109 



stated that the class-rooms were absolotely destitute of every- 

 thing in the way of means for visual instruction, that is, there 

 were neither maps nor blackboards ; two schools bad one map 

 each ; one school possessed an old globe ; other schools no 

 blackboards and no reading books ; a single school was fur- 

 nished with suitable apparatus. 



The Courses of Study in Ungraded Schools are still in the tenta- 

 tive period, not to say in a state of chaos. Some are too suc- 

 cinct and barely outlined ; others reflect the personal predilec- 

 tions of the teacher and show that ingenuous pedantry so often 

 found associated with total inexperience. Sometimes a good 

 deal less than the required course is done ; sometimes it is 

 greatly exceeded ; such studies as history, music, composition, 

 drawing and book-keeping being taken up, and in some cases 

 algebra, physiology, geology, natural philosophy, and rhetoric 

 even. 



The worst evil from which rural schools suffer is irregularity 

 of attendance. Teachers and superintendents bitterly complain 

 of this. As a partial remedy, and as a means of allowing chil- 

 dren to attend school without wholly depriving parents of their 

 help, some States have lately established a number of " half- 

 time" classes, in which attendance is reduced to a single session 

 per day. This measure has everywhere been followed by good 

 results, and it would perhaps be advantageous to introduce it 

 into our French system, for the summer terra at least, and in 

 the case of the older pupils. 



Jlie Country School-houses are still in many instances built of 

 wood, as are many of the finest dwellings, but they are frame 

 buildings well put together, painted, and conveniently lighted. 

 More frequently the constructions are of pressed brick with 

 stone trimmings and slate roofs. You have only to see these 

 coquettish school-houses, in the midst of vast lawns, shaded 

 with fine trees and surrounded by palings, to judge of the place 

 which the school holds in public opinion. It is indeed a 

 national institution, devoted to the education of "boys whose 

 votes will decide the fate of the Eepublic, and of girls, one of 

 whom may be the mother of the president of the United States." 



What specially distinguishes the country school-house of the 

 United States from that of Europe is the absence of lodgings 



