Under these circumstances it became advantageous to many citizens, especially those at the center of a town, to have the entire support of the school come through general taxation rather than partially by means of tuition fees. But the people in the more distant portions of the town refused to vote a rate from which they themselves obtained no profit. They demanded that, in return for their taxes, the public school should be brought nearer to them. Probably they were influenced in this stand by the fact that private ‘dame’ schools, and possibly elementary schools, had for some time been opened in various parts of the town conveniently near their homes. Another factor that may have aided in suggesting this solution was the legal recognition of various remote settlements within the town, known as ‘parishes’ or ‘districts,’ through the grant of self-government, separate church organizations, and other privileges similar to those of the town as a whole, though on a smaller scale. At any rate, we find that in the early part of the eighteenth century, wherever a rate was adopted as the sole means of school support, it was agreed that, instead of holding the town school for twelve months in the center alone, opportunities should be offered for a fraction of that period in various portions of the town. Usually the compromise at first took the form of having one town master teach in different districts through the year, and the result was known as a ‘moving’ school. This necessitated holding the school in a number of isolated communities, and the temple of learning often came at first to be located in a private house, usually in the kitchen. And although, in time, another room was added to the farm house for the accommodation of the school, the institution has since then been known as a ‘kitchen school’ (Fig. 30). But, by a later development, when separate schools under different masters or mistresses came to be taught at the same time, the town school was said to be ‘divided.’ Then in the winter, when the big boys were out of the fields and came to school, the session was held in the center of the town, and usually required the brawn of a man. But in summer, when only the younger children could attend, schools were held in various parts of the town and were taught chiefly by women (Fig. 31). The divisions of the town that thus came to be recognized were allowed more and more control of their schools until they practically became autonomous. Before the time of the Revolution ‘divided schools’ were recognized as a regular institution, and, together with other customs that had grown up during the eighteenth century, they were given legal sanction and denominated ‘district schools’ in the law of 1789. By 1800 the districts were not only allowed to manage their own share of the town taxes, but were authorized to make the levy themselves; in 1817 they were made corporations and empowered to hold property for educational purposes;