474 A SKETCH OF EDUCATION IN SOUTH CAROIJXA. 



Inral school for twelve jioor boys and twelve poor girls, to be boarded 

 and clothed, as well as educated and taught to woi'k." This is said to 

 have been 



THE FIKST MANUAL LABOR SCHOOL 



in the United States. The desire of the testator was, that scientific agri- 

 culture and, especially, the science of chemistry should be taught. 



The Agricultural Society resigned the trust to the State in 1805. 

 Since that time the fund has been in charge of trustees elected by the 

 Legislature, with directions to make annual reports. For many years, 

 and until quite recently, a school was conducted at Lethe, the home of 

 the testator. The report of 1848 shows that the full number of boys 

 and girls were in attendance ; the capital was $43,827, and expenditures, 

 12,476.33. By 1859, the fund had increased to $47,000. The report 

 states that the pupils were engaged in manual lalwr half their time, the 

 boys on the farm, the girls in housework and domestic occupations. By 

 law, the trustees were authorized to apprentice the boys at twelve years 

 of age for five years, and the girls at ten years for a similar period. 

 Teachers were elected annually by the trustees. By the fortunes of war, 

 much of the endowment was swept away. The fund now amounts to 

 about ten thousand dollars. The school is at present suspended for want 

 of sufficient means to carry it on. William Llenry Parker, Esq., of Abbe- 

 ville, is treasurer of the fund. 



THE LUDLAM FUND. 



The Rev. Richard Ludlam, Rector of St. James' Goosecreek, dying in 

 1728, bequeathed all his estate, real and personal, to the society, in trust 

 for erecting and maintaining a school for the instruction of the poor 

 children in this parish. His estate was valued at about £2,000. The 

 fund thus accruing was placed at interest for accumulation. In 1744, 

 certain parishioners added £675, and, subsequently, about £1,400 or more 

 were subscribed to the fund. The school-house w^as erected about the 

 year 1765, and the purposes of Mr. Ludlam began to be realized. The 

 fund, in 1778, amounted to £15,272. 



For nearly a century, four schools were maintained with the proceeds 

 of this bounty. A report made in 1848 to the Legislature, showed an in- 

 vestment of $9,850 in State, city and bank stock, and a note for $3,379 

 additional. Thirty-seven pupils were receiving instruction in two schools. 



The fund realized an income of $884 in 1860, expended in the main- 

 tenance of three schools. A " league and labor " of land in Texas had 

 been mortgaged as security for the note above mentioned. 



