The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-01-11
THE NEW PUBLICATIONS.
SOME OF THE LATEST BOOKS OF
 THE SEASON.

Chronicles of a Famous Pioneer School fn LisehhsId us7s.Iss3l Bacteria, Ysasts, and MoIds inahe Home by Pro- fsssor Conn of wssieyan-Henry Demsrest Lloyd's "Nswsst En England''- Gsistt Burgess and wnI Irwin's "Reign of Queen IsyI"-"Datnt7 Devils'-The conhscticut Magazinc- Coming New Books, Etc.
 "Chronicles of a Pioneer School from 1792 to 1Ss3," is the history of Miss Sarah Pierce and her Litchfield school; com piled by Emily Moves Vanderpoel, vice president of the Litchfield County His 2 torical society and author of Color Pro- blems;" edited by Elizabeth c. Barney Buel, A. B. During large part of it's existence this famous school was the only institution in New England for the higher education of young women, and in time became the resort of the daugh- ters of the most influential families of the country In giving the history of the academy, and in the attempt to pie ture the school life of the pupils and it's contemporary conditions, diaries and compositions, letters, plays and rules <have been arranged ehronologically, to- gether with many names of the three thousand pupils who came from the north, south, east and west.
 The table of contents gives an idea of 4t,o xx,I,iob h ae hoaa1 au1hOd ai in a volume of $40 pages. including the il- lustrations The book is printed in good style by the University Press Of Cam bridge, Mass, and is Illustrated with sixty-four half-tone plates, a photogra- vure of Miss Pierce, and fac-simile of colored chart of English history made by one of the pupils It is also fur 7 nished with full index of pupils and of others who were connected with the in- stitution. The price of the book is S3.50, and thirty-f cents for expressage For copies address s. M. Richardson, Fine Arts building, 215 West Fifty seventh street, New York city.
 A very interesting review of this work is given by the Boston Transcript, from which the following is taken:
 Of the many New England communi- ties maintaining active schools for high CT education, probably no place of equal size in the United States occupied a higher position than Litchfield Conn. Litchfeld in 1920 had only twenty-five hundred population less than New Ha- ven, and fourteen hundred less than Hartford, the only other town in the state surpassing it in population being M. <7J 7J<x4o Irr 1p Ashley, Calhoun, Clayton, Mason, Lor- ing. Woodbury, Hall, Phelps and host of others who were preparing to take an active part in the national life. And here in 1792, while the law school was in successful operation, Miss Sarah Pierce started. with two or three pupils in her dining room, what was destined to become the pioneer institution in this country in the higher education of wo- men-the Litchfield Female Academy.
 sssssiiapaau iiaiierrg vas one of the seven
 .s}fen of John Pierce of Litchfield by yvds first wife. She fitted herself for her task in New York, and though the edi- tor and compiler of this history of a pi- oneer school seemingly have been inde- fatigable in their labors, little can be learned of the early years of the school which she opened. That she was well fitted for her life-work, however, is att tested by the place the school came to occupy, and by the influence of the three thousand pupils who were taught in it during the forty-one years of it's exist ence. The diaries and compositions, let ters, plays and rules of the school which are given in chronological order, 4I,1 SF i. .sr, teachers instruction, but give us most vivid pictures of life and times in an academy town. They show, better than any other book which we can call to mind, the personalities, the society, the ss&hool discipline, the general trend of the current of the adolescent life of the pe- riod. And the illustrations of samples and drawings, the old miniatures, the silhouettes and the portraits of old pu- pils-like that of Elizabeth Hannah Garfield, whom the law students named "The Rose of Sharon" her sis < ter Julia being "The Lily of the Valley -7bring vividly before the mind the youthful belles and beaux of the time and their employments
 It was the firm belief of Miss Sarah Pierce that the mental and moral cul- ture of her sex was neglected, and that woman was as deserving as man of higher education. Upon this rock her school had become of sufficient impor- tance to interest the prominent men of the town in providing a home for fe- male academy. The town was then on the great highway of post coaches in- stead of the end of a small branch rail- road line, as it is now. Under this roof the school thrived so we'll that at one time Miss Pierce had one hundred and thirty-seven students In 1927 the school was incorporated. John F. Brace, Miss Pierce's nephew, was then connected with the school for some years, and for few years before Miss Pierce concluded her connection with the academy in 1882, was the principal other teachers being Misses Swift, Jones, Heyden and Grinbred Miss Pierce died in Litchfield in 1852, at the advanced age of eighty-four, mourned by large circle of dear friends. The town of Lyman Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe knew her and her acade- my no more.
 But let us turn to the more eloduent testimony of the old diaries and letters. A deep religious sentiment prvades