The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and Its Charity Schools in America.The charity school movement of the mother country also had a counterpart in the American colonies. A number of earlier charity schools were started in America by various organizations, but most of the institutions of this sort developed during the eighteenth century through an offshoot of the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge. This association had from the first contemplated religious education in the colonies as well as in England. Dr. Bray undertook the commissaryship of Maryland for the Bishop of London with the understanding that he should be assisted in providing libraries and schools in America. Before starting for the colony himself, he sent over many missionaries, and furnished libraries and money to be used in education. While schools never came to be organized in America by the society, it was evidently intended that they should be encouraged in time, but before any definite action could be taken, the other work in the colonies had grown to such proportions that Bray deemed it wise to organize a separate society to manage education. Thus, three years after its own creation, the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge gave birth to the 'Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts' (commonly known as the 'S. P. G.'), and after 1701 the parent as- The S. P. G. sociation was enabled to limit its efforts largely to the in 1701 for home field. Through liberal subscriptions and wise invest- missionary ments the S. P. G. eventually came to have a fund of its own amounting to over £400,000. Missionaries were sent to America in 1702, and soon spread through all the colonies, but no schools were founded for several years.

was founded

and educa

tional work in

America.

The first

S. P. G. school was opened

The first school of the society was opened in New York City. William Huddleston, who had been conducting a in New York school of his own there, was in 1709 placed upon the

City in 1709

upon a simi- society's payroll, "upon condition that he should teach

lar plan

to

S. P. C. K.

schools in England.

that of the forty poor children gratis." It was intended that the new school should follow the plan of the charity schools in England, but while free tuition and free books were guaranteed from the beginning, it was not until many years later that the expense of clothing the children was provided. Under different masters and with varying fortunes, the school was supported by the society until 1783, when the United States had finally cut loose from the mother country and started upon a career of its own. Meanwhile Trinity Church had come more and more to take the initiative in the support of the school, and finally accumulated an endowment of £5000. The institution came to be known as 'Trinity Church School,' and ever since the withdrawal of the society from America, it has been continued under that name.

The same type of school

onies, except

Virginia.

Schools of the same type were soon established by the S. P. G. missionaries throughout the colonies. For the was supported colony of New York, we possess more or less complete in all the col- accounts of schools established in Westchester County at Rye, West Chester, White Plains, Yonkers, and East Chester; in two or three centers on Staten Island; at Hempstead, Oyster Bay, North Castle, Huntington, Jamaica, Southampton, and Brookhaven, on Long Island; among the German Palatinates on the Hudson at New Windsor and Newburgh; and at Albany and Johnstown. In Pennsylvania there were well-known schools in Philadelphia, Lancaster, and Chester; while similar institutions were supported at Burlington,

Shrewsbury, and Second River in New Jersey. The S. P. G. schoolmasters seem to have been likewise active in all the other colonies, except Virginia.

tion was gen

All these schools, except for size and local peculiarities, closely resembled that in New York City. The attendance ranged from eighteen or twenty pupils to nearly four times that number. From one-quarter to one-half of them were taught gratuitously. Girls were generally admitted, and occasionally equalled or exceeded the boys in number. As a rule, children of other denominations were received on the same terms as those of Church of England members, and at times nearly one-half the attendance was composed of dissenters, but often those outside the Church were given secondary consideration, or the catechism was so stressed by the school that the dissenting children were withdrawn and rival schools set up. The character of the course of study in these charity The instrucschools is further indicated by the books furnished by erally elethe society. In packets of various sizes it sent over mentary and hornbooks, primers, spellers, writing-paper and inkhorns, catechisms, psalters, prayer books, testaments, and bibles. There is also some evidence that secondary instruction was carried on intermittently in the various centers by the missionaries or by the schoolmasters in conjunction with their elementary work. The character of the work done by the society's schools varied somewhat. Some masters were notoriously inefficient, but as a whole they ranked above the average of the times. Throughout its work in the American colonies the The S. P. G. S. P. G. met with various forms of opposition. The with much dissenters, Quakers, and others were often openly hostile opposition. through fear of the foundation of an established national the society

religious.

schools met

Yet, while

it exerted

fluence to

was sectarian, church similar to that of England, and both sides disa great in played considerable sectarianism and bigotry. After ward univer- 1750 the opposition to the society increased in bitterness sal education. and became more general, owing to the feeling that its agents were supporting the king against the colonists. It was gradually forced to give up its schools, and by 1783 had entirely left the country. Yet its patronage of schools was most philanthropic and important for American education in the eighteenth century. While it insisted upon the interpretation of Christianity adopted by the Church of England, it stood first and foremost for the extension of religion and education to the virgin soil of America. It carried on its labors with devoted interest and showed great generosity in the maintenance of schools. Where it refused to establish a school or made any retrenchment, the action can generally be explained through an actual lack of funds or a want of coöperation on the part of the colonists. The hope was frequently expressed that the people of the colonies would soon be able to assist in the support of these charity schools, or to assume the entire charge themselves, but, except for the aid given in New York by Trinity Church, the time never came. Nevertheless, the support of schools in the colonies by the S. P. G. exerted some influence toward universal education, and among the colonists where the Church of England prevailed it afforded the nearest approach to a public school system. It can hardly be claimed that the society would have encouraged a genuine state support and control of schools, but it certainly furnished a generous example and paved the way for such an edu cational policy.

Through confrom the

tributions

other sources,

charity

the German

about the

century, and

Charity Schools among the Pennsylvania Germans. During the eighteenth century the efforts of the S. P. G. were supplemented by the formation of minor associa- S. P. G. and tions and the establishment of other charity schools in a number of various colonies. The most noteworthy instance was schools were the charity school movement among the German sects started among of Pennsylvania. The Germans had come to the colony settlers of in the early part of the century at the invitation of Penn. Pennsylvania They had there found peace and content, and by the middle of the middle of the century they numbered not far from onehalf of the entire population. But the educational facilities, on account of their poverty, the sparseness of population, and the dearth of efficient schoolmasters, soon proved inadequate, both in quantity and quality. An attempt to improve these conditions was made in 1751 by raising funds among the Calvinists in Holland and Scotland, and through an appeal to the S. P. G. in 1753 by Provost Smith of the new College at Philadelphia (afterward the University of Pennsylvania). In addition to the arguments of religion and education, Dr. Smith urged the political reason that "by a common Education of English and German Youth at the same Schools, acquaintances and connexions will be formed, and the English language and a conformity of manners will be acquired." In response to his petition, an additional fund of £20,000 was raised through contributions by the S. P. G., the royal family, and the proprietaries of the colony. This fund, "from the interests of which free schools were here to be established and sustained, was placed in the hands of certain trustees, constituting A Society for Propagating the Knowledge of God among the Germans." In accordance with a plan of Smith's,