in his report for 1870, says, "This year's institute will always be remarkable from the fact that the project for locating here the Normal School for the Eighth District, had its origin in it. The stirring address of the State Superintendent, to the teachers and citizens on the Tuesday evening of the session, put the matter in motion and it has grown most encouragingly." The institute was followed by several public meetings of citizens held in the interest of the movement, Mr. Price's generous donation, valued at five thousand dollars was accepted, subscriptions were obtained, the institution was chartered, plans of buildings were adopted, and the work of construction was begun. In 1872, the Legislature came to the aid of the school at Lock Haven as had been done in the case of the schools at California, Shippensburg and Indiana; but even with this assistance, it was found exceedingly difficult to push forward the work with much rapidity, and it was not until July 4, 1873, that the corner-stone of the main building was laid, and the State inspection and recognition was delayed until September, 1877. This event gave great joy to the whole people of the city and county, who thus at last were able to gather the harvest, the seed of which they had sown eight years before, and whose growth, threatened by many dangers, had been a source of constant anxiety and trouble.

A. N. Raub was the first Principal of the Lock Haven School, and continued at its head from 1877 to 1884, when he resigned. He is a native of Lancaster county, and was one of the earliest graduates of the Normal School at Millersville. At the time of his election he had taught public schools of different grades, served for a time as a Professor in the Normal School at Kutztown, been Principal of the High School and City Superintendent of schools in Lock Haven and County Superintendent of Clinton county, and was well known to the educational public of Pennsylvania as an instructor at teachers' institutes. He has written text-books on Reading, Grammar, Arithmetic and Teaching. Prof. Raub is a skillful teacher and under his management the school while not largely attended graduated a number of classes of unusual size. Prof. Raub was succeeded by George P. Beard who had previously been connected with the schools at Shippensburg and California.

There is much condensed history in the following tables, compiled from the annual reports of the Department of Public Instruction:

TABLE SHOWING THE NUMBER OF STUDENTS IN THE NORMAL DEPARTMENTS OF THE SEVERAL STATE NORMAL

SCHOOLS SINCE DATE OF RECOGNITION.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE RISE OF THE TEACHERS' PROFESSION.

AGENCIES FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF TEACHERS: ASSOCIATIONS, INSTITUTES, MAGAZINES, BOOKS.

NORMAL

ORMAL Schools are not the only means adopted for the improvement of teachers. Other agencies usually antedate and lead up to them. The professional instinct among teachers first prompts the formation of associations for mutual counsel and instruction, and out of these in due time grow a literature in the shape of periodicals and books. Finally schools for the preparation of teachers are established and the profession becomes consolidated and efficient in the accomplishment of its objects. The preliminary agencies which gave rise to the teachers' profession in Pennsylvania are the subject of the present chapter.

For more than a hundred years after the founding of the first English school in Pennsylvania, it is almost vain to look for any organization among teachers. They were too few in number and too much scattered to hold meetings had they been so disposed, and many were not disposed because the schools they taught were either under sectarian influence or competing for patronage. Nor did they see much necessity for study or aid in the performance of their plain duties. Few among them had any idea that the right teaching of a school is a work of high art with principles underlying it as profound as any with which the human mind ever grappled, and with a practice based upon them wonderfully complex and difficult. The possibilities that lie in the soul of a child, ready to awaken and unfold at the touch of the magic wand of a skilled teacher, were for the most part unknown and unthought of by the men who in their rough way taught our rough ancestors to read, write, and cypher.

