Total number of schools, 84; total instructors, 408; total pupils, 12,604.
Theological, 113; Collegiate, 55; Collegiate Preparatory, 151; Normal, 1,455; Grammar, 2,770; Intermediate, 3,241; Primary, 4,937. Total, 12,604.
Some of these schools are located in the remote districts of the South among what might be classed the neglected classes of the colored people. It is a hard matter to correctly calculate the real worth of these institutions.
Dorchester Academy, McIntosh, Ga., is but one type of a class. It is in the rice fields of Georgia. Beginning with one teacher, it now numbers 413 pupils, five of whom are in the advanced normal grade. The principal writes us: "Although my boys and girls wear dark skins, and come from the rice fields and turpentine swamps, and their native speech is sometimes little better than a jargon, still I would not have hesitated in an exhaustive review of as much of the work of the year as could be covered in two days' examination to have put them beside boys and girls coming from far more favorable surroundings. It was a thorough test and was well met."
This is a school which, with many variations, may stand for many. Next, we advance to schools of higher grade, such as Beach Institute, in Savannah; Gregory Institute, in Wilmington; Ballard Normal Institute, in Macon; Allen Normal, in Thomasville; Orange Park Normal, in Florida; Le Moyne Institute, in Memphis; and Avery Institute, in Charleston (which has merited its place among chartered institutions); and in the entire field twenty-seven more, each deserving consideration, which together form a system of schools where disciplined and experienced instructors are preparing youth for worthy life and many to be worthy teachers for their less privileged people. These schools, though unlike in their environments and characteristics, are yet similar in purpose and not dissimilar in their courses of study. Northern visitors often express surprise in their discovery of the quality of their work.
In referring again to Le Moyne Normal Institute, I will say it was founded in 1871 by the American Missionary Association, and named after Dr. F. Julius Le Moyne of Washington, Pa., who gave some $20,000 for that purpose.