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Et gtvival o         f
AN
':ADDRESS
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BRIDGEWATER, MASS., AUG. 8, 1855.
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BY SAMUEL J. MAY, OF SYRACUSE, N. Y.
PUBLISHED BY THE ASSOCIATION.
, 
SYRACUSE:
J. G. K. TRUAIR, PRINTER, JOURNAL OFFICE.
1855.
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AItN AtDiaR of (EWS.
AN ADDRESS
a. 7J.   oN\ t —          st~
TO
THE NORMAL ASSOCIATION,
BRIDGEWATER, MASS.
AUGUST 8, 1855.
BY
SAMUEL J. MAY,
OF
SYRACUSE, NEW YORK.
PUBLISHED BY THE ASSOCIATION.
SYRACUSE, N.Y.
J. G. K. TRUAIR, PRITER.
1855. 
Nearly a third of the following address was omitted in the delivery,
because of the length of the whole. But the request was especially made,
by those who communicated to me the vote of the Association, that the
Address should be published entire, as it was written. Nevertheless, I
wish to be held solely responsible for the statements made, the opinions of
men and systems advanced, and for the principles of education inculcated
in this pamphlet.                                             S. J. M.
I 
THE REVIVAL OF
EDU C ATIO N.
FELLOW TEACiEiRS; FRIENDS OF EDUCATION:
On an occasion like this, reminiscences and anticipations,
I presume, will be more in harmony with the humor that
brought us together, than would be any discussion of the
principles and methods of Instruction. The most approved
of these it is, I trust, the daily purpose and sincere pleasure
of Normalites everywhere, as they have opportunity, to inculcate, and to apply. Moreover, it is highly probable, that
since I left the Corps of Teachers, such improvements have
been made in the profession, that my thoughts might seem
to you somewhat behind the age. However that may be, we
have come here to-day, that, amid the associations and influences of this consecrated place, and from the present position
of the cause of education, we may look back in review of
what has been accomplished; in order that we mnay be fired,
by the example of our predecessors, to do what in us lies to
carry forward the great improvements, which they began.
Many in this assembly are older than the commencement
of that Revival of Education, that Reformation of our Common School System, of which we here see one of the most
precious fruits. Some of us are of equal age with the men
and women, who have done more than all others (since the
generation that instituted Free Schools) to increase the
40
,., 
THE REVIVAL OF EDUCATION.
amount and improve the quality of the instruction given to
the young. It has been our privilege to know personally
several of those benefactors. It will be one of the chief delights of this occasion to speak of them, and to hear them
spoken of gratefully, admiringly.
Should the sketches and commendations I may give, be,
for the most part, of those, who have served in particular and
illustrated the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, it will be
because they are more readily seen from this point of sight;
and again because the field of our whole country, and yet
more of the world, is too broad for a survey in an hour, minute enough to bring distinctly to notice many of the individual objects, that conspire to give expression and effect to the
whole view.
In advance, however, of any eulogiums, we may be prompted to bestow upon those friends of education, whose wise,
ingenious and faithful services we have witnessed, let us first
render our most hearty thanks to all (whether known or unknown) who have contributed to that revival of education
in our country, which has signalized the last quarter of a century scarcely less than the questions of social reform, by
which our body politic has been agitated, or the incidents of
fortune or misfortune that have kept the pecuniary world in
a stir.
Into what minds first came the inspiration of those new
thoughts, which have been the seeds of some great improvements in education, we often have been unable to ascertain.
Frequently, no doubt, it has been into here and there a mind
too modest to vaunt itself as the medium of the divine communications; or, perhaps, unconscious of the value of the
gift it was chosen to impart. Some devoted mother, in the
earnestness of her desire to fill the God-given capacity for
knowledge in her child-to quicken the germs of virtue implanted by the Creator in his heart, may have had her prayer
answered by the revelation of some happy method of intellectual or moral development. That method with its blessed
4 
THE REVIVAL OF EDUCATION.
effects, seen and admired by others, has been copied, and the
knowledge of it disseminated, until it has become part of a
system, claiming the consideration of all who would be educators of the young. Or some boy or girl, upon whose childhood the benign light of that revelation fell, went forth, reflecting it upon others, as one possessed of the gift of teaching.
It is by gathering the contributions, that come thus from one
and another of the heaven-inspired teachers of men, that we
are enabled to construct the science and devise the arts of human culture. Those persons who have been skilful in such
constructions and devices have performed very important services. They have, of course, become more widely known;
and, perhaps, like Americus Vespucius, are more highly honored, than the discoverers of what they have only reported
and arranged. Who were the teachers of Franke, Pestalozzi,
Fellenburg, Jacotot, Abbe Sicard, Seguin, Bell, Owen, Colburn, we do not know. If they were not the first recipients
of the seminal ideas, that have been so prolific of good fruits,
we have not yet learnt who were. They have not told us, to
whom under God they were indebted for the thoughts which
led them. Perhaps they themselves knew not their benefac
tors.
New England is renowned, the world over, as the birthplace of free schools. It is a praise of which we would not
allow the land of our nativity to be robbed. No other land,
I ween, has on the whole, so good a title to it. It is a praise
not to be lightly esteemed.
The institution of common schools was almost coeval with
the landing of the Puritans upon this Continent. They fled
from the spiritual oppression and moral profligacy of the old
world, mainly for the sake of their children; and they had
scarcely found time enough to put up shelters for their persons, and a house for the worship of God, before they provided a place and a teacher for the education of all the young.
Prompted by the same spirit, the descendants of the New
5 
THE REVIVAL OF EDUCATION.
Englanders, wherever they have gone, have been foremost in
establishing schools for the children of the whole body politic; and these free schools, imperfect as they have been, have
everywhere cherished a spirit of intelligence among the
great mass of the population.  If no more, the arts of reading and writing were taught them, and these alone would
bring each generation into communion with the past and the
future; and keep them in some measure informed of the prominent events of their own times.
But the causes which led to the institution of free schools
in this country, were operating to similar results elsewhere.
They were the causes which led to the revival of learning in
Europe and to the Protestant Reformation. In whatever nation, the people were brought to a consciousness of the spiritual domination of the Papal Hierarchy, and where any
considerable proportion of them succeeded in throwing off
that oppression, there a sense of the need of knowledge seems
to have been awakened, and measures have been taken to
supply it.
The Parochial Schools of Scotland, almost anticipated the
design, forestalled the praise of our New England Fathers.
The foundations of that system were laid even before this
continent was discovered.  As early as 1494-more than
twenty years before the Reformation culminated in Luther,
it was enacted by the Parliament of Scotland, that "all barons and substantial freeholders throughout the realm should
send their children to school from the age of six to nine
years; and then to other seminaries to be instructed in the
laws; that the country might be possessed of persons properly qualified to discharge the duties of sheriffs, and to fill
other civil offices."
In 1560, more than half a century before the Pilgrims
landed in Plymouth, John Knox, the leader of the Reformation in Scotland, put forth, with the consent of his compeers, the following memorable language in the "First Book
of Discipline," presented to the Nobility
6 
THE REVIVAL OF EDUCATION.
"Seeing that God has determined that his kirk here on
earth shall be taught not by angels but by men; and seeing
that men are born ignorant of God and of godliness; and
seeing also that he ceases to illuminate men miraculously, of
necessity it is, that your Honors be most careful for the virtuous education and godly upbringing of the youth of this
realm. * * Of necessity therefore, we judge it, that every several kirk have one school-master appointed; such an
one at least as is able to teach grammar, and the Latin
tongue, if the town be of any reputation. And further, we
think it expedient, that in every notable town there should
be erected a College, in which the arts at least of rhetoric
and logic, together with the tongues, be read by sufficient
masters. * * * The rich and potent may not be permitted to suffer their children to spend their youth in a vain idleness, as heretofore they have done; but they must be exhorted and, by the censure of kirk, compelled to dedicate their
sons by good exercises to the profit of the kirk and commonwealth; and this they must do because they are able. The
children of the poor must be supported and sustained on the
charge of the kirk, &c."  *  *  *  "In 1615 an act of the
Privy Council of Scotland empowered the bishops, along
with the majority of the landlords or heritors to establish a
school in every parish in their respective dioceses, and to assess its lands for that purpose."
