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or set with abundance of precious stones.- -The affairs of the London industrial exhibition are prosperous. We mentioned on a former occasion that some of the Rajahs in the East Indies designed to send costly shawls and other expensive articles. These include a pearl robe, valued at $7,000, and a gold mounted saddle, set with precious stones, valued at £6,000. -Queenston Suspension Bridge was opened on the 18th instant with great eclat. Several Americans and Canadians of distinction were present.

TRUE GREATNESS consists in being in advance of the age in which one lives. It is founded upon that quality ascribed to Brutus by Cæsar, viz: Quid vult, id valde vult, keenness of purpose, perseverance in carrying out resolutions. This quality was possessed by Lord Chatham.—Brougham's Sketches, vol. 1, pp. 25. The only true greatness is Humility.-H. More.

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MA

AY be obtained from Mr. HODGINS, Education Office, Toronto, at the following remarkably low prices :

Superior Brass Mounted Orrery, (3 feet in diameter) ...... £2 10 0 Superior Brass Mounted Tellurian (for explaining change

of Season, Tides, Eclipses, &c.).

Terrestrial Globe and Stand, 5 inches in diameter, see wood cut above, (Singly 6s. 3d)

20 Geometrical Forms and Solids, including block to
illustrate the extraction of the cube root, (See cut)....
Numeral Frame, for teaching Arithmetic with ease
Lunarian (for illustrating the Phases of the Moon and centre
of gravity,)......

Beautiful 24 inch Hemisphere Globe, hinged (Singly 6s. 3d.)
Explanatory Text Book,

Box, varnished, with lock and key to contain the above....
Charge for entire set, including box, &c., &c. .....
Any of the articles may be obtained separately; also Page's
Theory and Practice of Teaching: or the Motives and
Methods of good School Keeping, an admirable Teacher
and Superintendent's Manual, pp. 349. See Journal of
Education, Vol. III. page 176,

Morse's Geography, with Maps and Wood Cuts,...
Davies' Grammar of Arithmetic

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CURRENCY. Os 2d

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Parker's Compendium of Nataural Philosophy,
Sullivan's English Dictionary:
Hullah's Manual of Vocal Music,

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Mayhew's Popular Education,

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Set of Mechanical Powers (8 sheets) beautifully coloured,. Map of Canaan, with route of the Children of Israel, plan of encampment, &c., &c., (22 by 30 inches)

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Wickham's Chart of Punctuation, on board (24 by 40 in.). Reading Tablet Lessons 1s. 4d-Arithmetic, do. 28. 4d-Natural History and other Object Lessons at various prices-National Maps and Books, at the prices fixed above-Johnston's Agricultural Chemistry Is. 3d— Hind's Lectures on ditto, 1s. 3d--School Registers, ruled, 1s 3d-School Act, Forms, Circulars, &c., 1s. 3d-Barnard's School Architecture 7s. 6d., &c. &c. &c.

WANTED a TEACHER for Section No. 6, Finch. Salary £30,

with board. Apply to J. Cauthart, J. Steven, and J. Stephenson, Trustees. Feb. 22, 1851.

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TORONTO: Printed and Published by THOMAS HUGH BENTLEY, TERMS: For a single copy, 5s. per annum; not less than 8 copies, 4s. 41d. each, or $7 for the 8; not less than 12 copies, 4s. 2d. each, or $10 for the 12; 20 copies and upwards, 3s, 9d. each. Back Vols. neatly stitched supplied on the same terms. subscriptions to commence with the January number, and payment in advance must in all cases accompany the order. Single numbers, 74d. each.

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PERSPECTIVE VIEW OF THE SECTION SCHOOL HOUSE ERECTED AT BARRINGTON, RHODE ISLAND.
(For plans of interior arrangements, &c., with explanation, see page 52.)

No. 4.

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We have prepared a series of biographical sketches of the princi-. pal promoters, or founders of modern systems of popular education, which we hope will prove interesting and valuable. Our series, arranged chronologically, will include sketches of the life and labours of Oberlin, Pestalozzi, DeFellenberg, Lancaster, Bell, Jacatot, and other distinguished educators.

John Frederic Oberlin was the Pastor of Walbach, an obscure village in the north-eastern part of France, situated in the Ban de la Roche, or Steintahl, which signifies the Valley of Stones. From

his childhood to the day of his death, he was remarkable for his disinterestedness. He lived only to do good. He refused more eligible situations, for the sake of leading an humble and laborious life in the Ban de la Roche, simply because the people were very poor and very ignorant, and he could nowhere else be so useful.

