render our meeting here a source of mutual benefit; and may we find reason to believe that the cause which we have assembled to promote, has lost nothing of its interest by our gathering together in the city of Roger Williams.

It has occurred to me that at this particular period, a part at least of the time allotted to the present address, might be appropriately occupied in a review of the changes which have taken place in the educational interests of our country for the last twenty-five years. These changes indubitably indicate progress. If we compare the present with the past, we shall readily perceive that great improvements have been made in the condition of our schools, in the attainments of teachers, and in the public appreciation of the importance of education. I propose briefly to consider each of these topics, and then offer a few suggestions on one of the principles which should direct our efforts in the future.

I remark, then, in the first place, that within the last twenty-five years, great progress has been made in the condition of the schools of this country.

In illustration of this remark I observe, that the importance of gradation in our schools is now universally admitted. Formerly, our public and many of our private schools were of one character. It mattered not to what point of progress the pupil was to be carried, the course of instruction commenced almost with the alphabet. The instructor who was expected to prepare pupils for the counting-room or the college, was not unfre

quently obliged also to con over rudimentary lessons with children of five or six years of age. These were the extremes, and of course he must give such attention as he could to pupils of every intermediate grade. We now look back upon such a system with astonishment. It seems to us incomprehensible that men really interested in the education of their children, should ever have pursued a course which must have rendered their efforts to a great degree nugatory. The best teacher, with the best intentions must, under such circumstances, find that nothing worthy of the name of education could be communicated. He could do nothing but go over the lessons of the day by rote. Explanation, illustration, intercourse with the mind of the pupil, were plainly impossible. A careless and ignorant teacher is as good for such a service as the wisest and most intelligent; hence teaching was rapidly passing into the hands of the inefficient and uninstructed. Progress was impossible, and of course the tendency was retrograde. Public schools were in danger of being considered merely institutions for the benefit of paupers, and thus they were losing their hold upon the sympathies of the public.

The impolicy of such a course it is at present needless to discuss. Every one now sees that while we were thus taxing ourselves to support schools, we were taking pains to receive the smallest possible return for our expenditure. We were violating the rule which should govern all employment, that when both easy and difficult operations are re

quired in the creation of a product, the labor must be divided. We were employing the labor of an educated man to do the work which might have been done almost by children. A man who, at the present day, attempted to carry on a manufactory upon these principles would doubtless be considered insane.

We rejoice that we may now treat of these mistakes as a matter of history. Our schools are very generally arranged upon the principle of accurate gradation. In all our large towns, and in most of our rural districts, what would formerly have been taught in one school is now taught in four. We have our primary, intermediate, grammar and high schools; each well adapted to that portion of the work of education which it is intended to perform. We are thus enabled to adjust the kind of labor to the work to be done. It is done better and at less expense, and opportunity is now allowed for progress. In the country, where the population is sparse, this division of labor cannot be carried to so great perfection, but here the principle is adopted just as far as it is practicable, by the union of several school districts. In our Western States, the same result is very happily attained by what are called Union Schools. Instead of several schoolhouses, scattered through the town, for the different grades of instruction, one large building is erected in a central situation. Separate apartments are assigned to the pupils in different stages of progress, and the whole establishment is under the care of a principal, who conducts the education of the most advanced classes, and is also responsible

for the instruction of each subordinate school. This mode of gradation has many and important advantages wherever the denseness of the population renders it practicable. This, however, it is not our business to discuss. It is sufficient for my purpose to remark, that under one form or another, as may be found best adapted to the condition of each society, the importance of gradation in schools is not only theoretically acknowledged, but practically carried into effect; and that the present tendency is to render our schools in this respect as perfect as possible.

By this gradation of our schools, another most important advantage is secured. A vast field is thus opened for the employment of female teachers. At the present moment, women perform a large portion of the teaching in New England, and they do it so well that this portion is rapidly growing larger. Women have a much greater natural adaptation to the work of instruction than men. We find only occasionally a man possessed of this peculiar endowment, while among women it is almost universal. Who ever saw a boy voluntarily undertake the work of a teacher? A girl, by the time she can talk plainly, is occupied from morning till night in giving lessons to her doll. Much of the improvement in education in New England is, I believe, to be ascribed to the employment of women in the place of men, in a large portion of our schools.

Another important feature in the improvement of our common school system may be observed in

the appointment of Superintendents.* Formerly, each school, even in the same town, was almost a separate and solitary institution, having little relation to the schools in its neighborhood, and forming a part of no general organization. The various school committees attended the different public examinations, but no committee attended them all; hence there was no general system under which they were all united. No available comparison could be instituted between the schools of the same city. There was small emulation among the teachers, the bad and the good remaining equally unnoticed. Within a few years, however, the importance of superintendence over our schools has been perceived, and the advantages arising from the creation of such an office have been fully tested. In the rural districts, County Superintendents are appointed in some of our States. It is now clearly seen, that while we expend large amounts for the purposes of education, common prudence requires that we provide the means for securing their wise expenditure.

By means of this office a higher grade of teachers is secured and incompetent teachers are rejected; the system of instruction is rendered uniform, and the books best adapted for instruction are intro

* I believe that Providence was the first city in New England, in which the office of Superintendent was permanently established. To John L. Hughes, Esq., more than any other individual, are we indebted for the admirable system of public schools which we now enjoy. Nathan Bishop, Esq., now Superintendent of Schools in the city of Boston, was our first Superintendent, and under his direction our present organization received its form and pressure.