Having procured a number of valuable engravings illustrative of School Architecture, we again renew this interesting department of the Journal of Education. The increasing desire to erect a superior class of school-houses in the Cities, Towns, and Villages of Upper Canada has induced us to select for illustration in the early numbers of the Journal the better description of schoolhouses which have been erected within the last few years in the chief Cities and Towns of New England-the best educated portions of this continent. The experience of those Cities and Towns upon the importants subject of school house architecture is of double value to us just now, arising from the fact, that in all the school-houses recently erected in New England, the convenience and comfort of both masters and pupils have been the chief points consulted in the selection of the site, the character of the location, and the general external cheerfulness of the building and grounds. The great object has been to make the school a place of present attraction, as well as to render it, with its trees and shrubbery, its pleasant flowers and play ground-the hallowed spot around which all the tender associations of happy school-boy days will for ever delight to cluster and linger-though life hereafter should be one of lengthened toil and anxiety, and the joyous dreams of youth should never be realized. No doubt the same considerations will influence those who are about erecting school-houses in our cities and towns and rural school sections. The experience of others will, therefore, prove of infinite service to them.

The engraving on our 17th page exhibits a front view of the public school-house erected in the village of Warren, at the expense of the town, in 1847-48, after drawings made by Mr. Teft, of Providence, under the directions of a committee of the town, who consulted with the Commissioner of Public Schools, and visited Providence, Boston, Salem, Newburyport and other places, in order to ascertain the latest improvements in school architecture, before deciding on the details of the plan. The Commissioner of Public Schools remarked, in his address at the dedication of the house, in September, 1848, "that, for location, style, construction, means of warming, ventilation, and cleanliness, and for the beauty and convenience of the seats and desks, he had not seen a public schoolhouse superior to this in New England. It is a monument at once of the liberality of the town, and of a wise economy on the part of the committee." The town appropriated $10,000, and the committee expended $8,594. The opening of the public school in this edifice was followed by a large increase of attendance from the children of the town..

The lot on which the School-house is erected is 225 deep and 100 feet wide for a depth of 125 feet, and 161 feet wide for the remaining 64 feet. It is divided into three yards, as exhibited in the ground plan, (Fig. 2,) each substantially inclosed, and planted with trees and shrubbery. The dimensions of the building are 62 feet by 44 on the ground. It is built of brick, in the most workmanlike manner. Each room is ventilated by openings, controlled by registers, both at the floor and the ceiling, into four flues carried up in the wall, and by a large flue constructed of thoroughly seasoned boards, smooth on the inside, in the partition wall, (Fig. 3, x.) The whole building is uniformly warmed by two furnaces placed in the cellar. Every means of cleanliness are provided, such as scrapers, mats, sink with pump, wash basin, towels, hooks for outer garments, umbrella stands, &c.

The tops of the desks are covered with cloth, and the aisles are

"I hear thee speak of the better land;
Thou call'st its children a happy band:
Mother! oh, where is that radiant shore ?
Shall we not seek it, and weep no more?
Is it where the flower of the orange blows,
And the fire-flies glance through the myrtle boughs?"
--"Not there, not there, my child!"

"Is it where the feathery palm trees rise,
And the date grows ripe under sunny skies?
Or midst the green islands of glittering seas,
Where fragrant forests perfume the breeze,
And strange bright birds on their starry wings
Bear the rich hues of all glorious things?"

-"Not there, not there, my child!" "Is it far away in some region old Where the river wanders o'er sands of gold? Where the burning rays of the ruby shine, And the diamond lights up the secret mine, And the pearl gleams forth from the coral strand ;Is it there, sweet mother, that better land?" -"Not there, not there, my child! "Eye hath not seen it, my gentle boy! Ear hath not heard its deep tones of joy. Dreams cannot picture a world so fairSorrow and death may not enter there: Time doth not breathe on its fadeless bloom : Far beyond the clouds and beyond the tomb, -It is there, it is there, my child!"

THE CHILD'S LAUGH. She had a joyous laugh, which, like a songThe song of a spring bird-wakes suddenly When we least look for it. It linger'd long Upon the ear-one of the sweet things we Treasure unconsciously. As steals along A stream in sunshine, stole its melody, As musical as it was light and wild, The buoyant spirit of some fairy child; Yet mingled with soft sighs, that might express The depth and truth of earnest tenderness.

