to be Shingled all over with good shingles;to be underpined one foot below the Sills laid in Morter; to be ceiled up in Side as high as the windows; with a Stove Similar to Paschel Allen's."
"I will build A School hous Agreable to the Above Sketch in a plain and workman-like manner for Six hundred and fifty Dollars. I have Calculated for H. L. hinges and Iron Buttons for the Shutters.
I will (if Desired) make the Roof hip'd which will make the building have a much handsomer Appearance and as you make no use of the Garret it will in my opinion be much prefferable."
The subscription which follows indicates the time when stoves began to take the place of fire-places in the heating of our schoolhouses:
We the Subscribers Whose names are under Written do Volluntary Give Into the Hand of Col. Thomas Allin For the Purpose of Purchis an Iron Stove to Set up in the North School-Hous in Barrington.........the Sums Which Shall be Enixid to our names..................
| £ | s. | d. | £ | s. | d. | ||
| Thomas Allin | 0. | 6 - | 0 | Ebenezer Peck | 0. | 6 - | 0 |
| Joshua Bicknell | 0. | 6 - | 0 | Sylvester Viall | 0 - | 3 - | 0 |
| William Brown | 0. | 3 - | 0 | Samuel Barnes | 0 - | 4 - | 0 |
| Nathaniel Heath | 0 - | 3 - | 0 | Comfort Stanley | 0 - | 3 - | 0 |
| Elkanah Humprhey | 0 - | 1 - | 0 | Asa Bicknell | 0 - | 3 - | 0 |
| George Sallisbury | 0 - | 1 - | 0 |
The poverty of the people after the Revolutionary War, compelled them to reduce all expenditures, both public and private, to the lowest terms. As a consequence, the cause of education suffered with all other interests, and, so far as the records show, private or proprietor's schools were all that were sustained. Tuition was paid by the parents or guardians of the pupils to meet the expenses of the schools. In fact, the tuition plan continued long after town and state made annual appropriations for free schools, and it is only within thirty years that common school education has been absolutely free in all the towns of the state.
It is a well known fact that Rhode Island was tardy, com-
