t number of the best
school-houses in various portions of the United States, and should be
consulted by every committee before determining upon a plan for the
construction of a valuable school-house.

The principal room of the school-house, and each such room where there
are several departments, should be large enough to allow each occupant a
suitable quantity of pure air, which should be at least twice the common
amount, or not less than one hundred and fifty cubic feet. There should
also be one or more rooms for recitation, apparatus, library, etc.,
according to the size of the school and the number of scholars to be
accommodated.

Every school-room should be so constructed that each scholar may pass to
and from his seat without disturbing or in the least incommoding any
other one. A house thus arranged will enable the teacher to pass at all
times to any part of the room, and to approach each scholar in his seat
whenever it may be desirable to do so for purposes of instruction or
otherwise. Such an arrangement is of the utmost importance; and without
the fulfillment of this condition, no teacher can most advantageously
superintend the affairs of a whole school, and especially of a large
one.

In determining the details of construction and arrangement for a
school-house, due regard must be had to the varying circumstances of
country and city, as well as to the number of scholars that may be
expected in attendance, the number of teachers to be employed, and the
different grades of schools that may be established in a community.

COUNTRY DISTRICTS.--In country districts, as they have long been
situated, and still generally are, aside from separate entries and
clothes-rooms for the sexes, there will only be needed one principal
school-room, with a smaller room for recitations, apparatus, and other
purposes. In arranging and fitting up this room, reference must be had
to the requirements of the district; for this one room is to be occupied
by children of all ages, for summer and winter schools, and for the
secular, but more especially for the religious meetings of the
neighborhood. But in its construction primary reference should be had to
the convenience of the scholars in school, for it will be used by them
more, ten to one, than for all other purposes. Every child, then, even
the youngest in school, should be furnished with a seat and desk, at
which he may sit with ease and comfort. The seats should each be