with 78,001 pupils; and 154 infant schools, with 24,354 pupils. There are 76 public primary schools for the natives, with 8,963 pupils (910 girls). Of the total children of school age (6 to 13) 611,720 receive no instruction; of these 535,389' were Musselmen.

25.-TEACHERS.

Prussia. The proportion of female to male teachers in Prussia is very small. Of the 68,765 elementary teachers only 7,869 or 11 per cent are female teachers. In the private middle schools (private lower schools are very rare) 2,626 of the 3,459 teachers are women. Protestant Germany seems to have a much greater dislike to intrust women with teaching than Catholic Germany. In the whole of Prussia there are only 442 female teachers in the Protestant village schools, whereas over the same area there are 2,304 women teaching in Catholic schools. (Lond. Jl. of Ed.)

Berlin has at present in its public elementary schools 3,200 teachers, 2,182 men and 1,018 women. Of the men, 96.38 per cent had gone through a course of normal school training, 2.29 per cent were university graduates, and 1.33 per cent had prepared themselves privately and then passed the required examination. Three of the normal school graduates had afterward acquired a university edu cation. Only 537 of these teachers were graduates of the normal school in Berlin, 1,640 came from other parts of the Kingdom of Prussia and 5 from other German states. Of the 1,018 women 883 were prepared professionally in Berlin, while 135 came from other parts of the kingdom. (Paed. Ztg.)

England.-Mr. Grasby, the English educator who recently so thoroughly examined the American school system, says of American teachers: "The special feature of the English teacher is technical skill in practical teaching; that of the American, an educated and cultured mind. The time one has spent in teaching or learning to teach the other has spent in study. The one has all along been subject to the influence of a narrowing occupation, and now oftentimes considers himself well-nigh perfect in his art; the other has been under the influences of a liberal training, is well versed in the principles of education, has had little practice in teaching; but is fully conscious of the fact, and therefore, ready to take advantage of every means to compensate for his lack. A conscious ignorance is often better than a self-satisfied knowledge. The average American teacher maintains better discipline with less force; is a superior educator, but less an adept than her English compeer in filling the pupil's head with facts."

CHAPTER XVII.

EDUCATION IN ALASKA.

REPORT OF THE GENERAL AGENT FOR THE YEAR 1889 90.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,

BUREAU OF EDUCATION, ALASKA DIVISION,

Washington, D. C., June 30, 1890.

SIR: In compliance with the rules and regulations for the conduct of schools and education in Alaska, approved by the Secretary of the Interior, April 9, 1890, I have the honor of submitting the following, as the annual report of the general agent of education for the year ending June 30, 1890:

A. NUMBER AND GENERAL CONDITION OF THE SCHOOLS IN ALASKA. Alaska has 15 day schools, supported wholly by the Government, with a total enrollment of 1,110 pupils; 9 contract schools, containing 30' pupils, which are supported jointly by the Government and the missionary societies: 10 mission schools, with an enrollment of 297 pupils, which are supported wholly from the funds of the churches. and two schools sustained on the Seal Islands by the North American Commercial Company, under contract with the Treasury Department, and containing 79 pupils, making a total of 37 schools and 1,788 pupils.

I. PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

1.-UNALASKA DISTRICT.

Unalaska (John A. Tuck, teacher).-Enrollment, 30; population largely Aleuts. Prof. Tuck reached Unalaska in September, 1889, and renting a house from the Alaska Commercial Company, opened school with an average attendance of 6 pupils. In the absence of any school building, one end of his residence was fitted up as a schoolroom. So much interest was developed in the school that the pupils, with but few exceptions, continued at school during the Russo-Greek Church festivals, which are very numerous. Among the pupils were the grown-up daughters of the Russian priest.

Prof. Tuck reports that the rate of progress was almost all that could be desired.

With the opening of the next school year it is expected that the ladies of the National Home Mission Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church will enter into an agreement with the United States Bureau of Education to take charge of the school, several thousands of dollars having already been raised for that purpose.

The building they propose to erect will be known as the "Jesse Lee Memorial Home."

Unga (John H. Carr, teacher).- Enrollment, 24; population, Russian and Aleut.

Gratifying progress was made in the usual school studies and in temperance hygiene by those who were regular in their attendance.

The teacher pleads earnestly for some rule to secure more regular attendance. The ladies of the National Home Mission Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church have purchased and shipped to Unga the materials for a teachers' residence, to be known as the "Martha Ellen Stevens Cottage."

2.-KADIAK DISTRICT.

Kadiak (W. E. Roscoe, teacher).-Enrollment, 67; population, Russian. At the solicitation of the parents, Mr. Roscoe commenced his school a week in advance of the regular time of opening. The progress of the pupils proved very satisfactory, and the attendance fairly so.

Much inconvenience resulted from the number of holidays of the Russo-Greek Church. These are more than 200 during the year, and they greatly interfere with the regular attendance of the pupils.

During the year the Government erected a comfortable school building, which was greatly needed.

Afognak (John Duff, teacher).-Enrollment, 38; population, Russian and Eskimo.

The Rev. James A. Wirth, who had taught the school from the beginning and was greatly beloved by parents and pupils alike, resigned on account of the health of his wife. His resignation was received so late in the season that there was no time to procure a teacher from the states, and Mr. John Duff, who was already in that region, was appointed.

School was resumed on the 2d of October with 16 pupils, the attendance increasing to 24 during the first week.

From the first many of the parents took an interest in the school and scarcely a day passed that one or more were not visitors.

Geographical exercises on the map were an unfailing source of interest; pupils that did not know half of their letters could point out the States of the United States and give their names correctly.

