THIS VOLUME BELONGS TO THE SCHOOL
COMMITTEE OF THE TOWN OF
THE SCHOOL
AND
THE SCHOOLMASTER.
A MANUAL
FOR THE USE OF
TEACHERS, EMPLOYERS, TRUSTEES, INSPECTORS, &C., &C.,
OF COMMON SCHOOLS.
IN TWO PARTS.*
PART I.
BY ALONZO POTTER, D.D.^
OF NEW-YORK.
PART II.
BY GEORGE B. EMERSON, A. M.
OF MASSACHUSETTS.
BOSTON:
PUBLISHED BY WM. B. FOWLE & N. CAPEN,
NO. 184 WASHINGTON ST.
184 3.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1842, by
Harper & Brothers,
In the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New-York.
ADVERTISEMENT
TO THE
MASSACHUSETTS EDITION
The subscriber has been authorized and requested by a dis-
tinguished citizen of Boston, Martin Brimmer, Esq., the Mayor
elect of the city, — (whose name is here mentioned to satisfy a
reasonable public curiosity, though wholly without his consent
or knowledge,) to cause an edition o( thirly-Jive hundred co^iies of
the following work, entitled "T/te School and the Schoolmaster,^^
to be printed, and to be distributed in the following manner,
namely, — one copy to feach of the Public Schools in the Com-
monwealth of Massachusetts, — and one copy to each Board of
superintending school committee men.
Tt is the desire of the donor that these volumes shall be placed
in the hands of the prudential committee men, or of such other
persons as the districts respectively may select as their trustees,
to be by them loaned to the teachers who may be successively
employed in the schools, — and after the same have been read by
the teachers, then to any inhabitants of the districts who may
wish to peruse them. It is also his desire and expectation, that
the copies given to the superintending school committees shall be
considered the property of said committees, for the time being,
and be delivered over by each Board, at the expiration of its
official term, to its successors in office.
The range and compass of the subjects embraced in this vol-
ume, and the masterly manner in which they are treated, com-
mend it to the careful perusal of every person engaged in the
sacred cause of education, of every lover of his country and friend
of mankind. The reputation of the gentlemen by whom it was
written is a high guaranty of its excellence ; and it is believed
that the more the work is examined and understood, the more will
it redound to the credit of its authors.
It seems proper here to state, that " TTie School and the School-
master " was originally prepared in compliance with the request,
and at the expense, of that munificent friend and patron of Com-
mon Schools, the Hon. James Wadsworth, of Geneseo, New
York, by whom a copy has been gratuitously sent to each district
school in that Slate, — almost eleven thousand in number, — one to
each deputy superintendent, one to each of the governors of the
several States, &c. &c.
Although a month has not yet elapsed since the first edition
was issued from the press, yet already is Massachusetts the
second State, where the liberality of a public-spirited individual
has secured the benefits of this admirable work to all who are en-
gaged in our public schools, and to the whole of the rising gene-
ration. Thus may the States of New York and Massachusetts
forever be compeers, if not competitors, in the Christian enter-
prise of educating the whole people ; and may these distinguished
public benefactors, in addition to the gratitude of their own
States, soon enjoy the happiness of seeing their example imi-
tated in each of the remaining States of the Union.
The subscriber avails himself of this occasion to express an
earnest hope, that all teachers, school committees and friends of
education will not only give the work an attentive examination
themselves, but will commend it to the attention of their fellow-
citizens generally. In this way may the benevolent purposes of
the donor be fully realized, the public mind be enlarged and
quickened on the paramount subject of a universal education for
the people, and the high destiny of our nature be fulfilled by a
progressive improvement in the character and condition of the
race.
The strong and sincere commendation which the subscriber
gladly accords to the following work, ought not to be understood
as an unqualified approval of every sentiment it contains. Pro-
bably no two indepouhmt minds ever existed whose opinions
would perfectly harmonize in regard to all the particulars of so
comprehensive a subject.
HORACE MANN,
Secretary of the Board of Education.
Boston, Dec. 2ifh, 1812.
Note. In making up the, number of copies for each of the
towns in the Commonwealth, the Abstract of the Massachusetts
School Returns, for the year 1841-2, will be taken as a direc-
tory.
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PART I.
THE SCHOOL
ITS OBJECTS, RELATIONS, AND USES.
■WITH A SKETC:
EDTJCATION MOST NEEDED IN THE UNITED STATES, THE
PRESENT STATE OF COMMON SCHOOLS, THE BEST
MEANS OF IMPROVING THEM,
ANB THE CONSEQUENT
DUTIES OF PARENTS, TRUSTEES, INSPECTORS, &c.
ALONZO POTTER, D.D.,
PROFESSOB OF MORAL FKILOSOFHT IN UNION COLLEGE.
BOSTON:
PUBLISHED BY WM. B. FOWLE & N. CAPEN,
NO. 184 WASHINGTON ST.
184 3.
CONTENTS.
Paso
Inteoduction 1
CHAPTER I.
EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE.
Sec. I. What is Education ] 19
II. Prevailing Errors in regard to the Nature and End of
Education 28^
III. The same Subject continued .... 35
IV. Same Subject continued 50
v. What is the Education most needed by the American
People 1 64
VI. The Importance of Education, 1. To the Individual . 91
VII. " " 2. ToSocie- . . Ill
CHAPTER II.
COMMOX SCHOOLS.
Sec. I. Relation of Common Schools to other Means of Educa-
tion 154
II. Present State of Common Schools. — 1. Schoolhouses.
2. Manners. 3. Morals 168
III. Same Subject continued. — 4. Intellectual Instruction.
5. Irregular Attendance 180
IV. How can Common Schools he improved? — 1. Discussion.
2. Female Teachers. 3. Union or High Schools.
4. Consolidation of Districts ..... 197
V. The Improvement of Common Schools (continued). Or-
ganisation in Cities. — 1. District System. 2. Mon-
itorial. 3. Facher System. 4. American System.
5. Diversity of Class-books 218
VI. Same Subject continued. — Education of Teachers . . 236
INTRODUCTION.
" Were the benefits of civilization to be partial, not universal, it
would be only a bitter mockery and cruel injustice." — Duchatel.
A LATE writer (Laraartine) has spoken of the cross and
the press as the instruments of the two greatest movements
ever made in behalf of human civilization. To these may
be added two other agents of mighty power : the steam-
engine and the common school. The moral nature of man
can be permanently raised and transformed by nothing
short of the benignant influence of Christianity. His in-
tellectual powers can be duly developed and wisely applied
only under the guidance of knowledge ; and of knowledge
the press is now the grand expositor and representative.
To promote his physical well-being, we need industry ; and
of that industry which subdues the earth, vanquishes time
and space, and makes all things tributary to man's conve-
nience, the steam-engine is unquestionably the most proper
symbol.
It is worthy of remark, that as each of these great powers
is necessary to the improvement of mankind, so each of
them becomes more efficient in proportion as it co-operates
with the rest. Christianity needs the press, the press
needs the steam-engine ; and these, in their turn, are safe
and beneficent agents only when they who wield them are
animated and controlled by Christian principle. It is still
more to our purpose, however, to observe, that no one of
them can exert its appropriate influence, or dispense its
proper benefits without the aid of the school. Minds, for
instance, besotted by ignorance and unaccustomed to thought,
A
2 INTRODUCTION.
can hardly be reached by the more lofty and spiritual ap-
peals which are sent forth from the cross of Christ. The
press must speak in vain to those who cannot read, or who,
to the mechanical art of interpreting its mysterious symbols,
have never added habits of inquiry, or a desire for knowl-
edge. And even industry, although it always brings some
blessings to those whom it employs, can still do compara-
tively little for men who alienate their higher natures when
they labour, or who waste its fruits in sensual indulgence,
or in mental vacancy. It is only in proportion as minds
are awakened by early education, that they can share in
the fruits of an improved civilization. To shut them out
from the school, is to deny them access to a large propor-
tion of the best and noblest influences, which are supplied
by Christianity, and by science and the arts.
But if the school is an essential agent of civilization, it is
the Common School, that forms the appropriate agent of
modern and democratic civilization — of that civilization
which aims at the greatest good of the greatest number.
A.S this end is peculiar to the social movements of modem
times, so is the instrument which it employs. Schools
have always been found in the train of civilization, as the
only means by which her blessings could be preserved and
perpetuated ; but the idea of schools which should secure
to every human being, by improving his mind, a substantial .
share in the triumphs of Learning, Liberty, and Religion,
this, it is believed, was an idea unknown to the wisest of
ancient sages and states. They wrote and speculated much
about education ; but it was an education denied to more
than foiu: fifths of the people, who, being barbarians, were
bom, according to Aristotle, to be slaves, and who, as slaves,
were denied all spiritual as well as civil rights. It was an
education, too, by wliich the citizen was to be moulded for
the exclusive service of the commonwealth, rather than one
INTRODUCTION. 6
which was to unfold in due proportion all his powers, and
prepare him for a course of free and generous self-culture.
In the Middle Ages, when education was dispensed in
monastic establishments, and enjoyed, for the most part,
only by the clergy, we are not to wonder that the people
were in ignorance. Even after the revival of letters, and
when the art of Printing had awakened the slumbering in-
tellect of Europe, little progress was made in popular ed-
ucation until the Bible had been translated into living lan-
guages, and the privilege of reading it had come to be reck-
oned as one of the most precious, among the rights of the
Christian and the man. The rule which was then exten-
sively adopted in the Continental churches, of admitting no
one to his first communion who could not read the Scrip-
tiu-es, coupled with another rule, which made this first com-
munion necessary in order to qualify Mm for marriage or
any civil employment — ^these regulations naturally served
to make a certain degree of instruction universal through-
out the north of Europe.
The same religious and enlightened spirit presided over
the legislation of the early settlers of New-England. Both
in Massachusetts and Connecticut, it was ordained by law,
almost immediately after their settlement,* that the select-
men of the towns should see that " every parent or master
insti-ucted the young members of his family (whether chil-
dren, apprentices, or servants) in so much learning as would
enable them perfectly to read the English tongue and have a
knowledge of the capital laws ; that once a week he should
catechise them in the grounds and principles of religion ;
and that every young person should be carefully bred and
brought up to some honest, lawful calling, labour, or employ-
ment." It will be observed that these regulations are, in
* In Massachusetts in 1642, in Connecticut in 1650.
4 INTRODUCTION.
truth, more enlightened and comprehensive than those which
had been adopted in Europe at the era of tlie Reformation.
In the latter, religions culture seems to have been almost
the only object ; in the former, it was also an object to
make enlightened citizens capable of self-government, and
trained to habits of regular industry.
Not satisfied, however, with these provisions for domestic
education, the inhabitants soon proceeded to lay the founda-
tion of that Common School system which has been so long
the pride and strength of New-England. As early as 1647,
only twenty-seven years after the landing of the Mayflower
at Plymouth, it was enacted in Massachusetts, in order that
" learning," to use the language of the statute, " might not
be buried in the graves of their forefathers both in church
and commonwealth — that (the Lord assisting their endeav-
ours) in every township containing fifty householders or
more, one should forthwith be appointed to teach such chil-
dren as should resort to him to read and write ; and that,
in any township containing one hundred householders, they
should set up a grammar-school to fit youth for the Univer-
sity." This law, planting elementary schools at the door of
every family, was the first, it is presumed, adopted by any
Christian state,* and may claim to be the parent of much
* It is somewhat humiliating to reflect, that the earhest law on rec-
ord, providing for the universal diffusion of school education, was the
work of a people whom we are pleased to style barbarians (the Chi-
nese), and was in existence two thousand years ago. According to
a late writer (Davis), it required that every town and village, down
even to a few families, should have a Common School. He also
states that one of their works, of a date anterior to the Christian
era, speaks of the '^ancient system of instruction." It is proper, how
ever, to add, that it does not seem to have been the object of the
Chinese, as of the New-England system, to favour a free and full
development of man's nature. The studies are confined by authori-
ty to one unvarying routine ; science, properly so called, is exclu-
ded ; the spirit of spontaneous inquiry is repressed, and the whole aim
INTRODUCTION. 5
of the legislation on the subject of Popular Instructioa
which has distinguished the last half centuiy.*
To maintain and peipetuate religious knowledge among
the people was evidently the chief object with the framers
of these early school-laws, both in the Old World and in
the New. With some notion of the importance, as well to
the state as to the individual, of a comprehensive and gen-
erous culture, which should awaken and train all the powers
of the soul, it is still clear that they failed to recognise all
its value in these respects. In Europe it is now admitted
that the elementary education given in obedience to these
regulations contributed but little to raise the character oi the
is to make an orderly and industrious servant of the state as now
constituted. To use the language of another, " the whole channel
of thought and feeling for each generation is scooped out by that which
preceded it, and tiie stream always fills, but rarely overflows its em-
bankments." It is also questionable whether the Chinese schools
succeed in making the whole population capable, as is sometimes
said, of reading. According to some missionaries, many of the in-
habitants are unable to read at all, and others do it mechanically, and
without any perception of the meaning of the author.
* The system of parochial schools in Scotland is sometimes ap-
pealed to, as the earliest example of a legal provision for universal
education. The law, however, establishing these schools, was not
passed till 169G, nearly 50 yfears after the enactment of the one in
Massachusetts ; and the preamble of that law clearly shows that
the previous efforts of the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scot-
land, and of the civil government in behalf of Education, had failed
to make it general. This preamble states that " Our Sovereign
Lord, considering how prejudicial the loant of schools in many places
had been, and how beneficial the establishing and settling thereof
will be to this church and kingdom, therefore his majesty, with ad-
vice and consent," &c., and then the act proceeds to order that a
school be established and a schoolmaster appointed in every parish,
and that the landlords be obliged to build a schoolhouse and a
dwelling-house for the use of the master, and that they pay him a
certain salar)-, exclusive of the fees of the scholars.
A2
6 INTRODUCTION.
mass of the people. In New-England, much was probably
ascribed to schools which resulted from other causes, such
as the animating influence of a New World, with all its
tempting prizes, its numberless incentives to enterprise and
forecast, and the opportunities which it afforded, in its po-
litical and ecclesiastical institutions, for the cultivation and
gradual development of knowledge and power.*
That these schools have exercised a vast and most happy-
influence, not only over New-England, but over all parts of
our countiy, is unquestionable ; yet it is evident that even in
Massachusetts itself, the very cradle of the system, their
unspeakable importance has not been duly appreciated.
While wealth and population Avere increasing, and educa-
tion, of course, was growing more^ and more necessary, the
statute-books of that state show for a long period only a de-
clining interest in schools. The salutary rigour of the
primitive laws was gradually relaxed, till in 1789 it was
ordained that common schools need be maintained but six
months in the year, and grammar-schools only when there
were two hundred householders in a town; and in 1824 it
was declared, that in towns having less than five thousand
inhabitants, none but a teacher o( English need be provided. f
It is grateful to add, however, that during the last five years
this downward course of legislation has been arrested,^ and
* The influence which our institutions exert (especially as they
unfold themselves in New-England) in developing intelligence, self-
control, and activity, has been explained with great clearness and
accuracy by De Tocqueville. See his Democracy in America.
t There was also a provision in the colony charter of Massachu-
setts, that towns of more than 500 families should support two gram-
mar-schools and Iwo writing-schools. This provision disappeared
in the later, commonly called the province, charter.
X The testimony of the present enlightened secretary of the Board
of Education (in Massachusetts) indicates how much the schools had
failed to accomplish their ends. Speaking of their state at the time
of his appointment (1837), he says, "The Common School system
INTRODUCTION. 7
that the most enlightened and liberal efforts are now ma-
king to raise the standard of public instruction in that an-
cient and honoured commonwealth.
In our own state, the Common School — as part of a sys-
tem of public instruction, maintained and encouraged by
law — is of recent origin. The act establishing the Com-
mon School Fund, which has formed the basis of the sys-
tem, was passed in 1805 ;* but no revenue was distributed,
of Massachusetts has fallen into a state of general unsoundness and
debility ; a great majority of the schoolhouses are not only ill adapt-
ed to encourage mental effort, but in many cases are absolutely
perilous to the health and symmetrical growth of the children ; the
schools are under a sleepy supervision ; many of the most intelligent
and wealthy of our citizens have become estranged from their wel-
fare ; and the teachers of the schools, although, with very few ex-
ceptions, persons of estimable character and of great private worth,
yet, in the absence of all opportunities to qualify themselves for the
performance of the most delicate and difficult task which, in the ar-
rangements of Providence, is committed to human hands, are ne-
cessarily, and therefore without fault of their o wn, deeply and wide-
ly deficient in the two indispensable prerequisites for their office,
viz., a knowledge «f the human mind as the subject of improvement,
and a knowledge of the means best adapted wisely to unfold and di-
rect its growing faculties."
* Ten years eai'lier, a temporary appropriation (S50,000 annually
for five years) was made " for the encouragement of schools." Ow-
ing to the state of the treasury, but about $150,000 of this appropri-
ation was realized. The statute was in many respects imperfect,
and was suffered to expire ; but it contained one important princi-
ple, which was afterward incorporated with the Common School sys-
tem of the state. This was, that the supervisors of the counties
should distribute the amount of the grant among the several towns,
and that these towns should raise equal amounts by tax. By the
existing law, however, the money is apportioned according to the
whole population ; by the law of 1795 it was distributed according to
the number of taxable inhabitants. The former is evidently the more
equitable and benevolent provision ; and it may be doubted whether
the principle of it ought not to be extended. The moneys granted
from the state treasury are intended both to encourage and to assist
8 INTRODUCTION.
nor was any system organized, till ten years later. But
twenty-seven years have now elapsed since the organiza-
tion was completed, and it is most cheering to consider, that
within that brief space, ten thousand and five hundred
schools have been established and supplied, with school-
houses ; that nearly three millions of dollars are now annu-
ally expended in their support ; and that more than five hun-
dred thousand children are reported as being under instruc-
tion.
A fund, amounting in all to more than five millions of dol-
lars, is held sacred by the state for their use, and the an-
nual revenue of this fund, together with an equal sum raised
by taxation, is dispensed each year among all the School
Districts of the state, in proportion to the number of chil-
dren within the bounds of each, and on condition, that the
school is kept open four months in the year, by a teacher
who has been duly examined and licensed. That these
schools have exerted a great and beneficial influence can
hardly be doubted. In 1816,* when the first returns Avere
the people in educating their children. In both respects, it is often
more needed, and would prove more useful, in sparsely settled dis-
tricts, where the inhabitants are generally poor, than in districts
which are rich and populous. It may be doubted, too, whether the dis-
tribution should not be so regulated as to stimulate improvement, both
in the attendance of scholars and in the qualifications of teachers.
By the present law, the amount. apportioned to a town depends on
the whole population ; the amount apportioned to a district depends
on the number of children in said district over Jive and under sixteen
years of age. Would it not be an improvement if, leaving the ap-
portionment to the towns as it is, the amount allowed to the districts
were according to the actual attendance at school for any given
period ]
* The present Common School system owes its organization to
a law passed in 1811, authorizing the governor to appoint five com-
missioners, to report to the next Legislature a system for the estab-
lishment of Common Schools, and the distribution of the interest
of the School Fund. These commissioners reported on the 4th of
INTRODUCTION. 9
made, one fifth of all the children in tlie state, between the
ages of 5 and 16,Avere not in attendance ; whereas, in 1839,
but one eightieth part of the whole were in that condition.*
And while this system has been thus rapidly extending in
our own state, similar systems have been rising, both in
the new states of the West, and in several of the older ones
on the Atlantic coast. By law, one thirty-sixth part of all
lands owned by the General Government, within the limits
of the new states, is reserved for the support of common
schools, besides large tracts which are appropriated to
academies and colleges ; and thus provision is made that
population, as it moves westward, shall carry education in its
train, and be kept in constant contact with the genial influ-
ences of knowledge and civilization.
A similar movement in favour of the universal diffusion
of knowledge by means of schools, has been made through-
out a large part of Europe. Systems which had been grad-
ually maturing for the last two centiu-ies — some under the
auspices of governments, and some through private benefi-
cence — ^but which were still incomplete and unorganized,
have at length been thoroughly digested, and have become
more or less incorporated with the state. In Europe, the
whole subject of education — from that dispensed in the pri-
mary school to that which is imparted in the university — is
placed under the supervision of some public functionary ;
and by such means, the powerful aid of the government is
employed in sustaining, directing, and stimulating the ener-
gies of the people, and the liberality of the benevolent. At
February, 1812 ; and on the 19th of the following June an act was
passed, providing for the appointment of a superintendent, and the
organization of a system substantially the same as the one now in
force.
* See the able report of the superintendent for 1840 — Table
marked T).
!0 INTRODUCTION.
this moment, provisions adequate to the elementary instruc-
tion of all the children in the land, exist not only in Prus-
sia, but also in Holland, in Saxony, Austria, and all the other
states of Germany ; in France, Switzerland, Denmark,
Sweden, and Norway. Even in Russia, so long the abode
of barbarism, and associated now, in most minds, with little
of refinement or civilization, a system of universal educa-
tion is in the course of construction ; and already the ge-
nial influence of the District School is enjoyed in unhappy
Poland, in the dreary wastes of Siberia, and in the wild and
inhospitable regions beyond Mount Caucasus.* Indeed, the
time seems to have arrived — let the Christian and the phi-
lanthropist hail it with joy — when the great truth, so long
overlooked by statesmen and philosophers, is to be univer-
sally recognised throughout the most enlightened parts of
Christendom — the truth that all are entitled to a share in
the great heritage of knowledge and thought — that the de-
velopment of his faculties by scholastic culture is a right
which belongs to every human being, and that it is not more
the duty of governments to recognise and protect this right,
than it is their interest to cherish and extend it.
Nor is this all. The last fifty years have witnessed an-
other movement in regard to popular education, scarcely less
cheering. It was once thought sufficient, if schools were
established and maintained. But it is now known that all
this may be accomplished, and yet little be really achieved
for the cause of human improvement. That schools may,
in some cases, be substantially useless and inoperative —
that in others, they may be employed by a despotic govern-
ment as convenient agents for keeping aloof the spirit of
change and advancement — and that in others, again, they
may, by a too exclusive cultivation of the intellect and by
* See the report of Prof. Stowe ou the State of Education in Eu-
rope.
INTRODUCTION. 11
ministering to the lower propensities, train up a factious
and disorganizing spirit — these are sad but momentous
truths, wliich have at last forced themselves on the atten-
tion of the friends of humanity. It has been discovered,
too, that everything human tends to degenerate, and that a
system of public instruction, however perfect, can be upheld
in its vigour and excellence, only by unceasing vigilance.
A profound conviction of all tliis has led to the cultivation
of a new art, and, it may be added, to the formation of a
new science.
Elementary teaching, which, it was once supposed, might
be intrusted to any one, and which was, in fact, usually
committed (would that such were no longer the case) only
to those whom physical infirmity had rendered unequal to
every other emplojnnent, is now beginning to be regarded
as an art requiring skill and address, and as implying, also,
an active exercise of the moral sentiments and affections.
It is discovered that i^edagogy (as the Germans, by whom
its principles have been most thoroughly investigated, term
it) is a science founded on the nature of man, and to be de-
duced as well from the study of that nature as from the col-
lective experience of manldnd ; that if it be absurd for a
man to practise medicine or law, without any special in-
struction and training preparatory to his profession, so is it
absurd in itself — fraught with danger to the subject, and
with presumption in the operator — for one to attempt to de-
velop, inform, and guide the faculties of a child without
previous preparation. In connexion with improved meth-
ods of training teachers, there have been adopted more ef-
fectual means of supervising their labours, and of securing
for them the co-operation of the public as well as the pow-
erful aid of the government. Thus has arisen, in most of
the countries of central Europe, a new branch of social sci-
ence — one which occupies a prominent place in the eyes
of the statesman, as well as in those of the philosopher.
12 INTRODUCTION.
The end of public instruction is no longer merely to have
schools, but to have good schools ; schools which shall be
sure to awaken mind and cultivate good principles — which
shall be imbued with the spirit alike of progress and of con-
servatism — which shall contain within themselves the ele-
ments of permanent improvement, and be the perennial
sources of a healthy and powerful influence to those whom
they train.
In this great and benignant reform the people of the' Uni-
ted States have shared but partially. Though we are more
dependant on education for our welfare than any other na-
tion, it is still a melancholy truth that some of the most ar-
bitrary governments of Europe have done more, within the
last half century, to provide good schools and good teachers
for their subjects, than has been done by the free people of
this land, to make a similar provision for themselves. We
are not left, however, without some grounds of encourage-
ment. In Massachusetts and Connecticut, where the Com-
mon School system first saw the light, Central Boards have
been instituted under the eye of the State Governments, and
have been charged with the duty of awakening a new and
'more general interest on the subject of primary education
among the people, and of leading them to the adoption of
more uniform and efiicient methods. A gentleman of ardent
zeal and enlightened views has also been appointed in each
of those states, as well as in others, to carry out these plans
by personal visitation and addresses, as well as through the
medium of the press, and by assembling the people of dif-
ferent districts for mutual conference. In New-York — be-
sides measures, recently adopted for training teachers and
establisliing School District Libraries, which have been pro-
ductive of the happiest results — a new element of vigour and
improvement has been introduced within the last year, in
the appointment of a Deputy Superintendent of Common
Schools for each coimty. In the mean time, the press ev
INTRODUCTION. 13
erywhere teems with the most earnest and searching dis-
cussion of all subjects which have a bearing on the welfare
of schools ;* and though the experienced observer may see
much in these discussions which is crude and visionary,
they still show that the public mind is awake, and that it is
bent on improvement.
It would seem, then, that we have reached a most inter-
esting era in the progress of popular education. With us,
the people are now addressing themselves to the work of
regenerating and perfecting their own schools. What, in
other countries, has been accomplished mainly by the strong
arm of laAv, is to be accomplished here (if at all) by the vol-
untary action of parents and citizens, aided and superintend-
ed by the state ; and in no work more important, or fraught
with more eventful consequences, were we ever called to
enlist. Did our fathers assert successfully and triumphant-
ly our national independence, it was chiefly because they
had been fitted for the arduous and high task by the nurtu-
ring influence of schools and churches. Did they and their
successors lay deep and broad the foundations of our free-
dom and prosperity, and rear Avith surpassing skill and
prudence the structure of constitutional law, it must be
attributed, in gTeat part, to the same causes. An uneduca-
ted, imdisciplined people, leave no such monuments of wis-
dom and patriotism behind them. Is it to be expected,
* More has probably been written on the subject of education
within the last fifty years, than during all previous time. Another
fact is also worthy of notice, as significant of the change which har.
passed over the opinions of mankind on this subject. Formerly,
when writers treated of education, they had reference only to "our
noble and gentle youth," as Milton terms them ; to those who were
intended for the higher walks of life. This was the case with
Locke, Fcnelon, Ascham, and with Milton himself It is only within
the last century that we find education proper, i. e., the education of
the whole people, made the subject of prominent discussion.
13
14 INTRODUCTION.
then, that a people uneducated and undisciplined can long
preserve these monuments,* or can ever reap the appropri-
ate fruits of our institutions and our privileges ? Nothing
is now nt>eded to make our heritage as blessed in reality as
it is in promise but refined habits, stem principles of virtue,
and an enlightened appreciation, diffused among all our peo-
ple, of our responsibilities and powers. It is superfluous to
add, that such principles are not to be developed except by
culture. To expect that men will become wise, virtuous,
or happy by mere accident, or without specific exertions di-
rected to these ends, is to expect that this world's history
is to be reversed, and that its future will give the lie to all
its past. " Vice," says Seneca, " we can learn ourselves,
but virtue and wisdom require a tutor."
This volume is a contribution to the great work of school
regeneration which is now in progress. It is offered with
a deep sense, not only of the importance, but also of the dif-
ficulty of the undertaking. It is offered in the humble but
earnest hope of being able to afford some suggestions which
will prove useful, not only to teachers, but also to parents, in-
spectors, school commissioners, and other officers, as well
as to the friends of education generally. During the last
thirty years there has been much discussion, as well as ex-
periment, in regard to different systems of public instruction.
The best methods of providing well-qualified teachers, the
relative efficacy of different modes of teaching and disci-
pline, and the surest means of maintaining schools in a
healthy and efficient state, have all been subjects of exam-
ination. It will be the object of this volume, avoiding mere
* William Penn, himself a scholar, legislator, and philanthropist,
thus announces, in his "Frame of Government," the fundamental
principle of a free people : " That which makes a good government,"
says he, " must .keep it so, viz., men of wisdom and virtue propaga-
ted by a virtuous education of youth.''''
INTRODUCTION. 15
conjecture or speculation, to collect such results and prin-
ciples, as may seem to have been settled by the experience
of the past. It will also aim at the cultivation, among all
who are connected with schools, of a more adequate sense
of their importance, and of a spirit of improvement and re-
form at once active and chastened.
It consists of Two Parts.
The First Part will treat of,
I. The Education of the People ; its nature, object,
importance, practicability, means, &c.
II. The Common School ; its relation to other means
of education, and to civilization.
III. The Present State of Common Schools.
JV. Means of Improvement.
Schaiectady, July, 1842.
EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE.
B2
P4RT I.
CHAPTER I.
THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE.
SECTION I.
WHAT IS EDUCATION 1
" I call that education which embraces the culture of the whole
man, with all his faculties — subjecting his senses, his understanding,
and his passions to reason, to conscience, and to the evangelical
laws of the Christian revelation." — De Fellenbekg.
The term Education* when employed in its primitive
and literal signification, means the drawing out or develop-
ment of the human faculties. When we look on a child,
we perceive at once that, besides corporeal organs and
powers, he has a spiritual nature. In these organs them-
selves, with their ceaseless but not unmeaning activity, we
see evidence that this little being has intelligence, sensi-
bility, and will. Such powers exist in early infancy but as
germes, which are destined, however, to burst forth, and
which, Uke the vegetating powers of the seed that we have
planted, are ready to be directed and controlled by us, al-
most at our will. As we can train up to a healthy and
graceful maturity the young plant, which, if neglected, would
have proved unsightly and sterile, so can we train up in the
way he should go that child, who, if left to himself, would
have been almost certain to be vicious and ignorant. It is
the peculiar pliability and impressibility of this early period
of life, that give it such claims on the educator. f When
* From the Latin words e and duco, to lead or draw out of
+ " Certainly," says Lord Bacon, " custom is most perfect when
20 THE SCHOOL AND
habit has once fastened itself on the intellect and the heart,
appeals and influences are comparatively powerless. In
whatever degree, then, it may be our interest and duty to
promote the welfare of our fellow-creatures, and especially
of our own children, in the same degree does it become
important, that we lose no portion of that which is the pre-
cious seedtime of their lives. Hardly any season is too
early for the culture of this soil ; and if it would be reckon-
ed the height of guilt to refuse food or raiment to the body
of a helpless little one, what must we think of that cruel
neglect which leaves its nobler nature to pine, and finally
to perish, for lack of knowledge ? Educated in one sense
this child will be — if not for weal, then for wo !
" For nature, crescent, does not grow alone
In thews and bulk ; but as this temple wjixes,
The inward service of the mind and soul
Grows wide withal."
It is for the parent and guardian to decide what character
this development shall take.
The power of education we are not disposed to overrate.
It has sometimes been described, even by wise men, as an
all-prevailing agent, which can " turn the minds of children
as easily this way or that, as water itself,"* and before
it beginneth in young years ; this we call education, which is, in effect,
but an early custom. So we see in languages, the tongue is more
pliant to all expressions and sounds ; the joints are more supple to
all feats of activity and motions in youth than afterward ; for it is
true, that late learners cannot so well take the ply, except it be in
some minds that have not suffered themselves to fix, but they kept
their minds open and prepared to receive continual amendment,
which is exceeding rare."
* This is the language of Locke in his Treatise on Education.
In another passage he says, " I think I may say, that of all the men
we meet with, nine parts out of ten are what they are, good or evil,
useful or not, by their education. It is this which makes the
great difference in mankind, and in their manners and abilities."
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 21
wliich all original differences may be made to disappear.
It seems to us, that a slight acquaintance with children is
sufficient to refute this theor}^ Even when reared in the
same family and subjected to the same course of physical
and moral training, children exhibit, amid a general resem-
blance in manners and principles, the greatest diversity in
endowments and disposition. It is evidently not to be de-
sired, that all men and women should be cast in the same
intellectual more than in the same corporeal mould ; and
hence, though compounded of the same primitive elements,
these elements have been so variously mingled and com-
bined, that each individual has his own peculiar and inde-
structible nature, as well as his own sphere of action — ^that
thus every place and calling can be filled. As this variety,
then, exists, and can never be entirely effaced, it ought to be
respected in education.
But does it follow that the work of education is therefore
slight or unimportant ? While we are bound to take the
individual as he is, and having ascertained liis peculiar type
of character and measure of capacity, to keep these ever in
new, is there not still a vast work to be accomplished ? It
is the business of education, to watch the dormant powers
and foster their healthy and well-proportioned growth, re-
straining and repressing where their natural activity is too
great, and stimulating them when they are too feeble. To
respect each one's individuality is not only consistent with
In a practical work, which aimed at convincing men that much
greater care ought to be taken in the education of youth, this was
an error on the right side. It is not likely that the bulk of mankind
will, in practice, ever exaggerate the efficacy of care and culture.
But, among theorists and philanthropists, the error is fraught with
bad consequences. It leads them to undervalue the experience of
the past, and to expect too much from new plans of training and
instruction, and to vary those plans too frequently.
22 THE SCHOOL AND
this great work, but is indispensable to its highest success
Doing so, we can effect vast changes and improvements
in character. The sluggish we may not be able to inspire
with great vivacity, nor subdue the ardent and enthusiastic
to the tone of a calm and calculating spirit. But we can
arrest in each dangerous tendencies ; in each we can cor-
rect mental obliquities and distortions, and cultivate a healthy
and self-improving power. We can study the purposes of
the Creator in framing such a mind, and strive wisely, as
well as tmceasingly, to fulfil those purposes. In one word,
we can labour to rear this child, yet without fixed charac-
ter or compacted energies, to the stature of a perfect man
or woman. As one star differeth from another star in mag-
nitude and splendour, though each in its appointed place be
equally perfect, so in the intellectual and spiritual firmament
one mind may outshine another, and yet both alike be per-
fect in their sphere, and in fulfilling the mission assigned
them by God.
Milton has called that " a complete and generous edu-
cation which fits a man to perform justly, skilfully, and
magnanimously, all the offices, both private and public, of
peace and of war." It is evident that such an education can
be enjoyed by few ; and that, though enjoyed by all, it would
bestow, on but a limited number, the lofty capacities indica-
ted by the great poet. A vast proportion of the walks of
human life are humble and sheltered. Let us be grateful,
however, that while in such walks we escape the fiery trials
which await those who tread the high places of earth, they
still afford scope and opportunity for the exercise of the
most manly and generous qualities. He may be great,
both intellectually and morally, who has filled no distin-
guished " office," either " of peace or of war." Let it rath-
er be our object, then, in rearing the young, to form a. perfect
character — to build up a spirit of which all must say, as was
said of Brutus by Antony,
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 23
■ His life was gentle, and the elements
So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up,
And say to all the world. This was a man /"
Such, then, in general, is the object of education. Let
us be more particular. The child comes into life ignorant
and imbecile. With faculties which, duly trained, fit him to
traverse the universe of truth, he yet begins his course a
helpless stranger. To him, this uiuverse is all a mighty
maze, without a plan. He is a stranger alike to himself,
to the world, and to God. But daily his faculties open ; his
intellectual eye begins to turn towards the light of truth, as
his organic eye turns towards the sunbeam that falls across
his chamber. His senses, those fleet messengers, carry to
hiin constant intelligence from the world without. Soon he
comes to remember and compare these reports — to reason
and resolve. His mind now yearns after more knowledge.
Through the livelong day, save when tired nature claims
repose, he is busy seeking, or receiving with unexpected
delight, new accessions of truth. All the while his facul-
ties of memory and comparison — of judgment and abstrac-
tion — of generalization and inference, are in exercise ; and,
though no book opens its mysterious light upon his under-
standing, nor living voice pours into his ear the fruits of
another's experience and knowledge, he is still for himself
a learner.
Yet such a progress — which is only instinctive and spon-
taneous — plainly needs direction, and will, if left to itself,
soon reach its utmost limit. The forlorn condition of the
untutored deaf mute shows how meager and deceptive are
the attainments of every unaided mind ; and, even where
such a barrier has not been interposed by nature, we find
that those who have been left without fonnal instruction
soon become stationary, and that their minds are crowded
with errors and prejudices. It is the province of education
24 THE SCHOOL AND
{i. e., of a system of training and tuition conducted by rule)
to take this restless spirit, rejoicing in the consciousness of
its awakened powers and thirsting for knowledge, and to con-
duct it, for a time, along the straight path of true wisdom.
For, why was that spirit, in the very outset of its course,
made so helpless 1 Why was it deprived of those instincts
which conduct the inferior animals, infallibly, to their be-
ing's end and aim 1 Why attached for months to a mother's
breast, and afterward sheltered and kept in life and health
only by unceasing vigilance and care ? Why, but to en-
gage all a parent's energies in its nurture and full develop-
ment ; or, rather, why, but to engage them in fitting it for
the unending work of self-development 1 The brute needs
but a few powers, for it has but few wants, and they are to
last but a few years. Man has wants and desires as bomid-
less as his own immortality.
To educate the intellect, then, is to so unfold, direct, and
strengthen it, that it shall be prepared to be, through all its
future course, a zealous and success'ful seeker after truth.
It is to give it control of its own powers, and to teach it to-
wards what those powers should be directed. It is to en
dow it by practice with the ability to collect its energies at
will, and to fix them long on one point. It is to train the
senses to observe accurately ; the memory to register care-
fully and recall readily ; the reason to compare, reflect, and
judge without partiality or passion. It is to infuse into the
soul a principle of enduring activity and curiosity, such that
it shall ever be awake in quest of light, never counting it-
self to have apprehended, but pressing continually forward
towards higher truths and a larger knowledge.
Again, man begins life without virtue. He has propensi-
ties that urge him to self-gratification, affections that impel
him to gratify others, and moral instincts that incline him to
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 25
duty. But, left to himself and without culture, his propen-
sities predominate ; the aftections spend themselves in ca-
pricious acts of kindness or charity ; and the moral instincts
raise, without effect, their solemn and monitory voice. It
is the office of moral education to harmonize these contend-
ing and irregular powers, by restoring conscience to its
rightful authority, and by replacing unreflecting impulses
with fixed and enlightened principles. It is its business to
cultivate habits which make man master of himself, and
.vhich enable him, even when pressed by fierce temptation,
to prefer loss, disgrace, and death itself, before dishonour.
" The great principle and foundation of all virtue," says
Locke, " lies in this : that a man is able to deny himself
his own desires, cross his own inclinations, and purely fol-
low what reason directs as best, though the appetite lean
the other way."
Again, man begins life without taste. Through his sen-
ses, he is early attracted and charmed by what l|e terms
beautiful. As he advances in years, these impiressions,
made by outward objects, blend themselves with remem-
brances of the past, and with creations of the mind itself.
The result is seen in conceptions which bear away the
soul from the imperfections and trials of actual life, to a
world of imagined purity, beauty, and bliss. Now, in the
untutored mind, these conceptions are rude and often un-
couth. It is the province of education to give them form
and symmetry — to teach the true difference between beau-
ty and deformity — to inspire a love for simple excellence
in literature and art, as well as a taste for the beauties and
sublimities of nature — and, finally, to awaken a profound
reverence for moral grandeur, and thus kindle aspirations
after glory, honour, and immortalit^^
Finally, man begins life without physical vigour. Nei-
C
26 THE SCHOOL AND
titer his intellectual nor liis moral powers can hold inter-
course with, or act upon the world without, except through
material organs. And in our present state, these organs are
also necessary to the soul, even in its more spiritual opera-
tions ; and they weigh it down to imbecility whenever they
become greatly diseased or enfeebled. Mark how a Cae-
sar quails before this foe !
" He had a fever when he was in Spain,
And when the fit was on him, I did mark
How he did shake ; 'tis true, this god did shake :
His coward lips did from their colour fly ;
And that same eye, whose bend doth awe the world,
Did lose his lustre : I did hear him groan ;
Ay> and that tongue of his, that bade the Romans
Mark him, and write his speeches in their books,
Alas ! it cried. Give me some drink, Titinius,
As a sick girl."
Hence the unspeakable importance o{ physical education,
which teaches us how to guard against many diseases, how
to maintain and improve the vigour of our bodies, and how
to develop and perfect the delicacy of our senses.
Do we ask, then, What is Education, or what, in the lan-
guage of Milton, is a " virtuous and noble education ?" The
answer is ready. It is, whatever tends to train up to a
healthy and graceful activity our mental and bodily pow^ers,
our affections, manners,* and habits. It is the business, of
* The cultivation of manners is not sufficiently regarded in our
systems of popular education. The following remarks of an English
manufacturer, who devoted great care to the education of the fami-
lies employed by him, are full of truth, and are applicable to our
own country. " The importance of good manners among this class
of people, as among all others, appeared to me to be very great,
more so than is generally acknovi^ledged ; for though every one ap-
proves and admires thum when met with, little attention is paid to
their cultivation in the systems of instruction for the labouring
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 27
course, of all our lives, or, more properly, of the whole dura-
tion of our being. But since impressions made early are
the deepest and most lasting, that is, above all, education
which tends in childhood and youth to form a manly, up-
light, and generous character, and thus to lay the founda-
tion for a course of liberal and virtuous self-culture. " The
education,^'' says an able writer, " required for the people, is
that which will give them the full command of every facul-
ty, both of mind and body ; which will call into play their
powers of observation and reflection ; which will make
thinking and reasonable beings of the mere creatures of im-
pulse, prejudice, and passion ; that which, in a moral sense,
will give them objects of pursuit and habits of conduct, fa-
vourable to their own happiness, and to that of the communi-
ty of which they will form a part ; which, by multiplying the
means of rational and intellectual enjoymeui, will diminish
the temptations of vice and sensuality ; which, in the social
relations of life, and as connected with objects of legislation,
will teach them the identity of the individual with the gen-
eral interest ; that which, in the physical sciences — espe-
cially those of Chemistry and Mechanics — will make them
masters of the secrets of nature, and give them powers
which even now tend to elevate the moderns to a hiofher
I wish to see our people distinguished by their good man-
ners, not so much for the sake of those manners, as because they
indicate more than tliey show, and they tend powerfully to nourish
and protect the growth of the virtues which they indicate. What
are they, indeed, when rightly considered, but the silent though ac-
tive expression of Christian feelings and dispositions 1 The gentle-
ness, the tenderness, the delicacy, the patience, the forbearance, the
fear of giving pain, the repression of all angry and resentful feelings,
the respect and consideration due to a fellow-man, and which every
one should be ready to pay and expect to receive — what is all this
but the very spirit of courtesy 1 What is it but the very spirit of
Christianity 1 And what is there in this that is not equally an or-
nament to the palace and the cottage, to the nobleman and the
peasant r'
3« THE SCHOOL AND
rank than that of the demigods of antiquity. All this, and
more, should be embraced in that scheme of education
which would be worthy of statesmen to give, and of a great
nation to receive ; and the time is near at hand when the
attainment of an object thus comprehensive in its character,
and leading to results, the practical benefits of which it is
almost impossible for even the imagination to exaggerate,
will not be considered a Utopian dream."*
SECTION II.
PREVAILING ERRORS IN REGARD TO THE NATURE AND END
OF EDUCATION.
" Locke was not like the pfedants of his ov/n or other ages, who
think that to pour their wordy book-learning ipto the memory is the
true discipline of cliildhood." — Hallam.
If the sk,etch which we have thus drawn of the nature
and ends of .education be correct, it must be evident that it
is a subject in regard to which great misconception pre-
vails. We apprehend, indeed, that hardly one cause so
much contributes to maintain existing evils and imperfec-
tions in our educational system as the prevalence of these
misconceptions. " The improvement of education," says an-
other, " will alone lead to its extension ;" and we add, that a
clearer comprehension of its nature will alone lead to its
improvement. Changes may be multiplied, but they will
rarely prove to be improvements, unless they proceed on a
clear and definite understanding of the end to be attained.
Means are wisely chosen only when they are precisely
adapted to the object sought, and they are thus adapted,
only when that object stands out clearly and boldly before
the mind. Let us, then, look at some of these prevailing
misconceptions.
* Westminster Review.
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 29
By many, education is regarded simply as the means
of communicating to the young certain mechanical accom-
plishments, which, in the progress of society, have become
essential to our comfort and success. Thus, in the opinion
of one, a child is educated when he can read, -write, and
cipher.* To these, others Avould add certain higher scho-
lastic attainments, more or less in number ; and a third party
hold no child to be educated, unless to Avhat they term
* The influence of this misconception on the state of popular in-
struction in England is thus noticed by a late writer : " In the num-
ber of schools and of pupils, our account, on the whole, is extremely
satisfactory. AVhere, then, do we fail 1 Not in the schools, but in
the instruction that is given there : a great proportion of the poorer
children attend only the Sunday-schools, and the education of once
a week is not very valuable ; but generally, throughout the primary
schools, nothing is taught but a little spelling, a very little reading,
still less writing, the Catechism, the Lord's Prayer, and an unex-
plained, unelucidated chapter or two in the Bible ; add to these the
nasal mastery of a hymn, and an undecided conquest over the rule
of Addition, and you behold a very finished education for the poor.
The schoohnaster and the schoolmistress, in these academies, know
little themselves beyond the bald and meager knowledge that they
teach, and are much more fit to go to school tlian to give instruc-
lions. Now the object of education is to make a reflective, moral,
prudent, loyal, and healthy people. A little reading and writing of
themselves contribute very doubtfully to that end. Ju.st hear what
Mr. Hickson, a most in>. Uigent witness (in his evidence on the
Poor Laws), says on this head :
" ' Query. Are you of opinion that an eflicient system of national
education would materially improve the condition of the labouring
classes I
" ' Answer. Undoubtedly ; but I must beg leave to observe, that
something more than mere teaching to read and write is necessary
for the poorer classes. Where books and newspapers are inaccess-
ible or not used, the knowledge of the art of reading avails nothing.
I have met with adults who, after having been taught to read and
write when young, have almost entirely forgotten those arts for
want of opportunities to exercise them.' " — England and the English,
vol. i., p. 186.
C2
30 THE SCHOOL AND
" school learning" is added some trade or employment by
which he can make a living. The great and all-impor-
tant fact that a child has powers and sentiments which pre-
destine him to advance forever in knowledge and virtue, but
powers which will be stifled or perverted in their very in-
fancy without proper culture — this fact is overlooked. It is
not considered that he has a moral and intellectual charac-
ter to be formed, and that this character will never reach
the required excellence, unless wise principles are instilled,
and good habits formed.
A child leaves school without having contracted either a
desire for knowledge, or a love of good books. He knows
as little of his own frame, of the laws of his intellectual and
moral nature, of the constitution of the material world, and
of the past history of his country and race, as if on these
subjects books were silent — and yet he is said to he educa-
ted ! What is stiU more important, he has been subjected
to no early, constant, and efficient training of his disposi-
tion, manners, judgment, and habits of thought and conduct.
The sentiments held to be appropriate to the adult have not
been imbibed with the milk of infancy, and iterated and re-
iterated through the whole of subsequent childhood and
youth ; the manners considered becoming in men and wom-
en have not been sedulously imparted in early years ; nor
have the habits regarded as conducive to individual advance-
ment, social happiness, and national prosperity, been cidti-
vated with the utmost diligence ; and yet — the child is said
to be educated ! He knows little, and yet he imagines that
he knows all or enough !
" Well !" exclaimed a young lady just returned from
school, " my education is at last finished ; indeed, it would
be strange if, after five years' hard application, anything
were left incomplete. Happily, that is all over now, and I
have nothing to do but to exercise my various accomplish'
ments.
THE SCHOOLMASTER, ^i
" Let me see ! as to French, I am mistress of that, and
speak it, if possible, with more fluency than English. Ital-
ian I can read with ease, and pronounce very well — as well,
at least, and better, than any of my friends ; and that is all
one need wish for in Italian. Music I have learned till I
am perfectly sick of it ; but, now th^t we have a grand pi-
ano, it will be delightful to play wlnm we have company.
