the second person. The mere subject of discourse, however, is denoted by the word apple. This word is said to be of the third person. Sometimes the first person and the third, or the second person and the third, are found in the same word; as, “I hurt myself." "D., thyself no harm." A word is of the third person when it indicates neither the “ speaker" nor the "hearer.”

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We propose the foregoing arrangement as a substitute for the division of nouns into proper and common, and for the class of pronouns, as set forth in the popular theory of English Grammar. It may startle the reader and perhaps excite his prejudices, to find us rejecting the "pronoun" as a distinct part of speech. But he must remember that we have set out to follow the laws of logic and the genius of the English tongue, and not to conform to the opinions of the ancient philologists. We wish to have as few classes of words as are necessary to subserve the chief purpose of theoretical grammar, namely, the formation of rules for the accurate conThe singular number is that which denotes but one struction of sentences. And we think that by re-object or class; as, "The General led the army."

garding the characteristics of proper nouns, common nouns and pronouns, as variations of a general property, or attribute, of nouns, we can dispense with the old arrangement, and introduce one that is simpler and better.

2. Person Person is the power of nouns to de note the speaker, the hearer, or any mere subject of discourse..

In Grammar the "speaker" is the person who forms the sentence; the "hearer" is the person to whom the sentence is addressed; and a mere subject of discourse is anything mentioned in the sentence, besides the speaker and the hearer.

There are three persons, the first, the second, and the third.

The first person is that which denotes the speaker. The second person is that which denotes the hearer. The third person is that which denotes a mere subject of discourse.

3. Number: Number is the power of nouns to indicate unity or plurality.

There are two numbers, the singular and the plural.

The plural number is that which denotes more than one; as, "The general led the armies.”

4. Gender: Gender is the power of nouns to denote sex, or a want of sex.

There are four genders, the masuline, the feminine, the dual and the neuter.

The masculine gender is that which denotes the male sex; as, "George and his brother saw the man."

The feminine gender is that which denotes the female sex; as, "Jane and her sister are with their mother."

The dual gender is that which denotes both sexes; 88, "His parents are dead."

The neuter gender is that which denotes the want of either sex; as, "It is said that the book is lost.” Some nouns have no gender; that is, no power to denote sex. Such are the following:

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The child saw an eagle and a lion."

They heard a person pass by."

“Who can answer the question ?"
"Which shall we take?"

5. Case: Case is the character which nouns have in reference to forming mode.

There are two cases, the nominative and the ob

The nominative case is that of a noun which aids an attributive in forming mode; as, "The flowers are very pretty." "John and James are good boys."

It is evident that in the construction of every sentence, there must be somebody to make it, somebody intended to hear or read it, and some person or thing concerning whom or which it is made. Hence every sentence expresses or implies three distinct relations, which might be called speech relations.— The first is that which the author bears to the com-jective. bination of words which he has formed. The second is that which the individual addressed bears to the combination in which he is addressed. The third is that which a person or thing merely named, bears to the combination in which the naming occurs. Or, rather, the third is that expressed by a word which does not denote either of the other relations. In Grammar, the power of indicating these relations, is called person. This power belongs to nearly all nouns, and to a few other words. It is seen in the following sentence:

"Father, I have brought thee a large apple." Here the author, or maker of the sentence, is denoted by the noun I. The power of this noun to indicate the author or former, is called the first person. The individual to whom the sentence is addressed, is denoted by the words, father and thee. The power of these to indicate the hearer, is termed

The objective case is that of a noun which does not aid in forming mode; as, “He is a good boy." "I have some apples."

We have already seen that mode, or mood, is produced, or indicated, by the joint agency of two words at least. Thus, in the sentence, Henry loves his brother, the mode, the declaration, is made by the words, Henry and loves. This fact is easily proved by omitting either word. Thus: Henry his brother;-loves his brother. Both omissions destroy the mode. But omit his and brother, and the mode, the abstract affirmation, remains. Thus : Henry His and brother do not aid in forming the loves. mode: they merely restrict the act of loving to a particular object. Now a noun which aids in form

[Respectfully inscribed to the Teachers and Schools of a better one we must do as well as we can with the

each other and to encourage all to do their best. By this means you will promote your own happiness and interest, and render efficient service in the cause of education and improvement.-York True Dem

ocrat.

