The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1873-07-04
O,.r Common, Schools.
report OF the Superintendent OF Cambria Comfy
wt the School fesr ending June 2, 1873.
1. SCHOOLS AND SCHOOL HOUSES.

~ oVnnHso"n IN the school year 1872, wal
Completed and first used for school purposes
uuring the school, year just closed 1t is 4
nne building, and adds much to the v&ue OF
the school property, and the educational IA
cllities of that prosperous town.
An excellent school house in Couemauph
Borough was also completed during the past
year, and occupied for the purposes of a
! scnooi. 1t Is two-story brick building
measuring 76 by 90 feet, Containing eight
Ioonlsj nails, and spacious basement in
| wnicn are placed the heaters for warming the
! oulldlng. 1t stands upon Railroad street, in
| Iot OF about one acre. The cost of this ne w
institution of learning is about $50, OOO and
~ 10 IN every respect credit to the town, and
an honor to the worthy school board by
whom 1T was erected.
| A few other school houses Wefe built in
different parts of the county and others have
! been repaired, painted, and enclosed by neat
fences; am sorry to say that very many of
| our school houses lack the necessary ont
buildings. If directors and parents would
but reflect upon :he positive injury which
our schools suffer from this source, 1 am
sure that this cause of complaint would be
speedily removed.
furniture and Appardt,s.-But little has
been done in the way Of improving the furni-
ture, or adding to the apparatus Of our schools
SINCE my last report. In this direction we
move but slowly.
Length Of Tefm.-The increase in the
length OF termi az fixed by the recent law
seems TO be generally satisfactory indeed
there was n widespread disposition on the
part OF our achoDl directors to extend the
term before the receiit et6ctment was made
as is evident from the fact that sixteen of our
school districts, in the schoo. year 1879, kept
lheiI schoois open for period ut least as
great as the minimum now required by law,
During the year just closed, nearly all t,ir
schools were kept open for five months or
more.
Other SchOOlS.-The Cambria Iron Com
pnnys night schools referred TO in previous
Wei - inn nad a
past wintert and abounded in good works
anu good Influences. Various denomination
81 anu private schools were also in operation
during the year, and 4 ~eii-attendcd and
successful normal school was taught in
Ebensburg.
II. TEACHERS AND TEACHING.
Scarcity Of Tedchers.-The chief difficulty
we have to encounter is the scarcity of teach
ers. Many of our schools were not supplied
with teachers until very late in the season.
though every effort was made to do so sooner
In n few instances 1t was impossible, from
this cause, TO put in the full five months be-
fore the first of June. In these cases the un-
expired part of the term will be added to the
next years term.
Some .St0tistics.-Last fall 1 concluded TO
gather some personal statistics of our teach
ers, in addition TO those required by the De-
partment Of sixty teachers of whom in
quired, learned that only twcnty=nine were
born in Cambria county, twenty-eight were
born in Pennsylvania outside of Cambria
county, and three were burn out of the State
| further learned that of these sixty teach
ers eight had attended 4 college, fourteen had
attended an academy, twenty-one had at
tended y county normal school, four had at
tended 4 State normal school, and the re-
mainder had acquired all their education in
our common schools The average length of
time which these teachers hid taught was
about forty months
III. WORK AxD THE woRKMEN.
,0fi # hot -
ucable to defer the examinations last fall
as intended, because of the Increased length
OF school term. Hence, held the examina-
tions at about the usual time and met the
usual difficulty in securing enough teachers
l held thirty public examinations, and
number of private examinations. At these
examinations had i'll all POS candidates of
these, eighty-three were Itfen, and 125 were
women. Of the men, tlihe were rejected of
the women twenty-three were rejected -
These statistics differ in several points very
remarkably from those of the year before
Certifcdtes.-I granted during the year l76
provisional certificates. This WAS an increase
of twenty-four over the preceding wear. The
average grade of these certificates was %
This was a falling off from the wear before
The difference was likely owing to the in
creased number of certificates granted sew
eral of thUse issued near the close of the
campaign being very inferior, and only grant
ed ut all through the pressure Of cifcufIIstan-
ceS.
The CdRdtddtcS.-I have noticed p VeTv
wide difference in the general character of
the candidates at public and at private ex-
aminatiOns. The fact of apply ing for an eN-
animation privately, is prind fdcie evidence
of inferiOrity of qualifications. The statistics
bear ont this theory. For instance, the GER
tificates issued at the regular examinations
average 2,2 ; those issued at the private ex-
aminations average 2.6. Again, % per cent
of those examined privately, failed altoCeth-
ef, while of those who were examined ut the
rejected. OF all those examined, So had
never taught.
Visits.-I did not visit mitch during the
past year 1t was uut Of the question to do
Those who will recall the character of
the last winter-tIe intense etrid, the severe
storms, and the impassable roads-will mart
ly understand why. Besides, very serIous
and long-continued illness in my fatttify,
which in one case eliminated in the death Of
my little daughter FLOY, who will he
membered by many teachers and others who
have visited my hOrtse, cattsed me to lose
several weeks right in the heart OF the school
term, and, with the other causes mentioned,
rendered it impossible to visit all or nearly
all the schools, ! succeeded in making 100
visits and regret aa much as anybody that
I WAS not able to do more.
The County institute.-Our county Institute
convened in the court house in Ebensburg on
the 3Oth day Of December. Owing to the
heavy SNOW that had fallen n few days be-
fore, which completely blOckadeG our
BranCh BallTO0tl, ana TenueTeu the country
roads also comparative by impossible, the at
tendance was not large. But the Institute
was nevertheless successful, Cash premiums
amounting to thirty dollars were given to
the three best spoilers i'll contest of two
hundred words. The premiums were award
ed to Mr.. f. j. Strayer, Miss Allie Lloyd,
and Mrs. j. c. Clark. Those who took a
principal part in the exercises of the Insti-
tute and to whom the thanks of the Super
intendent are specially due, are MessrS.
Henry Houck, T. r Morrell, Geo. J. Luckey,
Geo. w. Cope, T. C. Myers, VIM. McGough,
w. w. Quigg, Hartman Berg, w. C. Nc
Clelland, ]. A. Harold, and A. B. Terrence; /;
also, to Prof. j. w. Trzbert, the accomplished
oraanist and the choir of young folks who
enlivened the sessions of the Institute with
their sweet music.
". CONCLUSION.
Thus have we wrought our way through
another twelve-rnonth. In some respects
we have been advancing in others we have
fr,r-