On the basis of this enactment, Scotland claims the merit
of having originated the first school system, ever established
for the education of the entire community. This act however, we would civilly remind our Scotch competitors, was
inoperative until 1646, when the law was passed that laid
the tax for the support of a school house, and the payment
of a school-master's salary, upon every parish in the kingdom; and moreover, it should be remembered, that even
that law did not do its beneficial work long, for it was re
pealed by Charles I. in 1696. "Then, and not until then, it
became the permanent basis of the Parochial School System
of Scotland. And by this system mainly, in less than fifty
7
I
I 
THE REVIVAL OF EDUCATION.
years that nation was regenerated. Instead of being what it
was in 1690, the theatre of lawlessness and all sorts of immorality, it was made the abode of an orderly, industrious,
thrifty and religious people. Persons of the humblest origin
were enabled there to raise themselves to the highest eminence in every walk of ambition-and a spirit of forethought
and energy was widely disseminated."
That we are justified in attributing this most beneficial institution to the spirit of Protestantism, is sufficiently evident
in the light of this one fact, that it was one of the fundamental principles of that system, that the Bible and the Westminster Shorter Catechism were required to be taught in every school.
Into Prussia, too, more than a century before she became
an independent nation, the light and the spirit of the Protestant Reformation had gone, and had begun the redemption of
the people from ignorance and vice. In the year 1525, Albert of Bradenburg, grand master of the Teutonic order, renounced the Roman Catholic religion, embraced Lutheranism, and was acknowledged Duke of East Prussia, under the
sovereignty of Poland. Almost from that period, a succession of patriotic and enlightened men seem to have arisen in
that country, who have devoted themselves to the cause of
public instruction, under the auspices of Monarchs, who
have duly estimated and encouraged exertions in this behalf.
Unitil it must be acknowledged that, since the year 1817, the
most complete and thorough system of Popular Education
has been established and vigorously maintained in Prussia,
that exists anywhere upon earth.
Still we are tenacious of the claim set up for the Fathers
of New England, a claim which we think History, on the
whole, awards to them-that they were the founders of Free
Schools.  And when we call to mind the condition of our
ancestors on their arrival upon these shores in 1620, and for
half a century afterwards, it cannot be spoken of in terms of
too exalted commendation, nor exaggerated in its importance
8 
THE REVEVAL OF EDUCATION.
upon the subsequent history of the nation they planted here,
the noble fact, that they so soon recognized the obligations of
the State, as well as of the Church, to the children of all the
people; and made the best provisions in their power for the
education of every one, at the public expense.
Our protestant brethren of Scotland and Prussia should be
the less unwilling to allow this laurel to rest on the venerated
brows, where History has placed it-and where we, descendants of the New England Pilgrims, pertinaciously insist that it
belongs-when they hear the concessions we shall be obliged to
make to the superior excellence of some of their school systemns; and the obligations we gratefully acknowledge ourselves under to the enlightened and devoted friends of Education, especially in Scotland, Prussia, Germany and some
other parts of Protestant Europe.
However enlarged may have been the views, and generous
the intentions of the founders of the New England colonies,
their circumstances did not encourage, nor their means enable them to provide for their children an extended, or a very
thorough education. The necessity of labor for the supply
of the common wants of life laid its demands upon the
youngest, who could be put to any available service. The
need of subduing every rood of earth that was wanted for
the better accommodation and support of their growing Commonwealth; the temptations offered to their adventurous
spirits, to explore the boundless wilderness, in the edges of
which they had effected their lodgments; the vigilance they
were compelled to maintain at every point against the wily
natives of the land they had come to possess, whose hostility
they needlessly exasperated, and whose numbers and prowess
they overrated-these and such like circumstances, created a
demand for, and led the first generations of Anglo-Americans
to acquire an education different from that, which is to be obtained from schools.
A race of men and women sprang up on these shores as
hardy, courageous and enterprising as ever went forth to subdue the wilderness-and people the solitary places of the
9
;:.1. I I:.,.
I I!, I.:..I 
THE REVIVAL OF EDUCATION.
earth. Wherever they went they carried with them enough
of the art of reading to enable them to study for themselves
(as every Protestant claimed the right to do) the Book of
Books, in which were to be found, they verily believed, the
fundamental principles of civil government, pure morality
and true religion. They carried with them also enough know ledge of the science of numbers to make the simple calcula tions, that were called for in the primary arts of civilization,
besides which they were furnished with knowledge enough of
the art of writing to make records of passing events, and to
keep up their infrequent communications with the friends
they had left, or with those who had left them for the deeper
recesses of this then unexplored continent. These rudiments
were sufficient to supply their literary wants; and stern ex perience, yes, dire necessity, was the teacher, from whom
they learnt those lessons of self-reliance, patient endurance,
heroic daring and pious resignation, that are the better ele ments to be found in the New England character.
Among the early settlers of this country there were not a
few men of high literary, legal and theological acquisitions;
and women of native gracefulness, and more than ordinary
culture.  But they could not surround their children with
circumstances similar to those, which had conspired to form
their own characters.  They had brought them-or had come
where their children were to be born-amid new influences,
which the parents could not fully appreciate, and therefore
not always wisely consult, and direct. Ruder as well as har dier generations therefore arose to take the places of the gen tler, though not less resolute bands, who laid the first hearth stones, and built the first altars at Plymouth, Salem, Charles town, Dorchester, New Haven and Hartford.  To wield the
axe, to hold the plough, to tend the mill, to hunt, to fish and
to war with ferocious beasts and savage men, were the em ploymnents, to which the early New Englanders were neces rarily trained; and these arts are not taught from books, nor
inside of school rooms.
The need of a learned ministry, however- of men who
10 
THE REVIVAL OF EDUCATION.
should be able to expound to the people wisely the oracles of
God, was acknowledged from the beginning; and generously
provided for in the institution of Harvard College in 1638,
and of Yale in 1O701.
The legal and medical professions were also thought to require men, who had been regularly trained in the science and
the arts of Law and Medicine.  And each generation, from
the first, has been adorned with some men, who would have
been ornaments to their professions in England. But the
common people, it was assumed, needed only the elements of
the arts of reading, writing and arithmetic. Few of them,
indeed, had leisure or inclination to seek for more. It was,
however, a fact of momentous importance, in its effects upon
the character of our Republic, that so large a proportion of
the people of New England were always tauglht to read and
writ.  It were hard to subjugate a people who possessed the
arts of receiving and of communicating thouht.
"Words are things, and a small drop of ink
Falling like dew upon a thought, produces
That which makes thousands perhaps millions think      Aspire and onward, upward move."
I have already hinted at the stern necessities, which withheld the children of the earliest fathers of New England
from succeeding to their intellectual patrimony. Their ideal
of an education was consequently lowered, and with it the
standard fell. For a century and a half the people of this
country were everywhere at work, making rather than studying history,-creating materials for the future story of our
Republic's rise, which began, not as most other nations began in the conflicts of demi-gods and semi-devils, but in the
indomitable efforts of sturdy men and women, who drove
before them untamable beasts and savage men; subdued the
wilderness and prepared it for the products of agriculture, and
the arts of civilized life. But hardly had they rested from
their pioneer labors-fighting the Indians and felling the forests,-when they were summoned to conflict for Independence with their mother country, then the mightiest nation
upon earth. Their revolutionary struggle began years before
11 
THE REVIVAL OF EDUCATION.
its purpose was declared to the world, or even consciously
conceived by themselves. Nor did it end with the last battle; but continued, long after their independence was conceded by England, in combatting the difficulties that beset the
institution of a new and almost untried form of governmenta government committed to the people themselves, and requiring an amount of knowledge and a degree of moral culture,
which very few of them at first possessed, or have yet attained. Hitherto the administration of the affairs of our States,
and of the nation, has been in the hands, alternately, of rival
parties, in the one or the other of which the whole population have been ranged, many of them not knowing why; and
in behalf of the one or the other have been driven by their
blind zeal to outrage all charity, if not all common justice.
In one thing these parties have heartily agreed-each in accusing the other of egregious ignorance and gross immorality.
