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OF THE FIRST DISTRICT. 
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The past year has been one of unprecedented prosperity. The ratio of 
increase is much greater than during any preceding year. 
The attendance at the Normal Department has been as follows : 
First Year.... 
Second Year . 
Third Year... 
Fourth Year. 
.140 1 Fifth Year.... 
.203 Sixth Year.... 
.263 Seventh Year. 
.321 
LOCATION. 
Situated at Kirksville, two hundred miles north from St. Louis, this 
institution is accessible to a large and promising territory, that is rapidly 
growing in population and in all the elements of thrift. The location is pe- 
culiarly fortunate. Kirksville contains about 2,500 inhabitants, three-fourths 
of whom are uncompromisingly opposed to dram shops and gambling saloons. 
Since the school opened, no license has been granted to sell liquor in Adair 
county. The citizens are intelligent, moral and enterprising. They feel 
proud of the Normal School, and do everything in their ^ower to sustain it. 
Kirksville is proverbial for good health. Out of so many students from a 
distance, but three have died while attending school, in the past seven years. 
Few cases of severe sickness have occurred. Eailroad facilities are all that 
could be desired. 
PLAN. 
The following extract is taken from a recent editorial in the jSt. Louis 
Globe : The Normal Schools are hardly less important than the 
University itself. Of these we have five, including the one located in St. 
Louis, and another which is an integral part of the State University. The 
capacity of these is set down at 2,000 students, with say 300 annual graduates. 
In other words, 300 persons carefully trained, not only im a curriculum, but 
in the best methods of teaching, and who understand teaching as an art, 
rather than undertake it as an experiment— these are scattered about among 
the schools, with the certainty of repaying the State an hundred fold for their 
free education. 
The power and usefulness of a Normal School, more than of any other, 
depends upon having a Principal of strong individuality, decided views as to 
methods of teaching, and a will to shape the whole institution. Missouri has 
had the fortune to secure such men. Prof. Baldwin has built the school at 
Kirksville from its very inception, and has deeded it to the State. It is 
almost literally the product of his individual energy and unselfish labor. 
It needs but little knowledge of Normal School work to see that a State can 
do itself no better service than to generously provide these establishments 
with the necessary funds, and leave the shaping of the work to the wisdom of 
well-selected Principals. The age is radical in its views of education, and 
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