, the windows on the side of the building adjoining the yard were
generally observed to be closed, in order to shut out the almost
insupportable stench which arose from the decomposing remains. But this
closure of the windows could, in no great degree, 'abate the nuisance;'
for not a breath of air could enter the house from any direction but it
must come saturated with the disgusting and sickening odor that loaded
the atmosphere around. It needs no professional learning to tell the
deleterious influence upon health which must be exerted by such an
agency, operating for continuous hours."

[68] First Annual Report of the State Superintendent (Hon. Horace Eaton)
of Common Schools, made to the Legislature of Vermont, October, 1846.

If such evils as have been considered have existed so generally, and
still prevail to an alarming extent, even in the states where education
has received the most attention, what need must there be for the
dissemination of information on this vitally important subject,
especially in those states where education has heretofore received less
attention! In remarking further upon this subject, I shall consider
several leading particulars in the order they naturally suggest
themselves. I will, then, commence with the

LOCATION OF SCHOOL-HOUSES.--In comparatively few instances school-houses
are favorably located, being situated on dry, hard ground, in a retired
though central part of the district, in the midst of a natural or
artificial grove. But they are almost universally badly located; exposed
to the noise, dust, and danger of the highway; unattractive, if not
absolutely repulsive in their external appearance, and built at the
least possible expense of material and labor. They are generally on one
corner of public roads, and sometimes adjacent to a cooper's shop, or
between a blacksmith's shop and a saw-mill. They are not unfrequently
placed on an acute angle, where a road forks, and sometimes in turning
that angle, the travel is chiefly behind the school-house, leaving it on
a small triangle bounded on all sides by public roads.

Occasionally the school-house is situated on a low and worthless piece
of ground, with a sluggish stream of water in its vicinity, which
sometimes even passes under the house. The comfort, and health even, of
children are thus sacrificed to the parsimony of their parents. Scholars
very generally step from the school-house directly into the highway.
Indeed, sc