brass  Cup 
and  Stop-cock,  for  exhaust- 
ing, 345673  00  and 4  00 

Fig.  75.  Stout  Syphon  Barom- 
eter, with  brass  Cap,  and 
Stop-cock,  for  exhausting, 
&c, 5  00 

Fig.  76-  Apparatus  illustrating 
the  absurdity  of  suction,  SB 
inches  high,  without  ex- 
hausting syringe, 5  00 

Fig.  77.    Barometer  in  vacuo, 

(complete,) 3  ■»  5  3  00 

85.  Fig.   78.      Chamberlain's    im- 

proved Torricellian  Barome- 
ter, with  Sliding-Rod,  Hook, 
&c, 677  00 

86.  Fig.  79.    Barometer  arranged 

to  use  in  connection  with 
the  air  pumps,  as  a  gauge, 
P  OOand 5  00 

87.  Fig.   80.     Syphon  Gauge,    in 

glass  case,  with  stand, 
3*5"2  50  and 73  50 

88.  Fig.  81.    Pear  Gauge,  for  de- 

termining the  actual  bulk  of 
air  exhausted  from  a  bell- 
glass,  (without  sliding-rod,)  7  3  00 

89.  Fig.  82.    Bell  and  Stand,   for 

yacuo,  3  1  25  and ■»    72  50 


32. 


34. 


No.  Frfs*. 

90.  Fig.  83.  Apparatus  illustrating 

the  weight  and  buoyancy  of 
air,  gas,  &c,  (several  experi- 
ments; see  book,)  $4  00 
and 34    676  00 

91.  Fig.  84.    Scales  for  weighing 

air,  gas,  &c. ;  brass  beam, 
18  inch  ;  copper  globe,  6 
inch ;  scale  pans  and  bows/ 
sensitive  to  one  tenth  of  a 
grain, 18  00 

92.  Fig.  85.  Stand,  with  graduated 

Scale  Beam,  and  6*inch  Cop- 
per Globe,  for  weighing  air, 

gas,  &c, 12  00 

Small  size,   as  above,  with  4 

inch  globe, 8  00 

93.  Fig.  86.     Weighing   Air    and 

Specific  Gravity  Scales ;  6 
inch  Copper  Globe  ;  24  inch 
fine  wood  beam  ;  has  an  ele- 
vating stand  and  binding- 
screw,  to  adapt  to  hydrostat- 
ic experiments, 7  12  00* 

94.  Fig,  87.    Bell-glass   graduated 

to  cubic  inches,.  Stop-cock 
and  Connecter,  for  measur- 
ing air  or  gas  for  weighing ; 
capacity,  200  cubic  inches, .  4  09 
Graduated  Bell-Glass  as  above, 
100  cubic  inches,  with  Cap, 
Cock,  and    Connecter, 3  00 

95.  Fig.  88.  Syphon  in  vacuo,  with 

Bell-Glass,    Tunnel,    Cock, 

and  Jet,  two  sizes,  4  00  and  7  6  00 

96.  Fig.   89.    Glass    Balloon  _  and 

Car,  in.  glass  jar,  three  sizes  ; 
15  inch  jar,  $3  00 ;  18  inch, 
#4  00  ;  and  24  inch, 5  00 

97.  Fig.  90.   Hydrostatic  Balloon, 

with  tall  jar  and  Bell-Glass  ; 
18inch,3i5674  00;  24  inch,    5  00 

98.  Fig.  91.  Glass  Flask,  with  Cap 

and  Stop-cock,  for  boiling 
water  in  vacuum,  or  under 
pressure,  $2  00  and 3  00 

Small  Thermometer  to  suspend 

in  the  flask,  75  cents  and  . .     1  00 

Spring   Safety  Valve,  for  the 

above  flask,  #1  OOand *1  50 

99.  Fig.  92.    Double  Transferrer, 

with  six  inch  Plates,  four- 
teen inch  Bar,  and  three 
Stop-cocks ;    on  mahogany 

stand, 15  00 

Double  Transferrer,  with  five 
inch  Plates,  eight  inch  Bar, 
three  Cocks,  on  Stand, 7  10  0« 

100.  Fig.  93.    Single  Transferrer; 

has  a  brass  capped  two- 
quart  Bell-Glass,  Stop- 
cock, Brass  Plate,  Jet,  and 
small  Bell-Glass ;  (is  made 
up  of  parts  before  enumer- 
ated,)  345676  00 

101.  Fig.  94.  Freezing  Apparatus ; 

4.J  inch,  #1  25;  6  inch, 
$2  00;   8  inch,  3  * 5  3  00; 


CHAMBERLAIN'S   CATALOGUE   OF   APPARATUS. 


343 


(Jo.  Price. 

10  inch,   #4  00 ;    12  inch, 

676  00;   15  inch, #8  00 

102.  Fig.  95.  Freezing  Apparatus, 

with  Thermometer  and 
tall  glass  with  brass  Cap 
and  Sliding-Rod ;  4£  and 
6  inches,  #4  00  and . .     6  00 

103.  Fig.  96.    Apparatus  arranged 

to  freeze  one  quart  of  water 
at  a  time,  with  any  of  the 
five  largest  air  pumps, ....  12  00 

104.  Fig.  97.  Freezing  Apparatus, 

with  Tunnel,  Stop-cock, 
and  Jet ;  8  inch,  #4  00 ; 
10  inch,  #6  00 ;  12  inch, 
#8  00;   15inch, 10  00 

105.  Fig.    98.      Improved    Water 

Cups,  to  use  with  freezing 
apparatus,  from.  15  cents 
each  to 3456775 

106.  Fig.  99.  Apparatus  for  freez- 

ing water  by  the  evapora- 
tion of  ether,  $1  00  and..     2  00 

107.  Fig.  100.  Cryophorus  in  vacuo, 

with  brass  Plate ;  the  wa- 
ter is  frozen  in  the  outer 
ball,  from  the  condensation 
of  the  vapor  in  the  ball  with 
the  bell-glass,  #4  00  and. .     6  00 

108.  Fig.    101.     Bell-Glass,    with 

glass  Bulb  and  Tube,  and 
spirit  Thermometer,  for 
freezing  mercury  by  the 
cold  produced  from  the 
evaporation  of  ether,  $4  00 

and 6  00 

Tubes  and  Bulbs  filled  with 
mercury,  for  breaking,  af- 
ter being  frozen,  15  to  25 
cents  each. 

109.  Fig.  102.  Freezing  Apparatus 

with  Thermometer  and 
Sliding-Rods,  adapted  to 
the  larger  pumps ;  12 
inches  diameter,  $8  00  ; 
15  inches, 10  00 

110.  Fig.  103.  Tunnel,  Stop-cock, 

and  Jet,  for  introducing 
mercury,  acid,  ether,  alco- 
hol, water,  &c,  into  an  ex- 
hausted bell-glass,  $2  00 
and ?3  00 

111.  Fig.  104.     Apparatus  for   ex- 

ploding gunpowder  in 
vacuo  ;  used  also  for  other 
purposes;  $3  00  and 5  00 

112.  Fig.  105.    Lock  for  striking 

flint  and  steel    in    vacuo, 

#2  00  and 3  00 

Leather  Collars  for  Stop- 
cocks, assorted,  per  hun- 
dred,  3456750 

Oil  prepared  to  use  with  Phil- 
osophical Instruments,  per 
ounce,  in  vial, 34567 25 

Brass  Caps  for  bell-glasses, 
from  one  half  to  two  inches 
diameter,  from  15  to 50 


Iron  Stop-cocks,  to  use  with 
mercury  ;  size  and  price  as 
No.  16  and  17,  page  340. 

HYDROSTATIC  AND  HYDRAU- 
LIC  APPARATUS. 

1.  Fig.  1.  Equilibrium  Tubes  and 

Stand,  best  finish, $11  00 

Second  quality, 2  00 

2.  Fig.  2.    Hydrostatic    Paradox 

and  fixtures  complete,  best 
quality,  largest  size, 25  00 

Hydrostatic  Paradox,  as  above, 

second  quality, 18  00 

Hydrostatic  Paradox,  fixtures, 
without  the  Stand  and  Scale- 
beam,  8  00 

A  set  of  Avoirdupois  (brass) 
Weights,  from  one  half  to 
sixteen  ounces, 5  00 

A  set  of  Troy  Weights,  from 

one  half  to  twelve  ounces,. .     3  00 

Graduated  Glass  Jar,  two  hun- 
dred cubic  inches, 2  00 

3.  Fig.   3.      Glass    Hydrometer, 

better  finish,  with  weight 
adjusting  to  all  liquids, ....     1  50 

4.  Glass  Hydrometer,  large  size, 

zero  or  water  mark  in  the 
centre  of  the  scale,  is  adapt- 
ed to  all  liquids, 2  50 

5.  Glass  Hydrometers,  cheap  fin- 

ish, graduated  for  water  or 
ether, 100 

6.  Fig.  4.     Hydrometer  Jar,  with 

foot  and  lip  ;  ten  cubic 
inches,  $1  50  ;  twenty  cubic 
inches,  $2  00  ;  thirty  cubic 
inches,  $2  25 ;  fifty  cubic 
inches, 2  50 

7.  Plane   Hydrometer   Jars,    ten 

inches  high,  75  cts.  ;  twelve 
inches,  $100;  fifteen  inches, 
1  25 ;  twenty  inches, 1  50 

8.  Fig.  5.     Graduated  Tubes,  for 

specific   gravity, 50 

9.  Fig.  5.    Hydrostatic  Bellows, 

twelve  inches  square,  six 
feet  brass  tube,  in  two 
joints, 6  00 

10.  Fig.  6.     Hydrostatic   Bellows, 

best  quality,  double  lined, 
extra  tubes,  &c, 78  00 

11.  Fig.  7.    Hydrostatic   Bellows, 

circular  twelve  inch,  with  six 
feet  brass  tube  in  two  joints,  5  00 
Fig.  7.  Hydrostatic  Bellows, 
as  No.  11,  with  extra  glass 
tube,  with  sockets  and  tun- 
nel, and  inch  square  tube 
and  tunnel, 8  00 

12.  Fig.  8.  Forcing  Pump,  or  Fire 

Engine,  with  Stand,  Cistern, 

and  Hose, 8  00 

Lifting  Pump,  glass  Barrel, 
with  Stand,  Cistern,  and  Re- 
ceiving Tunnel, 6  00 


344 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


No.  Price. 

Both  the  above  on  one  stand, 

with  Cistern, 3712  00 

13.  Fig.  9.      Archimedes      Screw 

Pump,  with  Stand  and  Cis- 
tern,  76  00 

14.  Screw  Pump,  on  a  large  scale, 

and  more  highly  finished, . .  10  00 

15.  Fig.  10.    Brass   Syphon,   with 

Suction  Tube,  Glass  Jar, 
Stand,  and  Receiving  Basin ; 
largest  size, 5  00 

16.  Syphon  and  Suction  Tube,  as 

above, 7  1  50 

Glass     Syphon     and    Suction 

Tube, 1  25 

"Wertemberg  Syphon,  of  Glass, 

50  cents,  and 75 

17.  Cylindrical     Glass    Jar,    with 

Ball,  Plate,  and  Hook,  illus- 
trating upward  and  down- 
ward pressure  of  fluids; 
small  size,  $2  00  ;  large  size,     4  00 

18.  Syphon  and  Cup,  or  Tantalus's 

Cup, 1  50 

19.  Fig.  11.    Vacuum   Syphon,  or 

Fountain  Syphon,  with  Ba- 
sins, $ 2  00  and 3  00 

20.  Fig.  12.    Hero's  Fountain,....     6  00 

21.  Fig.  13.    Barker's  Mill,  #3  00 

and 5  00 

Glass  model  of  the  Centrifugal 

Pump,  #6  00  and 8  00 

23.  Apparatus     illustrating      the 

laws  of  the  spouting  of  flu- 
ids, #10  00  and 20  00 

24.  Fig.  14.    Working    model    of 

the  Hydraulic  Press,  cheap 
finished,  #20  00 ;  best  fin- 
ished,   7  25  00 

Several  pieces  of  apparatus,  well  adapt- 
ed for  Hydrostatic  and  Hydraulic  illus- 
trations, have  been  enumerated  and 
figured  in  Pneumatics. 

ELECTRIC  APPARATUS. 

1.  An  eighteen  inch  plate  Elec- 

tric Machine, 3  i  25  00 

2.  A  twenty-four  inch  plate  Ma- 

chine,   5650  00 

3.  A  thirty  inch  plate  Machine,.7 75  00 

4.  A   thirty  six   inch  plate    Ma- 

chine,   100  00 

5.  A  forty  inch  plate  Machine, . .  125  00 

6.  A  forty-eight  inch  plate  Ma- 

chine  _ 150  00 

7.  Two  forty-eight  inch  plates  on 

one  shaft ;  four  pair  of  fif- 
teen inch  rubbers,  and  two 
negative    conductors, 300  00 

8.  A  fifty-five  inch  plate,  with  two 

pair  of  eighteen  inch  rub- 
bers, and  two  negative  con- 
ductors,   300  00 

9.  Leyden  Jars,  one,  two,  three, 

and  four  quarts,  #1,  3  2,  3, 

and  4  00 

10.  Leyden   Jars,   with  ring    and 


No.  Price. 

points,  and  crooked  neck 
and  ball,  for  suspending 
to  conductor,  one  and  two 
quarts,  #1  25  and e73  50 

11.  Leyden  Jars,  with  sliding  Dis- 

charger, two  and  four  quarts, 

#4  00  and 6  00 

12.  Insulating  Stand,  with  Jar  and 

Electrometers, 4  00 

13.  Diamond  or  Luminous    Jars, 

two  and  four  quarts,  3  4  5  6  7 

3  00  and 5  00 

14.  Leyden    Jars,    with    movable 

coatings,  one  and  two 
quarts,  #1  50  and  . . . .  3  *  56  7  3' 50 

15.  Double  Leyden  Jars,  one  and 

two   quarts, 45  7  3  50 

16.  Electrometer    Jars,    one    and 

two  quarts,  3  *  ~°  6 1  50  and. .   7  2  50 

17.  Electric  Batteries,   four  quart 

Jars,  cased, 4  6  00 ;  six  quart 
Jars,  cased,  #8  00  ;  four  two 
quart  Jars,  cased,  #10  00; 
six  two  quart  Jars,  cased, 
7  14  00  ;  six  three  quart  tall 
Jars,  cased,  #18  00 ;  twelve 
two  quart  Jars,  cased, 24  00 

18.  Sliding  Directing  Rod,  three 

and  four  feet  long,  3  4  5  62  00 

and 73  00 

19.  Single    Spiral    Spotted    Tube 

and  Stand,  3  *  5  <>  2  50  and. .  7  3  00 

20.  Set  (7)  Spiral   Spotted  Tubes 

and  Revolving  Arm,  mount- 
ed on  stand  ;  two  feet  long, 
#15  00;  three  feet, 25  00 

21.  Stand    for    luminating   Eggs, 

#2  00and 3  00 

22.  Luminous    Letters,    six    and 

twelve  inches  square,  on 
silk  and  in  frame ;  seen  day 
or  night;  per  letter,  50  cents 
and 75 

23.  Luminous     Star,     on     glass, 

mounted, 7  4  00 

24.  Profile  of  Franklin,  spotted  on 

glass,  and  mounted, 4  00 

25.  Insulated  Director, 2  00 

26.  Plane  Discharger, 3  *  6  2  50 

27.  Jointed  Discharger,  large  size,67  3  50 

28.  Universal  Discharger, 6  7  6  00 

29.  Universal     Discharger,     with 

movable  balls,  points,  and 
pincers, 7  00 

30.  Revolving    Bell    Glass,    with 

point  and  ring,  #2  00  and.  7  2  50 

31.  Lane's      Sliding     Discharger, 

#3  00  and 5  00 

32.  Pith-ball    Electrometer     and 

stand,  3  4  5  6  75  cellts  an)j 7  1  00 

33.  Quadrant    Electrometer     and 

stand,  6  2  00  and 73  00 

34.  Gold  Leaf  Electrometer,  with 

evaporating  cup  and  point, 

62  00  and 73  00 

35.  Improved  Gold  Leaf  Electrom- 

eter, with  evaporating  cup, 
point,and  condensing  plates,    5  00 


CHAMBERLAIN'S    CATALOGUE   OF  APPARATUS. 


345 


K«.  Price. 

36   Atmospheric       Electrometer, 

(Kinnersley's) 6  00 

37.  Insulating      Stool,       sixteen 

inches  square, 340675  00 

38.  Stand  and  Bell   for  pith-ball 

dancing,  #1  00  and 7  2  00 

39.  Electric  Bells,  (3,)  three  inches 

diameter, 345673  00 

40.  Set  of  nine  Bells,  mounted  on 

a  stand, 12  00 

41.  Dancing  Image  Plates,  eleven 

inches  diameter,  and  sus- 
pended to  prime  conduc- 
tor,  3452  00 

42.  Dancing  Image  Plates,  eleven 

inches,  on  adjusting  stand,  67  3  00 

43.  Dancing    Image    Plates,     on 

insulating  and  adjusting 
stand, 6  00 

44.  Dancing  Images  ;  a  pair, 3  4  30 

cents  and 5  6  7  50 

45.  Pith-balls,  from   one  to  three 

fourths  inch  diameter,  from 
345  25  cents  per   dozen,  in 

box,  to 6U  00 

Fancy  colored  Pith-balls,  per 

doz.,  30  cents  to.. 150 

46.  Electric  Sportsmen  and  Birds, 

345675  cents  and 71  00 

Electric  Birds,  per  dozen,   50 

cents  and 75 

47.  Ratification,    or      Rat-killing 

Tube,  $3  00  and 4  00 

48.  Wax  Cylinders  and  Handles, 

six,  nine,  and  twelve  inches 
long,  34567  1  00,  2  00,  and    3  00 

49.  Glass      Friction       Cylinders, 

capped  and  handled,  twelve, 
eighteen,  and  twenty-four 
inches  long,  3451  50,6?2  00,  3  00 

50.  Sulphur    Cone    and    Cup,    75 

cents,   and 1  00 

51.  Powder   Bombs,  34561  25  and7 2  00 

52.  Ivory  Mortar  and  Ball,  for  de- 

composing oil,  $2  00  and. .     3  00 

53.  Electric    Cannons,    mounted, 

|400and 6  00 

54.  Thunder  House  and  Fixtures, 

84565  00  and 76  00 

65.  Gas  Pistols,  belonging  to  thun- 
der house, 3  4  5  6  7  go 

56.  Brass  Electric  Pistol ;  has  fix- 

tures to  use  with  Galvanic 
Apparatus,  #2  00  and 3  00 

57.  Hydrogen  Gas   Generator,  or 

Platina  Igniter,  with  Gas 
Detonating  Jet,  Platina 
Sponge  and  Jet,  various 
sizes ;  two,  four,  and  eight 
quarts,  complete  ;  3  45  $3  00, 
«74  00,  $8  00,  and 14  00 

58.  Long  Haired  Man,343  50  cents, 

«775  cents,  and 1  00 

59.  Electric     Float    Wheel    and 

Point,3456l  00, 71  50 

60.  The     Abbe    Nolet's      Globe, 

5«3  00  and 75  00 


No.  Price. 

61.  Luminous  Bell  Glass,  Points, 

and  Sliding  Rod,  #3  00  and    5  00 

62.  Balance    Electrometer,    large 

size, 6  00 

63.  Electric  S,  and  Point,  34550 

cents,  6  7  75  cents,  and 1  00 

64.  Compound    Electric    S,    with 

Point  and  Stand,  $2  00  and    3  00 

65.  Electric  S  in  vacuo,  is  arranged 

with  articles  before  named, 

66.  Aurora  Flasks,  1  00,  1  50,  and    2  00 

67.  Electric  Bucket  and  Syphon, 

%\  00  and 71  50 

68.  Electric     Swing    and    Image, 

%\  00  and 45672  00 

69.  Electric      Seasons     Machine, 

large  size,  mounted  on  In- 
sulating  Stand, 6  00 

70.  Electric     Seasons      Machine, 

smaller  size,  mounted  on 
Insulating  Stand, 6  7  3  00 

71.  Electric     Seasons     Machine, 

small  size,  with  point  and 
stand ;  stands  in  the  centre 
hole  of  the  prime  conduc- 
tor,   3452  00 

72.  Electrophorus,  eleven  inches, 

mounted  on  Insulating 
Stand,  with  cover,  and  han- 
dle, and  elastic  bag,  and  jet, 
6  00  and 78  00 

73.  Electric  Spoons  for    igniting 

Ether,  34 5  75  cents, «71  25 

74.  Northern    Light,    or    Aurora 

Tubes,  from  three  to  eight 
feet  long,  and  mounted, 
6  00,  8  00,  10  00  and 12  00 

75.  Magic  Miser's  Plate,  plain  and 

mounted,  5  75  cents,  $1  00, 

and 672  00 

76.  Electric  Wheel  and  Inclined 

Plane,  2  00, 74  00 

77.  Electric  Swan  and  Basin,  75 

cents  and 1  00 

78.  Revolving    Glass    Globe    and 

Point,  50  cents  and 1  00 

79.  Helix  for  Magnetizing  Steel, 

2and 3  00 

80.  Apparatus    for    Decomposing 

and  Recomposing  Water,. .     8  00 
Amalgam,  per  box,  25,  50,  75,    1  00 

CHEMICAL  APPARATUS. 

1.  Fig.  1.  A  Pair  of  Cylindrical 

copper  Gasometers,  30  gal- 
lons capacity  each  bell,  Com- 
pound Blow-pipe,  with  ad- 
justable Holder, 150  00 

2.  Pair  copper  Gasometers,  15  gal- 

lons each,'. 1 60  00 

3.  Pair  copper  Gasometers,  7  gal- 

lons each, 5  6  35  00 

4.  Pair  tin  Gasometers,  7  gallons 

each,   425  00 

5.  Fig.  6.  Malleable  Iron  Retort, 

and  tube,  pint, 5<32  00 


346 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE 


No.  Price. 

6.  Cast  Iron  Retort  and  Tube, 

quart, 7  3  00 

7.  Flask  and  Screw  Cap  for  Oxy- 

gen,  «1  00 

8.  Lead  Tube,  with  screws  con- 

ducting gas, 4567  1  50 

9.  Fig.  7.  Lead  Retort  and  Tube 

for  Hydrogen,  quart, 5  00 

10.  Fig.  10.     Pair  13  inch  Plan- 

ished Reflectors,  in  cases 
which  serve  as  stands,  and 
iron  ball  and  stand, 4  5  6  7  8  00 

11.  Fig.  12.    Spirit  Boiler,  mount- 

ed to  use  with  the  Reflec- 
tors,  45672  50 

12.  Fig.  70.      Pair     Cubes      and 

Shields,  for  radiation  and 
absorption  of  heat, 6  7  2  00 

13.  Fig.  42.  Pyrometer,  with  brass 

and  iron  expanding  rod  and 
twolamps,4563  00 73  00 

14.  Fig.  46.  Lamp  Stand,  with  four 

bows  and  binding  screws,  4  5  6  7  2  00 

15.  Lamp  Stand  or  Retort  Holder, 

with  shifting  bows  and  two 
binders, 5  00 

16.  Conductometer,     with     iron, 

brass,  copper,  lead,  tin,  and 
glass  conducting  rods,  .  ...672  00 

17.  Conductometer,  of  a  cheaper 

form, 45i  00 

18.  Fig.  37.    Apparatus  for   non- 

conducting power  of  liquids, 

#3,  and 4  00 

19.  Fig.  32.      Platina       Pendent 

Spoons  and  Rod, 6  7  1  00 

20.  Copper  Pendent  Spoons  and 

Rod, 56725 

21.  Fig.  33.    Pendent  Sockets  for 

tapers,  &c, 50 

22.  Fig.  34.    Platina  Forceps, 3  00 

23.  Fig.  48.    Fire  Syringe,  7  inch 

plane,  and  box  tinder, . .  .4  °  e  7  1  50 

24.  Fig.  43.     Fire    Syringe,    with 

stop-cock  tinder  cavity,....     3  00 

25.  Fig.  60.    Set  3  wire  gauze  for 

cups  with  flame, 456775 

26.  Fig.  20.    Plane  Mouth  Blow- 

pipe, 50  cents  and 7  75 

27.  Fig.  21.    Blowpipe,  with  con- 

densing bulb, 1  50 

28.  Elevating  Stands,  with  Table, 

Tripod,  and  Bughorn, 7  1  50 

29.  Stands,    with    sliding     screw 

clamps  of  wood  for  retort 

and  tube  holding,  3  and...     5  00 

30.  Gas-bag,  with  socket  and  stop- 

cock, 6  gallon, 5675  00 

31.  Hessian    Crucibles,    in    nests 

of  five, 6720 

32.  Fig.  22.  Chemical  Thermome- 

ter, 650°  jointed  scale, 5  00 

33.  Chemical  thermometer,  450°, 

plane  scale, 5  67  2  50 

34.  Fig.  11.     Spirit    Lamp,    with 

ground  cap, 4  5  671  00 

85.  Aphlogistic  Lamp,  with  plati- 
na coil,  $1  and 72  00 


No.  Pnee. 

36.  Fig.  14.     Air    Thermometer, 

#2  and 3  00 

37.  Fig.  16.   Dropping  Tube,  67  25 

cents  and 30 

38.  Fig.  17.    Dropping  Tube,  with 

Rubber  Air  Bag, 100 

39.  Fig.  15.      Spirit  Boiler,   used 

with  the  hand,  75  cents  and    1  00 

40.  Fig.  18.     Graduated  oz.  meas- 

ure, 6 75  cents,  46  7 1,  and  ..     125 

41.  Fig.  26.    Graduated  measure, 

10  cubic  inches, 45671  25 

42.  Fig.  23.    Volta's  Eudiometer, 

graduated, 1  50 

43.  Fig.  24.     Hope's  Eudiometer, 

graduated, 3  00 

44.  Fig.  25.    "Ore's     Eudiometer, 

graduated, 2  50 

45.  Fig.  27.  Graduated  Cubic  inch 

tubes, 7  50  cents  and 7  75 

46.  Test  Tubes,  5674,5  675,567  6, 

5678,456710,4567  12  inch, 

andlOcts.  to 456730 

47.  Fig.  29.     Stand    and    doz.    as- 

sorted test  tubes, 2  00 

48.  Fig.  35.    Bulb   and  Tube  for 

condensation  of  mixed  li- 
quids,       7  75 

49.  Fig.  36.    Two  Bulbs  and  Tube 

for  condensation, 1  00 

50.  Fig.  30.     Glass    Flasks,   with 

ring  necks  for  corks,  half 
pint,  4  5  6  7  25  cents ;  pint, 
456735  cents;  quart 456750 

51.  Fig.  19.    Glass  Funnels,  half 

pint,    45  6  7  25  cents;    pint, 

7  35  cts.  and  quarts 50 

52.  Fig.  19.    Flat  Bottom  Flasks, 

gill  567  20  cents,  half  pint 
567  30  cents,  pint  5  6 740  cts., 
and  quarts 56755 

53.  Fig.  72.  Globe  Receivers,  with 

ring  neck,  tube,  and  stop- 
per, half  pint,  6  7  35  cents  ; 
pint,  6  7  45  cents ;  and  quart,        55 

54.  Fig.  72.     Tubulated    Retorts, 

gill  4  5  67  25  cents,  half  pint 
456730  cents,  pint  455735 
cents,  and  quart 56  7  50 

55.  Graduated  60  Drop.   Tube  on 

foot, 75 

56.  Cast  Iron  Mercury  Cisterns,..     1  00 

57.  Fig.   8.      Chemical     Furnace, 

lined,  rings  or  glass  holders, 
tube  holes,  and  sand  bot- 
tles, 7  10,  15,  and 20  00 

58.  Iron  Tube,  adapted  to  Furnace, 

with  screws,  decomposing 
water,  75  cents  and 7  1  00 

59.  Glass  Evaporating  Dishes,4  5  6  7 

20  cents,  4567  25  cents,  4667 
30cents,  and 6735 

60.  Porcelain  Evaporating  Dishes, 

nest  of  five,  $1  50  and  ....     2  00 

61.  Wedgwood  Evaporating  Dish- 

es, nest  of  five,  7 1  50  and. .    2  50 

62.  Glass  Mortar  and  Pestles,  50 

cents,  75  cents,  and 71  00 


CHAMBERLAIN'S  CATALOGUE  OF  APPARATUS. 


347 


No.  Price. 

63.  Porcelain  Mortars  and  Pes- 
tles, *671  25,  1  50,  and....    2  00 

54.  Iron  Mortar  and  Pestle,     125, 

1  50,  and 1  75 

65.  Platina  Spatulas,7 1  50,  2,  and    2  50 

66.  Steel  Spatulas,  25  cents  and. .        50 

67.  Hydrogen  Balloons,  12  inch, 

1;  15  inch,  4562;  18  inch, 
73;  20  inch,  4:  and  24 
inch, '. 6  00 

68.  Woulded   Rings  for    support- 

ing retorts,  flasks,  evapo- 
rating dishes,  &c,  set  of  six, 
l.and 150 

69.  Assortment    of     Test    Rods, 

eight,  50  cents  and 75 

70.  Glass  Stirring  Rods,  six, 5  6  7  75 

71.  Fig.  43.    Hydrogen  Gas  Gene- 

rator, with  gas  jet,  platina 
sponge,  and  long  jet  for  det- 
onating gas,  one  and  two 
quarts  capacity,  4  and 6  00 

72.  Fig.  44.   Hydrogen  Generator, 

in  frame,  with  basement 
and  fixtures,  8  quarts,  8; 
12  quarts, 12  00 

73.  Glass  Alembics,   pint,  71  75; 

quart, 2  50 

74.  Boglana  Vials,  per  dozen,....67 1  00 

75.  PrinceRupert'sDrops,perdoz.,    6750 

76.  Long-necked  Matresses,   half 

pint,  4567  30  cents;  pint,  .45fi750 

77.  Air    Thermometer,   tube    and 

bulb,  36  inch, 50 


APPARATUS  FIGURED  AND 
DESCRIBED  IN  PNEUMATICS, 
BUT  USED   IN   CHEMISTRY. 

Stop-cocks.     See  No.  16,  Fig.  10. 

Screw  Coupling,  (5,)  Nos.  18  to  22. 

Gallows  Connecters  and  Tips,  Nos.  23 
and  24 

Hose  for  conducting  Gas,  No.  25,  Fig. 
19. 

Sliding  Rods  and  Brass  Plates,  No.  26, 
Fig.  20. 

Transferring  Pump,  double  acting, 
No.  14,  Fig.  8. 

Bell  Glasses,  (40,)  No.  29,  Fig.  23,  to 
No.  34,  Fig.  28. 

Hydrogen  Bubble  Pipe,  No.  58,  Fig.  51. 

Strong  Glass  Condensing  Chamber, 
with  screw  cap  for  showing  the  chemical 
effect  produced  on  various  substances 
subjected  to  atmospheric  or  gas  pressure. 

Condensation  Gauge  for  glass  chamber, 
No.  55,  Fig.  48. 

Bell  Glass,  cap,  cock,  and  plate,  for 
transferring  air  or  gas,  No.  100,  Fig.  93. 

Evaporating  Dishes,  Fig.  98. 

Bell  Glasses,  with  screw  cap,  and  grad- 
uated to  cubic  inches,  from  100  to  300, 
No.  94,  Fig.  87. 

Gas  Pistols.     See  Electricity. 

Scales,  with  5  inch  steel  boxed  beam, 
pair  two  and  a  half  inch  pans,  set  of 


weights  from  half  a  grain  to  6  drams, 
cased,  included  in  apparatus,  No.  91, 
Fig.  84. 

Larger,  and  more  highly  finished 
Scales,  for  use  in  Laboratory,  18  inch 
beam,  No.  91,  Fig.  84. 

STEAM. 

F'S-  Price. 

Steam  Balls  for  exploding  by 
candle,  doz., 456750 

1.  Steam  Ball  and  Jet,  brass..4567  1  50 

2.  Wollaston's     Illustration     of 

Low  Pressure  Steam  En- 
gine, copper  globe  boiler, 
cylinder,  piston  and  rod, 
handle  and  safety-valve,..46  7 3  00 

3.  Working  Model  of  the  Upright 

High  Pressure  Steam  En- 
gine complete, 35  00 

4.  Section    Model  of   the  High 

Pressure  Steam  Engine,  18 
inch  beam, 25  00 

5.  Marcet's  Steam  Globe,  5  inch 

diameter,  lower  half  of  iron, 
and  not  injured  by  mercury, 
a  36  inch  condensation 
gauge  and  scale,  a  steam 
thermometer  in  brass  case, 
a  safety-valve  adjustable  • 
from  one  to  twelve  atmos- 
pheres' pressure,  a  7  wick 
copper  lamp  and  stop-cock 
to  start  revolving  jet,  steam- 
gun,  &c, 6725  00 

5.  Marcet's  Steam  Globe,  6  inch 

diameter,  with  large  fix- 
tures as  above,  steam  gun, 
jet  for  charging  Ley  den  Jar 
with  electricity  from  steam, 
insulating  stand  for  all, ....  50  00 

6.  Chamberlain's     Steam    Flask 

with  screw  cap,  stop-cock, 
safety-valve,  steam  ther- 
mometer, inside,  spirit  lamp 

and  stand  for  all, 78  00 

Note.  The  Hose  connects  this  steam 
flask  with  the  air  pump,  to  show  the 
boiling  point  to  vary  with  the  pressure 
of  the  atmosphere. 

7.  Working  Model  of  the  Hori- 

zontal High  Pressure  Steam 
Engine,  complete  in  all  its 
parts, 50  00 


AN    ASSORTMENT    OF   CHEMI- 
CAL   SUBSTANCES, 

In  quantity  and  kind,  adapted  to  use  with 
the  several  sets  of  Apparatus  for  a 
Course  of  Experimental  Lectures. 

*510,615,720to  #25  00 

1.  Sulphuric  Acid, 

2.  Muriatic      " 

3.  Nitric  " 

4.  Sulphuric  Ether, 


348 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE 


5.  Liquid  Ammonia, 

6.  Alcohol, 

7.  Naphtha, 

8.  Nitrate  of  Barytes, 

9.  Muriate  of     " 

10.  Sodium, 

11.  Potassium, 

12.  Iodine, 

13.  Phosphorus, 

14.  Nitrate  of  Silver, 

15.  Nitrate  of  Ammonia, 

16.  Carbonate  of   " 

17.  Muriate  of       " 

18.  Oxalic  Acid, 

19.  Pure  Chlorate  of  Potassa, 

20.  Granulated  Zinc, 

21.  Black  Oxide  of  Manganese, 

22.  Prussiate  of  Potash, 

23.  Bicarbonate  of  Soda, 

24.  Fluor  Spar, 

2-5.  Pulverized  Steel, 

26.  "  Iron, 

27.  "  Brass, 

28.  "  Copper, 

29.  "  Tin, 

30.  "  Lead, 

31.  "  Zinc. 

MAGNETIC,      ELECTRO-MAG- 
NETIC,   GALVANIC,  &c. 

Pair  ten  inch   Bar  Magnets   and 

Armatures,  in  case, e  3  00 

Single  Bar  Magnet  and  Keeper,  3  6  7  1  00 
Compound  Magnet,  twelve  inch,. .  7  2  50 
U  Magnet  and  Armature,  1  2  3  4  50 

cents,  and3*l  00, 2  00 

TJ  Magnet  and  Wheel  Armature,  .673  00 
Double  U  Magnet  and  Armature, 

3  00,  and 5  00 

"Wheel  Armature  for  Double  Mag- 
net,       1  00 

Round  Bar  Armature, 3  4  6  25  cents, 

and 5750 

Y  Armature,  3  4  50  cents,  and  . . . 6  6  7  75 
Star  Armature,  3  4  6  75  cents,  and5  7  1  00 
Magnetic  Needle,   six    inch,   and 

Stand,*2343?!  00,  and....«l  50 
Galvanic  Battery,  25,  50,  and  100 ; 
pair  of  cast  zinc  plates, 
four  by  six  inches,  in  cop- 
per cells ;  are  freed  from 
acid  solution  by  being  raised 
one  inch  with  crank  wind- 
lass; are  a  very  efficient 
decomposing  and  igniting 
battery,  7  25  00,  45  00,  and  90  00 
Sulphate  of  Copper  Battery,  8  by 

9£  inches, 68  00 

Sulphate  of  Copper  Battery,  6  by 

9inches, 456  00 

Sulphate  of  Copper  Battery,  4  by 

5£inch, 12373  00 

Powder  Cup,  brass, 3  4  5  6  7  50 

Voltaic  Pistol,  used  in  electrics, 

&c.,63  00  and 74  00 


Electro,  or  wound  Iron  Magnets, 

plain,    31  00;   432  00;  and75  00 

Electro-Magnets,  mounted  in 
frame,  with  Armature, 
10  00  and 15  00 

Electro-Magnet,  mounted  in 
frame,  with  Armature  and 
Lever  to  sustain  1000  pounds 
with  small  Battery, 25  00 

Electro  Coil  and  Hemispheric 
Magnets,  with  ring-handles, 
12S2  50,  45  673  50,  and....     5  00 

Magnetizing  Helix,  on  Stand,  and 

round  bar, 3  4  5  6  7  3  00 

Pair  of  Coils  to  separate  from  the 

Magnet,  2  50  and 5  00 

Orsted's  Galvanometer, 7  4  00 

Galvanometer,  compass  form,34  3  673  00 

A  seven  inch  Terrestrial  Helix, 
used  with  needle,  dipping, 
reversing  poles,  &c,  341  oO 
and 5672  00 

Galvanometer,  mounted  on  tripod 

stand,  with  adjusting  screws,    6  00 

De  la  Rive's  Ring  or  Floating  Bat- 
tery,   3671  25 

Lever  Beam  Electro-Magnetic  En- 
gine, 10  00  and 15  00 

Horizontal    Revolving    Armature 

Engine, 10  00 

Revolving  Magnet  Bell  Engine,  6  7  12  00 

Revolving  Electro-Magnet,  be- 
tween poles  of  Steel  U  Mag- 
net, 34  56  7,5  00  and 6  00 

Thermo-Electric  Revolving  Arch, 
between  poles  of  Steel  U 
Magnet,  with  Lamp, . . . .  4  5  6  7  5  00 

Separable  Helices,  or  Apparatus 
for  Analysis  of  Shocks,  De- 
composing Water,  &c, . . .  G  7  12  00 

Horizontal  Electro-Magiietic  Ap- 
paratus for  Shocks,  with  Vi- 
brating Armature  or  Break- 
piece,  for  medical  tise,  &c, 
345  00,  &6  00,  670O,  and..     8  00 

Shocking   Handles,  with  binding 

screws, 345671  50 

Set  (4)  Connecting  Wires, 3  4  5  6  7  50 

Magneto-Electric  Machine,  with 
five  eighteen  inch  Magnets, 
and  a  large  compound  re- 
volving wire  Armature,  all 
substantially  mounted,  and 
sufficiently  powerful  to  de- 
compose water,  740  00  and  50  00 

Decomposing  Cell,  with  tubes  for 
collecting  gases,  mixed  or 
separate,  6 "  3  00  and 5  00 

Note.  The  above  list  of  magnetic 
apparatus  comprises  only  the  more  im- 
portant instruments  for  the  illustration 
of  principles  in  this  branch  of  science ; 
and  also  affords  as  wide  a  range  of 
prices  as  consists  with  liberal  size,  im- 
proved construction,  and  good  mechan- 
ism. 


CHAMBERLAIN'S   CATALOGUE   OP  APPARATUS. 


349 


GEOMETRY,  &c. 

Set  of  eight  mahogany  Solids,  il- 
lustrating Cube  Root,  Plane 
and  Solid  Measure,  &c i 2 1  25 

Set  of  twelve  Solids,  viz.,  Cylinder ; 
Oblique  Cylinder ;  Prism, 
three  sides ;  Prism,  six 
sides  ;  Cone  ;  Pyramid  ; 
Frustrum  of  Cone ;  Frus- 
trum  of  Pyramid  ;  Sphere  ; 
Hemisphere ;  Oblate  Sphe- 
roid; Prolate  Spheroid,...12!  00 


Fries. 

Set  of  ten  Parallelopipeds,  pa- 
pered and  numbered  with 
reference  to  "  Holbrook's 
Geometry," »21  00 

Set  of  regular  Solids,  made  of 
pasteboard,  on  cloth,  cut  and 
strung  so  as  to  be  drawn 
into  solid  form, ' 2 1  00 

Set  of  five  Geometrical  Trans- 
posing Frames 121  00 

Numeral  Frame, i 2 1  25 

A  sheet  of  forty  Geometrical  Illus- 
trations,       1202 


INDEX 


TO    THE    SETS    OF    APPARATUS    SELECTED    FROM    THE    FOREGOING 
CATALOGUES. 

To  notice  all  the  articles  composing  the  various  sets,  it  will  be  necessary  to  look 
with  care  through  the  entire  Catalogue.  The  sets  will,  of  course,  be  subject  to 
modification  by  the  purchaser. 

Set  No.  1,  marked  1  against  the  price  of  each  article, #50  00 


m  oo 

250  00 
400  00 
500  00 
700  00 
1000  00 


BOOKS,  EXPERIMENTAL,  ILLUSTRATIVE,   AND  EXPLANATORY, 
WITH   PRICE   CATALOGUES. 

"  Chamberlain's  Pneumatic  Experiments,"  with  one  hundred  and  twenty 
wood  cut  illustrations  and  two  hundred  experiments,  with  notes  and 
explanations, 75 

"  Chamberlain's  Electric  Illustrations  and  Experiments,"  seventy  illustra- 
tions, with  notes,  &c, 1 50 

"  Chamberlain's  Illustrated  Price  Catalogue  of  Mechanics,  Optics,  Astro- 
nomical, Pneumatic,  Hydrostatic,  Electric,  Chemical,  Galvanic,  Mag- 
netic, Electro-Magnetic,   &c, 75 

"  Francis's  Chemical  Experiments,"  with  one  hundred  and  fifty  wood  cut 

illustrations  and  two  thousand  one  hundred  and  forty-nine  experiments,     2  00 

"  Davis's  Manual  of  Magnetism,"  with  some  two  hundred  cut  illustrations 

and  experiments, 1  25 

Note.  All  of  the  Instruments  are  illustrated  by  Wood  Cuts,  and  such  descriptions 
and  dimensions  given  as  will  enable  the  purchaser  to  judge  correctly  of  the  general  character 
of  the  Instruments. 


NO 


TERMS,     CASH. 

