First Century Afterthe Expulsion 91

character'*'. No doubt the clergy were entrusted with this responsibil- ity because the members of the Board of Education were not in a position to evaluate the candidates’ proficiency in French. In the same amendment the government increased to 10 pounds its annual con- tribution towards the salary of the Acadian schoolmaster. Despite this, he still earned less than teachers qualified to teach in first and second class schools. According to the new clause, the latter now received 15 and 20 pounds respectively.

Gradually English was taught more and more in the Acadian schools, which, in Inspector McNeill’s view, rendered them much more useful institutions. He was happy to note in his report of 1847 that Acadians were becoming much more interested in learning the language of the country:

These Schools are giving evidence of improvement and increased usefulness; the prejudices which formerly existed against instruction in any other than their own vernacular, are gradually giving way among this portion of the population. English reading is now regularly taught in almost all their schools. When the Acadian commences learning to read the language, the meaning of the English words in the lesson is told him in the language which he under- stands, and in that manner is soon able, not only to read, but to speak English, he will thus acquire a knowledge of both languages as well as the other elementary branches, in a period of time very little longer than he would require for the acquisition of French alone.'*?

For a long time there was no law forcing schoolmasters to teach English in Acadian schools. In 1854, however, an amendment to the School Act required teachers to give their classes in Reading, Writing and Arithmetic in English. Otherwise they would lose their salary from the Public Treasury'*’. According to the school inspector’s reports for the ensuing years, these subjects were taught principally in the higher grades.

When the integration of English into the curriculum became compulsory, there were thirteen Acadian schools on the Island. In Abram’s Village, for example, the school was deemed satisfactory in the eyes of the inspector: of the fifty-two pupils enrolled in the register, forty-one were present at the time of his visit. He noted that all the pupils were learning to read, eighteen of them in English. He found their proficiency in that area passable, and their spelling excel- lent. In the other subjects, fifteen were learning to write and eight