in the educational system; desirable school legislation, and school statistics.

The cause of the farmer was the cause of the common school. The readers of the Prairie Farmer, besides learning about agriculture and mechanic arts, were being educated in the cause of free schools, so that the passage and adoption of the free school law of 1855 was possible. Moreover, this journal had the unique distinction and advantage of reaching the patrons of the schools rather than being a journal read by the teachers only.

Last, but by no means least, was the Illinois Teacher, founded in the interests of education, in 1854. Established about a year before the passage of the first permanent free school law, this journal became a means, primarily, of helping develop the free schools. Methods of teaching the subjects in the curriculum were discussed in each number from year to year. Educational news in the way of promotions, increases in salary, and the employment and marriage of teachers appeared. The proceedings of educational conventions; digests of school law; controversies over which section of the State was more enlightened "Egypt," or the North; reasons for gradation with the explanation of its meaning; reports from the State agent travelling in the interests of the establishment of free schools; notices of the creation of high schools and suggested curricula for them were a few of the many subjects. treated.

The teachers, especially, were made conscious of many of the problems raised by the beginning of free schools. Also, were the teachers benefited by the experiences of others through the medium of the first relatively permanent professional journal. The support of the Illinois Teacher by the profession itself signified, for the first time, a unity of action and a group consciousness of the teachers themselves. With that power back of the free schools, progress became possible. Institutions Whose Objects Indirectly Aided Common School Education.

Prominent among the organizations for the aid of the common schools, was the Ladies' Association for the Education of Females, established at Jacksonville, Oct. 4, 1833, "the principal object of which shall be to encourage and assist

young ladies to qualify themselves for teaching, and aid in supporting teachers in those places where they cannot otherwise be sustained. ""11

"The plan was liberal and simple. The principle object was to educate teachers, but no pledges were exacted; no attempt to decide where or how the individual could be most useful. The great object was to instruct and elevate the human mind for its own sake, and in the belief that a mind rightly educated will not fail to enlighten others""11

The fifth annual report of this association advertised schools where prospective teachers could receive training. Such were in Fulton, Morgan, Greene, Madison, Macoupin, Bond, Pike, Putnam, Knox, McLean and LaSalle counties. Moreover, auxiliary associations had been formed in Chicago, Ottawa, Farmington, Peoria, Springfield, Alton, Upper Alton, Rushville, Carlinville, Galena, Griggsville, Quincy, Fairfield, Hadley, Warsaw, Carlyle, Augusta, Knoxville, Bloomington, Jacksonville, Carrollton, Manchester, Canton, Waverly, Winchester, Jerseyville, Beardstown, and Joliet.'

12

The power of the association is seen in that twelve hundred young women were assisted in receiving an education, many of whom became teachers in the common schools, with $25,091.35 expended for that purpose. The Illinois Teacher described the work, purposes and aims of the organization thus: "With none of the pomp and e'clat which herald the movements of other institutions, it has gone steadily on in its benign mission" educating young ladies, "who else must have been forever denied the blessings of liberal culture, have been sent forth to be angels of mercy and joy to many hearts and homes, in this and other lands. This is not the language of mere eulogy; we have watched the progress of this society from its foundation; we know the ladies who are and have been its officers and friends; we know its struggles and labors, and we know its fruits. We cannot better express our opinion of its history and character than in the touching and eloquent words of one of its founders:"

"Silent, catholic, economical and persevering; it has been so Christ-like in its labors that the world has never known and could not stop to read its history. Its anniversaries have

11 5th An. Rep Lad. Assoc. 12 5th An. Rep Lad. Assoc.

been simple exponents of an institution partaking so little of the spirit of the world. No noise, or parade, but a plain statement of its labor, expenditures, and successes. Its history is written in the heart of many a missionary, toiling in obscure indigence; it is written, too, in the heart of the orphan and the poor, who by timely aid have been able to break the fetters by which poverty held back their aspirations for knowledge; it will be read in the ages to come, in the light of heaven.'' 13

This association mainly educated poor girls, many of whom found their way as teachers into the common schools. A better class of teachers was thus provided than would have been without the work of this association.

