University of Virginia Library

COURSE OF STUDY.

Primary Department.—In this department, which is
under the charge of a lady principal, assisted by as many
lady teachers as may be required, the pupils are taught
reading, writing, intermediate arithmetic and primary geography.
We have under the conditions of Mr. Miller's
will, no entrance examination. Hence many who come
to us must begin at the lowest point. Very few are able
to enter above our primary department. As the foundation
of all our work is here, it is necessary that the department
be most carefully attended to. To this end a corps of
most excellent lady teachers have been secured, who give
their entire time to the instruction of these beginners. By
them our children are taught with great care to read and spell
correctly. They also are specially directed in writing. Before
leaving this department they are able to compose letters quite
creditable to themselves. They are also here well drilled in
the first principles of arithmetic, and given instruction in the
Primary Geography.

Higher Department.—This department is divided into six
classes, to each of which is given one year. The studies in
these six classes are as follows—viz:

           

Sixth Class.	Arithmetic	English	History	Geography	House & Farm Work
Fifth Class.	Arithmetic	English	History	Geography	Printing & Farm Work
Fourth Class.	Alge bra.	English	Latin	Botany and Physiology	Farm Work and Shop Practice.
Third Class.	Geometry, Algebra.	English	Latin	Chemistry	Drawing and Shop Practice.
Second Class.	Algebra. Geometry.	Physics	Latin and German.	Geology, Mineralogy	Drawing and Shop Practice.
First Class.	Trigonom'y	Mechnics	Latin and German.	Botany, Entomology	Drawing and Shop Practice.

English.—Our object is to impart a practical knowledge

of the English language; to make the pupil acquainted
with the leading facts in its history and etymology and
practically familiar with the laws of composition and style.
Pupils are daily exercised in orthography and penmanship.
The former is taught always by dictation, the latter practiced
for a stated time under the immediate supervision of an instructor.
The study of English grammar, and of the history
and analysis of the language, with the elements of rhetoric, is
diligently pursued. Weekly compositions, or essays, upon
assigned subjects are required of every pupil. These are submitted
for correction, and returned the following week, with
errors in spelling, grammar, or construction carefully noted.
Geography and History form an important element in this department.
One year is given to the study of Ancient, and one
to the study of Modern History. While this is not long
enough to study the History of even all the most important
nations, a vigorous effort is made to instil a taste for reading.

Latin.—The study of Latin by every pupil is required. Every
pupil is thoroughly drilled in the accidence of this language
by daily grammatical recitations, by written exercises, and by
systematic reading. In the lower classes daily exercises are
required, and every pupil is given a black-board drill to show
that he understands the lesson for the day. In the higher
classes longer and more difficult passages are given once a
week, and the critical correction of these exercises, involving
discussions of the nicest points of syntax, constitute a prominent
feature. While we are not able in the time allowed to
make a pupil a thorough classical scholar, every effort is made
to give him a taste for classical literature and to make him
familiar with the etymology and derivation of languages.
Four years are given to the study of Latin.

German.—The same method, as far as practicable, is pursued
here as in Latin. Great attention is paid to the writing
of exercises and to the acquisition of a thorough knowledge of
grammar and syntax. Care is taken to impart a correct pronunciation,
and pupils are practiced daily in written and oral
exercises. While reading the different authors, special attention

is paid to the idioms of the language. The course is occasionally
varied with some book of current literature.

Mathematics.—After completing Intermediate Arithmetic
in our Primary Department, our pupils are given a careful and
thorough course in Arithmetic, Algebra, Geometry, and Plane
and Spherical Trigonometry. They also are given some instruction
in Conics. This course, taken in connection with
their book-keeping, drawing, mechanics, physics, and shop
practice gives them a most substantial mathematical foundation
upon which to build.

Sciences,—Our students are carefully instructed in the principles
of chemistry, botany, zoology, mineralogy, and geology,
and in order that they may possess a knowledge of the only
true "Scientific Agriculture," their attention is called, in the
various parts of the course, to the application of the principles
of the Natural Sciences to the improvement of the art of
agriculture. All who pursue the study of chemistry work
three hours each week for one session in the chemical laboratory,
where they are required to repeat most of the class experiments,
and are well-grounded in blowpipe analysis. Such
as show great aptitude for it are afterwards taught quantitative
chemical analysis. In the study of botany, the students
are stimulated to collect the native plants, and learn, as far
possible, the principles of the science by direct observation of
nature. Geological, mineralogical, and botanical excursions
are made whenever practicable, and the School now possesses
as one of the results of the labor of these classes complete
collections of the native woods, minerals and rocks and a large
herbarium of Albemarle. Before graduation, students pursue
a course of cryptogamic botany, in which they are encouraged
to work with the compound microscope.

