''^MtS'M^Mi& Darnell Univ^vjsitg Jibaiig THE GIFT OF A-^8ni8i itlvrjiif 97»4 Cornell University Library arV14920 The lawyer in the school-room 3 1924 031 682 093 olin.anx Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924031682093 THE LAWYER IN THE SCHOOL-KOOM COMPRISINS THE LAWS OF ALL THE STATES ON IMPORTANT EDUCATIONAL SUBJECTS. Carefallf Compiled, Arranged, Cited, aud Explained^ BT M. McJV. TVjiZSjET, A.M., ZZ.S., OF THE NEW-TORE BAB. "Honor is ordained for no cause But to see right maintained by the laws." :grew-¥oiib : J. "W. SCUBRMiKBIIOIlN & CO. 1871. EsTEBED, according to act of Congress, In the year 18CT, by M. MoN. WALSH, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern District of New-York, -CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Op Schools, School Systems, and Governments. — Giving an explanation of the dif ferent plans that have been adopted for the diffusion of knowledge in all countries ancient and modem, and showing the effect which governmental school systeme have had upon the destiny of nations, 7 CHAPTER II. The Law as to Reuqion in Schools. — This chapter contains the old English and colonial laws relative to the subject, and gives a succinct legal history (all taken from law books and court records) of the origin and progress of " religious liberty " in this country, 28 CHAPTER III. The Law as to Religion in Schools. — In this chapter the laws of the several States, DOW in force, are carefully explained and cited, 45 CHAPTER IT. The Law as to Cohpobal Punishment — Parent and Child, 64 CHAPTER V. The Law as to Corporal Punishment — Teacher and Pupil, 70 CHAPTER TI, The Law as to Pohishinq foe Misconduct out of School, 98 CHAPTER TIL The Law as to the Proper Instrument to be used in Punishing, 116 CHAPTER Tin. The Law as to the Right of Parents to Interfere with the rules or the methods of discipline adopted in schools, 119 CHAPTER IX. Thb Law ab to the Teacher^s Morality, 186 " 'Tis best to make the law our Mend, And patiently await : Keep your side good, and you are sure To conquer soon or late.' AuTHOR^S Pl^EFACE. To members of the legal profession who are at all interested in schools, this little work will be found convenierS at least. To all others it will be found more or less instructive. It is sent out, how- ever, on a higher mission, for which it has with great care been ex- pressly prepared, and which is explained elsewhere. For giving to the public a handsome little volume full of useful and reliable information and at a low price, no apology is deemed necessary. The school-girl gathers flowers in the garden or on the wayside, and makes a bouquet ; the author gathers facts wherever he can find them, and makes a book. If the bouquet is beautiful and the book useful, it is enough. Had the flowers been of the girl's own manufacture, the bouquet would have been without fragrance ; and had the book contained but the ideas, opinions, and theories of the author, it might have been worthless. Theories that have been proved, facts that have been established, and laws that have been authoritatively explained — these are better material for a book, if properly arranged, than would be thoughts of the author's own coining, even though he may be " wise in his own conceit." Be- sides, to make use of the language of others is but to back opinion ly oAithority. Nbw^-Yokk, January, 1867. j^EAR THE Children Pleading. I. "Give us light amid our darkness. Let us know the good from ill; Hate us not for all our blindness : Love us, lead us, show us kindness, Tou can make us what you wiM." n. "We are willing, we are ready; We would learn, if you would teach ; We have hearts that yearn to duty ; We have minds alive to beauty; Sovls that any height can reach.'' . THE LAWYER IN THE SCHOOL-EOOM. CHAPTER I. OF SCHOOLS, SCHOOL SYSTEMS, AND GOVERNMENTS. Sec. 1. Chiita. — In no country of the world is educa- tion so general as in China. The course of instruction begins in the family, where the boys are taught to enu- merate objects, to count to the number of ten thousand, and to reverence their parents and ancestors by a minute ceremonial. At the age of five or six years they are sent to school. On entering the hall the pupil makes obeisance first to the holy Confucius, and then to his master. A lesson learned in grammar, history, ethics, mathematics, or astronomy, according to the proficiency of the student, is followed by the morning repast ; after which the day is spent in copying, learning by heart, and reciting select passages of literature. Before de- parture in the evening, a part of the pupils relate some events of ancient history, which are explained by the master ; others unite in singing an ancient ode, which is sometimes accompanied by a symbolic dance. They 8 OF SCHOOLS, SCHOOL SYSTEMS, leave the hall with the same obeisances with which they enter it, and on reaching home, reverentially salute the domestic spirits, and their ancestors, parents, and rel- atives. A higher course of instruction is provided in universities under the surveillance of the state. One of these exists in most of the large cities, and the most advanced of them is the imperial college in Pekin. Though the government seems to foster directly only the higher branches, by supporting colleges in the large cities and provincial capitals, while the primary schools are sustained only by municipalities or individuals, the knowledge of reading, writing, and arithmetic is all but universal. The rules and regulations for the education of children and the prosecution of studies laid down in the book of rites are excellent, notwithstanding their great minuteness. Distinction in public life is attained only by scholarship. There are four literary degrees. The examinations which the aspirants to public honors have to pass are very severe. The unsuccessful candi- dates are numbered by hundreds of thousands. The education of girls is neglected, but the daughters of the wealthy are generally taught to read, write, sing, and sometimes to make verses. ^ Literary attainments, how- ever, are considered creditable to a woman, and the num- ber of authoresses is by no means small. The daughters of learned men are instructed in music, poetry, elocution, etc. No religion is taught in the common schools. The stress that is laid upon an education in China by the government can hardly be exaggerated. As has been AND GOVERNMENTS. 9 stated, all persons -who can not pass the several examina- tions and finally obtain the highest degree of scholarship attainable in the schools are forever shut out from par- ticipating in the public honors of the empire. But when this degree is once attained by a person, no matter how low ma'tf have been his origin., he is regarded with veneration by the people, and is eligible to the highest office in the state. It is easily seen, therefore, how so great a veneration for learning has come to be enter- tained by the people, and how the government contrives to secure the advantage of a common school education to all, without directly contributing toward .their main- tenance and support. (N. A. Cyc.) But a common school education or even a collegiate education, which means only the acquisition of a certain amount of dry knowledge, and in which all the finer feel- ings of our nature are left undeveloped, is so much less than what ought to be accomplished in the process of educating that it is far from being satisfactory, to say the least. It is the business of education not only to transmit and interpret to the new generation the ex- perience of the past, and thereby enable each successive generation to increase and improve this inheritance, and to bring up the citizens in the spirit of the government ; but there is a higher and nobler duty for education to perform. It must enlarge the afiections ; control, with- out smothering, the emotions ; subdue the passions ; and eradicate, so far as is in its power, the wrong propensi- ties ; it must watch with ceaseless vigilance for the first 10 OF SCHOOLS, SCHOOL SYSTEMS, appearance of pride, obstinacy, malice, envy, vanity, cruel- ty, revenge, anger, lying, and their kindred vices, and, by steadfast and unwearied assiduity, it must strive to extirpate them before they have gained firmness by age or vigor by indulgence. (Wayland.) Whether the - Chinese system of education meets with commendable success in accomplishing these essential ends of every useful system of human development or not, it is hardly safe to say. Our knowledge of China and the Chinese is not by any means perfect as yet. A country seven times as large as France, containing nearly half the inhabitants of the globe, and having more densely crowded and populous cities than any other country on the face of the earth : a country, nevertheless, in which street-fights, assaults, and murders are almost unknown ; where the violent and gladiatorial sports of what are sometimes thought more civilized countries are held in contempt ; where duels are utterly unknown, and a re- sort to force is considered a proof of an inferior kind of civilization ; where women are not allowed to cast off the natural modesty of the sex and follow the brazen if not profligate life of the stage performer ; where some of the most excellent moral precepts known to modern times have been universally inculcated from a period far ante- rior to the Christian era ; where are found the oldest of all known books, and a literature the most ancient, most consistent, most varied, and most voluminous of all : a people with an uninterrupted history running back for nearly five thousand years, (2207 b.c.,) and an empire AND GOVERNMENTS. i\ that would seem to have been founded so long ago as 2650 B.C., but which at all events has existed longer than any other empire, government, or principality since the world began : a country with such a history, and of such a character, ought not to be judged and condemned by the character and conduct of its cast-off adventurers who come to our distant shores perhaps as fugitives from justice. Nor should we give credit to all the state- ments of those few learned Europeans who have had a glimpse of the edge of the Chinese character, »nd no more, but who have nevertheless assumed to tell us all about the Celestial Empire. Men of great learning are notoriously un£t foi* the freedom and familiarity which alone afford an acquaintance with the every-day man- ners and customs of a people. They can thoroughly ex- amine manuscripts, books, libraries, systems of educa- tion, and forms of government, and on these subjects we may safely credit them ; but when they begin to speak of the Chinese mind, character, and habits, except as these appear in the laws and literature of their country, then it may be well to doubt, and to ask what facilities each individual writer had for observation, how well he was calculated by nature to improve these facilities, and how he did actually improve them. Most foreigners, especially if they do not understand our language, have to be in our country a long time before they can fully ex- plain our government, our laws, our habits, our manners, our virtues, and our vices. It is an easy thing for some writers to imagine that they have seen all in seeing one, 12 OP SCHOOLS, SCHOOL SYSTEMS, and there are those even who, seeing many, see none cor- rectly. We have, therefore, come to the conclusion that our knowledge of China and the Chinese is as yet too imperfect to justify us in condemning the Chinese system of education, as some very learned men have heretofore done. The Chinese are proud of their country and of their ci-vilization, which was already flourishing at a time when the Christian nations were still hidden in the dark- ness of barbarism. This national pride comes, at least, as naturally to them as to those nations whom we are wont to call civilized. Considering that China contains near- ly one half the population of the globe, and that the kingdoms or empires constituting the so-called " great powers " can, in point of territorial extent and popula- tion, scarcely compare with single provinces of the Chi- nese empire : considering, also, that with the exception of steam-engines and electric telegraphs, there is scarcely any great invention of modern times which has not been in use among the Chinese for many centuries ; that pop- ular education is more general and the social structure more fii-mly settled there than in any other country: hen these facts are duly considered, the apparent over- bearing demeanor and narrow-mindedness of the Chinese in regard to foreigners may not appear in altogether so unfiivorable a light, especially since we ourselves are so apt to assume a superiority over, and to regard with a certain kind of contempt, most foreigners who come .imong us. It is probable that a more intimate inter- AND GOVERNMENTS. 13 course with the Chinese would materially modify the un- favorable impression of them which now so generally prevails among Christian nations. " Their civilization," says Ritter, "has been developed under peculiar forms and influences, and must be compared to, rather than be judged by, that of Europeans ; the dissimilarity is as wide, perhaps, as can possibly exist between two races of beings having the same common nature and wants. A people by whom some of the most important inventions of modern Europe were anticipated, (such as the compass, porcelain, gunpowder, paper, printing,) and were known and practiced many centuries earlier ; who probably amount to more than 400,000,000, united in one system of manners, letters, and policy ; whose cities and capitals rival in numbers the greatest metropolises of any age ; wlio havfe not only covered the earth but the waters with towns and streets ; such a nation must occu- py a conspicuous place in the history of mankind, and the study of their character and condition commends itself to every well-wisher of his race." There is no na- tion of Europe that is any thing more than a pigmy by the side of China. England leads all other European na- tions in commerce ; but there is a greater amount of ton- nage belonging to the Chinese than to all other nations combined. Prussia is supposed to have -one of the best educational systems in Europe; but there is no school system in Europe that has stood the test of two hundred years even, and the Chinese system has stood the test of more than two thousand years. The Chinese are not a 14 OF SCHOOLS, SCHOOL SYSTEMS, fighting people, and consequently in the Christian art of killing men they are doubtless behind the age. Al- though our knowledge of them is not perfect, we think it safe to attribute to their system of education their great adhesiveness, prosperity, and importance as a peo- ple, and their wonderful stability, antiqmty, and consist- ency as a nation. Sjec. 2. Ancient Egypt, the land of luxury, letters, and libraries, was a government good in many respects, but without a system of schools for the people, and it long since passed away. Persia, the land of flowery fancy and princely profligacy, occasionally had a ruler who placed great stress upon the proper education of his own children, and thus a Cyrus was given to history; but the Persian empire was a government without a system of education for the people, and it felrto pieces so long ago that it is hardly mentioned now except in ancient his- tory. Even the Hebrew nation, God's chosen people, not- withstanding aU that has been said and written about " the schools of the prophets," had, as a nation, no schools and no school system worthy of the name. The " stiff"- necked " fathers were indeed commanded to teach the law to their children ; but so far as we know, they did this with- out supervision and in their own way, if at all. So from generation to generation, notwithstanding the good men God sent among them, they were a " stiflT-necked and re- bellious people." And the illustrious throne upon which sat David and Solomon, even this fell because it was not supported by a system of national education for the peo- AND GOVERNMENTS. 