A history of public education in Rhode Island, from 1636 to 1876 ... Comp. by authority of the Board of education, and ed. by Thomas B. Stockwell ...

FIFTH EPOCH. 201
6,005; in 1858, the register showed an attendance of 7,257; in 1868,
the number had increased to 7,392. In 1875, the whole number registered was 12,507.
SCHOOL EXPENDITURES. —MORAL SUPERVISION.
THE first appropriation made for the support of the public schools,
was, as already related, $6,000. From that time, as the necessity for
additional school accommodations was met, expenditures in this department advanced. In 1848, the cost of maintaining the schools was thirty
per cent. of the whole city expenses. In ten years (1858), the proportion had tliminished to fourteen per cent. In 1874, they were reduced to
2.7 per cent. for school instruction, and including " general expenses,"
3.1 per cent. In few New England or other cities is the cost of free
school education so low as in Providence. In Boston, the expense of
the public schools, is more than fifty per cent. greater. "No private
academy or seminary can give to the children of this city an education
so thorough and advanced as our public schools furnish, at less than
three or four times the cost now charged upon the public treasury; nor,
so far as is known, does any other principal New England city receive
larger or better returns for its outlay." *
By reference to preceding pages it will be seen how careful were the
early guardians of the public schools to protect the morals of the young.
They did not believe that dogmatic theology or sectarian peculiarities
should constitute apart of public school instruction, but they did believe
that every pupil should be impressed with the value of a pure character,
and taught that virtue and integrity as underlying principles of christianity, were of higher moment than mere intellectual attainments. And
in this unexceptionable spirit are the schools still supervised.
EVENING AND VACATION SCHOOLS.
Evening schools were commenced in Providence in 1842, under the
auspices of the Ministry-at-large, to meet a large class of wants not
reached by the day schools, and were continued for thirteen years with
gratifying success. In the meantime this class of schools attracted
public attention, and in 1849 two were opened by the city, and with the
exception of three winters (one during the war of the rebellion,) have
been regularly continued to the present day. In 1856 they had attained
* School Report for 1875.