North-Carolina journal of education

              THE NORTH-CAROLINA
JOUKNAL OF EDUCATION.
Vol. II. AUGUST, 1859. No. 8.
Mx\NNER OF EDUOATINa FEMALES.
An Essay prepared by Mrs. Delia W. Jones, at the request of the Association, and
read at the medinj in Newbern, Juik, ISj'),
Among the popular topics of the
present day, is one that has been
seldom appreciated, long neglected,
and though occasionally experi-mented
upon, is so vaguely under-stood,
that the hope of benefitting
the world has been abandoned in
despair by patternmongers ; who,
doubtless, deem the matter too ab-struse
for flippant minds, while
they who accredit themselves with
high intellectual powers, judge it
to be entirely unworthy their dis-tinguished
consideration. The for-mer
have not the intellect to meet
the subject, the latter are unwil-ling
to stoop to details of so trifling
and insignificant a character as are
comprehended in the very names
of Female Education and Female
Schools.
It would be difficult to find any
just cause for this Auew of a sub-ject
affecting, materially, the hap-piness
and well-being—the useful-ness
and attractiveness of one half
of humanity, yet so it is ; and as
it concerns only the weaker half,
it is viewed with especial indiffer-ence.
The ?ieef/5 of the case are
so great that it is scarce to be won-dered
at that, since among our
Lords and Masters, no champion
can be found ready to fight the bat-tles
of ambitious womanhood a-gainst
folly and ignorance, that
ourselves should occasionally ven~
ture to take up the gauntlet, and
ill defiance of custom, tell the world
t hat in addition to our known and
confessed ability to talli, we would
also learn to think, and be taught
how to direct thought so as to en-able
us to talk more wisely.
I bog you to cast aside the thought,
(if ever you have entertained it,)
that women are but the necessary
complemen ts of an establishmen t
predestined household drudges
—
or even in a more refined view
pretty ornaments to a handsomely
furnished parlor—beings found to
please and passively be pleased
much as a child amuses one by it«
artless prattle and charms by its
infimtile beauty, and is as easily
gratified in turn, by simple sports
and gayly-painted toys. This age
of the world, so wise and intelligent
in many other respects, shouldlook
upon woman's mission in a differ-ent
light; and begin to see the pow-
16
228 N(j I' til- Carolina Journal 0/ Education. [August
erful, yet silent influence that is
hers to exert at home—among
yotith, the aged, and even upon
those who adjuive and love, yet
scarce acknowledge that the object
of their devotion possesses mind,
f'Oul and powers of intellectual en-joyment,
as well as themselves.
Minds capable of cultivation and
as much benefitted by it as theirs —in what degree, I do not suppose,
for it matters not whether one sex
or the other is preeminent in in-tellectual
strength, if only woman,
poor woman, is allowed a fair op-portunity
and proper method for
developing the powers whether
strong or feeble, that God has
given her.
Do you think I complain for
want of schools ? If that Averc so, I
could not have read the papers, for
oil the pages of a Virginia week-ly
I have often counted upwards
of thirty school advertisements, in-cluding
every grade, and nearly as
many in this State. It is not mirn-htr
that calls for lamentation, but
the quc'Mty of these schools—the
vrant of suitableness in the studies,
and equally as much the inade--
<|uate proportion of time for com-pleting
them, that is allotted to
females.
There is a standard by which
the opposite ses receives such
mental training as fits them for
any business or profession upon
which they may enter. The wis-dom
of years, and even ages, has
prescribed a course of study that
is necessary and almost indispensa-ble.
The would-be jui'ist, fiom the
day that he declares his intention
of devoting himself to law, can see
the whole way before him—his
studies and the time for pursuing
them are allotted to him. If the
young man would act in a clerical
vocation, his way is just as clear
'
—so is it with the thorough me-chanic,
the sea-farma- man, &c.,
and if no particular calling is be-fore
the student, and he aims to bo
as the phrase is—" a man of the
world "—a gentleman of leisure,
fitted for society, the complete col-lege
course with its accompanying
literary societies and abundant li-braries
refines his taste and ren-ders
him conversant with all in
books and general literature that
will render him agreeable and
make him welcome wherever he
may go. Another diff"erence be-tween
the education of males and
that of females is the time and
years devoted to study. A certain
preparatory course must be gone
through with, and the student must
have reached a stated age before
he can enter college. This age is
nearly that, which emancipates a
young girl from school. His course
of study runs through a term of
years, (not months.) His profes-sion
afterwards demands yet anoth-er
long period of study, and he is
very seldom fitted for the practice
of a profession before he is twenty-tvi^
o years of age, and often is found
a student yet to graduate and begin
life for himself when he has reach-ed
thirty years of ag..
.
He has devoted from six to
twelve years to great mental labor:
his mind is well-disciplined and
well-stored, and his judgment has
matured with his increasing study
and knowledge. I'ew girls who
graduate at fifteen, have spent
more tlian three or four years, and
often less than half that time at
school. What mental development
can be looked for in such cases ?
Long before a woman is twenty
years of age, custom, (inexorable
tyrant,) demands that she should
have ended her school days. In
other words, she goes to school
1859.] Educallng FemaleSk 2'2Q
while she is giddy and thoughtless —while she can be of no service to
any one at home—while she is at
the least controllable age. Her
"eourpe of study/' with hardly a
thought or reference to her previ-ous
knowledge, is that belonging
to the school she enters. She
passes through in form^as hundreds
have done before her, with the
peculiar impress of that institution,
a limited, because hasty, knowl-edge
of books, a few local expe-riences
and no fitness for after-life —unable to count change for a
dozen and a half of eggs at twelve
and a half cents per dozen or to
write a short letter correctly—not
even familiar with the mysteries of
knittingstockingSjOrmalcingbroad.
To some there may seem to be a
counterpoise to the above deficien-cies
in her aecomplighments, but
to persons who are able to judge of
them, even these are not thorough-ly
learned, and generally enter up-on
a rapid decline whoi the school-room
is left, and die out complete-ly
when the young lady becomes a
wife. There is often a reason for
this superficiality in female educa-tion,
and one may be found in a
case like the following : a girl with
poor home advantages^—perhaps an
occasional attendance at the com-mon
school, or what is as bad, a
school with irequent change of
teachers, is sent to a Seminary, In-stitute,
College, or some high-titled
school, with the inl'ormation to the
lincipal that she is to "go" one or
' wo sessions and yj?iisA there. If
ather "old"—say fifteen—the par-
.nts think she ought to "graduate."
Iler knowledge of the basis of an
education may be imperfect, a-mounting
in fact to nothing, since
there has been no system in her
previous study.
For the glory of that particular
Institution, the teacher feels corj-pelled
to do something, and as the
something must inevitably be hum-lug,
it may as well be on a brilli-ant
scale, and the scholastic forcing
pump is put in requisition. She
dips into books she has not the
capacity to understand, gains a few
disconnected, misplaced ideas, and
as she draws near that almost fabu-lous
period in girl-life " years of
discretion"—on the verge of a pe-riod,
when the books, studies and
teachers of past years might bene-fit
her incalculably, she goes out
into the world—her manners per*
haps cultivated, but her mind only
prepared for cultivation. She is,
however, either more conceited by
her imaginary acquisitions, and
more fixed in her stupidity, or be-ing
aroused by he-r inability to un-derstand
and her previous super-ficiality,
it becomes a life-time re-gret
to her that she has to aban-don
study just as she begins to see
the need of it.
There is a want of adaptation
—
a want of completeness in this, that
makes men laugh at the very name
of education as applied to females.
And often they may well laugh at
the foolish things that, with the
title of Graduated, emerge fi-ora
the school room and enter the
arena to conflict with life.
This should not be. Thevforld
is sufficiently enlightened and ex-perienced
to solve the problem
"how shall women be educated?"
and it is high time that the ways
and means be earnestly sought for.
It is most urgent that, the founda-tion
of education should be upon
a basis so broa<l. strong and per-fect
as to defy the winds, waves,
and all but the pure breath of
truth . And you will please accept
the opinions I off"er in this article
as merely suggestions upon which
230 Kofih-VafoUnci JournUi of Education. [Atigust,
by argument and counsel you may
together begin the frame work of
a system that shall bring out and
properly cultivate the powers of
woman's mind. While so many
misfortunes are attributed to wo-man,
I can but believe that there
is a balance of good that belongs
to her position, that needs only a
proper cultivation of mind to bring
it out, and I would, that men had
the charity to seek the best meth*
od for doing this.
It is needless for me again to
enlarge upon beginnings, yet here
lies the secret of so many succes-ses
as well as failures. As in the
building of a house, that which
most affects the strength, durabili-ty,
and regularity of the work is
fehe rough beginning—the joists,
sills, beams and posts which, when
the work is finished, are forever
liid from view—unless they be
accurately put together, the work
is good lor nothing, so in Educa-tion
there is a simple ground work;
a strong framing—the correctness
of which will materially affect the
after work. That which attracts
the multitude is often the outward
adorning—the finish of the house —the manners of an individual.
While these may be and are worth
very much, yet female education
seems often to begin and end in
manners—to consist of nothing
else.
Ease and grace should certainly
be cultivated from early years, but
knowledge and intelligence is the
first thing; the polish of society
(superadded to this,produces the fas-cination
of manners met with rarely
save in the creations of fictionists,
but when met, is not readily for-gotten.
The fundamentals of edu-cation,
though comprised in three
words-^ Spelling, Reading and
Wxiting, are not the simple and
always easy things that they a^e
generally considered: although they
are taught within the walls of the
much despised common school, it
is a most rare and uncommon
thing to find them taught with
anything like the ''spirit and un-derstanding."
The tendency of men's minds
now-a-days is to exh-emes. Terms
are either so generalized as to lose
their proper significance in the
multitude of their inferences and
applications—or so narrowed down
that the bare word has scarce the
clothing of an idea—it is under-stood
in its closest sense ; for fear
of too much ornament or extrava-gance
every thing that can charm
or allure is left out, and in lieu
thereof, they take the other ex-treme
and do not give the full
value to words and names. It is
in this latter sense that these ru-diments
are viewed. They are
looked upon as branches so elemen-tary—
so devoid of thought and
interest that the merest boy or gii-I
is competent to instruct other chil-dren,
provided only they are the
juniors. The idea theM is confined
to a spelling book, a reading book,
and a copy book, which by no
means circumscribes the rudiments
just named.
I would that a little health?
life and action might be engrafted
into the meagre frame of common
school instruction, and one way to
do this is to allow a fuller mean-ing
to the branches there taught,
which, of itself, will create an in-terest
in the minds of pupils and
then the good will begin to work.
I am aware that my ideas may
Siee»«, to stretch the point too far,
but I shall be glad if they can be
instrumental in removing the present
land marks but half my way. Be-cause
our grand fathers travelled
1859.J Educating Females. 231
one particular road, there is no
reason why we should ever follow
and never seek a better. The
rains, and storms, and other natur-al
changes will render the once
broad, smooth avenue, a difficult
and perhaps dangerous route, and
necessity calls for new ways though
the adventurer who seeks them
never fails to be called Quixotic,
and theoretical.
I. Spelling.
In order to become familiar
with words, this is the first step,
by which Webster's frontispi eces
(^the Temple of Fame on a danger-ous
eminence) is reached by
many a route. Combined with
spelling, and introducing the young
mind to ideas which, to apply to
the rules just learned, is the system
of defining,—not committing page
after page of a Dictionary indis-criminately
and without ordej or
arrangement, but words, in some
manner classified, either according
to length, sound, accent, meaning
or contrast. But a short at^idy of
Definitions and the pupil may at-tempt
composition in the form of
short sentences given orally and
containing such words as the teach-er
may select, from previous lessons.
Derivations follow, and may be
learned with only such acquaint-ance
with the Languages as com-mitting
a few words with their
definitions. School books have
been prepared and are now in use
that will enable the English stu-dent
to learn the meaning and
derivation of words far better than
they are understood by many a
person who calls himself a classical
scholar.
A glance at half the letters writ-ten
by intelligent young ladies (as
well as gentlemen) of the present
day, will convince any one that
this is a branch of education sad-ly
neglected, far from belonging
to the juvenile department, it is
well worthy the careful attention
of maturer years. Spelling indeed
should be a constant study from
the first school dav, till the rules
and usages of good writers and
etymologists are as familiar as the
alphabet ; in fact, till the omission-or
change of a letter in a word,
should seem to the eye like a blot
on the page.
II. Reading.
It is very rare to find among la-dies,
so matter how complete have-been
their school advantages, good-readers,
I mean of course, those-who
read aloud well,—so as to re-ceive
and give the meaning of an'
intelligent writer and interest list-eners.
