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requires to be done in the way of furnishing School requisites. Some of the schools are without either black boards or maps; while in others the blackboards are too small, and the supply of maps inadequate. One school has an Abacus or Ball Frame, but nothing further in the shape of apparatus is possessed by any of the schools. Three of the School-houses have yards well fenced, and affording good accommodation as play grounds-while others have no such advantages. In one case the ground does not extend more than six feet on either side of the School-house, and the privies are actually erected by the road side and entered from the road. Five of the School-houses are furnished with privies, and four are provided with wells. The Teachers, who have all received certificates from Mr. Hunter, the late District Superintendent, in general exhibit an earnestness in connection with their employment, and a desire as much as possible to increase their own efficiency and that of their schools,-while amongst them, as may be expected, there is considerable diversity as to attainments and ability. In each school the mode of instruction is by classes; while a greater degree of uniformity is needed in the system of classification. 253 scholars between the ages of five and sixteen are on the rolls of the different schools, and there are ten over sixteen; of the entire number somewhat more than twothirds are boys. The proportion of scholars to the school population is not much over one-third. There is one Free-school in the Township; but I regret to state that it does not indicate that amount of interest, on the part of the parents, which is essential to the efficient working of our school machinery. In the other schools, I could hear of only four free scholars. With a few exceptions, all the pupils either read or are receiving instruction preparatory to reading. There are 214 who write, 155 are in Arithmetic, 77 are learning Geography, and 109 are taught Grammar, - while one is in Elementary Geometry, two are studying Algebra, two Mensuration, 13 French, and 8 Latin. Of the books there exists the same diversity which nearly everywhere prevails. The National Readers are used in six schools-the fifth book but very rarely. In every school the Bible is read. Of Grammar we have National, Lennie's, Murray's, and Kirkham's, while in one school we have no less than four Arithmetics, National, Gouinlock's, Thompson's and Walkingame's. Morse's Geography is in general use. in one School Olney's is also used.

I regret to state, that to an extremely limited extent have the schools of Etobicoke profited by their proximity to the Normal and Model Schools at Toronto. A protracted visit to these institutions, and a careful and minute inspection of their arrangements and procedure, have very much raised them in my estimation, and have fully satisfied my mind that they are immense advantages to the community, and that they are conferring permanent benefits on the country. Their method of instruction, instead of producing that which is merely superficial and showy, as has been so generally alleged, proceeds upon the principle of making the pupil thoroughly understand what is taught him: and the inode of imparting knowledge not only removes the tedium of teaching and the dread of being taught, but expands the mind, by calling forth into action the intellectual powers. In performing the duties of my office, I shall endeavour, as far as practicable, to make the Model School at Toronto the model for the schools of Etobicoke. In some sections the school is opened by singing, a course desirable when it can be pursued. The Commissioners of National Education in Ireland have published a small volume of Sacred Poetry, which has been recommended by the Board of Education for Upper Canada, to be used in Canadian Schools.

Hamilton Grammar School was examined on the 2nd instant, on which occasion there was a competition for the prizes, given to the School by John Fisher, Esq., Mayor of the City. The examination gave the greatest satisfaction to those present, who were more numerous than on former occasions, and was highly creditable, both to the Teachers and Scholars.-[Spectator.

Middlesex County Teachers' Association.-The second meeting of this Association took place on last Saturday, in the Common School of this Town. A committee of five was appointed to draft a petition to the Legislature, praying for alteration in the School Act. The Association adjourned till the 13th of June next, when the Teachers of the County will assemble to form an Institute in the terms of Dr. Ryerson's late Circular. [Canadian Free Press, May 16ht.

Common Schools in St. Catherines.--We have great pleasure in announcing that the new School Rooms in Church Street are now completed in a manner highly creditable to the builder, Mr. Dougan. In their construction, every attention has been paid to ventilation, and the comfort and convenience of the pupils. The play grounds are enclosed by a high wall, and are every way adapted for the physical training of the children. This department we understand will receive that attention which we are sorry to say has been too much neglected in our schools throughout the country. [Constitutional, May 16th.

Newmarket Common School.-Mr. Nixon, lately a student at the Normal School, Teacher. The examination was very creditable both to the Teacher and the Pupils, and gratifying to all present. The answers in Geography, Grammar, Mental Arithmetic, Algebra and Ancient History, were given promptly, and in such a manner as showed that these subjects were well understood by the pupils, so far as they had studied them. Some examples in the Double Rule of Three were solved on the black board by the new method with great facility. About a dozen were examined in the Elements of the first book of Euclid. Their answers evinced that they had mastered the definitions, postulates axioms, &c., pretty thoroughly, while the demonstration of several propositions showed that they understood how to apply thm. The Grammar School in this village, opered last December, is in a very flourishing condition.-[Communicated.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN.

