pence in his pocket to pay the grocer; and a an idea of salt. Is an aptitude to hold salt positive salt-box is one which hath actually an essential or an accidental property of a saltand bona fide got salt in it.

P. Yes: there is one mentioned by some authors it is where a box hath by long use been so impregnated with salt, that, although all the salt hath been long since emptied out, it may be called a salt-box, with the same propriety that we say a salt-herring, salt beef, &c. And in this sense, any box that may have accidentally, or otherwise, been long steeped in brine, may be termed positively a alt-box, although never designed for the purpose of keeping salt. But tell me, what oth er division of salt-boxes do you recollect?

S. They are further divided into substantive and pendant, a substantive salt-box is that which stands by itself on the table or dresser; and a pendant is that which hangs upon a nail against the wall.

P. What is the idea of a salt-box?

S. It is that image which the mind conceives of a salt-box when no salt-box is pres

ent.

box?

P. Very well! very well indeed! is the salt called with respect to the box? It is called its contents.

S.

P. How many parts are there in a saltbox?

S. Three. Bottom, top and sides.

P. How many modes are there in saltboxes.

S. Four. The formal, the substantial, the accidental, and the topsy-turvy.

P. Define these several modes.

S. The forma respects the figure or shape of the box, such as round, square, oblong,

P. What is the abstract idea of a salt- and so forth; the substantial respects the box? work of the joiner; and the accidental de

S. It is the idea of a salt-box abstracted pends upon the string by which the box is from the idea of a box, or of salt, or of a salt-hung against the wall. box, or of a box of salt.

P. Very right; and by these means you acquire a most perfect knowedge of a saltbox; but tell me, is the idea of a salt-box a

salt idea?

P. Very well; and what are the conse quences of the accidental mode ?

S. If the string should break the box would fall, the salt be spilt, the salt-box broken, and the cook in a bitter passion; and

S. Not unless the ideal box hath ideal salt this is the accidental mode with its conse

in it.

P. True; and therefore an abstract idea cannot be either salt or fresh, round or square, long or short; for a true abstract idea must be entirely free of all adjuncts. And this shows the difference between a salt idea and

quences.

P. How do you distinguish between the top and bottom of a salt-box?

S. The top of a box is that part which is uppermost, and the bottom that part which is lowest in all possible positions.

P. You should rather say the lowest part The boys are comfortably seated, and the is the bottom and the uppermost part is the master stands ! top. How is it then if the bottom should be the uppermost.

S. The top would then be the lowermost; and so the bottom would become the top, and the top would become the bottom; and this is called the topsy-turvy mode, which is nearly allied to the accidental, and frequently

arises from it.

P. Very good; but are not salt-boxes sometimes single, and sometimes double?

S. Yes.

P. Well, then mention the several combi nations of salt-boxes with respect to their having salt or not.

S. They are divided into single salt-boxes having salt; single salt-boxes having no salt; double salt-boxes having salt; double saltboxes baving no salt; and single double saltboxes having salt and no salt.

P. Hold! hold! you are going too far.

Familiar Sketch of a Common School in
Germany.

THE following is a familiar sketch of the every-day routine of a German elementary school, from Dickens' Household Words.

Mean-spirited fellow, there he stands, as though it were he who had the hardest work to do! The room is lofty, airy, and well warmed; the children sit, I do believe, in absolute enjoyment of the lesson. No other sound interrupts the teacher and his class; the other classes are under the same roof in other rooms. Ruined by luxury, there sit the children with a grown man, and what's worse, a trained and educated man, standing before them, pouring out his energies. He isn't hearing them their lessons out of a book; the lesson they have learned out of a book, he is explaining with all the art of a lawyer, enlivening with anecdotes, sprinkling about with apt questions. The children are all on the qui vive, and asking questions in their turn — why don't he knock 'em down for their impertinence? See! now he asks a question of the class up go two dozen little hands! The owners of those little hands believe that they can answer it. There! he selects one to answer, who looks pleased at the distinction. When the next question comes, he'll tackle some one else.

"Now comes a lesson in geography. He takes a piece of chalk and turns to the blackboard. Dot..dot..dot. There is a range of mountains. As soon as the shape is defined, the children eagerly shout out its name. In five seconds the names of five rivers are indicated, and named as fast as they are drawn, by the young vagabonds, who watch the artist's hand. Down go the rivers to the sea,

Teachers should reject the bad and adopt the good. The great fault of many teachers with us, as well as in Germany, is that they teach too much; or, rather, they tell too much. To educate, means to draw out the powers of the one taught. It is not to pour in knowledge. The method of teaching geography indicated below has some decidedly good fea- dot..dot..dot.. -a dozen and a half tures. We like the idea of the last para- of towns are indicated, every dot named in graph. chorus. Then comes the coast line, bounda "Just step into the interior of one of these ries of countries, provinces, and chief towns. German schools, and see what manner of out- In ten minutes there is on the board a clever landish work is going on. There! Did you impromptu map of Germany, and the childever see the like of that! Call that a school! ren have shouted out the meaning of every

and

dot and stroke as it was made. They think it better fun than puzzles. Very pretty.

The Bible in Schools.

