The whole system is free to all the children of the city, whose parents choose to avail themselves of it. Books and everything needed are furnished without charge, and no pains are spared to render the course as thorough and beneficial as possible. The pupil is put to no expense, whatever, but is required to maintain habits of cleanliness and neatness. The sexes are provided with separate apartments, and enter the building by different doors. In some localities night schools are provided, for those who cannot be present at the day sessions, and are well attended. Many cash and errand boys and clerks, porters, drivers, and others gladly avail themselves of this means of acquiring knowledge.
The cost to the city of this magnificent system, is between two and a half and three millions of dollars annually. It is a heavy tax upon the municipal treasury, but it is gladly borne, for it saves the metropolis from those hordes of idle, ignorant men and women which are the curse of all great cities. The very poorest men or women can thus give to their children the priceless boon of knowledge, of which their youth was deprived. Profiting by the advantage thus acquired, these little ones, in after years, may rise to fame and fortune. Thus not only the metropolis but the whole country reaps the blessings of this magnificent system of free education.
The best proof of its excellence lies in the fact that, a short time since, a Committee, appointed by the authorities of the city of Boston, for the purpose of inquiring into the public school systems of other American cities, with a view to improving that of the "Hub," stated in their report, that they regarded the system in practice in the city of New York, as the best in the world, and recommended that the school system of Boston be modeled upon the same plan.
Ample as are our means of diffusing knowledge, however, they must still be increased. They must be made to reach those lower portions of humanity, in behalf of which the Mission Schools of the great city are doing such noble work. Not until this is done, will the system be perfect.
As we have said before, land for building purposes is very high and scarce in New York. In consequence of this, dwellings rent here for more than in other American cities. The laying off of the Central Park was a decided benefit to the city and its inhabitants, but the blessing had also its accompanying evil. It reduced the "house room" of the island by eight hundred acres, which would have afforded comfortable accommodations for seventy-two thousand persons, and naturally crowded the lower quarters of the city to a still greater extent. A careful estimate has been made by the Sanitary Association of New York, and they report that with three fourths of the population there is an average of six families to every house.