The mutual, unsparing exposures of one another have concurred in showing the need of more knowledge and virtue
among the whole people. Inquiries have been started, devices
formed for a higher popular education; and both the political parties have been constrained to favor them. In this,
more perhaps than in any other circumstance, may be found
the beginning of our Revival of Education.
During all the while that the people of this country had been
expending their energies in the hard toil, protracted conflicts
and exciting enterprises, incident to the establishment of a
civilized community in a wilderness, the cause of education
had been making progress in the Protestant States of Europe,
under very different circumstances, and much more favorable to the discovery and development of the best methods of literary, scientific and aesthetical culture.
The Reformation, which commenced before Luther, and is
not yet completed, was the offspring of that desire, which is
innate in the human mind to be free, to examine, judge and
freely speak of all facts and opinions, it is called upon to accept as true. Therefore to open to all men the fountains of
12 
THE REVIVAL OF EDUCATION.
knowledge has been everywhere the legitimate tendency of
Protestantism. Without an egregious violation of its fundamental principles, the priceless boon of knowledge could not
be offered to a portion of the people only. It must needs be
made to all, if to any of the children of men. Hence we may
see, that plans successively more and more comprehensive,
as well as thorough, have been devised to give education to
the people of all protestant lands; less in England than in
any other, and more in Scotland, Prussia and some of the German States. There, forbidden by their governments to take
any overt and active part in political matters; not much if
any more encouraged to aspire after the power of wealth; and
with no inviting regions of unoccupied earth to tempt their
enterprise, the people have not been diverted, as they have
been and still are in our country, from the cultivation of letters, science and the fine arts. We ought not then to have
been so incredulous, so much surprised and chagrined as we
were thirty years ago, when, on waking uptoperceive the
low state of our common schools, and to inquire what had
better be done for their improvement, we received so many
invaluable hints from different parts of Europe; and were
brought to know that, under several monarchical governments, much more ample provisions were made, than in any
part of New England even, for the literary, scientific and artistic education of the whole people. I well remember how
stung we were by the unfavorable comparison. We had
heard from our childhood, and had grown up in the assurance that, as Free Schools originated in New England, so
they were better cared for here than in any other part of the
world.  Her System of Common Schools was the peculiar
boast of Boston; and as for Connecticut, she was more renowned, in that day, for her district schools and her immense
school fund,* than for her cheap clocks and wooden nutmegs;
more famous for her pedagogues than for her pedlars.
* In 1795, the State of Connecticut sold her title to that part of Ohio, called the Western Reserve, for $1,200,000 and invested it to be a fund for the support of Common Free Schools forever.
13 
THIE REVIVAL OF EDUCATION.
In narrating to you some of the conflicts and woes of the
friends of education, for the last thirty years, I might, without much immodesty, say in the words of Eneas to Dido "all
of which I saw, and part of which I was." Like other young
men then, as now, in College, I spent some of my winter vacations in teaching country District Schools. Then it was
that I first became cognizant of the utter poverty of our system of popular education; and was made to feel the need of
a thorough reform both in the quantity and the quality of instruction given to the young.
In the Spring of 1822,I was settled as the Pastor of a church
in Connecticut. Everywhere in our country, as well as in Europe, it was taken for granted that Protestant ministers must
appreciate the importance of the right culture of the young,
and always be ready to promote their education. In several
of the States both of Europe and of this country, ministers
were by law held to be, ex-officio, supervisors of the common
schools; and, whether so instated or not, in all our rural districts they were chosen to fill that important office. Hardly,
therefore, had I received my ordinationin the church, before
I was appointed upon the School Committee.
I had gone into Connecticut with highly raised expectations of the character of her schools. It was reasonable to
suppose that the people of that small State, who had so long
ago as 1795, appropriated the income of twelve hundred thousand dollars to the education of children, must have been animated by a spirit, that would impel them to seek after the
best methods, by which to make the bestowment as valuable
as it might be. In the number of their schools and teachers,
there certainly was no deficiency. The average throughout
the State, in 1822, was about one for every thirty pupils-a
good proportion all must allow, if so many children were regular in their attendance; and if the variety and quality of
the instructions given to them had been such as they always
and everywhere needed to receive. But neither the one nor
the other was the case. Too many school rooms presented a
14 
THE REVIVAL OF EDUcAT10N.
dull array of half empty benches. The branches of knowledge, which it was pretended were taught, were only a few
of the most elementary; and the books and methods used in
imparting instruction were, with some excellent exceptions,
miserably adapted to enlarge the intellectual vision of any,
who had not keenness of sight enough to see through" confusion worse confounded." The hours that I spent in the
schools, committed to my care, were sometimes intolerably
tedious to me; and would have been so also to the children
confined there, if they had been saddened, as I was, by the
consciousness of the wrongs they were suffering.  But  you
know, (blessed be the abounding goodness of God) there is in
childhood an ever-brimming fountain of hilarity, which the
slightest touch may open; and which no hand of authority
however dread, can at once or wholly repress. Often havei
seen that the rude attempts of mere power to stop the outgushings of childish merriment, only diffused the cooling
drops more widely. And, if you will keep the secret, I will
confess to you, I always enjoyed and rather encouraged the
fun. For one of the first discoveries I ever made in the art
of teaching, was, that a smile and a laugh will quicken the
activity of youthful brains, and conciliate them to effort, much
better than frowns and tears.
I had been in some measure prepared by my own training
to descry the sad defects in the common methods of teaching,
if not to show how they could be remedied. Not to mention other advantages that I had enjoyed, in the winter of
1813 &'14, during my first College vacations, I attended a
mathematical school kept in Boston by the Rev. Francis
Xavier Brosius, a Catholic priest, who had fled to this couintry from persecution in France. He was a man of much
learning and of unaffected, cheerful piety.  On entering his
room, we were struck at the appearance of an ample Blac7e
Board suspended on the wall, with lumps of chalk on a ledge
below, and cloths hanging at either side. I had never heard
of such a thing before.  There it was-forty-two years ago
that I first saw what now I trust is considered indispensable
15 
THE REVIVAL OF EDUCATION.
in every school-the Black Board-and there that I first wit nessed the processes of analytical and inductive teaching.
But what was better even than all that —it was there that I
felt the quickening influence of kindness and gayety in a
teacher. The bosom of Mr. Brosius was a well of benevolence. Little jets from that fountain were sparkling continually
in his smiles, and playing from his lips, cheering and refreshing
us in our severest efforts-making the two hours we spent daily with him, a recreation almost as much as a mental discipline.
I longed to be myself, in the schools that I afterwards kept,
as much like that excellent man, as my nature would allow
me to be. And I used confidently to assure those, who aspired to be masters and mistresses of the schools under my
supervision, that if they really understood what they were
about to teach, if they had something to communicate and
knew how to impart it, and loved to give of that which they
possessed; if they sympathized with children, could appreciate the hardships they meet with in the road to knowledge,
and patiently lead them to surmount their difficulties, so that
their pupils might continually feel conscious of successful effort, they would find little difficulty in governing their
schools.
It soon became apparent to me that the School Fund in
Connecticut had operated to depress rather than to elevate
the public sentiment of education. If the spirit that prompted the people in 1795 to devote more than 1,200,000 dollars
to the instruction of children, had been left to make continually renewed provision for that great interest, what improvements might not have been introduced in the course of thirty
years. But, as I soon learnt, the income of the fund being
enough to pay all the teachers throughout the State, at low
rates, their wages were fixed at those rates; and the people
in most districts utterly refused to subscribe, or to be taxed
to increase the compensation for teaching. Moreover, as the
fountain whence the supply came, belonged alike to all, each
man endeavored to get the accommodation of a puddle for
his chickens as near as might be to his own door. A new dis
16 
TIIE REVIVAL OF EDUCATION.
trict, therefore  was "set off," wherever the tnumber of children in a neighborhiood was large enough to give a pretext
for one; and anothlier subdivision of the income helped to keep
the wages too low to comnmand  the services of competent
teachers.
The average wages of male teachers in Connecticut in 1822,
was twelve dollars a month.  I knew some as low as six, and
" boarding round," to use thle familiar phrase, which meant
that the teacher was to go from house to house in the district
for hiS food and lodging, tarrying in each a proportionate
number of days.  As the old Indian said, when he dropped
a cent into the contribution box-" poor preaclh, poor pay,"
so did I find the teachers ill the Connecticut schools, with
some admirable exceptions, worth no  more than they received.
