der the laws
of the state, and is at all times subject, in its government and
existence, to the popular will which created it. When we speak of the
public we do not necessarily mean the world, nor the nation, nor even
the state; but the word _public_, in a legal sense, may stand for any
legal political organization, territorially defined, and intrusted in
any degree with the administration of its own affairs. And the public
character of a particular school, as the Boston Latin School, for
example, may be determined, by a process of reasoning quite independent
of that already presented. The State of Massachusetts, a complete
sovereignty in itself, has provided by her constitution and laws, which
are the expressed judgment of her people, for the establishment of a
system of public schools, through the agency and action of the
respective cities and towns of the commonwealth. These towns and cities,
under the laws, set up the schools; and of course each school partakes
of the public character which the action of the state, followed by the
corporate public action of the city or town, has given to it. Thus it is
seen that our public schools answer to the requirement already stated.
They are established by the public, supported chiefly or entirely by the
public, controlled by the public, and accessible to the public upon
terms of equality, without special charge for tuition. Nor is the public
character of a school changed by the fact that private citizens may have
contributed to its maintenance, if such contributors do not assume to
stand in the relation of founders. It is well understood that the
beneficial founder of a school is he who makes the first gift or bequest
to it, and the legal founder is the government which grants a charter,
or in any way confers upon it a corporate existence. If a town establish
a high school, as in Bernardston to-day, and accept a gift or bequest,
the character of the school is not changed thereby. Mr. Powers did not
attempt to establish a new school. He gave the income of ten thousand
dollars for the aid of schools then existing, and for the aid of a
school whose existence was already contemplated by the laws of the
state. No change has been wrought in your institutions; they are still
public,--your generous testator has only contributed to their support.
And, in considering yet further the question, "How can the advantages
of a high-school education be best secured?" I shall proceed to compare,