The aegis & intelligencer., 1897-02-05
HENRY BARNARD.

On last Sunday occurred the eighty
sixth birthday OF DR.. Henry Barnard,
of Hartford, Connecticut, who has
been well styled the "Nestor'' of
American education.
Education lies at the root of our
system of government, and it is highly
proper that one who has done as much
for education is DIR. Henry Barnard
should receive due honor in his ripe
old age.
Born at Hartford, Conn, in 1911,
he attended Yale College, and gradu-
ated before he was twenty. He was
admitted to the bar at the age of a,
after which he travelled extensively on
foot in England, Scotland and SwitZer-
land, studying the social ,scho' ,tic and
political conditions of their people.
Having been elected to the Connecti-
cut Legislature in 1888, he introduced
an Educational Bill, which was the
beginning of his career as educator.
DIR. Barnard was Secretary of the
State Board of School Commissioners
of Connecticut, until political changes
took away the office in 1912. He then
resolved TO take up the practice of
law, but his position as an educator
was so well established that he was
invited to superntend the schools of
four leading cities-New York, Bos-
ton, Cincinnati and New Orleans
Horace Mann asked him to accept the
principalship of one of the Massachu-
settS Normal Schools. Governor Sc
ward, of New York, and other leading
men, urged him to lecture throughout
the United States to awaken public
sentiment and organize the educa-
tional systems of the different States.
Taking their suggestions, he became
the great educational organizer of
America, lecturing in every State in
the union except Texas
From 1913 to 1919 DR.. Barnard filled
the position of State Superintendent
of the schools of Rhode Island. Later
he was State Superintendent of Con-
necticut. In 1858 he accepted the posi-
ton of chancellor of the University of
Wisconsin, but was forced to resign
two years later on account of i'll health.
In 1866 DIR. Barnard was elected
president of st. Johns College, at An
napolis, Maryland, but he resigned
the next year to become the first Com
missioner of Education for the United
States. In this capacity he labored
arduously for four years, issuing re-
ports of very valuable character. 1t
is notable fact, his first report con-
tains suggestions of most of the re-
forms that have since been brought
about in educational matters in this
country.
\ contemporary has we'll said of
him: "Dr. Barnard was Americas
great educational organizer, legislator
missionary, diplomat, orator and pub
Usher. No other living American has
helped to make the history of his cen
tury so fully as he has done. 1t is
we'll that his noble efforts should be
recognized by his countrymen, and by
the children everywhere, for whom
his Iabors secured so many of the in
estimable privileges they enjoy. 1t is
especially fitting that the venerable
man, who so willingly sacrificed ambi-
ton and fortune in promoting a high
er civilization and in establishing lib
erty on a truer basis, should know
that his noble efforts are heartily ap-
preciated."
He DIDN'T CUT THE TREE.
An old Negro strolled up to the
window of the commissioner of regis
tration in a Western city recently and
made aDDlicatiOu for registration