THE IMAGE OF THE DEAD: OR, AN ABSENT FRIEND.

BY MISS FRANCES BROWN,

An Irish Lady, blind from her childhood.

Silent and swift the years sped on,

And they bore his youth away;

But the vision linger'd still that shone

So bright on his early day.

For roses fade when the summer flies,
But the rose of the canvass never dies!
And thus, when his summer days were gone,
The rose of his memory still bloom'd on.

TIME'S CHANGES.

Time's Changes!-oh! Time's Changes, They may work whate'er they will; Turn all our sunshine into storm,

And all our good to ill.

But we can lightly smile on all

Time's Changes, till we find

Some well known voice grow strangely cold That once was warmly kind.

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Till gentle words are pass'd away,
Are banish'd and forgot,

Teaching us sadly that we love
The one who loveth not.

Oh! better, then, to die and give

The grave its kindred dust,

Than live to see Time's bitter change

In hearts we love and trust!

AN APPEAL TO SECOND AND THIRD CLASS TEACHERS.-E. Ross, Esq., Superintendent of Schools in the township of Williamsburgh, in a letter to a Cornwall paper, thus remonstrates with those Teachers who seem to rest satisfied with second and third class certificates. Mr. Ross's concluding remarks are worthy of the considerate attention of every School Teacher in Upper Canada :"The indulgence with which teachers have hitherto been favoured by Township and County Superintendents in allowing them to teach, year after year, without any certificate either of moral character, learning, or ability, is now wisely and strictly forbidden by the present School Act. No teacher, who does not hold a certificate of qualification sanctioned by competent authority, is entitled to a farthing of the school funds; and trustees employing and continuing such unqualified teacher forfeit all claim to any portion of the legislative or assessment school grant; being themselves personally liable for the wrong inflicted upon their school section. Hence the absolute necessity of every teacher obtaining license to teach previous to engaging with trustees. It is also of the utmost importance that teachers should pay strict attention to the programme of examination, and make themselves as thoroughly acquainted as possible with the several branches of education therein contained. I have not only been present at, but have assisted in the examination of nearly one hundred teachers, and it is painful to say that the qualifications of the vast majority were far too low to ameliorate to any sensible extent the condition of our common schools. But had the Board acted in strict accordance with the letter of the Common School Act, and granted certificates to none others than those who were able to undergo a rigid examination in the studies mentioned in the programme, and requisite to be taught in a common school, but few certificates would have been granted. The benefits emanating to a community from any law depend, in a great measure, upon those whose duty it is to carry that law into effect. Hence, the Board have consulted the present circumstances of the country, and have endeavoured, as far as possible, to adapt the School Law to those circumstances. And unless there be a decided improvement on the part of Teachers themselves, many of those now holding the second class certificates will be ranked in the third, and those now in the third will be rejected altogether. The fact is, Teachers can, by pursuing the proper method, greatly improve themselves while teaching. He who has no ambition to increase his own knowledge, will have but very little ability to increase the knowledge of others. And he only who loves his work and uses his utmost endeavours to acquire and impart useful knowledge to his pupils, is worthy of the name of teacher. However painful it may be to the feelings of those constituting the Board, it will nevertheless be their future duty to grant license to those alone who are well qualified to teach those branches of learning mentioned in the programme of examination. To sacrifice upon the altar of personal respect the welfare of the rising generation, the good of society, and the vital interests of our country, would be a base violation, not only of humane, but divine law.

Finally, to teachers I would remark, that it is upon your intelligence, ambition, industry, and exertions rest the welfare of future generations and the future destiny of our country. And nothing but the powerful aid, benign influence, and the highest blessing of