Owens' College, Manchester.--In 1846 the late Mr. John Owens left a splendid bequest, amounting to about £100,000 for the purpose of founding a College in Manchester, and the trustees have now published a report, containing a detailed account of the general character and plan of the institution, in pursuance of the directions of the testator. It is recommended that the subjects of instruction should include classical literature, mathematics, natural philosophy, logic, moral and mental philosophy, history of political philosophy, and the English language and literature with the addition, as needed, of chemistry, various branches of natural history, physiology, and with a special view to commercial education, book-keeping, the geography of commercial products, the history and progress of arts and manufactures, and the general principles of commercial jurisprudence. The six more important branches of knowledge are to be confined to as many professors, while the modern languages, book-keeping. and other commercial studies, may be entrusted to occasional teachers and lecturers. The salaries of the professors, it is proposed, should not at first exceed two-thirds of the expected annual income of the trust fund (£3,000,) or £1,700, exclusive of £200 addition to one of the professors, as principal, and of the remuneration of occasional teachers. The committee think it desirable that the Owens' College should be placed in connection with the University of London; but, at the same time they invite attention to the important subject of the establishment in Manchester of a university, conferring its own degrees without resort to the metropolitan university.

Munificent Bequest.-The late Mr. Allan Glen, of Glasgow, (Scotland,) has bequeathed the " greater part of his fortune, amounting to £20,000," for the endowment of two schools at Glasgow--one for fifty boys, who are to receive clothes, books, &c.; the other for an industrial school for girls; and both to be "free from all sectarian trammels."

Union of the Aberdeen Universities.-On Thursday last, a preliminary meeting of several of the most influential of the citizens, called by the Lord Provost, was held in the Town Hall, for the purpose of preparing some suggestions on the important subject of an union of the Aberdeen Universities, to be submitted to the Lord Rectors and the Senatus of both Colleges. It was unanimously resolved that a memorial should be transmitted to the Earl of Ellesmere, Lord Rector of King's College, and presented to Mr. Thompson Gordon, Lord Rector of Mareschal College, and that copies of it should be sent to the Senatus of the Universities.-Aberdeen Herald.

UNITED STATES.

The School System of Iowa.--The School System of Iowa, like that of the new States, is based upon the grant of lands, and upon the per cent. of all lands sold in the State of the government of the United States. These consist of every sixteenth section in each township, or 640 acres of the 500,000 acres granted by Congress in 1841; and of five per cent. on all sales of public lands in the State, by authority of the general government to which the Legislature of Iowa have added the property of persons by dying intestate, and without heirs, and the proceed of military exemptions and penal fines in the several counties. Such is the school funds of the State for Common Schools.

Educating Indians.-By an act recently passed, the State of New-York has appropriated the annual sum of $1,000, for the education of ten Indian youths, for three years, in the Normal School, the next term of which commences on the 13th of May.

Female Medical College.-The Legislature of Pennsylvania has chartered a College for the Medical education of Females, to be located in Philadelphia. The act of incorporation confers on the institution all the privileges enjoyed by any other medical school in that State.

Literary and Scientific Entelligence.

London Literary Announcements.-The Quarterly and Edinburgh Reviews, both recently published, give us some idea of what we may expect from the press during the present literary season. In the historical section, we are to have a "Life of George Washington," by his namesake, Washington Irving. Sir Emerson Tennant is to give us a work on "Christianity in Ceylon;" two volumes of the "History of Rome under the Emperors." by the Rev. C. Merivale, will be issued in a couple of weeks; besides, a "Critical History of the Language and Literature of Greece," by Colonel Mure, M.P. We are likewise promised a laborious "History of Man," by Dr. R. G. Latham, and the "Memoirs of the War of Inde. pendence in Hungary, by General Klapka, the gallant defender of Comorn. In the Biographical section, we are to have the “Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury; the "Lives of the Prime Ministers of England," and the "Lives of the Speakers of the House of Commons." There is an announcement, too, of the "Life and Correspondence of Mr. Ward," the author of Tremaine, and the father of the present Governor of the Ionian Isles. The late Sir Harris Nicholas's "Posthumous Letters and Journals of Sir Hudson Lowe," are at length on the eve of publication, and are to tell us the truth, and the whole truth, about Napoleon's captivity at St. Helena. Leigh Hunt promises us his "Autobiography" soon, which will be eagerly read. We are furthermore promised a "Voyage to the Arctic Seas," by one of Sir John Ross' companions, and Parkins' work on Abyssinia, both of which cannot fail to prove interesting. And lastly, we are to have a narrative of hair-breadth accidents in flood and field, in the shape of" Four years residence of a Hunter in the wilderness of South Africa," by Mr. Cumming Gordon, a dashing Highland laird, who has killed lions and hippopotamuses beyond number in the memory of man. -[Cor. Patriot.

