Resolved-That this sudden removal of our respected friend and fellow laborer should, stimilate us to renewed diligence and faithfulness in our various duties. Resolved-That these resolutions be published in the District School Journal and Teachers' Advocate, and that a

copy be sent to the widow of the deceased.

L. B. PERT, Sect'y.

A. C. STEDMAN, Pres't.

STATE OF NEW-YORK.

SECRETARY'S OFFICE,

Department of Common Schools,

}

ALBANY, April 8, 1848.

reared amongst us, but other, and perhaps nobler and purer examples, be multiplied without end.

We have read the numerous eulogies pronounced upon Mr. Adams, whenever from their authorship, they promised to contain anything worthy of perusal; and we should deem it false shame to refrain from saying, that in reading these tributes to departed worth, we have often been moved to tears. But our sorrowing was not so much because a great and good man had been summoned to his reward, for he had done his work, and was borne to his grave, "like as a shock of corn cometh in his season," but we have mourned because their was not five,-nay, fifty men in his

Having almost daily to answer the question wheth-native state, all ready, all intellectually and morally

er the County and State Certificates granted previous to the School act of Dec. 15, 1847, are annulled by that act, the Department would state that such Certificates are considered valid, and the persons holding them qualified teachers.

State Certificates are still granted upon sufficient testimonials of moral character, ability and learning. But the Department will require every applicant, in addition to the qualifications of learning and moral character, to bring evidence of having taught during the ordinary school terms of two years, to the satisfac

tion of the Trustees of the Schools.

CHRISTOPHER MORGAN,
Supt. Com. Schools.

From the Mass. Common School Journal.

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS.

fill his place, in the councils of the nation, in the equipped andreplenished, not merely to occupy, but to republic of letters, and in the chivalry of hurling the gauntlet at wrong.

Nature interposes no obstacle, heaven interposes no obstacle, to the realization of such a desire. Had not lected, in past times, then, this very day, they would the means to produce such men been criminally negstand thickly around us, majestic in their lofty proportions, and radiant with a celestial light. But the spring time was suffered to pass unheeded, and now trict which Mr. Adams represented in Congress have the harvest is wanting. The constituency of the disexplored their whole territory in vain; they have gone from town to town, searching as with a candle, to see if they could find a man, who could follow him and stand in his place, without a sense of the ridiculous; but they have searched in vain, when every schoolhouse in it ought to have supplied his equal.

It is one of the most meritorious and far-shining excellencies of Mr. Adams,-an excellence which we that he owed what he was, far more to the indefatigahave seen no where made sufficiently prominent,bleness of his personal efforts, than to the vastness of his original endowments;-more to the use of the talents entrusted to him than to the number of them. And in regard to his great moral worth, he was, doubtless, more indebted to his mother's teachings, or transfusions-during the first ten years of his life, than to all subsequent influences.

The death of Mr. Adams has been made to supply arguments in favor of religion, morality, independence, beneficence, utility. Religious men have seized upon the event, to set forth the claims of religion. Moral men have held up his public, and especially his private life, as a model and example. The advocates of "individualism," or of personal independence, or isolation, illustrate the merits of their theme, by appealing to his self-reliance, his self-guidance, and that heroism which enabled him to brave the greatest of more such mothers. The single prodigy, here and Why, then, have we not more such men; aye, and all political perils,—the peril of standing alone. The there, consists not a hundredth part so much as in champions of human rights condense all their elo-God's bestowment of extraordinary gifts, as in the quence into one word-that word being his name.— Even the cold utilitarians are made to confess, that, in the long run, honesty is the best policy.

a

But are not the life and character of Mr. Adams, mine which can be worked by the educationist, with even greater success than by any other person; from which he can draw the richest ore to be refined into truth for the redemption of the world.

The vast attainments and exalted character of Mr. Adams, were not matters of chance. They sprung from causes as specific, and were matured by laws as certain, as those by which corn grows and water runs. God, in his ineffable bounty, gives us power to use these laws, and repeat these causes as often as we please. He gives us power, therefore, through obedience, to form mankind after the highest models of purity and excellence; or, through disobedience, to deform them into the slaves of selfishness and appetite.

to be productive of the nighest results, it is necessary
extraordinary use of gifts ordinarily bestowed. But,
the acquisition of intellectual or moral greatness, not
to commence this use at the earliest period; for, in
less than in the acquisition of wealth, the law of com-
pound interest prevails; and the first years of delay
prevent the last mighty reduplication. If the precious
all the labors and expenditures of men or us
on of childhood and youth is suffered to go by,
will be ineffectual to repair the loss.