Associations of the teachers of private schools are known to have existed in Philadelphia early in the present century; but little can be ascertained respecting them save that they were mainly of a social character, their members meeting for the purpose of eating and drinking. The only item of business that seems to have been

discussed had reference to the rates charged for tuition. In 1814, there was an organization in Philadelphia entitled a "Society for the promotion of a rational System of Education," John Goodman, President. In 1817, James Edward presided over the "Philadelphia and Pennsylvania Association of Teachers of the Lancasterian System of Education." The "Society for the Promotion of Public Schools in Pennsylvania" formed in 1827, of which Roberts Vaux was President, and among whose officers appeared the names of such leading citizens as Matthew Carey, Gerald Ralston, John Sergeant and John Wurtz, while it greatly aided the cause of education and included teachers in its membership, was not a teachers' association. In 1831, an association of teachers was formed in Philadelphia, which included the names of William Russell and A. Bronson Alcott, both from Massachusetts, and subsequently among the most distinguished teachers in that State, then in charge of Germantown Academy, Rev. M. M. Carll, Dr. J. M. Keagy, Walter R. Johnson, Anthony Bolmar, Dr. Brewer and others. One of its primary objects was stated to be, in a circular addressed to "Teachers and Friends of Education throughout the State of Pennsylvania," "to investigate those principles appertaining to the philosophy of mind, its faculties, their management, the connection subsisting between the moral, intellectual and physical powers, and their best method of development." Another object considered scarcely less important was to awaken public attention to the subject of education. "A general convention of teachers" to be held once a year was also contemplated. This association continued to hold meetings for a year or two, listened to a number of lectures on topics like "Principles of Early Education" and "Methods of Teaching," issued four or five numbers of a magazine devoted to education, and there the brief record ends. There was in Philadelphia, in 1835, a "Philadelphia Lyceum of Teachers" of which Dr. J. M. Keagy, N. Dodge, Josiah Holbrook and John H. Brown were among the prominent members, and a "Pennsylvania Association of Monitoral Teachers" at the head of which was Dr. A. T. W. Wright. The "American Association for the Supply of Teachers" was organized in Philadelphia, in 1835, Horace Binney, President, and other leading citizens with several teachers among its officers. Its object was to assist schools in finding teachers, and to assist teachers in finding schools. William Roberts, President of the State Teachers' Association in 1856, and twenty years earlier a teacher in a public school in Philadelphia,

states that when he began to teach, there were only ten schoolhouses in the city and ten male teachers. These teachers occasionally met on call to discuss questions appertaining to the salary received or an increase in the number of assistant teachers, but no permanent organization existed then or for years afterwards. The "Philadelphia Association of Principals of Public Schools" was organized in 1850 with John H. Brown as President. Its monthly meetings were well attended and very profitable until partially broken up by the war. The war over, the Association regained its lost vigor and still continues in active operation. It was felt, however, that an organization was needed broad enough to include all the public school teachers in the city; and, in 1867, an Act was passed incorporating the Teachers' Institute of Philadelphia. The second section states the purposes of the Act as follows: "The object and designs of the said corporation shall be the improvement of the teachers of the public schools of the city and county of Philadelphia, by means of lectures, essays and discussions upon educational topics, practical illustrations of modes of teaching, the formation of a teachers' library, by readings and other elocutionary exercises, and by such other means as may from time to time be determined, either by the by-laws or resolutions of said corporation: and it shall also be lawful for the said corporation to receive any real or personal estate by gift, grant, bargain, sale, will or bequest, from any person or persons whomsoever, and to hold the same upon trust, to apply the income thereof to the relief of those who have been, are, or may be teachers in the public schools of the said city or county of Philadel phia, who, from infirmity of years, sickness or other disability, may need relief." These purposes have been well carried out and the Institute continues to hold regular meetings, has a pleasant readingroom and a good library, supports courses of lectures, and devotes considerable sums to the relief of sick, old and infirm teachers.

Outside of Philadelphia, the oldest organization of teachers in the State of which we have any account, is the "Schoolmasters' Synod" in Lehigh county. Meetings of this body were advertised in the newspapers of Allentown in 1827 and 1829. The Lehigh Herald contained the following: "The Schoolmasters' Synod will meet on Saturday, June 24, 1829, in propria forma, precisely at four P. M., at the usual place. Punctual attendance is requested." This notice is signed by Zach. Anselmus, President, and John O. Adams, Secretary. Nothing is known of the proceedings of this "Synod."