ESSAYS IN BIOGRAPHY AND CRITICISM. By the work to our subscribers and friends as one Peter Bayne, M. A., author of "The Christian of our best magazines, especially for young men. Life, Social and Individual," &c. Second Series. Gould & Lincoln, Boston. 1858. An intelligent reading public can hardly express sufficient gratitude to Messrs. Gould & Lincoln for their re-publication of various excellent foreign works. Among these publications the works of Peter Bayne and Hugh Miller take a prominent place. The present work is a continuation of the learned author's former volume of "Essays on Biography and Criticism," in a It includes eleven papers, on "Second Series." Subscriptions received by Snow & Greene, Booksellers, Providence. BARNES' PRAYERS.-C. Desilver, Philadelphia. The Great Awakening of the past winter and spring has opened many mouths in prayer which were never accustomed to commune with God in thanksgiving and supplication. This excellent and judicious selection of prayers for family use, compiled by Rev. Albert Barnes, will be received by such as well as by many older Christ This is the only Magazine in the country wholly devoted to the interests of young men. It is ably edited, and embraces among the contributors to its pages some of the best writers in America. Each number contains 48 pages of choice matter. The present volume, commencing with May, has a series of Biographical Sketches of distinguished Self-Made Men, of a highly interesting and valuable character. The May number is embellished with a fine steel en-ians with great favor, and will be found eminentgraving of Dr. Kane. We cheerfully commend ly conducive to a deep-toned piety. Pamphlets Received. Third Annual Report of Births, Marriages and Deaths, in the city of Providence. By Edwin M. Snow, M. D. 1858. Need and Availability of the Writing and Spelling Reform. By Wm. T. Coggeshall. Permanant Realities of Religion, and the Present Religious Interest. A Sermon. By F. D. Huntington, D. D. Gould & Lincoln. PRACTICAL AND PROGRESSIVE LATIN GRAM The object of this Grammar is to obviate the tediousness of learning grammatical forms without at the same time applying them. The plan pursued is to call upon the pupil for translation as soon as he commences to learn the declensions. Interlinear translations are given him with signs and references to the declensions and conjuga tions. Service the End of Living.-Delivered at the Neither this or any other plan for teaching LatAnniversary of the Boston Young Men's Christ-in can ever obviate the necessity of study on the ian Association, May 24, 1858. By Rev. A. L. part of the learner, since "There is no royal Stone, Pastor of Park Street Church, Boston. road to knowledge." An excellent and beautiful exposition of the principles of the Christian Religion. Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction to the General Assembly of the State of Iowa. Catalogue, History and Organization of the Hartford Public High School. Seventeenth Annual Catalogue of the Providence Conference Seminary. By those who approve of and use interlinear translations this book will be received with great favor. We shall make use of it in our own classes for examples in translation. It contains 268 pages, and is finely printed, and bound to match the series of classics by the same author and publisher. WLBSTER'S COUNTING HOUSE AND FAMILY DICTIONARY. With Synonyms. Mason Brothers, New York. A fine edition for common use; not so full as the Unabridged, consequently not so large and Report of School Committee of city of New unwieldy. It contains 490 pages and includes Bedford. Report of Superintendent of Education for Lower Canada, for the year 1856. RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL REPORTS. various useful tables. Webster's High School Dtetionary, by the same publishers, is a capital school edition, containing 300 pages. Webster's Common School Dictionary, still fur Twelfth Annual Report of School Committee ther abridged, containing 320 pages, is a neat lit of Smithfield. tle pocket edition for every school-boy and girl Annual Report of School Committee of Glou- in the common schools of our lan i. cester. Report of the School Committee of Burrillville. Report of the School Committee of Warwick. Twelfth Annual Report of the School Committee of Scituate. Annual Report of the School Committee of Cumberland. We shall be glad to receive reports from other towns, that we may in due time give a Narration of the condition of Education in our State. Every teacher should see that each scholar has the BIBLE and a Dictionary. OUR LITTLE ONES IN HEAVEN.-Gould & Lincoln, Boston. A beautiful little 12mo. of 248 pages, filled with a choice selection of short articles of prose and poetry, wisely selected, for the comfort of "The Author of the Aimbereaved parents, by well Stories." The R. J. Schoolmaster. VOL. IV. AUGUST, 1858. For the Schoolmaster. Parental Sympathy. PERHAPS there is no duty devolving upon parents in the training of children more habitually and universally neglected, than that of parental sympathy. The moment the child begins to distinguish one person from another, in all real or fancied danger it will cling to its parent for protection. This drawing of the child to the parent seems almost instinctive, and this very act seems to indicate the natural relation existing between them. Could instinct (if we may call it by this name) be allowed to go on in this natural and confiding manner, this same commingling of soul with soul would continue through life. But such is seldom the case. On the contrary, the sympathies of the child and parent become alienated, and that by a very simple but oftrepeated process. NO. 6. The frequent repetition of this course so discourages and disheartens the tender sensibility of the child that he finally comes to the conclusion that, although his parents are his natural protectors, to whom he must look for the supply of his bodily necessities, some one else must satisfy the cravings of his nature for sympathy. Very naturally, therefore, he turns to whomsoever is ready to meet the demands of his inner being, never stopping to consider what elements of moral rectitude a sympathizing friend should possess, in fact never suspecting that untold evils may be the result of such a step. Thus, year after year passes by, the parents often wondering why their children are actuated by low and pernicious motives and governed by wicked, selfish habits, forgetting that they have neglected to sow the good seed, and have given the enemy uninterrupted opportunities for sowing tares. Such results in a large proportion of cases are the natural fruits of this lack of parental sympathy. We do not mean to assert that all who are deprived of this sympathy grow up to lead lives of wickedness, for some men in spite of the wicked associations thrown around them, and neglect of proper parental influences, do, by the inherent power of their The parents are busily occupied with the turmoil of business and the anxiety of