The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1907-01-29
WILMINGTON, NJ c.
EDUCATION IN THIS STATE BE
FORE THE WAR.

In regard to Dr.. Lyman AbbO r.;
statement that the states of the south
had no public school system whatever
before the war between the state. ref
G to which was made in The Mes
singer a few days ago, our attention has
been called to some statements of facts
by Colonel Alfred NJ. Waddell in an ad-
dress delivered in this city in 1871 on
the occasion of the laying of the corner
stone Of the Tileston normal school
house. From this address we take he
following extract showing what were
the educational conditions in this state
prior to the war:
1t is a fact lOt generally kn"Wr eel
among Il " p"opie that previous to
the war North Carolina had the best
common school system south OF Mason
and DixUn's lire and a better one than
many of the states north of it. BY
reference to a published address which
/ had the honor to deliver in this city
in February, 1889, at a meeting of citi-
zens called for the purpose Of estab-
1It1liS 1t Hie IN L 11iitt liz -
ing statement of facts gathered from
official sources:
In the nineteen years which had
then elapsed iHce the common school
system was established Cir 184O) the
colleges had increased from two 10
sixteen, the academies from 40 to $50,
the primary schools from G32 10 $500
and the number Of scholars from TO-
600 to 100000 Or~tWO thirds of the
white children in the state between the.
ages Of ; and y. / find further that
the productive school fund bad in
Increased 20 more than $1,000, 900 ex-
elusive Of swamp lands anil was yearly
Increasing and that it was larger han
II school fund Of Massachusetts by
100000. larger than the school fund
Of New Jersey by three times that
amount C$1,500, 000) larger than that
of GeOrEia-the Empire state of the
south as she was callcd-by 1900, 600:
larger than that Of Virginia by $500, 900
and much larger than the school fund
"a Maine or New Hampshire or Mary
lard."
Colonel Waddell got his figures
from the North Carolina Readcr"". Il
school book for North Carolina cnild-I
rem published by Calvin H. Wiley in
1851. We would like to give 4 leugthyI
description of this reader. Were i'll
Il public school text book and in the
hands of our children of the present
day they would know a great dea!
more about the history of their slate
they Team from the books now in
s -. - az
The book is not only Il reader"
With selections chiefly from the writ
ings Of prominent North Carolip ANS
of that and earlier periods, but CON
tains valuable information of varied
kinds about the state. 1t is diYidec
into four parts. Part one is "A General
Description of North Carolina" the Off
ferent sections being described. Part
two is "a Historical Sketch Of North
Part three is Selections in
Prose and Verse, among the authors
being such men as George E. Badger,
CASTOR. Robert Strange. Durie!
NJ. BarrlnSer, Elisha Mitchell, William
4. Graham, James IriGeIl, Thomas
and a number OF other North
Carolin:ans Of equal prominence. Then
follow Selections from Scripture.
Part four contains chronological tables
statistics, explanations Of popular
technical terms, etc.
The book is most interesting. as
any one viii find who will take tine /
o glance through ii. 1t is out of print /
md Il very few volumes exist. The {
PERSONS who own those few prize them {
very highly. We do not suppose it
would be possible 10 purchase a copy /
low. Il