JUDGE WHITING has addressed a letter to the Governor of New York, recommending that the punishment of O'Connell, convicted of murder should be commuted. In the let

"Now there he is, beginning at the schoolyard, talking of its size; then advancing to a notion of the street; then of the town, then of the province; and leading his pupils to an idea of space, and the extent of country in-ter he says: dicated upon such a map."

Punctuation Points.

THE points now used in punctuation were introduced into writing gradually, sometime after the invention of printing. The Greeks had none, and there was no space between their words. The Romans put a kind of division between their words; thus, Publius. Scipio.Africanus.

Up to the end of the fifteenth century, only the period, colon, and comma had been introduced. The latter came into use latest, and was only a perpendicular figure or line proportionate to the size of the letter. To Aldus Manutius, an eminent Italian painter, in 1490, we are indebted for the semi-colon, and also for the present form of the comma. He also laid down rules, now observed, in regard to their use. The note of interrogation and the note of exclamation were not added till some years later, and it is not known by whom.

"The convict is a youth, as near as I could judge, about sixteen; his life a forfeit of the law; a victim of bad habits and a want of early moral training- if ever an inmate of one of our common schools, one from which the Bible, the best school book ever placed in the hands of children, was probably ruthlessly rejected.

The idea that simply to educate the brain, and to neglect the heart, is the duty of the state, is to my mind the greatest error of the age. The Bible is the hand book which points out the path, the straight and narrow way, which leads to life, and is resorted to by all religionists following after our Saviour. Why should it be rejected if used without note or comment? Excuse me, sir, this digression does not belong to this letter, and I trust your Excellency will forgive it. My heart bleeds for not only this poor lad, but for hundreds I see around me every day, following in his footsteps, which the goodness of an unseen arm, rather than the moral training of the state or of the home, restrains."

Inverted commas (") were first used by Guillemet (pronounced gheel-ma), French There is great truth in this although it is printer, and were intended by him to super-nothing new. The Bible is the best school sede the use of Italic letters; and the French printers now call them by the inventor's name. But these marks are at present used by English printers to denote quoted matter. In a London book -"The Art of English Poetry" printed in 1807, it appears that this mode of denoting quoted matter is of late origin, as such matter is therein denoted by being set in Italic. It is not known by whom the apostrophe and dash were invented.

book ever placed in the hands of children. The precepts that are learned before they are fully comprehended well up into the soul long afterwards, a living spring to refresh and invigorate it. Apart from its religious character, its literary merits, its elevation of sentiment, its beauty and sublimity render it the book of all books for the education of the intellect as well as of the heart. Providence Daily Journal.

A Letter from Georgia.

SAVANNAH, Ga., Sept. 15th, 1858.

My Dear Schoolmaster :

We are so far behind you of New England in almost everything relating to educational

education, not so much for the want of opportunity, as for the want of inclination.

That something should be done to extend educational facilities to all the children of the

state, is not only admitted, but is felt as a necessity, by all interested in the welfare of

tem of education adapted to the unequally conditioned localities of the state, together with the various elements of opposition to such a system, nothing has been done by the

progress, that we have hardly the courage to our state. Hitherto, on account of the practell you of our present condition and pros-tical difficulties in the way of a general syspects. Nevertheless, since you have requested me to do so, I will give you a brief outline of what the friends of education in this state hope to accomplish during the approaching winter. state. Indeed, the friends of education have You are probably aware that we have no at last been compelled, though reluctantly, to public school system in Georgia. But it relinquish all idea of a general system adaptwould do the people of this state great injus-ed to all portions of the state, and have unittice to conclude from this fact, that they are ed with great harmony, on a plan embracing indifferent to the great matter of popular edthe following points; ucation. In almost every county of the state there is a chartered academy, liberally endow

1. The appointment of a State Superintendent of Public Instruction, whose duty it shall

the purpose of obtaining educational statistics, the present condition of the schools, and the wants of the people; also, by lectures, teachers' associations, educational conventions, and such other means as he may be able to employ, to awaken an interest in popular educa-tion, and disseminate sound and enlightened. views on the subject.

ed with the proceeds of state lands, granted be to visit the different parts of the state for some years ago for this purpose. In every community, also, where a sufficient number of children can be gathered, a school of a lower grade may be found. Many of these schools in the most favored communities, would suffer little in comparison with the best schools in your own little state. In the plantation districts, especially along the sea-board, where the scattered condition of the white population necessarily precludes the idea of a school, the planters, in order to educate their children, are compelled either to employ private tuition, or to send their children away to school. Ample provision is made for higher education in our state. We have a well endowed university, five or six colleges, at least 3. Either to sell the State Railroad, valued as many female colleges, and several profes- at $5,000,000, and set aside the proceeds as a sional schools, all in a flourishing condi- permanent educational fund, or apply the antion. Notwithstanding all this, however, nual net proceeds of the road, about $300,000, there are many children growing up in this to the support of the schools of the state. great state almost destitute of the means of In distributing this sum annually to all the obtaining even an ordinary education: while counties of the state, it is proposed to dismany more, I regret to say, fail to obtain an criminate somewhat in favor of those coun-

1

2. To pass a law authorizing any county to elect a Board of Education, to establish a system of public schools within its jurisdiction, subject to certain general restrictions, and. to levy a tax on the property of the county for the support of such schools.