In nearly all schools, (and
particularly in Common Schools,
when the number of pupils is over-flowing,
and the variety of Read-ing
book* almost equal to a circu--
lating Library,) reading is the first
and a hurried duty,, through which'
classes are hastened in order tc
make way for the- so-called "more-important
bssoas" of th© day.
But this is wrong • from it arisen
those wonderful blunders and mis-nomers
which amuse the public in
a constitutional or premeditated
Partington, but sink the heart of
a teacher, in the endeavor to cure
the habit of calling words by their
appearance—reading as we may
say, hy eye, rather than inind>
Such an one generally derives- as-little
benefit from the exercise oi.
reading aloud, as do those who lis-ten.
A bad reader is commonly
one who dislikes it—who will not
make the exertion of thinking
about it : the listener is in constant
worry from the misapprehensiocB
and misconceptions of the reader,
and the anxiety of one equals the
distaste of the other. On the oth-
"232 North- Carolina Journal of Education. [Angust,
cr band, a careful pronunciation
and correct iatonation, both of
which are given as perfectly bj the
ujind as "viva voce/' enables the
reader to derive tenfold greater
benefit from books, and no little,
aids the njind in retaining the ideas
of an another. It pleases hearers
as well £3 intelligent convevsa-tion
and by being well-doae, becomes a
source of enjoyment as well as
profit to all engaged in it.
III. "Writing follows naturally
in the Wake of spelling and read-ing.
. A clear, neat style of pen-manship,
though only themechau-
-cal part of writing, may be made
a graceful accomplishment. Few
things could so favorable predis-pose
one towards an unknown la-dy,
as the reading of a well-word-ed
letter, written in a clear and
2:raceful manner. The intelligence
shines forth in the style of com-position,
and if the penmanship
is W'cll executed, one is prepared
to meet a lady in the true sense
of tlie word in the writer. In
writing bower, the mere execu-tion
of the copy book should not
be the sum of the art, but after
any style at all is formed, it should
be devoted to applying rules for
spelling, punctuation, &c., thatt
have been previously learned, thus
fixing in the mind one branch ofstu-dy,
while practicing g^nochcr. To
some persons, the daily formation
of alphabetic characters is so diffi-cult
and disagreeable a task, that
little progress is made. As a va-riety
that will please as well as
prove useful, or perhaps a prelim-inary
to penmanship, the art of
Drawing may be introduced, grad-ually
and systematically—first out-liiiing
sim^jle geometrical figures,
on slates or black board—defining
and deseribing them in all their
parts find relations^ and afterwards
drawing them with pen and ink
in the copy book. Still later
even before geography becomes a
study, if the pupil is sufficiently
advanced in writing and drawing,
outlining maps, a state at a time or
a few counties, will be interesting —the teacher explaining all that
cannot be understood at a glance,
thus givi'ng the pupil a tlioiight to
bear in mind and apply, while
executing the drawing. " In my
childhood the permission to copy
simple figures was a reward for
the studious, and urged many to
study faster in order to have a
little time to learn drawing. It
is not without its uses, particular-ly
to females. The use of the eye
for drawing and cutting patterns
for home \s[Qxk is as much a neces-sity
as the knowledge ol sewing,
and would save a deal of trouble
by placing every woman in an in-dependent
position in the house-hold
economy ; experience will be
necessary to adapt this little art^
yat that is readily acquired.
—
However—this early attention to
the art in this simple way may
dcvelope talent that otherwise
would never appear.
After being made familar with
the pen and its uses, tiie pupil is
ready to continue composition, in
which daily exercises will be no
disadvantage, for if she has no op-portunity
to use it in after life save
letter writing, it is desirable to do
that well—as almost any lady would
wish to do if she chanced to have
to reply to love letters.
Circumstance or inclination may
call forth her powers in some other
way, an"d if she never has opportu-nity
to go to school another day
after she has become a good speller,
penman and reader, she has a world
of enjoyment and usefulness within
her reach : the ability to extend her
1859.] Educatinrj Feniahs. 2B:3
information indefinitely by reading,
making herself really accomplished
in a conversational way, and an
agreeable,interesting and influential
person in the ordinary walks of
life. Another subject I had nearly
overlooked in connection with these
primary studies.
Too constant application to one
theme is a fault in teaching small
pupils. How many a sorrowful,
perhaps stupid, child is seen in
every school-room, with the torn
spelling book hanging listlessly in
one hand, the other stretched in
company with a sleepy yawn—ej'es
gazing wearily in every direction
save book-ward. The attempt to
study in that state does the child
positive injury : the little one can-not
help feeling and doing as it
does—but the teacher can apply a
more powerful remedy than scold-ing
or punishment. Teach children,
from the first schooldays, lo sing
and exercise in unison. Vv^henever
weariness, lassitude and inattention
pervade the ranks, call out the
forces and go through a short ez-ercisc—
wake up the body—sicg a
simple tune and arouse the mind,
and with brighter eyes and better
spirits and better capacity to learn,
they will all, from least to greatest,
return to their books. This simple
recreative exercise will be the germ
of good choirs in country churches —of merry singers by secluded fire-sides,
a cheerful amusement, so
elevating in its tendency as to keep
many a young person, from evil
company and downward paths.
—
The power of music is very great,
and particularly upon the young,
softening the character and re-fining
the feelings. Poets have
sung of the charm of a sweet voice
in woman, and aside from the
poetry, there is a great deal of
reality \n the words and their effect.
For no reason do I think singing
should be omitted. It is a gift of
nature—the human voice was evi-dently
designed to bo used in sing-ing
as well as talking, and therefore
should be cultivated. It is an ac-complishment
as free to the million
as the tens—to the country lad and
maiden is given as much right to
siag and be happy singing, as to
the wild bird of the forest.
Grafted upon the first studies
that occupies the child are three
other branches, introduced as soon
as the child can read well enough
to understand the meaniugof simple
sentences. They generally are
named grammar, geography and
arithmetic —• though the reverse
order is more natural ; of the three,
beginning with arithmetic, not writ-ten
but mental. "Why grammar
has so often the precedence I can-not
determine, unless because the
simplicity of the preliminary ques-tions
of the universal Smith gives
the impression that it can be better
understood, at ' an early age, than
any other study. Grammar more-over
deals ivith words, ideas, &c.,
that have nothing tangible about
them to the mind of a child—noth-ing
to fix the attention. It would
be far easier to make clear to child-ren
most principles of philosophy,
since the subjects treated of admit
of experimental illustration hav-ing
reference to things that can be
seen, felt and heard, and reach the
perceptions of the young throu"-a
channels that it can understand.
The definitions and rules alone in
grammar are easily enough learned,
requiring only memory. > The
more difficult and important part is
the application of those rules.
The reasoning powers of a child
lately made acquainted with the
elements just named are not suiii-cieutly
developed and cultivated to
2S4 North- Carolina Journal of Educaiion. [August^,
enable it to carry on the train of
thouglit demanded in this study.
The inability to comprehend gram-mar
at the time it is 'studied'
makes it a disagreeable topic, and
for that reason it is nerer learned
with success afterward?, though oc>
easionally dipped into under the
complimentary aame Parsing —
generally understood as "s^ell as pro-nounced
Passing.
On the contrary, all children,
even if not of mathematical turn of
mind, find great delight in count-ing,
and before a child can read, a
good deal of arithmetic may be
learned ; showing that the young
mind has an aptitude for it. A
few months since, an article in the-
Educational Journal (taken from a
Massachusetts paper) upon the
anbject of Mathematics, lead me to
a new view of the subject. That
article advocated the introduction
of Geometry before Arithmetic, as
being a study that could be readily
understood, since so simply de-monstrated.
This view ^vould
chime with my ideas of extending
the name of Penmanship so as to
make it embrace the first principles
of drawing. Arithmetic is the
great means of bringing out the
reasoning powers, and enabling
the mind to concentrate itself upon
the subject in hand, and is an ac-quisition
that applies to the cir-cumstancesof
every person . The pro-cesses
of thought are simple at first
and progressive, and the whole
study gives the mental training
*that nothing el^e at this prior can
afford. The" inability to understand
arithmetic is considered a feminine
weakness, but that inability is
mainly attributable to the fact that
it is not commenced till late, and
then, without the advantage of a
previous knowledge of mental arith-metic,
they are put into written
arithmetic and very soon give it
up as something too hard, unless-there
is a natural fondness for the
study that leads them to surmount
difficulties.
Next in progression is Geogra-phy—
a wonderful study to wonder
loving minds, and should be pur-sued
in connection with such his-torical
readings as bear tipon the
localities treated of in the le,«sons.
Not only will this be found use-ful
in fixing the subject in mind,
but, avoiding technicalities, facts
and sketches from Geology and
Natural History as connected with
particular countries may diversify
and heighten the interest of the
study. Nothing sq, charms the ear
of childhood as accounts of strange
f)henomena, and all the more de-ightful,
if only true. Indeed this
is so universally the craving of the
young, that when their companions^
and attendants have not the intel-ligence
to relate facts for their di-version,
they resort to unnatural
substitutes in the style of the Arab-ian
Knights, though far less ingeni-ous.
At this point in study, histories
as reading books seem to me best
suited to the wants of the pupil,
reserving selections from different
authors till the study of Grammar,
Rhetoric, &c., have enabled the
mind to judge of their worth and
beauty. Let the history of a coun-try
or people be first read, then:
learned as a lesson, recited in the-form
of written abstracts, the lat-ter,
frona memory—collecting facts —comparing dates, &c. Thus stu-died,
history would be learned with
accuracy, yet tchere has a young
lady the time to take up any topics
so thoroughly. This branch alose
demands more time than often
elapses between the thumbing of
the first spelling book and the date
1859.J Educating Females. 235
of the young lady's marriage.
The order in which I have nam-ed
these first studies, and the man-ner
of pursuing them ia that which
seems easiest and most natural for
developing and informing the mind.
These having been taken up thor-oughly,
the mind is prepared for
the higher and more difficult topics
that follow.
Thus far, I have confined myself
to studies that come within the
range and reach of the masses, who
frequent only the common schools,
^nd I am content to stop here, with
only a few words on the higher
branches, satisfied that what is
well begun can hardly fail to be
finished advantageously. The kind
of reading books I have suggested
are of a difi'erent character, and
the teacher's information necessar-ily
more extended than custom de-mands
for the elementary branch-es.
Yet though custom has thus
far expected but little, it is no rea-son
for thinking ther© should be
no higher standard. Men seldom,
if ever, reach the acme of their
ambitious desires, but the higher
they place their standard, the high-er
they soar, and it will not be a-migs
to strive for great imj>rove-ment.
Raise the standard for com-juon
school teachers :—by some
means, infuse a life and animation
into their labors—a little interest
in their otherwise dull tasks. I
was about to sly, throw a little of
the glow of imagination around the
subject of teaching, but the rough-
Jaewn, comfortless log huts desti-tute
of every attraction and com-fort
within and without would
hardly inspire the moat deeply im~
aginative mind, but rather damp
the ardor of any persoc^j less zeal-ously
devoted to the sause than
our Common School Superinten-dent.
The precincts of thft primary
school beiog left—there arise be-fore
the youag lady, the walls of
the Academy, Seminary, Institute
or college where she is to learn a
vast deal, and graduate, very ac-complished,
within a certain tiose.
The catalogues of most of these In-stitutions
present an array of books
most learned in their titles, but
who does not know that one half
are merely substitutes for the other
half whenever the principal may
see fit to take up one instead of the-other
? Not one third of the re-mainder
are thorougly learned,
whether for want of time or incli-nation
depending on the individ-ual
undergoing this course of lit-erary
trtuiment. Within the brief
space of three or four years at most
is crowded a list of subjects like the
following, though I danot recollect
the order of any particular school
at this time. The^e are Algebra,
Geometry, Trigonometry, Ancient
& Moskm Geography, Philosophy,
Che-mistry,Mechanics, Astronomy,
Rhetoric, Logic,Political Economy,.
Elements of Criticisms, Geology,.
MyVtoolology, Mineralogy, a dozen
or me^re Histories Ancient & Mod-ern,
Moral Philosophy, Butler's.
Analsgy, Essay on Will, Mmd
&c., and Mental Philosophy in
volum.gs. Latin and French, or
Italian.,. Spanish or German ; oc-casionally
a session of Greek, and
a finishing session on general liter-ature.
These with perhaps music
on numerous instruments and
Painting in various styles, with
some other ornamentals, comprise
the list that according to her Di-ploma,
the young lady who has
gone through a complete course
has pursued and learned !
