gentlemen who have the honor and responsibility of presiding over the educational interests of their respective towns, that we shall gladly receive from them communications relating to the schools under their supervision, or to general educational subjects; and that we shall be deeply grateful to them for any aid they may give us in extending the circulation of our journal among the teachers and other friends of education, in their several towns. There are, doubtless, hundreds of teachers in the Commonwealth, who would gladly subscribe for the Teacher, if their attention were called to it by the Chairman of their School Committee.

APOLOGY.

WE confess to a good deal of mortification, when we received the last number of the Teacher. Had we seen it before the numbers had been mailed, we should have been disposed to confiscate the whole edition; but as it was we concluded to make the best of it. We tried to scold the printer; but it was no use. He slipped right out of our hands; said it was n't his fault, but the proof-reader's. But the proof-reader had the proof-sheets in his hands so little time, that he had n't time to look them over carefully. So it turns out that nobody was to blame, as usual in such

cases.

Our private opinion is, that the printer had a small supply of n's, and could n't afford to give us two in each of the words innuendo, millennium, and tyrannic. He tried to make up the deficiency in the latter, by giving us an extra r, but that did n't help the matter much. We shall watch him more closely in future.

We thank our friend in Keene, N. H., for his communication. We did n't need to have those errors pointed out to us. We had seen and felt them. But there were valuable suggestions in his note. We agree with him in regard to the formation of the possessive in the cases he criticises. We wrote "Crosby & Nichols's bookstore;" but we presume it filled out the line better by omitting one s. We have been in the habit of writing "Forefathers' Day" all our life; but must confess to inadvertently getting the apostrophe on the wrong side of the s, as did the correspondent whose communication we published.

We hope our readers will correct all the errors they find in our last issue. We will try to lighten their labors in future, by making the corrections before the Teacher is printed.

OUR ADVERTISEMENTS.

WE take pleasure,—perhaps a little pride, in calling the attention of Publishers and Dealers in School Furniture and Apparatus, and Musical Instruments, etc., for schools, to the advertising pages of the Massachusetts Teacher. The oldest educational journal in the country, having a subscription list in every State in the Union, in the British Provinces and Sandwich Islands, and being sent by a State subscription to every School Committee in Massachusetts, the Teacher offers peculiar facilities as an advertising medium.

Publishers say,"We regard our monthly page in the Teacher as an indispensable part of our business." "It pays better than any other investment these times." "You always give us a good looking page." "We like the Teacher for its candid and comprehensive Book Notices."

One teacher writes, "I value the Teacher not a little for the great number of good books brought to my notice, from month to month, by its advertising pages. I get scores of circulars, puffing all kinds of books, 'good, bad, and indifferent,' which generally go into the paper basket and thence into the stove, but I keep the Massachusetts Teacher by me as a 'Book of Reference."" Another says, "Our committees and teachers here read your book notices and advertisements through every month, and depend very much on them in selecting books."

-

We also take great pleasure in calling the especial attention of teachers, and others who are interested in school-books, school-furniture, etc., to the many excellent advertisements contained in the present number of the Teacher. Some of the advertisers will be recognized as, for many years, the steadfast friends of our journal. No matter whether business were lively or dull, their pages have never been wanting. We offer these friends our grateful acknowledgments, and our best services.

To our new and our occasional advertisers, we beg leave to say, gentlemen, we heartily thank you for your present favors; and we assure you that whatever we can honorably do towards promoting your interests, shall be cheerfully done. Books ought, of course, to stand upon their merits; but when rival publications are of equal value, we deem it not only right, but a duty, to favor those houses that favor us. This we shall do, not by disparaging books that are not announced in our pages, but by pointing out publicly and privately, the real merits of the books which are thus announced. This policy seems to us wise and just.

We hope that our advertisers will find it advantageous to occupy our pages permanently.

As the number of advertising pages is limited, advertisements should be sent in early to secure a place. Some are unavoidably shut out of the present number, as the form was full before they were received.

STOPPING THE TEACHER. - A few persons have returned copies of the Teacher endorsed "Stop," or "Refused," without indicating their own names and residences. We shall be obliged to send the Teacher to these persons until they inform us who they are and where they live.

THERE is a world of wisdom in these precepts of the poets. In plain prose, Shakspeare would say, "Dress as well as you can afford to— richly and neatly, not fancifully or gaudily; for people will judge of your character by the dress you wear." Slovenliness, or carelessness in one's apparel indicates some mental defect. A combination of incongruous colors, or something outré in the cut of one's garments, is a sure expression of bad taste. Some persons dress badly at great expense; while others dress well at small cost. The difference lies in two things, namely: taste and tailors. Hence the Autocrat's precept,

"Be sure your tailor is a man of sense,"

is very important. For if a man have good taste, while his tailor has not, the latter, while failing to give the former a single "fit," will give him many fits of vexation. On the other hand, though a man himself be a poor judge of color and form, yet if his tailor be a true artist, the man's dress will be sure to improve his address.

