THE OSWEGO STATE NORMAL SCHOOL. 51 



it does occur, be detected and punished. All cases of prosecution 

 should be published, on account not only of its preventive effect, 

 but because it strengthens public sentiment. 



The cause will be hindered by mawkish sentiment, interfer- 

 ence to an undue degree in slight cases, while neglecting great 

 and widespread injustice, or positive wrong, toward our faithful 

 dumb friends. In spreading sound ideas in regard to animals ; in 

 correcting generally admitted and great cruelties ; in providing 

 temporary homes for lost and stray animals ; by encouraging, 

 directly or indirectly, scientific research in biology, especially on 

 the diseases common to man and our domestic animals ; in con- 

 tributing to the investigation of animal intelligence — we have, in 

 addition to many other lines of effort, large and worthy fields of 

 endeavor for the improvement of the condition of things in the 

 world in which we live, both for man and his fellow-creatures, 

 lower in the scale, it is true, but withal very admirable. 



■»<» 



THE OSWEGO STATE NORMAL SCHOOL. 



By Pkof. WILLIAM M. ABER. 



TO-DAY, in the quiet, old city of Oswego, N. Y., stands a school 

 whose influence has extended throughout the land. At its 

 head is its founder, Dr. E. A. Sheldon : the school is his life work. 



In 1848 Mr. Sheldon, a young man of twenty-four, then a resi- 

 dent of Oswego, felt moved to study somewhat into the condition 

 of the poor of that city. Their ignorance and misery excited pro - 

 found pity. Influential friends were enlisted, an "Orphan and 

 Eree School Association" was formed, a schoolroom provided, 

 and a teacher sought. To his surprise, he found that he must 

 teach the school or the enterprise would be abandoned. For sal- 

 ary he asked the estimated cost of his living, two hundred and 

 seventy-five dollars per year, and received three hundred dollars. 

 In the basement of an old church, the inexperienced young teacher 

 was brought face to face with one hundred and twenty wild boys 

 and girls of from five to twenty-one. These he held in order and 

 kept at work by insight, love, and patience — those potent exor- 

 •cisers of evil spirits. 



From this movement, though against strenuous opposition, 

 sprang the free and graded schools of Oswego, which were organ- 

 ized by Mr. Sheldon in 1853. As a superintendent of schools he 

 might have ended his days, had he not possessed qualities of mind 

 and heart which led him to turn from easy, routine work and 

 •encounter toils and dangers to find or make a better way. As 

 machines for securing from the pupils the learning, memoriter, of 



