PHILADELPHIA. 



635 



the country conducted on the separate system. 

 The convicts are confined in separate cells, 500 

 in number, where, except when from lack of 

 room two are put into one cell, and the time 

 devoted to exercise in separate yards, they 

 work and pass their entire time alone. The 

 prison has a library of more than 8,000 vol- 

 umes. The county prison, first occupied in 1835, 

 is on the PassyunkRoad below Reed Street, and 

 consists of a massive centre building, with 

 wings flanked by heavy octangular towers, be- 

 yond which are walls terminating in bastions. 

 It is in the Tudor style of English-Gothic ; the 

 walls are of Quincy granite. With the exception 

 of the women's department, it is overcrowded. 

 The House- of Correction, recently erected at 

 Holmesburg, on the Delaware, at a cost of 

 more than $1,000,000, is intended for the con- 

 finement of paupers able to work, and of per- 

 sons convicted of misdemeanors. It is of brown- 

 stone, and has accommodations for 1,500 in- 

 mates. The House of Refuge, opposite Girard 

 College, was incorporated in 1826, for "the 

 employment of the idle, instruction of the ig- 

 norant, and reformation of the depraved." It 

 has separate apartments for boys and girls. 

 The number of inmates is about 600. 



The public schools are 424 in number, and 

 comprise 2 high, 60 grammar, 29 consolidated, 

 .121 secondary, and 212 primary. They are 

 under the charge of a Board of Public Edu- 

 cation, consisting of thirty-one members, one 

 from each ward, with a subordinate Board of 

 Directors for each ward. The number of 

 teachers is about 1,800; average attendance 

 of pupils about 80,000. The high-schools are 

 the Central High-School for Boys, and the 

 Girls' Normal School. The former affords 

 instruction in Latin, German, and the high- 

 er English branches, and confers degrees. 

 The latter is designed especially to prepare 

 teachers for the public schools. There are 

 also evening schools in the autumn and winter 

 months for those unable or too old to attend the 

 day-schools. The system of public schools of 

 Philadelphia was established on a free basis in 

 1818. It is supported by a city tax. The 

 schoolhouses are large, well-built edifices, dis- 

 tributed so as to give access to them by the en- 

 tire population. Text-books are furnished by 

 the city. 



The Girard College for Orphans was found- 

 ed by Stephen Girard. The grounds are about 

 two miles northwest of Independence Hall, 



GIRAED COLLEGE. 



bordering northeast on Ridge Avenue, and 

 are surrounded by a high stone-wall; they 

 embrace upward of forty acres. The main 

 building, completed in 1847. is a splendid 

 specimen of Corinthian architecture, of white 

 marble. The roof commands a wide view 

 of the city In a room in the building, 

 known as Girard's room, are preserved the 

 books and personal effects of the founder. 

 The grounds contain a monument to the grad- 

 uates of the college who fell in the civil war. 

 This institution is supported by the income of 

 the residue of Girard's estate after the payment 

 of certain specific legacies. The residuary es- 

 tate is managed by the Board of Directors of 



City Trusts, appointed by the judges of the Court 

 of Common Pleas, and on January 1, 1875, 

 amounted to $6,104,862.22. The total receipts 

 during 1874, including $38,487.37 on hand at 

 the beginning of the year, were $798,399.10; 

 expenditures, $738,985.89, of which $174,073.- 

 40 were on account of the college, and $564,- 

 912.49 on account of the estate, including in- 

 vestments, erection of buildings, etc. The in- 

 stitution can accommodate 550 pupils, and is 

 now full. The number admitted, from the 

 opening of the college in 1848 to the beginning 

 of 1875, was 1,796. The beneficiaries are white 

 male orphans, born in Pennsylvania, who are 

 admitted between six and ten years of age, 



