Evening star., 1923-07-29

This column Is conducted under the
auspices of the District OF COLUMBIA
branch Of the National Congress of
| Mothers and Parent-TeacheT Associa-
tions. -. =-
In this column last Sunday there
was a brief account of the history OF
our school system. showing Thomas
Jefferson's connection with IT. AS
long as he remained in Washington
he was one of the school trustees
and the president OF the board of
trustees and showed in every way his
personal Interest in the establishment
of our public school system. Our
first board of trustees was composed
! of thirteen members. seven of whom
were elected by the joint ballots OF
the two chambers OF the city coun-
ell and six were chosen by those who
contributed to the promotion Of the
schools The city council in Decem-
Der, 1904, passed an act providing for
the schools. which appropriated such
. sum as the trustees deemed sum ,
cient. providing 1t did not exceed
three councilmen was appointed to
solicit contributions, both In money
or lots, for the benefit OF the schools,
and IL was to this contribution that
Thomas Jefferson. then the President
Of the United States gave the sum
The original system included an
academy where poor children were to
be taught reading, writing, grammar.
arithmetic and such branches OF
mathematics as would quallty theIh
for the professions they were IN
tended TO follow. There were also to
be paid pupils. who were to receive
further instruction In geography ana
Latin for the sum of 50 each quar-
ter. The schools were to be open
10 TIL August I, and tho hours .s
| were limited to eight daily IN the
summer and six during the winter;
From 1912 till 1898 fourteen puotc
lotteries were authorised, ana the
money thus obtained was oes's"a'eu
It is interesting to note the code
of rules adopted by the coara OF
trustees for the government oI tns
academy, one of which was: Every
tshe sshe'sf Oft Gh his hat and bow to the pre-
ceptor." In 1919 Mr.. Henry ouid, the
SUPERINTENDENT of schools, made the
first report Of the MasnnHt,un Meaning
owing to the small size Of the very
fnconvenient room in which the ses-
sions were held, only eighty or one
hundred pupils could ,d be ,nn1,nsn,s anm,t,ss
though there were 12o appieahts;
During the year. however; .,,n,.ns tota, o.
ent eSt ~ reported that ffty.fvs had
learned to read in the Old and New
Testamsnts and were able to spell
words OF three, four and hve syila-
bles, and twcnty-six were learning
TO read Or. Watts hymns: The re-
mort further stated that hfty-hve pu-
hIls were able to write on paper and
nearly thirty were making rapid
progress through the first four rules
Of Arithmetic, From reading this
report we understand that o knowi-
edge Of the IRIS" was all that was
considered necessary.
Joseph Lancaster, an EngiishmaR
who was the founder of the system
of schools which was adopted for
Warrington, had the following for
one Of his notices: Let every chill
have. at al times. somethinE to DC
and 9 motiYs ,aS for 's aoins II ,nnort.n we a:vf ",
part 9 Of the ehilds education. 30 Why
hot live Up to this motto and have
the school Fairgrounds open all the
wear round with q supervisor who
will .sivs the children somsthiHG to
4o3 go
several years. ago q mother tosh
her little girirto q dentist to see II
he could help the child. who wal
anemic and could neither cat nor
sleep as Q normal child should, The
child had been treated for her nerves
sns her stomach, but ss1|,'s vithou. mSsh s
dentist discovered several abscessed
year the ohii6 had Gained in wsishsi
] and health a9f was also much im-