God, can successfully guide you through the high, solemn, and important responsibilities resting upon you. You have committed to your charge the youth of our land, preparing them for the domestic circle, members of society-subjects of their country-and candidates for Heaven. Your influence is not limited to the School Section in which you teach, nor to the time during which you are present with your pupils; but it extends to the whole community. The examples, precepts and instructions taught to your pupils, will will be by them communicated to others in maturer age, thus on to future and yet unborn generations. Hence, in preparing them for after life, you cannot be too careful in attending to the culture of the moral feelings, and to mark with utter abhorrence and disapprobation the least approach to sin. When you reflect that nearly the whole of the population of the vast country received their education in Common Schools, you will discover the truth of the above remarks and feel their solemn force. And in the prosecution of this great purpose, nothing can be more essential than an example in your own person of dutiful and loyal respect to the first authority -of strict obedience to the laws-and respectful submission to the institutions of your country. You should zealously endeavour to increase the knowledge, and improve the moral habits of those committed to your care-two of the most important means by which you can confer a high and permanent benefit upon your devoted country. THE FIRST HALF OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

The first half of the nineteenth century has passed away for ever! And wonderful has that half century been. During its first month NAPOLEON entered, as First Consul, the Palace of the Tuilleries; while WELLINGTON was in India, fresh from his first successes at Beringapatam, and prosecuting his first command. Since then, VAPOLEON has triumphed at Marengo, Jena, and Austerlitz, retreated from Russia, abdicated at Fontainbleau, pined in Elba, and scaped, fled from Waterloo, fretted and lain buried in St. Helena, nd taken his place of repose under the shadow of the Invalids, a Prince of Bourbon blood being his escort thither; while now his own brother is the guardian of his ashes, and his nephew stands at the elm of France, heir of a third revolution, as he was heir of the first. During those fifty years WELLINGTON has won Assaye, liberated the Peninsula, defeated BUONAPARTE, and refreshed in Council for hirty years the green laurels he won in the field. During those Afty years PITT is gone, Fox gone, NELSON gone, CANNING gone; hree of our Kings are laid low; SCOTT, BYRON, SOUTHEY, and nany a bright name in Letters has been graven on a tomb; WATT has ceased to construct, Davy to analyse, CLARKE to expound, WATSON and CHALMERS to preach, CURRAN to plead, O'CONNELL o agitate, and ROTHSCHILD has passed to a land where there is no noney. During those fifty years war has stained every land on the European continent, from Finland to Calabria, from the Morea to Jutland; yet England has seen no foeman pass her ward, no blood lefile her soil. During those fifty years a throne has been thrice reared in France and thrice subverted; the thrones of Holland and Spain, of Naples and of Portugal have each been the sport of invaders or revolutions; those of Prussia and Austria have been prostrated by foreign arms, and menaced by domestic insurrection; the Porte has been shorn of its glory; the POPE fled from a revolution; Sweden has passed to a French dynasty; Greece has become a kingdom, Belgium has taken a place by her side, Poland and Hungarry have risen to gain a similar dignity, but have been felled down; Savoy has developed into the powerful Sardinia; Brazil has become an empire, Hayti has put on a similar aspect, Canada has rebelled and been conquered; the States have risen from infancy to giant youth; Mexico has gained independence, has been an empire, is a Repubic, has fought and fallen; Peru has become a state; California has entered within the circle of Anglo-Saxon power, and forthwith disclosed her long concealed treasures; slavery has disappeared from the British West Indies; the crescent has ceased to shine over Algeria; South Africa has passed from the Dutch; Mahratta, Pindaree, Burmese, Chinese, and Sikh have all fallen before British power; Australia and New Zealand have been added to the civilised world; the limits of Christendom have been advanced beyond all former precedent, and nearly all the tongues of Asia, Africa, and the Polynesian tribes have been enriched with versions of the word of God. Of the powers existing at the opening of the century, three only have conspicuously advanced-England, the United States, and Russia. The last has won from nearly all her neigh

bours, Turk or Pole, Persian or Swede; the second has grown as if by enchantment; while the first has increased her territory and her subjects in the most opposite regions of the earth, and on a scale that makes all historians marvel.

And if the political aspect of the world has been changed during this half century; science, commerce, and manners have been not less so. There used to be stationary lands. There are none now. The chasms of caste no longer spell-bind the spirit of innovation in India. The great wall no longer shuts out foreign influence from China. Turkey is no longer immoveable; Italy shifts like sand. The steamboat is on the Ganges, the railroad is at Bombay, the Sunday school in Fejee, the printing-press in Kaffirland, the Bible in Tinnevelly, the Missionary in Shanghae, the Waldenses are preaching in Turin, and we have a Cardinal in London. England is within ten days of America; England can speak to France across the channel: the Chinese peasant gathers tea for the Lancashire girl, and the Lancashire girl weaves cloth for the Hindoo. Astronomy has multiplied the planets, chemistry remodelled all art. Geography has touched the magnetic pole. Electricity has made a thousand miles as an hairbreadth; Archæology has disenhumed Egypt and Nineveh; while the feats of the mechanical sciences can only be told by the hum of the factories, the splash of the steamships, the roar of the locomotives, by the resonance of the tunnels, the shafts, the viaducts that owe their existence to the first half of the nineteenth century.

