The school terms were still short, and many of the school buildings were unfit for human occupation.

On the other hand, the quality of the teachers was improving.

The short term of the schools was being lengthened by private subscription in some districts, and new and adequate buildings appeared in others.

Progress was evidently being made, even if it was not obtrusive, and in that progress one of the leading factors was the Peabody Fund.
In 1867 George Peabody, a native of Massachusetts but then a banker of London, who had laid the foundation of his fortune in Baltimore, placed in the hands of trustees $2,100,000 in securities to be used for the encouragement of education in the Southern States.

The Fund was increased to $3,500,000 in 1869, though a considerable part consisted of bonds of Mississippi and Florida which those States refused to recognize as valid obligations.