mittee shall consist of as many members as there are schools in the district, who shall annually organize themselves by the choice of a chairman and secretary, and make report thereof to the standing committee without delay.

RULE 2. The schools in each district shall be regularly numbered, and the committee of the district shall assign to each of its members the particular care of a school; but the general supervision of the schools in each district, shall be the charge of the whole committee of the district, to whom shall belong the duty of locating the schools, of electing suitable teachers, of removing those who are incompetent to their duties, or neglect to perform them faithfully, and of controlling all other matters within the district, agreeably to the rules and orders of the Board.

RULE 3. It shall be the duty of the district committees to meet at least once a quarter, and to keep a record of their proceedings relative to the schools under their care.

RULE 4. They shall visit and examine the schools in their districts as often as once a month; and these visits shall be so arranged, as that each member shall examine every school in his district at least once a year; and the report of these monthly examinations shall be made seasonably to the secretaries of their respective districts.

RULE 5. In the first weeks of January and July, each district committee shall prepare from the reports of the monthly examinations, and the returns of the teachers in the district, a tabular report conformable to the blanks furnished by the Board, stating-1. The hour, day, and month on which each examination is made; 2. The state of the weather; 3. The number of girls and boys, present and absent, belonging to each class, with an abstract of the whole; 4. The progress of the pupils in their several exercises; 5. Any occurrences or changes of importance in the district, and remarks thereon; 6. Suggestions for the improvement of the general plan. Which reports, together with the instructor's returns, regularly filed and numbered, are punctually to be sent to the standing committee, before the second Tuesdays of January and July.

RULE 6. When notified by the standing committee of an intended visitation, the directing committee of each school, or such other member as may be deputed for this purpose, shall introduce the visiting member of the standing committee to the school under his care, and assist in the examination.

RULE 7. It shall be the duty of the chairman or secretary of each district committee to call on the City Auditor, in behalf of the instructors, and present their quarterly bills for payment, made on the printed forms provided for the purpose, which must have been previously approved by one or more of the district committee, and receipted by the respective instructors, to whom the amount will be paid over as soon as received by said committee. The quarters for the payment of the instructors' salaries close with the months of February, May, August, and November.

RULE 8. The several district committees shall annually, on the week preceding the May vacation, elect the instructors for their respective schools, and report the same within ten days to the standing committee; and whenever they make any change of instructors, at any other time, shall likewise make report thereof. They shall also give to each instructor elected, a certificate of her appointment, for the time being, not exceeding one year, as follows:

RULE 9. Whenever an instructor reports the absence or habituated tardiness of a scholar to a member of the district committee, it shall be his duty thereupon, to visit the parents or guardians of said scholar, and endeavor to secure regular attendance; unless the circumstances of the case render such visit inexpedient.

RULE 10. Any member of the district committee shall have power to suspend or remove from his school any pupil, when he may deem it necessary, subject to the revocation of the district committee.

Instructors.

RULE 1. The instructors are to teach their pupils agreeably to the course of instruction hereinafter prescribed; they are also to pay strict attention to their morals and cleanliness, and are in general to conform to the directions of their respective district committees.

RULE 2. The instructors shall receive an equal compensation, as fixed by the city council, which shall be in full for tuition, school rent, and other necessary expenses; and they are expressly prohibited from receiving pay from any pupils.

RULE 3. It shall be the duty of each instructor to keep a daily record of the absence, tardiness, or negligence of the scholars, stating which are the most and least approved, in the book furnished for that purpose; noticing the visitation of any member of the Board, and any other occurrence of importance.

RULE 4. In order early to impress on the minds of our youth the importance of religious duties, and their entire dependence on their Maker,-the instructors are desired to open their schools in the morning with prayer.

RULE 5. On the last days of June and December, the instructors are to make returns to their district committees, agreeably to the blanks furnished by the Board; in which are to be stated at length, the name of each scholar, the age, and progress of each, and whatever else may be designated by said blanks, paying particular attention to arrange the pupils by classes.

RULE 6. Instructors are not to permit visitors to remain in their schools, unless introduced by the district committee; nor to be themselves employed in needle or other work during school hours, except in pursuance of their school duties.

RULE 7. Whenever by sickness or otherwise an instructor is compelled to leave her school for a season, it shall be her duty to inform the district committee thereof, who may either choose another to supply such temporary vacancy, or approve a substitute selected by herself.

