exulted in the thought that mine was the task to assist in guiding this youthful host. Then came a sadder thought-Am I fitted for this great mission? Am I acting my part with the great band of this State, who are so nobly striving to forward the cause of education? May not the name of Wisconsin be flung proudly to the breeze, and recorded on the archives of our educational history, as striving to form a perfect educational system, not like the "Academic" groves, sacred only to the few, but free to all. Most of our towns and villages have good school buildings, many of them fitted up in fine style, bespeaking the enterprise of the people. The prairies are dotted with school-houses, some on the open prairie around which the sunlight falls in floods of golden beauty, others half concealed by the openings. These buildings are filled with immortal minds to be trained for the active duties of life-as Longfellow beautifully expresses it, "Life is real! Life is earnest ! And the grave is not its goal? Was not written of the soul." Do our teachers realize this fact? How many of them teach for the mere pittance which it affords, forgetting that with them rest the talent, the enterprise, the glory of our beautiful Republic. We have heard it suggested that "free schools" were removing the old landmarks of society-taking away the walls of aristocracy-placing the masses on an equality. This is what we desire-let every person formed in the "Image of his Creator" shine forth in his proper light and think you there will be aristocracy in the great hereafter? Will a child be placed one side because he hath not been clad in silken robes? I tell you, nay! Theirs is not al they were not Such thoughts Teachers are not free from the severest discipline. ways a happy life; dark hours will come, and they wish obliged to teach, and sigh perhaps for their far off homes. will never avail; gird on the helmet and manfully brave the battle. We remember very well the first time we entered a public school. Our ideas of schools were taken by surprise. Bitter, bitter were the tears shed at the end of our first day's task. We couldn't see the propriety of so many rough boys and noisy girls. A few months brought us to see the beauty of the system. We rejoice now to have our name enrolled among its firm supporters, and believe this to be only the foreshadowing of the light and beauty that will dawn upon our vision, when the great heart of the nation beats in unison, in opening a way for one and all to enter the arena and contest for the "Laurel Wreath." BELOIT, 1859. L. A. C. EXTRACT FROM THE REPORT OF A COUNTRY TOWN SUPERINTENDENT, DELIVERED BEFORE THE CITIZENS, IN TOWN MEETING ASSEMBLED, APRIL, 1859, IN ACCORDANCE WITH A BY-LAW OF THE TOWN. We have in our midst, some men of wealth, who, having no children of their own to educate, are averse to being taxed for the education of others', but legislative action, in our State, has designated but one method of supplying the deficiency of the public fund for the support of free schools, and that is, by the indiscriminate taxation of property. The merits or demerits of this system it is not now our province to discuss, but while this enactment remains upon the pages of our statutes, it would be no less than gross injustice that the many should be deprived of the benefits of the free school system, because of the unwillingness of the few to submit to taxation. Although it may result in a temporary inconvenience to respond to the necessary taxation, yet, to those who have at heart the welfare of the succeeding generation and of their country, the beneficial results, far in the future, will prove an adequate compensation. This is but a single point in the subject, but one on which pages might be written. Education is made by the State a public fountain, at which all may drink. It does not consist in merely learning to read from the class book, to write and to cypher, but in learning to think and reason correctly and independently, to develope inherent abilities, and in learning our duty to our fellow men and to our country. It is a substitute for penal statutes, prisons, alms-houses, and all the expensive machinery of law, and thus reduces the expenses of government in a direct ratio to the intelligence of the masses, since statistics prove that a large majority of criminal delinquents are found among those who are groveling in ignorance. Property is charged with the maintenance of government, and whatever tends to lessen the expenses of government should receive our support. Not only the rights of men of wealth, but the State itself is better preserved and respected, by the general diffusion of intelligence among the masses, for by them are the laws made, and by them should be understood how to do it intelligently. No one can foretell which mind in the whole number will become a public benefactor, if drawn out by proper training and instruction. Many eminent authors, statesmen and divines, and other leading minds, have emanated from charity schools. Man is, in a great degree, the creature of education-educated either for vice or virtue. Perhaps some within hearing of my voice can recall to memory the family of some wretched inebriate, grown up in ignorance,-the pest of the neighborhood-robbing gardens, orchards, melon-patches, and poultry yards, till at length grown bold by age and impunity, for some crime of greater daring, they find themselves immured within the walls of a prison. Who would not prefer to educate them, rather than suffer their depredations, or pay the expense of their prosecution, to say nothing of the immoral influence on society. In contrast, how brightly shines the character of that devoted, but unfortunate mother, contending against poverty and all discouraging circumstances, persevering in educating the family, and training them in such a manner as to become intelligent and useful members of community, through the influence of the free school system. Shall we grudgingly bestow a few dollars in such cases? An intelligent people add greatly to the aggregate wealth of the community. We are not educating a generation of youth to do the work of America as she is to-day, but as she will be twenty, thirty or forty years hence, when her population and importance may be doubled. Intelligence is the guaranty of our influence. It is not mere majorities that rule,-power in our country is in the ballot-box; yet there are three hundred and sixtyfour days in the year in which people do not vote-except for local purposes-and these days may be improved by men of intelligence, in moulding the sentiments of voters, either for good or evil. The press, and the schoolmaster, armed with his primer, may be deemed the most important defences of a free people, and, under their protection, we may bid defiance to misrule and domestic factions, or to the machinations of foreign potentates, or the military array of the most powerful monarch of the globe. Owing to the financial embarrassment, under which we are