A, A, A, Fourth Class Rooms. B, Senior Class Room. C, C, Corridors. D, D, Vestibules. E, E, Wardrobe Rooms. F, Reception Room. G, Library. H, H, Staircase Halls. I, Main Entrance. J, Boys' Entrance. K, Girls' Entrance. V, Ventilating Shaft. v, v, Ventilating Register.

A, Large Hall. B, B, Recitation Rooms. C, C, Staircase Halls. D, D,
Cabinets. V, Ventilating Shaft. v, Ventilating Registers.

inch, and double security against explosion is obtained by an automatic regulator and a safety-valve. Return-pipes convey the condensed steam in the form of warm water back to the boiler, thus securing economy of heat; and it is only at intervals of two or three weeks that the boilers need to be replenished with cold water.

The apparatus bas been tested one season, and already commends itself for its economy of fuel, but more particularly for the fact that the pure outside air is not deprived of any of its genial, health-giving qualities while being heated. The external surface of the radiators has a temperature of about 160° Fahrenheit, while the radiating surface of a common hot-air furnace is at a temperature of from 800° to 1000° Fahrenheit, a temperature at which the vitality of the air is greatly impaired.

Ventilation.

In the south tower of the building is a ventilating shaft, 8 feet square, reaching from basement to roof, open to the sky, and kept warm by a small furnace, the smoke-pipe of which passes centrally through the entire length of the shaft. To insure perfect security against fire the shaft is lined with corrugated iron. Leading into this main shaft are large ventiducts, 3 by 8 feet, one for each story, constructed of smoothly-planed boards; and every room in the building is connected with one of these ventiducts by several ventilating flues, 10 by 12 inches, opening downward through registers in the floor. Under each school-room there are six or more such flues, and under the large hall twenty-four. Upon placing a smoking match, or any thing of the kind, near one of these registers, it is found that the air is constantly and rapidly passing out through them. Still further to promote ventilation by allowing the air to escape from near the top of the room, as well as through the floor, swivelblinds are placed over all the doors, through which the air passes freely into the corridors, and up the stairways into the assembly-room, where there are large ventilators in the ceiling, which can be opened or closed at pleasure, and which lead directly to one large ejector placed at the highest point of the roof.

Arrangement of Rooms.

The building is designed to accommodate 409 scholars, distributed as follows: Fourth Class, in three rooms, (56, 56, 54,)

Third Class, in two rooms, 56, 54,)

Junior Class, in one room,

Senior Class, in one room,

Total number,

166

110

77

56

409

Furniture.

Each school-room is furnished with 56 single desks and chairs of solid oak, the desks having lids falling upon rubber; with teacher's platform, desk, and chairs; waste-basket, step-ladder, clock, and thermometer; also with recitation-benches to seat 30 pupils, as it is the plan of the school to have each teacher take a separate department of study, rather than give the entire instruction in various branches to one particular class.

Cost of the Building.

The entire cost of the building and grounds has been $159,247.50; the lot, including grading and fences, costing $39,871.28; the building, $101,778.75; the furniture and apparatus, $10,503.31; the heating apparatus, $7,094.16.

PLAN OF SCHOOL HOUSE IN CENTER DISTRICT-HARTFORD.

In 1841 Rev. Horace Bushnell described the 'Old Stone Jug,' as the venerable predecessor of the Brown School House was termed, as follows:

We begin our exposition by asking you to go with us and take a deliberate survey of the heart of our system, the Center School (as it is called) of the city. You pass into a short narrow street, which is the gorge of the City Market; as if the stomach and the head of the city were going to a common supply. In wet weather its pavement is a deep liquid substance; in dry, it is sublimed to mix with the air as before it did with the water. The school building is a large barrack-looking structure of brick and stone, with the gable to the street and standing close upon the sidewalk. In the rear is a small pen of low ground, submerged for the most part in water, during the wet seasons of the year, which is the airing place of the establishment. On the right or south side, at the distance of 6 or 10 feet, is a blacksmith shop, the tops of whose chimneys, always discharging a thick cloud of smoke, from the bituminous coal, are just upon a level with the upper windows of the building; which windows, being open in the summer (if it can be endured) to catch the cool south wind, which is the principal breeze of the summer months, receive the black sirocco slanted from the chimney tops. On the left or north side, at a narrower distance, is a high board fence; and five or six rods farther off stands, facing with its broad side, a long narrow tenement, that stretches itself out "full many a rood" like Satan or the poet's burning lake-to cover the cellar and the nine-pin alley under it. And the ring of the hammers on one side is not more constant or audible than the rattle of the pins on the other. Here, then, is the principal public school of our intelligent, liberal, humane city. You enter and find it filled with children, especially in winter, from the cellar below to the garret above. From four to six hundred are here collected. The rooms are all very low, and the wall of a dingy brown color. Here and there you will see a rude board partition, which the teachers have put up at their own expense, for the better assortment and more easy management of the pupils. These are seated at their task and, of necessity, in very close order, for the rooms will scarcely contain them when stowed as economically as possible. In the summer, as we just said, the rooms are ventilated with smoke; in the winter, not at all, but the children are ventilated instead, by an occasional airing in the pen just mentioned. Here, for instance, are a hundred and fifty children, confined in a low 100m from two to four hours; which is, to all practical intents, as if they were sent into a huge bottle of the same contents, and corked in. They are expiring carbonic acid from their lungs, at every breath, and from every pore of their skins. In a short time the air becomes thoroughly mixed with this deadly gas,-the same that is found at the bottom of wells and other like receptacles-and before the sitting is over the dull eyes of the poor children, a yawn of stupefaction here and there visible, and a head dropped in sleep, give the clearest tokens that the poison is taking effect! Of course it will be needful now (whether doue or not) to apply the stimulus of the whip, to wake up for the want of any stimulus or lite principle in the air! Inasmuch, however, as the freezing of a part of the school is better than the suffocation of the whole, a window was kept up, we are told, a good part of the last winter, blowing directly into the room!

Is there injustice done by our picture? Let any citizen go to the spot and view it for himself, and see if every thing does not stand exactly as we have set it forth. Let him look for a shaded ground or a fair ceiling or a ventilationany thing to relieve the uncomfortable, vulgar, barbarous character of the establishment. Is this the place, we ask, to teach morality or to clear a child's intellect? Could any person, knowing what dominion outward things have over the mind, conceive it possible that order, purity, sweetness of temper, cheerful application should grow up here? Were it proposed to make a retreat for the insane, of this establishment, every man would see the absurdity of the plan. The city poor could not be consigned to it, without violence to the humane feelings of the citizens. On what principle, we then ask, is it thought to be a fit place for the education of our sons and daughters.

PLANS OF BROWN SCHOOL, HARTFORD, CONN.

THE lot on which the Brown School in the Center District stands, is 300 feet on Market street, and 320 feet on Talcott street, and cost, including grading, iron fence, and sidewalks, $35,000. The building is four stories high, besides the basement, 140 feet long by 70 wide, and contains, in addition to a hall for the public exercises of the whole school, 22 school-rooms, each 32 by 28 feet, and all furnished with single desks and chairs for 56 pupils, or a total of 1,200. To each school-room there is a clothesroom for the pupils, and another for the teachers, supplied with water. The whole building, including corridors, is heated by Brown's Hot-Water Apparatus, and is ventilated by openings from each room into shafts, discharging into two flues, which are carried above the roof. The material and workmanship are of the first quality, and the whole structure (including $25,000 for furniture and heating apparatus, and $35,000 for lot,) cost $185,000. It was occupied for the first time in January, 1869.

26

PLAN NO. 3.-FOURTH FLOOR.

W. R.-WARDROBE.