It is not uncommon for a young
lady to graduate at 15 or 16 years
of age, but it is preposterous Vt
236 ISJ'ortil- Carolina Journal of Education. [August;,
suppose that at that age she is fa-miliar
with all the above named
subjects. Though her Diploma
asserts that she has studied and
been satisfactorily examined on
all those subjects laid down in the
"Course of Study/' no one, I am
sure, believes it. The time allow-ed
for learning so much would have
been scanty indeed, had every girl
only to study the solids ; but the
accomplishments take up from one-third
to one half the time, and are
often undertaken with no regard tu
the talent of the pupils. They are
learned as accomplishments merely —not as a science and art, having
bc-aulies and uses that appeal to
the mind and heart long a. tor
schools and lessons are ended.
Time will not allow further de-tails:
I have already engrossed more
time tiian I intended, since with a
shrug of impatience 1 fear many a
listener is saying at heart, '•' all
lliis tirade about women; and
from the pen of only a woman/'
and the thought warns mc to
a clase.
Just one topic more and I liavo
done. 'i^The Education of young
women in many portions of iu'anee
and Germany is deemed incom-plete
without the knowledge of a
subject so common in American
eyes, that I almost hesitate to
offend fastidious ears by naming
it. 'Tis £one other than house
wifery in all its branches. 8 jhuols
are now being establiHhod in
I'rancc as they lung have been in
Germany where it is made the ob-ject
of special attention. With
us. I regret to say it is too often
Considered as denoting poverty,
ox ignoble origin for a woman to
be conversant with the details of
home management, plain work,
and cooking. But if reasonably
vicwedj there is no subject that so
much craves, feminine intelligence
as the dil'ection of a household.
Whatever young ladies may as-sert
to the contrary, it is what
they look forward to in life, but
something for which they seldom
are prepared.
It is not safe always to rely up-on
being able to keep plenty of
servants, circumstances .may still
demand the personal supervision
of daily household duties, and her
literary attainments and varied ac-complishments
will not enable her
to prepare a palatable meal with-out
some previous practice, or t'j
direct and manage her servants,
if she. does not know in what man-ner
their duties should be perform-ed.
Yet housewifery is not with-out
the range of books. Philoso-phy
and Chemistry can be brought
to practice in the kitchen, and the
'blue stocking' without descend-ing
from her reputed literary posi-tion
may enliven her doniestie
duties by the treasure of a little
learning.
I have endeavored, in the fore-going
opinions to give weight to
those important subjects which
generally suffer from hasty and
injudicious liandling, confident
that if a thorough basis is estab-lished
the after plan of Education
will be carried out more in accor-dance
with common sense tiian it
is at present. I would not have
it understood that I would stop in
education with the few subjects I
have particularly enlarged upon.
The higher bi-anches appeal to
taste, feeling, and ambition, and
are less liable to be neglected.
—
Neither do I underrate accomplish-ments,
believing them to be home
bcsutifiers and home pleasiu'cs
and very thing that can lend a
charm to Jiome and friends should
be assiduously cultivated.
1^59.] Normal Schools. mi
Finally, in Education, I would
bcg'm early, go on gradually and
judieiously—allow years to take
tho place of months in the time
allotted to Females for schooling.
Introduce the cultivation of home
virtues and accomplishments. Cul-tivate
head, heart, and manners,
tbeoroticallj aud practically. This
done, the next age of teachers will
be able to accoa^plish much more
in their duties, and the next class
of young ladies that emerge from
school, will be so well worthy of
commendation, as to forbid the
sneer that bov too often accompa-nies
the p!i:: -e, ''An Educate^i
Woman."
REPORT ON NORMAL SCHOOLS.
Read before the ^Association at Newhern. June ibth, 1859.
(concluded.)
We are now prepared to report
that Normal Schools, have been
-commenced in America, with bright
prospects of success.
The subject of special semina..
ries and instruction for teachers be-gan
to be discussed as early as 18-
-8, in some of the journals and
pamphlets of the eastern and mid-dle
States. A.mong the leading
writers on the subject, were James
G. Carter of Boston, Rev. Thom-as
H. Gallaudet of Hartford, Wil-liam
Russell of Connecticut, Gov.
DeWitt Clinton of New York, and
Walter R. Johnson, then of Gcr-mantowu.
Pa. It was found to be
a diihcult matter to effect the nec-essary
change in the minds of the
people. Experiments were made
with such teachers as could be col-lected
for a few weeks by a few
literary gentlemen in Connecticut
for the purpose of convincing tho
public of the possibility of giving
to teachers a useful training.
—
After sixteen years from the first
under the care of Rev. Cyra^
Pierce. In September of the same
year two other Normal Schools
were established, one at ISarre,
afterwards removed to Wes6field,
and the other at ]>ridgewater.—
After a few years a Normal School
was established in the city of Bos-ton,
and one, for the training of
female teachers, in Salem. The
first school, after a continuance at
Lexington of five years, was re-moved
to West Newton, and iii
1853 was finally established at
Framingham. Thus it appears that
in the course of a few years from
the establishment of the first scho*l
of the kind, there were in the Stare
of Massachusetts five Normal Insti-tutions,
containing each from sixty
to a hundred pupils and upwards.
Four of the?e institutions are un-der
the superintendence of the
state, and the pupils receive free
tuition, but pay their own board.
The demand for these pupils as
teachers is said ro excceed the sup-discussion
of the subject, and on ply
the 4th of August, 1889, a Normal I In 1844, the Legislature of New
School of three pupils was actually i York established a Normal School
commenced at Lexington, Mass., | at Albany, as an C5:perimeat foi
238 North- Carolina Journal of Education. [Angtist;,
five years; but in 1848, having
seen pomethiag of its value, passed
an act for the permanent establish-ment,
and in that and the next
jear appropriated $25,000 for the
erection of a suitable building.
—
During the fourth session the num-ber
of pupils was 200, and is since
increased to about an average of
250. In 1848, a Normal School
was established in Philadelphia,
and in the second year following,
the total number of pupils in it
and the Model School connected
with it, was upwards of 500. The
Legislature of Pennsylvania had
not, at the date of our latest infor-mation,
actually established any
Normal institution, but has divided
the State into twelve districts with
the view of uniting with individual
or county enterprise in establish-ing
a Normal School in each.
In Connecticut, a state Normal
School was established in the year
1849, and the number of pupils
during the first term was 67.
The Legislature of Michigan
passed an act in 1849, for the es-tablishment
of one at ypsilaTiti,and
the school was in the following
year put into operation.
In the British Provinces a Nor-mal
school is in operation at Toron-to,
started in 1846.atan expense of
36O5OOO : one was established at
t<t. Johns, New Brunswick, in
1848; one in 1856, at Charlotte-town.
Prince Edward Island : and
one in Nova Scotia : and the cause
of Normal instruction in British
North America is said to be mak-ing
rapid progress.
The legislature of New Jersey
passed an act Feb. 9th 1855, for
the establishment of a State Nor-mal
School at Trenton. The school
went into operation in October of
the same year. The number of
pupils during the first term was 44,
and in last Feb., there were 118,
A large Model School is also con-nected
with it, which had, at the
latest account apirards of 300
pupils. The Normal school proper
has at least nine teacher6,and the
Model School about the same num-ber.
About 175 of the pupils have
already been employed as teachers
in the schools and academies of the
State; and, although they have
had the benefit of only one year's
instruction in the Normal School,
they axe said to have remarkable
success as teachers ; many instan-ces
could be given in which the
accumulated prsdjudice and oppo-sition
of years have been swept
away by the judicious and success-ful
efforts of these trained teachers.
The Legislatuie at first limited the
support of the School to a period
of five years ; but has since, by a
unanimous vote, rendered it per-manent.
The Institution is, in short, re-markably
popular, and seems to be
rapidly producing an entire revolu-tion
in New Jersey in regard to
schools. One important fact con-tributiag
to the success of this
School is, the fact that a Prepara-tory
School has, through the mu-nificent
liberality of a citizen,been
established at Beverly, twenty
miles distant from Trenton, in
which the pupils, by an admirable
course of study and discipline, are
prepared to be candidates for ad-mission
into the Normal School.
This Preparatory School was es-tablished
by Paul Farnum, Esq.,
has now seven teachers, and is
exerting a marked influence upon
the educational movement of the
State. It may be added, that a
very interesting experiment was
made in the School at Trenton in
gymnastic exercises, under the con-duct
of an accomplished and ex-
1859.] Normal Schools. 23»
iperlenced gymnast, on the Swedish
'plan ; it was continued three months
by private subscription and reselt-
'ed in a very maEifest improvement
'both of the health aad int'jliectual
vigor of the pupils. It is there
'considered very (desirable to have
such exer<ji-3ee continued as a part
of the regular em-ploymect ef the
,|)apils.
Much mora EQlght be fidd, did
'Our limits permit, going to show
ithatthe erperimeut of a special or
Normal training for teachers in
Kew Jersey is remarkably success-ful
and gratifying to its friends,
;and also in each of the other states
•that have, been mentioned^
The Legislature of Rhode Island
endowed a State Normal Institution
iia 1854, which is said to be iu an
;fe2ceedingl3'' prosperous condition ;
the number of pupils is nearly a
hundred, and they manifest much
aeal and desire for improvemeut.
In Maine, New Hampshire, and
"^/ertsont, vigorous and persistent
•efforts are in progress, for the es-tablishment
of Seminaries for the
training of teachers. It is consid-ered
a certainty, that these indis-pensable
auxiliaries to the great
scheme of Public Educatiou will
50oa be j'ielding their proper and
gratifyiug results to the people of
ithose Statejs. The 1,'egisiature of
Kentucky, passed an act March,
|.Oth, 1S56., to reorganize Tracsyl-yaaia
University, and establish a
,;Schoo) for Teachers. There were
by the latest account about eighty-
^ve pupils in the School, having
ithe great papt of their expenses,
.borneby the State, required to study
-at least two years, and then teach
At least as many years in the Schools
lof the State, as they enjoy the ben-efits
of the School.
In Ohio, two Normal Schools
have been established through the
efforts of the State Teachers' As-sociation
; one at Hopedale, styled
the McNeely Normal School, and
th€ other at Lebanon, called the
Soath Western. The first com-menced
operations in 1855, with
about 70 pupils, male and female,
and about 90 in the Model School.
The latter, one year and six months
from its commencement, had 130
pupils of both sexes ; and a large
proportiou of the pupils in both
these schools, were persons who
had been teachers. •"
Ir Illinois, a State Normal Uni-versity
has heeu established at
Eloomingtou . At Sheboggan, Wis-consin,
the Normal method of train-ing
teachers has been iutroduced;
ill Iowa and Mississippi, a begin-ning
has been made, and probably
in Indiana.
Thus it appears that, from the
beginning in Massachusetts 20
years ago, Normal Schools have
spread into 17 or more of the Uni-ted
States ; that whenever they
have been tried for a suiE.cient time
to exhibit their proper results, they
have risen rapidly in public estima-tion
; that their progress of late
has been at a highly increased rate;
and that they are proving thenu
selves to the satisfaction of the
public nj.ind, that they are a great
improvenjeut in the means and
methods of advancing the impor-tant
cause of education.
It is proper to state on this sub-ject,
that seme States, for instance.
New York and llhode Island, tried
to prepare teachers, on what they
thought would he a more economi-cal
piau, viz : by connecting a teach-er's
department with a number of
the academies of the State. The
State of New York appropriated to
each one of these academies, ^400.
00 annually, for the space of fif-teen
years or upwards, and thea a-
MO A^orih- Carolina Journal of Education. [Angtisi;
l)andonecl the plan as \iseless. Af-ter
their discouragiag experience,
it was with caution they undertook
to establish the Normal method.
But their doubts have been fast dis-pelled
; besides their flourishing
State Institution at Albany, they
have very successful city Normal
schools, in the cities of New York
and Brooklyn.
The plan of providing teachers
for common schools by a course of
Normal training, is the result of
lon^ezperieuce ; to bring it to its
present state of improvement, has
required the attention and labor of
many of the best minds of Europe,
as well as of a number in America.
It ofi'ers itself now to us in its high
state of improvement ; without the
expense, and toil, and discourage-ment,
necessarily experienced it its
inception and completion ; we may
now avail ourselves of its vast ad-vantages;
we think the people of
North Carolina could not now take a
wiser step than immediately to re-solve
that the plan should be en-grafted
on their State educational
system.
The number of a proper age to
be in our Common Schools is to
the number in our Colleges and
Female Seminaries, as 50 to 1. The
Common Schools ought therefore
to be considered of proportional
importance. The interests of these
schools ought to be the great sub-ject,
of our attentions, as a body of
educators.
Our state school system presents
a case of remarkable dehciency.
