in the same building gives opportunity for observation, practice in teaching and child study. The graduates are in great demand, and the school is constantly receiving visits from superintendents and teachers who desire to know its work and equipment. The year closing with August, 1898, was marked by the admission of the largest class, the largest enrolment of members and the largest graduating class in the history of the school. The past year equals the preceding in the number admitted, and exceeds it in the number enrolled and in the number graduated. In the June and September examinations for admission this year, 1899, 196 applicants appeared. Twenty-five of these came for examinations preliminary to entrance in 1900. One hundred and seventy-one sought admission this year, of whom 134 were received, all that could be accommodated. The number in attendance is 281, which crowds the assembly hall beyond its seating capacity. The number of pupils enrolled in the model school is 440. The ninth-grade pupils have so increased as to occupy two rooms, which made it necessary to appoint another teacher. Mr. Brenelle Hunt, a graduate of the normal school from the four years' course, for the last two years principal of a large grammar school in Westfield, was appointed principal of the model school in charge of the executive department of the work of the school, and Miss Hicks, who has so ably conducted the school for the last eight years, was appointed supervisor of the practice work in the model school, giving her whole time to this service. A special appropriation of $1,500 was made last year for the painting of the outside woodwork of the school building and for setting curbstones and laying concrete walks on the south and east sides of the school lot. This has been done in a satisfactory manner, at a cost of $1,453. The special need of the school for this year is an appropriation for the following objects: 1. For the painting of the outside of Normal Hall and Woodward Hall, and of a considerable part of the inside of Normal Hall, and the purchase of Venetian blinds for this hall. 2. For new tables for the mineralogical, physical and chemical laboratories. The tables in use in these rooms were transferred from the old building to save expense at the time the present building was erected. The school has increased so much as to make it necessary to provide more table room, and improved appliances are much needed for some parts of the work. Three sections of a class of one hundred or more students use the laboratory in succession, which makes it important to have the best facilities for the work. 3. For the purchase of drawing desks. The present desks have been in use for twenty-five years, and are not adapted to present needs. The statistics of the school for the year ending Aug. 31, 1899, are as follows: 1. Number of students for the year, 281, - 41 men, 240 women; number in the entering class, 141, 16 men, 125 women; number of graduates for the year, 90, ing certificates for special courses, 21, 12 men, 78 women; number receiv 4 men, 17 women. 2. The whole number of students who have been members of the school is 4,623, — 1,263 men, 3,360 women. The number who have received certificates or diplomas is 2,992, 833 men, 2,159 women; of whom 250 have graduated from the four years' course, 132 men, 118 women. 3. Of the 281 members of the school for this year, Plymouth County sent 80; Bristol, 48; Norfolk, 35; Middlesex, 21; Worcester, 18; Essex, 15; Barnstable, 13; Suffolk, 13; Hampden, 4; Nantucket, 3; Berkshire, 2; Franklin, 1; Hampshire, 1; the State of Maine, 10; New Hampshire, 8; Connecticut, 2; Rhode Island, 2; New York, 1; Pennsylvania, 1; Nova Scotia, 2; New Brunswick, 1. Total from Massachusetts, 254, 13 counties and 86 towns being represented; other States and countries, 27. 4. The distribution of the students for the year was as follows: special courses, 25, 6 men, 19 women; four years' course, 54, 23 men, 31 women; intermediate course, 18, 4 men, 14 women; two years' course, 184, 8 men, 176 women. 5. The average age of those admitted was 20 years, 1 month; of the men, 23 years; of the women, 19 years, 9 months. 6. Of the 141 admitted, 8 came from colleges, 11 from normal and training schools, 122 from high schools and academies; of these, 26 had taught. 7. The occupations of the fathers of those admitted were given as follows: mechanics, 34; farmers, 24; merchants and dealers, 17; clerks and bookkeepers, 9; superintendents and foremen, 8; laborers, 7; teamsters, 4; salesmen, 3; manufacturers, 2; brokers, 2; jewellers, 2; expressmen, 2; gardeners, 2; professions, 9; miscellaneous, 11; not given, 5. 