The Ban de la Roche has been singularly fortunate in having had the work of general education carried forward with zeal and discretion by the religious instructors of its population, from the year 1750 to the death of Oberlin in 1827. The predecessor of Oberlin was M. Stouber, a man of a less ardent temperament, but who, like himself, had the remarkable merit of perceiving the necessity of instructing the great body of the people, undeterred by those vain fears, and uninfluenced by those obstinate prejudices, which, in nations calling themselves enlightened, have so long opposed the progress of knowledge, upon the principle that popular ignorance and state security are inseparable. M. Stouber began his pastoral office by reforming the village schools. The principal establishment for the elementary instruction of the district was a miserable cottage, where a number of children were crowded together, wild and noisy, and without occupation.

He set about procuring new schoolmasters; but the trade was considered so disreputable, that none of the more respectable inhabitants of the canton would undertake the office. Stouber, like a wise man, changed the title of the vocation; and though he could not obtain schoolmasters, he had no difficulty in finding superintendents for his schools under the dignified name of 'Messieurs les Régents. These worthy men were soon in full activity, Stouber printed spelling-books and reading-lessons for the use of his pupils, and built a log-hut for a school-house. The progress made by the children induced their parents to wish to read, and a system of adult instruction, during part of the Sunday, and in the long winter evenings, was established throughout the canton., Stouber persevered in his admirable labours for fourteen years, when, his wife dying, his situation lost a principal charm, and he accepted the station of pastor to St. Thomas's Church, at Strasbourg. He found a succes

sor in Oberlin (a native of Strasbourg, and brother of the celebrated Professor), who had been educated for the ministry, and who was ardently looking for some cure in which his pious zeal might be fitly exercised. He entered upon his charge in 1767, in the twentyseventh year of his age.

Oberlin's situation was a singular one, and to some minds it would have been sufficiently discouraging. He was of an enthusastic nature, devoted to his profession, ardent in the attainment of knowledge, and anxiously desirous to communicate it to others. The people amongst whom he was thrown were still lamentably ignorant. They suffered Stouber to teach their children to read, because their schoolmaster was an ancient officer amongst them; but Oberlin's notions of education were much too comprehensive for their understandings. He found them speaking a rude patois, which as effectually separated them from communication with the rest of mankind as their utter want of roads. The people at first did not comprehend his plans or appreciate his motives. Ignorance is always suspicious. They resolved not to submit to innovation. The peasants agreed on one occasion to waylay and beat him, and on another to duck him in a cistern. He boldly confronted them, and subdued their hearts by his courageous mildness. But he did more he gave up exhorting the people to pursue their real interests; he practically showed them the vast benefits which competent knowledge and well-directed industry would procure for them. These mountaineers in many respects were barbarians; and he resolved to civilize them. The Ban de la Roche had no roads. The few passes in the mountains were constantly broken up by the torrents, or obstructed by the loosened earth which fell from the overhanging rocks. The river Bruche, which flows through the canton, had no bridge but one of stepping-stones. Within a few miles of this isolated district was Strasbourg, abounding in wealth and knowledge and all the refinements of civilization. He determined to open a regular communication between the Ban de la Roche and that city; to find there a market for the produce of his own district, and to bring thence in exchange new comforts and new means of improvement. He assembled the people, explained his objects, and proposed that they should blast the rocks to make a wall, a mile and a half in length, to support a road by the side of the river, over which a bridge must also be made. The peasants one and all declared the thing was impossible; and every one excused himself from engaging in such an unreasonable scheme. Oberlin exhorted them, reasoned with them, appealed to them as husbands and fathers-but in vain. He at last threw a pickaxe upon his shoulder, and went to work himself, assisted by a trusty servant. He had soon the support of fellow-labourers. He regarded not the thorns by which his hands were torn, nor the loose stones which fell from the rocks and bruised them. His heart was in the work, and no difficulty could stop him. He devoted his own little property to the undertaking; he raised subscriptions amongst his old friends; tools were bought for all who were willing to use them. On the Sunday the good pastor laboured in his calling as a teacher of sacred truths; but on the Monday he rose with the sun to his work of practical benevolence, and, marching at the head of two hundred of his flock, went with renewed vigour to his conquest over the natural obstacles to the civilization of the district. In three years the road was finished, the bridge was built, and the communication with Strasbourg was established. The ordinary results of intercourse between a poor and wealthy, a rude and an intelligent community, were soon felt. The people of the Ban de la Roche obtained tools, and Oberlin taught their young men the necessity of learning other trades besides that of cultivating the earth. He apprenticed the boys to carpenters, masons, glaziers, blacksmiths, and cartwrights, at Strasbourg, In a few years, these arts which were wholly unknown to the district, began to flourish. The tools were kept in good order, wheel-carriages became common, the wretched cabins were converted into snug cottages; the people felt the value of these great changes, and they began to regard their pastor with unbounded reverence.