I must still continue to practise a little ; the only tiling, I
think, that I need now improve myself in. And then there
are my Italian songs ! which everybody allows I sing with
taste ; and as it is what so few people can pretend to, I am
particularly glad that I can.
" My drawings are universally admired, especially the
shells and flowers, which are beautiful, certainly ; besides
this, I have a decided taste in all kinds of fancy ornaments.
" And then my dancing and waltzing ! in which our mas-
ter himself owned that he could take me no farther ! just
the figure for it, certainly ; it would be unpardonable if I
did not excel,
" As to common things, Geography, and History, and Po-
etry, and Philosophy, thank my stars, I have got through
them all ! so that I may consider myself not only perfectly
accomplished, but also thoroughly well-informed.
" Well, to be sure ! how much I have fagged through ;
the only wonder is, that one head can contain it all."
With this picture — a picture but too just of most of the
subjects, not only of Avhat is called a fine education, but of
education of every degTee — the lively writer* contrasts the
revery of " a silver-headed sage," who, after passing in re-
view all his profound attainments in science and letters,
and comparing them with the vast field still unexplored, ex-
claims, " Alas ! how narrow is the utmost extent of human
knowledge ! how circumscribed the sphere of intellectual
* .lane Taylor.
32 THE SCHOOL AND
exertion! What folly in man to glory in his contracted
powers, or to value himself upon his imperfect acquisi-
tions."
Akin to the error just noticed is another, which makes
education consist in acquiring knowledge. That no educa-
tion is complete or sufficient which leaves the subject of it in
ignorance is plain ; and there is a certain amount of knowl-
edge which, as it seems absolutely needful to man's highest
welfare, and is, moreover, within the reach of all, so should
it be considered as an indispensable part of the education
of the whole people. Such in addition to reading, writing,
and arithmetic, and a proper knowledge of the Scriptures,
is an acquaintance with the criminal laws of the goverh-
ment under which we live, with general geography and his-
tory, and, to some extent, with our own physical, intellectual,
and moral constitution. The grand error is, that that is
called knowledge, which is mere rote-learning and word-
mongery. The child is said to be educated, because it can
repeat the text of this one's grammar, and of that one's ge-
ography and history ; because a certain number of facts,
often without connexion or dependance, have, for the time be-
ing, been deposited in its memory, though they have never
been wrought at all into the understanding, nor have awa-
kened, in truth, one effort of the higher faculties. The soil
of the mind is left, by such culture, nearly as untouched, and
as little likely, therefore, to yield back valuable fruit, as if
these same facts had been committed to memory, in an un-
known tongue. It is, as if the husbandman were to go forth
and sow his seed by the way-side, or on the surface of a
field which has been trodden down by the hoofs of innu-
merable horses, and then, when the cry of harvest home is
heard about him, expect to reap as abundant returns as the
most provident and industrious of his neighbours. He for-
gets that the same irreversible law holds in mental as in
THE SCHOOLMASTER, 33
materia/ husbandry : Whatever a man soweth, that shall he
also reap.
The first duty of the teacher, whether he be a parent, or
hired instructer, is to enrich and turn up the soil* of the
mind, and thus quicken its productive energies. Awaken a
child's facuhies ; give him worthy objects on which to exer-
cise them ; invest him with proper control over them, and
let liim have tasted often the pleasure of employing them in
the acquisition of truth, and he will gain knowledge for him-
self. Yet it is worthy of remark, that this cannot be done
effectually and thoroughly, without imparting, at the same
time, much loiOAvledge. It is in the act of apprehending
truth, of perceiving the evidence on which it rests, of tra-
cing out its relations to, and dependance on other truths,
and then of applying it to the explanation of phenomena
and events — it is by such means that we excite, invigorate,
and discipline the faculties. It has been much disputed,
whether it be the primary object of education, to discipline
and develop the powers of the soul, or to communicate
knowledge. Were these two objects distinct and independ-
ent, it is not to be questioned, that the first is unspeakably
more important than the second. But, in truth, they are in-
separable. That training which best disciplines and un-
folds the faculties will, at the same time, impart the great-
est amount of real and effective knowledge ; while, on the
other hand, that which imparts thoroughly, and for perma-
nent use and possession, the greatest amount of knowledge,
will best develop, strengthen, and refine the powers. In
proportion, however, as intellectual vigour and activity are
more important than mere rote-learning, in the same pro-
portion ought we to attach more value to an education
* Berkeley, in one of his queries, asks, "Whether the mind, like
the soil, does not by disuse grow stiff, and whether reasoning and
study be not like dividing the glebe." — Querist, p. 140.
34 THE SCHOOL AND
which, though it only teaches a child to read, has, in doing
so, taught him also to thlnk, than we should to one which,
though it may have bestowed on him the husks and shells
of half a dozen of the sciences, has never taught him to use
with pleasure and effect his reflective faculties.* He who
can think, and loves to think, will become, if he has a few
good books, a wise man. He who knows not how to think,
or who hates the toil of doing it, will remain imbecile,
though his mind be crowded with the contents of a library.
This is, at present, perhaps the greatest fault in intellect-
ual education. The new power, with Avhich the scientific
discoveries of the last three centuries have clothed civilized
man, renders knowledge an object of unbounded respect
and desire ; while it is forgotten, that that knowledge can
be mastered and appropriated only by the vigorous exercise
and application of all our intellectual faculties. If the mind
of a child, when learning, remains nearly passive — merely
receiving knowledge as a vessel receives water which is
poured into it — ^little good can be expected to accrue. It is
as if food were introduced into the stomach which there is
no power to digest or assimilate, and which -will therefore
be rejected from the system, or lie a useless and oppressive
load upon its energies.
* " At the first," says Erasmus, " it is no great matter how much
you learn, but how well you learn iV-^CoUoquies, p. 607.
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 35
SECTION in.
THE SAME S'UBJECT CONTINUED.
" The exaltation of talent, as it is called, above virtue and re-
liigion, is the curse of the age. Education is now chiefly a stimulus
to learning, and thus men acquire power without the principles
whicli alone make it a good. Talent is worshipped ; but if divorced
from rectitude, it will prove more of a demon than a god." — Chan-
NING.
Another and not less pernicious error, is to mistake for
education a ■partial, narrow culture, which operates on but a
part of the mind. In some instances, the moral nature is
addressed, to the exclusion or neglect of the intellectual ;
but much more frequently, the intellectual powers are fos-
tered, to the grievous neglect of the spiritual and moral.
The child is dealt with, not only as though these two class-
es of powers were separate and independent of each other,
which is a great mistake, but as if one class could be safe-
ly roused and enlisted in action, while the other remains
dormant.
Undel' the reign »jf the scholastic philosophy, a discipline
which developed the reasoning faculty and cultivated the
study of th(iology, took sole possession of places dedicated
to education. In our own age, we have passed to the op-
posite extr(!me. Unbounded pains are now taken, to en-
lighten a child in the first principles of science and letters,
and also in regard to the business of life. At a time, too,
when an intellectual has been substituted for a physical su-
premacy, and results are produced almost entirely by talent
and address, it is thought an object of vast consequence, to
develop mental energy and activity. In the mean time,
the culture of the heart and conscience is often sadly neg-
lected ; and the child grows up a shrewd, intelligent, and
influential man, perhaps, but yet a slave to liis lower pro-
36 THE SCHOOL AND
pensities. Talent and knowledge are rarely blessings ei-
ther to their possessor or to the world, unless they are pla-
ced under the control of the higher sentiments and prirtciples
of our nature. Better that men should remain in ignorance,
than that they should eat of the fruit of the tree of loiowl-
edge, only to be made more subtle and powerful adversaries
of God and of humanity.*
In this respect, " much," to borrow the language of Dr.
Morrison, " may be learned from the Chinese. They not
only make education universal, but they place that which
is moral above that which is physical." With a system of
philosophy, and religious faith, which is eminently deficient
in large and comprehensive views, they still succeed, to a de-
gree, perhaps, unparalleled in the history of the world, in
inculcating certain social and political duties. The great
object of their policy, is to maintain industry, subordination,
and social order ; and their chief instrument for attaining
this object, is the training of the young, as distinguished
from mere instruction. With us, the latter is the chief part
of education ; with them, the former. We, too, talk much
to the young of their " rights ;" the Chinese dwell princi-
pally, and, we may add, only, on their duties. They rely on
the " habitual and universal inculcation of obedience and
deference, in unbroken series, from one end of society to
the other ; beginning in the relation of children to their pa-
rents, continuing through that of the young to the aged, of
* " In the Celestial Hierarchy," says a late writer, " according
to Dionysius Areopagita, the Angels of Love hold the first place,
the Angels of Light the second, and Thrones and Dominations the
third. Among Terrestrials, the intellects which act through the
imagination upon the heart may be accounted the first in order, the
merely scientific intellects the second, and the merely ruling intel-
lects — those which apply themselves to mankind without the aid
of either science or imagination — will not be disparaged ilthey are
placed last."
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 37
the uneducated to the educated, and terminating in that of
the peopl3 to their rulers."*
This topic occupies the whole of the first four books of Con-
fucius ; and twice in every moon, sixteen discourses of one ol
their wisest and most virtuous monarchs, which treat of these
and kindred social duties, are read to the whole Empire. ■}
The results of such precepts constantly repeated — to which
conformity is rigidly exacted, and which are enforced by
the examples of parents, instructors, and all classes of citi-
zens — may be foreseen. " They are apparent," says Davis,
" on the very face of the most cheerfully industrious and
orderly, and the most wealthy nation of Asia." The peo-
ple are contented ; there is little abject poverty ; age is rev-
erenced more than wealth ; and the subjects are devoted,
* See Davis's China, chap. vi.
\ The texts of these discourses will illustrate the spirit of Chi-
nese economy and education. "1. Be strenuous in filial piety and
paternal respect, that you may thus duly perform the social duties.
3. Be firmly attached to your kindred and parentage, that your
union and concord may be conspicuous. 3. Agree with your coun-
trymen and neighbours, in order that disputes and litigation may be
prevented. 4. Attend to your farms and mulberry-trees, that you
may have sufficient food and clothing. 5. Observe moderation and
economy, that your property may not be wasted. 6. Extend your
schools of instruction, that learning may be duly cultivated. 7. Re-
ject all false doctrines, in order that you may duly honour true learn-
mg. 8. Declare the laws and their penalties, for a warning to the
foolish and ignorant. 9. Let humility and propriety of behaviour be
duly manifested, for the preservation of good habits and laudable
customs. 10. Attend each to your proper employments, that the
people may be fixed in their purposes. 11. Attend to the education
of youth, in order to guard them from doing evil. 12. Abstain from
false accusing, that the good and honest may be in safety. 13. Ab-
stain from the concealment of deserters, that others be not involved
in their guilt. 14. Duly pay your taxes and customs, to spare the
necessity of enforcing them. 15. Let the tithings and hundreds
unite for the suppression of thieves and robbers. 16. Reconcile
animosities, that your lives be not lightly hazarded."
D
38 THE SCHOOL AND
with a loyalty the most ardent and inflexible, to their gov-
ernment. If all this can be accomplished under a system
so imperfect, merely by the use of wise means, what might
not be expected in a free, enlightened, and Christian land,
if we would but give to moral education its proper promi-
nence, and substitute thorough training for mere instruc
tion?
This error of postponing moral to intellectual culture has,
like all other errors, engendered its opposite. Perceiving
its danger and deploring its prevalence, good and thought-
ful men are led, in some cases, to doubt altogether the ex-
pediency of educating the people ; in others, they maintain,
in their zeal for religious education, that that alone is ne-
cessary or desirable. It must be remembered, however,
tliat a moral and religious culture which does not awaken
and develop the faculties of the understanding, and build
itself upon clear and rational convictions, can have little
value. It will neither regidate the life, nor sustain the for-
titude and confidence of the believer. The powers of
thought must be so far unfolded and strengthened, that the
mind can seize upon truths and moral motives, and hold
them with a steady, unyielding grasp, before moral or reli-
gious lessons can make a deep and lasting impression.
" It is the same spirit and principle," says South, " that pu-
rifies the heart and clarifies the understanding;" and we
have no more right to suppose that the heart can be en-
lightened while the understanding is left in darkness, than
we have to suppose that the intellectual part of man can be
healthy while his moral nature is unsound. So long as the
heart is neglected, passions and prejudices will gather be-
fore the intellectual eye, and darken or distort all its per-
ceptions of truth. On the other hand, a torpid and imen-
lightened intellect reduces religious faith to a mere blind
assent, which makes no distinction between the substance
THE SCHOOLMASTER.
59
and accidents of truth, and substitutes its tithe of mint,
anise, and cummin for the weightier matters of the law.*
That the great truths of Christianity, when properly
taught, form one of the best means of rousing and impro-
Tuig the intellect, is a delightful fact. But in connexion
with this fact, we cannot be reminded, too often, that what is
called religious education, frequently fails in this respect ;
that too much faith is apt to be reposed in the mere name
and form of it, when the spirit is wanting ; and hence that
hopes are excited by the bare circumstance that children
are in attendance at a Sunday-school, or are members of a
Bible or catechetical class, or by the fact that the Bible and
* Confirmations of this truth may be found in every neighbour-
hood. A rcmaitable one has been afforded recently by the peasant-
ry in the county of Kent (Eng.). An impostor appeared among them
in 1838, named Thoms, who, with no other advantages than a hand-
some person and a slender education, succeeded in persuading great
numbers to receive him, first, as Baron Rothschild ; then as the
Earl of Devon ; afterward as King of Jerusalem ; and, finally, after
one or two other transformations, as the Saviour of mankind. He
gave them the sacrament, anointed hunself and them with oil, and
inspired them Avith the belief that no bullet could touch them. This
was not only in a beautiful country in which there was no hostility
to the poor laws, and where the peasantry had good wages and were
lightly taxed, but it was under tlte very spires of the Canterbury
Cathedral, and amid a population accustomed to go to church, pos-
sessing hardly any but religious books, and of whom a majority had,
in their youth, gone to Sunday-schools. These facts show that re-
ligious instruction will be powerless in most cases, unless the mind
has been developed by general culture. Truth must not only be
presented to the mind ; there must be capacity to apprehend and
disposition to act upon it. In the case just referred to, the Bible or
Testament, the Catechism, and a few religious tracts, were the only
books known in the houses or used in the schools. The conse-
quence had been, that these were read without interest or intelli-
gence, and children who could read in the Testament with fluency,
instantly began to spell and hesitate when desired to read out of
another book.
40 THE SCHOOL AND
Other religious books are used in schools, which hopes
prove, in the end, to be utterly fallacious. No plan of edu-
cation is entitled to confidence, because none is founded
upon a just view of the nature and wants of man, which
does not recognise the importance of both intellectual and
moral culture, and which does not cultivate a taste for ev-
eiy branch of liberal and useful knowledge.
I cannot dismiss the subject of moral education, without
adverting to the great insensibility which seems to prevail
among us, in regard to the power of example. What meets
the eye, always sinks deeper into the mind than what only
falls upon the ear. This is peculiarly the case with moral
instructions. When imbodiedin action, and illustrated and
adorned by the daily life of a parent, teacher,^r friend, they
become surpassingly impressive and attractive. On the
other hand, when our precepts are glaringly contradicted by
our practice, they are worse than useless. " Parents," says
Palejr, and the remark may be extended to teachers, " pa-
rents, to do them justice, are seldom sparing in lessons of
virtue and religion ; in admonitions which cost little, and
profit less ; while their example exhibits a continual contra-
diction of what they teach. A father, for instance, will,
with much solemnity and apparent earnestness, warn his
son against idleness and extravagance, who himself loiters
about all day without employment, and wastes the fortune,
which should support or remain a provision for his family,
in riot, or luxury, or ostentation. Or he will discourse
gravely before his children of the obligation and importance
of revealed religion, while they see the most frivolous and
oftentimes feigned excuses detain him from its reasonable
and solemn ordinances. Or he will set before them, per-
haps, the supreme and tremendous authority of Almighty
God ; that such a being ought not to be named, or even
thought upon, without sentiments of profound awe and ven-
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 41
eration. This may be the lecture he delivers to his family
one hour ; when the next, if an occasion arise to excite his
anger, his mirth, or his surprise, they will hear him treat
the name of the Deity with the most irreverent profanation,
and sport with the terms and denimciations of the Christian
religion, as if they were the language of some ridiculous
ajid long exploded superstition. Now even a child is not
to be imposed upon by such mockeiy. He sees through
the grimace of this counterfeited concern for virtue. He
discovers that his parent is acting a part ; and receives his
admonitions as he would hear the same maxims from the
mouth of a player. And when once this opinion has taken
possession of the child's mind, it has a fatal effect upon the
parent's influence in all subjects, even those in which he
himself may be sincere and convinced. Whereas a silent,
but observ^able regard to the duties of religion, in the pa-
rent's own behaviour, will take a sure and gradual hold of
the child's disposition, much beyond fonnal reproofs and
chidings, which, being generally prompted by some present
provocations, discover more of anger than of principle, and
are always received with a temporary alienation and dis-
gust."*
Another, and, at present, much neglected branch of edu-
cation, is the culture of taste and imagination. These are
leading principles of the human mind, which must always
exert great influence over its operations and its welfare. If
duly cultivated, they aid and quicken the understanding, ex-
alt the aspirations of the heart, and lend grace and dignity
to manners. Truth is never more readily apprehended, nor
does it ever lay stronger hold upon the memory and affec-
tions, than when illustrated and embellished by fancy.
High purposes to honour God and benefit man, are by
none conceived Avith so much force, nor by any maintained
with such indomitable firmness, as by those whose imagina*
* Paley's Moral Philosophy, b. iii., pt. iii., chap. ix.
D2
42 THE SCHOOL AND
tions bring tlie far distant future near, and transform possi'
ble into actual achievements. To children, the creations of
fancy or imagination are a principal source, both of pleasure
and of activity. In youth, they inspire ardour and gener-
osity of purpose ; and through life, men are stimulated to
exertion by the promises with which they clothe the future,
and by that irrepressible yearning after a higher excellence
to Avhich they give birth.
It must be evident, then, to every one, that much of our
happiness and dignity will depend on the direction given to
these faculties by culture. If allied to Adrtue, and placed
under the guidance of reason, they must become fruitful
sources of enjoyment, and contribute most efficiently to our
intellectual and moral progress ; whereas they must become
equally efficient in inducing wretchedness and corruption,
when they usurp the place which belongs to reason, and
fonn an alliance with our vicious or malevolent feelings.
One of the means of securing to these faculties a healthy
and perfect development, is to employ them in aid of intel-
lectual education. In selecting text-books for the young,
as well as books for ordinary reading," always prefer those
which portray truth with vivid and rich illustrations, and
which conform, in style and method, to the rules of good
taste.
Another and most important means of cultivating imagi-
nation and taste is found in the study of the fine arts, inclu-
ding poetry and eloquence. In contemplating the works of
a great master in any art, we substitute regular effijrts of
imagination, for those wild and eccentric movements, to
which it is so prone, and by this means we gradually gain
control over it. Instead of surrendering our minds to its
capricious guidance, and wasting on dreams the time which
ought to be given to duty or improvement, we leam to sub-
ordinate it to specific ends and uses. In this way, too, our
conceptions of beauty and sublimity are enlarged and per-
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 43
fected. If careful to study none but works conceived in the
spirit of truth and virtue, our hearts are made better ; taste
is refined ; the soul learns to breathe freely in an atmo-
sphere above the world, and yet not so remote, but it can
icturn refreshed and invigorated, to meet the claims of life.
An mnocent and elegant resource is also provided against
seasons of leisure and recreation. We close the avenues
tlirough which many gross temptations assail the heart, and
remedy, in part, the disproportioned development of our
powers which is occasioned by our profession, or by the
spirit of the age.
In our age, there is special occasion for tliis kind of cul-
ture. The social condition of most civilized nations is such
that intelligence and activity are awakened to a degree un-
paralleled in history ; but they have been hitherto, directed,
too exclusively, to material or political interests. Imagina-
tion is too much employed on dreams of a golden prosperity
for the individual, or on visions of a national greatness
which is to be the wonder of the world. Everything is apt
to be measured by the standard of palpable utility, and
whatever does not tend to swell the credit side of the bal-
ance sheet, or to add to reputation and influence, is held of
little account. The essential dignity of the mind — its inde-
pendence on the outward world — these are lost sight of;
while we regard ourselves too much as ciphers without in-
trinsic value, and dependant for our consideration and im-
portance on position, or property ; on connexion with the
state, or on relation to a party. Might not the cultivation of
the arts contribute to recall us to a sense of our proper
worth ?
By affording to imagination a more tranquil and elevating
employment, might it not serve, also, to allay, in some de-
gree, the excessive fervour of our activity, and thereby ren-
der us more contented and happy ?
And by promoting a more delicate and refined taste,
44 THE SCHOOL AND
would it not be likely to lessen the rage for display which
is the vice of the times, and contribute to substitute grace
of manners for vulgar pretension — the chaste embellish-
ments of art, for extravagance and ostentation in dress and
furniture 1
We shall learn, moreover, in this way, that there is a
utility which does not admit of being estimated by material
standards ; that, though the arts called useful minister to
wants more urgent and obvious than those supplied by the
fine arts, the latter are equally real ; and that the civili-
zation of any people may be estimated by the degree of im-
portance which is ascribed to one of them as compared
with the other.
And, finally, we may hope that, by recalling men to a
clearer consciousness of their inward powers and capaci-
ties, the culture of these arts will serve, in some degree, to
arm them against the encroachments of society, and to save
them from a moral and spiritual bondage, which is worse,
than any political servitude.
I will advert to but one other branch of education before
closing this subject. This is physical culture ; the great
importance of which seems to have been much more thor-
oughly appreciated by the ancients than it is by us. Edu-
cation was by them reduced to four heads : grammar, mu-
sic, drawing, and gymnastics ; the object of the last being,
according to Aristotle, to invigorate the body and fortify the
mind. It was a settled principle with them, that moral ed-
ucation ought to precede the intellectual, and that the cul-
ture of the body ought to precede that of the mind. " Until
children have completed their fifth year," says Aristotle,
•' no painful task should be imposed and no violent exertion
required from the mind or body, lest health might be in-
jured and growth obstructed. All that utility demands is to
keep the faculties awake and to prevent them from con-
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 45-
trading any habits of sloth ; which will be best eiTected by-
such plays and sports as are neither illiberal, nor fatiguing,
nor sedentary." He adds, in another passage, " Before the
eighth year the school for children ought to be the father's
house ; but during this early period they must be strictly
guarded against the infectious communication of servants
no illiberal gesture is to be presented to their sight ; no il
liberal image is to be suggested to their fancy. Lewd in
decency of language ought to be reprobated in every well-
regulated city ; for, from using filthy expressions without
shame, there is an easy transition to the practising of filthy
actions without disgust."* And again : " Till the age of
puberty the lighter gymnastic exercises only should be en-
joined and practised ; athletic exertions and a forced regi-
men ought to be proscribed and prohibited ; for such arti-
ficial violence would mar the work of nature, disfigure the
* There can be no doubt that the neglect of physical, as connected
with moral culture, is often the cause of insamty. Says one of the
ablest physicians who has devoted himself to the treatment of this
fearful malady, " A defective and faulty education, through the pe-
riod of infancy and childhood, may perhaps be found to be the most
prolific cause of insanity ; by this, in many, a predisposition is pro-
duced, in others it is excited, and renders incontrollable the animal
propensities of our nature. Appetites indulged and perverted, pas-
sion unrestrained, and propensities rendered vigorous by indulgence
and subjected to no salutary restraint, bring us into a condition in
which both moral and physical causes easily operate to produce in-
sanity, if they do not produce it themselves." He adds in another
report, ■• The first principles of physical education, which teach us
how to avoid disease, are all-important to all liable to insanity from
hereditary predisposition. The physical health must be attended to,
and the training of the faculties of the mind be such as to counter-
act the active propensities of our nature, correct the disposition ot
the mind to wrong currents and too great activity, by bringing into
action the antagonizing powers. Neglect of this early training en-
tails evils upon the young which are felt in all after life." — See Dr.
S. B. Woodward's Seventh and Eighth Reports as Superintendent of
the State Lunatic Asylum {Mass.).
46 THE SCHOOL AND
shape, impede the growth, and forever preA^ent the attain-
ment of manly strength. During the three years immedi-
ately following puberty, the application of youth should be
directed to those branches of education which form and in-
vigorate the mind. They will then, at the age of seven-
teen, be capable of submitting to a regulated diet, and of
sustaining the fatigue of athletic exercises."*
This system of physical training was not, with the an-
cients, a mere theory. It was rigidly observed, and the re-
sult was seen in the vigour of their health, and the grace-
fulness of their carriage. The moderns have made many
discoveries in regard to the laws of life and health ; but
these laws are strangely neglected when we come to prac-
tical education. To borrow the words of Spurzheim, " Many
parents are anxious to cultivate the mind, though at the ex-
pense of the body. They think they cannot instruct their
offspring early enough to read and to write, while their
bodily constitution and health are overlooked." Children
are shut up, forced to sit quiet, and to breathe a confined
air. This error is the greater, the more delicate the chil-
dren and the more premature their mental powers are.
The bodily powers of such children are sooner exhausted ;
they suffer from dyspepsy, headache, and a host of nervous
complaints ; their brain is liable to inflammation and serous
effusion ; and a premature death is frequently a consequence
of such a violation of nature. It is, indeed, to be lamented
that the influence of the physical on the moral part of man
is not sufficiently understood. There are parents who will
pay masters very dearly, in hope of giving excellence to
their children, but who will hesitate to spend the tenth part
to procure them bodily health. Some, by an absmd infatu-
ation, take their own constitutions as a measure of those of
their children, and because they themselves, in advanced
life, can support confinement and intense application with
* Aristotle's Politics, book v.
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 47
little injury to health, they conclude that their young and
delicate children can do the same. Such notions are alto-
gether erroneous ; bodily deformities, curved spines, and un-
fitness for various occupations, and the fulfilment of future du-
ties, frequently result from such misunderstood mismanage-
ment of children. The advantages of a sound body are in-
calculable for the individuals themselves, their friends, and
their posterity. Body and mind ought to be cultivated in
harmony, and neither of them at the expense of the other.
Health should be the basis, and instruction the ornament of
early education. The development of the body will assist
the manifestations of the mind, and a good mental education
will contribute to bodily health.
" Young geniuses often descend, at a later age, into the
class of common men. Indeed, experience shows, that
among children of almost equal dispositions, those who are
brought up Avithout particular care, and begin to read and
write when their bodily constitution has acquired some so-
lidity, soon overtake those who are dragged early to their
spelling-books at the detriment of their bodily frame. No
school education, strictly speaking, ought to begin before
seven years of age. We shall, however, see, in a follow-
ing chapter on the laws of exercise, that many ideas and
notions may be communicated to children by other means
than books, or by keeping them quiet on benches. When
education shall become practical and applicable to the fu-
ture destination of individuals, children will be less plagued
with nothings, but they will be made answerable not only
for their natural gifts of intellect, but also for the just em-
ployment of their moral powers and the preservation and
cultivation of their bodily constitution, since vigour in it is
indispensable to enjoyment and usefulness. They will be
made acquainted with the natural laws of nutrition and all
vital functions, and with their influence on health."*
* Spurzheim on Education, p. 80.
48 THE SCHOOL AND
I have thus insisted on the necessity of a comprehensiifi
culture which aims at the education of the whole man. It
is a subject which claims, at this time, particular attention.
The causes which operate on the formation of human char-
acter are extremely numerous and diversified, and studies
whicn, in the estimation of many, are useless or of trifling
importance, may still be essential to a perfect development
of our powers and susceptibilities.* This truth, and the
consequent responsibility which rests on all classes of citi-
zens in regard to education, is forcibly illustrated in the fol-
lowing passage from a sermon of Dr. Ramsden, formerly
assistant Professor of Divinity at Cambridge (Eng.). He
is showing the tendency of all knowledge to form the heart
of a nation.
" We will venture to say how, in the mercy of God to
man, this heart comes to a nation, and how its exercise or
affection appears. It comes by priests, by lawyers, by
philosophers, by schools, by education, by the nurse's care,
the .mother's anxiety, the father's severe brow. It comes
by letters, by silence, by every art, by sculpture, painting,
and poetry ; by the song on war, on peace, on domestic vir-
tue, on a beloved and magnanimous king ; by the Iliad, by
the Odyssey, by tragedy, by comedy. It comes by sympa-
thy, by love, by the marriage union, by friendship, generos-
ity, meekness, temperance ; by virtue and example of vir-
tue. It comes by sentiments of chivalry, by romance, by
music, by decorations and magnificence of buildings ; by
the culture of the body, by comfortable clothing, by fash-
ions in dress, by luxury and commerce. It comes by the
* Bishop Berkeley asks, " Wliether an early habit of reflection,
though obtained by speculative sciences, may not have its use in prac-
tical affairs.'^ Also, "Whether those parts of learning which are
forgotten may not have improved and enriched the soil, like those
vegetables which are raised, not for themselves, but are ploughed
in
SECTION IV.
SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED.
" A skilful master, who has a child placed under his care, must
begin by sounding well the character of his genius and natural
parts." — QuiNTiLiAN.
Another fault in prevailing systems of education is, that
they do not sufficiently adapt themselves to the different char-
acters, capacities, and circumstances of children. We are
far from holding, with some, that a free and imregulated
development is all that is needed for a child ; and hence that
the sole province of parents and teachers is to remove un-
friendly influences, and leave him to himself. This was
the theor)' of Rousseau, as expounded in his Emile ;* and
* This may be regarded, says a late writer, as the principal work
of Rousseau. It is a moral romance, which appeared in 1762, and
treats chiefly of education. The plan of instruction which it incul-
cates is to allow the youthful mind to unfold itself without restraint,
and rather to protect it against bad impressions than to attempt to
load it with positive instruction. Tiie objects of Nature are to be
gradually presented to it. Necessity alone is to regulate and re-
strain it, till reason, unfettered l)y prejudice and previous habits, is
able to weave the drapery in which it is afterward to be swathed.
The child of reason, thus thrown into a mass of human beings, ac-
tuated by different motives, guided by different principles, and pur-
suing different objects from itself, like a skilfully-constructed bark
without its rudder, and stripped of its canvass and cordage, can have
no other fote than that of being dashed against the cliffs or sunk be-
neath the waves. In discussing the subject of religious education,
he exhibited the same inconsistency and absurd views. The French
savants were displeased with his glowing sentiments of piety, witii
liis impassioned admiration of the morality of the Gospel and of thti
character of its Founder ; while the friends of religion and social
order were shocked with his attacks upon miracles and prophecy,
V ith his insidious and open objections to Christianity, and with the
ap^ilication of human reason to subjects beyond its sphere and above
its power. The French parliament not only condemned the Emile
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 51
how little faith he himself had in it, may be inferred from
the answer, which he is said to have given, to a gentleman
who introduced to him his son, whom he said he had edu-
cated according to the principles of the Emile. " So much
the worse," quickly replied Rousseau, " for you and your
son too."
It is by no means to be assumed that each child is an
angel in disguise, and that those who have the care of him
are to welcome, as a necessary part of liis being, every de-
velopment which he may present of feeling and disposition.
With much that requires regulating and directing, they will
also find much in him, that needs to be repressed, with a
stern hand. But does it follow, therefore, that we are to dis-
regard the peculiarities of talent and temper in children, and
subject them all to the same inflexible rule ? " Some," says
Quintilian,* " are indolent unless spurred on, others cannot
bear imperious treatment ; some are kept to their duty by
fear, others are discouraged by it ; some need continual pains,
others proceed by fits and starts." Are all these to be passed
through precisely the same process, and reduced, if possible,
to the same type and level ? Is it to be forgotten that the
world is greatly benefited by the material diversities which
appear among men in respect to character, capacity, and
taste, and that no discipline is to be desired which would
obliterate such diversities ? It must be evident, too, that
such a discipline offers violence to nature, and, what is
more to be lamented, that it fails altogether to reach some
minds, while on others it inflicts incurable injury.
In addition to this prevailing disregard of individual pecu-
liarities, there is, perhaps, still greater inattention to peculi-
arities of sex and condition in life. One cannot look at the
but compelled Rousseau to retire precipitately from France, by com-
mencing a criminal prosecution against hina.
* Lib. i., cap. iii.
52 THE SCHOOL AND
female — with less muscular vigour and more nervous sen-
sibility than the other sex ; with more timidity and gentle-
ness ; with deeper affections and more aciite sensitiveness
— without perceiving, that she has been appointed to a
sphere very different from that of man. Her appropriate
empire is over the family, where she not only lays the foimd-
ation of society by laying the foundation, during childhood,
of individual character, but where yhe ever exerts, through
her acquaintance, and especially through her husband and
children, a humanizing influence over the world. Her
heart does not, like man's, become indurated or alloyed by
intercourse with business, and by collision wdth sordid pas-
sions. She retains, if properly educated, her generous and
virtuous instincts in greater vigour, and continues more
keenly alive to the wants and woes of suffering humanity.
How salutary and powerful, then, is her ministry, when, in
the sanctuary of home, she breathes gentleness and kindness
into the sterner natures of the other sex ; when, in the spirit
of a Roman, or, rather, of a Christian matron, she summons
her husband, brothers, and sons, to do valiantly, and yet
meekly, for God and the right.
But, to fit her for such a noble ministry, she needs a
training, quite different from that given to the other sex. Her
delicacy and purity must remain untarnished. Her diffi-
dence and even bashfulness, at once a grace and a protection,
should be cherished as a peculiar treasure. She is to have
all accomplishments which lend a charm to her person and
manners ; but these must be held as insignificant, when
compared with those which qualify her for the duties of a
wife and mother, and which tend to inspire a taste for the
privacy of domestic life, for its pleasmres and privileges. If
she has no more urgent duties, her gi-aceful pen may well
be employed in the service of truth and virtue ; and her
presence and assiduities are always like sunshine in the
dark abodes of poverty and sorrow, and even in the retreats
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 53
of guilt and sliamc. But she cannot too studiously shim
the gaze of the multitude. The strifes and tumults of the
senate-house and the platform are too rude even for her
eye to rest upon, much more for her voice to mingle in.
Her chastity is her tower of strength, her modesty and gen-
tleness are her charm, and her abiUty to meet the high
claims of her family and dependants, the noblest power she
can exhibit to the admiration of the world.
Such being her destination, it is obvious that she requires
a corresponding education. Instead of needing, as seems
to have been the opinion of Locke and Fenelon,* but little
intellectual culture, she should have a mind well disciplined,
and stored with knowledge. She ought, also, to be thorough-
ly versed in whatever belongs to domestic life and occupa-
tions. She should have, on the one hand, such a taste for
books and study, that she Avill never willingly remit the
work of self-culture ; and, on the other, she should be so
imbued with a sense of the dignity and responsibility of
woman's mission in life, and so instructed in its duties, that
she will always be ready for the humblest and most ardu-
ous of its claims. Above all things, that feminine grace,
which results from the possession of delicate feelings and
gentle thoughts and manners, should be preserved, and she
should be taught to skriide from noise and notoriety.
♦ In his work on Female Education, entitled Sur I'Ediication des
Filles, Fenelon has this passage : " Keep their minds as much as
you can within the usual limits, and let them understand that the
modesty of tiieir sex ought to shrink from science with almost as
nmch delicacy as from vice." This doctrine is afterward somewhat
qualified, and the treatise itself is full of wise suggestions in regard
to the moral training of childhood, which were then new. It has
been beautifully said of it by Hallam, that its author " May, perhaps,
be considered the foimder of that school which has endeavoured to
dissipate the terrors and dry the tears of childhood."
E2
54 THE SCHOOL AND
That such trainhig is not as general as it ought to be, is
but too e^ddent. Though destined, especially in this coun-
try, to enter early on the duties of a wife and mother, she
is rarely qualified for those duties in youth. Much of the
time which might have sufficed to give her knowledge and
practical skill, in respect to household affairs, is wasted in
a manner injurious alike to health, habits, and taste. In
lior intellectual training, vast consequence is attached to ac-
complishments, which, in most instances, are learned im-
perfectly at first, and then entirely laid aside in after life,
Avhile the foundation of a robust, intellectual character is
seldom laid. At the same time, she grows up, in too many
cases, with a feeble constitution of body, and with little rel-
ish for substantial acquirements in literature, or even for the
more elegant pursuits which embellish the life of woman.*
In the absence, too, of proper restraint and of a discipline
sufficiently domestic and private, she does not always ex-
hibit the diffidence and the maidenly reserve so appropriate
to her age and sex. To borrow, from a private letter lately
received, the words of a distinguished foreig-ner, who has
* Tliat man is worthily despised v/ho does not qualify himself to
support that family of' which he has voluntarily assumed the office
of protector. Nor, surely, is that v/oman less deserving of con-
tempt, who, having consumed the period of youth in frivolous read-
ing, dissipating amusement, and in the acquisition of accomplish-
ments which are to be consigned, immediately after marriage, to en-
tire forgetfulness, enters upon the duties of a wife with no other
expectation than that of being a useless and prodigal appendage to
a household, ignorant of her duties and of the manner of discharging
them, and with no other conceptions of the responsibilities whicli
she has assumed, than such as have been acquired from a life of
childish caprice, luxurious self-indulgence, and sensitive, feminine,
yet thoroughly finished selfishness. And yet I fear that the system
of female education at present in vogue is, in many respects, liable
to the accusation of producing precisely this tendency. — Wayland's
Moral Science (1835), p. 342.
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 55
spent some years in this country, " There is a class of
girls, unfortunately very large in tlio United States, who are
weaned from the delicate influence of strict domesticity,
who think that pert boldness and freedom make them la-
dies, who go all sorts of lengths in bantering with young
men, and who pride themselves more upon taking, on board
a steamboat, the 'seat of an old man, without thanking him,
than upon the glorious character of a meek, pure, and kind-
ly sister, daughter, or friend."
Even when great pains are taken Avith the education of
females, and the avowed object is to give a thorough, substan-
tial course of instruction, the methods adopted are not al-
ways judicious. A prevailing fault, in all education, at pres-
ent, is a too free use oi stimulants ; and this fault is, perhaps,
most prevalent — where it is most injurious — in the training
of girls. Teachers aim too much at immediate and stri-
king results ; and when this is the case with enthusiastic
and accomplished instructors — operating on minds which,
from age, sex, and mutual cmidation, are intensely excita-
ble — there is much danger that paroxysms of study may be
occasioned, not only unfavourable to health, but also to that
calm and steady love for books, and that spirit of self-cul-
ture, which form the only sure guarantee for ultimate and
great excellence. Nothing is more common, than to find
youth who have distinguished themselves for ardent appli-
cation at school, but who carry from it no habits of judi-
cious reading, and no vciy evident love for knov/lodge.
They have been confined over the desk, when their health
imperiously required exercise and sports in the open air;
they have been encouraged to exhibit themselves as prod-
igies of acquirement, before they could either relish or di-
gest the studies so prematurely pursued ; and they too fre-
quently leave school, at an early age, with shattered consti-
tutions, undisciplined characters, and minds in wlxich mem-
ory and judgment have been severely taxed, at the expense
56 THE SCHOOL AND
of taste, and, perhaps, too, of that modest delicacy, which
forms the highest grace of the female character.
This error, doubtless, springs, in part, from the very early
age, at which school education commences with us. In
Prussia, children are rarely placed at school before scve?/.
Here, they usually begin at four. Another cause, which
also has its effect, is the active emulation rfiaintained among
our seminaries, and which, with the mistaken ambition of
parents to have their children taught many branches in the
shortest possible space of time, renders it almost necessary,
that an institution which aims at a large share of public pat-
ronage, should strive rather to teach much, than to teach well,
and to lay more stress upon the acquisition of .loiowledge,
than upon the due cultivation and development of all the
faculties of the soul. Still the error is a serious one, and
ought to be avoided.
The length to which these remarks have alre9,dy extend-
ed, preclude me from dwelling on another species of adap-
tation, which ought to characterize our systems of training
and instruction, i. e., adaptation to the future condition and
pursuits of a child. It is not held, that early in life the boy
or girl should be educated, as if their specific destination
were already fixed, and they could therefore be profitably
employed in acquiring the peculiar skill and knowledge
which belong to their adopted profession. But there is one
common destination, to wliich all the people of this coun-
try seem appointed, and this is a life of useful, and, in most
cases, laborious occupation. Our children, therefore, need
to be taught early, by example and by precept, that there is
respectability and happiness, in a life of labour. Instead of
being dealt with, as if industry were a great hardship, they
should be taught, practically, that it is the appropriate busi-
ness, in some form, of all mankind, and that to labour with
the hands is no more necessarily a degradation, than to la-
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 57
hour with the pen. They should be taught, that there is
scope for talent, and for a generous ambition, elsewhere, than
in the professions usually called learned or liberal, and thai
it is high time that every pursuit should be made liberal, by
being prosecuted in a liberal and enlightened spirit. And
in a nation, where a vast proportion of the people must be
employed in husbandry, the affections of children ought to
be won early towards rural life. A taste for horticulture,
and for the beautiful and picturesque in nature ; some knowl-
edge of the principles of rural economy, and a proper sense
of the independence, security, and happiness, which attach
to the life of a well-educated cultivator of the soil : these
ought to be instilled into the minds of children ; and those
Avho live in the country, instead of being left to think that
the path to happiness and success leads to the citj'- or the
village, should be encouraged to seek enjoyment, in the due
improvement of their own opportunities and privileges. It
would be well, also, if some knowledge of the application
of the first principles of science to the other industrial arts,
were generally cultivated among the young ; that, thus, they
might not only be better prepared for the life of a mechanic
or artisan, but might be accustomed to regard all these pur-
suits of industry, in their connexion with science and liberal
studies.
The last misconception in regard to education which
I shall notice is one, in some respects, more important than
any or all others ; since it involves them all, and is apt to
result in the greatest evils, both to individuals and to soci-
ety. It consists in supposing, that the great end and use of
education is to give us worldly success and consideration. It
is first assumed, that these are our greatest good, and then
education is recommended, as the most certain means ofob-
taniing them. Now it is not to be denied, that a good edu-
cation does materially aid us in acquiring property, reputa-
tion, and influence ; but it will do this quite as much, and.
58 THE SCHOOL AND
indeed, more, for those whose aims are higher than proper-
ty or reputation, as it will for those, who regard these as
the ultimate end of life. He, who is bent most earnestly on
discharging his duty, and on the improvement of his own
nature, will almost invariably prosper in business, and will
become to others the object of respect and confidence. He
will not be less industrious than others ; he will generally
be more prudent in selecting means, and more skilful and
persevering in applying them. He moves in harmony with
those great and inflexible laws of the Creator which make
wealth and dignities means rather than ends, and which ren-
der it impossible, that such objects should ever satisfy our
nobler desires. In disregarding these laws, lies the grand
mistake of most of us. We look for happiness, to outward
estate. We forget that " the mind is its own place, and
can make a hell of heaven — a heaven of hell." Happiness
can dwell, where there is neither wealth, nor pom.p, nor
power. Indeed, it rarely dwells where these are. It is not
to be bought with money. It cannot be won, in the strifes,
and heart-burning rivalries of the fashionable or ambitious.
It is the reward only of inward effort — of self-control. It
calls for that supreme reference to the interests of the mind,
and that independence of outward events, which form the
principle of faith, and which can be found, only in subordi-
nating the sensual to the spiritual element of our nature. It
is to be found in that peace which passeth understanding —
that contentment which is inspired, not by sloth or sensual-
ity, but by a calm and wise estimate of the true ends of
life ; which, though employed in acquiring, still holds it
more blessed to give than to receive, and which, in all its
efforts for public or private weal, leaves the issue to Infinite
Wisdom and Mercy. To attain such a spirit is to succeed in
life ; all other success will prove baseless and unsubstantial.
An eloquent writer* has well exposed this great and per-
♦ Mrs. Austin, translator of Cousin's Report on Public Instruction
in Prussia.
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 59
nicious error of many friends of popular education. " It
seems* to me, too, that we are guilty of great inconsislency
as to the ends and objects of education. How industrious
ly have not its most able and zealous champions been con-
tinually instilling into the mind of the people, that educa-
tion is the way to advancement, that knowledge is power,
that a man cannot ' better himself without some learning !
And then we complain, or we fear, that education will set
them above their station, disgust them with labour, make
them ambitious, envious, dissatisfied! We must reap as
we sow : we set before them objects tlie most tempting to
the desires of uncultivated men ; we urge them on to the
acquirement of knowledge by holding out the hope that
knowledge will enable them to grasp these objects ; if their
minds are corrupted by the nature of the aim, and imbitter-
ed by the failure Avhich vmst be the lot of the mass, who is
to blame 1
" If, instead of nurturing expectations which cannot be
fulfilled, and tiu'ning the mind on a track which must lead
to a sense of continual disappointment, and thence of wrong,
we were to hold out to our humbler friends the appropriate
and attainable, nay, unfailing ends of a good education ; the
gentle and kindly sympathies ; the sense of self-respect
and of the respect of fellow-men ; the free exercises of the
intellectual faculties ; the gi-atification of a curiosity that
' grows by what it feeds on,' and yet finds food forever ;
the power of regulating the habits nad the business of life,
so as to extract the greatest possible portion of comfort out
of small means ; the refining and tranquillizing enjoyment
of the beautiful in nature and art, and the kindred percep-
tion of the beauty and nobility of virtue ; the strengthening
consciousness of duty fulfilled, and, to crown all, ' the peace
which passeth all understanding ;' if we directed their as-
pirations this way, it is probable that we should not have to
complain of being disappointed, nor they of being deceived.
60 THE SCHOOL AND
Who can say that wealth can purchase better things than
these ? and who can say that they are not within the reach
of every man of sound body and mind, who, by labour not
destructive of either, can procure for himself and his family
food, clothing, and habitation ?
" It is true, the same motives, wearing different forms, aro
presented to all classes. ' Learn' that you may ' get on' ir.
the motto of English education. The result is answerable.
To those who think th:;r, result satisfactory, a change in the
system, and, above all, in the spirit of education, holds out
no advantages."
I have thus dwelt, at much greater length than I intended,
on prevailing misconceptions, in regard to the nature and
end of education. My apology is, that all wise efforts, for
the improvement of schools and of domestic education, must
be founded on a clear perception of the object to be attained.
The most grievous mistakes which are made in the man-
agement and tuition of the young, can be traced directly
back to erroneous or inadequate notions on this subject.
In dismissing it now, I do not know that I can, in any way
so clearly or forcibly set forth the views which I am anx-
ious to impress on the reader, as by presenting an example.
It is an example furnished by our own histoiy ; and, most
happily, it is found in the person of him whom we all most
delight to honour. It seems, indeed, a providential fact,
that the individual, who draws towards his name and mem-
ory a profounder reverence than any other American, who
is most closely identified with the establishment both of our
national independence and of the permanent union of the
States, and who presents, in his life and character, the most
perfect model of the man and the citizen, should also have re-
ceived only such an education, as ought to be within the
reach of everj'- child among us.
The school education of Washington was only what is
usually termed a common one. Reading, v/riting, arithme-
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 61
tic, and keeping accounts, with the addition of Geometry
and Sun'eying, formed the whole of his scholastic attain-
ments ; and, like a large portion of American youth, he left
school before he reached the age of sixteen. But was he,
therefore, uneducated or badly educated ? He had already,
even at that early age, given evidence that his character
was moulding under the influence of discipline and culture,
and that the foundation was laid for those moral and intel-
lectual habits, which formed the secret of his power and
eminence tlirough life. With great fondness for athletic
amusements, and even for military sports, he combined a
probity and self-control, which made him the object of uni-
versal respect among his companions, and which led to his
being almost invariably selected as the arbiter of their dis-
putes. To show, how early he cultivated habits of dili-
gence, regularity, and neatness, and how deeply he was
impressed with the importance of controlling his own pas-
sions, and discharging every social and relative duty, Mr.