COUNTY INSTITUTE.

We would again call the attention of teachers and directors to the advertisement in another column headed COUNTY INSTITUTE." The object of this meeting of teachers for four days during the year, is their improvement and the advancement of the interests of popular education, by giving them practical instruction in methods of teaching, by having lectures and addresses delivered by some of the foremost edueators and most accomplished teachers in the State. That these meetings have been instrumental in contributing largely to the improvement of our schools and the promotion of the cause of education, no one conversant with their object and operations, can doubt. They have stimulated teachers to self-improvement, by exposing their erroneous methods of teaching and suggesting remedies therefor; they have diffused just views respecting the duties, the position, and the requisite qualifications of those assoming the responsible position of a public school teacher, and who are to shape the progress of society and the destinies of our nation; and above all they have done much to awaken and keep alive in our country a sense of the value and importance of an efficient system of public schools. What we wish then to organize, is a body of cultivated, thorough teachers; teachers devoted with their whole heart to the improvement of our schools, whose influence will penetrate every family circle, and engraft the frequently heard remark of the well educated, that a good education is necessay for every citizen in a land of civil and religious liberty. To render this undertaking successful, it is evidently necessary that we should have a full attendance of the teachers of the County, and a hearty co-operation of the Boards of Directors, in wisely permitting their teachers to dismiss their schools during this meeting.

TEACHERS' COUNTY INSTITUTE. The Duty of our Citizens in Relation to it. As will be seen by the advertisment of the County Superintendent, this Institute, which embraces all the teachers of both public and private schools in the County, will hold its anuual session in this Borough, at the close of the present month. The great design of the Institute is the improvement of the instructors of our children in the important work to which they have been called-a work only second to that of the ministry itself; for ministers are but divinely appointed teachers of the people-teachers of morals and religion rather than the sciences and the arts. In the success of these teachers every man who has children to educate has a special interest; and not he alone, but every man that loves his country and desires its future prosperity. For the children and youth of our schools to-day are to be the citizens of the country in the coming age, and the education they are now receiving is to determine in a large degree the character of that citizenship, and of the government which it will maintain. How important, then, that the teachers themselves be educated up to the highest point possible in the art of teaching. And in order to do this it is necessary that they be brought together at least once a year, as is done in this Institute, for the purpose of mutual improvement by an interchange of views as to the best modes of teaching, and also to afford them an opportunity of receiving through the medium of lessons and popular lectures, the matured thoughts on this subject, of the Professors of our State Normal Schools, and other men of eminence who have made the instruction of the young a special study.

From my own observations, made during my attendance at the sessions of the Institute last year, am satisfied, that in no other way could these teachers so successfully gain the information they do at trese County Institutes. The time spent in attending them is well spent, and can hardly fail to be a benefit in the future, to the pupils, as well as to the teacher. It is to be hoped, therefore, that the different local school boards, in the County, will not only It is believed, that school boards, by giving their give their teachers the time to attend the Institute, teachers the time, or, where the sessions are short, al- but also require that attendance whenever practical. lowing them to make it up at the end, will best promote And, as I sat down to write of the duties of our the interests of their schools. This is fully attested citizens in relation to this Institute, may I not add in the advanced condition of the schools of other it is also to be hoped that they will encourage these counties, and in the districts of this County in teachers, by attending and taking a part in their which Directors not only give their teachers the meetings from day to day, and especially by opentime, but even, in some instances, make the attening their houses for the entertainment of at least the dance at the County Institute a condition upon female portion of them during the continuance of which they will be employed. Then while the lead the Institute. ing teachers of the county and myself are doing our atmost to make the Institute practical and profitable, why can we not have the invaluable aid of the Directors, who by simply permitting their teachers to attend can assist us beyond estimation? Come to the Institute and inform yourselves as to the object and usefulness of those Educational meetings.