DISCOUNT    TO     AGENTS 


Prices  uniform  and  definite ;  and  such  as  will  afford  only  a  manufacturer's  profit. 
Boxes,  packing,  and  shipping,  two  and  a  half  per  cent,  on  the  amount  of  the  bill, 
if  over  one  hundred  dollars. 
Insured  against  breakage  by  transportation  for  two  and  a  half  per  cent. 
Insured  against  the  dangers  of  the  seas,  from  one  to  two  and  a  half  per  cent. 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

OF 

PHILOSOPHICAL    INSTRUMENTS 

MANUFACTURED  AND   SOLD  BY 

N.  B.  CHAMBERLAIN, 

BOSTON,  MASS. 


Pneumatics. — Chamberlain's  American   Am    Pump. 
Fig.  1.— Nos.  1,  2,3,  4. 


CHAMBKK^AIN'S  CATALOGUE  OF  APPARATUS. 


351 


Air  Pump. 
Fig.2.— Nos.5,6. 


352 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE 


Three  Inch  Stop-Cock 
Fig.  10. 


Bell  in  Vacuo. 
Fig.  82. 


Vane  and  Mill  in  Vacuc 
Fig.   70. 

Q 


CHAMBERLAIN'S  CATALOGUE  OP  APPARATUS. 


353 


Hydrostatics.  —  Lifting  and  Forcing  Pumps. 
Fig.  8. 


Pnevmatics. —  Improved  Glass 

Condensing  Chamber. 

Fig.*. 


Pneumatics.  —  Copper  Condensing 
Chamber  and  Fixtures. 


23 


354 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


Chamberlain's  Barometer 

and  Expansion  Apparatus. 

Fig.  78. 

9 
4, 


Tall  Conical   Guinea 
and  Feather  Glass. 
Fig.  71. 


k 


gUT  " 


Freezing  Apparatus 

with  Thermometer. 

Fig.  95. 


Syphon  in  Vacuo. 
Fig.  88. 


^  (f 


CHAMBERLAIN'S  CATALOGUE   OF  APPARATUS. 


355 


One  and  a  half  Inch 

Stop-Cock. 

Fig.  11. 


Weight  and  Buoyancy 
of  Air. 
Fig.  83. 


Guinea  and  Feather  Tube, 

or  Northers  Light  Tube. 

Fig.  72 


Hydrostatics.  —  Hydrostatic 
Bellows. 

Fig.  7. 


356 


SCHOOL   AKeHITECTURE. 


Seasons  Machine  —  Brass  Mounted. 
Fig.  21. 


Improved  High  Mounted  Globb. 
Fig.  22. 


CHAMBERLAIN'S   CATALOGUE  OF  APPARATUS. 


357 


Mechanical  Powers. 
Fig.  8.— Nos.  10,  11. 


358 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


Reflecting  Telescopb. 
Ftff.  16.— No.  26. 


CHAMBERLAIN'S   CATALOGUE   OF  APPARATUS.  359 

Electrics,  —  Fifty-five  Inch  Plate  Electric  Machine. 

Fig.  4. 


360 


SCHOOL,  ARCHITECTURE. 


Section  Model  or  the    High  Pressure  Steam  Engine  —  Eiohteiw 
and  Twenty-four  Inch  Beam. 

Fig.  5. 


Pyrometer,  with  Lamps  and  Brass  and  Iron  Expanding  Rods 

Fig.  6. 


CHAMBERLAIN'S  CATALOGUE   OP   APPARATUS. 


361 


Chamberlain's  Steam  Flask,  with 
Cap,  Cock,  Safety- Valve,  Ther- 
mometer, Stand,  and  Lamp. 
Fig.  2. 


Marset's  Steam  Globe,  with 

TALL  PreSSURE-GaCGE,  StEAM 

Thermometer,  Stop-Cock, 
Safety- Valve,  and 
Copper  Lamp. 
Fig.  3. 


Decomposing  and  Recomposing  by  Galvanism  or  Electricity. 
Fiq.   4. 


362 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


Electrics.  —  Eighteen  Inch  Plate  Electric  Machine. 
Fig.  1. 


Optics.  —  Improved  Magic  Lantern. 
Fig.  17.—  No.  27. 


CHAMBERLAIN'S  CATALOGUE  OF  APPARATUS 


363 


Galyanic   Battery. 
Fig.  7. 


Cylindrical   Battery. 

Fig.  8. 


Magneto-Electric  Machine. 
Fig.  9. 


364 


SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE. 


Orrery  —  Motion  by  Crank. 
Fig.  18. 


Orrery  —  Motion  by  Winding  Spring 
Fig.  19. 


Brass-Mounted  Spring  Orrery. 
Fig.  20. 


CHAMBERLAIN'S  CATALOGUE   OP  APPARATUS., 


365 


Apparatus  fob  Analysis  of  Shocks  ok  Separable  Helices 
Fig.  10 

Jg 

Fi"" 


Eitctricity.  —  Gas  Generator,  with  Jet  and 
Platina  Sponge,  Detonating.  Jet,  &c. 

Galvanism.  —  Helix    and 

Hemispheric  Magnets. 

Fig.  11. 


366 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE 
CHEMICALS,  STEAM,  &c. 


Cored  Bell  Gasometers, 
with  Adjustable  Com- 
pound Blowpipe. 


Fig.  I. 


PHILOSOPHICAL    APPARATUS, 


SELECTED    FROM 


CHAMBERLAIN'S   ILLUSTRATED  AND   DESCRIPTIVE 

CATALOGUES, 

AND  ARRANGED  IN    SETS  CORRESPONDING  TO   THE 

SUMS  ANNEXED. 


[It  will  be  seen  that  the  highest  cost  and  largest  sized  instruments  have 
not  been  incorporated  into  sets,  as  such  instruments  are  generally  required 
for  institutions  having  more  or  less  good  apparatus  of  a  small  class,  that  is 
made  more  valuable  by  being  used  in  connection  with  an  efficient  Air 
Pump  or  Electric  Machine.] 


SET    OF    PHILOSOPHICAL   APPARATUS. 


No.  1,  marked  1  in  Catalogue. 


Cohesive  Attraction  Plates, 

Cohesive  Attraction  Lead  Hemi- 
spheres,   

Set  of  six  Capillary  Attraction 
Tubes, 

Set  of  six  Collision  Balls,  in  frame, 

Set  of  Centre  of  Gravity,  Centre  of 
Motion,  Centre  of  Magnitude, 
Common  Centre,  &c, 

Set  of  eight  Cube  Root  Solids,... 

Set  of  twelve  Geometrical  Solids, . 

Set  of  ten  Parallelopipeds, 

Set  of  five  Regular  Solids, 

Set  of  five  Geometrical  Transpos- 
ing Frames, 


1  00    Sheet  of  Geometrical  Illustrations, 


1  00 


1  50 
3  00 


7  00 
1  25 
1  00 
1  00 
1  00 

1  00 


Numeral  Frame,.. 
Prism 

Set  of  six  Lenses,. 
Terrestrial  Globe,  . 
Seasons  Machine, . 
Orrery, , 


20 

1  00 


Cylindrical  Electro-Galvanic  Bat- 
tery,   

Helix  and  pair  of  Hemispheric 
Magnets, *. 

Magnetic  Needle  and  Stand, 


3  00 
2  50 

#50  00 


SET  OF  PHILOSOPHICAL  APPARATUS. 

No.  2,  marked  -  in  Catalogue. 


Cohesive  Attraction  Plates, 1  00 

Lead  Hemispheres,  for   Cohesive 

Attraction," 1  00 

Capillary  Tubes, 1  50 

Collision  Balls  and  Frame 4  00 

Centre  of  Gravity  Apparatus,....  7  00 

Mechanical  Powers, 35  00 

Set  of  six  Lenses, 6  00 

Prism, 2  00 

Compound  Microscope,.. 10  00 

Orrery, 10  00 

Seasons  Machine, 7  00 

Terrestrial   Globe, 5  00 


Cube  Root  Solids, 1  25 

Twelve  turned  Solids, 1  00 

Ten  Parallelopipeds, 1  00 

Five  regular  Solids, 1  00 

Five  Transposing  Frames, 1  00 

Sheet  Geometrical  Diagrams,....  20 

Numeral  Frame, 1  00 

Cylinder  Electro-Galvanic  Battery,  3  00 

Helix  and  Armatures, 2  50 

U  Magnet  and  Armature, 50 

Magnetic  Needle  and  Stand, 75 

#100  00 


368 


CHAMBERLAIN'S  CATALOGUE  OP  PRICES. 


SET  OF  PHILOSOPHICAL  APPARATUS. 


No.  3,  marked  3  in  Catalogue. 


*Air  Pump, 

♦Bell  Glass,  Screw  Capped 

♦Freezing  Apparatus, 

♦Expansion, 

Straight  Glass  Jar, 

♦Hand  Glass, 

♦Tall  Bell  Glass  and  Jar, 

♦Mercury  Tunnel, 

♦Glass  Pan  for  do., , 

Hemispherical  Cups, , 

Upward  Pressure  Apparatus, 

Set  Screw  Couplers, 

Bell  for  Vacuo, 

♦Sliding  Rod, 

♦Sheet  Rubber  Bag 

♦Artificial   Fountain, 

♦Guinea  and  Feather  Tube, 

♦Barometer  Apparatus, 

♦Weighing  and  Buoyancy  of  Air, 

Syphon  Vacuum  Gauge, 

Inertia  Wheel, 

♦Philosophical  Water  Hammer, . 

♦Condenser, 

♦Condensing  Chamber  and  Cock, 

Air  Gun  Barrel, 

♦Revolving  Jet, 

♦Exploding  Cup,  Cap  and  Cock,. 

♦Hose  and  Jet, 

♦Straight  Brass  Jet, 

Stopcock  Collars, 


Pair  Water  Pumps,. 


Mechanical  Powers, 

Centre  of  Gravity  Apparatus, . . . 

Electric  Machine,  18  inch  Plate, 

Two  quart  Leyden  Jar, 

Diamond  Jar, ...., 

Movable  Coatings  Jar, 

Electrometer  Jar, 

Discharger, 


25  00  f 

3  50 

4  00 

75 

75 

75 

3  00 

75 

25 

5  00 

6  00 

2  50 

1  25 

1  25 

1  25 

4  00 

6  00 

3  00 

5  00 

2  50 

1  00 

3  00 

5  00 

3  50 

1  00 

1  25 

2  00 

1  00 

50 

25 

12  00 

35  00 

7  00 

25  00 

2  00 

3  00 

3  00 

1  50 

2  50 

Directing  Rod, 

Spiral  Tube, 

Bells, 

S.  and  Point, 

Pithball  Electrometer, 

Images  and  Plates, 

Insulating  Stool, 

Box  Pithballs, 

Sportsman  and.  Birds, 

Powder   Bomb, 

Thunder  House  and  Fixtures, . 

Hydrogen  Generator, 

Long-Haired  Man, 

Wheel  and  Point, 

Seasons  Machine, 

Ether  Spoon, 

Wax  Friction  Cylinder, 

Glass  Friction  Cylinder, 

Box  Amalgam, 


Cylindrical  Electro  Battery, 

Electro   Magnet, 

Electro  Coil  and  Armatures, 

Powder  Cup, 

Pair    of   Magnetic    Needles    and 

Stands, 

Bar  Magnet, 

U  Magnet  and  Armature, 

Terrestrial   Helix, 

Revolving  Electro  Magnet, 

Magnetizing  Helix, 

Compound  Helices,  with  vibrating 

Armature  for  Shocks, 

Pair  Handles,  for  Shocks, 

Set  of  Connecting  Wires, 

Galvanometer, 


200 

2  50 

3  00 
50 
50 

2  50 
6  00 

25 

75 

1  25 

5  00 

3  00 
50 

1  00 

2  50 
75 

1  00 

1  00 

25 

3  00 

1  00 

2  50 
50 

2  00 


5  00 

1  50 

50 

3  00 


Pneumatics  and  Hydraulics,.. $107  00 

Electrics, 71  00 

Mechanics,  &c, 42  00 

Magnetics,  &c, 30  00 

$250  00 


SET   OF   PHILOSOPHICAL   APPARATUS. 


No.  4,  marked  4  in  Catalogue. 


Collision  Balls, 3  00 

Mechanical  Powers, 35  00 

# 

Set  of  Eye  Models 12  00 

Prism,.. 1  00 

Compound  Microscope, 10  00 

Orrery, 10  00 

Seasons  Machine, 7  00 

Pair  ten  inch  Globes, 20  00 

Double  Barrel  Air  Pump, 35  00 

Eight    inch    brass     capped    Bell 
Glasa 3  50 


Tall  Bell  Glass  and  Jar, 3  00 

Freezing  Apparatus, 4  00 

Expansion  Apparatus, 75 

Hand  Glass, 75 

Mercury  Tunnel, 1  00 

Glass  Pan,  for  Mercury, 25 

Straight  Jar,  for  Bell  Glass, 75 

Hemispherical  Cups, 5  00 

Upward  Pressure  Apparatus 6  00 

Dozen  Bursting  Squares, 1  50 

Cap  Valve  for  do. , „  25 

Wire  Guard  for  do., 75 

Set  of  Screw  Couplers, 2  50 

Bell  for  Vacuo, 1  25 


CHAMBERLAIN'S  CATALOGUE  OP  PRICES. 


369 


SlidingJRoa, 1  50 

Sheet  Rubber  Bag, 1  25 

Artificial  Fountain, 4  00 

Float  Wheel 1  00 

Bacchus  Illustration, 1  50 

Guinea  and  Feather  Tube, 6  00 

Water  Hammer,  . . 3  00 

Barometer  Apparatus, 3  00 

Weight  and  Buoyancy  of  Air, ....  6  00 

Vacuum  Gauge 2  50 

Condensing  Pump, 5  00 

Condensing  Chamber  and  Cock,..  3  50 

Air  Gun  Barrel, 1  00 

Revolving  Jet, 1  25 

Jet  Paradox  Tunnel, 1  50 

Water  Pan  and  Tube, 75 

Plate  Paradox  and  Disks 1  00 

Pipe  Paradox  and  Balls, 1  00 

Water  Hose, 1  00 

Brass  Jet, 50 

Exploding  Cup  and  Cock, 2  00 

Stopcock  Collars, 25 

Pair  Water  Pumps  and  Fixtures,.  12  00 

Electric  Machine,  18  inch  Plate,.  25  00 

Battery  of  four  quart  Jars, 6  00 

Double  Jar, 3  50 

Diamond  Jar, 3  00 

Movable  Coatings, 3  00 

Electrometer  Jar, 1  50 

Discharger, 2  50 

Directing  Rod, 2  00 

Spiral  Tube, 2  50 

Bells,... 3  00 

Pithball  Electrometer, 50 

S.  and  Point, 50 

Pair  Plates  and  Images, 2  50 

Box  Pithballs, 25 

Insulating  Stool, 6  00 

Sportsman  and  Birds, 75 

Powder  Bomb, 1  25 

Thunder  House  and  Fixtures,...  5  00 

Hydrogen  Generator, 3  00 

Long-Haired  Man, 50 

Float  Wheel  and  Point, 1  00 

Seasons  Machine, 2  50 

Ether  Spoon, To 

Wax  Friction  Cylinder, 1  00 

Glass  Friction  Cylinder, 1  50 


25  00 
1  00 

1  50 

6  00 

2  50 


Electric  Swing  and  Image, 2  00 


Gasometers  and  Fixtures, 

Flask,  screw-capped  for  Oxygen,. 

Lead  Conducting  Tube, 

Reflectors  and  Iron  Ball, 

Spirit  Boiler  for  do., 

Pyrometer,  Rods,  and  Lamps,... 

Conductometer  and  Rods, 

Fire  Syringe  and  Tinder, 

Set  of  Wire  Gauze, 

Lamp  Stand, 

Spirit  Lamp, 

Grad.  Oz.  Measure, 

Ten  cubic  inch  do., 

Test  Tubes,   six, 

Flasks,  three, 

Funnel,   

Retorts,  tubulated,  three, ........ 

Evaporating  Dishes,  three, 

Hydrogen  Balloon, 

Pair  long-necked  Matrasses, 

Dozen   Candle  Bombs, 

Dozen  Prince  Rupert's  Drops, 

Steam  Globe  and  Jet, 

Wollaston's   Steam   Apparatus,.. 
Chemical  Substances, 


60 

2  00 
60 
50 
50 

1  50 

3  00 
10  00 


Electro  Cylinder  Battery, 6  00 

U  Magnet  and  Armature, 50 


Electro  Magnet, 1  00 

Bar  Armature, 25 

Y  Armature, 75 

Star  Armature, 75 

Magnetic  Needle  and  Stand,  ....  1  00 

Powder  Cup, 50 

Coil  and  Hem.  Armatures, 2  50 

Magnetizing  Helix, 3  00 

Terrestrial    Helix, '  1  50 

Revolving  Magnet, 5  00 

Vibrating  Shocker, 5  00 

Shocking  Handles, 1  50 

Set  of  Connecting  Wires, 50 


Pneumatics, 124  75 

Electrics, , 80  00 

Chemicals, 68  20 

Magnetics,    &c, 29  75 

Mechanics,  &c 98  00 

#400  00 


SET    OF    PHILOSOPHICAL   APPARATUS. 


No.  5,  marked  5  in  Catalogue. 


Collision  Balls, 4  00 

Mechanical  Powers, 35  00 

Centre  of  Gravity, 7  00 

Set  of  Eye  Models, 12  00 

Prism,.; 1  00 

Microscope, 12  00 

Orrery, 10  00 

Seasons, 7  00 

Pair  of  Globes, 30  00 

Ah- Pump, 40  00 

Open  Swelled  Bell  Glass, 4  50 

Brass  screw-capped  Bell, 3  50 

24 


Straight  Jar  for  do., 1  00 

Freezing  Apparatus, 4  00 

Tall  Bell  Glass  and  Jar,.... 3  00 

Expansion  Apparatus, 75 

Swelled  Hand  Glass, 1  00 

Hemispherical  Cups, 5  00 

Upward  Pressure  Apparatus,....  6  00 

Dozen  Bursting  Squares, 1  50 

Cap  Valve  for  do., 25 

Wire  Guard  for  do., 75 

Set  of  Screw  Couplers, 2  50 

Bell  for  Vacuo, 1  25 

Sliding  Rod  for  do., 1  25 

Sheet  Rubber  Bag,  &e., 1  25 


370 


CHAMBERLAIN'S  CATALOGUE  OF  PRICES. 


Artificial  Fountain,  &c, 4  00 

Mercury  Tunnel, 1  00 

Glass  Pan  for  Mercury, 30 

Guinea  and  Feather  Tube, 6  00 

Barometer  Apparatus, 3  00 

Weight  and  Buoyancy  of  Air, ....  6  00 

Syphon  Vacuum  Gauge, 2  50 

Float  Wheel, 1  00 

Water  Hammer, 3  00 

Condensing  Chamber  and  Cock,..  3  50 

Condenser, 5  00 

Air  Gun  Barrel, 1  00 

Revolving  Jet, 1  25 

Plate  Paradox  and  Disks, 1  00 

Pipe  Paradox  and  Balls, 1  00 

Hose  and  Water  Jet, 1  00 

Brass  Jet, 50 

Leathers  for  Stopcocks, 50 

Exploding  Cup,  Cap,  and  Cock,..  2  00 

Jet  Paradox  and  Balls, 1  50 

Water  Pan  and  Tube, 75 

Pair  of  Water  Pumps, 12  00 

Electric  Machine,  24  inch  Plate,. .  50  00 

Battery, 8  00 

Double  Jar, 3  50 

JJiamond   Jar, 3  00 

Movable  Coatings, 3  00 

Electrometer  Jar, •. .  1  50 

Directing  Rod, 2  00 

Discharger, 2  50 

Spiral   tube, 2  50 

Pithball  Electrometer, 50 

Insulating  Stool, 6  00 

Set  of  Bells, 3  00 

Dancing  Image  Plates,  . . .  • 2  00 

Pair  of  Dancing  Images, 50 

Box  of  Pithballs, 50 

Sportsman  and  Birds, 75 

Powder  Bomb, 1  25 

Abbe   Nolet's  Globe, 3  00 

Thunder  House  and  Fixtures, ....  5  00 

Hydrogen  Generator, 3  00 

Long-Haired  Man, 50 

Float  Wheel  and  Point, 1  00 

S.  and  Point, 50 

Seasons  Machine, 2  50 

Ether  Spoon, 75 

Miser's   Plate, 150 

Electric  Swing  and  Image, 1  00 

Box  of  Amalgam, 25 

Gasometers  and  Fixtures, 35  00 

Retort  for  Oxygen, 2  00 


Conducting   Gas  Tube, 1  60 

Reflectors  on  Stands, 5  00 

Spirit  Boiler, 2  50 

Barometer  and  Lamps, 3  00 

Lamp  Stand, 2  00 

Conductometer 1  00 

Pendent  Spoon, 25 

Fire  Syringe  and  Tinder, 1  50 

Set  of  Wire  Gauze, 50 

Gas  Bag  and  Cock, 5  00 

Chemical  Thermometer, 2  50 

Spirit  Lamp, 1  00 

Graduated  Measure, 1  00 

Test  Tubes,  six, 75 

Flasks,   three, 1  00 

Funnel, 20 

Flasks,  flat  bottom,   three, 15 

Tub.   Retorts,   six, 2  00 

Evaporating  Dishes,  three, 75 

Two  Wedgwood  do., 50 

Mortar  and  Pestle, 1  00 

Hydrogen  Balloon, 2  00 

Stirring  Rods, 25 

Matrasses,   two, 60 

Candle  Bombs,   dozen, 50 

Steam  Globe,  brass,  with  Jet,....  1  50 

Chemical  Substances, 10  00 

Electro  Battery, 8  00 

Bar  Magnet, 1  00 

U  Magnet  and  Armature, 1  00 

Electro   Magnet, 2  00 

Bar  Armature, 25 

Y  Armature, 75 

Star  Armature, 75 

Pair  of  Needles, 2  00 

Powder  Cup, 50 

Coil  and  Hem.  Armatures, 2  50 

Magnetizing  Helix, 3  00 

Galvanometer, 3  00 

Terrestrial   Helix, 150 

Revolving  Electro  Magnet, 5  00 

Analysis  of  Shocks  Apparatus, . .  12  00 

Shocking  Handles, 1  50 

Set  of  Connecting  Wires, 50 

Thermo- Electric  Arch, 5  00 

Decomposing  Cell, 3  00 

Pneumatics, 135  30 

Electrics, 110  00 

Chemicals, 85  55 

Mechanics,  &c, 118  00 

Electro  Magnets, 51  25 

#500  10 


SET    OF   PHILOSOPHICAL   APPARATUS. 

No.  6,  marked  6  in  Catalogue. 


Collision  Balls, 4  00 

Centre  of  Gravity  Apparatus, ....     7  00 
Mechanical  Powers, 35  00 

Lenses, 6  00 

Prism, 2  00 

Microscope, 12  00 

Orrery, 25  00 

Seasons  Machine, 7  00 


Globes, 30  00 

Magic  Lantern, 25  00 

Astronomical  Slides, 20  00 

Air  Pump, 75  00 

Open  Swelled  Bell  Glass, 4  50 

Brass  capped  Bell  Glass,  8  inch, . .  3  50 

Straight  Jar  for  do., 1  00 

Tall  Bell  Glass  and  Jar 3  00 


CHAMBERLAIN'S    CATALOGUE  OF  PRICES. 


371 


Freezing  Apparatus, 

Expansion  do., • 

Swelled  Hand  Glass, 

Hemispherical   Cups, 

Upward  Pressure  Apparatus,.... 

Dozen  Bursting  Squares, 

Cap  Valve  for  do., 

Wire  Guard  for  do., 

Set  of  Screw  Couplers, 

Bell  for  Vacuo, 

Sliding  Rod  for  do.,  &c, 

Sheet  Rubber  Bag,  &c, 

Artificial  Fountain, 

Bacchus  Illustration, 

Mercury  Tunnel, 

Guinea  and  Feather  Tube, 

Water  Hammer,  Cap,  and  Cock,  . 

Barometer  Apparatus, 

Weight  and  Buoyancy  of  Air, .... 
Copper  Condensing  Chamber  and 

Cock, 

Condensing  Pump, 

Air   Gun   Barrel, 

Jet  Paradox  and  Balls, 

Cock  and  Int.  Ext.  Jets  for  do.,.. 

Revolving  Jet, 

Plate  Paradox  and  Disks, 

Pipe  Paradox  and  Balls, 

Water  Hose  and  Jet, 

Brass  Jet, 

Water  Pan  and  Tube, 

Bladder,  Cup,  Cap,  and  Cock,.... 
Stopcock  Leathers, 


Pair  of  Water  Pumps, . 
Hydrostatic  Bellows,.. 


Electric  Machine,  24  inch  Plate, 

Battery  of  four  Jars, 

Atmospheric  Jar 

Diamond  Jar, 

Movable  Coatings, 

Electrometer  Jar, 

Directing  Rod, 

Jointed  Discharger, 

Universal  Discharger, 

Spiral  Tube, 

Pithball  Electrometer, 

Insulating  Stool, 

Set  of  Bells, 

Dancing  Image  Plates, 

Pair  of  Dancing  Images, 

Box  of  Pithballs, 

Sportsman  and  Birds, 

Powder '  Bomb, 

Wax  Friction  Cylinder, 

Glass  Friction  Cylinder, 

Quadrant   Electrometer, 

Gold  Leaf  Electrometer, 

Thunder  House  and  Fixtures, . . 

Hydrogen  Generator, 

Long-Haired  Man, 

Float  Wheel  and  Point, 

S  and  Point, 

Abbe  Nolet's  Globe, 

Seasons  Machine, 

Igniting  Spoon, > . . 

Miser's  Plate, 

Bucket  and  Syphon, 

Electric  Swing  and  Image, 


00 
00 
00 
00 
00 
50 
25 
75 
2  50 
1  25 

1  50 

2  00 

4  00 
'  1  50 

1  00 

6  00 

3  00 

7  00 

7  00 

3  50 

5  00 
1  00 
1  50 
1  50 
1  25 
1  00 
1  00 

1  00 
50 
75 

2  00 
50 

12  00 

8  00 

50  00 
10  00 

3  00 
3  00 
3  00 

1  50 

2  00 

3  50 

6  00 

2  50 
75 

6  00 

3  00 
3  00 

50 

50 

75 

1  25 

1  50 

1  50 

2  00 
2  00 


5  00 

4  00 

50 

1  00 
75 

3  00 

3  50 

75 

2  00 

1  00 

2  00 


Box  of  Amalgam, 

Pair  of  Gasometers  and  Fixtures,. 

Oxygen  Retort, 

Lead  Conducting  Tube, 

Pair  of  Reflectors, 

Spirit  Boiler, 

Radiating  Cubes, 

Pyrometer, 

Lamp  Stand, 

Conductometer, 

Pendent  Spoons, 

Fire  Syringe  and  Tinder, 

Set  of  Wire  Gauze, 

Large  Gas  Bag  and  Cock, 

Crucibles, 

Chemical  Thermometer, 

Spirit  Lamp, 

Dropping  Tube, 

Graduated  Measure,  Oz., 

Measure,  ten  cubic  inches, 

Six  Test  Tubes, 

Flasks,  six, 

Tunnel,  Glass 

Flat  Flasks,  three, 

Globe  Receivers,  two, 

Tubular  Retorts,  six, 

Glass  Evaporating  Dishes,  three,. 
Wedgwood.  Mortar  and  Pestle,. . . 

Hydrogen  Balloon, 

Stirring  Rods,  three, 

Bologna  Vials,  six, 

Rupert's  Drops,  dozen, 

Matrasses,  two, 

Candle  Bombs,  dozen, 

Steam  Globe  and  Jet, 

Wollaston's  *Steam  Apparatus, . . , 

Marset's  Steam  Globe,... 

Chemical  Substances, 


50 

35  00 
2  00 

1  50 
8  00 

2  50 

2  00 

3  00 
2  00 
2  00 
1  25 

1  50 
75 

5  00 
20 

2  50 
1  00 

20 
1  00 

1  25 
75 

2  20 
25 

1  25 
80 

2  50 
60 

1  00 

2  00 
25 
50 
50 
70 
50 

1  50 

3  00 
25  00 
15  00 


Sulphate  Copper  Battery, 8  00 

Bar  Magnet, 1  00 

U  Magnet  and  Wheel, 3  00 

Bar  Armature, 25 

Y  Armature, 75 

Star  Armature, 75 

Magnetic  Needle  and  Stand, 100 

Powder  Cup, 50 

Voltaic  Pistol f. 3  00 

Electro  Magnet, 5  00 

Coil  and  Hem.  Magnets, 3  50 

Magnetizing  Helix, 3  00 

Galvanometer, 3  00 

Terrestrial  Helix, 2  00 

De  la  Rive's  Ring, 125 

Bell  Engine, 12  00 

Revolving  Electro  Magnet, 5  00 

Thermo-Electric  Arch, 5  00 

Analysis  of  Shocks  Apparatus,...  12  00 

Shocking  Handles, 1  50 

Connecting  Wires, 50 

Decomposing  Cell, 3  00 

173  00 

Pneumatics,  &c, 200  00 

Electrics...... 122  00 

Chemicals, 130  95 

Magnetics,  &c, 75  00 

#700  00 


372 


CHAMBERLAIN'3  CATALOGUE  OF  PRICES. 


SET   OF   PHILOSOPHICAL  APPARATUS. 

No.  7,  marked  7  in  Catalogue. 


7  00 

9  00 

1  75 

25 

1  00 

2  50 

1  25 

2  00 


Set  of  Collision  Balls, 6  00 

Centre  of  Gravity  Apparatus, ....  7  00 

Whirling  Machine,  &c, 8  00 

Mechanical  Powers, 35  00 

Set  of  Lenses, 6  00 

Prism, 2  00 

Compound  Microscope, 18  00 

Orrery, 25  00 

Pair  13  inch  high-mounted  Globes,  40  00 

Magic  Lantern, 25  00 

Astronomical  Illustrations, 20  00 

Seasons  Machine, 7  00 

Air  Pump, 85  00 

Bell  Glass,  open,  swelled, 6  00 

Bell  Glass,  brass  capped, 3  50 

Tall  Bell  Glass  and  Jar, 3  00 

Freezing  Apparatus,  12  inch,  ....  6  00 

Expansion  Apparatus, 2  00 

Hand  Glass,  swelled, 1  00 

Bladder  Cup,  Cap,  and  Cock, ....  2  00 

Hemispherical  Cups, 

Upward  Pressure  Apparatus, . . 
Dozen  Bursting  Squares...... 

Cap  Valve  for  do., 

Wire  Guard  for  do., 

Set  of  Screw  Couplers,  five, . . . 

Bell  for  Vacuo, 

Sliding  Bod  for  do.,. ......... . 

Vane  Mill  for  Vacuo, V. 7  00 

Sheet  Rubber  Bag,  &c, 2  00 

Artificial  Fountain  and  Jets, 4  00 

Tall  Bolthead  and  Cap, 1  50 

Bacchus  Illustration, 3  00 

Mercury  Tunnel, 1  00 

Guinea  and  Feather  Tube, 7  00 

Water  Hammer,  Cap,  and  Cock,..  3  00 

Chamberlain's  Barometer, 7  00 

Vacuum  Gauge, 3  50 

Weighing  Air  Apparatus, 15  00 

Buoyancy  of  Air  Apparatus, 6  00 

Double  Transferrer* 10  00 

Straight  Jar, 1  00 

Pear  Gauge, 3  00 

Syphon  in  Vacuo, 4  00 

Glass  Condensing  Chamber, ......  10  00 

Double  Acting  Condenser, 8  00 

Air  Gun  Barrel, 1  25 

Revolving  Jet, 1  25 

Stopcock,  Int.  and  Ext.  Jets,....  2  00 

Jet  Paradox  Tunnel,  &c, 1  50 

Water  Pan  and  Tube, 75 

Plate  Paradox  and  Disks, I  25 

Pipe  Paradox  and  Balls,.. 1  25 

Water  Hose  and  Jet, 1  00 

Straight  Brass  Jet, 75 

Condensation  Gauge  Syphon, ... .  3  00 

Condensation  Gauge  Globe, 1  50 

Condensation  Gauge,  graduated,.  1  50 

Dozen  Crushing  Squares, 1  00 

Dozen  Sinking  Globes, 50 

Bell  for  Condensed  Air, 1  25 

Thermometer  for  Condens.  Cham.,  1  00 


Stopcock  Leathers,.... 

Pair  of  Water  Pumps, . 
Hydrostatic  Bellows,.. 
Hydrostatic  Press, .... 


50 


Thirtj^inch  Plate  Machine, 

Battery,  six  Jars, 

Double  Jar, 

Diamond  Jar, 

Movable   Coatings, 

Atmospheric  Jar, 

Electrometer  Jar, 

Sliding  Directing  Rod, 

Jointed  Discharger,  ............ 

Universal  Discharger, 

Spiral  Spotted  Tube. 

Spotted  Star, 

Revolving  Bell  Glass, 

Pithball  Electrometer, 

Quadrant  do., 

Gold  Leaf  do., 

Insulating  Stool,.... 

Stand,  Bell,  and  Dancing  Balls,. 

Set  of  Bells,  three, 

Dancing  Image  Plates,.... ...... 

Pair  of  Dancing  Images, 

Assortment  of  Pithballs, 

Electric  Sportsman  and  Birds, . . 

Wax  Friction  Cylinder, 

Glass  Friction  Cylinder, 

Powder  Bomb, 

Thunder  House  and  Fixtures,... 

Brass  Cannon,  &c 

Hydrogen  Generator, 

Long-Haired  Man, 

Float  Wheel  and  Point,  ........ 

Abbe  Nolet's  Globe, 

Electric  S-  and  Point, 

Electric  Bucket  and  Syphon,... 

Electric  Swing  and  Image, 

Electric  Seasons  Machine, 

Electrophorus  and  Fixtures,.... 

Electric  Igniting  Spoon, 

Miser's  Plate, 

Inclined  Plane  and  Wheel, 


Pair  of  Gasometers, 

Iron  Retort  for  Oxygen, 

Lead  Conducting  Tube, 

Pair  of  13  inch  Reflectors,  in  case, 

Spirit  Boiler  for  do. , 

Pair  of  Radiating  Cubes, 

Pyrometer,  Rods,  and  Lamps,. . . . 

Two  Lamp  Stands, 

Conductometer,  six  Rods,  ....... 

Pair  of  Pendent  Spoons, 

Fire  Syringe  and  Tinder, 

Set  of  Wire  Gauze,  three, 

Blowpipe, 

Elevating  Stand,  &c, 

Large  Gas  Bag  and  Stopcock,.... 

Set  of  Crucibles, 

Chemical  Thermometer, 


12  00 

8  00 

20  00 

85  00 

14  00 

4  00 

3  00 

3  00 

3  00 

2  50 

3  00 

3  50 

7  00 

3  00 

4  00 

2  00 

1  00 

3  00 

3  00 

6  00 

2  00 

3  00 

3  00 

50 

1  00 

1  00 

2  00 

2  00 

2  00 

6  00 

4  00 

4  00 

75 

1  50 

5  00 

1  00 

1  50 

2  00 

3  50 

8  00 

1  00 

2  00 

4  00 

60  00 

3  00 

1  50 

8  50 

2  50 

2  00 

4  00 

4  00 

2  00 

1  25 

1  50 

75 

50 

1  50 

5  00 

20 

2  50 

CHAMBERLAIN'S  CATALOGUE  OF  PRICES. 


373 


Spirit  Lamp, 100 

Aphlogistic  Lamp,  . . 2  00 

Dropping  Tube, 25 

Graduated  Oz.   Measure, 1  00 

Measure,  ten  cubic  inches, 1  25 

Dozen  Test  Tubes,  assorted,  ....  1  50 

Graduated  Tube,  cubic  inch,....  50 

Condensation  Tube, 75 

Flasks,  six,  assorted, 2  20 

Glass  Funnels,  two,  60 

Flasks,   flat   bottom,  six, 2  50 

Globe  Receivers,   two, 80 

Tubular  Retorts,  six,  assorted,...  2  50 

Chemical  Furnace, '  10  00 

Iron  Tube  for  Decomposing,....  1  00 

Evaporating  Dishes,  three, 75 

Wedgwood  do.,   five, 1  50 

Glass  Mortar  and  Pestle, 1  00 

Wedgwood  do., 1  25 

Platina  Spatula, 1  50 

Hydrogen  Balloon, 3  00 

Stirring  Rods,  Glass,  six, 75 

Bologna  Vials,  dozen, 1  00 

Prince  Rupert's  Drops, 50 

Matrasses,  three,  assorted, 1  10 

Alembic, 1  75 

Steam   Balls,  dozen, 50 

Brass  Steam  Globe  and  Jet, 1  50 

Wollaston's   Steam  Apparatus,..  3  00 
Marcet's   Steam   Globe   and  Fix- 
tures,   25  00 

Chamberlain's  Steam  Flask    and 

Fixtures, 8  00 

Sul.  Copper  Battery, 3  00 

Bar  Magnet  and  Keeper, 1  00 

U  Magnet  and  Wheel  Armature, .  3  00 

Bar  Armature, 50 


Y  Armature, 75 

Star  Armature, 1  00 

Magnetic  Needle  and  Stand,....     1  00 

Galvanic   Battery, 25  06 

Powder  Cup, 50 

Voltaic  Pistol, 4  00 

Electro   Magnet, 5  00 

Coil  and  Hem.  Magnets, 3  50 

Magnetizing  Helix, 3  00 

Galvanometer, 3  00 

Orsted's  Galvanometer, 4  00 

Terrestrial   Helix, 2  00 

De  la  Rive's  Ring, 1  25 

Bell  Engine, 12  00 

Revolving  Electro  Magnet, 5  00 

Thermo-Electric  Arch, 5  00 

Analysis  of  Shocks  Apparatus,..  12  00 

Shocking  Handles, 1  50 

Connecting  Wires 50 

Magneto-Electric  Machine, 40  00 

Decomposing  Cell, 3  00 

Mechanics,    Astronomical,  Op- 
tics, &c, 200  00 

Pneumatics, 250  00 

Electrics, 210  00 

Chemicals,    200  00 

Galvanic,  &c, 100  00 

pooo  00 

Set  of  Chemical  Substances, 
for  use  with  the  above  Ap- 
paratus,    20  00 

Note.  —  See  page  347,  Apparatus,  figured 
and  described  in  Pneumatics,  but  used  is 
Chemistry. 


574 


MISCELLANEOUS  SUGGESTIONS. 


Hints   respecting  Blackboards. 

The  upper  portion  of  the  standing  blackboard  should  be  inclined  back  a 
little  from  the  perpendicular,  and  along  the  lower  edge  there  should  be  a  pro- 
jection or  trough  to  catch  the  particles  detached  from  the  chalk  or  crayon 
when  in  use,  and  a  drawer  to  receive  the  sponge,  cloth,  lamb's-skin,  or  other 
soft  article  used  in  cleaning  the  surface  of  the  board. 

Blackboards,  even  when  made  with  great  care,  and  of  the  best  seasoned 
materials,  are  liable  to  injury  and  defacement  from  warping,  opening  of  seams, 
or  splitting  when  exposed  to  the  overheated  atmosphere  of  school-rooms, 
unless  they  are  set  in  a  frame  like  a  slate,  or  the  panel  of  a  door. 

By  the  following  ingenious,  and  cheap  contrivance,  a  few  feet  of  board  can 
be  converted  into  a  table,  a  sloping  desk,  one  or  two  blackboards,  and  a  form 
or  seat,  and  the  whole  folded  up  so  as  not  to  occupy  a  space  more  than  five 
inches  wide,  and  be  easily  moved  from  one  room  to  another.  It  is  equally 
well  adapted  to  a  school-room,  class-room,  library  or  nursery. 

//  Under  side  of  the  „      ' 

swinging    board,     sus-    | fc)-1 

pended  by  rule-joint 
hinges,  when  turned  up, 
painted  black  or  dark 
chocolate. 

a  d  Folding  brackets, 
inclined  at  an  angle  of 
75  degrees,  and  swung 
out  to  support  the  board 
when  a  sloping  desk  is 
required. 

b  c  Folding  brackets 
to  support  the  swinging 
board  when  a  bench  or 
flat  table  is  required. 

e  e  e  e  Uprights  attached  to  the  wall. 

g  g  Form  to  be  used  when  the  swinging  board  is  let  down,  and  to  be  sup- 
ported by  folding  legs.  The  under  side  can  be  used  as  a  blackboard  for  small 
children. 

h  A  wooden  button  to  retain  the  swinging  board  when  turned  up  for  use  as 
a  blackboard. 

n  Opening  to  receive  n 

inkstands,  and  deposit 
for  slate,  pencil,  chalk, 
&c. 

m  Surface  of  swing- 
ing board  when  let 
down. 

I  Surface  of  form  or 
bench. 

When  not  in  use,  or  let  down,  the  desk  and  form  should  hang  flush  with 
each  other. 

A  cheap  movable  blackboard  can  be  made  after  the  following  cut  (Fig.  3. 


0 

<> 

O 

() 

i 

m 

8Ft.  7£n. 

1 

I 

SCHOOL  APPARATUS. 


375 


A   large   movable 


A  movable  stand  to  support  a  blackboard 
may  be  made  like  a  painter's  easel,  as  repre- 
sented in  the  accompanying  cut. 

n,  Pins  for  board  to  rest  on.  c,  Hinge  or 
joint  to  the  supporting  legs,  which  are  braced 
by  hook  b,  and  may  be  folded  up,  and  the  stand 
put  away  in  a  closet.  A  stand  of  this  kind  is 
convenient  to  display  outline  and  other  maps, 
reading  lessons  and  other  diagrams. 


blackboard  may  be  made  as  represented  in  the 
accompanying  out.  An  upright  frame, 
strongly  braced  by  cross-pieces  (a)  is  in- 
serted into  the  feet  (b,)  or  horizontal  sup- 
ports having  castors,  on  which  the  whole 
may  be  rolled  on  the  floor.  Within 
grooves  on  the  inside  of  this  upright 
frame  is  a  smaller  frame  (c)  hung  by  a 
cord  which  passes  over  a  pulley  (d,)  and 
is  so  balanced  by  weights,  concealed  in 
the  upright  parts,  as  to  admit  of  being 
raised  or  lowered  conveniently.  Within 
this  inner  frame  is  hung  the  blackboard 
on  pivots,  by  which  the  surface  of  the 
board  can  be  inclined  from  a  perpendic- 
ular. 