These profound cogitations and some profounder ones that we have not room to express - have been suggested by an unwonted educational advertisement to be found in this number of the Teacher. The advertiser, believing in elegant, well-furnished school-houses, holds to the sound educational doctrine, that dramatical unity requires that the teachers should be well dressed; and he proposes, for a reasonable consideration, to contribute his artistic services to the accomplishment of that end. As "a man of sense," he ought to be practically known by the pedagogic fraternity. "A word to the wise," etc.

THE RIGHTS OF TEACHERS.

The Vermont Supreme Court has decided that though a schoolmaster has in general no right to punish a child for misconduct committed after dismissal of school for the day and the return of the pupil to his home, yet he may, on the pupil's return to school, punish him for any misbehavior committed out of school which has a direct and immediate tendency to injure the school and subvert the master's authority.

SCHOOL HARMONIUM.

We know that we are doing schools a good service, by calling attention to the School Harmonium, manufactured by Messrs. Mason and Hamlin, and advertised in this number of the Teacher. The great utility of music in the school-room is established beyond dispute. Into many schools costly instruments have already been introduced, and have carried with them great pleasure and profit. But in the great majority of schools, in which music has been taught, the many advantages afforded by a good instrument have not been enjoyed, on account of the considerable cost attending its purchase. One effective and cheap instrument has long been a desideratum. The very thing wanted is now supplied by Messrs. Mason and Hamlin. We have carefully examined the School Harmonium, and are delighted with it. It has a powerful, yet sweet tone, an excellent swell, a bellows that works with great ease, and a case which is very neat and strong. The small price at which it is offered for sale puts it within the reach of almost every school. Teachers who desire to obtain an instrument for their private use, and cannot afford to purchase a good piano, will find in the School Harmonium an admirable substitute. We hope that teachers, and others concerned, will take an early opportunity to examine it for themselves.

EXAMINATION QUESTIONS.

THE following questions were used at a recent examination of teachers to fill vacancies in the Brimmer School, of this city.

ARITHMETIC.

1. A and B can do a piece of work in 11 days. A can do it alone in 13 days. In how many days can B do it?

3. What is the value of 11 oz., 19 dwt., 23 grs. of silver at $15.25 per pound? Carry out the decimals, if there are any, to six places.

4. State as briefly and clearly as possible the general principles of Ratio and Proportion.

GRAMMAR.

1. Define the Distributive and Demonstrative Pronouns, and say which they are.

2. Define the Future and Future-perfect Tenses, and give their signs.

3. Give the First Person, Singular, of cach of the Tenses of the Potential Mood of the Passive Voice of the verb Strike.

4. In a simple sentence, what is the Subject, and what the Predicate? Are these sentences correct? If either be wrong, write it correctly.

5.

I should have liked to have done it.

I had hoped to have seen him before he went.

6. Write this sentence with correct spelling, punctuation, and grammar: Neither he or she are going on Tuesday if they can't help it because there conshience was vailed.

GEOGRAPHY.

1. What is meant by Mathematical, Physical, and Political Geography? 2. State the number of Counties in Massachusetts, and name them. 3. Give the Latitude and Longitude of Boston.

4. Describe the situation of Wilmington, N. C.

5. Describe the situation of Key West.

6. Describe the Tennessee River, stating its source, its course, the States through which it passes, and the waters with which it joins at its mouth.

7. Give the boundaries of Utah.

8. Describe the situation of Southampton, England.

9. Give the number of the German States, and name the most impor tant of them.

10. Describe a voyage from Odessa to St. Petersburg, naming all the waters through which you would pass.

HISTORY.

1. What is History, what are its uses, and for what purposes is it studied?

2. Name the prominent nations of ancient and modern times, and give some distinguishing particulars of each.

3. What motives induced the Colonists of Virginia and New England to form settlements in America?

4. Give some account of the Revolutionary War, naming and giving dates to the most important battles.

5. Give some account of the Missouri Compromise, and state when and by what Act it was repealed.

ORTHOGRAPHY.

Preparation, Perceivable, Skilful, Worshipper, Achievement, Peaceable, Embarrass, Cartilage, Crystalline, Zoölogy, Preferring, Height, Harass, Duellist, Chrysoprase, Seamstress. The cobbler's gray pony ate a potato from the pedlar's wagon.