From the Ohio Educational Monthly.
Of Hobbies and their Riders.

BY JOHN HANCOCK.

within reach of his benevolent spray. The emotional part of his being seems, indeed, to have been developed out of all proportion to his intellectual. Whether his theory is the result of his one-sided development, or the development the result of the theory, is hard to be determined.

EVERY man, except here and there an individual made of raw clay, rides his hobby; and the chief difference between men is, that the Brown is something of an orator also, and he hobbies of some are higher, and are ridden at a more reckless rate than those of others. It is a never fails, as Chadband would say, “to imknowledge of the universality of this variety of prove the occasion," that will, with any sort of the equine species that has enabled the greatest decency, permit him to give utterance to the writer of modern fiction to set forth a character great thoughts and fervent feelings that are alTo see him by trotting him up and down before us a few ways surging about within him.

times on his hobby, that the picture, consistent at the morning opening of his school ride up to in all its parts and perfect in its distribution of his pupils on his hobby, like a lone and valiant light and shade, is impressed on our memories knight charging upon a solid column of infanforever as a living reality.

try, and discharge at their angelic heads and hearts a perfect hail-storm of moral axioms and reflections,-pumping up from a convenient and

The peculiarity of hobby-riders is, that they all ride in a circle, and this circle is always growing narrower. And it is not void both of capacious reservoir that water to the eyes he deems necessary to convince them of the imamusement and instruction, to look abroad over the face of the earth and see each man pacing mensity of the love he has for them and their welfare, is a performance worth considering. around on his own little bark-mill circuit, solemnly persuaded that all men who do not travel in his narrow track, are much to be pitied and decidedly wrong-headed individuals.

But of all hobbies, those ridden by schoolmasters are the most obstinate, and oftenest found with the bits in their teeth.

world.

It will scarcely be believed, after all this show of interest and the lecturing upon morals they receive, that our friend's pupils with a perversity certainly unbecoming angelic natures, seem inclined to hold him and his preaching in derision; and his tears even do not escape slighting

As

Our friend Brown is a popular teacher in a remark. The fact is, his hobby does not seem large school. He is a remarkably adroit throw-to work well in the long run (and hobbies someer of dust, which is apt to get into people's how never do seem to work well in the long eyes, and, as a consequence, Brown looms up run). His school is the worst possible. For in the mist a very Socrates in the opinion of the lack of the strong restraining arm, profanity, Brown rides the sleekest and surest- obscenity and falsehood have but little check, footed of all hobbies-the moral suasion hobby. except such as home influences may exert. He believes, or says he does, (which amounts a teacher, his pupils view him with contempt. to pretty much the same thing with parents), In short, were we a trustee of schools, Brown that children are little angels; and that the old- is the last man we should permit to ride into er they grow the more angelic they become. our bailiwick and stall his horse there. (Provided they are brought up according to Our friend Smith rides a horse of an entirely Brown's recipe.) Our friend is as much oppos- different color. In him the outer man is a fair ed to coercion in the government of a school, as type of the inner spirit. To look at him you the reddest of red-hot Secessionists is to coer- might suppose him to be a lineal descendant of cion in the national government. His govern- the Old Man of the Mountain, so granitic and ing if it can be called governing - is all done gritty is his whole appearance. He don't bethrough those forms of the imperative mode lieve in sentiment and moral preaching to school which denote exhortation, entreaty and persua- children. He does believe in total depravity, sion. Commanding is omitted as savoring of and practices on that belief. If he sets one tyranny. portion of scripture before all others, it is the The sweetness of Brown's disposition has no advice of Solomon in regard to the use of the parallel in the saccharine juices of nature. His rod. He is just, but his justice is not much good wil toward all mankind in its juvenile tempered with the sweet qualities of mercy. years, like a perennial fountain, is always bub- He prides himself on his sternness. The order bling over and drenching every one who comes of his school is excellent, but his recitations are

ed education.

