Mr. BOUTWELL again took the floor, and re-stated some of the points of his address in the forenoon, and then, in reply to the remarks of Mr. Wetherell, he read the following passages from the address of President Walker, at Springfield, last year :

"In several of our cities and large towns, the High School, as already intimated, has begun to compete successfully, not only with the most expensive private schools, but also with the oldest and best endowed academies ; as well appointed in all respects, and having some peculiar advantages as regards study and discipline, which independence on private patronage enables it to carry out.

"A large and continually increasing proportion of those who enter college, come from these schools; and it is but justice to add, none, as a general rule, come better prepared. In fact, it is to the influence of these schools, more

than to any other cause, that I ascribe the greatest and most fundamental improvement which has been made of late. years, in what is termed, by way of distinction, a liberal education."

Upon that evidence, coming from the head of one of the colleges of New England, I rest the statement I made this morning, said Mr. B., that in the essential ability of the High Schools to afford a successful, logical, symmetrical, perfect education, they are better adapted to the work than any academy or private institution can possibly be. And upon that I stand, because I believe there is in the relation of patron and patronized a defect in the system of education, in endowed academies, which is vital, when you speak of that system as a public system.

As to the idea suggested by Mr. Wetherell, that Mr. Dwight endowed the Normal Schools legally by giving ten thousand dollars, he did no such thing. He put no restriction upon the money, except that it should be applied to

e

the schools. He neither asked for himself or his successors any control of it. I fancy that the whole legal history of this matter, in this country and in New England, goes to one point, which is, that an endowed school is a school established by a person by his own wealth, to be controlled by him or his successors forever, according to the statutes which he may have established. The gentleman before me (Mr. Hammond), says Phillips Academy is a public institution. I say that neither legally nor in the public judgment is it any such thing. Institutions, legally, are of two sorts, public and private. A private institution is one endowed by an individual or a limited number of men, who define the purposes to which it is to be devoted, eleemosynary or other, fix the regulations, and provide for the officers; and they, being dead, live through the laws they formed. This is the way in which Phillips Academy lives, according to the will of the man who established it, and who, "being dead, yet speaks." Though it may be open to the public, is open to the public, on certain conditions, it is not public any more than a convent. The doors are open on certain terms: come in if you please; but it is not a public institution. A public institution is one established by the public, sustained by the public, controlled by the public, accessible to the public.

On motion of William D. Ticknor, of Boston, after an explanation by Mr. Bulkley, of the Committee on Nominations, the name of William J. Adams, of Boston, was unanimously added to the list of Vice Presidents.

"The Education of the Sexes together in Public Schools," was the next subject for discussion.

A. P. STONE, Principal of the Plymouth High School, said that, in an unguarded moment, he had promised to

start the ball; but he would not try to roll it far. IIe thought there were particular reasons why this discussion should be conducted by men of experience and gray hairs, who could tell what had been the result of their experience, as developed in the lives of those who had been trained by them.

My sympathies, he continued, are decidedly in favor of having the sexes together in public schools. There are advantages in having them associated and disadvantages in having them separated. As far as intellectual culture is concerned, there is an especial advantage to females when educated in mixed schools. The presence of boys gives a decided impulse, a more healthy ambition to the girls. Their mental powers will receive a better development, than when educated by themselves. On the other hand, the influence of the other sex upon boys is to soften their manners, and lead to a more harmonious development of their powers.

woman.

Then in a moral point of view, the advantages are equally evident. I know it will be said that in a mixed school, there are all sorts of flirtations and winks, from this side to that side; that there are influences which are injurious, and that there is a tendency to divert the mind from study. But that does not depend upon association in schools; but whether the teacher is a live man or a live The teacher who in a mixed school could not control these influences, would have just as much difficulty if he had one sex only, and the other was in a building a half mile or a mile distant. It is in schools as in the family, and it is certainly settled that boys and girls brought up together in the family are more civil, have a better sense of propriety, and are safer when they come to go out into the world, than those who are brought up in families where the children are all of one sex.

The President (GIDEON F. THAYER, Esq., of Boston, in the chair). The gentleman said gray hairs should speak on this subject, and he looked in this direction, only because he was addressing me as the President.

perhaps

Mr. STONE. I did look at you, and hoped you would understand my allusion.

The PRESIDENT. Although I cannot say that I have not had an experience of many years in teaching, my experi ence on this matter under discussion has been very limited. But I do recollect that when a school-boy in one of the Boston public schools, how, during the latter part of the time, I had the honor of being one of the "table boys,” as they were called, who had the duty of preparing the copies and ruling the books, and it was necessary to be in the rooms through the day. And I confess that when in the presence of two or three hundred young ladies, I had a different sensation, (laughter,) a little more ambition, a little greater desire to do what I had to do, well, than if the eyes of so many fair girls had not been upon me. This principle is one inherent in the human mind, and we cannot get rid of it. It is said by some, you must not indulge love of approbation. That principle is placed in the mind by the Creator; and it is love of approbation that has led to some of the greatest exploits man ever saw or performed, so that it is true,

"Abstract what others feel, what others think,

All pleasures sicken and all glories sink."

Take that away, and he must be a bold man who would be willing to live. With boys and girls of fourteen and about that age this feeling is most rife. The boys and girls will see that their external appearance is neat and trim, all the more, because exposed to the observation of

the other sex. There is no harm in it; it is a good principle. To be sure we should not rest on that alone. In the absence of any higher motive, let us not discard the love of approbation. We all act upon it more or less, though we do not intend to. Even in primary schools, the motive which is presented that the father or mother will be pleased with the good conduct of the child, is an appeal to the love of approbation, and it is a pure and proper motive. So in our highest performances, we seek to obtain the Divine approbation.

I have not fully made up my mind as to the universality of the rule that the sexes should be educated together. In a rural population, where the children are known to each other, especially where they exchange visits at each other's houses, I would have them educated together. But if the population is not homogeneous, and there are those with whom we should not like to have our children associate, I am not prepared to say that I am in favor of their being educated together.

Mr. RICHARDS, of Washington, D. C., said he had spent ten years in teaching a mixed school, where they did not sit all the same time in the same room, but were together at recitations. He had also spent about ten years in teaching boys alone, where they have not come under the influence of the opposite sex at all. His experience led him to desire to go back to the mixed school system. The progress of both sexes is greater when they study and recite together. The love of approbation was stimulated in the mixed school, and the mutual influence of one sex upon the other he had found was advantageous, in the manner suggested by Mr. Stone. They would accomplish twice as much in a year, and be better boys besides, for the influence of the girls. Were not public opinion opposed to