the course; adequate illustrations of the different sciences required to be taught, farnished; and every practicable facility afforded for the acquisition of sound views and enlightened systems of instraction, of government and of discipline. When these admirable institutions shall be found, as we trust they soon will be, in every county of the State and when, in addition to the advantages they now enjoy, under the supervision of the several county superintendents, aided by the talents and experience of veteran educators and scientific gentlemen from our own and other states, they shall be able to avail themselves of the knowledge and information which the graduates of the State Normal School, from each county, may afford, we may reasonably expect from them the noblest and most gratifying results. In the meantime, we claim, with pride and pleasure for our excellent system of common schools, the credit of originating, and thus far, of efficiently sustaining these novel and useful "home departments" for the preparation of teachers. Fulton county established the first of these institutions through its efficient county superintendent, L. B. Sprague, and although this was but two years since, there have been similar schools opened and sustained during the present season in Allegany, Chenango, Cayuga, Seneca, Tompkins, Oneida, Fulton, Tioga, Otsego, Wyoming, Yates, and if we mistake not, Genesee. ELEMENTARY EDUCATION. creasing enlightenment, to make the most ample provision for a comprehensive and systematic education-what are the responsibilities which appertain to a people, the corner stone of whose free institutions rests upon the general diffusion of knowledge and the prevalence of virtuous dispositions and principles? Regarded merely as a vast political problem involving in its result the ultimate triumph or signal failure of the great experiment of self-govenment, the question is one of momentous interest and importance; but when viewed in all its aspects-as it regards the individual and collective welfare of the present and all coming generations-as it regards the progress and the fortunes of civilization and Christianity-as it is identified with all our hopes and prospects, and well-being in time and in eternity-it comes to us, fraught with considerations, which, above and beyond all other subjects of inquiry, demand our most urgent and serious attention. In What, then, is elementary education? In its more general and comprehensive form, it may be defined to be that development, cultivation and direction of the various faculties, physical, intellectual and moral, appertaining to humanity, which determine the pursuits, habits, tastes and inclinations, form the character and mould the destiny of each individual of the race. this view of the subject, the process of education commences with the earliest inhalation of the vital element, and progresses, with a constantly accelerated velocity, first under the auspices of the family circle, then of the elemenTHE benign results of a progressive civiliza-tary school and the family combined, and subsetion, based upon an enlightened Christianity, arequently becomes matured in the great school of in no respect more apparent than in the exertions which have been made and are now mak- the experience of each individual and comprethe world, or of that portion of it which bounds ing, in this country and in Europe, for the pro- hends the circle in which it is his destiny to motion and improvement of Education in its elemove. Nor will this process be in any respect mentary stages. If in those countries where retarded by inattention, neglect or mismanagethe great mass of the people and of their chil-ment, however much it may be guided, elevated, dren are, for all the practical purposes of legis- enlarged and directed by a wise vigilance and sa lation and of government, regarded as of no ac discriminating culture. The work of educationcount beyond the value of their physical ability either for good or for evil, so far as the individual to contribute to the sustenance of an overgrown who is the subject of it is himself concerned, aristocracy, elementary education is deemed of will go on from birth to maturity, whether those sufficient importance to warrant the concentra- whose appropriate function and duty it is to contion upon it of the highest talent and the ablest duct its successive developments and shape its statesmanship-what should be the estimation course, faithfully discharge, or habitually nein which this great and fundamental interest glect, or ignorantly or intentionally pervert the should be held in our own young and noble Re-responsible trust committed to their charge. public? If the despots of Europe-the King of More than this. So sacred is the gift of an inPrussia, the Emperor of Austria, and even the telligent existence-so pure, holy and invigoratAutocrat of Russia-find it for their interest anding are all the ministrations of Nature and Prothe interest of their people, in this age of in-vidence-so uniformly and invariably is "the wind tempered to the shorn lamb"--that, given the elastic energies of a sound and healthy physical constitution, and the ordinary intellectual and moral faculties, the