The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1867-06-26
THE NORRIS STREET COLORED
SCHOOL.

There was public examination of this school on
Monday and yesterday, the first since it's crganiza-
ton, in M9rch, 1865. It was our privilege to be
present for several hours yesterday, and we we're
much interested in the exercises. The audience
was quite large, mostly colored; but all seemed
very much interested in what was going on. We
witnessed examinations in mental and blackboard
arithmetic, in reading, and in geography, In all
of these the several classes acquitted themselves
admirably. Special attention appears to be given
in this school to mental arithmetic and it is sur
prising to see what degree of proficiency some
of these children have acquired in the short period
of two years; not that they know 80 very
mu,h, that would be conveying false idea;
but they are thoroughly grounded in whatever
| they are taught. By far tho greater number OF
these pupils were entirely ignorant when they were
admitted, but few even knowing their letters. The
Principal, Mr.. ARTHUR SUMNER, goes upon the
principle of adapting his course Of study to the
character and capacity of his pupils. He attempts
to teach only few, and these the most elementary
branches. But this is done systematically, and
under the guidance of t1ained and able teachers,
and accordingly the result is striking, not to say
brilliant.
The examination was as fairly conducted as any
we have ever seen, any one In the audience Delng
at liberty to ask the classes questions upon any
topic under consideration. There were some ex-
cellertly drawn maps of South America, Of Europe,
and Of the United States. These maps were drawn
on large scale upon the blackboard, with colored
crayons and we're extremely well executed. The
map of South America was adjudged the best, and
the prize, copy Of the Lady of the Lake, was
awarded to Harriet Kelly, who had drawn it. This
was class prize, offered by the teacher, Miss
LINCOLN.
The regular prizes (silver stars and blue rib
bons) were distributed to The following pupils:
Sarah Brown, Eugenia Middleton, Mary Ceina
Givens, "a book to Jesse Lucas) Nancy Cochran,
Susan Williams, Anthony Wilson, septima Drum
mond, Andrew Gray, Susan Robinson, and Mary
Fennick.
We mentioned above that all the exercises gave
great satisfaction to the audience, showing that
the teachers had done their full duty; and that the
scholars also, especially the brighter ones, had
worked well. The great feature yesterday, how
ever, which created quite sensation, was
dramatic exercise, written for the occasion, and
acted by several Of the pupils. The subject was
sA Scene in the Morris street School," represent
ing another, Of the average style Of our colored
women, bringing her little girl to school. The
girl who acted the mothers part has fine histrionic
powers She spoke the "gullah" in its rich,
creamy, low-country plantation perfection. Moth
ing could surpass it. Those who have tried it
know how hopeless the attempt to reduce this
dialect to writing. She moreover had the utmost
command of countenance, and was the only one ef
the sscast" who was not ''put OUT Il. E. grinned
involuntarily) when saluted by the storms of ap-
plause that came in acknowledgment OF the excel
lent performance. The other actors repeated their
pieces Just as written and they fell entirely shotr
Of the first mentioned, and also Of their natural
prototypes.
We published the statistics Of this school few
months ago, and ss there can be but little differ
ence between the numbers then and now, and We
have been unable to see the last monthly report,
we will give the figures from that Of last March.
There were then about $50 names on the rolls,
average attendance being COT, or " per centum.
The Principal of this school is aided in his labors
by 16 assistants, 1s Of whom are white and col
orei; Of the teachers arc from the North. The
number enrolled for March was 7ss-455 girls and
SS9 boys. There were in March 4s over 16 years Of
age. $7s 80 was received during that month from
the pupils toward the support Of the school.
There were at that time 154 in the Third Reader
and IS in the Fourth National Reader.