A   cheaper  movable   frame,  with    a  blackboard  suspended   on    a   pivot, 

can  he  made  as  represented  in  the 
lower  diagram.  The  feet,  if  made 
as  represented  in  this  cut,  will  be 
liable  to  get  broken. 

Composition  for  Blackboards. 
Lampblack  and    flour  of  emery 
mixed  with  spirit-varnish. 

No  more  lampblack  and  flour  of 
emery  should  be  used  than  are  suf- 
ficient to  give  the  required  black 
and  abrading  surface  ;  and  the  var- 
nish should  contain  only  sufficient 
gum  to  hold  the  ingredients  togeth- 
er, and  confine  the  composition  to 
the  board.  The  thinner  the  mix- 
ture, the  better. 

The  lampblack  should  first  be 
ground  with  a  small  quantity  of  al- 
cohol, or  spirit-varnish,  to  free  it 
from  lumps. 

The  composition  should  be  appli- 
ed to  the  smoothly-planed   surface 
of  the  board,   with   a  common  painter's  brush.     Let  it  become  thoroughly, 
dry  and  hard  before  it  is  used.     Rub  it  down  with  pumice-stone,  or  a  piece 
of  smooth  wood  covered  with  the  composition. 
This  composition  may  also  be  used  on  the  walls. 


EI 

■■ 

ll®^* 

■ 

■ 

'*f  '\ 

gJQ  SCHO  "H,  ARCHITECTURE. 

Slate  Blackboard. 

In  the  class-rooms  of  the  American  Asylum  for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb,  and 
all  similar  institutions,  where  most  of  the  instruction  is  given  by  writing,  and 
drawings  on  the  blackboard,  large  slates  from  three  feet  wide,  to  four  feet 
long  are  substituted  for  the  blackboard.  These  slates  cost  from  $2  to  $3, 
and  are  superior  to  any  other  form  of  blackboard,  and  in  a  series  of  years 
prove  more  economical. 

Plaster  Blackboard. 
As  a  substitute  for  the  painted  board,  it  is  common  to  paint  black  a  portion 
of  the  plastered  wall  when  covered  with  hard  finish,  (i.  e.  plaster  of  Paris  and 
sand  ;)  or  to  color  it  by  mixing  with  the  hard  finish  a  sufficient  quantity  of 
lamp-black,  wet  with  alcohol,  at  the  time  of  putting  it  on.  The  hard  finish, 
colored  in  this  way,  can  be  put  on  to  an  old,  as  well  as  to  a  new  surface. 
Unless  the  lamp-black  is  wet  with  alcohol,  or  sour  beer,  it  will  not  mix  uni- 
formly with  the  hard  finish,  and  when  dry,  the  surface,  instead  of  being  a 
uniform  black,  will  present  a  spotted  appearance- 

Canvas  Blackboard. 

Every  teacher  can  provide  himself  with  a  portable,  blackboard  made  of 
canvas  cloth,  3  feet  wide  and  8  feet  long,  covered  with  three  or  four  coats 
of  black  paint,  like  Winchester's  Writing  Charts.  One  side  -might,  like 
this  chart,  present  the  elements  of  the  written  characters  classified  in  the 
order  of  their  simplicity,  and  guide-marks  to  enable  a  child  to  determine  with 
ease  the  height,  width,  and  inclination  of  every  letter.  Below,  on  the  same 
side,  might  be  ruled  the  musical  scale,  leaving  sufficient  space  to  receive 
such  characters  as  may  be  required  to  illustrate  lessons  in  music-  The  oppo- 
site side  can  be  used  for  the  ordinary  purposes  of  a  blackboard.  When  rolled 
up,  the  canvas  would  occupy  a  space  three  feet  long,  and  not  more  than  three 
inches  in  diameter. 

Directions  for  making  Crayons. 

A  school,  or  the  schools  of  a  town,  may  be  supplied  with  crayons  very 
cheaply,  made  after  the  following  directions  given  by  Professor  Turner  oi 
the  American  Asylum  for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb. 

Take  5  pounds  of  Paris  White,  1  pound  of  Wheat  Flour,  wet  with  water, 
and  knead  it  well,  make  it  so  stiff  that  it  will  not  stick  to  the  table,  but  not  so 
stiff  as  to  crumble  and  fall  to  pieces  when  it  is  rolled  under  the  hand. 

To  roll  out  the  crayons  to  the  proper  size,  two  boards  are  needed,  one,  to 
roll  them  on ;  the  other  to  roll  them  with.  The  first  should  be  a  smooth  pine 
board,  three  feet  long,  and  nine  inches  wide.  The  other  should  also  be  pine, 
a  foot  long,  and  nine  inches  wide,  having  nailed  on  the  under  side,  near  each 
edge,  a  slip  of  wood  one  third  of  an  inch  thick,  in  order  to  raise  it  so  much 
above  the  under  board,  as,  that  the  crayon,  when  brought  to  its  proper  size, 
may  lie  between  them  without  being  flattened. 

The  mass  is  rolled  into  a  ball,  and  slices  are  cut  from  one  side  of  it  about 
one  third  of  an  inch  thick ;  these  slices  are  again  cut  into  strips  about  four 
inches  long  and  one  third  of  an  inch  wide,  and  rolled  separately  between 
these  boards  until  smooth  and  round. 

Near  at  hand,  should  be  another  board  3  feet  long  and  4  inches  wide,  across 
which  each  crayon,  as  it  is  made,  should  be  laid  so  that  the  ends  may  pro- 
ject on  each  side — the  crayons  should  be  laid  in  close  contact  and  straight. 
When  the  board  is  filled,  the  ends  should  be  trimmed  off  so  as  to  make  the 
crayons  as  long  as  the  width  of  the  board.  It  is  then  laid  in  the  sun,  if  in 
hot  weather,  or  if  in  winter,  near  a  stove  or  fire-place,  where  the  crayons 
may  dry  gradually,  which  will  require  twelve  hours.  When  thoroughly  dry, 
they  are  fit  for  use. 

An  experienced  hand  will  make  150  in  an  hour. 


GOOD  YEAR'S  VULCANIZED  INDIA  RUBBER.  377 


Goodyear's  Metallic  Gum-elastic,  or  Vulcanized  India  rubber. 

The' fabric  known  as  "Goodyear's  Gum-elastic,  or  Vulcanized  India  rubber" 
invented  and  manufactured  by  Charles  Goodyear,  of  New  Haven,  Conn.,  is 
capable  of  many  highly  useful  applications  in  the  school-room,  and  for  educa- 
tional purposes  generally.  By  the  changes  wrought  by  Mr.  Goodyear  in  the 
construction  of  his  fabrics,  all  of  the  remarkable  properties  of  the  gum  in  its 
native  state  are  preserved  and  improved,  while  its  defects  and  objeetional 
features  are  obviated.  There  seems  to  be  no  limit  to  the  many  useful  purposes 
to  which  it  may  be  applied,  in  every  department  of  the  useful  arts,  and  of  prac- 
tical life,  and  the  public  is  not  yet  apprised  of  its  manifold  adaptations  to  hu- 
mane purposes,  and  to  the  protection  of  life  and  property.  We  shall  here  notice 
only  a  few  of  its  many  useful  applications  in  the  school- room,  and  for  school 
purposes  generally. 

Book-binding  or  Covers- 

Several  styles  of  Goodyear's  fabrics  are  admirably  adapted  to  the  binding,  or 
covers  of  school-books.  A  cover  of  this  material  does  not  crack,  or  warp,  is 
not  injured  by  water  or  oil,  is  not  easily  soiled,  and  if  soiled,  can  be  readily 
cleaned.  A  school-book  bound  in  this  way,  we  have  every  reason  to  suppose, 
will  outlast,  in  the  ordinary  "wear  and  tear"  of  a  child's  use,  (except  that  of 
the  knife,  which  ought  never  to  be  allowed  in  a  child's  hand  in  the  school- 
room,) a  dozen  bound  in  the  best  style  with  any  kind  of  leather. 

School  Books. 

Its  uses  are  not  confined  to  covers,  but  school  books  can  be  printed  on  this 
fabric,  which  can  be  manufactured  of  suitable  thinness  for  this  purpose,  and 
at  the  same  time  have  a  strength  of  texture,  which  will  not  tear,  but  outlast  the 
best  linen  paper,  and  at  the  same  time  be  readily  cleaned  when  soiled. 

When  school  books  are  printed  on  this  fabric,  and  bound  in  covers  of  the 
same,  one  of  the  greatest  items  of  educational  expense  will  be  reduced. 

Maps  and  Charts. 

We  have  seen  beautiful  specimens  of  maps  printed  on  various  specimens  of 
a  new  fabric,  recently  invented,  and  called  vegetable  leather,  gutn-elastic  vellum, 
and  metallic  tissue,  which  will  admit  of  the  roughest  use,  and  are  capable  of 
being  handled  for  years  without  any  injury,  and  can  be  rolled  or  folded  up 
when  not  in  use.  We  see  no  difficulty  in  printing  outline  maps,  charts,  and 
diagrams  of  all  kinds  on  this  fabric,  which  can  be  rolled  up  when  not  needed, 
and  which  can  be  washed  and  wiped  clean  with  sponge,  if  soiled  from  use,  or 
from  the  dust  and  smoke  of  the  school-room.  Both  sides  of  the  fabric  can  be 
used  for  the  purposes  of  printing.  The  outline  maps,  if  made  of  suitable 
fabric,  can  be  filled  ■  up  by  the  scholar,  and  the  pencil  marks  erased  by  the 
sponge.  Maps  of  this  material  can  be  so  made  as  to  exhibit  the  elevations  and 
depressions  on  the  earth's  surface. 

Globes. 

We  have  seen  beautiful  specimens  of  globes,  celestial  and  terrestrial,  and 
of  a  great  variety  of  sizes,  from  three  inches  to  three  feet,  made  of  the  fabric 
above  described,  such  as  vegetable  leather,  or  gum-elastic  vellum.  When  em- 
bossed, they  show  the  elevations  and  depressions,  the  mountains  and  valleys, 
and  water-courses  of  the  earth's  surface.  When  inflated  with  gas  lighter  than 
atmospheric  air,  they  float  about  the  room.  If  soiled,  they  can  be  easily  cleaned 
with  the  sponge,  and  will  bear  the  roughest  usage.  If  the  great  outlines  of  the 
globe  only  are  printed,  the  pupil  can  be  exercised  in  filling  up  the  blank  with  a 
lead  pencil.  When  articles  made  of  this  fabric  come  into  demand,  our  schools 
can  be  furnished  with  globes  almost  at  the  price  of  children's  toys,  and  thus 
the  great  objection  of  expense  will  no  longer  prevent  the  introduction  of  this 


378  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

piece  of  apparatus,  and  of  visible  illustration,  into  every  school  of  every  grade. 
When  not  inflated,  the  globe  of  three  feet  can  be  packed  away  in  a  space 
of  about  as  many  inches. 

Floor  Cloth,  or  Carpet. 

This  fabric  is  admirably  adapted  for  carpeting  the  aisles  of  a  school-room, 
both  to  prevent  reverberation,  and  to  secure  cleanliness.  It  can  be  easily 
cleaned,  and  will  wear  as  long  as  the  floor  itself. 


Blackboard  and  Desk  Covering. 

By  using  different  styles  of  this  fabric,  a  suitable  surface  of  any  desirable 
size  can  be  obtained  for  the  lead  or  slate  pencil,  which  can  be  attached  per- 
manently to  a  wall,  or  be  made  in  a  portable  form. 

Ii  can  be  attached  to  the  top  of  the  desk,  and  thereby  prevent  all  reverberation. 
When  thus  applied,  it  will  not  gather  dust,  or  wear  out,  like  cloth,  but  can  be 
kept  clean  with  a  sponge,  and  will  wear  as  long  as  the  wood  itself.  The  fabric 
used  for  covering  a  desk,  can  be  of  the  same  style  of  fabric  as  that  used  for  a 
blackboard  or  slate,  and  thus  answer  all  the  purposes  of  either  of  these  articles 
of  apparatus. 

Sponge. 

An  article  is  made  of  the  gum,  leavened  and  raised  like  bread,  and  called  a 
sponge,  from  its  close  resemblance,  in  texture  and  uses,  to  the  natural  sponge. 
It  is  the  best  article  which  we  have  seen  for  erasing  marks  made  by  a  lead  or 
slate  pencil,  or  chalk,  on  paper,  slate,  or  blackboard,  or  prepared  surface  of 
any  kind  in  the  nature  of  the  blackboard  or  slate.  Besides  answering  all  the 
purposes  of  the  sponge  in  such  applications,  it  will  remove  the  oiliness  which 
is  frequently  communicated  to  the  slate  by  the  hand,  &c.  It  is  also  inval- 
uable as  a  mop,  or  scrub,  or  shoe  mat,  at  the  door  of  the  school-house,  as  it  is 
not  injured  by  exposure,  or  the  roughest  and  most  constant  usage. 


Pen  and  Pencil  Wiper. 

The  article  used  for  making  the  sponge  can  also  be  made  into  a  pen-wiper, 
and  can  be  attached  to  the  inkstand,  (which  can  also  be  manufactured  of  the 
same  material.)  It  can  also  be  attached  to  the  end  of  the  lead  pencil,  or  to  the 
port-crayon,  or  handle  for  the  more  convenient  use  of  the  crayon,  chalk,  or  slate 
pencil.  It  will  work  much  closer  than  the  native  gum,  and  is  admirably 
adapted  to  drawing  purposes. 


Calisthenic  Exercises. 

Every  school,  and  especially  every  school  for  girls  and  young  ladies,  should 
be  supplied  with  swings,  and  other  apparatus  for  developing,  expanding,  and 
strengthening  the  muscles  of  the  chest,  arms,  &c,  and  for  these  purposes  several 
styles  of  this  fabric  are  admirably  adapted. 


Drawing  and  Writing  Tablets. 

One  style  of  the  improved  metallic  fabric  is  admirably  adapted  as  a  substi- 
tute for  paper  or  slate,  for  introductory  exercises  in  writing  and  drawing,  as 
each  impression  of  the  pencil  can  be  removed  by  the  sponge,  and  a  fresh,  clean 
surface  as  constantly  secured.  The  same  material  can  be  used  for  books  for 
memoranda,  records  of  attendance,  returns  of  school  committees,  6cc. 

The  excellence  of  this  fabric  for  all  school  purposes,  as  compared  with  paper, 
and  other  materials  used  for  similar  purposes,  consists  in  its  durability  and 
economy. 


LIBRARY. 


Every  school  should  he  furnished  with  a  Library  which  should  include, 

1.  Books  on  schools  and  school-systems,  for  the  use  of  school  officers 
and  parents ;  and  on  the  theory  and  practice  of  teaching,  for  the  pro- 
fessional instruction  of  teachers. 

2.  Books  of  reference,  for  the  use  principally  of  teachers. 

3.  Books  for  circulation  among  the  pupils. 

4.  Books  for  circulation  among  the  parents,  and  inhabitants  of  the  Dis- 
trict, or  neighborhood. 

In  the  arrangement,  and  furniture  of  a  school-house,  provision  should 
be  made  for  the  Library. 

The  following  catalogue  may  assist  those  who  are  charged  with  the 
purchase  of  books : 

Books  on  Education. 

The  School  and  School-master,  by  Alonzo  Potter,  (Bishop  of 
Pennsylvania,)  and  George  B.  Emerson.  New  York:  Harper  and 
Brothers.     Boston :  Fowle  and  Capen.     Price  $1.00.     551  pages. 

This  volume  was  prepared  at  the  request  of  the  late  James  Wads- 
worth,  of  Geneseo,  New  York,  with  special  reference  to  the  condition  and 
wants  of  common  schools  in  that  State.  Its  general  principles  and  most 
of  its  details  are  applicable  to  similar  schools  in  other  parts  of  the  country, 
and.  indeed,  to  all  seminaries  employed  in  giving  elementary  instruction. 
Mr.  Wadsworth  directed  a  copy  of  it  to  be  placed  in  each  of  the  school 
libraries  of  New  York,  at  his  expense,  and  his  noble  example  was  fol- 
lowed in  respect  to  the  schools  of  Massachusetts,  by  the  Hon.  Martin 
Brimmer,  of  Boston. 

CONTENTS.  PART  I.  Introduction.  Chapter  I.  Education  op  the  People.  Sec.  I. 
What  is  Education.  Sec.  II.  Prevailing  Errors  in  regard  to  the  Nature  and  End  of  Education. 
Sec.  III.  The  same  Subject  continued.  Sec.  IV.  Same  Subject  continued.  Sec.  V.  What  is 
the  Education  most  needed  by  the  American  People.  Sec.  VI.  The  Importance  of  Education, 
1.  To  the  Individual.     Sec.  VII.  The  Importance  of  Education,    2.  To  Society. 

Chapter  II.  Common  Schools.  Sec.  I.  Relation  of  Common  Schools  to  other  Means  of 
Education.  Sec.  II.  Present  State  of  Common  Schools. — 1.  School-houses.  2.  Manners.  3. 
Morals.  Sec.  III.  Sa?ne  Subject  continued. — 4.  Intellectual  Instruction.  5.  Irregular  Attend- 
ance. Sec.  IV.  How  can  Common  Schools  be  improved  ? — 1.  Discussion.  2.  Female  Teachers. 
3.  Union  or  High  Schools.  4.  Consolidation  of  Districts.  Sec.  V.  The  Improvement  of  Com- 
mon Schools  continued.  Organization  in  Cities. — 1.  District  System.  2.  Monitorial.  3. 
Facher  System.  4.  American  system.  5.  Diversity  of  Class-books.  Sec.  VI.  Sa?ne  Subject, 
continued. — Education  of  Teachers. 

CONTENTS.  PART  II.  Introduction.  Book  I.  Qualities.  Chap.  I.  Mental  and 
Moral,  important  in  a  Teacher.     Chap.  II.  Health.     Exercise.     Diet.     Sleep.     Recreation. 

Book  II.  Studies.  Chap.  I.  Laws  of  the  Creation.  Chap.  II.  Natural  Laws.  Chap.  III. 
Independence  of  the  Natural  Laws.  Chap.  IV.  Higher  Studies.  Chap.  V.  Advantages  of  a 
Teacher's  Life. 

Book  III.  Duties.  Chap.  I,  To  Himself.  Self-Culture.  Chap.  II.  To  his  Pupils,  to  give 
them  means  of  Knowledge.  Chap.  III.  To  his  Pupils,  to  form  their  Moral  Character.  Chap. 
IV.  To  his  Pupils,  Cultivation  of  their  Powers.  Chap.  V.  Communication  of  Knowledge. 
Chap.  VI.  To  his  Fellow-Teachers.     Chap.  VII.  To  Parents  and  the  Community. 

Book  IV.  The  School.  Chap.  I.  Organization.  Chap.  II.  Instruction.  General  Prinei« 
pies.     Chap.  III.  Teaching:  1.  Reading.    2.  Spelling.    3.  Grammar.    4.  Writing.    5.  DrfaW- 


380  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

ing.    6.  Arithmetic.    7.  Accounts.    8.  Geography.    9.  History.     10.  Physiology.     11.  Com 
position.     Chap.  IV.  Government. 

Book  V.  The  School-house.  Chap.  I.  Situation.  Chap.  II.  Size.  Chap.  III.  Position 
and  Arrangement.     Chap.  IV.  Light.    Warming.    Ventilation. 

The  Teacher's  Manual,  by  Thomas  H.  Palmer.  Boston:  Marsh, 
Capen,  Lyon  &  Webb,  1840.     pp.  263.     Price,  75  cents. 

This  work  received  the  prize  of  five  hundred  dollars,  offered  by  the 
American  Institute  of  Instruction,  in  1838,  for  "  the  best  Essay  on  a  sys- 
tem of  Education  best  adapted  to  the  Common  Schools  of  our  country.'1 

CONTENTS.  PART  I.  Chapter  I.  Introductory.  Chapter  II.  Who  are  our  Schoolmas- 
ters. Chapter  III.  Physical  Education.  Chapter  IV.  Intellectual  Education.  Chapter  V.  In- 
tellectual Education,  continued.     Chapter  V 'I.  Moral  Education.     Chapter  VII.  Recapitulation. 

PART  II.  Chapter  I.  Introductory.  Chapter  II.  Physical  Education.  Chapter  III.  Physi- 
cal Education,  continued.  Chapter  IV.  Physical  Education,  continued.  Chapter  V.  Intellec- 
tual Education.  Chapter  VI.  Intellectual  Education,  continued.  Chapter  VII.  Intellectual 
Education,  continued.  Chapter ■  VIII.  Intellectual  Education,  continued.  Chapter  IX.  Intel- 
lectual Education,  continued.  Chapter  X.  Intellectual  Education,  concluded.  Chapter,  XL 
Moral  Education.     Chapter  XII.  Moral  Education,  continued.     Chapter  XIII.  Conclusion. 

The  Teacher  Taught,  by  Emerson  Davis,  late  Principal  of  the 
Westfield  Academy.  Boston:  Marsh,  Capen,  Lyon  &  Webb,  1839. 
pp.  79.     Price  37  §  cents. 

This  valuable  work  was  first  published  in  1833,  as  "  An  Abstract  of  a 
Course  of  Lectures  on  School-keeping." 

Slate  and  Blackboard  Exercises,  By  William  A.  Alcott.  New 
York:  Mark  H.  Newman.     Price  37  cents. 

The  chapters  in  this  little  work  were  first  published  in  the  Connecticut 
Common  School  Journal,  in  1841.  The  various  suggestions  and  methods 
are  highly  practical. 

Theory  and  Practice  of  Teaching,  by  David  P.  Page,  Principal 
of  the  New  York  State  Normal  School.     New  York  :  A.  S.  Barnes  &  Co. 

CONTENTS.  Chapter  I.  The  Spirit  of  the  Teacher.  Chapter  II.  Responsibility  ot  the 
Teacher.  Sec.  I.  The  Neglected  Tree.  Sec.  II.  Extent  of  Responsibility.  Sec.  III.  The  Au- 
burn Prison.  Chapter  III.  Habits  of  the  Teacher.  Chapter  IV.  Literary  Qualifications  of 
the  Teacher.  Ceapter  V.  Right  Views  of  Education.  Chapter  VI.  Right  Modes  of  Teach 
ing.  Sec.  I.  Pouring-in  Process.  Sec.  II.  Drawing-out  Process.  Sec.  III.  The  more  Excel 
lent.  WSy.  Sec.  IV.  Waking  up  Mind.  Sec.  V.  Remarks.  Chapter  VII.  Conducting  Recita 
tions.  Chapter  VIII.  Exciting  an  Interest  in  Study.  Sec.  I.  Incentives.  Emulation.  Sec. 
II.  Prizes  and  Rewards.  Sec.  III.  Proper  Incentives.  Chapter  IX.  School  Government, 
Sec.  I.  Requisites  in  the  Teacher  for  Government.  Sec.  II.  Means  of  securing  Good  Order, 
Sec.  III.  Punishments,  Improper,  Proper.  Sec.  IV.  Corporal  Punishment.  Sec.  V.  Limita> 
tions  and  Suggestions.  Chapter  X.  School  Arrangements.  Sec.  I.  Plan  of  Day's  Work 
Sec.  II.  Interruptions.  Sec.  III.  Recesses.  Sec.  IV.  Assignment  of  Lessons.  Sec.  V.  Re 
views.  Sec.  VI.  Examinations,  Exhibitions,  Celebrations.  Chapter  XI.  The  Teacher's  Re 
lation  to  the  Parents  of  his  Pupils.  Chapter  XII.  The  Teacher's  Care  of  his  Health.  Chap 
ter  XIII.  The  Teacher's  Relation  to  his  Profession.  Chapter  XIV.  Miscellaneous  Sugges< 
tions.  Sec.  I.  Things  to  be  avoided.  Sec.  II.  Things  to  be  performed.  Chapter  XV.  The 
Rewards  of  the  Teacher. 

Hints  and  Methods  for  the  use  of  Teachers.  Hartford:  Price 
25  cents. 

This  volume  is  made  up  principally  of  selections  from  publications  on 
methods  of  teaching,  not  easily  accessible  ;  and  under  each  subject  dis- 
cussed, reference  is  made  to  various  volumes,  where  additional  sugges- 
tions can  be  found. 

The  District  School  as  it  was,  by  one  who  went  to  it,  (Rev. 
Warren  Burton.)     New  York:  J.  Orville  Taylor,  1838. 

In  this  amusing  picture  of  "the  lights  and  shadows"  of  school  Ine  as  it 
was  in  New  England  twenty  years  ago,  the  teachers  and  scholars  of 
gome  of  our  District  Schools  as  they  are,  will  recognize  the  school-house, 
books,  practices,  and  methods  with  which  they  are  too  familiar. 


BOOKS  ON  EDUCATION. 


381 


Confessions  of  a  School-master,  by  Dr.  William  A.  Alcott.  New 
York:  Mark  H.  Newman.     Price  50  cents. 

If  our  teachers  will  read  these  confessions  of  errors  of  omission  and 
commission,  and  the  record  which  it  gives  of  real  excellencies  attained  by 
the  steps  of  a  slow  and  laborious  progress,  they  will  save  themselves 
the  mortification  of  the  first,  and  realize  earlier  the  fruits  of  the  last. 
Few  men  have  the  moral  courage  to  look  their  former  bad  methods  so 
directly  in  the  face.     Every  young  teacher  should  read  this  book. 

CONTENTS.  Chapter  I.  My  Introduction  to  School  Keeping.  Section  I.  Prepara 
tion  and  Engagement.     Section  II.  The  Examination.     Section  III.  My  Cogitations. 

Chapter  II.  My  First  Year.  Section  I.  First  day  of  School.  Section  II.  General  Course 
of  Instruction.     Section  III.  Particular  Errors.     SectionYV.  Religious  Exercises. 

Chapter  III.    My  Second  Year.     Section  I.  Course  of  Instruction.     Sectionll.  Serious. 
Mistakes. 

Chapter  IV.  My  Third  Year.  Section  I.  Complaint  to  the  Grand  Jurors.  Section  II. 
Introduction  of  a  New  School  Book.     Section  III.  Meeting  of  the  Schools. 

Chapter  V.  Fourth  and  Fifth  Years.  Section  I.  Modes  of  Punishing.  Section  II.  At- 
tending to  other  Employments.  Section  III.  Late  Evening  Visits.  Section  IV.  Studies  and 
Methods. 

Chapter  VI.  My  Sixth  Year.  Section  I.  Teaching  by  the  Year.  Terms  and  Object. 
Section  II.  Description  of  the  School  and  School-house.  Section  III.  First  Efforts  at  Im- 
provement. Punctuality.  Section  IV.  Methods  and  Discipline.  Section  V.  Schools  Neglected 
by  Parents.     Section  VI.  School  Libraries.     Section  VII.  Improper  Company.     Example. 

Chapter  VII.  My  Seventh  Year.  Section  I.  Divided  Attention.  Section  II.  Teaching 
on  the  Sabbath. 

Chapter  VIII.  My  Eighth  Year.  Section  I.  General  Account  of  my  School.  Sectionll. 
Causes  of  Failure. 

Chapter  IX.  My  Ninth  Year.  Section  I.  A  Novel  Enterprise.  Section  II.  Methods  of 
Teaching.    Discipline. 

Chapter  X.  My  Experience  as  a  School  Visitor.  Sectionl.  Examination  of  Teachers. 
Section  II.  Special  Visits  to  Schools.  Section  III.  Mettings  for  Improvement.  Section  IV. 
Introduction  of  a  New  Reading  Book. 

Chapter  XI.  My  Tenth  Year  in  School.  Section  I.  Commencement  of  School.  Sec- 
tion II.  Spelling,  Reading,  Writing,  etc.  Section  III.  Teaching  Geography.  Section  IV.  A 
Practical  Exercise.  Section  V.  Experiment  in  Teaching  Etymology.  Section  VI.  Teaching 
Orthography.  Section  VII.  Forcing  Knowledge.  Section  VIII.  Teaching  Pupils  to  sit  still. 
Section  IX.  My  Moral  Influence.  Section  X.  My  111  Health.  Section  XI.  Countenancing  the 
Sports  of  my  Pupils.     Section  XII.  Discipline. 

The  School  Teacher's  Manual,  by  Henry  Dunn,  Secretary  of  the 
British  and  Foreign  School  Society,  London.  Hartford :  Reed  &  Bar- 
ber, 1839.    pp.  223.     Price  50  cents. 

The  American  edition  of  this  work  is  edited  by  Rev.  Thomas  H.  Gal- 
laudet,  which  is  the  best  evidence  that  could  be  given  of  the  general 
soundness  of  the  views  presented  by  the  English  author. 

Teachers'  Institute,  by  W.  B.  Fowle.     Boston. 

Teaching  a  Science  :  The  Teacher  an  Artist,  by  Rev.  B.  R. 
Hall.     New  York:  Baker  &  Scribner. 

Corporal  Punishment,  by  Lyman  Cobb.  New  York :  Mark  H. 
Newman. 

School  Keeping,  by  an  Experienced  Teacher.  Philadelphia :  John 
Grigg,  1831. 

The  School-master's  Friend,  with  the  Committee-man's  Guide,  by 
Theodore  Dwight,  Jr.  pp.  360.  New  York,  Roe  Lockwood,  415,  Broad- 
way, 1835. 

The  Teacher,  or  Moral  Influences  in  the  Instruction  and  Govern- 
ment of  the  Young,  by  Jacob  Abbott.  Boston,  Whipple  &  Damrell,  No. 
9  Cornhill,  Boston.     Price  75  cents. 

Theory  of  Teaching,  with  a  few  practical  Illustrations,  by  a  Teacher., 
Boston :  E.  P.  Peabody,  1841.     pp.  128. 

District  School,  by  J.  Orville  Taylor.  New  York:  Harper  & 
Brothers,  1834. 


gg2  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

Lectures  on  Education,  by  Horace  Mann.  Secretary  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Board  of  Education.  Boston:  Fowle&  Capen,  1845.  Pp.  338. 
Price  $1.00. 

This  volume  embraces  seven  lectures,  most  of  which  were  delivered 
before  the  Annual  Common  School  Conventions,  held  in  the  several 
counties  of  Massachusetts,  in  1838,  '39,  '40,  '41,  and  '42.  They  are  pub- 
lished in  this  form  at  the  request  of  the  Board  of  Education.  No  man, 
teacher,  committee,  parent,  or  friend  of  education  generally,  can  read 
these  lectures  without  obtaining  much  practical  knowledge,  and  without 
being  fired  with  a  holy  zeal  in  the  cause. 

CONTENTS.  Lecture  I.  Means  and  Objects  of  Common  School  Education.  Lecture  II 
Special  Preparation,  a  prerequisite  to  Teaching.  Lecture  III.  The  Necessity  of  Education  in 
a  Republican  Government.  Lecture  IV.  What  God  does,  and  what  He  leaves  for  Ma'i  to  do,  in 
the  work  of  Education.  Lecture  V.  An  Hsfor.cal  View  of  Education ;  showing  its  Dignity 
and  its  Degradation.  Lecture  VI.  On  District  School  Libraries.  Lecture  VII.  On  School  Pun- 
ishments. 

Locke  and  Milton  on  Education.     Boston:  Gray  &  Brown,  1830. 

The  Education  of  Mothers,  by  L.  Aime-Martin.  Philadelphia: 
Lea  &  Blanchard,  1843. 

Education  and  Health,  by  Amariah  Brigham.  Boston:  Marsh, 
Capen  &  Lyon,  1843. 

Dr.  Channing  on  Self  Culture.  Boston :  Monroe  &  Co.  Price 
33  cents. 

Miss  Sedgwick  on  Self  Training,  or  Means  and  Ends.  New 
York :  Harper  &  Brothers. 

These  two  volumes, — the  first  written  with  special  reference  to  young 
men,  and  the  last,  to  young  women,  should  be  read  by  all  young  teachers1 
who  would  make  their  own  individual  character,  attainments,  and  con- 
duct, the  basis  of  all  improvement  in  their  profession.  , 

The  following  works  have  special  reference  to  instruction  in  Infant  and 
Primary  Schools : 

Exercises  for  the  Senses.  London:  Charles  Knight  &  Co.  Pub- 
lished under  the  superintendence  of  the  Society  for  the  Diffusion  of  Use- 
ful Knowledge. 

Lessons  on  Objects  :  as  given  to  children  between  the  ages  of  six 
and  eight,  in  a  Pestalozzian  School  at  Cheam,  Sussex,  by  C.  Mayo. 
London :  Seeley,  Burnside  &  Seeley,  Fleet  street,  1845. 

Lessons  on  Shells,  as  given  to  children  between  the  ages  of  eight 
and  ten,  and  by  the  author  of  "Lessons  on  Objects."  London:  Seeley, 
Burnside  &  Seeley,  1846. 

Patterson's  Zoology  for  Schools.     London. 

Model  Lessons  for  Infant  School  Teachers,  by  the  author  of 
"  Lessons  on  Objects."  Parts  I.  and  II.  London :  Seeley,  Burnside  & 
Seeley,  1846. 

Wilderspin's  Infant  System.  London:  James  S.  Hodgson,  112 
Fleet  street. 

Wilderspin's  Elementary  Education.  London:  James  S.  Hodgson. 

Chambers'  Educational  Course, — Infant  Education,  from  two  to 
Bix  years  of  age.     Edinburgh:  W.  R.  Chambers. 

Practical  Education, by  Maria  Edgeworth.  New  York:  Harper  & 
Brothers,  1835. 


BOOKS  ON  EDUCATION.  333 

The  following  works  will  exhibit  a  pretty  full  view  of  the  progress  and 
condition  of  education  in  Europe. 

Smith's  History  of  Education.  Harper  &  Brothers.  Price  50 
cents. 

This  work  is  substantially  an  abridgement  of  the  great  German  work 
of  Schwartz,  and  is  worthy  of  an  attentive  perusal,  not  only  for  its  his 
torical  view  of  the  subject,  but  for  the  discussion  of  the  general  principles 
which  should  be  recognized  in  every  system  of  education. 

Biber's  Memoir  of  Pestalozzi,  and  his  plan  of  Education.  London: 
I.-Souter,  1831. 

Educational  Institutions  of  Dr.  Fellenberg,  with  an  Appendix 
containing  Woodbridge's  Sketches  of  Hofwyl.  London:  Longman, 
1842. 

Report  on  Education  in  Europe,  by  Alexander  Dallas  Bache. 
Philadelphia :  Lydia  R.  Bailey,  1829.     pp.  666. 

Report  on  Elementary  Instruction  in  Europe,  by  Calvin  E. 
Stowe,  D.  D.    Boston:  Thomas  H.  Webb  &  Co.     Price  31  cents. 

Seventh  Annual  Report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  (Massachusetts) 
Board  of  Education,  Hon.  Horace  Mann,  1843.  Boston:  Fowle  and 
Capen.     Price  25  cents. 

These  three  reports  introduce  the  teacher  into  the  school-rooms  of  the 
best  teachers  in  Europe,  and  enable  him  to  profit  by  the  observations  and 
experience  of  men  who  have  been  trained  by  a  thorough  preparatory 
course  of  study  and  practice  at  home,  to  the  best  methods  of  classification, 
instruction,  and  government  of  schools,  as  pursued  abroad. 

Account  of  the  Edingurgh  Sessional  School,  Edinburgh,  by 
John  Wood.     Boston :  Monroe  &  Francis,  1830. 

Cousin's  Report  on  Public  Instruction  in  Prussia,  translated 
by  Sarah  Austin.     New  York  :  Wiley  &  Long,  1835. 

Willm  on  the  Education  of  the  People,  translated  from  the 
French  by  Prof.  Nichol.     Glasgow :  1847. 

Manual  of  the  System  of  Primary  Instruction  pursued  in  the 
model  schools  of  the  British  and  Foreign  School  Society.  London:  1839. 

Minutes  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Committee  of  Council  on 
Education,  from  1838  to  1844.     London  :  8  vols. 

Stow's  Training  System,  as  pursued  in  the  Glasgow  Normal  Semi- 
nary.    Edinburgh:  1840. 

An  Outline  of  the  Methods  of  Teaching,  in  the  Model  School  of 
the  Board  of  National  Education  for  Ireland.     Dublin:  I.  S.  Folds,  1840. 

Cousin's  Report  on  Primary  Instruction  in  Holland.  London : 
1835. 

Girardtn's  Report  on  Education  in  Austria,  Bavaria,  &c.  Paris : 
1835. 

Hickson's  Account  of  the  Dutch  and  German  Schools.  London: 
Taylor  and  Walton,  1840. 

Introduction  to  the  Science  and  Art  of  Education  and  Instruc- 
tion for  Masters  of  Primary  Schools,  by  B.  S.  Denzel,  President  of 
Royal  Training  College  for  School-masters  at  Esslingen.  6  vols.  Stut- 
gard,  1839. 

This  is  considered  the  most  complete  German  Treatise  on  the  subject 


384  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

if 

Lectures  and  Proceedings  of  the  American  Institute  of  In- 
struction from  1830  to  1847.     Eighteen  volumes.     Boston:  Ticknor. 

These  volumes  embrace  more  than  150  lectures  and  essays,  on  a  great 
variety  of  important  topics,  by  some  of  the  ablest  scholars  and  most  suc- 
cessful teachers  in  the  country. 

CONTENTS.— Vol.  I,  for  1830.  Introductory  Discourse,  by  President  Wayland.  Lecture 
I.  Physical  Education,  by  John  C.  Warren,  M.  D.  Lecture  II.  The  Development  of  the  In- 
tellectual Faculties,  and  on  Teaching  Geography,  by  James  G.  Carter.  Lecture  III.  The  In- 
fant School  System,  by  William  Russell.  Lecture  IV.  The  Spelling  of  Words,  and  a  Rational 
Method  of  Teaching  their  Meaning,  by  Gideon  F.  Thayer.  Lecture  V.  Lyceums  and  Socie- 
ties for  the  Diffusion  of  Useful  Knowledge,  by  Nehemiah  Cleaveland.  Lecture  VI.  Practical 
Method  of  Teaching  Rhetoric,  by  Samuel  P.  Neicman.  Lecture  VII.  Geometry  and  Algebra, 
by  F.  J.  Grund.  Lecture  VIII.  The  Monitorial  System  of  Instruction,  by  Henry  K.  Oliver. 
Lecture  IX.  Vocal  Music,  by  William  C.  Woodbridge.  Lecture  X.  Linear  Drawing,  by 
Walter  R.  Johnson.  Lecture  XI.  Arithmetic,  by  Warren  Colbum.  Lecture  XII.  Classical 
Learning,  by  Cornelius  C.  Felton.  Lecture  XIII.  The  Construction  and  Furnishing  of  School- 
Rooms  and  School  Apparatus,  by  William  J.  Adams. 

Vol.  II.  for  1331.  Introductory  Lecture,  by  James  Walker.  Lecture  I.  Education  of  Fe- 
males, by  George  B.  Emerson.  Lecture  II.  Moral  Education,  by  Jacob  Abbott.  Lecture 
III.  Usefulness  of  Lyceums,  by  /S1.  C.  Phillips.  LecturelV.  Education  of  the  Five  Senses,  by 
William  H.  Brooks.  Lecture  V.  The  Means  which  may  be  employed  to  stimulate  the  Student 
without  the  aid  of  Emulation,  by  John  L.  Parkhurst.  Lecture  VI.  Grammar,  by  Goold 
Brown.  Lecture  VII.  Influence  of  Academies  and  High  Schools  on  Common  Schools,  by  Wil- 
liam C.  Fowler.  Lecture  Will.  Natural  History  as  a  Branch  of  Common  Education,  by  Cle- 
ment Durgin.    Prize  Essay  on  School-Houses,  by  W.  A.  Alcott. 

Vol.  Ill,  for  1832. — Introductory  Discourse,  by  Francis  C.  Gray.  Lecture  I.  The  best 
Methods  of  Teaching  the  Living  Languages,  by  George  Ticknor.  Lecture  II.  Some  of  the 
Diseases  of  a  Literary  Life,  by  G.  Hayward,  M.  D.  Lecture  III.  The  Utility  of  Visible  Illus- 
trations, by  Walter  R.  Johnson.  Lecture  IV.  The  Moral  Influences  of  Physical  Science,  by 
John  Pierpont.  Lecture  V.  Prize  Essay,  on  the  Teaching  of  Penmanship,  by  B.  B.  Foster. 
Lecture  VI.  Nature  and  Means  of  Early  Education,  as  deduced  from  Experience,  by  A.  B. 
Alcott.     Lecture  VII.  On  Teaching  Grammar  and  Composition,  by  Asa  Rand. 

Vol.  IV,  for  1S33. — Introductory  Lecture,  by  William  Sullivan.  Lecture  I.  On  the  Impor- 
tance of  a  Knowledge  of  the  Principles  of  Physiology  to  Parents  and  Teachers,  by  Edward 
Reynolds,  M.  D.  Lecture  II.  The  Classification  of  Schools,  by  Samuel  M.  Burnside.  Lec- 
ture III.  Primary  Education,  by  Gardner  B.  Perry.  Lecture  IV.  Emulation  in  Schools  by 
Leonard  Wiildngton.  Lecture  V.  The  best  Method  of  Teaching  the  Ancient  Languages,  by 
Alpheus  S.  Packard.  Lecture  VI.  Jacotot's  Method  of  Instruction,  by  George  W.  Greene. 
Lecture  VII.  The  best  Method  of  Teaching  Geography,  by  W.  C.  Woodbridge.  Lecture  VIH. 
Necessity  of  Educating  Teachers,  by  Samuel  R.  Hall.  Lecture  IX.  The  Adaptation  of  Intel- 
lectual Philosophy  to  Instruction,  by  Abijah  R.  Baker.  Lecture  X.  The  best  Mode  of  Teach- 
ing Natural  Philosophy,  by  Benjamin  Hale. 

Vol.  V.  1834.— Introductory  Lecture,  by  Caleb  dishing.  Lecture  I.  The  best  Mode  of  Fix 
ing  the  Attention  of  the  Young,  by  Warren  Burton.  Lecture  II.  The  Improvement  which 
may  be  made  in  the  Condition  of  Common  Schools,  by  Stephen  Farley.  Lecture  III.  Duties 
of  Parents  in  regard  to  the  Schools  where  their  Children  are  Instructed,  by  Jacob  Abbott. 
Lecture  IV.  Maternal  Instruction  and  Management  of  Infant  Schools,  by  M.  M.  Carll.  Lecture 
V.  Teaching  the  Elements  of  Mathematics,  by  Thomas  Sherioin.  Lecture  VI  The  Dangerous 
Tendency  to  Innovations  and  Extremes  in  Education,  by  Hubbard  Winslow.  Lecture  VII.  Un- 
ion of  Manual  with  Mental  Labor,  in  a  System  of  Education,  by  Beriah  Green.  Lecture  VIII. 
The  History  and  Uses  of  Chemisti-y,  by  C.  T.  Jackson.  Lecture  IX.  Natural  History  as  a 
Study  in  Common  Schools,  by  A.  A.  Gould,  M.  D.  Lecture  X.  Science  of  Government  as  a 
Branch  of  Popular  Education,  by  Joseph  Story. 