positive exertion of some counteracting external agency is required to pervert, to weaken or extinguish the natural tendency to knowledge, to wisdom and virtue and happiness. The desire for knowledge is implanted in the human mind as one of its uniform and constituent elements: and the budding plant does not more naturally or invariably put forth its earliest energies in search of light and its appropriate aliment, than does the expanding intellect grasp after knowledge-knowledge of itself-knowledge of the external world and all the manifold phenomena by which it sees itself surrounded. Full, however, as the world is of error, of vice, and depravation and guilt, those counteracting tendencies which repress the growth of the mind, pervert its energies, and lead it fearfully astray, seldom fail early to present themselves, even under the most favoring auspices, and to tinge with their dark hues the whole of future life. In estimating the power and the effects of the best and the most skilfully devised system of education, we are apt to lay far too little stress on the circumstances by which we are constantly surrounded, and which, like the air we breathe, and the infinitesi. mal particles of matter which incessantly float around us, are incorporated, to a greater or less extent, at every moment of our existence into our being. During that important portion of our lives ordinarily set apart for the specific communication of knowledge and intellectual and moral culture, these circumstances and associations are most powerful, impressive and effi. cacious in the formation and development of character-most tenacious in their hold upon our memory and our affections, and least capable of separation from the lessons with which they are accompanied. Under these circumstances, neither the parent nor the educator can be said to have acquitted himself of the high responsibility which devolves upon him, by the most systematic and clear communication of knowledge in any of its departments, or by the most faithful and lucid exposition of moral truth-unless he has assiduously, patiently and perseveringly explored the depths of the mind he has undertaken to discipline and instruct-observed its constitution and its peculiar conformation-ascertained its elements both of weakness and of strengthtraced the principal dangers to which it is exposed, from within and without-removed, so far as in him lies, the obstacles which impede its favorable development-or if that be found impracticable, furnished him with the mental and moral power, either triumphantly to surmount, or wisely to avail himself of those obsta cles. The cultivator of the soil, who should content himself with committing to the ground the best and most vigorous seeds, and leaving them to germinate, expand and bring forth fruit, flowers and vegetables, without regard to any of the various circumstances which ordinarily impede or promote their growth, claims in virtue of this process the meed of applause for his enlightened system of agriculture, would be guilty of no more fatal error and ensure no more disastrous results than would the educator or the parent, who, shutting his eyes to the ever varying phenomena of surrounding circumstances and the necessity of assiduous culture and constant supervisión, expects from the most perfect system of intellectual instruction or moral ethics, those just perceptions of truth and knowledge, and those harmonious and finished proportions of character which constitute wisdom and virtue. It is neither to be denied nor overlooked that "a change has come o'er the spirit of that dream," which, within the personal recollection of most of us, limited the mission and the functions of the teacher to the abstract communica tion of the mere elements of knowledge; to the preservation of a due degree of compulsory order within the repulsive precincts of the school room; and to the fulfilment of the specific number of hours, days, weeks and months "nominated in the bond" by his personal attendance upon and supervision of a prescribed routine of tedious and monotonous exercises. It is not too much to say, that an entire revolution in this respect, has been effected within the last ten years, and under our own immediate observation. In proportion as the value and importance of Education has come to be recognized and understood, in its relation to all our interests, personal and political, social, economical, and religious, has the necessity been felt of availing ourselves of the highest moral and intellectual qualifications for the proper development and cultivation of the mental faculties of the rising generation. In proportion as the pages of history, and our own observation and experience have forced upon us a clearer and deeper conviction of the great truths, that knowledge and virtue conjoined, are absolutely indispensable to the happiness and prosperity as well of communities and States, as of individuals, has there been a deeper and more extended interest in the practical results of the elementary school, and in the degree of efficien- |cation. The IRREGULAR ATTENDANCE, will be For neither system, nor cy which it is capable of realizing. No profes- the universal answer. sion-no