are employed in regular class instruction, and twenty in the teaching of special departments.

The expenditures for school purposes during the past year - though not so great as in some former years have, absolutely speaking, been large. As has been well said by His Honor the Mayor, in his recent Inaugural Address, it speaks volumes for the enlightened liberality of the community that so large a sum is annually contributed to the support of our system of public education, by our tax-paying citizens, without a murmur of complaint. And we take it for granted, that if the sum thus appropriated, however large it may be, has been expended judiciously and in the direction intended - as we sincerely believe it to have been - no one will wish it were less. Certainly no safer nor richer investment of capital could have been made. Now, if ever, we need the most careful and conscientious and thorough training of the rising generation in the elements of sound learning, in lessons of morality, of religion, of loyalty and love of country, and of liberty.

We have said that, taking them in the abstract, these expenditures seem large. But, taken in comparison with the expenses of some other branches of the city service, this is by no means the case, as will appear from an examination of the following statistical summary of the whole amount of taxes, and the sums expended for schools, public institutions, streets, and police and health departments. The school expenses, as here given, include the alterations and ordinary repairs of the buildings during the year.

The amount of taxes paid into the City Treasury for the last financial year, including the State tax, as appears by the Auditor's Report, was

$3,398,397 83

The total expenditures for schools and schoolhouses, including additions and alterations and ordinary repairs of buildings, amounted to

471,281 94

For the three public institutions, the Houses of Correction and of Industry and the Lunatic Hospital, the expenses

It is an interesting fact, moreover, and one that should not be lost sight of in the consideration of the large item of our school expenses, which we are accustomed to mention with so much satisfaction in our public statements, and to bring up so often in various ways before the attention of the people, that, taking a long series of years into account, the ratio of these appropriations has not increased in the proportion of the appropriations and expenses of some of the other departments we have named. This will appear from the following table.

Table showing the ratio of the current or ordinary Expenditures for the Public Schools and the Police, as compared with the whole amount of Tax, (exclusive of State Tax.)

Thus, it would seem, any assertion to the effect that our school expenditures are unwarrantably and disproportionately large is founded only in the fancy of an exuberant imagination. The foregoing exhibit, while it is not flattering to our pride, should prepare us cheerfully to receive any estimate of an increased expenditure for educational purposes, that the exigencies of the times and the temporary depreciation of the currency of the country may necessitate, for a few years to

come.

Our whole system of public instruction, as at present constituted, is under the general care and supervision of the Board of School Committee, consisting of the Mayor, the President of the Common Council, and seventy-two members, - six from each ward in the city. The Mayor, or, in his absence, the President of the Common Council, presides at the meetings of the Board. Each of the High Schools is placed in charge of a Standing Committee of twelve, one from each ward, - and every Grammar School, with its appertaing group of Primaries, is entrusted to a Committee in number proportional to the school population and extent of the district. These Committees are appointed by the Mayor early in January of each year, and upon them is imposed the duty of attending to all the educational wants of the respective institutions under their care, of visiting and examining the schools, from time to time, and of presenting quarterly a written Report, stating the results of these examinations and visits, to the Board.

From the evidences furnished in these Quarterly Reports, during the past year, as well as from a personal examination of very many of the schools in each department, and in different parts of our municipality, we hazard nothing in saying that the high character and standing of our educational institutions has been fully maintained. The city is fortunate in having in the capacity of masters and sub-masters of the High and Grammar departments, a corps of high-toned, educated gentlemen - in the broadest and best, in every sense of the word - courteous, conscientious, earnest, energetic, having an admirable esprit du corps, with an eye single to the good of their pupils-devoted, in fact, almost to a fault, to the great interests they have in charge; for it is a devotion that has oftentimes resulted in the neglect of their own physical and pecuniary well-being. In this we can find abundant and sufficient reason for the general excellence of these departments of our school system, which, through a long series of years, has won for us a good name at home and abroad. This is, indeed, a part of the system; and, it has been truly said, that is always the best system of public instruction which secures and retains the best teachers. Nor are we likely to lose this prestige, so long as the standard of qualifications on the part of the candidates for the vacant places is being constantly advanced, and sounder attainments, a broader scholarship, and more liberal accomplishments are year by year required of those who aspire to the responsible post of instructor to the children and youth of our city.

The HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT of our city is made up of the Latin, the English High, and the Girls' High and Normal Schools.

The Latin School is the oldest of the educational institutions of Boston, having been founded in April, 1635. It has long held a proud pre-eminence, not only for its admirable course of study in the Greek and Latin languages, but for its excellent instruction in the modern languages, in mathematics, and the common English branches. Its regular corps of instructors, as at present constituted, consists of a master, two submasters, and five ushers, all of whom are college graduates. This school has been favored in having at the head of its honored corps of teachers, from its foundation down to the present day, an almost unbroken succession of men distinguished for ability and sound learning.

The object of the Latin School was primarily to fit our young men for college. Its graduates, from the breadth and thoroughness of their preliminary training, rarely fail to take high rank in whatever collegiate institution they may seek admission. To those, however,