“common” schools through local taxation. Each of the five wards of the city— that’s all there were then — was divided into two school districts and in each of those ten districts “suitable” rooms were to be rented. But that was not all. Those old city fathers believed that when you did a thing, you might as well do it right. So it was furthermore ordered that suitable lots for permanent school buildings should be bought in each of these districts and that “at any time within two years thereafter” they should cause to be erected on each of these lots a ‘ ‘ good and substantial building. ’ ’ For the purpose of school lot buying and school house building, Council was empowered to levy an annual tax of one mill. Meanwhile the city was authorized to borrow money for the lots and buildings. “The same to be refunded as aforesaid tax shall be collected.” It was also required that the city lay a tax for upkeep of temporary buildings — and incidentally, to pay the teachers. This matter of teachers pay was then, as now, very interesting but as we look backward we need a magnifying glass, especially as regards the earnings of women teachers. “Female teachers” was the official classification. Nobody, of course, expected a female to receive pay equal to that of a man, even for the same or better work and qualifications. So, whereas the first two men teachers, Stephen Wheeler and J. F. Easter- brook. mentioned in the earliest records of Cincinnati public schools, were paid at the rate of $25.00 a month, women were given from $18.00 to $14.00 for the same period. This does not mean that services of women teachers were not approved or not desired. On the contrary, it was officially com- mended, more than once, in the early reports and records. Here is an excerpt from the early reports of the “Trustees and Visitors of the Common Schools of Cincinnati,” as the present Board of Education was styled until 1878. “To say nothing of their influence in controlling the waywardness and softening the feelings of their pupils, the power that women of intellect and high moral principle exert over the young can hardly be estimated. It is not merely in the formation of a correct taste but in the higher power of giving tone to the moral sentiments, that we regard the female teacher as indispensable to the healthy vigor and permanent success of our school system. It is to the self denying efforts of the estimable ladies who compose our ex- cellent corps of instructors that we attribute a large share of the prosperity and high standing of our schools.” Old manuscript minutes of the “Trustees and Visitors of the Common Schools of Cincinnati,” as the board of education was termed up to 1878, go back to July of 1829. The minutes of July 14th make first mention of women teachers, as follows: “The visitor of each ward was authorized to employ one or more female teachers in their respective wards and to insert advertisements for female teachers in the ‘ Chronicle’ and the ‘Daily Gazette’.”