The boys are now in the schoolroom and in the nursery, from whom, under no more than God's common blessing, a host of such lofty men as Mr. Adams may be reared; and the boy of the poorest men in Massachusetts may be one of them. The daughters are now in the schoolroom and in the nursery, from whom an angel-like company of such mothers as Mrs. Adams may be prepared, and the poorest and most laborious mother in Massachusetts may number Hence, it must be, that there is a way for preparing as one of these jewels, a daughter of her own. even the greatest men. There is a way, by which ery school district in the State may turn out its moral even small men can prepare great ones; by which heroes,-both men and women,-fashioned after those the aspiration after excellence can produce the excel-noble prototypes; and every town in the Commonlence it admires. There is a way, as we fully be- wealth, as the birth place of the great and good, may leve, by which, not only such men as Mr. Adams be be as honored and renowned as the birth-place of the

Ev

departed. But if universal education be neglected, wiser and better rulers, we must have a wiser and a or its machinery be worked only by a reluctant or a better constituency. feeble hand, then this nation, with all its capacities Our country does not suffer, no nation since the for happiness and elevation, must pass through a Christian era has suffered, because enough of truth cycle of cuch calamity and tribulation, as has never has not been revealed, and made accessible to men. blackened the pages of the world's history, black as They have suffered, because men do not love the they are; and if, during the period of its declension, truth, adopt it, and walk by its light. A few great a few noble and majestic forms, like that which has and good men,-prophets or priests,--may discover just been stricken down, should here and there rise all the truths that lie between us and the Omniscient; into view, they would be only like the lines of stat-yet it is all in vain, and it will be all in vain, until the ues which adorned the forum of Ancient Rome, and whole can be led to welcome these truths, and to emwent on lengthening while the Republic went on de- body them in life. generating.

What we need then, is, a better and wiser people. We need that our fellow citizens, so far as the time for this work has not passed by, should be made better and wiser men. Emphatically, we need that our children, our sons and our daughters even more than our sons, should be trained and reared into a better and wiser generation. Then a man, like the illustrious deceased, will be no longer a rarity, a prodigy, the wonder of a century! All, or substantially all, may be made to approach his excellence, many to equal it, some to surpass it.

When reflecting on the administration of public affairs, another thought, having a closer affinity to this subject, has often pressed itself upon our mind. We believe there has not been one, among all the questions, which, for the last twenty years, have shaken this country from centre to circumference, which have arrayed State against State, and have tossed the people like the billows of an angry sea-we do not believe there has been one amongst all these questions,-whether the expulsion of the Indians from their native soil, nulification, tariff, bank, finance, the We are aware that it is often said, that the improveright of petition, or the wrong of war,-which might ment of the race, through the instrumentalities of ednot have been settled by twenty man-loving, God-ucation, necessarily looks to a period so remote, that fearing men, in twenty days,-such men as Wash- the strength of the motive relied on, is lost in the disington, Franklin, Madison, or Samuel Adams,-and tance and dimness of the object that inspires it. Were settled, too in such a manner as to satisfy the intelli- there any validity in this mode of reasoning, the argence and moral sense of the whole civilized world, gument would be a strong one. But, to our mind, and so as to command an historical verdict of "well the force of the argument is just the other way. If done," from posterity. Why then, all these civil com- centuries of years, or centuries of geological epochs motions through which we have passed; why such a must intervene between the beginning and the convast portion of the talents of the country enlisted in summation or final reward, then, is not the reason writing for the political press, in order to lead or mis- for beginning immediately, so much the stronger?— lead ignorance, or engaged in haranging portions of If, at all events, the end is to be so remote, does not the people for whom the written word would be in this fact aggravate the criminality of delay? vain; why this manoeuvring for political success, on so stupendous a scale, at the return of each Presidential campaign; why so much of the time of the people at large, withdrawn from the pursuits of industry, or the advantages of study, and expended in the arena of strife, whether the village club-room or the national mass meeting; why so many millions of money lavished for the purpose of informing, arousing, suborning, or purching voters; why such obloquy, such frauds, such perjuries, such party despotism attended upon triumph, and such vengeance burning under defeat? Why, we ask, have all these shames and calamities happened? Have they not happened, because Ignorance, like a blind Samson, has been struggling to tear down the pillars of the temple which Knowledge should have upheld, and because party interests and personal interests have drowned the voice of patriotism and humanity by REWARD OF LITERATURE. their insane clamors. We do not here pretend to sav. Stowe, the famous historian, devoted his life and ween night of who has exhausted his patrimony in the study of English antibeen wrong, in these civil dissentions; but it is cer-quities; he traveled on foot throughout the kingdom, tain that some one, or some many, must have been inspecting all the monuments of antiquity, and rescuattrociously wrong. ing what he could from the dispersed libraries of the What, then, is the remedy? Does any one an- monasteries. His stupendous collections, in his own swer, that the remedy must consist in filling our pub-hand-writing, still exist, to provoke the feeble induslic offices with men more wise and more upright? try of literary loiterers. He felt through life the enWe rejoin that we shall never have better men in of-thusiasm of study, and seated in his monkish library, fice, till we have better men out of office, who will put the good ones in. A voter selects his representative for the Ceneral Court, or for Congress, as he does ish coat or his hat, at a shop-because he likes it, or because tt is the best one for him that he can find. Elective rulers reflect the character of the electors, as a mirror the face of him who looks upon it. Would we have purer and more copious streams, we must have purer and more copious fountains. So, would we have

