year, in an accelerating ratio. It began from a conviction of its reasonableness and expediency; it is extending as the light of experience more and more clearly reveals its advantages. "SCHOOLS FOR SMALL CHILDREN." It is supposed that a meagre supply of literary All those differences of organization and tem- attainments will suffice for the education of perament which individualize the sexes, point to young children, as though errors were not far the female as the guide and guardian of young more baneful at the beginning than at any subchildren. She holds her commission from na-squent stage of their progress. If earliest imture. In the well developed female character pressions are most lasting, we shall be most there is always a preponderance of affection solicitous to have them correct. Over every over intellect. However powerful and brilliant thing which grows, those who exert the first inher reflective faculties may be, they are confluences have the greatest power. In pointing sidered a deformity in her character unless our course towards distant objects, a slight deover-balanced and tempered by womanly affec- viation at the outset will lead to a wide divertions. The dispositions of young children of gency in the result; and the earlier the point of both sexes correspond with this ordination of departure occurs, the wider shall we wander Providence. Their feelings are developed ear- from the point of destination. An unskilful lier than their judgment, and they aspire after bend given to the young germ or shoot, though the sympathy of a nature kindred to their own. so slight as scarcely to be detected by the line They need kindness and not force, and their and plummet, will enlarge in the full-grown better instincts are to be fostered by a congenial tree, into a deformity visible as far as the eye warmth, rather than their reason to be addressed can reach. Such being the nature of educaby a cold and severe logic. They can feel a tion, it is pre-eminently important to guard thing to be right or wrong before they can un- against erroneous impressions at first, for when derstand the rigorous demonstrations of the these become ingrained in the solid substance of moralist; and hence, appeals should be addressed character, it will be too late ever wholly to recto their sentiments rather than to their reflective tify the error. And hence, if any difference is powers. They are to be gently withdrawn, allowed, the first teachers of children should be rather than rudely driven, from whatever is the best-the most critically accurate in what wrong; to be won towards whatever is right they are to teach, the most scrupulously exemmore by a perception of its inherent loveliness plary in conduct, the most religiously faithful and beauty, which they can appreciate, than by in the discharge of duty. its general utility, which they cannot yet comprehend. Their conscience can be awakened to a sense of honesty and justice, before they can understand the commercial value and necessity of those qualities, or their conformity to the great law on which the moral universe has been constructed. The spontaneous impulses of love towards parents and family and friends, can be cultivated to an invincible strength, long before they can understand, that love must be a grand element of all happiness, both in this world and the next. In the correction of children, too, the stern justice of a man thinks more of the abstract enormity of the offence, and of the broad mischief which it would work in society, and he therefore rebukes or chastises it with a severity proportioned rather to the nature of the transgression, than to the moral weakness of the transgressor. Hence, in rooting out an evil he may extirpate much that is benevolent and generous; or, in subduing one propensity, may rouse into violent activity a brood of others, more pernicious than itself. It requires a gen tler, a less hasty, a more forbearing nature, and a nicer delicacy of touch, so to remove the evil as not to extirpate the good. How difficult to unclinch a habit of deception, of falsehood, of profaneness, of quarrelsomeness, or of any other dissocial propensity, which, by being associated, during all the years of early life, with some idea of pleasure, has been rivetting its fetters closer and closer upon the soul. But, on the other hand, if early habits have been made the antagonists o' these vices, it will be almost impossible, in after life, to connect the idea of pleasure with them. Guided by the light of this principle, all on whom the care of children may be devolved, can do much to promote their futu: e well-being; but the natural sympathy, the sagacity, the maternal instincts of the female, pre-eminently qualify her for this! sphere of noble usefulness. One of the concomitant evils of providing teachers of limited attainments for small children is, that very young persons are selected for the office. This adds inexperience in government to deficiency in knowledge and immaturity in character. The mind of childhood, at its most susceptible period, is subjected to the accumulated evils of ignorance in regard to instruction and inaptitude in forming dispositions. It has been well said, that" the primary school, so far from being the least, is the most important feature in our system of public instruction; for mistakes made there, are seldom if ever corrected afterwards. A blunder born in these schools, is apt to continue alive and active until it graduates from the high school, and goes forth into the world on its mission of disorder."