We have the monev, for the sup-port
of schools ; we Ixav-e the state
districted; we have the Jiouses;
we have the examining commit-
'tees, theeounty school committees,
and the state Superindent; but,
by what means are we expecting
teacliers to be provided, to be pre-pared
for their proper work ? Our
University and Colleges ai'e doing-a
noble work, are educating per-haps
a thousand young men, and
graduating two hundred annually,
and our Female Seminaries per^
haps educating as many. But
these young men are preparing^
not to be teacliers in the common,
schools ; they are preparing for^
and will generally go into, the
other professions. The Acade-mies
through the state are start-ing
a considerable number in a, .
course of education, but these are
generally to go into the colleges.
Where then are our teachers to be
provided? They^ the teachers, have
a task on their hands, the proper -
performance of which, involves at
least as much difficulty as any of
the other professions, and is as im-portant.
The other professions
have institutions and means pro-vided
for imparting the special
instruction and training which the
candidates need ; where is the
provision for that special training:
and instruction needed to fit the
teachers for the proper discharge
of their important duties ? The
consequences of this defect are a
wretched deficiency m the educa-tion
of the masses of our popula-tion
and an endangering of those
civil and religious privileges by
which our nation is so highly dis-tinguished.
It may be regarded as a hope-
\
less attempt to raise the character \
of the education of a country with-out
first raising the character and
position of the schoolmaster. The
necessity therefore of institutions
for this purpose is manifest. As
arc the teachers, so will be the
schools, and if we would improve
the one, let us elevate the other.
In the -words nearly of Mr. Bryce
of Ireland, we would remark on
1859.] Normal Schools. 241
this part of subject, that it is
commonly supposed a man who
understands a subject must, be
qualified to teach it, and that the
only essential attribute of an in-structor
is to be himself a good
scholar.
Even those who are aware that
there often exists a difference be-tween
two teachers as to their
power of communicating, conceive
this difference to be of much less
importance than it really is ; and,
if ever they take the trouble to
think of its cause, they ascribe it
to some mechanical knack, or some
instinctive predisposition
.
On the contrary, we maintain,
that when a man has acquired the
fullest and most profound knowl-edge
of a subject, he is not yet
half qualified to teach it. He has
to learn to communicate his
knowledge, and how to train the
young mind to think for itself.
—
And as it usually happens thai
children are placed under the in-spection
of instructors, who be-come
in a great measure responsi-ble
for their morals, every teacher
ought also to know how to govern
liis pupils, and how to form virtu-ous
habits in their minds. And
this skill in communicating knowl-edge,
and in managing the mind,
is by far the most important quali-fication
of a teacher.
Every teacher before entering
on the duties of his profession,
ought therefore to make himself
acquainted with the Art of Educa-tion^
that is with a system of
rules for communicating ideas,
and forming habits ; and ought to
obtain such a knowledge of the
philosophy of mind as shall enable
him to understand the reason of
ttose rules, and to apply them
with judgment and discretion to
the great diversity of dispositions
with which he will meet in the
course of his professional labors.
No man is qualified for the
delicate and difiicult work of man -
aging the youthful mind, unless
his own mental faculties have been
sharpened and invigorated by the
exercise afforded to them in the
course of a good general education.
Therefore, a community or state
can never succeed in establishing a
good system of general education,
without making some provision for
insuring a supply of teachers pos-sessed
of the qualifications just
specified ; in order to which, it is
indispensably necessary, that Pro-fessorships
of the Art of Teaching
be instituted, and that students,
placing themselves under the care
of such professors, be required to
have previously attained a good
general education, and in particu-lar,
a competent knowledge of the
philosophy of the human mind.
The business of teaching cer-tainly
deserves to be raised to the
rank of a regular profession : its
duties are none the less important
than those of the other profes-sions,
the proper performance of
those duties, nonetheless difiicult:
they require none the less of pre-paratory
study, and their discharge
should entitle the teacher to an
equal rank in society.
We are as a people, guilty of a
grievous injustice and ruinous im-policy
in denying to the sisterhood
of professions, this which should
be considered one of the most hon-orable.
Necessity of preparatory study
for the business of Teaching, if
we wish a watch repaired, we re-quire
the experience of an appren-ticeship
in the silver smith, if wo
wish a house built, we require the
like experience in the carpenter ;
nay more, if we would have a coat
"242 North- Gar&lina Journal of Education. [August,
made, or a hat, a plougli, or a shoe
made, or even a horse-shoe put on,
we require the guaranty of a pre-paratory
spprenticeship before we
employ a man to do either job.
—
How is it then that we are con-tent
to entrust the forming and
polishing of our most precious
jewels, the minds of our youth, of
the future citizens and rulers of
the state and of the church, to
the rude hands of persons having
had no preparatory apprenticeship
to the business ! We think there-fore
that it is the imperative duty
of this Association, to use its in-fluence
to provide that special
training for teachers which is so
urgently required to fit them for
their important duties.
Respectfully Submitied.
M. D. JOHNSTON.
For the Committee.
CULTIVATION OF THE TASTE.
In the extent of the means of
education possessed by our people
there is little more to be asked, at
least in those states where a free
school system exists. The duty of
government to educate the masses
as a means of self-preservation, is
now ackoowledged and acted upon
so generously that our public schools
often are superior to our private,
and the children of the wealthiest
from choice share in the instruc-tion
provided for the necessities of
the poor. Eesulting from this free
school system are many other aids
also to general intelligence. Our
largest libraries are open to the
humblest ; high dignitaries and the
hard-handed mechanic sit side by
side in the lecture room, and ad-dress
public meetings on common
topics ) and the same newspaper is
read by the occupant of the most
richly furnished parlor and the
lowly cottage of theoday laborer.
Our people of all clases are more
intelligent, more correct in the use
of their vernacular tongue, and
more cultivated in their manners,
probably, than any other in the
world.
Yet there is a defect in our edu-cation
to which attention cannot
be too strongly turned. With all
its superiority, the A.merican char-acter
is wanting in assthetical cul-ture—
in that love of nature and of
the beautiful which Grod planted in
us and designed we should exercise.
We are very prosaic, very matter-of-
fact and practical in our thoughts,
feelings, and actions. Foreigners
note this as one of their first im-pressions
of us, and its correctness
must be udmitted. We are early
trained to calculate, early imbued
with the prudent money-getting
sayings of "Poor Eichard," early
taught to ask in regard to every-thing,
cui bono.
How indifferent are our people
generally to the sensation fitly
awakened by nature's manifesta-tions
seen on every side, and to the
lessons they were intended to incul-cate
! They watch the sky with no
emotion stirred by its ever-changing
aspect, but simply to E«e if the wea-^
ther will be fair or foul on the mor-row.
The splendor of a beautiful
aurora only tells them it is time to
get up and go to work,- and ths
gorgeous hues of the most glori':us
sunset, so suggestive of pure and
holy thoughts, and of " that better
land" of which this is so faint a a
image, and of that Being who nev-er
ceases to be good, only remind
them they must cease from labor
and prepare to go to bed. The
beauty of a flower may plead for
admiration—they tread upon it
as a useless weed. A tree grows
1859.J Oultivafion of the Taste. 243
before their dwelliag, raises its
graceful forni to heaven, and would
deii2;ht the eye and aSbrd a!j,Tateful
:^hade by its foliage—yet it is cut
doM-n b(!cause the mould gathers
under its branches, and the shin-gles
rot. The swelling bnds of spring
simply tell them they ujuat throw
off their flannel; and the golden
tints of the autumnal leaves, too
rich fur the art of the painfer, ex-cite
no feeling but that w )od niusi
be housed for the approaching win-ter.
They gaze on the earth, and
think ooly of corn and potatoes;
on the illiujitable forest, and esti-mate
its cords of wood ; ou the
mouuiain towering in grandeur to
heaven, ;ind sigh over a waste that
the 'p!ow can never penetrate ; on
the ucean in its dark and MWt'ul
beaviugs, and think of c;irg(jes of
cotton and grain endangered and
in>urance to be paid ; on Niagara,
and the factories it could be made
to carry, if they would pfiy divi-dends.
This is no esjiggerated
picture of the great body ui' our
people, high and low, ignorant and
educated. Tbo.^e who from pusi
iion and superior means of culture
aright be supposed to po>;SfSS uiinds
open to beiuiy wherever seen, of
ten .seoni must destitute of any
such puwer. The luini&ter in his
walks heeds not the sermon God
prta(-.hcs to him so effectively, and
that he Uiight preach to his con-greuation
; the lawyer think of his
suits—the physician of bis drugs
—
the schoolmaster of his bad boys
In many countries of Europe,
far below us in general intelligence
and mental culture, there is a ujuch
purer and better developed nation-al
taste. In England, of tbesamej
stock, a love of flowers is univer- j
sal. The poorest ujau will have,
I
if he has room for nothing more,
}
a honeysuckle to clamber over his I
door and gladden his heart by its
fragrance and beauty. A glance
at the cottases and grounds awa-i
kens a different sensation in the
I mind of the traveller as he sees
I the taste and care manifested to
I make them attractive, from the
nakedness and deformity meeting
him in all their hideousness in his
ride through New England towns.
Of course whiieall xhese remarks
are made generally, itmust be ad-mitted
there are bright exceptions,
yet they are only exceptions. We
have beautiful gardens, too often
laid out by foreign gardeners; fioc
painters, with few buyers for their
works ; sculptors, educated abroad,
and if appreciated at home simply
from the echo of trans -Atlantic
praise. As a nation, it must be
granted sesthetical culture has been
ret;'arded, whatever may be said of
individuals.
Why is it? Vvitbout doubt,
scenery has not a little to do with,
this, and Longfellow says, the Alp?
more than hvif educate the Swiss.
Yet surely we are richly favored
in scenic attractions and g"and ex-hibitions
of nature. There is but
one Nia^rara and Trenton Falls
;
the liigl'iiands of the Hudson, our
lakes, rivers, cascades, aod many
picturesque views attract the admi-ration
of ail strangers, and have
been pronounced eveu superior to
the must celebrated objects of Eu-ropean
scenery.
Are we naturally deficient ? It
cannot be so. Our children pos-sess
a love of beauty, and often
can be heard pearls, thoughts full
of poetry, dropped from the lips
of those who in after years become
as prosaic as a book of chronicles,
as matter-of-fact as the veriest Yan-kee.
Said a little girl to her moth-er,
not long since, " I have been
eocd to-day, uammh—is not youv
J
17
iU I^orth' Carolina Journal of Education. [August^
heart full of violets ? Do not the
violets blosscin ia your heart to-day,
mumma?" And agaia, sit-ting
down by her mother, and pres-sing
her little head close to her,
she said, " Mamma, I am the bap
piest little girl in N . My
happiness is like a wreath of beau-tiful
I'oses all around my heart,
with two words written in it, from
God." What could be more ex-quisite
than such poetry gushing
iVom the overflowing imagery of a
little child ?—and in what contrast
to what that same little girl in af-ter
years might become under the
trainiag to which most of our young
are subjected !
The fault is not in our scenery,
iu that God has placed us in the
choicest of lands j nor is i want
of natural gilts, in these, of what-ever
kind, no people were ever
more highly endowed ; the fault is
in our education. The education
of our young is of the b^st kind
as far as it goes, but many facul-ties,
avenues to the most exquisite
pleasure and the bighef^t r line-ment,
are disregarded, or deadened
by the influences to which tbey are
t-'sposed. Children are thoroughly
drilled in arithmetic, grammar,
geography, and everything where
fact and reason are mutlers of in-quiry,
but there the instruction
ends. Dryness and practicality
pervade our sch')ol:-rooms and crush
out whatever is not in harmony
with them. Their influence react
on the teacher ; and the ease with
which the schoolmaster or school-mistress
can be identified, after a
few years, by the precision of eve^
ry movement and sentence, and a
peculiar air, has become prover-bial.
At home the influence is of
the same kind ; all must be prac-tical,
common sense ;
parents train
their children as they were trained.
If the child utters a poetic thought^
or gives vent to an exclamation
called forth by an exhibition of
beauty, to which his little heart
responds as God designed it should
when be created a harmony between
the earth and its occupaats, it is
not understood. Wise ones say,
the child is " too bright to live
long," and regard such expres-sions
as a " doleful sound from the
tomb," or tell the little ones to be
more sensible; that poetry and
flowers never make persons rich
nor help th^m to get along in the
world. Thus the '.hild lives, but
its stmse of beauty dies.
If the defect is in oar education,
the remedy must be there also.
