Virginia to the destiny so evidently outlined in her manifest natural resources, her situation, and, above all, her foremost people, who never for a long time can be held back from their fidelity to this great interest.

In 1901-2 the convention which formed a revised constitution for the State of Virginia placed in this document the following provisions: (1) The State shall maintain and establish an efficient system of public free schools. (2) The State board of education shall consist of the governor, attorney-general, and superintendent of public instruction. In addition to this, its original form, the board shall be increased by experienced educators elected quadrennially by the senate from a list consisting of one from each of the faculties, nominated by their members or trustees, of the University of Virgina, Virginia Military Institute, State Polytechnic Institute, State Female Normal School, School of Deaf and Dumb, and College of William and Mary as long as it is subsidized by the State. Also by the addition of two division superintendents of schools and three from county and city superintendents of schools, chosen for two years, though not to act in the appointment of any public school official. (3) The State superintendent of instruction shall be elected by the people, at the same time as the governor, for four years and be ex officio president of the State board of education. (4) The State board of education, increased as above noted, is authorized (@) to divide the State into school divisions, each not less than one county or city, and appoint a superintendent for each division, subject to the approval of the senate, for four years. (1) To have charge of the investment, care, and distribution of the State school funds as regulated by law. (c) To make all needful rules for the management and conduct of the schools, subject to the right of the legislature to revise, amend, or repeal. (4) To impose a tax for the support of schools and educational appliances. (^) To elect boards of directors of the State library, who must serve without compensation, and appoint a salaried librarian. (5) Each magisterial district is constituted a separate school district, with three trustees, selected according to law. (6) The permanent literary fund of the State is to consist of (a) the present literary fund: () all public lands donated by the General Government for public free schools; (c) all escheated property; (d) waste and unappropriated lands; (^) all property forfeited to the State and fines for offenses against the State and what the State government annually may appropriate. (7) The State board shall appropriate the annual interest of the literary fund and the capitation tax paid into the State treasury and not returnable to towns and cities. The annual property tax of not less than 1 nor more than 5 mills on the dollar for schools of primary and grammar grade for the equal benefit of all people is appropriated by the board on the basis of school population, including all persons between 7 and 20. The general assembly under changed circumstances may provide for different methods of appropriation, though not less than noted in this section. (8) Each county, city, town, and school district may lay a tax, not over 5 mills on the dollar, to be appropriated by local authorities; but primary schools must be kept open four months in the year before any of this money raised by a local tax be appropriated to schools of like grade. (9) The general assembly may establish agricultural, normal, military, and technical schools and such other grades as shall be for the public good. (10) The general assembly may establish compulsory education for children between the ages of 8 and 12, unless they can read and write, or are weak in body or mind, or attend private schools, or are excused from school attendance. (11) Children of poor parents are supplied with text-books. (12) White and colored children can not be educated in the same school at public expense. (13) No public school funds can be applied to any school not under or exclusively controlled by the State or some political subdivision, excepting (a) the college of William and Mary; (2) bonds held by certain schools and colleges according to act of 1892; (c) counties, cities, towns, and districts may appropriate to schools

of normal, industrial, and technical training, also to any school or institution of learning under the exclusive control of the county, city, town, or district. (14) School boards and trustees of educational institutions shall be appointed for four years.

With this broad outfit of constitutional provision, its increasing material development, and the new interest awakened by the present revival in the education of the masses in the rural district, the Commonwealth of Virginia enters on the new century with a well-founded expectation of realizing the prophecy of the fathers a century ago.

DELAWARE.

The State of Delaware was the first to adopt the Constitution of the United States and one of the first to place in its constitution a provision under which every white child might legally receive a good common school education and the arts and sciences be promoted. The provision was as follows: "The legislature shall, as soon as conveniently may be, provide for establishing schools and promoting arts and sciences."

It is an interesting study in sociology to explain the fact that the two smallest Commonwealths of the Union, Delaware and Rhode Island, should for more than fifty years have been the most derelict in providing for the general education of their children. The State of Rhode Island waited, practically, until the period of the great revival of the public school system in New England under Horace Mann and Henry Barnard for the establishment of an effective system of public instruction. The State of Delaware, until about the same period, had not succeeded in getting upon the ground any effective method of dealing with even the small white population of the State.

In both these States one principal city led the movement for several years in the establishment of a proper city system of graded schools. But in both these Commonwealths the idea of personal independence and local jealousy even of State control seemed to have had their perfect work" in preventing any concentration of action, and, of course, leaving every little district of the Commonwealth to go on according to its own way. In Delaware, as appears in the record referred to, the public school system established by the law of 1829 left it virtually under the control of each school district in the State to decide whether it should have "a good school, a poor school, or no school at all." In this habit the people were encouraged by the most distinguished leader in educational affairs in the State, Judge Willard Hall, a native of Massachusetts, who had left his native State at a period when the common schools of New England were supported almost entirely by the local authorities. Although this excellent and able man, during a period of nearly half a century, labored in season and out of season" to persuade the people of his adopted State of the great advantages of popular education, yet his theory that the whole matter should be left to the disposition of the local authorities in every school district was a hindrance at the time and seems to have left upon the people an impression that, until a very late period, was an undisputed hindrance to the proper development of universal education.