Vol.  VI,  for  1835.— Introductory  Lecture,  by  W.  H.  Furness.  Lecture  I.  The  Study  of  the 
Classics,  by  A.  Crosby.  Lecture  II.  Education  for  an  Agricultural  People,  by  Samuel  Nott,  Jr. 
Lecture  III.  Political  Influence  of  Schoolmasters,  by  E.  Washburn.  Lecture  IV.  State  and 
Prospects  of  the  German  Population  of  this  Country,  by  H.  Bokum.  Lecture  V.  Religious  Ed- 
ucation, by  R.  Park.  Lecture  VI.  Importance  of  an  Acquaintance  with  the  Philosophy  of  the 
Mind  to  an  Instructor,  by  J.  Gregg.  Lecture  VII.  Ends  of  School  Discipline,  by  Henry  L. 
McKean.  Lecture  VIII.  Importance  and  Means  of  Cultivating  the  Social  Affections  among  Pu- 
pils, by  J.  Blaachard.  Lecture  IX.  Meaning  and  Objects  of  Education,  by  T.  B.  Fox.  Lec- 
ture X.  Management  of  a  Common  School,  by  7'.  Dwight,  Jr.  Lecture  XI.  Moral  and  Spirit- 
ual Culture  in  Early  Education,  by  R.  C.  Waterston.  Lecture  XII.  Moral  Uses  of  the  Study  cf 
Natural  History,  by  W.  Channing,  M.  D.    Lecture  XIII.  Schools  of  the  Arts,  by  W.Johnson. 

Vol.  VII.,  for  183*3.— Lecture  1.  Education  of  the  Blind,  by  Samuel  G.  Howe,  M.  D.  Lec- 
ture 11.  Thorough  Teaching,  by  William  H.  Brooks.  Lecture  III.  Physiology,  or  "  The  House 
I  live  in,"  by  William  A.  Alcott.  Lecture  IV.  Incitements  to  Moral  and  Intellectual  Weil-Doing, 
by  J.  H.  Belcher.  Lecture  V.  Duties  of  Female  Teachers  of  Common  Schools,  by  Daniel 
Kimball.  Lecture  VI.  Methods  of  Teaching  Elocution  in  Schools,  bv  T.  D.  P.  Stone.  Lec- 
ture VII.  Influence  of  Intellectual  Action  on  Civilization,  by  //.  R.  Cleavcland.  LectureYlll. 
School  Discipline,  by  S.  R.  Hall. 

Vol.  VIII.,  for  1837.— Introductory  Discourse,  by  Rev.  Elipha  While.  Lecturel.  Study  of 
the  Classics,  by  John  Mulligan.  Lecture  II.  Moral  Education,  by  Joshua  Bates.  Lecturelll. 
Study  of  Natural  History,  by  John  Lewis  Russell.  Lecture  IV.  Comparative  Merits  of  Private 
and  Public  Schools,  by  Theodore  Edson.    Lecture  V.  Elocution,  by  David  Fosdick,  Jr.    Lee- 


BOOKS  ON  EDUCATION.  335 

lure  VI  Relation  between  the  Board  of  Trustees  and  the  Faculty  of  a  University,  &c,  by  Jas- 
per Adams.  Lecture  VII.  School  Reform,  or  Teachers'  Seminaries,  by  Charles  Brooks.  Lea- 
lure  VIII.  Teaching  of  Composition  in  Schools,  by  R.  G.  Parker.  Lecture  IX.  Evils  of  the 
Present  System  of  Primary  Instruction,  by  Thomas  H.  Palmer.  Lecture  X.  Reading  and 
Declamation,  by  William  Russell. 

Vol.  IX,  for  1838. — Lecture  1.  Literary  Responsibility  of  Teachers,  by  Charles  White.  Lec- 
ture II.  The  Head  and  the  Heart ;  or,  The  Relative  Importance  of  Intellectual  and  Moral  Cul- 
ture, by  JElisha  Bartlett.  Lecture  III.  Vocal  Music  in  Common  Schools,  by  Joseph  Harring- 
ton, Jr.  Lecture  IV.  Model  Schools,  by  Thomas  D.  James.  Lecture  V.  Observations  on  the 
School  System  of  Connecticut,  by  Denison  Olmsted.  Lecture  VI.  Teaching  of  English  Cram- 
mar,  by  R.  G  Parker.  Lecture  VII.  Mutual  Dul  ies  of  Parents  and  Teachers,  by  David  P. 
Page.     Lecture  V 111.  Man,  the  Subject  of  Education,  by  Samuel  G.  Goodrich. 

Vol.  X,  for  1S39  — Introductory  Discourse,  The  Education  of  a  Free  People,  by  Robert  Ran- 
tcnd,  Jr.  Lecture  I.  Physiology  of  the  Skin,  by  John  G.  Metcalf,M.  D  Lecture  II.  Mind  and 
its  Developments,  by  Emerson  Davis.  Lecture  III.  A  Classic  Taste  in  our  Common  Schools, 
by  Luther  B.  Lincoln.  Lecture  IV.  Natural  Theology  as  a  Study  in  Schools,  by  Henry  A. 
Miles.  Lecture  V.  Division  of  Labor  in  Instruction,  by  Thomas  Gushing,  Jr.  Lecture  VI.  The 
Claims  of  our  Age  and  Country  upon  Teachers,  by  David  Mack.  Lecture  VII.  Progress  of 
Moral  Science,  and  ils  Application  to  the  Business  of  Practical  Life,  by  Alexander  H.  Everett. 
Lecture  VIII.  The  Comparative  Results  of  Education,  by  T.  P.  Rodman*,  Lecture  IX.  Physi- 
cal Education,  by  Abel  L.  Pierson,  M.  D. 

Vol.  II.  New  Series,  for  1840.— Lecture  I.  Intellectual  Education  in  Harmony  with  Moral 
and  Physical,  by  Joshua  Bates.  Lecture  II.  Results  to  be  aimed  at  in  School  Instruction  and 
Discipliie,  by  T.  Cushing,  Jr.  Lecture  III.  Duty  of  Visiting  Schools,  by  Thomas  A.  Greene. 
Lecture  IV.  Objects  and  Means  of  School  Instruction,  by  A.  B.  Muzzey.  LectureV.  Courtesy, 
and  its  Connection  with  School  Instruction,  by  G.  F.  Thayer.  Lecture  VI.  On  the  Brain  and 
the  Stomach,  by  Usher  Parsons,  M.  D.  Lecture  VII.  Common  Complaints  made  against 
Teachers,  by  Jacob  Abbott. 

Vol.  XII,  for  1841.— Lecture  I.  Best  Method  of  Preparing  and  Using  Spelling- Books,  by  Hor- 
ace Mann.  Lecture  II.  Best  Method  of  Exercising  the  Different  Faculties  of  the  Mind,  by  Wm. 
B.  Fowle.  Lecturelll.  Education  of  the  Laboring  Classes,  by  T.  Parker.  Lecture  W.  Impor- 
tance of  the  Natural  Sciences  in  our  System  of  Popular  Education,  by  A.  Gray.  Lecture  V. 
Moral  Culture  Essential  to  Intellectual  Education,  by  E.  W.  Robinson.  Lecture  VI.  Simpli- 
city of  Character,  as  Affected  by  the  Common  Systems  of  Education,  by  J.  S.  Dwight.  Lec- 
ture VII.  Use  of  the  Globes  in  Teaching  Geography  and  Astronomy,  by  A.  Fleming.  Lecture 
VIII.  Elementary  Principles  of  Constitutional  Law,  as  a  Branch  of  Education  in  Common. 
Schools,  by  Edward  A.  Lawrence. 

Vol.  XIII,  for  1842.— Lecture  I.  Moral  Education,  by  George  B.  Emerson.  Lecture  II.  Uni- 
versal Language,  by  Samuel  G.  Howe.  Lecture  III.  The  Girard  College,  by  E.  C.  Wines. 
Lecture  IV.  School  Room,  as  an  aid  to  Self-Education,  by  A.  B.  Muzzey.  Lecture  V.  Moral 
Responsibility  of  Teachers,  by  William  H.  Wood.  Lecture  VI.  The  Teacher's  Daily  Prepara- 
tion. 

Vol.  XIV,  for  1843. — Lecture  I.  The  Bible  in  Common  Schools,  by  Hetnan  Humphrey,  D.  D. 
Lecture  II.  The  Classification  of  Knowledge,  by  Solomon  Adams.  Lecture  HI.  Moral  Dignity 
of  the  Teacher's  Office,  by  Prof.  i".  H  Agnew.  Lecture  IV.  A  few  of  the  ••  Hows"  of  School- 
keeping,  by  Roger  S.  Howard.  Lecture  V.  Advancement  in  the  Means  and  Methods  of  Public 
Instruction,  by  David  P.  Page.  Lecture  VI.  Reading,  by  C.  Pierce.  Lecture  VII.  Some  of 
She  Duties  of  the  Faithful  Teacher,  by  Alfred  Greenleaf.  'Lecture  VIII.  Some  of  the  Defects  of 
our  Systems  of  Education,  by  R.  B.  Hubbard.  Lecture  IX.  Importance  of  our  Common 
Schools,  by  S.  J.  May. 

Vol.  XV,  for  1844. — Lecture  I.  The_  Religious  Element  in  Education,  by  Calvin  E.  Stowe.. 
Lecture  II.  Female  Education,  by  William  Russell.  Lecture  III.  Some  of  the  Obstacles  to  the- 
Greater  Success  of  Common  Schools,  by  Charles  Northend.  LecturelV.  Some  of  the  Dangers 
of  Teachers,  by  Daniel  P.  Galloup.  Lecture  V.  Natural  History  as  a  Regular  Classic  in  our 
Seminaries,  by  Charles  Brooks.  Lecture  VI.  Classical  Instruction,  by  A.  H  Weld.  Lecture 
VII.  School  Discipline,  by  Joseph  Hale.  Lecture  VIII.  Methods  of  Teaching  to  Read,  by  Sam- 
uel S.  Greene.  Lecture  IX.  The  Duty  of  the  American  Teacher,  by  John  AT.  Bellows.  Lec- 
ture X.  The  Necessity  of  Education  in  a  Republican  Form  of  Government,  by  Horace  Mann. 
Vol.  XVI,  for  1845.— Lecture  I.  Dignity  of  the  Teacher's  Office,  by  Joel  Hawes,  D.  D.  Ad- 
dress. The  Formation  and  Excellence  of  the  Female  Character,  by  Joel  Hawes,  D.  D.  Lee? 
turell.  The  Duties  of  Examining  Committees,  by  Prof.  E.  D.  Sanborn.  Lecturelll.  The  Per- 
fect Teacher,  by  Denison  Olmstead.  L.  L.  D.  Lecture  IV.  Physiology,  by  Edward  Jarvis,  M.  D. 
Lecture  V.  Intellectual  Arithmetic,  by  F.  A.  Adams.  Lecture  VI.  County  Teachers'  Institutes,, 
by  Sa'em  Town.  Lecture  VII.  Geography,  by  William.  B.  Foiole.  Lecture  VIII.  Vocal  Mu- 
sic in  Common  Schools,  by±A.  N.  Johnson.    Lecture  IX.  History,  by  George  S.  Hillard. 

Vol  XVII,  for  1846. — Journal  of  Proceedings.  List  of  Officers.  Annual  Report.  Lee- 
lure  I.  Home  Preparation  for  School,  by  Jason  Whtima.n.  Lecture  II.  The  Influence  of  Moral 
upon  Intellectual  Improvement,  by  H.  B.  Hooker.  Lecture  III.  The  Essentials  of  a  Common 
School  Education,  and  the  conditions  most  favorable  to  their  Attainment,  by  Rufus  Putnam. 
Lecture  IV.  The  Education  of  the  Faculties,  and  the  Proper  Employment  of  Young  Children, 
by  Samuel  J.  May.  Lecture  V.  The  Obligation  of  Towns  to  Elevate  the  Character  of  our  Com- 
mon Schools,  by  Luther  B.  Lincoln.  Lecture.  VI.  Importance  of  Cultivating  Taste  in  Early 
Life,  by  Ariel  Parish.  Lecture  VII.  On  Phonotypy  and  Phonography,  or  Speech-Writing  and 
Speech-Printing,  by  Stephen  P.  Andrews.  Lecture  VIII.  On  the  Study  of  the  English  Lan- 
guage, by  D.  Huntington. 

Vol.  XVIII,  for  1847.— Journal  of  Proceedings.  List  of  Officers.  Lecture  I.  On  the  Study 
of  Language,  by  Hubbard  Winslow.  Lecture  II.  On  the  Appropriateness  of  Studies  to  the  State 
of  Mental  Development,  bv  Thomas  P.  Rodman. 

25 


386 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


Reports  and  Documents  relating  to  the  Common  School 
System  of  Connecticut.     Hartford :  Case,  Tiffany  &  Co. 

This  Volume  is  made  up  of  different  numbers  of  the  Connecticut  Common  School  Journal,  which 
contain  separate  documents  of  permanent  value.  It  makes  a  large  quarto  volume  of  400  pages,  in 
double  columns,  and  small  type.     Price  $1.00. 

I.— DOCUMENTS  CONNECTED  WITH  THE  COMMON  SCHOOLS  OF  CONNECTICUT, 

FROM  MAY,  1838,  TO  MAY,  1842. 
Reports  of  the  Board  of  Commissioners  of  Common  Schools,  for  1839, 1840,  1841,  1842 
Barnard's  Report — Legislative  Document,  1838. 

"        Address  of  the  Board  of  Commissioners  of  C.  S.  to  the  People,  1838. 

"        First  Annual  Report  to  the  Board  of  C.  C.  S.,  1839;  Second  do.  for  1840;  Third  do.  for 
1841 ;  Fourth  do.  for  1842. 

"        Report  on  Education  in  other  States  and  Countries,  1840. 

"  "         Public  Schools  in  Boston,  Providence,  Lowell,  Worcester,  &c,  1841. 

"        Address  on  School-houses  in  1839. 

"         Report  on  Public  Schools  of  Hartford,  1841. 

"        Remarks  on  the  History  and  Condition  of  the  School  Laws  of  Connecticut,  1841. 

'•        Report  on  the  Legal  Provision  respecting  the  Education  and  Employment  of  Children  in 
"Factories  in  various  States  and  Countries. 

"        Letter  to  a  Committee  of  the  Legislature  on  the  Expenses  of  the  Board  of  Commissioners, 
1841. 
Reports  of  School  Visitors  in  most  of  the  Towns  in  Connecticut,  for  1840  to  1842. 
Summary  of  the  Legislation  of  the  State  respecting  Schools  from  1647  to  1839. 
Act  to  provide  for  the  better  Supervision  of  Common  Schools,  passed  1838. 
Act  giving  additional  powers  to  School  Districts  and  School  Societies,  1839. 
Revised  Common  School  Act,  1841. 
Report  and  Act  for  repealing  the  Board  of  Commissioners,  1842. 

II — DOCUMENTS  OR  ARTICLES  RESPECTING  THE  SCHOOL  SYSTEM  OF  OTHER 

STATES  AND  COUNTRIES. 
Condition  of  Public  Education  in  Scotland,  Ireland,  England,  and  Wales,  from  various  sources. 

"  "  "  Holland,  by  Prof.  Bache,  Cousin,  and  Cuvier. 

"  "  "  Prussia,  by  Prof.  Bache,  Cousin,  Wyse,  and  Prof.  Stowe. 

"  "  "  Duchy  of  Baden,  and  Nassau,  by  Prof.  James. 

"  "  "  Austria,  by  Prof.  Turnbull  and  Bache. 

"  "  "  Tuscnny,  from  On.  Review. 

"  "  "  Switzerland,  from  Journal  of  Education,  and  Prof.  Bache. 

"  "  "  Bavaria  and  Hanover,  by  Hawkins. 

"  "  "  Saxony,  by  Prof.  Bache. 

"  "  "  Russia,  by  Prof.  Stowe. 

"  "  "  France,  by  Mrs.  Austin  and  Prof.  Bache. 

"  "  "  Belgium,  from  Foreign  Q.u.  Review. 


III.— NORMAL  SCHOOLS, 
History  of  Teachers'  Seminaries. 
Essays  on,  by  Rev.  T.  H.  Gallaudet. 
Address  respecting,  by  Prof.  Stowe. 
Account  of  in  Prussia,  by  Dr.  Julius. 

"        "       France,  by  Guizot. 

"        "       Holland,  by  Cousin. 

"        "       Europe,  by  Prof.  Bache. 

"        "       Massachusetts,  by  Mr.  Mann. 

"        "       New  York,  by  Mr.  Dix. 
Normal  Seminary,  Glasgow. 
Teachers'  Departments,  New  York. 


OR  TEACHERS'  SEMINARIES. 

State  Normal  School  at  Lexington,  Mass. 
Borough  Road  School,  London. 
Primary  Normal  School,  at  Haarlem,  (Holland. 
Seminary  for  Teachers,  at  Weissenfels,  Prussia 

"  '  "  Potsdam,  " 

Primary  Normal  School  at  Stettin. 

'"  "  "  Briihl  and  Neuweid. 

Normal  School  at  Versailles,  France. 
"  "  Kussnacht,  Switzerland 

"  "  Beuggen,  " 

"  "  Hofwyl,  " 


IV.— ACCOUNT  OF  PARTICULAR  SCHOOLS 
Infant  Schools. 
Model  Infant  School,  Glasgow. 
"  "  "       London. 

Quaker  Street  Infant,      " 
Infant  School  in  Lombardy. 
"  "  Rotterdam. 


Evening  Schools. — Schools  of  Industry,  fyc. 
Evening  School  in  London. 
School  of  Industry  at  Norwood. 
"  "  Ealing. 

"  "  Lindfield. 

"  Gowers  Walk. 

"  Guernsey. 

"  Warwick. 

"     for  Juvenile  Offenders,  Rotterdam. 
Public  Schools  of  Various  Grades. 
Primary  School  at  the  Hague. 
Intermediate  School  at  Leyden. 
Borough  Road  School,  London. 
Sessional  School,  Edinburgh. 


High  School,  Edinburgh. 
School  for  the  Poor,  Amsterdam. 
Primary  School,  Berlin. 

Dorothean  High  School,  " 
Burgher  School,  " 

Higher  Burgher  School,  Potsdam. 
Lovell's  Lancasterian  School,  New  Haven 

Schools  of  Agriculture,  tyc,  <$-e. 
City  Trade  School,  Berlin. 
Commercial  School,  Leghorn. 
Agricultural  School  at  Templemoyle. 
Institute  of  Agriculture,  Wurtemburg. 
School  of  Arts,  Edinburgh. 
Polytechnic  Institute,  Vienna. 
Technical  School,  Zurich 
Institute  of  the  Arts,  Berlin. 
Mechanic  Institutions,  London. 

"  "  Manchester. 

Factory  Schools. 
Adult  Schools.    Sunday  Schools. 


BOOKS  ON  EDUCATION,  ggj 

Report  on  the  Public  Schools  of  Rhode  Island,  for  1845, 
by  Henry  Barnard,  Commissioner  of  Public  Schools.  Providence  : 
C.  Burnett,  Jr. 

Act  for  ascertaining  the  condition  of  the  Public  Schools,  and  the  better  management  and  improve- 
ment of  the  same. 
Circular  of  Governor  Fenner. 
Report  of  Commissioner  of  Public  Schools. 

I.  Mode  of  ascertaining  the  condition  of  Public  Schools,  and  other  means  of  popular  education. 

1.  By  personal  inspection  and  inquiry.  2.  By  circulars  addressed  to  teachers  and  school  com- 
mittees. 3.  By  official  returns  and  reports  of  school  committees.  4.  By  statements  in  public 
meeting,  5 — 7. 

II.  Measures  adopted  to  improve  the  public  schools  under  their  present  organization,  and  prepare 

the  way  for  a  more  complete  and  efficient  system  of  public  instruction.     1.  By  public  lectures. 

2.  By  conversation  and  letters.  3.  By  circulating  tracts,  periodicals,  and  documents  relating 
to  schools,  school  systems,  &c.  4.  By  establishing  a  Library  of  Education  in  each  town. 
5.  By  associations  for  school  improvement.  6-  By  assisting  in  the  selection  of  good  teachers. 
7.  By  a  more  extensive  employment  of  female  teachers.  8.  By  a  gradation  of  schools.  9.  By 
teachers'  associations,  or  institutes.  10.  By  an  itinerating  normal  school  agency.  11.  By 
preparing  the  way  for  one  normal  school.  12.  By  making  known  plans  of  scjiool-houses. 
13.  By  school  apparatus  and  library.  14.  By  lyceums,  lectures,  and  library  associations. 
15.  By  preparing  the  draft  of  school  act,  7 — 16. 

HI.  Defects  in  the  former  organization  and  administration  of  the  system,  with  the  outline  of  the 

existing  organization.     1.  Summary  of  defects.     2.  Outline  of  the  system  as  reorganized 
IV.  Condition  of  the  public  schools,  with  remedies  for  existing  defects,  and  suggestions  for  theit 
increasing  usefulness.     1.  Organization.    2.  School-houses.    3.  School  attendance.    4.  Clas- 
sification of  schools.    5.  Agricultural  districts.    0.  Manufacturing  districts.    7.  City  districts. 
Appendix. — Documents  referred  to  in  the  Report. 

I.  Circular  to  Teachers,  and  to  School  Committees,  -------        81 

II.  Topics  of  Lectures  on  Education,    -----------85 

III.  Associations  for  the  Improvement  of  Public  Schools,   -------86 

Washington  County  Association,  ----------86 

do.  do.      Teachers'  Institute,  ---------88 

Rhode  Island  Institute  of  Instruction,  ----------89 

IV.  Educational  Tracts, 90 

V.  Books  and  Pamphlets,  relative  to  education,  circulated  in  the  State,        -        -        -        -    91 

VI.  Catalogue  of  Books  in  Library  of  Education,       --------92 

Educational  Periodicals,       ------------95 

VII.  History  and  condition  of  the  legislation  of  Rhode  Island  respecting  public  schools,        -        97 

VIII.  Draft  of  an  act  respecting  public  schools,  with  remarks  explanatory  of  its  provisions,      -  113 

IX.  Act  relating  to  Public  Schools,  passed  June,  1845,        -------      J37 

X.  Statistical  Tables,  relating  to  population,  valuation,  expenditures  of  the  State  and  of  the 

several  towns,       --------------  149 

XI.  Apportionment  of  the  State  appropriation  for  public  schools,  for  1846,         -  158 

XII.  School-house  Architecture,      -------.-----  165 

XIII-  Names  of  different  kinds  of  text-books  used  in  the  State,     ------      227 

XIV.  Public  Schools  in  cities  and  large  villages,        ---------  229 

XV.  Rules  and  Regulations  of  School  Committees,       --------      241 

do.  do.  Providence,       ----------  243 

Index  to  Report,  --------------      253 

Journal  of  the  Rhode  Island  Institute  of  Instruction: 
commenced  in  1845,  and  discontinued  in  1849.  Edited  by  Henry 
Barnard,  Commissioner  of  Public  Schools.  The  set  consists  of  three 
volumes.     Price  $3.50  per  set. 

CONTENTS.— VOLUME  I. 
Report  on  the  Public  Schools  of  Rhode  Island  for  1845,  and  the  following  articles   in  Extra 

Journal.  PAGB 

Prospectus  of  Journal,     --------------  j 

Circular  respecting  Teachers'  Institutes,  ----------      j 

Teachers'  Institutes,  origin  of,        ------------  5 

Teachers'  Institute  at  Scituate,  ---------         -        -         _       g 

Notices  of  Institutes  and  Public  Meetings,      ----------12 

Circular  of  Commissioner,  ------------        -13 

Lyceums — Lectures — Libraries,      ------------        jg 

Westerly  Lyceum,  --------        ------    ^g 

Progress  of  education, — Vermont,  -----_.---_         27 

"       "  "  Massachusetts,      ----------        -jg 

Teachers'  Institutes,      ------.------.        20 

Scituate  and  Foster  Association,        -----.---.._    23 

Modes  of  school  improvement,       ------------25 

Books  on  Education,  -------------        -26 

Progress  of  Education — Virginia,  -  --.---...31 

"      "  "  Massachusetts,  ---------35 


ggg  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

PASS 

Educational  Tracts,       - 39 

Death  of  Francis  Dwight,  ---------        ....    49 

Modes  of  school  improvement,        -.---------.41 

Educated  men  and  the  education  of  the  people,         ---------40/ 

Normal  school  at  Kruitzlingen,      --------.---51 

Rules  for  the  good  behavior  of  Pupils,       -        -        -        -        -        -        --        -        -        -54 

Notices  of  Public  Meetings,  .---------.-56 

Annual  Meeting  of  the  Institute  of  Instruction  for  1845,    --------57 

Professor  Gammell's  Report,  ------------53 

Mr.  Russell's  Remarks,      --------------63 

Mr.  Kingsbury's  Report,         -------------65 

Modes  of  school  improvement,  ------------66 

Duties  of  Parents  to  their  schools,  -----------68 

Letter  from  a  Teacher  to  his  Pupil,  ._.---._..        -73 

School  motives  and  school  vices,    ------------81 

Teachers'  meetings  and  associations,         -----------    86 

District  School  Journal  of  New  York,  ----------88 

Progress  of  education  in  other  states,         -----------88 

"      "  "        in  Massachusetts,  ----------89 

"      "  "        in  New  York,  -----------  105 

"      "  "        in  Pennsylvania,  ----------      112 

"      "  "        in  Michigan,  -----------  121 

"      "  "        in  Ohio,         ----- 126 

Smithsonian  Bequest,        -,      .-        -         -----------  134 

Organization  of  School  Districts,  ---------        .-      136 

Progress  of  education  in  Connecticut,        -----------  137 

History  of  the  English  Language,  by  E.  R.  Porter,         --------      153 

Adaptation  of  the  Universe  to  the  cultivation  of  the  mind,  by  R.  G.  Hazard,     -        -        -        -  169 

Address  on  Education,  by  R.  G.  Hazard,        ----------      189 

Individual  and  Associated  effort,       ------------  210 

A  Father's  Prayer  for  his  Son,        -------  -..-      211 

Index  to  Extra  Journal,     --------------  213 

VOLUME  II.,  FOR  1847. 
Prospectus,     ----------------  1 

Discourse  before  the  Rhode  Island  Historical  Society,  by  Hon.  Job  Durfee,        -        -        -        -      1 

Causes  of  the  neglect  of  Public  Schools  in  Rhode  Island,       -------        33 

Origin  and  Repeal  of  the  School  Act  of  1830,  by  John  Howland, 37 

Condition  of  Education  in  Rhode  Island,  in  1828,  --------38 

Debate  on  the  School  Act  of  1828,  41 

Memorial  from  East  Greenwich,      -----------41 

Remarks  of  J.  L.  Tillinghast,     ------ 42 

"  J.  J.  Waterman,  -----------        45 

"  — Dixon,         -------------47 

E.  R.  Porter,  - ; 48 

R  T.  Cranston,        ------------    48 

Condition  of  Public  Schools  of  Rhode  Island  in  1832,     --------49 

Report  by  Oliver  Angell,  -------------49 

Annual  Abstract  of  School  Returns  for  1839,  ---------51 

for  1844, -    53 

Debate  on  the  School  Act  of  1845,         -  53 

Remarks  of  Wilkins  Updike,     -------------53 

Report  of  School  Committee  of  North  Providence,         ------        -        .        57 

"  Smithfield, 62 

"  Cumberland,  --_-.-.        -        -        7<> 

"  "  "  Scituate,  -----..-.-86 

School-houses,        ------..----.-.-88 

Plan  of  Grounds  for  Village  School,  ----_,      ..,--..  90 

Plans  for  Schools  of  different  grades,       ----------91 

Plan  of  Public  School  in  City  of  New  York, 93 

"         Primary  School,  -------.....96 

Report  on  seats  without  backs,  ------.---.99 

Boston  Primary  School  Chair,         ---__-_../..      100 
Plans  of  Normal  Schools  in  Massachusetts,         -        -        -        -        -        -        -    -  -        -  101 

Brimmer  Grammar  School,  Boston,         ----------      107 

Hints  respecting  Blackboards,     --------.----  109 

Boston  Plan  of  Warming  and  Ventilation,      ---------      112 

Condition  of  School-houses  in  Massachusetts,     ---------  137 

"  "  New  York,  Vermont,  Maine,  &.c.    -----      139 

Second  Annual  Meeting  of  the  Rhode  Island  Institute  of  Instruction,        -  -153 

Mr.  Perry's  Report,         -------....-..      153 

Libraries — value  of  books,         -------------  163 

Origin  of  District  School  Libraries,        -----------      167 

Letter  of  James  Wadsworth,  of  Genesee,  New  York,        --------  167 

Report  of  D.  D.Barnard,        -        - 171 

The  first  Juvenile  Library  in  America,      -----....--  173 

Act  relating  to  Libraries  in  Rhode  Island,      ----------      175 

Specimen  of  Constitution  for  Library  Association,     ---------  176 

Catalogue  of  Books  for  Village  Libraries,        ---..__..-      177 
Rules  and  Regulations  for  the  use  of  the  books  of  a  Library,     ------        -205 


BOOKS  ON  EDUCATION.  389 

PAGE 

Norraal  Schools,     -----------*--.-"-.  SJfl 

State  Normal  Schools  in  Massachusetts,     -----------  212 

New  York  State  Normal  School,  -- 216 

Acts  relating  to  Public  Schools  in  Rhode  Island,        -        -        -        -        -        -    ■    -        -        -  225 

Remarks  on  the  several  provisions  of  the  same,      ---------      241 

Forms  for  conducting  proceedings  under  the  same,     ---------  262 

Form  of  District  Return,        -----.-------28 

Specimen  of  Rules  and  Regulations  for  School  Committees,      -------  289 

Index  to  School  Law,  Remarks  and  Forms,    ----------      293 

Progress  of  Education  in  Ike  United  States  for  1847,  --------  305 

Connecticut,  _----___------      305 

Prize  Essay  by  Noah  Porter,        ------------  307 

Maine,    --- 328 

Massachusetts,    ---------------  331 

New  Hampshire,     --------------      331 

Vermont,    ----------------  332 

New  York, --------      333 

New  Jersey,        ---------------  333 

Report  on  Normal  Schools,     ------------      333 

Pennsylvania,     ---------------  344 

Maryland,        ---------------      346 

Virginia,    ----------------  346 

Letter  of  S.  S.Randall, 347 

Ohio, --------- 348 

Indiana,  ---------------      350 

Teachers'  Institute  in  Rhode  Island  for  1847,    ----------  353 

"  "  Centreville,  -----------354 

"  "  Pawtucket,      ------------  361 

Progress  of  Teachers'  Institutes  in  Connecticut,     ---------      369 

"  "  New  York,  -  369 

"  "  "  Massachusetts,  --------      380 

"  "  "  Ohio,  -        -        -        -        -        -        -        -        -        -  382 

"  New  Hampshire,       --------      388 

"  "  "  Maine,         -        -  •     -        -        -        -        -        -        -        -  390 

"  "  "  Michigan,         - 393; 

u  "  "  Vermont, 394 

"  "  "  Rhode  Island, 395 

Teachers'  Meetings  and  Associations,        -----------  398 

Topics  for  discussion,  &c.       ---------     •  -        -        -  398 

List  of  Educatioual  Periodicals,         ------------  399 

VOLUME  III. 
Report  of  Commissioner  of  Public  Schools  for  1848,       --------  J 

Third  Annual  Report  of  Executive  Committee  of  Rhode  Island  Institute  of  Instruction,    -        -      3 
Officers  for  1847,    ----         .---___._-._ 

Proceedings  of  Third  Annual  Meeting,      -----------13 

Remarks  of  Mr.  Barnard,       -----■---_----        15 

"  Prof.  Gammell, 23 

"  Rev.  Mr.  Osgood,         ------------        25 

"  Mr.  Bishop,    --------------26 

Evening  Schools,  --         ------------28 

Documents  relating  to  the  History  aisd  Condition  of  Public  Schools  in  Rhode  Island,         -        -    33 

"  "  "  "  ".  "  Providence,  -        33 

Letter  of  John  Howland  in  1824,         -----------44 

Report  by  President  Wayland  in  1828,    ---- 46 

Memorial  of  Mechanics'  Association,  1837,         ---------55 

Report  to  City  Council,  ------------        57 

Ordinance  of  City  Council,  1838, -----58 

Organization  of  Public  Schools  in  1848,  ---------62 

Report  of  School  Committee  for  1838,         ----------64 

"  "  1839, 


1840. 
1841, 

1842. 
1843. 
1844 
1845. 
1846 
1847 
1848, 


Rules  and  Regulations,  1848,  -___.-.,----       84 

fieport  of  School  Committee  of  North  Providence,  1848,    --------97 

"  "  "  Scituate,  1848,       - 103V 

"  "  •'  Smithfield,        -  108 

"  "  "  Glocester,  1847, 122 

"  u  "  "         1848         __.------  126 

it  u  u  Coventry,  1847,' 128 

«:•«'•«  "        1848, 138 

a  u  "  Warwick,  1847, 141 

*  "  '  '-  Cumberland,  1848, 142 


39Q  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

PASB 

Report  of  School  Committee  of  Burrillville,  1847, 144 

"  "  "  Newport,  1827, 145 

"  "  "  "        1828,      -  -      148 

"  "  "  "        1844,         --- !50 

»  "  "  "        1848, ---153 

"  "  "  Bristol,      1843, ----158 

«•«,«■"  1845, -160 

"  "  "  "  1847,  ---------163 

"  "  «  "  1848, -171 

"  "  "  Warren,    -----------  174 

School  Architecture,      --------------      175 

Ingraham's  Primary  School-house,  Boston,        ----------  177 

Boston  and  other  School  Furniture,        -----------      201 

ttuincy  Grammar  Scbool-house,         ------------  208 

Putnam  Free  School-house,  Newburypoft,      ----------      211 

Public  High  Scbool-house,  Hartford,  -----------  214 

Free  Academy  in  City  of  New  York,    -----------      223 

Culver's  Furnace,      ---------------230 

Public  School-houses  in  Providence,      -----------      233 

Public  High  School,  -------------- 253 

Plans  of  School-houses  with  Apartments  for  Teacher,     -        -     '  -        -        -        -        -        -      260 

Teacher's  Desk, ------272 

Remarks  on  School-houses  in  Rhode  Island,  -        -        -        -        --        -        -        -      273 

Principles  of  School  Architecture,     -----------        -274 

Principles  of  Ventilation,        -------------      277 

Plans  of  School-houses  with  one-  School-room,  ---------  280 

Plan  of  Grounds  for  Infant  School,         -----------283 

Primary  School-house  in  Westerly,    ------------  284 

Village  School-house  at  Allendale,  North  Providence,    --------      285 

District  School-house  in  Glocester,     ------------  286 

"  "  BarringtoE,      - -----288 

Mott's  Ventilating  School  Stove,        ------- 290 

Boston  Ventilating  School  Stove,  ------------       291 

District  School-house  in  Cranston,    ------------  292 

"  "  at  Clayville,  Scituate,  ---------      292 

"  "  at  Centreville,  Warv/ick, 294 

Remarks  on  Gradation  of  Schools,  -----------      296 

Public  School-house  in  Warren,        ------------  305 

Union  School-house  at  Woonsocket,      -----------      308 

"  Chepachet,     ------------309 

"  "■  Pawtucket, ------      310 

Village  School-house  at  Centre  Mill,  -----------  312 

"  "  Washington  Village,        ---------      314 

Female  Seminary  of  Mr..  Kingsbury,  Providence,       --------        -315 

Chilsou's  Furnace,  --------------      316 

Bushnell's      •'  ---------------318 

Apparatus  for  District  Schools,       ------------      319 

"  Grammar  Schools,       ------------  323 

High  Schools,  &c.  -----        - 325 

Hints  respecting  blackboards,     -------------  374 

Library— List  of  Books  on  Education,  -        -        -        -        -        -.-        --        -      379 

"  "  "        of  Reference,        -----------  309 

Rules  for  the  Care  and  Preservation  of  School-houses,    --------      391 

Dedicatory  Exercises,        --------------  401 

Address  of  G.  B.  Emerson, -- 402 

"  Gideon  F.  Tho.yer,     ----- -405 

"  President  Wayland,        -        -        -        -        -        -        -        -        -        -        -      408 

"  Rev.  Mr.  Osgood,       ------------  414 

"  President  Everett,  -----------      419 

Remarks  on  Libraries  in  Rhode  Island,      -----------  425 

History  and  Catalogue  of  Pawcatuck  Library  Association,    -------      429 

General  Index  to  Vols.  I.,  II.  and  HI., -  549 

2.    Books  of  Reference. 
A  list  of  Dictionaries,  Encyclopedias,  and  similar  works,  for  reference  by  the  teacher, 
and  consultation  in  the  school-room  or  library,  is  given  on  page  45. 

3 — 4.  Catalogue  qf  Books  foe  Juvenile  and  Abtjlt  Reading. 
Committees  will  be  aided  in  selecting  books  for  District,  Town,  and  Circulating 
Libraries,  by  consulting  the  Catalogue  of  the  Pawcatuck  library,  on  page  429 — 548. 
Although  the  author  of  this  treatise  is  responsible  generally  for  this  selection,  which 
was  made  for  a  village  library,  and  for  all  classes,  of  readers,  yet  there  are  several 
volumes  in  the  catalogue  which  were  the  donations  of  individuals,  and  others  which  were 
purchased  because  bound  up  with  sets,  the  mass  of  which  were  unexceptionable.  For  a 
School  Library,,  many  of  these  volumes  would  be  deemed  unsuitable. 


care  of  school-houses.  391 

Rules  for  the  Care  and  Preservation  of  School-Houses. 

The  following  provisions  are  included  among  the  Regulations  for  the 
Government  of  Teachers  and  Pupils  of  Public  Schools,  adopted  by  School 
Committees  in  most  of  the  towns  of  Rhode  Island: 

For  Teachers: 
There  shall  be  a  recess  of  at  least  fifteen  minutes  in  the  middle  of  every 
half  day ;  but  the  primary  schools  may  have  a  recess  of  ten  minutes  every  hour : 
at  the  discretion  of  the  teacher. 

It  shall  be  the  duty  of  teachers  to  see  that  fires  are  made,  in  cold  weather,  in 
their  respective  school-rooms,  at  a  seasonable  hour  to  render  them  warm  and 
comfortable  by  school  time ;  to  take  care  that  their  rooms  are  properly  swept 
and  dusted;  and  that  a  due  regard  to  neatness  and  order  is  observed,  both  in 
and  around  the  school-house. 

As  pure  air  of  a  proper  temperature  is  indispensable  to  health  and  comfort, 
teachers  cannot  be  too  careful  in  giving  attention  to  these  things.  If  the  room 
has  no  ventilator,  the  doors  and  windows  should  be  opened  before  and  after 
school,  to  permit  a  free  and  healthful  circulation  of  air;  and  the  temperature 
should  be  regulated  by  a  thermometer  suspended,  five  or  six  feet  from  the  floor, 
in  such  a  position  as  to  indicate  as  near  as  possible  the  average  temperature, 
and  should  be  kept  about  65  degrees  Fahrenheit. 

The  teachers  shall  take  care  that  the  school-houses,  tables,  desks,  and  appa- 
ratus in  the  same,  and  all  the  public  property  entrusted  to  their  charge,  be  not 
cut,  scratched,  marked,  or  injured  and  defaced  in  any  manner  whatever.  And 
it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  teachers  to  give  prompt  notice  to  one  or  more  of  the 
trustees,  of  any  repairs  that  may  be  needed. 

For  Pupils : 
Every  pupil  who  shall,  accidentally  or  otherwise,  injure  any  school  property, 
whether  fences,  gates,  trees  or  shrubs,  or  any  building  or  any  part  thereof;  or 
break  any  window  glass,  or  injure  or  destroy  any  instrument,  apparatus  or  fur- 
niture belonging  to  the  school,  shall  be  liable  to  pay  all  damages. 

Every  pupil  who  shall  any  where,  on  or  around  the  school  premises,  use  or 
write  any  profane  or  unchaste  language,  or  shall  draw  any  obscene  pictures  or 
representations,  or  cut,  mark,  or  otherwise  intentionally  deface  any  school  fur- 
niture or  buildings,  or  any  property  whatsoever  belonging  to  the  school  estate, 
shall  be  punished  in  proportion  to  the  nature  and  extent  of  the  offence,  and 
shall  be  liable  to  the  action  of  the  civil  law. 

No  scholar  of  either  sex  shall  be  permitted  to  enter  any  part  of  the  yard  or 
buildings  appropriated  to  the  other,  without  the  teacher's  permission. 

Smoking  and  chewing  tobacco  in  the  school-house  or  upon  the  school  prem- 
ises, are  strictly  prohibited. 

The  scholars  shall  pass  through  the  streets  on  their  way  to  and  from  school 
in  an  orderly  and  becoming  manner;  shall  clean  the  mud  and  dirt  from  their 
feet  on  entering  the  school-room:  and  take  their  seats  in  a  quiet  and  respectful 
manner,  as  soon  as  convenient  after  the  first  bell  rings;  and  shall  take  proper 
care  that  their  books,  desks,  and  the  floor  around  them,  are  kept  clean  and  in 
good  order. 

It  is  expected  that  all  the  scholars  who  enjoy  the  advantages  of  public  schools, 
will  give  proper  attention  to  the  cleanliness  of  their  persons,  and  the  neatness 
and  decency  of  their  clothes — not  only  for  the  moral  effect  of  the  habit  of  neat- 
ness and  order,  but  that  the  pupils  may  be  at  all  times  prepared,  both  in  con- 
duct and  external  appearance — to  receive  their  friends  and  visitors  in  a  respect- 
able manner;  and  to  render  the  school-room  pleasant,  comfortable  and  happy 
for  teachers  and  scholars. 