My associates on the Committee were witlh me anxious for
improvement.  We determined that no candidate should receive our approbation, who did not well Lunderstand, at least,
the first elements of Reading, Writing, Arithlmetic, Grammar and Geography.  Yet were we obliged to consent, that
soime slhould take charge of schools, who were very deficient
in tlheir knowledge of the last two named branches;- and to
reject many because they were utterly ignorant of more.  I
wTell remember that one winter, for the nine schools in the
smiall town where Ilived, we rejected six out of fifteen appli  cas beeause they did not understand Notation and NNumeration; couild not write correctly simple sentences of good
English; and knewl  no more of the Geography of the earth
thla-n of the Atecaniclue Celesse; anid yet they had comle to us
well recommended, as having taught schools acceptably in
o tir t.owns one, two and three winters.
The defects in'lie schools under our chlarge were deplorable.  The reports that came firin other towns, far and near,
* In several instances, the District Committee man came to us with his teacher elect, saying
you need not examine him in Grammar, or Geography, for he does  not und(lerst,ld this or
thathbranch, and the Districthave voted notto lave thlat branchtaughtin the school."  Moreova'r, the authority of the Central Committee to dictate in what branches of knowledge any particular pupil should be instructed, was more than once strenuously controverted.
17 
TIHE REVIVAL OF EDUCATION.
led us to the conclusion, that the condition of the Common
Schools of Connecticut was generally no better; we there
fore were impelled to do what we could to rouse the people
from their insensibility to this most important social institution.
Accordingly in the Spring of 1826,e we issued a call for a
Convention " to consider the defects of our Common Schools 
the causes of those defects, and the expedients by which they
may be corrected." It was I believe the first meeting of the
kind, held  in  our country  since the  commencement of
the present century. Appended to the call were a dozen
questions, the answers to which we hoped would bring us the
information we desired to possess, and which we intended to
make public. More than a hundred delegates were present
in that Convention, representing more than twenty towns
and five counties.  Several valuable letters were received
from gentlemen, who could not attend in person.  From these
letters and from verbal and newspaper reports, we learnt,
that in other parts of the State, especially in IHartford, New
Haven, Farmington and Wolcott, there were men cf great
intelligence and philanthropy rising up, with a power greater
than ours, to improve and bless the Common Schools. There
were Professors Olmsted and Kingsley of Yale College, Mr.
William Russell of Farmington, two gentlemen in Wolcott,
of whom I shall by and by speak more particularly, because
they then came first to be known; and, more perhaps than
all, the' late most excellent Thomas II. Gallaudet, LL.D.,
the first Principal of the Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb at
Hartford. That gentleman, not only gave every day, in his
instruction of his pupils, remarkable illustrations of the true
principles and some of the best methods of teaching, but he
interested himself directly and heartily in the improvement
of all schools.
* I am quite sure this was the date of the first Convention, although I cannot find a copy of
the circular above referred to. There is now lying before me a copy of a circular by which
a School Cnnvention was called together March 5, 1827. But I have reason to believe that
was the second of the series of conventions held annually, for several years, in Brooklyn
Conn., the town where I lived.
is
I 
THiE REVIVAL OF EDUCATION.
By all the representations and appeals that came to them
from the above named and other parts of the State, the ensuinig Legislature were prompted to send out a report-I believe the first-conceding that the condition of the common
schools was low, and that much ought to be done to improve
them.
Early in 1827 a Society was formed in Hartford " for the
improvement of common schools." This did much to fix
public attention upon the subject; to bring into co-operation
the most earnest friends of the cause throughout the State;
and to act effectively upon the legislators. Since that day
the interest of the people and their rulers has not been suffered to die; until at length, under the lead and by the unremitted exertions of Henry Barnard, LL.D., one of the wisest and ablest of master builders, the System of Common
Schools in Connecticut has come to be so much improved,
that it need not shrink from a comparison with any other in
our country.
Among the letters received by the convention in Brooklyn
in 1826, was one, which brought us acquainted with two remarkable men, Mr. Amos Bronson Alcott and Dr. William
A. Alcott. A correspondence ensued, by which I learnt,
thlat, in the hill country of Western Connecticut, two young
men not known out of their immediate neighborhood, had
penetrated the arcana of the educator's art, and understood
some parts of that most excellent art, better perhaps than
any men of their age.  The first named of these gentlemen
had been for two or three years the teacher of a school in
Cheshire.  Alone and quietly, in that retired place, he had
attained to results that have seldom been any where surpassed.  Some idea of them may be had from the Programme of
his school published in the Journal of Education for 1827 or
1828. That excellent periodical, which deserves to be gratefully mentioned as one of the pioneers of this reform, was
published in Boston a number of years, from January 1826,
by 1VfIr. William Russell, to whom I have already referred as
of Farmington, Connecticut. Hie was a Scotch gentleman of
19 
THE REVIVAL OF EDUCATION.
natural refinement and high culture; and his accession to
the corps of American teachers was a public blessing, for he
was thoroughly imbued  with the spirit of the  profession,
wvhich he had made a study no less than a practice.  lie was
much interested in Mtr. Alcott's detail of to)pics and methods
of instruction, and gave to the programme a high commendation.  [Not long after, Mr. Alcott was invited to ]3oston to
commence the first Ihfant School.  In that novel institution
he showed himself singularly skilled in finding access to the
infant soul, imposing upon it self commanad, and guiding it to
an harmonious development.    ie afterwvards taught a private school.  His methods and tlhe effects produced by themn
were greatly adlmired by those who took pains to understand
them; but they were so much ridiculed and denounced by
transient, and superficial observers, tlat his school was abolished, and the Amnerlican Pesta]ozzi thrown out of the profession, which notwithstanding his defects, he was eminently fitted to elevate as well as adorn.
Dr. William A. Alcott also removed to Boston.  His very
various and useful publications in thie department of edlucation are really too numerous to mention here.  With some of
thlem you are all doubtless acquainted.  I need not tell you,
therefore, how  imuch the young, and  the teachers of the
yo-ung are indeblted to hiui, nor give youL any reasons for placing him on the l1st of our benefactors.
In 1827, a gentleman commenced his labors in the cause of
popular education  vtho deserves a very grateful  coimmemoration under your anspices.   I refer to tihe liate Josiah
Iiolbrook,* founder of the Americani  Lyceum, or system
of popular Lect'ures and interchLanges by correslon dence on
scientific and literary subjects."  A prominent part of his
plan was to improve the comnmon schools, not only by calling
pu1blic attention to their importance and their wants, but by
bringing the teachers and advanced pupils into associatlons
*l ie lost his life about a year ago, while yet intent upon the pursuit of the object to which he
had devoted himself for nearly thirty years-the collection of mninerals, and specimens in other
departments of Natural Ilistory, for the use of schools. Itie fell from a precipice, upon the
briink of which he had ventured.
20 
THlE RE~VIVL OF EDUCATION.
with the best informed people in their several towns, for mutual instruction. I believe no one instrumentality has done
more than the Lyceum didl in its day, to make the people
conscious of their own as wrell as their childclren's ignorance;
and open their eyes to perceive how frequent the sources of
kuovle}de are, if wNv3 kao-v where to look for them; and how
accessible, if we approach them in a right direction.
Some other popular lecturers (I particularly remember the
late TI-arvey Wilbur, Esq.,) went throaugh the  country with
geographical, astronomical, geological, chemical and philosophical apparatus and illustrations.  They did much by their
lectures to inform teachers and parents of the better methods
of imparting elementary knowledge-at thle same time opening to them new subjects of curiosity and inquiry.
nBut I must hasten to make more especial ment.ion of two
gentlemen, to whom, scarcely less than to any who can be spoken of to-day, we are indebted for the improvements, that
have been made in our system of common schools, and our
methods of instruction.
