I was early sent to school, such as it was. The master himself could neither read or write correctly, as he knew nothing of Grammar, it was not to be expected he could teach it to others. Grammar was never taught in any school I went to—no book of this kind, or the remote rudiments of it was—that I remember—talked of at any of the country schools I was acquainted with. None but Quaker families resided in the neighborhood where I was brought up, among whom the Bible and Testament and Dilworth’s spelling-book were the only books suffered to be used in the Quaker schools from which circumstances no one will hesitate to acknowledge the extreme limited education and acquirements of literal knowledge by youth so circumscribed.[1128] Such were the country schools, if judged by his writing as a fair sample. SUMMARY [Sidenote: Standards] The primary requirements for masters and mistresses, as determined by the yearly meeting, were (1) high morality, (2) membership with Friends, and (3) competency to teach the subjects for which employed. These standards were consciously striven for, as indicated by their reports on the subject. [Sidenote: Whence came teachers?] As a rule, the teachers selected for the lower schools were native to the place, though there were exceptions. A large number of the Latin masters, however, were secured through Friends in England. To supply the lack of teachers, in Philadelphia at any rate, recourse was occasionally had to the apprenticeship system, as instanced by the cases of Eldridge, and James Dickinson. [Sidenote: Tenure] [Sidenote: No license system] [Sidenote: Contracts] The yearly assembly recommended better accommodations for teachers, that they might be more easily retained in the same position. The cases mentioned indicate a very good length of tenure; Clift, two years; Taylor, perhaps five; Keith, about two; Makin, intermittently for about forty; and many others, similarly. These figures are undoubtedly not representative, the majority being taken from the city. Personal recommendation and certificates of removal served some of the purposes of the teacher license system. The contract was verbal only, so far as evidence appears and the term of it usually for one year. [Sidenote: Salaries] Attention is called to the seeming great increase in salaries during the century, and great variation in the amounts paid at any one time, especially between those of country and city masters. The salaries of women appear to have been very meager as compared with those of the men. No appreciable difference is found between the salaries or rates of Quaker masters and those of private masters in the city at the same time. Rates charged for poor children, schooled by the Board, were less than those fixed for others. [Sidenote: Women teachers considered]