Sparks gives extracts from one of his manuscript school-
books, written before he was thirteen years old. Besides
various forms for the transaction of business, such as notes
of hand, receipts, indentm'es, bonds, &c., and selections of
poetry pervaded by a religious spirit, this book contains
what he called Rules of Behaviour in Company and Convert
sation, compiled by himself from various sources, and of
which, many are admirably calculated to soften and polish
the manners, to keep alive the best aff'ections of the heart,
to inculcate a reverence for every moral duty, and especial-
ly to cultivate habits of self-control.*
* " One hundred and ten rules," Mr. Sparks says, " are here writ-
ten out and numbered. The source from which they were derived
is not mentioned. They form a minute code of regulations for build-
ing up the habits of morals, manners, and good conduct in a very
young person. A few specimens will be enough to show their gen-
eral complexion; and whoever has studied the character of Wash-
F
bZ THE SCHOOL AND
Here, then, at the early age of thirteen, we see in this
boy's education, the germes of that patriot, statesman, and
chief, who was always to bo " without fear and without re-
proach." Proper prominence was assigned, in his training,
to moral culture. The gTeatest pains were taken, to form
habits of diligence, and persevering application. Though
much knowledge was not conveyed to him at school, yet
an active curiosity Avas awakened, and a spirit of self-cul-
ture and self-reliance developed, which always enabled
ington, will be persuaded that some of its most prominent features
took their shape from these rules thus early selected and adopted as
his guide.'* In the Appendix (No I.) of the second volume of Wash-
ington's Writings, Jlfly-scven of these rules are given. I extract a
few of them .-
" 1. Every action in company ought to be with some sign of. re-
spect towards those present.
•'2. Be no flatterer.
" 3. Show not yourself glad at the misfortune of another, though
he were your enemy.
"4. Strive not with your superiors in argument, but always sub-
mit your judgment to others with modesty.
" 5. Take aU admonitions thankfully, in what time or place soever
given ; but afterward, not being culpable, take a time or place con-
venient to let him know it that gave them.
" 6. Use no reproachful language against any one, neither curse,
nor revile.
" 7. Let your conversation be without malice or envy, for it is a
sign of a tractable and commendable nature ; and in all causes of
passion, admit reason to govern.
" 8. Gaze not on the marks or blemishes of others, and ask not
how they came.
" 9. When you deliver a matter, do it without passion and with
discretion, however mean the person be you do it to.
" 10. In disputes, be not so desirous to overcome, as not to give
liberty to each one to deliver his opinion.
"11. When you speak of God or his attributes, let it be seriously
in reverence. Honour and obey your natural parents, although they
be poor.
" 12. Labour to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celes-
tial lire called conscience."
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 63
him, even imder the most difficult and mitried circumstan-
ces, to meet the claims of his station. In liis case, educa-
tion was made to perform its gi-eat and most important of-
fice, by training its subject to habits of ardent and generous
self-improvement. It is true, doubtless, that education has
rarely had so noble a subject to operate on. Still, it is to
be remembered, that Washington seems to have had origi-
nally no very splendid endowments, and tliat his strength lay
chiefly in that fine balance of powers, and in that unblench-
ing perseverance of labour and purpose, which are the gift
rather of education than of nature. Hence we maintain,
that his life does present a most cheering example to his
young countrymen. A sphere so exalted, and duties so
eventful as his, will probably never devolve on any of the
generation of his countrjTnen now rising into life. But ev-
ery walk of life affords scope for energy, diligence, self-
control, and a lofty public spirit. In every sphere, if we
would be men and live as men, we shall be called to mas-
ter great difiiculties, and in all we may make vast progress
in knowledge and virtue, and may render vast service to
our country' and race. Let us, then, remember what Wash-
ington was, and what, by the faithful use of his powers and
opportunities, he became, and let us listen to the monitory
and inspiring summons which comes forth from his life —
" Go THOU and do likewise."*
* Hume has shown, in the following passage, that he appreciated
the great and ssJutary power of good example when combined with
proper efforts on our o\'vti part. " The prodigious effects of educa-
tion," he says, " may convince us that the mind is not altogether
stubborn and inflexible, but will admit of many alterations from
its original make and structure. Let a man propose to himself the
model of a character which he approves ; let him be well acquaint-
ed with those particulars in which his own character deviates from
this model ; let him keep a constant watch over himself, and bend
his mind, by a continual effort, from the vices towards the virtues,
and I doubt not but in time lie will find in his temper an alicrationfor
ike betMrr
64 THE SCHOOL AND
SECTION V.
WHAT IS THE EDUCATION MOST NEEDED BY THE AMER'
ICAN PEOPLE ?
'• In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to
public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlight-
ened." — Washington.
" In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism vi^ho
should labour to subvert these great pillars of human happiness" —
religion and morality — " these firmest props of the duties of men
and citizens." — Ibid.
I HAVE already intimated, that education is a right of
every human being, and in the previous sections of this
chapter, I have endeavoured to explain, what kind and de-
gree of education is called for, everywhere, by the condition
of man as man. It is important to determine, farther, in
what way the education of the people ought to be modified,
by the spirit of the age, and especially by the condition of our
own country. Every state of society, and every form of
government has its dangers as well as advantages, and we
should never forget, that it is through education, which in-
corporates principles and habits Avith the very nature of
children, that we can most effectually avert the one, and se-
cure the other. What, then, are the dangers and advan-
tages of our condition ? It is believed, that a slight exam-
ination of them Avill satisfy us that special and most anxious
attention ought, now, to be given to
1. Moral and Religious Education. Moral motives and
restraints, which are always necessary, have become, in
this age and land, of the last importance. " Where is the
security," asks Washington, in his farewell address, " for
property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious ob-
ligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of in-
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 65
v^stigation in courts of justice," and which bind, it may be
added, incumbents of office to the faithful discharge of their
duties ? Moral ties once dissolved, those of a political na-
ture would be utterly powerless. And if this is the case,
everj^-where and at all times, it must be especially so with
us, and at this time. Men are, now, less patient than they
once were, of the restraints of authority and even of law,
and are more bent on change. They are excited, and some-
times almost maddened, by the vast revolutions Avhich arc
accomplished, with magical celerity, in the physical relations
of nations and individuals. Constantly they are tempted, to
grasp at glittering prizes held out by a material and sensual
civilization, and to substitute hazardous and gambling spec-
ulation for industry, frugality, and virtue. A gross and out-
ward success occupies, in the minds of the people, that
place which ought to be given only to worth ; and a man is
thought to be nothing unless he is rich, or popular, or in-
stalled in office. In this country, with immense general
industry and acti\dty, there is still a great want of regular
occupation — which the individual adopts for life, and which
he pursues in a contented and cheerful spirit. Each one
seems to be struggling for something other, and, as he vain^^
ly imagines, better than his own ; yet, though rarely satis-
tied with his lot, he is apt to be abundantly satisfied with
himself. Politicians find it expedient to flatter the people
grossly, in order to lead them ; and the people, while glorying
in their collective liberty, exhibit, too often, the sad spectacle
of being, as individuals, overawed by public opinion or en-
slaved by faction. In such a state of things, there may be
a high degree of outward refinement, much of the show of
virtue, and even brilliant advances in what styles itself civ-
ilization. The danger is, lest, under this fair exterior, the
soul of true virtue be eaten out — lest the lower passions and
propensities, by becoming everpvhere predominant, gradu-
ally sap the veiy foundation of the social edifice, and leave
F 2
66 THE SCHOOL AND
it to perish througli its own weight and rottenness.* Situ
ated as the people of this country are, they cannot too vigi-
lantly guard against the approach of that era of dark and
fatal degeneracy, when, according to the ironical defini-
tions of Fielding, patriot comes to mean a candidate for
place ; worth, power, rank, and wealth ; ivisdom, the art of
getting all three.
I am well aware, that these evils and dangers are coun-
terpoised by signal advantages, both in our institutions, and
in our position. But with all these, we shall still need the
utmost aid of moral and religious culture. We need that,
in the absence of positive laws, the people shall be able to
restrain and direct themselves ; and that, when laws are es-
tablished, they shall be objects of profound respect and sub-
mission. We need that our youth should be taught, in their
earliest j'-ears, to entertain the deepest horror of fraud and
falsehood, and to resolve that, through life, their faith, when
once plighted, whether in private or public contracts, wheth-
er in affairs of a personal or political nature, shall be sacred
* A great poet points out the fatal defect of this species of civil-
ization.
" Egyptian Thebes,
Tyre, by the margin of the sounding waves,
Pahnyra, central in the desert, fell,
And the arts died by which they had been raised.
Call Archimedes from his buried tomb
Upon the plain of vanished S3Tacuse,
And feelingly the sage shaU make report
How insecure, how haseless in itself.
Is the philosophy whose sway depends
On mere material instruments ; how weak
Those arts and high inventions, if unpropped
By Virtue ! He, with sighs of pensive grief
Amid his calm abstractions, would admit
That not the slender privilege is theirs
To save themselves from rank forgetfumess !"
Wordsworth.
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 67
and irrevocable. We need to build up a force of character,
and a strength of principle, which will enable men to
breast themselves against the corrupt influences of fashion,
party, and prevailing immorality ; and to lift their protest,
when necessary-, with meekness, but yet without fear,
against the encroachments of an unhallowed public opin-
ion. We need, too, a training which shall inspire tho
young with deep reverence for parents and for old age,
with proper deference towards the judgment of the wise
and good of all ages, and with that gi-aceful diffidence in
their own sagacity and power, which will lead them, with-
out surrendering their own independence, to have due re-
spect for the recorded wisdom and experience of the past.*
* By reverence I mean "that earnestness in contemplating
things, which strives to know their real character and connexion,
and the absence of arrogant forwardness and self-sufficiency, which
considers everything silly, useless, or unmeaning, because not agree-
ing with its own views, or not showing its character at once to the
superficial observer ; and, lastly, the habit of honesty. We have
seen that it is the high prerogative of man to acknowledge superiors
and inferiors, to have laws, and to obey them ; but, since individual
interest, as well as the pleasure or allurement of resistance and op-
position, is in itself frequently very strong, as selfishness is but too
apt to grow up like a rank weed, we ought to imbue the young early
with true loyalty, that is, a sincere desire to act as members of a so-
ciety, according to rules not arbitrarily prescribed by theinselves,
and with a submission of individual will and desire to that of so-
ciety. They ought to learn that it is a privilege of men to obey
laws, and a delight to obey good ones. That these habits, early
and deeply inculcated, may lead to submissiveness and want of in-
dependence, is only to be feared when education is imperfect oi
liberty at a low ebb. The greater the liberty enjoyed by a society,
the more essential are these habits, especially in modern times,
when various new and powerful agents of intercommunication and
diffusion of knowledge have produced a movability and thirst for
inquiry, which cannot leave in us any sincere fear on the ground of
dull tameness in the adult wherever liberty is at all estabUshed.
The ancients knew the value of these habits, and all their wise men
68 THE SCHOOL AND
We also need to join with the spirit of enterprise, which
is carrying forward all our people to an improved condition,
a spirit of contentment with a life of labour, together with
a just appreciation of its advantages and duties, and a cheer-
ful acquiescence in the allotments of Providence.* And,
finally, we need to cultivate, in the young, a settled detesta-
tion of all those incitements and indulgences, which are
multiplied by a vulgar civilization, and which inflame their
lower propensities, while they arm them against the holiest
influences of truth and virtue— such as the intoxicating cup
and the gaming-table. f And, while employing means for
this purpose, " let us, with caution," to borrow again the
words of the great and wise, " indulge the supposition, that
insisted upon them. Nations which lose the precious habit of obey-
ing, that is, self-determined obedience to the laws, because laws,
lose invariably, likewise, the precious art of ruling. Greece, Rome,
and Spain, for the last centuries, as well as the worst times of the
feudal ages, are examples." — See Lieher on Political Ethics.
* Idleness, as a political evil, reached its " classical age" in the
worst periods of Grecian democracy and in Rome. In the former,
attendance at the popular assembly came to be paid for, as in the
worst times of the French Revolution. During the decline of Rome,
the idling wretches sank so low, that, too cowardly to march against
the conquering tribes, they nevertheless were dehghted at seeing
the agony of the dying gladiator. When Treves was devastated by
German predatory tribes, the first thing which the inhabitants, de •
prived of house and property, asked for, was, Gircensian games.-—
Liebek's Political Ethics, vol. ii., p. 243.
t The contrast between the energy of barbarians, and the imbe-
cility of a people rendered sensual and sordid by a vicious civiliza-
tion, is forcibly exhibited, in the following passage from the late
work of Dumas on Democracy. " He (Genseric) arrived before Gar-
thage ; and while his troops were mounting the ramparts, the peo-
ple were descending to the circus. Without was the tumult of
arms, and within, the resounding echoes of the games : at the foot
of the waUs were the shrieks and curses of those who slipped in
gore and fell in the melee ; on the steps of the .-Vmphitheatre were
the songs of musicians and the sounds of accompanying flutes "
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 69
morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever
may be conceded to the influence of refined education on
minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both for-
bid us to expect, that national morality can prevail in exclu-
sion of religious principle"*
2. We need an intellectual culture, which will impart
more knowledge and wisdom. Where laws are but ema-
nations of public opinion, it is supremely important that that
public opinion should be enlightened ; and it can hardly be-
come so, unless men acquire, in youth, a love for reading, and
habits of patient thought. In proportion, as the people are
called to act, through legislation and by voluntary associ-
ation, on a greater number of important questions, in the
same proportion is it necessary that their range of informa-
tion be extended, and their judgments more thoroughly de-
veloped. Tempted as Americans are by bright promises
in the future, and living, too, in the midst of intense activity
and excitement, they need, more than any other nation,
habits of careful and deliberate inquirj'. They need, more-
over, that enlightened estimate of the diificulties inherent in
many subjects, which they can obtain only by candid study,
and which would tend to make them at once more tolerant
towards those who think differently, and less clamorous, in
public affairs, after one exclusive line of policy. In theory,
we are supposed to think each one for himself, and to carry,
to the ballot-box, the unbiased result of our own convictions
and preferences. Is it not most desirable, that the educa-
tion of the whole people should become so improved, that
this theory can be reduced to practice, and that dema-
gogues and all the leaders of faction shall see, in the grow-
ing intelligence of the people, waniing signs of the decline
of their own power and consequence ?
Without enumerating, here, the various branches of study,
which are called for by the state of the times, and of our
* Washington's Farewell Address.
70 THE SCHOOL AND
own country, 1 may remark, that more thorough instruction
in the first principles of politics is all-important. We all
read enougbi about political affairs ; but fundamental instruc-
tion in tlie elements of the science of government — in those
great truths which guided our fathers through times of trial,
and which can alone give strength, and enduring glory to
our institutions and our freedom — tliis is greatly needed.
Much time, which is now given to other studies, might be
profitably devoted to the histor}.' and structure of our gov-
ernment, and to those noble examples of public virtue and
achievements, which shine as lights along the tract of the
past.* In holding up such examples, however, one caution
ought to be observed. The noblest specimens of our fall-
en nature are marred by imperfection. Instead, then, of
teaching our children to admire great men in the gross, we
should rather teach them to discriminate between their acts
of wisdom and their errors, as well as between their virtues
and their vices. Otherwise the power of judgment is grad-
ually obscured ; distinctions the most sacred and important
are confounded ; and men are taught first to tolerate, and at
length to admire and imitate, what they ought most anxious-
ly to shun. In one of the numbers of the Spectator, the
writer judiciously suggests, " whether, instead of a theme
or copy of verses, which are the usual exercises, as they
are called in the school plirase, it would not be more proper
that a boy should be tasked once or twice a week to write
* To illustrate the disproportioned attention paid, even in ele-
mentary schools, to mathematics as compared with moral science,
I may mention the following fact, with which I met recently on vis-
iting the teachers' department in one of our largest and best-con-
ducted academies. Out of seventy-five young persons in this de-
partment who were preparing to teach district and other elementary
Echools, hxAfivc were studying history of any kind ; none were stud-
}ing the history of the United States ; while thirty-four were study-
ing Algebra, and almost all, Geometrj', Trigonometry, and Survey-
ing.
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 71
down his opinion of such persons and things as occur to
him in his reading ; that he shoidd descant upon the ac-
tions of Turnus or vEneas, show wherein they excelled or
were defective, censure or approve any particular action,
observe how it might have been carried to a gi'eater degree
of perfection, and how it exceeded or fell short of another.
He might, at the same time, mark what was moral in any
speech, and how far it agreed with the character of the
person speaking. This exercise would soon strengthen his
judgment in what is blamable or praiseworthy, and give
him an early seasoning of morality."*
3. I have already insisted on the necessity of having
some reference, even in the school-education of children, to
their future pursuits. I now remark that, after leaving
school, each child should be bred to some regular occupa-
tion. This industrial training is even more important than
that given at school. Without a definite pinsuit, a man is
an excrescence on society. He has no regular place or
part to fill, and is apt to feel little concern for the general
welfare. In isolating himself from the cares and employ-
ments of other men, he forfeits much of their sympathy, and
can neither give nor receive great benefit. If rich enough to
live in idleness, he is, now, morbid through want of object or
interest, and now, through profligacy, reckless of liimself
and a curse to others. If he is poor and yet idle, or, even
though not idle, if he lives rather by shifts than by regular
and systematic industry, he rarely becomes useful or re-
spectable, and, in a vast proportion of cases, sinks to infamy
or crime. This is apparent from the statistics of our pris-
ons ; and it would be equally obvious if we could analyze
* The teacher and parent may derive useful hints and assistance
in prescribing such exercises, from that part of Rollin's Belles Let-
tres which is devoted to the study of History. The author dwells
at length, and with many interesting examples, on the moral lessons
10 be gathered from the leading events and characters of history.
72 THE SCHOOL AND
the composition of most mobs, or the character and history
of those who lead a life of vice. Dr. Lieber states, that of
three hundred and fifty-eight criminals whose cases he had
examined, two hundred and twenty-seven had never been
hound out to any trade or regular occupation, seventy-nine
were bound out, but ran away before they had stayed out
their time, and only fifty -two were bound out and remained
with their respective masters until the completion of their
proper time ; while the average term for which they were
imprisoned was, in case of those who had served out their
time, not quite four years, whereas, in case of those who
ran away, it was more than^ue years.* Similar facts might
be multiplied to almost any extent, and they show that this
kind of education is truly of the last importance. Among
the ancients, the parent who neglected to give his son a
trade was deemed to have forfeited, in his old age, a claim
upon that son for support ; and by the law of Solon, which
enforced it most strenuously in ordinary cases, this claim
was expressly dispensed with, when the parent had been
delinquent in this matter.f
* Political Ethics, ii., 242.
t One of the most striking features, in the improved system of
German education, is the great attention paid to order, economy,
and neatness. " One of the circumstances," says Professor Stowe,
" that interested me most, was the excellent order and rigid econo-
my with which all the Prussian institutions are conducted. Partic-
ularly in large boarding-schools, where hundreds, and sometimes
thousands of youth are collected together, the benefits of the system
are strikingly manifest. Every boy is taught to wait upon himself;
to keep his person, clothing, furniture, and books in perfect order
and neatness ; and no extravagance in dress, and no waste of fuel,
or food, or property of any kind, is permitted. Each student has his
own single bed, which is generally a light mattress laid upon a
frame of slender bars of iron, because such beds are not likely to be
infested with insects, and each one makes his own bed and keeps it
in order. In the house there is a place for everything, and every-
thing must be in its place. In one closet are the shoe-brushes and
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 73
4. The state of our country, and the character of the age,
call loudly ybr a more elegant and humanizing culture. In
the habits of a people, few things have a more important in-
fluence, for good or evil, than the use they make of leisure.
Some relief from labour men must have ^ something to vary
the monotony of life, and restore the mind to a sense of its
elasticity. If this relief be not afforded by innocent and
improving recreations, it v/ill be sought for in sensual in-
dulgence.* In our country it is peculiarly so. The ardour
blacking, in another the lamps and oil, in another the fuel. At the
doors are good mats and scrapers, and everything of the kind neces-
sary for neatness and comfort, and every student is taught, as care-
fully as he is taught any other lesson, to make a proper use of all
these articles at the right time, and then to leave them in good or
der at their proper places. Every instance of neglect is sure to re-
ceive its appropriate reprimand, and, if necessary, severe punish-
ment. I know of nothing that can benefit us more than the intro-
duction of such oft-repeated lessons on carefulness and frugality into
all our educational establishments ; for the contrary habits of care
lessness and wastefulness, notwithstanding all the advantages which
we enjoy, have already done us immense mischief Very many of
our families waste and throw away nearly as much as they use ;
and one third of the expenses of housekeeping might be saved by a
system of frugality. It is true, that we have such an abundance of
everything, that this enormous waste is not sensibly felt, as it would
be in a more densely populated region ; but it is not always to be so
with us." — Stowe's Report 071 Elcme7ilary Public Instruction in Europe.
* Tliis want of resource and recreation is not to be supplied in all
cases by mere intellectual pursuits. There are many whose minds
are not sufficiently cultivated to avail themselves of these ; they
have little or no taste for them, and yet are quite capable of being
made very worthy, sensible, respectable, and happy men. Resour-
ces must be provided of sufficient variety to supply the different
tastes and capacities we have to deal with ; and we must not shut
our gates against any, merely because they feel no ambition to be-
come philosophers. By gently leading them, or rather, perhaps, by
letting them find their own way, from one step to another, you may
at length succeed in making them what you wish them to be.
'* It is with these views that I have endeavoured to provide objects
G
74 THE SCHOOL AND
with which men engage here in business, they carry to
their pleasures ; and, in the absence of higher sources of
exhilaration, they rush to the gaming-table, and, above all,
to the intoxicating cup. The contrast, in this respect, be-
tween our people, and those of countries in which the fine
arts are generally cultivated, is most striking and instruct-
ive. Take Germany, for example. There, the people have
access to ardent spirits as well as wine ; moral restraints
are not more powerful than with us ; and yet, in many
provinces, drunkenness is almost unknov/n. It will not be
easy to find an explanation for this fact, except in the prev-
alence, throughout the same provinces, of a taste for music
and other arts ; a taste which has been developed by culture,
and in which all the people, from the highest to the lowest,
find an inexhaustible resource. Efforts to avert the prog-
ress of intemperance are doubtless most necessary and im-
portant, and they are eminently worthy of encouragement ;
but, to be permanently useful, they should be coupled with
of interesting pursuit or innocent amusement for our colony. The
gardens and the cultivation of flowers, which is encouraged by ex-
hibitions and prizes, occupy the summer evenings of many of the
men or elder boys. Our music and singing engage many of both
sexes — young and old, learned and unlearned. We have a small
glee class, that meets once a week round a cottage fire. There is
another, more numerous, for sacred music, that meets every Wed-
nesday and Saturday during the winter, and really performs very
well ; at least, I seldom hear music that pleases me more. There
is also a band, &c., &c. ; and when you remember how few families
we muster, not more than seventy or eighty, you will think, with me,
that we are quite a musical society, and that any trouble I took at
first to introduce this pursuit has been amply repaid. You must
observe that all these instruments are entirely their own, and of
their own purchasing. I have nothing to do with them farther than
now and then helping them to remunerate their teachers."
" We find drawing ahnost as useful a resource as music, except
that a much smaller niunber engage in it." — Letter of an English
Manufacturer on the Elevation of the Labouring Classes
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 75
measures to supply, from higher and purer sources, the ex-
hilaration wliich men, when at leisure, always require. If
the mind of the reclaimed drunkard be left to brood over va-
cancy, we must not be surprised that he returns to his cups ;
nor must we wonder that so many, who are now forming
habits of indulgence, decline surrendering their pleasures,
when they are offered no substitute. In order to effect a
lasting change in the habits of the people, we must raise and
purify their tastes. Hence the importance of libraries, of
associations for mutual improvement, and of every institution
which proposes the diffusion of knowledge.*
The fine arts, however, have one advantage which can
hardly be claimed for books. As things now stand, each
* " Let no superficial judgment regard as illusory the beneficent
moral effect here imputed to general diifusive education."
" The most prevalent vice of the United States is intoxication.
How many youth of bright promise, how many really amiable men
of advanced age, annually fall victims to this destructive habit !
Would this^gccur if the head of each family found in its bosom the
soothing enjoyment of intellectual converse in his hours of domes-
tic retirement and leisure 1 if among his domestic circle each mem-
ber could contribute something to enUven his hours of rest in the
sultiy midday heat of summer, or the long nights of winter 1 or,
when conversation had exliausted its stores, could cheer him with
agreeable narratives of biography and history, of voyages and trav-
els, or the lessons of more profitable knowledge extracted from the
neighbouring newspaper and village library 1"
" Would well-educated youth, brought up to respect labour, after
seeking in vain for lucrative employment in the crowded professions
of law and physic, abandon themselves to this suicidal vice, rathei
than seek an honourable subsistence in rural and mechanical pur
suits 1"
"Would old men of amiable, and even polished manners, after a
life of generous hospitality, or a manhood devoted to the public ser-
vice, but uninspired by that religious hope that brightens at ap-
proaching dissolution, sink into this Lethean gulf, because they
could find nothing to interest them longer in this world, and timo
had become an insupportable burden 1" — C. F. Meeceb.
76 THE SCHOOL AND
one reads such book as gratifies his own taste, or as maybe
thrown in his way by chance, or by the design of others.
The consequence is, that the reading of many men only
contributes to strengthen their lower propensities. This
can hardly be the case with the fine arts. Their produc-
tions are more limited in their range, and are exposed to
more general scrutiny. Among a people, too, who have
such notions of decorum as prevail with us, these arts can
hardly venture to appeal, openly and directly, to our worst
passions.
There is another benefit, to be anticipated in our country,
from the cultivation of a taste for the arts, to which I will
advert in this connexion. Foreign travellers have com-
plained of the American people, that they rarely have leis-
ure, and that, when they have, they know not how to enjoy
it. There is some truth in the remark. We are eminent-
ly a working people. Part of this industry results, no
doubt, from our condition, and from the powerful incite-
ments to enterprise, afforded by a young and prosperous
country. Part of it, however, seems to result from impa-
tience of rest. Not a few of the rash adventures and lU-
inous speculations, by which we have distinguished our-
selves of late, had their origin in a love of excitement,
and in our aversion to being without employment. A partial
remedy for this evil, might be found by diffusing a taste for
the elegant and ornamental arts. These arts would furnish
that moderate and agreeable excitement which is so desira-
ble in the intervals of labour. They would tranquillize, in
some degree, the minds which have been agitated by bu-
siness, and would dispose them to seek more frequent re-
lief from its cares, and to plunge with less haste into new,
hazardous, and anxious undertakings. They would teach
us all, that there is a time for rest and refreshment as well
as for exertion ; and that the one may conduce as well as
the other, not only to our enjoyment and dignity, but also
to our penuanent prosperity in business.
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 77
It may be alleged, by way of objection, that the arts are
liable to abuse, and that they have, sometimes, been enlist-
ed, in the service of vice and licentiousness. This is doubt-
less true of art, as it is of literature. But in regard to the
latter, we encourage men to cultivate it, and we give them
access to books of all kinds, because we are confident that,
with a fair field, truth and right must ultimately triumph.
So we would encourage the arts, because we believe that
the natural affinities of the human mind will in the end se-
cure a preference for works conceived in a pure taste ; and
that in our country, this would at once be the case, so far as
moral considerations are involved. It must be remembered,
that the noblest efforts of art have been made in the service
of virtue and religion. History shows that the wing of Fan-
cy has always drooped when she attempted to soar in a
sensual or misanthropic mood. At such seasons she can-
not gaze upon the unveiled sun ; her visions are dim and
earthly ; they do violence to truth and nature, and are soon
consigned to merited obscurity.
Among a volatile and dissipated people, the arts would
doubtless be rendered subservient to amusement and licen-
tious indulgence. It would be at the expense, however, of
their highest excellence. On the other hand, among a
grave people, charged with serious cares, they would be
likely to take a different type, and contribute, as music has
always done in Germany since the days of Luther, to the
refinement of taste and the strengthening of moral feeling.
The greatest composers of that land have consecrated their
genius to the service of religion. Haydn, whose memory
is so honoured, was deeply religious. His Oratorio of the
Creation was produced, as he himself tells us, at a time
V hen he was much in prayer. In writing musical scores,
he was accustomed to place, both at the beginning and at
the close of each one, a Latin motto, expressive of his pro-
found feeling, that he was dependant on God in all his ef-
01
78 THE SCHOOL AND
forts, and that to His glory should be consecrated every
offspring of his genius.
The mention of music leads me to notice the special
claims which that art has upon us. All men have been
endowed with susceptibility to its influence. The child is
no sooner born, than the nurse begins to sooth it to repose
by music. Through life, music is employed to animate the
depressed, to inspire the timid with courage, to lend new
wings to devotion, and to give utterance to joy or sorrow.
It is pre-eminently the language of the heart. The under-
standing gains knowledge, through the eye. The heart is
excited to emotion, through tones falling on the ear. And
so universal, is the disposition to resort to music, for- the
purpose of either expressing or awakening emotion, that
the great dramatist, that master in the science of the heart,
declares that
" The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treason, stratagems, and spoils ;
The motions of his spirit are dull as night,
And his affections dark as Erebus :
Let no such man be trusted."
Well may this be said of an art which has power to raise
the coarsest veteran to noble sentiments and deeds, and to
inspire the rawest and most timorous recruit with a con-
tempt of death.
It is worthy of remark, too, that, as the susceptibility to
no other art is so universal, so none seems to have so strong
an affinity for virtue, and for the purer and gentler affections.
It is affirmed as a curious fact, that the natural scale of mu-
sical sounds can only produce good and kindly feelings,
and that this scale must be reversed, if you would call
forth sentiments of a degraded or vicious character. It
is certain that, from the fabled days of Orpheus and Apollo,
music has always been regarded as the handmaid of civili-
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 79
zation and moral refinement. Wherever we would awake
the better affections, v/hether in the sanctuary or the closet,
in the school for infants or in the House of Refuge for ju-
venile delinquents, we employ its aid.
The Germans have a proverb, vi^hich has come dovi^n from
Luther, that, where music is not, the devil enters. As Da-
vid took his harp, when he would cause the evil spirit to
depart from Saul, so the Germans employ it to expel obdu-
racy from the hearts of the depraved. In their schools for
the reformation of youthful offenders, (and the same remark
might be applied to those of our own country), music has
been found one of the most effectual means of inducing do-
cility among the stubborn and vicious.* ItAvould seem that
so ong as any remains of humanity linger in the heart, it
*• " At Berlin I visited an establishment for the reformation of
youthful offenders. Here boys are placed, who have committed of-
fences that bring them under the supervision of the police, to be in-
structed and rescued from vice, instead of being hardened in iniquity
by living in the common prison with old offenders. It is under the
care of Dr. Kopf, a most simple-hearted, excellent old gentleman ;
just such a one as reminded us of the ancient Christians, who lived
in the times of the persecution, simplicity, and purity of the Chris-
tian Church. He has been very successful in reclaiming the young
offender ; and many a one, who would otherwise have been forever
lost, has, by the influence of this institution, been saved to himself,
to his country, and to God. As I was passing with Dr. K. from
room to room, I heard some beautiful voices singing in an adjoining
apartment, and, on entering, I found about twenty of the boys sitting
at a long table, making clothes for the establishment, and singing at
their work. The doctor enjoyed my surprise, and, on going out, re-
marked, ' I always keep these little rogues singing at their w^ork ;
for while the children sing the devil cannot come among them at
all ; he can only sit out doors there and growl ; but if they stop
singing, in the devil comes.' The Bible and the singing of religious
hymns are among the most efficient instruments which he employs
for softening the hardened heart, and bringing the vicious and stub-
born wiU to docility."— Tic^or; of Professor Stowc on Elementary Puh-
AC InstnirAum in Europe.
80 THE SCHOOL AND
retains its susceptibility to music. And as proof that this
music is more powerful for good than for evil, is it not wor-
thy of profound consideration that, in all the intimations
which the Bible gives us of a future world, music is associ-
ated only with the employments and happiness of Heaven ?
We read of no strains of music coming up from the re-
gions of the lost. To associate its melodies and harmonies
with the wailings and convulsions of reprobate spirits would
be doing violence, as all feel, to our conceptions of its true
character.* Nothing could illustrate more impressively its
natural connexion with our better nature. Abused it doubt-
less may be — for which of God's gifts is not abused ? — but its
value, when properly employed as a means of culture, as a
source of refined pleasure, and as the proper aid and ally of
our efforts and aspirations after good, is clear and unques-
tionable. " In music," says Hooker, " the very image of
vice and virtue is perceived. It is a thing that delighteth
all ages and beseemeth all states — a thing as seasonable in
grief as joy, as decent being added to actions of greatest
solemnity, as being used when men sequester themselves
from actions."
So the pious Bishop Beveridge : " That which I have
found the best recreation both to my mind and body, when-
soever either of them stands in need of it, is music, which ex-
ercises at once both my body and soul, especially when I
play myself ; for then, methinks, the same motion that my
hand makes upon the instrument, the instrument makes upon
my heart. It calls in my spirits, composes my thoughts, de-
lights my ear, recreates my mind, and so not only fits me for
after business, but fills my heart at the present with pure and
* Has not Milton offered violence both to nature and revelation,
in the picture which he draws towards the close of the first book of
his Paradise Lost, where he represents the legions of Satan as mo-
ving " in perfect phalanx to the Dorian mood of flutes and soft re-
corders," " soft pipes that charmed their painful steps," &.c., &c
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 81'
useful thoughts ; so that, when the music sounds the sweet-
liest in my ears, truth commonly flows the clearest in my
mind. And hence it is that I find my soul is become more
harmonious by being accustomed so much to hanuony, and
adverse to all manners of discord, that the least jarring
sounds, either in notes or words, seem very harsh and un-
pleasant to me."
I have spoken of the fact, that all men are more or less
susceptible to the influence of music. It is also tme that
all can acquire the rudiments of the art. It has long been
supposed that, in order to learn to sing, a child must be en-
dowed with what is called a musical ear. That this, how-
ever, is an error, is evident from experiments which have
been made on the most extensive scale in Germany, and
which are now repeating in this country. In Germany, al-
most every child at school, is instructed in singing, as well as
in reading. The result is, that though in this respect, as in
many others, there is great difference in the natural aptitude
of children, still all who can learn to read, can also learn to
sing.* It is found, farther, that this knowledge can be ac-
* " The universal success, also, and very beneficial results, with
which the arts of drawing and designing, vocal and instrumental
music, moral instruction, and the Bible, have been introduced into
schools, was another fact peculiarly interesting to me. I asked all
the teachers with whom I conversed, whether they did not sometimes
find children who were actually incapable of learning to draw and to
sing. I have had but one reply, and that was, that they found the
same diversity of natural talent in regard to these as in regard to
reading, writing, and the other branches of education ; but they had
never seen a child who was capable of learning to read and \\Tite, who
could not be taught to sing well and draw neatly, and that, too, with-
out taking any time which would at all interfere with, indeed, which
would not actually promote, his progress in other studies. In re-
gard to the necessity of moral instruction, and the beneficial influ-
ence of the Bible in schools, the testimony was no less explicit
and uniform. I inquired of all classes of teachers, and of men of
every grade of religious faith ; instructers in common schools, high
82 THE SCHOOL AND
quired without interfering with the other branches of study,
and with evident benefit both to the disposition of the
scholars, and the discipUne of the school. A gentleman
Avho, in this country, has had more than 4000 pupils in mu-
sic, affirms that his experience gives the same result. The
number of schools among us, in which music is made one
of the regular branches of elementary instruction, is already
great, and is constantly increasing, and I have heard of no
case in which, with proper training, every child has not
been found capable of learning. Indeed, the fact, that
among the ancients and in the schools of the Middle Ages,
music was regarded as indispensable in a full course of ed-
ucation, might of itself teach us, that the prejudice in ques-
tion is founded in error.
Another consideration which gives music special claims
on our regard as a branch of cidture, is, that the best speci-
mens of the art are within our reach. It is rare, that the pupil
can ever look, in this country, on the original works of a mas-
ter, in painting or sculpture. We have engravings, casts,
schools, and schools of art ; of professors in colleges, universities,
and professional seminaries in cities and in the country ; in places
where there was a uniformity and in places where there was a di-
versity of creeds ; of believers and unbelievers ; of rationalists and
enthusiasts ; of Catholics and Protestants, and I never found but one
reply ; and that was, that to leave the moral faculty uninstnioted
was to leave the most important part of the human mind undevel-
oped, and to strip education of almost everything that can make it
valuable ; and that the Bible, independently of the interest attend-
ing it, as containing the most ancient and influential writings ever
lecorded by human hands, and comprising the religious system of
almost the whole of the civilized world, is in itself the best hook
that can be put into the hands of children to interest, to exercise,
and to unfold the intellectual and moral powers. Every teacher
whom I consulted repelled with indignation the idea that moral in-
struction is not proper for schools, and that the Bible cannot be in-
troduced mto common schools without encouraging sectarian bias
in the matter of teaching." — Stowe's Report, &.C.
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 83
and other copies, but they can give us only faint conceptions
of the artist's design, and of his execution hardly an idea.
In written music, we have a transcript of the conceptions
of the composer, almost as complete as in written poetry or
eloquence, and as easy of access.
In all these arts, however, much may be done, to call
forth and improve the taste of our people. By multiplying
exhibitions of art ; by extending patronage to the native tal-
ent for painting and sculpture which abounds among us ; by
promoting efforts for the diffusion of a correct taste in music,
and a love for that art, so essential in our devotions, and so
useful everywhere ; and, finally and especially, by introdu-
cing elementary instruction, both in music and drawing, into
our schools, we can do much towards securing for our land
the multiplied blessings Avhich would result from the gen-
eral love of art.
Says a late Report of the School Committee of the City
of Boston, when speaking of Drawing, " Your committee
cannot help remarking, as they pass, that, in their opinion,
there is no good reason for excluding the art of linear draw-
ing from any liberal scheme of popular instruction. It has
a direct tendency to quicken that important faculty, the fac-
ulty of observation. It is a supplement to writing. It is in
close alliance with geometry. It is conversant Math form,
and intimately connected with all the improvements in the
mechanic arts. In all the mechanical, and many of the
olher employments of life, it is of high practical utility.
Drawing, like music, is not an accomplishment only ; it has
important uses : and if music be successfully introduced
into our public schools, your committee express the hope
and the conviction that drawing, sooner or later, will fol-
low."
In the same report the committee observe, " There are
said to be at this time not far from eighty thousand com-
mon schools in this country, in which are to be found the
84 THE SCHOOL AND
people who, m coming years, will mould the character of
this democracy. If vocal music were generally adopted as
a branch of instruction in these schools, it might be reason-
ably expected, that in at least two generations, we should
be changed into a musical people. The great point to be
considered, in reference to the introduction of vocal music
into popular elementar}^ instruction, is, that thereby you set
in motion a mighty power, Avhich silently, but surely in the
end, will humanize, refine, and elevate a whole communi-
ty.* Music is one of the line arts ; it therefore deals with
* "We have listened," says a recent traveller in Switzerland, " to
the peasant children's songs, as they went out to their morning oc-
cupations, and saw their hearts enkindled to the highest tones of
music and poetry by the setting sun or the familiar objects of na-
ture, each of which was made to echo some truth, or point to some
duty, by an appropriate song. We have heard them sing ' the har-
vest h3Tnan' as they went forth, before daylight, to gather in the
grain. We have seen them assemble in groups at night, chanting
a hymn of praise for the glories of the heavens, or joining in some
patriotic chorus or some social melod}", instead of the frivolous and
corrupting conversation which so often renders such meetings the
source of evil. In addition to this, we visited communities where
the youth had been trained from their childhood to exercises in vo-
cal music, of such a character as to elevate instead of debasing the
mind, and have found that it served in the same manner to cheer
their social assemblies, in place of the noise of folly or the poisoned
cup of intoxication. We have seen the young men of such a com-
munity assembled to the number of several hundreds, from a cir-
cuit of twenty miles ; and, instead of spending a day of festivity in
rioting and drunkenness, pass the whole time, with the exception of
that employed in a frugal repast and a social meeting, in a concert
of social, moral, and religious hymns, and devote the proceeds of
the exhibition to some object of benevolence. We could not but
look at the contrast presented on similar occasions in our own coun-
try with a blush of shame. We have visited a village whose whole
moral aspect was changed in a few years by the introduction of
music of this character, even among adults, and where the aged
were compelled to express their astonishment at seeing the young
abandon their corrupting and riotous amusements for this delightfiil
and improving exercise."
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 85
abstract beauty, and so lifts man to the source of all beauty
— from finite to infinite, and from the world of matter to the
world of spirits and to God. Music is the great handmaid
of civilization. Whence come those traditions of a rever-
end antiquity — seditions quelled, cures wrought, fleets and
armies governed by the force of song — whence that respond-
ing of rocks, woods, and trees to the harp of Orpheus —
whence a city's walls uprising beneath the wonder-working
touches of Apollo's lyre 1 These, it is true, are fables ; yet
they shadow forth, beneath the veil of allegory, a profoimd
truth. They beautifully proclaim the mysterious union be-
tween music, as an instrument of man's civilization, and the
soul of man. Prophets and wise men, large-minded law-
givers of an olden time, understood and acted on this truth.
The ancient oracles were uttered in song. The laws of
the Twelve Tables were put to music and got by heart at
school. Minstrel and sage are, in some languages, con-
vertible terms. Music is allied to the highest sentiments
of man's moral nature : love of God, love of country, love
of friends. Wo to the nation in which these sentiments
are allowed to go to decay ! What tongue can tell the un-
utterable energies that reside in these three engines —
church music, national airs, and fireside melodies — as
means of informing and enlarging the mighty heart of a free
people !"
In thus describing the kind of education which is called
for by the situation of our country and the spirit of the age,
I have referred, not only to school education, but to all the
agencies, which tend to form the minds, and characters of
the rising generation. It is one thing to set forth what this
education ought to be, and quite another to determine what
it actually is. On this latter point, all who wish well to
their country ought to speak plainly ; their evidence should
be given in without prejudice or passion ; with no alloy of
H
86 THE SCHOOL AND
party feeling ; and with a single desire to see the American
people fulfilling the high destiny marked out for them by
Providence. He is the best friend of his country who, on
such subjects, utters the truth, and the whole truth. It is,
unhappily, the interest of many in every party, who wish
to use the people for the accomplishment of their own sor-
did purposes, to lavish upon them the most unbounded pro-
fessions of confidence in their wisdom : and it is not easy,
in such a state of things, for one, however loyal to the in-
stitutions of his country, or however devoted to the popular
Avelfare, to hint at prevailing imperfections, without incur-
ring reproach and exposing himself to misapprehension.
And yet, if tliis is not done, if he who thinks he sees dan-
gerous maxims pervading the popular mind, and radical de-
fects in existing systems of education, may not proclaim
them boldly, and with impunity, too, where is our boasted
freedom, and where the hope that our future shall be better
than our past ? All advancement in a higher civilization
must be the result of a clear perception of existing evils
and dangers ; and such perception can evidently never be
attained unless individuals are free to discuss and expose
them.
I ask, then, what is the aggregate intelligence and moral
culture bestowed by education on the people of this coun-
try ? I answer, in the words of one who has always been
known as the advocate of the largest liberty, and whose
fmnness in the declaration of his opinions has only been
, equalled by the sincerity with which, in the estimation of
all his fellow-citizens, he has held them.*
" Nothing is more common than for public journalists to
rxtol in unmeasured terms ' the intelligence of the commu-
iiirv. On all occasions, according to them. Vox populi est
vox Dei. We are pronounced to be a highly cultivated, in-
tellectual, and civilized people. When we, the people,
* Lecture on Civilization, by Samuel Young.
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 87
called for the exclusion of small bills, we were right ;
when we called for the repeal of the exclusion, we were
equally right. We are divided into political parties nearly-
equal, but we are both right. We disagree respecting the
fundamental principles of government ; we quarrel about
the laws of a circulating medium ; we are bank and anti-
bank, tariff and anti-tariff, for a national bankrupt law and
against a national bankrupt law, for including corporations
and for excluding corporations, for unlimited internal im-
provement, judicious internal improvement, and for no in-
ternal improvement. We have creeds, sects, denom-
inations, and faiths of all varieties, each insisting that it is
right, and that all the others are wrong. We have cold
water societies, but many more that habitually deal in hot
water. We are anti-masonic and masonic, ' pro-slavery
and anti-slavery ;' and are spiced and seasoned with ab-
olitionism, immediateism, gradualism, mysticism, material-
ism, agrarianism, sensualism, egotism, skepticism, ideal-
ism, transcendentalism. Van Burenism, Harrisonism, Mor-
monism, and animal magnetism. Every public and private
topic has its furious partisans, struggling with antagonists
equally poshive and unyielding, and yet we are told that
we are a well-informed, a highly civilized people.
" If we look to our legislative halls, to the lawgivers of the
land, to the men who have been selected for the greatest
wisdom and experience, we shall see the same disagree-
ment and collision on every subject.
" He who would play the politician must shut his eyes to
all this, and talk incessantly of the intelligence of the peo-
ple. Instead of attempting to lead the community in the
right way, he must go with them in the wrong.
" It is true, he may preach sound doctrine in reference to
the education of youth. He may state the vast influence it
has upon the whole life of man. He may freely point out
the imperfections in the moral, intellectual, and physical in-
08 THE SCHOOL AND
struction of the children of the present day. He may nrge
the absolute necessity of good teachers, of the multiplica-
tion of libraries, and every other means for the diffusion of
useful knowledge. He may expatiate upon the supersti-
tious fears, the tormenting fancies, the erroneous notions,
the wrong prepossessions, and the laxity of morals which
most children are allowed to imbibe for want of early and
correct instruction, and which, in the majority of cases,
last through life. He may, with truth and freedom, de-
clare, that the mental impress, at twenty, gives the colour-
ing to the remainder of life ; and that most young men of
our country, of that age, have not half the correct informa-
tion and sound principles which might, with proper care,
have been instilled into their minds before they were ten
years old.
" But here the politician must stop his censures and close
his advice . At twenty one, the ignorant, uneducated, and way-
ward youth is entitled to the right of suffrage, and mingles
with a commimity composed of materials like himself. He
bursts the shell which had enveloped him; he emerges
from the chrysalis state of darkness and ignorance, and at
once becomes a component part of ' a higlily intelligent, en-
lightened, and civilized community.'
" If we honestly desire to know society as it is, we must
subject it to a rigorous analysis. We must divest ourselves
of all partiality, and not lay the ' flattering imction' of van-
ity to our souls. The clear perception of our deficiencies,
of the feeble advances already made in knowledge and civ-
ilization, is the best stimulus to united, energetic, and useful
exertion. Bitter truth is much more w.holesome than sweet
delusion.
" The gross flattery which is weekly and daily poured out
in legislative speeches and by a time-serving press, has a
most pernicious influence upon the public mind and morals.
The greater the ignorance of the mass, the more readily the
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 89
flattery is swallowed. He who is the most circumscribed
in knowledge, perceives not a single cloud in his mental
horizon. Attila and his Huns doubtless believed them-
selves to be the most civilized people on earth ; and if they
had possessed our editorial corps, they would have proved
it to be so.
" Weak and vain females, in the days of their youth, have
been charged by the other sex with an extraordinary fond-
hess for flattery. But, judging by the constant specimens
which are lavishly administered and voraciously swallowed,
the male appetite for hyperboles of praise is altogether su-
perior.
" The vainglorious boastings of the American press ex-
cite the risibility of all intelligent foreigners. According to
the learned and philosophic De Tocqueville, this is the
country, of all others, where public opinion is the most dic-
tatorial and despotic. Like a spoiled child, it has been in-
dulged, flattered, and caressed by interested sycophants un
til its capriciousness and tyranny are boundless.
" When Americans boast of their cultivated minds and
humane feelings, foreigners point them to the existence of
negro slavery. When they claim the civic merit of un-
qualified submission to the rules of social order, they are re-
ferred to the frequent exhibition of duels and of Lynch law.
