In 1837 Professor Calvin E. Stowe went to Europe to investigate the
organization and method of elementary schools. On his return he
published, in 1838, his report on the Prussian system. Subsequently Dr.
McGuffey labored in Ohio with Samuel Lewis and other public-spirited men
for the passage of the general school law under which the common schools
of Ohio were first organized. He carried to Virginia the same zeal for
the education of all the children of the state to prepare them for the
duties of life. One of his first acts on assuming the duties of his
professorship in the university was to make a tour of the state
advocating the introduction of a public school system in Virginia.
To this first appeal for common schools, open alike to rich and poor,
there was then but a feeble response; but, twenty-five years later, Dr.
McGuffey had the satisfaction of seeing the public schools organized
with one of his own friends and a former pupil at its head,--Hon. W.H.
Ruffner.

Dr. McGuffey was a man of medium stature and compact figure. His
forehead was broad and full; his eyes clear and expressive. His features
were of the strongly marked rugged Scotch type. He was a ready speaker,
a popular lecturer on educational topics, and an able preacher. He was
admirable in conversation. His observation of men was accurate, and his
study of character close.

[Trip Through the South]

After the Civil War and while the reconstruction was in progress it
was extremely difficult in the North to obtain a correct view of the
situation in the South. State governments had been established in which
"carpet-baggers" had more or less control. Nearly all the whites in the
South had taken part in the war. They were largely disfranchised and