RULE 8. The instructor shall be excused from keeping school on the following days, viz.: every Thursday and Saturday afternoon in the year; Fast and Thanksgiving days, and the afternoons preceding them; Election week in May; the first Monday in June; the fourth day of July; Commencement week; and Christmas day; but on no other day except by the express permission of their district committees, or the members having charge of their respective schools.

Schools and Pupils.

RULE 1. The Schools shall contain as nearly an equal number of pupils as is practicable, it being desirable that the average number of daily attendants should be about fifty to each school.

RULE 2. No pupil can be admitted into a primary school without a ticket of admission from a member of the district committee, and all pupils are to provide themselves with the necessary books, when required.

RULE 3. Every scholar on arriving at the age of seven years, shall be carefully examined by one or more members of the district committee; and if deemed qualified for removal to a higher school, shall receive a certificate of recommendation in the following form, which is designed as a reward of merit, and will readily gain the bearer admission to an English grammar school. Certificate of Recommendation.

child of
kept by

having been instructed at the and being years of

The Beater Primary School in District No. age, is deemed qualified for admission to an English Grammar School, to which is recommended by

}

Committee of Primary
School, Dist. No.

RULE 4. The school hours shall be uniform in all the schools, viz.: From the first Monday in April to the first Monday in October, each school shall keep from eight o'clock to eleven o'clock in the morning, and from two o'clock to five o'clock in the afternoon; and from the first Monday in October to the first Mon

day in April, from nine o'clock to twelve o'clock in the morning, and from two o'clock to half past four o'clock in the afternoon.

RULE 5. The sum of two dollars shall be annually appropriated to each school, for such rewards to encourage the children, as the committee of the district shall judge fit, who shall personally distribute them in their respective schools; and a sum proportioned to the number of schools in each district, shall be placed at the disposal of each district committee for that purpose.

RULE 6. The afternoons of every Tuesday and Friday, are to be assigned to the tuition in needlework of those female scholars, who come provided with suitable materials-other pupils will pursue their studies as usual.

Course of Instruction.

CLASSIFICATION.-The pupils in each of the schools shall be arranged into four Classes; and the third and fourth classes into two Divisions each, viz.:4th Class..2d Div.-Cards, Alphabet.

1st Div.-Cards continued; Monosyllables and Dissyllables.

3d Class...2d Div.-Spelling Books; words of two or more syllables. 3d Class...1st Div.-Spelling Book continued; Spelling and Easy Reading Lessons; the Lord's Prayer; Abbreviations and Numbers commenced.

2d Class...Spelling Book continued; Spelling, Reading, and all the other lessons in the same to the end; the Commandments; Reading Book.

1st Class...Spelling Book continued; Spelling, Punctuation, Abbreviations, Numbers; words of similar sound but different in spelling and signification; Reading Book continued; New Testament.

RULE 1. The second division of the fourth class shall first stand up, and after an appropriate address, shall read from the Cards with a distinct and audible tone of voice, the letters of the Alphabet: In like manner, the first division of the same class, shall read in words of one and two syllables; and no one of this class shall be advanced to the third or higher class, who can not read deliberately and correctly in monosyllables and dissyllables.

RULE 2. The third class must be furnished with the Spelling Book adopted by the Board, and the second division of it must be taught to read therefrom in words of three, four, and five syllables. The first division of the same must be continued in their spelling, and advance to the easy reading lessons of the same book, and learn the Lord's Prayer: the learning of Abbreviations and Numbers is to be commenced, and no one is to be promoted to the second class, who can not spell with ease and propriety words of the above syllables, and read well in the easier lessons of the said Spelling Book.

RULE 3. The second class must proceed in the Spelling Book, through all the spelling, reading, and other lessons of the same; and be taught to recite well the Ten Commandments; must be provided with the book of Reading Lessons, and make progress therein; and no one of this class can be advanced to the first, who has not learned and recited, as far as practicable, all the lessons in the Spelling Book, including the stops and marks, and their uses in reading; the use of the common abbreviations; the letters used for numbers and their uses; and the catalogue of words of similar sound, but different in spelling and signication. They must be able also to recite the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer, and to read correctly and readily in the Book of Reading Lessons.

