"Resolved, That the resolution for opening a Preparatory school on the second Wednesday of November next be rescinded, as being providentially impracticable, and that a like school be opened, with the leave of Providence, on the second Wednesday of November, 1838.

    The next Record is under date of June 9th, 1839, after an interval of one year and eight months. The village of Ontario is, at this time, fist mentioned. It consisted of from 15 to 20 families. Under the direction of the Trustees, a school had been taught by Cyrill W. Wilson, beginning about December 1st, 1837, and continuing till March, 1838. Mrs. Beulah Wilson continued the school till July 4th, "when that terrible sickly season came on, stopping all business before the 10th. From the 20th there was only one man-Mr. Salmon- able to go around to the 15 or 18 families, and he only just able to carry a pitcher of water to each."-C.W. Wilson, Rockford, Illinois, May, 1872.
    Mr. and Mrs. Wilson taught the next winter 1838 to 1839, using the unfinished buildings erected by the Trustees. Several families beyond the limits of the village patronized the school, thus forming a nucleus for thr proposed Academical Department.

    October 21st, 1839, the first of the five departments enumerated in the Prospectus was organized and placed under the care of Witter J. Baxter, Mr. Wilson continuing his services til the first of April following. A Boarding House was established by the Trustees, and placed under the care of Mr. and M.rs. Wilson. After two terms, it was permanently closed.

    From the neighboring farming community vame many students of mature age, who at an earlier period had been favored with good educational privileges at their eastern homes. Mr. Baxter writes:- "Jonesville, Mich., May 8, 1872. I always look back to the year at Ontario as one of the happiest of my life. I never saw the same number of students together who were in any respect their superiors. They were diligent, and gentlemanly and lady-like in their deportment, and all the older ones were more like companions than pupils."

    A very successful exhibition closed the second term, printed programmes of which are still extant. There were forty-nine distinct literary performances, including original orations in Latin, Greek, and English, six dialogues, ten compositions, and an original closing hymn. The Exhibition was held in "The Collgiate Building," temporarily fitted up for the occasion. The Academy had beren taught the first term in the building mentioned above as erected for a workshoop, with recitations in a private dwelling. The second and third terms the Collegiate Building was brought partially into use, but about the first of July it was surrendered to the mechanics for further improvements.

    The roll of this department during its first year has not been obtained, but Mr. Baxter sends us some names from recollection, and others are obtained from the programme mentioned above. These will be found at the close of the General Catalogue.

    Extract from the Trustees'  Record under dtae "March 13, 1840."

"Resolved,  That all social intercourse between the different sexes be prohibited, except at times when they are necessarily called together, at regular meals. recitations, or other public exercises of the school.

"Resolved,  That the Principal and Assistants be requested to strictly enforce the foregoing resolution.

"Resolved,  That these rules be posted with the former rules."
    We find in these "Records" no account of the repeal of "these rules,"  and may therefore presume that they are still in force. If the members of the present Board of Instruction have seemed remiss in yielding a hearty obedience to these social requirements, they will doubtless plead ignorace of their existence. Did some enterprising student prevent their appearance upon the Bulletin, lest they should give offense to the incoming administration? Or should we rather give credence to the tradition that the Board promptly removed (without repealing) them, to quell a rising rebellion? It will be noticed that they apply to teachers and students equally.
 
 

    At this meeting of the Trustees a communication was received from the citizens of Lima and vicinity, asking the transfer of the institution to the vicinity of that village and, by way of inducement; making pledges of "Wheat on the ground." The use of one hundred acres of land for five years," "Labor," "Lumber," "Produce," "Pork," "Land," (for farm), "Village Lots," and "Cash," amounting in the aggregate to $5329.

    The Record proceeds:-
    "This proposition not being comsidered equal to Nathan Jenks' pledge of Ten Thousand Dollars, and in view of our having a flourishing school in operation numbering from 50 to 60 students, and a building erected worth from $3,000.00 to $4,000.00, the proposition was rejected by a unanimous vote."
    One of the teachers estimates the attendence much larger.

    The name of John D. Shelby does not appear on the Records of the Board of Trustees. From other sources we learn that he had charge of the institution during the school year 1840-41, and taught in the new building, but we have not been able to obtain a list of his pupils.
    From a printed circular it has been ascertained that the Institute was advertised to be re-opened on Monday, September 22, 1841, under the care of Rev. Julius Steele. He was assisted by his son, Henry T. Steele, who had the sole charge during the third Term, which closed with an exhibition, July 1, 1842. Mr. Steele, Jr., under date, "Chicago, May 18, 1872," sends the names of about 50 students, and estimates the whole number during the year, at not less than 80. He adds:- "I have not been acquainted with any school which combined among its pupils so large a proportion of native talent, giving promise of so great usefulness in the future on the part of its members. Yet I have known very little of them since my connection with them ceased."

    Rev. Wm. Jones  had charge of the institution from October, 1842, till April, 1844, with the exception of the term which commenced May 9, 1843, during which it was under the care of Edward Brown. We have not succeeded in securing the roll of the Institute for any portion of this period.
 
 

    Rufus Patch took charge of the institution May 1, 1844. During an absence of six months from October, 1849, to April, 1850, Rev. A. H. Kerr, assisted by Mrs. Kerr, conducted the Institute. Miss Julia A. Bundy taught the Spring term of 1852, and Miss Adaliza Hawley the Spring term of 1856.

