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For the Schoolmaster.

A Dream of Childhood.

BY ANNIE ELIZABETH.

A dream of other years last night
Came whispering to my soul,

I thought I trod the pathway bright,
By childhood's sunny goal;

And gathered there was many a form
I never more shall see;

Some that have ceased to brave life's storm,
There joined in careless glee.

The well remembered school house rose
From out the distant shades;
The scene of childish joys and woes,
That ne'er from memory fades.

I passed the time-stained portal through,
As in the days of yore,
And there arose before my view
Scenes that will rise no more.

The same band was assembled round
That years ago was there,

And long forgotten names I found
Upon that record fair.

Oh, where are now the youthful band
That night-dream brought to me?·
They're scattered throughout many a land,
O'er many a trackless sea,—

Far by the verdant prairie's side,
Some have long made their home,
And some upon the ocean's tide,

In wild delight now roam.

Rut some have found a resting place
On the immortal shore,
Upon life's painful, toilsome race,
We meet them now no more.

One sleeps within a sheltered nook
By Sacramento's stream,

We read together from one book
In that bright sunny dream.

Long years have past since some were laid
Within the earth's dark breast,

A gleam of light too fair to fade,
They came from that lone rest;
And merry were their tones, as when
I joined their shouts of glee;
It must have been their spirits then
Bright hovering over me.

Soon as the morning hour drew near
The lovely vision fled,
Their voices faded from my ear
Each airy phantom sped.

But sweeter than the voice of song,
Fairer than morning rays,
Will hover o'er my spirit long

That dream of other days.
WARREN, Sept. 7, 1858.

For the Schoolmaster.

The Teacher's Vocation.

The Change in Twenty-Five Years - American Institute of Instruction-Norwich-The Free Academy-The Central School.

THE writer of this article is a teacher, and never did he feel prouder of his profession than now, after an experience extending through more than a score of years. During this period the teacher's calling has steadily advanced in dignity and public favor until it is recognized by the intelligent and liberal in every community, as second to no other in importance and respectability. In all necessary facilities and qualifications there has also been a corresponding progress. The old fashioned school houses,-low, narrow, and ill furnished—have, to a gratifying extent, given place to commodious structures, fashioned according to correct principles of architecture, externally pleasing to the eye, and fitted up internally with a careful regard to comfort and convenience. I might here present long catalogue of specifications, calling attention to the extent to which these buildings have been furnished with books of reference,

maps, libraries and apparatus; to the higher liberality of the men who conceived and talent, superior qualifications and increased brought it into being. It is magnificent in compensation of teachers; to the advantages itself and complete in all its appointments. afforded by normal schools, teachers' institutes, and other educational facilities, but this is not my purpose. I simply add, in this connection, that no one whose observation has not extended through the last twenty-five or thirty years, can adequately appreciate the educational improvements of the present.

I have never been more deeply impressed with the extent to which the means of public instruction have been improved than during the recent meeting of the American Institute of Instruction, in the beautiful city of Norwich, Connecticut. This meeting must have been, for all the teachers who attended it, the distinguishing event of their summer vacation. Omitting all allusion to the picturesque beauty of the city, its princely mansions, its opulence, and the intelligence and hospitality of its citizens; the successful energy that has been here exerted in the cause of education alone, is sufficient to give this city an enviable distinction among the many of our land. The Free Academy, which we might almost mistake for the palace "the name of which was called Beautiful," except that the way to it is broad and guarded by no lions, is an object which, once seen, is never to be forgotten. To say that it is in every respect admirable, is the least compliment that is worthy of it. Thirty years ago the man that should have proposed to erect, by private subscription, an edifice for the purposes of free education at an expense, including fixtures, of nearly forty thousand dollars, exclusive of a lot of more than six acres most delightfully situated, in a city whose population amounted to but little more than ten thousand, would have been deemed scarcely less than a fit candidate for the mad house. Yet it was done. There it stands, beautiful, noble, FREE!- It is a proud monument to the philanthropy, enterprize and