In 1S23, there was published a small volume, which'gave
not so much the theory as an example of what a school book
ought to bie-" Colburn's First Lessons or Intellectual Arithme-tic upon the inductive method of instruction." This little
volume has not only changed thro.ughout our schools the method of teaching the science of which it treats, but the true
method of teaching thie elements of all other sciences.  I concur with all my heart in the highest commendations that have
ever been bestowed upon this book.  When observing with
what ease, by his method, children have been led into the
knowledge of all the principles of common arithmetic, without even suspecting that there were any serious difficulties
in their way, I have sometimes lamented for myself, and my
contemporaries, that w-e were born before the day of Warren
Colburn.  I-had we had the happiness to live after him, and
to be guided by the light that was in him, we should not have
21 
THE RIEVIVAL OF EDUCATION.
been provoked to sing as we often used to do, that foolish old
stanza,
"Multiplication is vexation,
Division is as bad,
The Rule of Three doth puzzle me,
And Practice makes me mad."
The other gentleman was a classmate and friend of Mr.
Colburn- the late Hon. James G. Carter.
In 1824 he published an 8vo. pamphlet of 123 pages in
Boston, entitled "Letters to the Hon. Wm. Prescott, LL. D.,
on the Free Schools of New England, with remarks upon
the principles of instruction." In the course of the following
winter, the same gentleman published in the "Boston Patriot" a series of articles, which in 1S26 were republished in
a pamphlet entitled "Essays upon Popular Education, containing a particular examination of the Schools of Massachusetts, and an outline of an Institution for the education of
Teachers."  To these excellent works must be attributed, in
no small measure, the revival of the public interest in our
Common, Free Schools; and the improvement of their character. that has since been effected.  Mr. Carter was master
of his subject.  ie appreciated its importance and comprehended its extent; and wrote as one who deeply felt that the
hopes, aye the fate, of the State and nation were vested in the
rising generation-not in the children of the favored fewbut in the children of the whole people-of the poor, not less
than of the rich; and that the thorough education of them all
should be-more than almost any thing else-a matter of
common concern, and provided for at the common expense.
Those Letters and Essays should not be allowed to pass into
oblivion. They deserve to be read in our day-not merely
as matters of historical interest-but for the sakle of the still
valuable suggestions which they contain.  In them, Mr. Carter descants wisely upon the inestimable influence of early
education; pays a just tribute to the wise foresight of the
founders of New England in providing for the culture of all
the young; and shows the deteriorating effects which flowed
22 
THE REVIVAL OF EDUCATION.
from the institution of Academies, unknown in Massachlusetts
until since the Revolution.  He then gives an exposure of
the defects in the organization of tile Free Schools, as well as
in the methods, or want of methods of instruction pursued in
them; in conclusion shows that they can be made what they
should be only by the careful preparation of teachers for
them; and gives us some excellent hints of an Institution for
the education of Teachers.  This last was the great idea in
the pamphlet.  It has since been expanded, until it has grown
into the present Common School System of Massachusetts,
comprising a Board of Education, a number of Normal
Schools, and a body of wholesome revised, or newly enacted
laws, for the governance of the schools of different grades now
required to be kept, at the public expense, in all the towns of
the commonwealth.
In other States besides this, improvement in the education
of the people became, more than ever before, the topic of
conversation, discussion, newspaper comments, Lyceum lectures and legislative consideration, especially in New  York,
Connecticut, Ohio and Pennsylvania.  The Journal of Education commenced in 1826 by Mr. William Russell, published
several years under his editorial care, and afterwards under
that of Rev. Wm. C. Woodbridge, did good service.  The
publication of Mrs. Austin's translation of Cousin's Report on
the state of Public Instruction in Prussia; and the accounts
which were brought us by intelligent travelers from other
European States, so soon as our ears were opened to hear,
made known the mortifying fact, that, during the preceding
half century, very much more had been done to give to the
people of those monarchial governments a thorough knowledge of the elements of literature and science, than had been
done in the freest and most enlightened States of this Republic —to say nothing of the higher departments of Classical
Learning, the Mathematics, the Natural Sciences and the
elegant Arts, in which ours could bear no comparison with
those in Europe.  Rev. Charles Brooks, and others, went about
the country lecturing upon the subject; every where telling
23 
TIrE REVIVAL OF EDUCATION.
to large audiences the story of our shameful deficiencies, and
describing the European systems of educational seminaries,
and the methods of instruction pursued in each, especially
the primary and those which the children of the whole people were required to attend.  The notion, then so common in
our country, that almost any body was competent to keep a
school-that the good matron, who had got reduced in her
pecuniary ability, might very properly resort to the teaching
of little children for a livelihood-and the less fortunate or
less promising son of a family would do well enough for a
school-master,-that notion was exposed and utterly condemned.  In contrast with it was held up the fact, that in Prussia,
Holland, Bavaria, France, Scotland and Austria, schools for
the especial training of teachers were considered indispensable; and that no one in those countries was permitted to be
a school master or mistress, who had not been prepared for the
work. Upon the institution of seminaries for teachers, or
Normal Schools therefore, the thoughts of the wisest friends
of education in our country concentrated.
Every where, in the free States of our Union, there were
living men and women, alive to the future and not merely
dreaming over the past, who had come to be fully persuaded,
that the thorough intellectual and moral culture of the whole
people, was a matter of vital importance to each of our States
and to the entire Republic. Under this impression, on the
19th of August, 1830, more than three hundred persons, from
eleven different States, met in Convention in the Representatives Hall in Boston, and formed "The American Institute of
Instruction." The avowed object of that Body was, and the
direct tendency of all their doings up to this time has been,
to diffuse the most useful knowledge in regard to the whole
subject of Education-the true development of the physical,
mental and moral natures of the children of men-the tlhings
to be taught and the best methods of teaching them.  Much
of what we now  witness, and rejoice over, as evidences of
great progress and of increasing interest in this all embracing
good cause, can be traced back to the doings of this Institute
24 
THE REVIVAL OF EDUCATION.
-the lectures and discussions at its Annual meetings-its
publications afterwards, and the labors of its members in their
own spheres of usefulness at home.  Mlr. George B. Emerson,
one of the most active members of the Mlassachusetts Board
of Education, was the Secretary of the Convention, that formed the Institute; has since been for several years its President.  That gentleman, though not yet old, has devoted almost as many years, as any man now living, to the work
of teaching; and to the cause of education; and in every
situation, that he has occupied in this high department
of usefulness, he has set an example worthy of the imitation
of those, who aspire to be instructers of the young.
An association, similar to the Institute in its purpose and
spirit, was soon after organized in Ohio, called the College of
Teachers.  Several volumes of the annual doings of that body
have been published, and they all concur in assigning to the
profession of the School Teacher a place second to no other;
and in insisting that for it a thorough preparation ought to be
made.  I am reminded to make this allusion to that comparatively distant body of co-workers, by the significant fact,
that its most prominent member, —"' the man who honorably
identified himself with the origin and progress of the present
school system  of Ohio"  — the late iIon. Samuel  Lewis,
was a native of this good old Plymouth Colony, where he no
doubt first imbibed the great idea, that all the children of men
ought to be educated, and that the State in which they live is
bound to see to it, that their education is well provided for.
New York was the first of these United States to make any
legislative provision for the preparation of Teachers for Common Schools.  The necessity of suclh preparation, as I have
already stated, was ably urged in 1824 by the Hlon. James
G. Carter.  It had been suggested the year before by Prof.
Kingsley of Yale College, in an elaborate article in the North
American Review.  Andlong before even that, in 1816, Prof.
Olmsted of the samoe University, in the oration which he de
25 
THE REVIVAL OF EDUCATION.
livered, on taking his degree of Master of Arts, propounded
a somewhat mature plan of an " Academy for school masters."
But it was in the State of New York, that the law givers of
the people first entertained the proposition, to make provision for the proper training of school teachers. The sagacious,
far-seeing De Witt Clinton, then Governor, in his message of
1826, used the following language-" The vocation of a teacher, in its influence on the character and destinies of the
rising, and all future generations, either has not been fully
understood, or not duly estimated. It ought to be ranked
among the learned professions. * * * * I therefore recommend a Seminary for the education of teachers in the
monitorial system of instruction, and in those useful branches of
knowledge, which it were proper to engraft on elementary attainments." The distinguishing commendation, here implied,
of the mnontorial system, deducts somewhat from the merit,
due to his Excellency, of being the first man in his official
position who advised a public appropriation for the training
of Teachers. A school, organized upon that system, and
committed to the management of such a rare man as our valued friend, of indefatigable spirit, William B. Fowle, Esq.,
would undoubtedly produce large results within a very limited range.  It was perhaps well adapted to that class of pupils,
for whose improvement it was devised by Bell and perfected
by Lancaster; but it is in no wise adapted to the proper teaching of the higher branches, in our Common Schools; and, in
the hands of too many teachers, it would be apt to degenerate
into mere mechanical repetitions, without promoting the culture either of the head or the heart.