Nor, happily, can we doubt of a benign progress in education, temperance, morality, and godliness. That during the half century America has advanced religiously, none will question. To name the West Indies is to excite thanksgiving. To glance at Africa is to see a thousand gleams of promise, where only darkness lowered fifty years ago. In Asia a day dawn has begun to rise; faint as yet, but bright compared with the darkness that was before the eye of CAREY, when, just half a century ago, he had to flee for protection under the Danish flag. In Australasia, the advancement is clear and rejoicing. Respecting Europe alone could the most doubtful contend; and even here the progress is great. England fifty years ago was far from being the England of to-day; albeit, enough of ignorance, intemperance, infidelity, and irreligion remain to make us all lament. Where could you then have found in France the faithful pastors and the spiritual flocks, which are now there? In Sweden a remarkable progress of temperance and religion is acknowledged by all. In Germany much of evil and much of good are working in conflict, but we hesitate not to believe that, on the half century, truth has gained considerably. In Turkey churches have sprung up. Of Russia, what can hope say?

During the last year events have not been barren. England has mourned over Sir Robert Peel; has received into her bosom the dust of LOUIS PHILIPPE ; has attacked Greece, and narrowly escaped a rupture with France. Germany has said a great deal, and meant rather more, and fought some deplorable battles with the Danes, and rallied for war in Hesse, and agreed not to fight at Olmutz.[London Watchman.

HISTORICAL SKETCH OF ALGEBRA.

Algebra, from the Arabic, Al-jebr-e-al-mo-Ka-ba-la:-restoration and reduction-is the expression of quantity and the operations of quantity by conventional symbols. Algebra was entirely unknown in the twelfth century. Josephus maintains that Abraham was the inventor of Arithmetic and his descendants communicated the knowledge of numbers to the Egyptians, among whom alone the science of Algebra attained any degree of perfection. Diophantes has been considered as the earliest known writer on Algebra. The science of Algebra was not derived at first in Europe from him, but from the Arabians and Moors. They by unanimous avowal derived their knowledge from India. The earliest known Indian writer was the astronomer, Aryabhatta. The Arabs were not, as is generally believed, the authors of Algebra, as the preceding facts will show. From them, however, it was introduced into Europe, by Camellus Lenord, of Pisa. The advancement of the science was owing solely to the disputes and trials of skill which resulted from them among the early mathematicians. One improvement was the use of letters to represent quantities; a better knowledge of surds, &c., &c. It is only when the student can substitute letters for numerals, and can frame formule with facility,

that he begins to see the beauty, the power, and the certainty of Algebra. The most luminous and satisfactory processes in Algebra are those which are least encumbered with arithmetical numerals. The abstract properties of numbers received great attention from the ancients; particularly the Pythagorean mathematicians. There are two kinds of Algebraic properties - one essential and the other accidental, being derived entirely from the manner of representing them. It is essential that the successive sums of the odd numbers should be squares :—e. g. 1 + 3 = 4, &c. ; but it is an accidental property of 9, that the sum of the digits which represent its products is always either 9 itself, or a multiple of 9: thus 1 x 9 = 9; 2 × 9 = 18; 3 × 9=27, &c. The ancient mathematicians chiefly confined their attention to the accidental properties of numbers. They even pretended to believe that the world was created in reference to their abstract properties! The first four odd numbers 1, 3, 5, 7, represented the pure and celestial parts of the universe; while the first four even numbers represented these elements in combination with terrestrial matters. The sum of these numbers was considered as possessing high and wonderful virtues, and was held, according to Plutarch, in such high veneration by the Pythagonians, that to swear by it was to contract the most solemn obligation! The Magi at Athens, at the time of Plato's death, sacrificed to him, because he died at the age of 81-figures which consummate a perfect number, viz: 99. Plato considered the number 12 as an image of all perfect progression, because it is composed of a multiplication of 3 × 4, both of which numbers the Pythagoreans considered as emblems of perfection. The number 12 has been a great favourite with Poets and Philosophers. Plato's laws are in 12 Books, as well as Virgil's Eneid, Milton's Paradise Lost, and Spencer's Faërie Queene. The number 3 has also been considered as a remarkable ber.-Condensed from the Meth. Q. Rev., Jan., 1845, pp. 26-36.

