=The Charity Schools of the S. P. G.=--The first school of the S. P. G. was opened in New York City in 1709 under William Huddleston, who had been conducting a school of his own there. It was intended that the new school should follow the plan of the charity schools in England, but, while free tuition and free books were granted from the beginning, it was not until many years later that the means of clothing the children gratuitously was provided. Under different masters and with varying fortunes, the school was supported by the society until 1783, when the United States had finally cut loose from the Mother Country and started on a career of its own. Meanwhile Trinity Church had come more and more to take the initiative in the endowment and support of the school, and since the withdrawal of the society from America the institution has been known as ‘Trinity Church School.’ [Sidenote: Other colonies] [Sidenote: Attendance,] [Sidenote: course, and books.] Schools of the same type were active throughout the colonies in the eighteenth century. We possess more or less complete accounts of these institutions in New York and all the other colonies, except Virginia, where they were not believed to be needed. Except for size and local peculiarities, all of them closely resembled the school in New York City. The attendance ranged from eighteen or twenty pupils to nearly four times that number. Girls were generally admitted, and occasionally equalled or exceeded the boys in number. As a rule, children of other denominations were received on the same terms as those of Church of England members, and at times nearly one-half the attendance was composed of dissenters, but often those outside the Church were given secondary consideration, or the catechism was so stressed by the school that the dissenting children were withdrawn and rival schools set up. The character of the course of study in these charity schools is further indicated by the books furnished by the society. In packets of various sizes it sent over horn-books, primers, spellers, writing-paper and ink-horns, catechisms, psalters, prayer books, testaments, and bibles. There is also some evidence that secondary instruction was carried on intermittently in the various centers by the missionaries or by the schoolmasters in conjunction with their elementary work. [Sidenote: Opposition to the S. P. G.] [Sidenote: Its devotion and generosity,] [Sidenote: and influence upon universal education.]