great. There was but one college, Bethany, under the direction of the religious sect of Disciples. In 1865 Rev. W. R. White, who served as State superintendent of instruction from 1864 until 1869, reported 133 public schoolhouses, with some 400 schools and 387 teachers, the number of pupils in daily attendance being 7,761, the length of the school term three months, and the total cost of the system $7,722. By 1872 there were seventeen times as many schoolhouses as in 1865 and about six times as many schools." From 1869 to 1872 Henry A. G. Ziegler, A. D. Williams, and Charles S. Lewis occupied the post of State superintendent, each for one year. By the declaration of Governor William E. Stevenson and the State superintendent good progress had been made and provision made by law for the establishment of normal schools. In 1865 the invested school fund of the State was $106,122; $67,348 was distributed to the counties, 94 cents to each pupil enrolled, and $3 to each in actual attendance. Of 63,458 persons between the ages of 6 and 21 years 15,972 were enrolled, with an average attendance of 7,761, in 1865. Besides these there were 21,000 children in counties where the system was not in full operation, making a total school population of 84,418 and an expenditure of $67,350. Up to this date no attempt had been made to educate the colored population. In 1869 the Peabody education fund provided $9,800 for public schools in the State. In 1872 Superintendent Lewis declared that the new State of West Virginia "had adopted and was developing the educational ideal of Virginia's great philosophical statesman, Thomas Jefferson." By that time the common school, normal school, and the State university had been placed on the ground. In 1870 the new State gave to the mother, Virginia, Dr. William H. Ruffner, the son of President Henry Ruffner, of Washington College, and one of the early educational reformers of that State, as first superintendent of public instruction for the new system of common schools in the Old Dominion.

In 1867 provisions were made for the establishment of three State normal schools, at Guyandotte, West Liberty, and Fairmont, and in 1868 the two latter were opened. In the same year an act was passed for the establishment of an agricultural and mechanical college founded on the Congressional land grant of 1862, the beginning of what later became the University of West Virginia. The historian of the common schools of the State, Superintendent Morgan, writes: "With the establishment of normal schools and an agricultural college begins the history of the growth and development of the public school system of West Virginia." The agricultural and mechanical college had been organized on the basis of 150.000 acres of land donated by the United States Government, and its income of $100,000 was chiefly derived from this source. The town of Morgantown contributed $50,000 for buildings. The board of 11 directors appointed by the governor for two years had full control of its administration. In 1872 the attendance had reached 170. In 1870 there were 2,113 schoolhouses in West Virginia. The school fund of the State had reached the sum of $1,570,000, and the total expenditure for public schools $725,000. Eighty-seven thousand of the 163,000 school population were in attendance in public schools, with a daily average of 55.000. During the last years of the constitution of 1861-1872 provision was made for the establishment of three additional normal schools.

The history of public school education in West Virginia during the first ten years from the founding of the State until by a change in its political attitude a new constitution was formed in 1872 is expressly significant. This was the earliest of the movements by which the 16 States known as Southern adopted the American system of common schools in its entirety by the provision admitting children of every race and class to its enjoyment. The difficulties attending the administration of the system during these ten years, as set forth in the reports of the four gentlemen who filled the chair of State superintendent of public instruction, were so varied and discouraging that the success is one of the notable events

of the history of education in our country, justifying the words of the fifth State superintendent, Mr. William K. Pendleton, in 1872:

Reviewing our progress in the noble efforts of the State to provide for the free education of the whole people, we have reason for profound gratitude at our comparative success. With a million and a quarter of capital invested in school property, 3,000 schools in actual operation, and three-quarters of a million annually contributed to run them, 90,000 children under intellectual and moral training, a number of graded and high schools, 4 normal schools in vigorous operation, for which we are annually expending, out of the State treasury, over $8,000, a university on which we bestow over $16,000, and other private and corporate institutions, among them 1 college largely endowed and, through its 400 graduates, already enjoying a national reputation, West Virginia may well be proud of her position in this highest expression of a people's patriotism and enterprise. Within less than a single decade there was, outside of the city of Wheeling, scarcely a free school in the State. Now they rise up to greet us beside every highway and betoken a future of rapid and vigorous improvement. This is a revolution that can not go backward. It creates its own momentum. It moves by a power within, which increases as it moves and which strikes out the light and heat of its own vitality.