When they insist upon the prevalence among us of strict
integrity, sound morals, and extensive piety, they are shown
an American newspaper, which probably contains the an-
nunciation of half a dozen thefts, robberies, embezzlements,
horrid murders, and appalling suicides.
" Burns, the eminent Scotch poet, seems to have believed
that good would result
" ' If Providence the gift would gie us,
To see ourselves as others see us.'
If we had this gift, much of our overweening vanity would
H 2
90 THE SCHOOL AND
doubtless be repressed, and many would seriously ponder
on the means of reformation and improvement.
" But that any great improvement can be made upon the
moral propensities of the adults of the present day is not to
be expected. The raw material of humanity, after being
even partially neglected for twenty years, generally bids
defiance to every manufacturing process.
" The moral education — that is, the proper discipline of the
dispositions and affections of the mind, by which a reverence
for the Supreme Being, a love of justice, of benevolence, and
of truth are expanded, strengthened, and directed, and the
conscience enlightened and invigorated, must have its basis
deeply and surely laid in childhood. Truth, in the impor-
tant parts of moral science, is most easily taught, and makes
the most indelible impressions in early life ; before the in-
fusion of the poison of bad example ; before false notions
and pernicious opinions have taken root ; before the under-
standing is blunted and distorted by habit, or the mind cloud-
ed by prejudice."
The length to which this quotation has extended will
hardly be regretted by our readers ; and it prepares us to en-
ter at once on the last topic which remains to be discussed
in this chapter, viz., The Importance of Education.
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 91
SECTION VI.
THE IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION.
I. TO THE INDIVIDUAL.
" "VMiat is a man
If his chief good and market of his time
Be but to sleep and feed 1 — a beast, no more.
Sure, He that made us with such large discourse,
Looking before and after, gave us not
That capability and godhke reason
To rust in us unused." — Shakspeare.
" Men generally need knowledge to overpower their passions and
master their prejudices ; and, therefore, to see your brother in ig-
norance is to see him unfurnished to all good works ; and every mas-
ter is to cause his family to be instructed, every governor is to in-
struct his charge, every man his brother, by all possible and just pro-
visions. For if the people die for want of knowledge, they who are
set over them shall also die for want of charity." — Jeremy Taylor.
It may be proper to remind the reader, that by education,
we understand a system of training and instruction, which
aims at the due culture of all the powers of the souJ, both
intellectual and moral. We shall be the better prepared, to
appreciate the necessity and importance of such culture, if
we consider that, in its absence, the individual will be edu-
cated by circumstances. Even when he is most neglected,
there will still be companions, parents, or masters, daily oc-
currences, and other causes, both physical and moral, which
will act forcibly upon some of his powers to develop and ex-
cite them. But wliich of his powers will these be ? When
parents do not take the trouble to provide for the proper edu-
cation of their children, it must be ob\dous that neither their
example, nor the associations with which they will surround
those children, whether in high or low life, will be likely to
foster their better and purer sentiments. Add to the force
92 THE SCHOOL AND
of natural propensity, the sensualizing influences wliich in
such cases will inevitably be applied from without to the
young and plastic mind, and what can be expected 1
Beyond a doubt, whatever this little being has in com-
mon with animals will be cherished and strengthened ;
whatever he has in common with angels of light and purity
will be repressed and stifled. The gratification of his lower
appetites will be predominant among the objects of his de-
sire ; and as these appetites are essentially selfish, he will
become less and less regardful of the claims of justice and of
charity. He may improve in cunning, in the readiness with
which he invents and the pertinacity with which he em-
ploys expedients to compass his base ends ; but he will have
less and less of true wisdom. When sorely pressed by
danger or difficulty, he will show that he is not unacquaint-
ed with moral distinctions ; but then the dexterity with
which he tries to make the worse appear the better reason,
and the facility with which he invents specious apologies
for the worst acts, these will show, too, that in his mind
the light has emphatically become darkness, and that even
his highest faculties are little better than panders to his
lowest appetites.
An ignorant, uncultivated mind, then, is the native soil of
sensuality and cruelty, and the whole history of the world
proves, that in a large proportion of instances, it does not
fail to bring forth its appropriate fruit. In what countries,
are the people most given to the lowest forms of animal
gratification, and also most regardless of the lives and hap-
piness of others 1 Is it not in pagan lands, over which
moral and intellectual darkness broods, and where men are
vile without shame, and cruel without remorse ? If from
pagan we pass to Christian countries, we shall find that
those in which education is least prevalent are precisely
those in which there is the most immorality, and the great-
est indifference to the sufferings of sentient and animated
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 93
beings. Spain, in which, until recently, there was but one
newspaper, and in which not more than one in twenty of
the people are instructed in schools, has a population about
equal to that of England and Wales. What is the relative
state of morals ? In England and Wales the whole num-
l)er of convictions for murder in one year (1826) was thir-
teen, and the number convicted of wounding, &c., with in-
tent to kill, was fourteen, while in Spain the niunber con-
victed during the same year was, for murder, twelve hundred
and thirtty-three ! and for maiming with intent to kill, seven-
teen hundred and seventy-three*
* I add an extract from a late traveller (Inglis) on the state ol
manners and morals. " If vice degrade the manners of the upper
and middle classes in Seville, crime of a darker turpitude disfigures
the character and conduct of the lower orders. Scarcely a night
passes ^vithout the commission of a murder. But. these crimes are
not perpetrated in cold blood from malevolent passions, still less
from love of gain ; they generally spring from the slightest possible
causes. The Andalusian is not so abstemious as the Castilian, and
the wine he drinks is stronger ; he has also a great propensity for
gambling, the fruitful engenderer of strife ; and the climate has,
doubtless, its influence upon his passions. ' WiU you taste with
me1' an Andalusian will say to some associate with whom he has
had some slight difference, offering him his glass. ' No gracias,'
the other will reply. The former, already touched with wine, will
half drain his glass, and present it again, saying, ' Do you not wish
to drink with mel' and if the other still refuses the proffered civil-
ity, it is the work of a moment to drain the glass to the dregs, to
say, ' How ! not taste with me V and to thrust the knife an Andalu-
sian always carries with him into the abdomen of the comrade who
refuses to drink with him. It is thus, and in other ways equally
simple, that quarrel and murder disfigure the nightly annals of ev-
ery town in Andalusia, and of the other provinces of the south of
Spain. There is an hospital in Seville dedicated to the sole purpose
of receiving wounded persons. I had the curiosity to visit it, and
ascertained that, during the past fourteen days, twenty-one persons
had been received into the hospital wounded from stabs ; they would
not inform me how many of these had died." — Spain in 1830, vol.
ii.. p. 56.
94 THE SCHOOL AND
We cannot be surprised that, in such a land, scenes of
cruelty and blood should constitute the favourite amusement
of the people. Their gTcatest delight is in bullfights ;
" and how," says an eyewitness, " do the Spaniards con-
duct themselves during these scenes ? The intense inter-
est which they feel in this game is visible throughout, and
often loudly expressed ; an astounding shout always ac-
companies a critical moment: whether it be the bull or
man who is in danger, their joy is excessive; but their
greatest sympathy is given to the feats of the bulk If the
picador receives the bull gallantly, and forces him to re-
treat, or if the matador courageously faces and wounds the
bull, they applaud these acts of science and valour ; but if
the bull overthrow the horse and his rider, or if the mata-
dor miss his aim and the bull seems ready to gore him,
their delight knows no bounds. And it is certainly a fine
spectacle to see the thousands of spectators rise simulta-
neously, as they always do when the interest is intense ;
the greatest and most crowded theatre in Europe presents
nothing half so imposing as this. But how barbarous, how
brutal is the whole exhibition ! Could an English audi-
ence witness the scenes that are repeated every week in
Madrid 1 A universal burst of ' shame !' would follow the
spectacle of a horse gored and bleeding, and actually tread-
ing upon his ovm entrails while he gallops round the are-
na : even the appearance of the goaded bull could not be
borne ; panting, covered with wounds and blood, lacerated
by darts, and yet brave and resolute to the end.
" The spectacle continued two hours, and a half, and
during that time there were seven bulls killed and six
horses. When the last bull was despatched, the people
immediately rushed into the arena, and the carcass was
dragged out amid the most deafening shouts." — Spain in
1830, vol. i., p. 191.
In another passage, the same writer, after describing a
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 95
fight, in wliich one bull had killed three horses and one
man, and remained master of the arena, adds, " This was a
time to observe the character of the people. When the
unfortunate picador was killed, in place of a general excla-
mation of horror and loud expressions of pity, the unit«'ersal
cry was ' Que es bravo ese toro !' (' Ah ! the admirable
bull !'). The whole scene produced the most unbounded
delight; and I did not perceive a single female avert her
head, or betray the slightest symptom of wounded feeling."
How different is the spirit and character developed by a
proper system of education. Discipline gives its subjects
command over their passions, and instead of a love for vi-
cious excitement, cultivates the taste for simple and inno-
cent pleasures. Objects higher than any gratification mere-
ly animal awaken desire ; objects in the pursuit of which
the faculties find a healthful and agreeable employment,
and the individual, though intent on liis own advantage, still
serves the commimity. His charities, too, are enlarged and
strengthened. From a mere clald of impulse, he is trans-
formed into a reflective being, looking before and after with
large discourse of reason. He forms plans for a distant
future, and thus rises nearer and nearer to a spiritual exist-
ence ; while, divested of no sentiments or principles which
the Creator has bestowed upon him, all are still made to
occupy their proper places, and to move together in subor-
dination to the great ends of his being.
It is to be observed here, again, that we mean by educa-
tion a large and generous culture, which comprehends the
whole man, and which assigns, therefore, the first place to
the immortal nature. We would never forget, that there may
be much know^ledge and much discipline of the intellectual
powers, which leaves, in darkness and sin, the moral and
spiritual man. Such education we repudiate. Instead of
a narrow and partial training, which would make its subject
a monster rather than a man ; we go for one which would
96 THE SCHOOL AND
build up that subject to the perfection which corresponds to
his nature and position.
And let us add, if mere knowledge cannot make men
wise, much less can ignorance. Her appropriate office is
not to improve, but to deteriorate and degrade. It has been
said that " ignorance is the mother of devotion." It would
have been much nearer truth, to represent her as the parent
of a dark idolatry, which bows the spirit to an abject but
imholy service, and robs it of its noblest instincts. This
has been well put in an old allegory of the days of Bimyan.
ApoUyon invades the country of Nonage, and, in order to
accomplish more fully his designs, resolves "that a great
part of the weak and feeble inhabitants should be tutored
by Mrs. Ignorance." Accordingly, accosting that person-
age, he says, " My dear cousin and friend, I have a great
number of pretty boys and girls for you to tutor and bring
up for me : will you undertake the charge ?" " Most dread
and mighty ApoUyon," she replies, "you know I never
yet declined any drudgery for you which lay in my power."
ApoUyon then, after complimenting her upon what she had
already done for the advancement of his kingdom and great-
ening of his power in the world, turns to his associate and
says, " Noble Peccatum (Sin), this gentlewoman, Madam
Ignorance, is your child, your natural offspring, your own
flesh and blood ; therefore I charge you to help and assist
her in this great work ; for I should be glad if she had the
education of all the children in the whole world."
The influence of education, on happiness, is also worthy
of deep consideration. Man has been supplied with va-
rious desires, sensual, intellectual, and moral ; some prompt-
ing him to serve others, and some to benefit himself, but all
intended to yield him happiness. Education enlarges the
capacity for enjoyment, of each of these desires. Even his
sensual appetites need the guidance of knowledge to keep
them from excess, while they are refined and elevated by
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 97
the cultm-e of liis other powers. And tlien that brood of
hopes and fears which must always cluster round man's
heart — taking him out of the present, and in some sort
compelling him to live and labour for an unseen future —
liow these are all rectified and enlightened by knowledge
and culture. Imagination, chastened and regulated, no lon-
ger fills the view Avith lying spectres of horror or delusive
anticipations of bliss. She becomes the handmaid of the un-
derstanding and the heart. The mind is steadied ; its vision
purged and enlarged. It sees objects as they are, neither
magnifying our blessings nor multiplying our sorrows.*
Hopes are built on a solid and rational foundation, and fear,
which to so many is the disease of the soul,t making more
* " Wisdom makes all the troubles, griefs, and pains incident to
life, whether casual adversities or natural afflictions, easy and sup-
portable, b)' rightly valuing the importance and moderating the in-
fluence of them. It suffers not busy fancy to alter the nature, am-
plify the degree, or extend the duration of them, by representing
them more sad, hea\^', and remediless than they truly are. It allows
them no force beyond what naturally and necessarily they have, nor
contributes nourishment to their increase. It keeps them at due
distance, not pennitting them to encroach upon the soul, or to prop-
agate their influence beyond their proper sphere. — Dr. Barrow."
t "Ignorance," says a -vrnter, "can shake strong sinews with
idle thoughts, and sink brave hearts with light sorrows, and doth
lead innocent feet to impure dens, and haunts the simple rustic with
credulous fears, and the swart Indian with that more potent magic,
under which spell he pines and dies. And by ignorance is a man
fast bound from childhood to the grave, till knowledge, which is the
revelation of good and evil, doth set him free."
Among the numberless superstitions which have been dissipated
by science, may be instanced the Spectre of the Brocken, which had
appeared from time to time, near the Hartz Mountains in Germany
This was a gigantic figure, seen indistinctly in the heavens, in form
always resembUng a human being, and the appearance of which waa
regarded, for ages, as a certain indication of approaching misfortune.
At length a celebrated philosopher (Abbe Haiiy) determined to in-
vestigate this apparition. After ascending the mountain ihirti'
I
98 THE SCHOOL AND
danger than it avoids, becomes, to a well-trained and en-
lightened mind, the instrument of caution rather than anx-
iety — ^" a guard, not a torment, to the breast." It is suffi-
ciently vigilant in anticipating and guarding against earthly
evils, but the loss of immortality is the object of its supreme
dread. " It is fixed," to use the language of South, " on
Him who is only to be feared, God ; and yet with a filial
fear, which at the game time both fears and loves. It is
awe without amazement — dread without distraction. There
is a beauty in its very paleness, giving a lustre to rever-
ence and a gloss to humility."
In estimating the happiness to be derived from educa-
tion, let us not overlook the vast addition which may thus
be made to domestic and social enjoyments. Without the
facts and ideas which are supplied by reading, how meager
and spiritless would conversation prove ! In rearing chil-
dren, and in the difficult task of making home pleasant and
attractive, books form an unfailing resource, and many who
now waste life and talent in a round of harassing dissipa-
tions or in low vice, might have been both happy and use-
ful, if they had early imbibed a taste for good books.
It is worthy of consideration, too, that the highest and
purest pleasiu'es to be derived from gratifying curiosity, are
confined to cultivated minds, which are intent on truth ra-
ther than novelty, and which look beyond mere facts and
events, to their causes and reasons.* The vague interest
times, he at last saw it, and soon discovered that it was nothing but
his own shadow cast upon clouds. " When the rising sun," says
he, " throws his rays over the Brocken upon the body of a man
standing opposite to fleecy clouds, let him fix his eye steadfastly
upon them, and in all probability he will see his own shadow ex-
tending the length of five or six hundred feet, at the distance of
about two miles from him."
* " How charming is divine philosophy !
Not harsh and crabbed, as dull fools suppose,
But musical as is Apollo's lute,
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 99
with vvliicli the ignorant look on the beauties and sublimi-
ties of nature — how much inferior is this, to that intelligent
and ever-new delight, Avith which the well-informed and cu-
rious mind traces these same objects as parts of a great
system of law and order, resplendent as well with moral as
with material charms. A poet has asked,
And a perpetual feast of nectar'd sweets.
Where no crude surfeit reigns."
Milton's Comus.
" It is not the eye that sees the beauties of heaven, nor the ear that
hears the sweetness of music, or the glad tidings of a prosperous
accident, but the soul that perceives all relishes of sensual and in-
tellectual perfections ; and the more noble and excellent the soul is,
the greater and more savoury are its perceptions." — Bishop Taylob.
" The pleasure and delight of knowledge and learning far surpass-
eth all other in nature ; for shall the pleasures of the affections so
exceed the pleasures of the senses, as much as the obtaining of de-
sire or victory exceedeth a song or a dinner 1 and must not, of con-
sequence, the pleasures of the intellect or understanding exceed the
pleasures of the affections 1 We see in all other pleasures there is
a satiety, and after they be used their verdure dcparteth ; which
showeth well they be but deceits of pleasure, and not pleasure, and
that it was the novelty which pleased, and not the quality ; and
therefore we see that voluptuous men turn friars, and ambitious
princes turn melancholy ; but of knowledge there is no satiety, but
satisfaction and appetite are ever interchangeable, and therefore
appeareth to be good in itself simply, without fallacy or accident.
Neither is that pleasure of small efficacy and contentment to the
mind of man, which the poet Lucretius describeth elegantly :
" ' Suave marl magno, turbantibus aequora ventis,' &c.
" ' It is a view of delight,' saith he, ' to stand or walk upon the
shore side, and to see a ship tossed with tempest upon the sea, or to
be in a fortified tower, and to see two battles join upon a plain.
But it is a pleasure incomparable for the mind of man to be settled,
landed, and fortified in the certainty of truth, and from thence to
descry and behold the errors, perturbations, labours, wanderings up
and down of other men' — so always that this prospect be with pity,
and noi with swelling or pride." — Lord Bacon.
100 THE SCHOOL AND
" Do not all charms fly
At the mere touch of cold philosophy ]
There was an awful rainbow once in heaven :
We know her woof and texture ; she is given
In the dull catalogue of conunon things.
Philosophy will clip an angel's wings,
Conquer all mysteries by rule and line,
Einpty the haunted air and gnomed mine.
Unweave a rainbow :"
Let another poet (Akenside) answer :
" Nor ever yet
The melting rainbow's vernal tinctured hues
To me have shone so pleasing, as when first
The hand of science pointed out the path
In Avhich the sunbeams, gleaming from the west.
Fall on the watery cloud :"
So Wordsworth :
" My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky :
So Avas it when my life began,
So is it now I am a man,
So be it when I shall grow old," &c.
To those who imagine that the progi-ess of knowlecVs
may be mifavourable to enjoyment, by dispelling ilhisions
and mysteries, it may be sufficient to remark, that science
dispels one mystery only to encounter another and a high-
er one. Whatever pleasure, therefore, can be derived from
obscurity, is enjoyed in common by the educated and un-
educated ; while the fonner has the additional satisfaction
of discovering some of the links in the long chain of causes,
and of combining an admiration which reasons and under-
stands, with one which can only wonder and adore.
I cannot close this branch of the subject without advert-
ing to the influence which education has on our usefulness
and success in life. The practice of holding up, before the
young, the prospect of a vulgar, worldly success as the
great motive to study, I have already condemned ; and I
want words to express my deep conviction of its dangejf
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 101
and folly. But it would be a grievous omission, to over-
look, on the other hand, the intimate connexion which
does subsist, between knowledge and culture, as cause, and
the capacity to act wisely and successfully, as effect. We
all know, how perfectly fettered and helpless a man is, in
the present state of the world, who cannot read and write ;
and yet these mechanical accomplishments are but the
means to education, rather than education itself. Educa-
tion, properly understood, aims not merely to qualify a man
to read and write letters, to look over newspapers, and to
keep accounts ; it aims to make him a thoughtful and re-
flecting being ; to habituate him* to the systematic applica-
*• The effects of a deficiency of education on success in mechan-
ical pursuits is strikingly illustrated in the evidence recently given
by an intelligent engineer, accustomed to employ many hundred
workmen of different nations (Mr. A. G. Escher, of Zurich), before
the British Poor-Law Conunissioners. He says, these " effects are
most strongly marked in the Italians, who, though with the advan-
tage of greater natural capacity than the English, Swiss, Dutch, or
Germans, are still of the lowest class of worlmien. Though they
comprehend clearly and quickl}', as I have stated, any simple prop-
osition made or explanation given to them, and are enabled quickly
to execute any kind of work when they have seen it performed
once, yet their minds, as I imagine, /rom icant of development by train-
ing or school education, seem to have no kind of logic, no power of sys-
tematic arrangement, no capacity for collecting any series of observa-
tions, and mailing sound inductions from the whole of them. This
want of capacity of mental arrangement is shown in their manual
operations. An Italian will execute a simple operation with great
dexterity ; but when a number of them are put together, all is con-
fusion. For instance : within a short time after the introduction of
cotton-spinning into Naples in 1830, a native spinner would produce
as much as the best English workman ; and yet, up to this time, not
one of the Neapolitan operatives is advanced far enough to take the
superintendence of a single room, the superintendents being all
Northerns, who, though less gifted by nature, have had a higher de-
gree of order or arrangement imparted to their minds by a superior
education." — See last Report of Poor-Law Commissioners.
12
302 THE SCHOOL AND
tion of his powers to the production of useful results ; to
render his mind active and enterprising, by storing it with
ideas ; and to give him power over the world of mind and
matter, by teaching him the laws to which they are subject-
ed. In bestowing on all men mind, and then allotting to
most of them a life of labour and care, God has plainly
taught us, that even the handicraftsman is to work with his
intellect and his heart, rather than with his muscles. Ev-
ery occupation, even the humblest and simplest, requires
skill, &nA. skill requires some training and instruction. Ev-
ery occupation may be made more easy, as well as more
productive, if the labourer imderstands his own powers, and
the properties of the objects with which he deals ; and it
will be certain to be more pleasant, too, if his mind is
cheered while he is at work with pleasant and profitable
thoughts, and with the consciousness that he lives as be-
comes an intelligent being. And while education thus
tends to make the labourer a more happy as well as a more
efficient producer ; to add to his own enjoyments while he
is himself adding to the sum of purchaseable enjoyments
in the world ; it tends, also, to make him more provident.
The ignorant are usually wasteful ;* and when not so, they
* Those who have conversed familiarly with the very poor, and
especially with the inmates of poorhouses and workhouses, must
have discovered the entire absence among them of that ■prudential
wisdom which is the result of education. " Out of sixteen paupers,"
says a late writer, " examined at the Workhouse of the Union in Fa-
versham (Eng.), only two had ever saved up so much as ten pounds,
notwithstanding that several of them had been in the receipt, for some
time, of from twenty to forty shillings a week ! and not one had ever
kept any account of receipt and expenditure ! The being merely able
to read makes little difference in this respect, for, in the number ex-
amined, there were several who could do so. Indeed, the most pru-
dent of the two who had saved had received no education. He had
been a workman in the powder-mills at Faversham, and out of his
wages of thirty shillings a week, had amassed a sum of 200/., which
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 103
rarely form those plans of a snug and far-reaching econo-
my, which combine present comfort and liberality. Avith a
steady increase of wealth.
The Chinese have a saying, that " by learning, the sons
of the common people become great ; without learning, the
sons of the great become mingled with the mass of the peo-
ple." This remark is particularly applicable among that
people, because, with them, all offices are bestowed accord-
ing to talent and literary acquirement ; and there seems to
be a settled design, to maintain an aristocracy of learning,
instead of one founded on Avealth. But in every civilized
country, and especially where there is any great degi-ee of
liberty, knowledge and ^nental cultivation form the most cer-
tain means of success.* Capital invested in the heart and
he afterward lost by the failure of a bank. He bitterly regretted his
want of education, which, he said, had prevented his embracing
many opportunities that offered of bettering his condition, and com-
pelled him to linish a life of industry in the workhouse, instead of
occupying a respectable situation in society. Several others com-
l.'lained that they had never been taught to look forward to the con-
.sequences of their own acts. One man, a shoemaker, about twen-
ty-eight years of age, who was in the house with his wife and five
children, attributed his poverty and pitiable condition entirely to
this cause. When asked if he did not calculate, before marrying so
early, his means to support a wife and family, his answer was, ' No,
sir — never gave it a thought — never thought of anything. You see,
sir, we ain't used to look forward.' " — Sec A Papa; hy F. Liardet,
Esq., on the State of the Peasantry iyi the County of Kent (Eng.), in
the third volume of the Publications of the Central Society of Education.
* On this point I quote again from Mr. Escher. Having been
asked whether education would not tend to render workmen discon-
tented and disorderly, and thus impair their value as operatives, he
answers : " My own experience, and my conveisation with eminent
mechanics in different parts of Europe, lead me to an entirely dif-
ferent conclusion. In the present state of manufactures, where so
much is done by machinery and tools, and so little done by mere
brute labour (and that little diminishing), mental superiority, sys-
tem, order, punctuality, and good conduct, qualities all developed
104 THE SCHOOL AND
head is better than a mere money capital, not simply because
it is inalienable, but because it enables its possessor to avail
and promoted by education, are becoming of the highest conse-
quence. There are now, I consider, few enlightened manufacturers
who will dissent from the opinion, that the workshops peopled with
the greatest number of educated and well-informed worlcmen, will
turn out the greatest quantity of the best work in the best manner."
In another place he states that, " as workmen only, the prefer-
ence is undoubtedly due to the English ; because, as we find them,
they are all trained to special branches, on which they have had
comparatively superior training, and have concentred all their
thoughts. As men of business or of general usefulness, and as men
with M'hora an employer would best like to be surrounded, I should,
however, decidedly prefer the Saxons and the Swiss, but more es-
pecially the Saxons, because they have had a very careful general
education, which has extended their capacities beyond any special
employment, and rendered them fit to take up, after a short prepar-
ation, any employment to which they may be called. If I have an
Enghsh workman engaged in the erection of a steam-engine, he will
understand that, and nothing else."
In regard to the moral effect of education, his testimony is ex-
plicit and worthy of deep consideration : '' The better educated work-
men, we find, are distinguished by superior moral habits in every
respect. They are discreet in their enjoyments, which are more of
a rational and refined kind ; they have a taste for much better society,
which they approach respectfully, and, consequently, find much read-
ier admittance to it ; they cultivate music, they read, they enjoy the
pleasures of scenery, and, consequently, make parties for excursions
in the country ; they are, consequently, honest and trustworthy."
" The Scotch workmen get on much better on the Continent than
the English, which I ascribe chiefly to their better education, which
renders it easier for them to adapt themselves to circumstances,
and especially in getting on better with their fellow- worlcmen, and
with all the people with whom they come in contact." " The Eng-
lish workmen are in conduct the most disorderly, debauched, and
unruly, and least respectful and trustworthy of any nation whatso-
ever which we have employed (and in saying this, I express the ex-
perience of every manufacturer on the Continent to whom I have
spoken, and especially of the English manufacturers, who make the
loudest complaints). These characters of depravity do not apply to
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 105
himself of the advantages of any position in which he may
happen to be placed. The activity of his mind, the enterprise
and forecast with which he forms plans, the readiness with
which he avails himself of every opportunity — all will be
proportionedjto the degree in which his mind has been de-
veloped by culture.
I have before me the history of two families — children of
brothers, who occupied adjoining farms, and started in life
with the same advantages. The one was blessed with an
intelligent, high-principled wife, who was fond of books, and
was always giving impulse and enlargement to the minds of
her children. The wife of the other, though a worthy per-
son, was ignorant and without cultivation. The result has
been, that the sons of the latter are ordinary men, Avith tor-
pid minds, and coarse tastes, though free from vice. The
children of the other are full of a generous and useful activ-
ity, and are all rising to stations of great respectability and
influence. Some part of this diflference may doubtless be
ascribed, to differences in the organization and natural en-
dowments of these children. But it is believed that, had the
same difference obtained in the education of children of the
the English workmen who have received an education, but attach
to the others in degree in which they are in want of it. "Wlien the
uneducated English workmen are released from the bonds of iron
discipline in which they have been restrained by their employers in
England, and are treated with the urbanity and friendly feeling
which the more educated workmen on the Continent expect and re-
ceive from their employers, they (the English workmen) completely
lose their balance ; they do not understand their position, and, after
a certain time, become totally unmanageable and useless. The edu-
cated. English workmen in a short time comprehend their position, and
adopt an appropriate bchavioiir." The reader will find nmch similar
testimony on these points, from various sources, in the same re-
port. He is referred especially to the examination of William Fair-
bam, Esq., a manufacturer of Manchester. — Sec Report to the Secre-
tary of State for the Home Department, on the Training of Pauper
Children, London, 1841.
106 THE SCHOOL AND
same parents, the result would have presented a conti-asl
hardly less striking.
Apprehension is often expressed, and no doubt felt, les4
education should inspire a restless and discontented spirit —
lest it should make men unhappy, under the toils and obscu-
rity which always await the majority in every land. If, in
educating people, we teach them, directly or indirectly, that
the only use of knowledge is to enable them " to get along," or
" to get up in the world," as it is termed ; if, in other words, ev-
ery appeal is addressed to a sordid ambition, then, doubtless,
such result will not be unlikely to follow. But let it be ob-
served here, that there neither is nor can be, in this country,
any such prevailing ignorance and nlental torpor as will keep
the masses perfectly at rest, after the manner of older coun-
tries, or as will prevent them from struggling to better their
condition. Such multifarious and multitudinous incitements
to activity surround them on every hand — so many examples
of individuals rising rapidly from the humblest circumstances
to wealth or influence, that they who are looking on, must
be agitated with some desire to share in the same success.
But whose minds are most likely to be unsettled by these de-
sires ? Are they those of the educated, or those of the igno-
rant and unreflecting ? Who are most likely to forget, that
happiness is to be found, not in any measure of outward suc-
cess or distinction, but in riding our own spirits, and in culti-
vating a proper sense of our duties and privileges 1 Who is
most likely to find, in his regular pursuits, however humble,
as well as in his hours of leisure, that full and pleasant oc-
cupation for his thoughts and faculties, which will render a
feverish excitement from without, unnecessary and undesir-
able ? It seems to me, that these questions carry with them
their own answer. It can hardly be doubted that, the more
fully the mind is stored with knowledge, and with resources
of an intellectual and moral nature, the less is it likely to be-
come restless or discontented ; that, Avhile education imparts
higher and more refined tastes, it imoarts, at the same time.
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 107
the means of satisfying those tastes, without strugghng per-
petually against the allotments of life, and the claims of oui
station.
But two causes can interfere with this, the natural order
of things. The one may be found in the practice, so mon-
strously absurd — would w^e could add, so rare — of teaching
that education is useful only so far as it enables its possess-
or to rise in the world — as if position were everything, and
the soul nothing. The other is, that we restrict the bless-
ings of knowledge, and of a taste for reading, to a small por-
tion of those who spend their lives in labom- ; and by that
means leave them without sympathy among their compan-
ions, while we at the same time invest them with a distinc-
tion which will not be unlikely to inflame their vanity, and
which may' thus render them objects of envy and dislike.
"VVe occasionally meet those, whom education does seem to
have made unhappy ; because it has brought with it, to their
minds, the mistaken notion that knowledge and talent are out
of place in an humble sphere or in a life of labom- ; but we
must remember, that they owe such unhappiness, not to edu-
cation, but to an entire misconception of the end and use of
education.* Those who suffer through education, or higher
* " Already," says Howitt, in his Rural Life of England, " I know
some who, through books, have reaped those blessings of an awaken-
ed heart and intellect, too long denied to the hard path of poverty,
and which render them not the less sedate, industrious, and provi-
dent, but, on the contrary, more so. They have made them, in the
humblest stations, the happiest of men ; quickened their sensibili-
ties towards their wives and children ; converted the fields, the pla-
ces of their daily toil, into places of earnest meditative delight —
schools of perpetual observation of God's creative energy and wis-
dom.
" It was but the other day that the farming man of a neighbouring
lady having been pointed out to me as at once remarkably fond of
reading and attached to his profession, I entered into conversation
with him, and it is long since I experienced such a cordial pleasure
as in the contemplation of the character that opened upon me. He
108 THE SCHOOL AND
intellectual tastes, merely because they are deprived thereby
of the sympathy of their associates, are more rare ; and they
was a strong man, not to be distinguished by his dress and appear-
ance from those of his class, but having a very intelHgent counte-
nance ; and the vigorous, healthful feelings and right views that
seemed to fill not only his mind, but his whole frame, spoke volumes
for that vast enjoyment and elevation of character which a rightly-
directed taste for reading would diffuse among our peasantry. His
sound appreciation of those authors he had read — some of our best
poets, historians, essayists, and travellers — u^as truly cheering,
when contrasted with the miserable and frippery taste which dis-
tinguishes a large class of readers."
" I found this countryman was a member of our Artisans' Library,
and every Saturday evening he walked over to the town to exchange
his books. I asked him whether reading did not make him less sat-
isfied with his daily work ; his answer deserves univereal attention.
' Before he read, his work was weary to him ; for in the solitary
fields, an empty head measured the time out tediously to double its
length ; but now, no place was so sweet as the solitary fields ; he
had always something pleasant floating across his mind, and the la-
bour was delightful, and the day only too short.' Seeing his ardent
attachment to the country, I sent him the last edition of the ' Book
of the Seasons ;' and I must here give a verhatim et literatim extract
from the note in which he acknowledged its receipt, because it not
only contains an experimental proof of the falsity of a common alarm
on the subject of popular education, but shows at what a little cost
much happiness may be conveyed to a poor man. ' Believe me,
dear sir, this kind act has made an impression on my heart which
time will not easily erase. There are none of your works, in my
opinion, more valuable than this. The study of nature is not only
the most delightful, but the most elevating. This will be true in
every station of life. But how much more- ought the •poor man to
prize this study ! which, if prized and pursued as it ought, will ena-
ble him to bear, with patient resignation and cheerfulness, the lot
by ProAadence assigned him. Oh, sir, I pity the working man who
possesses not a taste, for reading. 'Tis true, it may sometimes lead
him to neglect the other more important duties of his station ; but
his better and more enlightened judgment will soon correct itself in
this particular, and will enable him, while he steadily and diligently
pursues his private studies, and participates in intellectual enjoy-
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 109
all admit that, while this inconvenience may be charged in
part to their own indiscretion, in not sufficiently cultivating
those associates, it is overbalanced, on the other hand, a thou-
sand times, by the inexhaustible fund of pleasure, which they
find in books, and in the exercise of their reflective faculties.
The remedy for these evils is obvious. In the first place,
let all be so far educated, as to awaken a taste for reading
and a desire for improvement, and knowledge will then cease
to be a distinction, and can no longer make its possessor an
object of emy. In the second place, let all be taught that
education is given, not that we may buy a short-lived and
doubtful success, but that we may have enlightened minds
and improved hearts, and be better able to fill with dignity
and pleasure the claims of any station, however lowly, and
then contentment will prevail just in proportion as instruc-
tion becomes more general and more thorough. How much
wisdom is there in the following lines of Wordsworth — the
most philanthropic as well as the most philosophical poet of
our age — Avhose heart and fancy have always been among
the poor, and who, at the same time, has looked with more
than doubt, on many modern schemes for social improve-
ment. He is speaking of the early years of his Wanderer ;
" Early had he learned
To reverence the volume that displaj's
The mystery, the life which cannot die :
\^n[iat wonder if his being thus became
Sublime and comprehensive ! Low desires,
Low thoughts, there had no place ; yet was his heart
Lowly ; for he was meek in gratitude,
Oft as he called those ecstasies to mind,
And whence they flowed ; and from them he acquired
Wisdom, which works through patience : hence he learned,
In oft-recurring hours of sober thought.
To look on nature with an humble heart,
ment, to prize as he ought his character as a man, in every relative
duty of life.'"
K
110 THE SCHOOL AND
Self-questioned where it did not understand,
And with a superstitious eye of love.
So passed the time ; yet to the nearest town
He duly went, with what small overplus
His earnings might supply, and brought away
The book that most had tempted his desires,
While at the stall he read. Among the hills,
He gazed upon that mighty orb of song,
The divine Milton. Lore of different kind,
The annual savings of a toilsome life,
His schoolmaster supplied ; books that explain
The purer elements of truth, involved
In lines and numbers, and, by charm severe
(Especially perceived where nature droops
And feeling is suppressed), preserve the mind
Busy in solitude and poverty.
In dreams, in study, and in ardent thought,
• Thus was he reared ; much wanting to assist
The growth of intellect, yet gaining more,
And every moral feeling of his soul
Strengthened and braced, by breathing in content
The keen, the wholesome air of poverty.
And drinking from the well of homely life."
The Excursion, b. L
THE SCHOOLMASTER. IH
SECTION vir.
THE IMPORTAXCE OF EDUCATION (CONTINUED).
n. TO SOCIETY.
" Whether a wise state hath any interest nearer heart than the
education of youth." — Berkeley's Querist.
" WTien the clouds of ignorance are dispelled by the radiance of
knowledge, power trembles, but the authority of law remains im-
movable." — Beccaria.
" Almost all the calamities of man, except the physical evils which
are inherent in his nature, are in a great measure to be imputed to
erroneous views of religion or bad systems of government, and
these cannot be coexistent for any considerable tune with an ex-
tensive diffusion of knowledge. Either the freedom of intelligence
will destroy the government, or the government will destroy it.
Either it will extirpate superstition and enthusiasm, or they will
contaminate its purity and prostrate its usefulness. Knowledge is
the cause as well as the effect of good government." — De Witt
Clinton.
Society may be regarded as a partnership. It is an ex
tended system of co-operation, in Avliich every individual has
a part to perform, and from which, in return for his efforts,
each individual receives a greater amount of benefit than he
could have attained, had he relied only on his own unaided
and solitary exertions. It is the object of civilization or
social progress, to increase these advantages, or, in other
words, to enable individuals to obtain from society, with a
given amount of eflbrt, a greater and greater amount of re-
spiting benefit. Now, in regard to limited partnerships,
which include but a small number of persons, nothing is
more eAddent than that their success, and the success, of
course, of each individual member, will be in exact propor-
tion to the sagacity, integrity, and diligence with which
each applies himself to liis proper duties. If all the part-
ners are ignorant, idle, and unprincipled, bankruptcy and
112 THE SCHOOL AND
ruin must be the speedy result. If this be the character of
some only of the firm, even then, hardly any amount of ef-
fort and skill on the part of the remainder will prevent great
losses ; whereas, should all devote themselves to business
with singleness of purpose, and with intelligence and activ-
ity, the result must be great prosperity. The application
of these principles to the subject under considaraiioii is ob-
vious.
Let us consider society, in the first place, as a material
partnership, or, in other words, as an association established
merely for the production and accumulation of wealth. It is
a truth often overlooked, but yet most unquestionable as well
as most important, that the richest capitalist and the poorest
labourer are joint proprietors in that great co-operative firm,
through which, God ordains that man shall procure most of
his blessings. A poor emigrant, who has just reached our
shores, with no other means than his health and strong
sinews, and who has skill but just sufficient to enable him
to handle a pickaxe and shovel, is s.et at work in excavating
a canal or grading a railroad. He knows nothing of the
wealthy proprietor in New-York, who lives in luxury, and
who wields his tens and hundreds of thousands in daily op-
erations on 'change, and that proprietor knows still less of
him. Yet it is no less true that they are partners — joint
owners and managers of stock, in the same great company.
Every dollar that the capitalist acquires by fair and legiti-
mate business, goes to swell the facilities of the labourer, in
getting employrnent, and in getting liberal remuneration for
his services. It is by him, and others like him, that capi-
tal is furnished, not only to construct public hnprovements,
but to carry forward private undertakings of a useful and
productive character. On the other hand, every blow
which the labourer strikes, tends to enrich the capitalist.
As he deepens and widens the canal, or grades the railroad,
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 113
he contributes to cheapen and to accelerate the transit of
those commodities, in which the capitaUst deals, thus en-
abling him to extend his operations, and to increase his
profits. And these are but examples. Take any two men,
however remote from each other, within the limits of the
state or of the Union, and no matter how dissimilar their
pursuits, nor how unequal their apparent positions, they are
still, if engaged in lawful callings, partners, — co-operating for
their mutual benefit, and for the common benefit of all their
associates, or, in other words, of all their fellow-citizens.
Is it not, then, a matter of unspeakable importance, that each
one should be qualified to perform his part, in the most effi-
cient and useful manner 1
After what we have advanced in previous sections, and
especially in the last, it can hardly be necessary to insist
that education does contribute most powerfully to render
men more efficient both as producers and preservers of prop-
erty. If properly conducted, it renders them, in the first
place, more trustworthy, and thus multiplies the ways, in
which they can be employed with profit to themselves, and
with advantage to the community. In the second place, a
labourer, whose mind has been disciplined by culture, works
more steadily and cheerfully, and, therefore, more product-
ively, than one who, when a child, was left to grovel in ig-
norance and idleness. In the third place, such a labourer,
having both knowledge and habitual activity of mind, is
fruitful in expedients to render his exertions more diversi-
fied and profitable* And while, in these several ways, ed-
ucation contributes to swell the aggi-egate of values, pro-
* Since I wrote this chapter, I have read, with great interest, the
last report of the Hon. Mr. Mann, as secretary of the Massachu-
setts Board of Education. During the last year he directed his at-
tention to the relative productiveness of the labour of the unedu-
cated, and of those who have had the advantages of a good common-
school education ; and he gives the following as the substance of
K2
114 THE SCHOOL AND
duced in a coinniunity in any given time ; it also secures,
in the fourth place,* that these vakies, instead of being
the answers which he has obtained from a number of the most in-
telhgent manufacturers and business men of New-England. " The
result of the investigation is a most astonishing superiority in pro-
ductive power on the part of the educated over the uneducated la-
bourer. The hand is found to he unuthcr hand when guided by an in-
telligent mind. Processes are pertormed, not only more rapidly, but
better, when faculties which have been cultivated in early life fur-
nish their assistance. Individuals who, without the aid of knowl-
edge, would have been condemned to perpetual inferiority of condi-
tion, and subjected to all the evils of want and poverty, rise to com-
petence and independence by the uplifting power of education. In
great establishments, and among large bodies of labouring men,
where all services are rated according to their pecuniary value ;
where there are no extrinsic circumstances to bind a man down to
a fixed condition, after he ha-s shown a capacity to rise above it ;
where, indeed, men pass tiy eacn other, ascending or descending, in
their grades of labour, iust as easilv and certainly as particles of
water of different degrees of temperature glide by each other, there
is it found as an almost invariable fact, other things being equal,
that those who have been blessed with a good common-school edu-
cation rise to a higher and higher point in the kinds of labour per-
formed, and also in the rate of wages paid, while the ignorant sink,
like dregs, and are always found at the bottom."
*" From the accounts which pass through my hands," says M.
Escher, "I invariably find that the best educated of our work-people
manage to live in the most respectable manner at the least expense,
or make their money go the farthest in obtaining comforts. This
applies equally to the work-people of all nations that have come un-
der my observations ; the Saxons, and the Dutch, and the Swiss,
being, however, decidedly the most saving, without stinting them-
selves in their comforts or failing in general respectability. With
regard to the English, I may say, that the educated workmen are
the only ones who save money out of their very large wages. By
education, I may say, that I, throughout, mean not merely instruc-
tion in the art of reading, writing, and arithmetic, but better general
mental development ; the acquisition of better tastes, of mental
amusements and enjoyments, which are cheaper, while they are
more refined. The most educated of our British workmen is a
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 115
wasted througli improvidence and vice, sliall be employed
as instruments of reproduction, and thus become perma-
nent sources of welfare and happiness. Nor ought we
to omit, in this brief enumeration of the material advan-
tages of education to society, that it tends both to multiply
and to refine our artificial wants ; thus stimulating us, on one
hand, to greater exertion in order to satisfy these wants, and
shielding us, on the other, from those coarse temptations
which tend to make men idlers and sots.
Here is a truth which seems all but self-evident, and yet
it is one, grievously neglected in the speculations of politi-
cal economists, and in the measures of practical statesmen.
Writers on Political Economy dwell much, on the importance
of enlisting science in the service of industry ; but it is
science confined for the most part to physics, and to be stud-
ied by the proprietor or superintendent, rather than by the
operative. So statesmen, especially in older countries, be-
stow much time, and invent many fruitless expedients, in or-
der to improve the condition of the working classes, at the
very time that the intellectual and moral condition of those
classes renders improvement next to impossible.
Scotch engineer, a single man, who has a salary of 3/. a week, or
1.50/. a year, of which he spends about the half; he lives in very
respectable lodgings ; he is always well-di-essed ; he frequents read-
ing-rooms ; he subscribes to a circulating library ; purchases math-
ematical instruments, studies German, and has every rational en-
joyment. We have an English workman, a single man, of the same
standing, and who has the same wages, also a very orderly and so-
ber person ; but, as his educaHion does not open to him the resources of
mental enjoyment, he spends his evenings and Sundays in wine-houses,
because he cannot find other sources of amusement which presup-
pose a better education, and he spends his whole pay, or one half more
than the other. The extra expenditure of the loorkman of laioer condi-
tion, of 751. a yc^r, arises entirely, as far as I can judge, from the in-
ferior arrangement, and the comparatively higher cost of the more sen-
sual enjoyment in the wine-house.'" — Report of Poor- Law Commis-
sioners.
116 THE SCHOOL AND
In all these matters we must begin at the beginning.
We must remember, that mind forms the chief prerogative
of man, and that he can never exercise his proper or most
useful agency in any capacity, how^ever humble, unless that
mind be cultivated by discipline and enlightened by knovirl-
edge. England has neglected the education of her labour-
ing population, and the consequence is, that the land swarms
with paupers and vagabonds ; New-England, on the con-
trary, from the first, made the intellectual and moral instruc-
tion of every child a sacred duty, incumbent both on his
parents and on the commonwealth ; and what was the re-
sult ? " The first years of the residence of the Puritans
in America," says Bancroft, " were years of great hardship
and affliction ; yet it is an error to suppose that this short
season of distress was not promptly followed by abundance
and happiness. The people were, from the first, industri-
ous, enterprising, and frugal, and affluence followed, of
course. When persecution ceased in England, there were
already in New-England ' thousands who would not change
their place for any other in the world,' and they were tempt-
ed in vain with invitations to the Bahama Isles, to Ireland,
to Jamaica, to Trinidad." " One might dwell there from
year to year, and not see a drunkard, or hear an t)ath, or
meet a beggar.* The consequence was universal health,
one of the chief elements of public happiness. The aver-
age duration of life in New-England, compared Avith Eu-
rope, was nearly doubled ; and the human race was so vig-
orous, that of all who were born into the world, more than
two in ten, full four in nineteen, attained the age of seven-
ty ; of those who lived beyond ninety, the proportion," as
compared with European tables of longevity, was still more
remarkable." — -Sc^aBancroft, vol. i., p. 467.
In order to appreciate these material and economical ad-
vantages, which education confers on society, we may insti-
* New-England's First Fruits, printed 1613.
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 117
tute various other comparisons. We may, for instance,
compare New-England, with her free-schools and her uni-
versal education, moving steadily and rapidly forward in
wealth and population, in spite of a steril soil and an ungenial
climate, and while destitute of all natural channels for in-
land commerce — we may compare her, thus physically crip-
pled, with other portions of our Republic to which nature has
been more bountiful, but on which the light of general edu-
cation has not shined, — and we shall at once perceive that
such education is unspeakably more important than a luxu-
riant soil, fine climate, or noble rivers.
So, if we compare the largest manufacturing town of Eng-
land (Manchester) with that which holds a corresponding
place in our own country (Lowell) : in Manchester, full one
third of all the children between the ages of five and fifteen
receive no instruction at all in schools, while a large portion
of the remaining two thirds attend schools of the most
wretched description.* In Lowell, schools of a high char-
* See Reports of the Statistical Society of Manchester on the
State of Education. Also vol. i. of the Publications of the Central
Society of Education, p. 292, &c.
The following extracts will show the condition of many of them.
*' Under the head of dame-schools are included all those in which
reading and a little sewing are taught. This is the most numerous
class of schools, and they are generally in a most deplorable condi-
tion. The greater part of them are kept by females, but some by
old men, whose only qualification for this eniploj-ment seems to be
their unfitness for any other. Neither parents nor teachers seem
to consider instruction as the principal object in sending the chil-
dren to these .schools ; they, seem to regard them as asylums for
mischievous and troublesome children." — " These schools are gen
erally found in very dirty, unwholesome rooms, frequently in close,
damp cellars, or old, dilapidated garrets." — " More than one half of
them are used as dwelling, dormitory, and schoolroom, accommoda-
ting, in many cases, families of seven or eight persons. Above
forty of them are in cellars." — " Very few of the teachers of dame-
schools allow the duties which they owe to their scholars to inter-
118 THE SCHOOL AND
acter, supported at the public expense, and under the super-
vision of gentlemen of the first respectability, are open to all.