THE POETRY OF THE STEAM ENGINE.-There is to our own thinking something awfully grand in the contemplation of a vast steam engine. Stand amidst its ponderous beams and bars, wheels and cylinders, and watch their unceasing play; how regular and how powerful! The machinery of a lady's Geneva watch is not more nicely adjusted-the rush of the avalanche is not more awful in its strength. Old gothic cathedrals are solemn places, presenting solemn lessons, lonely and solemn things; but to a trifler, an engine room may preach a more serious lesson still. It will tell him of mind-mind wielding matter at its will-mind triumphing over physical difficulties-man asserting his great supremacy—" intellect battling with the elements." And how exquisitely complete is every detail!-how subordinate every part towards the one great end! how every little bar and screw fit and work together! Vast as is the machine, let a bolt be but the tenth part of an inch too long or too short and the whole fabric is disorganized. It is one complete piece of harmony-an iron essay upon unity of design and execution. There is deep poetry in the steam engine-more of poetry of motion than in the bound of the antelope-more of the poetry of power than in the dash of the cataract. And ought it not to be a lesson to those who laugh at novelties and put no faith in curiosities, to consider that this complex fabric, this triumph of art and science, was once the laughing stock of jeering thousands, and once only the working phantasy of a boy's mind as he sat and in seeming idleness watched a little column of vapour rise from the spout of a tea-kettle.—Illuminated Magazine.

GENIUS-in matters of judgment and reason-consists in the power of attention which keeps a subject steadily in the mind until we survey every side.-Hedge's Logic, p. 21.-Originality of Genius is most frequent in times of darkness and barbarism; and desirable only in connexion with comprehensiveness and liberality of mind.-Stewart's Mor. Phil.-Genius is inferior to excellency of heart.-Brougham.—In the Fine Arts, genius consists in a cultivated taste combined with a creative imagination.—Stewart's M. Phil., ch. 7, § 3.-Genius proceeds according to natural rules, although it may be unable to express them in words; it operates by a kind of scientific sense.-Ibid, vol. 1. p. 239.-What is genius without religion ?-A lamp on the outer wall of a palace. It may serve to cast a gleam of light on those that are without, while the inhabitant sits in darkness within.-H. More.

EDUCATION follows Christianity as light does the sun.

A GENTLEMAN IN ANCIENT TIMES.-In order to be considered a gentleman among the Romans, itwas requisite to be an accomplished orator. Tyller.-In Heraldry: "One who, without title, bears a coat of arms."-According to Sir Wm. Blackstone, the celebrated legal commentator, "Whosoever studieth the law of the realm, studieth in the universities, and professeth the liberal sciences, he shall be called master, and taken for a gentleman.

THE GERMAN CHARACTER seems entitled to the first place in the intellectual scale of nations, as it evinces most aptitude for the acquisition of learning in general.-Contest of the Twelve Nations.— For a masterly summary of the German literary character, see the Foreign Quarterly Review, Oct., 1835, pp. 4, 5.-Germany is the native country of Thought.-M. de Staël.

RT. HON. EDMUND BURKE.-It has been said of Burke, that in debate he chose his position like a fanatic, but defended it like a philosopher.

His intellect was so entangled in a web of associations and tastes, that it rarely had free play. In the fierce sway of his sensibility over his other powers his dignity and self-possession were often lost; and he directed some of the most potent efforts of his genius against those self-evident truths which no dialectic skill can overthrow.

He was deficient only in one style--plain and unadorned.Brougham's Sketches and N. American Review, July, 1844.

FAITH, like the beauteous ray of the departing sunset, touches all things, for the humble and the pious, with the radiance and hue of heaven!