Workingmen's organizations, in the absence of common schools, provided education for the youth of their districts. Even the Mechanics' Union of Springfield advertised that its school was the free public school of the city. These associations helped focus the attention of the people on the need for, and the absence of, a free school system. Newspapers commented upon the worthy purposes of the workmen, and advertised, in the news sections of the paper, the rates of tuition, the curricula and the objects. One association stated its aims in these words:

"The Springfield Mechanics' Union is established for the creation of a common school, and a public library, and for the promotion of literature, science, and the mechanic arts;""14 Other purposes were stated but they are not related to the subject of education. Similarly, the Mechanics' Union of Chicago said that its object was to diffuse knowledge and information throughout the mechanic classes, to found lectures on natural, mechanical and chemical philosophy, and other scientific subjects; to create a library and a museum for the benefit of others, and to establish schools for the benefit of their children.

The movement for the education of the children of the working men was general in the period from 1830 to 1865. Common schools were established in the principal cities. throughout the East and the middle West. Many of the Mechanics Institutes in the older cities today, owe their origin to

18 Ill. Teach., v. 4. p. 286.

14 Sess. Laws, 1839-40, p. 74.

this period in which labor organizations established schools in the absence of a free common school system. Through that experience, the public was gradually learning the value of, and how free schools should be established.

General education, by whatever means, had a decisive influence in making it possible for the creation of universal free education. The emancipation of the mind of men and women from ignorance gave them the taste for the education that ought to be provided for their children. Another means, therefore, by which older people were educated was the public library. These, indeed, assisted the establishment of a common school system by showing the merits of education.

Public libraries were formed as joint stock companies in several towns. The county commissioners' record of Edwards county, 1815 to 1832, had the names of twelve stockholders who subscribed 97 of the 300 shares for the creation of a public library; whereupon the contract was let to John Robinson for the erection of a library building to cost $1,800.

This building was used for public meetings, a house of worship and a library. "A good market house, and a public library is at the end, in which a kind of Unitarian worship is held on Sunday, when a sermon and church service, purified, is read by any one who pleases. The books are donations from the Flower family, and their friends in England. ''15 "They have a library, and much attention appears to be paid to the cultivation of the mind as well as the soil."'16

Edwardsville made a similarly early start in the foundation of a library by buying books from Boston. "It will, no doubt, be gratifying to the proprietors of this institution to know that the books lately ordered from Boston have arrived. Those subscribers, who are in arrears, it is hoped, will come forward and by paying up, entitle themselves and others to use one of the best collections of books in the country.""" The catalogue of books, which were considered the masterpieces of literature, appeared in the same issue of the Spectator as the above quotation.

The session laws have several of the articles of incorporation of public library associations in them. Other un

15 Faux Jr., p. 253, Thwaites, v. 1.

16 Niles Reg., v. 19, p. 368.

17 Spec., Aug. 7, 1819.

incorporated organizations were also formed, both of which served as a means of public enlightenment. Usually, the membership fee was low enough for all to join, perhaps one dollar a year, and the people were requested to make use of the books.

"The trustees of the Warsaw Library Association take pleasure in informing the stockholders of the institution that they have procured the railroad office for their use, and that they are fitting up in connection with it a Reading Room, which will be open in a few days, well supplied with newspapers. The room will be open each day (Sunday excepted) after the hour of five o'clock, P. M., at which time stockholders wishing to receive or exchange books, will be waited upon by the librarian for that purpose. Ladies and gentlemen of the village, and strangers sojourning among us, are respectfully invited to use it." 18

A second means of promoting the general intelligence were the academies. More direct connection between the semi-public seminaries and the common schools existed than at first might be suspected. The principals and teachers of many of the former institutions were leaders in the educational thought of the State. Those men and women held their positions because of their ability, and the trust placed in them by the public. Active in the councils of the state, and county associations, those men took every occasion to promote free education. Indeed, they appeared before the general assembly in the interests of the common schools, as well as in the interests of the academies. Finally, they were intelligent and generous enough to believe that the hope of higher learning lay in the creation of a free school system.

Moreover, both public and private academies provided much of the common school education of the time. In the charters of the former, a stipulation usually was made which required or provided that the academies conduct common schools. The following quotation is an example of the relationship between the academy and the common school: "Sec. 9. There shall also be attached to the said academy, a department in which shall be taught branches that are usually taught in the common schools of the district in which

18 Warsaw Signal, May 26, 1841.