The following year, probably in pursuance of Mr. Clinton's
advice, the Legislature of New York passed an Act, providing
for the establishment of a Seminary for the preparation of
teachers. But it was never carried into effect; nor indeed
was any thing more done in that direction' until 1835. At
that time a department for the preparation of teachers was
engrafted upon eight academies, located one in each of the
Senatorial districts; and annual appropriations from "The
26 
THE REVIVAL OF EDUCATION.
Literature Fund" were applied to their support. In 1838,
this appropriation was increased, and more widely extended,
so that eight more departments for the education of teachers
were organized. This attempt was not abortive. It was a
beginning in the right direction. These academies were resorted to by numbers of young men and women, desiring to
become teachers in Common Schools. Those, who had been
trained in such Academies, were supposed to be better fitted
for their work, and commanded higher wages. The standard
of common school instluction was somewhat raised; and the
idea disseminated, that none should undertake to teach who
had not been properly prepared.
In this State, a Teachers Seminary was, in 1835, established at Andover, by private enterprise, and added its testimony,
iterated and reiterated, wherever the pupils of that institution
went, that careful preparation was needful, to fit the teachers
even of primary schools for their work.
We have come at last to the time when the effectual movement was made.
In April 1837-after full discussion of the need of such a
department, the Legislature of Massachusetts created "The
Board of Education," with authority to appoint and to fix the
compensation of the Secretary. A few weeks after —on the
29th of June, the Hion. horace Mann was chosen to that office. I-is election was a significant and imposing fact. iHe
was a gentleman of high literary and scientific attainments.
He was a lawyer of profound acquisitions in his profession.
And, withal, he had been for the two or three preceding years,
President of the Senate.  So that he was thought to be pronminent on the ladder of political aspirants.
That such a gentleman, at such a period of his life, should
leave his profession and his prospects to become the worker
in a new department, that as yet had no prestige of honored
predecessors, the only and the avowed object of which was
to superintend and improve the Common, Free Schools-was
a fact that roused every one to look at these schools with a
27 
TIHE RIEVIVAL OF EDUCATION.
new interest and increased respect.  Would that I had time
now and ability to tell those of you, who do not know, how
ardently Ifr. Joann devoted himself to the work to which he
put his hand; and how gloriously he accomplished more perhaps than any other man could have clone in that place.  For
twelve years, he gave every hour of his time, every faculty
of his mind, every affection of his heart to the duties of his
office; not for the sake of the salary, which was a pittance,
but for the sakle of the work itself, which he felt to be none
other, and no less, than the elevation of the whole body politic, intellectually and morally.  For more than six years, I
was a close observer of his toil-and never have I known a
man who accomplished so mruch, and did it so well.
He left the post reluctauntly in 1849, in answer to a call,
alike honorable to himself and his colistituents-to go into
tlhe Congress of our Nation, as the only man in his District
worthy to stand in the place recently vacated by the death of
the lion. J. Q. Adamis, the old man eloquent.
lie is now you know, president of a College in Oltio, standing upon the mnost elevated spot of land in that State, and
destined, if the load of debt unhappily accumlLlated upon it,
can be thrown off, and if his life shall be spared long enough
for the development of his admirablle plan of education, destined to occupy the highest position in the literary department of that State, and to stand at the side of the best endowed Colleges in our country —their generous rival for the
pre-eminen ce.
The year following bi. ]Iann's election to the Secretaryshliip-in 1838-his fiiend, the late lIon. Edmund Dwight, of
I.oston, placed at his disposal the sum of $10,COO, on condition that the State of ]viassachusetts should appropriate the
same amount-the whole to be disbursed under the direction
of the  Board of Education: in qualifying teachers for the
co,mmon schools.'Ihe Legislature promptly accepted the
donation by fulfilling the condition.  The Board of Education,
enlisting local co operation, were able to command still fur
28 
THE REVIVAL OF EDUCATION.
ther means; and thus by combined public and individual liberality were enabled to establish, in the course of the ensuing eighteen mnonthls three Teachers Seminaries; the one at
Lexington, afterwards at ATest Newton, and now at Framinghain; the other at Barre, and now at Westfield; and the
third iih this place, where I trust it is likely to be retained.
My acquaintance with the second named of these Normal
Schools, has been too slight to allow me to say anything distinctively respecting it. I knew and highly esteemed the
first Principal, Prof. Samuel P. NIewman.  At the time of
his appointment to the Normal School tlhenl at Barre-Mr.
Newman had been for years a very popular professor in Bowdoin College; and was then the acting President of that excellent institution.  The fact, that at the call of the Board of
Education in this State, to take charge of a Normal School,
he so promptly resigned what in the eye of the world was
deemed a much more elevated and eligible position, was an
expressive tribute (invaluable at the time) to the indispensable need of seminaries for the training of teachers for our
common schools-the schools FOn oun R-OYAL FAMILY-TIIE
PEOPLE.   his death, less than three years after his devotion of himself to this great work, was justly regarded as a
serious bereavement to the public.  But the school, which lhe
commenced so well, has been upheld by his successors, and
made to be regarded as a blessing to that portion of the commnunity to which its influence extends.
With thie ]Normal Schools at Lexington, and in this place,
I have been more or less intimately connected from the beginning.  In closing my long discourse with some  reminiiscences of the rise and establishment of these slchools; and of
the excellent and the loved ones who have faithfully served
them, I am sure I shall'not add to, but rather relieve, the weariness that you have come to feel.  In the selection of Rev.
Cyrus Pierce, then of TNantucket, to lead in the new enterprise of teaching teachers,] Mr. Mann and the Board of Edu-Lcation were singularly wise and happy. Mr. Pierce had had
29 
THE REVIVAL OF EDUCATION.
long experience in the work of school keeping. iHe had tried
every prominent method of teaching and governing the
young; and had been, for years, before his appointment, eminently successful in the application of those methods, which
he had found to be the best. The distinctive characteristic
of Mr. Pierce's mind-truthfulness —assumed the same promninence in his teaching. Hie was sincere, faithful, exact in
everything he did or said-and he required sincerity, faithfulness, exactness in all, with whom he dealt, in school and
out of school. All shams were put to shame in his presence.
This was the secret of his success in an untried enterprise
and this was the substance of what he taught those who
would be teachers.  There are somne lines by our poet Percival, descriptive of the advances of Truth, which with slight
changes, may be read as descriptive of our Normal father's
course —
" He came to the work with slow and doubtful step,
Measuring the ground he trod on; and forever
Turning his curious eye, to see that all
Was right behind; and with a keen survey
Chose he his onward path."
Impatient spirits thought him tedious; but even they were
brought to see and own he had not made them wait in vain.
Few, if any, went out to teach, with his approbation, who
did not succeed.  At the end of three years, he had accomplished results, which settled forever the question as to the
utility of Normal Schools. ile had sent into various parts
of the Commonwealth, teachers, so prepared for their work,
that they, wherever they went, elevated the character of the
common schools, and the profession of the School Teacher.
But unhappily at the same time, he had so far impaired his
own health, that he was compelled reluctantly to resign his
charge for two years.
The greatest mistake, I ever knew Mr. Pierce to make,
was that he united with Mr. Mann in persuading me to become his successor. And I had the temerity to undertake the
task, he had been obliged to relinquish. My only apology is
that I had become deeply interested in the experiment of
30 
THiE REVIVAL OF EDUCATION.
Normal Schools, and longed to do all in my power to ensure
its success. But I did not consent to enter into the place vacated by Mr. Pierce, until I had induced a singularly gifted
young lady-a member of the first class, graduated at this
Bridgwater Normal School-to become my Assistant.
