7. This fund, together with the amounts realized from the sale of swamp lands belonging to the State, and certain shares of bank stock, also the property of North Carolina, was set aside and invested for the benefit of the public schools of the State, and was known as the "School Fund." 8. It was not until the year 1840 that any effective legislation was had for the establishment of the free educational system. By an act of the Legislature of 1836, the Governor and three others, by him to be appointed, were constituted the "Literary Board." In 1839 an act was passed to divide the counties into school districts. It left to each county the option of schools or no schools. It showed considerable advance in popular wisdom, that all but one of the counties decided to have schools and to be taxed for the election of such buildings as were necessary in the work. [NOTE--The Presidential campaign of 1840 was an unusually exciting one. The Whig nominee, William Henry Harrison, was charged by his opponents as having lived in a "log cabin," with nothing to drink but "hard cider." His friends made good use of these charges. "Hard Cider" became a political watchword, and in the numerous Whig processions a "log cabin" on wheels occupied the most prominent and honored position. The "Log cabin Campaign" will long be remembered. President Harrison died within one month after his inauguration. His last words were, "The principles of the government; I wish them carried out. I ask nothing more."] 9. Not in the General Assembly alone was the subject of education receiving unusual attention. The Baptists, in 1826, established a high school on the farm of Colonel Calvin Jones, in Wake county. A little later it was changed in name and became Wake Forest College. The Presbyterians, in 1838, founded Davidson College, in Mecklenburg. These denominational institutions became noble adjuncts to the University in affording opportunities for liberal culture in our own borders. 10. Thus, at last, the "old-field schools" were superseded as better institutions took their place. The old-fashioned country teacher, who passed from house to house for subsistence, and was wholly dependent upon the feelings or caprices of one or two employers, gradually disappeared as academies and common schools multiplied. 11. The Bingham School in Orange, the Lovejoy School in Raleigh, the Bobbitt School in Franklin, the Caldwell Institute in Greensboro, Trinity College near Raleigh, the Donaldson Academy in Fayetteville, and numerous other excellent male academies greatly added to the number of well-informed and useful men. 1842.