Sentinel of the valley. [volume] (Woodstock, Va) 1841-1848, 1846-08-27

Warts, the delegate of that county IN
the Legislature. From this letter it
appears that there are now $40 chill
dren gong to school, where previously
there had never been more than 200,
and that some of theseare nearly grown,
who never before had an opportunity
to attend school nor the ability to pay
for it. The efficiency of the schools
has been vastly improved, and the
moral character of the teachers is more
regarded. School houses have been
built in each district; which are good
frame buildings, Is by 90 and Is by
%, ceiled inside, and underpinned
with brick; some of them have stoves
and some have chimneys. They were
pu, out to the lowest bidder, on short
notice, and cost $3.50 each. with fix
lures complete. He thinks they might
have been built for $40. The salary
of the teachers (who are all males) is
$300-they could have been had for
S275-there were more applications
for examination than there were
schools. An excellent academy in
the county has been converted into one
of these free schools, receiving the
$500, and its patrons in the vicinity
have raised 5000 additional, which
they pay the teacher for instruction to
the children in the higher branches of
learning. The county being sparse!y
the school districts are large
of them 6 miles square, though
mostly something less, but they are SO
arranged that the mass of the children
are within two miles ofthe school hou-
ses; very few have to travel three miles
to school. The conclusion of this let
ter is so excellent that it will bear rep
clifton
"With the exception of some few
misery persons, who merge every con-
sideration for which they were born
into self, our people appreciate it as
the best act of Legislation which has
ever been passed for the county. How
could it be otherwise Many poor
father, who looked upon his children
as the subjects of poverty, and who in
the longest vista of time through which
he might be permitted to glance: could
see nothing but ignorance with all its
consequences to those of his own flesh
and blood, can now see them with
cheerful countenances making their
way to school, day by day, and prepa-
ring for that equality among their fell
low beings which otherwise they could
never have reached. Whether he may
live Or die, he looks upon the inheri-
lance they are receiving from these
schools as richer than any he could give
or leave-an Inheritance which will
qualify them to read the laws of their
country, of mature, and of God, which
will prepare them for spheres of useful
ness here, to which, without education,
they could never aspire"
The laying out of a county into
school districts, so as to afford a suffi-
cient number of scholars in each, and
the mass of them near the school house,
is work that requires great care and
much local information. If it be not
done judiciously, great Inconvenience
and dissatisfaction will ensue, that
may be the means of breaking up the
system. In some parts of every coun-
ty there are densely settled neighbor.
hoods where school could be collec-
ted in small compass, and the districts
should, if possible, be so arranged as to
have these settlements near the centre.
1t has been found by experience in the
common schools that so scholars are
as many as can we'll be taught by one
person, and when the number exceeds
this, female assistant is Employed
Horace Mann, the distinguished super
of common schools in Mas
remarks, in one of his re-
ports, that "The number of scholars
may be too small as we'll as too great.
In most branches large class can not
only be taught as easily as, but more
than, small one. Num-
bers are natural stimulus to all the |
social faculties, and hence they incite-
to greater exertions. AS the number
of inquisitive Iearnersis increased, more
questions will be asked in regard to
the lessons, and thus the subject will
be presented in a greater variety of
lights. If50 be regarded as the max
imnm, probably 40 would be as the
probably for a common
school" taught by one person.
| would respectfully suggest to the
friends of education, that IN the con-
structlon of school houses, in which
your children are to spend SO many