The provision for education in the constitution of 1872, although much more elaborate than in its predecessor, added little save a variety of directions for the more accurate and responsible transaction of business by the numerous officials of the public-school system. The State had already outgrown the controversy on the necessity of a public-school system covering every department of education from the rural districts to the State university and has never since been visited by any sensible reaction of public opinion on this, the fundamental interest of a free American Commonwealth.

The school law which followed the adoption of the new constitution of 1872 and which continued virtually, though with frequent amendments, the statute through the century, provided that the school revenues were to be collected and disbursed by the regular county and State officers. The officials intrusted with the administration of the school system were (1) subdistrict trustees, (2) district boards of education, (3) a county superintendent of free schools, (4) a State superintendent of public schools. The educational affairs of each district were placed in the hands of a board of education composed of a president and two commissioners elected by the people, constituting a corporation for all practical purposes. Each subdistrict had a trustee appointed by the district board of education, to whom was intrusted the appointment of teachers by the approval of the district board and the general charge of the schools. The county superintendent, elected by the people, served two years. He distributed the State funds, directed county institutes, acted as president of the board of examiners of teachers, and reported to the State superintendent. The State superintendent, elected for four years by the people, exercised a general supervision, apportioned the State funds, collected school statistics, and organized teachers' institutes. The schools were supported (1) by the income of a general school fund, from a variety of sources; (2) a State capitation tax and a general State system of taxation of persons and property; (3) a local tax in every county or district, voted by the people to the extent of the statute provision. The State tax up to 1872 had been 10 cents on every $100 of valuation of all property. The local tax was limited to the extent of supporting a school at least four months in the year. A graded school might be established by the board of education in towns, villages, and densely populated rural districts, but a high school could only be provided by a vote of three-fifths the people of the locality. As late as 1892 there were only 17 high and 145 graded schools in the State, the high school being generally a department of a graded school and not infrequently of indifferent quality. A notable defect of the system of education in West Virginia for many years was the lack of high schools. For twenty years after the enactment of the new school law of 1872 there was "comparatively little growth

in the high school work." In 1892 Superintendent Morgan, the educational historian of the State, declares that "the present law is inadequate" and suggests a provision for State-aided high schools in separate districts, including graded school districts. In many counties the entire area might be included in one high school district.

During the twenty years following the adoption of the new constitution four gentlemen administered the office of State superintendent of instruction-Mr. B. W. Byrne, W. K. Pendleton, B. L. Butcher, and B. S. Morgan. In 1875 the teachers' normal institutes seem not to have grown according to the need, although supplemented fairly by a donation from the Peabody fund, with an average attendance of 35 in each and only 210 in the entire State. Superintendent Byrne speaks out vigorously concerning this important matter as well as of the normal schools. The Peabody educational fund, through its agent, Dr. Barnas Sears, befriended the State to the extent of $18,800 in 1874, almost every considerable town being concerned in the distribution. The first State normal school, established in what has become the flourishing city of Huntington, was followed by five normals, at Fairmont, West Liberty, Greenville, Shepherdstown, and Concord. All save the school at Concord were in operation in 1875 and had sent forth 146 graduates. The State university contained, in 1874, 138 students, and with the usual departments of college instruction combined a college of agriculture and mechanics, with normal classes during the spring term for the instruction of teachers. The State educational association, after a lapse of two years, assembled in August, 1875, and remained in session four days, with an encouraging attendance. In 1875 there were 4 private denominational seminaries bearing the name "college" in West Virginia, containing more than 500 students and several academical schools of superior grade. The reports of the county superintendents were becoming more full and satisfactory with the progress of the years. In 1877-78 Mr. W. H. Pendleton was recalled to the post of State superintendent for two terms. The educational interest of the people seems to have been sustained during his administration, although the word “decrease" appears in several places where its presence is not grateful. The normal schools were not yet regarded a department, of the public school system, but were still under the control of a separate board of regents, the State superintendent being ex officio president of the board.