In the district school, hard by the house where I lived six
happy years, in another part of this county, I had frequently
observed, among other very bright girls, one who seemed to
me peculiarly intelligent and lovely. I followed her into the
schools she was afterwards called to take charge of, and perceived that she possessed, in no ordinary degree, the gift of
teaching. By my advice she caine hither,* and passed a year
or more under the admirable discipline of Mr. Tillinghast.
On her return, she was made Principal of the Union IIighli
School in Scituate. There she soon made manifest to all intelligent observers, how much even one, who had a geniusfor
teaching, could be benefited by the studies, discipline, experiments of a Normal School.
Miss Tilden went with me to Lexington; and I was very
soon assured, that if I was myself insufficient for the duties
of the place, I had conferred an inestimable blessing upon the
cause of education by bringing her into that situation. Never
have I seen one, who could, like Caroline Tilden, quicken the
most sluggish intellect, fix the most wandering attention, and
inspire the most indifferent with the desire to know. Often
have I suspended for a while the exercises of my own classes,
that I might enjoy the feast of listening to her teaching, and
catch some of the effluence of that spirit, which seemed to
guide her every word and motion. She was ill the school
continually as an angel of light and love. And there she
lived and unsparingly labored five bright years, and thence
ascended to those kindred "spirits, which do always behold
the the face of my Father in Heaven."
Much as I attributed her admirable skill in teaching to the
*Mr. N. C. Nash, a wealthy merchant of Boston, a native of the same town with Miss Tilden,
at my request, gladly consented to pay her expenses, so long as she should find it profitable to
continue here.
31 
THE REVIVAL OF EDUCATION.
inspiration of Hiim, from whom cometh every good and every
perfect gift, she would always tell me with a glow of gratitude, how much she owed, under God, to her teacher at Bridgewater. The training which she here received from Air. Tillinghast was, I doubt not, of inestimable value to her.
You, who have been his pupils, can tell me better than I
can tell you, what there was in Mlr. Tillinghast's methods and
manners that summoned each faculty of the mind to do its
duty in its time, place and measure; never to thrust itself
forward to excite surprise and court admiration; but to content itself with contributing, as alone it could, in its time, place
and measure, to the harmonious movements of the whole intellectual and moral being.
Mr. Tillinghast's aspect was at first forbidding. Ite had
been subjected in his youth to the severe, unyielding, harsh
discipline of a military school. At West Point Academy,
the physical and mental powers I know are' often admirably
drilled.  But I fear the discipline there sometimes exerts an
unhappy influence upon the social, if not upon the whole
moral character.  The moral character of M,r. Tillinghast you
will all, I am sure, testify was unharmed; for hle has ever
shown himself to be most conscientious and pure. But his
training for a profession that he could not love, and I believe
did not approve, when he came to witness its dealings with
the common men, who are enlisted to ply the tools and work
the machinery of horrid war; the many months of exile from
the delights of domestic and social life, to which he was condemn,ed in his commands of military posts on our distant
frontiers; added to his natural dcliffdecce, begat in him  a reserve of manner, and sternness of aspect, that were, at first,
repulsive.  Towards a delinquLent pupil, he may sometimes
have seemed too severe.
" Yet he was KIND-and, if severe in aught,
The love he bore to learning was in fault."
All his pupils, I believe, who remained long enough under
his instructions to appreciate him justly, concur in bearing
high testimony not only to his surpassing skill in teaching, but
002 
THIE REVIVAL OF EDUOATION.
to his purity, elevation of purpose, and true though not forth
putting benignity.  He showed while here that he was fitted
to instruct and to command; that he wielded a plastic power.
The impressions that he made upon very many of his pupils
were obvious and ineffaceable; not only on their intellectual
but on their moral characters; not only in forming them to
be school teachers, but to be true men and women in every
relation of life. His great aim was to keep alive in himself,
and to awaken in all about him, the deepest sense of oduty, its
high behests-its sacred obligations. This is the true foundation of character. It can rest securely on God alone." Every signal act of duty is altogether an act of faith." And
the daily and hourly unflinching adherence to that, which one
fully believes to be true and right, is eternal life. I am told
that a favorite passage, often repeated by M1r. Tillinghast in
school, was the following from Wordsworth:
"What are things eternal? Powers depart,
Possessions vanish, and opinions change,
And passions hold a fluctuating seat;
But-by the storms of circumstance unshaken,
And subject neither to eclipse, nor wane,
Duty exists."
Mr. Tillinghast's life as a Normal School teacher has ceased.
Hlis account with his fellow men and with his Maker on that
score, is made up, and cannot be changed. And this is an
appropriate occasion, and here the fitting place for those of
us who have known him best, through his long career of fourteen years of usefulness, to give our testimony respecting him.
It is due to the public which he has served so well; it is due
to him, worn out as we fear in that service. It is all the more
due to him, as he is one whose unfeigned modesty is such, that
he is ever wont to depreciate himself and the value of any
thing he has done. I doubt not there are welling up from the
hearts of many who hear me, memories of inestimable benefits received from Mr. Tillinghast —and testimonies to the
value of his services in this school, higher far than I have
ventured to intimate.
I cannot allow this occasion to pass, without turning the
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THIE REVIVAL OF EDUCATION.
admiring eye to one more bright star in the galaxy of our
Normal sky.
In the winter of 1844, a Committee of the Legislature of
New York-Mr. Hiulburd and Mr. Dwight-came to Lexing ton, to see for themselves a Normal School; as they had de termined to introduce a Bill, providing for such a seminary
in that State. After spending a day or two with us, and care fully noting all our ways and means; admiring particularly
the exercises conducted by Miss Tilden, and Miss Electa N.
Lincoln, my 2d assistant, who was hardly less excellent than
the first; they inquired of me, where they could find a man,
who would come to New York and certainly make the Nor nal School, to be established there, all that such an institu tion purports to be.  I replied, " Gentlemen, go to the town
of Newburyport; spend a day in the school kept by Mr. David
P. Page, and you will know that you have found the man."
On returning to Boston, they made the same inquiry of Mr.
'Horace Mann. Hle commended Mr. Page to them, with so
profound an emphasis, that without going to see the gentleman, they fixed upon him as the one, to whose hand should
',be entrusted the great experiment, on the success of which
the elevation of the Common Schools of New York seemed
to be dependent.
Mr. Page went there;'and more than fulfilled all that was
promised, all that was expected of him. Surrounded by anxious but somewhat doubtful friends and by confident and in
one direction, bitter opponents, he took his stand, and commenced his work. Soon the clouds, that hung over the Normal School, began to break away; and the pure light of his
personal character, and admirable skill in the Art of Teaching,
was seen and acknowledged of all men.  Even old, experienced teachers gratefully confessed, that they received invaluable hints from his methods, and a new impetus to labor from
the spirit that animated his life.  He was too unsparing of
himself.  Hie poured himself out like water.  Not only did
he send forth class after class of young men and women, so
far imbued with his spirit, and trained in his art, that they
31 
THE REVIVAL OF MDUOATION.
have every where been distinguished as instructors of the
young; but that portion of his time that should have been
given to rest and recreation, he generously devoted to labor
in the exercises of Teachers' Institutes*; nor was this all, but
he issued a large volume on the art of teachingt-second to
no manual on the subject, if it be not the best of all. Alas!
his strength was not equal to the work he was tempted to undertake. In less than three years from the commencement
of his labors in New York, "he fell in the furrow," with his
hand on the plough, from which he had never for a moment
looked back.
Thus have I spoken freely as I think and feel of the dead
and of the living. Long since did I repudiate the old adage
' nil de mortuis nisi bonumn," (say nothing of the dead, unless
it be good). And I am equally slow to accept the common
maxim, that we should not praise the conduct of the living.
So that what we have to say be true, and the occasion calls
for it, it should be spoken with equal freedom of the living
and of the dead, whether it be praise, or whether it be censure.
Right and wrong, truth and falsehood are too diverse in their
natures, and too momentous in their consequences, to be ignored in the living or the dead; or to be even obscured out
of regard to the one or the other.