dull and uninteresting. The truth is, he has and useless difficulty to another, until he has disciplined the life out of his pupils. Their ve- introduced them to the virtues and powers of ry intellects seem to be paralyzed into a sort of the unknown x. Having reached which point, torpor by some invisible but terrible pressure. especially if he be teaching in a country district, But as the most despotic government is prefer- his scholars leave school, inwardly persuaded able to anarchy, so Smith's school far excels they have reached the Ultima Thule of human that of his co-laborer, Brown. knowledge,- but in fact knowing almost nothThen we have hobbyists in instruction as well ing that can be of the least value to them in the as government. Of all who ride an instruction conduct of life. Without a taste for any literahobby, Jones rides the tallest - the mathemati- ture above the flashiest and trashiest, they are cal. Although a member of church in good neither the wiser nor the better for their so-callstanding, Jones indulges himself at times in a kind of harmless and unmeaning scepticism; We have yet enough hobbies left to equip a for he will tell you in his moments of confidence, regiment of cavalry, which we should like to in a hesitating kind of way, that he don't know, trot out for your readers' inspection, but you after all, whether there are any truths except could ill afford the ground for their exhibition. those capable of mathematical demonstration. We therefore close with this moral: SchoolIn fact, he is pretty well assured in his own masters who are riding hobbies should dismount mind there are not. Hence, with a narrowness and walk the remainder of their days. The of mind inexcusable, he underestimates the val- true teacher is a harmoniously developed manue of all other knowledge, and does what he a sound man-running into no absurd excesses; can, both directly and indirectly, to induce his equally removed from a puling sentimentality pupils to sympathize with his limited views. or a harsh severity in his government; not narHe states to them with an intense degree of row in his instruction, but loving all knowledge grim satisfaction that partakes of the nature of with a generous enthusiasm; and, above all, enthusiasm, that among the vast number of er- strongly addicted to common sense.

rors floating about in the universe, there are a few established truths-truths which no one

Love's Look.

can doubt; such as that the three angles of a

triangle are equal to two right angles, and the square of the hypothenuse is equal to the squares

BY ROSE E. DALTON.

look of Love;

of the other two sides. And you would almost A LOOK there is that gains the heart-it is the be persuaded to conclude from his earnest manner, that it is the consolation derived from the knowledge of the solidity of these and kindred truths, that alone renders life tolerable. Hold

Surpassing far vain Pleasure's smile, its source is from above.

Howe'er proud Beauty may enchant, it often will betray.

And Pleasure's smile may be a light to lead us far

astray.

ing out to his pupils, as an incentive, that they may attain the giddy intellectual height of one day demonstrating these truths for themselves, or, failing that, become expert business men, he The look of love which kindness gives, can bid our leads their tender minds up and down long col

cares depart,

umns of figures, to arrive at whose sum would It sheds anew the dawn of hope within the grievmake the head of a practical accountant ache.

ing heart;

He puts them through problems in mental arith- Warmly it lingers in the breast, and stamps its metic, to which the old Greek problem of Achil

signet there;

despair.

les and the Tortoise is the merest child's play. It animates the drooping thought and drives away Goods are bought in the most extraordinary quantities, running into fractions "that like a wounded snake, drag their slow length along," Can heav'n afford a purer joy, than sweet affection which, after most affecting losses, are sold at prices expressed in other fractions most complex, both common and decimal, by which a The look of Love imparts a ray so cheering and

per cent. is gained on the whole that would

feels,

When mid the strife and wounds of life it cherishes and heals?

divine,

make even an army contractor open his eyes. That, surely, it must be the beam which lights up Thus Jones leads his pupils from one perplexing

heaven's shrine.

For the Schoolmaster.

the elements of arithmetic. The teacher was

Teaching the Deaf-Dumb in Common Schools. not acquainted with the sign language, and

BY JOE, THE JERSEY MUTE.

hence he taught me arithmetic, especially division, in an awkward way.

"From my parents I learned addition, multiplication and subtraction, and then the construction of short sentences before I went to

I have now before me number four of volume one of the Gallaudet Guide and Deaf Mutes' Companion.- by the way, too many names for Hartford. At the age of twelve, I was placed one paper, and a small sheet at that. This jour- at the Hartford school, and remained there for nal professes to be " independent in all things, six years. The winter following my dismissal devoted to the interests of deaf mutes in par- from school I went to the district school, which ticular," but designed for the entertainment of was, in most respects, as good as the Academy. the rest of mankind; and, in a word, to keep There I found myself among young ladies and both deaf and hearing people advised of what gentlemen, who were as little acquainted with is going on at home and abroad. The name the branches of study they were entering upon Gallaudet is derived from an eminent teacher, as I had been, previous to my admittance as a who introduced into America the system of scholar in Hartford." teaching the deaf-dumb to read and write. I may here remark that this Gallaudet married his first ward, Sophia Fowler; and lived to see one of his sons (hearing, of course,) married to a deaf lady, who was educated at the New York Institution.

Further on he writes: "I carefully read a lesson in history, and then, without looking in the book, wrote an abstract of what I had read, including the dates of the occurrences as I found them in the book. The abstract was by the teacher looked over and corrected; and sometimes alterations were made in style. In arith

who, in writing, proposed questions in addition. subtraction, multiplication and division. And I sometimes exercised myself in essay-writing, with what success it is not for me to tell.

