eems demanded by the church-going
inhabitants, which affords both a commentary and index to their general
high character. Among the public buildings worthy of special attention
is that of their Normal school, recently finished at a cost of over one
hundred thousand dollars, being a model of elegance and convenience.
This is a State institution, free to pupils of a certain class, and is
one of three--all of the same character--erected under the patronage of
the State, and for the location of which towns were invited to compete.
Winona secured this, Mankato another, and St. Cloud the third, all noble
buildings, as we can personally testify, and which give to the people of
this State opportunities such as those of the older commonwealths were
utterly destitute, and are still, so far as scope, scale, and affluence
are concerned. Then there is the city school, costing over half a
hundred thousand dollars, and likewise highly ornamental, as well as
useful.

New England long boasted of her superiority in the rank of her schools;
especially was this the case in Connecticut, where a school fund
existed, reducing somewhat the expense attending their maintenance; but
they used no part of this fund toward the building of school-houses, and
it is a question if it has not had there an opposite effect of what
originally it was intended to accomplish. The same old shabby
school-houses, fifteen by twenty, still do duty, and the district
committee annually figure with the many youthful candidates for
teachers--who, it used to be said, came there on a horse--to make the
per-head allowance of the school fund, with boarding around thrown in,
pay for their three months' services. Had the people understood they
must hand out the whole school expenses, and seen personally to the
education of their children, they would have had a livelier interest in
the whole business; and this, with compelled liberality, would have
paved the way for greater expenditure and effort. Neighborhood rivalries
of suitable buildings would have followed, and, instead of incompetent
teachers being the rule, they would have been the exception, and those
of us whose fortune it has been to be born in New England would not now
be such "jacks of all trades and masters of none" as we are. The West
deserves great commendation for their lively interest in all that
relates to the education of the young. Why, almost any of these States
excel those of New England in school matter