He had many prejudices to encounter in carrying forward the education of this rude population. He desired to teach them better modes of cultivating their sterile soil; but they would not listen to him. "What," said they, "could he know of crops, who had been bred in a town.". It was useless to reason with them; so he instructed them by example.

The instruction which Oberlin afforded to the adults of his canton

was only just as much as was necessary to remove the most pressing evils of their outward condition, and to impress them with a deep sense of religious obligation. But his education of the young had a wider range. When he entered on his ministry, the hut which his predecessor had built was the only school-house of the five villages composing the canton. It had been constructed of unseasoned logs, and was soon in a ruinous condition. The people, however, would not hear of a new building;-the log house had answered very well, and was good enough for their time. Oberlin was not to be so deterred from the pursuit of his benevolent wishes. He applied to his friends at Strasbourg, and took upon himself a heavy pecuniary responsibility. A new building was soon completed at Walbach, and in a few years the inhabitants in the other four parishes came voluntarily forward, to build a school-house in each of the villages. Oberlin engaged zealously in the preparation of masters for these establishments, which were to receive all the children of the district when of a proper age. But he also carried the principle of education farther than it had ever before gone in any country. He was the founder of infant schools. He saw that almost from the cradle children were capable of instruction; that evil habits had began much earlier than the world had been accustomed to believe; and that the facility with which mature education might be conducted, greatly depended upon the impressions which the reason and the imagination of infants might receive. He appointed conductrices in each commune, paid at his own expense; and established rooms, where children from two to six years old might be instructed and amused -and he thus gave the model of those beautiful institutions which have first shown us how the happiness of a child may be associated with its improvement, and how knowledge, and the discipline which leads to knowledge, are not, necessarily

"Harsh and crabbed as dull fools suppose."

The children, in these little establishments, were not kept "from morn till noon, from noon till dewy eve" over the horn-book and primer. They learnt to knit, and sew, and spin; and when they were weary they had pictures to look at, and maps, engraved on wood, for their special use, of their own canton, of Alsace, of France, and of Europe. They sang songs and hymns; and they were never suffered to speak a word of patois. This last regulation shows the practical wisdom of their instructor.

When the children of the Ban de la Roche-the children of peasants, be it remembered, who, a few years before the blessing of such a pastor as Oberlin was betowed upon them, were not only steeped

"Up to the very lips in poverty,"

But were groping in that darkness of the understanding which too often accompanies extreme indigence when these children were removed to the higher schools, which possessed the most limited funds when compared with almost the meanest of our common schools in the country, they were taught reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, astronomy, sacred and profane history, agriculture, natural history, especially botany, natural philosophy, music, and drawing. Oberlin reserved for himself, almost exclusively, the religious instruction of this large family;-and he established a weekly meeting of all the scholars at Walbach. The inhabitants of Strasbourg and of the neighbouring towns from which the Ban de la Roche had been recently cut off, came to look upon the wonders which one man had effected. Subscriptions poured in upon the disinterested pastor ;-endowments were added. Well did he use this assistance. He founded a valuable library for the use of the children; he printed a number of the best school-books for their particular instruction; he made a collection of philosophical and mathematical instruments; he established prizes for masters and scholars; he published an almanac which he gave to his people.. The children of Oberlin's schools were taught whatever could be useful to them in their pastoral and agricultural life, and whatever could enable them to extract happiness out of their ordinary pursuits.. They were incited to compose short essays on the management of the farm and the orchard; they were led into the woods to search for indigenous plants, to acquire their names, and to cultivate them in their own little gardens; and they were instructed in the delightful art of copying these flowers from nature.

The wonderful improvements he had made in the Steintahl, and the religious and enlightened state of his little community, excited universal interest and admiration. The goodness of Oberlin becama

fame; and in the decline of life the excellent old man was visited by foreigners from various parts of the world, who came to pay their tribute of respect to the venerable pastor of the Ban de la Roche.

