The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-04-02

bess Win WHICH tue poor Oh the CITY senu
their children to the northern schools
lately established among US, and the large
numbers in attendance at these schools,
afford convincing proof that the facilities
offered by our city for the education Of the
destitute are entirely inadequate. Poverty
and necessity have removed the objections
which many, even Of the very poor, once
had against what they called "charity
schools" This cause for long time kept
many scholars away from the Lancasterian
school and other free schools Of the city
Any one conversant with the past and pre-
sent aspects Of these schools will observe
| that they are attended by different class
Families send to them now who formerly
would not do so. -, .s..-
The miserable location Of the Lancas,
terian is another difficulty in its way. But
it is good school, and ought to be pa.
tronized to the full extent of its capacity
before our children are committed to
strangers; and In the mean while the very
anomalous state Of things existing here
now, when northern schools are springing
up and filing up, ought to arrest the atten-
tion of our City Fathers and arouse them
to some action far beyond what they ever
did before to provide education for our own
people by our own teachers.
In response to the appeal Of the trustees
of the Lancasterian school last year, they
promptly increased the appropriation to It,
by which increase great improvements
have been made and the efficiency of the
school very much augmented. Its faithful
teachers are now much better paid, and
the rooms so arranged as to add very much
to the comfort and convenience Of the
scholars and teachers.
In the male department three hundred
and ninety scholars have been taught du-
ring the last scholastic year, with an
average attendance at this time of l25, and
daily increasing, are taught by three
teachers-Mr. Gates, Misses McCoull and
Lambert. This department has the ad.
vantages of both o grammar and primary
school. In the female department three
hundred and twenty-four girls have re-
ceived education under the tuition of Mrs.
aad Miss Watlington, with an average
daily attendance Of sixty-one. The school
fills up rapidly during the spring, chill
dren during the winter months being much
hindered. by want Of shoes and clothing.
Several years previous to war the State
had inaugurated and partially set on foot
system of free schools. A certain por-
ton of the revenue Of the State was set
apart as literary fund, and from 1t ap-
propriations were made for teaching the
children of such parents as could them
selves not pay the tuition fees. School
commissioners were appointed for each
county and town, whose duty it was to
expend the portion allotted them in this
manner. The price paid was five cents
per day of actual attendance, and any
teacher who would take the scholar on
these terms was entitled to receive the
fee upon the certificate of the commits
sioner. In the more thickly-settled por-
tions of the country, where the allotment
was sufficiently large to allow OF its being
done, school houses were set apart, and
teacher employed exclusively for them.
In this city there were such schools
at Clay-street chapel, Oregon Hill, Gam
ble's Hill, Jackson street, and on Franklin
street at the foot Of the brick steps, all IN
successful operation.
When the war broke out, in 1861, the
appropriations for the literary fund were
discontinued, and these schools were ne
cessarily suspended, and have not since
been revived. The city has made small
appropriation for this purpose, but it has
been mostly expended on the Lancasterian
school, leaving a small sum to keep up
school in the First Ward, which is now
taught by Mrs. Solomon and her daughter
in the Seamen's Bethel. There is daily
average attendance at this school of about
sixty scholars, who show signs Of consider
able improvement in their studies.
The free school system of the North,
with all its advantages, is openly con-
demned by some leading men in that sec
ton; hence the necessity of modifying it
in its introduction here, and keeping it
under the enlightened control of our best
minds.