Parents who direct the earliest im-pressions
of their children should
never let an object of beauty pass
unnoticed. The writer knows
muther.s who day by day take their
children into the fieids, gather flow^
ers, point out their delicate tints
and the grace and exquisite forma-tion
of the petal*, teach them about
the trees, talk of the sky abo?e
and the little dew-drop at their
feet, and it soon becomes to them
not a cold, unfeeling remark, but
a living, pervading renlity, that
" there is beauty everywhere."
But the remark will be madOj
and it is too true, few mot hers are
fitted for this Teachers, theu,
must do all they can to cultivate
the taste of their pupils. They
can do much, very much, towards
this iu the school-room and out of
it, in many ways. Again comes
the remark, and it is too true, our
teachers are not fitted for it; many
or the highest reputation are coarse
iu language and manner, heedless
in their persons, unrefined ia
thought, able to teach the regular
text-books, and nothing more.
Still the evil exists, and it should
1859.] Random Thoughts. 245
be remedied in the way all evils
are remedied. Attention should
be directed to it, and all who have
an influeoce should strive to re-move
it. Let teachers be trained
who can better develope the taste
of the young, and when these pu-pils
become parents they will train
more wisely their children. Let
more eflPort be made throughout
the community to awaken a nation-al
taste. Let our large cities have
such parts and gardens, full of the
choicest flowers, where all can walk,
as are found iu the great cities of
Europe. Let a greater love for
ornamental trees be encouraged;
let them be planted by the side of
our streets and around our dwel-lings.
They cost only a little la-bor
in the outset, heaven then takes
care of them, and it would be dif-flcult
to estimate their refining in-fluence.
If paintings and other
works of art, too. coald be accessi-ble
to the masses, as is the case in
Europe, it would do much to the
same end.
—
Mass. Teacher.
RANDOM THOUGHTS.
Wherever combined movements
are made and given results are to
be4)r/)duced, there must be har-mony
in the operations; and wher-ever
there is concerted action a-moug
men, with a view to the at-tainment
of a common object, there
jjiust be both a distinct undersfand-ing
of what is to be done and a
hearty cooperation, or a sad failure,
if not utter ruin, will be the conse-t^
uencs. If every planet in the
.solar system did not keep iu its
place and do its part, we should
.«oon have " rhe wreck of matter
and the crush of worlds." [f a
team of horses are not all true and
able and willing, each one to bring-up
his part of the load, there will
be a " stand still," or soincthing
worse ; and so it is in a family, a
church, a nation, or any other com-munity.
In our common school system,
the legislature, the e.'cecutive, the
general superintendent, and most
of the committees, we believe, now
work harmoniously and are desir-ous
of carrying forward the great
work of elementary education with
vigor and in the most successful
manner; but if the parents and
the teachers are not faiihfal to their
t ust and not corapetsnt to the dis-charge
of their duties, little or no-thing
will be done. The burden
now rests mainly on them and there
must be, not only a determination
on the part of both to do their du-ty,
but a distinct understanding in
regard to the branches to be taught
and the discipline to bo maintain-ed.
At the present da}' when the
barbarous cu.stom of "barring out
the master " and the rudeness of
manners connected with it have
ceased, we hope the number is not
larii-e, but still there are, in many
places, some parents who are so
ignorant or so unprincipled as to
think that if their children can
elude the v'gilanee of the teacher,
practice an imposition upon him,
or treat his authority with eon-tempt,
it is an indication ofstnart-ness,
and who will chuckle over it
as deserving of commendation.
—
j Such parents should receive an in-dignant
rebuke from all well wish-
I ers to the cause of education, and
246 North- Carolina Journal of Education. [August,-
tliey certainly need to be better
instructed in regard to their duties
;,ind their obligations.
There are some teachers, as there
are some men in every departinent
of life, who have snch a tact for
controlling the minds of others that
they will maintain their authority
anywhere or vmder any circum-stances,
and vv-ill uiake their pupils
love, as well as fear them ; but the
number of such disciphnarians is
very small. Ordinarily, the teach-er
must have the countenance and
cooperation of the parents, and, to
gain this should behis first object.
For this purpose, he should visit
them, make himself familiar and
try to gain their confidence. Some
of us recollect the time when—in
the backvroods region where we
were born and taught the rudi-ments
of English,—the teacher
boarded among the employers, go
ing from house to house in rotation
,
as he generally chose to do, and,
exerting, at least, a conciliatory
influence wherever he went, uni
formly his visits were received
with a welcome, and it save him
an opportunity of becoming ac-quainted
with both parents and
children. Kind feelings were fos-tered
on both sides; luid, while he
often assisted the children in get-ting
their tasks, especially in Arith-metic,
or such things as they could
not manage very readily without
some help, and aided the old man
in casting up hisaccoantsorreekon-ing
his interest, a mutual attach-ment
grew up which was alike pleas-ant
and profitable. Every evening,
as soon as school was dismissed, a
number of the scholars, perhaps
half of the school, would come up,
in quite a glee, and ask him to go
with them that evening; but the
boy, who had played truant or been
disorderlv in school, dreaded a visit
from the teacher, and it would fre-quently
be days before he could
approach him again with coafi-dencfc.
Times have changed, and
teachers now prefer boarding at
the same place ; but it would be
well, if, at the commencement of
the school, they would spend a
night with every one of the employ-ers,
or with every family in the
district. I speak of male teachers
principally ; for until within a few
years, female teachers were un-known,
except in the town or in
higher schools , but even they
may do much, perhaps more than
the others, by a free and familiar
intercourse with the parents and
famines of the district.
The spirit of educational im-provement
lias increased fire or
ten-fold within as many years, and
North Carolina has now the best
regulated and the best conducted
syiicem of common schools m tlie
South ; and the progress alieady
made is full of promise for the fu-ture
; but we liave only made a
beginning. Although a commeud-able
interest on the subject has
been already waked up amo-ng the
masses, it needs to be increased and
directed, v.'hich can be done by dif-fusing
information in every pi-ac-ticable
way and by pressing the im-portance
of the cause upon their
attention. From all the observa-tions
we have made, we regard it
as indispensable to success that
parents genaraily should be brought
to take an intelligent and abiding
interest in their common schools ;
for, until this is the case, the right
kind of committee men will not be
appointed, and then the right kind
of teachers will not be employed.
In many districts, the school com-mittees
are appointed without any
sort of regard to their information
or their integrity, ai\d they employ
1859.] Random Thoughts. 247
a, teiiclier from a principle of fa-voritism,
or because he will, in
some way or other, promote their
interest, while another of superior
qualifications is rejected. In most
of tlie districts, there arc always
some men who are too lazy to work,
or who need some forty or fifty dol-lars
and think they can get it soon-er
in this way than any other. If
the committee are ignorant or self-ish,
such a one is employed and im-posed
on the people without any re-gard
to his literar}- or moral quali-tications.
The public money is ex-pended,
perhaps we might say wast-
\
ed, and little or no improvement I
is made. This is a radical evil, and i
to its removal the enlightened and
j
•active friends of education should
]
direct their strongest efforts. If
there was not a L mentable igao>-
ranee or lack of interest on the !
part of the community at large, I
your valuable Journal, for v/hich I
am now writing, would not be suf- I
fered to languish fur the want of
\
patronage, nor would four out of
j
five, if not nine out of ten, of the i
four, or five or six thousand teach-ers
in the State, be contented to
enter tq>ou their diificult and re-sponsible
duties without the aid
which it affords ; but this is not
all. Not only should the best quali-fied
and most fiiitht'ul teacher be,
in every case, employed, even if it
require double the salary to secure
his services ; but the school should
be furnished with all the books and
apparatus, comforts and conven-iences
req\iisitc to success. Solo-mon
never uttered a wiser S£iying
than that there are those '• that
withhold more than is meet, and
it teudeth to poverty ;" for, every-where
and in every thing, a judi-cious
ex'pendituie oj mom-y is the
best economy. A man is often so
stingy or close-fisted, that he
''cheats himself;" but this is com-monly
owing to a want of discern-ment
or a lack of information ; yet
that does not avert the evil, nor
render efforts for its removal un-necessary
or unavailing; ; and, an.
we are now dealing v/ith facts and
suggesting remedies, we hold forth
the deficiencies and remissness of
parents generally, as a mighty in-cubus
on the work of educational
progress. A beginning has been
made and iujprovement is manifest,
but only enough to warrant and en-courage
more vigorous efforts.
Vv'^herever and ia whatever ad-vancement
is to be made, two
tiuugs, in addition to natural capac-ity,
are necessary, viz, facilities and
stimulus; and. if either be want-ing,
the progress will be slow or de-fective.
If a judicious man em
ploys another to build his house, or
cut his harvest or do any other
work, he furnishes him with the
best implements he can, stays vrith
him or visits him frequently and
talks kindly to him, supplies him
j
with all needful refreshment and
1 every thing that can act us a stim-i
ulas ; but in the education of bis
i children, where both teacher and
j
schoiarvS need all the appliances and
ail the encouragement that can be
given them, books and apparatus,
I
and comfortable seats, couveuicnt
j
arruLigemeuts in the school room
j and many bind looks and words, in-stead
of acting on the principles of
common sense, he employs the man
who will work cheapest, and fur-nishes
any sort of books, and as few
i of them as possible, then >aever
j
visits the scene of labor, but leaves
them all, teacher and ehildrea, to
take care of themselves and do the
I
best or the worst they can. 0.
Entertain no thoughts that vou
would blush at in words.
248 North-Carolina Journal of Education. [August
SOUTH CAROLINA INSTITUTION FOR THE DEAF, THE DUMB, AND
THE BLIND.
BY JOE, THK .7EESET JIUTf
There Las been placed in my
hands the tenth annual report of
the above mentioned institution;
which is so extraordinary as to
deserve a particular review in the
columns of the Journal Before
entering upon a criticism of the
facts it embodies, I may here state
that, exclusively of the principal
and assistant, all the teachers in
the departments for the deaf and
dumb, and the blind, are women ;
vide the following list of teachers
in both departments of the school
:
DEPARTMENT FOB, THE DEAF AND
DUJIB.
Mrs. L. C. W. HENDERSON,
Miss M. J. CUNNINGHAM,
Miss S. J. WALKER.
DEPARTMENT TOR THE BLIND.
Miss M. A. WALKER.
This institution is located at
Cedar Spring, lour miles south of
Spartanburg . It was formerly the
property of the present principal,
but has now become a state insti-tution.
Annexed to the report
iire several specimens of composi-tion
furnished b}- the pupils, which
are interesting as showing some of
the difficulties deaf mutes encoun-ter
in acquiring language.
Mr. Newton Pinckney Walker,
the principal, says in his report to
the Board of Commissioners, who
consist of " his escelleney R. F.
W. Allston, Governor of South
Carolina, and President of the
Board of Commissioners," Hon. C.
Gr. Memminger, of Charleston, and
Hon. S. McAliley, of Chester;—
Mr. Walkt-r, I repeat, says that
" no tear must be shed in a school-room
by a pupil, except it be the
result of reproof; and then it
must result from convictions of the
mind, and not from anger.'' He
says further that no pupil is to be
removed from his class at any time
without his (Mr. W.'s) consent,
under forfeiture of position. Losp
of position in this case will fill the
heart of the delinquent, if he pos-sess
quickness of feeling, with
gushes of pain; but Mr. "Walker
here prohibits weeping or crying
in the school-room, in so far as it
does not proceed from conviction?!
of the Piind. The pupik some-times
cry from mortificatioo at the
success of their companions in
mastering those parts of speech
which they themselves do not un-derstand.
They also sometime^'
cry from vexation when iessom;
assigned them for the evenit?g are
not exactly to their taste. I ob-ject
to seeing a pupil ciy : but
there never existed a y(>uth of
either sex who did not, at one or
other time of his or her life, crj.
I once taught a fine looking joung
lady, who cried, I forgcc how
many times a day, because I refused
to kiss her as her relatives used to
kissher, previous to her ednciition.
On page 9, I find the fuli-wing
account of the system of instruc-tion
pursued in the dei^artmeiit of
the deaf and dumb :
" Every pupil who is sut{i3ient-ly
advanced is required to write,
immediately after public ,)!:(.yer>
on Monday morning, the i.ord'p
Prayer on his slate or board This
done and examined, be [roeeedi
SS59.] S. C. Institution for Deaf, Dumb, and Blind. 249
reliearsal and execution are care-fully
examined and corrected. A
register is kept, in -which the
number of the verses so recited,
and of the chapters, are placed to
the name of each pupil for refer-ence.
