2. PLANS AND DESCRIPTIONS OF SCHOOL-HOUSES RECENTLY

ERECTED.

The following school-houses are selected for representation and descrip tion, not because they are superior to all others, or are unexceptionable in every respect, but because the plans could be conveniently obtained, and in them all, the great principles of school-architecture are observed.

PLANS, &c., OF SCHOOL-HOUSE, DISTRICT No. 6, WINDSOR, CT.

The building stands 60 ft. from the highway, near the center of an elevated lot which slopes a little to the south and east. Much the larger portion of the lot is in front, affording a pleasant play ground, while in the rear there is a woodshed, and other appropriate buildings, with a separate yard for boys and girls. The walls are of brick, and are hollow, so as to save expense in securing the antaes or pilasters, and to prevent dampness. This building is 33 ft. 6 inches long, 21 ft. 8 inches wide, and 18 ft. 9 inches high from the ground to the eaves, including 2 ft. base or underpinning.

The entries A A, one for boys and the other for girls, are in the rear of the building, through the woodshed, which, with the yard, is also divided by a partition. Each entry is 7 ft. 3 inches, by 9 ft. 3 inches, and is supplied with a scraper and mat for the feet, and shelves and hooks for outer gar

ments.

The school-room is 24 ft. 5 inches long, by 19 ft. 4 inches wide, and 15 ft. 6 inches high in the clear, allowing an area of 472 ft. including the recess for the teacher's platform, and an allowance of 200 cubic feet of air to a school of 36.

The teacher's platform B, is 5 ft. 2 inches wide, by 6 ft. deep, including 3 ft. of recess, and 9 inches high. On it stands a table, the legs of which are set into the floor, so as to be firm, and at the same time movable, in case the platform is needed for declamation, or other exercises of the

scholars. Back of the teacher is a range of shelves b, already supplied with a library of near 400 volumes, and a globe, outline maps, and other apparatus. On the top of the case is a clock. A blackboard 5 ft. by 4, is suspended on weights, and steadied by a groove on each end; so as to admit of being raised and lowered by the teacher, directly in front of the book case, and in full view of the whole school. At the bottom of the blackboard is a trough to receive the chalk and the sponge, or soft cloth.

The passages D D, are 2 ft. wide, and extend round the room; E E are 15 inches, and allow of easy access to the seats and desks on either hand. F is 5 ft. 3 inches, and in the center stands an open stove C, the pipe of which goes into one of the flues, a. The temperature is regulated by a thermometer.

Each pupil is provided with a desk G, and seat H, the front of the former, constituting the back or support of the latter, which slopes 24 inches in 16. The seat also inclines a little from the

edge. The seats vary in height, from 9 inches to 17, the youngest children occupying those nearest the

platform. The desks are 2 ft. long by 18 inches wide, with a shelf beneath for books, and a groove on the back side b, (Fig. 4) to receive a slate, with which each desk is furnished by the district. The upper surface of the desk, except 3 inches of the most distant portion, slopes 1 inch in a foot, and the edge is in the same perpendicular line with the front of the seat. The level portion of the desk has a groove running along the line of the

slope a, (Fig. 4) so as to prevent pencils and pens from rolling off, and an opening c, (Fig 8) to receive an inkstand, which is covered by a metal

lic lid.

The windows, I, three on the north and three on the south side, contain each 40 panes of 8 by 10 glass, are hung (both upper and lower sash) with weights so as to admit of being raised or lowered conveniently.

PLAN OF SCHOOL-HOUSE IN MEADOW DISTRICT, IN BLOOMFIELD, CONN.

The new school-house in Meadow District, in the town of Bloomfield, for location, neatness, mode of seating, warming, and ventilation, is a good specimen of a cheap, convenient, and attractive edifice for a small country district. It is built of brick, and the cost, excluding the land, and including fences, appendages, and furniture, was about $500. The style and arrangement of the seats and desks are indicated in Figs. 3 and 4. The building is 30 feet by 20. The district is indebted mainly to Hon. Francis Gillette for his zeal and determination in getting up the plan, and superintending the work.

The room is heated by Mott's Ventilating School Stove, designed both for wood and hard coal. Fresh air is introduced from outside of the building by a flue beneath the floor, and is warmed by passing along the heated surfaces of the stove as indicated in the following section.

The smoke-pipe is carried in the usual way, high enough to prevent any injurious radiation of heat upon the heads of the pupils below, to the centre of the opposite end of the room, where, after passing through the ceiling, it enters the ventilating flue, which, commencing at the floor, is carried up through the attic and out above the roof, as shown in Figures 3 and 4. The heat of the smoke-pipe produces a lively upward current of the air in the upper portion of the ventilating flue, sufficient to draw off the lower stratum of air near the floor, and at the same time draw down, and diffuse equally through the room, the fresh air which is introduced and warmed by the stove at the opposite end.

A-Front entrance.

B-Girls' Entrance and lobby.
C-Boys' do.

do.

D-Teachers' platform.

E-Seat and desk, for the pupils.
S-Mott's ventilating school stove.
V-Flue for ventilation.

F-Seats for classes at recitation. d-Teacher's desk.

e-Library of reference in front of teacher's desk.

c-Closets for school library and apparatus.

f-Fence dividing back yard.

PLAN OF DISTRICT SCHOOL-HOUSE IN BARRINGTON, R. L.

The above cut represents in perspective the new school-house in District No. 2, in the town of Barrington, Rhode Island-the most attractive, convenient, and complete structure of the kind in any agricultural district in the State-and, it is believed, in New England.

The house stands back from the highway in a lot, of an acre in extent, and commands an extensive view up and down Narraganset Bay, and of the rich cultivated fields for miles in every other direction.

The building is 40 feet long by 25 wide, and 12 feet high in the clear, and is built after working plans drawn by Mr. Teft, of Providence.

The school-room is calculated to accommodate 64 pupils, with seats and desks each for two pupils, similar to the folowing cut, and arranged as in Figure 3.

The end-piece, or supports, both of the desk and seat, are of cast-iron, and the wood-work is attached by screws. They are made of eight sizes, giving a seat from ten inches to seventeen, and a desk at the edge next to the scholar from seventeen to twenty-six inches from the floor.

Each pupil, when properly seated, can rest his feet on the floor without the muscle of the thigh pressing hard upon the front edge of the seat, and with a Jupport for the muscles of the back.