Not only are parents anxious to send their children to these
schools, but they are constantly urged to do it by the propri-
etors themselves, who are convinced that they gain more 'by
having their operatives educated than they can lose by hav-
ing them absent from the mills, when children, during a por-
tion of each year.
The results of these opposite systems are such as we
might anticipate. The operatives of Manchester are im-
provident and immoral ; they are at war with their employ-
ers ;* and multitudes of them are on the verge of beggary.
The consequence is, that they consume almost as rapidly as
they produce. In Lowell, on the other hand, " The factory
operatives," to use the language of a late English traveller,!
" form a community that commands the respect of the neigh-
bourhood, and of all under whose observation they come. A
fere with their household occupations." Very few of these schools
were found to possess more than fragments of books ; and, in many
cases, no books were to be seen, the childrcri depending for their instruc-
tion on the chance of some one of them bringing a book, or a -part of one,
from home.
* " I have uniformly found," says H. Bartlett, Esq., of Lowell, " the
better educated, as a class, possessing a higher and better state of •
morals, more orderly and respectful in their deportment, and more
ready to comply with the wholesome and necessary regulations of
an establishment. And in times of agitation, on account of some
change in regulations or wages, I have always looked to the most
intelligent, best educated, and the most moral for support, and have
seldom been disappointed. For, while they are the last to submit
to imposition, they reason, and if your requirements are reasonable,
they will generally acquiesce, and exert a salutary influence upon
their associates. But the ignorant and uneducated I have generally
found the most turbulent and troublesome, acting under the impulse
of excited passion and jealousy." — See Report of the Secretary of the
Massachusetts Board of Education for 1841.
t A Visit to the United States in 1841, by Joseph Sturge.
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 119
considerable number of the girls are farmers' daughters, and
eome hither from the distant states of Vermont and New-
Hampshire, &.C., to work for two, three, or four years, when
they return to their native hills, dowered with a little capi-
tal of their own earnings. No female of an immoral char-
acter could remain a week in any of the mills. The super-
intendent of the Boott Corporation told me that, during the
five and a half years of his superintendence of that factory,
employing about nine hundred and fifty young women, he
had known of but one case of an illegitimate birth — and the
mother was an Irish ' immigrant.' Any male or female em-
ployed, who Avas known to be in a state of inebriety, would
be at once dismissed."
We cannot be surprised to hear that such a community is
eminently prosperous. " The average wages, clear of board,
amount to about two dollars a week.* Many an aged fa-
ther or mother, in the country, is made happy and comfort-
able by the self-sacrificing contributions from their affec-
tionate and dutiful daughter here. Many an old homestead
has been cleared of its encimibrances, and thus saved to the
* The average of women's wages in the departments requiring
the most skill is $2 50 per week, exclusive of board. The average
of wages in the lowest department is $1 25. To show the influence
which education has on the earnings of the female operative, one
of the directors of the large-st establishment at Springfield (J . K. Mills,
Esq., of Boston) states that two thirds of those who are unable to
write are employed in the lowest departme?it, and that their wages are
lower by 66 per cent, than the wages of an equal number of the
better educated class. He also states it " as his behef, that the best
cotton-mill in New-England, with such operatives as these, who are
unable to WTite their names, would never yield the proprietor a
profit ; that the machinery would soon be worn out, and he would
be left in a short time" with a population no better than one of six-
ty-three persons which they had imported from England, and which,
being destitute of education, proved to be unable to earn sufficient
to pay for their subsistence. — See Report for 1841 of the Secretary of
the Massachusetts Board of Education.
120 THE SCHOOL AND'
family, by llicse liberal and honest earnings. Of the depos-
itors in the Lowell Institution for Savings, nine hundred
and seventy-eight (being about one half of the whole num-
ber of depositors) are factory girls, and the amount of their
funds now in the bank is estimated, in round numbers, at
one hundred thousand dollars, which is about one third of
the whole amount on deposite. It is a common thing for
one of these girls to have five hundred dollars in deposite,
and the only reason why she does not exceed this sum is
the fact that the institution pays no interest on any larger
sum than this. After reaching this amount, she invests her
remaining funds elsewhere."
I might easily multiply proofs of this kind ; but I proceed
to two most important conclusions which they seem to sug-
gest, and which are worthy of deep consideration in this
country. The first is, that education affords the most certain
and effectual means of developing the industrial resources of
a country, and promoting its growth and prosperity. Free-
dom is doubtless indispensable to the largest development
even of wealth ; but, unless it be combined with the diffu-
sion of knowledge among the whole people, and with the
refined tastes and orderly habits induced by education, it
will often degenerate into vice and idleness, and will em-
ploy itself, now in wasting property, and now in obstructing
the best means for increasing it. So, again, much may bt
accomplished by associations for the encouragement of
manufactures and agxiculture, and much, too, by legislation
so directed as to foster native enterprise, and protect the la-
bour of our own citizens against the overwhelming compe-
tition of foreigners. But these expedients are often tran-
sient and irregular in their action ; and they also promote,
too frequently, a spurious and premature gi'owth in some
branches of industry, to the neglect of others equally im-
portant. Render the people intelligent, frugal, and indus-
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 121
trious, by means of education, and there need, then, be no
fear. They will find means to protect themselves. They
will be equally ready to apply individual effort, the power
of associated action, and the influence of wise and well-di-
gested laws. In order to encourage native talent and en-
terprise, and promote the amplest development of their re-
sources, they will maintain all necessary restraints on
freedom, but they will submit to none that are not neces-
sary. What is yet more important, the inhabitants of each
section of the country will be able to comprehend the ca-
pabilities of their own position, and will be impelled to make
the most of them.*
* " It is a fact of universal notoriety, that the manufacturing pop-
ulation of England, as a class, work for half, or less than half, the
wages of our own. The cost of machinery there, also, is but about
half as much as the cost of the same articles with us ; while our
capital, when loaned, produces nearly double the rate of English in-
terest. Yet, against these grand adverse circumstances, our man-
ufacturers, with a small per centage of tariff, successfully compete
with English capitalists in many branches of manufacturing busi-
ness. No explanation can be given of this extraordinary fact, which
does not take into account the difference of education between the
operatives of the two countries." It follows, too, " as a most im-
portant and legitimate inference, that it is our wisest policy, as citi-
zens — if, indeed, it be not a duty of self-preservation as men — to im-
prove the education of our whole people, both in its quantity and
quality. I have been told by one of our most careful and successful
manufacturers, that on suhstituting, in one of his cotto7i-mills, a better
for a poorer class of operatives, he was enabled to add twelve per cent, to
the speed of his machinery, without any increase of damage or danger
from the acceleration.^' — Report of H. Mann for 1841.
To the same effect is the opinion of Mr. Bartlett, of Lowell, from
whom I have already quoted. " From my own observation and ex-
perience," says he, " I am perfectly satisfied that the owners of man-
ufacturing property have a deep pecuniary interest in the education
and morals of their help ; and I believe the time is not distant when
the truth of this will appear more and more clear. And, as compe-
L
122 THE SCHOOL AND
I would suggest here, whether, in addition to a good
general education, it is not important, at this time, that our
youth should receive some special instruction, in the theory
and processes of the various useful arts. In other coun-
tries, great pains have been taken, for the last twenty years,
to instruct young persons, intended for trades, in a knowl-
edge of such branches of science and art, as are most near-
ly related to those trades ; and also, to give them some ac-
quaintance with general technology. Schools of arts and
manufactures, agricultural seminaries, and institutions in
which the children of the poor may be early trained to hab-
its of industry, and to some skill in the rudiments of art, are
now rapidly multiplying over Europe. On the Continent, in
particular, they are much relied on, as among the most ef-
ficient means of developing and perfecting the arts of indus-
try, and of thus enabling the several governments to compete
successfully with the immense skill and capital which Eng-
land has invested in these arts, and by means of which, in
connexion with her restrictive policy in trade, she has made
herself, until recently, the workshop of the world. The
states of Europe are now fast emancipating themselves
tition becomes more close, and small circumstanees of more impor-
tance in turning the scale in favour of one establishment over an-
other, I believe it will be seen that the establishment, other things
being equal, which has the best educated and the most moral help,
will give the greatest production at the least cost per pound. So
confident am I that production is affected by the intellectual and
moral character of help, that, whenever a mill or a room should fail
to give the proper amount of work, my first inquiry, after that re-
specting the condition of the machinery, would be, as to the charac-
ter of the heip ; and if the deficiency remained any great length of
time, I am sure I should find mani/ who had made their marks on the
pay-roll, being unable to write their names ; and I should be great-
ly disappointed if I did not, upon inquiry, find a portion of them of
u-regular habits and suspicious character."
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 123
from this state of dependance, by cultivating their own re-
sources ; and in doing this, they place great reliance on
the improved education of their people, and especially on
such education as will develop the industrial skill and talent
which are now required. Is it not of the utmost importance,
that a similar policy should be pursued in our own country ?
A second conclusion, forced upon us by the views which
we have now taken, is, that general education among a peo-
ple forms the best preventive of pauperism. This is a dis-
ease which, once ingrafted on the state, seems hardly to
admit of remedy. It is the very cancer of the body poli-
tic, and tends to reproduce and perpetuate itself, in the most
insidious and inveterate manner. The only wise or effect-
ual expedient, then, is to anticipate, and prevent it. To ward
off such indigence as results from mental imbecility, and
from those sudden and fearful reverses which Providence
sometimes sends to teach us our frailty, is, of course, impos-
sible ; but nearly nine tenths of all pauperism actually exist-
ing in any country may be traced directly to moral causes,
such as improvidence, idleness, intemperance, and a want of
moderate energy and enterprise. Now it is hardly necessa-
ry to add, that education, if it be imparted to all the rising
generation, and be pervaded, also, by the right spirit, will re-
move these fruitful sources of indigence. It will make the
young provident, industrious, temperate, and frugal ; and
with such virtues, aided by intelligence, they can hardly
fail, in after life, to gain a comfortable support for them-
selves and their families. I have already (p. 102, note) quo-
ted one fact which confirms this position, and others, not
less impressive and convincing, would be found in every
almshouse in the world. Could the paupers of our own
state be collected into one group, it would be found, I doubt
not, that three out of every four, if not five out of every six,
owe their present humiliating position, to some defect or
omission in their early training. I annex, in a note, one
124
THE SCHOOL AND
statement, which will show, how closely, pauperism and a
defective education are related in England.*
* The committee of the Central Society has been favoured by a
gentleman connected with the Poor-Law Commission, with returns
exhibiting the state of education among paupers above the age of
sixteen, the inmates of workhouses in the two incorporated hun-
dreds and ten unions in the county of Suffolk ; in the three incor-
porated hundreds and twelve unions in the county of Norfolk, and
the twelve unions in the eastern division of Kent. The number of
paupers inchided in these returns is 2725, viz., 1323 men and 1412
women, and the time when the information was collected was June,
1837.
Besides the distinction of sexes, the paupers are divided into
three classes, viz., able-bodied, temporarily disabled, and old and
infirm ; and it is stated, with reference to each class, how many can
read in a superior manner, how miany can read decently, and how
many imperfectly ; their acquirements in regard to writing are also
given with the same gradations ; the number of paupers who can
neither read nor write is next stated, and, lastly, the number of each
class who had been the inmates of workhouses before the fonuation
of the respective unions.
The difference observable in these various respects between the
paupers of the different counties is not so great as to require their
being separately noticed ; and it will, therefore, be sufficient for the
present purpose to present the result of the inquiry as though the
whole were belonging to the same conununity.
Number
Number
Number
Number
Number
Number
Number
Number
Number
of each class in workhouses .
who can read superiorly
who can read decently .
who can read imperfectly
who can write superiorly
who can write decently
who can write imperfectly
who can neither read nor write
of inmates of workhouses before i
Men
Women. [
"k
>.
i
= .
.a
1
1
li
1
.B
u
l61
147
1015
508
196
698
6
7
22
26
13
14
49
46
292
149
50
174
14
21
125
106
33
99
1
2
4
4
2
1
21
39
167
43
13
44
12
2a
113
40
30
33
86
62
544 211
95
404
84
90
710
235
129
513
It cannot fail to strike every one who sees these figures, how ex-
ceedingly small is the proportion of those persons who, having been
so far instructed as to be able to read and write in a superior man-
ner, are found to be inmates of the workhouse. Fluency in the art
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 125
II. If, again, we consider society as ?i political and moral
partnership, intended to protect its members in the enjoy-
ment of their rights, and to enlarge their means of happi-
ness and improvement we shall find education equally use-
ful. Though its ostensible object should only be to im-
prove the intellect, it will still be apt to operate benignly
on the moral sentiments and habits, and will tend to make
its subjects better men and better citizens. By its lessons
and tasks it tends to substitute reflection and deliberative
effort in place of mere impulse. By its discipline it con-
tributes, insensibly, to generate a spirit of subordination to
lawful authority, a power of self-control, and a habit of
postponing present indulgence to a greater future good ;
and, finally, by the knowledge which it communicates, it
enlarges a child's conceptions of his true interests, and
teaches him that forecast, self-restraint, and a correct moral
deportment are indispensable prerequisites to success in
life. The same effects must follow, in a much higher de-
gree, when intellectual instruction has been combined with
proper moral culture. We never expect, in such cases,
that men will employ the power which education has given
them, in injuring their country by violence or by more insid-
ious means ; we expect to find them obedient to the laws,
careful of the public welfare, judicious and exemplary in the
management of their families, and upright and respectable
in all their deportment. If they live under a popular form of
government, where they choose their own magistrates, and
have a controlling voice in legislation, we expect to find
of reading, unaccompanied by proficiency in writing, affords no proof
of adequate instruction. It would be more correct to say, that the
absence of the latter acquirement is in itself evidence of the uncul-
tivated condition of the mind. It will be seen that among the 2725
paupers, included in the foregoing statement, only fourteen, or one
in 19.5, could write well; and that if we add to the 1402 persons
who can neither read nor write those who can read only imper-
fectly, they make up just two thirds.
L2
126 THE SCHOOL AND
them distiiij^iislied for enlightened attachment to their coim-
try, and for the sagacity and honesty with which they ex-
ercise their political powers.
" It has been observed," says a judicious writer,* " that
if the French had been an educated people, many of the
atrocities of their revolution would never have happened ;
and I believe it. Furious mobs are composed, not of en-
lightened, but of unenlightened men ; of men in Avhom the
passions are dominant over the judgment, because the judg-
ment has not been exercised, and informed, and habituated
to direct the conduct. A factious declaimer can much less
easily influence a number of men who acquire at schools the
rudiments of knowledge, and who have subsequently devo-
ted their leisure to a Mechanics' Institute, than a multitude
who cannot read or write, and who have never practised rea-
soning and considerate thought. And as the education of a
people prevents political evils, it effects political good. Do-
mestic rulers well Itnow, that Imowledge is inimical to their
power. This simple fact is a sufficient reason to a good
and wise man to approve knowledge and extend it. The
attention to public institutions and public measuies which is
inseparable from an educated population, is a great good.
We well know, that the human heart is such, that the posses-
sion of power is commonly attended with a desire to increase
it, even in opposition to the general weal. It is acknowl-
edged that a check is needed, and no check is either so ef-
ficient or so safe, as that of a watchful and intelligent public
mind : so watchful that it is prompt to discover and expose
what is amiss ; so intelligent that it is able to form rational
judgments respecting the nature and the means of amend-
ment.! In all public institutions there exists, and it is happy
* Dymond: see Essays on the Principles of Morals, Ess. ii.,
chap. xiii.
t A striking example of this powerful and salutary restraint on
arbitrary power is thus noticed by a late traveller • " The victory of
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 1^
that there does exist, a sort of vis inertiae which habitually
resists change. This, which is beneficial as a general ten-
dency, is often injurious from its excess. The state of pub-
lic institutions, almost throughout the world, bears sufficient
testimony to the truth, that they need alteration and amend-
ment faster than they receive it ; that the internal resistance
to change is greater than is good for man. Unhappily, the
ordinary way in which a people have endeavoured to amend
their institutions, has been by some mode of violence. If
you ask when a nation acquired a gi-eater degree of freedom,
you are referred to some era of revolution, and probably of
blood. These are not proper — certainly they are not Chris-
tian remedies for the disease. It is becoming an undispu-
ted proposition, that no bad institution can permanently stand
intellect over the trammels of aristocracy has been powerfully ex-
emplified within the space of sixty years, in the Protestant states of
Germany. Constitutional governments they may not have secured ;
forms of liberty they still want ; but the lethargy and servitude of
mind which the olden dynasties had so rigorously cherished, have
passed away through the one opening left to the freedom of the
German people. They were permitted to read, and they had men
to write. Imposts, oppressions, and the whole train of feudal be-
quests have fled, one by one, before the minds emancipated and
moulded by the newborn literature of the present century. The
people have possessed themselves of the records of their ancient
glory and independence. Midler, Goethe, and Schiller revived and
immortalized the faded memory of foregone greatness, and gave im-
perishable impulse to worthier and yet more fruitful influences. The
press of Germany has achieved the freedom of more than was ever
enslaved. The Prussian government, a nominal oligarchy, is
among the most essentially popular of all the governments of Eu-
rope. The people do not elect their representatives, but the gov-
ernment, nevertheless, faithfully represents the people. They have,
therefore, the substance without the outward form of freedom.
This must not be attributed to any virtue inherent in irresponsible
power. It is because the power of the Prussian government is re-
sponsible to an educated opinion, an opinion of which it too thor-
oughly partakes not to regard " — Londcm Athenaum, No. 748, p 148.
128
THE SCHOOL AND
against the distinct opinion of a people. This opinion is
likely to be universal, and to be intelligent only among an
enlightened community."
If this is everywhere true, it must be pre-eminently so, in
a republic. In this country it has become almost a truism,
that general education is indispensable, in order to qualify
our people, for the discharge of their political and social du-
ties. The vast responsibilities with which they are charged,
are not to be duly met by means of any instincts, however
powerful or generous. God has not given to man, as to
the beasts of the field, blind but unerring impulses, which
supersede all vigilance and painful effort, and which con-
duct him by a path, never to be mistaken, to his true des-
tiny. The people of this great Republic, have no more a
native and inherent ability to exercise wisely the privilege
of voting, than they have to predict Avithout instruction, and
yet with unfailing precision, the return of a comet, or the
occultation of some bright star in the heavens. All these
are powers to be unfolded and enlightened by culture ; and
the culture which qualifies a free people for their political
duties must be generous and comprehensive, including the
moral as well as the intellectual faculties, and aiming to make
good citizens by first maldng good and enlightened men. It
must be a culture which, though commenced at school and
under the guidance of others, shall be subsequently pros-
ecuted by the individual himself, and carried forward amid
the cares of active life ; and which, if it would fulfil
completely its high purposes, must never count itself to
have apprehended. Wo to the people with democratic in-
stitutions who shall forget or underrate this momentous truth.*
* A late eloquent writer on Education in France (Girardin) has
touched upon this truth with force : " Tlie best institutions," says
he, " where the education of the people is not sufficiently profound
and general to develop their principles, are only elements of disturb-
ance cast into the bosom of society ; for they create wants which
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 129
Already, to the provident and reflecting mind, does Ichabod
seem inscribed on that land wliich forgets its own weak-
ness, and which does not, with prayer to the God of na-
tions, couple general and generous efforts to cultiA^ate mind,
and to uphold in its midst the interests of truth and vir-
tue. When such a land allows itself to be lulled to sleep
by the siren song that the people cannot err, and that they
have only to be left without restraint or guidance, in order
to develop the greatest perfection of the social state — when
this, the cant of demagogues, becomes the real creed of the
people themselves, in their homes and their hearts, is it
presumptuous to say that such a nation, so deceived and
betrayed, must soon, however bright with promise now,
be numbered among the republics that have been; that its
name, at no distant dav will oe quoted only as a beacon,
bv ^he ^lejuaiced to warn against all free institutions, and
by the wise to prove the folly and peril of such institutions
— when not based on intelligence and virtue.*
they cannot satisfy ^aey are lavish of rights and duties ; they
weak":, governments, which, by the multiplication of laws, render
their execution impossible ; they concentre to excess in a few ar-
dent minds those ideas which ought to be imperceptibly absorbed by
the whole population. These ideas ferment and explode for want
of vent. It is thus that institutions which produce more poivcr than
they can usually employ, perish by the excess of that which it be-
comes necessary to compress. — The instruction of the people en-
dangers absolute governments ; their ignorance, on the contrary,
imperils representative governments ; for the parliamentary debates,
while they reveal to the masses the extent of their rights, do not
wait till they can exercise them with discernment ; and when a
people knows its rights, there is but one way to govern — to educate
them."
* One of the most striking proofs of the aid and support atforded
to republican institutions by a good system of popular education, is
presented by the democratic cantons of Switzerland. The condi-
tion of the people is described by tourists as one of great social com-
fort, great equality of condition, and, under all their peculiarities of
130 THE SCHOOL AND
The power of education is never displayed more striking-
ly, than when it enters some community which has been
hitherto deprived of it. Dr. Johnson has somewhere no-
soil and climate, as one of singular prosperity. They seem to live
like one great family rather than in the distinct relations of classes,
demarcated and distanced by degrees of wealth and rank. "This
intermixture of classes, however," says a traveller, " is wonderfully
divested of the offensive familiarities which would infaUibJy arise from
it in less educaled countries. Deferential respect is paid, perhaps,
rather to age and moral station than to mere affluence ; but I have
seldom witnessed any departure, from a tone and manner of affec-
tionate courtesy, on the part of the poorer towards the higher class-
es. This may, however, be mainly attributable to the habitual and
kindly consideration, shown to the working classes, by their supe-
riors. Whether this results from a higher religious sense of the
duty of doing to others as we would be done by ; whether from nat-
ural kind-heartedness, or whether from a knowledge of the power
possessed by each man, merely as a man, in a country where they
assemble round the fountain in the market-place, and select their
law-makers after their own free choice and judgment, I know not ;
but, be it from love or be it from fear, certain is it that a kindly feel-
ing is evinced by employers to the employed in Northern Switzer-
land, of which few other countries afford an example."
After referring to the rapidity with which, owing to their general
intelligence, this people overcame their deep repugnance to the in-
troduction of cotton-mills and machine power, the same writer pro-
ceeds to account for their happy social condition. " Switzerland is
clearly indebted to the highly-educated, or, to speak more correctly,
to the extensively-educated mind of her people, for her singular
prosperity and advancement. Brilliant talents, or any eminent pow-
ers of intellect, are very rarely found among the Swiss ; but for sound
good sense, and general proficiency in the commoner branches of
education, I do not think that there is a people equal to them. A
family in one of the villages I visited in the canton of Zurich was
pointed out to me as unusually disreputable, and I was cautioned not
to take anything I saw there as a sample of the rest. One of the
heaviest charges made against the conduct of the master was, that
he had been repeatedly warned by the gemeindamman to send two
of his children to school, who were turned of eight years old ; that
he had proved so refractory that at length the stadtholder had been
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 131
ticed the reformation of a parish in a very savage state, by
the civilizing influence of a decayed gentlewoman, who
infoiined of his conduct, and it was only when he found he was
about to be fined that he compHed with the law."
The effect of an improved and extended education on the inhab-
itants' of Prussia is thus stated by Mr. Wyse, after a tour of jf ersonal
inspection in that country : " What is the real social result of all
this ! How has it affected the population for good or ill 1 How is
it likely to affect them in future 1 The narratives given by Pesta-
lozzi, De Fellenberg, Oberlin, and the Pere Girard. of the singular
revolution, mental and moral, I may also add, physical, effected by
the application of their system of teaching on a hitherto ignorant
and vicious population, though admitted to be isolated experiments,
ought not the less to be considered evidences of the intrinsic force
of the instrument itself, and of its power to produce similar results,
wherever and whenever fairly tried, without reference to country
or numbers ; that is, whenever applied with the same earnestness,
honesty, and skill in other instances as in theirs. And of this por-
tion of Prussia — of the Rhenish provinces — it may be surely averred,
that it has now been for some time under the influence of this sys-
tem, and that during that period, whether resulting from such influ-
ence or not, its progress in intelligence, industry, and morality, in
the chief elements of virtue and happiness, has been steadOy and
strikingly progressive. In few parts of the civilized world is there
more marked exemption from all crimes of violence." "The
same abstinence from offences against property is conspicuous."
" Doubtless much of this most gratifying result may be ascribed to
comfort and employment. But this, again, must be ascribed to some
still higher cause. There is comfort, because there is frugality ;
there is employment, because there is the desire, and search, and
love of it. There is industry, incessant, universal, in every class,
from high to low, because there are the early habits of useful occu-
pation, and there are these habits because there is sound and gen-
eral education." " The clergjman admitted that his flock had not
become worse Christians for becoming more intelligent men ; the
officer, that his men had grown more obedient as they had grown
more inistructed : a word now led where a cane formerly was insuf-
ficient ; the farmer for the increased profits of his farm, as the man-
ufacturer for those of his factory, thanked the school. Skill had in-
creased, and conduct had improved with knowledge — profits with
132 THE SCHOOL AND
came among them to teach school. It was a subject wor-
thy of'liis pen. The world has recently witnessed a sim-
ilar transformation, effected, in part, through the same means,
by the Pastor Oberlin, on the Mountains of Alsace. No-
thing could exceed the poverty, ignorance, and wretchedness
which* prevailed among the peasants who composed his
parish. The state of education in the principal village may
be inferred from the character of their only schoolmaster.
Oberlin's predecessor (M. Stouber),a man of like spirit, be-
gan his efforts to improve the parish by inquiring into the
state of instruction. Asking for the school, he was con-
ducted to a miserable hovel, where there were a number
of children crowded together, without occupation, and in so
wild and noisy a state, that it was with some difficulty he
could gain a reply to his inquiries for the master. " There
he is," said one of them, as soon as silence could be ob-
tained, pointing to a withered old man, who lay on a little
bed in one corner of the apartment. " Are you the school-
master, my good friend?" inquired Stouber. " Yes, sir."
" And what do you teach the children ?" " Nothing, sir."
" Nothing ! How is that ?" " Because," replied the old man,
with characteristic simplicity, " I know nothing myself."
" Why, then, were you instituted schoolmaster?" " Why,
sir, I had been taking care of the Waldbach pigs for a great
both. Even household management had reaped its advantage when
the first vanity and presumption arising out of the partial nature ot
instruction had worn off— when it had become general, sound, and
appropriate ; the servant, especially the female servant, was not less
faithful, and had become far more useful than before." It may not
be improper to add, that the education of Prussia fits its subjects for
the government under which they live, but wants that spirit of free-
dom and self-reliance which would qualify them for a government
like ours. The depreciating accounts which some recent travellers,
such as Laing, have given of the state of morals in Prussia, is de-
clared, by those who have had the best opportunities and the
strongest disposition to judge impartially, to be without foundation-
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 133
number of. years, and when I got too old and infirm for that
employment, they sent me here to take care of the chil-
dren !"
Under the superintendence of these wise and faithful
men, good schools were established ; a liberal course of
instruction Avas instituted ; religious influence was carefully
and constantly applied ; and the industry and enterprise of
the inhabitants fostered by the presence, counsel, and ex-
ample of their pastor. The results were delightful, and, to
most persons, amazing. In spite of all the physical disad
vantages of their position, they became prosperous. Their
manners were refined, their tastes elevated, population rap-
idly increased, concord reigned among them, and they were
alike intelligent and contented. Now the results produced
in this humble district, by a wise system of education, have
always followed, in other places, just in proportion as such a
system has been introduced. Take the countries, in which
the instruction of the people has made most progress during
the last centur}', and it Avill be found that they are the very
countries, in which the social and political condition of the
inhabitants has most improved. The average length of hu-
man life has materially increased ; there has been a great
advance in the wealth and comfort of all classes ; while, at
the same time, crime, mendicity, riots, and political tumults
have greatly diminished. Indeed, so powerful is education,
as a means of national improvement, that, to borrow the
language of a late -writer, who has made an extended sur-
vey, of the relative state of instruction and social welfare,
in the leading nations of the world, " if the different coun-
tries of the world be arranged according to the state of edu
cation, they will also be found to be arranged, with few ex-
ceptions, according to wealth, morals, and general happiness :
and not only does this rule hold good, as respects a country
taken as a whole, but it will generally apply to the differ-
ent parts of the same country. Thus, in England, educa-
M
134 THE SCHOOL AND
tion is in the best state in the northern agricultural district,
and in the worst state in the southern agTicultural district,
and the agricultural parts of the midland district ; while in
the great towns and other manufacturing places, education is
in an intermediate state ; at the same time, the condition of
the people, and the extent of crime and violence among them,
follow a like order P*
I cannot refrain from placing on record one fact, as a
farther confirmation of the latter part of this statement. It
is derived from a chart, published a few years since in
England, by Joseph Bentley, which professes to exhibit the
moral condition, of the different counties of England, as
compared with their means of education. In parallel col-
umns, are placed the population, number of schools, number
of libraries, number of literary and scientific institutions,
number of places for the sale of intoxicating liquors, and,
lastly, the number of criminal convictions within the year.
I am well aware that the number of schools in a country is
not a certain criterion of the proportion of the children i;n-
der instruction, nor of the degree and quality of such in-
struction. Still, it affords an approximation to the real
state of education, and the best returns on this subject,
considered as tests, are but approximations. The result to
which I have referred, as gathered from these returns, is
most striking ; it is this : If you take the four hest instruct-
ed counties of England, as exhibited on this chart, and also
the four worst insti'ucted, it will be found that the average
amount of crime is almost exactly in the inverse ratio of the
average amount of instruction.^
* See National Education, its Present State and Prospects, by
Fred. Hill, in 2 vols., London, 1836.
t The four best instructed counties in England, according to this
table, are :
Inhabitants. Inhabitants.
Rutland, having 1 school to every 695, and 1 crim'l. conviction per ann. to eveiy 718
Westminster, " " G96, " " " 2201
Cumberland, " " 736, « " " 1101
Middlesex, « " 747, " " « 415
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 135
But, it may be asked, what charm is there about reading
and \vTiting, that these should forthwith banish the propensi-
ties to crime and vice ? " I am simple enough," says a late
writer, " to believe that a man may be utterly ignorant of A
B C, and yet be not given to cutting throats ; and wholly un-
slvilled in the art of penmanship, and still have no bias in fa-
vour of burglary. Nay, it is my deliberate opinion — mad as
it may appear in these days of societies for the diffusion of
horn-books and propagation of primers — that Mavor is no
preventive to murder, nor Vyse any corrective of vice. And
I cannot, by any course of reasoning, bring myself to per-
ceive that an inability to read must be generally accompani-
ed with a like inability to distinguish between right and
wrong, as if the question of meum and tuum had more to do
with Lindley Murray than morals."*
Or an average of
One school to every 701 inliabitants, and one criminal conviction to 1108 inhabitants.
The four worst instructed counties are :
Inhabitants. Inhlbilanls.
Northampton, 1 school to every 1757, and 1 crim'l. conviction per ann. to every 601
Dorset, " " 1435, " " " 610
Somerset, " " 1427, " " " 393
Hereford, " " 1366, " " " 596
Or an average of
One school to every 1501 inhabitants, and one criminal conviction to 550 inhabitants.
* This passage is extracted from a work recently published in
England, entitled, What to Teach, and how to Teach it so that the Child
may become a wise and good Man. By Henky Mayhew. Part I. —
The Cultivation of the Intellect. It contains many valuable
suggestions in regard to the nature and end of education, stated,
however, witli somewhat too much of flippancy, and with an unne-
cessary parade of metaphysical learning. In his zeal to correct the
prevalent error of putting reading and writing in place of real edu-
cation, the author gravely proposes that we should first teach the
pupil science, and then, as the last step, "add a hwivledge of read-
ing, so that he may be able to trace the history and progress of it,
which is extremely curious and interesting; and of nriting, so that
he may be able (should he have it in his power, by any new discov-
ery, to increase the general knowledge) to give that discovery to
the world. We must recollect that, educationally, writing is the
means of educating those who are absent and future; reading, the
136 THE SCHOOL AND
It seems hardly necessary to say, that these remarks are
entirely irrelevant to the point now under discussion. We
have insisted, throughout this volume, that we mean by edu-
cation much more than the ability to read and write. We
mean something, by which the pupil shall be taught to respect
both himself and others ; to find pleasure in the cultivation
of his intellectual powers, and to act habitually upon the im-
pulse of liis higher sentiments. Why, then, it may be urged,
do you insist so much, in your reasoning and statistical sur-
veys, upon the proportion of criminals, &c.,who are imable
to read and write 1 I answer, because, in treating of the
state of education in a country, we must fix upon some index
or exponent. Nothing is more indefinite than the term ed-
ucation, nor than the thing signified by that term. It is to be
presumed, however, in the present state of the world, when
the means of education are so abundant, and when they are
so easy of access even to the very poor, that children who
have not been taught so much as to read and write, nave
been neglected in other respects. Such children will be
found, in a large proportion of instances, to have been train-
ed to no regular occupation nor to any habits of industry, and
to have grown up, in truth, without instruction of any kind.
In referring, then, so constantly to reading and writing, we
use them merely as signs, not as causes, and as negative
rather than as positive signs. In other words, while we re-
gard ignorance, of these simplest elements of knowledge, as
proof that the education of the child has been greatly neg-
lected, we do not regard a knowledge of them, as proof that
that education has been properly cared for.* In the ab-
means of being educated by. those who are absent and past ; and
speaking, the means of educating those loJio are present ! /"
* It is evident, however, that comparisons made on this princi-
ple bear unjustly against education, or, rather, do not bear wilh suf-
ficient force in its favour ; since they rank, as educated, many, who,
though they can read and write, are yet destitute of the appropriate
fruits of a sound and thorough education.
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 137
sence of any other criterion, more definite and tangible, we
take the best which offers itself ; but we would always in-
sist, most strenuously, upon the necessity of aiming, in edu-
cation, at something vastly higher. It is of education, in this
higher and more real sense, that we always speak through-
out this work ; we maintain that it is a controlling power in
society ; and we appeal to the fact that, in improving and ex-
tending the education of a people, Ave invariably improve their
social condition, as proof that this power is benignant, as
well as great.*
♦ " It is with grief," says M. Cousin, in his Report on the State
of Education in Holland, " that I contemplate the mistaken zeal, the
illogical reasoning of certain philanthropists, and even of certain
governments, M'ho bestow so much pains upon prisons, and neglect
schools : they allow crime to spring up, and vicious habits to take
root, by the utter neglect of all moral training, and of all education
in children ; and when crime is grown, and is strong and full of life,
they attempt to cope with it ; they try to subdue it with the terror
of punishment, or to mitigate it, in some degree, by gentleness and
kindness. After having exhausted all their resources both of thought
and of money, they are astonished to find that their efforts are vain ;
and why ? because all they do is in direct opposition to common
sense. To correct is very important, but to prevent is far more so.
The seeds of morality and piety must be early sown in the heart of
the child, in order that they may be found again, and be made to
shoot forth in the breast of the man whom adverse circumstances
may have brought under the avenging hand of the law. To edu-
cate the people, is the necessary foundation of all good prison disci-
pline. It is not the purpose of a penitentiary to change monsters
into men, but to revive, in the breasts of those who have gone astray,
the principles which were taught and inculcated to them in their
youth, and which they acknowledged and carried into practice in
former days, in schools of their infancy, before passion, and wretch-
edness, and bad example, and the evil chances of life, had hurried
them away from the faths of rectitude. To correct, we must ex-
cite remorse and awaken the voice of conscience '; but how can we
recall a sound that has never been heard ! How are we to revive
a language that had never been taught ] I approve of, nay, I bless .
Avith my whole heart, every kind of penitentiary ; but I conBidei
M2
138 THE SCHOOL AND
It is alleged, however, that, notwithstanding the progress
of education, crime and immorality increase. If the present
be compared with any distant era of history, even the most
brilliant, it will be found that the very reverse is true. In
the reign of Elizabeth, for instance, of which Hume boasts
that " learning had not then prostituted itself by becoming
too common," England was covered with gipsies and ban-
ditti, and every year, there were from three to four hundred
executions for capital crimes. In Scotland, before the pa-
rochial schools were established, and education made univer-
sal, two hundred thousand vagrants, according to Fletcher
of Saltoim, roamed over the land, living by pillage and beg-
gary, and having " no regard or subjection either to the laws
of the land, or even to those of God and Nature." What a
change has since been wrought ! and who can doubt that, in
producing it, education has been a most powerful, though
certainly not the only cause ? It is not to be forgotten, that
the causes which affect social welfare are various, and hence
crime may for awhile increase, and civilization decline,
even though education does advance ; not, however, because
education is powerless, but because its influence is, for the
time, overborne or counteracted by other agencies.
Is it a truth, however, that crime and immorality do in-
crease 1 Let us consider this question for a moment with
regard to our own state ; and that we may limit the inqui-
ry, let us speak only of crime in the technical or judicial
sense. I remark, then.
First, That, so far as our own state is concerned, the re-
turns of criminal convictions, annually made to the office of
the secretary of state, show that the increase of crimes of
that they must forever remain ahnost fruitless, unless their power
to reclaim is made to rest upon the effect of schools for the people
universally established, attendance upon which is obligatory, and
where instruction is considered as only one of the means of educa-
tion."
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 139
every description, within the last ten years, is not greater
than the increase of population, even on the supposition, by
no means probable, that the returns M^ere as full and com-
plete, when first required, ton years since, as they arc at
present.*
Secondly, This increase of crime would have been much
less, but for the unusual influx of foreigners within the last
few years. Dr. Julius states, as the result of a laborious
examination of all the principal prisons of the United States,
that about otie third of the convicts are foreigners. The re-
turns of this state show that, with us, the proportion is even
larger, being in some years nearly one half.
Thirdly, Before this increase of crime could, under any
circumstances, be ascribed with plausibility to an increase
of education, for this is gravely maintained by some per-
sons, it would be necessary to show that those offences
have multiplied fastest which, in their conception and prep-
aration, require the greatest knowledge and forethought.
The facts, however, are remarkably the reverse. In this
state, as appears by a late annual report (for 1840) of the
secretary of state on criminal convictions, the crimes of
forgery, perjury, burglary, &c., which imply skill and
knowledge, have been diminishing, while those which are
the usual concomitants of ignorance and , mental debase-
ment have increased. To the same effect is the experi-
ence of other states. Says the chaplain of the Connecticut
State Prison, in a late report, " that knowledge is not very
frequently used as an instrument in the commission of crime,
may be presumed from the fact that, of the 66 committed to
this prison last year, the crimes of only four were of such
* It ought to be considered, also, that in proportion as the detec-
tion and punishment of offences is facihtated by an improved police,
and by a better state of public morals, in that proportion criminal
arrests and convictions may become more numerous, though crime
itself is decreasing.
140 THE SCHOOL AND
a nature as to require for their commission ability either to
read or write." The directors of the Ohio Penitentiary-
state that " it is an erroneous impression that the convicts
are inteUigent, shrewd men, whose minds have been per-
verted to vice, rather than blunderers into low and vicious
habits, and vdtimately into the commission of crime, from
idleness, ignorance, and opacity of mental vision. It will
be seen that nearly the whole number of convicts are be-
low mediocrity in point of information ; and, indeed, our in-
quiries and observations have long since fully satisfied us
that, not only in our own prison, but in others which we
have visited or inquired after, depraved appetites and cor-
rupt habits, which have led to the commission of crime,
are usually found with the ignorant, uninformed, and duller
part of mankind. Of the 276, nearly all below mediocri-
iry, 175 are grossly ignorant, and in point of education
scarcely capable of transacting the ordinary business of
life." Is it not a question for grave reflection, how far so-
ciety, after thus suffering individuals to grow up in igno-
rance and incapacity, retains, in respect to them, the right
of inflicting punishment 1*
FGurthly, To show, however, still more clearly that edu-
cation, instead of being responsible for any portion of this
increase of crime, is directly and greatly calculated to ar-
* It has been said, that, though ignorance and want of education
are concomitanls of crime, they are not the causes of it, but are only
effects, conjointly with crime, of some other cause or causes, such
as poverty. I reply that, though the proximate cause of some crimes
is poverty, the ultimate cause, even in such cases, is generally the
want of a good education. Poverty itself, as we have already shown,
may, in most instances, be attributed, in this country, to a neglect-
ed or eiToneous education ; and, moreover, it is not true, that our
criminals are generally from among the sufTering poor. Their crimes
have, in most cases, resulted from idleness and vice ; and these, as
all knoAv, are the ofleot usually of bad training in childhood and
youth.
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 141
rest it, I would place in juxtaposition, and ask attention
to two facts, which seem to me alike conclusive and stri-
king.
I. It appears by the late census, that there are but 43,000
white adults in this state, who are unable to read and write.
If to this number, Ave add one half of the whole coloured
population of the state as sufl'ering from a like inability,
and make a large allowance for children old enough to
commit crime, yet without education, we shall get a total
of about 83,000 ; i. e., about aV^h of the whole population of
the state, who cannot read and write. If, then, education
has no tendency to diminish crime, so that a person, after
having enjoyed its advantages, is as likely to commit crime
as the ignorant, we should expect, on examining the records
of our courts and prisons, to find the same proportion be-
tween the instructed and uninstructed among the convicts,
as among the whole population. In other words, we should
expect to find 28 convicts able to read and write to every
one unable to do so. Now what is the fact?
II. If we take the whole number of convictions in this
state for the last two years, in courts of record and at spe-
cial sessions, we find not 1 in 29 who is unable to read,
but 1 in 2 ; showing that the tendency to crime among the
ignorant is fourteen and a half times greater than it ought
to be, on the supposition that education has no tendency to
diminish crime. An examination of the Auburn prison,
made something more than a year ago, gave, out of 244
prisoners, but 59 who could read well, and but 39 who
could read and write.
In the New Penitentiary of Philadelphia, out of 217 pris-
oners received during the year 1835, but 85 could read and
write, and most of these could do either the one or the
other in but a very imperfect manner. Facts of this kind
might be adduced to almost any extent. By showing that
the proportion of imeducated convicts is much greater than
142 THE SCHOOL AND
that of uneducated inhabitants, they seem to me to demon-
strate that ignorance is one of the great highways to crime,
and that, in proportion as men are left without instruction, in
that proportion they are hkely to become convicts.
In dismissing this subject, I ought, perhaps, to refer to a
statement, made a few years since by a distinguished French
writer (M. Guerry), which seems to militate seriously against
the views here taken, and which is frequently adduced, as
proof that education is powerless in preventing, if it be not
efficient in producing crime. It was alleged by M. Gueny,
after an elaborate survey of the " moral statistics" of France,
that there was more crime in the best instructed than in the
worst instructed provinces of the kingdom. Admitting the
fact to be as stated, and admitting, also, that education was
the cause of this increase of crime, it must be obvious to
every one bestowing a moment's reflection on the subject,
that the true explanation is to be found in the absence, un -
til recently, from French systems of instruction, of a moral
and religious spirit.
It has been ascertained, however, on a more thorough ex-
amination, that it did not hold, as a general fact, that crime
was more prevalent in the better instructed provinces ; and,
moreover, that, if such vt^ere the fact, it was susceptible of
demonstration that education was not to be held responsible
for it. From a paper read a few years since before the Sta-
tistical Society of London, by G. R. Porter, Esq., it appears
that the conclusions of M. Guerry were based upon the re-
turns of a single year, whereas five years taken in succession
would furnish a result entirely difl^erent. The returns for
the five years ending 1833 show, that the annual average
number of criminals was nearly ten per cent, greater in the
least instructed, than it was in the most instructed depart-
ments ; and it so happens that the year (1831) taken by
M. Guerry for examination, was the only one of the five,
in which the excess of criminals was not arranged on the
THE .SCHOOLMASTER.
143
side of the least instructed departments. It is farther to be
considered — and this, indeed, is the all-essential point — that
an excess of crime, in the best instructed provinces in 1831,
proves nothing against education, unless it can be shown,
that the criminals themselves were educated. But it turns
out, on examination, that |ths of the whole number were un-
able to read and write well, and that the proportion of igno-
rant criminals, as compared with the whole number of nnin-
structed inhabitants, was even greater in the more enlighten-
ed provinces than elsewhere. The reason for the latter
fact probably is, that where education is pretty generally
imparted, the wholly ignorant find themselves more embar-
rassed in obtaining employment, and hence are more likely
to betake themselves to lawless courses.*
* It is usual now, in the criminal statistics of France and England,
to divide the persons accused or convicted into four classes, as it
respects their education. The 1st class is composed of those who
are unable to read and write. 2. Able to read and write imperfect-
ly, '.i. Able to read and write well. 4. Superiorly instructed. In
France, during seven years, the proportion borne by the well edu-
cated to the other three classes of the accused was, on an average,
227 to 9773. In Scotland and England, where the proportionate
number of well-educated persons must be much greater than it is in
France, the proportion of the accused of that character was (in
1836) considerably less. In Scotland it was but 188 to 9812, while
in England it v.'as no more than 91 to 9909. The following table is
worthy of inspection :
Unable to read and write . . . .
Able to read and write imperfectly .
Able to read and write well . . .
En«hnd and Wales.
Scotland.
0. accused. ''•"'=°"=«™»i'
N'o. accused.
CenlMimal
priporMon.
propnrlion.
7,033
33.52
539
18.45
10.9.->3
52.33
1427
48.84
2,215
10.56
489
16.73
191
0.91
55
1.88
502
2.68
412
14.10
20,984
100.00
2922
100.00
Superiorly instructed
Degree of instruction not ascertained
Of the 55 educated persons, accused in Scotland, 41 were convict-
ed, viz. : 15 for common assaults, 15 for simple thefts, 2 for frauds, 3
for forgery, 1 for subornation of perjury, 2 for house breaking, 1 for a
nameless offence, 2 for other slight offences. It is obvious that in-
temperance must have occasioned a large proportion of these
144 THE SCHOOL AND
We have thus shown that education, even in its present
state, though so imperfect, so wanting in a lofty moral aim,
and so destitute of a truly intellectual spirit, still does much
to diminish crime, and to promote the social well-being of
communities and nations. How much more would this be
the case, if all young persons enjoyed such training and in-
struction as might be bestowed, and such as we are bound
to claim and struggle after in their behalf.
Throughout this and the preceding section, I have assumed
that the education of a whole people is practicable. It would
be worse than mockery, to unfold and dwell on the vast impor-
tance of the education of the masses, if it be a blessing be-
yond their reach, or beyond the reach of most of them. That
a good moral and industrial training might be enjoyed by
all, in a well-ordered state of society, will probably be ad-
mitted ; but it is not so generally conceded, that we can be-
stow on all, knowledge, and the blessings of an active, culti-
vated mind. It must not be forgotten, says De Tocqueville,
that a great majority, in every civilized country, must spend
their lives in manual labour j and that, in their case, no high
degree of culture can be expected. It seems to me, how-
ever, that this remark is founded on a great, though very
prevalent misconception in regard to the nature and effects
of manual labour. It was for ages supposed that its tenden-
crimes ; for example, the assaults. The punishments awarded were
as follows :
Tried and discharged 11
Imprisoned one month and under ... 8
" above 1 and not exceeding 2 months 8
"3 '< « 6 " . 5
" 6 " «' 12 " . 3
Outlawed . 2
Transported for 7 years 1
" 14 years 1
life 2
Total 41
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 145
cy and efiect must be, to deaden and debase the powers of
the soul. The rudeness and ignorance which abounded
among the Avorking-chisses, and which ought to have been
ascribed to the neglect or oppression of their superiors,
were, by a strange perversion, attributed to their occupa-
tions ; and tliis, too, in the face of the undeniable fact,
that those classes were, over all Europe, forcing their way
upward in the scale of intelligence and political power, in
spite of the most strenuous and formidable opposition ; and
in face, too, of the fact, now so obvious, that they owed their
increasing intelligence and consideration, in a great measure,
to their industry. It has been assumed, also, that a labour-
ing man has no time for mental culture, and that it is pre-
posterous to expect, that reading and thinking beings can be
made out of those wlio&e lives are doomed to unceasing
toil.