15 pie. There were in Greece great philosophers and schools, but they were entirely independent of and sep- arate from the machinery of government. The spirit of inquiry and the thirst for knowledge that might have been turned to the state's advantage and secured its sta- bility was left to individual enterprise ; so there was no harmony of thought, no unanimity of purpose, and the Grecian republics have long since disappeared from the catalogue of nations. Even the once mighty and pow- erful Rome was left to the same chance, and her " de- cline and fall " may be attributed to the same cause. In no country of antiquity, except China, was there any governmental scheme for the education of aU classes. Sparta under Lycurgus came near to it, but the educa- tion imparted by the state was mainly physical, and did not reach the peasant classes. The bishops and clergy were the first in Europe to recognize the duties of the authorities to educate the young. The Council of Vai- son (a.d. 529) recommended the establishment of pub- lic schools. In 800 a synod at Mentz ordered that the parochial priests should have schools in the towns and villages, that "the little children of all the faithful should learn letters from them." A council at Rome in 836 ordered that there should be three kinds of schools throughout Christendom. The Council of Lat- eran in 1179 ordained the establishment of a grammar school in every cathedral, for the gratuitous instruction of the poor. This ordinance was enlarged and enforced by the Council of Lyons in 1245. Thus originated the 16 OF SCHOOLS, SCHOOL SYSTEMS, European and American popular or common schools as an outgrowth of the Christian Church. Martin Luther, amid his arduous and anxious labors, found time to do good service to the cause of popular education. In 1524, he wrote " an address to the common councils of all the cities of Germany in behalf of Christian schools,'' in which occurs the following passage : " It is a grave and serious thing, afiecting the interest of the kingdom of Christ, and of all the world, that we apply ourselves to the work of aiding and instructing the young. If so much be expended every year for weapons of war, roads, dams, and countless other things of the sort for the safety and prosperity of a city, why should not we ex- pend as much for the beneiit of the poor, ignorant youths to provide them with skillful teachers ?" In 1526, he wrote to the Elector of Saxony as follows: "Since we are all required, and especially the magistrates, above aU other things, to educate the youth who are born and are grow- ing up among us, and to train them up in the fear of God and in the ways of virtue, it is needful that we have schools. If the parents will not reform, they must go their way to ruin ; but if the young are neglected and left without education, it is the fault of the state / and the effect will be that the country will swarm with vile and lawless people ; so that our safety no less than the command of God requireth us to foresee and ward off the evil." He asserts, also, that the government, " as the natural guardian of all the young," has the right to com- pel the people to support schools. " What is necessary AND GOVERNMENTS, 17 to the well-being of a state," said he, " should be sup- plied by those who enjoy the privilege of such state. Now, nothing is more necessary than the training of those who are to come after us and bear rule." The mag- nificent organization of schools to which Germany owes so much of her present fame is clearly the legitimate result of the labors of Luther. Before the kingdom of Prussia existed, except as the Mark of Brandenburg, (1540,)- visitors were appointed to inspect the town schools of the electorate, with express directions to report in relation to the measures deemed necessary for their improvement. Other action was taken afterward in the same direction ; and when the kingdom of Prussia was established, the duty of the state to take care of and provide for the education of its rising generation became one of the main foundation principles of the government. Prussia, we believe, was the first government in Europe founded on this princi- ple, which has since been adopted by all of them, except, perhaps, England. The schools in Austria are sectarian, and consequently not more than half the children in the empire attend them. In Sweden, for nearly two hun- dred years, the ability to read and write has been indis- pensable to the assumption of the functions of citizenship. Elementary education is universal'm Sweden. England is well supplied with institutions for secondary and su- perior education, and for the promotion of science, liter- ature, and the arts ; but all these are supported chiefly by tuition fees, private contribution, or ancient endowments. 18 OF SCHOOLS, SCHOOL SYSTEMS, There is a dense mass of popular ignorance upon whicli these institutions shed no light, except to make the dark- ness more visible by contrast. The neglect of the gov- ernment to provide schools for the masses has filled England with the most brutal and ignorant populace in Europe. In 1851, the returns of 708 schools were signed by the master or mistress with a mark, the teacher not knowing how to write ; these were what are called " in- ferior schools." But the same strange fact occurred in the returns of thirty-five public schools, most of them having endowments. Sec. 3. The various plans adopted by governments for fostering education are reducible into four general classes, which we will call the Chinese, the Hebrew, the Prussian, and the American. I. The Chinese plan consists in establishing a system of excellent graded schools, and making it necessary to pass through all the grades with honor in order to acquire eligibility to office in the state. The direct results of this plan are : (1.) to make a thorough education absolutely necessary to every one who would, share in the honors and emolu- ments of the government ; (2.) to secure for government officials men who are all highly and similarly educated ; and (3.) to make education a high honor in itself, and an acknowledged badge of superiority as well as a social and political advantage. The Chinese educational sys- tem embraces a most complete course of eminently na- tional instruction, and is made to stand out in bold prom- inence, so that it may strike the minds of all in such a AND GOVERNMENTS. 19 way as to leave a definite, forcible, and lasting impres- sion. It carefully avoids all vexed questions, such as re- ligion, for example ; and without taking upon itself the championship of any thing that might prejudice any class against it, it marshals all its forces and advances only for the accomplishment of its own purposes. It does not choose to lessen its importance or waste its energies by dividing its honors and multiplying its objects, but ad- heres faithfully to its legitimate aims ; and the result is the most stable government, and perhaps the greatest, that has ever appeared upon the face of the earth. II. The Hebrew plan was to establish a government with- out a system of education, or to establish a religion and apply the whole force of the government to the support of it. Some of the Hebrews were unquestionably learned, and others of them may have been ; but there was nothing in their laws or government, and there is nothing in their history, to lead us to suppose that their government as such, or they as a people, gave any prominence to education, in the sense in which the term is now used. They seem to have left the science of hu- man development to take care of itself, or to " private enterprise " or " free competition," as in England. The most liberal and comprehensive minds of England, see- ing a warning in the history of other nations, have for a long time been urging upon the government the import- ance of a national system of public schools. But what these men desire and demand is a system of schools which shall be free from sectarianism ; a thing which is '20 OF SCHOOLS, SCHOOL SYSTEMS, certainly most desirable, but which is not to be easily obtained from, a government with an established church. III. The Prussian educational system is purely govern- mental, emanating solely from a minister of instruction immediately dependent on the crown. The universities, the gymnasia, and the primary schools are all under laws and regulations which proceed respectively from the crown, from the provincial government, and from the communes. Eyery child in the kingdom is obliged, under pains and penalties, to attend school at least from the age of seven to that fourteen ; and the result is, that the Prussian people are eflSciently educated throughout the entire community, and that the universities send forth a large body of highly educated men. This scheme has given to Prussia some prominence as a nation, and it has to a considerable extent nationalized the people. But there would seem to be something still wanting; for, notwithstanding their vast and powerful machinery for popular instruction, the Prussians have not taken a lead- ing part in civilization. Horace Mann supposed that this partial want of success in the Prussian school sys- tem arose from the fact that when the children once leave school they have few opportiinities of applying the knowledge or exercising the faculties which have been acquired and developed there. This, however, is only the result of the cause, and not the cause itself. A gov- ernment that reserves its highest honors for a privileged aristocracy, and at the same time forces the young to attend its schools, not for their advantage, but for the AND GOVERNMENTS. 21 advantage of the government and its favorites, may be able to boast that all its people can read, write, and cipher; but at the same time it must admit that, while bestowing this limited amount of knowledge, it carefully smothered or crushed in them all their hopes, so natural to youth, for distinction. In a government having an hereditary aristocracy, people of humble origin are pur- posely kept in obscurity ; and they have, and can have, but few, if any, incentives for distinguished zeal. In such a government, those who have the misfortune to be born lowly can by no efforts of theirs change their status, unless, indeed, it be from bad to worse, for ambi- tion there is treason. A people with their natural in- stincts and ideas thus dwarfed, and thus forbidden to give birth to new hopes or new aspirations, could hardly be expected to take a leading part in civilization. Nor could they be expected to carry out of the school-room any particular fondness for the education which they may have received there. The Prussian system of education is defective because it does not impart new hopes and de- sires to the young ; and because it is defective in this re- spect the Prussians have not taken a leading part in civil- ization. rV. The plan which we have called the American plan is that system of education which has been gener- ally adopted in the United States. It is quite different from any thing that has yet been explained. There is no other country in the world which contains a population composed of such heterogeneous elements as this. The character of the original settlers has left its impress to a 22 OF SCHOOLS, SCHOOL SYSTEMS, certain extent upon their descendants, though in many parts of the country all such distinctive traces have been obliterated by the streams of subsequent immigration from all parts of the world. The form of governinent, too, is peculiar. There are really as many governments as there are separate States ; but these for certain pur- poses are bound together, by a perpetual league, into one general government. " The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively or to the people." (Const, of U. S. art. 10, Amend.) The general government does not seem to have been charged or intrusted with the education of the people. It is, however, authorized " to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writ- ings and discoveries." (Const, of IT. S. art. 1, sec. 8, subd. 8.) But the very first principle of many which was enunciated by the delegates of the American people, when they met to take the first step toward forming a general government, and the one which seems most likely to control the action and shape the destiny of the republic, was, that " all men are created equal." After- ward, in forming a constitution for their government, the people, mindful of the history of other nations, re- fused to permit the general government to constitute or establish a privileged class among them. "No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States." (Const. of U. S. art. 1, sec. 9, subd. Y.) Thus secured in their AND GOVERNMENTS: 23 reserved rights, the people of each State have a govern- ment of theii- own, a State legislature, for the enactment of such laws as they may deem necessary for the full enjoyment of their rights, and as are not in conflict with the constitution of the general government. The right to educate the people was not delegated to the gen- eral government, consequently this right remains with the people of the several States, and is exercised by them, if at all, in their legislatures. There has been much legislation in the several States on this subject. All of them have felt it their duty to encourage educa- tion in some way. In many of them a most liberal and efficient system of free schools is established, and this will doubtless soon be the case in all. These schools are in the main well conducted, and kept entirely free from sectarianism. The attendance is rarely compulsory, as in Prussia; nor can the teachers incite their pupUs to greater exertion by reminding them that, if they pass through aU the degrees with honor, the government wiU reward and the people will venerate them, as in China. But in aU these schools the pupils are taught that a good education is its own reward ; that with it happi- ness, wealth, honor, and political preferment are aU possi- ble ; while without it a person labors under a thousand disadvantages, no matter what he undertakes, all his life long ; and he will be fortunate indeed if he is not often the object of ridicule and contempt. The pupils are re- minded that, if they will but make themselves qompetent and worthy to hold office, even the highest offices and 24 OF SCHOOLS, SCHOOL SYSTEMS, honors in the government may he enjoyed hy them. In a word, the teachers take the young minds as they find them, and fill them with the hopes, the desires, and the aspirations of educated and renned gentlemen, or at least such is what they are expected to do. The girls are trained and taught similarly. They are filled with all the ideas, tastes, and aspirations that are becoming to a' true womanhood. Both boys and girls are taught not that they must go to school because the state wants to nationalize them, as in Prussia, but that they ought to go to school for their own good, as well as for the honor and prosperity of the state. Except in one or two States, they are not warned that they will be deprived of exercising the functions of citizens, as in Sweden, unless they have a certain amount of education ; but their edu- cation is liberally provided for by the State, and they are sent by fond parents to intelligent teachers, whose duty it is to awaken their young minds to a proper sense of their several duties, and to a full realization of what they may by zealous efibrts reasonably hope to achieve. " Lives of great men all remind iia We can make our lives sublime ; And, departing, leave behind us Footprints on the sands of time." Whether the Chinese plan of giving ofSice and honors to the thoroughly educated only, or the American plan of giving to the educated no honors or rewards except such as they earp for themselves ofltpide of the schools. AND GOVERNMENTS. 25 is the better one, remains for time to decide. The Chinese plan would seem, at least, to have given stahUity to the government ; hut this -would also seem to he one of the results of the American plan, for not a single State that had any thing worthy of the name of a system of puhlio instruction participated in the recent rebellion. Louisiana might be excepted ; but her system was not long in operation before the troubles began, and con- sequently it can not be blamed for what followed. Education is the cheap defense of nations. Sec. 4. Governments for the most part have not been framed on models. Their parts and their powers in general grew out of occasional acts, prompted by some urgent expediency or some private interest, which in the course of time coalesced and hardened into usages. These usages became the object of respect and the guide of conduct long before they were embodied in written laws. Governments are but societies of men united to- gether to procure their mutual safety and advantage; and as these men make laws by which they are them- sehes to be governed, they naturally make such laws as will accord as nearly as possible with their own manners and tastes. And this is not only the natural but the necessary course for them to pursue. For it is a maxim in the science of legislation and government that laws are of no avail without manners. That is to say, the best intended legislative provisions can have but little bene- ficial effect at first, and none at all in a short time, unless they are congenial to the disposition and habits, 2 26 OF SCHOOLS, SCHOOL SYSTEMS, the religious prejudices, and the approved immemorial usages of the people for whom they were enacted. The blind prejudices, idiosyncrasies, and vices of each par- ticular people, as well as their advance in civilization, general intelligence, and state-craft, are easily ascertain- able from an examination of their laws. A wise govern- ment wishes to provide against the perpetuation of any thing that may be in its organic laws having a ten- dency to vice or weakness. Consequently the most suc- cessful, promising, and enlightened governments of the present day, while they despair of materially altering the manners or reforming the habits of the older members of society, have a tender care for the rising generation, and zealously endeavor to teach them, at an early age, the manners and principles which are thought to be most conducive to the happiness of the citizen and the prosper- ity and perpetuity of the state. In the natural course of things, all those who, by the laxity or depravity of their moral instincts, or by the arrogance of spiritual pride, the vagaries of undisciplined imaginations, and the extrava- gances to which badly balanced intellects may be led in the pursuit of ultimate principles, are working injury to the state, will soon be numbered only with the dead ; and it were well if their evU manners and principles were bur- ied with them. Obstinate manhood may blindly adhere to its old idols, but the reaper wUl come by and by ; and it is to be hoped that the idolater and his brazen images will be carried away together, in order that purer shrines may be reared and nobler objects adored by those who AND GOVERNMMNTS. 