Whatever can be derived from books of refer-
ence and expensive apparatus has been made
abundantly available. Its teachers are of the
highest order. Funds, promptly furnished,
have given it existence and support hitherto,
and funds, permanently invested, have been
abundantly supplied for its continued support.
In the language of Rev J. P. Gulliver, at its
dedication, "This institution had its origin
in efforts, repeatedly defeated, to provide for
all classes in the community, an education ad-
equate to the demands of their future occupa-
tions. This is still the desire of its friends.
They have no wish to unfit the scholars of
this school for the ordinary employments of
life. But they do wish to prepare them for a
high success in whatever employments they
may engage. They intend that mechanics and
merchants, and navigators, and agriculturists
shall be educated here, who, by superior cul-
ture and learning, shall becomǝ masters in
their business. They intend that young la
dies shall be educated here, not to flit like
butterflies through the world, as beautiful
and as useless as they, but to adorn society,
to mould the mind of youth, to be the honor-
ed heads of well-ordered households, and to
charm by the beauty of an elegant culture
and a disciplined mind. They wish to offer
to the poorest boy in the community, who as-
pires to join himself to the the noble fraterni-
ty of scholars, the opportunity to fit himself
for the university or the scientific school.
Their motto is Every employment is digni-
fied and honorable to one who is determined
to excel." Such was the noble purpose of the
noble founders of this noble institution.

The Central District School building is scarcely less creditable to the enlightened liberality of the citizens of Norwich than the

Free Academy. This edifice, which is most admirably arranged for the accommodation of their system of graded schools, was erected at a cost, for ground and buildings, of more than thirty-seven thousand dollars. It is a model building as s whole, and in all its details. It is only those who are familiar with the hostility and opposition encountered by all school reforms of importance, twenty-five or thirty years ago, that can adequately appreciate the self-denial, energy and perseverance of those who have transfered the account of them from the page of speculation to that of history.

For the Schoolmaster.

To Prayer.

FROM THE FRENCH.

I. F. C.

How mad to hope for happiness below,
Where sorrow shadows all the heart holds dear:
This world we love is full of sin and woe,

While blessings few and far between appear.

More sounds of wailing than of mirth arise;
More tombs than cradles do we here behold;
And beauty fades before th' enchanted eyes,
As night blots out the sunset's red and gold.
So we pursue through life with toiling feet,
Imaginary shadows to the tomb;
From bitterness we would express the sweet,
And seek for fragrance in the thistle's bloom.
Each day we breathe the language of complaint
That from the mire and filth which round us
lie,

The heavenly artist, Hope, can never paint
Her bow of promise on our future sky.
Without a helm to govern, we would fain
Direct our vessel o'er an ocean calm:
Without the labor we the prize would gain,

And, undeserving, bear the martyr's palm. We would that o'er our path the light should steal,

Our guiding star above serene and pure;

That e'en the angry lightning might reveal
A haven from the tempest's rage secure.
We would-Oh! madness this! To prayer!

To prayer!

The soul arises when we bend the knee; Let us in solitude our sorrows bear,

To Him whose presence can from sadness free. HESIL.

For the Schoolmaster. Etymological Study.

To one who is familiar with the schools of Philadelphia and Eastern Pennsylvania, the absence of all study and instruction in etymology in the boasted schools of New England is "passing strange." Geography, it may be, Grammar, the Sciences, and perhaps Arithmetic are taught by methods superior and to a greater extent than in the above-mentioned section of our common country. But you may go through whole counties, and I do not know but whole states even, and find not a single school where any adequate attention is given to the beautiful and highly important study of etymology. Scarcely a school have I seen in Rhode Island where the origin of words was made a separate study. In a few instances indeed have I found the teachers of the ancient classics giving some oral instruction in respect to the derivation of words. I do not wish to set myself up as a critic, or to be so bold as to attempt to instruct or judge the talented educators of New England's sons, so highly and so deservedly honored for their intelligence wherever they are found, the world over, but I know the teachers of Rhode Island will not think me intrusive for respectfully asking their attention to this subject of etymological study. I think they will pardon a friendly stranger who, while traveling in New England has gained highly important information and been vastly instructed by the several hundred schools he

has visited in four of the Eastern states, and is transferred to a family; the "stock" or who thinks he shall be a better teacher as the "stirps" is that from which it grows, and out result of this visitation, if he suggest to them of which it unfolds itself. And here we may that there are beauties in the English lan- bring in the "stock"-dove, as being the guage, intensely interesting historical inci- "stock" or stirps of the domestic kinds. I dents connected with the derivation of words, might group with these, "stake" in both its and great advantage accruing from the study spellings; a "stake" in the hedge is stuck of this science, of which it would seem, to a and fixed there; the "stakes" which men traveler, that the teachers of New England wager against the issue of a race are paid have never dreamed. down, and thus fixed or deposited to answer the event; a beef-"steak" is a piece of meat so small that it can be stuck on the point of a fork; with much more of the same kind." PHILOLOGOS.