RULE 4. The first class shall be continued and perfected in the lessons of the Spelling Book and book of Reading Lessons; be furnished with the New Testament, and taught to read therein fluently and correctly; and no one of the first class shall receive the highest reward-the recommendation of the examining Committee, to be received into an English Grammar School-unless he or she can spell correctly, read deliberately and audibly, has learned the several lessons taught in the second class, and is of good behavior.

In the Regulations for 1821, the fourth, or youngest class, was composed of pupils in the alphabet, and in monosyllables.

SCHOOLS AND EDUCATION IN SALEM.

BY JOSEPH B. FELT.

EARLIEST SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS.

THE earliest notice of schools and education in Salem is in 1628, when Governor Cradock recommended to Mr. Endicott to train up some of the Indian children to reading and religion,'-it is hardly conceivable that so much heathenism could prevail, as a total neglect of their own children; but there is no recorded evidence of such attention, until 1636, when Mr. Endicott, on introducing an application for a grant of land to Mr. John Humphrey, asks for a committee to consider the location thought of, lest it should infringe on the grant already made for the building of a colledge,' which had been located on a beautiful plain, called Marblehead Farms.

The first teacher named in the records is Rev. John Fisk, who appears to have commenced his duties here in 1637. Besides teaching, he assisted Mr. Peters in the pulpit, and so continued over two years. 1640, Jan.- A genérall towne meeting,-yong Mr. Norris chose by this assembly to teach schoole.'

1641, March 30.-At the Quarterly Court, Col. Endecot moued about the ffences and about a free skoole and therefore wished a whole towne meeting about it; therefore, that goodman Auger warne a towne meeting the second day of the week.' This applied to Salem. It is the first written intimation that we have of instruction, without price,* among our settlers. Still, the nature of the case requires us to conclude, that whatever children could not be taught without the aid of the plantation, they were thus previously assisted. How the measure, so proposed, was carried into effect, may be learned from the succeeding quotation. 1644, Sept. 30.Ordered that a note be published on the next lecture day, that such as have children to be kept at schoole, would bring in their names and what they will giue for one whole yeare and, also, that

Mr. Felt seems not to have apprehended the meaning of free as applied to schools in the early legislation of New England, which meant an endowed grammar school, such as most of the prominent settlers had known in England. All the early free schools, so called, were pay schools in some form to the parents.-Ed.

if any poore body hath children or a childe, to be put to schoole and not able to pay for their schooling, that the towne will pay it by a rate.' The latter clause shows what our ancestors understood substantially by a free school. It was not to have the teacher paid entirely by tax on the inhabitants, but to be so compensated only for such of his pupils, as could not otherwise attend on his instructions. This continued more or less so, among our population, till 1768. Such was the practice, to a limited degree, in the metropolis, and, to a considerable degree, in other places of the Commonwealth. So it still is in such States as Connecticut and New York. Though the laws of Massachusetts, from its infancy, required, that schools should be sustained among its inhabitants, yet, until the year last named, they left them free as to the mode of paying for the tuition. Then they began to assume a more imperative style as to such compensations being raised by assessments on property. From that period, the idea of a free school, in Massachusetts, seems to have been generally, that its teacher was entirely paid by a town tax where no funds existed, and, not as before, partly by tax and partly by the pupils. Hence, the ancient signification of free school was not so extensive as in modern years.

The first notice of one, among the regular entries of Boston records, is in 1642. But on the last leaf of the first volume, is a list, dated 1636, of subscribers and their donations toward a school of this kind. Had that leaf been lost, not long after it was written on, Boston would have been deprived of its best evidence to prove the honor of having preceded every settlement of our Colony in so honorable an enterprise. Such a fact intimates, that other towns may have made similar provision years before it appears on their common records. According to these, however, so far as they have come to the writer's knowledge, Salem takes the second stand, 1641,* in so commendable a work, and Ipswich, the third, in 1642.

To elucidate the progress of education among our fathers, we may attend to the following items in detail:

1645.- Ordered and agreed, that all such as God stirres vp their hearts to contribute to the aduancement of learning, for the maintay ninge of poore skollers at the Colledge, at Cambridge, that they bringe into Mr. Price, within one moneth, what they please to giue, and to enter their names with Mr. Fogge and what they giue or contribute.' On a subscription paper, supposed of the same year, in the State Archives, for this purpose, Salem, among other towns, say they will answer in two months.'

1654. Our legislature forbid persons of unsound doctrine and immoral conduct to instruct scholars.

* Dorchester took action respecting a Free School in 1639.