27 are to come after. Toward the accomplislimeiit of this great end — the symmetrical development of the intellec- tual powers and the purification of the manners of the masses — no one can do more than the intelligent and con- scientious teacher. To refine manners, develop thought, and fill young souls with noble aspirations is the every- day duty of his high calling. lie is intrusted by the state with one of its most tender cares, and it looks to him almost wholly for the accomplishment of what is really its highest and noblest ambition — the formation of minds such as will enhance its society, perfect its laws, and adorn its history. To this end it contributes largely from the public funds, buUds a comfortable school-house in every one of its neighborhoods, carefully selects from its most exemplary and intellectual young men and wo- men a teacher for each, and then opens the doors to all equally, showing no partiality and making no distinc- tions, but inviting all to come and enjoy without money and without price. And now, after all this tender solici- tude and generous profusion, the state lacks no confi- dence in its teachers ; but, placing an implicit faith in their zeal, it takes a calm survey of the coming centuries, and beholding generation after generation, it rejoices that each successive one wiU be wiser, better, and hap- pier than the preceding. CHAPTER n. OF RELIGION IN SCHOOLS— AS THE LAW WAS. "True religion Is always mUd, propitious, and humble ; Plays not the tyrant, plants no faith in blood ; Nor bears destruction on her chariot-wheels : But stoops to poUsh, succor, and redress. And builds her grancleur on the public good." Sec. 1. In England, in the time of Charles II., all per- sons were prohibited from teaching school, " unless they be licensed by the ordinary, and subscribe a declaration of conformity to the liturgy of the Church, and reverently frequent divine service established by the laws of this kingdom." (13 and 14 Car. 11. c. 4; 17 Car. 11. c. 2.) This was the same Charles from whom Roger Williams obtained the charter for Rhode Island. No dissenter shall hold the mastership of any college or school of royal foundation since 1 Will, and Mary. (19 Geo. III. c. 44 ; 1 Mod. 3.) A schoolmaster must be licensed by the bishop, and may be punished in the spiritual courts for keeping a school without a license. (Matthews v. Bur- dett, 3 Salk. 318.) It is not our purpose to explain the OF UELiaiON IN SCHOOLS. 29 law of England fully on this sulsject, but merely to show what it was up to a particular time. This object is now accomplished. Sec. 2. " Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exer- cise thereof." (TJ. S. Const, art. 1 of Amend.) It would seem to follow from this, that any State may es- tablish a religion, and cause the same to be taught in its schools ; for, if Congress can make no law respecting the establishment of religion, it can make no law prohibiting the establishment of it. It is entirely within the power f of the several States, therefore, to establish a religion j for themselves or not, just as they may deem proper. It , follows, also, that a State may establish a religious test for teachers ; and this may be done for teachers of private as well as of public schools. "Whether any thing of this kind has been done is a question which can be answered only after a careful examination of the laws of the sev- eral States. Believing it to be of the utmost importance that teachers should know precisely what is and is not required of them by law in matters of religious concern- ment, upon which the consciences of men everywhere are so tender, and which are so fruitful in likes and dislikes, disputes and contentions, we will now proceed to ex- plain the law of the several States on this point, and at the same time give a legal history (gleaned from law records only) of the origin and progress of religious liberty in our country. Sec. 3. In Massachusetts, our pious Pilgrim fathers 30 OF RELIGION IN SCHOOLS, thought it their duty, in founding a etate, to make tne ■weak in faith sound by fear, and enacted as follows : " If any person within this jurisdiction shall broach and maintain any damnable heresies, as denying the immor- tality of the soul or the resurrection of the body, or any sin to be repented of in the regenerate, or any evil to be done by the outward man to be accounted sin ; or shall deny that Christ gave himself a ransom for our sins ; or shall affirm that we are not justified by his death and righteousness, but by our own merit ; or shall deny the morality of the fourth commandment ; or shall openly condemn or oppose the baptism of infants; or shall purposely depart the congregation at the administra- tion of the ordinance of baptism; or shall deny the ordinance of magistracy, or their lawful authority to make war and peace, and to punish the outward breaches of the firs^ table ; or shall endeavor to seduce others to any of these opinions — every such person, lawfully con- victed, shall be banished this jurisdiction. No school- master shall he admitted, who is unsound in the faith." (Plant. Laws, 1704, pp. 44, 45, 89.) These laws seem to have been made in 1646, about ten years after the ban- ishment of Roger Williams, the irrepressible advocate of religious liberty. The Rev. Roger Williams was an Englishman of high standing, not only in his native country, but in the wilds of Apierioa. In 1631, dislik- ing the formalities of the Church of England, he seceded from it and joined himself to the Dissenters, and fled to this country to avoid the persecutions that then raged A3 THE LAW WAS. 31 violently in England; civil and religious liberty were then strangers in New-England, and Mr. Williams advo- cated them with an intrepidity that awakened the atten- tion of the more rigid of the opposition and of many of his friends. On his arrival in this country, he first lo- cated himself at Boston, but at the time of his trial re- sided at Salem, where he had the charge of a large church and congregation, who esteemed him for his strong powers of mind, highly cultivated ; his purity of character as a Christian teacher ; for his liberal and en- larged views on the subject of civil and religious liberty. With his accustomed pious frankness, he did not hesitate to advance his sentiments unreservedly, and denied the right of the civil magistrates to govern or legislate on ec- clesiastical affairs. (Winthrop.) Which soon caused him to be arraigned, and he was, in October, 1635, tried and sentenced to banishment from the colony. But the court who had so unjustly banished him, still possessing too much of the milk of human kindness to drive Mr. Wil- liams at that season of the year, with his family, into the wilderness at the mercy of the savages, gave him liberty to remain in the colony until the next spring, upon con- dition that he should not disseminate his doctrines and opinions to their citizens ; which favor he gladly ac- cepted, and remained there until the January following ; when he was informed that his accusers were about to send him back to his persecutors in England. He there- fore forthwith made his escape from Salem, in the midst of winter, and fled to the Indians in Rhode Island, where 32 OF RELIGION IN SCHOOLS, he was kindly and favorably received by the chief sachem of Mount Hope, who made him a grant of a val- uable tract of land at Secunh ; but even on this favored lot of his refuge he was not long suffered to remain, but was ordered by the colonists to cross the river, they claiming the lands upon which he was then located as belonging to the colony of Massachusetts. He accord- ingly in the spring (with his servant) crossed the river, where he once more planted himself, and laid the foun- dation of the present city of Providence, where he resided many years, an instrument in the hands of the Lord to protect the lives, liberty, and property of his persecutors in the colony from which he was banished ; from the scalping-knife and tomahawk of the ruthless savages, over whom he had gained an influence and control by his kindness to them. He alone was enabled to conciliate the angry passions and revengeful disposi- tions of the Indians about him, and save the massacre of the Massachusetts colonists. Mr. "Williams, soon after he formed his colony at Providence, became law-giver and minister to his infant colony, and formed his consti- tution upon the broadest principles of civil and religious liberty and equal rights, and was the first governor in North- America " who held liberty of conscience to be the birthright of man." (Blue Law, pp. 67, 68.) "Whereas Mr. Roger Williams, one of the elders of the church of Salem, hath broached and divulged divers new and dan- gerous opinions against the authority of magistrates, as also written letters of defamation both of magistrates AS THE LAW WAS. 33 and churches here, and that before any conviction, and yet maintaineth the same without retraction : It is there- fore ordered, that the said Mr. Williams shall depart out of this jurisdiction within six weeks now next ensu- ing, which, if he neglects to perfonn, it shall be lawful for the governor and two of the magistrates to send him to some place out of this jurisdiction, not to return any more, without license from the court." (Mass. Records, 1635.) " Richard Waterman being found erroneous, heret- ical, and obstinate, it was ordered that he should be de- tained prisoner till the quarter court in the seventh month, unless five of the magistrates find cause to send him away, which if they do, it is ordered, he shall not return within this jurisdiction upon pain of death." (Mass. Records, 1644.) The numerous cases of banish- ment for heresy upon those ancient records recall to our mind the following remark of a learned theologian : " To banish, imprison, starve, hang, and burn men for their religion is not the gospel of Christ, but the gospel of the devil. Where persecution begins, Christianity ends ; and if the name of it remains, the spirit is gone." (Jortin.) About 1657 it was ordered, that if any Quaker or Qua- kers shall presume, after they have once sufiered what the law requireth, to come into this jurisdiction, every such male Quaker shall, for the first offense, have one of his ears cut off, and be kept at work in the house of cor- rection till he can be sent away at his own charge; and for the second ofiense, shall have the other ear cut off, and be kept at the house of correction, as aforesaid. 84 OF RELIGION IS SCHOOLS, And every woman Quaker, that hath suffered the law here, that shall presume to come into this jurisdiction, shall be severely whipped, and kept at the house of cor- rection at work till she be sent away at her own charge ; and so also for her coming again, she shall be alike used as aforesaid. And for every Quaker, he or she, that shall a third time herein again offend, they shaJl have their tongues bored through loith a liot iron, and be kept at the house of correction, close at work, till they be sent away at their own charge." Sec. 4. In Connecticut, in 1642, the following laws were established: "1. If any man, after legal convic- tion, shall have or worslup any other god but the Lord God, he shall be put to death. 2. If any man or woman be a witch — that is, hath or consulteth with a familiar spirit — they shall be put to death. 3. K any person shall blaspheme the name of God the Father, Son, or Holy Ghost, with direct, express, presumptuous, or higE- handed blasphemy, or shall curse God in the like manner, he shall be put to death." In about 1655, the following laws were in force : " 1. If any person turn Quaker, he shall be banished, and not suffered to return upon the pain of death. 2. No priest shall abide in this dominion: he shall be banished, and suffer death on his return. Priests may be seized by any one, without a warrant- 3. No man shall hold any oflSee, who is not sound in the faith ; whoever gives a vote to such person shall pay a fine of one pound sterling, and for a second offense he shall be disfranchised. 4. No Quaker, or dissenter AS THE LAW WAH,. 35 from the established -worship of this dominion, shall be allowed to give a vote for the election of magistrates or any officer. 5. Ko food or lodging shall he aiforded to a Quaker, Adamite, or other heretic. 6. No one shall run on the Sahbath-day, or walk in his garden or else- where, except reverently to and from meeting. 7. No one shall travel, cook victuals, make beds, sweep house, cut hair, or shave on the Sabbath-day. 8. No woman shall kiss her child on the Sabbath or fasting-day. 9. No minister shaU keep a school." It is said by Peters, in his History of Connecticut, that these laws were the laws made by the people of New-Haven, previous to their incorporation with Saybrookand Hartford colonies, and were, as he says, very properly termed " blue laws," that is, bloody laws ; for, he adds, they were all sanctified with excommunication, confiscation, fines, banishment, whippiug, cutting ofi" the ears, burning the tongue, and death. We do not reproduce these laws with pleasure, and have given only as many as seemed necessary to convey a proper idea of the spirit with which Connec- ticut laws were made in those days. Sec. 5. In New-York (1693) it was ordered that "all Jesuits, seminary priests, missionaries, or other ecclesi- astical persons, made or ordained by any power or juris- diction derived or pretended from the Pope, residing or being within the province, depart the same on or before the first of November, ITOO. If any such continue to remain, or come into the province, after the said first of November, he shall be deemed an incendiary, a disturber 36 OP RELiaiON IN SCHOOLS, of the public peace, an enemy to the true Christian re- ligion, and shall suffer perpetual punishment." (Plant. Laws, p. 294.) A similar law was in force at this time in Massachusetts. (Plant. Laws, p. 54.) One that lived in those days, we imagine, could hardly suspect that, be- fore another century passed away, the people of the whole United States would declare that " Congress shall pass no law respecting an establishment; of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" This was a grand principle to incorporate in the Constitution of a great country ; but it must be borne in mind that its effect is, to leave to the people of each State the power to make any law they may deem expedient, " respecting an estab- lishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" Were it not for this reserved power, the law as to religion in schools could have been explained in five minutes. Now, however, the explanation is not so easy. We have said elsewhere that our schools are, for the most part, free from sectarianism, and this is true. But a general statement of this kind will not answer the ends of those who would be exact, careful, and critical in their inquiries. It is for the gratification of such that we place the laws of the several States on this particular subject in close juxtaposition — a thing which is now done for the first time. We give the law, and cite the authorities in which the very language as given will in every case be found. Sbc. 6. In Maryland, where a distinguished historian assures us " religious liberty obtained a home, its only AS THE LAW WAS. 37 home in the wide world,"(l Bancroft's Hist. U. S. p. 247,) it was enacted that, if any person whatever, inhabiting within this province, shall blaspheme, that is, curse God, deny our Saviour to be the Son of God, or deny the Holy Trinity, or the Godhead of any of the three persons, or the unity of the Godhead, or shall utter any reproachful words or language concerning the Holy Trinity, or any of the three persons thereof, he or she shall, for the first offense, be bored through the tongue, and fined twenty pounds sterling ; for the second offense, he or she shall be branded on the forehead with the letter " B," and fined forty pounds sterling, or imprisonment for one year ; and for the third offense, he or she so offending shall suffer death, with confiscation of all their goods and chattels. (Plant. Laws, p. 8.) The Book of Common Prayer, and administration of the sacraments, with other rites and ceremonies of the Church of England, shall be solemnly read by all ministers in the churches and other places of worship in this province. (Plant. Laws, p. 62.) Sec. 7. Li Virginia, it was enacted that, if any person brought up in the Christian religion shall, by writing, printing, teaching, or advised speaking, deny the being of a God, or the Holy Trinity; or assert or maintain there are more gods than one ; or deny the Christian religion to be true ; or the Holy Scriptures of thie Old and New Testaments to be of divine authority; and be thereof lawfully convicted upon indictment or informa- tion in the general court, such persons, for the first offense, shall be disabled to hold any office or employ- 38 OF RELIGION IN S0B00L8, ment, eoclesiastical, civil, or military, or any profit or ad- vantage therefrom. And every such office or employ- ment, held by such person at the time of his or her con- viction, is hereby declared void. And every such person, upon a second conviction of any of the crimes aforesaid, in manner aforesaid, shall from thenceforth be unable to sue in any court of law or equity, or to be guardian to any child, or executor or administrator of any person, or capable of any gift or legacy, or to bear any office; civil or military, forever vrithin this colony; and shall also suffer from the time of such conviction three years' im- prisonment, without bail or mainprise. (Laws of Va. 1758, p. 14.) This same law was in force in South-Caro- lina from about 1703. (Pub. Laws of S. C. 1790, p. 3.) No other catechism could be taught than the Church catechism inserted in the Book of Common Prayer. (Plant. Laws of Va. p. 12.) The following law was made in Virginia, in the year 1663, and was " in force and in use " still in 1 704 : " If any Quakers or other separatists whatever in this colony assemble themselves together to the number of five or more, of the age of sixteen years or upward, under the pretense of joining in a religious worship not authorized in England or this country, the parties so offending, being thereof lawfully convicted by vendict, confession, or notorious evidence of the fact, shall for the first offense forfeit and pay two hundred pounds of tobacco ; for the second offense, five hundred pounds of tobacco ; to be levied by warrant from any one justice of the peace upon the goods of the partj^ con- A3 THS LAW WAS. 39 victed ; but if he be unable, then upon the goods of any- other of the separatists or Quakers then present. And for the third offense, the offender, being convicted as aforesaid, shall be banished the colony." (Plant. Laws of Va. p. 52.) About the time this law was enacted in Virginia, and before any of the laws of the other colo- nies which we have cited were abolished, the people of the little colony of Rhode Island, perfectly consistent with their professions from the first settlement of their colony by Roger Williams, caused to be inserted in their charter, obtained from Charles 11. in 1665, the grand original idea of religious liberty, which seems since to have been adopted to