The years of 1874-1876 in West Virginia were characterized by the development of one of the most original and notable movements in the country in behalf of the grading of the rural district schools. For a detailed account of this interesting experiment we call attention to an extract from a paper entitled "Education in West Virginia," prepared at the suggestion of Supt. Virgil A. Lewis in 1892-93, and published in the Report of the United States Commissioner of Education for the same year.

It was characteristic that the State of West Virginia, born amid the confusion and terror of civil war, should not only, as declared by County Superintendent A. L. Wade in 1876, "have accomplished more in the work of building schoolhouses and setting in operation the machinery of the free school system in the last thirteen years than any other State of like territory and wealth ever did in a quarter of a century," but also has been able to claim the honor of inaugurating in 1874 a movement for the improved grading and graduation of pupils in the country district school which attracted the attention and secured the hearty indorsement of United States Commissioner of Education, Hon. John Eaton, in 1878. Commissioner Eaton declares:

Of all plans developed, none has excited more attention than that known as the graduating system for country schools, devised by A. L. Wade, superintendent of Monongalia County, W. Va. It has been reviewed by all the educational jour

nals and has excited the attention of the principal school superintendents of the country.

For a detailed account of this achievement the reader may be referred to the interesting volume, A Graduating System for Country Schools, Boston, 1881, prepared by County Superintendent Wade.

According to Supt. B. I. Morgan, in History of Education in West VirginiaThe author defines the graduating system for country schools to be simply taking the primary branches as a course of study for graduation and making application of all the plans and appliances of the best academies and colleges to the common schools of the country. It is the application of an old plan to a new purpose. The time in which each advanced pupil ought to complete this course of study is announced. Public examinations of graduating classes are held annually at points agreed upon in each county, and cominon school diplomas are granted to those who satisfactorily complete the course of study.

An alumni association, holding annual meetings for the mutual improvement of those who have graduated, is organized in every magisterial district.

A catalogue containing a clear statement of the work of each school is published annually in each county. In this catalogue each school occupies sufficient space to give:

(1) The name of the school.

(2) The name of the teacher.

(3) The number of youths entitled to attend.

(4) The number of youths in actual attendance.

(5) The number of youths entitled to attend but not in attendance.

(6) The daily average attendance.

(7) The daily per cent of attendance, based upon the number in attendance and the number entitled to attend but not in attendance.

(8) The branches taught and the number studying each branch.

(9) The names of the pupils who have graduated and the dates of their graduation.

(10) The names of pupils who ought to complete the course of study in one, two, three, or four years, making clear the class to which each belongs. Pupils who can not complete the course of study in four years or less compose the preparatory department, but their names do not appear in the catalogues.

This catalogue contains also the annual report of the county superintendent, presenting the results of the work of the year and his recommendation for the future; a synopsis of the proceedings of the several alumni associations; the names of officers and the time and place of the next annual meeting of each association, and also brief obituary notices of teachers and graduates and undergraduates who have died within the year.

This system may be introduced into the schools of a State or a county, and can be tested even in a township or district or in a single school.