laboring, either real or imaginary, and the prospect of a diminished pro rata public fund, some individuals have suggested the propriety of shortening the school terms, or of employing teachers at low salaries, but we consider it doubtful economy to retrench in the necessary school expenditure; better to retrench in some domestic expenditures,-to dispense with some article of luxury, perhaps equally pernicious and useless. If retrenchment must be made, let us continue good schools till the funds are exhausted, and close, rather than resort to a cheap school in order to lengthen time. By attempting to save a few dollars, we may misspend the whole. In several districts have been found two parties, either already existing or almost imperceptibly growing up, which if not acting in open hostility, harbor an under-current of ill-feeling, casting a slur upon the party in power, or upon the school, for no other reason than because the teacher is employed by the opposite party. Nothing can be more detrimental to the interests of the whole district than such party distinctions. By a recent law, which took effect less than a year since, we are required to elect the members of the board for a term of three years, and it becomes us to elect those who have a direct interest in the welfare of the school, and who to that end will labor harmoniously together. One hostile member may nearly neutralize the labors of his associates, particularly if that member be the clerk. In conducting examinations of teachers, thoroughness has been aimed at, without severity, with the intention of granting certificates to none but those who acquitted themselves with credit. But it not unfrequently occurs that a good scholar may prove but an indifferent teacher, failing either in a faculty to impart instruction and interest pupils, or in government and discipline. It cannot be expected in a mere examination of scholarship that such deficiencies can always be discovered, and no superintendent can justly be held responsible for dereliction of duty in such cases. Again, it is frequently expected of a teacher to be competent to teach some of the higher branches, particularly the higher branches of mathematics, and the absence of such qualifications causes the patrons to question the propriety of his having been licensed; but no clause can be found in the school act requiring a teacher to submit to an examination in any but the common English branches to entitle him to a certificate; when competency in any of the higher branches is required-which often should be-we would recommend that teachers be employed by special contract with such understanding, specifying what branches they are expected to teach, and requiring a certificate of corresponding qualifications, which would obviate all difficulties. Teachers, too, not unfrequently have their grounds of complaint which, to do them justice, require a patient hearing. One ground is tardiness of pupils, and the consequent interruption of exercises, the evil effects of which are too well understood by every reasonable individual to require comment. In one school of thirty-five scholars, visited during the winter, fifteen answered "tardy," at roll call, and we were informed that it was no uncommon occurrence. The remedy for such deliquencies devolves more upon the parents than upon the teachers. Frequent absence of pupils is another cause of complaint. The importance of punctual and continued attendance, from the commencement to the close of each term, cannot be too highly estimated. The loss of a single day bears unfavorably upon the character and progress of the scholar, and has consequently an unfavorable influence upon the whole school. Parents should not only concur with the teacher in the remedy, but assume the burden of the task themselves, granting leave of absence only upon extraordinary occasions. Where the school is vacated on Saturdays, as is practiced in many districts, and should be in more, ample time is afforded for the performance of such domestic duties as should be required of the pupils at home, without encroaching upon the other five days of the week.-(To be Continued.) MORAL INSTRUCTION.. Ir it be my peculiar province in every day life to wash dishes, sweep rooms or make beds, and if with a willing, cheerful heart I perform those duties well, at and in their proper time, then to those by whom I am surrounded, I teach a moral lesson. If, instead, it be my duty to impart instruction in Arithmetic, Grammar, or Reading, and I faithfully, prayerfully, and properly perform this duty, when I devote thirty minutes to any ore of these, I am, in one sense, imparting moral instruction. "Lives of great men all remind us, We can make our lives sublime." The time has come when there are few found so reckless as to take upon themselves the responsibilities of a teacher of children or youth, without first carefully considering the question, how am I best to advance the moral, as well as intellectual interests of my pupils, and at the same time do no violence either to the letter or spirit of the business contract between myself and my employers? If some person should pay me a dollar a week to wash dishes in his kitchen, and if, instead of fulfilling my part of the contract, I choose to spend my time in reading to my fellow laborers Christ's sermon on the mount, although the reading, in itself, may be very laudable, and although I am reading the best moral lesson ever yet spoken or written, I am defrauding my employers, and of course am doing wrong. We are doubtful of the propriety of setting apart time, during school hours, in a public or common school, to moral instruction; and yet no teacher can have the right to let slip an cpportunity to impress upon the minds of his pupils, an appreciation of their moral obligations. Half an hour every forenoon may, with profit, be devoted to instruction in Arithmetic, but by a fearless and careful adherence to truthfulness yourself, by never failing to reprove any deviation from it on the part of your pupils, and when the opportunity occurs, by some happy illustration of its beauty, and the ugliness and deformity of its opposite, you can do more to instill into the minds of your pupils a love for the one and an abhorrence of the other, and more towards making them practically truthful, than you can do towards making them mathematicians in a whole year. We were once present in a school when a contest arose between the teacher and one of his pupils, respecting the correctness of a mathematical exercise. Improper language was used, or, at least, disrespectful language, but at length the teacher said: "Very well, you may sit; you are right." "Why did you talk so then?" demanded the pupil. "Oh, I wished to see if you would stand by your own opinions," was answered. "He did not A moment after the exercises closed, and the teacher left. know he was right until he looked in the book,” said one. "I would have told the truth," said another, and such like remarks followed each other |