470 A SKETCH OF EDUCATION IN SOUTH CAROLINA. 



sparseness of population of the State was also a bar to any general pub- 

 lic system. 



These societies flourished with more or less vigor, and some of tliem 

 exist to the present day. A few of these will receive special mention. 



THE WINYAH INDIGO SOCIETY. 



According to tradition, "The planters of Georgetown District, about 

 the year 1740, formed a convivial club, which met in the town of George- 

 town on the first Friday in each month, to talk over the latest news from 

 London (never less than a month old), to hold high discourse over the 

 growth and prosperity of the Indigo plant (then, and for a long time 

 after, spelled in the invoices to London. Indico), and to refresh the inner 

 man, and so keep up to a proper pitch the endearing ties of social life by 

 imbibing freely of the inevitable bowl of punch." The members were 

 genial gentlemen and liberal benefactors ; so that when the treasury, in 

 1753, had become plethoric with gold, it was moved by the president and 

 unanimously resolved, amid the clinking of glasses, " that the surplus 

 funds in the treasury be devoted to the establishment of an independent 

 charity school for the poor." 



To Thomas Lynch, president, and his associates, was granted, in 1757, 

 a charter, by King George. A school was established that '' has been the 

 school for all the country lying between Charleston and the North Caro- 

 lina line for more than a hundred years. In its infancy it supplied the 

 place of primary, grammar and high-school, and collegiate institute. 

 Rich and poor alike have drunk from this fountain of knowledge, and 

 to many it has been the only source." 



By private benefactions, added to fees and* the proceeds of escheated 

 lands, the endowment had reached $11,000 in 184G, despite a loss of 

 $7,000 by the United States Bank, and the income was for years sufficient 

 to warrant gratuitous tuition to all scholars. 



The entire endowment was lost by the war. The academy building 

 was occupied as a Federal garrison. Soldiers defoced tlie walls, injured 

 tiie premises, and carried off many valuable books, among them Audu- 

 bon's Collection of Birds. Fifteen years ago the school was re-opened. 



The handsome and commodious two-story brick building has been re- 

 paired and fitted with furniture of the most approved jiattern. 



Fifteen or twenty pupils still receive gratuitous instruction ; but the 

 society is compelled to exact fees from the rest in attendance. Since the 

 ]'e-opening the instructors have been Mr. Connor, Prof. D. A. DuPre, and 

 Mr. A McP. Hamby. 



The society claims a large membership ; and, trui- to its traditions, en- 