The exercises of the school
begin at 8, A. M. If any time
remain after the recitation of
Scripture lessons, it is occupied in
familiar discourse, chiefly in the
written language, sometimes on
the fingers, on religious subjects,
generally historical, until half past
tea. A recess is then given of
fifteen minutes, to be occupied in
walking and other exercises. Af-ter
recess, time is given the first
class, and all that are sufficiently
advanced, for review of a lesson
in Natural Philosophy, prepared
on Friday night preceding, and
then to be recited. The questions
are written out, and so varied from
the book as to change the form of
language, and yet retain all im-portant
points of insti'uction. The
skilful teacher, too, will avail
himself of every opportunity to
add any truths known to him to
be more easily associated in the
ininds of his class at that time.
Thie is the more important, be-cause
the school books in use, ex-cept
those prepared especially for
the deaf and dumb, are prepared
in reference to the ear, when
thought is the leading idea. But
in the case of the deaf and dumb
language must have its place, as a
means of further progressions.
—
What is true in the manner of re-citations
in Is^atural Philosophy,
is no exception in any other reci-tation.
In all cases the teacher
must hold in remembrance what
his class knows, and be ready, at
all times, to measure out the un-known
in proportion to the capaci-ty
of his class. "With great eare_,
he must add or diminish the bur-den
of thought and language as
each case may require, so as to
preserve healthful operations of
the mind. The eye must be kept
bright, and when a step on the
floor is needed, it must be elastic
and cheerful. If there be time
still remaining after the recitation
of Natural Philosophy, a lecture
on pi inciples contained may occupy
until one o'clock, when the school
is closed. Those notable to stady
Natural Philsophy may be other-wise
efl'ectL^ally employed
"
A remarkable school that of Mr.
Walker's. And a nursery 0/ piety,
too. So far, so good; bu:. with-out
intending any oflfence Jo Mr.
Walker, I muBt be allow.?d to ex-press
the opinion that with a little
assistance from Mr. Laurent Olerc*
of Hartford, Conn., the South
Carolina Institution will attain a
high reputation among similar
institutions on both side.s of the
Atlantic. The system of the S.
C. Institution differs very much
from that pursued in our own
school.
Further on, Mr. Walker say.^
that the late Dr. Weld, T»'ho made
a tour in Europe several yeai'sago,
with the view of inquwiiig into
the state of schools for the instruc-tion
of deaf mutes in thai cuuntry.
called to see a deaf and dumb
lawyer in London, who proved
eminently qualified for the legal
profession which he had adopted.
Then follows a long ar„,u lent in
favor of teaching articulation to
semi-mutes. In suppoii of > hi.~
* Mr. Laurent Cierc is ii;.-aself a
mute, a graduate of the Pari- iastitu-tion,
and nftcr baviiig labiTid in thi'
ciiuse of deaf-mute educati-ju lor more
than ft qu.arter of a ceutur v, ,il the age
of seventy -three years, lio ru?,- retiroi
upon an annuity of IflJOO.
250 A^orth- Carolina .Journal 0/ Education. [Augi^it
position ia this matter, he in-stances
a lady of Norfolk, Va., de-prived
at an early age of speech
in whose case " thirty years' labor
produced an astoriishing efi'ect."
The art of speaking is taught to
pupils who are deprived of speech
but retain the recollection of
sounds and in some degree the
power of articulation. The editor
of the Philadelphia FvMic Ledger
has been assured by an aged gen-tleman
of that city, celebrated in
Ibrmer days for his medical skill,
that lii'ty years ago he was pres-ent
at an exhibition of the pupils
of the Deaf and Dumb Institution
in London, and witnessed among
the czereises, the speaking of a
hymn by a deaf mute girl. She
uttered the >^orQs clearly and dis-tinctly,
but in one tone of voice
throughout, a defect vriiieh vras
owing to her deafness, vliich, to
use the words of the Pidjlic Led-fcr.
" prevented her giving the
proper cadence and inflections of
sounds." Mr. "Walker says:
—
''Where a child has from birth
partial hearing, partial speech will
|
follow; and then instructions by
articulation may and will be avail-able
in degrees according to the
peculiar competency of the child
and teacher. If the child once
heard, and while hearing, learned
to talk but subsequently lost hear-ing,
the speech, too, will be lost,
in proportion to the age of the
child when the hearing was lost.
And upon that degree of speech
and age de])end all eiTorts to re-tain
what was learned, or to make
advances. Generally, if dealness
become total before the child is
four years old, all that may be
hoped for is to retain the use of
such words as have been learned
by the child."
Mr. Walker knows whereof he !
affirms when he says : " We must
have the natural excitement of the
child or youth's hearty laugh and
sportive glee. He must take his
adventures on the play-ground,
and feel the effects of success.
Nature's voice must be heard. If
her teachings be heard in youth,
health of body and mind will bo
the reward 3 otherwise, emaciation
of body and imbecility of mind."
Parents who keep their deaf and
dumb dauahters engaged in indoor
employments without taking them
to various places of public amuse-ment
or to different parts of the
country, to gaze upon the beauties
of nature spread out before them,
such parents, I say, are not fit to
live in an age of philanthropy and
enlarged liberality like the present.
Nothing on earth is more disheart-ening
to those who are engaged in
the tuition of the deaf and dumb,
thun the narrowness of the circle
of ideas to which many deaf girls
have been reduced by their close
confinement at home. More than
two-thirds of the deaf girls who
have finished their education, say
ihat before they went to school,
they never saw anything of a steam-boat,
or a railroad car. It was not
until they had seen a steamboat in
a river, that they understood the
meaning of the word steamboat.
Before the sight of the steamboar
gave them a clear idea of that word,
their teachers had exhausted all
the ingenuity in their heads, in
their effort to make them iinder-stand
its meaning. Let us have
a law requiring every school in vhe
land to have a large yard for boys
and girls to run about and stretch
their limbs and expand their lungs.
That Mr. Walker is overcharged
with the fire of poetry is evident
froDj the subjoined extracts which
I m;ike from his report :
1859.] S. C. Institution for Deaf, Dumb and Blind. 261
'' Cedar Spriog, with its appli-
| and their pure and holy spirits re-ances
in the forms of books, archi- i turned to God, gentie breezes shall
teeture, uatural sceaery, principles
j wave the boughs of these old oak*--
aud men, ccustitutes the museum
;
and these luajestic walls shall stand
of the world to its youthful popula-tion
in incipient scholastic life.
May God in mercy preserve the
sacred spot, and make it the Jeru-salem
of the afilioted sods and
as monuments of their boneficenee.''
There remained connected with
the lustituticn at the date of the
report; 22 boys and 13 rrirjs~21
mutes aod lo blind ; total 32. One
daughter.«i of the State.
_ j of the lady teachers in the Mut^
department, I do not know which,
is a deaf mute.
The boy, destitute of sight or
hearing, drawn out by the good old
schoolmaster necessity, quickens
his pace, and streegthens his nerves
\
~ ~
to the platform of success. It must j
^^'^'*^NSISTENCIEs IX HISTORY,
not be overlooked that Heaven has ! ft is not strange that vouDf t>u-decreedj
|
pi's shouidbe sometimes' stumbled
in reading History when they meet
with such blunders as the followin?:
xldvautages out of disadvantaged arise,
Deprivations :ire blessings in disguise.
\T V •
1 »i ( i
^'^^' •" ^'^ Tytler's No History, so we,"! being can know the powers of v,^,^^„ „, i tt oo r ,
u- -J .-1 • . I
'^"own, vol 11, page 382, he savs
'
his own mind until circumstances ai:T^,i^,, vrrr > j
'"<-»ijiJ.
J I 1 ,\ r n I
,. iiGfiry V ii nad giver his dauo'h- develop ibem. A lull supnly of .^^ it.;.„. „. • - •
^'»ugi«
A e ^ I. . a\^^^ luargaretm marri-jfre to Jameq senses, money and rnenas, has lied Tr v,-
°
c a ^{ t
° ,
-j-iiutb
J i .1 LI • 1 V
. iving ot bcotiand, who, dv no- down to earth many a noble mind, i^f. „, :^„_ ., , ' ^' "^J^^iy
^, ^ 111 ui J u 1 ^^^^ ^'^ ^^^^^ tnat oame to maturifc'^ that would, less blessed, have seal- „^„^^^ ax^,.^ c -,
'-'ai.uiit,^,,
1 .u u . 1 . * P t
exeept 3iary, afterwards Uue<^n of
ed the battlements to usefulness o,.^,.- v x ,
'^'-' v-«^--u Ol
I , t^\-A- »i II
K'cotts. Aud iQ the next na"---^ and glory. Gliding over the well- L„^.,i-„ rp^rp, n ^ r?
f "i -, P • . bpeaii.s or '• 1 ho Uueen reo-e.ot in regu ated city, or the spring cam- .i^ , „^^„^ , . yT o ,
•-";,"
" c V A r +• *i
the government of Scot and. Marv age ot abundant supplies from the „f /-P,- ^ „ -r, ^
^^u, ^larj
u J f . li' I n hand oi his iiaker, propelled-i Vby °^ Ivuisc. i>ut aceordiu"- to the ..^.....^^ ,,„*„„. . Ay "^
'-o tm.
,, . ^ , . ' - ^ ,
' rormer statement, Marware^, fh^.
well restricted circumsianees, theL:„»„„ ^^ n Trrrr '^
J
• ! .13 .k - sister ot ii«ory Vill. ou^ht to more lavored youth drops the reins l.^,,.^ i „,„ ,.^ •'^ . . '^ i,
^-*
J /• II 1
*^ vri u • ^'^^^ "^een regent. A"aiu m Tav and falls asleep. \v hen he arrives .>„ t.t^,^.,"„ ^j. , -^ '. "J
ao the door of the world\s demands U°'tv>- f ''" ^^f"'^''
•and waitings, bis but too l«eble !
P
f,^
^r;^' ^^^ '''"^J
>n accordance
form publitti'e. its own defects, i 7^,'\'t :,,V^'"^^^
^^*J^f^«^ -bove,
fr V- <. . I 1 + u-that
" Mary Queen of bcotts wav How his account stands betoro his
i .i,^ ,,^- , r. tJ T^r-r ,, ,
,-, , , ,-, ,- , , I
- , the ?i«c'j 01 Henry Vlif.'-^ as q k- God, who did his ta euts multiply, ,„^„.,i i .. k ' i , , ',
J • J , 1 ^•'M woud have been If she had been must be determined elsewhere. Ll^ ri.i„„v,f„„ ^p i,- ii •
I
the daughter or his oldest sister
'•Toournoble-mindedcitizens—
I Margaret. But on page 520 hf
men and women whose benevolence
j
calls her father James V, the ne^h
and philanthropy know no bounds i ew of Henry VIII. as was the fact
—is our Institution indebted for
j For as stated in Willsou's 6a''
Its existence. In the Legislature, | lines, page 339. Mary Queen of
and out of it, by the fireside and in
j
Scotts was the grand neice o'^
the walk, their voices have been at- Henry VIII. and 'hence when the
fectionately, officially and effectu- line of the latter ran out witt-ally
heard. When their mortal bod- Elizabeth, she would have bsf-n
les shall have re-united with dust | the next heir.
252 Korih-CG^rolina Journal of Education. [August
Ccnimoit %t\m\ §tprtnunt.
HOW TO IMPROVE COMMON SCHOOLS.
In order make a deep impre9sion
on the public mind, in reference
to any important matter it mu3t
for some time be made prominent
to tbeir attention. It seems that
we cannot have, at least for the
Dresent, Normal Schools establish-ed
in this state. And if we had
them almost immediately, it would
be some time before any great re-sults
would appear.
But in the mean time we need
something in operation to increase
the • number, and improve the
qualifications of teachers. Can we
do nothing in this way? There
is no doubt that the present able
Superintendent is doing a great
deal in bis office, but if he had
some aidnow and then perhaps he
might do much more.
I am told (for I never saw him,
and it was a mere matter of acci-ijent
that I saw one of his Re-ports,)
that we have a man em-ployed
to traverse the State to im-prove
the asrieulture, and to bring
to light the mineral treasures of
the Btate now hidden beneath the
ground, at an expense of about
^5000. per annum.
Now how important soever it
may be to do this, it is much more
so to develop the mental treasures,
now buried in ignorance. How
many there are now growing up
with no mental training who, if
they had an opporlunity to show
their talents, might shine any
where, and adorn society. But
just as no man can tell how strong
he is till he makes trial cf his
strength, so no one can tell what
mental t-^lent he has till he has an
opportunity to apply himself to
study. The best marble does nol
show its veins and streaks, and
variety of colois till it is poiished;
it is said that the inhabi'iauts of a
certain township built their i'euccs
of the most beautiful verue an-tique
marble for a century j before
they discovered how handsome it
would become when polished.
—
The most beautiful' gems do not
show what they are in thsir rough
state.