Friends of education generally, clergymen of all denominations, teachers in private schools and academies, if you are desirous of promoting happiness and preventing misery, of removing ignorance and disseminating knowledge, of purifying society and elevating human character,-aid us by your inflaence, by your personal efforts, and especially by your presence, in giving success to an educational gathering, striving to increase the usefulness and elevate the character of our public schools.-Miners Journal. COUNTY SUPT.

These ladies, as is well known, recieve but meager salaries at best, (why less than men, when they perform the same duties, I never could divine,) some of them not more than five or six dollars a month after their boarding has been paid. They can, therefore, but illy afford the expense of boarding at the hotels, during the continuance of the Institute, though it be but three or four days.

Let our citizens then, generally throw open their houses for the entertainment of these most respectable and useful, but poorly paid young ladies, during their approaching annual convocation. As one of your number, I hesitate not to say, we owe it to ourselves as well as to them, to do so, And acting upon this conviction, I shall cheerfully receive at least two of the number under my own roof. Who else will respond to this call of duty? Let all such report at once, to Mr. J. A. M. Passmore, Chairman of the Executive Committee, stating at the

Teachers generally teach best from the books they Our schools have made but little progress during are best acquainted with. Hence, in selecting, such the past four years. The public mind has been too should always be adopted, provided they are equal in much occupied with drafts, battles and invasions, merit. The books used in the County Normal School, to care much for their welfare and improvement.- are Osgood's Readers, Mitchell's New Primary Now however, the smoke of battle has cleared away. and Intermediate Geographies, Brown's Grammars, We have bright prospects ahead, and it is high | Brooks' Arithmetics and Ellsworth's system of pentime that school reform claim some attention from manship. Three-fourths of the teachers of the the people and especially from School Directors.-county are best acquainted with these and prefer There is much to be done, and quickly, or the schools will not meet the demand of the public. The school system itself is seldom to blame for the opposition it meets. On the contrary, nearly all complaints grow out of a wrong administration of the system.Many reforms indispensable to its proper working have been carried out years ago, in other parts of the State, but here they have been entirely neglect ed. Among the most important of these, is that of UNIFORMITY OF TEXT-BOOKS.

emigrated a year or two earlier. From 1799 until 1801, Mr. Miner was engaged upon the family claim in Susquehanna county, near what is now Hopbottom Station on the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, then a deep, dark, impenetrable wilderness, which claim he commenced to clear, felling timber, making sugar, cutting shingles and doing duty as a man should whose future life depended upon his own exertions. Many a night, I have heard him say, he lay chilled to the bone, the snow driving through the chinks of his rude cabin and the winter winds whistling around him.

In 1801," says Mr. Pearce in his Annals of Luzerne, "Asher Miner established The Luzerne Federalist,' and the first number was issued on the 5th day of January. It was a sheet of very moderate dimensions, for two reams of its paper were placed in an ordinary bag and conveyed on horseback from the paper mill in Allentown to Wilkesbarre, and this was done once in two weeks. The press on which the Federalist was printed was brought from Norwich, Connecticut, on a sled by Charles Miner and S. Howard. In 1802 Charles became associated with Asher Miner in conducting the Federalist, which they ably edited until 1809, when it was transferred to Steuben Butler and Sidney Tracy. These latter gentlemen in 1811, enlarged the paper and changed its name to "The Gleaner," with the motto "Intelligence is the life of liberty." In a few months Mr. Tracey withdrew from the establishment, and was succeeded by Charles Miner, who in connection with Mr. Butler and others ably conducted the Gleaner until 1818, when the enterprise was abandoned."