* Now as females are almost universally employed to teach our summer schools, and to some extent, also, even our winter schools, ought not their compensation to be so increased that they can afford to expend more money and time in qualifying themselves for the better discharge of their responsible duties? The price paid to the great majority of female teachers is less than is paid to the better class of female operatives in factories. But how can the guardians of the intelligence and virtue of the rising generation expect successfully to compete with manufacturers of wool and cotton, for the best skill and knowledge in the community, unless they also compete with them in the remuneration offered for their services? There are now many districts in the state which would be glad to add dollars to the pay of a teacher, could they find one who would supply the deficiencies an obliterate the errors occasioned by employing a cheap one in the beginning, in order to save shillings.-Report of Mass. Board of Ed. * Report of Newburyport School Committee SPELLING. It is matter for regret that so much of the time in our schools, which is appropriated to spelling, should be lost, in consequence of the unskilful manner in which the exercise is conducted on the part of the teacher. We propose at present to point out only one defect, but it is a serious and a prevalent one. It is that of mispronouncing the word to be spelled, in order to give the speller a clew to its orthography. If scholars are sent to school to learn, among other things, how to spell the words of the English language, then it is clear that English words, with the true English pronunciation, should be put out to them. It is of no use to put out such words to them as they never hear spoken or read, because to learn to spell any number of the latter does not inform them how to spell the former. Take the word fidelity, for instance, in which the sound of the vowel i, in the first syllable, is obscure, and, therefore, that syllable has almost or quite the identical sound of phy, in the word geography, or philosophy; suppose this word is put out with the correct pronunciation, and the scholar begins to spell it with the letters ƒ e, when the teacher arrests him, and puts out a new-coined word, fi-delity,-giving to the vowel i the long sound, then the scholar may follow him, and call the letters right, but he has learned nothing, for there is no such word in the English language as fi-delity. Hence the scholar is in danger of acquiring a false pronunciation, fi-delity instead of fidelity, and of not being able to spell the word cor rectly when he shall have occasion to write it. In some schools, and with some teachers, this departure from correctness becomes very gross, so much so, as to indicate a distinction between the terminations, tion, sion, cion, &c., as ti-on, si on, ci-on, not s, &c. Such a practice as this obviously supercedes all necessity for studying the lesson. It supercedes even the exercise of the memory, at the time of the recitation. If the pupil foreknows, from custom, that the word will be substantially spelt for him, he will take no pains to prepare himself for the recitation; and if it is substantially spelled for him, at the recitation, he will forget it in a minute. To make this more plain, let us take some words whose orthography differs widely from the simple powers of the letters of which they are composed. For this purpose we have no occasion to search for long and difficult words. Almost any simple table at which we open in the spelling-book, will furnish illustrations. If we admit that a word is ever to be so pronounced as to give the speller and indication of its orthography, we may say de-ad for dead, he-ad for head, thre-ad for thread, law-su-it for lawsuit, re-cru-it for recruit, be-ef-ste-ak for beefsteak, &c. Something precisely analogous to this is often done in regard to the imperfect and past tenses, and past participles of the regular verbs, where the ed is sounded as though it were an additional syllable -vow-ed for vowed, sow-ed for sowed, &c. Why not, on the same principle, in putting out the table of abbreviations enunciate the very word or words, abbreviated? Why not say, A. B. Bachelor of Arts, to inform the pupil that he is expected to echo back, Bachelor of Arts? The true process of learning to spell consists in the pupil's looking intently at the word, and taking the image of it into his mind-that is, noting each letter in it, the order of their succession, and the manner in which its syllables, if it is not a monosyllable, are divided. The whole is to be pictured in his memory, and the picture associated with the English pronunciation, so that when called upon to spell, he may, as it were, read from the tablets of his memory, just as he had before read from the printed pages of the book. Without this imprint ing on the mind of the successive letters and syllables, and associating them with the true pronunciation, so that either one will have the power of calling up the other, nothing is done. All the time spent is lost, and worse than los', for a bad habit is formed. Why does it not occur to all teachers, as it certainly does to all good ones, that it is no object to have all the words in the dictionary spelled right, at the recitation, if the power of spelling them right, a month, a year, or many years afterwards, | is not gained? Another practice, hardly less pernicious, into which some teachers fall, consis's in alternately checking and prompting the pupil; that is, in checking him, if he is going wrong, in prompting him, if he hesitates. The pupit, being about to spell a word, fastens his eye upon the teacher: if doubtful whether to use an i, an e or a y, he utters one of these letters hesitatingly, and if the wrong one, he is instantly apprized of his mistake by some wink, or shrug, or nod, or gesture of the teacher. Availing himself of the hint, he retracts the letter first used, and takes up one of the