dinary schools!-Let your laws be ever so strict, if you appeal to the pupil's sense of propriety and honor, if you address yourself to his reason and convince him by solid argument, he wil submit without a murmur. Men are united together in social and political life for their mutual benefit. The good of all requires from each individual the sacrifice of a large portion of natural liberty: yet the increased security and convenience resulting from the union, are a tenfold recompense for the expense by which they are gained. It is the conviction of this truth that binds in harmonious concord the different members of society. Such, to compare great things with small, should be the principle at the foundation of school government. Schoolboys are young men, and should be governed by the same principles as their elders. Let the consequences of misconduct be plainly pointed out; let the penalties be always enforced, severe, perhaps, and rigorous; but let them be founded in reason, and let the reason be explained and made manifest. If there be any desperate spirit that cannot be bent to such conditions, let him be removed at once: for it is better to resort to such a measure than descend to the infliction of a degrading corporeal punishment.-View of Geneseo High School.

INTELLIGENCE.

IMPROVEMENT OF COMMON SCHOOLS IN CONNECTICUT.

Extracts from Gov. Tomlinson's Message of May last.

[To most of our readers it is well known that in the State of Connecticut an unusual degree of public attention has of late been turned to the condition of the common schools with a view to their improvement. Societies have been formed expressly for this purpose, and within two years much progress has been made in this laudable object. Farther intelligence on this subject we hope to communicate at an early opportunity.*]

The perpetual pledge of the School Fund to the dissemination of knowledge among the people of the State, evinced a wise solicitude to advance the best interests of posterity; and the distribution of it according to the ratio of the population between the ages of four and sixteen years, annually ascertained, secures to each school district a semi-annual dividend, sufficient, with a comparatively small additional expense, to place the inestimable advantages of a good school within the reach of every family in the State. The safety of this fund is of paramount importance. You will, therefore, undoubtedly, be gratified to know, that its condition has never been more safe nor prosperous, and that the dividends it has showered upon the people during the past year, con

*We should feel much indebted to any individual connected with associations such as those mentioned above, who would furnish us with fuller information than it is possible for us at this distance to procure.-Ed.

siderably exceed the aggregate amount of all taxes levied by the State for the same period.

The Commissioners' report regarding a public trust inferior to none in the - State, will be duly laid before you, and become rightfully the subject of your scrutinizing examination. It will exhibit the gratifying fact, that the fund has been augmented to more than one million eight hundred and seventy thousand dollars. The continuance of the watchfulness and vigilance, with which this fund has been managed, since it was placed under the care of a single commissioner, will doubtless in future years, considerably increase its income, by judicious and more productive investments. The additions necessarily made to the principal, in effecting such investments, may be expected at no distant day, to augment it to two million of dollars. The interest of this sum would be entirely adequate, if properly expended, to accomplish the laudable object of its original appropriation, and its subsequent pledge by the constitution.

There is too much reason to conclude that the liberal endowment of common schools has occasioned a relaxation of the praiseworthy efforts to extend their utility, which distinguished our fathers-and that many have already fallen into the too prevalent error of undervaluing and neglecting common blessings, because an unfortunate deprivation of them may not have proved their real worth.

The thorough examination of the instructers, and the faithful inspection of the common schools, is indispensable. Inattention to the character and qualifications of the teachers will be followed by deplorable consequences.

Without assiduous, efficient, moral, and learned teachers, our schools must sink. The dividends of our munificent funds may, indeed, be drawn from the treasury, and the schools opened and kept for a time sufficient to absorb them, by incompetent instructers; but the standard of education will soon be lowered, the community cease to be animated by the spirit of the age, and a large portion of our youth be consigned to ignorance and immorality.

The utility and improvement of our system of education depend, primarily, on the school visitors. Their duties have relation, not merely to the proper distribution of the public money, but to the character and happiness of those who will soon be introduced to the active scenes of life, and exercise a controlling influence upon the institutions and reputation of the State. To your consideration is submitted the propriety of more specially prescribing, by law, the duties of the school visitors, with additional sanctions, and of requiring the board in each society, in the month of September, annually, to report to the Comptroller the qualifications and attainments of the teachers by them approved; the number of visits made to each school; the length of time a school shall have been kept in each school district; the branches of learning taught therein; the progress made by the scholars; the books used; and generally the condition of the schools in the respective school societies. The operations of our present system might be thus officially and accurately ascertained, and a body of information collected highly useful in guiding future legislation. Such reports would also naturally produce increased vigilance and energy in the visitors, by enhancing their responsibility; excite a spirit of emulation among the pupils especially conducive to their advancement in learning, and cause the exclusion of incompetent persons from an employment of transcendant importance.

