102 The Story of The Bronx 



also educate the youth of both sexes. Sometimes, a Yankee 

 pedagogue 1 — a graduate of Yale, perhaps — would occupy the 

 position, which then, more than now, was a position of honor; 

 as the " scholemaster " was, in addition to his position in the 

 school, clerk, chorister, and visitor to the sick, or almoner, 

 and often a member of the corporation. 



After obtaining all the education it was possible for the local 

 schoolmaster to impart, and having reached the mature age 

 of twelve or thirteen, the pupil was ready for Yale College or 

 Nassau Hall at Princeton, the latter being generally preferred. 

 The sons of the wealthiest merchants were sometimes educated 

 in the English colleges; and when King's College (now Colum- 

 bia University) was founded, it received its share of the co- 

 lonial youth. At the age of eighteen or twenty, the young man 

 took his degree, and was then an educated gentleman ; but the 

 education imparted at the best of the colleges did not surpass 

 that of our best high schools of the present day. Yet an edu- 

 cation that could produce such graduates as Jefferson, Morris, 

 Izard, Adams, and many others of like fame and character, 

 must have been very thorough. It was not until long after 

 the establishment of the new government that the matter of 

 education became one of general importance and one of which 

 the State took cognizance and control. 



No newspapers were published in Westchester County until 

 long after the Revolution, but it is stated that the colonial 

 newsletters and journals were eagerly read and discussed by 

 the inhabitants, many of whom were subscribers. 2 



* Ichabod Crane, in Irving's Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and Jason New- 

 come, in Cooper's tale of Satanstoe, will be recalled. 



3 The first newspaper published in the Borough was the Westchester 

 Patriot, which was issued by a Mr. Lopez at West Farms for a short time 

 in 1812. The Westchester Gazette was commenced in Morrisania in 1849. 

 Stephen Angell was editor for some time, but the paper was discontinued 



