Editors' Department.

Salem.

THE TEACHER'S WORK.
Not on the canvas doth the Teacher's hand
In beauty's lines his daily task portray,
Nor fleeting Nature with harmonious hues
Depict and bid transfigured there to stay.

From out the marble block with patient art,

He bids no "Sleeping Beauty" wake! arise!
Nor brings his dreams of haunting loveliness
Before the curious World's admiring eyes.

He calls no music forth from note or string
To thrill and sway the list'ning multitude;
His eloquence holds not the public ear,
Shaping the public mind for future good.

A higher work than Painter's art is his:

A nobler grace he carves than Sculptor's dream :
He bids the Soul's imprisoned thoughts awake!
And the dull eye with reason's light to beam.

He worketh ever with a trusting Faith,

That seeth now the harvest gathered in,
And countless minds directed by his thought,
The fruits of Knowledge pressing on to win.

The Great and Good of earth lay at his feet
The tribute grateful Memory e'er bestows;
And through the shadows of his daily life
Affection's sunshine still around him glows.

LYDIA L. A. VERY.

MUSIC IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

In our last number we had something to say about the Star Spangled Banner forever shall wA-VE! - Oral Teaching and the home of the BRAVE! and Text-books. Immense applause for Patrick S. Gilmore! We expressed our purpose to resume the tremendous cheers for Carl Zerrahn ! and to say something about Full Chorus, Grand Orchestra, Organ, Military Band,

- subject — hurrah for Ole Bull

Drum Corps, Bells, Artillery, Bang!!-the right use often thou sand voices! Hail Colum-gled banner Glorious is― oral instrucO'er the land of the FRE-EE-EE, and the home of

tion and text-books.

the BRA-A-VE!!

It's no use we can't write to-night, notwithstanding the printer's demand for copy. The fact is, we have been to the Peace Jubilee! We have mingled our voice with the voices of the vast multitude in rejoicing over the restoration of blessed peace to our country, and the wonderful scenes and sounds of the grand occasion have so taken possession of our thoughts and emotions, that to sit down to the sober discussion of a prosaic subject is an utter impossibility. Our ears are still resounding with the majestic harmony of myriad voices, the beautiful and noble utterances of a thousand attuned instruments of music, the splendid outpourings of the mightiest organ ever designed by man, the rhythmic roar of artillery, and the re-echoing shouts of the countless people. Will, therefore, surrenders to the sensibilities for the present, and the discussion that was to have been written out tonight, must wait for calmer moments. And yet the inexorable printer says he must have copy. For once scissors must serve as our assistant, and these can hardly do better than to say something about "Music in our public schools."

"Music, as conducted in our schools, exerts now an elevating and refining in, fluence through the whole process of education. It is not only the cultivation of one of the most marvellous and beautiful gifts God has bestowed upon his children; offering a constant resource (a joy and a solace, for all the coming discipline of life), but it is more than this, it is an actual help in the development and culture of all the other faculties. The whole mind moves with greater ease and success because of the influence thus exerted. The mental faculties are sympathetic; the spirit of music, blending with and flowing through all, like a subtle magnetic life. As there is a hidden harmony in all created things, melody being elicited by wind and wave; thus, wrapped up within the nature of the child, are powers, which never work so harmoniously, and therefore so advantageously, as when this gift is allowed to develop itself in unison with the whole educational process. It is more than a mere pleasure, even when pursued as a recreation. According to the etymology of that word, it may become re-CREATION, melody, with the breath of life, RE-creating the whole nature. Have we not all felt this? Is there, at any time, a prevailing listlessness, a sense of exhaustion or fatigue? Call up the delightful exhilaration of music. How will one verse of a spirited song dispel the clouds, sending sunlight through every mind!

What a new interest does the cultivation of music in the schools throw into the affections of home! How many firesides possess, through this gift, an added

charm! Separate as the schools are from the church, yet it is pleasant to remember that every church, and the Sunday-school connected with each church has the advantage of all the knowledge of music that has been thus gained. The correct ear and disciplined taste, united with the well-developed and richly-modulated voice, has come from the school. Thus a new power has been unconsciously introduced from the school into the sanctuary, kindling into added fervor the services of the house of God. Whenever the voice of the great congregation unites in anthems of praise, in that full tide of melody, sweeping onward like the waves of the sea, we have one of the grand results of the teaching of music in our Public Schools." — R. C. WATERSTON, in Boston School Report.

"Vocal music has been practised in most of our schools for a long time with the most favorable results, and your committee being deeply impressed with its importance as a branch of education would rejoice to see it installed as a permanent thing in them all, and to have in those where it could be properly used, a suitable instrument as a part of the furniture to aid in this delightful and influential exercise. An art by which so much can be done to soften the asperities of the temper, to cheer the heart, to elevate and refine the taste,'and to bring the faculties into a condition favorable to their best action, which adds so much to the warmth of devotion and affords amusement at once innocent and elevating, must act with great power upon the susceptible mind and heart of childhood, and exert a most salutary influence upon the formation of youthful character. Such an art richly deserves the attention and commendation of all educators of the young. It should be cultivated in every school. Every child should be taught to sing.

