The following institutions for higher education have about $5,000,000 invested in grounds and buildings, about $9,000,000 in endowments, yielding an annual income of about $1,000,000, having about 4,000 students and about 400,000 volumes in libraries, Universities and Colleges.
While Massachusetts is a model state in all her educational interests, we do not forget that there are 75,635 persons in the state who cannot read, and 92,980 persons who cannot write, but of the 990,160 native white persons of ten years and upwards only 6,933 are unable to write, being seven-tenths of one per cent., the lowest ratio of any state. Arkansas, per cent, being 25.0; Alabama, 24.7; Georgia, 22.9; Kentucky, 22.0; No. Carolina, 31.0; So. Carolina, 21.9; Tenn., 27.3; West Virginia, 18.2; Connecticut, 5.5; Illinois, 5.9; New Hampshire 5; Pennsylvania, 6.7; New York, 5.3.
There are 15,416 colored persons in the state, of 10 years and upwards; of this number 2,322 are unable to write, but from 10 to 14 years of age, both inclusive, these being 1,504, but 31 persons are reported as unable to write, or 2.1 per cent. South Carolina out of a colored population of 75,981 between the same ages, reports 57,072 persons as unable to write or 74.1 per cent. There are 1,886 colored persons in the state between the ages of 15 and 20, and only 70 are reported as unable to write, or 3.7 per cent.; we find this also the lowest ratio of any state.
South Carolina's per cent. being 71.9; Alabama, 64.9; Georgia, 76.4; Texas, 69.2; and North Carolina, 68.5.
Her density of population makes it exceedingly convenient for her 52,799 domestic servants to compose notes over neighborly fences. Her 281,188 dwelling houses house 379,710 families, placing 6.34 persons to the credit of each dwelling, and 4.70 persons to each family. This density gives her 221.78 persons to a square mile, a far greater ratio than any state except Rhode Island. This neighborly proximity has its social tendencies, which may account in part for the hospitable amenities which are a rightful part of Massachusetts' well known loyalty to a higher regard for the purest type of home, a comparative statement of the density of population of a few states.
| State. | Square Miles. | Persons to Square Miles. |
|---|---|---|
| Rhode Island, | 1,085 | 254.87 |
| Massachusetts, | 8,040 | 221.78 |
| Connecticut, | 4,845 | 128.52 |
| Georgia, | 58,980 | 26.15 |
| Illinois, | 56,000 | 54.96 |
| Iowa, | 55,475 | 29.29 |
| Maine, | 29,895 | 21.71 |
| Michigan, | 57,430 | 28.50 |
| New Hampshire, | 9,005 | 38.53 |
| New York, | 47,620 | 106.74 |
| Pennsylvania, | 44,985 | 95.21 |
| West Virginia, | 24,645 | 25.09 |
As inseparable as night is from day, so also are the ills of life from life itself. Massachusetts is no exception to the inexorable law which defines the conditions of human society; but through her public and private charities so wisely administered, she humanely softens the asperities which shadow the life of her unfortunates. To her lot fall 1,733 idiotic persons, 978 deaf mutes, 5,127 insane, 1,500 of whom are cared for at home, and 3,659 prisoners, 1,484 of whom are of foreign birth. Human life teaches that the boundary lines of a smile and tear are the same, for where happiness is, there sorrow dwells. In the general estimate of 391,960 annual deaths in the United States, about 33,000 occur in Massachusetts.
One evidence of her unswerving faith in the national credit is seen by her holdings in U.S. registered bonds. The four leading states are reported as follows:—
| No. of Persons. | State. | Per cent. of Bondholders. | Amount. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16,885 | Massachusetts, | 23.05 | $45,138,750 |
| 10,408 | Pennsylvania, | 14.23 | 40,223,050 |
| 14,803 | New York, | 20.24 | 210,264,250 |
| 4,130 | Ohio, | 5.65 | 16,445,050 |