The answer to these objections is, first, that labour has
no tendency, to debase and deaden the intellect. To think
so, is to impeach the wisdom and goodness of that Being
who has made labour our great duty. It is to overlook the
fact, that no labour is so humble or so circumscribed, but
that knowledge and mental culture will assist the workman
to perform it cheerfully, and will also enable him to make
it more productive to himself, and more useful to others.
It is to forget, too, that no one is condemned by Providence
to one dull round of toil ; that it is the right and duty of
every one to seek, if he be duly qualified, a less laborious
or a more intellectual employment, and that it is education
alone which can thus prepare him, to var}^ his condition.
If the labouring population were educated, as thoroughly as
their situation admits, and were made provident, we should
no longer hear of multitudes being obliged to spend their
whole lives in heading nails, or pointing pins. It is also
worthy of consideration, that most kinds of manual labour
require some degree of thought and intelligence, thus con-
N
146 THE SCHOOL AND
tributing to improve the mind ; and that there are many
moments, even when most busy, that the workman can de-
vote his mind to reflection on the contents of the books he
has read, or to those excursions of a healthy and well-reg-
ulated imagination, which tend to strengthen the under-
standing and to improve the heart.
But, secondly, is it true that a life of labour aflbrds no
time for reading and self-culture ? I can hardly conceive
of any occupation so incessant or toilsome that it would not
afford two or three hours in a week, besides many " odd
ends of time," to be appropriated to books and lectures.
Add to these, the time which God has especially conse-
crated to the improvement of the mind in knowledge as
well as virtue — the Christian Sabbath. Add, also, the op-
portunities for improving thought, and for instructive con-
versation, which the labourer has when at work,* and it
becomes evident, that no inconsiderable part of the time of
the most industrious may be spent in gaining knowledge
and wisdom. It can be deemed no exaggeration, if we
maintain that, in addition to days of sacred rest, which form
one seventh part of life, there are other seasons of leisure
which may be given to mental culture, sufficient to form,
* " Where workmen are employed in the same apartment, and
there is nothing noisy in the work, one may always read while the
others are employed. If there are twenty-four men together, this
arrangement would only require each man to make one extra day
in four weeks, supposing the reading to go on the whole day, which
it would not ; but a boy or a girl might be engaged to perform the
task at an expense so trifling as not to be felt. This expedient, too,
it may be observed, would save money as well as time ; one copy
of a book, and that borrowed for the purpose, or obtained from a
reading society or circulating library, would suffice for a number of
persons. I may add, that great help would be given by the better-
informed and more apt learners to such as are slower of apprehen-
sion and more ignorant ; and discussion (under proper regulations)
would be of singular use to all, even the most forward proficients."
— Lord !Rbough.\m.
THE SCHOOLMASTER. 147
with those days, a portion of hfe not less tlian one sixth,
and in many cases, not less than one fourth of the whole.
" I begin," says Lord Brougham, at the opening of a
pamphlet, published several years since, on Popular Edu-
cation, " by assuming that there is no class of the commu-
nity so entirely occupied with labour as not to have aa
hour or two, every other day at least, to bestow upon the
pleasure and improvement to be derived from reading, or
so poor as not to have the means of contributing something
towards purchasing this gratification ; the enjoyment of
which, besides the present amusement, is the surest way
both to raise our character and belter our condition."
CONCLUSION.
I have thus dwelt at great length upon the nature, objects,
and uses of Education. It may be thought, that on these
subjects, so protracted a discussion was unnecessary, since
they are already well understood, and thoroughly appreci-
ated, in this coimtry. But is it so ? Our people have ab-
solute control over the whole subject of education, not only
as it respects their own families, but, to a great extent, in
schools and seminaries of learning. If, then, the people
were fully awake, to its importance and true nature, we
should soon have a perfect system, and we should witness
results from it, for which we now look in vain.
Here, in truth, is the great desideratum. We all com-
plain that our schools are defective, our teachers imperfect-
ly qualified, and the training which our children receive,
both at home and at school, wanting, in some of the first
elements of a good education. Why is this ? Why do not
the people demand, and compel an immediate change ?
Why are so many instructers allowed to occupy places for
which they are incompetent, and to return our children to
us, after months, or even years, of attendance at school,
without any generous improvement in mind or manners ^
148 THE SCHOOL AND
Why is it so difficult to gain a liberal and prompt support
for efforts that are made to extend, and, above all, to per-
fect education ? And why are these efforts, when they are
sustained, so often leavened by a sordid spirit, or by a total
misconception of what education ought to do for youth ? Is
it not because, as a people, we do not, after all, appreciate
as we ought the inestimable importance of " a right virtuous
and noble education ?" Is it not because, we misapprehend
the ends to be answered by it, as well as the best means for
attaining those ends ? How few of us look upon education,
as that which is to rear our children to high mental and
moral excellence, and inspire ttem with an ambition above
this world ; an ambition to perform, with unfailing and un-
faltering fidelity, the humblest as well as the most exalted
duties ! How few of us rank such an education, higher in
our esteem, than all worldly wealth or distinction, and feel
that, in bestowing it, we give to our children the richest in-
heritance, the noblest and most enviable patrimony ! How
few apprehend, clearly, the uses to which a good education
ought to be applied, or entertain views, sufficiently large
and liberal, of the spirit of self-ciiltm'e which it ought to in-
spire and cherish !
I cannot, in closing this chapter, do better, perhaps, than
recapitulate the leading principles Avhich I have developed,
and ask the reader, as he reviews them, to inquire how far
they have hitherto been appreciated, and acted upon by him-
self. Let liim consider, that our efforts to train up 0(u- -chil-
dren in' the way that they should go must be misdirected,
and, therefore, be in part or wholly fruitless, unless we un-
derstand well the end and object of education. Let him
consider, too, that errors on this subject are exceedingly
prevalent, and that, even when they do not infect our own
minds, they are very apt to reach and taint our children,
and that special eflbrts are ne
Moral Education, to harmonize the contending impulses
of our nature, and subject all to conscience and the moral
law.
jEsthetical Education, to refine the taste, regulate and
exalt the imagination, and render both subservient, to ener-
gy of action, and purity of purpose.
Physical Education, to perfect the delicacy of the sen-
ses, establish vigorous health, and fonn habits and impart
knowledge calculated to preserve that health.
SEC. II. PREVAILING ERRORS IN REGARD TO EDUCATION.
To correct these, and form clear notions of the nature
and end of education, is the first and most essential step to-
wards improvement.
These errors are :
1. The notion, that education is comprehended in certain
scholastic acquirements.
2. That it consists in knowledge.
3. Cultivating the intellect to the neglect of the heart,
or the heart to the neglect of the intellect.
4. Overlooking the necessity of good example, and the
power of bad.
5. Overlooking the proper culture of taste and imagina-
tion.
6. Disregarding the danger of a premature development
of intellect, at the expense of health.
7. Forgetting, how manifold are the causes, which tend
to form character, or give " heart to a nation."
8. ■ Not adapting itself, sufficiently, to the different char-
acters and circumstances of children, nor to peculiarities
of age and sex.
9. Making a too free use of stimulants.
10. Not attaching sufficient importance, to intellectual
and moral iharaUT, and too rr.wcli to s-uoi^s^.
THE SCHOOLMASTER, 151
11. In not having sufficient reference to the future pur-
suits and condition of children.
SEC. V. THE EDUCATION NEEDED BY THE AMERICAN PEOPLL.
1. Moral and religious, as a means of cultivating habits
of self-control, and of obedience to lawful authority.
2. Thorough intellectual culture, in order to promote hab-
its of inquiry, and of deliberating before we act ; and also to
render us more tolerant of opinions differing from our own.
3. Industrial training, as a security against the tempta-
tions of idleness, as affording useful discipline .to the mind
and feelings, as promoting habits of order and regular-
ity, as favourable to health, and as a pledge of interest in
the common welfare.
4. A more elegant and humanizing culture, as, 1. A se-
curity against sensual indulgence. 2. A resource in leisure.
3. An innocent and healthy source of enjoyment. 4. Im-
proving manners. 5. Strengthening virtuous principles and
feelings.
The education now bestowed on the mass of the Ameri-
can people does not answer this description.
SEC. VI. IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION.
I. To the Individual.
Education of some kind is unavoidable. We must choose,
therefore, between the casual education of circumstances,
which is bad, and the formal tuition of teachers and parents,
which may, and should be, good.
1. The uneducated are sensual, and, therefore, selfish and
cruel.
2. They are the victims of groundless hopes and fears ;
therefore credulous, superstitious, and unhappy.
3. They are prejudiced ; therefore averse to new truths,
and unable to appreciate them
152 THE SCHOOL AND
4. They are deprived of the personal and domestic re»
sources enjoyed by all who love books.
5. They do not enjoy the emotions even of surprise,
wonder, or adoration, as highly as those, who inquire and
reason.
6. They are unfitted for the more profitable and honour-
able employments of life.
7. They are less likely to be satisfied with their station
in life, and with the labours and cares to which they are
subjected.
SEC. VII. IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION.
II. To Society,
Society is a partnership, and may be considered, first, aa
a material partnership ; second, as s. political and social one,
I.Asa material partnership, engaged in producing and
distributing wealth, it is benefited by education, because,
(a) Education makes men more industrious ; {h) more
trustworthy ; (c) more active and systematic ; [d) more
cheerful ; (e) more far-sighted ; (/) more economical, as
producers and preservers of property.
By neglecting these truths, England has suffered. By
observing them, New-England has greatly prospered.
Cor. It follows : 1 . That education affords the most cer-
tain means of developing the industrial resources of a
country, and promoting its growth and prosperity. 2. That
general education is the best preventive of pauperism,
2. As a political and moral partnership, society is bene-
fited by education, because,
{a) It tends to make a people more orderly, and to sub-
stitute reflection for passion ; (b) to predispose them to re-
spect lawful authority ; (c) to indispose them to submit to
oppression ; (J) to render political revolutions gradual and
bloodless ; (e) to qualify men for the ex^
17589|39_
198 |451
39|
Having found that 39 are contained 4 times in 175, say 4
times 9 are 36, which cannot be taken from 5, but, taken
from 45, leave 9 ; then 4 times 3 are 12, which, taken from
the 13 which remain of the 17 after 4 are borrowed, leave
1. To the 19 bring down 8, and proceed as before.
The following abbreviations are too obvious to need ex-
planation :
"To divide by 5, 15, 35, 45, or 55, multiply by 2 and
divide by twice 5, &c. To divide by 75, 175, 275, multi-
ply by 4 and divide by four times the number. To divide
by 125, 375, 625, 875, 1125, or 1375, multiply by 8 and
divide by 8 times the number, or 1,3, 5, 7, 9, and 11 thous-
and.
By reversing these processes we obtain modes of abbre-
viating multiplication, thus :
" To multiply by 175, multiply by 700 and divide by 4,
&c."
Division of decimals should be explained in connexion
with that by whole numbers. To the student familiar with
Colburn's First Lessons, the matter is perfectly simple and
easy. Suppose 24 are to be divided by 8. If both are
whole numbers, the quotient is at once seen to be the whole
number 3. But suppose 2'4 are to be divided by 8. An
eighth part of 24 tenths is 3 tenths. The quotient is there-
fore -3 ; or a third part of 24 tenths is 8 tenths, or '8. Sup-
pose the dividend to be '24 ; then an eighth part of 24 him-
dredlhs is 3 hundredths, or '03, and a third part of 24 hun-
dredths is 8 hundredths — that is '24-7- 3 = -08. Lastly, sup-
pose 24 are to be divided by -8 : 24 are 240 tenths, and 8
tenths are contained in 240 tenths 30 times. The quotient,
therefore, of 24*0 divided by '8 is 30. A few explanations
01 this kind on the blackboard would be sufticient to show
468 THE SCHOOL.
that the principles of division of decimals are identical with
those for diidsion of whole numbers, and that the only diffi-
culty is the place of the decimal point.
Fractions. — All the difficulties of managing fractions
vanish before the processes of Colbum's First Lessons. If
the student be familiar with these, therefore, he has only to
refer to the section in which they are contained, and to
perform on the blackboard or slate the processes which he
has been in the habit of performing mentally. If he were
required, for example, to multiply one fraction by another,
he would only have to recall the mental process of finding
fths of 4ths, and work it out on the slate or blackboard :
ith of ith is gVth, ^th of ^ths is g'Vths, and therefore |ths
of |ths are ^fths. This may then be represented on the
blackboard thus: jX4=i|; and he may be made to
observe that he has multiplied the numerators for a new
numerator, and the denominators for a new denominator.
In this manner he will find that allthe rules or principles
of fractions are contained in the last three sections of the
" First Lessons."
In reducing a fraction to its lowest terms, the learner will
be often much assisted by the following facts, which should
therefore be pointed out to him, with the reason :
Every even number is divisible by 2.
Every number whose two right-hand figures are divisible
by 4 or by 25, is itself divisible by 4 or by 25 ; because both
these numbers will divide one hundred without a remainder,
and therefore any number of hundreds.
Every number whose three right-hand figiires are divisi-
ble by 8 or by 125, is itself divisible by 8 or by 125 ; be-
cause, as one thousand is divisible by these numbers, any
number of thousands must be so likewise.
Every number ending in or 5 is divisible by 5.
Every number, the sum of whose significant figures is di-
visible by 3 or by 9, is itself divisible by 3 or by 9 ; because,
ARITHMETIC, 459
as 10, 100, 1000, &c., are equal to 9, 99, 999, &c., and 1 over,
so 3, 4, or any other number of 10s, 100s, &c., are equal to
3, 4, or any number of 9s, 99s, &c., with 3, 4, &c., over.
The process of multiplying a series of fractions may of-
ten be much shortened by cancelling such factors as are at
the same time in the numerator and denominator, or above
and below the line ; since, if a number is first multiplied
and then divided by the same factor, its value remains the
same : thus, in the question, What is the value of |ths of
•f ths of fths of -f ths of |-ths ? we cancel first,
3 4$$ l_3
4 above and below the line, because, otherwise, we first di-
vide and then multiply by 4. For the same reason, we
cancel, successively, 5, 6, and 7, and find the value of the
fraction to be fths.
In the same manner, we may sometimes cancel several
factors of the same number, when the same factors are found
at the same time on the opposite sides of the line. In the
case
t^n^b 10'
we first cancel 4 above, and the factor 4 in 32 below the
line, reducing the latter to 8 ; then 7 below, and the fac-
tor 7 in 28 above, reducing the latter to 4 ; then this 4
above and 4 in the 8 below, reducing this last to 2. There
remain 3 above and 2x5 below the line.
This process of cancelling admits of numerous and im-
portant applications in the solution of practical questions.
Of these I shall give various instances hereafter.
Whenever a new principle is to be explained, it should
460 THE SCHOOL.
first be introduced by instances, in numbers so small as to
be easily comprehended by the. mind of the learner. Pro-
portion may be thus explained : ask, How much larger is the
number 4 than 2 ? Twice as large. How much larger
is the number 8 than 4 ? Twice as large. Then you see
that 4 is as much larger than 2 as 8 is than 4. These four
numbers form what is called a proportion. They may be
written thus : 2 : 4 : : 4 : 8 ; and when so written, may be
read, 2 is to 4 as 4 is to 8 ; or, 2 is as much smaller than
4 as 4 is than 8. Or they may be written thus : 2:4=4:8,
and read as before. In each case, these numbers so arranged
form a proportion. So 3:5 = 9: 15. What four numbers
can you find which will form a proportion ? (The class
should be exercised in forming proportions, until the word
and the thing expressed by it are perfectly familiar. The
explanation may then proceed.) When one number is
twice as large as another, as 4 and 2, or 8 and 4, we say
that they have the ratio of 2 to 1, or that one is i of the
other. In like manner, when one is three times as large
as another, as 6 and 2, we say it has the ratio of 3 to 1, or
that one is id of the other. What other numbers have the
ratio of 3 to 1 ? What have the ratio of 4 to 11 What
have that of 5 to 1 ? Observe that of any two pairs of the
numbers that have the same ratio, you may form a pro-
portion; for example: 2:10=4:20. Form a proportion
of numbers that have the ratio of 4 to 1, 6 to 1, &c., &c.
Most numbers have not so simple a ratio to each other : 3
is |ths of 5, and 5 is |ds of 3. Form a proportion in which
the ratio shall be fths. 3: 5 = 9-: 15. Another in which
the ratio shall be fths. 4:9 = 12:27, &c. The four
numbers which form a proportion are called the terms of
the proportion ; the first and last are called the extremes,
and the second and third are called the middle tenns, or the
means. Now examine all the proportions that you have
formed, or can form, and you will find that the product of
ARITHMETIC. 461
the extremes is always equal to the product of the means
This is called the rule of proportion.
By means of this rule, we may always find any one term
of a proportion when the other three are known. " For, if
one of the means be wanting, we have only to take the product
of the extremes, and, as that is equal to the product of the
means, if we divide by the given mean, the quotient will be
the other. In like manner, if one of the extremes be want-
ing, it can be found by dividing the product of the means by
the given extreme. Thus, in the two following proportions,
in which x stands for the unknown number :
No. 1. 4:6=a?:18. No. 2. a? : 4=3 : 6.
" 1. The product of the extremes 4 3 : 0^=360, by inspection.
" 8. If 6 men build a wail 20 feet long, 6 feet high, and
4 feet thick, in 16 days, in what time will 24 men build one
200 feet long, 8 feet high, and 6 feet thick ?
24 : 6 ^ Contracting, $ ^^ : 2 ) 4
20 : 200 L^ ^0 : ^00 10 X^ : x=SO,
6 : 8 f ^'^ ■ '^' : iS (by inspect.
4 : 6 j ^: J
" This was done by dividing 24 and 8 by 8 ; 20 and 200
by 20 ; 3 and 6 (first ratio) by 3 ; 6 and 6 by 6 ; 4 and 16
by 4. It is hardly necessary to observe, that in these ab-
breviations all the Is have been omitted, as the multiplying
or dividing by that number can produce no change.
" There being a gi-eater variety of numbers in compound
ARITHMETIC. 465
proportion, it admits of contractions more frequently than
simple proportion, though there may be some questions
which are not susceptible of any. When multiplication
has to be performed, it should be recollected that the left-
hand extreme and the first mean consist of several numbers,
the product of which being severally taken, we proceed as
in simple proportion. The teacher should be careful to
impress on his pupils the necessity of asking the question,
More or less ? previously to the writing down of every ratio.
" 9. If $100 gain $6 in one year, what will $400 gain
in 9 months ?
100 : 400 > « ^ Dividing by 100, U : 2 ? , ^_ , „
12:9 \^'-^- and 6, and 2, ^ 1 : 9 ^ ^ • '^-^"•
" Interest. — Let the subject of interest be explained
from any of the popular books on Arithmetic ; adding, the
words per cent., per ann., are either expressed or under-
stood, in every question respecting interest, immediately
after the rate. Per cent, means for every hundred. Per
ann. means for every year. When the rate is not express-
ed, six is always understood.
" For instance, in the following question. What is the in-
terest of $11.04 for 1 year, at 3 per cent. ? the words per
annum are understood. And in the question, What is the
interest of $150 for 16 days 1 the words at 6 per cent, per
ann. are understood, and must be supplied in stating the
question. From the want of a clear understanding of the
terms employed, many pupils find the subject of interest
exceedingly difficult. Let the teacher repeatedly question
his class, till he is sure they are thoroughly understood.
" Case I. — Principal, time, and rate, given, to find the in-
terest or amount.
"10. What is the interest of $11.04 for 1 year, at 3 per
cent. 1
100 : 11.04 > „
1 yr. : 1 yr. S
Dividing by 100, j { ; "^^^M 3 : a;= .3312, by inspection.
466 THE SCHOOL.
"11. What is the interest of $150 for 16 days ?
100 : 150 > „ Divide by 100, ( 1 : .15 K
360 : 16 J ^ • ^' 10, and 6, \(S: \q\ ''^'
Divide by 6 ; that is, the upper by 3, the lower by 2.
1 : .05 > . > •
, „ S a:= .4, by inspection.
*' Case 11. — The time, rate per cent., and amount, given,
to find the principal.
" 12. What sum of money, put at interest at 6 per cent.,
will amount to $61.02 in 1 year and 4 months 1
" Here, as we have only one amount given, we must find
another, at the same rate and time, to complete the ratio.
Let us find the amount of $100.
100: 100
12: 16 ' ^ = ^-
I
Divide by 100 and 12, <,'j;^>l:a;=:8, interest.
^ ■ ' 100, principal.
$108, amount.
Amt. Amt. Princ.
108: 61.02 = 100: a;.
Removing the dot, viz., multiplying by 100, and dividing bv
108, gives x= $56.50."
" Case III. — Time, rate, and interest given, to find the
principal.
" 13. What sum of money, put at interest 16 months, will
gain $10,50 at 6 per cent. ?
6 : 10.50
16:12 ^^^0 = ^-
Divide by 12 and ( 1 : 1050 / ^ . ^^131.25, by inspect'n."
remove the dot, ^8:1 \ ^ j i-
" Case IV. — Principal, interest, and time given, to find
the rate per cent.
" 14. If I pay $3.78 interest for the use of $36 for 18
months, what is the rate per cent. ?
ARITHMETIC. 467
" Here we suppress the dot and strike out 100 ; divide
36 and 12 by 12 ; and divide 378 by 3 X 18 = 54.
" Case V. — Principal, rate per cent., and interest, given,
to find the time.
" 15. The interest on a note of $36, at 7 per cent., was
$3.78. What was the time ?
^.
^|:^^jfJ;r^::c= 18 months.
18
" A very few questions, worked out on the blackboard by
an intelligent teacher, will give his pupils a practical knowl-
edge of the whole system of arithmetic, which could not
be easily attained by any other means ; and they will be
able to perform such questions as the above, after a little
practice, with still fewer figures."
Most of the questions just solved by the Rule of Three,
admit of easy solution by Mental Arithmetic ; and all of
them may be readily solved by the method of fractions,
which is the shape which the mental processes of Colburn's
First Lessons take, when wrought out on the slate. The
teacher should make himself familiarly acquainted with all
these methods. He may then adopt in teaching whichever
he finds best suited to his pupils, or whichever he prefers ;
or he may communicate all to his classes, and enable
them, in the solution of each problem, to apply such of the
methods as is best adapted to its particular conditions. The
solutions are given below. The questions are referred to
by their numbers.
1. If a piece 4 yards long cost 12 dollars, one yard will
cost one fourth of 12, or 3, and 7 yards will cost 7 times 3
dollars, or 21 : indicated thus, -^y~~ (by cancelling the fac-
tor 4 above and below the line) ^'=21.
2. If 9 bbls. cost $54, 1 will cost one ninth of 54, or $6,
468 THE SCHOOL.
and for $186 maybe purchased as many bbls. as 6 are con-
tained times in 186, which is 31.
6
3. If 3 men perform the work in 10 days, it will take 6
men half as long, or 5 days.
4. One fourth of 40 is 10, three fourths, 30.
5. A's and B's stocks together are $600. They gain
$400. Each dollar gains f f f ths or |ths or fds of 1 dollar.
250 gain 250 times f =^°=$166|. 350 gain 350 times | =
^-i°=$233|.
The 6th has a solution essentially the same by both meth-
ods.
7. If a man travel 273 miles in 13 days, at 7 hours a day,
in 1 day he will travel -f^th of 273, or 21, and in 1 hour ith of
21, or 3 miles. In 10 hours he will travel 10 times 3, or 30
miles ; and in 12 days, 12 times 30, or 360 miles. This
may be indicated thus, placing the numbers to be divided
by, beloio, and those to be multiplied by, above the line, and
indicating the successive steps by the letters taken alpha-
betically :
/ ^^g 3
a tUxd 10 xe 12 _^^,-t
bX$Xc1l ~
In every case, the numbers used to divide by should be
placed below the line, and those used to multiply by,
above it.
8. If 6 men build such a wall in [a) 16 days, 1 man will
require {b) 6 times as long, or 96 days, and (c) 24 men will
do it in ^'jth part of the time, or 4 days. If the wall were
1 foot thick, it would require [iT) \i\\ part of that time, or 1
day to build it ; if it were but 1 foot long, it would require
ARITHMETIC. 469
but (e) J^th part of that time to build it ; and if 1 foot only
high, (/) ith part of that time, namely, T2 o^^^ ^^ ^ ^^^y- ^^^
as it is to be (g) 6 feet thick, it will require yfoths, or J^th ;
as it is to be 8 feet high, it will require {h) -^\ihs ; and as it
is to be 200 feet long, it Avill require (i) 200 times gV^^s, or
80 days. This process may be represented thus, and the
cancelling be performed afterward.
mlO
cUxdAxe^0xn ='^^' ^^ ^^''^'"'"" ^ '''f^''^ ^' ^
^^ "^ in i and c, 16 in a, and in d and k,
and 20 in e and i.
9. If $100 gain $6 in one year, $400 will gain 4x6,
or $24, in 1 year, and three fourths as much, or $18, in 9
months.
6x^00x3
X00X4-^
10. Interest at 3 per cent, is xfoths of the principal;
therefore ""'^^^ = .3312 is the interest of $11.04. Here
11.04 is divided by 100, by removing the decimal point two
places to the left.
1 1. If the interest is 6 per cent, for 1 year, or 12 months,
it is 1 per cent, for 2 months, or 60 days : that is, for
$150, the interest is $1.50 for 60 days. For 12 days it
is one fifth of that, or .30, and for 4 days, one third of that,
or .10; for 16 days it is therefore .30 + .10 = .40.
5 1.50
3~;30
10
.40
12. At 6 per cent., $100 will amount in 1 year and 4
months to $108: $6 1.02 is, therefore, |||ths of the sum to
be put on interest.
61.02x100 ___
—^^g— = 56.50.
R R
470 THE SCHOOL.
Multiply by 100 by removing the dot two places to the
right. "
13. In 16 months, or 1 year and 1 third, the interest of
$100 will amount to $8. The sum ought, therefore, to be
-L^ths of $10.50.
O
14. As $3.78 is the interest for 18 months, two thirds
of that sum, $2.52, must be the interest for 12 months, or 1
year ; and as 6 per cent, is six dollars on a hundred, so
the rate per cent, here must be 2.52 on 36., or ^j^ths,
which, reduced to a whole number or decimal, must give
the rate per cent.
7
^?^^=.07,or7percent.
15. The interest on $36, at 7 per cent., for 1 year, is
$2.52 ; therefore the time is f||ds of 1 year.
— ^= (cancelhng9) ^= (cancelhng 14) ^=li year.
If the teacher wish to communicate intelligibly a knowl-
edge of the roots, and of progression, he may give, in a few
lessons on the blackboard, enough of Algebra to enable his
pupils to comprehend them. Sherwin's or Colburn's Alge-
bra will furnish the means.
SECTION VII. ACCOUNTS.
Connected with Arithmetic, and the great practical end
for which it should be studied, is the knowledge of Ac-
counts. This has been greatly neglected. It seems al-
most absurd to spend so much time as is usually devoted to
Arithmetic, and especially to the subject of Interest, in
preparation for the management of Accounts, and yet not
to teach the very thing for which all this preparation is
ACCOUNTS 471
made. Many parts of Arithmetic commonly taught at
school are, to most persons, matters of mere cm-iosity. It
is very well to learn them, if there be time enough, but to
omit them would be no serious loss. While a knowledge
of Accounts is necessary to every person who is likely ever
to have property of his own, or the management of the
properly of another.
It is necessary to thrift. The merchant or dealer, on a
large or small scale, cannot tell definitely whether the busi-
ness he is engaged in is productive or not, unless he keeps
an exact account of his payments and receipts. The farm-
er cannot be sure how much more or less productive one
branch of husbandry is than another, without an account of
the outlay and income of both.
It is necessary to economy. The minister, or clerk, or
teacher on a salary, the head of a family with a limited
income, or the mechanic with a fixed rate of wages, cannot
tell what he can or ought to afford, what expenses he may
allow, and what he must deny himself, imless he knows,
from month to month, what is his income and what are his
expenses.
It is necessary to justice. Whoever deals on credit,
even for a limited period, whoever receives or parts with
money, goods, labour, or time, for which an equivalent is to
be giA'en or received hereafter, must keep an exact account
with every person with whom he deals, or have a memory
from which no particular of time, place, quantity, or value
can be erased, or he Avill necessarily run the risk of doing
injustice to himself or his neighbour. If I have given my
note or my promise to pay, I am bound to make timely pro
vision beforehand for the resumption of my note and the re-
demption of my promise. This I must do ; and this I can-
not do with absolute certainty, unless I know precisely
how much I may lay aside for the purpose each week or
month, until the day of payment comes. If I look upon
472 THE SCHOOL.
what I haA'e as the gift of God, and myself as his steward,
and therefore bound to devote what I can spare from the
claims of family, kindred, and friends, to the relief of the
sufferings, the wants, or the ignorance of His children, I
cannot, without exactness in my accounts, be sure that I
am opening my hand in charity without a violation of the
more imperative demands of justice.
Every one, therefore, should be taught accounts ; and the
teacher should be prepared to explain such modes of keep-
ing them as are best suited to the probable future condition
of his pupils. This is not the place for a system of Book-
keeping : it may be sufficient to say, that every person,
male and female, should be taught how to keep personal
accounts, and an account of the expenses of a family ; that,
in addition to these, the future farmer should be shown how
to keep accounts of a field or a particular crop, as well as
of his whole operations ; that the mechanic should be taught
to keep an account of the expenses and income of his shop
or trade ; and the future merchant or trader should be taught
book-keeping by double entry.
Personal accounts may be taught on the blackboard to
a class or the whole school at once. Care should be taken
to explain familiarly what is meant by Dr. and Cr. ; a speci-
men like the following should be given, and then each pupil
be required, according to his capacity, to form similar ac-
counts on his slate, and afterward on paper.
Dr. John Thompson. Contra Cr.
1842. 1842.
May 20. To cash, $1 50 May 24. By 1 day's labour, Si 25
21. To 2 bushels corn, 1 30 25. By 1 day's labour, 1 25
To 3 yds. br'dcloth, 6 60 27. By \ ton hay, 4 00
28. By cash to balance, 2 90
$9 40
GEOGRAPHY.
473
SPECIMEN OF A FARMER S FIELD ACCOUNT.
Dr. The Five-acre Lot.
1842.
Apr. 11. To 3 days' plough-
ing, $6 00
12, 13. To 30 loads of ma-
nure, 30 00
14. To U days' harrow-
ing, 3 00
To 5 bush, seed wh., 5 50
lug. To 3 days' reaping, 4 50
To binding & carting, 4 00
.>ept. To threshing, 6 00
To interest on land, 5 00
To balance gain, 19 00
$83 00
Contra, Cr.
1842.
Oct. 21, By 74 bushels
wheat,
By straw,
By feeding,
$74 00
4 00
5 00
$83 00
SECTION vni. GEOGRAPHY.
" To the reading of history, chronology and geograpiiy are ahso-
futely necessary." — Locke.
The first lesson in Geography should be, to set the class
to draw a plan, as well as they can, of the schoolroom.
This every one will do readily who has been encouraged
to use his slate, and many a child of eight or ten years will
do it accurately, and even beautifully. It is only necessary
that it should be done. Then the cardinal points, in refer-
ence to the plan, should be shown. " This side, with the
window, into which the sun shines in the morning, is the
East side ; the opposite one is the West side. This side,
where the sun shines straight in at noon, is the South side ;
and the opposite side, where the master's desk is, is North.
Let this north side be at the top of the plan. Now this is
a map of the room. I have directed you all to have the
north side at the top of your map, that all may be alike, and
you may always know, when you look at it, wlrich is north."
Any other explanations may be made that are necessary ; ,
as, that the seats in the northeast corner of the room are to
Rr 2
474 THE SCHOOL,
be represented towards tlie top and towards the right side
of the plan, &c.
The next lesson may be a plan of the lot on which the
schoolhouse stands, with a part of the road running near it,
care being taken, now and at all times, to represent the
north side by the top of the plan. The fences may be rep-
resented by lines, and trees and other ol>jects may be drawn,
as well as they can draw them, in the places they occupy.
For a third lesson, the teachers may draw on the black-
board a plan or map of the vicinity of the schoolhouse,
with the roads for a quarter of a mile in each direction, and
houses, streams, or any other remarkable object. This the
class may copy.
If there be a map of the town accessible, the next lesson
should be an explanation of that ; showing how all the
roads, buildings, forests, hills, and other objects with which
the pupils are acquainted, are represented, and giving an
idea of distance.
The next step should be, if possible, a map of the coun-
ty, showing how much less space the town now necessa-
rily occupies, and what towns are north, east, &c., from it.
The next step should be a map of the state ; and thence the
progress should be to that of the country, of the continent,
and the world as represented on a globe.
It may not always be possible to take this course, li
not, the nearest approach to it possible should be made. It
is the natural method, — from the known and familiar, to the
unknown. It is of the utmost importance that the first
ideas and impressions should be correct and clear. This
will throw light upon every future Step, and do more than
anything else to render the study intelligible and delightful.
I tried a similar method with one of my children with com-
plete success. When I had taken him, then four or five
years old and just able to read, to walk with me in the
streets of Boston, I pointed out, at our return, on a map
GEOGRAPHY. 475
of the city, our path, the streets we had passed through,
and the course Ave had taken. This was done after walks
to all parts of the town. I then took him with me in my
drives ; first to Brookline on one side of the town, and, suc-
cessively, to Cambridge on another side, and to Chelsea
Beach on a third ; pointing out each time, on our return,
upon a map of Boston and its vicinity, t\^ roads we had
taken and the places we had visited. He afterward ac-
companied me on a journey to Maine, and I showed him,
as before, on a map of New-England, the road and comrse
we had taken, the towns we had passed through, and the
rivers we had crossed. The same was done after a jour-
ney to the western part of Massachusetts. He in this way
obtained, from the beginning, correct impressions of the ob-
jects which maps represent. He has always been, up to
the present time, extremely fond of maps, pores over them
for hours for his amusement, and always chooses to have one
open before him as he reads history, Avhich is one of his
favourite occupations. It will rarely happen that a teacher
of a school can have so favourable opportunities for his pu-
pils. But a parent who has the happiness of teaching his
own children, may often have.
When correct impressions have been given of the objects
represented by maps, the geography of the state may be
learned. Great care should be taken to give an idea of the
motion of the earth on its axis, and thence of longitude and
latitude, as there is nothing in geography of which children
are so apt to get false ideas. For this purpose, a globe
should be considered an essential part of the apparatus of
a school. Much time is usually spent, to little purpose, in
learning the names of unloiown, and, therefore, speedily-for-
gotten places ; and still more in studying and trying to re-
member the climate, soil, cities, &c., of countries. It is
nearly impossible for a child to remember, by an absolute
effort, that with which he has no associations. It should,
476 THE SCHOOL.
then, be the object of the teacher to connect what is learn-
ed with what is already known, and to give agTeeable asso-
ciations to be connected with things unknown.
The learner should from the beginning, if possible, be set
to copy the maps he is studying. This act impresses on
the mind the outlines, boundaries, rivers, hills, lakes, and
position of towns, better than any other exercise, and it is
far more agreeable to the learner. Out of a large number
of pupils who have been taught in this way, not one has
been found incapable of making pretty correct representa-
tions, not one who did not take great pleasure in the exer-
cise, and not one who did not improve in it very rapidly.
When each one of a class has drawn a map without any
names, a satisfactory examination as to how much they
know of the objects represented, may be made in a very short
time. This may be conducted either individually, each
looking at his own map, or by means of the excellent out
line maps of Mather, prepared for this purpose.
For each lesson in Geography the teacher should make
special preparation. If he will do this, he may always ren-
der the exercise very interesting, and he may jnake it the
vehicle of a great deal of instruction in history, morals, and
civilization. Suppose, to give an instance or two, the les-
son included Iceland. He may take the occasion to speak
of its extraordinary natural features — a small land, and yet
traversed by almost impassable mountains and deserts ; of
its icebergs, and of the immense eruptions of its volcanoes.
He may dwell upon that phenomenon in the history of man-
kind, that while learning hardly dared to lift her head in the
rest of Europe, she had her home in the ice-encircled and
half-subterranean huts of the Icelanders ; that they had po-
ets and historians when the names poet and historian were
hardly elsewhere loiown ; and he may tell of its colonization
by the sea-kings, its early history, and the state of things at
that time in the north of Eiurope. All this he may get by
GEOGRAPHY. 477
an evening's reading of the interesting volume on Iceland,
which forms the 155th No. of the School District Library.
If the lesson is upon Greece,* he may give, in a few
words, some idea of the remarkable people who occupied
that country in ancient times, the fathers of the arts, scien-
ces, and literature, the remarkable institutions, the immense
and beautiful structures, the perfect language, the famous
men.
In the Geography of New-England, he may speak of
the early acts of the Revolution at Lexington or Charles-
town, and the earlier events at Plymouth or Mount Hope ;
on New- York, of Ticonderoga, West Point, &c. In speak-
ing of our early history or late, he should not fail to speak
a word for humanity in pointing out the cruelty and injus-
tice of our ancestors and their descendants to the present
day towards the original possessors of the soil.
There is scarcely anything which a studious person
picks up in voyages and travels, histories, books of geolo-
gy and natural history,! which may not be naturally intro-
duced to give variety and interest to the lessons in geogra-
phy. After he has talked himself, he should question his
pupils upon what he has said, both to quicken their atten-
tion and to get access to their understanding. The lessons
may be varied by sometimes setting the class to find out
from what parts of the world come the various articles em-
ployed for food, dress, furniture, and the several arts ; making
an imaginary voyage round the world or to a particular
port, and noting the objects which would present them-
selves, and the articles which would be found and those
which it would be necessary to carry. Another lesson, or
* See Goldsmith's Greece, in the 81st No. of School District Li-
brary, or the 3d and 4th volumes of RoUin's Ancient History.
t Many curious facts on the subjects of Natural History may be
found in that delightful work, White's History of Selborne, School
District Library, No. 166.
478 THE SCHOOL.
several, may be given upon the government of different
countries ; upon their religion, their intelligence, their com-
merce, and other pursuits. The comparative value of gold
and silver, on the one hand, and iron and industry on the
other, may be shown by pointing out the fact that there is
scarcely an instance in history of a country having grown
rich from the possession of mines of what are called the
precious metals, and none naturally so sterile as not to have
become independent and wealthy, with industry and such
resources as iron, coal, and salt. Mexico, Peru, and Old
Spain are wretched and poor, with streams of gold and sil-
ver flowing into them for hundreds of years ; and Scotland,
New-England, and Old England, comparatively barren ori-
ginally, have become rich, and the happy abodes of free
and intelligent men, by the industry and energy of their in-
habitants acting upon such productions as nothing but skill
and slow labour can work out for the necessities and con-
venience of men
A more difficult exercise than copying maps, and one
suited to a higher state of progress, is requiring a class to
be prepared to draw a map, from recollection, on the slate
or blackboard. In this exercise, which is strongly to be
recommended, at its proper time, much allowance must be
made for the difference that exists between individuals
otherwise equal, as to the power of representing from mem-
ory. Unless regard be had to this difference, injustice will
be done to the best intentions and efforts.
A method used with great success by Professor Newman
at the normal school at Barre, was to call on one of the
class to draw an outline of the country on the blackboard.
A second was to draw the river courses and lakes ; a third
the mountains. A fourth mentioned some large place ; a
fifth gave its position by writing 1 on the blackboard ; a
sixth named a second place, which a seventh indicated by
2. In this way all the important places were represented
HISTORY. 479
Dy numbers, and the examination of the topography was
conckided by calHng individuals at random to name the
several places so indicated.
SECTION IX. HISTORY.
" Histories make men wise." — Bacon.
History cannot be fully taught at any school. All that
can be accomplished in regard to the history of any other
country than our own, is to give sketches or pictures of
certain important periods or events. The abridgments and
compends of history often used, do little rnore than disgust
children with the study. The teacher's object should be to
give them such pictures as will win them to it.
Some idea of the most important periods of history might
be given in connexion with the lives of certain individuals.
Such are the following. After the interesting events re-
corded in the first chapters of Genesis :
The patriarchal period, as given in the lives of Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, of which a portion only should be
read in school. The personal history of Moses, of David,
and of Solomon. All these are to be found only in the Old
Testament.
The life of Hector and that of Ulysses, as given by
Homer, in Pope's Homer. The life of Xerxes.* Pericles.*
Alexander of Macedon.f
Romulus and Numa.| Brutus, the first consul.^: Han-
nibal and Scipio Africanus.J Pompey, Cresar, Cicero.}
Augustus. :{:
The coming of Jesus Christ. Constantine.^ Attila.§
Mohammed. II Clovis.lT Charlemagne. H Alfred. Haroun
* Goldsmith, 81st No. School District Library, or Plutarch's Lives
t Rev. J. Williams, 32d No. School District Library, t Goldsmith,
87th No. School District Library, or Plutarch's Lives. ^ History of
Italy, Family Library, No. 79. II Bush's Life of Mohammed, Family
Library, No. 10, or the History of Arabia, No. 68. IT James. Fam-
ily Library, No. 60, School District Library, No. 176.
480 THE SCHOOL.
al Raschid. Peter the Hermit.* Ricliard the Lion-heart-
ed.* Saladin.* William the Conqueror.f Cosmo de Med-
ici. Columbus.J Luther. § Cromwell. || William the Third.
Peter the Great,^ and others for later times.
The life of Washington, which may be foimd, fully enough
delineated, in the volumes of Paulding in the School District
Library, or with much more of detail in Marshall, will suffice
to give an outline of the history of our country immediately
previous to and during the Revolution ; as the life of Napo-
leon Bonaparte, also contained in the first series of the
School District Library, may give of the French Revolution.
But there is no one volume which contains all, or even the
greater part of the lives above enumerated. They must be
collected from various sources, and the teacher must take
pain^ to prepare such accounts as he can either read, or
give in his own language. History, for the use of the
young especially, is still to be written. As it now stands,
it is occupied, in an absurdly undue proportion, with wars,
and the ambition and dissensions of the falsely-called great.
What relates to the advancement of society, what shows
the progress of the sciences and the useful and the fine arts,
and the records of the various stages in the personal liber-
ty, rights, and enjoyments of individual man, must be la-
boriously gleaned from distant sources.** You will find
* See " Chivalry," an interesting work by James, School District
Library, No. 26. t For the life of William the Conqueror, and the
other characters referred to belonging to English history, see Keight-
ley. School District Library, 102, 3, 4, 5, 6. t Irving ; or Belknap,
in 146th No. School District Library. § See Luther's Life and
Times. 11 See his life, by Rev. M. Russell, in the 36th and 37th
numbers of the School District Library. IF See Barrow's life of him,
in the 35th No. of the School District Library.
** In order to enable him to understand and explain many things
in History and Geography, the teacher should have some acquaint-
ance with political economy. This he may get from Dr. Potter's
work on that subject, School District Library, No. 124.
HISTORY. 481
some very interesting periods in the history of science and
literature sketched in the Lives of the Philosophers, by
Fenelon ;* Brewster's Life of Sir Isaac Newton ;t in the
Martyrs of Science, by the same author ;:|: in Franklin's
Life ;^ and in the lives of Johnson || and Goldsmith. T[
History is usually taught by assigning a certain number
of pages in some text-book, and requiring the class to an-
swer questions in them. The questions are either prepa-
red and known beforehand to the pupil, or are such as the
teacher pleases to ask at the time of recitation. The dan-
ger incident to the use of prepared questions is, that the
pupil will commit to memory just such a portion of the text-
book as furnishes answers. This process gives no exer-
cise to discrimination, judgment, taste, or language. It is
a mere exercise of memory. The other mode is apt to be
so too. The faithful and ambitious pupil will be tempted
to commit the whole lesson to memory, and to answer in
the words of the author. To prevent this waste of time,
the teacher should encourage his pupils to answer in their
own language. He should also ask questions of a general
nature, such as, What is the subject of this lesson ? or this
chapter ? State, in a few words, the events recorded in it.
What should we think of this measure ? What of that
character ? Questions of right and wrong should be con-
stantly brought up in lessons in history.
As we can teach so little of History at school, one ob-
ject should be to show how it should be studied ; another,
as I have already said, to create an interest in the study.
It may serve, at the same time, to exercise the attention,
the power of orderly arrangement, the moral judgment, and
the use of language in narration. To answer these ends,
it is best taught without a text-book, the teacher himself
* School District Library, No. 156. t Ibid., No. 27.
t Ibid., No. 152. ^ Ibid., No. 51. II Ibid., No. 132.
IT Ibid., No. 109.
S s
482 THE SCHOOL.
making the whole preparation. The pupils should be fur-
nished with maps, or a large map should be suspended be-
fore them by the side of the blackboard. If the pupils
have no suitable maps, and that of the teacher be on too
small a scale for exhibition to a class, he should draw on
the blackbcmrd a magnified outline of the seat of the event
Care should first be taken to give an idea of the remote-
ness of the event to be described, by tracing a line on
the blackboard, to represent two or more years, and show-
ing how long it would be necessarry to draw it to represent
the period which has elapsed since the event occurred.
The date may be given on the blackboard, and the place
may be pointed out on the map, or mentioned, and the pu-
pil allowed to find it for himself. The teacher may then
read, or, what is far better, narrate in familiar language,
and in the manner of conversation, the event, or series of
events, which he intends to make the subject of the lesson.
If his pupils are beginners, he should not speak long before
asking questions as to what he has been telling. If these
are made frequent, the pupil will be encouraged to give his
attention to the end. The questions, who ? and where ?
and when ? as Avell as what ? should be asked. When
the teacher's narrative is finished, he should ask if some
one will not imdertake to tell the whole story in his own
language. Those who have the best talent for narrative
will be ready to do this, and, after some little practice,
nearly the whole class. Or the teacher may say, " I wish
you all to write upon your slates or paper, and bring to me
to-morrow, what you can remember of the story I have just
told you." Questions should also be asked as to the moral
right or wrong of the characters of the actois in the event.
Let not the teacher be discouraged by the slow progress
he seems to make. In the usual mode of teaching Histo-
ry, two or three hours are often spent by the pupil out of
school, and half an hour, or an hour, at the recitation in
PHYSIOLOGY. 483
school, upon a single lesson of six or eight pages ; and, af-
ter all, very little is learned except mere facts, and those
perhaps indistinct and barren ; while in this way, in half
an hour, two or three pages at first, and afterward five or
six, or even ten; will be learned, and at the same time the
power of attention be improved, the moral tat .e elevated,
the power of narration exercised, and the connexion be-
tween History, and Chronology and Geography will be
shown.
In the introduction to the excellent School History of the
United States, by Hall and Baker, are some judicious di-
rections as to teaching History by means of text-books,
which are deserving of great attention.
SECTION X. PHYSIOLOGY.
" There is no mystery into which mankind are more curious to
pry, than into that of their internal structure ; and certainly there
is none on earth which so nearly concerns them." — E. Johnson.
Next in importance to the indispensable arts which are
at the base of all instruction, and before Geography and
History, is Physiolog)', the laws of our own constitution.
In some form it should be taught in every school. I have
already shown how it may be taught in the general lessons.
When it can be done, it should be introduced as a regular
study. As in importance, so in interest and in the exercise
it gives to the observant and reflecting powers, it is second
to no other.
There are several good works upon the subject published
in this country, — Hayward, Coates, and Andrew Combe.
Neither of these is complete. The last seems best suited
for study in school, although the first is most elementary.
The teacher should have the two ; and if he uses one as his
class-book, should take the other to help him supply its de-
ficiencies.
Physiology may be taught in the same way as history,
484 THE SCHOOL.
the teacher only having the book and requiring attention,
and asking all the necessary questions ; or, if there be not
time for this, all may have books, and come prepared for ex-
amination in an assigned portion. Take care that they
learn not words only. Insist upon answers in their own
language. In the case of muscles, and bones, and in what-
ever else it can with perfect delicacy be done, let the learner
find what is described in his own body. The great princi-
ples should be frequently brought up, and made familiar by
daily repetition. If so, they will become an integrant part
of the pupil's knowledge ; and none is more essential, or
more fruitful of beneficial effects.