In  the  "  Regulations  of  the  Public  Schools  in  the  city  of  Providence" 
it  is  made  the  duty  "  of  the  principal  teacher  in  each  school-house,  for  the 
compensation  allowed  by  the  Committee,  to  employ  some  suitable  person 
to  make  the  fires  in  the  same  when  necessary,  and  to  see  that  this  import- 
ant work  is  properly  and  economically  done ;"  also  "  for  the  compensation 


gg2  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

allowed,  to  employ  some  suitable  person  to  sweep  the  room  and  its  entries 
daily,  and  dust  the  blinds,  seats,  desks,  and  other  furniture  in  the  same, 
and  to  clean  the  same  once  a  quarter,  and  to  see  that  this  work  is  neatly 
and  properly  done." 

The  teachers  must  also  "  take  care  that  the  school-houses,  the  appara- 
tus in  the  same,  and  all  the  public  property  entrusted  to  their  charge,  be 
not  defaced,  pr  otherwise  injured  by  the  scholars,  and  to  give  prompt 
notice  to  the  Superintendant  of  any  repairs  and  supplies  that  may  be 
needed." 

Practical  Suggestions  respecting  Ventilation,  Fires,  Sweep- 
ing and  Dusting. 
The  following  suggestions  are  taken  from  the  Manual  of  the  System  of 
Discipline  and  Instruction  for  the  Schools  of  the  Ptsblic  School  Society  of 
New  York: 

VENTILATION. 

Strict  attention  should  be  paid  to  all  the  means  provided  for  temperature  and 
ventilation.  During  the  season  of  fires,  the  thermometer  should  be  watched, — 
and  the  ventilating  flues,  windows,  doors,  and  stoves,  should  be  constantly  at- 
tended to, — and  every  precaution  taken,  to  give  as  pure  an  atmosphere  to  the 
school-room,  as  circumstances  will  allow.  This  is  not  only  necessary,  for  a 
proper  and  free  exercise  of  the  physical  powers, — but  it  will  be  found  greatly  to 
influence  every  mental  exercise;  for,  both  will  partake  of  either  languor,  or 
vigor,  according  as  ventilation  is  neglected,  or  duly  attended  to.  In  warm 
weather,  the  upper  sashes  should  be  down  during  school  hours,  and  allowed  to 
remain  open  about  four  inches  during  the  night, — except,  that  on  occasion  of  a 
storm,  the  windows  against  which  it  beats,  may  be  closed.  In  winter,  except- 
ing when  the  weather  is  exceedingly  eold  and  piereing,  it  may  be  of  advantage 
to  have  two  or  more  of  the  upper  sashes  down  about,  an  inch  during  the  night; 
but  these  as  well  as  the  doors  should  be  closed  before  kindling  the  fires.  Two 
or  more  of  the  upper  sashes  should  be  drawn  down  at  the  end  of  the  first  half 
hour  after  opening  school, — and  again,  for  a  short  time  at  each  successive  half 
hour, — and  whenever  the  thermometer  rises  to  70  degrees.  At  all  seasons,  the 
windows  and  doors  should  be  thrown  wide  open  for  a  few  minutes  during  each 
recess,  while  the  scholars  are  in  the  yard.  The  teacher  should  be  careful  to 
require  all  the  scholars  to  go  out,  except  such  as  may  reasonably  be  excused  on 
account  of  infirmity  or  sickness;  and  even  these  should  be  required  to  change 
their  places,  and  to  exercise  themselves  by  walking  to  and  fro  in  the  school-room. 
At  all  seasons,  at  the  close  of  school,  all  the  doors  and  windows  should  be 
opened  for  a  few  minutes,  in  order  that  a  pure  atmosphere  may  be  admitted 
and  retained  during  the  noon-time  recess,  or  at  night.  A  thermometrical  diary 
must  be  kept  during  the  winter  season,  and  the  temperature  of  the  room  noted 
at  the  opening,  middle,  and  close,  of  each  daily  session.  Further  directions  on 
this  point  are  given  in  the  instructions  for  making  fires.  The  window-blinds 
and  curtains  are  for  the  purpose  of  guarding  against  the  sunshine,  or  observa- 
tion from  without.  They  should,  therefore,  be  so  managed,  as  only  to  exclude 
the  direct  rays  of  the  sun,  and  kept. open  or  shut  accordingly.  When  required 
as  a  screen  from  observation,  they  should  extend  no  farther  than  necessary  for 
that  purpose.  Attention  to  these  rules  will  give  an  air  of  cheerfulness  within, 
so  congenial  to  the  young.  It  is  important  that  this  fact  be  impressed  on  all — 
that  air,  and  light,  are  grand  essentials  in  a  school-room :  let  the  first  be  freely 
admitted,  and  the  second  never  causelessly  excluded. 

FIRES. 

The  ashes  should  be  taken  from  the  stoves  in  the  morning  only,  leaving  a 
layer  of  one  inch  in  depth  :  then  to  proceed  to  bru'ld  with  the  materials  after  the 
following  manner:  Place  one  large  stick  on  each  side;  in  the  space  between 
them,  place  the  kindling  wood ;  and  above  it,  the  small  wood,  somewhat  cross- 
"wise ;  then,  set  fire  to  the  kindling,  and  close  the  stove  door.    See  that  the 


CARE  OF  SCHOOL-HOUSES. 


393 


draught  is  cleared  of  ashes,  or  other  obstructions ;  and  that  the  dampers  are 
properly  adjusted;  (these  are  generally  so  arranged  as  to  open  the  draught 
when  the  handle  is  parallel  with  the  pipe).  If  the  materials  have  been  laid  ac- 
cording tc  the  foregoing  directions,  the  combustion  will  be  free.  Should  the 
temperature  of  the  room  be  as  low  as  40°,  fill  the  stove  with  wood.  Under  or- 
dinary circumstances,  in  thirty-five  minutes  the' temperature  will  be  raised  to 
60  degrees, — at  which  point  it  should  certainly  be,  at  the  time  of  opening  school ; 
when  the  stove  may  be  supplied  with  one  or  two  large  sticks.  At  all  times,  be- 
fore supplying  wood,  draw  forward  the  brands  and  coals  with  the  fire-hook.  If 
there  should  be  too  much  fire,  open  the  stove  door,  and  if  necessary,  turn  the 
damper, — or,  what  may  be  better  for  economy,  effectually  close  the  draft  at  the 
stove  door  with  ashes.  By  attention  to  all  these  directions,*  the  temperature 
may  be  maintained,  the  wood  entirely  consumed,  and  the  thermometer  stand  at 
60  degrees,  at  the  close  of  the  school ;  which  is  desirable  in  cold  weather,  so  as 
not  to  subject  the  pupils  to  too  sudden  a  change  of  temperature  on  going  into 
the  open  air.  The  evaporating  pan  should  be  kept  clean,  and  filled  with  water 
when  in  use.  In  damp  rooms  it  is  not  needed, — nor  in  damp  weather : — but  it 
should  be  emptied;  and  wiped  dry,  before  it  is  set  aside. 

DUSTING   AND    SWEEPING. 

For  a  large  room,  or  one  department  of  a  Public  School  building,  six  brooms 
will  -be  foimd  sufficient  to  be  in  use.  When  half  worn,  they  will  serve  for 
sweeping  the  yard;  and  when  well  worn  down  in  that  service,  will  still  be  use- 
ful for  scrubbing,  with  water  or  sand;  and,  if  properly  used  by  the  sweepers, 
will  be  evenly  worn  to  the  last.  Before  sweeping,  pull  down  the  upper  sashes, 
and  raise  the  under  ones.  Let  the  sweepers  be  arranged,  one  to  each  passage 
between  the  desks, — and,  beginning  at  the  windward  side,  sweep  the  dirt  before 
them,  till  it  is  carried  forward  to  the  opposite  side  of  the  room.  The  broom 
should  rest  square  on  the  floor,  and,  with  the  motion  used  in  raking  hay,  should 
be  drawn  towards  the  sweeper,  without  flirting  it  outwards,  or  upwards,  which 
raises  unnecessary  dust,  and  wears  the  broom  irregularly.  The  dirt,  when 
taken  up,  should  be  carried  into  the  middle  of  the  street.  The  dusting  is  to  be 
done  in  the  same  regular  manner,  allowing  a  suitable  interval  after  sweeping. 
If  at  noon,  dusting  should  be  done  shortly  before  school  time;  if  at  night,  dust 
the  next  morning.  In  out-door  sweeping,  the  same  rule  is  to  be  followed — the 
sweepers  going  in  ranks,  and  sweeping  from  the  windward.  Let  the  scrubbing 
be  done  by  a  similar  method.  When  once  acquainted  with  these  methodical 
plans,  the  cleaners  will  do  the  work,  not  only  more  effectually,  but  with  more 
satisfaction  and  ease  to  themselves — and  being  a  part  of  domestic  economy,  it 
will  be,  so  far,  an  advantage  to  understand  how  to  do  it  well. 

Although  not  strictly  within  the  design  of  this  work,  but  as  closely  con- 
nected with  habits  of  neatness  and  order,  we  insert  from  the  Manual  quo- 
ted above,  the  following  directions  for  delivering,  holding,  and  returning 
a  book. 

The  Manual  is  soon  to  be  enlarged,  and  well  deserves  a  place  in  every 
teacher's  library,  although  it  has  special  reference  to  the  organization  and 
system  of  instruction  adopted  in  the  schools  of  the  Public  School  Society. 

*  From  a  return  recently  made  out  respecting  the  quantity  and  cost  of  fuel  used  in  the  dif- 
ferent schools  of  the  Public  School  Society,  it  appears  that  the  average  cost  of  wood  for  a  house 
like  No.  17,  (plans  and  description  of  which  maybe  seen  on  p.  100,)  having  13  stoves,  including 
cartage,  sawing,  carrying  in  and  piling,  is  $160.  The  lowest  cost  is  $141,  and  the  highest,  $200. 
In  a  Primary  house,  (like  that  described  on  page  103,)  having  four  stoves,  the  average  cost  is  $33 ; 
the  highest  being  $40,  and  the  lowest  $25.  The  difference  in  the  cost  is  mainly  to  be  attributed 
to  the  difference  in  the  care  and  oversight  of  the  fire  by  the  teacher. 

With  a  view  of  correcting  the  evil,  the  committee  having  charge  of  this  business  have  pre- 
pared a  table  which  exhibits  at  one  view  the  quantity  of  wood  furnished  to  each  school,  so  as 
to  enable  every  teacher  to  compare  himself  with  every  other  in  this  particular. 

The  cost  of  heating  a  Primary  building  of  the  same  size,  by  wood  in  a  furnace,  is  $75,  and  of 
Ward  school  building,  of  the  same  size  as  No.  17,  by  coal  in  a  furnace,  is  $260. 


394 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

Book  Manual. 

2.  3. 


The  pupil  should  stand  erect, — his  heels  near  together, — toes  turn- 
ed out, — and  his  eyes  directed  to  the  face  of  the  person  speaking  to 
him. 

Figure  one  represents  the  Book  Monitor  with  a  pile  of  books 
across  his  left  arm,  with  the  backs  from  him,  and  with  the  top  of  the 
page  to  the  right  hand. 

Figure  two  represents  the  Book  Monitor,  with  the  right  hand 
hands  the  book  to  the  Pupil,  who  receives  it  in  his  right  hand,  with 
the  back  of  the  book  to  the  left ;  and  then  passes  it  into  the  left  hand, 
where  it  is  held  with  the  back  upwards,  and  with  the  thumb  ex- 
tended at  an  angle  of  forty-five  degrees  with  the  edge  of  the  book, 
(as  in  figure  2,)  until  a  further  order  is  given. 


BOOK  MANUAL. 


395 


Figure  three — When  the  page  is  given  out,  the  book  is  turned 
by  the  thumb  on  the  side  ;  and,  while  held  with  both  hands,  is  turned 
with  the  back  downwards,  with  the  thumbs  meeting  across  the  leaves, 
at  a  point  judged  to  be  nearest  the  place  to  be  found.  On  opening 
the  book,  the  left  hand  slides  down  to  the  bottom,  and  thence  to  the 
middle,  where  the  thumb  and  little  finger  are  made  to  press  on  the 
two  opposite  pages.  If  the  Pupil  should  have  thus  lit  upon  the  page 
sought  for,  he  lets  fall  the  right  hand  by  the  side,  and  his  position  is 
that  of  Fig.  3. 

Figure  four — But,  if  he  has  opened  short  of  the  page  required, 
the  thumb  of  the  right  hand  is  to  be  placed  near  the  upper  corner  of 
the  page,  as  seen  in  Fig.  4  ;  while  the  forefinger  lifts  the  leaves  to 
bring  into  view  the  number  of  the  page.  If  he  finds  that  he  has  not 
raised  enough,  the  forefinger  and  thumb  hold  those  already  raised, 
while  the  second  finger  lifts  the  leaves,  and  brings  them  within  the 
grasp  of  the  thumb  and  finger.  When  the  page  required  is  found,  all 
the  fingers  are  to  be  passed  under  the  leaves,  and  the  whole  turned  at 
once.  Should  the  Pupil,  on  the  contrary,  have  opened  too  far,  and 
be  .obliged  to  turn  back,  he  places  the  right  thumb,  in  like  manner, 
on  the  left-hand  page,  and  the  leaves  are  lifted  as  before  described. 

Figure  five — Should  the  book  be  old,  or  so  large  as  to  be  weari- 
some to  hold,  the  right  hand  may  sustain  the  left,  as  seen  in  Fig.  5. 

Figure  six  and  seven — While  reading,  as  the  eye  rises  to  the  top 
of  the  right-hand  page,  the  right  hand  is  brought  to  the  position  seen 
in  Fig.  4  ;  and,  with  the  forefinger  under  the  leaf,  the  hand  is  slid 
down  to  the  lower  corner,  and  retained  there  during  the  reading  of 
this  page,  as  seen  in  Fig.  6.  This  also  is  the  position  in  which  the 
book  is  to  be  held  when  about  to  be  closed  ;  in  doing  which,  the  left 
hand,  being  carried  up  to  the  side,  supports  the  book  firmly  and  un- 
moved, while  the  right  hand  turns  the  part  it  supports  over  on  the  left 
thumb,  as  seen  in  Fig.  7.  The  thumb  will  then  be  drawn  out  from 
between  the  leaves,  and  placed  on  the  cover ;  when  the  right  hand 
will  fall  by  the  side,  as  seen  in  Fig.  2. 

Figure  eight — But,  if  the  reading  has  ended,  the  right  hand  re- 
tains the  book,  and  the  left  hand  falls  by  the  side,  as  seen  in  Fig.  8. 
The  book  will  now  be  in  a  position  to  be  handed  to  the  Book  Monitor; 
who  receives  it  in  his  right  hand,  and  places  it.  on  his  left  arm,  with 
the  back  towards  his  body.  The  books  are  now  in  the  most  suitable 
situation  for  being  passed  to  the  shelves  or  drawers,  where,  without 
being  crowded,  they  should  be  placed  with  uniformity  and  care. 

In  conclusion,  it  may  be  proper  to  remark,  that  however  trivial 
these  minute  directions  may  appear  to  some  minds,  it  will  be  found 
on  experience,  that  books  thus  treated,  may  be  made  to  last  double 
the  time  that  they  will  do,  under  the  usual  management  in  schools. 
Nor  is  the  attainment  of  a  correct  and  graceful  mode  of  handling  a 
book,  the  only  benefit  received  by  the  pupil.  The  use  of  this  man- 
ual is  calculated  to  beget  a  love  of  order  and  propriety,  and  disposes 
him  more  readily  to  adopt  the  habit  generally,  of  doing  things  in  a 
methodical  and  systematic  manner. 


396  school  architecture. 

Regulations  of  Chauncy-Hall  School,  Boston. 

The  following  Regulations  of  one  of  the  hest  conducted  Private  Schools 
for  Boys  in  New  England,  will  furnish  useful  hints  to  teachers  in  framing 
regulations  for  their  own  schools,  especially  in  reference  to  the  good  be- 
havior of  the  pupils,  and  to  the  care  of  the  school-room,  furniture,  &c. 

REQUISITION. 

Boys  are  required  to  be  punctual  at  school. 

To  scrape  their  feet  on  the  scraper,  and  to  wipe  them  on  every  mat  they  pass 
over  on  their  way  to  the  hall. 

To  hang  their  hats,  caps,  coats,  &c,  on  the  hooks  appropriated  to  them  re- 
spectively, by  loops  prepared  for  the  purpose. 

To  bow  gracefully  and  respectfully  on  entering  and  leaving  the  hall,  and  any 
recitation  room  when  a  teacher  is  present. 

To  take  their  places  on  entering  the  hall. 

To  make  no  unnecessary  noise  within  the  walls  of  the  building,  at  any  time 
of  night  or  day. 

To  keep  their  persons,  clothes,  and  shoes  clean. 

To  carry  and  bring  their  books  for  study,  in  a  satchel. 

To  quit  the  neighborhood  of  the  school  in  a  quiet  and  orderly  manner,  im- 
mediately after  dismissal. 

To  bring  notes  for  absence,  dated,  and  signed  by  persons  authorized  to  do  so, 
and  stating  the  duration  of  the  absence ;  also,  notes  for  tardiness,  and  for  occa- 
sions when  pupils  are  wanted  at  home  before  the  regular  hour  of  dismissal. 

To  study  lessons  at  home,  except  when  inconvenient  to  the  family — in  such 
cases  to  bring  a  certificate  of  the  fact  in  writing. 

To  present  a  pen  by  the  feather  end;  a  knife,  by  its  handle;  a  book,  the  right 
side  upward  to  be  read  by  the  person  receiving  it. 

To  bow  on  presenting  or  receiving  any  thing. 

To  stand  while  speaking  to  a  teacher. 

To  keep  all  books  clean,  and  the  contents  of  desks  neatly  arranged. 

To  deposite  in  desks  all  books  (except  writing  books,)  slates,  pencils,  rulers, 
&c,  before  dismissal. 

To  give  notice  through  the  school  Post  Office,  of  all  books,  slates,  &c, 
missing. 

To  pick  up  hats,  caps,  coats,  pens,  slips,  books,  &c,  found  on  the  floor,  and 
put  them  in  their  appropriate  places. 

To  replace  lost  keys,  books,  &c,  belonging  to  the  school,  and  make  good  all 
damage  done  by  them. 

To  write  all  requests  on  their  slates,  and  wait  until  called. 

To  close  desks  and  fasten  them  before  quitting  school  for  the  session. 

To  raise  the  hand  as  a  request  to  speak  across  the  hall  or  any  recitation 
room 

To  show  two  fingers  when  a  pen  is  wanted. 

To  put  all  refuse  paper,  stumps  of  pens,  &c,  in  the  dust  box. 

To  be  accountable  for  the  condition  of  the  floor  nearest  their  own  seats. 

To  fill  all  vacant  time  with  ciphering,  as  a  general  occupation;  and  to  give 
notice  to  the  teacher,  before  dismissal,  in  case  of  omitting  the  exercise  wholly 
on  any  day. 

To  be  particularly  vigilant,  when  no  teacher  is  in  the  hall. 

To  promote  as  far  as  possible,  the  happiness,  comfort,  and  improvement  oi 
others. 

To  follow  every  class-mate  while  reading,  and  correct  all  errors  discovered 
in  pronunciation,  emphasis,  or  inflection. 

To  point  the  fore  finger  of  the  left  hand,  at  each  letter  or  figure  of  the  slip  01 
copy,  while  writing,  and  the  feather  of  the  pen  towards  the  right  shoulder. 

To  keep  the  writing  book  square  in  front. 

To  rest  the  body  on  the  left  arm,  while  spelling,  and  keep  the  eye  directed 
towards  their  own  slates. 

To  sit  erectly  against  the  back  of  the  chairs,  during  the  singing  lessons,  an# 
to  direct  their  attention  to  the  instructor. 


REGULATIONS  OF  CHAUNCY-HALL  SCHOOL.  39,7 

Transferrers  to  show  reports  finished  as  early  in  the  week  as  3  o'clock  on 
Tuesday,  P.M. 

PROHIBITIONS. 

Boys  are  forbidden  to  buy  or  sell,  borrow  or  lend,  give,  take,  or  exchange, 
any  thing,  except  fruit  or  other  eatables,  without  the  teacher's  permission. 

To  read  any  book  in  school  except  such  as  contain  the  reading  lesson  of  his 
class. 

To  have  in  his  possession  at  school  any  book  without  the  teacher's  knowledge. 

To  throw  pens,  paper,  or  any  thing  whatever  on  the  floor,  or  out  at  a  window 
or  door. 

To  go  out  to  play  with  his  class  when  he  has  had  a  deviation. 

To  spit  on  the  floor. 

To  climb  on  any  fence,  railing,  ladder,  &c,  about  the  school-house. 

To  scrawl  on,  blot,  or  mark  slips. 

To  mark,  cut,  scratch,  chalk,  or  otherwise  disfigure,  injure,  or  defile,  any  por- 
tion of  the  building  or  any  thing  connected  with  it. 

To  take  out  an  inkstand,  meddle  with  the  contents  of  another's^  desk,  or  un- 
necessarily open  or  shut  his  own. 

To  write  without  using  a  card  and  wiper. 

To  quit  school  without  having  finished  his  copy. 

To  use  a  knife,  except  on  the  conditions  prescribed. 

To  remove  class  lists  from  their  depositories. 

To  meddle  with  ink  unnecessarily. 

To  study  home  lessons  in  school  hours. 

To  leave  the  hall  at  any  time  without  leave. 

To  pass  noisily,  or  upon  the  run,  from  one  room  to  another,  or  through  the 
entries. 

To  visit  the  office,  furnace  room,  or  any  closet  or  teacher's  room,  except  in 
class,  without  a  written  permit. 

To  play  at  paw  paw  any  where,  or  any  game  within  the  building. 

To  play  in  the  play-ground  before  school. 

To  leave  whittlings  or  other  rubbish  in  the  play-ground,  on  the  side-walk,  or 
around  the  building. 

To  go  out  of  the  play-ground  in  school  hours. 

To  carry  out  his  pen  on  his  ear. 

To  use  any  profane  or  indelicate  language. 

To  nick-name  any  person. 

To  press  his  knees,  in  sitting,  against  a  form. 

To  leave  his  seat  for  any  purpose,  but  to  receive  class  instruction. 

To  go  home,  when  deficient,  without  having  answered  to  his  name. 

To  indulge  in  eating  or  drinking  in  school. 

To  go  out  in  class,  after  having  been  out  singly ;  or  going  out  singly,  to  linger 
below  to  play. 

To  waste  school  hours  by  unnecessary  talking,  laughing,  playing,  idling, 
standing  up,  turning  round,  teazing,  or  otherwise  calling  off  the  attention  of 
another  boy. 

To  throw  stones,  snow-balls,  or  other  missiles  about  the  neighborhood  of  the 
school. 

To  bring  bats,  hockey  sticks,  bows  and  arrows,  or  other  dangerous  play-things 
to  school. 

To  visit  a  privy  in  company  with  any  one. 

To  strike,  kick,  push,  or  otherwise  annoy  his  associates  or  others. 

In  fine,  to  do  any  thing  that  the  law  of  love  forbids — that  law  which  requires 
us  To  do  to  others  as  we  would  think  it  right  that  they  should  do  to  us. 

These  regulations  are  not  stated  according  to  their  relative  importance,  but 
as  they  have  been  adopted  or  called  to  mind.  They  are  intended  to  meet  gen- 
eral circumstances,  but  may  be  waived  in  cases  of  necessity,  by  special  permis- 
sion, obtained  in  the  prescribed  mode. 

In  a  Lecture,  on  Courtesy,  delivered  before  the  American  Institute  of 
Instruction  at  Boston,  in  August,  1840,  Mr.  Thayer,  the  Principal  of  the 
Chauncy  Hall  School,  introduced  the  above  regulat:ons  as  the  topics  of 


393  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

his  discourse.  We  extract  portions  of  this  admirable  lecture,  which  may 
be  found  entire  in  the  annual  volume  of  the  American  Institute,  published 
in  1842,  and  in  the  Massachusetts  Common  School  Journal,  Vol.  II,  for 
1840. 

Scraping  the  feel  at  Hie  door,  and  wiping  them  on  the  mats.  This  should  be  insisted 
on  as  one  of  the  most  obvious  items  in  the  code  of  cleanliness.  It  is  not  only 
indispensable  to  the  decent  appearance  of  a  school  room,  but,  if  neglected,  a 
large  quantity  of  soil  is  carried  in  on  the  feet,  which,  in  the  course  of  the  day, 
is  ground  to  powder,  and  a  liberal  portion  inhaled  at  the  nostrils,  and  otherwise 
deposited  in  the  system,  to  its  serious  detriment.  Besides,  if  the  habit  of  neg- 
lecting this  at  school  is  indulged,  it  is  practiced  elsewhere ;  and  the  child,  en- 
tering whatever  place  he  may,  shop,  store,  kitchen,  or  drawing  room,  carries 
along  with  him  his  usual  complement  of  mud  and  dirt ;  and  the  unscraped  and 
unwiped  feet  are  welcome  nowheie,  among  persons  a  single  grade  above  the 
quadruped  race. 

I  may  be  told,  it  is  a  matter  little  attended  to  by  many  adult  persons  of  both 
sexes.     To  which  I  would  reply,  in  the  language  of  Polonius, 

"  'T  is  true — 't  is  pity ; 

And  pity  't  is — 't  is  true." 

But  this,  instead  of  being  an  argument  in  favor  of  the  non-observance  of  the 
wholesome  rule  in  our  schools,  only  points  more  emphatically  to  the  duty  of 
teachers  in  relation  to  it;  for  when,  unless  during  the  school-days,  are  such 
habits  to  be  corrected,  and  better  ones  established! 

I  am  fully  aware  of  the  difficulty  of  carrying  rules  like  this  into  execution, 
even  among  children  of  double  the  age  of  those  that  form  the  schools  of  some 
who  hear  me;  and  do  not  forget  how  much  this  difficulty  is  increased  by  the 
tender  age,  and  consequently  greater  thoughtlessness,  of  most  of  the  pupils  of  the 
schools  usually  taught  by  females;  but  still,  much  may  be  done  by  proclaiming 
the  rule,  and  placing  at  the  school  entrance  one  of  the  elder  scholars,  to  remind 
the  others  of  it,  and  see  that  it  is  observed,  until  the  cleanly  habit  be  established. 

In  the  school  above  alluded  to,  the  rule  has  grown  into  so  general  observance, 
that  the  discovery  of  mud  on  the  stairs  or  entry  leads  immediately  to  the  inquiry, 
whether  any  stranger  has  been  in.  For,  though  few  carry  the  habit  with  them, 
all  are  so  trained  by  daily  drilling,  that  it  soon  becomes  as  difficult  to  neglect  it, 
as  it  was  at  first  to  regard  it. 

Hanging  up  on  the  hooks,  caps,  outer  garments,  cf-c,  by  loops.  It  is  not  every 
school  that  is  provided  with  hooks  or  pegs  for  children's  caps,  garments,  &c. 
All,  however,  should  be  so  provided  with  as  much  certainty  as  seats  are  fur- 
nished to  sit  upon.  It  not  only  encourages  the  parents  to  send  the  children  in 
comfortable  trim,  but  induces  the  children  to  take  better  care  of  their  things, 
especially  if  a  particular  hook  or  peg  be  assigned  to  each  individual  pupil.  It 
is  one  step  in  the  system  of  order,  so  essential  to  the  well-being  of  those  des- 
tined to  live  among  fellow-men.  If  dependent  on  the  attention  of  mothers  at 
home,  I  am  aware  that  many  children  would  often  be  destitute  of  the  loops 
spoken  of;  but  the  children  themselves  could  supply  these,  under  the  teacher's 
supervision ;  for  I  understand  the  use  of  the  needle  is  taught,  in  many  schools, 
to  the  younger  pupils  of  both  sexes,  and  has  been  found  a  very  satisfactory 
mode  of  filling  up  time,  which,  among  the  junior  classes,  would  otherwise  be 
devoted  to  idleness. 

The  next  in  order  is,  on  keeping  clean  the  person,  clothes,  and  shoes.  This, 
I  am  aware,  must  cost  the  teacher  a  great  deal  of  labor  to  enforce;  for  if  sent 
from  home  in  a  clean  condition,  the  chances  are  more  than  two  to  one,  that,  on 
reaching  school,  a  new  ablution  will  be  necessary.  And  in  how  many  families 
this  business  of  ablution  is  rarely  attended  to  at  all,  with  any  fidelity  ;  and  as 
to  clean  clothes  and  shoes,  if  insisted  on,  the  answer  might  he  in  some  such 
pleasant  and  laconic  language  as  this :  "  He  ought  to  be  thankful  that  he  can 
get  any  clothes,  without  all  this  fuss,  as  if  he  were  dressing  for  a  wedding  or  a 
coronation !"  Still,  the  rule  is  a  good  one,  and  should  be  enforced,  as  far  as  prac- 
ticable. Water  can  at  least  be  had;  and  if  a  child  seems  a  stranger  to  its  ap- 
plication, ofte  or  two  of  the  elder  scholars  should  be  sent  out,  as  is  the  practice 
in  some  European  schools,  to  introduce  it  to  him,  and  aid  him  in  using  it.  And 
if  you  can  arouse  him  to  feel  some  pride  in  keeping  his  dress  and  person  clean, 


REGULATIONS  OF  CHAUNCY  HALL  SCHOOL. 


399 


and  his  shoes  well  polished,  or  at  least,  in  keeping  them  free  of  mud,  jou  teach 
him  a  lesson  of  self-respect,  lhat  may  prove  his  temporal  salvation,  and  bring 
him  to  be,  when  out  of  school,  instead  of  the  squalid  vagrant,  a  companion  of 
pilferers  and  refugees  from  justice,  the  incipient  worthy  member  of  society,  and 
perhaps  a  benefactor  of  his  race.  It  is  amazing  to  reflect  how  very  slight  a 
circumstance  in  the  life  of  a  human  being,  in  the  early  stages,  sometimes  casts 
him  on  that  tide,  which  leads  to  glory  or  to  infamy ! 

Some  one  of  note  has  said,  that  *'  he  considers  cleanliness  as  next  to  godli- 
ness ;"  and  I  have  been  accustomed  to  look  upon  one,  thoroughly  clean  in  the 
outward  man,  as  rfecessarily  possessing  a  clean  heart,  a  pure  spirit.  Whether 
it  may  be  adopted  as  a  rule  of  judgment  or  not,  need  not  now  be  decided.  The 
claims  of  cleanliness  are,  without  considering  the  deduction  as  infallible,  too 
commanding  to  be  resisted,  and  should  ever  be  maintained. 

The  fourth  relates  to  quitting  the  neighborhood  of  the  school,  on  being  dis- 
missed. This  is  desirable  for  the  safety  of  the  children  ;  it  removes  them  to 
some  extent,  from  temptation,  and  aids  in  the  fulfillment  of  the  reasonable  ex- 
pectations of  parents,  that  their  children  will  be  at  home  at  the  appointed  hour. 
It  is  a  practical  lesson  in  punctuality,  which,  as  the  young  come  into  life,  will 
be  found  of  great  service  to  them.  It  may  be  ranked  with  behavior,  and  con- 
sidered as  among  those  things  which  constitute  the  character  of  a  good  child." 
It  is  especially  due  to  the  families  residing  in  the  vicinity  of  the  school.  Do 
what  you  may  to  prevent  annoyance,  it  is  scarcely  possible  for  a  large  school 
to  be  an  agreeable  neighbor  to  families  within  its  hearing.  They  are  subject 
to  its  petty  disturbances,  in  all  states  of  health  and  sickness,  in  trouble  and  in. 
joy;  and  are  surely  entitled  to  the  relief  afforded  by  dismissal  and  sending  the 
children  to  their  homes.  Shouting,  screaming,  and  yelling,  should  be  prohibited, 
and  the  children  directed  to  go  away  in. a  quiet  and  orderly  manner.  Surely, 
every  principle  of  courtesy,  of  kindness,  and  good  neighborhood,  demands  it, 
and  should  not  demand  in  vain.  Who  has  not  waited  with  the  operations  of 
some  of  the  senses  suspended,  for  the  periodical  abatement  of  an  intolerable 
nuisance,  and  felt,  in  due  time,  all  the  joy  of  the  anticipated  relief"? 

"  Every  boy  to  be  accountable  for  the  condition  of  the  floor  nearest  his  seat ;" 
that  is.  he  is  not  to  allow  any  thing,  whether  valuable  or  not,  to  lie  on  the  floor, 
and,  consequently,  every  thing  contemplated  in  the  preceding  rule,  as  far  as  any 
individual's  vicinity  is  concerned,  is  taken  care  of.  and  all  worthless  articles 
likewise  removed.  This  making  committee-men  of  all  the  pupils  must  have  a 
very  good  effect  on  the  condition  of  the  school  room,  and  promote  that  neatness 
and  order,  which  are  above  recommended. 

The  next  rule  requires  the  pupils  to  be  particularly  quiet  and  diligent,  when 
the  teacher  is  called  out  of  the  room.  This  I  regard  as  of  very  great  conse- 
quence ;  for  it  involves  a  sentiment  of  magnanimity,  which  it  should  be  the  aim 
of  all  guardians  of  the  young  to  implant,  to  develop,  and  to  cherish.  Children 
often  infringe  school  regulations,  and  much  is  to  be  overlooked  in  them,  espe- 
cially when  at  a  very  tender  age.  Their  little  minds  are  scarcely  able  to  en- 
tertain, for  a  long  time  together,  the  influence  of  many  rules,  except  under  the 
excitement  of  great  hope  or  fear;  and  when  the  teacher  is  present,  they  often 
unconsciously  offend,  and  should  be  judged  with  clemency;  but  when  left  as 
their  own  keepers,  they  should  be  early  made  to  understand  how  discourteous, 
how  dishonorable,  how  base,  it  is  to  transgress  the  laws  of  the  school.  Each 
should  vie  with  each  in  good  example,  and  thus  convince  the  instructor,  that 
confidence  reposed  in  them  can  never  be  abused. 

The  last  item,  under  the  head  of  Requisitions,  is  this :  "  To  promote,  as  far  as 
possible,  the  happiness,  comfort,  and  improvement,  of  others."  If  to  the  few 
exclusively  moral  and  religious  obligations,  those  of  courtesy  be  added,  this  re- 
quisition cannot  fail  of  being  observed.  I  say,  exclusively  or  strictly  moral,  be- 
cause the  notion  of  courtesy  hardly  enters  the  mind,  when  we  speak  of  moral 
conduct;  and  yet,  in  nearly  all  the  minor  points,  and  in  most  which  affect  the 
happiness  of  others,  in  our  ordinary  intercourse  with  them,  apart  from  the  trans- 
actions of  business,  it  is  courtesy  that  influences  us  most.  It  maybe  denomina- 
ted the  benevolence  of  behavior.  Aware  I  am  that  a  hypocrite  may  be  courteous : 
and  hypocrisy  in  a  child  is  inexpressibly  loathsome.  But  hypocrisy  is  not  a 
necessary  attendant  on  courtesy.  One  may  be  as  courteous  as  Lafayette,  and 
yet  as  pure  and  upright  as  Washington.     If,  then,  school-boys  are  kind-hearted 


400  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

and  friendly  to  their  mates,  and  evince  it  towards  them  in  theii  manners,  they 
will,  by  their  example  as  well  as  by  their  words,  fulfill  the  injunction  of  the  rule. 

The  "  Prohibitions"  are  in  the  same  spirit  as  the  requisitions,  and  seem  to  be 
much  the  same  in  substance,  although  thrown  into  a  negative  form  of  speech. 
The  first  is  in  these  words :  "  No  boy  to  throw  pens,  paper,  or  any  thing  what- 
ever, on  the  floor,  or  out  at  a  window  or  door."  This  refers  to  a  voluntary  act 
of  the  pupil, — the  rule  requiring  boys  to  pick  up  whatever  is  found  on  the  floor 
to  those  accidental  scatterings,  for  which  one  would  not  be  culpable.  The  pro- 
hibition is  founded  on  that  necessity  for  order  and  neatness,  which  must  ever  be 
maintained  in  a  well-conducted  institution,  to  whatever  object,  worthy  of  atten- 
tion, it  may  be  devoted.  And  this  is  urged  thus  repeatedly,  because  of  the  in- 
effable importance  of first  s'eps.  Begin  right,  should  be  the  motto  and  rallying 
word  of  every  nursery  and  every  school. 

Spitting  on  the  floor.  This  topic  I  would  willingly  avoid,  but  fidelity  to  my 
charge  forbids  it.  The  practice,  disgusting  as  it  is,  is  too  prevalent  in  many  ot 
the  families  that  furnish  pupils,  for  your  schools,  to  be  overlooked,  or  winked 
out  of  sight ;  and  if  the  children  could  carry  home  new  notions  in  regard  to  it, 
I  am  sure  you  would  have  furnished  a  good  lesson  to  their  parents. 

The  habits  of  large  portions  of  society  demand  a  reform.  It  is  futile  to  ex- 
pect any  general  amendment  in  those  who  have  grown  old  in  given  practices ; 
but  with  the  children,  those  whose  habits  are,  to  a  great  extent,  yet  unformed; 
much  may  be  done.  And  although  the  counteracting  influences  of  home  mili- 
tate against  your  wholesome  requisitions,  happy  is  it  for  us,  that  a  goodly  por- 
tion of  New  England  respect  for  teachers  still  remains,  to  give  authority  and 
weight  to  your  well-founded  and  reasonable  rules.  In  many,  if  not  in  most, 
families,  of  our  own  countrymen,  the  fact  that  the  '  school-ma'am'  said  so,  is 
sufficient  to  make  the  rule  promulgated  binding  on  the  parents;  the  mother,  es- 
pecially, will  exert  her  authority  and  influence  on  the  teacher's  side  ;  and  if  the 
teacher  possesses  the  qualities  of  judgment,  discretion,  a  proper  consideration 
for  the  circumstances  of  the  families  to  which  her  children  belong,  to  guide  her 
in  the  adoption  of  her  regulations,  she  will  be  able  to  exert  a  power  for  good, 
within  the  sphere  of  her  daily  duties,  which  will  continue  to  be  felt  and  acknow- 
ledged, long  after  she  shall  have  rendered  her  final  account. 

Marking,  cutting,  scratching,  chalking,  on  the  school-house,  fence,  walls,  <^c,  are 
forbidden,  as  connected  with  much  that  is  low,  corrupting,"  and  injurious  to  the 
property  and  rights  of  others.  They  are  the  beginnings  in  that  course  of  de- 
basing follies  and  vices,  for  which  the  idle,  the  ignorant,  and  profane,  are  most 
remarkable ;  the  first  steps  in  that  course  of  degradation  and  impurity,  by  which 
the  community  is  disgraced,  and  the  streams  of  social  intercourse  polluted. 
You  mark  the  track  of  its  subjects  as  you  would  the  trail  of  a  savage  maraud- 
ing party,  by  its  foul  deeds  and  revolting  exploits ;  as  you  would  the  path  of  the 
boa  constrictor,  in  its  filthy  slime,  which  tells  that  man's  deadly  enemy  is  abroad. 
And  we  are  called  on,  by  every  consideration  of  duty,  to  ourselves,  to  our  off- 
spring, and  to  our  race,  to  arm  against  this  tremendous  evil,  this  spiritual  bohon 
upas,  which  threatens  so  wide-spread  a  moral  death. 

We  cannot  escape  the  evidences  of  this,  which  assail  us  on  every  hand,  some- 
times on  the  very  walls  of  our  school-houses  and  churches ;  but  especially  in 
places  removed  from  public  view,  where  the  most  schocking  obscenity  of  lan- 
guage is  displayed,  to  poison  the  youthful  mind,  illustrated  by  emblems,  which, 
in  the  words  of  one  who  deeply  mourns  with  us  over  the  existence  of  this  mon- 
strous evil,  this  desolating  curse,  "would  make  a  heathen  blush!"  These  fright- 
ful assaults  on  decency  demand  reform.  The  deep,  low  murmur  of  insulted 
humanity  will,  I  doubt  not,  unless  this  evil  be  checked,  ascend  to  the  tribunal 
of  Eternal  Purity,  and  invoke  the  malediction  of  our  Judge,  which  may  yet  be 
displayed  in  the  blasting  of  our  fair  land,  like  another  Sodom !  To  avert  so 
deplorable  a  catastrophe,  let  the  thousands  of  the  good  and  virtuous  in  youi 
midst,  formed  into  one  indomitable  phalanx,  take  the  noble  stand  which  belongs 
to  them,  and  never  abandon  it,  till  the  enemy  be  forever  vanquished ;  forevei 
banished  from  the  now  polluted,  but  ever  to  be  cherished,  land  of  the  Pilgrims ! 

By  these  practices,  the  mind  acquires  such  a  hankering  after,  and  morbid 
relish  for  mischief,  that  no  tree,  or  shrubbery,  or  flowers,  or  public  embellish- 
ments, or  exhibitions  of  art  or  taste,  however  beautiful  or  expensive,  are  sacred 
from  the  marring  or  destructive  touch.  A  sensibility  to  the  beautiful  needs  to 
oe  cultivated  among  us ;  and  mav  easily  be  done  with  the  young,  if  a  propei 


REGULATIONS  OF  CHAUNCY-HALL  SCHOOL.  401 

and  sincere  value  be  placed  upon  it  by  ourselves,  and  the  children  see  that  our 
admiration  is  a  reality.  It  exists  much  more  generally  in  continental  Europe, 
than  in  our  own  country.  There,  the  decorations  of  public  walks,  parks,  and 
gardens ;  the  galleries  of  the  arts,  and  the  magnificent  structures  which  adorn 
their  cities,  are  looked  at,  enjoyed,  admired,  by  all  classes;  and  rarely,  indeed, 
is  the  Vandal  hand  of  mischief  or  destruction  found  to  desecrate  these  monu- 
ments of  a  nation's  refinement.  But  how  is  it  with  us  1  No  sooner  has  the 
artist  given  the  last  touch  to  the  fluted  column,  than  some  barbarian  urchin 
chips  off  a  wedge  of  it,  in  wanton  sport.  How  often  is  our  indignation  excited 
by  the  painter's  boy,  who,  as  he  passes  the  newly-erected  dwelling  or  recently- 
painted  wall,  daubs  it  with  his  black  paint-brush,  for  yards  in  length,  as  he 
saunters  heedlessly  along.  And  what  more  common,  in  almost  all  public  build- 
ings, in  cupolas,  observatories,  &c,  especially,  for  persons,  apprehensive  of  be- 
ing forgotten  by  posterity,  than  to  cut  out  their  names  or  their  initials,  as  if  this 
were  their  only  road  to  immortality  ! 