calling-can compare in utility-in the general improvement is practicable, where the influence which it exerts-in the good which it school is composed of different pupils every suc can accomplish-in the evil which it can avert-cessive day. Would a carpenter, or a blackin the prospects which it can open up-in the smith, or a farmer, undertake to teach a boy to happiness and well-being which it can secure-follow either business, if he could not have him with that of the teacher. No profession-no regularly and constantly under his care? And calling-should be so honorable or so desirable: has not a teacher a more difficult task? one reas none demands, for its faithful and efficient quiring more assiduity in the pupil and more fulfilment, so much and such varied mental fidelity in the master? culture and discipline-so much moral worthsuch unblemished purity of character and of deportment and such a combination of all the Christian virtues and graces. The reflex influence of these virtues and graces upon the affections, the heart and the life of the teacher, is his highest and noblest reward. THE WINTER SCHOOLS: SHALL THEY NOT BE BETTER THAN THE STATE : In our private schools the absences do not exceed 7 per ct., in the district schools they run up to 40 per ct. Let there be an end of this folly, and if we cannot send our children but one month this winter, let it be thirty successive days. For more will be learned in thirty days of regular attendae than in three months of occasional calls at the school-house. But this is a subject for a pamphlet, instead of a paragraph, and we must notice other duties which are essential to good winter schools. Trustees have their duties, and few are more They shall be is the noble response from a thousand generous and devoted spirits, awaken-important or more vexatious. The school-house must be repaired-there is ing to their high and sacred responsibilities; from county and town superintendents, who are glazing to be done, benches to be cut down, stoves leading on measures of reform with patience to be put up, and wood to be purchased. About that no apathy can weary, and with devotion two hours, out of the six school hours of the that no obstructions can long resist; from the day, are lost, in more than a thousand districts, teachers, in their crowded institutes, assembled from the want of suitable wood, and the exerfor mutual instruction and catching new zeal cises are consequently so hurried during the resifrom the lips of their earnest and eloquent edu-due of the time, that but little can be accomcators; and from the people, happy in witness-plished. ing the celebrations, which have at last brought home to their sympathies, this great interest of the fireside and the State. But it is not enough to resolve; we must do: do what is seemingly of small consequence, and yet these duties are the source of those influences which sustain and renovate society. What are some of these duties? First-parents should listen to the plans of teachers and give them their confidence and sympathy; should require of them a faithful account of their children; should supply them with the necessary books; should frequently visit the school; should be slow to find fault with its government, remembering how difficult they find it to rule well their own small families, and should insist upon the REGULAR ATTENDANCE of their children. The good teacher bears up for a short time against these difficulties, but human nature cannot long resist them, and all interest in his duties is gradually frozen out of him. The public money surely had better be saved and the schoolhouse closed, rather than be made a purgatory to both teacher and pupil. The trustees should also remember, that it is their peculiar duty to counsel and sustain the teacher amidst his various trials, and not leave him, a stranger perhaps, to the desolate feeling, that he is regarded on all hands as a necessary evil, next only to the tax gatherer in annoyance. The Teachers have their duties, more important and more difficult than all others, and if well done, exerting an influence that man cannot estimate, that time does not limit. And the first great duty of the teacher is to realize the sacred nature of his high vocation. That he is The importance of this last duty can hardly to unfold those powers, to form those habits, to be overrated. Ask the devoted teacher, what purify and strengthen those sentiments, which in disorders his school, clogs all improvement, their harmonious development make that noblest chills his hopes and disgusts him with his avo-work of God-a true man. And if from negli gence or ignorance he perverts his noble office; if he stills the small voice of conscience, or inflames the passions, or stupifies the intellect, or breaks the spirits of the being that is forming under his influence, he does a wrong to his fellow creature, of infinitely deeper malignity, than the highwayman or the incendiary can perpetrate. But if he earnestly, seriously, ardently devote himself to this glorious work, if he habitually cherish a deep sense of his responsibility to man and to God, if he measure his profession, not by the false judgment of prejudice or ignorance, but by the