committee, as every inhabitant feels that his
contribution, as a tax-payer, gives him the right to judge the character
of the school, and makes it his duty to report its defects to those
charged with its management. The real defects of a school, especially of
a high school, will be first discovered by pupils; and they are likely
to report these defects to their parents. In the case of the endowed
private school, the parent feels that he buys whatever the trustees have
to sell, or takes as a gift whatever they have to offer free; and he
does not, logically nor as a matter of fact, infer from either of these
relations his right to participate in the government of the school. In
one case you have the observation, the judgment, the supervision, of the
whole community; in the other case you have the learning and judgment of
five, seven, ten, or twelve men.

2dly. The faithfulness of the teacher is very much dependent upon the
supervision to which he is subject. This is only saying that the teacher
is human. In the public school there is no motive which can influence a
reasonable man that would lead him to swerve in the least from his
fidelity to the interest of the school as a whole. No partiality to a
particular individual, no desire to promulgate a special idea, can ever
stand in the place of that public support which is best secured by a
just performance of his duties. In the private school, with a
self-perpetuating board of trustees, the temptation is strong to make
the organization subservient to some opinion in politics, religion, or
social life. This may not always be done; but in many cases it has been
done, and there is no reason to expect different things in the future. I
concur, then, unreservedly in the judgment which has placed this
institution, in all its interests and in all its duties, under the
control of the inhabitants of Bernardston. When they who live in its
light and enjoy its benefits cease to respect it, when they to whom it
is specially dedicated cease to love and cherish it, it will no longer
be entitled to the favorable consideration of a more extended public
sentiment. As all trustworthy national patriotism must be built on love
for state, town, and home, so every school ought to esteem its power for
usefulness in its own neighborhood its chief means of good.

It will naturally be inferred, from the remarks made upon the singleness
of purpose and fidelity of the public school to the cause of educ