neat, substantial fence, with a yard in front of the school house, common to the whole school for recreation and sport; and two yards in the rear-one for each sex, separated by a high board fence, and provided with the necessary out buildings. Shade trees should be planted upon the ground surrounding the school house, which will add much to the beauty of the site and be a protection from the hot rays of the sun in summer, and the cold winds in winter. An appropriate place for fuel should be provided, and this should, at all times when it is necessary to be used, be supplied in sufficient quantity and of good quality, that the school room may be readily warmed for the comfort of the scholars, and that one half of the morning session may not be lost in almost fruitless attempts at warming the room with green or decayed wood taken from a snow heap. Every school house should be provided with a well, or so situated that water may be casily procured for the use of pupils and teacher.

The building should be large enough to have a separate entry for each sex; a room for recitation, apparatus, library and other purposes; and a school room large enough to accommodate all the children in the district who are entitled to attend the school of the district, and allow each one so attending it at least 175 cubic fect of air, s ace enough to go to and from his seat without disturbing any one else, to sit comfortably in his seat, and enable the teacher to approach each scholar, and pass conveniently to any part of the room. The entries should be furnished with scraper, mat, hooks, shelves, bas 'n and towels, and thus furnished, will promote health, prevent confusion and impropriety, and aid in securing habits of order and cleanliness. The school house should present a handsome exterior and in every respect an inviting and attractive appearance; calculated to inspire children and the community generally with respect to the object for which it is devoted.

3. THE SCHOOL ROOM-SEATS AND DESKS.

In determining the details of construction and arrangement

for a school house, due regard must of course be had to the varying circumstances of country and village of a large and small number of scholars, of schools of different grades, &c. In a great majority of the districts of the state as they are now situated, and will be for some time to come, there will be but one school room, with a smaller room for recitations, library, apparatus, &c.

This must necessarily be arranged and fitted up for scholars of all ages. In small villages and populous country districts, at least two school rooms should be provided, one fitted up exclusively for the younger, and the other for the older pupils. In large villages and cities, a better classification of the schools can be adopted, and of course, more completeness can be given to the construction and arrangements of the buildings and the rooms appropriated to each gade of schools.

In the construction and arrangement of the seats and desks of a school room, due regard should be had to the convenience, comfort and health of those who are to occupy them; and to secure these objects, they should be made suitable for use by those who will occupy them, for the young and not for grown persons, and of varying heighs for children of different ages, from four years to twenty. Under the description of "Plan No. 1," for a school house will be found the dimensions for seats and desks of four different sizes.

The Hon. Henry Barnard, in his invaluable work entitled "School Architecture," a book that should be in the possession of every school district, particularly if they contemplate erecting a school house, remarks as follows upon the subject of seats and desks for school rooms: "They should be adapted to each other, and the purposes for which they will be used, such as writing and ciphering, so as to prevent any awkward, inconvenient or unhealthy positions of the limbs, chest or spine. They should be easy of access, so that every scholar can go to and from his seat and change his position, and the teacher can approach each scholar and give the required attention and instruction, without disturbing any other person than the one concerned. They should be so ar

ranged as to facilitate habits of attention, take away all temptation and encouragement to violate the rules of the school on the part of any scholar, and admit of the constant and complete supervision of the whole school by the teacher. Each scholar should be furnished with a scat and desk, properly adapted to each other, as to height and distance, and of varying heights; the seats from nine inches and a half to fifteen and a half, (with desks to correspond,) for children of different ages or size. The seat should be made so that the feet of every child can rest on the floor, and the upper and lower part of the leg form a right angle at the knee; and the back, whether separate from or forming part of the adjoining desk behind, should recline to correspond with the natural curves of the spine and shoulders."