Chinese Literature and Schools.--The Chinese are a reading people, and the number of their published works is very considerable. In the departments of morals, history, biography, the drama, poetry, and romance, there is no lack of writings, "such as they are." The Chinese Materia Medica of Le-she-chan, comprises forty octavo volumes. Of statistical works, the number is also very large. Their novels are said to be, many of them, excellent pictures of the national manners. The plot is often complex, the incidents natural, and the characters well sustained. The writings of the Chinese are exceedingly numerous, and the variety of style is very great. From the days of Confucius down to our own times, during a period of more than twenty-three hundred years, there has been one uninterrupted series of authors. China is full of books, and schools, and colleges. New authors are continually springing up, though few of them comparatively gain much celebrity. The press is active, and the traffic in books is a lucrative and most honorable branch of trade. Indivividuals have their libraries, and government its collections. Of thes there are catalogues, some of which contain simply the titles of books, with the names of their authors; but others, in addition to the titles and names, give brief notices of their contents, intimating in a few words whit each

contains.

Chinese Women and their Education.-In the education of fenales, the first object of attention is their virtue; the second, their language; the third, their deportment; and the fourth, their appropriate employmeat. A modest demeanour, so essential in the education of a Chinese lady of the higher class, is heightened by their mode of dressing, which is frequently of rich and costly materials, and in fashion extremely graceful. Among ladies of high birth it is considered indecorous to show even their hands, and in their general movements these are invariably covered by their large sleeves. The fingers are long and taper, and in some instances the nails are allowed to grow to a length far beyond our ideas of what is either becoming or beautiful. The generality of Chinese ladies cannot boast of great beauty. They make a free use of rouge, and this article is always among the presents to a bride on the occasion of her nuptials The distinguishing marks of personal attractions among the Chinese, in a gentleman, are, a large person, inclining to corpulency, a full glossy face, and large pendant ears; the latter indicating high breeding and fortune. In females it is nearly the reverse; delicate forms are in them highly esteemed, having slender "willow waists." The eyes are termed "silver seas;" the eyebrows are frequently removed, and in their stead a delicately curved pencil line is drawn, resembling the leaf of the willow "Lew shoo," which is considered beautiful, and used metaphorically for "Pleasure." Hence the saying "deceived and stupified by willows and flowers;" i. e., by dissolute pleasures. In the estimation of the Chinese, however, a beautiful female should possess the following attractions :--"Cheeks red as the almond flower-mouth like the peach's bloom--waist slender as the willow leafeyes bright as autumnal ripples, and footsteps like the flowers of the waterlily." These are a few of the metaphors used by the Chinese to describe beauty; the figure of autumnal rippies alludes to the dancing reflection of

the sun upon a ruffied lake; the impression of the small feet of a Chinese lady in the path is supposed to resemble the flowers of their favorite lotus. Among the accomplishments of the Chinese ladies, music, painting on silk, and embroidery, hold the chief places. The musical instruments are various in kind and material. and a supply of them is held to be an indispensable part of the furniture of a lady's boudoir. Painting on silk is a very common recreation; and embroidery is an almost universal accomplishment.--[Langden's China.

The Danish Ochlenschlager is dead—the most fertile and famous dramatic poet that the Scandinavian kingdoms have produced. He died of apoplexy, in the seventy-first year of age. The poet was accompanied to his tomb, in the church of Fredericksburg, by the largest attendance that has been seen in Copenhagen since the funeral of Thorwaldsen : upwards of twenty thousand persons-a sixth of the entire population of the capital-representing every class of the community, from the Crown Prince downwards. The streets through which the procession passed were strewed with sand and green boughs, and the houses hung out black flags hemmed with silver

The English Wordsworth and Bowles are also dead, two of the literary celebrities of the present century- the former the Poet Laureate of England, and the latter, the Rev. W. L. Bowles, a sweet Poet and brother of Caroline Bowles the Wife of Southey.