The number of the Guide before me, leads off with a very interesting sketch of the deaf-dumb Randolph, nephew of the celebrated John Ran-metic, I was sometimes assisted by the teacher, dolph, copied, it seems, from the New York Ledger. He died of heart-break, caused by disappointment in love. On page two, I notice a little bit of composition by "D. P. Clark, Peterboro', N. H.," headed "How to make good "Out of school-hours, far from being blueyeast," which is well worded, considering the devilled, I carried on commerce in writing with infirmity of the writer. Next comes a column the boys and girls, several of whom could use and a quarter of talk on "The deaf and dumb the finger language. I had to reduce my ideas going to school with hearing and speaking chil- to writing in this communion of mind with dren," by A. Wolverine, a deaf mute, whose mind; so that I came on rapidly in my learning. parents were also deaf, both of them. Wolver. Thus did I progress in the acquisition of writine studied under the late Dr. Gallaudet six ten language, my stock of sign-language, that years, at the end of which period he returned curse of the educated deaf-dumb, growing small home to live with his parents. Desirous to learn by degrees and beautifully less." more, he went to a district school, and there So far Wolverine. His success in language prosecuted his studies, surrounded by hearing- goes to show that if his fellow-sufferers do likespeaking children of both sexes, some of whom, wise, they will reap a golden harvest. I can he says, could finger-chat with him. The com- see no reason why the parents of mute children munication aforesaid is novel, as being the re who have been educated in the mute schools, sult of his efforts at self-improvement in such a should not send them to the common school, school. Being well written, and having no together with hearing children, during the windeaf-dumb idiom, although perhaps it wants a ter months. As a general thing, the composilittle improvement, no one who has had much tions of the educated mutes are intensely deafcharexperience in deaf-dumb teaching would sus- dumb in form of expression; that is to say, pect it to be the production of a mute. acterized by the peculiarities of thought insepa"To begin with my early education," writes rably connected with the deaf-dumb condition Wolverine," at the age of six years I followed in which they are born. By going to the commy playmates plumb into the school-house, mon school and writing per force at all times where I was first taught penmanship. I after- with hearing scholars, the educated mutes will wards went to it occasionally, and there learned be enabled to overcome their deaf-dumbisms.

The case of the late Miss Ellen G. Martin is an crous enough to set a whole nation in roars of instance in point. Educated in a mute school, laughter. Not a sign did they remember, from where thinking by signs, and not by words, as their great distance from the period when they is customary with hearing people, cannot fail to first learned a sign for a common noun. If their deepen the deaf-dumbisms in thought, senti- friends had sent them to the common school afment and form of expression,- educated, I say, ter the completion of their asylum education, in such a school, Miss Martin thought and wrote they might have made a respectable figure in solike a bona fide deaf mute; but during her visit ciety. I mean here, respectable in reference to to her relatives, her mother wisely made her go the command of language. Not long ago, I redaily to the common school, until she had fair-ceived a letter from a former pupil, who boasted ly advanced out of the deaf-dumb condition. no strong mind. The manner, however, showed By many persons who have seen her letters, she that the writer had gone the whole length of the is pronounced a beautiful writer. expression, "perseverentia vincet omnia." After a stay of seven years in a mute institution, she was made to attend a district school, where the errors of her former education were weeded out. In her case, as in some others, a district school education perfects what a mute asylum education begins.

For the Schoolmaster.

The Wingless Grasshopper of California.

THE following account of this singular sextu

I have read some portions of a letter written by a deaf lady down South, who, having left a mute school, with her mind none the better for discipline, was obliged to contine herself to the use of the finger language wholly - no signs whatever at all. In her we now see the scholar and the lady joined, with the supplement of the good woman, which is all that humanity can arrive at in this imperfect state. It is remarked of John R. Burnet, the deaf poet of New Jersey, and author of the "Tales of the Deaf and pid is taken from a contribution to the last anDumb," published several years ago, that the nual report of the Smithsonian Institute, and surprising accuracy of language to which he has is from the pen of Edward P. Vollum, M. D., attained, is accounted for by the efforts of his U. S. A. sister, Emma, to correct and perfect his literary It will be observed that this adds one other taste. The same may be said of "Charlotte member of the animal kingdom to the short list Elizabeth," author of "Jack, the Happy Mute." of tobacco eaters. We have now the tobacco In cities, it is observed that the advanced worm, man, and the wingless grasshopper, in mutes are not much in the habit of mixing with this strange list. It is worthy of notice, howspeaking people, not so much on account of ever, that this grasshopper that eats tobacco their aversion to mingling in their society, as of with such impunity is entirely unaffected by the fact that they have to spell out, letter by poisonous agents. It is certainly no argument letter, by the fingers. Their association with in favor of the human tobacco chewer, nor an their own kind devours no small portion of their apology for him, that a California grasshopper, limited (in consequence of their deaf-dumbness) that will devour with avidity and perfect imknowledge of written language. The habit of punity" vegetables smeared with a "mixture of sign-making indisposes the mind for thinking strychnia, arsenic, corrosive sublimate, croton by words and taking in words as they are spell-cil and lamp oil," will eat tobacco without ined or written out. jury. It might, nevertheless, prove injurious to

M.

