recitations in other subjects, is
devoted to the study of accounts. He is required, first, to write up in
"skeleton" form--that is, to place the dates and amounts of the several
transactions under the proper ledger titles--six separate sets of books,
or the record of six different business ventures, wherein are exhibited
as great a variety of operations as possible, with varying results of
gains and losses, and the adjustment thereof in the partners' accounts,
or in the account of the sole proprietor. After getting the results in
this informal way--which is done in order as quickly as possible to get
the theory of bookkeeping impressed upon his mind--he is required to go
over the work again carefully, writing up with neatness and precision
all the principal and auxiliary books, with the documents which should
accompany the transactions, such as notes, drafts, checks, receipts,
invoices, letters, etc. The work in this department will occupy an
industrious and intelligent student from four to six weeks, depending
upon his quickness of perception and his working qualities. While
progressing in his bookkeeping, he is pursuing the collateral studies, a
certain attainment in which is essential to promotion, especially
correcting any marked deficiency in spelling, arithmetic, and the use of
language.

Upon a satisfactory examination the student now passes to the second
department, where a wider scope of knowledge in accounts is opened to
him, with a large amount of practical detail familiarizing him with the
actual operations of business. The greatest care is taken to prevent
mere copying and to throw the student upon his own resources, by
obliging him to correct his own blunders, and to work out his own
results; accepting nothing as final that has not the characteristics of
real business. Much care is bestowed in this department upon the form
and essential matter of business paper, and especially of
correspondence. A great variety of letters is required to be written on
assigned topics and in connection with the business which is recorded,
and thorough instruction is given in the law of negotiable paper,
contracts, etc. During all this time the student devotes from half an
hour to an hour daily to penmanship, a plain, practical, legible hand
being aimed at, to the exclusion of superfluous lines and flourishes. It
is expected that the work in the first and second departments will
establish the student in the main principles o