other candidates for the post; and then watches again, to learn if that will do. If mistaken the second time, he tries a third, and finally gets right by the the process of exhausting errors; as the quack dentist succeeded at last in extracting the aching tooth, after having pulled out all the sound ones. The only proper way for a teacher to conduct the spelling exercise is to put out each word distinctly, giving to it its true English pronunciation, announcing it, just as a good reader or speaker would do in reading or speaking it, without any special fulness of emphasis on any particular syllable, or bringing any difficult letter into improper relief; and without, in fine, giving the slightest hint, intimation or token, by wink, look or gesture, whether the scholar is or is not spelling it right, until he has done until the sounds have gone irrevocably forth. This throws the responsibility upon the pupil. He must then study in order to know how each word is spelled. He must attend in order to understand what word is put out. must carry the word in his mind, without confusion or transposition of syllables, until he has spelled it. He If the scholar cannot retain the true orthography in his mind, from the time when he studies his lesson to the time when he is called up to spell it, he will not be likely to retain it, and carry it into life, from having the order and succession of the letters intimated or communicate to him, during the period of recitation.-Com. School Jour. HOW TO DO GOOD. The duties of life are not all of the great and exciting sort. There are many duties in every day; but there are few days in which one is called to migh'y efforts or heroic sacrifices. I am persuaded that most of us are better prepared for great emergencies, than for the exigencies of the passing hour. Paradox as this is, it is tenable, and may be illustrated by palpable instances. There are many men who would, without the hesitation of an instant, plunge into the sea to rescue a drowning child, but who, the very next hour would break an engagement, or sneer at an awkward servant, or frown unjustly on an amiable wife. Life is made up of these little things. According to the character of household words, looks, and trivial actions, is the true temper of our virtue. Hence there are many men reputed good, and, as the world goes, really so, who belie in domestic life the promise of their holiday and Sunday demeanor. Great in the large assembly, they are little at the fireside. Leaders, perhaps of public benevolence, they plead for universal love as the saving principle of the social compact; yet when they are among their dependents, they are peevish, morose, severe, or in some other way constantly sinning against the law of kindness. Why do you begin to do good so far off? This is a ruling error. Begin at the centre and work outwards. If you do not love your wife, do not preten i to such love for the people of the antipodes. If you let some family grudge, some peccadillo, some undesirable gesture, sour your visage towards a sister or daughter, pray cease to preach beneficence on the large scale. "On the best portion of a good man's life, In a scene of great reverses and real suffering in a mercantile and manufacturing world, there is occasion for the luxury of doing good. The happiest mechanic I ever knew was a hatter who had grown rich, and who felt himself thereby exalted only in this sense, that his responsibility as a steward was increased. was sacred wealth. It For God, who gave the riches, gave the heart To sunctify the whole by giving part." The poorest man may lessen his neighbor's load. He who has no gold may give what gold cannot purchase. If religion does not make men who profess it more ready to render others happy, it is a pretence. We are to be judged of at last by this rule. The inquiry is to be especially concerning our conduct toward the sick, the prisoner, the pauper and the foreigner. The neighbor whom we are to love is our next door neighbor; that is the man who falls in our way. The Samaritan knew this. It was but a small pittance he gave; the poorest among us may go and do likewise. Do not allow a towns. man, a stranger, or even an emigrant to suffer for lack of your endeavors. It will cost you little, but it will be much to him. "'Tis a little thing To give a cup of water; yet its draught Of cool refreshment, drained by fevered lips, Help others and you relieve yourself. Go out and drive away the cloud from your distressed neighbor's brow, and you will return with a lighter heart. Take heed to the little things-the trifling, unobserved language or action-passing in a moment. A syllable may stab a blessed hope; a syllable may revive the dying. A frown may crush a gentle heart; the smile of forgiveness may relieve from torture. He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much; and he that is unjust in the least, is unjust also in much. CHARLES QUILL. TO THE TEACHER.-A blow is much more easily given than a reason. The blow should be withheld and the reason given. Never strike a scholar when in a passion. IMPORTANCE OF INDIVIDUAL ACTION. It is stated in the Cincinnati Chronicle, that at an education meeting lately held in that city, the Rev. Dr. Beecher related the following "dream," being a beautiful illustration of the importance of individual action-and showing that in our republican country, although it is only the mass which acts through the laws, it is the individual which moves the mass. ." "He said he had a dream, which, like other dreams, did not wholly express itself, and in which some of the natural objects had the power of speech. He was travelling near the sources of the Monongahela, and, in passing over a rough country, at every short distance met a little stream, which he could step over; but all of them were going the same way. At last, he asked one where he was going? Why,' replied the little rill, I am going to New Orleans. I heard the people there want a great canal, a thousand miles long, and fifteen hundred feet wide, and I am going to help make it. And pray what can you do? I can step over you. What can you do ?