The ordinary school books speak of so many things that neither the children nor their parents have ever seen that it is difficult for them to understand what they are reading about. To remedy this somewhat Mr. Duff proposes to form a museum of common things in connection with the school and thus give the pupils object lessons in connection with their books.

An interesting feature of the year was the attendance of a number of children from outside villages.

The school has suffered greatly from intemperance, many of the children being on the verge of starvation because the parents had traded off the living of the family for liquor.

Frequently, in visiting his pupils, the teacher found them hungry and shivering in the corner of the room, and both the parents dead drunk.

A comfortable school building and teacher's residence were erected by the Government during the year.

Karluk. A good school building and teacher's residence were erected during the year at this important point, and a school will be opened at the beginning of the next school year.

The number of villages of civilized Russians in this district requires many more schools than can be established with the amount appropriated by Congress for this purpose.

Professor Duff, of Afognak, estimates that there should be at least twenty additional schools in the Kadiak district.

3.-SITKA DISTRICT.

Sitka, No. 1 (Miss Ann D. Beatty, teacher).-Enrollment, 68, or one more than the total number of white children of school age in the village; population, American and Russian. Among the pupils of this school are the children of the civil and naval officials who are stationed at the capital of the Territory.

Sitka, No. 2 (Miss Gertrude Patton, teacher).-Enrollment, 83; pupils, native Thlingets.

With 280 native children between 5 and 17 years of age in the village, there ought to be some way of securing a larger attendance than 83. A simple obligatory attendance law would work a great improvement in school attendance among the native population.

Juneau, No. 1 (Miss Rhoda A. Lee, teacher).-Enrollment, 33; pupils, Ameri

cans.

This is one of the most advanced schools in the Territory. Year by year the public sentiment of Juneau is improving. More families are moving in, and the white school reaps the benefit of this growth.

Juneau, No. 2 (Miss Cassia Patton, teacher).-Enrollment, 51; pupils, natives. The best portion of this school and the pupils that made the most rapid and gratifying progress in their studies were those that came from the Model Home,

conducted by Rev. and Mrs. E. S. Willard and their assistants, Miss E. Matthews and Miss Jennie Dunbar, of the Presbyterian Mission.

Douglas City, No. 1 (Mrs. W. S. Adams, teacher).-Enrollment, 50; pupils, Americans.

During the year a comfortable school building was erected by the Government. Owing to delay in its completion the school was not opened until the 1st of February, 1890. The opening of this new schoolroom for the whites allayed the friction of last year, when the children of the whites and natives were compelled to use the same room or not go to school at all.

Mrs. Adams reports that her advanced pupils, in addition to their ordinary studies, have taken up natural history, botany, and simple lessons in mental science.

Douglas City, No. 2 (C. H. Edwards, teacher).-Enrollment, 92; pupils, native. Douglas Island being the principal center of the mining interests, many natives come from distant villages to secure work for a longer or shorter period. They are constantly coming and going.

This creates great irregularity in the attendance of the children and greatly increases the work of the teacher.

Killisnoo (Miss May Ransom, teacher).-Enrollment, 32; pupils, Russians and natives. Wrangell (Mrs. Lyda McA. Thomas, teacher).—Enrollment, 84; pupils, natives. During the year the chief of the village acted as special policeman to look after all truants from school. The result was good, securing greater regularity in the attendance and more rapid advancement in their studies.

Klawack (Mr. Henry C. Wilson, teacher).-Enrollment, 66; pupils, natives. After the resignation of Mrs. Currie, in the summer of 1889, no teacher was secured until the following spring, when Mr. Wilson reopened the school on the 1st of May, 1890.

Jackson (Miss Clara A. Gould, teacher).—Enroliment, 87; pupils, natives. During the winter a number of parents moved into the village for the purpose of placing their children in school.

Metlakahtla (William Duncan, teacher).-Enrollment, 179; pupils, natives. This school is of more than ordinary interest from the fact that this settlement is composed of Tsimpseans, who, a few years ago, came over in a body from British Columbia to Alaska in order to secure greater religious and political freedom.

Mr. Ivan Petroff, special agent for Alaska of the Eleventh United States Census, in his report to the Census Bureau, commenting upon the school attendance of the Sitka district, says: "Considering the nature of the population, widely scattered in small settlements, the showing of 1,049 scholars in attendance out of a total of 1,755 persons between the ages of 5 and 17 years is certainly a remarkable one. The number of natives speaking English does not much exceed that of the scholars enrolled."

II.-CONTRACT SCHOOLS.

1.-SITKA DISTRICT.

Sitka Industrial Training School, Presbyterian (Prof. W. A. Kelly, principal with 17 assistants).-Boarding pupils, 164; natives.

Professor Kelly reports: The past year has been one of marked progress, both in the schoolroom and in the industrial department. It is surprising how quickly the pupils learn English when deprived of their native tongue. "Our school is distinctively coeducational. The boys and girls recite in the same classes, dine together in the same dining-room, and, under wholesome restraint, have opportunities for social intercourse.

"A few years of sedulous training have developed in some of our oldest pupils a spirit of emulation, a sense of personal responsibility, self-respect, self-reliance, and self-helpfulness which command respect. Most of our large boys, advanced far enough to read intelligently in the second reader, are learning a trade (all being in school half of each day and at work half a day), and the diligence with which they pursue their studies, the zest with which they enter upon industrial work day after day is most praiseworthy of them and encouraging to their instructors.

All of the shoes for the pupils of our school are hand-made in our shop, under the direction of a competent foreman. Considerable custom work is also done. "Our supply of barrels and half barrels far exceeds the demand, yet we con