The  use  of  knives  is  the  thing  next  prohibited.  In  mere  primary  schools,  this 
rule,  and  the  one  last  mentioned,  would  find,  perhaps,  little  to  do.  Some,  how- 
ever, there  are,  I  doubt  not,  even  in  such  schools,  who  suffer  from  the  too  free 
use  of  knives,  as  their  forms,  desks,  or  benches,  could  testify.  Nothing  is  more 
fascinating  to  a  boy  than  a  knife.  And  what  pleasure  can  there  be  in  possess- 
ing a  knife,  if  one  may  not  use  if?  Hence  the  trouble  occasioned  by  the  instru- 
ment. He  early  learns  in  imitation  of  his  ciders  if  not  his  betters,  that  wood  was 
made  to  be  cut.  and  that  the  mission  of  a  knife  is.  to  do  the  work. 
'  This  topic  can  hardly  be  thought  out  of  place,  b}'-  those  who  will  look  into 
the  recitation-rooms  of  almost  any  of  our  colleges,  where  many  a  dunce,  un- 
worthy of  any  degree,  soon,  by  his  dexterity  in  this  department,  lays  claim  to 
that  of  master  of  the  art, — of  hacking ;  "  and  has  his  claim  allowed." 

I  have  already  adverted  to  the  whittling  propensities  of  our  people  ;  but,  with 
your  permission,  I  will  add  a  remark  or  two,  with  a  view  to  placing  this  naiion- 
al  peculiarity  in  a  stronger  light.  So  proverbial  have  we  become,  among  for- 
eigners, in  this  respect,  that,  if  a  Yankee  is  to  be  represented  on  the  stage,  you 
find  him  with  a  jackknife  in  one  hand,  and  in  the  other  a  huge  bit  of  pine  tim- 
ber, becoming  every  moment  smaller,  byr  his  diligent  handiwork.  If  he  is  talk- 
ing, arguing,  or,  more  appropriately,  if  he  is  driving  a  bargain,  you  find  him 
plying  this,  his  wonted  trade,  with  all  the  energy  and  dexterity  of  a  beaver; 
and,  as  it  was  once  said  of  an  English  advocate,  that  he  could  never  plead, 
without  a  piece  of  packthread  in  his  hands,  so  the  Yankee  would  lose  half  his 
thrift,  unless  the  knife  and  wood  were  concomitants  of  his  chaffering.  But  the 
habit  is  of  evil  tendency,  and  ought  to  be  checked.  He  indulges  in  it  without 
discrimination,  upon  whatever  is  cut-able ;  and,  worse  than  the  white  ant,  which 
saws  down  and  carries  away  whole  human  habitations,  when  they  have  become 
deserted,  the  whittling  Yankee  would  hack  your  dwelling  in  present  occupation, 
until  he  rendered  you  houseless.  Let  the  mischief  be  checked  betimes ;  do  it 
at  school ;  showing,  at  the  same  time,  the  uselessness,  the  folly,  and  the  annoy- 
ing nature,  of  the  habit.  It  is  not  merely  at  home,  among  our  own  people,  that 
it  is  practiced  by  us  ;  but  we  carry  it  with  us  wherever  we  go,  and,  even  among 
strangers,  establish  our  New  England  identity  by  it. 

The  spirit  of  the  school  rules  at  which  we  have  glanced,  should  be  carried 
into  every  family.  It  is  not  enough  to  present  the  summary  at  which  we  have 
arrived ;  we  should  also  insist  on  minor  particulars,  by  words  and  actions,  not 
at  school  only,  but  at  home,  where  great  familiarity  produces  influences  unfa- 
vorable to  the  exercise  of  courtesy, — such  as  the  closingof  all  doors,  especially 
in  cold  weather;  the  doing  of  it  gently,  without  slamming ;  moving  quietly  over 
the  floor ;  abstaining  from  shouting,  whistling,  boisterous  plays,  wearing  the 
hat  in  the  house,  &c.  Just  in  proportion  as  such  habits  ean  be  secured  by  your 
labors,  will  you  bring  down  upon  your  heads  the  blessing  of  mothers,  worn  by 
care,  by  sickness,  and  the  rudeness  of  their  offspring.  Powerless  themselves, 
to  produce  a  reformation,  their  gratitude  to  you  .will  be  sincere  and  heartfelt. 

Children  should  be  taught  to  take  leave  of  their  parents  and  friends,  on  going 
to  school,  and  to  offer  the  friendly  salute  and  kind  inquiry,  on  returning  home. 
Nothing  tends  more  to  strengthen  the  silken  cords  of  family  affection,  than 
these  little  acts  of  courtesy;  and  their  influence  on  the  observer  is  highly  fa- 
vorable to  benevolent  feeling.  If  these  points  are  attended  tcr  in  our  families, 
they  will  not  fail  of  being  carried  into  company,  where  they  are  always  a  coin 
of  sterling  value.  26 


402  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


Dedicatory  Exercises. 


The  opening  of  a  new  school-house  is  an  occasion  which  well  deserves 
a  public  and  joyful  commemoration.  Out  of  it  are  to  be  the  issues-  of  life 
to  the  community  in  the  midst  of  which  it  stands,  and  like  the  river  seen 
in  the  vision  of  the  prophet,  which  nourished  all  along  its  banks  trees 
whose  leaves  were  for  the  healing  of  the  nations,  the  well-spring  of  all  its 
influences  should  be  a  spot  consecrated  by  religion.  In  prayer,  and  in 
praise  to  the  Giver  of  all  good,  and  the  Author  of  all  being, — in  song,  and 
hymn  and  anthem,  and  in  addresses,  from  those  whose  position  in  society 
will  command  the  highest  respect  for  any  object  in  whose  behalf  they 
may  speak,  and  in  the  presence  of  all  classes  of  the  community,  of  pupils, 
and  teachers,  of  fathers  and  mothers,  of  the  old  and  young, — the  school- 
house  should  be  set  apart  to  the  sacred  purpose  of  the  physical,  intellec- 
tual and  moral  culture  of  the  children  who  will  be  gathered  within  its 
walls.  We  rejoice  to  see  that  these  occasions  are  thus  improved,  ancLthat 
so  many  of  our  most  distinguished  teachers,  scholars  and  statesmen  take 
part  in  the  exercises.  We  have  before  us  a  large  number'of  addresses,  at 
once  eloquent  and  practical,  which  have  been  delivered  at  the  opening  of 
new  school-houses,  and  we  shall  select  a  few,  not  for  their  superiority  to  the 
rest,  but  as  specimens  of  the  manner  in  which  topics  appropriate  to  the 
occasion  are  introduced,  and  as  fitting  testimony  to  the  importance  of 
School  Architecture. 

School  Celebration  at  Salem,  Mass. 

On  the  first  of  March,  1842,  the  occasion  of  occupying  several  new 
school-houses,  was  marked  by  a  variety  of  interesting  exercises,  an  ac- 
count of  which  will  be  found  in  the  Common  School  Journal  for  that  year. 
We  copy  the  addresses  of  Mr.  George  B.  Emerson,  and  of  G.  F.  Thayer. 

Mr.  Emerson  said, — 

"I  congratulate  you,  my  young  friends,  on  this  happy  event.  This 
pleasant  day  is  like  a  smile  of  Heaven  upon  this  occasion ;  and  I  believe 
Heaven  always  smiles  on  events  like  this.  Many  of  us  whom  you  see 
here  have  come  from  a  distance,  on  the  invitation  of  your  excellent  friend 
the  Mayor,  to  show  the  interest  which  we  feel  in  you.  and  in  what  has  been 
done  here  for  your  improvement.  We  have  taken  great  pleasure  in  look- 
ing over  the  buildings  prepared  for  your  use,  the  admirable  arrangements 
and  apparatus,  so  much  superior  to  what  is  usually  enjoyed  by  children 
in  your  position.  We  have  been  pleased  to  hear  of  the  faithful  teachers 
that  are  provided  for  you,  and  the  excellent  plan  of  your  studies,  and  the 
excellent  regulations. 

Your  fathers  and  friends  have  spared  no  pains  to  furnish  you  with  all 
the  best  means  and  opportunities  for  learning.  They  now  look  to  you  to 
do  your  part.  All  that  they  have  done  will  be  of  no  avail,  unless  you 
are  excited  to  exert  yourselves, — to  prove  yourselves  worthy  of  these 
great  advantages. 

I  was  gratified,  in  looking  over  the  regulations,  to  see  the  course  marked 
out  for  you, — to*see  the  stress  laid  upon  the  great  substantials  of  a  good 
education,— to  see  the  prominent  place  given  to  that  most  useful  art,  that 


DEDICATORY  EXERCISES  AT  SALEM.  4Q3 

most  graceful  accomplishment,  reading.  You  cannot,  my  young  friends, 
realize  the  great  and  manifold  advantages  of  gaining,  now,  in  the  begin- 
ning of  your  life,  familiarly  and  perfectly,  the  single  power  of  reading 
distinctly,  naturally,  intelligently,  with  taste  and  interest, — and  of  acquir- 
ing a  Love  for  reading.  There  is  no  situation  in  life,  in  which  it  will  not 
prove  to  you  a  source  of  the  purest  pleasure  and  highest  improvement. 

For  many  years,  and  many  times  in  a  year,  I  have  passed  by  the  shop 
of  a  diligent,  industrious  mechanic,  whom  I  have  often  seen  busy  at  his 
trade,  with  his  arms  bare,  hard  at  work.     His  industry  and  steadiness 
have  been  successful,  and  he  has  gained  a  competency.     But  he  still  re- 
mains wisely  devoted  to  his  trade.     During  the  day,  you  may  see  him  at 
his  work,  or  chatting  with  his  neighbors.     At  night,  he  sits  down  in  his 
parlor,  by  his  quiet  fireside,  and  enjoys  the  company  of  his  friends.     And 
he  has  the  most  extraordinary  collection  of  friends  that  any  man  in  New 
England  can  boast  of     William  H.  Prescott  goes  out  from  Boston,  and 
talks  with  him  about  Ferdinand  and  Isabella.     Washington  Irving  comes 
from  New  York,  and  tells  him  the  story  of  the  wars  of  Grenada,  and  the 
adventurous  voyage  of  Columbus,  or  the  Legend  of  Sleepy  Hollow,  or 
the  tale  of  the  Broken  Heart.     George  Bancroft  sits  down  with  him,  and 
points  out  on  a  map,  the  colonies  and  settlements  of  America,  their  cir- 
cumstances and  fates,  and  gives  him  the  early  history  of  liberty.     Jared 
Sparks  comes  down  from  Cambridge,  and  reads  to  him  the  letters  of 
Washington',  and  makes  his  heart  glow  with  the  heroic  deeds  of  that  god- 
like man  for  the  cause  of  his  country.     Or,  if  he  is  in  the  mood  for  poetry, ' 
his  neighbor  Washington  Allston,  the  great  painter,  steps  in  and  tells 
him  a  story, — and  nobody  tells  a  story  so  well, — or  repeats  to  him  lines  of 
poetry.     Bryant  comes,  with  his   sweet  wood-notes,   which  he  learnt 
among  the  green  hills  of  Berkshire.     And  Richard  H.  Dana,  father  and 
.son,  come,  the  one  to  repeat  grave,  heart-stirring  poetry,  the  other  to 
speak  of  his  froo  years  before  the  mast.     Or.  if  this  mechanic  is  in  a  spec- 
ulative mood.  Professor  Hitchcock  comes  to  talk  to  him  of  all  the  changes 
that  have  befallen  the  soil  of  Massachusetts,  since  the  flood  and  before ; 
or  Professor  Espy  tries  to  show  him  how  to  predict  a  storm.     Nor  is  his 
acquaintance  confined  to  his  own  country.     In  his  graver  hours,  he  sends 
for  Sir  John  Herschel  from  across  the  ocean,  and  he  comes  and  sits  down 
and  discourses  eloquently  upon  the  wonders  of  the  vast  creation, — of  all 
the  worlds  that  are  poured  upon  our  sight  by  the  glory  of  a  starry  night. 
Nor  is  it  across  the  stormy  ocean  of  blue  waves  alone  that  his  friends 
come  to  visit  him  ;  but  across  the  darker  and  wider  ocean  of  time,  come  the 
wise  and  the  good,  the  eloquent  and  the  witty,  and  sit  down  by  his  table, 
and  discourse  with  him  as  long  as  he  wishes  to  listen.     That-eloquent 
blind  old  man  of  Scio,  with  beard  descending  to  his  girdle,  still  blind,  but 
still  eloquent,  sits  down  with  him ;  and,  as  he  sang  almost  three  thousand 
years  ago  among  the  Grecian  isles,  sings  the  war  of  Troy  or  the  wan- 
derings of  the  sage  Ulysses.     The  poet  of  the  human  heart  comes  from 
the  banks  of  Avon,  and  the  poet  of  Paradise  from  his  small  garden-house 
in  Westminster  ;  Burns  from  his  cottage  on  the  Ayr,  and  Scott  from  his 
dwelling  by  the  Tweed ; — and,  any  time  these  three  years  past,  may 
have  been  seen  by  his  fireside  a  man  who  ought  to  be  a  hero  with  school- 
boys, for  no  one  ever  so  felt  for  them ;  a  man  whom  so  many  of  your 
neighbors  in  Boston  lately  strove  in  vain  to  see, — Charles  Dickens.     In 
the  midst  of  such  friends,  our  friend  the  leather-dresser  lives  a  happy  and 
respected  life,  not  less  respected,  and  far  more  happy,  than  if  an  uneasy 
ambition  had  made  him  a  representative  in  Congress,  or  a  governor  of  a 
State ;  and  the  more  respected  and  happy  that  he  disdains  not  to  labor 
daily  in  his  honorable  calling. 

My  young  friends,  this  is  no  fancy  sketch.     Many  who  hear  me  know 
as  well  as  I  do,  Thomas  Dowse,  the  leather-dresser  of  Cambridgeport, 


£04  DEDICATORY  EXERCISES  AT  SALEM. 

and  many  have  seen  his  choice  and  beautiful  library.  But  I  suppose 
there  is  no  one  here  who  knows  a  neighbor  of  his,  who  had  in  his  early 
years  the  same  advantages,  but  who  did  not  improve  them ; — who  never 
gained  this  love  of  reading,  and  who  now,  in  consequence,  instead  of  liv- 
ing this  happy  and  desirable  life,  wastes  his  evenings  in  low  company  at 
taverns,  or  dozes  them  away  by  his  own  fire.  Which  of  these  lives  will 
you  choose  to  lead  1     They  are  both  before  you. 

Some  of  you,  perhaps,  are  looking  forward  to  the  life  of  a  farmer. — a 
very  happy  life,  if  it  be  well  spent.  On  the  southern  side  of  a  gently 
sloping  hill  in  Natick,  not  far  from  the  place  where  may  be  still  standing 
the  last  wigwam  of  the  tribe  of  Indians  of  that  name,  in  a  comfortable 
farm-house,  lives  a  man  whom  I  sometimes  go  to  see.  I  find  him  with 
his  farmer's  frock  on,  sometimes  at  the  plough-tail,  sometimes  handling 
the  hoe  or  the  axe ;  and  I  never  shake  his  hand,  hardened  by  honorable 
toil,  without  wishing  that  I  could  harden  my  own  poor  hands  by  his  sidf 
in  the  same  respectable  employment.  I  go  out  to  look  with  him  at  trees 
and  to  talk  about  them ;  for  he  is  a  lover  of  trees,  and  so  am  I ;  and  he  is> 
not  unwilling,  when  I  come,  to  leave  his  work  for  a  stroll  in  the  woods. 
He  long  ago  learnt  the  language  of  plants,  and  they  have  told  him  their 
history  and  their  uses.  He.  again,  is  a  reader,  and  has  collected  about 
him  a  set  of  friends,  not  so  numerous  as  our  friend  Dowse,  nor  of  just  the 
same  character,  but  a  goodly  number  of  very  entertaining  and  instructive 
ones  ;  and  he  finds  time  every  day  to  enjoy  their  company.  *  His  winter 
evenings  he  spends  with  them,  and  in  repeating  experiments  which  the 
chemists  and  philosophers  have  made.  He  leads  a  happy  life.  Time 
never  hangs  heavy  on  his  hands.  For  such  a  man  we  have  an  involun- 
tary respect. 

On  the  other  side  of  Boston,  downs  by  the  coast,  lived,  a  few  years  ago,, 
a  farmer  of  a  far  different  character.  He  had  been  what  is  called  fortu- 
nate in  business,  and  had  a  beautiful  farm  and  garden  in  the  country,  and 
a  house  in  town.  Chancing  to  pass  by  his  place,  some  four  or  five  years 
ago,  I  stopped  to  see  him.  And  I  could  not  but  congratulate  him  on  hav- 
ing so  delightful  a  place  to  spend  his  summers  in.  But  he  frankly  con- 
fessed that  he  was  heartily  tired  of  it,  and  that  lie  longed  to  go  back  to 
Boston.  I  found  that  he  knew  nothing  about  his  trees,  of  which  he  had 
many  fine  ones, — for  it  was  an  old  place  he  had  bought, — nor  of  the  plants- 
in  his  garden.  He  had  no  books,  and  no  taste  for  them.  His  time  hung 
like  a  burden  on  him.  He  enjoyed  neither  his  leisure  nor  his  wealth.  It 
would  have  been  a  blessing  to  him.  if  he  could  have  been  obliged  to  ex- 
change places  with  his  hired  men,  and  dig  in  his  garden  for  his  gardener, 
or  plough  the  field  for  his  ploughman.  He  went  from  country  to  town 
and  from  town  to  country,  and  died,  at  last,  weary  and  sick  of  life.  Yet 
he  was  a  kind  man,  and  might  have  been  a  happy  one  but  for  a  single 
misfortune  ;  he  had  not  learned  to  enjoy  reading.  The  love  of  reading  is 
a  blessing  in  any  pursuit,  in  any  course  of  life  ; — not  less  to  the  merchant 
and  sailor  than  to  the  mechanic  and  farmer.  What  was  it  but  a  love  of 
reading  which  made  of  a  merchant's  apprentice,  a  man  whom  many  of 
you  have  seen  and  all  have  heard  of,  the  truly  great  and  learned 
Bowditch'? 

Our  friends  the  young  ladies  may  not  think  this  which  I  have  said 
exactly  suited  to  them.  But  to  you,  my  young  friends,  even  more  than 
to  your  brothers,  it  is  important  now  to  acquire  a  talent  for  reading  well, 
and  a  taste  for  reading.  I  say  more  important,  for,  looking  forward  to 
the  future,  you  will  need  it  more  than  they.  They  are  more  independent 
of  this  resource-  They  have  their  shops,  and  farms,  and  counting-houses 
to  go  to.  They  are  daily  on  change.  They  go  abroad  on  the  ocean. 
The  sphere  of  woman,  her  place  of  honor,  is  home,  her  own  fireside,  the 
eares  of  her  own  family.     A  well-educated  woman  is  a  sun  in  this  sphere^ 


DEDICATORY  EXERCISES  AT  SALEM.  4Q5 

shedding  around  her  the  light  of  intelligence,  the  warmth  of  love  and 
happiness. 

And  by  a  well-educated  woman  I  do  not  mean  merely  one  who  has  ac- 
quired ancient,  and  loreign  languages,  or  curious  or  striking  accomplish- 
ments. I  mean  a  woman  who,  having  left  school  with  a  firmly-fixed  love 
of  reading,  has  employed  the  golden  leisure  of  her  youth  in  reading  the 
best  English  books,  such  as  shall  prepare  her  for  her  duties.  All  the  best 
books  ever  written  are  in  English,  either  original  or  translated',  and  in 
this  richest  and  best  literature  of  the  world  she  may  find  enough  to  pre- 
pare her  for  all  the  duties  and  relations  of  life.  The  mere  talent  of  read- 
ing well,  simply,  gracefully, — what  a  beautiful  accomplishment  it  is  in 
woman !  How  many  weary  and  otherwise  heavy  hours  have  I  had 
charmed  into  pleasure  by  this  talent  in  a  female  friend.  But  I  speak  of 
the  higher  acquisition,  the  natural  and  usual  consequence  of  this,  a  taste 
for  reading.     This  will  give  a  woman  a  world  of  resources. 

It  gives  her  the  oracles  of  God.  These  will  be  ever  near  her ; — nearest 
to  her  hand  when  she  wakes,  and  last  from  her  hand  when  she  retires  t© 
sleep.  And  what  stores  of  wisdom,  for  this  world  and  for  a  higher,  will 
she  gain  from  this  volume!  This  will  enable  her  to  form  her  &\vn  char- 
acter and  the  hearts  of  her  children.  Almost  every  distinguished  man 
has  confessed  his  obligations  to  his  mother.  To  her  is  committed  the 
whole  formation  of  the  character, — mind,  heart,  and  body,  at  the  most 
important  period  of  life.  How  necessary,  then,  is  it  that  she  should  pos- 
sess a  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  the  body  and  the  mind  1  and  how  can 
she  get  it  but  by  reading  ?  If  you  gain  only  this,  what  an  unspeakable 
Messing  will  your  education  be  to  you  ! 

I  need  not,  my  young  friends,  speak  of  the  other  acquisitions  you  may 
make. — of  writing,  which  places  friends  in  the  remotest  parts  of  the  world 
tside  by  side, — or  of  calculation,  the  very  basis  of  justice  and  honesty. 

The  acquisitions  you  may  make  will  depend  chiefly  on  yourselves. 
You  will  find  your  teachers  ready  to  lead  you  on  to  higher  studies  when- 
ever you  are  prepared  to  go. 

These  excellent  establishments  are  emphatically  yours.  They  are 
raised  for  your  good  ;  and,  as  we  your  seniors  pass  away, — and  in  a  few 
years  we  shall  have  passed, — these  buildings  will  become  your  property, 
and  your  children  will  fill  the  seats  you  now  occupy.  Consider  them 
yours,  then,  to  enjoy  and  profit  by,  but  not  yours  to  waste.  Let  it  be 
your  pride  to  preserve  them  uninjured,  unmarred  by  the  mischievous 
knives  and  pencils  of  vulgar  children.  Unite  for  this  purpose.  Consider 
an  injury  done  to  these  buildings  as  an  injury  done  to  yourselves. 

There  is  another  thing  which  will  depend  on  you,  of  more  importance 
than  any  I  have  spoken  of.  I  mean  the  tone  of  character  which  shall 
prevail  in  these  schools.  Your  teachers  will  be  happy  to  treat  you  as 
high-minded  and  generous  children.  Show  that  you  can  be  so  treated  4 
that  you  are  such. 

Let  me  congratulate  you  upon  the  happy  auspices  of  the  name  of  him 
under  whom,  with  the  zealous  co-operation  of  enlightened  and  patriotic 
associates,  this  momentous  change  in  your  school  system  has  been 
effected, — a  name  which  is  borne  by  the  oldest  and  best  school  in  New 
Hampshire,  and  by  one  of  the  oldest  and  best  in  Massachusetts.  It  will 
depend  upon  you,  my  friends,  to  make  the  schools  of  Salem,  equally,  or 
still  more  distinguished,  among  those  of  the  State.'" 

Mr.  Thayer  said, — 

Children :  I  did  not  expect  that  I  should  have  the  privilege  of  address- 
ing you,  on  this  most  joyful  occasion ;  for  it  was  not  till  I  met  your  re- 
t^pected  Mayor,  an  hour  ago,  at  the  beautiful  school-house  we  have  juei 


406  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

left,  that  I  received  an  invitation  to  do  so.  You  will  not,  therefore,  antici- 
pate a  studied  discourse,  or  any  thing  particularly  interesting.  Devoted, 
however,  as  my  life  is,  and  has  long  been,  to  the  instruction  and  guidance 
of  the  young  in  no  inconsiderable  numbers,  I  shall,  without  further  pre- 
face, imagine  myself  in  the  midst  of  my  own  school,  and  talk  familiarly  to 
you  as  I  would,  and  do,  to  them. 

And  allow  me  to  add  my  congratulations  to  those  of  your  other  friends, 
for  the  ample,  beautiful,  and  convenient  arrangements  that  have  been 
made  for  you,  in  the  school-houses  of  this  city;  and  especially  in  the  new 
one  we  have  just  examined.  I  can  assure  you,  it  is  superior  in  almost 
every  respect  to  any  public  school-house  in  New  England,  if  not  in  the 
United  States.  It,  with  others  in  the  city,  has  cost  your  fathers  and 
friends  a  great  deal  of  money,  which  they  have  cheerfully  expended  as  a 
means  of  making  you  wise  and  good.  But  you  have  incurred  a  great 
debt  to  them,  which  you  can  never  repay  while  you  are  children,  but 
must  endeavor  to  do  it  to  your  children,  when  you  shall  become  men  and 
women,  and  take  the  place  of  your  parents  in  the  world.  But  before  that 
period,  you  can  do  something.  Now,  immediately  on  entering  upon  the 
enjoyment  of  the  precious  privileges  extended  to  you,  you  can  acknowl- 
edge, the  debt,  evince  the  gratitude  you  feel,  not  by  words,  but  deeds ; — 
by,  (to  use  an  expression  well  understood  by  all  children,)  '  being  good? 
Yes, — by  '  being  good  and  doing  good ;' — by  obedience  to  parents  and 
teachers  ;  by  kindness  to  brothers  and  sisters,  and  all  your  young  friends 
and  companions;  by  fidelity  in  duty,  at  home  and  at  school ;  by  the  prac- 
tice of  honesty  and  truth  at  all  times ;  by  refraining  from  the  use  of  pro- 
fane and  indecent  language  ;  by  keeping  the  mind  and  heart  free  from 
every  thing  impure.  These  are  the  means  in  your  own  hands.  Fail  not 
to  use  them ;  and  although  they  will  in  fact  be  merely  an  acknowledg- 
ment of  your  obligation  for  the  boon  you  possess,  your  friends  will  con- 
sider themselves  well  repaid  for  all  they  have  done  for  you.  It  is  from 
such  conduct  that  the  teacher's,  as  well  as  the  father's,  richest  reward 
and  highest  satisfaction  are  derived.  To  see  the  beloved  objects  of  our 
care  and  instruction  appreciating  our  labors,  and  improving  in  all  that  is 
good  and  useful,  under  our  management,  affords  the  greatest  happiness, 
lightens  the  heavy  load  of  toil,  relieves  the  aching  head,  and  revives  the 
fainting  spirit. 

There  is,  however,  one  great  danger  to  which  you, — to  which  all  the 
young, — are  especially  exposed.  I  mean  the  influence  of  bad  example. 
Example  is  omnipotent.  Its  force  is  irresistible  to  most  minds.  We  are 
all  swayed  more  or  less,  by  others.  Others  are  swayed  by  us.  And  this 
process  is  continually  going  on,  even  though  we  are  entirely  unconscious 
of  it  ourselves.  Hence  we  see  the  importance  of  choosing  good  com- 
panions, and  flying  from  the  bad.  Unless  this  is  done,  it  will  be  in  vain 
for  your  friends  to  give  you  wise  counsel,  or  for  you  to  form  good  resolu- 
tions. '  Who  can  touch  pitch  and  be  clean  V  You  will  resemble  those 
with  whom  you  associate.  You  will  catch  their  words,  their  manners, 
their  habits.  Are  they  pure,  you  will  be  pure.  Are  they  depraved,  they 
will  corrupt  you.  Be  it  a  rule  with  you.  then,  to  avoid  those  who  are  ad- 
dicted to  practices  that  you  would  be  unwilling  your  most  respected 
friends  should  know,  and  regulate  your  own  conduct  by  the  same 
standard. 

I  would  particularly  caution  you  against  beginnings.  It  is  the  first  step 
that  is  the  dangerous  one ;  since  it  is  obvious  that,  if  you  were  to  ascend 
the  highest  mountain,  it  could  only  be  done  by  a  step  at  a  time,  and  if  the 
first  were  not  taken,  the  summit  could  never  be  reached.  But,  one  suc- 
cessfully accomplished,  the  next  follows  as  a  matter  of  course.  And 
equally  and  fatally  sure  is  the  downward  track  to  crime  and  misery  !  If 
we  suffer  ourselves  to  be  drawn  in  that  direction,  what  human  power  can 


DEDICATORY  EXERCISES  AT  SALEM.  407 

save  us  from  destruction  ?  This  clanger,  too,  is  increased  by  the  feeling 
of  security  we  indulge,  when  we  say,  '  It  is  only  a  little  thing.;  we  shall 
never  commit  any  great  fault ;' — not  remembering  that  nothing  stands 
still  in  life,  in  character,  any  more  than  in  the  material  universe.  We 
must  be  going  forward  or  backward ;  up,  towards  improvement  and 
glory, — or  down,  towards  infamy  and  woe !  Every  thing  accumulates, 
according  to  its  kind ;  though  it  begins  small,  like  the  snowball  you  hold  in 
your  hand,  it  becomes,  as  you  roll  it  on  the  ground  before  you.  larger  at 
every  revolution,  till,  at  last,  it  is  beyond  your  power  to  move  it  at  all. 

I  will  illustrate  this  by  a  sad  case  which  has  recently  occurred  in  Bos- 
ton. But  first,  I  wish  to  interest  you  in  something  of  an  agreeable  nature, 
in  connection  with  the  faithful  performance  of  duty. 

I  have  spoken  of  some  things  that  you  should  do,  to  show  your  sense  of 
the  benefits  which  have  been  conferred  upon  you,  and  I  •  should  like  to 
dwell  on  each  one  of  them  separately ;  but  I  shall  have  time  only  to  speak 
of  one.  It  is-,  however,  among  the  most  important.  I  allude  to  speaking 
the  truth, — the  most  substantial  foundation  of  moral  character.  It  has  in- 
numerable advantages,  one  of  which  is  strikingly  exhibited  in  the  fol- 
lowing story :  — 

Petrarch,  an  eminent  Italian  poet,  who  lived  about  five  hundred  years 
ago,  secured  the  confidence  and  friendship  of  Cardinal  Colonna,  in  whose 
family  he  resided  in  his  youth,  by  his  candor  and  strict  regard  to  truth. 

A  violent  quarrel  had  occurred  in  the  family  of  this  nobleman,  which 
was  carried  so  far,  that  resort  was  had  to  arms.  The  cardinal  wished  to 
know  the  foundation  of  the  affair ;  and,  calling  all  hie  people  before  him, 
he  required  each  one  to  bind  himself  by  a  solemn  oath,  on  the  Gospels,  to 
declare  the  whole  truth.  None  were  exempt.  Even  the  cardinal's 
brother  submitted  to  it.  Petrarch,  in  his  turn,  presenting  himself  to  take 
the  oath,  the  cardinal  closed  the  book,  and  said,  '  As  far  you,  Petrarch, 
your  word  is  sufficient.*'' 

What  more  delightful  reward  could  have  been  presented  to  the  feelings 
of  the  noble  youth  than  this,  from  his  friend,  his  master,  and  one  of  the 
highest  dignitaries  of  the  church '?  Nothing  but  the  peaceful  whispers  of 
his  own  conscience,  or  the  approbation  of  his  Maker,  could  have  given 
him  more  heart-felt  satisfaction.  Who  among  you  would  not  be  a 
Petrarch  ?  and,  in  this  respect,  which  of  you  could  not  1 

While,  then,  I  would  hold  up  for  imitation  this  beautiful  example,  I 
would  present  a  contrast  as  a  warning  to  you. 

There  is  now  confined  in  the  Boston  jail  a  boy  of  fourteen  years  of  age, 
who,  for  the  previous  six  years,  had  been  sinking  deeper  and  deeper  into 
vice  and  crime,  until  last  October,  when  he  was  convicted,  and  sentenced 
to  two  years'  confinement  within  the  cold  damp  cell  of  a  gloomy  prison, 
for  aggravated  theft.  In  his  own  written  account  of  his  life,  which  I  have 
seen,  he  says  that  he  began  his  wretched  course  by  playing  truant  from 
school.  His  second  step  was  lying,  to  conceal  it.  Idle,  and  destitute  of 
any  fixed  purpose,  he  fell  in  company  with  others,  guilty  like  himself,  of 
whom  he  learned  to  steal,  and  to  use  indecent  and  profane  language.  He 
sought  the  worst  boys  he  could  find.  He  became  a  gambler,  a  frequenter 
of  the  circus  and  the  theatre,  and  engaged  in  various  other  corrupt  and 
sinful  practices.  At  length,  becoming  bold  in  his  dishonesty,  he  robbed 
the  post-office  of  letters  containing  very  considerable  sums  of  money,  and 
was  soon  detected  and  condemned.  If  you  were  to  visit  that  abode  of 
misery,  you  might  often  see  the  boy's  broken-hearted  mother,  weeping, 
and  sobbing,  and  groaning,  at  the  iron  grating  of  his  solitary  cell,  as  if 
she  would  sink  on  the  flinty  floor,  and  die  !  '  And  all  this,'  (to  use  the 
boy's  own  words,)  'comes  from  playing  truant!' 

Look,  then,  my  young  friends,  on  these  two  pictures, — both  taken  from 
life. — and  tell  me  which  you  like  best ;  and  which  of  the  two  characters 


408  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

you  propose  to  imitate.  Will  you  be  young  Petrarchs,  or  will  you  adopt 
the  course  of  the  unfortunate  boy  in  Boston  jail  1  They  are  both  before 
you.  If  you  would  be  like  the  former,  begin  right.  Resist  temptation 
to  wrong-doing,  with  all  your  might.  Let  no  one  entice  you  from  the 
way  which  conscience  points  out. 

This  precept  is  applicable  to  all, — to  both  sexes  and  every  age.  Let 
me,  then,  I  pray  you,  when  I  shall  inquire,  hereafter,  respecting  the  habits 
and  characters  of  the  children  of  the  Public  Schools  of  Salem,  have  the 
satisfaction  to  hear,  that  the  instructions  of  this  occasion  made  an  impres- 
sion on  their  minds  favorable  to  truth  and  duty,  which  subsequent  time 
could  never  efface. 


Dedication  of  the  New  School-house  in  Pawtucket,  October  31,  1846 

Address  of  President  Wayland,  of  Brown  University. 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen, 

There  is  something  deeply  interesting,  both  to  the  philanthropist  and 
to  the  political  economist,  in  the  appearance  of  such  a  village  as  this,  the 
abode  of  wealth,  civilization  and  refinement.  '  We  find  ourselves,  as  we 
look  upon  it,  unconsciously  reverting  to  the  period,  not  very  remote,  when 
this  whole  region  was  a  desert.  Thick  forests  covered  all  these  hills,  and 
pressed  down  even  to  the  water's  brink.  This  river  rushed  over  its  rocky 
bed,  or  tumbled  down  its  precipitous  ledges,  unnoticed  by  the  eye  of 
civilized  man.  A  few  savages  from  time  to  time,  erected  their  transient 
wigwams  upon  its  banks,  as  the  season  of  hunting  or  fishing  attracted 
them,  and  they  alone  disputed  the  claim  of  the  beasts  of  the  forest  to  this 
beautiful  domain.  The  products  of  all  this  region  were  a  scanty  and  pre- 
carious pasturage  for  game,  a  few  canoe  loads  of  fish,  and,  it  may  be,  a 
few  hundred  pounds  of  venison.  Whatever  else  the  earth  produced,  fell 
and  perished  ungathered.  Age  after  age,  beheld  this  annual  waste. 
Here  was  the  earth  with  all  its  capabilities.  Here  were  the  waters  with 
all  their  unexpended  powers.  But  here  was  no  man  whose  intellect  had 
been  instructed  in  the  laws  of  nature.  Here  was  neither  continuous  in- 
dustry, nor  even  frugal  forethought.  Hence  there  could  be  no  progress. 
All  things  continued  as  they  were  from  the  beginning  of  the  creation. 

About  two  hundred  years  since,  the  first  civilized  man  cast  his  eyes 
over  this  beautiful  landscape.  He  brought  with  him  the  arts  and  the 
science  of  the  older  world,  and  a  new  era  commenced  in  the  history  of 
that  part  of  our  country,  since  known  as  Rhode  Island.  The  labors  of 
agriculture  soon  began  to  work  their  magic  changes.  The  forest  was 
felled,  the  soil  was  tilled,  and,  in  the  place  of  the  precarious  products  of 
the  uncultivated  field,  rich  harvests  of  grain  waved  over  these  plains. 
The  beasts  of  the  forest  retired,  and  the  animals  given  by  the  Creator 
to  aid  us  in  our  toil,  occupied  their  place.  Instead  of  the  graceful  deer, 
the  clumsy  moose,  the  prowling  wolf  and  the  ravenous  panther,  these 
fields  were  covered  with  the  lowing  herds,  the  bleating  sheep,  the  labori- 
ous ox,  and  the  horse,  in  all  latitudes  the  faithful  servant  of  man. 

This  was  a  great  and  glorious  transformation.  From  the  moment  that 
a  civilized  man  first  thrust  his  spade  into  this  earth,  or  here  yoked  his 
oxen  to  the  plough,  the  sleep  of  ages  was  broken,  and  the  reign  of  pro- 
gress commenced.  From  this  moment  the  darkness  had  begun  to  pass 
away,  and  the  sun  was  dispersing  that  night,  which,  since  the  deluge, 
ad  brooded  over  this  land.  From  that  auspicious  beginning,  all  the 
means  of  happiness  that  the  eye   beholds,  have  proceeded.     Acre  after 


DEDICATORY  EXERCISES  AT  NORTH  PROVIDENCE.  499 

acre  has  been  reclaimed  from  barrenness.  Every  variety  of  product  has 
been  tried,  in  order  to  ascertain  which  would  be  produced  by  the  earth 
most  kindly.  The  smoky  wigwam  gave  place  to  the  log  house,  and  this 
in  turn,  to  the  convenient  farm-house,  or  th'e  stately  mansion.  And  thus 
another  portion  of  the  earth  was  added  to  the  area  of  Anglo-Saxon  civili- 
zation. 

But  still  the  river,  to  which  all  the  distinctive  prosperity  of  this  region 
owes  its  origin,  ran,  as  it  ever  had  ran,  to  utter  waste.  This  mighty  and 
most  productive  means  of  wealth,  remained  wholly  unemployed.  A 
mine  richer  than  that  of  gold,  was  yet  unwrought.  It  was  a  mine  of  me- 
chanical power,  instead  of  metallic  treasure,  and  let  me  add,  a  mine  of 
incalculably  greater  value.  At  last  it  was  discovered,  that  this  little 
river,  falling  over  its  innumerable  ledges,  could  do  the  labor  of  many 
thousand  men.  An  accomplished  manufacturer,*  from  England,  whose 
name  has  made  this  village  one  of  the  most  renowned  spots  in  our  coun- 
try, came  among  us,  and  applied  the  power  of  this  water-fall  to  the  spin- 
ning and  weaving  of  cotton.  Who  can  measure  the  results  of  this  one 
grand  experiment?  We  hear  of  battles  and  sieges,  of  the  defeat  of 
armies,  the  capture  of  towns,  the  destruction  of  fleets;  but  what  achieve- 
ment of  war  was  ever  of  such  importance  to  a  people,  as  that  which  was 
accomplished,  when  that  wheel  made  its  first  revolution,  and  the  first 
thread  of  cotton  was  here,  in  this  very  village,  spun  by  water  power  1 
From  this  moment  may  be  dated  the  commencement  of  general  manu- 
factures in  this  country,  and  that,  of  cotton  in  particular.  From  that  mo- 
ment, every  fall  of  water  throughout  our  land  became  a  most  valuable 
possession.  From  that  moment,  this  noble  natural  agent  began,  every- 
where, to  fabricate  garments  for  our  people.  From  that  moment  all  the 
labor,  of  every  age,  throughout  New  England,  could  be  profitably  em- 
ployed. From  that  moment  it  was  certain  that  capital  to  any  amount 
could  readily  find  investment.  The  rich  proceeds  of  one  manufactory 
laid  the  foundations  of  a  similar  one  by  the  side  of  it.  As  one  branch 
of  manufactures  began  to  supply  the  demand  of  the  nation,  another 
branch  was  established.  Thus  we  are  every  year  adding  millions  to  this 
form  of  investment,  and  employing  additional  thousands  of  hands  in  this 
mode  of  industry.  We  are.  entering  into  generous  and  successful  rivalry 
with  the  nations  of  Europe.  Already  many  of  our  cottons  are  preferred 
to  theirs  in  the  markets  of  the  world.  Soon,  other  branches  of  our  man- 
ufactures will  be  brought  to  equal  perfection.  Nay,  I  anticipate  the 
time  when  we,  in  this  country,  under  a  system  of  generous  reciprocity, 
shall  supply  the  continent  and  England  herself  with  all  those  articles, 
for  the  fabrication  of  which  we  have  special  advantages. 

But  this  chain  of  events  by  no  means  ceases  here.  Year  after  year 
every  branch  of  manufactures  is  increasing  its  means,  and  distributing 
the  proceeds  of  its  labor  over  every  part  of  our  land.  Wherever  a  fabric 
is  sent,  it  is  exchanged,  in  some  form,  for  the  productions  of  that  region 
in  which  it  is  consumed.  The  common  means  for  accomplishing  these 
mutual  and  increasing  exchanges,  soon  became  utterly  inadequate ;  more 
efficient  modes  of  transportation  must,  from  necessity,  be  invented.  The 
business  of  the  country  could  not  be  carried  on  without  them.  Our  man- 
ufacturing prosperity,  while  it  creates  the  necessity  for  internal  improve- 
ments, also  supplies  the  means  for  constructing  them.  The  annual  gains 
of  manufacturing-  capital  are  next  invested  in  canals  and  railroads,  and 
thus  the  means  of  transporting  these  fabrics  at  the  least  cost,  are  at  once 

*  Mr.  Slater  has  even  a  higher  claim  to  the  gratitude  and  veneration  of  this  country,  than 
that  which  he  derives  from  the  introduction  of  the  cotton  manufacture.  He  established  in 
JPawtucket  the  first  Sunday  School  that  was  ever  opened  in  America;  and  for  some  tim« 
sustained  it  wholly  at  his  own  expense. 


410  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

provided.  Here  is,  then,  another  mode  created,  of  advantageous  invest- 
ment. By  means  of  internal  improvement,  the  market  of  every  producer 
is  indefinitely  extended,  he  also  receives  a  fair  remuneration  for  this  very 
investment,  by  which  his  market  is  thus  extended,  and,  at  the  same  time 
the  consumer  receives  whatever  he  purchases  at  a  cheaper  rate  and  in 
greater  perfection.  Thus,  as  we  always  observe,  under  the  government 
of  God,  a  real  benefit  to  one  is  a  benefit  to  all.  And  hence  we  learn, 
that  to  attempt  to  secure  exclusive  advantages  to  ourselves,  is  always 
abor  lost.  Nothing  can  be  a  real  benefit  to  us,  that  is  not  a  real  benefit 
also  to  our  neighbors. 