a considerable extent by nearly every State in the Union, and by some of them entire. Sec. 8. Rhode Island. — The language of the char- ter above referred to is as follows : " No person within the said colony, at any time hereafter, shall be any wise molested, punished, disquieted, or called in question for any difference in opinion in matters of religion, and do not actually disturb the peace of our said colony ; but that all and every person and persons may from time to time, and at all times hereafter, freely and fully have and enjoy his and their own judgments and consciences in matters of religious concernments, throughout the tract of land hereafter mentioned, they behaving them- selves peaceably and quietly, and not using their liberty to licentiousness and profaneness, or to the civil injury or outward disturbance of others." The charter fur- 40 OF RELIGION IN SCHOOLS, ther Bays that this remarkable liberty of conscience is given to the people of Rhode Island, in order "that there may, in time, by the blessing of God upon their endeavors, be laid a sure foundation of happiness to all America." To show the remarkable strength of the faith of these men in their new theory of religious lib- erty, which was to be " a sure foundation of happiness to all America," we transcribe the following law in full from one of their ancient records : " Whereas Almighty God hath created the mind free, all attempts to influ- ence it by temporal punishments or burdens, or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a departure from the plan of the Holy Author of our religion, who, being Lord both of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by co- ercions on either, as was in His almighty power to do ; that the presumption of legislators and rulers, civil as well as ecclesiastical, who, being themselves but fallible and uninspired men, have assumed dominion over the faith of others, setting up their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and infallible, and as such endeavoring to impose them on others, hath established and maintained false religions over the greatest part of the world, and through all time ; that to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves is sinful and tyran- nical ; that even the forcing him to support this or that teacher of his own religious persuasion is depriving him of the comfortable liberty of giving his contributions to AS THE LAW WAS. 41 the particular pastor wtose morals lie would make Ms pattern, and whose powers he feels most persuasive to righteousness, and is withdrawing from the ministry those temporary rewards which, proceeding from an ap- probation of their personal conduct, are an additional incitement to earnest and unremitting labors for the in- struction of mankind ; that our civU rights have no de- pendence on our religious opinions; that therefore the proscribing any citizen as unworthy the public confi- dence by laying upon him an incapacity of being called to oflSces of trust and emolument unless he possesses or renounces this or that religious opinion is depriving him injuriously of those privileges and advantages to which, in common with his fellow-citizens, he has a nat- ural right ; that it tends only to corrupt the principles of that religion which it is meant to encourage, by bribing with a monopoly of worldly honors and emoluments those who will externally profess and conform to it ; that though, indeed, those are criminal who do not with- stand such temptation, yet neither are those innocent who lay the bait in their way ; that to sufier the civil magistrate to intrude his powers into the field of opinion, and to restrain the profession or propagation of princi- ples, on supposition of their ill tendency, is a dangerous fallacy, which at once destroys all religious liberty, be- cause he, beuig of course judge of that tendency, will make his own opinions the rule of judgment, and approve or condemn the sentiments of others only as they shall square with or differ from his own ; that it is time 42 OF RELIGION IN SCHOOLS, enough, for the rightful purposes of civil gorernment, for its officers to interfere when principles hreak out into open acts against peace and good order.; and, finally, that truth is great and will prevail, if left to herself; that she is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error, and has nothing to fear from the conflict, unless, by human interposition, disarmed of her natural weapons, free argument and debate — errors ceasing to be danger- ous when it is permitted to contradict them. And whereas a principal object of our venerable ancestors in their migration to this country and settlement of this State was, as they expressed it, ' to hold forth a lively experiment, that a most flourishing civU state may stand, and best be maintained with a fuU liberty in religious concernments :' Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly, and by the authority thereof it is enacted, that no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or minister whatever ; nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burdened in his body or goods ; nor shall otherwise sufier on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to possess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion ; and that the same shall in nowise diminish, enlarge, or ajBTect their civil capaci- ties." (Laws of R. I. 1798, p. 81.) The same principles, in almost the same words, are enunciated in the present Constitution of Rhode Island. (Art. 1, sec. 3.) After being "fourteen weeks sorely tossed in a bitter season, not knowing what bread or AS THE LAW WAS. , 43 bed did mean," at last, in June, 1636, the exiled Eoger Williams, with five companions, embarked in a frail Indian canoe to find and found a home for religious liberty. Tradition has marked the spring near ■which they landed : it is the parent spot, the first inhabited nook of Rhode Island. This place Williams called Prov- idence. " I desired," said he, " it misrht be for a shelter for persons distressed for conscience," (1 Bancft. -379;) and such a shelter it very soon became. At a time when Gennany was a battle-field for all Europe in the implacable wars of religion ; when even Holland was bleeding with the anger of vengeful factions; when France was still to go through the fearful struggle with bigotry ; when England was gasping under the despot- ism of intolerance; almost half a century before William Penn became an American proprietary ; two years before Descartes founded modern philosophy on the method of free reflection, (1 Bancft. 375 ;) and nearly a whole cen- tury before any of the older American colonies stopped branding, cutting ofi" the ears, boring the tongue with a red-hot iron, banishing, and putting to death for con- science' sake — Roger Williams asserted the great doc- tine of religious liberty, and suffered sorely for it ; but afterward had the satisfaction of laying the foundation of an independent state, based on the broad principles of civil and religious liberty, such as the world till then had never seen. Nearly two centuries and a half have passed away since the settlement of Rhode Island, but the people hold 44 OF RELIGION tN SCHOOLS. fast to their first principles. The spirit so manifest in the laws we have cited is the spirit of their laws in gen- eral. In their schools religious liberty is practiced, in- culcated, and protected by law. No teacher or scholar is proscribed there on account of religious opinions. " Shall I ask the brave soldier who fights by my side. In the cause of mankind, if our creeds agree ? Shall I give up the friend I have valued and tried. If he kneel not before the same altar with me ? Prom the heretic girl of my soul shall I fly. To seek somewhere else a more orthodox kiss ? No I perish the hearts, and the laws that try Truth, valor, or love, by a standard like this." CHAPTER m. OF RELIGION IN SCHOOLS— AS THE LAW IS. " Slave to no sect, who takes no private road, But looks tkrough nature up to nature's j replied to him with insolent words and manner ; and it was proved that the defendant ceased punishing when the pupil acknowledged her fault, asked forgiveness, and promised to behave better. The defendant asked the judge to instruct the jury " that a school-teacher is amenable to the laws, in a criminal prosecution for pun- isbing a scholar, only when he acts malo animo, from vindictive feelings, or under the violent impulses of passion or malevolence ; that he is not liable for errors of opinion or mistakes of judgment merely, provided he is governed by an honest purpose of heart to promote, by the discipline employed, the highest welfare of the school, and the best interests of the scholar ; that he is liable in a criminal prosecution for punishing a scholar only when the amount of punishment inflicted is more than adequate to subdue the scholar and secure obedi- ence to the rules of the school." The judge did not instruct the jury as requested, but instructed them " that a teacher had a right to inflict corporal punish- ment upon a scholar ; that the case proved was one in which such punishment might properly be inflicted ; that the instrument used (a ferule) was a proper one ; that, in inflicting corporal punishment, a teacher must exercise reasonable judgment and discretion, and must be governed, as to the mode and severity of the pun- ishment, by the nature of the offense, and by the age, size, and apparent powers of endurance of the pupil ; that the only question in this case was whether the punishment was excessive and improper ; that, if they 118 INSTRUMENT TO BE USED IN PUNISHING. should find the punishment to have been reasonable and proper, the defendant could not be deemed guilty of an assault and battery ; but if, upon all the evidence in the case, they should find the punishment to have been im- proper and excessive, the defendant should be found guilty." The jury returned a verdict of guilty, and exceptions having been taken by the defendant to the foregoing charge of the judge, the case was afterward argued before the appellate court, where the charge of the judge was declared to be correct. (Commonwealth V. Randall, 4 Gray, 37.) Sec. 4. A school-master is liable criminally, if, in in- flicting punishment upon his pupil, he goes beyond the limit of reasonable castigation, and, either in themcyde or degree of correction, is guilty of any unreasonable or dis- pi'oportionate violence or force; and whether the pun- ishment was excessive under the circumstances of any case, is a question for the ju/ry. (Commonwealth v. Randall, 4 Gray, 36 ; 3 Greenl. on Ev. sec. 63.) Sec. 5. Teachers should ever avoid those low, degrad- ing, and improper forms of punishment, such as tying up scholars' hands and feet, compelling them to hold a weight in their hands with their arms extended, pinch- ing, pulling, and wringing their ears, cheeks, and arms, and other similar modes, which are sometimes used, as the committee are decidedly of the opinion that a judicious teacher will find other methods of governing more con sistent and more efiectual. (Reg. for the Town of Smith field, R. I No. 8.) CHAPTER VIII. TEE LAW AS TO THE POWER OF PARENTS OVER TEACHERS. Sec. 1. The schdoPmaster and the Mng. — In school, where the mind is first placed under care to be fitted for the grand purposes of life, the child should be taught to consider his instructor, in many respects, superior to the parent in point of authority. The infant mind early ap- prehends and distinguishes with a surprising sagacity, and is always more influenced by example than precept. When a parent, therefore, enters the school, and by re- spectful deportment acknowledges the teacher's author- ity, the pupil's obedience and love for the master are strengthened ; and the principle of subordination is nat- urally ingrafted in the child, and in the most agreeable and effectual manner possible ; that is, by the influence of example. It is by this happy conspiracy between the teacher and parent that a new power — a genial influ- ence over the infant mind — is acquired, which is of infi- nite importance to the welfare and happiness of society. To aim a blow at this power would be to strike at the very basis of magisterial authority. It was to support this important element of good government that the 120 THE LAW AS TO THE POWER learned and judicious school-master said to Charles II. in the plenitude of his power : " Sire, pull off thy hat in my school ; for if my scholars discover that the' king is above, me in authority here, they will soon cease to respect me." (Morris's Case, 1 City Hall Rec. 55.) Sec. 2. Eoery marCs house is Ms castle. — This old maxim of English law (5 Rep. 92) is as applicable to the school-master as to any other person who is in the lawful possession of a house. It is true that the school officers, as such, have certain rights in the school-house ; but the law will not allow even them to interfere with the teacher while he keeps strictly within the line of his duty. Having been legally put in possession, he can hold it for the purposes and the time agreed upon ; and no parent, not even the governor of the State, nor the President of the United States, has any right to enter it and disturb him in the lawful performance of his duties. If persons do so enter, he should order them out ; and if they do not go, on being requested to do so, he may use such force as is necessary to eject them. And if he finds that he is unable to put them out himself, he may call on others to assist him ; and if no more force than is actually necessary to remove the intruders is employed, the law will justify the teacher's act and the acts of those who assisted him. (Stevens v. Fassett, 27 Maine, 266 ; 1 City Hall Rec. 55 ; 2 Met. 23 ; 6 Barb. 608 ; 8 T. R. 299 ; 2 Ro. Abr. 548 ; 2 Selk. 641 ; 1 C. & P. 6 ; 8 T, R, 78 ; "Wharton's Am. Crim. Law, 12_56.) OF PARENTS OVER TEACHERS. 121 In case a teacher lias Ibeen selected and approved by the superintending committee in conformity to law, there is no authority in the prudential committee or the dis- trict to close the house against such teacher. (See 8 Cush. 191, and Law Reporter, vol. 22, 213, Ninth School District in Weymouth v. Loud.) But in such case or in any case where the teacher is not in actual possession, but merely has the riffht of posses- sion, he should not attempt to gain possession by phys- ical force. The law will bear him out in maintaining his possession by force if he can make it appear that force was necessary ; but his riffht of possession he must maintain in another way. For example, if a teacher is " barred out" of the school-house by his scholars or oth- ers, he should at once notify the directors, who in turn may appeal, if necessary, to the township board invested with the legalcustody of the house. In case neither the directors nor the board cause the door to be opened, the teacher, by holding himself in readiness to discharge his duties, can collect his pay precisely as though his school had not been interrupted. (Ohio School Laws, 1865, Pec. 32.) Sec. 3. The vulgar impression that parents have a legal right to dictate to teachers is entirely erroneous. — As it would be manifestly improper for the teacher to undertake to dictate to the parents in their own house, so it would be improper for the parents to dictate to him in his, the school-house. Nor does it matter whether the parents own their house, or whether, like 122 THE LAW AS TO THE POWER the teacher, they only have possession of it for a certain time specified and on certain conditions, and perhaps for certain purposes named in the lease. In either case, the lawful possession is enough. It may be very proper, under certain circumstances, for the teacher to go to the house of the parents for an explanation, or to re- ceive or give advice ; and it may he equally proper for parents, under certain circumstances, to go to the school-house for an explanation, or to receive or give advice, provided that, in both cases, it is done in the right spirit. For it must be borne in mind that the school-master has no right whatever to exercise au- thority over parents out of the school-house, and that parents, as such, have no right whatever to exercise au- thority over the master. When the interests of pai"- ents and teachers are properly understood, there will be complete harmony and unity of action ; but untU that happy day comes, it is well enough for all to know that the teacher's position does not require him to please any parent, but to do his duty, even though he displease them all. The impression that parents have a right to go to the school and dictate to or insult the teacher is entirely contrary to the spirit and letter of the law establishing the common or public schools throughout the country. In private schools the case is somewhat different ; for the parents there, in legal effect, are the employers of the teacher, and consequently his masters ; but in the common and pub- lic schools they are neither his employers nor his mas- OF PARENTS OVER TEACHERS. 123 ters, and it is entirely out of place for them to attempt to give him orders. " If any parent, guardian, or other person, from any cause, fancied or real, visit a school with the avowed intention of upbraiding or insulting the teacher in the presence of the school, and shall so upbraid or insult a teacher, such person, for such con- duct, shall be liable to a fine of not more than twenty- five dollars, which, when collected, shall go into the gen- eral tuition revenue." (School Laws of Ind. 1865, p. 36, sec. 162.) "Any parent, guardian, or other person, who shall upbraid, insult, or abuse any teacher in the pres- ence of the school, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and be liable to a fine of not less than ten nor exceed- ing one hundred dollars." (Revised School Law of Cal. 1866.) If any parent or guardian shall abuse a teacher, by the use of offensive language, or shall use any means to intimidate him from exercising proper discipline, the teacher may suspend from school privileges the children of such parent or guardian until the case can be heard and determined by the commissioner. (By-Laws of Md. School Corars. 