    Rev. H. C. Morse was principal from September, 1856 to December, 1858. He was succeeded by A. J. Van Etten, who taught a part of the next year. Mr. Frank Cotton, assisted by Mrs. Cotton, sustained a school in the Seminary Building during the year 1859-60.

    The institute was at lenght abandoned, and the Domain transferred to the original donor, the main building unoccupied til the close of 1861.

    The enterprise was, however, resumed in the Autumn of that year, the property was again committed to the care of the late Trustees and others associated with them, and on the sixth of January, 1862, Rufus Patch once more took charge of the Department of Instruction. The Institute has been uninterruptedly under his care till the present time, a period of ten  and a half years.
 

    The present principal has preserved complete records of attendance during the 22 years (nearly) of his administration. We invite attention to a few general facts derived from this source.

    The first eleven years to which reference has been made- 1844 to 1856, may be subdivided into periods of 51/2 years each, and the ten years following January 1862, may also be subdivided, so that the facts pertaining to our patronage may be easily compared.

1st Period-51/2 years- 1844 to 1850- Average attendance  35.6
2d     "         "      "        1850  "  1856        "               "         42.6
3d    "         5      "        1862  "  1867        "               "         43.6
4th   "          "      "        1867  "  1872        "               "         38.4

Omitting fractions.
1st and 2d Periods-11 years-1844 to 1856- Av. attendance 39
3d and 4th Periods 10 years  1862 to 1872- Av. attendance 41
        Whole period, to June 1872, 22 years, Av. attendance 40

    The actual attendance has varied from less than twenty to more than a hundred. In the Fall Term of 1866, we enolled 120 different students, nearly as many as in 1869, while the average attendance for these Terms was but 66 and 60 respectively, only 56 per cent of the enrollment. Our patronage is chiefly from the farminf population, and our students of each Fall Term of 16 weeks (September to December) have largely supplied the demand for teachers in our public schools, while others have taken their places before the close of the term. For a like reason our roll during the Spring and Summer Term is usually small. Our actual attendance the last week of June, 1872, was but 18.

    During the year closing with March, 1872, we enrolled 113 different students, but eight of whom were under 14 years of age, while 19 were from 21 to 32 years old.
    Their average age was 18 years.
    Males... 18.75
    Females... 17.3
    In the early history of the institution we did not record the ages of the students, but they were generally older than those recently in attendance. No other fact pertaining to our patronage so clearly indicates the character of the school and the nature of the work we are doing. We are dealing chiefly with minds that are matured, and capable of making rapid progress in study.

    Our Tuition Bills during the first two Periods-1844 to 1856- amounted to $5165, averaging less than $500 annually. During the Ten Years closing January 1, 1872- after subtracting cost of contingencies- they amounted to (nearly) $7,500, averaging $750 annually. Our rates during this last ten years have been increased about 40 per cent.

    During the first period of five and a half years, the income from Tuition was our only resource for the support of Instruction. During the second like period rents of buildings and land were added, to the value of $75 annually. During the third Period the income of the Board of instruction was still further increased by the free use of the buildings and premises, and the payment of $100 annually from other sources. During most of the fourth Period the income of a part of the Endowment Fund has been substituted for the fre use of the buildings and premises, and the rest of these is paid into the treasury of the Institute.
    When it is remembered that we have usually employed two well educated teachers, the enquiry will naturally arise, how we coud secure this kind and amount of service for so small compensation, and it has been deemed hardly creditable to the business enterprise of our present Principal that he has not sought elsewhere a better salary. in reply, we would refer to the fact, in our rural districts, previous to 1856, from $400 to $500 was regarded a good salary for the pastor of a church, and that assistance was easily secured at moderate charges, when our public schools were paying female teachers but $1.50 per week. As salaries have risen the provision for the support of our teachers has correspondingly increased. The fact of permancy must answer in part for our actual success in this respect. And still the criticism is apparently just. How otherwise shall we account for the fact that, after an average experience of less than a year each, eleven others who have had charge of the Institute have voluntarily sought more lucrative situations elsewhere?

    An average attendance of forty, with charges for instruction averaging $20 a year, will secure an annual income of but $800, one hundred of which will be needed for contingent expenses. Hence the necessity for the Endowment Fund.

    The Public Schools of Indiana are required by law to furnish instruction not only in the Common Branches (so Called), but also in Physiology and the History of the Untied States, and Graded Schools are established in all our villages. While instruction in so many branches of study is thus offered without charge to our entire school population, our chartered institutions have in most instances, found thier occupation gone, leaving the LaGrange Collegiate Institute the only institution of its kind, in the centre of a circle which embraces a territory nearly as large as the State of Massachusetts. The vitality of the Institute has been tested in another direction. Our advanced students are drawn away from us by neighboring institutions of a higher order, which, by our perfected rail and road-system, are now easily accessible, and thus we have nearly ceased to do the most desirable part of the former work. The use of scholarships without charge, and other pecuniary aid, have produced their appropriate results. But while we congratulate our Public Schools System for its success, and the six colleges whose several streams, this very year, have been swollen from our little fountain, we cannot fail also to congratulate the institution under our care that its waters still continue to flow with so little dimminution of volume.