So there are now, and there will
be in the nest generation, many
engaged in the most comm.n em-ployments,
and living in the ruUgh-est
manner, both mentallj and
physically, who with a lit i.L oppor-tunity
to learn, and some access to
books, might have made iae geat-est
men in the country Occa-sionally
we hear of some of thi.-
class, who had spent the er.rly part
of life in laying brick; oii the
shoemaker's bench, or tne t'...i.lor'8
board, by a fortunate concurrence
of circumstances, led to cuiiivalo
their minds, though late ia life.
They have caught a epari xvom
some other mind that has ii ndled
an irrepressible desire to Know,
and this desire would not r:3t til!
it was satisfied.
What then do we propose , do you
ask ? We reply by stati*-;' what
is done in £ome of the oth.rsla e^.
Thus we find the following law in
one state; "it is made Livi duty
of the superint'eudent ci c.mmon
1859.] Common School Department. 253
schools, to hold at one convenient
place in each county of the state
in the months of September, Octo-ber
or November annually, schools
or conventions of teachers, for the
purpose of instructing in the best
modes of governing and teaching
our common schools, and to cm-ploy
one suitable person to assist
him at each of said schools; and
the person or person? by him em-ployed
in assisting at said schools
shall be a lowed not exceeding
three dollars per day for the time
occupied in travelling to and from '
and attending said schools or con-ventions."
The report informs us that, ''-nt
each Institute the evenings were
devoted to Lectures and Discus-sions
on topics connected with the
improvement of common schools
and other means of popular edu-cation,
intended to interest parents,
children, and the coaimunity gen-erally
as well as the members of
the Institute."
~" If the teachers who have been
connected with the different In-stitutes,
will carry into their
schools this winter the same genial
spirit which they manifested when
together, the same eager desire for
knowledge, the same zeal for self-improvement
and the elevation of
their profession : if they will visit
each other's schools, and meet to-gether
in society, town, county
rind state associations; if they will
read the best, books, and take at
least one periodical devoted to edu-cation—
then will the schools of
the State receive an impulse in the
right direction of the most power-ful
character, and the teachers
will find their highest earthly re-ward
in the contemplation of the
ever extending results of their
labels." These are the remarks
of the Superintendent at the close
of the year. Then he gives us
an account of the proceedings of
these conventions, with the ex-ercises
: of which we will copy a
specimen.
The}'' began with an address by
the Supeaintendeut. The next
morning "the members of the con-vention
assembled at the court
room, for the purpose of discus-sions
and exercises in tho best
mode of teaching the branches of
education usually studied in the
common schools."
Then one of the teachers re-marked
upon some different mode?-
of imparting instruction, calcula-ted
to excite the pupil to exercise"
his own mind—and the importance
of classification and regularity in
all the duties of the school-room.
The subject of arithmetic wa>^
then presented, and a variety, of
exercises were introduced, intend-ed
to test the qualifications of
teachers in numeration, and nota-tion.
In the afternoon they had
an exercise in grammar ; the sub-ject
was discussed with much zeal
by both gentlemen and ladies.
—
Next the subject of geography
was called up and some method.-
were presented for teaching tlWs
subject to even small children, by
means of outline maps and the
drawing of maps.
The Committee on Resoiutiou'j
then reported the following.
1. Resolved, That no agent or puL-lisher
be permit! ed to bring into ths
room occupied by the Coiiventicn, for
purpose of distribution or posting,
any book, map, chart or circulEr,
2. Resolved, That it shiiU bo deemed
out of order for any speakf; !•> pre-sent
the merits ot any particDlp.r book ;
and that it shall be the duty of ail
members to call such speaker to ci-der.
Another hour was then occupied
on the subject of gramm.-.r witl)
254 Nortli- Carolina Journal of Education. [August,
mucli animated and instructive
\
discussion. I
The next session was spent in
|
"jxercises in Arithmetic, Grammar, '
and Orthography, and singing at
j
r.he close of each exercise.
|
At a subsequent day, the follow-
ing resolutions were adopted.
1. Resolved, That as irregularity in i
attendance is one of the greatest diffi-j
oulties -witli which the teacher has to
j
contend, it is the duty of all parents, ,
whose children attend school, to see \
that they are regular in their atten^
j
dance and punctual to the hour for i
eominencing the exercises of the school. I
'2. Resolved, That it is the duty of !
teachers to exert their influence for the
j
promotion of common school education,
j
and to exert such influence upon the
|
minds of parents and guardians, as |
shall induce them to enter "with cheer- |
fulness and zeal into the assistance of
j
their teachers, in elevating the charac-j
ter and condition of our schools.
\
3. Resolved, That the operations of j
the iState jSormal School, so far as -we
}
understand them, have our entire ap-
|
probation; and we bespeak for that :
institution, the hearty co-operation of i
parents, school-committees, and citi- i
zens of the state generally; believing as 1
we do, that it will have a tendency
to elevate the standard of common
schools, and thereby secure to the
youtb of cur land an invaluable bless-ing—
a thorough, practical education.
A good degree of interest -was excited
by the exercises of tlie convention, as
was evinced by the large and constant-ly
increasingnumber of spectators, and
which, at the last, cro'tvded the court
room almost to suffocation.
We are fully convinced, says the
Superintendent, that the exerci-ses
of the week will make a last-ing
impression upon the teachers
present, and that our common
schools will reap a rich reward.
We have thus given only speci-mens
fi'om the report, and in some
cases have abbreviated its lan-guage
; and it seems to its that
something of the same kind is ex-actly
what we need in our State
for the improvement of our teach-ers
and schools. They would leara
more, by attending one of these in-stitutes,
about the best mode of
governing and teaching, than they
ever knew before; and more than
they could learn in a long time by
reading in books on the subject.
Mind Vt'ould sharpen mind ; a
stimulus would be given ; a zeal
and an interest would be created
;
an impulse would be given that
would last a long time. Let teach-ers
themselves speak out on this
subject; let it be brought up and
discussed.
Keep talking about it till some-thing
is done. We are persuaded
that there is no object now before
the public mind upon which funds
may he spent more profitably than
iii this may. IJidascalos.
GLOBES ArPRECIATED.
It is pleasant to ob.«erve that ar-tificial
globes begin to be appreciat-ed
in this country. Hitherto they
have been much neglected, even
by those who take a deep interest
in education. In Europ« the fact
has been the reverse, especially on
the Continent. There is scarcely
a respectable family of literary or
scientific taste, in France, Prussia,
Bavaria and Saxony, without at
least a terrestrial globe, whicti is
considered necessary, in order to
read even the daily journals intel-ligently.
In the same countries
there is scarcely a school at all
v?ithout a pair. No sooner has .a
German or French child learned
the definitions in his geography,
than his young mind is exercised
on the artificial globe, so that the
relative distances of places may be
indelibly impressed on his memory.
In recent years, England has
gradually, though too slowly, beeu
1859.] Vommon School Department. 255
introducing tlie eame plan. Our
turn has come at last; and when
Tve bepria vre do things in earnest.
It is quite a favorite habit ia the
North to sneer at Southerners for
their alleged neglect of education :
jet there are hv! unprejudiced
persons, who visit the wealthy
classes in both sections of the
country, who will not admit that,
generally sneaking, souihern cen-tleraen
have nmch better private
'iberaries than the same cia^s in the
North. Dr. Mackey said, in a
recent lecture at Edinburgh, that
he saw more artificial globes in
private residences in the sltive
States, than anjoog the same num-ber
of population in the North, ad-ding
tbat northerners had taken
:he liint, and were now introduc-ing
globes into common schools
This is true, and it is an example
worth imitating. 1 he ftw that
'^ere used here in former years,
were imported from England or
France. Now they are mauufac^
tured on an extei.sive scale at
home, by Moore & Nims, of T^'oy,
N. Y., whose I'ranklin Globes,
have elicited the highest praise
from our most respectable journrds.
Their sixteen inch bronze pedestal
stand pairs are models ic elegance,
beauty of finish and accuracy, and
have been pronounced by the best
judges, as at least equal to any spe-cimens
ever importer, either fronj
Paris or Loudon. These give the
other smal lines of temperature, the
deep sea soundings, the new dis-coveries
by Earth, Livingstone and
others, in A-frica, the recent divis-ions
and boundaries in Ceniral A-merica,
Australia and the Arctic
Regions, In a word, they are en-graved
up to the present time. We
had intended to give our views, in
brief, of the great practical value of
some of th<3 various problems in
astronomy, as well as geography,
which can be perfunned with little
trouble on the globes, by any per-son
of ordinary intelligence ; wc
will, however, make some future
observations on the whole subject,
which may not be uninteresting to
our readers.
—
Richmond Whig.
The reputation of 'the Franklin
Globes has already outrun the ne-cessity
for description. The man-ufacturers
have recently added to
their list, a splendid thirty inch
Terrestrial Globe, the largest ever
made in this country.
The Franklin Globe Manual is de-
^signed to facilitate the study of the
G'obes, and includes a description
of the various terrestHal and ce-lestial
phenomena, problems or
the Globes, elements of astrono-my,
the planets and laws of plane-tary
motion. We are convinced
that the study of geography, with
the use of the globe under a ju-dicious
teacher, would be greatly
simplified, and instead of general
notions, the pupil would obtain ac-curate
knowledge.
The illustrative designs in this
work are finely conceived and well
executed. W^e beg lea,ve, here,
to make a suggestion to teachers
and school officers. A pair of ten
inch globes Avill cost 8-2. The
Terrestrial Globe can be had for
$1L The cost of a common school
geography is about SI. Let twen-ty-
tv/o scholars (or their parent;-
for theiii) pay $1 each, and pro-cure
a pair of globes, or half a dol-lar
each for the terrestrial, and let
the teacher, if not already read up
in the uses of the globes, revieV
this manual carefully, and we will
venture that three months experi-ence
will satisfy the most incredu-lous
of the value of our sugges-
1 tion.
—
Neil) York Teacher,
256 North- Carolina Journal of Education. [August^
|Usihiit ^Mt gtpurlmntt.
Statistics.—At the annual meeting
of the State Educational Association in
1858, it "was determined to appoint
several 'standing committees,' and
among them one on ' Educational Sta-tistics.'
This committee is required to
collect and report to the Association all
the infoimation that can be obtained, in
regard to the number, character and
condition of schools of all grades except
Common Schools ; and to prepare sta-tistics
for publication.
This committee made no formal re-port
to the Association, at its last meet-ing,
because the information obtained
during the year was not sufScient to
furnish even an approximate statement
of the educational condition of the
.State. Much labor was required to
obtain full reports from less than one
thii'd of the schools known to be in
operation, and there are doubtless very
many schools in the state entirely un
known to this committee.
The committee now consists of, Rev.
Neill McKay, Summervil/e. Rev. C. H.
Wiley, Greensboro. Thos. Marshall,
Wilson. Rev. Wm. Gerhard, Concord.
,T. H. Mills, Oxford : and to enable
these gentlemen to furnish a full report,
and thus let us iinow what progress we
have made, we hope all teachers, school
officers, and others will send them
whatever information they can obtain,
in regard to the schools arounO them.
If the Ooimty CAaiVmed will endeavor
to make themselves fully acquainted
with the condition of all the private
schools, Academies &c., in their re-spective
counties, and send separate
reports, in regard to them, to the Gen-veral
Superintendent with their regular
annual reports of Common Schools, the
object aimed at can easily be attained.
Will the chairmen think of this, as the
time approaches for making reports ':'
While statistical reports may be unin-teresting
to the general reader, yet they
are invaluable to him who would make
himself acc|uainted with our actual con-dition,
or the progress we are making,
as a State, in education, agriculture,
or anything else. And these statistics
should be preserved in a form that will
be convenient for reference, whenever
we wish for information on a particular
subject.
It has been proposed to devote a few
pages of each number of the .Journal
to the publication of such statistics as
we can obtain ; and while we desire
especially to present, and keep before
our readers, the educational condition
of the State, yet we would n exclude
from this department any thing that it
might be desirable to preserve in such
a form.
We mention this subject for the pur-pose
of ascertaining the >ihes of the
friends of the Journal, so far as they
may choose to communicate them ; and
that all who wish to see such a depart-ment
introduced may send us whatever
statistical information they can secure.
We will not begin unless we have some
assurance of the co-operation of those
to whom we must look for accurate in-formation,
on the various subjects to
which this department would relate.
Shall we attempt it? Would it add to
the value and interest of the Journal ?
Lincoln County.—Since the July
Eo. was issued, the Chairman of Lin-
1859.] Resident Uditors Department. '4ol
coin County has ordered 35 copies of
the Journal, foi- the 35 Districts of his
County. What County will come next ?