1865, p. 18, No. 11.) In no case shall a patron of the school, who has reason to complain of the discipline or conduct of the teacher, make such com- plaint in the presence of the pupils. The commissioner is the only person authorized to hear and determine charges against teachers. (Id. No. 10.) In Ohio, the boards of education have power to determine the stud- ies to be -pursued, and the school-books to be used in the several schools under their control. (Ohio School 124 THE LAW AS TO THE POWER Laws, 1865, ch. 1, sec. 17.) The power herein vested in boards of education carries with it the authority to prescribe a course of study for such schools, and the right to determine, or to authorize the teachers to de- termine, the studies to be pursued by each individual pupil. The general course of study to be pursued in each school should be prescribed by the board of educa- tion ; but the studies to be pursued, and the lessons to be prepared by each pupil, should be left to the teachers, or the acting manager of schools, who should be em- powered by the board to assign such studies and lessons to each pupil as the advancement of such pupil and the classification of the school will permit of and justify. When the parent or guardian refuses to permit his child or ward to comply with the direction of the school authorities, such disorderly pupil may be sus- pended from school. Such authority is frequently ex- ercised in the management of our best graded schools, and, in many instances, of our township sub-district schools. The success of every school requires classifi- caliion and system, which can not be secured if every parent may dictate the studies to be pursued in school by his children. The law wisely vests such power in the school authorities. In case the township board fail to prescribe the studies to be pursued, or to authorize teachers to classify pupils, and assign their respective studies and lessons, the local directors may exercise such authority, though not to the extent, perhaps, of excluding pupils from school for non-compliance with OF PARENTS OVER TEACHKRS. 125 their directions. In case neither the board nor the directors empower teachers to determine the studies of pupils, they may still exercise suck authority, and refuse to instruct pupils in studies and classes which they have not assigned to them. Parents feeling ag- grieved may appeal to the local directors or to the board of education. (Id. Dec. 57.) There is no privity of contract between the parents ol pupils and the teacher. His contract is with the town. He is responsible to the committee who represent the town. The general charge and superintendence of the schools, in the absence of express legal provisions, in- cludes the power of determining what pupils shall be received and what rejected. If children are suffering from a contagious disease, or so inipure in morals as to render association with them pernicious to others, the school committee may direct the teacher to ex- clude them temporarily or permanently. In such cases, neither parent nor pupil has a' remedy against the teacher, nor against the committee, unless they have acted corruptly or maliciously in the proceeding. But the law will not presume that the committee, who are invested with the power of superintendence and manage- ment, will act arbitrarily and unjustly in a matter sub- mitted to their judgment. Where schools are graded, the committee, under the general power of superintend- ence, will decide how the schools shall be organized, how many shall be kept, and what shall be the qualifi- cations, as to age and attainments, for admission. The 126 THE LAW AS TO TUB POWER same powers also exist in regard to district schools, as far as they may be applicable. The law vests a plenary authority in the committee to arrange, classify, and dis- tribute pupils as they think best adapted to their gen- eral proficiency and welfare. In the absence of special legislation on the subject, the law has vested the power in the committee to regulate the system of distribution and classification ; and when this power is reasonably exercised, without being abused or perverted by color- able pretenses, the decision of the committee will be deemed conclusive. (See 23 Pick. 224 ; 5 Cush. 198 ; 8 Cush. 160.) Sec. 3. Parents have no remedy as against the teach- er. — As a general thing, the only persons who have a legal right to give orders to the teacher are his employers, namely, the committee in some States, and in others the directors or trustees. If his conduct is approved by his employers, the parents have no remedy as agaihst him or them; for the law will not presume that the committee, etc., who are invested with the powers of superintendence and management, will act arbitrarily and unjustly in a matter submitted to their judgment. (23 Pick. 227.) The following decision on this same point is later, and to the same effect. The board ol' trustees in the city of New- York are vested with the power to conduct and manage the schools in their re- spective wards; and in this conduct and management the discipline of the schools is exclusively under their control. To their direction, consequently and necessa- OF PARENTS OVER TEACHERS. 127 rily, is confided the power to decide questions relating to the violation of discipline, and their judgment is conclu- sive. (18 Abbotts' Pr. 165.) If a child of proper ari,y and qualifications is rejected by the master, the proper course for the parent is to appeal to the committee, trustees, or directors, as the case may be. If, on their requisition, the master should refuse to accept the pupil, they would have ample means to enforce their author- ity by means of their contract with the master. But if they approve of and confirm the act of the master, we are to believe that there is good and sufficient cause for the rejection of the pupil. (23 Pick. 227.) The trustees may always expel a scholar when, in their judg- ment, the good order and proper government of the school require it. (14 Barb. 225 ; 38 Maine, 376 ; 8 Cush. 164.) And if they err in the discharge of their duty in good faith, they are not liable to an action there- for. (32 Vermont, 224.) Consequently the master ought to consult the trustees before he expels a pupil, (23 Pick. 227;) and if they give their consent, the parent has no remedy, and there is nothing to fear. In no case can a parent sustain an action for an injuiy to his child, unless some actual loss has accrued to him, or he has been subjected to the violation of some right, from which a possibility of damage to him may arise. (14 Barb. 225 ; 38 Maine, 376.) A parent of a child expelled from a public school can not maintain an action against the school committee by whose order it was done. (lb.) Nor is the teacher of a town school 128 TSE LAW AS TO THE POWER liable to an action by a parent for refusing to instruct his children. (23 Pick. 224.) The teacher has the right to divetii how and when each pupU. shall attend to his appropriate duties, and the manner in which pupils shall demean themselves, provided that nothing unreasonable is demanded. (27 Maine, 281.) A requirement by the teacher of a district school that the scholars in English grammar shall write compositions is a reasonable one, and refusal to comply therewith will justify the expul- sion of the scholar from the school. (32 Vermont R. 224.) A rule requiring every scholar to read from the Protestant version of the Bible may be enforced by the trustees, or by the teacher, in accordance with the known wishes of the trastees, and the scholar refusiag to comply Avith such rule may be expelled from the school. (38 Maine, 376.) A scholar may be expelled for truancy, or for misconduct in school, or for disobe- ' dience to its reasonable regulations. (8 Cush. R. 164.) Children unvaccinated may be excluded from school. (N. Y. Session Laws, 1860, 761, ch. 438.) Teachers are not required to hear the recitations of dilatory pupils or those who are not prepared at the regular time for reci- tation, unless it can be done without interrupting the regular school duty. Teachers are authorized to sus- pend pupils who are persistently disobedient or immoral in their conduct, but must promptly report the case with the charges to the commissioner for his action. (By- Laws of Md. Comrs. 1865.) Directors are authorized to suspend or expel pupils for disobedient, refractory. OF PARENTS OVER TEACHERS. 129 or incorrigibly bad conduct. This authority they may delegate to the teacher, to be exercised under such cir- cumstances and for such offenses as they may prescribe. The directors may also empower the teacher to inflict the penalty of immediate though temporary suspen- sion, in cases of sudden and violent acts of insubordina- tion or rebellion. But the teacher must consider that the legal authority to inflict these extreme penalties emanates from the directors, and does not vest pri- marily in him, and that it is therefore his duty to con- form his action to the instructions received from the directors, or to the discretion expressly conferred by them. In all cases of temporary suspension, the facts must be reported to the directors, as soon as practica- ble, for their information and sanction. (111. Amended School Laws, 1865, p. 187.) It can scai'cely be neces- sary to remark on the importance of order and sys- tem in the schools, not only to enable the pupils to learn any thing, but to give them those habits of reg- ularity so essential in the formation of character. Punctuality of attendance, as well as its ste.idy con- tinuance, should be enforced. Parents should be told how much their children lose, to what inconvenience they expose the teacher, and what disorder they bring upon the whole school, by not insisting upon the schol- ars being punctually at the school-room at the appoint- ed hour ; and, above all, they should be warned of tho injurious consequences of allowing their children to be absent from school during the term. By being in- 130 Tins LAW AS TO THE POWER dulged in absence, they lose the connection of their studies, probably fall behind their class, become dis- couraged, and then seek every pretext to play the tru- ant. The habit of irregularity and insuboi-dination thus acquired will be apt to mark their character through life. It is the duty of the trustees to cooperate with the teacher in the government of the school, and to aid him, to the extent of their power and influence, in the enforcement of reasonable and proper rules and regu- lations ; but they have no right to dismiss a scholar except for the strongest reasons ; for example, such a degree of moral depravity as to render an association with other scholars dangerous to the latter, or such vio- lent insubordination as to render the maintenance of discipline and order impracticable ; in which case they may legally exclude him from the school, until such period as he may consent to submit to the reasonable rules and regulations of the teacher and trustees ; and if after such exclusion he persists in attending, without permission from the. trustees, and contrary to their directions, he may be proceeded against as a trespasser. A teacher may employ necessary means of correc- tion to maintain order; but he should not dismiss a scholar from school without consultation with the trus- tees. (Mich. School Laws, 1864, p. 163.) Sec. 4. TTie law as to disturbing schools. — Although without any special enactments, no one has any right to willfully interrupt or disturb a school, yet several of the OF PARENTS OVER TEACHERS. \z\ States have thought it prudent, though perhaps not ne- cessary, to put upon their statutes what they deem to be the law upon this subject, and at the same time to de- fine the fines and penalties that should follow the viola- tion of it. In some of the States it is made a criminal ofiense to willfully interrupt or disturb any public, pri- vate, or select school. (28 Conn. 232.) The Ohio statute says : That, if any person or persons shall hereafter willfully disturb, molest, or interrupt any literary so- ciety, school, or society formed for the intellectual im- provement of its members, or any other school or so- ciety organized under any law of this State, or any school, society, or meeting, formed or convened for improve- ment in music, letters, or for social amusement, such per- son or persons so oflending shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be fined in any sum not less than five nor more than twenty dol- lars, with costs of prosecution, and shall stand committed until such fine shall have been paid : Provided such com- mitment shall not exceM five days ; and provided, fur- ther, that the judgment for costs shall not be abated until such costs shall have been fully paid. (Laws of 1864.) Every person who shall at any time willfully in- terrupt or disturb any district school, or any public, pri- vate, or select school, while the same is in session, shall pay a fine not exceeding seven dollars, nor less than one dollar, or shall sufifer imprisonment in the county jail for not more than thirty days, or shall suffer such fine and imprisonment both, at the discretion of the court. (School 132 THE LAW AS TO THE POWER Laws of Conn. 1864.) This special enactment does not render any general law nugatory, but enables the prose- cuting officer to reach more readily the cases mentioned in this act. (Id.) The Rhode Island statute reads as follows : Every person who shall be convicted of willfully inter- rupting or disturbing any town or ward meeting, any as- sembly of people met for religious worship, or any public or private school, or any meeting lawfully and peace- ably held for purposes of literary or scientific improve- ment, either within or without the place where such meeting or school is held, shall be imprisoned not ex- ceeding one year, or fined not exceeding five hundred dollars. A complaint for this offense may be made to the attorney-general, or any justice of the peace. (School Laws of R. I. 1857, p. 65.) Any person who shall will- fully disturb any public school, or any public school meeting, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and liable to a fine of not less than ten nor more than one hun- dred dollars. (Revised School Laws of Cal. 1866, sec. 113.) The following is the language of the New- York statute : Any person who shall willfully disturb, interrupt, or disquiet any district school in session, or any persons assembled, with the permission of the trus- tees of the district, in any district school-house, for the purpose of giving or receiving instruction in any branch of education or learning, or in the science or practice of music, shall forfeit twenty-five dollars, for the benefit of the school district. (N. Y. School Laws, 1866, p. 11.) It shall be the duty of the trustees of OF TARSmrS OVER TEAUSERS. 133 the district, or the teacher of the school, and he shall have power, to enter a complaint against such offender before any justice of the peace of the county, or the mayor, or any alderman, recorder, or other magistrate of the city wherein the offense was committed. The magistrate or other officer before whom the complaint is made shall thereupon by his warrant, directed to any constable or person, cause the person complained of to be arrested and brought before him for trial. If such person, on the charge being stated to him, shall plead guilty, the magistrate shall convict him ; and, if he demands a trial by the magistrate, shall summarily try him ; and, if he demands a trial by jury, the magistrate shall issue a venire, and impanel a jury for his trial, and he shall be tried in the same manner as in a court of special sessions. (Id. p. 78, sec. 4.) If any person convicted of the said offense do not immediately pay the penalty, with the costs of the prosecution, or give security to the satisfaction of the magistrate for the pay- ment thereof within twenty days, the magistrate or other officer shall commit him to the common jail of the county, there to be imprisoned until the penalty and costs be paid, but not exceeding thirty days. (Id. sec. 5.) The law in Massachusetts is pretty much the same. (General Statutes of Mass. ch. ] 65, sec. 23.) But, as we before intimated, no statutory law is necessary. The general intendment and spirit of our common law is sufficient to protect our schools from being willfully dis- turbedj interrupted, or disquieted. The common law 134 TBE LAW A3 TO THE POWER , recognizes no distinction between wrong-doers, and in none of the statutes is there any clause favoring or ex- cepting parents ; consequently, if they disturb or dis- quiet a school, they are not excusable, but are subject to the same penalties as others. It is the policy of the States generally to encourage education, and all well- conducted schools are, in a certain sense, regarded as the wards of the State in which they are. Hence it will not allow any of them to be disturbed, disquieted, or in- terrupted with impunity — evening-schools no more than day-schools. Even a private school kept in a district school-house for instruction in the art of writing will be protected, or at least those who disturb it willfulLy will be punished. (The State v. Leighton, 35 Maine, 185.) Sec. 5. Character on trial. — When a teacher is put on trial for assault and battery, he should not omit to prove his good character. Every man who lives long enough to acquire a good character is entitled to the benefit of it when in peril. It has been usual to treat the good character of the party accused as evidence to be taken into consideration only in doubtful cases. , Juries have generally been told that, where the facts proved are such as to satisfy their minds of the guilt of the party, char- acter, however excellent, is no subject for their consid- eration ; but that, when they entertain any doubt as to the guilt of the party, they may properly turn their attention to the good character which he has received, (Bennet v. State, Humph. 118.) It is, however, submit- ted with deference, that the good character of the party OF PARENTS OVER TEACHERS. 