standard of truth, and determine not merely to seem, but to be the teacher of the young, then no man has a nobler sphere of action, or a higher and happier duty. make it only the means instead of the end of life; means to acquire dollars and cents. You make happiness from the lowest sources, and it is of a mind subservient to matter. You get your fleeting character. You neglect to secure to your offspring the harmonious and continuous action of their moral and intellectual faculties, and consequently a bliss that is beyond earthly fluctuations. But, says the parent, how do I do all this? Most evidently by the comparatively small time and means which you appropriate to the minds of your children; for where you spend cents for teachers, books and apparatus, and all other indispensables to a good education, you spend, in too many cases, dollars, for the food, apparel and decoration of their bodies. We must take higher and broader views of our existence here. We must become whole men. "Would an infinitely great and glorious Being create so glorious a creature as man for so mean a purpose?" If the exercise of one faculty of the mind in its natural sphere be a source of bliss to its possessor, would not the exercise of two be more? And would not the sum of pleasure be in direct proportion to the number of powers brought out by exercise or proper education? And if we practiced this logic, and acted from such inducements, in proportion to our means, should we not rapidly approximate to whole men? And would not such a degree of exalted pleasure as "eye hath not seen nor ear heard" be the consequence of such cultivation? We talk of the aristocracy of wealth, but is there not an aristocracy of education? Is not intellectual without moral education a helpmate of aristocracy?-of infidelity? Mr. DWIGHT-If the following remarks shall be deemed worthy of admission into your most excellent Journal, they are at your service. That the nature of man is yet but imperfectly developed; that his intellectual faculties have scarcely received their first impulses; that the light of "Heaven's truth" illuminates not one in a hundred of the deathless minds of this great republic, is vividly apparent to him who takes an expansive and far-reaching view of man's Parents, teachers, men of this republic, read. nature and existence. But while we contrasters of this Journal: You have a great duty to the present with the past, and discover the intellectual advantages which a development of nature's resources and of man's mental power, the munificence of legislative appropriations and individual sacrifices have secured to the people of this "Empire State," we are constrained to thank God the truth is onward, and progression the order of the day and age. But while I thus draw a general conclusion in relation to the rapid progress of the people under our liberal system of Education, I have in my mind's eye" too many (one is too many) school districts in which a most lamentable apathy exists in regard to the advancement and efficiency of their respective schools. For, while the parent, highly desirous that his child's mind should be extensive ly and efficiently instructed; while he acknow. ledges his own ignorance, and refers to the poor privileges which he enjoyed in his school days, and would shrink at the idea of bequeathing such a legacy to that child, yet when called upon to make use of the State's parental gifts, to use the powerful instruments in his hands, and give life and vigor to the school of his district, and make it a powerful and attractive centre, he too frequently either reasons not at all on the subject, or his parsimony prevails over his judg. ment, and his school (if such it may be termed,) fails to accomplish its wished-for object. But while I grieve at the thought of all this, I would say in pity and charity, to such parents, you "know not what you do." You forget the object of human existence; you make education a mere farce; a senseless, lifeless creature. You do. The peace and harmony, the happiness and VERMONT. [Extract from the Message of Gov. Slade, Oct.] ALL will read with interest, the following It should be a profession, as honorable as it is responsible. There will be good teachers when we shall mature a common school system which shall create a demand for, and furnish the means of rewarding them. "There should be, furthermore, an examination into the condition of the school-houses, in reference to their size, seating, ventilation, warmth, location, and the grounds connected with them. learned and eloquent argument in favor of edu- education, or of embarking in other pursuits. tional reform, while the citizen of New-York will notice with honest pride, that her legislature is referred to as having "produced great and beneficial results," and as worthy of imitation. From Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, Louisiana and Arkansas, similar evidences have recently reached us of an awakening and increasing interest, and we venture to predict, that the time is near, when in every part of the Union, this cause will find advocates that neither indif. ference nor prejudice can weary or silence, and the people will demand that that education, without