The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1865-04-14
1'O,Ua Sasperintendent's Report.

your town, now ask leave to present my
report from that department.
1t is known to most of you that in the
spring of last year, in obedience to the
claims of Christian phil;nthrophy and in
response to the call of that noble institu-
ton, the L. S. Christian Commission, l
forsook for season the ordinary calling
of my life, and hastened to administer to
the wants of the wounded and diving
among defenders of our nations flas.
around the tortresses of Petersburg. The
period OF this service and consequent phys
ical disability precluded the possibility of
my attending to much of the work you
assigned me, during nearly one-half Of
the year; delinquency which I Aatter
myself every loyal citizen will excuse.
was able, however, to attend to the exam
ination of teachers and also to visit few
of the fall schools, and have as far as prac-
ticable attended to the duties of my office
during the winter. 1t is to be regretted
that our present school law does not fur
nish the superintendent with the Sab
stracts" from district clerks returns at
the hands of the town clerk, in season to
admit of the incorporation of their i'm
port and statistics into their annual town
reports, which would render said reports
much more important to the people. As
it Is the town clerk is not obliged to rem
der said abstract till the first Tuesday in
April annually, which precludes its use
for the March report, and the lack of said
document will account for the meagerness
Of statistical facts in this report.
personally examined every school in
legal operation during the winter except
one, which appears to have had partially
intermediate session, and which closed be-
fore the season of visitation on my plan
arrived. These schools were generally
taught by female teachers, only Jour out
of some twenty being taught by males
While it is obviously the duty of the
superintendent and in accordance with the
expectations of the people that the char
acter Of each school should be here pre-
sented, and while | acknowledge that
am prepared to give very decided and
commendable report of some, yet there
are cases where my limited acquaintance
would not justify decided opinion, and
least a partial commentator might appear
to throw some schools, perhaps equally
deserving, in the shade, | will forbear to
particularize. am happy to be able to
report every school visited by me during
the winter respectable, though some in
measure of efficiency much surpassed 9TH
ers. There were, however, tuo failures
in two certain districts, arising from the
incompctency of the teachers employed; :;
in both cases the proceedings on the part
of othe committees were illegal. Commit
tees ought to bear in mind that no cir
cumstances can justify the employing of
unlearncd teachers. The schoolhouses are
generally good-some excellent A few
districts, however, are quite ''conserva-
tive in the style and furniture of their
school houses-could the spirit of one of
the revolutionary fathers look into one of
them, he would doubtless pronounce its
appearance "quite natural" One dis
trict only had no school house The new
brick school house, Except perhaps its
croarning deformity), in its external ap-
pearance is an ornament to the village.
and in internal structure and convenience,
affords facilities for instruction nearly ap-
proXimating to our ideas Of perfection.
The Maple street school house, in its arch
itectural plan, external appearance and
internal adoption, Is perfect success.
The graded school in this village, as a
whole, | consider as already occupying d
very respectable position among schools Of
its class in New England; nor need the sub
urban districts envy their center its supe-
rior advantages, for already close imita.
tions Of the excellences Of its. most
successful grades are apparent in some o.
their own schools. Indeed, during the
past winter some of these schools have
emulated the "Plain'' with commendabl(
zeal, and have fallen short in little beside
the impossible g grade" and even in thi:
last particular the old Center and Eas
, Village have made an approximation. Ii
most of the schools found marked i'm
provement in order and government OF
that which | had heretofore witnessed il
the common schools of this region.
sincerely hope that on no futile pretention
will any party interfere with this gran(
march of our common schools towards re
spectability and success. There is also &:
visible Improvement in the character O
rudimentary instruction. The grade(
9 school from its superior advantages, o
course, affording the best illustration th'
d standard efficiency already attained by lit
tie children in enunciation, pronunciation
!, spelling, reading and mental arithmetic i
: truly admirable.
/ l examined and accepted some fort.
- teachers during the year, of these .te'
,et were thoroughly qualified for their work
= of the remainder a large majority wer
# # somewhat deficient, especially in thei
y knowledge of English grammar few
e would have rejected had they not beel
:, :, previously approved. They were, howev
er, all very good readers and excellen
e arithmeticlans Some one or more of tn
: following defects were discovered in sew
e eral of the schools; and the attention O
the parties interested, especially of m,
V successor in office, is called to the fact:
Il l Omitting the practice of map-drawin,
in the study of geography, without whic]