Department of Practical Mechanics.—In this department
instruction is given by the Director, aided by an instructor
in wood work, one in iron, one in forging and foundry work,
and one in drawing. To complete the course takes four years,
one in wood work, one in forging and foundry work, one in
iron work, and the last year in advanced work in one of these

three departments. Fifteen hours per week is devoted to shop
work through the entire time. Drawing is taught throughont
the four years for seven and a-half hours per week, and in
each year is allied to the branch of shop work that the pupil
is taking. The first year is taken by the boys in the fourth
class of our regular school course (the first class being the
graduating class). Here they learn by a systematic course of
exercises the use of the various hand tools and appliances
used for wood work, the principles of a variety of joints used
in construction, and how to make them. They also become
familiar with the lathe and its tools and wood-working machines
generally, such as are used in carpentry and cabinet
work and pattern making. At the end of the year they are able
to make articles of furniture, such as washstands, tables, etc.

The second year in this department is taken by the boys of
the third class. Here they are trained in forging and foundry
work. They learn first in forging the use of tools on lead instead
of on hot iron, which greatly facilitates the work of a
beginner. It is not long before they can handle iron itself
with a measure of skill. In foundry work, they also commence
with alloys, etc., before moulding iron, though they
later learn to charge and manage the cupola and to do a fair
variety of moulding.

The third year is taken by the boys of the second class in
the Machine Shop, where they first learn the use of the tools,
etc., by regular exercises. Before the end of the year they are
able to construct different mechanisms, etc., of a creditable
character.

In the fourth year, having previeusly gone through all the
departments, the student is required to make a specialty of one
of them, and follow up advanced work in it.

Drawing, as previously mentioned, is taught throughout the
four years, and each year bears an intimate relation to that
year's shop practice. It is begun with very simple free-hand
drawing, and later on the use of instruments is gradually acquired.
The drawing is never from plates, but from objects,
either real or imaginary.

In addition to this regular course in shop practice, etc., a
time is set aside in each department for regular instruction of
a more special character for those boys who on account of advanced
age, or other cause, will be unable to graduate.

The instruction in physics, mechanics, and electricity is also
given in this department. The course in physics is interesting,
thorough, and decidedly practical, being well illustrated
throughout by careful experiments. In mechanics, which is
made (as it should) to bear a close relation to manual training,
shop practice, etc., the pupils are taught the principles, etc.,
involved in the various operations they are taught to perform.
Electricity is taught in direct connection with the dynamos,
storage batteries, regulators, resistance boxes, etc., of the electric-light
plant, aided by a collection of electrical apparatus,
and the pupils are required to become sufficiently familiar
with them to manage them intelligently, and to make dynamos,
motors, converters, etc.

Farm Training.[1] —The sixth class will be engaged in farm
and garden work every afternoon. The class will be divided
into two squads, each in charge of a captain selected from
one of the higher classes. They will be employed during
the autumn in assisting with the planting and cultivation of
the late garden crops, the gathering of vegetables, storing of
winter vegetables, and growing and transplanting such vegetable
plants as are kept in frames during winter. In winter
they will be taught the feeding of cattle, and especially of
young animals. In the necessary routine work, such as cutting
feed and getting out ensilage, the squads will alternate
with each other three days at a time. The effort will be made
to make all the work done contribute to the manual dexterity
of the boys, and to teach them that the thorough performance
of work, which seems mere drudgery, will better fit them for
more responsible positions.

The fourth and fifth classes will work each three days in
the week, and will be under the immediate personal supervision
of the director of this department. The effort of the instructor

will, with these classes, be to train them in a skillful
use of all farm tools. This work will be less of routine
drudgery than that of the sixth class, and while their labor
will be utilized in the work of the farm and garden, the
acquirement of skill in the use of tools, management of
teams, etc., will be considered of more importance than the
amount of work accomplished. At the same time the effort
will be made to teach the great value of human labor in our
American agriculture, and the necessity for such use of animals
and tools as may enlarge the productive capacity of
human labor. The boys in these classes will be taught, as
opportunity offers, the handling of teams, methods of plowing
for different purposes, the use, adjustment and care of
farm machinery, planting crops, sowing grass seed, etc. They
will also have lessons in greenhouse practice during winter
and in the care of plants in frames.

Book-Keeping.—Every boy and girl, at some period in our
course of study, is thoroughly taught in single and double
entry book-keeping. During this instruction, special attention
is paid to their penmanship. Work in this department is
given for seven hours a week during the entire term.

Telegraphy.—A class of girls is taught for about seven
hours a week during the year in telegraphy. At the end of
the year they are able, after one or two months' practical
training in an office, to do good work.

Bee-Culture.—We have a well equipped and well managed
apiary. The instruction given here each year to a few of our
boys is both pleasant and profitable.

Printing.—In a well equipped and arranged printing office
the boys of the fifth class are given instruction in printing for
seven and a half hours each week. Nearly all the printing
needed for the school is done by these boys.

Industrial Training in the Girls' School.—In addition
to the instruction now given to the girls in book-keeping and
telegraphy, a class is practiced in typewriting. Arrangements
have just been completed for giving the girls a thorough and
careful course in dressmaking. To this end a teacher has

been employed, who has completed a course in this special
line under one of the best instructors in this country. Training
in other departments for our girls is being now investigated.