Superintendent Wade's report concerning the working of his system at its beginning reads as follows:

The time for the examination of graduating classes began to grow near and croakers were busy prophesying that the whole system would prove a failure. Such a thing, they said, as graduating in country schools never has been done and never will. I watched anxiously the effect of these predictions, and I was highly gratified to find that teachers and pupils were already beyond the region of uncertainty, and were only strengthened in their determination to make the plan a success. So far were they from fearing failure, that they requested me to make the examination thorough and public, and as far as possible oral, so that the people could see and hear for themselves. Unwilling to assume a responsibility of conducting those examinations without aid, I secured the services of Prof. H. L. Cox, principal of the Morgantown graded school, Prof. W. R. White, ex-State superintendent of free schools of West Virginia, and Professors Lyon, Purinton, and Owen, of the West Virginia University. I gave notice through the press that one or more of these professors would be present to aid me in each examination and to deliver an appropriate address in the evening.

The county superintendent, each evening, after the addresses were ended, in the presence of the audience, delivered to each member of the class who was adjudged worthy of the same, a common school diploma. Two hundred and sixty-one pupils had entered the class of 1876, and of this number 196 had completed the course and received diplomas.

In his annual report of 1877 County Superintendent Wade says:

I organized in each district of the county an alumni association for the benefit of those who had graduated, and gave due notice through the press of the time and place of each meeting. The exercises in each of these meetings consisted of original and select orations, essays, and select readings. No public meetings pertaining to our free school work have elicited more interest or attracted larger crowds than these. In order to secure a permanent organization of the alumni of each district I provided ballots and held an election at each meeting for a president, vice-president, and secretary. A gentleman to deliver an oration and a lady to read an essay at the district examination were also chosen by ballot. These were also elected by the members of the alumni association from its own body. So far this sketch pertains entirely to the county in which graduation in country schools originated. At the State teachers' association, 1877, a resolution was passed recommending the system be adopted throughout the State.

The National Education Association indorsed the system in 1879. Since this indorsement one-third of the States have adopted the system entire, others are testing it in single counties, and the plan bids fair to become universal.

In 1881 Benjamin S. Morgan, superintendent of the schools of Monongalia County prepared and had printed the first graded course of study for country schools in West Virginia.

During the years 1881-1884 the office of State superintendent was held by Mr. Bernard L. Butcher, whose name is appended to the eighteenth, nineteenth. twentieth, and twenty-first reports of the department. In the report for 1883-84 he opens by the declaration: There is substantial cause for congratulation upon the condition of our educational affairs. Nearly every item that should increase has increased, and nearly every item that should decrease has decreased." The reports of Superintendent Butcher bear ample testimony to the intelligence and energy with which he entered into the administration of his office. His labors were largely devoted to that essential improvement in the common work of the schools which marks the difference between a genuine and a sham system of public education. In his plan for a complete system of graded instruction and examination for teachers, for the increased compensation of city superintendents, for a more careful arrangement of testing certificates, and an increase of interest in the teachers' institutes we recognize the spirit of the thorough educator. The teachers' institute at the city of Wheeling was under the direction of several of the most prominent educators of the country and was attended by 20 of the city and county superintendents and 250 teachers, and constituted an era in the working of this department in the State. A school journal had been established. The cause of the education of the colored people found in Superintendent Butcher a firm and generous friend. Under his direction the legislature provided for the normal instruction of 18 colored students in Storer College, at Harpers Ferry. In 1881 the superintendent declares: "The outlook of popular education was never brighter in the State."

Superintendent Butcher was among the first of the State superintendents of West Virginia that had appeared at the National Association of Teachers. By his intercourse with the leading educators of the country he placed the educational system in West Virginia in its proper relation to the Union. After serving on the different committees of the National Educational Association he was chosen president of the department of superintendence of that association in 1884.

The election of Mr. Benjamin S. Morgan as successor to Superintendent Butcher in 1885 was the best assurance that the people of West Virginia were in no mood to fall in the rear of their former achievements. Superintendent Morgan administered the office of State superintendent of public instruction in West Virginia for eight years, with a steady effort toward the expansion and enrichment of the system and its purgation from the defects that attend all new departures of an American commonwealth in the training of its younger generation. The enumeration of school population in 1886 was 242,752, the enrollment in schools 172,259,