kney, Carrie E.
Taylor, Mary E.M. Thomas, James C. Craig, John A. Parker, and James B.
Wright. Three members of this class are now teaching in the Washington
public schools. Of the capabilities of the pupils and conditions of
the school, Superintendent Newton in his annual report said: "The
progress which has been made in the organization and the perfecting of
an efficient school system in a brief period has probably few
parallels in any part of the country. The capabilities of the pupils
in general for acquiring knowledge have been demonstrated to be not
inferior to those of any children in the country."[351]

The first principal of the Preparatory High School was Miss Emma J.
Hutchins, a native of New Hampshire. Like many white men and women who
came from the North at that time, Miss Hutchins was fired with zeal to
do everything in her power to educate and uplift the youth of the
newly emancipated race. She served as principal of the O Street, now
the John F. Cook, School and was then placed in charge of the
Preparatory High School in 1870. After teaching here one year, Miss
Hutchins resigned to accept a position in Oswego County, New York.
There was no dissatisfaction on the part of either Miss Hutchins or of
the people whom she served, but she resigned, because, as she said,
there were among the Negroes themselves teachers thoroughly equipped
to take up the work and carry it on and she could find employment
elsewhere. From one who knew her personally comes the statement, "Miss
Hutchins' term of service in the Washington public schools was brief,
but the impress she made upon those with whom she came into contact
has remained indelibly fixed through the years that have followed.
High ideals, conscientious performance of duty under adverse
conditions and loyalty to the interest of her pupils--hers was indeed
the spirit of the true teacher."

In the third report of the Board of Trustees the Public Schools
Superintendent, George F. T. Cook, tells us: "The pupils first
transferred to this Preparatory High School, as well as those for two
or three subsequent years, had completed only the sixth year of the
seven required for the completion of the school course at that
time--hence the name Preparatory High School." But the superintendent
recommended that the transfer of small classes of pupils in the first
grade of the grammar course from the several school districts be
discontinued, and that in lieu thereof there be two