CHARACTERISTICS OF GRATTAN'S ORARTORY.--The Rt. Hon. Henry Grattan surpassed all modern orators in that severe abstinence which rests satisfied with striking the decisive blow in a word or two, not weakening its effect by repetition or expansionand another excellence, higher still, in which no orator of any age is his equal-the easy flow of most profound, sagacious, and original principles, enunciated in terse but appropriate language—e. g. of the former; speaking of the Irish Independence, he says :—“I sat by its cradle-I followed its hearse!"-Brougham's Sketches, Vol. I, p. 224.

THE VEIL OF FUTURITY.-It has been beautifully said that "the veil which covers the face of Futurity is woven by the hands of Mercy."-Seek not to raise that veil, therefore, for sadness might be seen to shade the brow that fancy had arrayed in smiles of gladness.

CHARACTER OF HAMLET.-He was a scholar who affected insanity, a sceptic who believed in ghosts, a lover who plagued his mistress and left her, a philosopher who wept away his ambition, and a sentimental avenger who evaporated his resolutions in uttering rhapsodies upon revenge.-N. O. Picayune.

NATIONAL CHARACTER may be compared to the colour which the sea bears at different times view the great surface at a distance, it is blue or green; but take up a handful of the element, and it is an undistinguishable portion of brackish water.

DEMOCRACY.-Nothing but an aristocracy of orators, interrupted sometimes by the temporary monarchy of a single orator.-Stewart's Phil. Mind. Vol. I, p. 196.

ECHO.-There are countries where they believe the souls of the happy live in Elysium, and rove in delightful fields. Those souls, repeating the words we utter, produce the sounds which we call echo.-Montaigne's Essays.

THE FRIENDSHIP of some people is like our shadow, keeping close to us while we walk in the sunshine, but deserting us the moment we enter the shade.

GEORGE III. reigned during the most important period of the world's history. His vices and defects may be referred to his want of proper education.-Brougham's Sketches, p. 13.

JOURNAL OF EDUCATION.

TORONTO, FEBRUARY, 1851.

PROGRESS OF FREE SCHOOLS IN UPPER CANADA, 1851.

As the important subject of Free Common School Education has begun to attract a good deal of public attention, and has excited much discussion and interest in various parts of Upper Canada, we select the following items of information from various sources relative to what has already been done to promote Free Schools in 1851. The summary will prove interesting to those who are engaged in promoting universal education in their several neighbourhoods, and may stimulate them to still further exertions in elevating the character and condition of their schools. Several other Free Schools have been established besides those mentioned below, but we have not been able to procure more authentic information regarding them. The Toronto Globe, a recent convert to the free school system, remarks :

:

"We are glad to observe that the plan of free common schools has been adopted, at the recent annual meetings, in very many school sections through Upper Canada. The best gift the people of Canada can confer on their children is education-sound, practical education, available to all. Public money employed in educating the masses is a most profitable investment, and we hope the day will soon be when a good education is open, of right, to every child in the country. At the Annual Meeting of School Section No. 2 Township of York, the following resolutions were adopted Resolved, 1st-That this meeting, recognising in the mental culture, and intellectual advancement of the people, the healthy and permanent basis of their moral and social condition; and believing, that in the wide diffusion of intelligence and knowledge exists the surest safeguard of their civil and religious liberty;-deems it to be the consistent and imperative duty of every enlightened and patriotic community, to promote, throughout the Province, a liberal system of universal education.' 2. That this meeting, deeply deploring the statistical fact, that in the Province of Upper Canada, out of 252,000 children between the ages of 5 and 16, but 144,000 are receiving any education; that, in the Home District, there are but 45,000 out of 88,000 attending schools of all kinds : and that, in the wealthy and metropolitan Township of York, of 2,300-626, or a little over one-fourth only, are receiving instruction in any school; believes, that the source of this great and alarming evil lies not less in the want of a general free school system, and in the culpable and prevalent indifference so commonly manifested in regard to this highly important subject.' 3. That the common school of this Section No. 2, in the Township of York, be free, and that the necessary and incidental expenses of the said school be provided for by assessment upon property.' 4. That the Trustees of the said school are hereby authorised and requested so to provide the same, in conformity with the 7th section of the 12th clause of the aforesaid Act.'