And  the  illustration  of  all  that  I  have  said,  is  manifest  every  where 
around  us.  We  behold  how  every  other  art  has  clustered  around  the  art 
of  transforming  cotton  into  clothing.  We  see  how  one  establishment  has 
been  the  seed  that  has  produced  a  multitude  of  those  that  resemble  it. 
You  see  how  manufactures  have  given  rise  to  internal  improvements ; 
how  the  spindle  has  cut  through  the  mountains,  and  filled  up  the  valleys 
and  graded  the  road,  and  stretched  from  city  to  city  the  iron  rail.  You 
see  how  loth  these  inseparable  friends  are  to  be  parted  from  each  other. 
The  region  of  manufactures  is  the  region  of  railroads.  And  you  per- 
ceive, as  the  iron  road  that  passes  through  this  village,  pursues  its  way 
toward  the  west,  how  it  winds  along  through  the  valley  of  the  Black- 
stone,  greeting  every  village  and  waking  every  hamlet  to  renewed  ac- 
tivity. 

All  this  you  readily  perceive.  You  must  be  astonished  yourselves, 
when  you  reflect  upon  the  amount  of  capital  which  a  single  life  time  has 
added  to  the  resources  of  this  village,  and  the  country  in  its  immediate 
vicinity.  But  while  we  exult  in  the  large  measure  of  prosperity  with 
which  a  bountiful  Providence  has  endowed  us,  it  may  not  be  uninstruc- 
tive  to  inquire,  in  what  ways  have  these  blessings  been  improved?  Has 
it  ever  occurred  to  you,  that  almost  all  this  capital  has  been  invested  in 
procuring  for  ourselves,  the  means  of  physical  happiness?  We  erect 
houses,  and  we  render  them  spacious,  warm,  and  commodious.  We  furnish 
them  with  every  means  of  physical  luxury.  We  spread  carpets  for  our 
feet.  ,  We  stretch  ourselves  on  couches  of  down.  We  temper  the  at- 
mosphere at  our  will.  We  clothe  ourselves  with  vestments  wrought  in 
every  clime,  and  by  people  of  every  hue  and  language.  We  vary  our 
dress  with  every  fashion.  We  load  our  tables  with  luxuries  imported 
fr°m  the  tropics  or  the  poles;  we  vex  sea  and  land  for  new  viands  to  stim- 
ulate our  palates,  already  saturated  with  abundance.  We  please  our- 
selves with  every  form  of  equipage,  and  tax  the  ingenuity  of  every  arti- 
san, that  we  may  be  enabled  to  roll  from  place  to  place  without  the  fa- 
tigue of  motion.  But  why  need  I  proceed  to  specify  any  further.  We 
all  perceive,  on  the  least  reflection,  that  it  is  in  expenditures  of  this  land, 
that  almost  all  the  expenses  of  living  are  incurred. 

But  if  this  be  true,  must  there  not  be  some  grievous  error  in  the  prin- 
ciples of  our  conduct?  Can  this  be  a  wise  mode  of  expenditure  for  intel- 
ligent and  immortal  beings  ?  In  all  that  I  have  here  recited,  is  there  any 
thing  in  which,  on  principle,  we  have  excelled,  ( excuse  the  homeliness  of 
the  illustration,)  the  Beaver  that  once  inhabited  these  streams?  The 
thoughtful  animal  expended  all  the  treasures  of  his  intellect  or  instinct, 
in  rendering  his  dwelling  commodious;  and  he  accomplished  it.  Have  we 
not  done  precisely  the  same  thing  ?  Has  not  all  the  expenditure  of 
which  I  have  spoken,  been  consumed  for  the  convenience  of  the  physical, 
the  perishable,  the  material  ?  Might  not  all  this  have  been  done,  had  we 
no  consciousness  of  an  immortal  spirit  ? 

But  God  has  made  us  immortal.  He  has  given  to  us  a  spiritual  exist- 
ence. Each  one  of  us  possesses  a  priceless  mind.  We  are  endowed  with 
reason  to  discover  truth,  imagination  to  form  conceptions  of  the  beautiful 


DEDICATORY  EXERCISES  AT  NORTH  PROVIDENCE.  4^  J 

and  the  grand,  taste  to  delight  in  all  that  is  lovely  or  glorious,  and  con- 
science by  which  we  are  allied  to  God  the  Father  of  all,  and  the  holy 
and  blessed  throughout  the  universe.  It  is  by  the  possession  of  these 
powers,  that  man  claims  precedence  over  the  brute.  It  is  by  the  cultiva- 
tion of  these,  that  we  have  become  more  powerful  than  the  savage,  who 
once  dwelt  where  we  now  dwell.  It  is  by  the  use  of  these  powers,  that 
all  the  wonders  of  art  have  been  wrought,  which  we  now  behold  around 
us.  If  such  be  the  fact,  it  must  certainly  be  true  that  this,  the  spiritual 
part  of  man,  is  by  far  the  most  deserving  of  attention,  and  that,  in  the 
cultivation  of  this  portion  of  our  nature,  we  can  in  the  most  appropriate 
manner  invest  our  capital. 

But  while  this  is  evident,  does  our  practice  correspond  with  these  well 
established  principles  ?  We  liberally  expend  our  substance  to  preserve 
our  bodies  in  health,  and  to  cultivate  in  our  children  the  full  development 
of  every  power,  and  the  outward  manifestation  of  every  grace.  But  do 
we  bestow  proportionate  labor  in  developing  every  spiritual  faculty,  and 
protecting  the  immortal  part  from  the  spreading  contagion  of  evil  exam- 
ple, and  the  wasting  results  of  evil  habit  ?  We  expend  whatever  is  ne- 
cessary in  furnishing  our  tables  with  every  thing  that  may  be  desired  for 
the  sustentation  of  Ae  body.  Where  is  there  the  man  among  us,  who 
would  not  blush  to  be  considered  an  illiberal  provider  for  the  wants  of  his 
household  ?  but  is  any  man  ashamed  to  confess,  that  he  has  made  no  pro- 
vision for  the  spiritual  appetites  of  his  children?  Who  of  us  would  per- 
mit tainted  or  unwholesome  food  to  be  brought  into  his  house,  or  placed 
upon  his  table?  and  yet  is  not  intellectual  food  of  the  most  questionable 
character,  daily  read  in  the  houses  of  many  of  our  most  excellent  citi- 
zens? Who  is  ashamed  to  declare,  that  he  has  no  library  in  his  house, 
or  that,  he  has  never  taken  the  pains  to  inquire  whether  the  books  that 
are  read  by  his  family,  are  useful  or  deleterious  ? 

But  this  is  not  all.  We  know  that  the  youthful  mind  is  destitute  of 
knowledge,  and  that  it  is  strongly  predisposed  to  the  formation  of  im- 
proper habits.  Every  one  knows  that  a  child  needs  instruction,  and  that 
the  labor  of  giving  it  instruction  should  be  devolved  upon  those  only, 
who  are  intellectually  and  morally  qualified  to  impart  it.  The  parent 
can  rarely  do  this  for  himself.  The  principle  of  division  of  labor  teaches 
us,  that  it  can  be  much  more  successfully  done  by  some  one  who  will  de- 
vote his  whole  attention  to  it.  But,  now,  let  us  look  over  our  own  neigh- 
borhoods, and  observe  how  very  small,  until  quite  lately,  has  been  the 
amount  of  capital  devoted  to  the  education  of  our  youth.  Compare  it 
with  almost  every  other  form  of  investment,  and  you  at  once  perceive 
how  small  is  its  relative  amount.  Take,  for  instance,  the  railroad  which 
passes  within  a  stone's  throw  of  the  place  in  which  we  are  assembled. 
Many  of  you  and  your  fellow  citizens,  subscribed  for  its  stock.  You  did 
wisely.  It  will,  I  presume,  raise  the  value  of  every  form  of  property 
here.  Land  will  sell  for  a  better  price.  You  will  thus  become  directly 
connected  with  the  whole  of  the  South,  and  with  the  whole  of  the  East 
and  West;  and  you  can,  at  very  little  expense  of  transportation,  ex- 
change productions  with  the  remotest  extremities  of  our  country.  This 
is  certainly  an  improvement  upon  your  former  means  of  communication, 
and  you  are  willing  to  invest  your  capital  in  the  effort  to  secure  it.  But 
suppose  you  had  been  assessed  to  an  equal  amount,  in  order  to  provide 
the  means  of  education ;  suppose  you  had  been  called  upon  to  subscribe 
the  same  sum  in  aid  of  an  effort  to  give  to  the  youth  of  this  village  the 
best  education  in  New  England,  would  you  not  have  considered  the 
demand  excessive  ?  Would  you  have  believed  that  you  could  possibly 
have  paid  it  ?  Yet,  I  ask,  is  not  the  education  of  your  children  as  impor- 
tant an  object  as  the  improvement  of  your  means  of  transportation? 
Suppose  you  were  to  unite  in  such  an  effort,  would  not  the  amount  of 


412  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

which  I  have  spoken  he  sufficient  to  accomplish  the  result,  the  giving  to 
your  children  the  best  education  in  New  England.  Is  it  not  evident,  then, 
that  Ave  bestow  upon  the  means  of  education,  an  attention  very  much 
less  than  they  deserve  1 

I  have  spoken  in  this  manner  as  though  I  were  addressing  you  in  par- 
ticular. But  this  is  not  what  I  intend.  I  speak  of  the  amount  of  atten- 
tion which,  until  lately,  has  been  given  to  this  subject,  here  in  this  State, 
and  throughout  New  England.  I  know  as  well  as  you,  that  you  have 
not  been  specially  behind  hand  in  this  matter.  You  have  always  been 
prepared  to  do  your  part,  in  every  effort  to  improve  the  condition  of 
education  amongst  us.  I  have,  however,  alluded  to  these  facts  and  have 
presented  these  parallels,  that  you  maybe  enabled  to  judge  of  the  degree 
in  which  we  have  erred,  in  estimating  the  proportion  of  our  income 
which  is  due  to  the  cause  of  education. 

1  greatly  rejoice,  however,  that  indications  of  decided  improvement  in 
this  respect,  are  visible  every  where  around  us.  In  Massachusetts,  for 
several  years  past,  no  subject  has  appealed  with  greater  success  to  the 
enlightened  public  opinion  of  her  citizens.  One  of  her  most  gifted  and 
eloquent  sons  has  consecrated  his  life  to  this  noble  cause,  and  the  results 
of  his  efforts  have  become  every  where  apparent.  Nor  have  we  of  Rhode 
Island  been  wholly  wanting  to  ourselves  in  this  good  work.  Although  for 
many  years  the  people  were  indifferent  to  their  true  interests  in  this  re- 
spect, yet,  when  they  came  to  its  importance,  they  pursued  it  with  a 
manly  steadfastness  and  a  far-seeing  liberality,  which  would  do  honor  to 
any  community  in  our  country.  The  school  system  of  Providence  is  ac- 
knowledged to  be  second  to  none  in  the  land,  in  excellence  and  efficiency. 
The  people  in  all  our  districts,  agricultural  and  manufacturing,  are  seek- 
ing to  know  the  best  means  of  promoting  the  thorough  education  of  their 
children;1  they  are  building  school-houses  on  the  best  models  that  can  be 
presented  to  them,  and  are  raising  money,  with  annually  increasing  lib- 
erality, for  the  purpose  of  accomplishing  these  results  most  perfectly. 

It  gives  me  great  pleasure.  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  of  Pawtucket,  to  be 
a  witness  to  the  enlightened  zeal  which  you  have  manifested  on  this  sub- 
ject. From  this  village,  first  went  forth  the  impulse  which  called  into 
existence  the  most  important  manufacturing  interest  in  this  country.  It 
is  meet  that  as  you  have  taught  us  how  to  supply  our  external,  you  should 
teach  us  how  to  supply  our  internal  wants.  You  have  taught  us  how 
we  may  clothe  our  bodies,  it  is  well  that  you  should  teach  us  how  to  cul- 
tivate, and  strengthen,  and  ennoble  our  minds.  You  have  intended  to 
render  this  school-house  a  model  for  your  fellow  citizens  throughout  the 
State.  It  is  a  noble  and  patriotic  emulation,  and  we  thank  you  for  it. 
We  hope  that,  every  village  and  district  in  the  State  will  imitate  your 
example. 

I  am  delighted  to  observe  that,  in  all  your  arrangements,  you  have  in 
this  matter  acted  with  wise  and  thoughtful  liberality.  Instead  of  put- 
ting vour  school-house  out  of  sight,  in  an  inconvenient  and  unheals 
pus±uon,  you  have  placed  it  on  an  eminence,  in  a  desirable  locality,  and 
have  determined  to  surround  it  with  ample  play-grounds.  The  building 
itself  is  exceedingly  pleasing  in  its  external  proportions,  and  forms  one  of 
the  most  agreeable  ornaments  of  your  village.  You  thus  associate  edu- 
cation in  the  mind  of  the  young  with  every  thing  gladsome  and  alluring; 
while,  at  the  same  time,  you  testily  to  your  children,  the  importance  which 
you  attach  to  their  intellectual  cultivation. 

The  apartments  of  your  house  are  huge  and  convenient.  The  desks 
are  constructed  upon  the  most  improved  models,  and  the  seats  seem  to  me 
durable  and  neat,  and,  at  the  same  time,  comfortable  to  the  pupil.  Every 
thing  in  the  school-rooms  has  the  air  of  finish  and  completeness.  The 
arrangements  for  illustration,  by  the  blackboards,  are,  and  I  presume 


DEDICATORY  EXERCISES  AT  NORTH  PROVIDENCE. 


413 


that  those  hy  every  other  means  will  be,  ample.  With  such  instructors 
as  you  have  appointed,  seconded  by  your  own  zealous  and  untiring  efforts, 
I  have  no  doubt  that  this  school  will  be  all  that  you  desire  to  make  it,  one 
of  the  first  model  schools  of  New  England. 

But  I  perceive  that  your  forethought  has  gone  farther.  You  have  de- 
termined that  other  habits,  besides  those  of  the  intellect,  shall  here  receive 
their  appropriate  share  of  attention.  You  have  provided  for  each  scholar 
an  exclusive  place  for  his  own  hat  and  outer  clothing.  You  have  fur- 
nished your  apartments  with  convenient  wash-rooms,  an  improvemen 
which  I  do  not  remember  to  have  seen  in  any  other  school-house.  Thus 
you  have  made  it  necessary  for  each  scholar  to  cultivate  habits  of  order 
and  cleanliness.  In  all  these  respects,  I  do  not  see  how  your  arrange- 
ments could  be  better  made,  or  how  any  thing  else  could  reasonably  be 
desired. 

How  delightful  an  object  of  contemplation  is  such  a  school  as  this, 
when  faithfully  and  zealously  conducted.  Here  the  slumbering  germs  of 
intellect  will  be  quickened  into  life.  Here  talent,  that  would  otherwise 
become  torpid  from  inaction,  will  be  placed  upon  the  course  of  indefinite 
improvement.  Here,  the  rough  and  uncultivated,  arrested  by  the  charms 
of  knowledge,  and  allured  by  the  accents  of  kindness,  will  lay  aside  their 
harshness,  and  assume  the  manners  of  refinement  and  good  breeding. 
From  hence  the  lessons  of  knowledge  and  the  habits  of  order  will  be  car- 
ried to  many  a  family,  and  they  will  there  awaken  a  whole  circle  to  a 
higher  and  purer  life.  In  a  word,  take  the  five  hundred  children,  whom 
this  building  will  accommodate,  and  suppose  them  destitute  of  the  know- 
ledge, the  discipline  and  the  manners,  which  this  school  will  confer ;  trace 
their  course  through  life  in  all  its  vicissitudes,  and  observe  the  station 
which  each  of  them  must  occupy  ;  and  then,  suppose  these  five  hundred 
children  imbued  with  the  knowledge  which  you  here  are  prepared  to  give, 
and  the  habits  which  you  intend  to  cultivate,  and  follow  them  through 
life,  and  observe  the  stations  which  you  have  qualified  them  to  occupy; 
and  you  have  the  measure  of  good  which,  year  after  year,  you  are  accom- 
plishing by  the  establishment  of  these  means  of  instruction.  Look  at  the 
money  that  it  costs.  You  can  calculate  it  to  a  single  cent,  both  the  prin- 
cipal investment  and  the  interest  which  it  would  yield.  But  can  you  esti- 
mate the  intellectual  service,  and  moral  advantages  which  will  accrue  to 
you  and  your  children,  by  this  expenditure  ?  The  one  is  to  you  as  the 
small  dust  of  the  balance.  Were  it  all  lost,  you  would  hardly  think  of  it. 
You  would  not  think  it  worth  while  to  smile  at  a  man,  who  should  say, 
Pawtucket  is  ruined,  for  it  has  lost  a  sum  equal  to  that  which  all  its  means 
of  education  have  cost.  But  suppose  that,  what  that  sum  has  purchased 
were  lost ;  suppose  that  your  schools  were  shut  up,  and  your  whole  pop- 
ulation consigned  to  ignorance  ;  that  henceforth  reading,  writing,  and  all 
the  knowledge  which  they  unfold,  should  be  taught  or  learned  here  no 
more  for  ever ;  then  would  Pawtucket  in  reality  be  ruined.  Every  virtu- 
ous and  intelligent  family  would  flee  from  your  border,  and  very  soon 
your  name  would  be  an  opprobrium  to  New  England.  I  ask,  then,  in 
view  of  all  this,  is  there  any  money  which  you  invest,  that  brings  you  in 
so  rich  a  revenue,  as  that  which  you  devote  to  the  cause  of  education  ? 

But  I  ought  to  apologize  for  occupying  so  much  larger  a  portion  of 

}rour  time  than  I  intended.  I  must,  however,  even  now,  break  off  abrupt- 
y,  and  give  place  to  others  who  are  much  more  deserving  than  myself  to 
be  heard  on  this  occasion.  I  will  therefore  add  but  a  single  suggestion. 
Let  this  effort  which  you  have  made,  be  but  the  first  step  in  your  pro- 
gress. Cultivate  enlarged  and  liberal  views  of  your  duties  to  the  young 
who  are  coming  after  you,  and  of  the  means  that  are  given  you  to  dis- 
charge them.  A  place  as  large  as  this,  can  perfectly  well  provide  for  all 
its  youth  of  both  sexes,  as  good  an  education  as  any  one  can  desire, 


414  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

What  we  are  capable  of  doing  in  this  respect,  is  so  little  known,  that  any 
public  spirited  and  united  population,  as  wealthy  as  this,  can  easily  place 
itself  in  the  vanguard  in  this  march  of  improvement.  It  is  in  your  power 
eo  to  cultivate  the  mind  and  manners  of  your  children,  that  wherever  they 
go,  they  will  take  precedence  of  those  of  their  own  age  and  condition. 
Your  example  would  excite  others  to  follow  in  your  footsteps.  Who  can 
tell  how  widely  you  might  bless  others,  while  you  were  laboring  to  bless 
yourselves  %  Are  you  prepared  to  enter  upon  so  noble  a  career  of  im- 
provement'? 

Remarks  of  Rev    Mr.  Osgood- 

Mr.  Osgood,  of  Providence,  being  called  upon  by  the  Chairman  of  the 
School  Committee,  spoke  in  substance  as  follows : 

You  will  agree  with  me,  friends,  in  deeming  it  a  happy  circumstance, 
that  he,  whose  position  places  him  at  the  head  of  the  educational  interests 
of  this  State,  and  whose  name  stands  among  the  highest  in  the  literature 
of  our  land,  has  favored  us  with  his  presence  upon  this  occasion,  and 
borne  so  decided  witness  to  the  importance  of  a  far  nobler  popular  educa- 
tion. After  what  we  have  heard,  we  cannot  but  recognize  the  common 
interests  of  all  friends  of  sound  learning,  and  rank  the  school  and  the  uni- 
versity as  helpers  in  the  same  good  cause. 

We  have  met  to-day  to  consecrate  this  pleasant  edifice  to  the  service 
of  popular  instruction.  Solemn  prayer  has  been  offered  to  the  throne  of 
mercy,  and  honest  counsel  has  been  addressed  to  you.  This  house  is  now 
consecrated  as  a  temple  of  learning.  Do  we  feel  duly  the  significance  of 
these  exercises  1  Do  we  realize  the  common  responsibility  that  we  as- 
sume by  participating  in  them  ?  This  afternoon  has  been  spent  in  mock- 
ery, unless  the  parties  here  represented  entertain  and  carry  out  serious 
convictions  of  duty. 

Let  us  feel  that  in  consecrating  this  house  to  tiie  purposes  of  education, 
we  consecrate  it  to  the  spirit  of  order.  Without  good  order,  education 
cannot  succeed  ;  and  surely  all  will  allow  that  good  order  cannot  exist 
without  the  aid  alike  of  master  and  scholar,  pa.'ent  and  guardian.  Let 
the  teacher  have  your  hearty  co-operation  in  his  endeavors  to  regulate  his 
school.  Let  him  not  be  left  at  the  mercy  of  the  unreasonable,  who  will 
call  every  act  of  discipline,  tyranny ;  or  of  the  quarrelsome,  who  will  re- 
sent every  restraint  as  a  personality.  Encourage  in  yourselves  and  your 
children  the  idea  that  good  order  has  its  foundation  in  the  very  nature  of 
things,  in  the  plan  of  the  creation,  and  the  hearts  of  man.  There  is  or- 
der in  God's  works, — in  the  heavens  above, — on  the  earth  beneath.  We 
imitate  the  divine  mind  when  we  strive  to  do  our  work  in  accordance  with 
the  best  rules,  and  submit  passing  impulses  and  little  details  to  a  common 
standard  of  right.  Let  the  child  be  taught  to  accept  this  idea,  and  to  see 
in  the  order  of  the  school  not  so  much  the  teacher's  will  as  the  law  of 
general  good.  Let  this  idea  prevail,  and  a  new  day  will  come  over  our 
schools.  Teachers  will  be  more  careful  to  place  their  passions  under  due 
control,  by  looking  beyond  present  provocations  to  permanent  principles  ; 
and  parents  and  children  will  acknowledge  the  justice  of  proper  discipline, 
even  when  its  penalties  fall  upon  themselves.  Consecrating  this  house 
to  education,  we  consecrate  it  then  to  the  spirit  of  good  order. 

Akin  to  order  is  the  spirit  of  good  ao?'Z/.— that  love  that  heightens  every 
task,  and  cheers  every  labor.  Let  us  feel  that  this  building  is  set  apart 
as  the  abode  of  good  will.  In  ihe  simple  beauty  of  its  walls,  and  the 
neatness  of  its  arrangements,  we  see  at  once  that  it  is  intended  to  be  a 
pleasant  place,  where  the  young  shall  come  rather  in  love  than  fear.  Let 
every  thing  be  done  to  carry  out  this  idea,  and  remove  all  gloom  from  the 
work  that  here  is  to  go  forward.     Let  the  voice  of  music  be  heard  in  the 


DEDICATORY  EXERCISES  AT  NORTH  PROVIDENCE.  4^5 

intervals  of  study,  and  charm  away  weariness  and  discontent.  Let 
courteous  manners  prevail  between  scholars  and  teachers.  Let  the  law 
of  love  be  .supreme,  and  the  good  of  each  be  regarded  as  the  good  of  all. 
Let  every  thing  be  done  to  make  knowledge  attractive,  without  impairing 
its  solidity.  You  have  declared  your  principles  upon  this  subject  in  the 
very  structure  of  this  edifice  ;  virtually  acknowledged  the  relation  of  the 
beautiful  to  the  true,  and  applied  to  education  that  law  of  attraction  that 
pervades  all  the  plans  of  Divine  Providence.  Carry  out  these  principles 
without  fear  and  without  extravagance.  Let  not  your  care  be  given 
merely  to  make  your  dwelling-houses  attractive.  Let  there  be  no  more 
school-rooms  so  rude  and  uncleanly  as  hardly  to  be  ftt  to  shelter  well-bred 
cattle.  Let  children  learn  neatness,  taste,  and  refinement,  along  with 
their  alphabet  and  multiplication  table.  To  good  will,  under  every  one 
of  its  attractive  agencies,  this  house  should  be  devoted. 

Thus  devoted,  it  will  be  a  nursery  of  good  works.  Utility  will  go  hand 
in  hand  with  good  order  and  good  will.  In  this  community,  practical 
industry  is  the  ruling  power;  utility  is  the  prevailing  standard.  See  to 
it  that  this  standard  is  rightly  adjusted,  and  that  we  do  not  confine  our 
idea  of  usefulness  to  worldly  or  material  interests.  As  we  hear  the  sound 
of  the  spindle  and  the  anvil,  and  see  the  spray  of  the  waterfall,  and  the 
smoke  of  the  furnace,  let  us  rejoice  at  the  large  measure  of  enterprise  and 
prosperity  that  have  been  granted  us.  But  when  we  turn  away  from 
these  things  to  look  upon  this  house  of  learning,  let  us  not  think  as  some 
base  souls  do,  that  we  have  left  utility  behind,  and  are  dealing  only  with 
what  is  visionary  and  unsubstantial.  Next  to  the  church  of  God,  let  us 
feel  that  the  school-house  is  the  most  useful  building  in  the  community, 
and  that  from  it  should  emanate  the  knowledge,  principles,  and  habits 
that  are  to  give  life  its  direction  and  efficiency.  Reckon  in  your  estimate 
of  the  best  wealth  of  your  city,  your  schools,  and,  without  them,  regard 
all  Other  wealth  as  disgraceful  covetousness  or  mental  poverty. 

Let  the  idea  of  utility  preside  over  the  direction  of  this  school,  and  all 
its  studies  tend  not  to  fill  the  memory  with  loads  of  words,  but  to  strength- 
en the  mind,  and  invigorate  and  regulate  the  will  and  all  the  active 
powers. 

Standing  as  it  does  in  so  sacred  a  seat  of  manufacturing  industry,  this 
house  has  a  peculiar  significance.  Overlooking  this  prosperous  town,  it 
serves  to  express  a  generous  creed — to  say  as  if  it  were : — "  We,  the 
people  of  North  Providence,  think  much  of  the  importance  of  industry  and 
wealth,  but  we  think  that  some  other  things  are  of  still  greater  import- 
ance, and  however  remiss  in  duty  we  may  have  been  in  time  past,  we 
mean  to  practice  upon  a  more  generous  system,  and  this  fair  temple  of 
learning,  standing  so  far  above  the  factory  and  workshop,  is  a  substantial 
testimonial  of  our  determination." 

It  is  an  interesting  fact,  that  the  first  movement  in  this  State  in  behalf 
of  popular  education  was  made,  not  by  professional  men,  nor  by  mer- 
chants, nor  any  of  the  classes  that  might  be  thought,  from  their  leisure  or 
literature,  to  advocate  the  claims  z£  sound  learning,  but  by  an  association 
ol'mechanics  and  manufacturers  in  Providence.  I  read  to-day,  with  great 
pleasure,  the  memorial  which  this  association  presented  to  the  Legisla- 
ture., in  the  year  1798.  I  honor  those  men  for  that  document.  But  one 
of  the  original  signers  now  survives.  Who  can  meet  that  old  man  with- 
out respect?  Who  will  not  honor  John  Howland  even  more  for  taking 
the  lead  in  that  memorial,  than  for  having  served  under  Washington  at 
Trenton,  and  braved  death  in  the  battles  of  the  revolution?  Peace  to  his 
sturdy  heart,  and  many  good  days  yet  to  that  stout  Saxoiv  frame  ! 

I  must  cease  speaking  with  these  few  words  as  to  the  good  order,  good 
will  and  good  works,  to  which  this  house  of  learning  is  devoted.  May  a 
goo  1  providence  watch  over  it.     Imagination  cannot  but  conjecture  the 


415  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

various  scenes  of  its  future  history — picture  to  herself  the  groups  of  chil- 
dren who  shall  come  to  enjoy  its  privileges,  and  who  in  due  time  shall' 
leave  its  walls  for  the  pursuits  of  maturer  life.  Prophesy  is  not  our  gift, 
except  the  prophesy  that  calculates  events  by  purposes  and  principles. 
Let  this  edifice  be  used  faithfully  for  true  purposes  and  for  just  principles, 
and  its  future  history  will  be  a  blessed  volume  in  the  annai  of  your  town 
It  will  tell  of  generations  of  noble  men  and  women,  who  have  been  educa- 
ted within  these  walls.  And  when  this  house  shall  have  gone  to  dust,  it 
will  have  performed  a  noble  mission,  by  being  the  nursery  of  mental  life 
that  cannot  die. 

"  Cold  in  the  dust,  the  perished  heart  may  lie, 
But  that  which  warmed  it  once,  can  never  die." 


DEDICATORY  EXERCISES  AT  CAMBRIDGE.  4^7 


Dedication  of  the   Public  High  School-House,  in  Cambridge,  Mass. 

The  edifice,  which  has  just  been  erected  (1848,)  for  the  accommoda- 
tion of  the  Public  High  School  of  the  city  of  Cambridge,  is  built  of  brick, 
two  stories  high  with  a  basement,  and  is  a  substantial,  attractive  and  con- 
venient school-house,  of  which  the  citizens  of  Cambridge  may  well 
feel  proud.  The  cost,  including  land,  furniture  and  apparatus,  is  $13,500. 
The  plan  of  the  interior  is  substantially  the  same  as  that  of  the  High 
School  in  Hartford. 

The  following  account  of  the  Dedication  of  this  house  is  abridged  from 
the  Cambridge  Chronicle  for  June  29,  1848. 

The  services  were  commenced  by  the  chanting  of  the  Lord's  Prayer 
by  the  scholars  of  the  school. 

Alderman  Whitney,  in  behalf  of  the  building  committee,  transferred 
the  building  to  the  care  of  the  School  Committee,  through  the  Mayor  of 
the  city,  with  an  appropriate  address.  After  a  dedicatory  prayer  by  Rev. 
N.  Hoppin,  and  another  chant,  of  selections  from  Proverbs,  by  the  chil- 
dren, the  Mayor  addressed  remarks  to  the  audience  upon  the  relation 
of  the  High  School  to  the  other  grades  of  schools,  and  to  the  cause  of 
education  generally  in  the  city,  and  on  some  of  the  conditions  on  which 
the  success  of  this  and  the  other  schools  depended.  Addresses  were  also 
made  by  gentlemen  present,  in  which  many  pleasing  incidents  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  public  schools,  and  of  the  town  and  city  of  Cambridge,  were 
narrated,  and  many  valuable  suggestions  thrown  out,  by  which  children, 
teachers,  parents  and  school  officers  can  profit.  We  make  the  following 
extract  from  the  address  of  Rev.  Mr.  Stearns,  Chairman  of  the  High 
School  Committee. 

"  At  the  time  of  my  settlement  here  as  a  clergyman  in  this  place,  in 
December,  1831,  there  were  in  the  town  6  school-houses,  8  school-rooms, 
8  teachers  and  about  400  scholars. 

At  this  time,  1848,  there  are  17  school-houses,  35  rooms,  44  teachers, 
and  2136  children. 

During  this  time,  it  is  true,  the  population  has  more  than  doubled,  but 
the  interest  taken  in  the  schools,  and  their  progress,  has  much  more  than 
tripled  or  quadrupled. 

If  at  thai  period  any  school  committee  had  seriously  proposed  the  erec-. 
tion  of  such  a  building  as  this  for  a  High  School,  they  would  undoubtedly 
have  been  excused  from  public  service  the  coming  year,  if  not  immedi- 
ately sent  to  Charlestown  as  insane.  But  the  spirit  of  improvement  has 
prevailed,  and  now  we  have  all  needed  advantages  for  making  good 
scholars,  who  shall  be  an  honor  to  their  parents,  and  to  their  generation. 

But,  Mr.  Mayor,  it  cannot  be  too  deeply  impressed  on  the  minds  of  our 
youth  that  the  means  of  education,  are  not  education  itself.  We  may 
have  good  school-houses,  fine  libraries,  superior  collections  of  philosophi- 
cal apparatus,  and  the  best  of  teachers,  with  miserable  scholars.  There 
are  means  of  improvement  in  creation  all  around  us — good  influences 
ascend  to  us  from  the  earth  and  come  down  to  us  from  the  sky. 
The  sun  is  a  teacher,  the  evening  stars  impart  knowledge,  while  every 
flower  is  eloquent  with  wisdom.  But  what  intelligence  do  all  these  out- 
ward instructors  communicate  to  the  ox  who  grazes  without  reflection,  or 
to  the  horse  who  eats  his  provender  without  thanksgiving  1  Hardly  more 
will  books,  and  maps,  and  pleasant  seats,  and  air-pumps,  and  scientific 

27 


418  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

lectures,  do  for  a  doltish  mind.  The  outward  may  stimulate  to  improve- 
ment, but  all  good  action  springs  from  within.  There  must  be  in  the 
scholar's  own  mind  a  strong  desire  for  knowledge,  a  spirit  aspiring  to  ex- 
cellence, a  force  of  moral  purpose  which  no  small  difficulties  can  vanquish, 
or  but  little  which  is  valuable  will  be  accomplished. 

Mr.  Chairman,  we  have  great  hopes  from  the  school  now  to  be  organ- 
ized in  this  house, — and  these  teachers,  and  these  parents,  and  these 
scholars,  must  see  to  it.  that  we  and  our  fellow  citizens  are  not  disap- 
pointed. 

This  school  is  intended  to  carry  forward  and  complete  the  education  of 
our  children — I  mean  complete  it  as  far  as  it  goes— for  education  never 
can  be  completed.  It  is  a  work  which  extends  beyond  the  school-room 
into  active  life,  all  through  time  into  eternity.  It  is  the  destiny  of  good 
minds  to  improve  for  ever.  They  will  go  on  rising,  expanding,  increasing 
in  true  wisdom  as  the  endless  ages  pass  along,  and  their  progress  will  be 
co-eternal  with  the  eternity  of  God.  We  wish  to  begin  right  with  the 
young  in  their  earliest  years,  and  to  carry  them  forward  in  tins  school  till 
they  are  prepared  for  service  and  usefulness  in  society,  and  the  good  be- 
ginnings of  immortal  advancement  are  firmly  laid.  We  wish  to  attend 
here  to  the  proper  development  of  their  faculties,  to  see  that  these  unfold 
themselves  in  just  proportions,  and  that  our  children  are  qualified  to  meet 
the  demands  of  the  age  and  devote  their  powers  to  life's  best  ends. 

We  establish  this  school,  also,  with  our  schools  generally,  as  a  preserv- 
ative against  vice.  When  I  look  round,  as  I  do  now,  upon  more  than 
one  hundred  children  fresh  as  a  flower  garden  in  the  morning,  it  seems 
hardly  in  good  taste,  to  suggest  that  any  of  them  may  become  the  vic- 
tims of  evil,  and  sink  in  disgrace  from  society.  And  yet,  it  is  possible  that 
among  these  young  men  and  young  women  too,  there  may  be  some  one 
or  more  who  will  live  to  be  the  objects  of  public  indignation  and  of  self- 
scorn.  God  forbid  5  But  juvenile  depravity  has  fearfully  increased 
within  a  few  years !  And  no  one  can  tell  who  will  be  among  the  next 
victims.  Mr.  Chairman,  1  once  had  a  dream — and  it  was  among  the  most 
terrible  dreams  which  ever  troubled  my  sleeping  imagination.  I  saw  a 
bright  and  beautiful  boy  playing  innocently  upon  the  green,  suddenly  the 
grass  began  to  move,  the  earth  to  undulate  till  it  became  water,  and 
the  boy  went  down  in  an  instant,  and  nothing  was  left  of  him  but  three  or 
four  air  bubbles  on  the  surface.  I  awoke  in  horror,  and  was  troubled  all 
day  by  this  midnight  vision.  I  thought  then,  and  I  have  ever  since 
thought,  that  it  was  a  vivid  illustration  of  the  course  and  end  of  many  a 
youth.  They  sport  thoughtlessly  among  the  green  and  flowery  fields  of 
temptation.  They  begin  to  yield,  principle  gives  way,  and  they  go  down 
and  are  lost  as  respects  character  for  ever.  We  wish  to  render  the  treach- 
erous earth  under  them  firmer.  We  would  change  it  into  the  hard 
granite  of  virtue,  we  would  have  them  stand  on  the  immovable  rock  of 
ages. 

We  hope,  also.  Mr.  Mayor,  from  this  school  an  advantage  to  the  adult 
community.  The  benefits  of  an  institution  like  this  do  not  terminate  with 
the  children.  By  a  reflex  influence,  they  return  to  the  families  from 
which  our  children  come.  It  is  no  unheard  of  thing  for  a  rough,  hard, 
uneducated  man  to  be  mellowed  and  transformed  by  the  influences  which 
his  children  and  his  children's  children  bring  home  from  the  churches  and 
the  schools.  A  good  school  does  excite  the  adult  mind ;  it  awakens  in- 
terest in  education,  and  promotes  improvement.  If  this  school  fulfills  our 
expectations,  it  will  be  to  the  community  a  moral  and  intellectual  sun, 
throwing  light  into  every  dwelling. 

We  believe  also  that  it  will  act  happily  upon  our  younger  schools.  It 
will  be  to  them  an  object  of  hope  and  honorable  ambition.  They  will 
take  their  examples  from  it — and  our  little  children  from  the  first  will  be 


DEDICATORY  EXERCISES  AT  CAMBRIDGE.  419 

aspiring  and  reaching  towards  it.  But  I  must  stop,  for  I  am  impatient, 
as  doubtless  you  and  this  assembly  must  be,  for  the  instructions  which 
are  to  fall  from  more  eloquent  lips  than  mine.  Children,  consider  how 
much  is  depending  upon  you.  Be  determined  to  fix  down  to  hard  study, 
to  do  right ;  and  on  the  first  principle  of  all  true  wisdom,  "  Remember 
now  thy  Creator  in  the  days  of  thy  youth." 

After  Mr.  Stearns  had  concluded,  a  hymn  was  sung.  The  Mayor  then 
stated  that  the  President  of  Harvard  College  was  present,  and  that  he 
hoped  he  would  favor  the  company  with  some  remarks." 

President  Everett  accepted  the  invitation,  and  responded  to  the  call  as 
follows: — 

May  it  please  your  Honor : — 

Connected  as  I  am  with  another  place  of  education,  of  a  kind  which  is 
commonly  regarded  as  of  a  higher  order,  it  is  precisely  in  that  connection, 
that  I  learn  to  feel  and  appreciate  the  importance  of  good  schools.  I  am 
not  so  ignorant  of  the  history  of  our  fathers,  as  not  to  know,  that  the 
spirit,  which  founded  and  fostered  Harvard  College,  is  the  spirit  which 
has  founded  and  upheld  and  will  continue  to  support  and  cherish  the 
schools  of  New  England.  I  know  well,  sir,  that  Universities  and  Col- 
leges can  neither  flourish  nor  even  stand  alone.  You  might  as  well 
attempt  to  build  your  second  and  third  stories  in  the  air,  without  a  first 
floor  or  abasement,  as  to  have  collegiate  institutions  without  good  schools 
for  preparatory  education,  and  for  the  diffusion  of  general  information 
throughout  the  community.  If  the  day  should  ever  come,  which  I  do  not 
fear  in  our  beloved  country,  when  this  general  education  shall  be  neg- 
lected and  these  preparatory  institutions  allowed  to  perish  ; — if  the  day 
should  ever  come  (of  which  I  have  no  apprehension)  when  the  schools  of 
New  England  shall  go  down,  depend  upon  it,  sir,  the  colleges  will  go 
with  them,  ft  will  be  with  them,  as  it  was  with  the  granite  warehouses, 
the  day  before  yesterday  in  Federal  street,  in  Boston  ;  if  the  piers  at  the 
foundation  give  way,  the  upper  stories  will  come  down  in  one  undistin- 
guished ruin. 

I  anticipate  no  sueh  disaster,  Mr.  Mayor,  though  it  must  be  admitted 
that  we  live  in  an  age  of  revolutions,  of  which  every  steamer  brings  us 
some  fresh  and  astonishing  account.  But  our  revolutions  are  of  a  more 
auspicious  character,  and  it  occurred  to  me  as  1  was  coming  down  with 
your  worthy  associate  (Mr.  Whitney,)  and  your  respected  predecessor 
(Mr.  Green,)  to  whom  we  have  just  listened  with  so  much  pleasure,  that 
we  were  traversing  a  region,  in  which  a  more  important  revolution  com- 
menced no  very  long  time  since,  and  is  still  in  progress, — far  more  impor- 
tant for  us  and  our  children, — than  any  of  those  which  have  lately  con- 
vulsed the  continent  of  Europe.  I  do  not  now  refer  to  the  great  politi- 
cal and  historical  events  of  which  this  neighborhood  was  the  theatre  ;  of 
whieh  the  monuments  are  in  sight  from  these  windows,  but  to  a  revolu- 
tion quiet  and  silent  in  its  origin  and  progress,  unostentatious  in  outward 
manifestations,  but  imparting  greater  change  and  warranting  brighter 
hopes  for  most  of  those  who  hear  me, — for  our  young  friends  before  us, — 
than  any  of  the  most  startling  events  that  stare  upon  us  in  capitals  in  the 
columns  of  the  newspapers,  after  every  arrival  from  Europe.  The  Rev- 
erend Mr.  Stearns  has  beautifully  sketched  some  of  the  most  important 
features  of  this  peaceful  revolution. 