Dr. Layard's Researches.-Dr. Layard has effected an entrance into a room in the old Nimroud palace, containing an extraordinary assortment of relics,-shields, swords, pateræ, bowls, crowns, caldrons, ornaments in ivory and mother-of-pearl, &c. The vessels are formed of a kind of copper or rather bronze-some perfectly preserved, and as bright as gold when the rust is removed. The engravings and embossings on them are very beautiful and elaborate, and comprise the same mythic subjects which are found on the robes of the figures in the sculpture-men struggling with lions, warriors in chariots, and hunting scenes. At Koyunjik Dr. Layard has uncovered a very interesting series of slabs, showing the process of building the mounds and palaces.-[Athenæum.

Public Libraries in England.—Mr. Ewart's Bill, now before Parliament, proposes to enable Town Councils to establish public Libraries for general use by a tax upon property.

Power of Lord Rosse's Telescope.--The light of the star Sirius, seen through this telescop", a six feet reflector, by the unprotected eye is unsupportable, yet when properly viewed, the air appears as an intense, sharp bead of light. Some of the difficulties in working in speculum metal, which is as hard as steel, and yet so brittle, are that a slight blow will shiver it, and so sensitive to changes in temperature, that a little warm water poured on the surface will crack it in all directions. A deviation of the one hundred thousandth part of an inch from the parabolic form, would render a reflector of such a size as Lord Rosse's telescope optically imperfect, and one of a millionth of an inch could be detected.

Preserved Water.-M. Perinet, ex-professor of the Hospital Militaire d'Instruction has succeeded in preserving water in a pure state, by placing a kilogramme and a-half of black oxide of manganese in each cask of water, containing 250 litres. He has kept this water for seven years in the same barrels, and exposed them to various temperatures. At the end of that time he found it as limpid, free from smell, and of as good quality as at the beginning of the experiment.

The Consumption of Coal in England and Wales was estimated at 3,500,000 tons yearly, for manufacturing purposes, and 5,500,000 for household purposes. These are the inland dug coals. The additional quantity carried coastwise was estimated at 3,000,000 of tons, making a grand total of 12,000,000 of tons.

Universities in Russia.-The official journal of St. Petersburgh has published the imperial decree regulating public instruction in the Empire, and dated November 29th, 1849. One paragraph is as follows:"After the first of January, 1850, the upper classes [of the Universities] counting from the fourth, shall be open to none but pupils of noble blood. As to the inferior classes, His Majesty will deign to authorize the admission into them of the children of bourgeois, such as merchants and even those of Jews. But these shall pay a cousiderable sum, the amount of which shall be determined hereafter. The number of Universities for the whole empire remains fixed at eight. No University shall, in any case, admit more than three hundred pupils."--[Corres. N. Y. Com. Advertiser.

Female Editors.-There are six papers in the United States under the editorial charge of ladies. They are :-The Pittsburgh Visitor, Mrs. Swishelm. The Windham County Democrat, (Vt.,) Mrs. C. J. H. Nichols. The Lily, (Seneca Falls,) Mrs. Bloomer. The Lancaster Gazette, (Pa.,) Mrs. Pierson. The Yazoo Whig, Mrs. Horn. The Mountain Bough, Mrs. Prewett.

Editorial Notices, &c.

PROCEEDINGS OF TOWNSHIP COUNCILS IN COM. SCHOOL MATTERS. -In our last number, we adverted to the circumstance of a copy of the Journal of Education having been ordered for each School Section in the several Townships. Since then orders have been received for a copy of the Journal for each School Section of the Townships of Wolf Island, Amherst Island, and Trafalgar. But in no instance have we seen more enlightened views expressed, or a more noble spirit evinced, than in the following resolutions, (model resolutions indeed for every Municipal Council in Upper Canada), which have been communicated to us by SIMON NEWCOMB, Esquire, School Supeintendent for the Township of Bayham, County of Middlesex :

At a Meeting of the Municipal Council for the Township of Bayham, held on the 15th instant, the following resolutions were moved and passed unanimously:

1. That this Council, regarding the cause of popular education as one of the deepest interest and importance, feel it their duty to employ all proper means to elevate the character and increase the usefulness of our common schools.

2. That, in their opinion, this great object is to be promoted by the general diffusion of information on educational subjects, and by the introduction of a uniform and approved system of schoolteaching, and of school organization and discipline.

3. That, in accordance with these views, the Superintendent of Schools be authorized to obtain a copy of the Journal of Education for each School Section in the Township; and that he be invited to attend the Teachers' Institute to be held at London on the 14th and 15th June next, with a view to the introduction into our Common Schools of the principles of teaching and system of instruction adopted in the Normal School of Upper Canada.

