to the ability and faithfulness with which Mr. Mackintosh performed his duties as a teacher, but there was one trait in his character so marked and beautiful, that he could not omit its mention; I mean, said he, his piety. God was in all his thoughts, and to do his Father's will was the chief aim, and the crowning glory of his character!

The resolutions were unanimously adopted.

LAMARTINE. In a letter written in 1838, Lamartine thus beautifully and religiously explains his motives for entering political life:

When the Divine Judge shall summon us to appear before our conscience at the end of our brief journey here below, our modesty, our weakness will not be an excuse for our inaction. It will be of no avail to reply, we were nothing, we could do nothing, we were but as a grain of sand. He will say to us, I placed before you, in your day, the two scales of a beam, by which the destiny of the human race was weighed in the one was good, and in the other evil. You were but a grain of sand, no doubt, but who told you that that grain of sand would not have caused the balance to incline on my side? You have intelligence to see, a conscience to decide, and you should have placed this grain of sand in one or the other; you did neither. Let the wind drift it away; it has been of no use to you or your brethren.

WORDS IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.The English language is composed of 6621 Latin words; 4361 French; 2060 Saxon; 1288 Greek; 660 Dutch; 229 Italian; 117 German; 111 Welch; 83 Spanish; 81 Danish, and 28 Arabic; or, together, 15,639, besides the words derived from these.

REMOVAL.

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TERMS-One Dollar per annum in advance, or One Dollar and Fifty Cents at the end of the year. Twenty-five per cent. allowed to agents who procure five subscribers, and all payments by them to be made in advance.

With Nos. 22 and 23, we have sent Bills for the past volume of the Teacher, and hope that our subscribers will make us a speedy remittance. DAMRELL & MOORE.

MASSACHUSETTS STATE TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION.

The Fourth Annual Meeting of the Massachusetts State Teachers' Association was held at Salem, on Monday and Tuesday of Thanksgiving week.

The exercises of Monday evening were opened with prayer by Rev. Dr. Sears, Secretary of the Board of Education. The following remarks were then made by Mr. Ariel Parish, of Springfield, President of the Association :

:

Through the distinguishing favor of a kind Providence, fellow Teachers, we are again permitted to assemble on this our Anniversary, to cultivate those social feelings, to express that mutual sympathy, and strengthen those bonds of friendship which are so peculiarly desirable among individuals engaged in our vocation. We come up hither, likewise, to impart and receive such contributions from our experience during the past year, as may give increased success to all our individual efforts, and impart a new and salutary impulse to the onward progress of the

common cause.

Isolated, as we necessarily are, in our daily employment, cut off as we are in a measure from converse with mature minds, and almost detached from the busy movements of the business

world, it seems peculiarly appropriate that all should improve every opportunity like the present for increasing their own happiness and acquiring new modes and elements of action.

If now we can transfer from the closing exercises of the last annual meeting to the present occasion, that universal and unrestrained expression of satisfaction there poured forth, that mutual interest in the prosperity and welfare of each member of the Association uttered by every tongue, who will not feel amply compensated for all toil and sacrifice necessary, in order to be present at this meeting, if it were but for the social enjoyment alone to be obtained?

But we have a higher, a nobler, and more important object to attain. During the past year each one of us has been engaged in moulding, strengthening, and giving direction to mind, which is to affect every social relation upon which it exerts an influence, according to the impress we have given it. Every department of society, whether it be in the domestic relation, the arts of industry, or professional engagements, must in the future necessarily feel the influence of our agency for good or for evil. How important then that we consult together respecting the best modes of addressing ourselves to interests of so vast magnitude! May a right spirit and suitable feeling of responsibility properly influence us on the present occasion, that great good may result from our deliberations.

Dr. Sears and Hon. Stephen C. Phillips were invited to sit as honorary members of the Association.

The first lecture was given by Mr. William D. Swan, of Boston. He took for his subject," Some of the Ways and Means of Improving the Common School System."

The duties of the people, of school committees, and of teachers, in relation to the Common School System, were set forth with the lecturer's usual facility and force.

