MASSACHUSETTS.

Massachusetts was first settled in 1622, and had by the first national census in 1790, a population of 378,717, which had increased in 1870 to 1,450,350, on an area of 7,800 square miles, with taxable property to the valuation of $1,417,127,376.

Massachusetts, in the constitution of 1780, was the earliest State to throw the protection of a fundamental ordinance around funds appropriated to educational purposes, and particularly of Harvard College, in which many persons of great eminence have, by the blessing of God, been initiated into those arts and sciences which qualified them for public employment both in church and State; and whereas the encouragement of the arts and sciences, and all good literature, tends to the honor of God, the advantage of the christian religion, and the great benefit of this and the other United States of America,' it is declared that all powers, rights, privileges, immunities, and facilities shall be continued, and all gifts, legacies, &c., are confirmed; and then follows a section drawn up by John Adams, and adopted by the convention, unanimously.

Wisdom and knowledge, as well as virtue, diffused generally among the body of the people, being necessary for the preservation of their rights and liberties, and as these depend on spreading the opportunities and advantages of education in various parts of the country, and among the different orders of the people, it shall be the duty of the legislatures and magistrates, in all future periods of this commonwealth, to cherish the interest of literature and the sciences, and all seminaries of them, especially the university at Cambridge, public schools, and grammar schools in the towns; to encourage private societies and public institutions, by rewards and immunities for the promotion of agriculture, art, sciences, commerce, trades, manufactures, and a natural history of the country; to countenance and inculcate the principles of humanity and general benevolence, public and private charity, industry and frugality, honesty and punctuality in all their dealings; sincerity, good humor, and all social affections and generous sentiments among the people.

Among the articles of amendments ratified by the people in 1857, are the following: 'No person shall have the right to vote, or be eligible to office under the constitution of this commonwealth, who shall not be able to read the constitution in the English language and write his name,' unless prevented by physical disability from complying with the requirement, and unless he already enjoys the right to vote. 'All moneys raised by taxation in town and cities for the support of public schools, and all moneys appropriated by the State for the support of common schools' 'shall never be appropriated to any religious sect for the maintenance exclusively of its own schools.'

Before passing to the school legislation of Massachusetts as a State, we will cite a few of the earlier provisions which mark the character of the public schools in New England generally.

The earliest legislation of Massachusetts respecting schools, and 'the good education of children,' bears date 1642, which, with various modifications as to details, kept the following objects steadily in view, viz., the exclusion of 'barbarism' from any family, by making it the duty of the selectmen of every town, in the several precincts and quarters where they dwell, to have a vigilant eye over their brethren and neighbors,'' to see that they teach their children and apprentices by themselves and others so much learning as may enable them to read the English tongue, and the capital laws, upon penalty of twenty shillings for each neglect therein,' 'to learn some short orthodox catechism without book,' and 'to breed and bring them up in some honest lawful calling, labor, or employment, either in husbandry, or some other trade profitable for themselves and the commonwealth, if they will not, or can not train them up in learning to fit them for higher employments;' and, should parents 'continue negligent of their duty in the particulars above mentioned, whereby children and servants become rude, stubborn and unruly, the selectmen, with the help of two magistrates, shall take such children or apprentices from them, and place them with some masters for years-boys till they come to twenty-one, and girls to eighteen years of age complete-who will more strictly look into and force them to submit unto government, according to the rules of this order, if by fair means and former instruction they will not be drawn into it.'

To enable parents to have places where their children and apprentices may be sent to be taught, it was enacted the same year (1642), that every township within this jurisdiction of fifty householders, shall appoint one within their town to teach all such children as shall resort to him, to write and read, whose wages shall be paid either by the parents or masters of such children, or by the inhabitants in general, by way of supply, as the major part of those who order the prudentials of the town shall appoint; provided, those who send their children be not oppressed by paying much more than they can have them taught in other towns.'

In addition to this elementary school, every town of one hundred families, shall set up a grammar school, the masters thereof being able to instruct youths so far as they may be fitted for the university,' and the towns which neglect to set up such school any one year, must pay five pounds per annum to the next nearest school.

In Plymouth Colony, the provision for schools was not so early, and the requirements for a grammar school were extended in 1677 to towns of fifty families and impose on those who have the more

immediate benefit thereof by their children's good and general good, shall make up the residue (over the twelve pounds in current merchantable pay to be raised on all the inhabitants of such town) necessary to maintain the same,' and every town of seventy families which neglected to maintain a grammar schools shall allow unto the next town which does, the sum of five pounds collectable by constable on the warrant of any magistrate in this jurisdiction.'

The requisition for admission to the University was not very formidable, and yet we fear that from the present method of classical study, candidates, however skilled in grammatical niceties, might fail to enter Harvard on the following requirements of 1654: When any scholar is able to read Tully, or such like classical Latin author, extempore, and make and speak true Latin in verse, and prose sou (ut aiunt) Marte, and decline perfectly the paradigms of nouns and verbs in the Greek tongue, then may he be admitted to the College, nor shall any claim admission before such qualifications.'