One of the most important uses, then, to which we would apply this great national calamity,-the death of Mr. Adams,-is to inspire teachers with a desire to replace him,-to prepare followers worthy of him. The hundreds of young men, and the hundreds of young women, in the State of Massachusetts, who are now toiling in obscurity, whose only emolument is a scanty subsistence, and whose honors, in most cases, are more akin to those which a martyr wins, than to those which a conqueror wears, can assist in filling the land with high, noble, devout men, who, when they are gone, will reflect their virtues, as from the hundred burning foci of a multiplying glass. In this way, they can imitate the Savior, and perfect their praises from the mouths of those who are now "babes and sucklings."

living with the dead more than with the living, he was still a student of taste; for Spenser, the poet, visited the library of Stowe, and the first good edition of Chaucer was made so chiefly by the labours of our author. Late in life, worn out by study and the cares of poverty, neglected by that proud metropolis of which he had been the historian, yet his good humor did not desert him; for being afflicted with sharp pains in his aged feet, he observed that his affliction lay in that

EDITOR'S TABLE.

THE PRINCIPLES OF GRAMMAR: being a compendious treatise on the Languages, English, Latin and Greek; founded on the immutable principle of the relation which one word sustains to another. By SOLOMON BARRETT, Jr.. Philolo gist.

It contains many valuable principles of grammar, arranged in a new and original manner, in which a number of propo sitions are set forth as fixed and immutable principles of language, and maintained by illustrating their application to the respective languages named in the title page.

part which formerly he made so much of. Many a mile had he wandered, many a pound had he yielded, for those treasures of antiquities which had exhausted his fortune, and with which he had formed works of great public utility. It was in his eightieth year that Stowe at length received a public acknowledgment of his services, which will appear to us of a very extraordinary nature. He was so reduced in his circumThis work has been upon our table for several days, receiv stances, that he petitioned James I. for a license to col-ing such attention as the odds and ends of time would allow. lect alms for himself, 66 as a recompense for his lahor and travel of forty-five years in setting forth the Chronicles of England, and eight years taken in up the survey of the cities of London and Westminister, towards his relief, now in his old age, having left his former means of living, and only employed himself for the service and good of his country." Letters pa- This work displays ingenuity and a very clear knowledge tent under the great seal were granted. After a penu- of the constructiun of language on the part of its indefatigarious commendation of Stowe's labors, he is permit-ble author, who is well known as an instructor of grammar. ted "to gather the benevolence of well-disposed people within this realm of England; to ask, gather, and take alms of all our loving subjects." These letters patent were to be published by the clergy from their pulpits; they produced so little, that they were renewed for another twelvemonth; one entire parish in the city contributed seven shillings and sixpence Such, then, was the patronage received by Stowe, to be a licensed beggar throughout the kingdom for a twelvemonth! Such was the public remuneration of a man who had been useful to his nation, but not to himself!

THE MISSION OF THE TEACHER.

