Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1869-08-06
OUR COLLEGES.

= [
/ sought their advantages. In nearly
| every village and township may be
! found persons of both sexes enjoying
| the privileges of liberal education re-
ceived in their halls. The Ohio Wes-
IeVan University and the Ohio Wes-
| leyan Female College need no praise.
| They speak for themselves. But we
| deplOre the breach, the almost inn
| passabIe gap existing between them
| and our " Common Schools" Being in
our midst ought not our schools really
to feel their presence? Is it fact that
| they do? By a comparison of eur
Common Schools and those of other
counties, containing colleges, with
those of other counties not having such
institutions, do not the former rather
suffer From careful examination we
incline to an affirmative answer. Such
should not be the case. Common
Schools are the basis, the substratum
of higher Institutions, the pillars on
which their foundations rest. Perhaps
the members of college faculties have
not given that immediate attention to
the schools of lower grade in their re-
spective localities which their import
ance demands. If this has been the
serve there are now noble exceptions.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF DELAWARE.
These are yearly attaining increased
celebrity and efficiency. They were
organized IN 1860 under the school law
of 1858. There are three general class
es into which they are divided, denom-
mated respectively the District, Inter
mediate, and High Schools. There is
one school each in the two -hiGhest
grades. The District schools are di-
Yided into seven grades designated by
the first letters of the alphabet, A, B,
Q, DC. These grades are more clearly
distin gnished by the general divisions
Primary, District, and intermediate.
There is one colored school. The age
and adVanceme11t Of pupils are the
conditions of transfer. Adyancement
in reading isethe condition. of promo
ton in the Dist let schools. The num-
Der of different teachers employed is
thirteen. Thenumbe ber of pupils enum-
Grated in September, 1867, were 1860.
Number enrolled in schools 1100, near
Iy. Average number in daily attend
ance, 800. The whole number of pupils
enrolled for the month ending January
20, 1869, was $50. The average daily
attendanee for that time was $40. A
glance at these figures shows the adj
vantage of these schools over our I'M
graded country District schools, to be
in the number of pupils taught by a
single teacher. Another advantage is
the incentive to pupils, afforded by the
opportunity for, promotion Much of
the efficiency of the Public Schools of
Delaware is due to the labOrs of the
Superintendent, Rev. James ). Camp
bell. He is also principal of the High
School The school buildings of Della
ware are undergoing marked improve
ment. A superb new structure with
modern improvements is projected on
Lincoln Avenue. The City Council has
appropriated the City PARK for the site
of another new edifce. - efsT
The private schoolsland teachers of
Delaware deserve more than a passing
notice. OF one of the LATTER one of our
Examiners SAID, g he never examined
her pupils in reading, because they
were all good readers" What more
glowing tribute could we pay to any
| teacher
Sunbury, Ostrander, Galena and Ashley.
as well as Delaware, have earh graded
schools with three FdepartmentssdnE each.
| All are of comparatively recent origin. The
Sunbury Union Institute,= at the former
place, is due to the energetic efforts of Col.
| g. A Frambes. We should not neglect to
| notice the successful labOrs of h H Straight
IN the school at Galena. Graded schools
will multiply in our midst before 5YeEeB tn e
| highest results Of educational enterprise.
! In every village in our county, or at least in
each townships should be q school where
| young ladies might enjoy the opportunity
OF studying the higher branches, and where
the young men would surely go, in the long
| winter months, rather than spend their
/ time in smoking and in " playing check
| ers" at the - corner grocery.
COMMON SCHOOL HOUSES
/ in Delaware county have chronicaIIy been
| reported good" Those which really have
| the modern improvements in ventilation,
| desks, and arrangements are the exceptions
to the rule. The total number of School
| houses in this county in 1867, was I56. OF
| these 36 are brick, stone, los frame, and 6
| log. These log school houses are all that
remain of our pioneer school edifices, in
I which benches without backs, desks around
| the wall, and puncheon floors were the
conveniences, ,'and which were erected by
] the settler" Of neighborhoOd in some
] central locality, and Occupied by q teacher
/ who could read. write and cipher as far as
1 seven dollars per month and s'bOarcled
/ round. y. Although Improvements in our
| school houses have not kept pace with 9TH
1 er departments Of public EN- erprise, rapid
| strides have been made. In 1867, thirteen
| new houses we're erected at costof Fifteen
| creased expenditure, and better display
| of taste in architecture, and meditation to
| have been erected in Galena, Sunbury and
| Ostrander. In the fall of last year Harlem
| township built q fine brick structure in sub
district n o. /, Harlem village, 28x50 feet in
! size, with q Verandah l2x1u feet containing
| doors opening into the separate rooms. This
house in the county. In the same wear Dis
trict No. 4 in Kingston township, erected a
fine struc eure at a cost of twelve hundred
dollars. Orange township erected two fine
! brick structures. at cost of nearly two
i Thousand dollars. This year the work con-
| tinues unabated. Delaware and Delhi adj
Vertise for proposals for imposing hut ldings.
In several of the townships houses are in
the first which fully ayailed itself OF, the
new law to provide. houses at the ex-
pense OF the township. She long since had
comfortable house in each sub-D1strict
ana we hear no complaint. A gentleman
living In an adjoining township, but own
ing real estate here, said, "he had helped
Il build houses in both, and he considered the
money well inVested.' - sI st-fir 5.-.F r
Many OF the pour houses are due to the
aversion of Boards of EducRtion to comply
4 with the law to provide better ones. Fhe
work might be commenced, and carried
gradually forward without beihg a burden
The total value of school houses and
timated at nearly ninety thousand dollars
Sites of school houses are generally in the
center of the District, or at the most aValla
BILE point. Observation, unassisIed by i'm
aginntton, points the grouud.4 AT cIOsl
roads, ',jusC below the road" marshg
ground, on hill sides, and on hiIl tops uu,
protected by single shade tree from thS
scorohingsun, . @ Hsis .tii.4
Il IN the School commissioners Eleventh
Annual Report, Hon. e. e. White says
speaking OF the school houses and sites o.
Ohio: - I frequently see houses that have
no grounds at all, but are Situai ed in a littlC
niche in the street, or more frequently in .
meadow, or other farm lot, while the IRON
roIms a part of the highway fence. II
many cases the design seems to have beer
| to ocate the house out of the way, WHERE
| nobody would think OF building anythinl
else. In other cases the building commit
tee seem to have had a mathematica
bump, and depression of good sense, since
. tue school house stands in the centre of thu
District, belt said centre happens to be II
q mud hole. In still other cases the schoo
house site seems to have been determines
by the Questionable nberality Of some etti