135 accused, satisfactorily established by competent witness- es, is an ingredient which ought always to be submit- ted to the consideration of the jury, together with the other facts and circumstances of the case. The nature of the charge, and the evidence by which it is support- ed, will often render such ingredients of little or no avail ; but the more correct course seems to be, not in any case to withdraw it from consideration, but to leave the jurjT to form their conclusion upon the whole of the evidence, whether an individual, whose character was previously unblemished, has or has not committed the particular crime for which he is called upon to answer. (2 Rus. on Cr. 8th Am. ed. 785 ; Rex v. Stanard, 7 C. & P. 673 ; 32 Eng. Com. Law R. 681 ; see also 1 Cox R. 424; 2 Mass. R. 317; 9 Barb. 609; 14 Missouri, 502; 10 B. Monroe's R. 225; 8 Smedes & Mars. R. 401 ; 3 Strobh. R. 517 ; 1 Wheeler's Cr. Ca. 64; 1 City Hall Rec. 11,82; Rosco's Cr. Ev. 97; 1 Taylor on Ev. 258; 5 Cush. 295; Archbold's Cr. P. & P. 400; 2 Stark. Ev. 365 ; 2 Halsted's Law of Ev. 150 ; and 1 Greenlf. Ev. 54, 55.) CHAPTER IX, THE LAW AS TO THE TEACHER'S MORALITY. Sec. 1. There are many sciences which in this age of enlightened progress are useful, but only one of them is by law made indispensable. This one science those who have the training of youth should not only understand, but they may lawfully be required to feel it, live it, and teach it. "We allude, of course, to "the science of duty," which comprehends every thing that is refined, chaste, and tender in the human character, and the prin- ciples of which prescribe what ought to take place in human conduct and actions. In legal phraseology, this may be called the science of natural jurisprudence. It treats of the relations, rights, and duties which are at- tached to individuals and to universal society by the law of nature, which is the supreme law of the universe, controlling alike nations and individuals. It compre- hends the, whole law of morality, and the whole theory of good conduct. It is imperative and universal, and arotmd it are grouped all the motives and maxims for human action. It is the law of conscience, the law of manhood, the law of life; and the violation of it is in- THE TEACHERS MORALITY. 137 decency, vice, degradation, death. It is eternal and immutable : men may violate, but they can not alter or repeal it. It is not what is called positive law, but it is none the less imperative. Positive law is enacted by men and written in books ; whereas the law of nature emanates from the Creator of men, and is preserved in their hearts and consciences. What the written law merely permits, the law of nature often commands. The former, for example, permits us to be grateful and gen- erous, but the latter commands us to be so. "We must not, therefore, expect to find in books a full enumeration of all the duties imposed upon us by law. It has been contended that what the law does not prohibit it can not punish, or, rather, what is not prohibited by law can not be made cause for punishment. When we give to law its most comprehensive meaning, the position con- tended for is, doubtless, true. If we do not eat, we vio- late the law of nature, and are punished with the pangs of hunger. If we do not obey the law of self-defense, which is the first law of nature, we are punished with death. These punishments are even more certain than if they were inflicted by men. The lawyer may quib- ble over the words of the statute, and tell us what is not there prohibited maybe done with impunity; but the conscience as well as the judgment of every good man tells him that there is other law more imperative even than the statutory, and that whatever the omissions of the latter may be, there is for every wrong a punishment, and for every vice a penalty. Having said this much 138 THE LAW AS TO THE in reference to the law in general, we will now give our attention exclusively to the written law, and give such citations thereto, and extracts therefrom, as may be necessary for a full exposition of the positive law on the subject now under consideration. For the sake of brev- ity, however, and because we are writing for Americans, we will cite only American law as it now exists in the several States. Sec. 2. Rhode Island. — The diffusion of virtue as well as knowledge among the people is essential to the preservation of their rights and liberties. (Const, of R. I. art. 12, sec. 1.) The school committee shall not sign any certificate of qualification unless the person named in the same shall produce evidence of good moral char- acter. (Rev. Stat, of R. I. tit. 13, ch. 67, sec. 3.) Every teacher shall aim to implant and cultivate in the minds of all children committed to his care the principles of morality and virtue. (Id. sec. 6.) In making the ex- aminations, the committee should inquire, first, as to moral character. On this point they should be entirely satisfied before proceeding further. Some opinion can be formed from the general deportment and language of the applicant ; but the safest course will be, with regard to those who are strangers to the committee, to insist on the written testimony of persons of the highest respectability in the towns and neighborhoods where they have resided ; and especially to require the certifi- cate of the school committee and parents where they have taught before, as to the character they have sus- TEA CHER S mOTlALITT. 139 tained and the influence they have exerted in the school and in society. (Rem. on S. L. 1857, p. 35.) If the teacher has a proper sense of the importance of his posi- tion, and conducts himself acbordingly, he will secure to himself the affection and respect of the people of his district, by exerting his utmost powers to promote the moral and intellectual advancement, not only of his scholars, but of the community around him. The moral influence he may exert by his example and instructions can hardly be estimated. (Id. p. 53.) A teacher may be dismissed at any time for immorality, although he is abundantly competent and efficient m every other re- spect. (Id. p. 39.) Even in this State, where the full- est religious liberty is permitted, the people, we con- clude, are not disposed to encourage any relaxation in the laws of morality. If any Rhode Island teacher does not know this and feel it, he should immediately seek some other vocation ; for the school-rooms of that State are dedicated, not to learned hypocrisy and contagious vices, but to liberty, intelligence, and virtue — and the greatest of these, the most manly and the most neces- sary, is virtue. Sec. 3. Maine. — The presidents, professors, and tu- tors of colleges, the preceptors and teachers of acad- emies, and all other instructors of youth, in public or private institutions, shall use their best endeavors to impress on the minds of the children and youth commit- ted to their care and instruction the principles of moral- ity and justice, and a sacred regard for truth ; love of 140 THE LAW AS TO THE country, humanity, and a universal benevolence ; sobri- ety, industry, and frugality; charity, moderation, and temperance, and all other virtues which are the orna- ment of human society; and to lead those under their care, as their ages and capacities admit, into a particular understanding of the tendency of such virtues to preserve and perfect a republican constitution, and secure the blessings of liberty and promote their future happiness ; and the tendency of the opposite vices to slavery, degra- dation, and riiin. (Rev. Stat, of Me. tit. 2, ch. 2, sec. 26.) To awaken young minds to a proper sense of all these virtues is a high privilege, and those who attempt it with success are infinitely more serviceable to the state than the soldier or statesman. Even the members of the learned professions have not so wide a sphere, and can not accomplish so much good, as may easily be accom- plished by the faithful, intelligent, conscientious, and zealous teacher. Sec. 4. New-Hampshire. — No person in this State should receive a certificate to teach unless he possesses a good moral character, and a temper and disposition suitable for an instructor of youth. (Laws of 1858, ch. 2088, sec. 1.) This is brief but comprehensive ; for it may legally be interpreted to mean all that is stated in the laws of Maine and Rhode Island. Sec. 5. Vbemont. — The town superintendent shall require full and satisfactory evidence of the good moral character of all instructors who may be employed in the public schools in their respective towns. (School TEACHERS MORALITY. 141 Laws of Vt. 1862, sec. 11.) "Whenever, upon personal examination of schools, the superintendent of any town shall become satisfied, beyond a reasonable doubt, that a teacher to whom a certificate has been granted is set- ting an evil example before his school, the superintend- ent is in such case empowered to revoke the certificate of such teacher. (Id. sec. 16.) Sec. 6. Massachusetts. — The school committee, un- less the town at its annual meeting determines that the duty may be perfornied by the prudential committee, shall select and contract with the teachers of the public schools ; and shall require full and satisfactory evidence of the good moral character of all instructors who may be employed. (Gen. Stat, of Mass. tit. xi. ch. 38, sec. 23.) The duty here indicated is more important than any other connected with the public schools of the State. The teacher gives character to the school, and the duty of ascertaining the moral and literary qualifi- cations of candidates is put upon the superintending committee. How inadequate for the performance of these solemn trusts is the opportunity of a few min- utes' or a few hours' examination? The evidence of fitness must be found, if found at all, in the previous life and experience of the candidate, and not in a brief personal examination or the certificates of friends. (Sec. Rep. 1861, p. 102.) The fact that a person claiming to be a teacher entered upon the work without first se- curing the approval of the superintending committee would be evidence of his ignorance of duty, sufficient 142 THE LAW AS TO THE to justify the committee in rejecting him. Such a per- son must be either ignorant of the duty which every teacher ought to know, or morally disqualified for right- doing. (Id. p. 103.) The school committee may dis- miss from employment any teacher whenever they think proper, and such teacher shall receive no compensation for services rendered after such dismissal. (Gen. Stat, tit. xi. ch. 38, sec. 25.) This power is as nearly abso- lute as any power in our government. It will often happen that a committee may be in possession of suffi- cient reasons to justify the dismissal of a teacher, and yet a wise public policy would avoid disclosure of them. There is no probability that the power will be abused ; indeed, committees are reluctant to take the responsi- bility except in extreme cases. (Sec. Rep. 1861, p. 103.) For immorality, however, we think that the committee should dismiss the teacher without a moment's hesita- tion, although public policy may require that when this is done further or unnecessary disclosures should be avoided. Sec. 7. Connecticut. — The provisions for the exam- ination of teachers are plain and positive. (School Laws of Conn. 1864, ch. 5, sec. 1.) The examining committee are to be satisfied with the moral character, literary attainments, and ability to teach, of all candi- dates to whom a certificate is given. The law leaves no discretion in giving the certificate to be exercised by the examining committee till the candidate is found to possess a good moral character. The penuriousneBs TEACSmaS MORALITY. 143 or ignorance of district committees may lead to the em- ployment of incompetent persons as teachers, but the school visitors have no authority by law to give certi- ficates to such persons. On the contrary, they are un- der obligations to the school, to the State, and to teach- ers, not to certify to a person's ability or authorize his attempting to teach, till they are satisfied that he pos- sesses the qualifications required by law, th^ most im- portant of which is a good moral character. (Id. p. 39.) The board of visitors shall annul the certificates of such, teachers as shall be found unqualified, or who will not conform to the law. (Id. p. 40.) Sec. 8. !N'bw-Yoek. — The superintendent of public instruction may, on evidence satisfactory to him, grant State certificates and revoke the same. While unrevok- ed, a State certificate shall be conclusive evidence that the person to whom it was' granted is qualified by his moral character, learning, and ability to teach any com- mon school in the State. (School Laws of N". T. 1866, tit. 1, p. 6, sec. 15.) Every commissioner shall have power, and it shall be his duty, to examine persons pro- posing to teach common schools within his district and not possessing the Superintendent's certificate of quali- fication, or a diploma of the State normal school, and to inquire into their moral fitness and capacity. (Id. p. 11, sec. 5.) The Commissioner shall also examine any charge afiecting the moral character of any teacher within his district, first giving such teacher reasonable notice of the charge, and an opportunity to defend him- 144 Tlli: LAW AS TO THE self therefrom ; and if he find the charge sustained, it is his duty to annul the teacher's certificate, hy whomsoever granted, and to declare hun unfit to teach. (Id. sec. V.) Under the old system of licenses by town superintendents, a town superintendent in one case refused to examine a female who applied for examination as a teacher, on the ground that her moral character was not good ; and his refusal to examine was not limited merely as to moral character, hut also as to her learning and ability to teach a common school. The applicant appealed to the State superintendent, who examined as to her moral character, and decided that it was good and sufficient, and he directed the town superintendent to examine her in relation to her qualifications as a teacher of common schools, and if she was found qualified in other particu- lars than that of moral character, that he should license her accordingly. The town superintendent then exam- ined her, and found that she was duly qualified as to learning and ability to teach a common school, and he offered her a certificate to that effect; but he declined to certify as to her moral character, as he could not con- scientiously do so. The Court held that the town su- perintendent had done all that could legally be required of him. (People V. Masters, 21 Barb. 261.) It was also held in the same case that by the appeal the question of moral character was disposed of, and the State super- intendent's decision on that question, together with the town superintendent's certificate of learning and ability, would entitle the applicant to teach. The State super- TSACSJER'S MORALITY. 145 intendent's authority to decide sucli questions can not be disputed, consequently the Court could not have held otherwise ; but we have always thought it unfortunate that the State superintendent had not a higher apprecia- tion of what is for the true interests of our public schools Our examiners generally require too little evidence ai^ to the moral character of candidates for certificates, and such decisions must have a tendency to make them re- quire still less. In our opinion, school teachers should be above suspicion. " Heaven doth with, us as we with torches do — Not light them for themselves ; for if our virtues Did not go forth of us, 'twere all alike As if we had them not." Sec. 9. Nbw-Jeeset. — ^The town superintendents, in their examination of candidates for licenses to teach, are required particularly to have regard always to the moral character of the candidates. (School Laws of IST. J. 1864, p. 17, sec. 34.) The law requires that the superintendents should be well satisfied not only with the learning of each applicant and his ability to teach, but with his moral character. With respect to learning and ability to teach, the examiners can easily satisfy themselves ; but as to moral character the case is more diSicult, and must, in a great measure, depend upon tes- timony, either verbal or. written, from persons known and of good standing. This is not a matter to be passed over slightly ; it is of equal importance that our teachers 146 THE LAW AS TO THE should possess a pure moral character as well as learn- ing and ability to teach, and applicants for license should be rejected as soon for the want of the former as the latter. The men to whose guiding care is com- mitted the formation of the innocent and plastic mind of childhood should themselves be pure. They should have characters to insure respect and confidence. They should not only point out the path of duty to the child- ren, but walk themselves therein. No license should be given without entire satisfaction on this point. At the same time it must be borne in mind that, while we have a right to examine scrupulously into the moral charac- ter, we have none whatever to interfere with their relig- ious views. These should never be brought in question. The same may be said of political opinions. (Id. p. 46.) Sec. 10. Pbnnstlvania. — The directors may dismiss the teacher at any time for immorality. (School Laws of Pa. 1866, sec. 63.) If the teacher's immorality be- comes known to the members of the board in their offi- cial capacity while visiting the school, no pi'oof is re- quisite ; and the teacher may at once be dismissed. But the cause of the dismissal should be stated on the minutes. (Id. Dec. 168.) If the facts establishing the teacher's immorality be not known to the board of their own knowledge, but charged by others against the teacher, a hearing should take place, and a full investi- gation in presence of the teacher be granted, with rea- sonable notice to prepare for his defense ; and the result be entered in the minutes. (Id. Dee. 169.) It is made TEACHERS MORALITY. 