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kindness and courtesy, and from the public in our regular
risitions a generous hospitality, which we gratefully acknowl-
edge both personally and as an evidence of the favor with
which the system, of which we are the humble representative,
has been received.

Respectfully submitted,

R. C. McGINN, President.

CALVERT COUNTY.

Prince Frederick, Ccdvert County, August, 1866.
To REV. L. VAN BOKKELEN, LL. D.,

State Superintendent Public Instruction.
Sir:

I have the pleasure of presenting herewith my first Annual
Report of the condition of the Schools under my charge, and
the operations of the Board of School Commissioners of Cal-
vert County, during the year ending July 31st, 1866; but be-
fore doing so, allow me to offer a brief historical sketch of the
several School systems that have preceded our own, and the
legislative efforts hitherto made for the advancement of the
cause of the public education in our County. Such a review
of the past, cannot be wholly unprofitable to those who, like
ourselves, are entering on a new, and comparatively untried,
educational era. It becomes us, as wise mariners, to take
our bearings, that having learned our point of departure, we
may be the better able to estimate our future progress; be-
sides, a just regard for those who have preceded us, demands
a recognition of labors, whose fruit we now enjoy; and I shall
feel well rewarded for ray toil amid the 'dusty records of thf
past' if my humble pen shall have rescued their namep
from the forgetfulness of the present generation.

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF SCHOOLS IN CALVERT COUNTY, FROM THE
EARLIEST PERIOD TO 1865.

The aanals of our schools naturally divide themselves
into three periods, each characterized by its peculiar schoolsi;
the first being that of Free Schools, and extending from 1726
to 1778; the second, that of Academies, from 1778 to 1854$
and the third period, that of Primary Schools, from 1854 to
1865.

FIRST PERIOD.

Though the wisdom of our forefathers prompted them to
make early statutory provision for securing the blessings of