Let the parents or friends of educated mutes the human system. place them in the common school after their "Grasshoppers have infested many parts of term at the mute institution is ended, and the California from the earliest days of which there teacher will clean them of the errors of speech is any record, and they have appeared so regucurrent among the deaf-dumb. I do not believe larly and abundantly as to be regarded in some in the necessity for sign-making on the part of places as an ineradicable plague. The Digger those mutes who have left the deaf-dumb school. Indians seem to have been long habituated to Let them address themselves to the task of com- use them as an article of food, and relish them paring their own language with that which is as much as any kind of subsistence they have. universal, and rooting out its deaf-dumb idioms. The winged as well as the wingless variety are I once conversed with two mute sisters, whose collected by them for winter use. Both kinds conversation was carried on by the fingers, al- are captured by sinking large pits and firing the though their grammatical blunders were ludi-grass in a large circle around them.

To escape

For the Schoolmaster.
Moral Instruction.

THAT part of an education which will be of the most benefit to the child in coming life is often neglected by many of our teachers. 1 refer to moral culture, and the formation of right habits. The child should be taught the difference between right and wrong, truth and error, and the habits of acting from principle formed, so that the imagination, passions and affections

the fire and smoke, the grasshoppers take to the pit, when they are killed by combustibles being thrown upon them. Formerly, the winged grasshoppers were common in Shasta valley; but in the summer of 1856 they gave way to the large wingless kind, which have increased in numbers every year since, till the summer of 1860, when they were more destructive than ever before. During the last three years they have appeared in Fall River valley, but were only in destructive number last summer. They always have their origin in sheltered parts of may be taught to bow to the decisions of reavalleys, where the temperature is higher in win-son, and be governed by the dictates of an enter than the neighboring districts over which lightened, cultivated conscience. The motives to be addressed, in controlling and directing the which they roam in summer. In Shasta valley they breed from or near alkaline Hats, where elementary education of children, should be such as we should wish to have control their the ground never freezes; and in Fall River actions in after life. Let the distinction between valley, they invariably start from the most shelright and wrong be clearly explained, and right tered part of it. In Shasta valley, after they commence migrating, they always go to the principles constantly strengthened by a direct south or southwestward; while in Fall River appeal to conscience and God's law, with a firm belief that his grace will accompany the exervalley, their course is northward. In both plations and bless the efforts of the faithful teacher, ces they leave mountains behind them and traand much may be done to prepare the child to verse a level district; and this seems to be the only cause of the difference of direction pursuact nobly, fearlessly and for the right in all the future. Moral culture has been, and is, too ed by them in the two valleys. In migrating much neglected in all our systems of education. they are turned aside by mountains. Though The mind is disciplined, stored with facts, and they have been in Shasta valley since the sumoften abounding in knowledge, to become the mer of 1856, they have been confined to it, and have not crossed any of the mountains which greater curse to itself, its friends and society. The heart is neglected, and where might be separate it from other valleys. The windings of truth, rectitude and righteousness, there is a a river may turn them from their course a little; but if a stream lay across their route, or if emgreat moral desert, where selfishness, passion braced in a bend of it, they plunge into the waand lust hold their sway. Let a sound morality ter, in which vast numbers are destroyed, though be inculcated in our schools, not by books alone, but by the education of conscience, the constant a few get over. They can be driven by any ratreference of all actions to the standard of right. tling noise, and are very timid, alarm spreading Let there be taught a scrupulous regard for truth rapidly through a considerable host of them; but the fright once over, they invariably return and honesty even in little things; let the sacred to their original course. rights of property, and the duties of man to "A house is no impediment to them. They be rightly understood; let virtue and the do not turn aside, Lut go over it. They devour power of obligations be felt and enthroned suall kinds of vegetation, but prefer the cultivated preme in all the relations of society; then will annuals, and do not seem sensitive to poisonous agents; tobacco and stramonium are eaten by | them voraciously. A gentleman of Yreka smeared some vegetables with a mixture of strychnia, arsenic, corrosive sublimate, croton oil and lamp oil, and they devoured them with avidity and perfect impunity. Nor do they seem sensible to pain. If cut in two parts, the head often continues eating; and if legs enough are left, it crawls off readily and remains active for several hours. The hinder part, severed from the fore part, has been seen to insert the ovipositor into your lordship two hundred pounds if you will the ground as if to deposit eggs."

man,

the state of education be far different from what it is at present, and nearer what it should be. SHANNOCK.

A bad-tempered judge was annoyed by an old gentleman who had a very chronic cough, and after repeatedly desiring the crier to keep the court quiet, at length angrily told the offending gentleman that he would fine him one hundred pounds if he did not cease coughing, when he was met with the reply: I will give

stop it for me."