interesting things have come for the rebel States. I will only say that lead ore is found there, and that General Grant came from there. (Applause.)

Mr. Burbank, of New Hampshire, responded for the "Granite State." He said, The cause of education has been progressing in New Hampshire the past year, notwithstanding the people have been more or less absorbed in the war which is now devastating our country, and thousands of her noble sons have gone forth to the battle-field, to support the flag of their country, many of them never to return. The educational institutions of the State are now in a flourishing condition. There have been a goodly number of pupils in all the seminaries and high schools of the State during the past year, and in many cities and towns noble buildings have been erected, and money freely voted to pay reasonable wages to the teachers. In no single case, to my recollection, have the wages of teachers been reduced. The people have felt disposed to pay their teachers liberally, though not so liberally as they are paid in other States, and therefore many of our best teachers have gone to other places New Hampshire has her representative teachers in many of the other New England States, and in many of the Western States.

Notwithstanding we have no Normal School in the State, still, teachers are perfected there in the art of teaching, by their own efforts; so much so, that many of them are sought for in other places. Many men who have been educated in that State have gone forth into other States, and occupied, and many are now occupying, positions of great importance; and I am fully satisfied that the schools in many of the cities and towns in that State will compare favorably with the best schools that can be found in other parts of our country.

Mr. Barrows, of Des Moines, Iowa. I am most happy in bringing to New England the greetings of hundreds of teach

ers in Iowa who were educated here. When I returned here, and crossed the arm of the sea that encircles the fair city of Portland, and took a long breath of the sea-air, for the first time in twelve years, and met the faces of those who seemed to me like old acquaintances, I will leave you to imagine my emotions. The teachers of Iowa-the best of them send their kind remembrances, and often have they inquired, through me, of the land where their fathers died, "the land of the Pilgrim's pride."

After giving a description of the prairies of the West, which he said were not flat, as generally supposed, but undulating, - Boston Common, minus the trees, representing them in miniature, and of the methods of cultivation, Mr. Barrows concluded as follows: It seems to me that the motto of this State, "Dirigo,”—in some things, might be applied to one of the Western States. There is a large portion of Iowa that would seem to "lead" the way southward. If we reckon the population of Iowa at seven hundred thousand, and look at the list given by the War Department of the quotas furnished by the several States, we find that Iowa stands near the top. Mr. Eberhart. Next to Illinois.

Mr. Barrows. The gentleman from Illinois remarks that Iowa is next to Illinois. Sir, we are very glad to be next to Illinois. We understand the advantages of that, and have

for years.

Nathan Hedges, of Newark, N. J. The cause of education in New Jersey is going steadily forward. We have a thorough and almost perfect system of public education, and every year witnesses a healthful advance. Our common schools are all of them improving. This much is all I need to say about the State of New Jersey.

The closing hour of our meeting has to me, heretofore, always been an occasion of joy. I have looked forward with

pleasure to the time when, with mutual kindness and mutual congratulation, we should bid each other good-by, strengthened and encouraged for the duties of another year of professional life. But I acknowledge that I feel differently now. We see all the blesings that we enjoy,- this broad land, with the best soil the sun ever shone upon, with the fullest enjoyment of all the desirable degrees of the temperate zone, with its churches and school-houses, and the best government that man was ever blest with,— we see all these trembling in the balance. We may lose them all. When we look to the tented field, the wreath of victory seems almost within our grasp. When we look upon the people, our hearts are saddened. A large minority (there is no need of disguising it) are not patriotic; and whether that balance shall rise or fall depends only upon that Good Being above who planted these churches and school-houses, and gave us this government; and our only hope is that He who scattered the seed will not see it destroyed.

Rev. Mr. Newcomb, of Hilton Head, was called upon to speak for South Carolina, and in response said,

I am

Mr. President, we live in strange times, and God is moving in a mysterious way over our land. I stand here as the representative of a humble class of people in South Carolina, who have heretofore been shut out from all the privileges that pertain to the comfort and happiness of man. acting at present as superintendent of all the schools connected with the Freedmen in those portions of South Carolina and Florida under the control of the Union troops. And let me say at the outset, that this portion of the colored people is the lowest type of the African race in America. This is accounted for by the fact that, when the rebels left the place, they took all the house-servants (those who had mingled with the whites) with them, leaving none but field

hands,

those who had worked in the cotton fields and on the rice plantations.

Now, I wish to mention a few facts, which are, indeed, a wonder and astonishment when we seriously and earnestly consider them. When our troops went there, these people talked a kind of gibberish; many of them could be understood with difficulty; and occasionally you meet with one now who is difficult to understand in common conversation, especially if he gets a little warm and talks rapidly. But there is a marked change. And what has caused this change? It is the work of the philanthropist, of the Christian, operating through the various associations that have been formed in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, and St. Louis, to send forth Yankee school-masters and school-mistresses, who have exercised all the privileges and advantages that occasion has presented in this new field of labor. And let me say here, that they work with zeal, and exercise such an influence upon these people, that the time will come, should nothing interrupt their work, when this nation will blush to think she ever had a prejudice against that people; when she will feel the shame that now rests upon her for treating a people as they have been treated ever since the formation of our government. (Applause.)

There have been established in that department many schools, and nearly one hundred teachers are now employed there. In the town of Beaufort, which is the headquarters of the educational and missionary departments, I had the census taken, and I found a colored population of two thousand, and two hundred whites. When I speak of the schools, I want you to understand that the scholars are all of African origin; there are no whites. We have three grades; the primary, intermediate, and another which we term the High School. The schools are graded the same as they are here at

the North, by qualifications, not by ages. In taking the population of the town, I divided it into three classes; children, male and female, under five years of age, those between five and twenty, and all adults above; and, in that town, I found there were four hundred and sixty children between five and twenty, of whom during the month of June four hundred and eighty-eight were in school. These schools have been visited by persons from various parts of the country. One gentleman, who has lived in the Western country, visited what we call the High School, and when he came out he asked me if the other schools were similar to that. I said, “Similar, with the exception of the grades." Said he, "I am perfectly astonished. I have been in the schools of Kentucky and Tennessee, and I found nothing there that will equal it." I said, "You mean, I suppose, colored schools?"- -"No," said he, "I do n't; I mean the white schools in those two States." And those white children are composed of that class called the "middling whites," the class that is doing the fighting for the rebels.

I will say that the scholars in those schools have exceeded my expectations. The lads and misses read and spell readily, and they learn rapidly. They can write elegantly. I could show you the writing-book of a young lad twelve years old -his first book—with not a blot upon any one of its pages, and the writing admirably done. He had learned, however, first to write upon a slate. I have endeavored, in my labors among them, to carry out the New England system of instruction, and a record is kept of everything there just as it is here. The plantation schools, also, are in a very satisfactory condition, and are doing a good work; and I must say, that the teachers who are engaged in those schools are performing a work which will be for their credit and for their honor through all coming time. They not only spend