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The Niagara Mail states :-"An adjourned meeting of the school trustees of this town took place on the 6th inst., at which the question of free schools was taken into consideration. Mr. Simpson, seconded by Mr. Barker, moved the following Resolutions,-Mr. Burns in the chair :-Resolved, 1st. That in the opinion of this Board, it is the duty of all parents, who have the means of doing so, to educate their own offspring at their own expense. 2nd. That in cases where parents do not possess the means of defraying the cost of the education of their children, it becomes the duty of the public to step forward, and furnish such children with instruction fitting them to discharge rightly the duties of life. [The 3rd and 4th are unimportant.] In amendment it was moved by Mr. McBride, seconded by Mr. Munro :-That this Board hails with delight the wisdom of the Legislature, and their patriotic desire for the good of the country in the liberal system of education provided for all classes of the community, believing firmly that in the general diffusion of education consists the proper action of the people in their civil, moral, and religious duties. That for the full attainment of this desirable end, this Board are of opinion that no distinction should exist in the

common schools of the country as regards paying or nonpaying pupils, believing that although it may have the appearance of injustice to the owners of property, it will ultimately result even in a pecuniary point of view to their advantage, as well as to the advantage of the community generally, in the increased sobriety, industry, and absence of crime which is well known to exist in a well educated commmunity over one not possessing the same advantages. Resolved, therefore, That the common schools of this town shall be free to all the children therein, so long as they conform to the rules of the school at which they may attend.

After considerable debate the amendment was put to the vote, and carried. Thus it will be seen that the free school system has been adopted by a vote of 6 to 2, a circumstance which cannot fail to be gratifying to every one who is favourable to an enlightened and diffusive system of education. In the words of the Editor of the New York Tribune we would remark, that "As a property holder, we wish the destitute to feel that their children are welcome to all the advantages of our schools, not as a matter of favour to them, but of wise and conservative public policy.

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In the town of Perth the Bathurst Courier states, "The votes polled for free schools were 107, against free schools, 64. Many who voted against Free Schools for this year, are in favour of the system, and would have voted for it, had there been a guarantee that a union of the grammar school and the common schools would be immediately effected."- The Bowmanville Messenger states, "We are informed that four or five school sections in this Township, including our two village schools, have adopted the free school system."-The Oshawa Reformer states, "At the annual school meeting in Oshawa a resolution was passed in favour of the free school system."-The Chippewa Advocate states, that Chippewa has decided emphatically in favour of free schools. It has been decided that education in the common schools in Chippewa shall be free to all within its bounds, without regard to class, creed, or condition. The decision of the meeting of last Saturday evening was a unanimous affirmative on this question. In taking the vote on the question, not one of the large and respectable gathering of the people then present voted in the negative. We are glad to be able to state that the Trustees are now busy in carrying out the wishes of the inhabitants in regard to the new organization of the public schools. It is, we understand, their determination to secure the best teachers, and separate the male from the female department."The Gall Reporter, (an opponent to free schools) states, that "Several meetings have been held in the various school sections in the township of Dumfries, lately, to decide the question of free schools, and we believe the result has generally been a considerable majority in favour of a general rate on the whole school section." Galt itself has decided against free schools for 1851-The school in section No. 3, Owen's Sound, has been made free for the current year, owing to the laudable exertions of the Trustees.

The school in section No. 1, in the township of Whitby is also to be free for 1851; and in addition, arrangements are in progress to erect in an agreeable situation, a superior school house. A recent report of the educational Committee of the York County Council states, "In reference to the working of common school education generally, your Committee feel themselves called upon to state that they hail the present movement in numerous sections of this County in regard to the establishment of free schools therein, as indicative of a decided melioration in the tone of the public mind in its appreciation of this sound and enlightened mode of rendering the blessings and benefits of education available to all. And your Committee have no doubt that the result, provided that the system be fairly and candidly, and to a commensurate extent, perseveringly carried out, will be that a most salutary and satisfactory position, in regard to these matters, will be speedily attained."-The Niagara Chronicle, and one or two other papers, object to free schools on the ground of the inequality of the assessment law. That inequality has been removed by a recent Act of the Legislature, and therefore the objection on that ground should cease to be urged.- -In several townships in the Province there has been a good deal of discussion