SCHOOL TEACHERS' INSTITUTES.-It is gratifying to observe the judicious and active preparations which are making in the several counties for the Teachers' Institutes, the appointments of which were announced in the last number of this Journal. We hope they will be duly published and numerously attended in every County in Upper Canada. We direct attention to an article on the "Influence of Teachers' Institutes upon Teachers and the Public," extracted from the last Annual Report of the Massachusetts Board of Education, and of their Secretary, inserted on the 68th page.

NEW SCHOOL BILL.-The Honble. the INSPECTOR GENERAL, on Wednesday the 29th inst., introduced into the Legislative Assembly a new School Bill for Upper Canada, according to the provisions of which the School Moneys for the current year will be apportioned to the several counties, townships, cities, and towns as soon as the Bill becomes a law.

MUNICIPAL MANUAL OF UPPER CANADA for 1850, with a Map of the Province. 8vo., pp. 132. Price 1s. 10 d. Toronto: Scobie and Balfour. We have to express our thanks to the publishers for a copy of this work. Under our present extended municipal system, nothing could be more valuable or opportune than this cheap and convenient Manual. It contains complete lists of the various Municipal Corporations of Townships, Counties, Villages, Towns, and Cities, and their Ward Divisions (including their officers, Superintendents of Schools, &c.); also, the boundaries of the several Division Courts--the times and places of holding them, and the name and address of the Judge and Clerk of each Division; and the Municipal Corporations' Act, Road Act, and various other Acts conferring powers and imposing duties on Municipalities. We cordially recommend the Municipal Manual to all local municipal authorities.

METHODIST QUARTERLY REVIEW, April, 1850. Rev. J. McClintock, D.D., Editor. 8vo., pp. 160. 10s. per annum-New-York, Lane and Scott. We acknowledge with much pleasure the receipt of this valuable periodical. Although the exponent of certain theological views and peculiarities which cannot be either so elaborately or philosophically discussed in a newspaper as in a calm and dignified Quarterly, this publication may be regarded as the literary organ of a very large and influential body of Christians in the United States. The following is the very interesting Table of

Contents:-I. Wesley the Catholic.-II. John Quincy Adams.III. Demoniacs of the New Testament.-IV. Ancient Enclosures and Mounds of the West.-V. Inquiry into the meaning of II. Peter iii. 13. Καινους δε ουρανους και γην καινήν κατα το επαγγελμα αυτού προσδοκωμεν, εν οις δικαιοσυνη κατοικεί.—VI. The meaning of Di (iom) day-VII. Sunday School Literature.-VIII. Ticknor's Spanish Literature.-IX. Life of Rev. John Collins[attributed to the pen of the Hon. Judge McLean of the Supreme Court of the United States.]-X. Short Reviews and Notices, [of the current literature of the day-26 in all.]-XI. Miscellanies[Theological criticisms, 5 in all.]-XII. Literary IntelligenceTheological, [Classical and Miscellaneous-European and American.] We can only notice two articles.

The article on Ancient Enclosures, founded on the first volume of the Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, entitled, "Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley," we have read with peculiar interest. It is profusely illustrated with wood cuts from the original work. The mounds exhibit undoubted traces of the once powerful tribes which formerly inhabited the extensive valley of the Mississippi-in the Indian legend, the Father of Waters, and upon excavation are found to be monuments erected over the remains of mighty chiefs or warriors. Some of the mounds are very singular in shape. One is constructed in the form of a serpent-five feet high and thirty feet wide at the base, its head resting near the top of a natural hill, and its body winding down for nearly 1,000 feet in graceful evolutions, terminating in a triple coil at the tail. The neck of the serpent is stretched out, slightly curved, and with its mouth opened, as if in the act of swallowing an oval figure, which rests partially within its jaws-others are in the form of alligators, crosses, &c., &c. The forms of the ordinary mounds are conical and pyramidal, and their appearance, covered with verdure, is very striking. Though it may appear somewhat anomalous to apply the term ancient, to any structure on the Continent of America, yet it appears from indisputable evidence that these monuments must be many hundred years' old, perhaps "older than the Pyramids:" and while the more imposing structures of civilized man have crumbled into shapeless ruins, these humble mounds of the child of the forest yet remain but slightly unchanged from their original proportions.

The paper on Spanish Literature, by a learned Professor of Harvard University, is founded on Ticknor's "History of Spanish Litcrature,"- -an exceedingly valuable work on a subject but rarely treated of with the minuteness and research displayed by that author. The review is very favourable. It presents an epitome of Spanish Literature and of English and American writers on Spain down to the present period. The sketch will prove very interesting to students of History.

CONTENTS OF THIS NUMBER.