—I don't know what I And so saying, it can do, but I shall be there.' hurried on. He came to another, and asked the same question, and received the same answer. All were hurrying on to make the great canal, in which the steamships of the West, with their heavy burdens; were to be transported. On the heads of the Alleghany, the Sciola, and the Mississippi, he found thousands more of little streams, hurried on by the same impulses, and which, while he yet spoke to them, passed out of sight. None knew what he could do, but all were determined to do something. He passed on until he came to the mighty Mississippi, and there he found the canal was made. The noble steamships rode proudly on its surface; and as its waters diminished, they were again replenished to the brim by every mountain spring and every stream. Thus do the little rills make the stream, the stream the river, till the united waters of the whole pour on their way, rejoicing, to the glorious ocean. So is man to the mass, and the mass to the grand tide of human affairs. Each little mortal, weak and weary though he be, can human events, as it ro.Is on to the ocean of eterdo something in making up the mighty stream of nity.-Temp. Ad. STATE CONVENTION OF COUNTY SUPERINTENDENTS. In accordance with the discretion vested in us, by the State Convention held at Utica in May last, and in compliance with the suggestion of several of the Deputies, the undersigned hereby give notice, that a Con. vention of CorNTY SUPERINTENDENTS of Common Schols, will be held at the CAPITOL in the City of ALBANY, on A. M.; for the purpose of adopting such measures as WEDNESDAY, the 17th day of May, inst., at 10 o'clock, may lead to promote Sound Education, elevate the character and qualifications of teachers, improve the means of instruction, and advance the interests of the schools committed to their charge." The important changes, which the law of the last session has introdu ed into our Common School System, renders it especially desirable that a full attendance should be had; as it is intended to be strictly a business Convention. THEODORE F. KING, Committee to call State Conventions. District School Journal. Is published on the 1st of each month-Office New State Hall. State of New York-Secretary's Office-Department of Common Schools. THE NEW SCHOOL ACT, WITH EXPLANATIONS. 6 AN ACT amendatory of the several acts rela- | ed thereby, may apply to the supervisor and ting to Common Schools. Passed April 17, 1843. The People of the State of New-York represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: SECTION 1. The offices of commissioners and inspectors of common schools are hereby abolished. § 2. There shall hereafter be annually elect ed in each of the towns of this state, at the same time and in the same manner that other town officer are chosen, an officer to be denomis nated "Town Superintendent of Common Schools," who in addition to the powers and duties hereinafter conferred and imposed, shall perform all the duties, and be subject to all the restrictions and liabilities now by law imposed upon commissioners and inspectors of common schools, except as otherwise herein provided. It shall be his duty, within ten days after his election, to execute to the supervisor of his town and file with the town clerk, a bond with one or more sufficient sureties, to be approved of by said supervisor by endorsement over his signature on said bond, in the penalty of double the amount of school money which his town received from all sources during the year preceding that for which he shall have been elected, conditioned for the faithful application and legal disbursement of all the school money coming into his hands. In case such bond shall not be executed and filed within the time herein specified, the office of such town superintendent shall be deemed vacant, and such or other vacancy shall be filled in the same manner as vacancies in the office of commissioners of common schools are now by law directed to be filled. Such town superintendent shall be entitled to a compensation of one dollar and twenty-five cents for every day necessarily spent in the discharge of the duties of his office, to be audited and allowed as other town charges. § 3. In the erection or alteration of a school district, the trustees of any district to be affect town clerk to be associated with the town superintendent; and their action shall be final unless duly appealed from; the compensation of the supervisor and town clerk when thus associated, shall be the same as that of the town superintendent. § 4. The board of supervisors of any county, in which there shall be more than one hundred and fifty school districts, may appoint two county superintendents, or one in their discretion; and at all such appointments hereafter made, the board shall divide the county into two convenient districts, designating the person ap. pointed for each district respectively, when there shall be two appointed; but no share of the public money shall hereafter be ap. portioned to any county in which a county superintendent shall not have been appointed, unless by order of the superintendent of common schools. § 5. Any county superintendent may be removed from office by the superintendent of common schools, whenever in his judgment suffi cient cause for such removal exists; and the vacancy thereby occasioned shall be supplied by appointment under his hand and