1575

27

them feel at home; and some precious time is lost while they
are becoming reconciled to the discomforts of their new situ-
ation. A boarding-house under the control of the normal
school for the accommodation of students from the counties,
(such of them at least as have no relatives in the city) is a
matter of great importance, if not of absolute necessity.
When a permanent building is erected, no doubt suitable pro-
vision will be made; bat in the meantime, a house might be
rented, cheaply furnished, and placed in charge of an experi-
enced matron, where the students could form one family, and
have proper facilities for reading and study. Boarding should
be furnished at cost not exceeding $3.50 a week, and the es-
tablishment made self-supporting, the rent only being paid by
the State.

QUALIFICTIONS OF STUDENTS.

Of the 98 students who have entered, a few (most of them
graduates of the Baltimore High schools) were well prepared
for the studies proper to a Normal School; the majority,
however, stood in need of elementary instruction. To have
closed the doors against such would have served only to per-
petuate the evil which this School is designed to remedy,—
Some had left the Schools where they had been employed as
Teachers for the purpose of availing themselves of the ad-
vantages of the Normal School, and if they had failed to
obtain the needed instruction here, there was no place with-
in their teach where they could procure it. except the Dis-
trict School, which had already done its best for them. The
best policy seemed to be, to admit all applicants with the
proper "credentials, who might in the judgment of charity be
expected to graduate in two years; and to raise the qualifi-
cations for admission gradually, as the District Schools them-
selves improve under the new influences to which, they are
exposed. It is gratifying to bo able to state that experience
has justified the course which policy and necessity dictated.
Some of the students who were most backward at first, already
give promise of becoming excellent teachers. It is hoped,
however, that the other educational agencies in the State
will do their work so thoroughly that the Normal School will
soon "be able to confine itself to the sphere contemplated by
its founders—that of purely professional instruction and
training.

FIRST FRUITS.

Twelve Graduates and six undergraduates of this School—
a school only twelvemonths old—are now engaged'in teaching.
As far as has been heard from, they have all given satisfaction,
though it must be remembered that the Normal School is
responsible for Graduates only : and for them, in such schools
only as their diplomas entitle them to loach. (Considering
the disadvantages under which the School has labored, in the