Pennsylvania, Education (Hayward)

Education. — Pennsylvania has recently done much for the advancement of free education. There are in the state, independent of the city and county of Philadelphia, about 1500 school districts, and near 10,000 common schools, containing over 400,000 scholars. For the support of these institutions, some -$700,000 to $800,000 are annually raised, partly by taxation in theseveral districts, and partly through state appropriations. There are also a large number of academies, and other literary or scientific institutions of a high grade, together with five or six theological seminaries maintained by various Christian denominations. The Girard College, near the city of Philadelphia, endowed by Stephen Girard with a-fund of $2,000,000, and devoted to the support of destitute orphans, is perhaps the greatest charity of the kind in the country. There are two flourishing universities, — the University of Pennsylvania, founded in 1755 at Philadelphia, and the Western University at Pittsburg, —together with the following colleges, founded between the years 1783 and 1836: Dickinson, Jefferson, Washington, Alleghany, Pennsylvania, Lafayette, and Marshall, besides sundry medical colleges.