When  I  entered  college,  Mr.  Mayor,  (and  I  believe  I  shall  not  tell  the 
audience  quite  how  many  years  ago  that  is ;  you  can  do  it,  sir,  but  I  will 
thank  you  not  to,)  there  were  a  few  straggling  houses,  shops,  and  taverns 
along  the  Main  street  at  Cambridgeport.  All  back  of  this  street  to  the 
aorta,  and  I  believe  almost  all  south  jf  it  to  the  river, — the  entire  district 


420  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

in  the  centre  of  which  we  are  now  assembled,  was  in  a  state  of  nature, 
pretty  equally  divided  between  barren  pasturage,  salt-marsh,  and  what  I 
must  admit  had  no  mean  attraction  for  us  freshmen,  whortleberry  swamp. 
Not  one  of  the  high  roads  had  been  cut.  which  now  traverse  the  plain 
between  Main  street  and  the  old  road  to  Charlestown.  East  Cambridge 
did  not  exist  even  in  the  surveyor's  imagination.  There  was  not  a  church 
nor  a  public  school  east  of  Dr.  Holmes'  and  Old  Cambridge  Commor  , 
and  if  any  one  had  prophesied  that- within  forty  years  a  population  like 
this  would  cover  the  soil, — with  its  streets  and  houses,  and  gardens,  its 
numerous  school-houses  and  churches,  its  conservatories  breathing  all  the 
sweets  of  the  tropics,  its  private  libraries  equal  to  the  choicest  in  the  land, 
and  all  the  other  appendages  of  a  high  civilization,  he  would  have  been 
set  down  as  a  visionary  indeed.  But  this  change,  this  revolution  has 
taken  place  even  within  the  life  time  of  the  venerable  lady  (Mrs.  Mer- 
riam)  introduced  to  us  in  such  a  pleasing  manner  by  Mr.  Stearns ;  and 
we  are  assembled  this  morning  to  take  a  respectful  notice  of  what  may 
be  called  its  crowning  incident,  the  opening  of  a  High  School  in  that 

Frimitive  whortleberry  swamp.  I  believe  I  do  not  over-state  matters  when 
say,  that  no  more  important  event  than  this  is  likely  to  occur,  in  the 
course  of  the  lives  of  many  of  those  here  assembled.  As  far  as  our  in- 
terests are  concerned,  all  the  revolutions  in  Europe  multiplied  tenfold  are 
nothing  to  it.  No,  sir,  not  if  the  north  were  again  to  pour  forth  its  myri- 
ads on  central  and  southern  Europe  and  break  up  the  existing  govern- 
ments and  states  into  one  general  wreck,  it  would  not  be  an  article  of  in- 
telligence at  all  so  important  to  us  as  the  opening  of  a  new  school.  No> 
my  young  friends,  this  is  a  day  which  may  give  an  auspicious  turn  to  your 
whole  career  in  life  ;  may  affect  your  best  interests  not  merely  for  time 
but  for  eternity. 

There  is  certainly  nothing  in  which  the  rapid  progress  of  the  country  is 
more  distinctly  marked  than  its  schools.  It  is  not  merely  their  multipli- 
cation in  numbers,  bat  their  improvement  as  places  of  education.  A 
school  forty  years  ago  was  a  very  different  affair  from  what  it  is  now. 
The  meaning  of  the  word  is  changed.  A  little  reading,  writing,  and 
ciphering,  a  very  little  grammar ;  and  for  those  destined  for  college,  a 
little  Latin  and  Greek,  very  indifferently  tu.ught.  were  all  we  got  at  a 
eommon  town  school  in  my  day.  The  range  was  narrow ;  the  instruc- 
tion superficial.  In  our  modern  school  system,  taking  it  as  a  whole  com- 
posed of  its  several  parts  in  due  gradation, — viz.  the  primary,  the  district, 
and  the  High  School, — the  fortunate  pupil  not  only  enjoys  a  very 
thorough  course  of  instruction  in  the  elementary  branches,  but  gets  a 
good  foundation  in  French,  a  good  preparation  for  college,  if  he  desires  it, 
according  to  the  present  advanced  standard  of  requirement ;  a  general 
acquaintance  with  the  applied  mathematics,  the  elements  of  natural  phi- 
losophy, some  suitable  information  as  to  the  form  of  government  and 
political  system  under  which  we  live,  and  no  inconsiderable  practice  in 
the  noble  arts  of  writing  and  speaking  our  mother  tongue. 

It  might  seem,  at  first,  that  this  is  too  wide  a  circle  for  a  school.  But 
the  experience  of  our  well  conducted  schools  has  abundantly  shown  that 
it  is  not  too  extensive.  With  faithful  and  competent  teachers  and  wil- 
ling and  hearty  learners,  all  the  branches  I  have  named  and  others  I  have 
passed  over  can  be  attended  to  with  advantage,  between  the  ages  of  four 
and  sixteen. 

Such  being  the  case,  our  School  Committees  have  done  no  more  than 
their  duty,  in  prescribing  this  extensive  course  and  furnishing  to  master 
and  pupils  the  means  of  pursuing  it.  I  cannot  tell  you,  sir,  how  much  I 
have  been  gratified  at  hastily  looking  into  the  alcove  behind  us.  As  I 
stepped  into  it  this,  morning,  Mr.  Smith,  the  intelligent  master  of  the 
school,  pointed  out  to.  me  the  heautiful  electrical  machine  behind  the  door 


DEDICATORY  EXERCISES  AT  CAMBRIDGE.  4«J1 

with  the  just  remark  that  my  venerable  predecessor,  President  Dunster, 
would  not  have  known  what  it  was.  No,  sir,  nor  would  the  most  eminent 
philosopher  in  the  world  before  the  time  of  Franklin.  Lord  Bacon  would 
not  have  known  what  it  was.  nor  Sir  Isaac  Newton.  Mr.  Smith  reminded 
me  of  the  notion  of  Cotton  Mather  (one  of  the  most  learned  men  of  his 
day,)  that  lightning  proceeded  from  the  Prince  of  the  Power  of  the  Air, 
by  which  he  accounted  for  the  fact  that  it  was  so  apt  to  strike  the  spires 
of  churches.  Cotton  Mather  would  have  come  nearer  the  truth,  if  he  had 
called  it  a  shining  manifestation  of  the  power  and  skill,  by  which  the 
Great  Author  of  the  Universe  works  out  some  of  the  mighty  miracles  of 
creation  and  nature.  And  only  think,  sir,  that  these  newly  discovered 
mysteries  of  the  material  world,  unknown  to  the  profoundest  sages  of 
elder  days,  are  so  effectually  brought  down  to  the  reach  of  common 
schools  in  our  day,  that  these  young  friends,  before  they  are  finally  dis- 
missed from  these  walls,  will  be  made  acquainted  with  not  a  few  of  the 
wonderful  properties  of  the  subtle  element,  evolved  and  condensed  by  that 
machine,  and  which  recent  science  has  taught,  to  be  but  different  forms  of 
one  principle,  whether  it  flame  across  the  heavens  in  the  midnight  storm, 
or  guide  the  mariner  across  the  pathless  ocean  5— or  leap  from  city  to  city 
across  the  continent  as  swiftly  as  the  thought  of  which  it  is  the  vehicle  ; 
and  which  I  almost  venture  to  predict,,  before  some  here  present  shall 
taste  of  death,  will,  by  some  still  more  sublime  generalization,  be  identi- 
fied with  the  yet  hidden  principle  which  thrills  through  the  nerves  of  ani- 
mated beings,  and  binds  life  to  matter,  by  the  ties  of  sensation. 

But  while  you  do  well,  sir,  in  your  High  School  to  make  provision  for 
these  advanced  studies,  I  know  that  as  long  as  it  remains  under  your  in- 
struction, the  plain  elementary  branches  will  not  be  undervalued.  There 
is  perhaps  a  tendency  in  that  direction  in  some  ©f  our  modern  schools :  I 
venture  to  hope  it  will  not  be  encouraged  here.  I  know  it  is  not  to  be 
the  province  of  this  school  to  teach  the  elements;  but  I  am  sure  you  will 
show  that  you  entertain  sound  views  of  their  importance.  I  hold,  sir, 
that  to  read  the  English  language  well,  that  is  with  intelligence,  feeling, 
spirit,  and  effect ;  —  to  write  with  dispatch,  a  neat,  handsome,  legible  hand, 
(for  it  is  after  all,  a  great  object  in  writing  to  have  others  able  to  read 
what  you  write,)  and  to  be  master  of  the  four  rules  of  arithmetic,  so  as 
to  dispose  at  once  with  accuracy  of  every  question  of  figures  which  comes 
up  in  practical  life  : — I  say  I  call  this  a  good  education;  and  if  you  add 
the  ability  to  write  pure  grammatical  English,  with  the  help  of  very  few 
hard  Words,  I  regard  it  as  an  excellent  education.  These  are  the  tools ; 
you  can  do  much  with  them,  but  you  are  helpless  without  them.  They 
are  the  foundation  ;  and  unless  you  begin  with  these,  all  your  flashy  at- 
tainments, a  little  natural  philosophy,  and  a  little  mental  philosophy;  a 
little  physiology  and  a  little  geology,  and  all  the  other  ologiesand  osophies, 
are  but  ostentatious  rubbish. 

There  is  certainly  no  country  in  the  world  in  which  so  much  money  is 
paid  for  schooling  as  in  ours.  This  can  be  proved  by  figures.  I  believe 
there  is  no  country  where  the  common  schools  are  so  good.  But  they 
may  be  improved.  It  is  not  enough  to  erect  commodious  school-houses ; 
or  compensate  able  teachers,  and  then  leave  them,  masters  and  pupils,  to 
themselves.  A  school  is  not  a  clock  which  you  can  wind  up  and  then 
leave  it  to  go  of  itself.  It  is  an  organized  living  body :  it  has  sensibili- 
ties ;  it  craves  sympathy.  You  must  not  leave  the  School  Committee  to 
do  all  the  work.  Your  teachers  want  the  active  countenance  of  the  whole 
body  of  parents,  of  the  whole  intelligent  community.  I  am  sure  you,  Mr. 
Smith,  would  gladly  put  up  with  a  little  injudicious  interference  in  single 
cases,  if  you  could  have  the  active  sympathies  of  the  whole  body  of 
parents  to  fall  back  upon  indelicate  and  difficult  cases,  and  to  support  and 
cheer  you  under  the  burthen  of  your  labors,  from  day  to  day.     I  think 


422 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


this  matter  deserves  more  attention  than  it  has  received ;  and  if  so  small 
a  number  as  thirty  parents  would  agree  together,  to  come  to  the  school, 
some  one  of  them,  each  in  his  turn,  but  once  a  month,  or  rather  if  but  25 
or  26  would  do  it,  it  would  give  your  teacher  the  support  and  countenance 
of  a  parent's  presence  every  day ;  at.  a  cost  to  each  individual  of  ten  or 
eleven  days  in  the  year.  Would  not  the  good  to  be  effected  be  worth  the 
sacrifice  1 

I  have  already  spoken  too  long,  Mr.  Mayor,  and  will  allude  to  but  one 
other  topic.  In  most  things,  as  I  have  said,  connected  with  education,  we 
are  incalculably  in  advance  of  other  days :— in  some,  perhaps,  we  have 
fallen  below  their  standard.  I  know,  sir,  old  men  are  apt  to  make  unfa- 
vorable contrasts  between  the  present  time  and  the  past  j  and  if  I  do  not 
soon  begin  to  place  myself  in  that  class,  others  will  do  it  for  me.  But  I 
really  think  that  in  some  things,  belonging,  perhaps,  it  will  be  thought,  to 
the  minor  morals,  the  present  promising  generation  of  youth  might  learn 
something  of  their  grandfathers,  if  not  their  fathers.  When  I  first  went 
to  a  village  school,  sir,  I  remember  it  as  yesterday ; — I  seem  still  to  hold 
by  one  hand  for  protection,  (I  was  of  the  valiant  age  oi~  three  years)  to 
an  elder  sister's  apron  ; — with  the  other  I  grasped  my  primer,  a  volume 
of  about  two  and  a  half  inches  in  length,  which  formed  then  the  sum  tota? 
of  my  library,  and  which  had  lost  the  blue  paper  cover  from  one  corner7 
(my  first  misfortune  in  life ;)  I  say  it  was  the  practice  then,  as  we  were 
trudging  along  to  school,  to  draw  up  by  the  road-side,  if  a  traveller,  a 
stranger,  or  a  person  in  years,  passed  along,  "  and  make  our  manners,"  as 
it  was  called.  The  little  girls  courtesied,  the  boys  made  a  bow;  it  was  not 
done  with  much  grace,  I  suppose :  bat  there  was  a  civility  and  decency 
about  it,  which  did  the  children  good,  and  produced  a  pleasing  impression 
on  those  who  witnessed  it.  The  age  of  village  chivalry  is  past,  never  to 
return.  These  manners  belong  to  a  forgotten  order  of  things.  They  are 
too  precise  and  rigorous  for  this  enlightened  age.  I  sometimes  fear  the 
pendulum  has  swung  too  far  in  the  opposite  extreme.  Last  winter  I  was 
driving  into  town  in  a  carriage  closed  behind,  but  open  in  front.  There 
was  in  company  with  me,  the  Rev.  President  Woods,  of  Bowdoin  Col- 
lege, Maine,  and  that  distinguished  philanthropist  and  excellent  citizen, 
Mr.  Amos  Lawrence.  Well,  sir,  we  happened  to  pass  a  school-house 
just  as  the  boys  (to  use  the  common  expression)  were  "let  out."  I  sup- 
pose the  little  men  had  just  been  taught  within  doors  something  about  the 
laws,  which  regulate  the  course  of  projectiles,  and  determine  the  curves 
in  which  they  move.  Intent  on  a  practical  demonstration,  and  tempted 
by  the  convenient  material,  I  must  say  they  put  in  motion  a  quantity  ol 
spherical  bodies,  in  the  shape  of  snow  balls,  which  brought  the  doctrine 
•  quite  home  to  us  wayfarers,  and  made  it  wonderful  that  we  got  off  with 
no  serious  inconvenience,  which  was  happily  the  case.  This  I  thought 
was  an  instance  of  free  and  easy  manners,  verging  to  the  opposite  ex- 
treme of  the  old  fashioned  courtesy,  which  I  have  just  described.  I  am 
quite  sure  that  the  boys  of  this  school  would  be  the  last  to  indulge  an  ex- 
periment attended  with  so  much  risk  to  the  heads  of  innocent  third 
persons. 

Nothing  remains,  sir,  but  to  add  my  best  wishes  for  teachers  and  pu- 
pils ; — You  are  both  commencing  under  the  happiest  auspices.  When  1 
consider  that  there  is  not  one  of  you,  my  young  friends,  who  does  not  en- 
joy gratuitously  the  opportunity  of  obtaining  a  better  school  education, 
than  we  could  have  bought,  Mr.  Mayor,  when  we  were  boys,  with  the 
wealth  of  the  Indies,  I  cannot  but  think  that  each  one  of  you,  boys  and 
girls,  will  be  ready  to  say  with  grateful  hearts,  the  lines  have  fallen  to 
me  in  pleasant  places ;  yea,  I  have  a  goodly  heritage. 

To  you,  Mr.  Smith,  we  wish  entire  success.  The  community  looks  to 
you  with  confidence,  to  add  to  your  high  reputation  as  an  instructor,  and 


DEDICATORY  EXERCISES  AT  CAMBRIDGE.  423 

commits  to  you  these  its  treasures,  with  the  full  assurance  that,  you  will 
be  faithful  to  the  trust 

An-  original  hymn,  written  for  the  occasion,  was  then  sung. 

At  the  close  of  the  exercises,  the  Mayor,  as  Chairman  of  the  School 
Committee,  transferred  the  Building  and  the  School  to  the  immediate 
care  of  the  High  School  Committee.  Mr.  Stearns  responded  in  a  word, 
as  follows : — Mr.  Mayor,  in  behalf  of  the  High  School  Committee,  I  ac- 
cept this  important  trust  at  your  hands.  We  will  endeavor  faithfully  and 
according  to  the  best  of  our  ability,  to  perform  its  duties,  the  first  of 
which  will  be  to  commit  the  care  of  the  school  to  Mr.  Elbridge  Smith,  its 
principal  teacher. 

Mr.  Smith,  we  sometimes  say  of  a  remarkably  honest  man,  I  would 
trust  him  with  untold  gold.  We  are  about  to  entrust  to  you  what  is  of 
unspeakably  more  value.  If  each  of  these  pupils  were  a  million  of  gold, 
jthe  treasure  committed  to  you  would  be  worth  infinitely  less  than  these 
immortal  minds.  I  speak  in  the  name  of  every  parent  here,  when  I  say 
we  have  no  higher  interests  than  the  welfare  of  our  children.  If  evil 
befall  them— if  through  a  defective  education,  they  should  turnout  badly, 
there  would  be  but  little  left  to  make  life  desirable  to  us.  If  you  so  suc- 
ceed in  your  good  work,  that  our  sons  and  daughters  shall  grow  up  around 
us,  intelligent,  respectable,  filial  and  good,  j^>u  shall  have  our  thanks  here, 
and  hereafter.  We  give  you  our  confidence — Heaven  grant  you  its 
blessing. 

Mr.  Smith  remarked  in  reply, 

That  it  was  his  sincere  intention  to  receive  the  important  trust,  which 
had  been  committed  to  his  care,  without  attempting  a  reply.  But  such  had 
been  the  course  of  remark  as  to  awaken  feelings  too  strong  to  be  suppressed : 
and  though  it  might  be  but  an  act  of  rashness  for  an  unpracticed 
hand  to  attempt  extempore  discourse  in  the  presence  of  distinguished  gen- 
tlemen, he  felt  called  upon  to  say  that  he  was  deeply  sensible  that,  in  ac- 
cepting this  trust,  he  received  no  sinecure.  Without  enlarging  upon  the 
nature  of  his  duties,  or  adding  aught  to  what  had  already  been  said,  he 
Would  simply  say  that  he  would  perform  the  duties  assigned  him  to  the  best 
of  his  humble  ability.  He  felt  that  he  should  do  injustice  to  his  feelings  not 
to  return  his  thanks  to  the  distinguished  gentleman  who  had  addressed  us, 
for  the  sentiments  which  he  had  so  beautifully  and  forcibly  expressed.  He 
had  spoken  of  what  he  termed  the  minor  immoralities.  Mr.  Smith  had 
often  had  occasion  to  use  the  same  expressions  in  enforcing  the  practice  of 
those  civilities  of  school  life  to  which  he  had  referred.  And  you,  scholars,  he 
remarked,  can  bear  me  testimony  how  often,  during  the  brief  period  of  my 
connection  with  you,  I  have  referred  you  to  our  distinguished  guest  as 
combining  in  himself  those  very  qualities  which  he  has  enjoined  upon  you. 
He  had  felt  great  pleasure  in  hearing  his  feeble  instructions  seconded  by 
the  example  and  precepts  of  one  of  the  most  gifted  scholars  of  the  land. 
He  should  have  occasion  to  remember  him  with  gratitude  during  the  re- 
mainder of  his  life,  for  the  aid  which  he.  had  this  day  afforded  him  in  the 
discharge  of  his  duties  as  a  teacher.  The  children  have  heard  to-day 
the  sentiments  of  one  who  has  left  the  high  duties  of  State  and  diplomacy 
for  the  still  higher  work  of  instructing  New  England  youth.  They 
should  make  this  day  a  crisis  in  their  existence. 

He  closed  by  remarking  that  in  his  boyhood,  while  laboring  hard  to 
acquire  an  education,  he  became  the  proud  owner  of  a  handsome  octavo, 
entitled  "  Everett's  Orations," — no  inconsiderable  portion  of  which  he 
committed  to  memory.  He  could  not  better  conclude,  than  by  reciting  an 
extract  which  this  occasion  brought  fresh  to  his  recollection.  "  Let  the 
pride  of  military  glory  belong  to  foreign  nations :  let  the  refined  corrup- 
tions of  the  older  world  attract  the  traveller  to  its  splendid  capitals ;  let  a 
fervid  sun  ripen  for  others  the  luxuries  of  a  tropical  clime.     Let  it  be  ours 


424  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

to  boast  that  we  inherit  a  land  of  liberty  and  light ;  .^-«w 

and  the  church  continue  to  be  the  landmarks  of  the  New  England  village; 
let  the  son  of  New  England,  whither  soever  he  may  wander,  leave  that 
behind  him  which  shall  make  him  home-sick  for  his  native  land ;  let  free- 
dom, and  knowledge,  and  morals,  and  religion,  as  they  are  our  birthright, 
be  the  birthright  of  our  children  to  the  end  of  time." 

The  exercises  were  closed  by  singing  a  benediction  hymn  to  the  tune 
of  Old  Hundred,  in  which  all  present  joined.  The  company  left  reluc- 
tantly ;  having  spent  three  hours  so  profitably  and  pleasantly  that  the 
time  passed  unawares.  The  highest  expectations  have  been  raised  in 
regard  to  the  school,  and  we  hope  they  may  be  more  than  realized. 

We  would  gladly  devote  more  of  our  pages  to  the  publication  of  such 
addresses  as  these,  but  we  have  already  swelled  this  volume  beyond  our 
original  plan. 

Our  readers  will  find  in  the  eighth  and  ninth  volumes  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Common  School  Journal,  for  1846  and  1847,  very  full  and  interesting 
accounts  of  the  Dedication  of  the  State  Normal  School-houses  at  Bridge- 
water  and  at  Westfield.  The  addresses  of  the  Hon.  Horace  Mann,  Gov. 
Briggs,  Prof.  Sears,  Hon.  William  Bates,  and  Rev.  Dr.  Humphrey,  are 
worthy  of  the  widest  circulation.  Dr.  Humphrey's  address  is  an  elabo- 
rate argument  in  behalf  of  Normal  Schools. 


ALLEN'S  EDUCATION  TABLE. 


425 


Allen's  Alphabetical,  Spelling,  Reading,  and  arithmetical 

Table. 


Allen's  Education  Table  consists  of  a  board  or  table,  along  the  centre  of 
which  are  horizontal  grooves,  or  raised  ledges  forming  grooves  between  them, 
that  connect  with  perpendicular  grooves  or  compartments  on  the  sides,  in 
which  are  inserted  an  assortment  of  movable  blocks,  on  the  face  of  which  are 
cut  the  letters  of  the  alphabet,  both  capitals  and  small,  the  nine  digits  and 
cipher,  and  all  the  usual  pauses  and  signs  used  in  composition  and  arithmetic. 

The  letters,  figures  and  signs  are  large,  so  as  to  be  readily  recognized  by  all 
the  members  of  a  large  class,  and  from  even  the  extremity  of  a  large  school- 
room, and  are  so  assorted  and  arranged  as  to  be  easily  slid  from  the  perpendic- 
ular grooves  or  compartments  into  the  horizontal  grooves,  and  there  combined 
into  syllables,  words  and  sentences,  or  used  in  simple  arithmetical  operations. 
When  the  lesson  in  the  alphabet,  spelling,  reading,  composition,  or  arithmetic, 
is  finished,  the  blocks  can  be  returned  to  their  appropriate  places. 

The  experience  of  many  teachers  in  schools  of  different  grades,  and  of  many 
mothers  at  home,  (the  God-appointed  school  for  little  children,  next  to  which 
should  be  ranked  the  well  organized  Primary  School,  with  a  bright,  gentle, 
affectionate  and  patient  female  teacher,)  has  demonstrated  that  by  accustoming 
the  child,  either  individually,  or  in  a  class,  to  select  letter  by  letter,  and  move 
them  from  their  appropriate  case  to  the  centre  of  the  board,  and  there  combin- 
ing them  into  syllables  and  words,  a  knowledge  of  the  alphabet,  and  of  words, 
is  acquired  in  a  much  shorter  time  and  in  a  much  more  impressive  and  agree- 
able manner,  than  by  any  of  even  the  best  methods  now  pursued. 

All  of  the  advantages  derived  from  the  method  of  dictation,  and  the  use  of  the 
slate  and  blackboard,  in  teaching  children  the  alphabet,  spelling,  reading,  and 
the  use  of  capital  letters  and  pauses,  as  well  as  the  elementary  principles  of 
arithmetic,  such  as  numeration,  addition,  subtraction,  &c,  can  be  secured  by 
the  introduction  of  this  Table  into  our  Primary  and  District  Schools. 

Manufactured  by  Edwin  Allen  only,  Windham,  Conn,,  who  will 
promptly  attend  to  all  orders  for  them. 


IMPROVED  SCHOOL  APPARATUS. 


LETTER   FROM   S.   W.   SETON, 

Agent  of  the  Public  School  Society  of  the  City  of  New  York. 

Mr.  Barnard 

Dear  Sir  : 

In  your  plans  for  School  buildings,  I  am  pleased  to  find 
suggested  a  closet  for  apparatus.  It  prompts  the  wish  that  in 
all  cases,  it  may  be  filled  with  such  as  is  adapted  to  the  ends 
always  to  be  had  in  view, — presenting  progressively,  distinct 
ideas  of  the  principles  of  the  sciences  intended  to  be  illustrated 
by  it.  Among  the  abundance  that  is  supplied  by  the  shops, — 
such  as  meets  the  wants  of  Teachers,  is,  as  yet,  among  the  de- 
siderata of  schools.  The  most  that  I  have  seen  is  too  complex 
for  elementary  purposes ; — and  all  of  it,  nearly  useless  to  com- 
mon schools,  from  its  liability  to  get  out  of  order,  and  the  slight- 
ness  of  its  material.  Simplicity,  durability,  and  cheapness,  with 
convenience  and  facility  in  using  it, — should  be  the  first  objects 
to  be  secured  in  its  preparation.  Designing  that  it  should  be 
often  used,  and  as  frequently  in  the  hands  of  the  pupils,  as  the 
Teacher.  For,  undoubtedly,  the  illustrations  by  the  Teacher, 
should,  in  most  cases,  be  repeated  by  his  scholars.  If  these  are 
given  without  anything  extraneous  or  perplexing,  distinct  ideas 
will  be  conveyed,  and  the  knowledge  thus  imparted,  becomes  a 
perpetual  possession.  The  complexity  of  apparatus  has  greatly 
retarded  its  introduction  into  our  Common  Schools  ;  rendering 
it  inconvenient  to  arrange,  and  difficult  of  use.  Besides  being 
expensive, — if  out  of  order,  Teachers  are  without  the  means  of 
repairing  it.  Thus  it  is  thrown  aside  with  disappointment ;  and 
a  most  desirable  plan  of  school  operation  is  abandoned,  as  not 
worth  farther  consideration. 

I  am  happy  to  inform  you,  that  there  is  now  a  prospect  of 
suitable  apparatus  being  prepared  for  common  schools,  with 
the  aid  and  valuable  suggestions  of  practical  and  experienced 
Teachers.  It  will  be  durable  and  cheap,  and  at  the  same  time 
well  finished.  Much  of  it,  especially  that  for  primary  instruc- 
tion, will  differ  from  the  usual  forms  of  apparatus  for  the  same 
purposes.  This  has  sometimes  been  found  necessary  for 
strength,  as  well  as  for  purposes  of  clearer  illustration.  Some 
of  it  is  already  before  the  public,  and  has  been  used  in  our 
schools  with  great  success.  I  subjoin  a  description  of  that,  and 
of  such  as  is  designed  to  be  added  thereto ; — so  that  such  list, 
with  the  foregoing  thoughts  on  the  subject,  may  enable  the 
readers  of  your  useful  book,  to  form  an  estimate  of  the  desira- 
bleness of  procuring  it. 


IMPROVED  APPARATUS  FOR  PRIMARY  SCHOOLS. 

Geometrical  Solids. — Illustrating  the  elements  of  form  and 
mensuration,  with  revolving  figures  showing  the  formation  of 
round  bodies. 

Five-inch  Globe. — On  stand,  with  fixtures  to  suspend  it  by  a 
cord,  illustrating  its  motions  separately  and  together. 

Numeral  Frame. — For  illustrating  numbers,  etc. 

A  Foot  Rule — a  Yard  Measure. — To  illustrate  their  divisions 
and  fractions,  etc. 

A  small  Sphere. — On  axis,  with  parallels  and  meridians,  etc. 

Geological  Specimens. — Showing  the  formation  of  the  earth, 
and  their  uses  in  the  arts,  manufactures,  and  agriculture. 

Small  Siphon, — Magnet, — Lens, — Pressure  Plates. — A  Pocket 
Microscope. 

A  large  Prism. 

Bulb  and  Tube. — To  illustrate  expansion  by  heat  and  pressure 
of  the  atmosphere. 

A  small  Glass  Pump. 

A  small  Map  of  the  World, —  United  States, — Europe 

A  Card,  with  the  Points  of  the  Compass. 

A  Box  loith  materials  for  Object  Lessons,  or  a  Knowledge  of 
Common  Things,  viz :  silk,  muslin,  flannel,  cotton  and  woollen 
cloth,  linen,  calico,  gingham,  oil-cloth,  felt,  drugget,  brick,  pot- 
tery, china,  glass,  iron,  steel,  copper,  lead,  tin,  brass,  pewter,  a 
type,  a  ring,  a  wheel,  paper,  parchment,  leather,  morocco,  kid, 
buckskin,  a  cotton-boll  (from  the  plant),  coccoon,  hair,  wool, 
hemp,  flax,  raw  silk,  wax,  resin,  isinglass,  bean,  allspice,  clove, 
coffee,  pepper-corn,  cinnamon,  cocoa,  rice,  corn,  wheat,  oats, 
barley,  buckwheat,  a  sponge,  shell,  cards  of  primary  and  second- 
ary colors,  etc. 


APPARATUS   FOR  ADVANCED   SCHOOLS 

Astronomy. — Orbit  and  plane,  concentric  rings,  showing 
nodes  and  inclination  of  the  planets'  orbits,  moon's  orbit  and 
plane,  with  earth's  orbit,  showing  nodes,  etc.,  single  ball  and  cord 
to  illustrate  nodes  ascending  and  descending. 

Tellurium,  (Earth,  Moon,  Mercury,  and  Venus.) 

Five-inch  Globe,  with  movable  horizon,  rings  of  stars,  hour 
circle,  etc. 

Five-inch  Globe. — Exhibiting  the  Zones,  etc. 

Orrery,  complete. — On  a  high  standard,  with  rings  of  stars 
and  zodiacal  signs. 

A  large  Microscope. 

A  set  of  Mechanical  Powers. 

An  Electro  Magnet. 

Pneumatic,  Chemical,  and  other  apparatus  will  be  added. 

Ji^A  plain  gnide  to  the  use  of  the  above  will  be  prepared  to  accompany  the  apparatus— appli* 
cation  to  be  made  to  Jobiah  Holbrook,  140  Grand  street,  New- York. 


INDEX. 


Alcott,  Dr.  "W.  A.,  Essay  and  Plan  by, 
64;  quoted,  50. 

American  Institute  of  Instruction, 
Prize  Essay  of,  64 ;  Lectures  before, 
323. 

Apparatus,  provision  for,  58 ;  import- 
ance of,  59 ;  list  of,  273,  325. 

Arnott,  Dr.,  50. 

Atmosphere,  constitution  of,  45 ;  146. 

Austin,  Henry,  plans  of  school-houses 
by,  76. 

B. 

Book  Manual,  294. 

Backs  to  seats,  56. 

Barnard,  Henry,  extract  from  Report 
by,  on  the  school-houses  of  Con- 
necticut, 25 ;  school-houses  in  Rhode 
Island,  30. 

Bell,  Dr.,  on  Ventilation,  45. 

Bishop,  Nathan,  report  by,  on  school- 
houses  of  Providence,  233. 

Blackboard,  importance  of,  59  ;  direc- 
tions for  construction,  90,  91,  96,  289. 

Blackboard  movable,  plan  of,  70. 

Boston,  School  system  of,  166;  Expen- 
ditures for,  171 ;  plan  of  Primary 
school-house,  176;  plan  of  Brimmer 
Grammar  school-house  in,  114 ; 
Bowdoin  school-house,  206 ;  Q.uincy 
school-house,  208. 

Boston  plan  of  Ventilation,  145. 

Boston  Primary  School  Chair,  116. 

Brimmer,  Martin,  66. 

Bridgewater  Normal  school-house, 
plan  of,  136. 

Bryant,  Mr.,  plans  of  school-houses  by, 
206,  208,  210. 


Calcutta,  Black  Hole  of,  Stories  of,  45. 

Calisthenic  Exercises,  216. 

Cambridge  High  school-house,  dedi- 
cation of,  317. 

Carbonic  Acid  Gas,  nature  of,  43. 

Catalogue  of  Books  of  Reference,  288. 

Centremill,  plan  of  school-house  in, 
254. 

Chairs  for  schools,  120,  200,  201,  205. 

Churches,  Ventilation  of,  46 ;  plan  for, 
165. 

Chilson's  Furnace,  154. 


Clark's,  Dr.  Henry  G.,  report  on  ven- 
tilation, 145. 

Clark's  Ventilating  Stove,  155. 

Clock,  59. 

Construction,  general  principles  of,  40. 

Connecticut,  condition  of  school- 
houses  in,  25. 

Combe,  Dr.,  extract  from,  45. 

Crosby,  W.  B.,  extract  from  Report 
by,  on  school-houses  in  Maine,  29. 

Crayons,  how  made,  96. 

D. 

Dedication  of  school-houses,  302. 

Defects  in  School  Architecture  to  be 
avoided,  15. 

Desks,  evils  in  construction  of,  33. 

Dick,  Dr.  Thomas,  plan  of  Village 
School  by,  77. 

Double  Fireplace,  51 ;  plan  of,  70. 

Dublin  Hospital,  experiments  in  ven- 
tilation in,  44. 

Dunglinson  Dr.,  quoted,  47. 

E. 

Eaton,  Horace,  Report  by,  on  school- 
houses  in  Vermont,  22. 

Ejecting  Ventilators,  156. 

Eliot  School-house,  ventilation  of,  150. 

Endicott  School-house,  ventilation  of, 
150. 

Emerson's,  Frederick,  plan  of  ventila- 
tion, 144. 

Emerson,  G.  B.,  remarks  by,  on 
school-houses,  66;  plans  of  school- 
houses  by,  72. 

Errors  in  School  Architecture  to  be 
avoided,  39. 

Essex  County  Teachers'  Association, 
Extract  from  Report  on  School- 
houses  published  by,  36. 

Evaporating  Dish,  53. 

Everett,  President,  address  by,  319. 


Facher  System,  plan  of  school-rooms 
for,  83. 

Factories,  want  of  ventilation  of,  46. 

Fireplace,  open,  admirable  for  ventila- 
tion, 51. 

Franklin  fireplace,  51 ;  plan  of,  70. 

Free  Academy  in  City  of  New  York 
223. 


INDEX. 


Fuel,  care  of,  293. 

Furnace,  advantages  of,  52;  plan  of 

used  in  Providence,  250 ;  in  Boston, 

155;  in  Hartford,  221. 

G. 

Gallery,  plan  of,  95. 

Glocester,  plan  of  District  school- 
house  in,  258. 

Godwin,  George,  plan  by,  270. 

Grammar  school-house,  plan  of,  in 
Salem,  108;  in  Lowell,  112;  in 
Boston,  198, 206, 208;  in  Providence, 
240. 

Grotto  del  Carne,  near  Naples,  42. 

H. 

Haddock,  Prof,  extract  from  Report 
by,  on  the  school-houses  of  New 
Hampshire,  24. 

Hanks'  Improved  Air-Heater,  220. 

Hartford,  plan  of  Primary  School  in, 
92;  Disiict  School,  93;  High  School 
in,  214. 

High  School-house,  plan  of,  in  Mid- 
dletown,  98;  in  Lowell,  112;  in 
Providence,  233;  in  Hartford,  162, 
214;  in  Cambridge,  317. 

High  Schools,  Public,  consideration  re- 
specting, 225. 

Hints  respecting  ventilation,  142. 

Hosking  on  ventilation  of  buildings, 
162. 

Hospitals,  ventilation  of,  44. 

House  of  Commons,  ventilation  of,  49. 

Hydrogen,  Sulphuretted,  48. 


Individual  System  of  Instruction,  79. 
Injecting  ventilation,  144,  156. 
Infant  Schools,  plan  of  grounds,  &c. 

for,  85. 
Ingraham's    Primary    School   Chair, 

201. 
Intermediate  School,  plan  for,  236. 

K. 

Kimball's   Improved    Chair,    cut   of, 

115, 120. 
Kendall,  H.  E.,  plan  by,  261. 

L. 

Lassaigne,  extract  from,  145. 

Le  Blanc,  147. 

Library,  arrangements  for,  61,  279. 

Light,  general  principles  to  be  ob- 
served in  the  arrangements  for,  41. 

Little  children,  school  accommoda- 
tions for,  57. 

Location  of  school-houses,  general  prin- 
ciples to  be  observed  in  the,  40. 

Lord,  A.  D.,  plan  of  district  school- 
house  by,  78. 

Lowell,  plan  of  High  School  in,  112. 


M. 

Maine,  condition  of  school-houses  in, 
29. 

Mann,  Horace,  extracts  from  Report 
by,  15 ;  plan  for  school-room  by,  64 ; 
plan  of  gradation  of  schools,  64; 
extracts  from  Report  respecting  Nor- 
mal schools,  132,  136. 

Manners,  as  influenced  by  school- 
house  arrangements,  21,  298. 

Massachusetts,  condition  of  school- 
houses  in  1838,  and  1846,  contrasted. 
16. 

Massachusetts  Normal  school-houses, 
136. 

Mayhew,  Ira,  extract  from  Report  by, 
31 ;  plan  of  school-houses  by,  259. 

Mats,  26. 

Millar's  Patent  Ventilating  Stove,  51. 

Minutes  of  Committee  of  Council,  83, 
142,  260. 

Michigan,  condition  of  school-houses 
in,  31. 

Mixed  Method  of  Instruction,  school- 
rooms for,  79,  82. 

Monroe,  plan  of  school-house  in,  259. 

Mott's  School  Chair,  105. 

Mott's  plan  of  ventilation,  142. 

Movable  Blackboard,  70,  96. 

Mutual  Method,  plans  of  school  rooms 
on,  79. 

N. 

National  Society,  plan  of  school-room 
of,  82. 

Neatness,  habits  of,  as  influenced  by 
want  of  Mats,  Scrapers,  &c,  21 ;  to 
be  enforced,  300. 

New  Hampshire,  condition  of  school- 
houses  in,  24. 

New  York,  condition  of  school-houses 
in,  16. 

New  York  Public  School  Society,  plan 
of  school-houses  belonging  to,  100; 
history  of,  109 ;  report  to  on  seats 
without  backs,  106. 

Normal  schools,  history  of,  121 ;  in 
New  York,  123;  in  Massachusetts, 
132;  school-houses  for  in  Massa- 
chusetts, 136. 

O. 

Octagonal  School-house,  plan  of,  by 
Town  and  Davis,  73;  advantages 
of,  74. 

Olmsted's  stove,  52. 

Openings  for  ventilation,  where  made. 
48. 

Osgood,  Rev.  S.,  remarks  by,  314. 

Oxygen,  office  of  in  the  air,  43. 


Palmer's  Teacher's  Manual,  quoted, 
51. 


INDEX. 


Pawtucket,  dedication  of  new  school- 
house  in,  308. 

Perry,  Rev.  G.  B.,  Essay  by,  36 ;  64. 

Phillips,  Stephen,  liberality  of,  115. 

Plans  of  School-houses,  63;  recom- 
mended by  practical  teachers  and 
others,  64 ;  recently  erected,  90. 

Potter,  Prof.  Alonzo,  strictures  by,  on 
the  school-houses  of  the  State  of 
New  York,  19. 

Primary  schools,  importance  of,  231. 

Primary  school-houses  in  New  York 
City,  102;  in  Salem,  119 ;  in  Boston, 
176 ;  in  Providence,  233. 

Privies,  ventilation  of,  44,  186. 

Privies,  destitution  of,  in  New  York, 
21. 

Providence,  plans  of  school-houses  in, 
258. 

Providence  Furnace,  plan  of,  258. 

Putnam  Free  School-house,  210. 

a. 

duincy  school-house,  plan  of,  209. 

R. 

Reid,  Dr.,  on  ventilation,  147. 

Renwick,  Mr.,  plan  by,  1,  223. 

Rhode-Island,  condition  of  school- 
houses  in,  in  1843, 30 ;  in  1845, 31 ;  for 
preservation  of  school-houses,  291. 

Roman  Cement,  81. 

Rotary  Swing,  86. 

Rules  for  the  use  of  Clark's  ventila- 
ting stove,  161. 

S. 

Salem,  plan  of  East  School-house  in, 
114;  do.  of  English  and  Latin  High 
School,  118;  dedication  of  school- 
houses  in,  302. 

School  furniture,  improvements  in,  201. 

:  School  and  Schoolmaster,'  extracts 
from,  66. 

Scraper,  absence  of,  26. 

School  Architecture,  essay  on,  5 ;  com- 
mon errors  in,  39 ;  general  princi- 
ples of,  40. 

Seats  without  backs,  evils  of,  55,  106. 

Seats  and  desks,  principles  of  construc- 
tion, 53  ;  plan  of,  84,  90,  94, 105,  120, 
201,  202,  205. 

Shrubbery  in  the  yard,  66. 

Simultaneous  method  of  instruction, 
79. 

Size  of  school-houses,  40. 

Smith,  Dr.  J.  V.  C,  on  school  seats 
and  desk,  55. , 

Stearns,  Rev.  Mr.,  remarks  by,  318. 

Stoves,  open  or  Franklin,  recom- 
mended, 51. 

Style  in  School  Architecture,  40,  257, 

.   261. 


T. 

Teacher,  arrangement  for,  in  the 
school-room,  57;  apartments  for  in 
the  school-house,  260. 

Teacher's  Desk,  plans  for,  272. 

Thayer,  G.  F.,  regulations  by,  296; 
remarks  by  respecting  courtesy,  298; 
address  by  at  Salem,  306. 

Teft,  T.  A.,  designs  for  school-houses 
by,  252,  254,  257. 

Temperature  of  school-rooms,  princi- 
ples of,  50 ;  uniform,  52,  292. 


Ventiducts,  167. 

Ventilation,  general  principles  of,  42. 
71,  146;  how  founded  for,  by  G.  B. 
Emerson,  71 ;  by  Mr.  Town,  75 ;  by 
Minutes  of  Council,  142;  in  Salem, 
115;  in  Washington  District  School- 
house,  92;  in  Providence,  236;  by 
Mott,  142 ;  in  New  York,  143  ;  by  F. 
Emerson,  144;  in  Boston,  145;  in 
Hartford  High  School,  219. 

Vermont,  condition  of  school-houses  in, 
22. 

W. 

Wales'  Patent  School  Chair,  205. 

Warren,  Dr.,  quoted,  55. 

Warren,  plan  of  school-house  in,  252. 

Warming,  principles  of,  50;  by  fire- 
place, 70;  by  stove,  51;  by  furnace, 
52,  258. 

Wadsworth,  James,  liberality  of,  66. 

Washington  street  District  School- 
house,  in  Hartford,  93. 

Wayland,  President,  address  by,  308. 

Wellington  Club-house,  ventilation  of, 
49. 

Wells,  W.  H.,  communication  from, 
171. 

Westerly  plan  of  Primary  school- 
house  in,  256. 

Westfield  State  Normal  School-house, 
139. 

Whiting  street  Primary  School-house, 
97. 

Whittling,  habits  of,  to  be  prevented, 
301. 

Wilderspin  plan  of  infant  school- 
house  and  grounds,  87. 

Willesdon  school,  plan  of  house  for, 
271. 

Windsor,  District  School-house  in,  90. 

Woodbridge,  Dr.,  quoted,  47. 

Woodbridge,  W.  C,  plan  of  stove  by 
51. 


Yard,  and  external  arrangements,  62; 

plans  of,  67,  69,  73,  76, 77, 88,  90, 101, 

118,209,219,242. 
Young,  Samuel,  extract  from  report  by, 


f