vious years has been so marked and noted in the Latin School. At the last visitation to the school, satisfactory evidence was exhibited of the desired improvement. In regard to the public exercises, the Committee can say, that they have been as usual of a high order, giving great credit to the faithful instructors, who have labored so faithfully and ardently in their avocations. The declamation, on the Public Saturdays, has afforded very much gratification to the large number of the friends of the school who have been able to be present, and witness the proficiency of the pupils in this accomplishment. According to custom the members of the graduating class were examined in July, with reference to the awarding of the Franklin Medals, and, after taking into consideration the standing of each of them during the past academic year, four young gentlemen, instead of six, the number of former years, were selected to receive the honors of the school, they having exhibited to the Committee satisfactory evidence of having made the proper degree of proficiency in their studies to entitle them to such a consideration. The names of those who obtained the Franklin Medals in July, 1864, are William Davis Kelly, aged 18 years. Twenty-two pupils received diplomas of graduation at the school in July; of whom, eleven entered Harvard College, one, Williams College, one, Kenyon College, two, the College of the Holy Cross at Worcester, and one, the United States Naval School, and five entered upon other callings, while one alone has prosecuted his studies further, with a view of entering college a year later than his school classmates. The Lawrence prizes, and those provided for by the Latin School Prize Fund, were awarded in May, 1864, to several pupils of the different classes in the school, who by their industry, exemplary conduct, and excellence had merited them. The list of the recipients will be found, in connection with their prizes, in another part of this document. It is well known that the object of the Latin School is not only to give a good elementary education in the usual English studies, but also to prepare young men for college, by affording them the best and most thorough training in the elements of the Latin and Greek languages. By the present rules of the School Board, a pupil can enter the school at ten years of age; and the usual number of years for accomplishing the objects of the school is six, unless one or more years can be saved by extra diligence in pursuing the studies of the course. When desirable, pupils can remain another year, if necessary, although the regular course of study at the school is completed in six years, requiring an out of school lesson to occupy the pupil from one to two hours a day. If any parent should prefer that his son should not have any out of school lessons assigned, he can by a written request, have his wishes gratified. It is manifest, however, that a boy who has no out of school lessons, cannot expect to be ready for college as soon as those who devote the additional time. The following extract from a circular prepared by the master of the school presents valuable facts relating to the constitution and government of the school: "The object of the school is not only to educate (in the widest sense of the term) the pupils, and to develop their faculties, but to enable them to make those acquisitions which shall fully prepare them for admission into the best colleges in the country. To accomplish this, the School Committee prescribes the age of admission, the course of study, and the number of years to be employed in completing it. "The best authorities, both in England and this country, urge that a boy should begin the study of Latin at as early an age as ten (or even earlier) since the memory is then most active, while the reasoning powers are not much developed. That age has, therefore, been adopted by the School Committee for admission to this school. When a boy begins the study of Latin at this age, a course of six years is sufficient to prepare him for college at sixteen. But some parents entertain the opinion that it is best for a boy to arrive at or near that age, before beginning the study of Latin. Although these boys can never regain the lost ground, and can never be the finished scholars they would otherwise have been (however eminent they may become in life) still, provision is made for such pupils to prepare themselves to enter college in as short a time as their abilities and diligence will allow. Divisions out of course' are, therefore, formed of those boys who are expected to devote more time out of school to their lessons than the boys in the regular course. It is plain, that if an amount of work, for which five or six years are allotted, is to be completed in two or three, the labor of the teachers is thereby greatly increased. This labor, they are perfectly ready and willing to perform, although according to the tenure of their offices they are not called upon to perform it, nor according to the former custom of the school was any provision made for such divisions. "On entering Harvard College, the candidates for admission undergo fourteen examinations, embracing the studies of the school, from Modern Geography and Arithmetic to Latin and Greek Poetry and Geometry. A failure in any one of these fourteen, brings a ' condition' and consequent mortification. A failure to pass in several of the requisite examinations, brings a 'rejection.' Of 242 candidates who presented themselves for admission to the Freshman Class at Harvard in 1862 and 1863, 30 were rejected, 157 were conditioned, and only 55 admitted without conditions. Of these fifty-five, twenty were from this school; while no candidates presented from this school were rejected. It must be apparent that, unless our boys are willing to incur the mortification of a rejection or of a conditional admission to Harvard College, they must give thorough attention to their preparatory course. It is, therefore, plain that if each year, each month, each day, does not do its specific work, the delinquency must be made up, or the pupil will fall short on his examination at college. To enable those boys who have fallen behind their class, either for good or for insufficient cause, to regain their position, the teachers voluntarily give them their best energies out of school: For this service they have never received and never will receive pecuniary compensation, and for it they wish no reward but an appreciation of the services rendered. The boys are therefore told, If your parents do not wish to accept our services in enabling you in the afternoon, to make up the lesson you failed upon in the morning, bring a note from them to that effect, and then you will simply have to see that, you have not, at the close of the month, fallen so far behind your division as will require you to pass into another.' We wish to have it distinctly understood that a boy is not called upon to be at the schoolhouse out of school hours as a penalty for a failure in reciting his lesson, but as the recipient of voluntary instruction from his teacher. "So, too, it is entirely optional with the parent how much study his son shall give to his lessons out of school. The classes all have a lesson set to prepare at home. If a parent wishes a boy to take his place in a class, where he can get all the lessons of his class in school, he is allowed to do so, but of course he cannot expect that he will be fitted for college at the same time with those who entered the school with him, but who devote daily to their studies an additional hour or two out of school. "Those boys who enter the 'out of course' divisions are not considered promoted' because they go faster than the others who entered the school with them; nor is a boy considered 'degraded' because he goes into, or is placed in a less advanced division. The only degradation, that a boy can really experience, comes from himself, - from a neglect of duty. There must be differences of capacity and of industry, and consequently boys must be placed in different divisions. But the highest boy in the First Class may not be so worthy of commendation as the lowest boy in the Sixth Class. Honor lies in the faithful performance of duty." By this circular it will be seen that ample provision is made at the school, for those pupils whose parents prefer that they should enter the school after completing the ordinary course of the Grammar Schools. Such boys are not called upon to acquaint themselves with the grammatical construction and the philology of the language, as those are who take the regular course. Although this short course is not advised, nevertheless every facility is given to the pupils to pursue it, if parents express a preference therefor. A copy of the circular is sent to the parent of every boy entering the school, with a request that a statement shall be made, as to whether or not the boy shall be prepared for college in less time than that prescribed by the Regulations of the |