From such small beginnings, unaided and almost alone, arose the future historian of the valley. It was in the columns of the "Gleaner" that Mr. Miner made himself celebrated as a writer. For this paper were written those beautiful essays from the desk of "Poor Robert the Scribe," a series of weekly essays, filled with good sense, combining amusement with instruction, which were read with pleasure at every fireside in the country, which have been many times reprinted, and which may even at this day be found in school books, as lessons of wisdom not to be put aside nor forgotten. In this paper, too, Mr. Miner published many articles upon the subject of anthracite coal, a subject, the importance of which was just beginning to dawn upon the minds of the people of our valley. It was the object of Mr. Miner to extend the interest awakened here, to enlighten the minds of those who would not believe abroad, and to disseminate the theory that anthracite would burn as readily as bituminous coal. He hoped one day to see the mines of ore opened and their treasures spread throughout the land, and he hoped to see the Valley of Wyoming, then almost a wilderness, blossom as the rose, and Wilkesbarre, then a mere inland village, alive with the busy hum of industry, filled with dusky workmen, the mart of trade, connected with cities, and built up with noble mansions -all the fruits of her own underground wealth. All this he lived to see. Determined, however, not to be a theorist only, but carry out in practice what he had taught others through the columns of his paper, he in 1813, with Mr. Cist and others, leased the Mauch Chunk mines, and in the same year floated an ark load of coal to Philadelphia. Their struggle to reach that city in safety, and their efforts to introduce and sell the coal are beautifully described by Mr. Pearce in his annals of Luzerne.

It was during his connection with the "Gleaner," that Mr. Miner first entered public life. In 1807

he was elected to serve in the legislature with Nathan Beach; in 1808 with Benjamin Dorrance, the Assembly then convening at Lancaster; and again in 1812 with Colonel Dorrance, the legislature at Harrisburg. There he advocated, and I may say, almost originated that scheme for internal improvement which, at a later period, through the instrumentality of George Denison and Garrick Mallory, terminated in the North Branch (of the Susquehanna) Canal. That Mr. Miner's abilities as a writer and thinker were not confined to his own town and county, we find in an invitation extended from Philadelphia in 1816, to take charge of a paper entitled the "True American." He accepted this invitation, and remained its editor for one year. In 1817, he removed his family to West Chester, Chester county, Pennsylvania, and established the "Village Record," a paper which he carried on with unusual ability, and which remains to this day-a lasting monument to his memory.

In 1824 Mr. Miner was elected a representative to Congress from Chester co. and re-elected in 1826. Mr. Buchanan was his colleague, and I well remember in 1860 when President Buchanan was abused and vilified by both friends and enemies, how the old man's heart warmed toward the companion of his earlier days, and with how much readiness, though always politically opposed, he took up the pen to do him justice. Mr. Miner was the associate of all the great men of his day. Intelligent and social, he was attractive, and the ease and brilliancy with which he expressed his thoughts on paper made him useful as well as ornamental in advancing the doctrines of his party, and in furthering the objects of the mighty leaders who wielded the baton of power. Henry Clay, at that time Secretary of State, recognized at once the abilities and usefulness of the member from Pennsylvania, made him his friend personally as he knew him to be politically, and looked to him more than any other gentleman of the House to carry out his views upon the subjects of Internal Improvement, the Tariff, and a United States Bank. His intercourse with Mr. Webster, too, then in the Senate, and almost at the zenith of his fame as an orator and statesman, was familiar and pleasant. They were all men of like tastes, like opinions and like talents in their different spheres, and the friendships commenced at that period were continued in after years by letter, and closed only when Webster and Caly were laid in the grave. His own party was not alone in his praise. The leaders of the Democracy sounded his trumpet. I recollect while visiting ExPresident Tyler in the summer of 1850, one day in conversation, finding I was from Wyoming Valley he asked if I was acquainted with Charles Miner, and upon answering in the affirmative, gave me a history of his career in Congress, told me of his wonderful powers as a writer, of his urbanity and politeness as a gentleman, and summed up by saying that he was the most able man he had ever met with from Pennsylvania.

At the close of his congressional life, Mr. Miner returned to West Chester and continued to edit the from deafness and increasing age, once more to seek "Village Record" until 1832, when he determined, commenced, in the midst of whose beautiful scenery a refuge in the valley where his literary career had and quiet people he had plumed his wing for a lof tier flight, and where he had ever hoped to pass the evening of his days in rest and prosperity. Here then he came, laying aside editorial honors and political preferments, at the age of fifty-two, to