Many of you, my young friends, have already entered, or
are about to enter upon the great work of educating the children of men. The office of a teacher is second only in its
importance and sacredness to that of a parent. The Church
and the State are the offspring of the family. Never therefore will our bodies politic and bodies ecclesiastic become
what they ought to be, until our bodies domestic are well ordered-the children obedient and respectful to their parents;
and considerate of each others rights and feelings; living in
peace and in love.  "Young America," (as our body politic
is now flippantly named),-an irreverent, profane, headlong,
*Had there been time, I should have enlarged upon the value of these Institutes, especially in
New York.
t Theory and Practice of Teaching.
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3 
THE REVIVAL OF EDUCATION.
roistering fellow-shows plainly enough what a deficiency
there is in our country of parental wisdom and authority.
Schools are needed therefore, not only that children may enjoy the quickening influences of companionship and emulation in their studies; but also that they may receive instruction in the sciences, which too few parents are competent to
give; and a wholesome moral discipline, which too many parents do not understand, or neglect to maintain.
The first duty of the teacher is to lead his pupils to think,
to observe and reflect on what they observe; to listen to the
monitor that is placed in their bosoms, and consider reverently what they are required to do and what to forbear. Children should be led to use their own powers and opportunities
for the acquisition of all knowledge, especially the knowledge
of God and his laws. The teacher shouid be to his pupils,
whatever may be their age, not so much a dictator as a guide.
The charm, the exceeding excellence of Colburn's method of
teaching Arithmetic is, that it leads pupils to observe, and to
state distinctly what is self evident to themselves of the powers and relations of numbers; and to advance as they may,
in the exercise of their own faculties, from the most obvious
and elementary, to the discovery of the higher and higher
arithmetical truths. The same rational method should be
pursued in the teaching of all other sciences, not excepting
the science of man and the science of God. We are prepared
to accept intelligently, and to use wisely the revelations of
truth on any subject, that have been made to other minds,
only when we have well considered and defined the revelations made to our own minds.  God hath never left himself
without witness to any of the children of men. There is a
law written by his finger upon the heart of each one; and by
considering that law every child may be led, in some measure,
to discover how wise and holy that Being must be, who inscribed it there. But teachers too seldom take the pains necessary to lead their pupils to listen to the witnesses of God,
Which they have in their own souls. It is to be deplored that
in primary instructions on all subjects, most teachers depend
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THE REVIVAL OF EDUCATION.
so much upon books, treatises and manuals. These contain
records of what other minds have discovered, reports of re suits to which other minds have come. Often they are inval uable, and should be communicated in due time and in the
proper place. But in every instance, that communication
should be preceded by a careful survey and thorough consid eration by the pupil himself, of all the truth which is within
the immediate reach of his own perceptions. I have long been
persuaded, that the first processes of teaching should be those,
by which the youngest pupils may be led to the exercise of
their own senses, in discovering knowledge, and to the con sultation of their own moral instincts and intuitions, in as certaining what is right. There was a deep meaning in the
words of the Great Teacher, when he took little children in
his arms and blessed them, saying, " of such is the kingdom
of I-Ieaven"-" their angels do always behold the face of my
Father in hleaven."
Who does not know how the great moral questions, that
now agitate our country, and about which our ablest states men seem to be bewildered, would be settled, if left to the
decision of the moral intuitions of unsophisticated children?
What child, not corrupted by his education, would not decide
instantly, that one man can.have no right to hold another man
as his property, and regard and treat him as a domesticated
brute? What child not corrupted, would not instantly dis cern and condemn with loathing, the traffic in intoxicating
drinks; the civil and social dependence and depression of the
female sex; the horrid custom of war; the impositions which
are too common in trade; and every kind of violation of the
Golden PRule? Nay, how quickly and how wisely would un perverted children determine, could they understand, the
questions of Theology, that have so long divided the church,
and perplexed the grave Doctors of Divinity.
No one should venture into a school as its teacher, who
has not a reverence for the spirit that is in the youngest child;
who does not deeply feel that he is about to deal with that,
which partakes of the divine. He may find it, in some in
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THE REVIVAL OF EDUOATION.
stances, already perverted by the mismanagement of its earlier guardians, or by untoward influences that preceded even
its birth; but he should know that in itself there resides the
recuperative power, which alone can restore spiritual health.
To that he should know how to appeal, that he may bring the
instrument into harmony again. If he lays upon it rudely the
hand of power, he may aggravate the discord of the harp of
a thousand strings. Only by touching, in the spirit of love,
that part of the nature of a child, that is in tune, may he
reasonably hope to restore the whole to harmony. Let all
teachers go into their schools in the spirit of him who felt that
he was sent especially to seek and to save the lost. Not upon
the bright, beautiful, tractable, intelligent children, should
teachers (as they will be continually tempted to do) allow
their particular regards to fasten. Such children have already
been favored enough, in the circumstances of their birth, natural temperament, and condition in life. They will need, in
school, only the ordinary attentions and inducements to study
and to subordinate themselves to wholesome rules. It is the
intellectual imbeciles, the spiritual cripples, the morally insane, who need and should receive the especial care of teachers. More or fewer of these-or individuals who are suffering in a greater or less degree under these infirmities-will be
found in every school. And these infirmities may be coexistent with some admirable powers of mind, some excellent affections and holy aspirations. The great art of the school
teacher is to gather these infirm ones in his arms, and carry
them in his bosom; help them over the rugged passes that
might wound or weary them; at the same time conciliating
the approval and the generous co-operation of the healthy
and strong in aid of the weak. "I say unto you," are the
'words of the greatest of Teachers, "I say unto you love your
enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate
you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you." These heavenly precepts should govern every
act of those, who have the charge of wayward, perverse, rebellious children. It is- the spirit which dictated them, that
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THE REVIVAL OF EDUCATION.
alone can subdue and reclaim a wicked child. I mean not
now to raise the question of corporal punishment, to deny utterly the necessity of this dreadful expedient. I cannot, at
this late moment, open the discussion of the question of school
discipline. Let me only say, that no treatment of a child,
that is not prompted by, and cannot be administered in the
spirit of love, will benefit him. He or she who can govern
a school thoroughly well, without blows, or angry words, possesses most of the art of governing. My estimation of the
qualifications of any one for the office of a school teacher,
declines directly as the amount of corporal punishment used
by him or her increases. And he or she who cannot keep a
school in good order, well and happily employed, without the
daily or the very frequent exercise of the rod, the ferule, or
some other kind of violence, is unfit to take the care of children, either as a teacher or a parent, and ought not to profane,
by assuming, either office.
.Oh, woe for those, who trample on a mind,
That deathless thing! They know not what they do,
Nor what they deal with!  Man perchance may bind
The flower his step hath bruised; or light anew
The torch he quenches; or to music wind
Again the lyre-string, from his touch that flew.
But for the soul!  Oh tremble and beware
To lay rude hands upon God's mysteries tkere."
Never forget in all your intercourse with the young, that
they, who are children now, will soon be men and womencalled to take part in sustaining, if not administering, the ot
fices of this great Republic, in which the people have assumed
to govern themselves. Never forget that no individual can
contribute aught to the success of this great experiment-to
the strength of a democracy-who hath not the command of
his own spirit; and that, therefore, you are training up the
children committed to you, to be good citizens, only so far as
you are training them to govern th1emselves. More than all,
therefore, remember continually in all your intercourse witli
the young, that your highest duty as teachers is not to bring
your pupils into subjection to your own wills, but to bring
them into willing subjection to the Law of God-that law,
39 
THE REVIVAL OF EDUCATION.
which is written indelibly upon their own hearts, that law,
which is more fully revealed, expanded, illustrated and enforced in the doctrines, the precepts, the life, the death of Jesus Christ.
I hope that you are not to be troubled in Massachusetts, as
we are in New Yorkl, by the question that has arisen between
the Roman Catholics and the Protestants, respecting the use
of our Sacred Scriptures in the Schools. If you are, or shall
hereafter be so troubled, let me only say, and it will be the
best conclusion of the whole matter of my discourse, that if
the Teacher has the spirit of Christ in his heart, he will carry
with him, into his school, the best of all that is good  in the
Bible, although the book be left out; but that, in a school,
whose teacher is not possessed of the spirit of Christ, the Bible, though it should be read every day, will become little
else than a dead letter; for as the Germans are wont to say,
" as is the TEACHER so will be the SCHOOL."
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