CONNECTICUT 259 from employment. There is no state school tax in Connecticut (though a tax of this kind has been recommended), the money for the support of common schools being derived from special funds and local taxation. The constitu- tion directs that the school fund shall remain perpetual, and that the interest be used for the support and encouragement of common schools and for no other purpose. This fund, chiefly derived from the sale of the lands of the state in the Western Reserve, Ohio, amounted on Sept. 2, 1872, to $2,044,190. For the year end- ing March 31, 1873, the receipts amounted to $156,158; disbursements, $137,812; number of children returned, 132,924; rate of dividend per capita, $1. Owing to the increase of the number of school children, the fund is relatively diminishing. In 1863 the dividend per child was $1 20, and in 1873 it was $1. The town deposit fund amounts to $763,661 ; revenue, $45,650. During the first year of the free schools there was an increase in attendance of more than 6,000 over the increase in enumera- tion, while it is. evident that not fewer than 10,000 children were prevented from attending school under the rate-bill system. The aver- age school year has advanced to 8 months and 12 days, making it longer than the school year in most of the other states of the Union. In 1872, of the children of school age, 95-23 per cent, were attending schools. There were 1,535 school districts in the state, and 1,630 public schools, taught by 2,420 teachers, of whom 1,721 were females. The number of children between the ages of 4 and 16 years was 131,748, of whom 122,342 attended school ; 113,588 were registered in the public schools, and 8,754 in private schools; and 3,541 per- sons over 16 years of age were registered in the public schools. The total amount ex- pended for public schools during the year (in- cluding $833,759 for teachers' salaries, $370,- 369 for new school houses, and $70,005 for re- pairs) was $1,496,980, being an advance of $218,154 beyond the expenditure of any former year for this purpose. The total amount re- ceived from all sources for public schools was $1,503,617, including $128,468 revenue of school fund distributed Feb. 28, 1871 ; town deposit fund, $45,167; income of local school funds, $9,627; town tax, $641,837; district tax, $410,708; voluntary contributions, $11,- 012 ; other sources, $256,796. The amount raised for each child enumerated was $11 70, while in 1871 it was $11 83. In addition to the public schools, there are other free schools supported by individual liberality, or by the income of invested funds. Among these are the day and evening schools maintained at Manchester by the Cheney brothers, at an an- nual expense of $3,400 ; Bacon academy at Colchester, with a fund of $25,000, free to the inhabitants of that place ; Norwich free acad- emy, with a fund of $90,000 ; and the Hopkins grammar school in New Haven. Since 1867 evening schools have been maintained as a part of the free public school system, with the most satisfactory results. The experiment was first made in New London, and its success led to the establishment of similar schools both for boys and for girls in several of the cities and larger villages. In six of these schools situated respectively in New London, Hartford, New Haven, Birmingham, and Bristol, the average length of the session of 1870-'71 was 15 weeks; average number of pupils, 593. The state normal school at New Britain was established by the legislature in 1849, and opened in May of the following year. It was under the charge of a board of eight trustees, one from each county, till 1865, when it was transferred to the supervision of the state board of educa- tion. After suspension for two years on ac- count of the withdrawal of the appropriation by the legislature, it was reorganized in 1869. The annual appropriation for this school is $7,500. The expenses for 1872 were $9,655; number of instructors, 5 ; pupils in attendance, 148, of whom 130 were females ; average age of pupils, 20 years and 2 months. The whole number of pupils connected with the school since its organization is 2,628, at an average cost to the state of less than $40 each. Teachers' institutes are held in the different counties under the direction of the secretary of the board of education, for which purpose a sum not ex- ceeding $3,000 per annum may be drawn from the state treasury. During 1870-'71, 33 teachers' institutes were held, attended by 2,286 teachers and school officers. The total expenditures amounted to $2,999, including $2,483 for 289 lectures. Connecticut has three colleges, three theological schools, one law, one medical, and one scientific school. The total number of volumes in the libraries of these institutions is 142,750. There are 25 academies and seminaries (of which 4 are ex- clusively for females), with more than 100 in- structors and 1,404 pupils, of whom 685 are females, and libraries containing 6, 185 volumes. In addition to these there are four seminaries for the superior instruction of females exclusively, with 27 instructors, 198 pupils, and 1,750 vol- umes in their libraries. Yale college (Congrega- tional), in New Haven, was established in 1701, and in 1873 had 73 instructors, 904 students in all departments, and 90,000 volumes in the li- brary. Connected with it are a theological semi- nary, law school, school of fine arts, and the Shef- field scientific school. The last named institu- tion has received the proceeds realized by the sale of the scrip for 180,000 acres of land granted to Connecticut under the act of con- gress of 1862, known as the agricultural col- lege bill. The state holds four scholarships in the Sheffield scientific school. Six seats in the board of corporation, previously occupied by the six senior senators in the state legislature, were transferred to the alumni in 1872. Trinity college (Episcopal) was established in 1823 at Hartford, and in 1872 had 16 instructors, 163 students, and a library of 15,000 volumes.
