School receives gift from England
From 1786 two schools continued. In 1790 the incumbent of the master’s position was Daniel Britt; the mistress of the other was Sarah Dougherty. The latter served only to sixth month, 1790, at which time she was replaced by Elizabeth Meccum who later became the wife of Daniel Britt.[1200] Though there was a very large enrollment at this time, the actual attendance was between eighteen and thirty in each of the schools.[1201] The instruction continued as above stated and was recognized on the whole as satisfactory, its only failure being due to irregular attendance, occasioned by illiberal masters, who detained the Negroes in their service. The master’s salary for the year, £100, was double that paid to the mistress. Finances were generally in a bad state, though they had been considerably augmented by a generous gift of £175 from England, and a special donation by William Craig.[1202] In spite of this, the committee was still indebted to the estate of Anthony Benezet to the extent of about £100.[1203] These difficulties do not seem to have been insuperable, however; the regular annual income (about 1784) was fairly well established, being derived from the rental of property and grounds.[1204]
Regular attendance about eighty
Elisha Pickering, master
Under the direction of Daniel Britt and his wife the school continued to progress; most gratifying was the increase of the regular attendance to about eighty, which was as large as could be conveniently accommodated in the two schools.[1205] The services of Britt and his wife ceased in the period from 1795 to 1798, the latter having died and the former being aged and infirm. The master’s place was taken by Elisha Pickering, at a salary now grown to £150 per year. That of the mistress still remained at the mark of former years, £50. The amount of annual rents had increased to £190/9/11 and besides this there was an interest from £146/7 which was a part of the bequest of Anthony Benezet.[1206] The annual expenditures were estimated at £230, which considerably exceeded the income. It was customary to require tuition for the children whose masters were “bound by indenture to give them school learning,” and from this source was eked out the sum necessary to defray expenses.[1207] There is found no statement in the committee’s reports to indicate the amount of tuition usually demanded. The following bill may be of interest, however, since it shows various items of expenditures of the school committee.[1208]
Committee of education, to Othneil Alsop, Dr.
| 1797 | 9-23. | Cash advance to Bustill | $ 10.00 |
| 9-30. | Paid J. Schæffer for 4 benches for North Liberties School | 3.50 | |
| 24 printed alphabets | .27 | ||
| 6 spelling books | 1.50 | ||
| 10-2. | Paid A. Williams quarter’s salary | 25.00 | |
| 10-28. | Advanced Cyrus Bustill | 10.00 | |
| 11-6. | Two cords of wood, hauling, etc. | 12.35 | |
| Total | $62.62 |
Summer and winter sessions
From available records it is impossible to give more than an elementary knowledge of how the school was run. Nothing is found concerning the inner organization. We can know its purposes, its means at command for attaining them, and approximately the number of children it was able to reach. The length of school term is not quite clear; it seems evident that there were summer and winter sessions, how long we do not know, and that there was scarcely any interruption of their continuity. Occurrences which caused an interruption of the session usually were commented on in the committee’s reports.[1209] A summary of the report showing the status of the schools in 1800 is given below.[1210] At that time they were under the direction of committees of the northern, central, and southern districts.