Report of a Committee of the Legislature.

The report of the Committee on Common Schools was read, and on motion of Mr. T. S. Williams, 300 copies ordered to be printed, together with the accompanying bill. The principal feature of the bill provides for the appointment of a superintendant, with a salary, by the Assembly. His principal duties are, to adopt rules for the regulation of schools, recommend or provide suitable books, diffuse general information, visit each county, send blank forms for returns to each school district, &c.-Conn. Herald.

INFANT SCHOOLS.

[It is with much pleasure that we have it in our power to present the following intelligence regarding this useful and important class of institutions. There may not be the same urgent necessity for such schools in most parts of the United States as there is in England. But no person who is acquainted with the condition of some classes of the population of several of our larger cities, can doubt that there is abundant room for the operation of any plan of benevo lence, which tends to elevate the mental and moral character by efforts directed to the early improvement of children. We are happy, moreover, to observe that the benefits of infant schools are not to be restricted to any one class of society to the exclusion of others, but that the aid afforded to infantile happiness is to be disseminated among all according to their respective circumstances.]

Infant Schools in Philadelphia.-We have intended for several weeks past to mention the pleasure we experienced in a visit to the Infant School in Chester street in this city. There were present in one room upwards of one hundred and fifty children from eighteen months to six years old. The ease with which such a number was managed, their general docility, aptness for instruction, and delight in their employments, struck us very agreeably. These schools will, we think, convince any who may be doubtful of it, that infants are capable of learning and comprehending many things which are usually thought to be above their reach, though advantage is undoubtedly gained in this respect by association. In the school which we visited the children chiefly belong to parents who are compelled to labour away from home. To such it is not only a great relief to have their children provided for during their absence, and that regularly, but it must be a great gratification to know that they are receiving all the instruction of which they are capable.

But it is not children in humble life only who may be benefited by this institution. It may be usefully applied to all classes, and great good will result to any community, we are convinced, which shall establish Infant Schools. The system is a simple one; easily learnt, and adapted as well to country villages as to large towns. Those who may be desirous of acquiring a knowledge of it, will derive information and pleasure from a little volume published last year, and compiled, we have heard, by Mrs. Bethune, of New-York, entitled Infant Education, or remarks on the importance of Educating the Infant Poor.-Church Register.

Infant Schools in Boston.-Several ladies of this city, becoming deeply interested in the subject of Infant Instruction, as conducted in Europe, NewYork, and Philadelphia, appointed a meeting to be held on the 8th of Apil, at the house of Mrs. Wm. Thurston, Bowdoin Place, for the purpose of forming an Infant School Society. About ninety ladies attended. The meeting was opened with prayer by Rev. Dr. Skinner, who delivered a very appropriate address. After he had retired, the ladies proceeded to organize themselves into a Society, by adopting a constitution, and choosing as officers a first and second Directress, a Corresponding Secretary, a Recording Secretary, a Treasurer, and twelve managers. A subscription was then opened, and the object received liberal patronage from many present. It is intended the School shall go into operation as soon as the necessary apparatus can be procured.

The object of Infant Schools is to watch over, assist, and guide the earliest developments of the faculties; to combine physical, intellectual, and moral culture; and to assist and relieve those parents, who are precluded (by whatever means) from giving due attention to the early education of their children. The age of the children to whom the advantages of the Infant School in this city are to be extended, will be from eighteen months to four years.-Zion's Her. [Another School, to be supported by a private association, will be commenced in June; and one, it is expected, will be opened in autumn for the benefit of a few families who are desirous of applying the experiment of the infant school plan to the education of their own children.]

NOTICES.

The American Instructer, Second Book. Designed for Common Schools in America; containing the Elements of the English Language, Lessons in Orthography and Reading, and the Pronunciation of Walker's Critical Pronouncing Dictionary; all made easy by the Arrangement and Division of Words, and by an improved use of Figures and Letters. By Hall J. Kelley, A. M. Author of the Instructer, First Book. Second Edition. Boston. Lincoln & Edmands. 1826. 12mo. pp. 168.