Music is, moreover, one of the most important and influential means of a moral education. It not only elevates and refines the taste, it also elevates and refines the soul. Begun in early childhood, it will be ever after a source of enjoyment, and a shield against those temptations which drag so many boys and men down to degradation and ruin. And surely we need in this corrupt age, every effectual guard that can be placed around our youth. Every nature needs amusement and excitement, and if we do not supply our youth with those that are pure and elevating, they will resort to those furnished by others which are polluting and destructive. If we cultivate in our children, through the art of music, a taste for those amusements that are refined and elevated, the tendency will be a settled disgust for everything which is profane and polluting - for those excitements and indulgences, as the intoxicating cup, the gaming table, the disgraceful and licentious exhibitions of the stage, and the beastly orgies of the club room and the street which are multiplied by a vulgar civilization; and which, while they inflame their lower passions, steel their hearts against all the holiest influences of virtuous homes, of truth, of purity, and of religion.

From the earliest ages music has ever been regarded as the handmaid of moral and social purity and refinement; as mightily contributing to refine the taste and to strengthen the moral feeling. Music is the language of the heart and so universal is the disposition to resort to it to express their own hallowed

emotions or awaken" those of others, that Shakespeare, that great master in the science of the heart, declares, that

"The man that hath no music in himself,

Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds,

Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils;

The motions of his spirit are dull as night,
And his affections dark as Erebus;

Let no such man be trusted."

In the education of our children, therefore, we should teach them to sing and cultivate in them the love of music, for the highest welfare of society as well as for their own good. To do this is true political economy. Far better pay for music teachers and instruments, as means for the promotion of a true civilization, than for prisons and police officers." Marblehead School Report.

"Music is not, as some suppose, a mere luxury, but a necessity. Its germ is implanted in every human soul, and it is as much a necessity to give outward expression to it as it is to laugh when we are pleased or to weep when we are in sorrow. Everything about is vocal with music. The birds sing their matins and their vespers by our windows, as if conscious of an answering chord in the human soul. The brooks go whispering their sweet cadences to the sea, and the gentle zephyrs chant their low, sad melodies for us at eventide, through trees of evergreen, as if to woo us by their enchantment to put ourselves in harmony with the musical universe. Let our children be taught to sing. Let them sing glad songs when their souls are happy.

Singing is the highest style of prayer. Let them sing, then, as they grow in years, and feel, as they will," life's cares and sorrows press heavily"; for though it may not remove the burden, it will strengthen the soul to stand up under it.

Then let them sing as they clamber up the "rugged hill of life;" let them sing as they go down on the "other side"; and that they may become members of that happy band of singers" beyond the river," is the wish and prayer of your committee."-L. ALLEN KINGSBURY, in Needham School Report.

"It may seem extravagant to many, when we speak of music as a means of moral culture; and yet we believe that its tendency is to refine and elevate the moral nature. Man is a many-sided being, and requires cultivation in all directions. To think of the intellect only, and to forget the heart; to train the mind in logic, and lose sight of sentiment and feeling, without which a man is but half a man, this were a grievous error.

We venture the assertion that a musical people cannot be thoroughly bad in character, but must of necessity be quickened to an appreciation of the beautiful, both in art and nature, and to a ready sympathy with the joys and sorrows of their fellow-creatures.

Furthermore, it is a source of rational pleasure open to all and purchasable almost without price, as all the really best of God's blessings usually are,and it is the right of the people to have their powers of enjoyment in this respect enlarged and gratified.

Much might also be said of the practice of music as an aid to good reading, and as facilitating the acquisition of a free and proper use of the vocal organs, and of a habit of concerted and sympathetic action with others; a habit worth acquisition in a democratic community." Quincy School Report.

NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL MEETINGS.

THE Educational meetings to be held in Trenton, New Jersey, on the third week of August, promise to be a distinguished success. Three great national asscciations hold their annual meetings there that week. The association of State Superintendents meets on Monday, that of Normal School Principals and Teachers on Tuesday, and the general Association of Teachers on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The arrangements for these meetings are already considerably advanced toward completion. Papers or lectures have been promised from the following distinguished educators:

Address by the President, Rev. L. Van Bokkelen, late Superintendent of Public Schools of Maryland.

An exercise in "Practice Teaching," with criticisms and a discussion as to the necessity of such an exercise in a Normal School, and the best methods of conducting it.

Prof. Edward A. Brooks, Principal of the State Normal School, Millersville, Pa. "The Spiritual Element in Education."

Prof. Lewis B. Monroe, of Boston. "The Voice and its Training," with illustrations and readings.

Prof. Fordyce A. Allen, Principal of State Normal School, Mansfield, Pa. "Course of Study for a Normal School."

Prof. John S. Hart, Principal of the N. J. State Normal School. "Method of Conducting Religious Worship in Schools.".

Mrs. Randall, of the Oswego Training School.

tion." Readings.

"Method of teaching Elocu

Miss Swayze, of the N. J. State Normal School. "Vocal Culture." Readings. Rev. Joseph Alden, D.D. LL.D., Principal of the State Normal School at Albany, N. Y. "What is the best teaching for a Normal School?"

Prof. Z. Richards, of Washington, D. C. "Elementary Schools - Radical Faults Radical Remedies."

Rev. Geo. A. Leakin, Baltimore. "Periodic Law, as applied to Education." Prof. Austin C. Apgar, State Normal School, Trenton, N. J. "Method of teaching elementary Arithmetic."

Prof. Ellis A. Apgar, State Superintendent of N. J. "Method of teaching Map Drawing in Schools."

Maj. Gen. O. O. Howard, U. S. Army. "Education in the South, with reference to the Colored Population."

John D. Philbrick, Esq., Superintendent of Public Schools of Boston. Workshop and the School."

"The

Rev. B. G. Northrop, State Superintendent of Connecticut. "Rate Bills in Public Schools."