8. Of the 141 students admitted, Fall River sent 10; Brockton, Middleborough and Taunton, 6 each; Bridgewater and Weymouth, 5 each; Abington, Boston and Dedham, 4 each; Chelsea, East Bridgewater, Easton, Falmouth, Natick, Plymouth and Stoughton, 3 each; Bourne, Canton, Concord, Hanover, Hyde Park, Marshfield, Northbridge, Scituate, Upton, West Bridgewater, Whitman and Winchester, 2 each; Adams, Amesbury, Andover, Bradford, Braintree, Cambridge, Dennis, Fairhaven, Foxborough, Haverhill, Lenox, Lexington, Lynn, Marblehead, Medford, Merrimac, New Bedford, Norfolk, Northfield, Palmer, Pepperell, Reading, Rockland, Sandwich, Swansea, West Boylston and Wrentham, 1 each; Maine, 7; New Hampshire, 6; Rhode Island, 2; Pennsylvania, 1; Nova Scotia, 2; New Brunswick, 1. ALICE FREEMAN PALMER, Board of Visitors. STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, SALEM. WALTER P. BECKWITH, PRINCIPAL. INSTRUCTORS. WALTER P. BECKWITH, A.M., Ph.D., psychology, pedagogy, school laws; ELLEN M. DODGE, English literature; HARRIET L. MARTIN, algebra, geometry; CHARLES E. ADAMS, physics, chemistry; JESSIE P. LEAROYD, botany, English grammar; CHARLES F. WHITNEY, drawing and art; MARY A. COMEY, history, penmanship, arithmetic; WILLIAM C. MOORE, S.B., mineralogy, geology, geography; M. ALICE WARREN, biology, physiology, physical training; FLORENCE M. SNELL, A.M., English literature; VESTA H. SAWTELLE, music; FLORENCE P. SALISBURY, reading, physical training; ISABELLA G. KNIGHT, A.B., library, records. Model Schools: MAUD S. WHEELER, fourth and fifth grades; BERTHA H. DES JARDINS, second and third grades; M. MAUD VANSTON, first grade. Kindergarten: HARRIET E. RICHMOND, principal; AMY H. NYE, assistant. The following is the report of the Salem Normal School for the year ended June 21, 1899. The work of the school has been carried on with the usual degree of faithfulness and success, and there seems to be abundant reason for confidence in its future. There was no change in the teaching force during the year except as indicated in the last annual report. Neither has there been any change in the plan of work as heretofore indicated. A somewhat increasing number of students are finding that it is advisable to take three years instead of two for the work of the course, and in a considerable number of cases their work is done from their entrance with this plan in view. From year to year a gradual improvement is observed in the preparation shown by candidates for admission, but there is still a great lack of uniformity, and many high schools, notwithstanding recent legislation, fail to give their students the quantity and quality of training which their entrance requirements contemplate. But with the increasing number of applicants it seems to be reasonably certain that classes of sufficient size will annually enter the school. At the close of the year the graduating class from the two years' course numbered 55 members. There were also 2 graduates from the advanced course, their graduation marking the end of that particular kind of work in this school. The demand for it has for many years been very limited, and in the particular form in which it existed the expense which it necessitated was not warranted. A course covering a period of three years and including some features not embraced in the two years' course, it is believed, would attract a sufficient number of students to justify itself. The graduates in general readily find opportunities to begin the work of teaching, and in almost every town throughout the section from which students come to Salem the fact of graduation from a normal school is regarded as a distinct recommendation for an applicant. A vast number of inexperienced teachers must every year be employed throughout the Commonwealth in the places of those who, from one cause or another, have fallen from the ranks; and, while no previous training or preparation can insure success to all these beginners, the popular judgment is apparently firm that graduation from a normal school is an important safeguard against failure. The model schools were continued as before. At the beginning of the spring term Miss Richmond of the first grade was transferred to the kindergarten, in place of Miss Skinner, who resigned to accept a position in New York City. Miss Maud Vanston of Brockton was selected to take charge of the first grade, and her work has given great satisfaction. The schools have won for themselves a marked and unusual degree of popularity in the community, besides supplying the opportunity for observation to our own students. STATISTICS FOR THE YEAR ENDING JUNE 21, 1899. 1. The whole number of students belonging to the school during the year was 178. Of this number, Essex County sent 98; Middlesex, 48; Suffolk, 12; Plymouth, 2; and Berkshire and Hampshire 1 each. The State of New Hampshire sent 8; Maine, 5; Louisiana, |