We have taken occasion more than once to mention our regret that spellingbooks, as commonly compiled, offer so little assistance to the minds of childrenthat they abound in co umns of detached and often unintelligible words; and that they sometimes contain an unnecessary portion of gramm and of difficult Pac uninteresting reading lessons. In the last two of these defects this volume rather exceeds. It possesses, however, several excellent points. It refers in a distinct manner, and on proper occasions, to principles of orthoepy mentioned and numbered in the beginning of the book. It furnishes also a dictionary to several of the more difficult reading lessons.

Comparing this spelling-book with that of Mr. Emerson, mentioned formerly, we suld prefer the latter for its greater simplicity, for its restriction chiefly to rthoepy, and its practical and unambitious character. We still must expr 3 hope, however, that a more useful work than any of those hitherto produced in unis department, will be compiled. Thi: result will be obtained, when an editor shall be found, willing to publish a book of this sort, containing fewer words by several thousands than it has been customary to introduce.restricting his book to shorter and easier words, and inserting none in columns which have not previously been presented in simple and intelligible reading lessons. The meaning of the words might be given along with the orthography and orthoepy; and the reading lessons might be drawn from useful and instructive sources. In this case, the spelling-book, instead of exercising no faculty but that of memory, might furnish useful employment both for the understanding and the heart; and thus the improvement of the whole mind might be successfully attained,-a point of great consequence, whether in regard to the practical business of life, or to advancement in moral excellence.

The Tales of Peter Parley, about Europe, with Engravings. S. G. Goodrich, Boston. 1823. 16mo. pp. 96.

This little volume is designed as a companion to the corresponding one of tales about America, and is adapted to primary or elementary schools, as well as families. Its object is to excite curiosity, and create an interest in geography and history, so as to prepare the young mind for regular treatises on these branches of education. Questions on the principal subjects of every chapter are annexed to each page of the work, with a view to produce attention and cultivate the memory. The style, throughout, is familiar and striking; and the book will prove a very interesting one to its little readers; as has been the case with its predecessor, the volume on America, of which notice was taken in the 20th number of the Journal.

There are, however, some things which it would be desirable to have modified in a second edition, we allude to several of the remarks on the character of the European sovereigns and the nobility, which, though for the most part unfortunately too true, still admit of qualification and occasional exceptions. Some alterations should be made in a few of the cuts illustrative of national customs. Our objection to these is, that the impressions which they would produce would be too general, and might tend to foster national prejudices.

AND

PARENT'S ASSISTANT,

DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF COMMON EDUCATION.

The

This work will be published monthly, by S. G. GOODRICH, 141, Washington Street, Boston. Wait, Greene, & Co. Court Street, are general Agents, and will supply subscribers. terms are one dollar a year, payable on delivery of the June number; if payment is delayed beyond that time the price will be one dollar fifty cents, payable on demand. No subscription will be taken for less than a year-all remittances by mail must be post paid.

All communications respecting the editorial department should be addressed to S. G. Goodrich; those which respect the other departments of the work, to Wait, Greene, & Co. No. 13, Court Street.

NEW SERIES.

JULY 1, 1828.

NUMBER 4.

NOTE.-In consequence of some delay in transferring the Teacher's Guide to the present proprietors, the first number was not issued till May. Two numbers a month, will therefore be occasionally published, so as to complete this volume, and commence another, at the beginning of the ensuing year.

SYSTEM OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

[The pamphlet from which the following article is transcribed, is entitled 'Report of the Committee on Public Schools' (for the town of Providence.) We have already had occasion to mention it, as one of the most valuable expositions hitherto made, of a system of public schools adapted to the actual circumstances of society. The report has been drawn up after a careful inspection of the school system of Boston, both in regard to the gradation of the schools, and the methods of instruction adopted in them. It forms, accordingly, a useful document for reference, whether for information relating to plans of arrangement for public education, or for direct assistance in teaching. School committees and teachers will derive equal benefit from a perusal of it.

We would recommend to the particular attention of our readers the just and practical observations on the true policy of communities in relation to common education, and especially the remarks on elementary and on high schools. The comparative view of methods of instruction is also worthy of peculiar notice, as presenting the results of close observation and judicious reflection, on topics on which there still exists a diversity of opinion among teachers. In the leading name of the committee whose signatures are appended to this report, our readers will recognize that of an ardent and distinguished friend to