 The Sunday Gazetteer Sunday GazetteerANNIVERSARY EDITION Sunday, September 27, 1885 pg. 1 THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS of Denison rank with the very best in the southwest, and are improving from year to year. The people believe in free schools, and are satisfied only with the best to be had. In addition to the public schools are the St. Xavier (Catholic female) academy, the Catholic boy's school, the Denison academy, and other private schools, thus affording an opportunity for educational advantages so desirable to the average child.... EDUCATIONAL The intellectual standard of a community, city or State, is measured by the interest taken in educational affairs. To reach a perfect system of education has been a theme for the exercise of the statesman's ability for all ages. It is a recognized and indisputable fact that the more perfect the system of education, the more rapid is the development of the intellectual and moral standard of the people. That system of education which will insure the thorough and universal education of the people is beyond question the safest means to be adopted in order to the preservation and perpetuation of the grand fabric of republican liberty and freedom. It is, in short, the only course to be pursued; the only means of safety attainable by which mankind can be led from the dark depths of superstition and ignorance, and placed upon a pedestal of light and knowledge inaccessible to the approach of the false theories and dictums of the wicked, promulgated to deceive and enslave the illiterate and ignorant. Within the corporation of Denison the cause of education has generally met a hearty support. It has perhaps been unfortunate for the cause however that so frequent changes have been made in the management. Every year finds a stranger as superintendent or principal - a man unacquainted with the people, their customs and habits; and just about the time he gets regularly at work the session is out, and the principal goes out also. This is a matter for the serious consideration of the people - a matter to be carefully thought of. Mr. Bryant, the present principal of the public schools of the city, is a young man, but seems quite capable of filling the honorable position which he occupies, and we predict for him a successful term. This prediction is made with more sincerity because Mr. Bryant has been furnished with a very able and popular corps of teachers - most of them - who are thoroughly identified with the people; their pupils being the children whom they have instructed for several years. The public school opened with an attendance of 750, but at this time the enrollment shows the attendance of 870. The high school building has been renovated and partially re-seated, its seating capacity now being sufficient to accommodate 550 pupils with eleven teachers. Prof. Bryant, the newly chosen superintendent, has set in vogue a new course of study, rules and regulations, conforming to the usage of the oldest and best city schools north and east. The Council has been more thoughtful and liberal than ever before in supplying necessary apparatus - globes, maps, etc., thus materially aiding the teachers in the simplest and most practical manner of instructing the children. The school is now supplied with a select corps of earnest and intellectual teachers, and nothing seems to stand in the way of making the school equal to any operated under the public school system, if parents will co-operate with and support the superintendent and teachers in the discharge of their duties. It is an evident fact that the school can only assist children in becoming what their parents and the State would have them be; consequently, the teacher and parent must work together, so that the greatest good to the children may be realized. The reporter learns that it is the intention of the Council to reduce the number of pupils per teacher in order that pupils may not be neglected by being in overcrowded rooms; with this in view, new accommodations and teachers will be provided as speedily as necessary. The new four-room brick building in the fourth ward is now completed and occupied, and while considerable dissatisfaction arose regarding its construction, it is a large and commodious building, and will prove amply sufficient to accommodate all the people south of the railroad tracks many years to come. TEACHERS AND PUPILS
FOURTH WARD
FIRST WARD
COLORED DEPARTMENT
To the public schools of this city especial attention is given to pupils in the lowest primary classes. As a final suggestion, it would seem that the public schools would be set on a basis for a higher order of success and usefulness if a graduating course should be prescribed; such a provision would create a greater incentive for remaining in school longer, and giving more careful attention to study. Sunday, October 18, 1885 Superintendent C.A. Bryant's Monty Report, Month ending October 9, 1885 
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