Duties of the People. Upon the people rests the responsibility of furnishing the means of education to every child in their respective cities and towns. Liberal provision must be made for the erection of school-houses. Let them be made, as far as practicable, even in their outward appearance, attractive to those who shall occupy them.

Let the rooms be large and commodious, with proper means of heating and ventilating them. Who shall say how many thousands of our youth have contracted diseases and gone down to an untimely grave, by breathing for hours, day after day and year after year, the unwholesome and almost suffocating atmosphere of a crowded and ill-constructed school-room? How

many teachers in our land go daily home, languid and dispirited, with pale and haggard countenances, all from inhaling the vitiated and life-destroying atmosphere of the school-room?

Let careful attention also be given to the construction and arrangement of seats and desks. It is gratifying to know that the old blocks and benches over which so many lovely youth have been tortured and deformed, are fast giving place to the easy school chair and improved desk which now ornament so many of our school-rooms.

The selection of School Committees and the proper compensation of teachers, are also important duties incumbent on the people.

Duties of School Committees. The employment of teachers, the selection of text-books, and a general direction of the affairs of the school are among the most important. In the selection of teachers, great care should be exercised, that none but those who are qualified, both in literary and moral endowments, be appointed. It requires but little discernment to ascertain whether the literary attainments of a teacher are sufficient to entitle him to confidence; but something more is requisite to form an accomplished teacher. He must possess the faculty of imparting knowledge to others- he must be apt to teach," or his learning will avail him but little. He must have a knowledge of character, of human nature, of the mainsprings of action in the human mind and heart. He must be master of himself at all times and under all circumstances, or he will be unfit to be the master of others. He must be a man of virtuous life, a living example for youth to imitate, or he will fail to exert that high moral influence which is the essence of all teaching.

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By a law of the Commonwealth, School Committees are required to make an annual Report upon the condition of the Schools, and these reports are usually printed and circulated for the use of the people. This feature of our Common School System has doubtless been productive of much good. Many of these reports abound in valuable suggestions upon modes of instruction and discipline from some of the best minds of the age. But the manner in which this duty is in some places performed, is productive of great evil. Committees selected from the different trades and professions in life, without any practical knowledge of teaching, and without much experience in matters of education, are apt to expect too great proficiency in children. They have a vague and indistinct idea of perfection to be attained, and when the day of examination comes, their expectations are not realized. Next comes the report. They speak of the schools as being in a tolerable condi

tion; and then follows a description of the manner in which various lessons were recited. Children failed to call all the words readily in reading; misspelled a number of words, and were unable to define them; failed to solve all the problems in Arithmetic, and so on through the whole catalogue of studies pursued.

No one but a practical teacher can form any possible conception of the withering and blighting effect which such statements have upon a school, when they are publicly made, printed, and circulated among the people, and read even by the children themselves; to say nothing of the depressing and degrading effect upon the mind of the teacher.

I care not, said the lecturer, how thorough the examination. may be how strict the supervision- the more so the better. But if the Committee find methods in teaching or practices in discipline, which they do not approve; if the results produced are not satisfactory to them, let them speak out plainly to the teacher; and if he does not amend his faults if faults there be-let him be discharged. This power is vested in the Committee, and it should be exercised by them. But let not the teacher be publicly censured

"all his faults observed,

Set in a note-book, learned and conned by rote,
To cast into his teeth,"

even by the pupils themselves, and still be retained in the service. A teacher, to be useful in his calling, must enjoy the confidence of the community; and this he never can have, so long as the practice of publishing his faults is continued.

Duties of Teachers. The first great duty to be peformed by teachers, is to qualify themselves for the labors of their profession. Notwithstanding all our boasted improvements in Common School education, if we look about us we shall feel that we have hardly kept pace with the progress of the age.

Upon the teachers of our Common Schools, in a great degree, depend the character and habits, not only of the rising generation, but of those who shall come after us in all future time. Let us then feel this responsibility, and in all our teachings remember to inculcate those moral and religious truths which lead to usefulness and happiness through time and eternity.

The topics introduced by the lecturer gave rise to an animated discussion, by Messrs. Greenleaf, of Bradford, Wells, of Newburyport, Carlton, of Salem, J. Stearns, of Boston, Northend, of Salem, Sweetser, of South Reading, Reed, of Rox