On this basis of the duty of parents to give their children, at least an elementary education, and of every town, large or small, to provide the place and teacher where their children could be taught; and of every large town to maintain a teacher competent to fit the same for the university; and of the State to encourage such university, that learning might not be buried in the graves of the fathers,' and that some of their sons might be fitted every year for higher employment in church and state, the system of public instruction in Massachusetts has been built up and extended to meet the wants of successive generations. The town grammar school feature, occasionally suspended in some towns, and superseded by the academy and private school in others, has kept the common schools up to the requirements of the rich and the educated, and saved the district schools from becoming common in the worse sense, or being regarded as the schools exclusively of the poor, or of those only who knew what constituted the conditions of a good education in respect to house, studies, and teachers, but of all, rich and poor, the more or the less intelligent, in the city as well as in the country.

The first revision of the school laws after the revolution was in 1789, by which it is provided 'that towns of fifty families are required to sustain schools wherein children are taught to read and write, and instructed in the English language, arithmetic, orthography, and decent behavior, for a term equal to one school of six months in each year; every town of one hundred families, twelve months; every town of one hundred and fifty families, eighteen

months; and every town of two hundred families, twelve months, and in addition thereto sustain a school wherein is taught the Latin, Greek, and English languages for twelve months in each year. It is also 'made the duty of the president, professors and tutors of the University at Cambridge, preceptors and teachers of academies, and all other instructors of youth, to take diligent care, and to exert their best endeavors to impress on the minds of children and youth committed to their care and instruction, the principles of piety, justice and a sacred regard to truth, love to their country, humanity and universal benevolence, sobriety, industry and frugality, chastity, moderation and temperance, and those other virtues which are the ornament of human society, and the basis upon which the republican constitution is structured; and it shall be the duty of such instructors to endeavor to lead those under their care into a particular understanding of the tendency of the before-mentioned virtues to preserve and perfect a republican constitution, and to secure the blessings of liberty as well as to promote their future happiness, and the tendency of the opposite vices to slavery and ruin.'

By the act of 1789, in consequence of the dispersed situation of the inhabitants of several towns,' the children and youth can not be collected in any one place for their instruction,' such towns were authorized 'in town meeting called for that purpose, to determine and define the limits of school districts.' In this provision and the supplementary law of 1800, authorizing district taxation for school-houses, originated the district system, which Mr. Mann pronounced the most 'disastrous feature' of the school legislation of Massachusetts; and from the deteriorating influence of which the State has only quite recently escaped into a graded system for the whole town. The act of 1789 excludes from the town grammar school all children who have not in some other way learned to read the English language by spelling the same,' and admits as teachers only those who are university graduates, or have a certificate of qualification from a learned minister of the town, and give satisfactory evidence of good moral character.' 'Ministers and selectmen are required to see that the youth regularly attend the school, and once at least, every six months, visit and inspect the schools, inquire into the regulations and discipline thereof, and the proficiency of the scholars therein.' 'That the greatest attention may be given to children in the early stages of life, to the establishing of just principles in their tender minds,' and right habits of reading; 'no person shall keep school without

a proper certificate from the selectmen, or a committee duly appointed by each town or district, and the minister, if there be one in the place, on the forfeiture of twenty shillings to the informer and the poor of the place.' Whether under master or mistress, ‘a sense of piety and virtue, and decent behavior,' as well as reading, and writing if contracted for, were made the staple of primary instruction. The Act of 1789 was so carefully drawn and the school policy so well established, as to call for slight legislation only, for more than thirty years.

In 1800, with modifications in 1802 and 1815, districts were compelled to provide suitable houses for the schools, if not by their own votes, then under the direction of the town, on the application of four residents of the district neglectful in this particular.

In 1825, the legislature appointed commissioners to digest and prepare a system for the establishment of one or more institutions for instruction in the practical arts and sciences for that class of persons who do not desire, or are unable to obtain, a collegiate education.' This proposition grew out of the discussions which followed the establishment of Mechanics' Institutes in England, Fellenberg's Schools at Hofwyl, and the Rensellaer School at Troy-and the want, long and widely felt, of some essential modification of the studies of the academies and colleges of the country. The report of the commissioners in 1826, and the supplementary report of 1827, anticipates by a quarter of a century the whole movement for the 'new education,' 'the agricultural and mechanical art colleges,' and 'the scientific schools.' The plan proposed was defeated by existing and endowed institutions.

In 1826, towns were authorized to choose a school committee to superintend the schools, to visit and inspect the town and district schools, to examine and approve teachers, to determine class books, and provide the same for such whose parents may be unable to pay for the same; and for the first time to make returns thereafter, each year, to the Secretary of State (whose duty it is made to furnish appropriate blanks) of the number of schools, pupils, and teachers, their wages, and cost of each public school in the town.

In 1826 was issued the first volume of the American Journal of Education, by William Russell, a native of Scotland, and in 1822 a teacher in New Haven, where he issued one of the earliest contributions.

In 1827, a select committee of the House, to whom was referred a memorial of James G. Carter, praying for aid to enable him to establish a 'Seminary for the instruction of School Teachers,' reported favorably;. but the bill not becoming a law by the want of