Many fine things have been said concerning the mission of teachers; a mission truly important, inasmuch as they are commissioned not only to teach a few elementary branches of knowledge to the children of the people, but to direct their education as men and citizens. The best that has perhaps been written on this subject, is to be found in a memorial which the Minister of Public Instruction addresses to them. "Humble as the career of the schoolmaster may be," says the Minister," and though doomed to pass his whole existence most frequently within the sphere of a small community, his labors are, nevertheless, felt throughout society at large, and his profession is as important as that of any other public functionary. It is not for any merely local interest, that the law demands that every man should acquire, if possible, the knowledge which is indispensible in social life, and without much intelligence often languishes and degenerates; it is for the state itself and the public interest: it is because liberty is certain and steadfast only among people enlightened enough to listen, in every circumstance, to the voice of Reason. Publio olomontary instruction is one of the guarantees of order and social stability. Doomed to pass his life in discharging the monotonous duties of his vocation, sometimes even in struggling with the injustice or the ingratitude of ignorance, the schoolmaster would often repine, and perhaps sink under his afflictions, did he not draw strength and courage from another and higher source than that of immediate and mere personal interest. A deep sense of the moral importance of of his duties must support and encourage him; and the austere pleasure of having rendered service to mankind, must become the worthy recompense which his own conscience alone can give. It is his glory to pretend to nothing beyond the sphere of his obscure and laborious condition; to exhaust his strength in sacrifices which are scarcely noticed by those who reap their benefit; to labor, in short, for his fellowbeings, and to look for his reward only to God.".

The Book is dedicated, with a very appropriate compliment, to the Young Men's Association of Albany. It is sold for FIFTY CENTS, being a low price for the amount of labor it must have required at the hands of its author.

EDUCATION IN MICHIGAN.-The Supt. of Public Instruction of Michigan, has published a compilation of his annual reports, for the years 1815, '6 and '7. The work indicates an excellent condition for the Schools of Michigan, and is enriched with valuable suggestions on the subject of education.

TOULD respectfully call the attention of Printers a
lishers to their Establishment, for STEREO] : Nu

PRINTING MATERIALS & BOOK PRINTING.

They have prepared themselves with all the necessary chinery and material,-supp.ied themselves with large fonts of new and beautiful Type, expressly for the business,--and with execute orders of any size, for St reotyping Bocks, Pamphlets, Circulars, Cuts, &c., with accuracy and in a style equal to any stablishment in the country.

PRINTING MATERIALS.

B. S. & C. have also, completed their arrangement to keep on

hand, a constant supply of Printing Materials of every description.
embracing NEWS, BOOK and Plain and Fancy JOB (metal) TYPE,
from Pearl to four line Pica; WOOD TYPE; BRASS RULES of
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to a complete Printing Office-all of which they will furnish to
Printers, or others as low as can be bought in New York. The
patronage of the craft is respectfully solicited.
CARDS, of every variety of quality, color and size, supplied at
the lowest New York wholesale prices.

BOOK PRINTING.
Executed in the neatest style, and at short notice, vll zum
superior Presses.
Syracuse, April 1, 1848.

TEACHER'S INSTITUTES.

WORK ON TEACHERS' INSTITUTES: Now A in press and will be issued by the 1st of May next, including their origin, progress, and proceedings in the state of New York and other States; a synopsis of the discussions on modes of teaching; practical suggestions on orga nizing and conducting them; and the late Law of this State making an appropriation. It will contain 144 pages, and may be sent to any part of the U. S. A. for 5 cents postage. Address S. R. Sweet, Saratoga Springs, E. H. Pease & Co., Albany, H. H. Hawley & Co. Utica, or Stoddard & Babcock, Syracuse. Price, 25 cents the single copy-5 copies for April 1, 1848. one dollar...

PRICE REDUCED TO SIX DOLLARS.

In the language of an eminent critic, "in its Definitionsthe object for which nine-tenths of our references to such a work are inade-it stands without a rival in the annals of English lexicography." These definitions, without abridg

ment or condensation, are only given in this, Dr. Webster's Elementary Sounds of the English Language.

larger work-and are not found in any mere abridgments, or works on a more limited plan. It contains THREE TIMES the amount of matter found in any other English Dictionary compiled in this country, or any Abridgment of this work, yet it is sold at a trifling advance above the price of any other and limited works.

TESTIMONIALS.

