664 "THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



dies of Daniel, Samson, Jonah, Jesus, the saints, and Christian mar- 

 tyrs, from being studied in school-hours and talked about at home, 

 became things as real as the daily lives of the colonists. 



The struggle for freedom, the importation of secular books, the in- 

 troduction of printing-press and newspapers, diverted the minds of the 

 people into broader and deeper channels. The men of liberal thought 

 and culture who founded the Republic of the West, such as Jefferson 

 and Madison, agitated the subject of the higher education of the 

 people. It was particularly the desire of Jefferson to have crusades 

 preached against the evils of ignorance, and to have laws established 

 for informing and educating the common people. 



"Free schools" had always been, and justly too, a favorite scheme 

 among reformers for elevating the race. American statesmen and 

 philanthropists put this plan in operation at an early period ; it met, 

 however, with but ill success at first, owing to the dearth of skillful 

 teachers . One of the early writers says : " The business of instruction 

 in preparatory schools was with few exceptions under the control of 

 inadequate principles ; in many instances the commonest business of 

 life was abandoned on the demand for a teacher ; and the responsible 

 duties of an intellectual guide undertaken by individuals whose chief 

 recommendation was their dexterity with the awl and hammer." 



It was not until over thirty years after the close of the war of 1776 

 that a regular system of schools at the public expense was established. 

 New England boasted with pride of being the first in education, as 

 she had been in war. Her example was closely followed by the other 

 States. In New York, in 1805, many gentlemen of prominence asso- 

 ciated for the purpose of establishing a free school in New York City 

 for the education of the children of persons in indigent circumstances, 

 and who did not belong to, or were not provided for by, any religious 

 society. 



These public-spirited gentlemen presented a memorial to the Legis- 

 lature, setting forth the benefits that would result to society from edu- 

 cating such children, and that it would enable them more effectually 

 to accomplish the objects of their institution if the schools were incor- 

 porated. The bill of incorporation was passed April 9, 1805. 



This was the nucleus from which the present system of public 

 schools started into existence. Later on, in the year 1808, we find 

 from annual printed reports that two free schools were opened and 

 were in working order. 



One of these schools was situated on a large lot of ground in Chat- 

 ham Street, on which was an arsenal. It was presented by the corpo- 

 ration to the Free School Society of New York, on condition of that 

 organization gratuitously educating the almshouse children. In 1809 

 the building was ready for occupation ; it was a brick edifice one hun- 

 dred and twenty feet in length and forty feet in width, capable of ac- 

 commodating in one room five hundred children. In the lower story 



