526. The number
of persons enrolled between the ages of six and twenty-one was
1,123,985. The number of scholars who attended was 797,439. The
average attendance was 549,269. The excellence of the system of
common schools in Ohio is admitted on all hands to be equal to that
of any other state or section.

The charitable institutions of the state, including children's
homes, are equal to the best in any country in the world.

The building of churches and places of public worship commenced
with the first settlement in Ohio, and has kept pace fully with
the growth of population. In every community, great or small,
churches are open for the worship of the Almighty God. The broadest
toleration is not only permitted, but favored, by a universal public
sentiment. Every denomination of Christians who number enough to
make a congregation can readily secure a house of worship, not only
by gifts from its members, but by contributions made by other
professing Christians. The same charity is extended to Jews and
Gentiles professing any creed or having any form of worship.

The standing, ability and influence of the men engaged in the
professions in Ohio will compare favorably with any in the Union,
and especially is this true of the lawyers of the state. Many of
the lawyers who engaged in the fervent discussion which led to the
Revolution and then participated in the war, thrown upon their own
resources after the war, were among the early founders of the new
settlements in Ohio. They chiefly framed the first laws of the
state. Judge Burnet, one of them, had intrusted to him the
preparation of most of the laws of the territorial government.
The principal lawyers appeared in the constitutional convention
and in the legislatures subsequent, and contributed more than their
share in ingrafting upon our statutes the republican principles
and ideas found in the first constitution and laws of the state.
They shared with other settlers in all the hardships of pioneer
life. Innumerable anecdotes of their voyages through the forests
of southern and eastern Ohio, and the swamps of northwestern Ohio,
are preserved among the traditions of the bar.

It was the habit in those early days for the principal lawyers of
the state to follow the judges in their rounds from county to
county, attending the courts and aiding local attorneys in the
trial of important causes. They rode on horseback, with their
clothing and books in their sad