1. First Free University--Example for Upper Canada,.. II. Great Economy of Free Public Education, III. Importance of the Teacher's Calling,

IV. Duties of Cities and Towns, in respect to Common Schools, V. Chemistry, as applied to Agriculture, in Common Schools, VI. Influence of Teachers' Institutes,

VII. Advantages of Science and Knowledge,

IX.

VIII. Conduct of an Enlightened People-(1) in regard to Government-(2) in selection of Representatives, MISCELLANEOUS :--1. Child's Hymn (Poetry). 2. Fact with a Moral. 3. Curious Facts in Early History, Free Schools, Massachusetts. 4. Education and War. 5. Foreign Phrases. 6. Perseverance. 7. Moral Education. 8. Courtesy. 9. Parental Teaching. 10. Double your Money. 11. National Characteristics. 12. Educational Journals in the U. S. 13. Various School Items,

.....

X. EDITORIAL:-1. May not all the Youth of Upper Canada be blest with Free Education from the Common School to the University? 2. Normal School Instruction. 3. Secretary, Massachusetts' Board of Education. 4. Free Schools in Toronto,

XI. Canadian Press on Free Schools:-1. Toronto Patriot. 2. St. Catherines' Journal. 3. Barrie Magnet, and Montreal Pilot,

EXII. 1. New Rules, Massachusetts' Normal Schools. 2 Ingenuity in Teachers,

XIII. EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE --1. Canada. 2. British and
Foreign. 3. United States,

XIV. LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE,
XV. EDITORIAL NOTICES,

65 66-67

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79 80

Toronto: Printed and Published by THOMAS H. BENTLEY, at 5s per annum, and may be obtained from A. GREEN, SCOEIE & BALFOUR and A. II. ARMOUR & Co., Toronto; R. D. WADSWORTH, General Agent for Canada: J. McCoy, Montreal; and D. M. DEWEY, Arcade Hall, Rochester, N. V.

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TOWNSHIP SCHOOL LIBRARIES-MEANS OF
ESTABLISHING THEM.

[By R. BELL, Esq., M. P. P., for the United Counties of Lanark & Renfrew.] To the Editor of the Journal of Education :

DEAR SIR,

My object in addressing you, is to call your attention to the subject of Libraries for the use of Common Schools in Upper Canada. I shall merely give you my ideas, with a few statistical facts, and leave you to discuss the subject, if you think proper to do so, in your own usual clear and forcible manner.

Every person will admit the advantage, and even the necessity of having good school libraries; but, few people are aware of the scarcity of books, in many of the rural portions of the Province. The little instruction which the children receive in many of the Common Schools, is entirely lost for want of suitable books. They are taught to read as a means of acquiring knowledge, but that knowledge is not put within their reach, and, consequently, their education, so called, ends when they have acquired a tolerable knowledge of reading, writing and arithmetic. Many of our young people, after leaving the schools, seldom see a book, unless a pedler happens to drop in their way some of the trash called cheap literature, which, in many cases, is worse than useless.

Reading, writing, and arithmetic, as commonly taught in the country schools, is no more education, than the scaffolding, set up by the mason or the carpenter, is the superstructure, when he is about to build a house. What would we think of the mechanic, who should so put up his scaffold, and there stop, under the impression that his house was finished? Are we much wiser, in the course we follow with respect to common schools? For want of libraries, do we not stop when the foundation is scarcely laid ?

My remarks, of course, apply more particularly to settlements cut off by distance, bad roads and other causes, from towns or markets where a good supply of books might be obtained.

The next point to which I wish to call your attention, is the scheme, by which I propose to furnish at least one good library to each Township in the Province. To do this, a very large sum of money, would, of course, be required; and in the present state of our financial affairs, it is scarcely reasonable to expect that the Government would recommend so large a grant. Then turn to the Corporations in the several Counties and Townships, and we are told that they "have no funds "; that their expenditure is equal to, and in many cases exceeds their receipts. We are also told that if an attempt were made to put on an additional assessment for this purpose, the people would resist it.

The plan I propose is this: To take the money arising from Tavern Licences, which, for several years past, has been used to liquidate a debt incurred for the payment of losses in U. C. in 1837 and 1838, and which, in future, is intended to be paid over to the

several County or Township Municipal Corporations in the Province, and apply it in each County or Township to the purchase of School Libraries. If it were applied in this way for even one year, a very good beginning would be made; but set it apart for this purpose, permanently, and in a few years, we would have the most magnificent School Libraries to be found in any part of the world.

