salary of 63 pounds, 13 shillings, 1.5 pence. Mr. McNeil was succeeded by Mr. John Stack, who came from Glasgow, Scotland. Mr. Stack complemented the Island community for having placed a means of education within the reach of every family. “Prince Edward Island,” he said, “has taken this step in advance of the mother country. ”3 Obviously the small sums of money authorized by the government in 1825 had been increased, for now the residents were responsible for only the maintenance of the school house and the teacher’s salary supplement.

The number of schools and scholars on the Island just about doubled by 1858 after the passing of the Free Education Act in the Island legislature in 1852. A Normal School opened in Charlottetown in 1856 for the training of candidates for the teaching profession.4 Jacob Lefurgey from North Tryon graduated from Normal School in 1863 with a license to teach. David John Thomson had received his District Schoolmaster’s Certificate in 1841 and taught in the school at Westmoreland.5

What proved to be unpopular changes to the Free Education Act were made in 1856. The act specified that each school district had to pay the first 15 pounds of the teacher’s salary before the government forwarded the balance. Some districts could not raise the 15 pounds, so during the next eleven years schools had to close and enrollment numbers dropped. This arrangement was abandoned in 1867 when the Act was repealed. A new Act, passed in 1877, proved more successful and attendance at Island schools again increased.

North Tryon children attended the Upper Tryon school. It was on the south side of the Bedeque Road at the eastern end of the district. This school was first mentioned in the Department of Education records when James MacDonald was teacher. The school inspector reported the school house as being in “most wretched condition, quite a disgrace to the district”. In the Upper Tryon school report of 1857, George Cahill was teacher and the inspector’s words were: “a more experienced teacher is required. 63 pupils on roll; 31 present: 31 Reading, 15 Writing, 13 Arithmetic, 1 class teacher”.

William A. Leard followed Mr. Cahill in 1858, but he stayed only a few weeks, leaving for a more lucrative job. The inspector gave a better report on the school building at this time. His words were: “the outward condition of the school is well finished and respectable looking.” Miss B. Price was teacher in 1860 and the school inspector reported: “school house good, fumiture defective, teacher industrious, but not properly sustained by the trustees and parents, attendance small”.

The last reference to the Upper Tryon School at its eastern location was in 1875. The North West Tryon School, No. 143, was located on the Crossroad in 1879 with C. Howatt Ives, son of Thomas Ives and Mary Jane Wood, as teacher. It appears that the Upper Tryon School building was moved to North West Tryon. The school was closed for one and one half years prior to being moved to land given byJohn and

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