The Cleveland Academy.

BY MISS L. T. GUILFORD.

On the sixteenth of October, 1848, a small, private day-school for girls was opened in the large, unoccupied dining-room of an empty hotel, called the "Pavilion," and standing on the corner of Prospect and Ontario Streets. At that time the "Forest City" was a large village of about fifteen thousand inhabitants, and was approached only by stages and summer steamboats. The building stands now in the crowded heart of a population of one hundred thousand. In every direction stretch long avenues, that were only roads then, with here and there a dwelling among trees, turning brown and yellow that autumn day.

This school was the beginning of the CLEVELAND ACADEMY. Its principal teacher was fresh from the last instructions of MARY LYON, and the ideal of the infant Institution was: thorough ele mentary training; as much knowledge of more advanced subjects as could be entirely grasped, and no more; a systematic study of the Bible, and the inculcation of religious principles. Such have been its aims to the present time.

In this school, which for a time numbered about thirty, Miss L. T. GUILFORD, of Berkshire county, Mass., had the chief charge; Miss R. STARKWEATHER, of Northampton, Mass., Miss F. MERRICK, of Wilbraham, since deceased, and Miss M. METCALF, of Hudson, O., now Mrs. CHESTER, of Cleveland, were assistants. The bills for tuition, including Latin, were ten dollars per quarter of twelve weeks; and the corps of teachers was surprisingly disproportionate to the number of pupils. It had been the project of the originator and financial manager, Rev. D. MORRIS, to establish a large boarding school, partially on the plan of the Mount Holyoke Seminary, but only two boarding pupils availed themselves of the ample, if somewhat unsuitable, rooms. The failure of the scheme forced Mr. MORRIS to give up the hotel to the lessee. The few who had been scattered in various parts of the untidy building left in the spring, though the school-room was occupied till July. As the manager had been unable to pay the teachers, and the number of pupils had diminished to thirteen, the outlook was not encouraging.

In July, Misses MERRICK and STARKWEATHER returned to New England, but Miss GUILFORD, having assumed the pecuniary responsibility, decided to remain, and, if any place could be found for them, to collect in the autumn the little flock to which she had become much attached. The "Pavilion" was soon restored to its original use by the traveling public, keeping no trace of this curious episode in its history.

In August, through the exertions of Mr. MORRIS, a long, white, wooden building was erected on a leased lot, in a grove of trees, that extended from what is now the "Club House," over the site of the Central High School. This slight, temporary structure was but little protection from the cold, and its only apparatus consisted of two wooden blackboards. There the school was reopened in September, and began to take a character of its own

steadily, though slowly, gaining in the confidence and patronage of the community. Many of its pupils cherished an enthusiastic attachment for its peculiar modes of study and discipline. They were the descendants of good Puritan stock, and received instruction with a "willing mind," and not a few of their children have been pupils of the Academy. The study of Latin was insisted on, unless the parents objected-which was frequently the case at that period. Arithmetic, Grammar, and the Bible were the leading studies. Reading and Spelling were required daily of all. These, with Geography, United States History, and frequent com position writing, occupied nearly the entire attention of the whole school. For many years there was little attempt at teaching the Natural Sciences or any of the higher English branches, though the teachers employed were all graduates of Eastern schools of repute; but the ground was taken that such studies require more maturity of mind than is usually found in girls before the age of eighteen, and attention to them was discouraged.

It was the definite aim, to teach thoroughly the most important things; to awaken, if possible, a love of study, and to keep the pupil from superficially reciting in subjects beyond her comprehension. The difficulty of conducting a young ladies' school on these principles can only be understood by those who know the material which such schools usually contain in cities.

At that period, however, there were comparatively few in Cleveland, who made education a matter of pretense. The children, like their parents, were, for the most part, in earnest,― breathing in with the air of their native State, the spirit of buoyant life and enterprise, purified and tempered by the high principles of rectitude and responsibility inherited from New England ancestry. It was before the days of great or sudden wealth in the Western cities.

It is

Of later years there have been more among the pupils who were indifferent, or frivolous, as would naturally be the case in a changed state of society, though the system of discipline has not attracted such, and they have been a small minority. It can truly be said, that against the whole system, still so common, which sets girls of sixteen through the whole circle of Natural, Mental and Moral Sciences, this school has been a constant protest. needless to say, it has never been a money-making institution. While in the grove, the assistants were Miss ANNA Dwight, of South Hadley, Mass., and Miss METCALF. In February, 1851, (Cleveland meanwhile having brought in her first railroad,) the building could remain no longer on its foundations; and, an opportunity occurring for the Principal to accept a situation at Willoughby, it was decided to give up the undertaking. At this juncture, three gentlemen whose children were pupils, Mr. W. D. BEATTIE, Mr. E. P. MORGAN, and Dr. E. CUSHING, stepped forward to provide it a local habitation. They purchased a small, brick dwelling house on the corner of Prospect and Huron Streets, removed the partitions from the upper story for the schoolroom, furnished it with desks and carpet, fitted the two lower apartments for recitation rooms, and thither, May 1st, 1851, the school of fifty was transferred-these gentlemen assuming the pecuniary responsibility. The principal teacher was paid five hundred dollars a year, which was then ample, though that salary has been for some years the lowest paid in the Academy. Miss E. Cook, of Homer, N. Y., now Mrs. Dr. READ, of Norwalk, was added to the corps of teachers, which also comprised, at first, Miss M. METCALF, and afterwards her sister, Miss EMILY. Both these ladies have since attained distinction as educators-Miss E. METCALF having for many years conducted a Young Ladies' School at Hudson, O.

Neither French or Music was taught, but lessons in Writing, by a special teacher, were now first given, and