There were no
books but primers, and these were hard to obtain. The writing, paper was
furnished by the military authorities and had to be returned when the
child was through with it, that it might be used in making cartridges.
These schools were for boys only, girls not being expected to learn
anything except cooking, sewing, and embroidery.
Slowly the state of things improved, and in 1829 in the yearly report to
the Mexican government, it was stated that there were eleven primary
schools in the province with three hundred and thirty-nine boys and
girls. One of the best of these schools was that of Don Ignacio Coronel
of Los Angeles.
In 1846 the first American school was opened at Santa Clara by Mrs.
Oliver Mann Isbell. It provided for children from about twenty emigrant
families and was held in a room of the Santa Clara mission on the great
patio. The floor was of earth, the seats boxes; an opening in the tiled
roof over the center of the room allowing the smoke to escape when, on
rainy days, a fire was built on a rude platform of stones set in the
middle of the floor. Wherever the Americans lived, they would have
schools, although their first buildings were bare and inconvenient, with
no grace or adornment either inside or out.
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