acles in addition to those incident to all new
settlements, which prevented much being done for the cause of
education. The controversies in which they were involved and the war
of the Revolution employed nearly all their thoughts and all their
energies previous to the State's admission into the Federal Union.

Of the real efficiency of the Colonial schools of Loudoun but little
can be learned. Teachers, as a rule, were on a par with their
surroundings. If they could read, write and cipher to the "single rule
of three" their educational qualifications were deemed sufficient.
They generally canvassed the neighborhood with a subscription paper,
forming the schools themselves and furnishing the few necessary books.
The rates were from $1 to $2.50 per scholar by the month, and lower
when the schoolmaster "boarded around." But he was most likely to
succeed in forming a school who contracted to take his pay in produce.

Few schools were taught by women in Colonial times and female teachers
were still rare until a comparatively recent period.

The salaries of regularly appointed tutors varied according to the
nature of the schools and the ability of the district to meet the
expense.

After the Revolution, with increasing prosperity, came a spirit of
general improvement and a new interest in the cause of education.

The present condition of education in Loudoun is hopeful, public
instruction being now popular with all classes. Intelligence is more
generally diffused than at any previous period of the County's
history, and happily, the progress of moral education has, on the
whole, fully kept pace with intellectual culture. Our boys and girls
are reared in a home atmosphere of purity, of active thought, and
intelligent cultivation; all their powers are keenly stimulated by
local and national prosperity and unrestricted freedom in all honest
endeavor.

With the improvement in the school system has come a better style of
school-houses. The "little red school-house on the hill" has given
place to buildings of tasteful architecture, with modern improvements
conducive to the comfort and health of the scholars, and the refining
influences of neat surroundings is beginning to be understood.
Separate schools are maintained for colored pupils and graded schools
sustained at populous places.

With free schools, able teachers consecrated to their calling, and
fair courses of instruction; with a people generous in expenditures
for