(.'all the Boards together and lay the
matter before them.
it correctly printed, unless we could
find time to examine carefully and copi/
the whole of it.
Answers to " Historical Questions,"
iu July No.
St. xiugusihie is older by 40 years
than, any other town in the U. S.
Damascus is the oldest city now in
existence.
—
Por an answer to the other, we would
respectfully call upon the auihor of the
({uestioD, or some one else. - ^ *
Qdestions.—A correspondent sends
the following Questions, which we in-tended
for the July No. but having our
time and attention so much occupied
in pi'eparing the minutes of the Asso-
;.:iation for publication we overlooked
them :
Suppose the weight of a bar of silver,
in one scale to be lOoz. and in the
other scale 12oz., required the true
weight of the bar ?
A and B are on opposite sides of a
circular field 268 poles about ; they
begin to go round it, both the same
way, at the same instant of time ; A
goes 22 rods in 2 minutes, and B 34
rods in 3 minutes : How many times
will they go round the field, before the
swifter overtakes the slower?
A and B together can build a boat
;;i 20 days j with the assistance of C
lliey can do it in 12 : In what time
would C do it by himself?
'J'he friend who sent us the Arith-metical
solution of the " Land Ques-tion,"
in June, will please excuse us
for it^ non-appearance. The large
numbers are written so closely, in some
parts of it, that we cannot hope to have
EiSQUESTs —Vv'e call the attention of
our readers to the following "requests"
which we unintentionally neglected to
publish in the last No. of the Journal:
"Will the members of the Educa-tional
Association who are teachers
senJ me a list of ttie text books used
by them with a brief statement of their
merits, in order that I may obtain,
very soon, the information contemplated
in the resolution, passed by the late
Educational Association? I append
the resolution that all may see what is
the information desired.
Wheeeas, Much diversity exists iu
the text books now used in schools of
every grade in North-Carolina, both
male and female; and whereas, much in-convenience
, expense and detriment to
the cause of education result from such
diversity ; and whereas it is very de-sirable
to remedy these evils and to in-troduce
uniformity in the text books
iu use iu all the departments of North-
Carolina Schools ; thtrefore,
Resolved. That the President appoint
a committee of three, to whom this
whole object shall be referred.
It shall be the duty of this commit-tee
to correspond with the educators of
the State soliciting a frank expression
of opinion relative to this subject, to
askfruniall a list of the textbooks used
in each department of their schools, and
a brief statement of the merits they
are considered to possess, and further,
it shall be their duty to correspond with
the educators of other States, and with
the great publishing houses of the
country, thereby procuring all the ne-cessai-
y details of the school publioia-tions
tested by the experience of the
former, and issued from the presses of
the latter ; and then after a careful
and impartial examination of the force
of the views advanced, and of the meritg
of the several publications submitted
to their scrutiny—to report the result
of their investigations to the next an-nual
meeting of this Association, re-commending
such action as shall be
best calculated to effect the design con-templated
by this resolution."
m North- GaroUna Joxhrnol of Education. [August
May I request a like favor of those
educators who are not members of the
Association ?
Will my editorial brethren, favorable
to the ieform contemplated, or as a
matter of courtesy to myself oblige me
by giving these "requests" an inser-tion
in their journals ? Alike favor
will be reciprocated at any time. Those
who reply at an early date will doubly
confer an obligation. Information, from
any source, calculated to throw light
\ipon the subject, or lessen the labors
oi'the committee, will be thankfully re
ceived. Address me at Beaufort, North
Carolina.'" S. D. POOL.
Chah'vian of CommUles.
Webster's Dictionary, Un.-vbridged,
jS'ew Pictoei.\l EnrnoN-^—Springfield
Mass. G. & C. Merriam.
We have just received, from the en-terprising
Publishers, through W. L.
Pomeroy of Raleigh, an elegant copy of
this Kew Edition of Yi'ebster. And
on comparing it with the edition of
1852, which has been our constant com-panion,
ever since its publication, we
notice the following new features :—
Pictorial illustrations, Table of Syno-nyms,
Peculiar use of words and terms
in The Bible, Pronouncing table of
Names of distinguished persons, Latin,
French, Italian and Spanish phrases.
Mottoes of the various States of the
Union, Abbreviations explained, Mean-ings
of many of the scripture proper
xiames, a::d an Explanation of Arbi-trary
Signs.
The Pictorial illustrations, about
1aOO in number, are intended to aid in
understanding the definitions and, so
far as many of them are concerned, are
very valuable. They relate to Archi-tecture,
Natural history in all its
branches. Mechanics, Geometry, Im-plomeiits
of War, Coats of Arms, Al-phabet
for Mutes, Geology, Heraldry,
Mythology, Philosophical instruments,
Navigation, and various other subjects,
in which terms are used that cannot be
fully explained by the use of wordt^
alone. These illustr^tions are well
executed, and form an entertaining and
instructive part of this invaluable book.
"The Table of Synonyms, By Chaun-cey
A. Goodrich," also constitutes a val-uable
addition. Those words which
are similar in meaning are compared,
in groups, and the peculiarities each
pointed out, that all confusion may bs
avoided in their use. The Table con-
I
tains many hundreds of those WQi'ds in
i our language that are of most common
! occurrence.
! But the most important feature of
i
this edition is the Appendix, contain-
I
ing between 9,000 and 10,000 words
i not found in former editions. That so
1 many words should be found in use. thai
j are not to be met with, even in Web-
I ster's Large Dictionary, as we have
I
been using it for years, seems almos*.
I
incredible, but if we examine this Ap-
I
pendix of80 pages, with more than 100
i words on each page, we see that it i-f
I true.
i Such being the case, what America!
I
scholar can afford to be without thi-great
American book, adding as it doe.'^
almost 10,000 words to his vocabulary':
Former editions contain a ''Pruuounc-ing
Vocabtilary of Jlodern Geographi -
cal Names," which we find in the pres-ent
to be very much enlarged and itir-
I proved. Let all teachers of Geograph_y
notice this, for wo know they are often
; at a loss to know how to pronounce
I the geographical names of foreign coun -
tries.
i The " Pronouncing Vocabulary oi
: Proper Names of Distinguished Indi-
I viduals of Modern Times" is among
I the new features, and would be inter
-
; esting if considered only as a list of in-dividuals
who are considered disli:>-
ffuisked, without regard to the pronun-ciation
of their names, But wc con-
1859.] Resident Edilors Department. 250
sidei- a correct pronouncing vocabulaiy.
of names as a very valuable addition to
aDictionaiy, since few readers are suf-ficiently
familiar witli foreign names to
be willing to dispense with such an aid.
Without having seen the great rival of
Webster, just published, we may safely
say that, Webster's Dictionary, Pic-torial
Edition, unabridged, is the
most complete Dictionary of the En-glish
Language that we have overseen,
if it is not the best ever published.
In the completeness of its vocabulary
of our language, and in the accuracy
iind fullness of its definitions, Webster's
Dictionary stands pre-eminent ; and in
orthography it is followed by a ma-jority
of American writers, so far as
our observation extends.
But whether we may choose to adopt
this as the standard, in every thing, or
not, yet no student can afford to be
without it, whatever other Dictionaries
he may have.
The mechanical execution of the
present edition is decidedly superior,
combining durability, neatness and
taste, and showing that the Publishers
have spared no labor or expense, in
getting it out in a style worthy of the
Book, and doing credit to themselves*
Cami'bell's Agriculture.—A Manual
of Scientific and Practical Agricul-ture,
for the School and the Farm.
this duiLuicncy, this work is intended
also for those already engaged in till-ing
the soil, vvho may feel that they
need to iinj:)rovcin the Science of Agri-culture.
The Southern Planter, Richmond,
Va., says of it : " We can with great
confidence recommend it, as eminent-ly
\vorthy of general circulation among
farmers, as a concise, acurate and
sj'stematic treatise, calculated to im-part
the most valuable instruction, in
respect to the sciei:ice and practice of
Agriculture ; and reduced to such a
form that it may be applied to the
daily business of the farm. Itis truly
'A Book for every Farmer and every
Farmer's Son.'
''
The Power of Religion on the Mind,
in retirement, affliction, and at the
api^roach of Death ; exemplified in
the testimonies and experience of
persons distinguished by their great-ness,
learning, or virtue. By Lind-ley
Murray, Author of Eng. Gram-n/
ar, &c. New York : S. S. & W.
Wood.
The above M'ork is published by or-der
of the "Trustees of the residuary
estate of Lindley Murray." He left a
portion of his estate for benevolent
purposes, and directed the distribution
of this work as a part of his plans.
Many thousands of copies have been
distributed and the Trustees of the
By J. L. Campbell, A M., Professor fund wish to extend its influence by
of Physical Science, Washington
College, Ya. Philadelphia : Lincl
say & Blakiston,
We have received, from the author
a copy of the above new work, on an
important subject. The Ireld is one
that has been entirely too much neg-lected
in our Schools and Colleges, in
fact no suitable text-bock, on this sub-ject,
has hitherto been offered to en-courage
teachers to introduce the sci-ence
where they had not the opportu-nity
of teaching it by lectures, without
the aid of a book. Besides supplying
introducing it into schools, to be used
as a reading book. And while the es-tate
is not sufficient to enable them to
furnish it gratuitously, they offer it at
20 cts. per copy, while such books
would ordinarily cost at least 75 cts.
The subject is illustrated by sketch-es
of more than 80 eminent persons,
among whom we mention, Job, Solo-mon,
Stephen, Paul, Ignatius, Poly-carp,
&c. Let teachers, who would
like to introduce such a book, send
stamps to pay postage, and get a copy
from the Publishers fur examination.
AMEKICAN SCHOOL
INSTITUTE
Is a practical Agency for supplying Families, Schools, Academies and Col-leges
with competent Teachers and Professors, for any department oi Litera-ture,
Science and Art. I'artieular attention given to the Department of Music.
Books, Maps, Charts, Globes, Apparatus, Sheet Music, Musical Instruments
&c , &c., supplied at the lowest rates.
Refer to—Faculty Amherst College, Mass.—Dr. Lowell Mason—Prof. Geo.
F. Root—Mason Brotliers—Rev. D. C. Van Norman, etc., New York—Hon.
Theo, Frelinghuysen, L. L. D., President Rutgers College, N. J.—Dr. 'William.
Cartie, Lime Stone Springs, S. C.—Hon. John C. Rives, Washington, D. C.
—
Hon. Albert Pike, Little Rock, Ark. SMITH, WOODMAN & CO.,
346 Broadway, New York, and 609 Chestnut St, Philadelphia.
Fratn Hon. Thco. Frelinghuysen, L. L. D., President of Rutgerh College :
" The American School Institute, for the supply of Schools, Academies and
Colleges with competent Teachers and Professors, happily meets the wants of
our counti-y, and will, I have no doubt, be found to be a most convenient and
useful institution. From my personal knowledge of ijne of its members, and of
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Our country is so extensive, and schools are so multiplied, and will be, I
trust, more and more, that some medium is almost indispensable for )-eference
and selection and supply. And the purposes of the American School Institute
usefully reach the case in all its departments.
Very respectfully and truly yours, THEO. FRELINGHUYSEN.
New Brunswick, May 17, 1S5'J>.
Dr. Jolmson's Pliilosopliical Charts.
These Charts embrace, besides several original illustrations, all the essential
diagrams and drawings contained iu tl.e popitlar and commonly used text-books
npon this branch of education; numhering about ilirec hundred draicings, illus-trating
clearly the principles of Natural Philosophy, as generally taught in
Schools. They are accompanied by a Key, showing what each illustrates, and
giving in brief, the essential explanation.
The Charts, which are tex in Number—each being 34 by 52 inches, are well
bound, and strongly mounted on cloth and rollers. They are printed \i\ih.iohitc
lines on black ground, and most of the drawings are colored, making them dis-tinctly
visible from any part of the largest school-rooms ; preventing them from
becoming soiled, besides giving them a neat, lively and ornamental appearance.
From Benjamin Sillinian, L. L. Z>., Professor Emeritus, in Yale College,
Dr. Johnsou's-Philosophical Charts are well worthy the attention of all Teach-ers
and Learners of the different branches of Natural Philosophy, to which they
relate.
To Teachers without apparatus, they must be an invaluable acquisition, and a
very useful one to those who have the instruments.
BENJ. SILLIMAN.
Price of Ten Charts, mounted on cloth v/ith rollers, with key $12 CO
" " " " paper, with key .....10 00
" " '• " unmounted, and sent post paid by mail... 6 00
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8-3t. 346 Broadway, New- Fork,
l^en/.s Waitlcd.] 009 Chestnut St., PhiFa.