147 the duty of the county superintendents to examine all candidates for the profession of teacher. (Id. sec. 109.) Applicants of known or proved immoral habits are not to be examined at all, no matter what may be their lit- erary or professional claims. (Id. Dec. 303.) The board of directors may discharge the teacher for immo- rality, and the county superintendent for the same cause may and should annul the teacher's certificate. But there should be a charge and a hearing in all oases, unless the facts are personally and officially known to the superintendent. (Id. Dec. 305.) Sec. 11. Maryland. — It shall be the duty of all teachers, in schools of every grade, to impress upon the minds of youth committed to their instruction the principles of piety and justice, loyalty and sacred re- gard for truth, love of their country, humanity and be- nevolence, sobriety, industry, and chastity, and those virtues which are the basis upon which a republican constitution is founded ; and it shall be the duty of such instructors to lead their pupils into a clear under- standing of the tendency of these virtues, to preserve the blessings of liberty, promote temporal happiness, and advance the greatness of the American nation, (School Laws of Md. 1865, p. 18, sec. 4.) " Unblessed by virtue, government a league Becomes, a circling junto of the great, To rob by law; religion mild a yoke To tame the stooping soul, a trick of state To mask their rapine, and to share the pray. 148 THE LAW AS TO TEE What are ■without it senates, save a face Of consultation deep and reason free, While the determined voice and heart are sold ? What boasted freedom save a sounding name? And what election but a market vile Of slaves self-bartered ?" It shall be the duty of the president of the board of school commissioners to examine all candidates for the profession of teachers ; but " no certificate shall be grant- ed without satisfactoi;y evidence of the moral character" of the applicant. (School Laws of Md. 1865, p. 24, sec. 1.) Upon the teachers a solemn responsibility rests. After the school authorities have done all that devolves upon them, the full success of the vi^ork de- pends upon the teachers. Encourage them to enter upon their work as a sacred mission. They deal with the tender mind and conscience. They impart ideas of right and wrong which will remain through life. Thoughts impi-essed in early childhood are never erased. Habits of system, neatness, and courtesy may be formed at school. The teacher has the plastic wax, and may mould it at his will. Thus the daily routine duties of class and school-room work give the teacher power. It is the province of the commissioner and of the visitor to see that so great power be exercised for the great- est attainable good. Therefore no immorality or neg- ligence, or even rudeness, is to be tolerated. The teacher must not only instruct properly, but live prop- erly. In school and out of school the example must TEACHERS MORALITT. I49 be good, that the dignity of the vocation of teaching may be preserved, youth trained in the paths of virtue and knowledge, and become a comfort to their parents, a credit to their preceptors, and, in process of time, an honor to the state. (Hon. L. Van Bokkelin, State Supt. Pub. Inst, for Md.) Sec. 12. West-Vieginia. — All teachers, boards of education, and all other school officers created by this act are hereby charged with the duty of providing that moral training for the youth of this State which shall contribute to securing good behavior, and to fur- nishing the State with exemplary citizens. (School Laws of W. Va. 1866, p. 11, sec. 29.) The county super- intendent shall examine all candidates for the profes- sion of teacher, and if satisfied of the competency and capacity of the applicant to teach and govern the school of which he proposes to take charge, and that he or she is of good moral character, a certificate may be granted, but not otherwise. (Id. p. 12, sec. 32.) In order to afford encouragement and incentives to teachers to per- fect themselves in their profession, and at the same time to secure the profession from the intrusion of un- worthy members, and the public from the evils of in- competent teachers, the following regulations shall be observed by county superintendents in regard to exam- nations and granting of teachers' certificates : First, No applicant shall be admitted to an examination un- less the county superintendent shall have reasonable evidence that he or she is of good moral character, and 150 THE LAW AS TO THE loyal to the government of the United States and the government of the State of West-Virginia. Profanity, obscenity, and intemperate habits shall always be held to exclude from the privilege of an examination. (Id. p. 14, sec. 37.) It can hardly be necessary to state that a teacher of immoral habits, if there be any snch, may lawfully be dismissed in this State, even though he is in the possession of a certificate. Nor will the fact that he has a written contract to teach the schopl for a cer- tain fixed period of time make any difierepce. The very first condition of the teacher's contract, whether it. be in the writing or not, is that he shall be and remain of good moral chai-acter during the full continuance of his ter^,,and if he is not so, and does not remain so, he viplates his contract, and can expect no relief from the. courts. This remark is true generally, and will apply with equal force to the teachers of other States and their contracts. Sec. 13. OhiO; — No person shall be employed as a teacher in any primary common school unless such per- son shall have first obtained from the examiners a cer- tificate of good moral character, etc. (Schopl Laws of Ohio, 1865, p. 69.) And iPat any time the recipient of the certificate shall be found incompetent or neo-lipent, the examiners, or any .two of them, may revoke the same, and require such teacher to be dismissed. (Id.) The power to revoke a certificate when the recipient is found incompetent or negligent is, not restricted to the perspns who issued such certificate. The evident intention of TMACHER8 MORALITY. 151 the law is to guard schools, at all times, against unwor- thy teachers, and, to this end, the power to revoke a certificate is vested in the office of the examiners, and may, at any time, be exercised hy the incumbents. Since " a good moral character " is a legal condition of competency in the teacher, whenever the holder of a certificate is found guilty of immoral conduct, such certificate may be revoked. Such immoral practices as profanity, gaming, intemperance, lewdness, etc., utterly disqualify a person for the duties of a teacher. (Id. Of- ficial Opinion No. 130.) If the directors of any sub- district dismiss any teacher for any frivolous or insuffi- cient reason, such teacher may bring suit against such sub-district; and if, on the trial of the cause, a judg- ment be obtained against the sub-district, the directors thereof shall certify to the clerk of the board the sum so found due, and he shall issue an order to the person entitled thei-eto upon the township treasurer, to pay the same out of any money in his hands belonging to said sub-district, and. applicable to the payment of teachers. In such suits, process may be served on the clerk of the sub-district,, and service upon him shall be sufficient. (School Laws of OMo,_ 1865, p. 99, sec. 9.) Sec. 14. Kentucky. — The law of this State merely re- quires that a certificate shall not be granted to an appli- cant " of known bad moral character." (School Laws of Ky, 1865, ch. 196, art. 7, sec. 1.) The trustees are authorized to remove a teacher "for good cause." (Id. 152 THE LAW AS TO THE art. 6, sec. 1.) We think there can be no question as to immorality being good cause for removal. Sec. 15. Michigan. — It shall be the duty of the in- spectors to examine all persons oflfering themselves as candidates for teachers of primary schools, in their re- spective townships, in regard to moral character, learn- ing, and ability to teach a school. (School Laws of Mich. 1864, p. 90, sec. 85.) Inspectors owe it to the schools to refuse a certificate to any teacher who is a drunkard or gambler, or who uses profane language, or indulges in any other gross immorality. No excellence of scholarship or experience or skill in teaching can compensate a school for the lack of moral purity and in- tegrity in the teacher. The law has wisely made a good moral character a requisite for a qualified teacher, since it is on the vii'tue as well as on the intelligence of the people that the safety of the Republic depends. In case the candidate is a stranger to the inspectors, they may require him to show satisfactory testimonials of his good moral character. (Id. p. 91, Official Opinion No. 4.) Good behavior was one of the seven studies anciently prescribed by law for the common schools of Massachu- setts ; and certainly this was not the least important of the list. The necessity of a healthful moral influence in our schools has been acknowledged by all who have spoken or written concerning them. The school law has always demanded that the teachers shall be of good moral character. The safety of these large and miscel- laneous gatherings of passionate and thoughtless child- TSACHER'S MORALITY. 153 ren imperatively requires the presence of some power- ful, culturing, and controlling moral force, watching like a Providence over them, and working as a power within them. And the high social and civil aims for which the public schools are chiefly maintained — the maturing of law-abiding ajid virtuous citizenship — can never be se- cured except by a high-toned and successful education of the moral nature. (Id. p. 1Y8, No. 10.) In relation to the moral character of the teacher much is left to the discrimination of the examining officer. He must be satisfied that it is good, because he has to certify to its correctness. On this point what would be satisfactory to one man might be unsatisfactory to an- other. Every person has a right to the enjoyment of his own religious hdief without molestation ; and the exam- ining officer should content himself with inquiries as to the moral character of the teacher, leaving him to the same liberal enjoyment of his religious belief that he asks for himself. If, however, a person openly derides all re- ligion, he ought not to be a teacher of youth. The em- ployment of such a person would be considered a griev- ance by a great portion of the inhabitants of all the dis- tricts. (Id. p. 161.) Sec. 16. Indiana. — This is the State which has won an unenviable fame on account of the singularly " ready relief" that unhappily matched couples have from time immemorial found there. We think that the school la-ws of Indiana are as worthy of universal fame as her divorce laws. " At any time after the commencement 154 THE LAW AS TO TOM of any school, if a majority of the voters of the district petition the trustee that they wish the teacher thereof dis- missed, such trustee shall dismiss such teacher" (School Laws of Ind. 1865, p. 112, sec. 28.) It was hardly ne- cessary to add that the dismissal could be lawful " only - upon due potice and upon good cause shown." If we are not greatly in error, the divorce laws of this State always required that the parties should not be relieved from their embarrassment, except " upon due notice and upon good cause shown." "We have always heard that a very slight cause would be pronounced " good" by an Indiana court. " The trustee shall not employ any teacher whom a majority of those entitled to vote at school meetings have decided they do not wish employed." (lb.) This whole section is remarkable and altogether peculiar. " Applicants, before being licensed, shall produce to the examiners the proper trustees' certificate, or other satis- factory evidence of good moral charactei'." (lb. p. 13, sec. 34.) How much evidence or what kind of evidence is satisfactory to an Indiana official or an Indiana court ? " I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future, but by the past." (Patrick Henry.) Sec. 17. Ilunois. — No teacher shall be authorized to teach a common school who is not of good moral character. (Amended School Laws of 111. 1865, p. 28, sec. 50.) Every certificate issued to one who is un- worthy, either mentally or morally, to receive it, is not TSACHEE'S MORALITT. 155 only a violation of law, but is a direct blow at the heart of our common schools. Such a certificate is an official license, not to elevate and bless, but to injure and de- grade, and, it may be, to contaminate and curse the schools and the community. ^ Good schools cannot be taught by incompetent teachers ; the moral atmosphere of the schools can not be kept pure by profane or irrev- erent teachers. If an " undevout astronomer is mad," an atheistic, and immoral instructor of youth is a monster. It is by no means a self-evident truth that poor schools are better than none ; they may be so poor as to be a great deal worse than none. (Id. p. 115.) In our effort to escape from the imaginary danger of Puritan rigor, we have drifted steadily toward the real peril of unbridled license. Where is the simple truthfulness that should make beautiful the lives of our children ? "What preco- oiousness in vice, what defiant spurning of moral re- straints, do we find at the fireside and in the school- room ? What eye now moistens at the touching story of George "Washington and his little hatchet ? What are our public schools doing to arrest this destructive tendency ? Are educational men sensible of their re- sponsibility in this matter ? Can that culture be com- plete, can it be safe, which ignores the moral nature ? Is it not practicable to bring the school children of the State more directly and powerfully under the influence of right moral ideas and principles ? Is it not a neces- sity? Have we any security at all, without this, that they will become upright and virtuous citizens ? Let 156 THE LAW AS TO THE it not be said that what is here recommended would conflict with the undoubted right of each individual to prescribe what sentiments shall be imparted to his child- ren in matters of religious faith. Nothing sectarian should find a place in the instruction of our public schools. But the moral and preceptive parts of the gospels are not sectarian. If they are, then charity is sectarian, forgiveness is sectarian, purity is sectarian, forbearance is sectarian, all things lovely and of good report are sectarian, and nothing is left for humanity at large but the devil. In all our public schools the principles of morality should be copiously inteimingled with the principles of science. Cases of conscience should alternate with lesSons iu the rudiments. The multiplica- tion-table should not be more familiar nor more frequently applied than the rule, "Do unto others as you would that they should do unto you." The lives of great and good men should be held up for admiration and example. It should be proclaimed in every- school that there are original, immutable, and indestructible maxims of moral rectitude — great lights in the firmament of the soul — which no circumstances can aflfect, no sophistry obliterate. That to this eternal standard every individ- ual of the race is bound to conform, and that by it the conduct of every man shall be adjudged. It should be proclaimed that dishonesty, fraud, and falsehood are as despicable and criminal in the most exalted stations as in the most obscure, in politics as in business. That the demagogue who tells a lie to gain a vote is as infe- TEACHEW8 MORALITY. 157 moiis as the peddler ■who tells one to gain a penny. That an editor who wantonly maligns an opponent for the benefit of his party is as vile as the perjured hire- ling who slanders his neighbor for pay. That the cor- poration or the man who spawns by the thousand his worthless promises-to-pay, under the name of banking, knowing them to be worthless, is as guilty of obtain- ing money under false pretenses, as the acknowledged rogue who is incarcerated for the same thing under the name of swindling. That the contractor who defrauds the government under cover of the technicalities of the law is as much a thief as he who deliberately and knowingly appropriates to his own use the property of another. In a word, let it be impressed in all our schools that the vocabulary of heaven has but one word for each willful infraction of the moral code, and that no pre- texts or subterfuges or sophistries of men can soften the import or lesson the guilt which that word conveys. Tell the school children that the deliberate falsifier of the truth is a liar; whether it be the prince on his throne or the beggar on his dunghill ; whether it be by diploma- tists, for reason of state, or by chiffonniers, for the pos- session of the rags in the gutter. Tell them that he who obtains money or goods under false pretenses is a swindler, no more or less, be the man and the circum- stances what they may. Tell them that he who irrev- erently uses the name of Deity is a blasphemer, whether he be a congressman or a scullion. Tell them that ho 168 TEE LAW AS TO TBE who habitually drinks intoxicating liquors to excess is a drunkard, whether it be from goblets of gold in the palatial saloon, or from tin cups in a grog-shop. Tell them that he who speaks lightly or sneeringly of the honor of woman is a calumniator, be his pretensions to gentility what they may. And so with the whole cata- logue of vices and crimes, till the line of demarkation be- tween good and evil shall be graven so deeply upon the mind and conscience that it can never be obliterated. Let our public schools do this, and the life-giving in- fluence shall be felt through every vein and artery of the body politic. A divine fire will be kindled that shall purge the foul channels of business, finance, and politics, and consume the subtle network of sophistries like stubble. Let our public schools do this, and a gen- eration of men shall come upon the field of active life who will bring back in the administration of public and private affairs the purer days of the Republic — men in whom high crimes and misdemeanors, the frauds and peculations which now disgrace and ruin the country, shall be unknown. (Hon. N". Bateman's Fourth Bien- nial Rep. p. 120.) Sec. 18. Wisconsin-. — Every applicant for a situation as a teacher in any of the common schools of this State shall be examined by the county superintendent of schools of his county in regard to moral character, learning, and ability to teach, and if found qualified shall receive a certificate as hereinafter provided. ("Wisconsin School Code, 1863, p. 40, sec. 100.) TEACHERS MORALITY. 