The first important movement for the reorganization of the common school system of the State after the close of the civil war was an educational convention held at Dover, the capital, in December, 1867, "for a mutual interchange of opinions, to receive and discuss suggestions of improvements in the then existing law." The convention consisted of a large number of prominent men, remained in session two days, and was the beginning of a new and more vigorous movement for popular education. A committee appointed to draft a general school code

reported additions to the free school law of 1829, under which with some changes the State had been living for the past thirty-five years. In 1869 the legislature was moved to take up the subject, but with no results. Similar efforts in 1871 and 1873 met the same fate. But early in the session of the general assembly in 1875 a bill was reported, entitled "An act in relation to free schools in Delaware." As a result, on March 25, 1875, an act was passed entitled "The new school law of 1875." In this statute the legislature, for the first and only time in its history, seems to have been impressed with the absolute necessity of a central authority for the general supervision of the common school system. This was made doubly necessary from the fact that the three counties of Delaware-Newcastle, including the city of Wilmington; Kent, where the capital, Dover, was located, and Sussex, in the more southerly portion of the State-represented perhaps the three extremes of Southern American life at the time of the passage of this law. The city of Wilmington, which had already established the usual city graded school system, was a good specimen of a growing manufacturing city of the type of the Pennsylvania and New Jersey community of that sort. On the other hand, the county of Sussex was a fair representative of the Atlantic coast county in the neighboring States of Maryland and Virginia.

By the new school law a State superintendent was to be appointed annually by the Governor, to hold his office one year. His duties were to visit every school in the State once a year; to examine all candidates for the office of teacher; to hold a teachers' institute in each county once a year with a three days' session; to report to the governor annually the condition of schools, with recommendations and suggestions for the improvement of the system. A State board of education was appointed, consisting of the president of Delaware College, the secretary of state, State auditor, and State superintendent of instruction, the president of Delaware College being president of the board. With the exception of the auditor no member of the State board received a salary. This board was to determine what text-books should be used, receive returns from the schools, hear appeals, and determine all matters of controversy between superintendent, teachers, and commissioners. All teachers were required to have a certificate from the State superintendent, setting forth proficiency in the common English branches. The revenue was raised in the same manner as in the old law, which provided that each school district should raise by taxation a certain sum, indicated in the new law as $100 in Newcastle and Kent and $60 in Sussex County, with a privilege of extending its expenditure within certain limits. This law was not intended to essentially change the system which had prevailed for thirty-five years, but to make certain improvements. The permanent school fund of the State amounted to nearly $450,000 and with the revenue accruing from other sources the sum of $26.606.95 was to be distributed among the schools of the State.

The most important part of this movement was the appointment by the governor, in 1875, of Mr. J. H. Groves as superintendent of free schools, a position which he held until the year 1880. A notable defect in the law was the omission of a county superintendency. The State board of education of course could do nothing in a practical way for the supervision of the schools. The result was that the new superintendent was expected at once to visit 370 district schools, keep an account in a book of his observations, examine candidates for teachers' places, furnish certificates, and generally supervise the public education of a State in which every district regarded itself as its own creator and supervisor. In his first report the superintendent gives the whole number of schools outside of Wilmington as 370, taught 6.8 months in the year, containing 21,587 pupils, averaging 58 to each school, instructed at an average cost of tuition of $1.89. There were 430 teachers, whose average monthly salary was $30.35. By the utmost effort the superintendent had visited 276 schoolhouses. Of these 250 had black

boards and the same number were without maps and charts. Fifty-four examinations had been held for 521 applicants for teachers' certificates. The whole amount of the State appropriation for the year for education was $29,284.89, which, increased by the amount levied and collected in school districts, $188,940.60, made the total amount $218,225.49.

The report is mainly an explanation of the impossible character of the duties required of the State superintendent of schools. No report had ever been made before of the "condition of the schools, their wants, and the status of teachers." The superintendent therefore concluded to begin with a low standard of requirements and gradually elevate it," for "had there been a searching examination a great number, or perhaps the greater number, of the teachers at that time teaching in our public schools would have entirely failed." He believed the second examinations had shown improvement. This included the usual common school studies, with the addition of theory and practice of teaching, and 60 per cent was required for the acceptance of a teacher. In visiting schools he declares that the "average duration of schools in the State is 7 months; allowing 21 days to a month we have 147 days in which schools are in operation, and deducting 25 days for holding examinations and 15 for institute work, there would remain 102 days for school visitation. This would compel the superintendent to visit nearly 4 schools a day, including stormy days and holidays. The school districts are 3 miles apart, with a session only 6 hours a day." Hence the difficulty of obeying this law. In visiting he found in most cases the teachers were using the methods used in the schools where they were taught." The blackboards were generally in no condition for use and the teachers unprovided with chalk. "The schools lacked systematic organization. The studies that belong to public schools were not properly used in considering the wants of children." Everywhere he finds “lack of interest on the part of those whom free schools benefit." The habit of employing females to teach in summer and autumn and males in the winter made two sets of teachers and was detrimental to the best interests of the schools.' "There seemed to be little care of the grounds surrounding the schoolhouses; the houses generally are small, uncomfortable, and poorly furnished, children crowded into a small space with but little ventilation and no comforts.”