official seal,until the next meeting of the board of supervisors of the county in which such vacancy exists. A copy of the order making such removal, specifying the causes thereof, shall be forwarded to the clerk of the board of supervisors, to be by him laid before the board at their first meeting. § 6. The moiety of the compensation of the county superintendent of any county payable by the state, shall not hereafter be paid, except upon the production to the comptroller of the certificate of the superintendent of common schools, that the county superintendent has con formed to the instructions of the department and also made the annual report required by law. § 7. All appeals now authorized by law to be brought to the superintendent of common schools, shall first be presented to the county superintendent of the county, or section of county in which the subject matter of such ap- district shall discover any error in a tax list or § 8. Certificates of qualification hereafter granted to applicants by county superintendents, shall either be general, in the form heretofore prescribed under the authority of law, in which case they shall be valid throughout the district of the county superintendent granting the certificate until annulled; or special, in which case the town in which such applicant shall be authorized to teach shall be specified; and such certificate shall be in force for a term not exceeding one year. § 9. The consent of the town superintendent shall not be requisite to the annulling of any certificate of qualification granted by any county superintendent. § 10. The superintendent of common schools, on the recommendation of any county superintendent, or on such other evidence as may be satisfactory to him, may grant certificates of qualification under his hand and seal of office, which shall be evidence that the holder of such certificate is well qualified in respect to moral character, learning and ability, to teach any district school within this state; which certificate shall be valid until duly revoked by the superintendent. § 11. The board of supervisors of the several counties, may audit and allow the accounts of the county superintendents of their respective counties, rendered under oath, for postage on their necessary official communications with the inhabitants and officers of the several districts within their jurisdiction. § 12. The trustees of each of the several school districts next hereafter to be chosen, shall be divided by lot into three classes, to be numbered one, two and three; the term of office of the first class shall be one year, of the second, two, and of the third, three; and one trustee only shall thereafter annually be elected, who shall hold his office for three years, and until a successor shall be duly elected or appointed. In case of a vacancy in the office of either of the trustees, during the period for which he or they shall have been respectively elected, the person or persons chosen or appoint. ed to fill such vacancy shall hold the office only for the unexpired term so becoming vacant. § 13. Whenever the trustees of any school §14. The annual reports required by law of trustees of school districts, shall be made and transmitted to the town superintendents, between the first and fifteenth days of January in each year, who shall file the same in the office of the town clerk. § 15. In making the apportionment of public money, it shall be the duty of the town superintendent to designate the respective proportions of teachers' and library money belonging to each district, and to pay over so much as is designated teacher's money, on the written order of a majority of the trustees of each district, to the teachers entitled to receive the same. No portion of the teacher's fund shall hereafter be apportioned or paid to any district or part of a district, unless it shall appear from the last annual report of the trustees, that a school had been kept for the length of time now required by law by a duly qualified teacher, and that no other than a duly qualified teacher had at any time during the year for more than one month been employed to teach the school in said district; and no portion of the library money shall be apportioned or paid to any district or part of a district, unless it shall appear from the last annual report of the trustees, that the library money received at the last preceding apportion. ment was duly expended according to law, on or before the first day of October subsequent to such apportionment. § 16. The moneys directed to be distributed to the several school districts of this state, by the fourth section of chapter two hundred and thirty-seven of the laws of eighteen hundred and thirty-eight, shall continue to be applied to the purchase of books for a district library until otherwise directed by law; but whenever the number of volumes in the district library of any district numbering over fifty children between the ages of five and sixteen years, shall exceed one hundred and twenty-five; or of any district numbering fifty children or less, between the said ages, shall exceed one hundred volumes, the inhabitants of the district qualified to vote therein, may, at a special meeting duly notified for that purpose, by a majority of votes, appropriate the whole, or any part of library money belonging to the district for the current year, to the purchase of maps, globes, blackboards, or other scientific apparatus, for the use of the school. § 17. The subscriptions authorized by section thirty-two of the laws of one thousand eight hundred and forty-one, may be renewed from year to year by the superintendent of common schools, subject to the restrictions and limitations in said section prescribed. § 18. It shall be the duty of the supervisor |