which the charter of equal rights and privileges is but a wretched mockery, shall be universal. "Information on all these points should be embodied and brought out, in order to awaken the public attention to the necessity of vigorous and systematic efforts for reform. And this must be done under legislative authority, by persons competent to an inspection, and to the making of its results intelligible and useful, as a basis of future action. Such investigations have been the first step in the prosecution of educational im"The great desideratum in regard to common provement in the states of Connecticut, Massaeducation is, improved modes of teaching, chusetts and New-York, producing, within a modes by which the hitherto great waste of time few years, great and beneficial results in these may be avoided-the mind stimulated to activity states. Will Vermont longer hesitate to follow -trained to habits of self-relying effort, and their example? On you rests the responsibility learned to go alone," as it shall be thrown of deciding this question. I would not urge to hasty and beadlong efforts at improvement. upon its own resources, amid the labors and responsibilities of practical life. Time waits not Gradual progress is the law of advance to sound the sluggish and inefficient movements of false and vigorous maturity in every thing. But there can be no advance without a beginning. methods of teaching. It bears our children rapidly onward to manhood, prepared or unpre- tion for immediate consideration. The explora"How shall this beginning be made? is a quespared for the great duties of life. But as we double the power of human energy by new pro- tion suggested, to be of any avail, must be unicesses in agriculture and the mechanic arts, so form, universal and thorough. may we double the value of the allotted time such, compensation is obviously indispensable. for education. We are eager to avail ourselves We have once tried it without, and failed; and of the augmented power to gain wealth through without it, we shall fail again. There must be the wonderful discoveries and improvements of an efficiency which the responsibility of accepting this age. Railroads augment the value of every a trust with compensation, can alone secure. thing they touch or approach, and we are, there. By what agencies the work shall be done, it will fore, awake to their importance; but are there be for your wisdom to determine. It will be not more wonderful developments to be made of worthy of consideration whether they may not intellectual wealth by improved modes of edu- be such, in part, as shall be needed for the gecation? Shall other improvements go on, while neral supervision necessary to carry forward and this stands still? Are the mind and heart of a perfect a system of educational improvement; people of less importance than the materials of such, for example, as a board of commissioners, wealth in the earth they inhabit? Shall we as in Connecticut, or of education, as in Massacarefully improve the breeds of our animals chusetts, or a general superintendent of comwhile we neglect the improvement of man? If mon schools with county superintendents, as in he is esteemed a public benefactor who makes New-York. There may be advantages worthy two blades of grass grow where one grew before, of consideration in the direct and undivided reis not he a greater, who devises means for dou-sponsibility of a single general superintendency; bling the productive power of the mind of a people? "And now is presented the great inquiry.-By what means shall the needed reforms be effected in the management and instruction of our common schools? This is, practically, a difficult question. The first thing to be done evidently is, to ascertain the present condition of our schools in regard to the precise defects in the modes of instruction, the character of the books used and the general standard of qualification of teachers. "Though we have doubtless many good teachers, there is, in general, a manifest deficiency in this respect. Nor should this surprise us. It would rather be surprising if, under our present system-if system it can be called-the standard of qualification did not fall far below what it should be. Teaching is, generally, but a temporary resort, either to obtain the means of an To make it while the county superintendents may well be supposed, from the range given for their selection, to be fully competent to exercise the rigid supervision, and make the suggestions of improvement, indispensable to progress in the reform. "Under the New-York system, it is the duty of the county superintendents to visit the schools in their respective counties, consult with the teachers and town superintendents, deliver lectures on education, and endeavor to awaken an increased interest on the subject of common school education. These latter requisitions form a very important part of that system; as it is obviously vain to attempt a reform unless the people can be brought to take a deep interest in it. There must be the co-operation of an enlightened public sentiment, or nothing will be done. We may legislate, and must legislate; but after all, little can be effected merely by the high pressure of |