In Sussex County, the southern end of the State, he found the teachers chiefly "men who did not make teaching a profession, but merely put in the time not needed in their usual work, teaching three months and farming mine. Consequently the condition of the schools is not what we hoped to be able to report. Reading, writing, ciphering formed the sum and substance. But little attention was paid to the elements of arithmetic, even a knowledge of numeration and notation in many cases not known by the teachers, much less taught." He was, however, struck with the eagerness of the pupils generally for instruction. “The houses are small and miserably furnished. Long desks are stretched around the walls of part of the house and benches with no backs or stays. Neither charts, maps, nor globes in any of the schoolhouses of Sussex County." Yet there, as everywhere, he found some good teachers. He had called in different professors of Delaware College and assistants from other States for institute work. He earnestly suggests the need of a State normal school. "We call loudly for better teachers-teachers who can not only utilize the ripe experiences of our best educators, but effectually use the progressive and modern methods of to-day." He suggests several changes in the school laws. After a full year in the service he believes “that there is a marked change for the better in our public schools.”

The city of Wilmington, whose schools were conducted under the local special system, reports 16 schoolhouses with 4,890 sittings, a high school for boys and girls, 2 grammar schools for each sex, and 14 primary schools in which the sexes are taught together. The whole number of teachers is 97; 5,947 pupils

were enrolled during the year, with an average daily attendance of 3,720. The number of pupils did not seem to be essentially changed year by year. The total cost of the schools of the city was $119,220.14; the value of school property, $265,338.80. The governor of the State. Hon. John P. Cochran, in his first biennial message gave special attention to the subject of education. This documentcontains a brief résumé of educational work in the State, and an emphatic indorsement of the new school law of 1875 as "securing a class of better qualified teachers, a uniform class of school books, an annual visitation of the school by the State superintendent, and the holding of teachers' institutes." He still expresses confidence in the regulation idea of the State, and argues against any suspicion that the new law "might infringe materially upon the fundamental policy of giving to the people through the district commissioners the charge of the schools. The compulsory system may make good subjects for arbitrary governments, but the other will better fit men for the duties and responsibilities of free citizens."

In 1878 there appears to have been a slight gain in the number of schools and enrollment of pupils, but scarcely an increase of appropriations. The superintendent, however, expresses the opinion “that there has been a very perceptible improvement in the qualifications of the teachers. Not one-fifth of those examined in the year before could have passed examinations required this year." He puts in a strong plea for county, township, and district supervision of the schools. This matter had been confused by the legislature. No one man can carry out the part of the law requiring general supervision of the State." The teachers' institutes "depend entirely upon the small amount of money contributed by the teachers to defray the expenses incurred." He urges appropriations by the State for this purpose. Some of the local commissioners will not allow their teachers to attend the institutes and in other cases deduct the salary for those days. The school board of Wilmington decided to continue the salary of their teachers during their absence at institutes. He refers to the confused state of the school laws, and urges that they should be compiled and printed for general use. One of the most important features of the report is the publication of a document prepared by Mr. H. C. Conrad, esq., who represented a private association established for the education of the colored race in Delaware. Up to this point the State had done nothing for the free public education of this people, save the appropriation of their own taxation. This was only sufficient to meet about one-third of the expenses, the other two-thirds to be raised by contributions among the colored people themselves. The author urges the justice of extending the benefits of the public school system to this people. The number of colored pupils for the three counties was less than 2,000.

In 1880 the number of schools had increased to 512; of pupils, white, 31,502; colored, 3,954. The cost of education was $6.39 each per annum; total number of teachers, 423. The total expenditure was $177,651.89, a decrease of nearly $40,000. On this, the closing year of his service, Superintendent Groves reports: “It is very difficult to state in words the work of the many schoolrooms throughout our State. The larger number of pupils in schools are in the primary classes. The fundamental instruction should mainly be aimed at by our instructors. A more thorough and comprehensive plan should be adopted to secure the best results for children in the short time allotted for school training." He devotes an important portion of his report to the suggestion of improved methods of instruction in the fundamental branches. He still urges the fact of the insufficiency of the schoolhouses, although there is a movement for the better housing of the children. He urges a union or consolidation of districts in many parts of the State. The State teachers' association, which had been organized in 1879, held its annual meeting in 1880, with 80 members in attendance. It passed stirring resolutions urging