Allow me, in conclusion, to introduce a short paragraph illustrative of the subject, (which however may be familiar to very many, but which they may not have profited by as they ought,) from "Trench on the Study of Words:"

For the Schoolmaster.
Man's Susceptibility of Mental Culture.

"Take the word "stock;" in what an almost infinite number of senses it is employed; SUCH is the constitution of man that he is we have live "stock," "stock" in trade, the capable of becoming fitted for states of life village "stocks," the "stock" of a gun, the for which he was once wholly unqualified. "stock" dove, the "stocks" on which ships The human mind is susceptible of great are built, the "stock" which goes round the changes, from the circumstances in which it neck, the family "stock," the "stocks," or is placed and from the attention and culture public funds, in which money is invested, and which it receives. On this susceptibility, the other "stocks" very likely besides these. whole system of education is founded. A What point in common can we find between person's estimate of the value of education them all? This, that they are all derived will be very much in proportion to the strength from, and were originally the past participle and vividness of his belief in the capacity of of "to stick," which as it now makes "stuck," the mind for cultivation. On this same bemade formerly "stock;" and they cohere in lief will depend his hope for the intellectual the idea of fixedness, which is common to ev-improvement of individuals as well as for the ery one. Thus, the "stock" of a gun is that elevation of nations in the scale of civilization in which the barrel is fixed; the village and social improvement. Were the mind in"stocks" are those in which the feet are fast- capable of acquiring knowledge, of securing ened; the "stock" in trade is the fixed cap-discipline, of experiencing development, the ital; and so, too, the "stock" on the farm, although the fixed capital has there taken the shape of horses and cattle; in the "stocks," or public funds, money sticks fast, inasmuch life and destitute of the power of mental and

as those who place it there can not withdraw or demand the capital, but receive only the interest; the "stock" of a tree is fast set in the ground; and from this use of the word it

occupation of the teacher would be gone and his office have no existence. Were nations also incapable of improvement in the arts of

social elevation under the appliance of the means of culture, the philanthropist would cherish no hope of the advancement of society and the Christian no expectation of the

It was in music that the wicked Saul sought relief when the Lord in anger sent an evil spirit to trouble him. For thus it is written:

moral redemption of the barbarous tribes of company him to the cathedral. They peeped the earth under the influence of Christianity. through the key-hole, and what was their The fact that mankind are susceptible of im- consternation to behold the great divine friskprovement by culture is a fact full of signifi-ing about in wild undress to the inspiration cancy in its bearings on the cause of educa-of his own music. Soon after, he met them tion and the hopes of our race. The plant in a manner becoming his character; but oband the animal are not required to become a serving signs of astonishment in the party, he different thing from what they already are at said that without his music, he would have the moment of their mature growth. The been incapable of his public duty. purpose of their existence is realized in its full extent by the fact alone of their material nature and physical organization. But with man it is quite otherwise. He is destined for improvement. This is the law of his being. Instinct is less in man than in the animal, because man is constituted with this susceptibility for development the power of acquisition— the capability for advancement and elevation. The physical man, however admirable may be his organization is not the true man. Man as a barbarian, or as a corporeal giant, is not all he is capable of being. He has a higher nature and a higher mission. He has a susceptibility for improvement - for intellectual, social and moral culture. The barbarian may be made a civilized man. Under the influence of education in its largest sense he may be elevated to a high position of honor, enterprise and happiness. Here is the warrant and the security for systems of education.

For the Schoolmaster.
Music as a Recreation.

WIMBAS.

THE power of music as a recreation is seen in the case of the celebrated divine, Bourdaloue. It is said that he was accustomed to allay the excitement of his mind after the composition of his cloquent sermons by very uncanonical behavior. His attendants were one day mightily scandalized and alarmed by hearing a very lively tune played on a fiddle, in his room, while they waited without to ac.

"And Saul's servants said unto him, Behold now an evil spirit from the Lord troubleth thee. Let our lord now command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek out a man who is a cunning player on a harp and it shall come to pass, when the evil spirit from the Lord is upon thee, that he shall play with his hand and thou shalt be well. And Saul said unto his servants, Provide me now a man that can play well, and bring him to me. Then answered one of the servants and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the BethChemite, that is cunning in playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person and. the Lord is with him. Wherefore Saul sent messengers unto Jesse and said, Send me David thy son that is with the sheep. And David came to Saul and stood before him; and he loved him greatly, and he became his armor-bearer. And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that Dayid took a harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him."-First Samuel, 16th chapter.

ALLOW a boy to run at large one year in indolence, and you have laid the foundation whereon will be built his future ruin.

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