He died in June, 1826, at the age of 86. At the moment of his departure the tolling of a bell announced to his anxions people that their "Father Oberlin," as they affectionately called him, had "gone hence to be with them no more." Their sorrow was deep and universal. Notwithstanding the incessant rain that poured down for several days previous to his funeral, all the inhabitants, young and old, from the remotest corners of the Ban de la Roche, assembled to pay their last tribute of respect to their instructor, benefactor, and friend. His Bible and clerical robes were laid upon his coffin, and the Mayor affixed to the funeral-pall the decoration of the Legion of Honour. Twelve girls standing around the hearse, sang a hymn in chorus. The coffin was borne by the magistrates, and the children of the different schools established by Oberlin chanted, at intervals, sacred hymns prepared for the occasion. The procession was more than two miles in length. In front walked the oldest inhabitant of the Steintahl, carrying a cross to be placed upon his grave, on which was engraved in open letters, the simple and affecting epitaph, Papa Oberlin.

FAMILIAR SKETCH OF A COMMON SCHOOL IN
GERMANY.

The following familiar sketch of the every day routine of a German elementary school, from DICKEN's Household Words, is intended as a keen satire upon those persons who are satisfied with the worst and cheapest description of school houses and school masters for their children :

Just step into the interior of one of these same German schools, and see what manner of outlandish work is going on. There! Did you ever see the like of that! Call that a school! The boys are comfortably seated, and the master stands !

Mean-spirited fellow, there he stands, as though it were he who had the hardest work to do! The room is lofty, airy, and well warmed; the children sit, I do believe, in absolute enjoyment of the lesson. No other sound interrupts the teacher and his class; the other classes are under the same roof in other rooms. Ruined by luxury, there sit the children-with a grown man, and what's worse, a trained and educated man, standing before them, pouring out his energies. He isn't hearing them their lessons out of a book; the lesson they have learned out of a book, he is explaining with all the art of a lawyer, enlivening with anecdotes, sprinkling about with apt questions. The children are all on the qui vive, and asking questions in their turn-why don't he knock 'em down for their impertinence? See! now he asks a question of the class-up go two dozen little hands! The owners of those little hands believe that they can answer it. There he selects one to answer, who looks pleased at the distinction. When the next question comes, he'll tackle some one else.

Now comes a lesson in geography. He takes a piece of chalk, and turns to the blackboard. Dot..dot..dot. There is a range of mountains. As soon as its shape is defined, the children eagerly shout out its name. In five seconds the names of five rivers are indicated, and named as fast as they are drawn, by the young vagabonds, who watch the artist's hand. Down go the rivers to the sea, and-dot..dot.. dot..-a dozen and a half of towns are indicated, every dot named in chorus. Then comes the coast line, boundaries of countries, provinces, and other towns. In ten minutes there is on the board a clever impromptu map of Germany, and the children have shouted out the meaning of every dot and stroke as it was made. They think it better fun than puzzles. Very pretty.

Now there he is, beginning at the school-yard, talking of its size; then advancing to a notion of the street; then of the town, then of the province, and leading his pupils to an idea of space, and the extent of country indicated upon such a map. Truly abominable all this is! Where's the discipline, I should like to know? If a school is not made the preliminary Hall of Sorrow, how are men to grow up, able to endure such a House of Trouble as this world notoriously is? How can the mind be strengthened more effectually than by giving it at first the daily task to learn by rote,

an exercise of simple memory? The less the task is understood, the more the memory is exercised in learning it; and so the better for the child. What will become of a man whose ears when he was young were never boxed-whose hands were never bruised by any ruler who in his childhood regarded canes in no other light than as objects of botanical curiosity? What I say of a boy is, that he ought to be thrashed. My notion of education—and I believe the British nation will bear me out in what I say my notion is that we ought to have a decidedly unconfortable school roomvery hot-a good, dizzy, sleepy place, with lots of repetition of the sane thing, to insure monotony-and that the children should learn by heart every day a certain quantity of print out of school books. That they should show that they have learned it by repeating it before their teacher, who must sit down and look big, upon a stool or a chair, and have a cane or ruler on the desk before him. That while saying their lessons, they should stand uncomfortably, and endure, Spartan like, the wholesome discipline of fatigue, blows, bodily fear, and great mental perplexity. That's the way to learn. It's well known. Don't we all remember what we learnt that way? The teacher who has only to hear whether certain words printed before him are repeated accurately to detect, perhaps, if he don't mind that trouble, errors in a sum-to direct a writing class-the teacher, who can read, write tolerably, add, subtract, multiply, and divide with moderate correctness, and who has the knack of filliping upon the head, with a stern manner, for the sake of being what is called a strict disciplinarian—that's the jockey to manage children.