This Chart was arranged and prepared by D. P. PAGE. Principal of the New York State Normal School, and has received the unqualified approbation of hundreds of Teachers, who have it in daily use in their schools Mr. Page has been long known to the public as an experienced Educator, and it is believed that in no department have his efforts been crowned with greater success than in that of Elocution; The Chart embodies the results of many years' experience and a 'tention to the subject, and it is confidently expected that it will soon become to be regarded as the Standard, on the matters of which it teaches, in all our schools. No work of so great

[From George M. Dallas, Vice President of the United States.] "The crown Quarto edition ought to receive universal favor, as a monument of American intellect and erudition, equally brilliant and solid-more copious, precise and satisfac-importance. has probably ever been before the public, that has in so tory than any other work of the kind.-March, 1848.

[From Pres. Olin, of the Wesleyan University.] "Webster's American Dictionary may now be recommen ded, without reserve or qualification, as the best extant.Dec., 1847.

[From Pres. Hitchcock of the Amherst College.] "I have been in the habit of using Dr. Webster's Dictionary for several years past, in preference to all others, because it far exceeds them all, so far as I know, in giving and defining scientific terms."

From Rev. Dr. Wayland, Pres Brown University, Providence, R. I.] "I have always considered Dr. Webster's work in Lexicography as surpassed in fulness and accuracy by none in our language."

"The new Edition of Webster's Dictionary, in crown Quarto, seems to us deserving of general patronage for the following reasons:

In the exhibition of the Etymology of the language, it is superior to any other dictionary.

short a time been received with so many marked tokens of favor
from Teachers of the highest distinction. Though there are other
Charts before the public, of merit, yet it is believed that the Normal
Chart, by the pecullar excellence of its analysis, definitions, direc-
tions, and general arrangement, will commend itself to the atten-
tion of all who have in view the best interests of their schools.—
The Chart is got up in superior style, is 56 inches long and 45 wide,
mounted on rollers, cloth backs, and portions of it are distinctly le-
gible at the distance of fifty feet Price Two Dollars.

The Chart can be obtained of 1 S. Barnes & Co, and Bunting
ton & Savage, New-Yerk city; Wm. J. Reynolds, Boston; G. & C
Merriam, Springfield, Mass.; E. II. Pease, Albany; Young & Hart
Troy,; S. Hamilton, Rochester: Oliver Steele Buffalo; F. Hall
Elinira; D. D.Spencer & Co., Ithaca; J. C. Derby & Co, Auburn
Bennett, Backus & Hawley, and G. Tracy, Utica; M. C. Younglove,
Cleveland, Ohio; J. J. Herrick, Detroit, Michigan; and of Booksel-
lers generally. Agents who wi h to purchase the (hart, supplied
on liberal terms by
HALL & DICKSON,
July, 1847.
Publishers, S. racuse, N. Y.

FROM S.S. RANDALL.
SECRETARY'S OFFICE,

[Here follow specifications of its excellence, in its Definitions, Orthography, Pronunciation extent of Vocabulary. ta- Department of Common Schools, bles of Geographical, Scripture. and Classical Proper names.] We recommend it to all who desire to possess THE MOST COMPLETE, ACCURATE AND RELIABLE DICTIONARY OF THE LANGUAGE.

Albany, Jan. 25, 1846. Mr. L. W. HALL, Dear Sir:-I have examined the "Normal Chart of the Elementary Sounds of the English language, arranged and prepared by David P. Tage, Principal of the State Norinal School, and have no hesitation in cordially recommending its introduction into our District Schools. It may wherever deemed advisable be procured under the authority conferred by the latter clause of the 16th section of the Act of 1843, as a portion of the "Scientific Apparatus for the use of Schools," under the conditions specified in that section. Yours, respectfully, S.S. RANDALL, Deputy Superintendent of Common Schools.

NEW YORK, Aug. 19, 1846. Messrs. HALL & DICKSON: Sirs-The Elementary Chart of Normal sounds, prepared by D. D. Page, Esq., Principal of the State Normal School, is in my opinion, calculated to supply a deficiency that has long been felt in our schools. Students who are exercised upon it, cannot fail to acquire habits of distinct utterance and to be arranged on philosophical and correct principles, and the correct enunciation. The table of the Elementary sounds appears schools. Chart taken as a whole is eminently deserving a place in all our T W. FIELD,

Teacher Ward School No. 3, N. Y, City.