It is pretty generally admitted, that the sale of spirituous liquors is productive of much evil to the community; then why not allow the tax on the traffic to be applied to so good a purpose as that But I proposed? It would, to some extent, counteract the evil. must not, at present, give you my views on the licensing system. Then with respect to the amount of this fund. By an official return before me, I find it averaged each year, during the three years ending the 1st Feb., 1849, about £10,500. For the future, say £10,000; and the population is in round numbers 750,000. This would give 20s. for every seventy-five inhabitants, and each Township of two thousand inhabitants, which is very nearly the average, (there being nearly four hundred Townships in U. Canada,) would have £26 13 4, a sum sufficient to purchase the first year, at least Two hundred and Fifty volumes. I assume that expensive works, would not, in the first instance be required: indeed, it would be imprudent, at any time, to put expensive books into such libraries. Volumes about the size of those in Harper's Family Library, or the Library sanctioned by the Massachusetts' Board of Education, would be furnished at a price rather under what I have allowed; and if a large number were selected and ordered at once, by the Superintendent of Education, a liberal discount on the usual prices would probably be allowed.

Can the money be spared for this purpose? In reply, I say yes! This is an entirely new source of revenue to the municipalities. It is like so much money found. There will be no necessity for retrenchment in the ordinary expenditure of the municipalities; no withdrawal of funds from specific purposes to which they have hitherto been applied.

The money for this year is already paid over to the respective bodies entitled to receive it, and perhaps, in many cases disposed of; but I would suggest that an Act should be passed, declaring that for the future, it should be set apart for Common School Libraries; or, if it is considered to be beyond the control of the Legislature, I would like to see the County Councils taking up the matter, and disposing of it in the way I suggest.

This year the money was paid over to the several Townships, according to the number of taverns, within their limits. This is unfair, inasmuch as some Townships get more than their share, and other equally well settled Townships, get nothing. In proportion to population, would be the better way.

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SCHOOL LIBRARIES-THEIR SOCIAL TENDENCIES. The Library Fund for the State, consists of $55,000 appropriated from the income of the United States' Deposit Fund, and an equal fund raised by tax. The object of the Legislature was to furnish every district in the State, with a library of good books for the instruction of adults, as well as infants. Out of the same, $110,000 were annually appropriated for the payment of teachers' wages. A sum was, therefore, devoted to the tuition of children, equal to twice the sum set apart for the purchase of books. Besides this, the whole income of the Common School Fund, a like amount raised by tax, all sums raised by towns for School purposes, and all local funds are expended in the payment of teachers' wages. To us, it appears clear, that the amount expended for books, which are the silent teachers of all those who have advanced to a certain degree in knowledge, is quite small enough in comparison with the sum expended in the wages of Teachers, whose business it is to guide the toddling steps of infancy in the paths of science.

The common School is only the threshold of the temple of knowledge. Books are its corridors, entrances, and aisles, which lead to its inner apartments and higher seats. A child goes to the Common School, not merely to learn to read, write, and cypher, but having learned reading, writing, and arithmetic, that he apply his knowledge to the business of life.

We are impressed, deeply, and unalterably, with the conviction that the policy which founded, and has built up the School Libraries, is the wisest policy which any human government ever adopted. If this policy be adhered to, and goes hand in hand with the common school system, it will be the means of enlightening and enfranchising all the inhabitants of the earth. We should look upon the abandonment of this policy as the triumph of ignorance and parsimony.

Our friendship for the Schoo! Libraries is based chiefly upon their political tendencies. "Magna est veritas et prævalebit," is an old Latin proverb, which a modern political philosopher has translated into, "Error is not to be feared when truth is left free to combat it." But before the invention of printing, and the publication of books, truth was never left free to combat error. Forms of government, institutions, laws, religion, were imposed upon the masses of the people, and upheld by brute force. All the so-called republics of antiquity were in fact oligarchies, in which a few men, styling themselves citizens, assumed all political power. The tillers of the soil in Sparta, Athens and Rome, were, with rare exceptions, slaves. Nine-tenths of all the cultivated land on the surface of the earth is now tilled by serfs, or slaves. Why so? Because truth is not left free to combat error. Books would teach serfs and slaves to know how base a thing it is to be a slave.

In books, all forms and systems of government and religion, all theories, opinions, acts and motives of men, are discussed, attacked, defended, praised or ridiculed; and the people sit in judgment to weigh and deliberate, to approve or condemn. Before the invention of printing, there could be no tribunal of such universal jurisdiction, possessing also such irresistible power to enforce its decrees.