The desk, for two scholars, should be at least four feet long and from twelve to eighteen inches wide, with a shelf beneath for books, and an opening in the back side to receive a slate. "The upper surface of the desk, except three or four inches of the most distant portion, should slope one inch in a foot. On the level portion along the line of the slope there should be a groove to prevent pens and pencils from rolling off, and an opening to receive an ink-stand. The top of the ink-stand should be on a level with the desk. The end pieces of the desk should be so made as to interfere as little as possible with sweeping, and a free circulation of air. The desk should not be removed from the seat either in distance or height, so as to require the body, the neck or the chest to be bent forward in a constrained manner; or the elbow or shoulder blades to be painfully elevated, whenever the scholar is writing or ciphering. These last positions, to which so many children are forced, by the badly constructed seats and desks of our ordinary school houses, have led, not unfrequently, to distortion of the form, and particularly to spinal affections of the most distressing character. Such marked results are principally confined to females of delicate constitutions, and studions and sedentary habits. While boys and young men engage in active exercise and sport during the recess and at the close of the school, and thus give relief to the over

strained and unnaturally applied muscles, and restore the spring of elasticity to the cushion-like substance which gives flexibility to the spinal column; girls exercise less in the open air, indulge but little in those sports which give variety of motion to the joints and muscles, and are confined to duties and studies which require their being seated, out of school hours, too much and too long at any one time."

A volume of testimony, from the most distinguished members of the medical profession, might be given, showing the evil and dangerous effects resulting from the use of improperly constructed seats and desks; but it is deemed unnecessary to produce testimony upon a subject so plain to the observation and common sense of every one.

To adopt further the language of Mr. Barnard: "No child should, under any circumstances, be long or frequently exposed to any one or all of these causes of discomforts, deformity, or disease. Seats and desks can be as easily and cheaply made of different heights, and for convenient and healthy postures, as they are now without reference to such considerations.

Little children are made to suffer, and many of them permanently, from being forced to sit long in one position, without any occupation for the mind or muscles, on seats without backs, and so high that their feet cannot touch, much less rest, upon the floor. Nothing but the fear of punishment, or its frequent application, can keep a live child still under such circumstances, and even that cannot do it long.

Who has not an aching remembrance of the torture of this unnatural confinement, and the burning sense of injustice for punishment inflicted for some unavoidable manifestation of uneasiness and pain? Even though the seats are as comfortable as can be made, young children cannot, and should not, be kept still upon them long at a time, and never without something innocent or useful to do, and under no circumstances longer than twentyfive or thirty minutes in one position, nor so long at one study, and that with frequent and free exercise in the open air. To

accomplish this, great and radical changes in the views and practice of teachers, parents, and the communities, inust take place. Nowhere in the whole department of practical education, is a gradual change more needed or should be sooner commenced."The school room should be properly warmed, whenever a fire is needed, and kept at an even temperature of about sixty-eight degrees; and as stoves are mostly used for this purpose, the pipe should be carried as high as possible over the heads of the scholars to a flue within or next the wall. A vessel, supplied with pure water should always be kept on the stove to give moisture to the atmosphere of the room.

4.-VENTILATION.

Every school room should be provided with means of ventilation, for the escape of vitiated air from the room, and for the admission of pure air within the room. The air of the room is constantly undergoing a change by being respired, rapidly losing its vital portions, and being otherwise rendered unwholesome and impure by the insensible perspiration of the inmates, and by burning fires. The importance of some arrangements to effect a constant supply of pure air, not only in school rooms, but in any room where any considerable number of persons assemble, has been overlooked, to the inevitable sacrifice of health, comfort and all cheerful or successful labor. But public attention is now being directed to that subject, and due importance, in many instances, attached to the necessity of providing proper means of ventilation, as is shown in very many of the public rooms and buildings in every part of the State; and it is hoped that the reform in this respect, will not fail to reach every school room in the state. Most of the union school buildings are provided with ample means of ventilation, but a great majority of school houses of the State are without any such humane provisions, unless it be opening an outside door, or raising the lower sash of the windows, a means resulting in as many ill effects as no means at all. For by opening a door or raising the lower sash of a window, a