Center and Eliza streets which was occupied by James Smith after the dissolution of the firm. So far I have related, briefly as I could, the history of the transactions of these parties, because I could not give an account of the origin and early history of the village otherwise, as they were the origin and main factors in most that was done in the village for some years. I had intended to go farther, and give some of the leading events in the history of the village, mentioning some of the most noted persons who settled not only in the village, but on the prairies--Prairie Ronde and Gourdneck--with some of their characteristics, enlivened with anecdote and story. But this article is already too long for the occasion, and I am appalled at the difficulties of what I had undertaken. At the great age of 89 years, with many infirmities, I find it difficult and painful to remember and compose and write for any considerable time. With the exception of my three sisters, Mrs. Pamela S. Thomas, who came in 1833, Mrs. Lephia O. Brown who came in 1834, and Mrs. Sally E. Dix, who came in 1835, I know of but a single person, man or woman who came to the village or either prairie as early as the latter date, and who had reached maturity at that time, who is now living. The exception is Abner Burson. And the exceptions are very few of those who came before 1840. I know of but one or two, Justin Cooper, of this village being one. Ladies, excuse me for what I have so imperfectly done as well as for what I have not done at all. PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS OF THE EARLY PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF SCHOOLCRAFT. BY PAMELA S. THOMAS. Read by Miss Ella Thomas. I have been asked to tell something of the pioneer schools in Schoolcraft; not that I can relate anything of much interest, or of great importance; but because I taught the first public school in this village, in the year 1834, in a small building erected for that purpose on "The public square," now "The park." I had some 25 or 30 pupils. Those recently from New England were well advanced in the studies then taught in district schools, while others, whose parents had lived on the frontier, had never seen the inside of a school room and were unable to read at 10 and 12 years of age; yet their progress was astonishingly rapid. Sickness in the autumn was so general that it necessitated the closing of the school. As I returned to my home in Vermont in November and was not again in Schoolcraft until the fall of 1839, I can say little of the schools during those five years. I was told of the small school house on "The Common," having been moved off and used for other purposes, that schools had been taught in different rooms, sometimes as private schools; for the Yankee settlers appreciated the advantage of education for their children. Many new settlers had moved here, and some of the frontiersmen had gone farther west.