"Before the diffusion of knowledge and inquiry," says Hazlitt, 66 governments were for the most part the growth of brute force, or of barbarous superstition. Power was in the hands of a few, who used it only to gratify their own pride, cruelty, or avarice, and who took every means to cement it by fear and favor. The lords of the earth disdained to rule by the choice or for the benefit of the mass of the community, whom they regarded and treated as no better than a herd of cattle, derived their title from the skies, pretending to be accountable for the exercise or abuse of their authority, to God only the throne rested on the altar, and every species of atrocity or wanton insult, having power on its side, received the sanction of religion, which it was, thenceforth, impiety and rebellion against the will of Heaven to impugn. This state of things continued and grew worse and worse, while knowledge and power were confined within more local and private limits. Each petty sovereign shut himself up in his castle or fortress, and scattered havoc and dismay over the unresisting country around him. In an age of ignorance and barbarism, when force and interest decided every thing, and reason had no means of making itself heard, what was to prevent this, or act as a check upon it? The lord himself had no other measure of right than his own will; his pride and passions would blind him to any consideration of conscience or humanity; he would regard every act of disobedience as a crime of the deepest dye, and

to give unbridled sway to his lawless humors would become the ruling passion and sole study of his life. How would it stand with those within the immediate circle of his influence,or his arrogance? Fear would make them cringe, and lick the feet of their haughty and capricious oppressor; the hope of reward, or the dread of punishment, would stifle the sense of justice, or pity; despair of success would make them cowards, habit would confirm them into slaves, and they would look up with bigoted devotion (the boasted loyalty of the good old times) to the right of the strongest as the only law. A king would only be the head of a confederation of such haughty despots, and the happiness, or rights of the people, would be equally disregarded by them both. Religion, instead of curbing this state of rapine and licentiousness, became an accomplice and party in the crime; gave absolution and indulgence for all sorts of enormities; granting the forgiveness of Heaven in return for a rich jewel or fat abbey lands, and setting up a regular (and what in the end proved an intolerable) traffic in violence, cruelty and lust. As to the restraints of law, there were none but what resided in the breast of the Grand Seigneur, who hung up in his court-yard, without judge or jury, any one who dared to utter the slightest murmur against the most flagrant wrong. Such must be the consequence, as long as there was no common standard or judge to appeal to; and this could only be found in public opinion, the offspring of books. As long as any unjust claim or transaction was confined to the knowlege of the parties concerned, the tyrant and the slave, which is the case in all unlettered states of society, might must prevail over right; for the strongest would bully, and the weakest must submit, even in his own defence, and persuade himself that he was in the wrong, even in his own dispute: but the instant the world, that dread jury, are impannelled, and called to look on and be umpires in the scene, so that nothing is done by connivance or in a corner, then reason mounts the judgment-seat in lieu of passion or interest, and opinion becomes law instead of arbitrary will."

From the moment that the press opens the eyes of the community beyond the active sphere in which each moves, there is from that time inevitably formed the germ of a body of opinion directly at variance with the selfish and servile code that before reigned paramount, and approximating more and more to the manly and disinterested standard of truth and justice. Hitherto, force, fraud and fear decided any question of individual right or general reasoning ; the possessor of rank and influence, in answer to any censure or objection to his conduct, appealed to God and to his word; now a new principle is brought into play, which had never been so much as dreamt of, and before which he must make good his pretensions, or it will shatter his strong holds of pride and prejudice to atoms, as the pent up air shatters whatever resists its expansive force. This power is public opinion, exercised upon men, things, and general principles, and to which man's physical power must conform, or it will crumble it to powder. Books alone teach us to judge of truth and good in the abstract: without a knowledge of things at a distance from us, we judge like savages or animals from our senses and appetites only: but by the aid of books and of an intercourse with the world of ideas, we are purified, raised, ennobled from savages into intellectual and rational beings. Our impressions of what is near to us are false, of what is distant, feeble; but these last gaining strength from being united in public opinion, and expressed by the public voice, are like the congregated roar of many waters, and quail the hearts of princes. Who but the tyrant does not hate the tyrant? Who but the slave does not despise the slave? The first of these looks upon himself as a God, upon his vassal as a clod of the earth, and forces him to be of the same opinion; the philosopher looks upon them both as men, and instructs the world to do so. While they had to settle their pretensions by themselves, and in the night of ignorance, it is no wonder no good was done; while pride intoxicated the one, and fear stupified the other. But let them be brought out of that dark cave of despotism and superstition, and let a thousand other persons, who have no interest but that of truth and justice, be called on to determine between them, and the plea of the lordly oppressor to make a beast of burden of his fellow man becomes as ridiculous as it is odious. All that the light of philosophy, the glow of patriotism, all that the brain wasted in midnight study, the blood poured out upon the scaffold or in the field of battle can do or have done, is to take this question, in all cases, from before the first gross, blind and ini

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