But those Germans, who write three hundred volumes on the science of teaching for every one we get in England on this subject, think quite otherwise. In all their states by practice, and in some by special law, the knocking of heads, the pulling of ears, and all such wholesome pleasures, are denied the schoolmaster. Flogging is resorted to, most rarely. The following is a school regulation of the Government of Austria. Austria, my English

friend!

"The teacher must carefully avoid hastily resorting to the rod; he must neither box a child's ears, nor pull or pinch them; or pull its hair; or hit it on the head, or any tender part; or use any instrument of punishment than a rod or stick; and that only for great faults. Even then, this kind of punishment may only be resorted to after having obtained the consent of the Landrath, and of the parents of the child, and in their presence."

THE ART OF TEACHING.

Teaching is an art, and it must be learned as much as any other art. To give instruction in the best manner, to conduct and govern a school so as to make it answer its chief end, is a work of great difficulty and importance. Tact in teaching is in fact the art of so communicating knowledge, that the pupil shall understand subjects sought to be imparted; and associating what is thus received with other and previous attainments, he may be led at one and the same time "to cultivate his original faculties," and store his mind with useful knowledge. Says one, "he who would be an accomplished physician, must study principles, as well as see cases." In like manner, he who would be a successful teacher, must look beyond systems to the principles on which they rest. The man who imagines himself a teacher, qualified for the responsible duties of an instructor, merely because he has seen others teach in a particular way, is just as much an empiric, as a pretender in medicine, who occasionally walks through the wards of an hospital. The art of communicating knowledge has its principles-principles which lie deep in the philosophy of our nature.

Some of the best minds in our country and in Europe have for several years been employed in elucidating these principles, and in discovering the best methods of imparting instruction. The day for quack pedagogues is passed. A teacher to be successful in his high calling, must not only be thoroughly acquainted with all branches which he proposes to teach, teaching principle as well as facts, but he must possess extensive general information, have a good knowledge of human nature, possess good common sense and prudence, ease of communication, the ability of inspiring in his pupils an enthusiastic love of knowledge, the power of maintaining good government, self-control, an amiable disposition, attractive

personal accomplishments, and a character eminent for purity and excellence.

A thoroughly accomplished teacher is as rarely to be met with, as an individual of the highest merit in any of the professions or other responsible callings of life. And no person can excel as an instructor, who does not make some special preparation for his work, and acquaint himself with the philosophy of teaching, and the art of conducting and governing a school.

School Architecture.

The engraving on the 49th page, taken from Barnard's Architecture, represents in perspective a section school house in the town of Barrington, Rhode Island-the most attractive, convenient, and complete structure of the kind in any agricultural district in the State-and, it is believed, in New England.

The house stands back from the highway in a lot, of an acre in extent, and commands an extensive view up and down Narraganset Bay, and of the rich cultivated fields for miles in every other direction.

The building is 40 feet long by 25 wide, and 12 feet high in the clear, and is built after working plans drawn by Mr. Teft, of Providence.

The school room is calculated to accommodate 64 pupils, with seats and desks each for two pupils, similar to the following cut, and arranged as in figure 2.

The end-piece, or supports, both of the desk and seat, are of castiron, and the wood-work is attached by screws. They are made of eight sizes, giving a seat from ten inches to seventeen, and a desk at the edge next to the scholar from seventeen to twenty-six inches from the floor.

Fig. 2.

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There is also a district library of about 600 volumes, containing a large number of books of reference, such as Dictionaries, Encyclo. pedia, and a variety of the best text books in the several studies of the school, to enable the teacher to extend his knowledge, and illustrate his recitations by additional information. There are about one hundred volumes selected with reference to the youngest class of children, and about 400 volumes in the different departments of useful knowledge, calculated for circulation among the older pupils, in the families of the district generally.

More than sixty section school houses have been erected in Rhode Island on the same general plan as that presented in the cuts of the Barrington and Gloucester school house, with some slight variations required by the nature of the site, or the peculiar views of the majority of the district, or of the building committee, in each case. The following plans present some of these modifications. The first is 34 ft. by 25, and the second, 36 ft. by 27.

B

Fig. 4.

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