In the olden days large districts were common, and many of the children walked four or five miles to school in the morning and back home in the afternoon.

No one then dreamed of transporting the children at public expense.

The school authorities were often unable to resist the pressure to make new districts, and necessarily a contracted term followed.

In 1900 the average school term in North Carolina was not longer than in 1860, though much more money was spent, and the salaries were little higher.

It must be remembered, of course, that no appropriations were made for negro education before the Civil War.
Both during and after the War many schools were opened for negroes by Freedmen's Aid Societies, various philanthropic associations, and denominational boards or committees.