household duties. It may be that weighty responsibilities are resting upon them and unpropitious storms seem to be gathering to burst upon their heads. Thus occupied and perplexed, the child desires assistance in the adjustment of what is to him a serious difficulty; but the parent regards not his necessities, own motives, rise to distinction and usefuland sends him away unaided and unsatisfied. Iness. What we assert is and we would call ness and virtue to emulate, he should be alspecial attention to the fact that thousands lowed and encouraged to act on his own rewho occupy a very common level in the scale sponsibility, thereby developing his own judgof human life, nevertheless honest and reput-ment and powers of discernment. And here able, had they received proper sympathy and will arise a difficulty to be guarded against, training, with the right development of their the liability of judging, not according to mohighest and holiest emotions, would have been tives, but according to results, and of making capable of wielding an influence upon the des- too serious a matter of trifling mistakes. A tinies of mankind incalculable for good. There parent is nerer justified in being cross to his are comparatively few men whose capabilities children, or in correcting them in a manner are fully developed. The great mass have hid- which leads the child to suppose him cross. den energies of which they never dreamed, Every cross word makes a frightful scar on which only require proper influences for de- the moral character of the child which it is velopment to become a benefit to themselves impossible to remove. and to mankind. But the questions may arise -"In what does parental sympathy consist ?" and "When should it begin?" We know of parents who are considered very good people, and are esteemed for many sterling qualities, who, nevertheless, always correct their children whatever the offense, It consists in being the intimate friend of great or small-in a severe and harsh manthe child; in being interested in whatever in-ner. The result is, their children held them terests him, his sports, studies, reading, his continually in fear, lest in an unguarded mojoys and his sorrows; in coming down from ment they may be visited with censure. If the lofty pinnacle of manhood and being a the child docs a wrong action, the first thing boy again, combining therewith the experi- for the parent is to understand to what extent ence of the man. the child knew it to be wrong. Children are often punished for doing what they supposed to be perfectly right and innocent, and have not understood why they were punished until after punishment was administered. Whatever the wrong, it is the duty of the parent to exhibit to the mind of the child the true nature of the wrong, and its relation to himself, his friends and his Maker; and with a calm, unruffled temper, and with such a spirit of love that the child will view him, not as a judge, but as a friend. It is the duty and within the power of parents to do this, but it will require care and patience. Such a course would naturally win the confidence and affection of the child. To the mature mind, the sports of children may seem trivial, but they are the meat and drink of the boy. His disappointments, too, may seem of little account, but to him they are as real, and as bitter to be borne, as the weighty cares and disappointments of manhood are to the father, and the child, as well as the parent, needs sympathy to enable him to meet and overcome his trials. Such a course would ever keep the parent on the alert to grant counsel and direction when needed. Not that the child should be cramped and compelled to submit all his plans and arrangements to the parent's will, but having the never-varying guide post of principle ever before him, with a noble example of upright same, but gradually as the faculties of his mind become developed, he makes the discovery that everything possesses a distinct individuality. It is the same with the sense of feeling, and experience alone teaches to distinguish between things which afford pleasure and produce pain. Equally so is it with the sentiments of the soul. At first, a cross or a kind word are alike regarded, but ere long the tiny drum which conducts the sound from the ear to the heart can instantly distinguish harsh, upbraiding sounds from the gentle words of tenderness and love. How quickly the mother's sympathy dries up the tears and dispels the sorrow of her infant child, and how quickly, too, it learns to interpret her every look, and distinguish, to a certain extent, between right and wrong. At this time, to a great degree, is the foundation of the child's character laid, and how important that it should be a correct foundation. A LITTLE BOOK, half as large as Mrs. Stowe's famous work, written in a quaint and simple style, and withal, as old-fashioned as a spinning-wheel or a hand-loom, is the Pilgrim's Progress; but every child loves to read it, and he loves it all his life, even down to his old age. So is it like that psalm which the shepherd king sung to the music of his harp when he thought of the flocks he had tended in his boyhood beside the still waters. As full is it of truth, abounding in natural and unaffected beauties. Here are battles, gloomy ways and dangerous, quiet scenes, lovely prospects, sights and sounds, glorious pictures of future joys, mingled with sober teachings, tersely and vigorously expressed, and with a thousand concealed thoughts which a treasure seeker will gather and hoard with care. The plastic mind is in a condition to receive impressions from whatever influences it may be subjected to, and the parent should endeavor to throw around the child influences for good, that the first impressions may be pure and heavenly. One thing is positive, unless good influences are thrown around the child to mould and shape his course, bad influences will occupy the ground, and it is much more difficult to eradicate a wrong principle once seated, than to prevent its first en- One of the editions published fifty years trance. This principle of parental sympathy ago is adorned by roughly cut wood engravmust become with every family a vital princi-ings, occurring on almost every page, whereple before we can expect the youth of our in are drawn pictures of the pilgrims. They land to adopt high and noble sentiments, and are dressed in the garb of them who travel act on the broad platform of justice and truth. towards the celestial city. Fleeing from the Such a sympathy, full and complete, is a city of Destruction, knocking at the gate, duty every parent owes to himself, to his viewing the sights at the house of the Interchildren, and to God. If he turns away, and preter, at the cross, passing the lions, fighting refuses to perform it, he shows himself unApollyon, going through the valley of the mindful of one of the most important duties Shadow of Death is Christian; then, in comof life. If he grapples with it, and presses pany with Faithful, approaching Vanity Fair, |