159 Through no one channel does the teacher more forci- bly impress himself upon the school than througli his moral influence, and this embraces all that power spring- ing from personal habits of thought, word, and action. That this moral influence be of the right stamp is of vital importance. The superintendent has by law con- trol of these streams of influence. He can not too care- fully test their qualities. A full appreciation of the re- sponsibility resting upon him in this regard can be felt only by one who has within himself a sincere love of right conduct and of virtue. Terrible, indeed, must be the consequences if he who stands sentinel at the fountain himself poisons the streams flowing from it. Scarcely less terrible if through negligence or carelessness he allows others to corrupt them. (Id. p. 91.) Sec. 19. Minnesota. — To such persons who appear upon examination to be well qualified to teach the re- quired branches, and can give satisfactory evidence of good moral character, the examiner shall grant his certificate and license to teach. (Minn. School Code, 1864, p. 11, sec. 29.) Such examiner may cite to reex- amination any person holding a license, and under con- tract to teach any common school in his commissioner district; and being satisfied upon such reSxamination, or otherwise, that such person is not of good moral character, he may revoke such license ; and from the time the notice of such revocation is filed in the office of the district clerk the teacher's contract shall become 160 THE LAW AS TO THE Toid, and the said teacher's wages shall cease. (Id. sec. 30.) Sec. 20. Iowa. — ^If the examination is satisfactory, and the superintendent is satisfied the respective applicants possess a good moral character, he shall give them a certificate. (School Laws of Iowa, 1864, p. 17, sec. 65.) The superintendent may revoke the certificate of any teacher in the county, which was given by the superin- tendent thereof, for any reasons which would have jus- tified the withholding thereof when the same was given. (Id. sec. 69.) Sec. 21. Missouri. — The law on this subject is not unlike the law in Illinois ; but we are unable to cite it, as the copy of the late law which we have at hand does not seem to be perfect. Sec. 22. Kansas. — The usual requirement as to a good moral character has been incorporated into the laws of this State. (School Laws of Kansas, 1835, p. 16, sec. 14.) Sec. 23. Califoenia. — The county board shall have power, without examination, to renew certificates, and to revoke, for immoral or unprofessional conduct, or habitual profanity, intemperance, cruelty, or evident unfitness for the profession of teaching, any county cer- tificate. (School Laws of Cal. 1866, sec. 92.) It shall be the duty of all teachers to endeavor to impress on the minds of their pupils the principles of morality, truth, justice, and patriotism ; to teach them to avoid idleness, profanity, and falsehood ; and to instruct them in the principles of a free government, and to train them TEACHEISS MORALITY. 161 np to a true compi-ehension of the rights, duties, and dignity of American citizenship. (Id. sec. 70.) Instruc- tion shiiU te given in all grades of schools, and in all classes, during the entire school course, in manners and morals, and the laws of health. (Id. sec. 55.) " All private virtue is the public fund ; ■ As that abounds, the state decays or thrives ; Each should contribute to the general stock. And who lends most is most his country's friend." "American School Institute," Founded 1855, IS A RELIABLE EDUOATIOWAL BUREAtT: 1. To aid all who seek vvell-qualified Teachers. 2. To represent Teachers who de- sire Positions. 3. To give Parents Infbrmation of good Schools. 4. To Sell, Rent, and Exchange School Properties. J. W. SCHERMERHORN, A.M., Actuary, U Bond Street,(near Broadway,) New-York. M. J. YOUNG, Secretary. 6. M. KENDALL, Treasurer. branch: OFFICES: PHTLADELPHIA, 512 Arch St J. R. GAUT, A.M., Secretary. CHICAGO, 6 Custom House Place, RDWARD SPEAKMAN, Secretary. SAVANNAH Geor-ia i GENEItAL HENRY C. WAYNE, Director. SAVANNAH, Ireorgia J, jQpjpj Q PERRIT.L. Secretary. SAN FRANCISCO, California SAMUEL J. C. SWEZEY, Esq., Secretary. Sixteen years' trial has proved the " American School Institutb " a useful and efficient auxiliary in the Educational Machinery of our country, Its patrons and friends ftve among the first educiitional and business men. The central office (in New-York) has been removed to larger quarters, where greater facilities will be afforded in extending its usefulness. "The Right Teacher for the JRigJit Place.'' Information of t-eachers will he furnished, which shall embrace — Opportunities for education ; special qualification for teaohinfi ; experience, where, and in what grade of schools; references; age; religious preferences; salary expected ; specimens of candidate's letter, and sometimes a photograptiic likenes^. Unless otherwise ad- vised, we nominate fifiliero? candid.ites, and thus give opportunity for good selectinn. g^8g~ Principals, School Officers, and Heads of Families should give early notice of what Teachers they may want. Full particulars should be given. Teachers who want positions should send for "Application Form." Testimony for the "American School Institute," I know your "American School Institute " to be possessed of the most reliabU and extended facilities. — Rev. C. V; Spbar, Principal Taung Ladies^ Inslilutet Pittsjield, Mass. The benefits of a " division of labor " are happily conceived and admirably real- ized in the "American School Institute."— Ed wabd Gr. Tyler, Ontajio Female Seininary, N. Y. Experience has taught me that I may safely rely upon it when I want teachers. — Rev, J. \l. Bbakelet, Bordentown Female College, New-Jersey. I commend it to the entire confidence of all. — Rev. D. 0. Van Norman, LL.D., New - York: The busincs of the Institute is systematically conducted. The proprietors are liberally educated and otherwise eminently qualified for their duties. — 0. R. Willis, Principal Alexander Institute, White Plains, N. Y. I am very gi;ateful for the prompt services which the "American School Insti- tutb " has rtilidered ih supplying me with excellent teachers. — Rev. 0. W. Hewes, Female Seminary, Indidnapolis, Indiana. I have tried the "American School Institute;" and regard it a most desirable medium for supplying our schools and seminaries with the best teachers, and for representing well-qualified teachers who wish employment.' All who are seeking teachers will find a wide i-ange from which to select, with an assurance, that In stat- ing character and qualifications, there is no " humbug," and there can be no mis- take. Teachers will find situ.atioQ? for which they may otherwise seek in vain. The iiighly re-ipectable character of the gentlemen who conduct the "Institute" aS'oi'ds a sufficient guarantee, not only of fair dea1!n>r, but also of kind ami polite treatment to all.— 'Rev. Eben &. QtHi^RSS, Principal Albany Female Academy, N.Y. tH^culara explaining plan and terms sent when txpplied for, J. W. SOHEBHEBHOBIf, A.H., Actuary, 14 Bond Street, Kew-York. USEFUL, BEAUTIFUL, HEALTH-BEGUILING BOOKS. I. WATSON'S MANUAL OP CALISTHENICS,. $1 25 n. HAND-BOOK OF CALISTHENICS AND GYMNASTICS, 2 OC t^^ Sent by mail, prepaid, on receipt of the price. Bach volume is an 8vo, printed on fine and heavy tinted paper, richly and pro fusely illustrated from original designs, with music to accompany the exercises. These works positively surpass all others on physical culture, in harmoniously blending the scientific and the practical In the variety and completeness of the classes of movements, and in the adaptation of the exercises to the wants of both sexes and persons of all ages. In the first, all the exercises are without apparatus ; In the second, complete courses of exercises are given both with and without ap- paratus. ' The exercises are adapted to the parlor, and embrace Bome of the most excellent life-infusing games and sports ever known. To consumptives, dyspeptics, invalids in general, and the sedentary, to all who wish to secure physical beauty, muscular strength and robust health, the use of these books will prove invaluable. It is when health is lost or impaired that one can sympathize ™th the assertion of Professor KIoss, that " He who has it has all things ; he who lacks it has nothing." These books are superbly bound, and will grace any library or table. The work Is the most complete and elaborate.— J\?". Y. Mvening Post. Every person not accustomed to daily manual labor in the open air, ought to pursue this system of exercise. The health of the whole commiinity would be pro- moted.— iV^ Y. Observer. A volume both valuable and beautiful; it surpasses all its predecessors. — The Independent. It teaches the best means of educating the human body simultaneously with the human mind. — The Albion. It is very comprehensive in its character, embracing several topics which have never before been included in one treatise. The subject is treat-ed in a most careful and exact form, and illustrated in a style which leaves nothing to be desired. — Sunday-School Times. To those in authority, whose infiuence would be eflFectual in promoting the cir- culation of this book, it becomes a positive duty so to do by every means in their power. All who have the physical welfare of the human race at heart, and under- stand how powerless the intellect is to contend against the burden of a feeble and emaciated frame, are equally interested in its teachings, and answerable, each in his own sphere, however small it may be, for the consequences of neglecting them.— New- York Daily Times. Truly a book that every family should have. The whole subject of thorough bodily exercise is made as attractive as it is important — Harper^s Weekly. The book can not be too highly recommended. — Srnne J&umal. We practiced these exercises to recover health ; we advise others to practice them to keep it. . . . These books are a credit to the American press.— iondon Reader. J. W. SCHERMERHORN & CO., Publishers, 14 Bond Street, New-York. EUREKA LIQUID SLATING. {Mimger's Invention. J. W. Scliermerhom <& Co., Manvfacturers.) Makes a Surface which Rivals the Best Wall Slates. It is perfectly Black ) never Orumblss [ always remains Hard and Smooth. It is successfully applied to any kind of board or wall, and is invaluable in reno- vating old wooden blackboards. It has been used twelve years in some of the best Bchools of New-England. The surface is as smooth and perfect now as when applied. This proves its durability. It is put up in tin cans, and sent safely by Kxpress. By following directions, any teacher may easily apply the £ureka Slating, and make a. petfect slate surface, wonderful in color, snwothness, and durability, PEICE, $1.75 PER PINT; $3 PER ftTTART. 5 per cent discount on five gallons, and 10 per cent on ten gallons or more. One pint will cover about 80 square feet; bence it makes a cbeap blackboard. In Chicago, New-York, Philadelphia, Boston, and vicinities, we will apply it at ten cents per square foot. ^^ Do not confound EUREKA LIQUID SLATING with slating known by other names, or manufactured by other persons, for it bas its imitations. But no other Elating can produce theper/ecily smooth dead-black surface of the EUMEKA. Prominent teachers and school oflScers in every part of the country have so thor- oughly tested the EUREKA SLATING, that we do not hesitate to warrant it. XESTIMONX FOR THE EUREKA SLATING. Office of Superintendent of Pdblic Schools, Buffalo, July 5, 1S66. Three years ago " Eureka Slating" was applied to blackboards in our public schools. They are now in fine condition, and do not seem worn in the least by constant use. I recommend this Slating to teachers and school officers. JOHN S. FOSDICK, Superintendent. Galesburg, III., April 12, 1866. I have used " Liquid Slating" to restore old and to make new blackboards, as I visit the scbools of my county. In every case it gives perfect satisfaction. I shall con- tinue its use, believing it to be the best preparation made for blackboard purposes. J. H. KNAPP, Co. Supt. of Schools, Knox Co., 111. I take pleasure in recommending the " Eureka Slating" whenever an opportunity offers. NEWTON BATEMAN, State Supt. Public Instruction, Illinois. The Eureka Liquid Slating will always give satisfaction when properly applied. JOHN D. PHILBRICK, Supt. Public Schools, Bostm, Mass. New-Haven, Ct., April 23, 1866. I have used It nine years, and it seems to improve. From my own experience I think it will last fifty tears. B. ROBBINS. Minnesota State Normal School, Winona, March 13, 1866. Our blackboards are finished with "Eureka Slating." When properly applied it leaves nothing to be desired. It is equal to the beat Vermont and Lebigh Slates, besides being cheaper. I recommend it to the teachers of the North-West. WM. F. PHELPS, Principal. N. T. State Normal School, Albany, N. T., June 22, 1866. I recommend "Eureka Slating," having found it durable and cbeap. OLIVER AREY, Principal. Albion Commercial College, Michigan, May 8, 1864. We find " Eureka Slating" surface equal to the best stone slates. (Hon.) IRA MAYHEW, President, J. W. SCHERMERHORN k CO., Manufacturers, 14 Bond Street. New- York, THE FOR THE USE OF ALL WHO GO TO SCHOOL. B¥ EMERT F. STRONG. This little book is designed to exercise the young in the import- ant practice of making a daily record of items and events. It will help to cultivate and strengthen habits of observation and accuracy ; and these habits, formed in youth, will have a favorable influence in subse- quent life. Such a record, faithfully kept, will prove a history of the writer's life, and its value will increase with passing years. If persons now in active life were in possession of a manuscript diary of their school-days, they would esteem it a treasure indeed. The Scholar's Diary contains : L Specimen pages of a diary, which will suggest the manner of making the daily entries. II. Rules and maxims for pupils. III. Subjects for Compofiitions, with simple suggestions. IV. Rules for the use of Capital letters. V. Rules for Punctuation. VI. Blank pages for making the daily entries of an ordinary school term. In some cases it will be found sufBcient for preserving copies of the csmpositions written during the term. Price of the Scholar's Diary, per dozen, $2.50. Specimen copies Bent by mail, prepaid, for 20 cents. J. W. SCHERMERHORN & Co., Publishers. 14 Bond Street, New-Tork. "Aids to School Discipline." REWARDS KEDDCED TO A USEFDl AND PERFECT SYSTEM. The good effect of an accurate register of deportment and scholar- Bhip in promoting a wholesome spirit of emulation and scholarly pride is acknowledged by all. Yet such a register is rarely kept. Teachers generally hare not time to record each recitation as it occurs. Other duties crowd upon them so that the record must be neglected for the time, and afterward made up from memory. Perfect accuracy being impossible in such cases, confidence in the record is weakened, and its moral force, in a great degree, lost. The Aids secure the good results of accurate records and reports, with less expense of time and labor, and also an active parental in. terest naturally awakened by a system of daily reports. The Aids may be used in various ways. The following is convenient : In the morning give each pupil a card, (five merits representing a per- fect day,) to be forfeited for misdemeanor, or failure in recitation. Single Merits and Half Merits are for pupils who fail to retain their CARDS and yet. are worthy of some credit. Five cards held by any pupil are exchanged for a check, (twenty-five Merits,) representing a perfect School Week. Four Checks are exchanged for a Certificate of Merit, representing one hundred Merits, or a perfect Month. These Cirtificatea beaf the pupil's name and are signed by the teacher. The number held shows the pupil's standing in School. If a Prize is to be awarded at the close of the Session, there can be no mistake in determining to whom it belongs ; and the decision being made by each pupil exhibiting the Cards and Certificates received, no snspicion of favoritism can arise. The Aids are neat in design, and are beautifully printed in colors. The Certificates are prizes which children will admire and cherish. The Single Merits and Half Merits are printed on card-board ; the Cards and Checks on heavy paper, and may be used many times. This makes the system very cheap. The Aids are put up in sets of five hundred, there being eighty Certificates, one hundred and twenty Checks, two hundred cards, and one hundred Single Merits and Half Merits. * Price, per set, $1.23. By mail, prepaid, $1.SS. J. W. SCHEEMEBHORN & CO., FabUshers, 14 Bond Street, Neiv-TorlE. J. W. Schermerhorn & Co., MANUFACTUEE iiiiil iif illif i AMONG THE STYLES AEE: The Popular School Desks and Settees ; American School Desks and Settees, Combined ; American School Desks and Settees, Independent ; New England School Desks, with folding Chairs ; Desks with lids and Chairs; Wall Desks, to fold ; " Old Style" Desks and Chairs ; Our Assembly Desks and Settees ; Teachers' Desks of all styles ; Home Desks of several styles ; Office Desks in great varietyf ^3^ We have the exclusive use of the folding seat on School Furniture, by pur- chase of Allen's famous Opera Seat Patent, OUR ILLUSTEATED CATALOGUE or BEPKESENTS Apparatus, Black Boards, Books, Charts, Globes, Maps, Otjeet Teaching Aids, SCHOOL FUENITURE OP ALL MODEBN ST^ES, AND MANY OTHER "Articles for every School." MAILED FOR TEN CENTS. y. IV. Schermerhorn & Co., Fuhlishers and ManufaetareTS, 14 Bond St., New York. I». O. Box 3,44=5.