A useful exercise in composition is an enumeration of the
most important principles on a particular part of Physiology,
in the learner's own language ; or his inferences from one
or more ; or a more general enumeration of the leading
principles of the science.
SECTION XI. COMPOSITION.
" What is this power which puts us in possession of the future, —
transports us to all distances, — makes us conceive objects invisible
to sense, — introduces us to what is merely possible, — sustains our
strength by hope, — extends the narrow sphere of our existence be-
yond the limits of the present 1 May it not, by deepening the
sources of our sensibility, fertilize the field of our virtue V — Dege-
EANDO.
The modes recommended for teaching reading, spelling,
English Grammar, History, and Physiology, all furnish ex-
ercises in composition. If those modes be faithfully and
fairly tried, there will be little difficulty, to the pupil suffi-
ciently advanced, in the essay or theme as usually required.
But, for the benefit of those teachers who are unable or un-
willing to depart so far from usual methods as to adopt
these, a few observations upon composition will be given,
and exercises or steps pointed out which have been inferred
from, and have stood the test of experience. 1. Simple
COMPOSITION. 485
sentences are to be written. Several words are given, and
the pupils are required to write a sentence so as to bring in
one or more of them. Phrases are given for the same pur-
pose, or sentences in which several words are omitted,
which the pupil is to supply. 2. Variety of arrangement is
taught by arranging a sentence in several different w^ays,
and assigning others for practice. 3. Variety of expression
is taught by showing how the participle may be substituted
for a conjunction, by changing an active verb into a passive,
and the reverse, by the substitution of nearly synonymous
■words, by circumlocution, and by softened expressions. 4.
Compound sentences are reduced to simple ones, and these
united into compound ones. 5. Poetical sentences are
given, to be expressed in prose. 6. The definition of words
may be given in a sentence, and several sentences may be
written to show the difference in the meaning of two words.
7. A short story is told, which the pupil must write in his
own language. The heads of a story only are given, which
the learner is to make into a connected narrative, or to am-
plify from his own imagination. 8. Objects are assigned,
to be described. 9. The figures of speech, tropes, meta-
phors, allegories, hyperbole, personification, apostrophe,
simile, antithesis, climax, &c., are successively explained,
and suitable sentences or subjects are suggested, on which
they may be exemplified. 10. Simple and compound
themes and essays are explained, models are given, and ex-
ercises are required. The above is a rapid outline of
*' Parker's Progressive Exercises in English Composition,"
a valuable aid, even where the teacher is only disposed to
take hints from it.
A very useful exercise in composition, after the pupil
can make sentences, is writing abstracts of sermons or lec-
tures. In this, attention, the power of arrangement, and
the use of language are exercised, while the thoughts are
furnished. It is adapted to one who is almost a beginner,
S s 2
486 THE SCHOOL.
and is at the same time an excellent practice for an accom-
plished writer.
Descriptions of objects in nature or art, of the mill or
the manufactory, the village, a walk in the forest, the rising
of the sun, the stillness of night, a storm, a sunny day, a
drive, of any object or event which is calculated to interest
the feelings or awaken thought, are obvious and suitable ex-
ercises. Familiar letters to friends, imaginary ones to the
birds or the stars, to characters in history or in distant
parts of the earth ; journals of occurring events ; criticism
upon works that have been read ; opinions upon subjects
that have been discussed in school ; upon those suggested
by the daily studies ; — these will be interesting to children,
will be felt to be within their capacity, and will exercise
their judgment and their imagination. There are usually
several in every school who have a talent for versification,
and nearly all may be made to measure syllables and col-
lect rhymes. Such trials should be encouraged, chiefly on
account of the greater pleasure they give to the reading of
poetry.*
The above are offered as methods of teaching which
have been found successful ; not as the best possible, but
as somewhat better than many of those now in common
use. They are all susceptible of improvement, and the at-
tention of all teachers is invited to the subject of improving
them.
"Whoever examines schools, Avill see at once that they
may be elevated to a much higher rank than they now hold.
* It may be asked why I say nothing in regard to the study of
Logic and Metaphysics, so common in many schools : I answer, in
the words of Milton, that " I deem it to be an old error of univer-
sities" (and it would be a much greater in schools) " not yet well
recovered from the scholastic grossness of barbarous ages, that, in-
stead of beginning with arts most easy, they present their young
unmatriculated novices at first coming with the most intellective
abstractions of liOgic and Metaphysics,"
GOVERNMENT. 487
By the introduction of improved methods of teaching ; by
the employment of qualified and devoted teachers, espe-
cially, of highly qualified and endowed female teachers
for the lower schools ; by a better selection of studies
and the omission of those which have hitherto occupied
much time to little purpose ; by a greater interest on the
part of the community, and the consequent" improvement
of the schoolhouses and the apparatus of teaching, all the
schools in the state may be made much better than the best
at present are. I see no reason why the public schools
should not be better than any private now are ; why the
children of the great body of the people of the state should
not have as good an education as the most favoured have.
This may be done. The schools may all be improved.
Step by step, they may rise higher than any one now
dreams.
CHAPTER IV.
SECTION I. GOVERNMENT.
" The construction of a system of education cannot be a creative,
but an imitative process, which must be founded only on the lessons
of experience. Here, as in the cultivation of every other science,
it is not by the exercise of a sublime and speculative ingenuity that
man arrives at truth, but it is by letting himself down to simple ob-
servation ; — in short, by following only the lights of observation and
induction." — Spurzheim.
The art of governing a school naturally divides itself
into, 1. The preservation of order ; 2. The prevention of
wrong ; 3. Incitement to study.
Towards the accomplishment of all these the first requi-
site is to render your school pleasant. How is this to be
done ?
488 THE SCHOOL
There are some mistakes upon this point, which must be
corrected. The unpleasantness of a schoolroom is some-
times attributed to the order, silence, and study which are
made to prevail there. 1. Order is not impleasant. The
orderly proceeding of a well-regulated school, the quiet suc-
cession of one thing to another at its proper time, the see-
ing everythin'g in its place, — all these are pleasant. To
most persons, order is pleasant. 2. Silence is not unpleas-
ant. On the contrary, as it is beneficial to all, it is suit-
able, and therefore pleasant. 3. Study is not unpleasant.
When the thing studied is understood, nothing is more
pleasant. It is the exercise of one or more faculty, which
is the very essence of happiness. It is unpleasant only
when long continued on one subject. It should therefore
be varied ; for little children, as often, perhaps, as every
half hour ; for older ones, as often as every hour. Day after
day, at the same hour, the same study should be resumed,
but should not be allowed to be continued too long at once
If so resumed, it becomes daily more easy. Just as, in any
manual operation, the fingers or the hands gradually get ac-
customed to exercise, and perform it more readily the longer
it has been pursued, so does any faculty of the mind. Chil-
dren are variously constituted in this respect ; some grow
weary much sooner than others. An exercise should cease
before any one has become weary.
Restraint, unnecessary or too long continued, becomes
wearisome. Every young person is impatient of it ; the
law of his whole nature requires action. The younger
the child, the greater the impatience of restraint and con-
finement. There must therefore be breaks and recesses ;
for very young children as often as once in an hour ; for all,
as often as once in two or two and a half hours.
Uneasy positions are and ought to be unpleasant. Care
should therefore be taken that the seats be convenient, of a
proper height, and provided with a back. An ill-ventilated
GOVERNMENT. 489
room is unpleasant. Take care that yours be well venti-
lated. Harshness is unpleasant ; scolding, in man or wom-
an, is excessively unpleasant. Avoid both, and learn to
govern yourself, and to win by kindness and by reason.
Mere repetition of lessons is monotonous ; break its dull-
ness by introducing variety. Study the lesson of the class,
and make it pleasanter by making it clearer.
The first work of a teacher, when preparing to go into
school, is with himself. The success of the da^and the
happiness of the school depend in a great degree upon the
temper he carries into school. This is particularly impor-
tant on the opening of the school. Let him be careful to
make, if possible, an agreeable impression then. His pu-
pils, full of expectation and curiosity, are watching every
motion and look, and listening to every word, to gather
omens of their future fortune, hoping or fearing, as these
elements predominate in their character, but almost sure
lo like or dislike according to the first impression. Let
the teacher take care that their first impression be, that
he is a kind and generous person, who feels a great interest
in their welfare, but one of finnness and resolution, who
will not allow anything wrong. Many years ago the mas-
tership of a public school in a town in New-England be-
came vacant by the dismission of a worthless teacher. A
successor was appointed and introduced into his new office
with some ceremony, an address from the chairman of the
school committee, one from himself, and other formalities.
The boys, who had long been accustomed to the loosest dis-
cipline, and many of whom had learned to like the state of
anarchy which had prevailed, determined, as soon as the
company and the committee should retire, to try the spirit
of their new master. Accordingly, as the door was shut,
they began to make a noise with their feet, in preparation
for more decided measures. Mr. G., the new master, who
had waited upon the company to the door, turned towards
490 THE SCHOOL.
them, and in a perfectly kind manner, but with a tone of au-
thority which every boy in the room felt and understood,
tapped slightly upon the floor and said, " Order, boys."
The effect was instantaneous. Unaffected kindness and
firmness not to be trifled with were so clearly expressed, that
every one felt that the reign of anarchy had ceased.
One of a teacher's first duties is cheerfulness. If he can
enter upon his labours with cheerful alacrity, he will do much
toward^^ccess. The cheerfulness of the master, like the
sun, fills everything with warmth, and he will see it reflect-
ed from every face. The first word he utters, the first look
he casts upon many a child, gives the tone to its feelings for
the day. What matter the storm and the drift without, if he
can meet the sunshine of a cheerful teacher's face within 1
That warms and makes pleasant the room, for it warms the
hearts of the little company. Hence, I repeat it, health,
the essential prerequisite of cheerfulness, is a duty, and all
which is necessary to secure it is a law which he must
obey. God loveth a cheerful giver ; and nowhere is this
more true than where the gift is moral guidance and the
light of intelligence.
It is a difficult thing to enter upon the scene of so much
labour, anxiety, and disappointment as a school often is,
with a cheerful temper. There are some there, he thinks,
who are cold and indifllerent, who care nothing for him or
any of his plans for their good. There may be those whom
he knows to be adverse to him, to hate him, and to be seek-
ing to thwart his plans and prevent his success. To go
among such with confidence, and kindness, and cheerful-
ness ; to leave behind all resentment, all selfishness, all
despondency, is very difficult. But so must we overcome
evil with good. They are children. There is something
at the bottom of their hearts which will respond to all our
kindness. There is something which will take sides with
us against whatever is wrong in themselves. If we go in,
the true spirit of our calling, we shall be able to turn aver
GOVERNMENT. 491
sion into favour, hate into love, and indifference into inter-
est. And in doing this, we not only accomplish our imme-
diate ends, we work out the higher good of repressing the
evil and awakening the good tendencies of their character,
while we do this in a still greater degTee for ourselves.
Order should be secured by the general arrangements of
the school. Children must not be left unemployed. When
so left, they are almost sure to fall into mischief, or what a
teacher calls such, to relieve themselves from the listless-
ness of idleness. If they cannot be employed, they should
be dismissed, or allowed to take a recess. Children are
often confined in school after their lessons are learned and
said, from a feeling that it is a waste of time to let them go.
It should be understood that it is a much greater waste to
oblige them to remain unoccupied. When it can be done,
the lower classes should be dismissed at an earlier hour
than the upper, that a portion of time may be given uninter-
ruptedly to the latter.
The following excellent observations are from a teacher*
who was distinguished for his success in obtaining a moral
influence over his pupils :
" In endeavouring to correct the faults of your pupils, do
not, as many teachers do, seize only upon those particular
cases of transgression which may happen to come imder
your notice. These individual instances are very few,
probably, compared with the whole number of faults against
which you ought to exert an influence. And though you,
perhaps, ought not to neglect those which may accidentally
come under your notice, yet the observing and punishing
such cases is a very small part of your duty.
" You accidentally hear, I will suppose, as you are walk-
ing home from school, two of your boys in earnest conver-
sation, and one of them uses profane language. Noav the
course to be pursued in such a case is most evidently not
* Mr. Abbott, the author of " The Teacher."
492 THE SCHOOL.
to call the boy to you the next day and punish him, and
there let the matter rest. This would perhaps be better
than nothing. But the chief impression which it would
make upon the individual, and upon the other scholars,
would be, ' I must take care how I let the master hear me
use such language again.' A wise teacher, who takes en-
larged and extended views of his duty in regard to the
moral progress of his pupils, would act very differently. He
would look at the whole subject. ' Does this fault,' he
would say to himself, ' prevail among my pupils ? If so,
how extensively V It is comparatively of little consequence
to punish the particular transgression. The great point is
to devise some plan to reach the whole evil, and to correct
it, if possible.
■' In one case, where such a circumstance occurred, the
teacher managed it most successfully in the following way :
" He said nothing to the boy, and, in fact, the boy did
not know that he was overheard. He allowed a day or
two to elapse, so that the conversation might be forgotten,
and then took an opportunity, one day after school, when
all things had gone on pleasantly, and the school was about
to be closedj to bring forward the whole subject. He told
the boys that he had something to say to them, after they
had laid by their books and were ready to go. The desks
Avere soon closed, and every face in the room was turned
towards the master with a look of fixed attention. It was
almost evening. The sun had gone down. The boys' la-
bours were over. The day was done, and their minds were
at rest, and everything was favourable for making a deep
and permanent impression.
" ' A few days ago,' says the teacher, when all was still,
' I accidentally overheard some conversation between two
of the boys of this school, and one of them swore.'
" There was a pause.
" ' Perhaps you expect that I am now going to call the
boy out and punish him. Is that what I ought to do Y
GOVERNMENT. 493
" There was no answer.
" ' I think a boy who uses bad language of any kind does
what he knows is wrong. He breaks God's commands.
He does what he knows would be displeasing to his pa- .
rents, and he sets a bad example. He does wrong, there-
fore, and justly deserves punishment.'
" There were, of course, many boys who felt that they
were in danger. Every one who had used profane language
was aware that he might be the one who had been over-
heard, and, of course, all were deeply interested in what
the teacher was saying.
" ' He might, I say,' continues the teacher, ' justly be
punished, but I am not going to punish liim ; for, if I should,
I am afraid that it would only make him a little more care-
ful hereafter not to commit this sin when I could possibly
be within hearing, instead of persuading him, as I wish to,
to avoid such a sin in future altogether. I am satisfied that
that boy would be far happier, even in this world, if he
would make it a principle always to do his duty, and never,
in any case, to do wrong. And then, when I think how
soon he and all of us will be in another world, where we
shall all be judged for what we do here, I feel strongly de-
sirous of persuading him to abandon entirely this practice
I am afraid that punishing him now would not do that.
'.' ' Besides,' continues the teacher, ' I think it very prob-
able -that there are many other boys in this school who are
sometimes guilty of this fault, and I have thought that it
would be a great deal better and happier for us all, if, in-
stead of punishing this particular boy, whom I have acci-
dentally overheard, and who, probably, is not more to blame
than many other boys in school, I should bring up the whole
subject, and endeavour to persuade all to reform.'
" I am aware that there are, unfortunately, in our country
a great many teachers from whose lips such an appeal as
this would be wholly in vain. The man who is accustom-
Tt
494 THE SCHOOL.
ed to scold, and storm, and punish, with unsparing severity,
every transgression, under the influence of irritation and
anger, must not expect that he can win over his pupils to
confidence in him, and to the principles of duty, by a word.
But such an appeal will not be lost when it comes from a
man whose daily and habitual management corresponds
with it. But to return to the story.
" The teacher made some farther remarks, explaining the
nature of the sin, not in the language of execration and af-
fected abhorrence, but calmly, temperately, and without
any disposition to make the worst of the occurrence which
had taken place. In concluding what he said, he address-
ed the boys as follows :
" ' Now, boys, the question is, do you wish to abandon
this habit, or not ? if you do, all is well. I shall immedi-
ately forget all the past, and will do all I can to help you
resist and overcome temptation in future. But all I can do
is only to help you ; and the first thing to be done, if you
wish to engage in this work of reform, is to acknowledge
your fault ; and I should like to know how many are will-
ing to do this.
" ' I wish all those who are willing to tell me whether
they use profane language, would rise.'
" Every individual but one rose.
" ' I am very glad to see so large a number,' said the
teacher ; ' and I hope you will find that the work of con-
fessing and forsaking your faults is, on the whole, pleas-
ant, not painful business. Now, those Avho can truly and
honestly say that they never do use profane language of
any kind may take their seats.'
" Three only of the whole number, which consisted of
not far from 20, sat down. It was in a seaport town,
where the temptation to yield to this vice is even greater
than would be, in the interior of our country, supposed pos-
sible.
GOVERNMENT. 495
" ' Those who are now standing,' pursued the teacher,
' admit that they do, sometimes at least, commit this sin
I suppose all, however, are determined to reform ; for I do
not know what else should induce you to rise and acknowl
edge it here, vmless it is a desire hereafter to break your-
selves of the habit. But do you suppose that it will be
enough for you merely to resolve here that you will re-
form V
" ' No, sir,' said the boys.
" ' Why ? If you now sincerely determine never more to
use a profane word, will you not easily avoid it V
" The boys were silent. Some said faintly, ' No, sir.'
" ' It will not be easy for you to avoid the sin hereafter,'
continued the teacher, ' even if you do now sincerely and
resolutely determine to do so. You have formed the habit
of sin, and the habit will not be easily overcome. But I
have detained you long enough now. I will try to devise
some method by which you may carry your plan into effect,
and to-morrow I will tell you what it is.'
" So they were dismissed for the day ; the pleasant
countenance and cheerful tone of the teacher conveying to
them the impression that they were engaging in the com-
mon effort to accomplish a most desirable purpose, in which
they Avere to receive the teacher's help ; not that he was
pursuing them, with threatening and punishment, into the
forbidden practices into which they had wickedly strayed
Great caution is, however, in such a case, necessary to
guard against the danger, that the teacher, in attempting to
avoid the tones of irritation and anger, should so speak of
the sin as to blunt their sense of its guilt, and lull their
consciences into a slumber.
" At the appointed time on the follo\ving day, the subject
was again brought before the school, and some plans pro-
posed, by which the resolutions now formed might be
more certainly kept. These plans were readily and cheer-
496 THE SCHOOL.
fully adopted by the boys, and in a short time the vice of
profaneness was, in a great degree, banished from the
school. This whole account is substantially fact.
" I hope the reader will keep in mind the object of the
above illustration, which is to show that it is the true poli-
cy of the teacher not to waste his time and strength in
contending against such accidental instances of transgres-
sion as may chance to fall under his notice, but to take an
enlarged and extended view of the whole ground, endeav-
ouring to remove wkole classes of faults, — to elevate and
improve multitudes together.
" By these means, his labours will not only be more ef-
fectual, but far more pleasant. You cannot come into col-
lision with an individual scholar, to punish him for a mis-
chievous spirit, or even to rebuke him for some single act
by which he has given you trouble, without an uncomforta-
ble and uneasy feeling, which makes, in ordinary cases,
the discipline of a school the most unpleasant part of a
teacher's duty. But you can plan a campaign against a
■whole class of faults, and put into operation a system of
measures to correct them, and watch from day to day the
operation of that system, with all the spirit and interest of
a game. It is, in fact, a game where your ingenuity and
moral power are brought into the field, in opposition to the
evil tendencies of the hearts which are under your influence.
" Remember, then, as, for the first time, you take your new
station, that it is not your duty simply to watch with an
eagle eye for those accidental instances of trangression
which may chance to fall under your notice. You are to
look over the whole ground. You are to make yourself ac-
quainted, as soon as possible, with the classes of character
and classes of faults which may prevail in your dominions,
and to form deliberate and well-digested plans for impro-
ving the one and correcting the other.
" And this is to be the course pursued, not only with
GOVERNMENT. 497
great delinquencies, such as those to which I have akeady
alluded, but to every little transgression against the rules
of order and propriety. You can correct them far more
easily and pleasantly in the mass than in detail.
" You avoid, by this means, a vast amount of irritation
and impatience, both on your own part and on the part of
your scholars, and you produce at least twenty times the
usual effect."
" Everything which is unpleasant in the discipline of the
school should be attended to, as far as possible, privately.
Sometimes it is necessary to bring a case forward in public
for reproof or punishment, but this is seldom. In some
schools it is the custom to postpone cases of discipline till
the close of the day, and then, just before the boys are dis*
missed at night, all the difficulties are settled. Thus, day
after day, the impression which is last made upon their
minds is received from a season of suffering, and terror, and
tears.
" Now such a practice may be attended with many ad*
vantages, but it seems to be, on the whole, unwise. Awing
the pupils by showing them the consequences of doing
wrong should be very seldom resorted to. It is far better
to allure them by showing them the pleasures of doing right.
Doing right is pleasant to everybody, and no persons are so
easily convinced of this, or, rather, so easily led to see it, as
children. Now the true policy is, to let them experience
the pleasure of doing their duty, and they will easily be al'
lured to it.
" I am next to consider what course is to be taken with
individual offenders, whom the general influences of the
schoolroom will not control.
" The first point to be attended to is to ascertain who
they are. Not by appearing suspiciously to watch any in-
dividuals, for this would be almost sufficient to make them
bad, if they were not so before. Observe, however ; no-
T T 2
498 ^ THE SCHOOL.
tice, from day to day, the conduct of individuals, not for ths
purpose of reproving or punishing their faults, but to enable
you to understand their characters. This work will often
require great adroitness and very close scrutiny ; and you
will find, as the results of it, a considerable variety of char-
acter, which the general influences above described Avill
not be sufficient to control. The number of individuals will
not be great, but the diversity of character comprised in it
will be such as to call into exercise all your powers of vigi-
lance and discrimination.
" Now all these characters must be studied. It is true
that the caution given in a preceding part of this chapter,
against devoting undue and disproportionate attention to
such persons, must not be forgotten. Still, these individuals
will require, and it is right that they should receive, a far
greater degree of attention, so far as the moral administra-
tion of the school is concerned, than their mere numbers,
would appear to justify. This is the field, in which the
teacher is to study human nature, for here it shows itself
without disguise. It is through this class, too, that a very
powerful moral influence is to be exerted upon the rest of
the school. The manner in which such individuals are
managed ; the tone the teacher assumes towards them ;
the gentleness with which he speaks of their faults ;
and the unbending decision with which he restrains them
from wrong, will have a most powerful efl*ect upon the rest
of the school. That he may occupy this field, therefore, to
the best advantage, it is necessary that he should first thor-
oughly explore it.
" Every boy has something or other which is good in
his disposition and character, which he is aware of, and on
which he prides himself; find out what it is, for it may
often be made the foundation on which you may build
the superstructure of reform. Every one has his peculiar
sources of enjoyment, and objects of pursuit which are be-
GOVERNMENT. 499
fore his mind from day to day ; find out what they are,
that by taking an interest in what interests him, and per-
haps sometimes assisting him in his plans, you can bind him
to you. Every boy is, from the circumstances in which
he is placed at home, exposed to temptations, which have,
perhaps, had a far greater influence in the formation of his
character, than any deliberate and intentional depravity of
his own. Ascertain what these temptations are, that you
may know where to pity him and where to blame. The
knowledge Avhich such an examination of character will
give you will not be confined to making you acquainted with
the individual. It will be the most valuable knowledge
which a man can possess, both to assist him in the general
administration of the school, and in his intercourse among
mankind in the business of life. Men are but boys, only
with somewhat loftier objects of pursuit. Their principles,
motives, and ruling passions are essentially the same. Ex-
tended commercial speculations are, so far as the human
heart is concerned, substantially what trading in jack-
knives and toys is at school, and building a snow fort, to its
own architects, the same as erecting a monument of marble.
" After exploring the ground, the first thing to be done, as
a preparation for reforming individual character in school,
is to secure the personal attachment of the individuals to be
reformed. This must not be attempted by professions and
affected smiles, and still less by that sort of obsequiousness
common in such cases, Avhich produces no effect but to
make the bad boy suppose that his teacher is afraid of him ;
which, by-the-way, is, in fact, in such cases, usually true.
" A most effectual way to secure the good will of a schol-
ar is to ask him to assist' you. The Creator has so formed
the human heart, that doing good must be a source of pleas-
ure, and he who tastes this pleasure once Avill almost al-
ways wish to taste it again. To do good to any individual
creates or increases the desire to do it."
500 THE SCHOOL.
" The teacher can awaken in the hearts of his pupils a
personal attachment for him, by asking, in various ways,
iheir assistance in school, and then appearing honestly
gratified with the assistance rendered. Boys and girls are
delighted to have what powers and attainments they pos-
sess brought out into action, especially where they can lead
to useful results. They love to be of some consequence in
the world, and will be especially gratified to be able to as-
sist their teacher. Get a turbulent boy to co-operate with
you in anything, and he will feel how much pleasanter it is
to co-operate than to thwart and oppose ; and by judicious
measures of this kind almost any boy may be brought over
to your side.
" Another means of securing the personal attachment of
boys is to notice them ; to take an interest in their pursuits,
and the qualities and powers which they value in one an-
other. It is astonishing what an influence is exerted by
such little circumstances as stopping at a play-ground a
moment, to notice with interest, though perhaps without
saying a word, speed of running or exactness of aim ; the
force with which a ball is struck, or the dexterity with
which it is caught or thrown.
" Whenever a boy has been guilty of an offence the best
way is to go directly and frankly to the individual, and come
at once to a full understanding. In nine cases out of ten
this course will be effectual. For four years, and with a
very large school, I have foimd this sufficient, in every case
of discipline which has occurred, except in three or four
instances, where something more was required. To make
it successful, however, it must be done properly. Several
things are necessary. It must be deliberate ; generally bet-
ter after a little delay. It must be indulgent, so far as the
■\'iew which the teacher takes of the guilt of the pupil is
concerned ; every palliating consideration must be felt. It
must be firm and decided in regard to the necessity of a
GOVERNMENT, 601
change, and llie determination of the teacher to effect it. It
must also be open and frank ; no insinuations, no hints, no
surmises, but plain, honest, open dealing".
" In many cases, the communication may be made most
delicately, and most successfully, in writing. The more
delicately you touch the feelings of your pupils, the more
tender these feelings Avill become. Many a teacher hard-
ens and stupifies the moral sense of his pupils, by the harsh
and rough exposures to which he drags out the private feel-
ings of the heart. A man may easily produce such a state
of feeling in his schoolroom, that to address even the gen-
tlest reproof to any individual, in the hearing of the next,
would be a most severe pimishment ; and, on the other hand,
he may so destroy that sensitiveness, that his vociferated
reproaches will be as unheeded as the idle wind."
The teacher should be particularly cautioned against par-
tiality. He must be, as nearly as possible, just in his treat-
ment of all. The older scholars must not be indulged in
doing what Avould not be allowed to the younger, nor the
reverse. There should be no favouritism. These things
are not merely bad in themselves ; they destroy the whole
moral iikfluence of the teacher.
There are two almost opposite courses which may be
pursued for the maintenance of the daily order of school.
One is, to have perfect order and absolute silence, except
at stated periods, when whispering or leaving seats is al-
lowed ; the other is, to allow a certain liberty, to fix limits
beyond which it is not permitted to pass, but within which
whispering and other intercourse are, to a certain extent, al-
lowed, and to rely upon the power of self-restraint in the
pupils to. keep them within those limits. The former is
easy, and an economy of time ; the latter is difficult, and
costs time, but is more pleasant to pupils and to teacher.
In the former case, the teacher must be always on the
watch, and nothing must be suffered to escape his eye, and
502 THE SCHOOL.
no offence its penalty. This seems best for a large school,
where numbers are to be dealt with on general principles.
The other may be pursued in a small or select school, and
where a high moral tone has been made to prevail. It ren-
ders school a better preparation for the trials of life, but it
supposes a considerable advancement already to have been
made.
Is corporal punishment allowable and necessary ? Some-
times, certainly. Order must exist. Obedience must be giv-
en. If the higher motives fail, recourse must be had to the
lower ; and if they fail, to this, the lowest of all. But the
child on whom it is to be inflicted must be in a wretchedly
low state ; and the teacher who habitually has recourse
to it, must be considered as not well understanding the
principles or the duties of his calling.
SECTION II. OF THE MOTIVES TO BE APPEALED TO IN GOVERNMENT.
" Every bias, instinct, propension within, is a real part of our na-
ture, but not the whole ; add to these the superior faculty, whose
office it is to adjust, manage, and preside over them, and take in this
its natural superiority, and you complete the idea of human nature.
And as in civil government the constitution is broken in upon and
violated by power and strength prevailing over authority, so the
constitution of man is broken in upon and violated by the lower fac-
ulties or principles within prevailing over that which is, in its na-
ture, supreme over them all." — Butler.
The remaining object of discipline is to stimulate chil-
dren to exertion in their studies, as well as to secure their
good behaviour. The motives which are most frequently
addressed, both in families and schools, are, 1 . fear of pain,
2. fear of shame, and, 3. emulation, by which I mean the spirit
of rivalry — the desire of outstripping others.*
The first to be considered is the fear of pain. This is
not to be condemned altogether. The teacher ought al-
■■'■ Most of the views contained in this section have been laid
before the public, in the Common School Journal.
MOTIVES. 503
ways to have the power, in case of absolute need, of inflict-
ing corporal punishment. But the mere possession of the
power is all that Avould be required. A boy who knew
that the teacher had this power, and would use it, if obliged
to do so, would be unwilling to drive him to the necessity.
The great objection to corporal punishment is the fact that
it excites angry passions, not only in the child, but in the
master, and much more in the latter than the former. I
very distinctly remember that corporal punishment, when
inflicted in a school where I was a pupil, rarely excited a
permanent ill-feeling in the pupil, because it was felt to be
just. Certain laws had this penalty annexed to their in-
fraction ; and, as the master was really a kind and just man,
there was no feeling of rebellion against a consequence
which the offender brought on himself. In another instance
which recurs to my mind, the only effect of a severe pun-
ishment of this kind, for neglecting a lesson, was a deter-
mination never again to deserve it. But my own experience
teaches me that the effect is almost necessarily bad on the
individual who inflicts the pain. It excites a horrible feel-
ing in him, — a feeling which we might conceive to belong
to evil spirits. But fear of pain docs not necessarily per-
vert the character of the child.
Not so with the fear of shame. I believe its effects to
be altogether bad. And the essence of its badness is, that
it can be brought to bear upon what is excellent as readily
as upon what is evil. Indeed, Avhat is noble, and high-
minded, and pure, can more easily be turned to ridicule
than the contrary. Cruelty, hardness of heart, selfishness,
the meanest of vices, can with difficulty be exposed to rid-
icule ; while compassion, tender-heartedness, generosity,
are particularly obnoxious to it.
Most children are, by nature, too susceptible of ridi-
cule; How common it is to see children ashamed of pov-
erty, or any appearance of poverty, or of any natural defect
504 THE SCHOOL.
or peculiarity, and not ashamed of gluttony, or profaneness,
or malice !
Children of delicate temperament, great generosity, and
warmth of imagination, — those of the very character that
needs not the influence of a severe punishment, would be
made to suffer terribly from the fear of shame ; while those
of obtuse temperament, cowardly, and mean, and wanting
in imagination, would suffer very little.
Besides, from whatever cause, our countrymen are most
inordinately susceptible to the influence of ridicule already.
Is not the great want of independence, Avhich every observ-
er must notice, owing to this ? Are we not, in the highest
and most absurd degree, sensitive to other people's opin-
ions ? And, if we are so, would it not be unphilosophical
and wanting in patriotism to increase this national infirmi-
ty, by rendering individuals more sensitive by addressing
the fear of shame 1
The great objection to it, however, is what I have stated,
that it operates with terrible inequality and injustice ; giv-
ing great pain to the fine characters that ought to be dealt
delicately with, aad not touching those who are, if possible,
to be taken hold of by influences of all kinds.
The same objection lies against emulation. It operates
with great force upon noble natures that need no excite-
ment, and passes over those dull ones whom it shovdd be the
business of discipline to move.
It must be admitted that it is a most powerful motive,
perhaps the most powerful that can be put in action. To be
at the head of a class can never be an object of indifference
to a child of talent, if that is held out as the greatest good.
Still less, to be at the head of a school. To gain a med-
al, when only one or a very few are given, and where
the number of competitors is great, may be made to as-
sume, to the eye of a child, an importance greater than
any other object for which he can live. But it sacrifices
MOTIVES. 505
the higher powers to the lower, — the moral to the intellectu-
al. The object of the teacher ought not to be to make as
good scholars as possible by any means whatsoever, but
to elevate the being as highly as possible. If the scholar is
made at the expense of the man, an incalculable injury is
inflicted. The teacher capable of sacrificing the moral
character of his pupil to his appearance at an exhibition or
his triumph at an annual examination, is totally unworthy
of his office.
Emulation, when exercised among companions and equals,
almost necessarily excites the worst passions, envy, jeal-
ousy, hatred, malice. I say ahnost, because I believe that
there are a few so noble in their nature, so raised above
all selfishness, that they are able to see the prize for which
they have been long striving, with all possible efforts, borne
away by a rival, with no other feelings than gratification at
his success, and resignation to their own disappointment.
But these are very few. I might, therefore, without depart-
ing from the truth, leave out the qualifying expression, and'
say, that emulation, as it usually operates, excites the worst
passions of the human heart.
As to the effect produced on the character by emulation,
an obvious and important question to be asked is, Avhether
the habits formed by it are most likely to lead to the regular,
quiet, and conscientious discharge of the daily duties of life.
Many of those who have at school been stimulated to great
efforts by it, lay aside their books and their habits of study
when they leave school. If it thus fails to produce perma-
nent effects in the things about which it has been employ-
ed, is it lilcely to produce a healthy effect upon the whole
character ? Would a woman, whose character had been
formed under the influence of this motive, be more likely
than another to endeavour to form in her children simplici-
ty of character, humility, the charity which does good for
the sake of its object, the love of truth for its own sake, tlie
Uu
506 THE SCilOOL.
principle of doing right because it is right ? Would the de-
sire of distinction, and of surpassing others, be most likely
to suggest her highest duties as a wife ? Will it best fit her
for her duties to herself and her Maker ? If they had any
effect, would they not tend to lead her astray ? And can
those motives which are obviously wrong for children of
one sex, be the best possible for those of the other ? If
these doubts are not v/hoUy unfounded, what an infinite
amount of unnecessary evil must be created by emulation !
To say nothing of the envy and hatred it often engenders,
cankering instead of purifying the heart of infancy and
childhood, — to what cause more than this, acting so gener-
ally in schools, and even in families, can be attributed the
insane desire, so prevailing among us, of outstripping each
other in wealth, in houses, in dress, in every^thing which
admits of external comparison ? To what else, in an equal
degree, can we attribute the notorious profligacy of so many
political leaders ? The desire of excelling has been, from
childhood, so fostered, that it has become an irrepressible
passion, rushing to its end, regardless of all principle and
of all consequences.
It doubtless does good as well as harm. But the ques-
tion is, whether we cannot secure the good from the action
of higher motives, while we avoid the evil. The best men
have been above its influence. Emulation may have form-
ed such men as Csesar and Napoleon. How little could it
have done to form Washington ! The noblest deeds and
the highest works, those which have advanced society in
civilization and truth, have been produced under the influ-
ence of entirely different and higher motives.
Of whom was Galileo emulous, when, having gone be-
yond Avhat was already known, he stretched out, by the
help of experiment and geometry, into the vast unexplored
ocean of mechanical and astronomical truth ? Of whom
WcS Kepler emulous, when, from the collected obserA^tions
MOTIVES. 607
of many years, he deduced those famous laws which he
did not expect the minds of his own age even to compre-
hend, but which were to serve as a foundation for the sys-
tem of the universe ? What rivalry stimulated Newton,
when, in the seclusion of his own study, he established
those immortal principles of philosophy, which his friends
could with difficulty persuade him to ^ve to the world ?
What emulation taught Archimedes mechanics, or Pascal
geometry, or Shakspeare poetrj^ ? What rivalry set George
Fox or John Wesley to preach 1 or launched the Santa
Maria or the Mayflower upon the waves of the Atlantic ?
It must be admitted that we cannot entirely exclude the
action of emulation. Children can hardly be assembled
for any purpose without its showing itself. But nothing
need be done to strengthen it. It is already a sufficiently
powerful element in the character of every child ; and the
excessive prominence which is given to it by its being
constantly addressed, destroys the balance of the powers,
and sacrifices the moral being to the intellectual.
What other motives can be m-ade to take the place of the
powerful ones of which I have spoken ?
I. The love of the approbation of friends and teachers.
The love of approbation is, in a greater or less degree, nat-
ural to every individual, and must have been implanted for
some good purpose. It soon shows itself in the child, and,
for several of the earliest years, affords the parent one of
the most powerful means of control and influence. If ap-
pealed to constantly and simply, it may be made a genial
and healthy element of the character. It is, however, often
perverted by being associated with inferior motives. In
stead of being satisfied with showing that, if their children
do Avell, they will be rewarded with their love and appro-
bation, parents too often bring in the meaner motives of
appetite for delicacies, pecuniary rewards, or the desire of
surpassing each other. A child may be made to feel that,
508 THE SCHOOL.
by improper conduct, he will forfeit his parents' approba-
tion, and, if he has been properly trained, he will feel this
to be one of the gi-eatest losses possible.
I suppose that all parents begin, instinctively, by ap-
pealing to this motive. The mischief is, that they too often
degrade it by mean associations, and pervert it by giving it
a wrong direction. ' What will people think V is the com-
mon expression of parents without principle, and is some-
times thoughtlessly uttered even by those who would
shrink from believing that they were themselves acting
from a regard to the opinion of the world, and would justly
condemn themselves for inculcating such a principle on
their children. The love of indiscriminate approbation, —
that of the bad, the worthless, the frivolous, equally with
that of the intelligent and the just, — would be as likely to
have an ill effect on the character as a good, to form a
mere creature of the world as to form a person of high
views and noble principles. It is obvious, therefore, that
the good influence of this motive depends on its associa-
tions. It is perfectly safe only when it has reference to
those who bestow approbation on what deserves it, and who
are capable of judging.
In school, the love of approbation should be directed,
first, to the parent at home ; next, to the teacher ; lastly
and least, to the standard of action and opinion pervading
the little community. In order that it may be directed to
the parent, the teacher must either have constant inter-
course with him, or he must statedly send him some report
of the child's progress and deportment. The latter, where
practicable, is the better course, since, when the reports
are made on just principles, they come to operate regular-
ly, and form habits of action in the child of the greatest im-
portance.
In order that written reports should have a permanently
good effect, they must be, as nearly as possible, just. I
>!0T1VES. 509
gay as nearly as possible, because I hold it to be almost
impossible that they should be quite just. To be so, the
dullest child in a school, who has made imiform and faith-
ful exertions, should have an expression of entire coramen*
dation ; and to be able to say how faithful the exertions
have been, we must haA^e a complete knowledge of the ca*
pacity and character of the child. Now, as this is obvi*
ously very difficult, it is equally so to do absolute justice.
An earnest desire, however, on the part of the teacher, to
do exact justice, and lo rectify any instance of injustice
which is brought to his knowledge, has almost the effect
of justice.
The reputation for justice and benevolence in the teach-
er is, of course, essential to his having a good influence in
the bestowal of his own approbation. The expressed ap-
probation of an able teacher will have its effect, doubtlessj
in stimulating to exertion, even when it is clearly unjust.
But the influence of such approbation is pernicious, inas*
much as it sacrifices the child's love of justice to his prog-
ress in his studies ; while, on the other hand, a teacher of
moderate intellectual ability will be able to give great force
to his approbation, and to exert an influence on his pupils
iiigher far than belongs to his own mere intellect, if he takes
care always to fortify his opinions by an appeal to their
natural sense of justice.
This sense of justice, however, in children collected
from families of all kinds, such as usually make up a mis-
cellaneous school, needs continual correction. It is apt to
be warped by too strong a feeling, in each individual, of
his own rights, and a disregard of the rights of others.
Occasionally you find a child who thinks that more than
justice is done to himself. Much more frequently, each
thinks he receives less than justice. When a teacher is
sure he is himself just, at least in his intentions, he may
correct the perceptions of justice in his pupils Till tMs
U w 2
610 THE SCHOOL.
is done, he cannot safely appeal to tlieir judgment to award
the meed of approbation.
The love of approbation, then, with these limitations,
may be appealed to as a powerful and harmless motive.
Without these limitations it must be admitted to be unsafe,
from the danger of its invading the province of those high-
er principles, which it should be the business of education
to establish as umpires over all the parts of the mental and
moral constitution.
II. The love of knowledge, and the pleasure of exercising
the faculties in learning.
Any one who had never been inside of a school, but
had acquired a knowledge of the things in the creation
and of the history of man by observation, and converse,
and reading, among men and women engaged in the usual
occupations of life, would be surprised to be told that little
advantage is taken, in the common course of instruction,
of this universal and most powerful principle. What
can be more universal or more powerful than curiosity 1 —
this instinctive love of the soul for all the beautiful crea-
tion into the midst of which it has been born ? — this innate
yearning of every faculty towards the objects for which it
was created ? . Observe how, in a child, every sound awa-
kens it. See how every colour, every motion, every new
form charms. See with what delight the young lord of the
world handles, lifts, pulls, breaks, weighs, and measures the
materials of his future power, the creatures of his empire.
Mark the rapt attention with which he listens to the story
of every one of his fellow-creatures, of the lower or the
higher races, — the impatience with which he waits for your
answer to his innumerable questions about ends, and causes,
and mechanisms, — the how, and whence, and what for ; and
then be told that this almost irrepressible desire to learn /*•
repressed, this powerful impulse*is neglected and forgotten,
and the noble boy is made to learn, not because knowledge
MOTIVES. 511
is delightful, and bij the delight with which the heart and
mind spring outward to it, but by being mated against his
brother, and by his desire of outstripping him, — by blows,
and shame, and envy !
And how happens this ? We mistake the means for
the end. Instead of endeavouring to teach things of hu-
man life, the la\ys of the creation, the character of the
infinitely benevolent Author, we act as if we thought that
the great ends of teaching were how to spell and read, and
cipher and parse. We imprison a child for hours, and con-
demn him to stillness at an age when he was never intend-
ed to be still, and put into his hands a book of columns and
pages of nonsense, page after page of impenetrable, inex-
plicable nonsense, and then wonder that he is not as bright
and gleesome as we have seen him in a garden, in the pur-
suit of flowers and butterflies. We approach him with an
outstretched ferule, and stern look and voice, and are vexed
that he is not as much delighted to see us as if we came
with smiles and kindness. We carry" on this process for
some years, and then wonder that all his associations with
a school are not pleasurable. The wonder should be, that
any child should be susceptible of being moulded to our
will to such a degree that any of these associations should
be pleasant.
But how shall the love of knowledge be substituted for
the usual motives 1 How shall a child be taught spelling,
and reading, and parsing by the desire of knowledge ? As
to reading, it is now usually, when taught at home by kind
and intelligent parents, taught through the love of knowledge,
— or that and love of a parent's approbation. Put suitable,
well-written children's books, such as they can perfectly un-
derstand, into the hands of children, and they will soon learn
to read, from the desire of getting at what they contain.
And they will learn to read, not in the drawling, monotonous
tone 90 common in schools; but in a simple and natural man
612 THE SCHOOL.
ner, with spirit and effect. I have now in my eye and in
my heart two children, who, without a tear or a sigh, but
with delight, learned, of a sensible and loving mother, how
to read, and well too ; and beautifully and naturally they
did read, so that it was a pleasure to hear them^ until they
went to school. There, from books they could not under*
stand, and befitting teachers, they soon learned to substitute
for the natural method, in which feeling answered to feel-
ing and thought to thought, the loud, boisterous, humdrum,
school mode, which had nothing to do with sense or feel-
ing.
Regard reading as an end, and you will not succeed in
teaching it well. Consider it only as the means by which
the heart and head of the writer may reach the heart and
head of the reader, and it becomes an easy and natural thing.
We often hear surprise expressed that there are so few
good readers, when so much time is spent on the art. The
wonder rather is, that there should be any ; that a child
should be carried through the long ligmarole of the spelling-
book, such as we usually find it, and ever after be able to
learn to read well at all.
If the object of a teacher were to communicate as much
knowledge as possible, he would immediately find that the
love of knowledge might be enlisted, and that much might
be communicated, without having recourse to other stimu-
lants. For tliis purpose, however, he must pursue one of
two courses. He must either select simple, well-written
books for the pupils to read, or he must make special prep-
aration himself, that he may supply the place of books. In
most schools, it would be difficult to introduce a sufficient
variety of books to communicate information upon all the
subjects upon which instruction should be given. In none
would it be impossible for the teacher to impart a great
amount of valuable knowledge to pupils in almost every
stage of advancement. The subjects which will be found
MOTIVES. 513
interesting lo children are such as the following : the ap-
pearance, food, dress, manners, and customs of difi'erent na-
tions, and whatever relates to the condition of man in all
parts of the world ; the air and its motions, and the cause
of wind ; Avater, what it is made of, how it is raised into the
air, and falls, and flows into the sea, — how it freezes, and
forms snow, and rends rocks ; rocks, their uses, the fact that
they are made of airs and combustible substances ; heat and
its effects ; useful plants, such as are used for food, or fuel, or
the arts, what makes them grow, and how beautiful they
are ; animals, their sagacity, habits, uses ; the moon, its
changes and action on the tides ; ships, how they are made,
how they sail, whither they go, what they carry ; short his-
tories, anecdotes of great or good men, and others without
number.
Let a teacher make it a part of every day's duties to
prepare himself to communicate some particular piece of in-
formation, and feel a strong interest in it himself, and I doubt
whether he will find it difiicult to excite interest in children.
Let him, for example, tell his pupils that there is a country
where, for some weeks in winter, the sun does not rise, and
where the snow is often so deep that there is no travelling,
and ask them how they think people can occupy themselves
during these long nights ; then let him give the beautiful
picture we have of the domestic life and habits of the Ice-
landers, where every family is a school and a workshop, and
the business and the instruction of life go on together. Or
let him tell them how glass is made, or how a book is print-
ed, and I have no fear that he will have to whip them to at-
tention.
He must, however, learn to talk, not Latin, not from the
dictionary, but in simple, downright, household Saxon Eng-
lish, such as men of sense talk on their farms and in their
workshops, and women of sense in their kitchens or among
their sisters. Let the end of talking be to interest and in-
struct, not to exhibit himself.
514 THE SCHOOL.
And let him not be discouraged if he do not succeed
the first or second time. It will require some practice to
enable him to do the thing well himself, and it will require
some patience to break up the bad habits of inattention in
children, and accustom them to listen and look. But what
good thing is there that we can get without any trouble ?
And this art is well worth the pains.
III. The love of truth.
A love of truth must emanate from the teacher. It is in
vain that he shall attempt to impress it upon his pupils, if
he have it not in his own breast. And he will teach it more
effectively, just in proportion as he has it more deeply and
sincerely. Let him feel an entire reverence for the truth,
and let him show this in his words and actions.
Many practices, common in school, have a tendency to
destroy, or at least to weaken, the love of truth. A teach-
er should never distrust a pupil without cause. In doing
so, he does what he can to teach him falsehood. A child
is never so much tempted to lie as when he finds he is al-
ready considered a liar.
I need hardly say he should never tempt his pupils to lie.
An obvious feeling and understanding of the command,
Swear not at all, is, never make a promise. I believe it
was given by him who knew what weakness is in man, to
guard this sacred love of truth. A teacher should not re-
quire nor allow his pupil to promise not to repeat an act.
If he do, he tempts him to break his promise. He tempts
him to do a thing infinitely worse than the trifling offences
which he would guard against. He ought to be satisfied
with pointing out the evil and exacting the penalty. But
let him never require the promise.
