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

Ihcro was public examination of this scbool q,
Monday md yesterday, tho first since its orcanza
ton, in M1rch, 1865. 1t was our privilege to L,
present Tor several hours yesterday, and wo were
much interested i'll tho exercises Tho audionc,
whs quito largo, mostly colored; but all sccmct
very mlci' interested i'll what was going OH. W,
| witnessed examinations in mental aud blackboard
| arithmetic, in reading, md in geography, In al
| OF thcso tho several classes acquitted themselves
| admirably. Special attention appears to DO givol
Ill this school to mental arithmetic, and il is sur
| prsing 10 sec what dogreo Of proficiency some
Of these children lnve acquired in tho short period
OF two years; not that they know 10 very
mu b. that would DO conveying falso idea
but thoy aro thoroughly grounded in whatcver
they ARC taught. BY fur tho creator number oil
theso pupils wcrc entirely ignorant when thoy wcro
admitted, but few even knowing their lettors Tho
Principal, A1r. ARTHUR SUMNER goes upon tho
principle Of adapting hB course of study to tho
character nnl capacity of his pupils lilo attempts
toteach only few, and thoso tho most clonontary
branches. But this is dono systematically, md
under the guidance of tIancd and uLlo teachers
a1d accordingly the result is striking, not to say
brnnt.
Tho examination was "a fairly conducted us any
wo h1vc over seen, any ono in tho audience bong
ut liberty to ask tho classes questions upon my
topic undor consideration. There wcro como OK
cellcntly drawn maps Of South America of Europc
anu OF tho United States. These maps wero drawn
OIL largo scalo upon the blackboard, with colorcd
crayons, and wcro extremely well executed. Tho
map OF South America was adjudged tho bcHt, and
tho prize, copy OF tho Lady Of tho Lako, was
awarded to Harriet Koy, who had drawn it. This
was n class prizo, offered by the teacher, Miss
LINCOLN.
Tho regular prizes tsilver stnrs and bluo rib
bons) wcro distributed TO tho following pupils
Sarah Brown, Eugcnin Middleton, Mary Celinn
Givens, Ia book to Jesse Lucas) Nancy Cochran,
Susnn Williams, Anthony Wilson, Septima Drum
mond, Andrew Gray, Susan Robinson, aud Mary
Fcnnick.
Wo mentioned above that oil the excrcsca gayo
great satisfaction to tho audience, showing that
tho teachers had dono their full duty; and that tho
scholars also, especially the brighton oncs, had
worked we'll Tho great feature yesterday, how
ever, Which creato1 quito sensation, was n
dramatic exercise, writton for tho occasion, and
acted by several Of tho pupils. Tho subject was
"a Scono i'll the Morris street School," represent
ing mother, of tho average stylo of our colorod
women, bringing hor little girl to school. Tho
girl who acted tho mothers part has uo histrionic
powers. Sho spoke tho ''gullah" in it's rich,
creamy, low-cohntry plantation perfection. Moth
ing could surpaHs it. Those who havo tricd it
know how hopeless tho attempt to reduce this
dialect to writing. She moreover had tho utmost
command of countenanco, and wns tho only ono Of
tho "cast" who was not "put out" ii. @. grinned
involuntarily) when salutod by tho storms OF ap-
p!auBo that canlo in acknowledgment OF tho cxcel-
lent performance. Tho other actors repeated their
pieces just rs written, and thoy fell entirely shotr
OF tho frat mentioned, and also of thoi1 natural
prototypes.
Wo published tho statistics of this school few
months ago, and as thorc can DO but little diher-
cnco between tho numbers thon and now, and wo
have been unable to SEQ tho last monthly report,
wo will giyc tho figures from that Of last March.
Thcro wero thon about $50 names on the rolls,
ayornG0 attendance being GOT, or n pcr centum.
The Principal Of this school is nided in his labors
by 1G assistants, IS OF whom arc white and COL
orei; of the teachers arc from the North Tho
number enrolled for March was 7ss-455 girls and
3SS boys. There woro in March 48 over 1G years OF
ago.. s73 SO was roceiyed during TINT month from
tho pupils toward tho support of tho school,
I nero Wcru ~ IIiuG IiInu tnU Inird HeauCr
and IS in tho Fourth National Reader.