tions, that the peculiar conditions of life in music upon the piano-forte, but without the United States strongly disincline the communicating any scientific knowledge of young to apply themselves long or closely to music. the acquirement of a finished mastery of any occupation, and that it would be extremely difficult to supply instructors qualified to explain and teach the actual practical application to wood, stone, metal, and other materials, of true scientific principles in the most economical way.

CHAPTER XVI.

FINE ARTS.

In modern civilization, culture in fine arts (music, painting, sculpture, architecture) is the attribute and privilege of an advanced stage of social organization. The people of the United States, hitherto intensely occupied in subduing a new country, and in a vigorous and prosperous pursuit of material wealth, have at the present day but just begun those vast accretions of capital, which must form the basis of any culture in fine arts worthy of the name. To none of these arts has great attention been given, and for teaching them nothing like a general public provision has been made.

Within a recent period, several schools have been opened in a few of the larger cities, for instruction in drawing; always having the practical side most prominent, and leading their pupils as rapidly as possi ble toward the production of salable designs for manufacturing purposes, or of wood engravings for the use of publishers. A superficial practice in drawing, usually by the senseless method of exclusively copying other drawings or engravings, is commonly afforded at private schools for girls. Some small advantages for those desiring more advanced acquirements, are afforded by the various public galleries and collections accessible in some large cities. The painter or sculptor, as well as the architect, must however learn his art from such sources as his individual opportunities allow him to command.

CHAPTER XVII.

FEMALE EDUCATION.

THE education of girls is of course not properly a special department any more than that of boys. Still, the history and the present condition of this department of education present many facts which will sufficiently justify its separate treatment, aside from the intrinsic differences which must also characterize it.

During the last thirty years, the practice has slowly gained ground among the public schools, both in city and country, of afford ing the pupils some instruction and training in the rudiments of singing. In a far smaller number of schools, similar rudimentary instruction has been given in drawing; and Until a comparatively recent period, but in one or two secondary schools of the high-trifling provision was made for the education er city class, pupils have been afforded the of girls. Down to the close of the Revolumeans of pursuing that study further, by means of collections of casts and models. Generally speaking, however, the aspirant after a profound or even competent knowledge of any fine art, has been left to acquire it either by his own unassisted and solitary labor, by the aid of some older practitioner, or by study in foreign schools of art.

tion, although girls might attend the public schools, but a small share of time or labor was devoted to them; and their attention was supposed to be more suitably directed to needle-work and housewifery than to intellectual training.

The first school of eminence exclusively for girls was the Moravian Seminary at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. This was established as early as 1749, but was not opened as a boarding-school until 1785. It enjoyed a national reputation; and its catalogue includes such naines as Lansing, Livingston, Bayard, Sumter, and many others from the whole range of states. It was never more flourishing than in 1860.

The progress of the study of music in our schools, is coincident with the career of the distinguished teacher, Lowell Mason, who was the first to introduce into the school system an efficient mode of teaching singing, about 1830. Of musical schools exclusively, it is believed that there have not been more than two, both of which are in Connecticut. Private schools for girls usually afford their It has been claimed that President Dwight, pupils more or less training in executing in his school at Greenfield, opened in 1783,

was the first in the country to admit pupils of both sexes to an entire equality of intellectual training. In any event, both this school and his previous one at Northampton afforded to both boys and girls an education of uncommon value for the period.

bors for female education have subsequently consisted in various publications, and in the management of an extended scheme for a system of Christian female education, including a national board, high schools, and normal schools; which has resulted in the establishment of several valuable institutions. In 1825, at Wilbraham, Mass., was opened the first of the Methodist Conference

When that famous teacher, Caleb Bingham, removed to Boston, in 1784, he did so with the design of opening there a school for girls, who were, singularly enough, at that time ex-seminaries; institutions whose plan has subcluded from the public schools. Mr. Bing- stantially followed that of the Wilbraham ham's enterprise was successful, and was also Seminary, which was drawn up by Rev. Wilthe means of revolutionizing the unfair school bur Fiske, its first principal. system of the city, and of introducing a plan which, though variously imperfect, at least provided some public instruction for girls.

In 1792, Miss Pierce opened a school for girls at Litchfield, Connecticut, which continued in operation for forty years, and educated large numbers of young ladies from all parts of the country. In the same year, at Philadelphia, was incorporated one of the first, if not the first, female academies in this country.

From about 1797 to 1800, Rev. William Woodbridge, father of the well-known author and educator W. C. Woodbridge, taught a young ladies' school, at first at Norwich, and afterward at Middletown, Conn.

In 1816, Mrs. Emma Willard commenced her endeavors to secure for women the opportunity of acquiring a grade of education corresponding to that which colleges furnish to the other sex. The eminent success and excellence of her celebrated school at Troy are well known; and an important consequence of her labors was, that female seminaries were admitted to receive aid from the literature fund of the state of New York, on the same terms with the academies.

From 1818 to 1830, Rev. Joseph Emerson conducted a young ladies' school of high reputation and efficiency, successively at Byfield and Saugus, Mass., and Wethersfield, Conn. In 1823, George B. Emerson, Esq., opened a young ladies' school at Boston, probably with a more complete and efficient outfit and apparatus than any which had preceded it.

Miss Z. P. Grant and Miss Mary Lyon, both pupils of Rev. Joseph Emerson, were associated in the conduct of an excellent school for young ladies at Ipswich, Mass. The energetic and persevering labors of Miss Lyon, with the purpose of establishing a permanent Protestant school of high grade for young ladies, resulted in the establishment of the celebrated seminary at South Hadley, which was opened in 1837.

The present era in the history of female education in the United States is perhaps most strikingly characterized by the number of large and largely endowed institutions of a high grade, which have been established in various parts of the country. One of them is the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, at South Hadley, just mentioned. The l'acker Collegiate Institute at Brooklyn, N. Y., another of them, had previously existed as the Brooklyn Institute; and received its present name in consequence of the munificent gift of $85,000 by Mrs. Harriet L. Packer of that city. The whole property represents a value of $150,000. A still more magnificent endowment is that of the Vassar Female College at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., for which the vast sum of $408,000 has been given by Matthew Vassar, Esq., of that city.

A characteristic of the female education of the present period is the practice of admitting pupils of both sexes to institutions for secondary and superior education; to the high schools of cities, to academies, to the normal schools, and even in one or two institutions of the collegiate grade. Another one is the increasing regard which is paid to the employment of female teachers, and to their thorough preparatory training for that In 1822, Miss Catherine E. Beecher open-duty, in institutions partly or wholly for that ed a school for young ladies at Hartford, Conn., which she conducted with eminent success for ten years. She afterward taught for a short period at Cincinnati, but her la

The well-known school of John Kingsbury, Esq., an institution of similar grade and excellence, was opened at Providence, R. I., in

1828.

purpose. On the whole, the department of female education is, at present, attracting as much attention, and improving as rapidly, as any other.

SCHOOL-HOUSES, APPARATUS, AND TEXT- to the location, construction, ventilation,