Much harm is done by attempting to induce children to
tell of each other. Most children in school have a natural
«ense of honour in regard to this, which, so far from being
v'iolated, should be cherished and respected. It may be
MOTIVES. 515
a mistaken sense of honour, — it usually is ; but it is a noble
feeling, and may be enlightened into a high principle. The
detection of the author of little freaks of childish folly, or
even of childish mischief, is, and should be considered, of
infinitely less consequence than the preservation of this
sense of honour. There is no great harm in the culprit's
escaping ; there is very great in children's learning to re-
gard each other and themselves as informers.
If a teacher will look a little into his own motives, he
will find that the anxious desire to bring to light and pun-
ishment a culprit who has been guilty of some practical
joke or violation of school-law, has more of selfishness and
pride in it, than love of justice or of the good of the offend-
er. Let him have magnanimity enough to look upon his
own laws as of little consequence, in comparison Avith the
real good of his pupils, and he will be less galled at seeing
them broken ; and, if he persevere long enough, he will
awaken a magnanimity in the pupil, which will be a surer
protection of his laws than any selfish precaution. When
the pupil sees that the master's anxiety for the execution
of the laws comes from a consideration that they are his
laws, he loses respect for the law and for the law-maker.
But convince him that you have a higher regard for him
than you have for your temporary laws, and you soon enlist
the feelings of his better nature in favour of yourself and
your regulations.
In a school at least, if not in society, how much might
be gained on the score of justice and truth by constant
reference to that code, according to which the most effect-
ual punishment for one frail creature to inflict upon another
equally frail is — -forgiveness ?
Another temptation to falsehood to be avoided, always, if
possible, is the setting one child to be monitor or spy over
others. I know that, in some schools and according to
some systems, this is unavoidable. But I know, also, that
516 THE SCHOOL.
it is liable to produce falsehood, injustice, and ill feeling.
A child must be more than a child, — he must have, in abun-
dant measure, all the best qualifications of a mature teacher,
to be able to perform justly, truly, and kindly the duties of
a monitor. Such there sometimes are, and such may be
employed. But none others should.
I have adverted briefly to the common occasions of a
departure from truth. I have done it from a conviction that
the love and the habit of truth-telling are of infinitely more
importance than any acquisition connected with studies
which can ever be made in school, and for the sake of
which the love of the truth is put at hazard.
The desire of attaining to the truth in matters of science
or history will be found to be a natural consequence of
the love of moral truth, of which I have been speaking.
This is a strong inducement to thoroughness in investiga-
tion ; but I admit that it comes into operation later, and sup-
poses a higher degree of advancement, than any other of
the motives of which I have had occasion to speak.
Its cultivation, however, is of such consequence, that it
ought to receive far more attention than is usually given ii.
A teacher has many opportunities of inculcating it. The
extravagant language that young persons are very prone to
use, though possibly proceeding only from exuberant feel-
ings, should be guarded and repressed. Over-statements
naturally lead to falsehood. Good taste, as well as truth,
is concerned in the restriction ; exaggeration is a violation
of both.
Exactness in statements, and in the performance of all
school exercises, is chiefly important in its moral relations,
as leading to scrupulous adherence to truth.
IV. The desire of advancement and progress is a natural
and commendable motive. The only diftlcuity is, so to di-
rect and control it, as to prevent the competition becoming
personal. And it is so necessary an ingredient in every
MOTIVES. 517
inlelligenl and active character, that it is of great importance
that a right direction should be given to it in early life.
1 shall suggest, in a few words, some modes in which
this may be done.
1. The pupil may be led to desire to be more perfect
in the study in w^hich he is engaged. This is not so dif-
ficult as might at first be thought. Self-emulation may be
easily excited. Show a child that what he is doing he
may do better ; have patience with his slow improvement ;
commend the slightest advance, and be just in marking that
advance ; you lead him to enter into judgment with him-
self. He compares what he is doing with what he had
done ; he sees that he has attained something ; he becomes
his own friend. But we must be careful to refer to the
right standard. Let him not applaud himself for doing
more, Unless it be also better. Better should be ever the
word.
2. He will need little excitement to be made to desire to
rise to a higher class or division. Let him desire it ; and let
him be advanced, but only with the condition that all, as he
goes, be learned thoroughly. The stimtdus may act upon
a whole division, consisting of many individuals. All may
push on together, without ill-feeling, to a higher division
This should be done as often as it can, in most schools, for
another reason, that classes should be as few as is consist-
ent with the progress of all. If the principle of self-judg-
ment has been properly brought to act, some may be advan-
ced without injury to the rights and feelings of those left
behind. They, indeed, will prefer not to be advanced rath-
er than to go unprepared.
3. There is a sufficiently strong desire always exist-
ing among children to go on to higher studies. It may be
rendered useful by faithfully requiring thoroughness in the
present study, as a condition of advancement to a neAv one.
Curiosity thus stimulates love of progress. An cxamina-
Xx
618 THE SCHOOL.
tion may determine tlie qualification ; or, if the same teach-
er have charge of both classes, he may decide, without
special examination, that a part or the whole of one class
is qualified to go on to a higher, or to pursue another study.
4. A school may be divided into several divisions, ac-
cording to general progress and deportment. Let the grades
be so numerous that the distance between contiguous divis-
ions shall not be great. This arrangement may exist only
on paper, in the record of the school. It need not affect
the studies or the seats of the pupils. And it is much bet-
ter that it should not. A child may be in the same divis-
ion, on the book, with another, but be in a higher class in
Arithmetic, a lower in Reading, and a different one in Geog-
raphy. Personal competition is much weakened by these
various arrangements according to progress, while better
motives are brought to q.ct more powerfully. It will be a
strong inducement to a child to have a faultless character
for three months, if the consequence is also to have a high-
er place on the weekly record of the school. And the
contest is prevented from being a personal one, by the
names in each division being arranged alphabetically. Fif-
teen, or any other number of pupils, may thus have the sat-
isfaction of having raised themselves, from grade to grade, to
the first division, without having any emulation, as no one
of the number shall know which is highest or lowest of the
fifteen.
5. If there be a system of several connected schools,
examination for each higher one may be rendered a strong
motive to study. Every one who has had any experience in
preparing boys for college, knows how powerfully, as it
draws near, the expectation of the examination for admission
acts.* It seems very desirable and very practicable to in-
* Every college examiner who lowers the standard of require-
ment does a wrong to all the vouth who are looking in that direc-
MOTIVES. 519
troduce a gradation of schools into all the large towns of
New-England and New-Yorli. A few, taught by masters
of first-rate qualifications, might accomplish more than is
effected by many under inferior teachers. Those of the
second grade might be better taught than they now are, by
females. If admission to the higher depended on a thorough
examination, a strong and effectual motive would be brought
to bear on a class that now stand in need of one ; — tall boys,
Avho think themselves too old for the dominion of a woman.
Nearly connected with this is
V. The desire of preparing for the business and duties
of Ufe.
It often happens that young men who have been idle du-
ring the course of their academical or collegiate education,
become diligent and careful Avhen they enter upon the study
of a particular profession. This is not the consequence of
maturer years only, but, rather, that the business of life is
placed distinctly before them, and the necessity of specific
preparation for it reridered evident. The same principle
might have been appealed to with effect in every part of
their previous course. The child learning his letters may
oftentimes.be urged to attention by being shown that he will
thereby obtain the advantage of reading whatever and when-
ever he pleases. Ho will be induced to learn to spell and
to write, by being convinced that writing will be an advan-
tage and a pleasure to him in his future life. The boy who
is to look only to his own exertions for support, will be
stimulated to diligence from the beginning of his Qtudies,
if it can be made clear to him that success jn life will de-
pend on his excellence as a scholar. The generous boy
of twelve, who is made to foresee that the support of a
tion. If all the colleges of the Northern and Middle States could
be induced to unite, they could easily and rapidly raise all the pre-
paratory schools to a far higher grade, by agreeing to insist on high-
er qualificatirns.
520 TWE SCHOOL.
mother or a sister will depend on him, and that all he can
have to rely on is his talents and his education, will press
on with the resolution to get the best education and make
the most of his talents. The future merchant will apply
patiently to Arithmetic, Letter-writing, and Book-keeping,
when he is convinced that these are necessary to his prep-
aration for his futurie calling. Chemistry and -Vegetable
Physiology will recommend themselves to the future farm-
er on the same grounds ; Geometry and Physics to the
mechanic ; and Physiology and the laws of the constitution
to her who realizes that an important part of the duty of
woman is to nurse the sick and to bring up children in
health.
Such views should never be omitted in recommending a
study to our pupils ; and if there be a study in regard to
which such statements cannot be made, we may reasonably
hesitate whether we have a right to recommend it to them.
We must take care, however, that the view we take of suc-
cess in life be not the mean and ordinary one which meas-
ures everything by its pecuniary value, but the loftier one,
based upon more just ideas of the worth of our existence,
and the elevation, excellence, and happiness which should
be its aim.
A lad of some talent, who had failed to be influenced by
the rod, by medals, by the desire of pleasing his friends, or
fear or love of his instructer, was awakened as ft-om a sleep
by a striking picture of the miserable condition of an old
age spent without any of the resources which love of books
can give. What was immediately before him did not touch
him ; but his imagination passed over youth and manhood,
of which he felt secure, and dwelt upon old age ; and the
desire of being, at that period of his life, surrounded by
friends and books, set him seriously at work.
VI. The generous affections.
Every school might be, in a much greater degree than is
MOTIVES. 521
olten thought possible, governed and controlled by an ap-
peal to the highest and most generous affections that belong
to the human character. I admit that it would be often dif-
ficult, and, to some of us, impossible ; but the fault would
be with ourselves. It would be because we have not, in a
eufhciently ample measure, the qualities that we would call
up in our pupils ; for, to avail himself of these principles,
the teacher must have them in his own character. How
can he touch the spring of generous feeling in his pupils
who, in his intercourse with them, is habitually influenced
by low and selfish motives 1
1. He should have a strong sympathy with childhood,
and he should not be ashamed to feel and express it. The
affections, as truly as genius, are always young. They
never grow old. And if they did, life is so short, that the
oldest of us have to look back but a very few years to enter
again into the feelings of childhood. Without sympathy,
the teacher cannot understand, much less direct, the feel-
ings of the child. But a ready sympathy will enable him
to understand the difficulties that a child meets with, — how
obscure the plainest thing may appear to hiin ; how long
the shortest ; and how soon his scanty stock of patience is
exhausted. It is partly from their quicker sympathy that
females are so much better qualified to teach young children
than we are ; partly, also, from the silly pride that is apt to
prevail among men, particularly those of obtuse perceptions,
and the savage idea that want of sympathy is not a want,
that hardness is rrianliness ; forgetting that the men of the
best endowments have been always marked by the most
extensive sympathies.
The most generous allowance should be made for the
faults of children ; the most lenient construction should be
put upon every offence. We may easily remember, if we
will, that our OAvn faults, when children, were far more fre-
quently those of ignorajice, of thoughtlessness, of impulse,
X x2
522 TEIE SCHOOL.
or of weakness, than of design or of malice. Such are
always the sources of most of their faults ; and it is un-
reasonable to expect to find children without faults. -It is
unreasonable, too, when these causes are so obvious, to look
deeper and search for anything worse. Impute to children
the best motives, and you create them, or, rather, you bring
into action those principles Avhich produce the best motives.
We cannot doubt that the capacity for all that is good and
noble exists in every child, and only needs to be roused
and brought out by the teacher. His power of doing this
will be in proportion to the elevation of his own character.
2. A teacher must show entire confidence in the child ;
and not only show, but feel it. Confidence begets confi-
dence, as distrust begets distrust and falsehood. There is
no other so ready way to produce falsehood in a child as to
doubt his word. And it must be so. A doubter is a liar.
One who was himself perfectly true could never suspect.
It is true that there is a distrust produced by the experience
of other men's falsehoods. But this belongs to the world.
It cannot be felt by a teacher towards a child. Real truth,
like charity, thinketh no evil. Distrust, therefore, to the
whole extent of the influence a teacher has, corrupts the
principle of truth, and generates falsehood. It is as- if he
said to the child, ' I distrust you, because I believe that you
are like myself.' But a child who feels that his teacher
confides in him has all the strength of the teacher's charac-
ter on the side of his own good promptings and resolutions.
He can, perhaps, resist the temptation from within, if all
from without is removed. The teacher's smile gives him
confidence in himself. He is safe, because he is in good
company. But let the teacher meet him with the dark leer
of suspicion, and the trembling flame of truth within him
goes out. ' What am I to lose,' thinks the child, ' by this
falsehood ? He already looks upon me as a liar ; and by a
lie I may save myself from the consequences of this of-
MOTIVES. 523
fence.' For thus is falsehood always cowardly and full
of fear. Let us remove the fear, if we would prevent
the lie.
3. The teacher should take care to make it felt that he
is on the side of his pupils. This is often difficult. In
some schools the master has always been looked upon as
an enemy, and the impression comes down by inheritance
to all the children. The same, too, is the impression of
parents, which makes the case still harder. But the diffi-
culty will cease in the case of one who has a genuine sym-
pathy for his pupils. They are quick to find out their
friends ; and if he is a true friend — a prudent, wise, and
confiding friend, they cannot miss of sooner or later finding
it out.
The common truth, — almost too common even for a
proverb, — that we learn more from imitation than precept,
is in everybody's mouth, and yet how much disregarded in
practice. What higher object can be proposed than to
teach the moral virtues, justice, liberality, charity, gentle-
ness, generosity, humility ? But how can he properly teach
justice who is habitually unfair ? or liberality, who is mean-
spirited ? or charity, who is close and suspicious ? or gen-
tleness, who is rough and overbearing ? or generosity, who
is overreaching and selfish 1 or humility, who is proud, and
querulous, and self-sufficient ?
VII. Conscientiousness, and the desire of obeying the
laws of God.
The highest object of education, I repeat, is to establish
the dominion of these principles, and to form the habit of
acting under their influence. This is to be accomplished
by exercising them, or, so far as it depends on the teacher,
by constantly appealing to them, so as to call them into ac-
tion.
The conscience, beginning to act in very early childhood,
is, in many individuals, more active then tlian at any future
524 THE SCHOOL.
period. The common course of education, both in school
and out of school, is wrong in nothing else so much as in
failing to give greater activity to the conscience. The child
who is once habituated, as under a conscientious mother he
may be, to ask the question " Is it right ?" in regard to ev-
ery proposed action, might easily be led to continue to do
this, and would then grow up, seeking always, and first of
all, to do his duty. But how often are his scruples laughed
at. How constantly does he see those about him acting
from appetite, from malice, from passion, from self-interest,
from desire of the approval of the world, from the wish to
outstrip others, and from the other ordinary low motives.
How constantly are these presented to himself. No won-
der that the still, small voice of conscience is never heard,
or, if heard, that it is stifled by the confused sounds about
him. It should be our endeavour to change this state of
things, to take the side of conscience, to point out what is
Avrong and what is right, and to suggest constantly the ques-
tion, Is it right ? — not always in so many words, but in such
a manner that it shall really be asked within. With pupils
of all ages, I have from no other source seen such satisfac-
tory eftects produced, as from the action of this principle
and affection alone. I have never known a young person,
insensible to the simple statement, " You can do better than
this, and you ought ;" nor any form of reward which produ-
ced its effect more clearly and certainly than being able to
say, " You have done well" — " that is right" — " that is very
well !"
But the conscience is to be enlightened. This is to be
done by teaching the child his relation to God, as his Au-
thor and the Creator of his conscience, as of everything
else, thus showing the authority of the laws of God, and then
showing what the laws of God are. The laws of the spir-
itual and moral nature are to be learned from the Bible, —
most distinctly and fully from the instnictions of Jesus
MOTIVES. 525
Christ. For this purpose, a porti)n of the Gospels, or a
selection from other parts, should, as I have repeatedly said,
be read each day, and such assistance given, in pointing out
and explaining the laws, as the teacher maybe able to give.
The two highest principles, — the sentiment of duty and rev-
erence for God and his laws, — are thus made to act to-
gether.
The sphere of conscientiousness is enlarged by enlarging
our views of the Creator's laws. When the body is admit-
ted to be his workmanship, the laws of the structure of the
body are his laws, and whatever is necessary to secure
health becomes a part of duty. The parable of the talents,
explained to signify all the talents, the powers of mind and
of body, as well as the moral and religious faculties, will
show that every part of our nature is to be conscientiously
cultivated, improved, and perfected, according to the obvious
purpose of its Creator.
I have placed this class of motives last, because it is
the highest. It would, perhaps, be more proper to place it
first, as it comprehends all others ; and if we could teach
and govern perfectly, it would take the place of all others.
As we advance in knowledge of our duties and in skill, wo
shall approach more and more nearly to this end.
526 THE SCHOOLHOUSE.
BOOK V.
THE SCHOOLHOUSE
CHAPTER I.
SITUATION.
" The outside of the building is as agreeable as the inside is coiv-
venient ; it is situated on the prettiest side of the town, and has na
communication with any other building. It has a magnificent view
over a delightful country, a large kitchen-garden, a commodious
court, and two flower-gardens." — Cousin, The School at Bruhl.
So mucli do the future health, vigour, taste, and moral
principles of the pupil depend upon the position, arrange-
ment, and construction of the schoolhouse, that everything
about it is important. When the most desirable situation
can be selected, and the laws of health and the dictates of
taste may be consulted, it should be placed on firm ground,
on the southern declivity of a gently-sloping hill, open to
the southwest, from which quarter come the pleasantest
winds in summer, and protected on the northeast by the top
of the hill or by a thick wood. From the road it should be
remote enough to escape the noise, and dust, and danger,
and yet near enough to be easily accessible by a path or
walk, always dry. About it should be ample space, a part
open for a play-ground, a part to be laid out in plots for
flowers and shrubs, with winding alleys for walks. Damp
places, in the Adcinity of stagnant pools or untvholesome
marshes, and bleak hilltops or dusty plains, should be care-,
fully avoided. Tall trees should partially shade the grounds,
not in stiff" rows or heavy clumps, but scattered irregularly
as if by the hand of Nature. Our native forests present
such a choice of beautiful trees, that the grounds must be
very extensive to afford room for even a single fine speci--
SITUATION. 527
men of each ; yet this should, if possible, be done, for chil-
dren ought early to become familiar with the names, ap-
pearance, and properties of these noblest of inanimate
things. The border of a natural wood may often be chosen
for the site of a school ; but if it is to be thinned out, or if
trees are to be planted, and, from limited space, a selection
is to be made, the kingly, magnificent oaks, the stately
hickories, the spreading beech for its deep mass of shade,
the maples for their rich and abundant foliage, the majestic
elm, the useful ash, the soft and graceful birches, and the
towering, columnar sycamore, claim precedence.* Next
may come the picturesque locusts, with their hanging, fra-
grant flowers ; the tulip-tree ; the hemlock, best of ever-
greens ; the celtis, or sweet gum ; the nyssa, or tupelo, with
horizontal branches and polished leaves ; the walnut and
butternut, the native jwplar, and the aspen.
Of extremely beautiful American shrubs, the number is
so great that I have no room for a list. What place in-
tended to form the taste of the young, should be without
the kalmias, rhododendrons, cornels, roses, viburnums, mag-
nolias, clethras, honeysuckles, and spiraeas ? And whoever
goes into the woods to gather these, will find a multitude
of others which he will hardly consent to leave behind.
The hilltop should be planted with evergreens, forming at
all seasons a barrier against the winds from the north and
east.
Of the flower-plots little need be said. They must be
left to the taste of the teacher and of cultivated persons in
the district. I can only recommend our wild American
plants, and again remind the reader that there is hardly a
country town in New-Y^rk or Now-England from whose
woods and meadows a hundred Icinds of flowers might not
* There are at least ten oaks, four hickories, three or four maples,
and as many birches, native to our woods, and all deserving the
character given above.
528 THE SCHOOLHOUSE.
be transplanted, of beauty enough to form the chief orna-
ment of a German or English garden, which are now neg-
lected only because they are common and wild. Garden
flowers need not be excluded ; and if either these or the for-
mer are cultivated, the great object, to present something
to refine and inform the taste, will be in some degree ac-
complished.
Where land is not excessively dear, not less than one
fourth of an acre should be assigned for the school lot ; so
much being essential for the necessary play-grounds. If
proper enclosed play-grounds are provided, the master may
often be present at the sports, and thus become acquainted
with the character of his pupils. If children are compelled
to resort to the highway for their amusements, we ought not
to wonder that they should be contaminated by the vices,
brawlings, and profanity which belong to the frequenters
of highways. If the additional purpose of improving the
taste and giving information as to trees, shrubs, and flowers,
and their management, be in view, an acre at least should
be appropriated.
If the situation of the house is important, its structure
and internal arrangement, its size, and the way in which it
is warmed, lighted, and ventilated, are still more so. I
shall state, as concisely as I can, the principles by which
these particulars should be regulated.
CHAPTER II.
The room should be sufliciently large to allow every pu-
pil, 1. to sit comfortably at his desk; 2. to leave it without
disturbing any one else ; 3. to see explanations on his les-
sons, and to recite, without being incommoded or incommo-
ding others ; 4- tx> breathe a wholesome atmosphere.
SIZE. 529
1. Each desk should be large enough to contain the books,
maps, and slate of its occupant, and to allow them to be
spread open before him ; and each seat should be sufficient
to give an easy position and freedom of motion. For these
purposes, the desk should be from 21 to 24 inches long, and
from 13 to 17 wide ; and the seat from 10 to 12^ inches in
each dimension, varying according to the size of the chil-
dren.
2. Each seat should be accessible, at least on one side,
by a passage of sufficient width to allow the pupil or the
master to pass without touching those on either side ; and
there should be a space on one side, which, together with
the passage, should be sufficient to allow the whole school
to be standing at once.
3. There should be sufficient unoccupied space, in front
or in the rear of the desks, to allow more than one class to
be conveniently arranged while reciting, and to accommo-
date the blackboards and other apparatus necessary for the
teacher ; and in a large school, this space should be both
in front and in rear, so that two or more classes may be re-
citing at one time without disturbing eaph other. Wherev-
er arrangements can be made for them, there should be sep-
arate reciting rooms.
4. The room must be ventilated ; but as this may not al-
ways be done, during the first hours of the morning, in cold
weather, inasmuch as it must necessarily be done at the
expense of some portion of heat, the room should be capa-
cious enough to prevent the air becoming offensive and poi-
sonous in the course of a single session. For this purpose,
at least 150 cubic feet of air should be allowed for every
occupant.
The atmosphere, it is well known, consists essentially of
oxygen and nitrogen, in the proportion of about 1 part of
the former to 4 of the latter. Of these two elements, oxy-
gen alone is capable of sustaining life, the nitrogen serving
Y Y
530 THE SCHOOLHOUSE.
merely is a medium in which the oxygen is diffused, but
having in itself no vital property. By the process of breath-
ing, the oxygen is rapidly consumed, and, in its place, car-
bonic acid gas, an air which is poisonous, is thrown into the
atmosphere. Besides this cause, which is continually op-
erating to render the air unfit for respiration, the whole mass
of the air around us is gradually rendered impure by the va-
pour which is breathed from the lungs, and by the matter
which is constantly passing from the surface of the body in
insensible perspiration. The amount of corruption produ-
ced by these sources is astonishing. From 1400 to 2000 cu-
bic inches of oxygen are every* hour withdrawn from the air
by each pair of lungs. In the same space of time, from one
to two oimces of foul matter, which has performed its ofRce
in the body and become effete and offensive, is thrown into
the air by insensible perspiration from the surface of the body
of each individual, besides a portion, amoimting to one third
as much, in the vapour from the lungs.*
The Creator has poured round the earth an ocean of air
40 or 50 miles in height, thus showing the importance of
this element in the economy of nature. When the vital im-
portance to the health of the body is considered of a full
supply of perfectly fresh air, and the extent to which it is
corrupted by the various sources mentioned above, we cease
to be surprised at the loathsomeness of the foul, poisonous
air with which a close, full room reeks, or at the headaches,
languor, dullness, and ill-temper which are its immediate ef-
fects, or at the habitual feeling of weariness and the sure
* Suppose a schoolroom to be 30 feet square and 9 feet high ; it
will contain 13,996,000 cubic inches of atmospheric air. According
to Davy and Thompson, two accurate and scientific chemists, one
individual respires and contaminates 6500 cubic inches of air in a
minute. Fifty scholars will respire (and contaminate) 325,000 cu-
bic inches in the same time. In about 40 minutes all the air in such
a room will have become contaminated, if fresh supplies are not pro-
vided. — Br. S. B. Woodward's Letter to H. Mann.
POSITION AND ARRANGEMENT. 531
exhaustion of the system which it so often entails upon him
who is condemned to breathe it constantly for years in suc-
cession.
If the first three objects above mentioned are fully provi-
ded for, the space on the floor will be sufficient. But to se-
cure the advantage of an adequate supply of air, the room
must be not less than 10, and, if possible, 12 or 14 feet
high.
CHAPTER III.
POSITION AND ARRANGEMENT.*
It is very desirable that the north end of the schoolhouse
be occupied by the master's desk ; that this end be a dead
Wall ; that the front be towards the south ; and that the
■" Arrangement. — For the accommodation of 56 scholars, so as to
give ample room for moving, for recitations, and for air, the dimen-
sions of the house should be 38 feet by 25, and 10 feet in height
within. This will allow an entry of 14 feet by 7i, lighted by a win-
dow, furnished with wooden pegs for the accommodation of
clothes ; a wood-room, 10 feet by H, to serve also as an entry for
girls at recess, or as a recitation-room ; a space behind the desks,
8 feet wide, for fireplace, passage, and recitations, with permanent
seats against the walls 10 or 11 inches wide; a platform, 7 feet
wide, for the teacher, with the library, blackboards, globes, and otiier
apparatus for teaching : the remaining space to be occupied by the
desks and seats of the scholars. For every additional 8 scholars
the room may be lengthened 2^ feet. The desks and seats for
scholars should be of ditferent dimensions. A desk for two may be
3^ or 4 feet long. If the younger children are placed nearest the
master's desk, the desks in the front range may be 13 inches wide,
the two next 14, the two next 15, and the two most remote 16, with
the height, respectively, of 24, 25, 26, and 27 inches. The seats
should vary in like manner. Those in the front range should be 10
inches wide, in the two next 10^, in the two next 11, in the two
last IH or 12 ; and 13^, 14, 15, and 16 inches, respectively, high. All
edges and corners are to be carefully rounded.
532 THE SCHOOLHOUSE.
desks be so placed that the pupils, as they sit at them, shall
look towards the north. The advantages of this arrange-
ment are, 1. That the scholars will obtain more correct
ideas upon the elements of geography, as all maps suppose
the reader to be looking northward ; 2. The north wall,
having no windows, will exclude the severest cold of win-
ter ; 3. The scholars will, in this case, look towards a dead
wall, and thus avoid the great evil of facing a glare of light ;
or, if a window or two be allowed in the north wall, the
light coming from that quarter is less vivid, and, therefore,
less dangerous than that which comes from any other ; 4.
The door, being on the south, will open towards the winds
which prevail in summer and from the cold winds of winter.
If, from necessity, the house must front northward, the
master's desk should be still in the north end of the room,
and the scholars, when seated, look in that direction.
The arrangement of the desks has often been made with
special reference to the quiet of the school. There are
other, higher objects, which should be also provided for.
The first is the social nature of the child. Two seats
should be contiguous, that friends may sit together, that a
delicate child, when it first comes to school, may not be
placed by itself or among strangers, but next to one that it
already knows and loves ; that one may help another, and
that the most advanced may take care, each of one of the
least advanced. Such arrangements have been sometimes
thought unfavourable to the utmost amount of study. I
have not found them so ; and, even if they were, we are to
remember that moral culture is of higher importance than
mental.
The end of the room occupied by the master should be
fitted with shelves for a library and for philosophical appa-
ratus and collections of natural curiosities, such as rocks,
minerals, plants, and shells, for globes and for blackboards.
The books, apparatus, and collections should be concealed
POSITION AND ARRANGEMENT. 533
and protected by doors, which may be made perfectly plain
and without panels, so as to be painted black and serve as
blackboards. They may be conveniently divided by pilas-
ters into three portions, the middle one for books, the others
for apparatus and collections. On one of the pilasters may
be the clock ; on the other a barometer and thermometer ;
on shelves in the corners, the globes ; and over the library,
in the centre, the study card. One of the pilasters may
form part of the ventilating tube. The master's platform
may be raised eight inches. For all these purposes, the
space in front of the ranges of scholars' desks should be not
less than seven or eight feet wide ; ten or twelve would be
much better. The sides and front of this space should be
furnished with seats, ten or eleven inches wide, for recita-
tion. By means of a large movable blackboard, this space
may be, in case of need, converted into two, so that two
classes may recite at a time. In a school intended to ac-
commodate more than 64 pupils, there ought also to be a
space for recitation in the south end of the room, separable
by movable blackboards into two.
The entry should be lighted by a window, and be fur-
nished with wooden or iron pms for the accommodation of
hats, bonnets, and cloaks ; and there should be a wood-
closet large enough to contain two or three cords of wood.
This roommay, in case of need, be used as a recitation-room.
By making the ceiling of the entry and wood-closet only
seven feet high, two commodious rooms for recitation may
be formed above them, lighted from the window over the
front door, and accessible by stairs from within the school-
room.
Yy2
534 THE SCHOOLHOUSE.
CHAPTER IV.
LIGHT WARMING VENTILATION.
1. Light. — The windows should be on. the east and
west sides of the room, on the right and left of the pupils
and teacher. Windows on the north admit too much cold
in winter ; on the south, too intense a light at the hour when
it is greatest. The eye is often materially and permanent-
ly injured by being directly exposed to strong light ; and if
the light come from behind, the head and body interposed
throw the book into their shadow. If windows open to-
wards a road or any other object attractive to children,
they should be so high that the pupil, sitting at his desk,
cannot look out upon it. Windows set high give a more
uninterrupted light, and are less liable to be broken than
low ones, and are, therefore, on the whole, preferable. But
if the house be situated at a distance from objects likely to
draw the children's attention, the windows may be at the
usual cheerful height. In any case, they should be furnish-
ed with blinds or green curtains. They should be made to
open from the top as well as the bottom, so that, in the sum-
mer season, when the ventilator will not act, they may sup-
ply its place.
2. Warming. — The usual mode of heating a room by
means of an iron stove has no recommendation but its cheap-
ness. It burns the air, and renders it disagreeable and un-
wholesome. The best mode with reference to health is by
a common open fireplace. By a little pains in the construc-
tion, the advantages of the latter may be combined with the
economy of the former, and the room be at the same time
furnished with an ample supply of fresh, warm air from
abroad. In a suitable position, pointed out in the plates,
near the door, let a common brick fireplace be built. Let
LIGHT — WARMING VENTILATION. 535
this be enclosed, on the back and on each side, by a casing
of brick, leaving, between the fireplace and the casing, a
spa£e of four or five inches, which will be heated through the
back and jambs. Into this space let air be admitted from
beneath by a box 24< inches wide and 6 or 8 deep, leading
from the external atmosphere by an opening beneath the
front door, or at some other convenient place. The brick
casing should be continued up as high as six or eight inch-
es above the top of the fireplace, where it may open into the
room by lateral orifices, to be commanded by iron doors,
through which the heated air will enter the room. If these
are lower, part of the warm air will find its way into the fire
place. The brick chimney should rise at least two or three
feet above the hollow back, and may be surmounted by a flat
iron, soap-stone, or brick top, with an opening for a smoke-
pipe, which may be thence conducted to any part of the
room. The smoke-pipe should rise a foot, then pass to one
side, and then, over a passage, to the opposite extremity of
the room, where it should ascend perpendicularly and is-
sue above the roof. The fireplace should be provided with
iron doors, by which it may be completely closed.
The advantages of this double fireplace are, 1. The fire,
being made against brick, imparts to the air of the apart-
ment none of the deleterious qualities which are produced by
a common iron stove, but gives the pleasant heat of an open
fireplace ;* 2. None of the heat of the fuel will be lost, as
the smoke-pipe maybe extended far enough to communicate
nearly all the heat contained in the smoke ; 3. The current
of air heated within the hollow back, and constantly pouring
* The poisonous effects of hot iron on air are not generally un-
derstood. There are always floating in the atmosphere minute par-
ticles, which are chiefly carbon. These, coming in contact with a
hot iron surface, are partially converted into the poisonous carbonic
acid gas. There seem to be some other deadening effects produ
ced on the air not so easily explained.
536 THE SCHOOLHOUSE.
into the room, will diffuse an equable heat throughout every
part ; 4. The pressure of the air of the room will be con-
stantly outward, little cold will enter by cracks and win-
dows, and the fireplace will have no tendency to smoke ;
5. By means of the iron doors, the fire may be completely
controlled, — increased or diminished at pleasure, with the
advantages of an air-tight stove. For that purpose, there
must be a valve or slide near the bottom of one of the doors.
If, instead of this fireplace, a common stove be adopted,
it should be placed above the air-passage, which may be
commanded by a valve or register in the floor, so as to
admit or exclude air. Of the stoves in use, the best seems
to be that called the " air-tight." A winter's trial of one
of them in a teacher's room shows it to be far inferior to
the double fireplace above recommended, and not essential-
ly different in the consumption of fuel.
3. Ventilation. — A room warmed by such a fireplace
as that just described, may be easily ventilated. If a cur-
rent of air is constantly pouring in, a current of the same
size will rush out wherever it can find an outlet, and with
it will carry the impurities wherewith the air of an occupied
room is always charged. For the first part of the morning
the open fireplace may suffice. But this, though a very ef-
fectual, is not an economical ventilator ; and when the is-
sue through this is closed, some other must be provided.
The most effective ventilator for throwing out foul air, is one
opening into a tube which encloses the smoke-flue at the
point where it passes through the roof. Warm air natural-
ly rises. If a portion of the smoke-flue be enclosed by a
tin tube, it v/ill warm the air within this tube, and give it a
tendency to rise. If, then, a wooden tube, opening near
the floor, be made to communicate, by its upper extremity,
with the tin tube, an upward current will take place in it
which will always act whenever the smoke-Jlue is loarm*
* There is a difficulty in ventilation as it is often managed
LIGHT — WARMING— VENTILATION. 537
It is better, but not absolutely essential, that the opening
into the wooden tube be near the floor. The carbonic acid
thrown out by the lungs rises, with the warm breath, and
the perspirable matter from the skin, with the warm, invisi-
ble vapour, to the top of the room. There both soon cool,
and sink towards the floor ; and both carbonic air and the
vapour bearing the perspirable matter are pretty rapidly and
equally diffused through every pari of the room.* It mat-
ters not, therefore, from what part of the room the outlet is
made, as from every part, probably, an equal amount of foul
matter will be thrown out. If it be from a point near the
floor, it will be accompanied with less heat, and it will, at
the same time, increase the tendency of the warm air above
to difliise itself through the space below.
The best possible ventilator is an open fireplace. Many
schoolrooms were originally constructed with a fireplace,
which, from the superior economy of a stove, has been
closed up, and the smoke-pipe has been made to enter into
the upper part of the chimney. Where this is the case, a
most efiicient ventilator may be secured by partially open-
ing the fireplace near the hearth, and commanding the ori-
fice by a slide of wood or metal. The opening of the ven-
"WTiere no warm air is admitted, an opening made for the purpose
of letting out foul air is just as likely to let air in ; or, if the open-
ing is a single one, two currents will be established in it, one out-
ward, the other inward, and neither of them active. A ventilator
opening into an attic is often quite inelFicient.
* This diffusion, from the mutual penetration of gases, is often
lost sight of Turner says, " One gas acts as a vacuum with re-
spect to another ; and, therefore, if a vessel full of carbonic acid gas
be made to communicate with another of hydrogen, the particles of
each gas insinuate themselves between the particles of the other,
till they are equally diffused through both vessels The ulti-
mate effect ... is the same as if the vessel of hydrogen had been
a vacuum." — Sec Turner's Chemistry, Alh Am. Edition, p. 162. See,
also, Manchester's Memoirs, vol. v., for Dalton's original investigations
on this subject.
538 THE SCHOOLHOUSE.
tilator should in any case be not less than 12 inches square,
and, in the case in question, it should be near the master's
seat, not far from the floor, two feet long and eight inches
high, and open into a box in the wall of these dimensions,
or at least 24 inches by six, extending to the ceiling,
where it should communicate with the tin box enclosing
the smoke-pipe. If the building have two stories, the ven-
tilator tubes must be cnrricd from the lower, upward, with-
in the wall, and commu;;!cate in the upper ceiling with the
tin box. The supply of fresh air for the upper room should
then be brought in from the side of the house between two
joists in the floor, and open beneath the stove or behind the
fireplace.
This mode of ventilation will be found much more eco-
nomical, as well as more certain, than a usual mode of ma-
king openings into an attic which has windows into the
atmosphere. In the latter, you have a flight of stairs to
the attic, an attic floor and two windows ; in the other, a
wooden tube 12 feet long, and a tin one four or five feet
long: the attic being left unfinished, or, what would be
better, having the ceiling of the schoolroom arched, to em-
brace a part of the space of the attic.
The details of construction will be given in the explana-
tion of the plates
SCHOOL FOK FORTY-EIGHT PUPILS.
24 feet by 28 feet outside.]
D. Entrance door.
E. Entry.
F. Fireplace.
C. Wood closet, or recitation room.
T. Teacher's platform.
a. Apparatus shelves.
1. Air tube beneath the floor.
d. Doors.
S Globes.
[Scale 8 feet to the inch.
I. Library shelves.
7n. Master's table and seat
p. Passages.
r. Recitation seats. ^
s. Scholars' desks and seats.
V. Ventilator.
to. Windows.
b. Movable blackboard.
a s. Air space behind the fireplace
SCHOOL FOB ONK liUM>i:l':i> AND TWKNTY PUP:
— i ^r^ 4=t .
(.Scale 8 feet to the inch.
51 feet by 31 feet outside.]
D. Entrance door. E. Entry. F. Fireplar-e. C. Wood closet. T. Teacher's platform, a. Appara-
tus shelves. ^ Air tube beneath the floor, d. Doors, g-. Globes. /. Library shelves, wi. Master s t.ir
ble and seat. p. Passaees. r. Recitation seat.>. s. Scholars' desks and seats, r s. Stairs to recit.itiou
rooms in the attic, t;. Ventilator. ti>. Wifidows. fc. Movable blijckboard, a «. Air space behind tha
(irepl.ice.
A. Horizontal section.
E. Perpendicular section.
c. Brick walls, 4 inches thick.
d. Air space betweJ^i the walls.
e. Solid froitts of masonry.
/. Air box for supply of fresh air, e.xtena-
ing- beneath the floor to the front door.
[Scale 4 feet to the inch.
g. Opening-s on the sides of the fireplace
for the heated air to pass into the room.
h. Front of the fti-eplace and mantelpiece.
i. Iron smoke flue, 8 inches diameter.
j. Space between the fireplace and wall.
k. Partition wall.
I. Floor.
Z z
I'ENTILATINO APPARATUS
[Scale 4 feet to the inc
A.. Air box, 1 foot square, or 24 inches by 6, covered by the pilaster, and opening at the floor, in t
base of the pilaster.
B. Round iron tube, 15A inches in diameter, being- a continuation of the air box, through the cent
of which passes,
C. The smoke flue, 8 inches diameter
D Caps to keep out the rain
BLACKBOAKD.
APPENDIX.
DESCRIPTION OF AN OCTAGONAL SCHOOLHOUSE,
FURNISHED FOR THIS WORK BY MESSRS. TOWN AND DAVIS, ARCHITECTS,
NEW-YORK.
This design for a schoolhouse intends to exhibit a model of fitness
and close economy. It differs from a design published by the Com-
mon School Society of New-York, in being made more simple, with-
out the belfry, and complete in the octagon form. It is also similar
to a design published by the Connecticut Board of Commissioners of
Common Schools. The principles of fitness are the same in both,
viz. : 1. Ample dimensions, with very nearly Ihc least possible length
of wall for its enclosure, the roof being constructed without tie
beams, the upper and lower ends of the rafters being held by tlic
wall plates and frame at the foot of the lantern. The ceiling may
show the timber-work of tlie roof, or it may be plastered. 2. Light,
a uniform temperature, and a free ventilation, secured by a lantern
light, thus avoiding lateral windows (except for air in summer), and
gaining wall-room for blackboards, maps, models, and illustrations.
Side windows are shown in the view, and may be made an addition
by those who doubt the efficiency of the lantern light. (The lantern
is not only best for light, but it is essential for a free ventilation.)
With such a light, admitted equally to all the desks, there will be no
inconvenience from shadows. The attention of the scholars will
not be distracted by occurrences or objects out of doors. There will
be less expense for broken glass, as the sashes will be removed from
ordinary accidents. The room, according to this plan, is heated by
a fire in the centre, either in a stove or grate, with a pipe going di-
rectly through the roof of the lantern, and finishing outside in a sheet-
iron vase or other appropriate cap. The pipe can be tastefully fash-
ioned, with a hot-air chamber near the floor, so as to afford a large
radiating surface before the heat is allowed to escape. This will
secure a uniform temperature in every part of the room, at the same
time that the inconvenience from a pipe passing directly over the
heads of children is avoided. The octagonal shape will admit of any
number of seats and desks (according to the size of the room), ar-
ranged parallel with the sides, constructed as described in specifica-
tion, or on such principles as may be preferred. The master's seat
may be in the centre of the room, and the seats be so constructed
that the scholars may sit with their backs to the centre, by which
their attention will not be diverted by facing other scholars on the
opposite side, and yet so that at times they may all face the master,
and the whole school be formed into one class. The lobby next to
the front door is made large (8 by 20), so that it may serve for a re-
citation-room. This lobby is to finish eight feet high, the inside wall
550 APPENDIX,
to show like a screen, not rising to the roof, and the space above be
open to the schoolroom, and used to put away or station school ap-
paratus. Tliis screen-Ulve wall may be hung with hats and clothes,
or the triangular space next the window may be enclosed for this
purpose. The face of the octagon opposite to the porch has a wood-
house attached to it, serving as a sheltered way to a double privy
beyond. This woodhouse is open on two sides, to admit of a cross
draught of air, preventing the possibility of a nuisance. Other wing-
rooms may be attached to the remaining sides of the octagon, if
additional conveniences for closets, library, or recitation-rooms be
desired.
The mode here suggested, of a lantern in the centre of the roof
for lighting all common schoolhouses, is so great a change from
common usage in our country, that it requires full and clear expla-
nations for its execution, and plain and satisfactory reasons for its
general adoption, and of its great excellence in preference to the
common mode. They are as follows, viz. :
1. A skylight is well known to be far better and stronger than
light from the sides of buildings in cloudy weather, and in morning
and evening. The difference is of the greatest importance. In short
days (the most used for schools) it is still more so.
2. The light is far better for all kinds of study than side light, from
its quiet uniformity and equal distribution.
3. For smaller houses, the lantern may be square, a simple form
easily constructed. The sides, whether square or octagonal, should
incline like the drawing, but not so much as to allow water con-
densed on its inside to drop off, but run down on the inside to the
bottom, which should be so formed as to conduct it out by a small
aperture at each bottom pane of glass.
4. The glass required to light a schoolroom equally well with side
lights would be double what would be required here, and the lantern
would be secure from common accidents, by which a great part of
the glass is every year broken.
5. The strong propensity which scholars have to look out by a
side window would be mostly prevented, as the shutters to side
apertures would only be opened when the warm weather would re-
quire it for air, but never in cool weather, and therefore no glass
would be used. The shutters being made very tight, by corking, in
winter, would make the schoolroom much warmer than has been
common ; and, being so well ventilated, and so high in the centre, it
would be more healthy.
6. The stove, furnace, or open grate, being in the centre of the
room, has great advantages, from diffusing the heat to all parts, and
equally to all the scholars ; it also admits the pipe to go perpendicu-
larly up, without any inconvenience, and it greatly facilitates the
ventilation, and the retention or escape of heat, by means of the sli-
ding cap above.
Construction.— Foundation of hard stone, laid with mortar ; the
to; superstructure framed and covered with l;t plank,
tongued, grooved, and put on vertically, with a hllet,
' chamfered at the edges, over the joint, as here shown.
In our view, a rustic cliaracter is given to the design
APPENDIX.
551
by covering the sides with slabs ; the curved side out, tongued, and
grooved, without a fillet over the joint ; or formed of logs placed ver-
tically, and lathed and plastered on the inside. The sides diminish
slightly upward. A rustic porch is also shown, the columns of cedar
boles, with vines trained upon them. The door is battened, with
braces upon the outside, curved as shown, with a strip around the
edge. It is four feet wide, seven high, in two folds, one half to be
used in inclement weather. The cornice projects two feet six inch-
es, better to defend the hoarding ; and may show the ends of the
ratters. Roof covered with tin, slate, or shingles. Dripping eaves
are intended, without gutters. The roof of an octagonal building of
ordinary dimensions may with ease and perfect safety be constructed
without tie beams or a garret floor (which is, in all cases of school-
houses, waste room, very much increasing the exposure to fire, as
well as the expense). The wall-plates, in this case, become ties,
and must be well secured, io as to form one connected hoop, capable
of counteracting the pressure outward of the angular rafters. The
sides of the roof will abut at top against a similar timber octagonal
frame, immediately at the foot of the lantern cupola. This frame
must be sufficient to resist the pressure inward of the roof (which is
greater or less, as the roof is more or less inclined in its pitch), in
the same manner as the tie-plates must resist the pressure joutward.
This security is given in an easy and cheap manner ; an& may be
given entirely by the roof boarding, if it is properly nailed to the an-
gular rafters, and runs horizontally round the roof By this kind of
roof, great additional height is given to the room by camp-ceiling ;
that is, by planing the rafters and roof-boards, or by lathing and
plastering on a thin half-inch board ceiling, immediately on the un-
derside of the rafters, as may be most economically performed
This extra height in the centre will admit of low side-walls, from
seven to ten feet in the clear, according to the size and importance
of the building, and, at the same time, by the most simple principle
of philosophy, conduct the heated
foul air up to tlie central aperture,
which should be left open quite round
the pipe of the stove, or open grate
standing in the centre of the room.
This aperture and cap, with the ven-
tilator, is shown by the figure ad-
joining, which is to a scale of half
an inch to a foot. The ventilator is
drawn raised, and the dotted lines
show it let down upon the roof It
may be of any required size, say two
feet wide and twelve inches high,
sliding up and down between the
stovepipe and an outward case, form-
ing a cap to exclude water. This
cap may be pushed up or let down by
a rod affixed to the under edge, and |j|||j|
lying against the smokepipe. ^
In the design given, the side-walls are ten feet high, and the Ian-
^
>
355 APPENDIX.
tern iifteeji feei above the floor; eigJit ftet in dianjet«i.
h> ; . - .'. l^-ords atMchcd to xhe e^gcs
a^' ^ srvcnt-een inches, wnh a shelf
h;- - -. the back roTr.Tivr ?. ^lat^-..
Tht :,.^-:.es; >.;> - sevt^^r. mchess inclv; mA
the from forms ; ;■ so^J beibre it. 1 - w
iwelve indies \^ -:"i, and each piipil i? .. ^.l.^.ce
of iwo ieei side to siuc. ^
I. Towx Axr» Alex. J. Davis, Archuecfs,
Tar the salce of variety, we have^ven a design in the point<«J
style, revised from a sketch by — ^ an amateur in architecJure,
At,v ^••■r; i-ror.T plan will suit it; and the principle^: of lu:;ht and
vt upon in ike description of the octagon design, may
bt ^, Tlie principal light,* frcaai one large raullioned
wi.,.iv v. ... ^,,. .\^T ejid. The side openings are for air in summer —
not glazed, ftut closed witii tighi shuttcre. The same ventilating
c.aj> is ^ww-n. and height is gained in the nx^f by framing wiik collar
be^ms set up four ©r five feet above the eaves. Tl» sides, if not of
br.^k or stone, may be boarded vertically, as befisre 'described. The
porcJi may be of any convenient size to shelter the door of a recita-
tion room, through" which may be iJie passage t'
0^ *
^^-^^^
NOV 83
N. MANCHESTER,
INDIANA 46952
I i" 'Jilt* <^-> A^ c'JL"* ^ ci^
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