The present number has been prepared by the Resident Editors, in consequence of the protracted illness of Mr. Hagar, which has prevented him from attending to its preparation.

BRIDGEWATER STATE NORMAL SCHOOL.

THE next term of this school for teachers, will commence on Wednesday, the 4th of August, 1852..

Hereafter classes will be received but twice a year. Circulars containing the rules of the school, may be obtained by application to

Bridgewater, June 1, 1852.

N. TILLINGHAST, Principal.

The next annual meeting of the American Institute of Instruction will be held in the city of Troy, N. Y., on the 6th, 7th and 9th of August. Tickets will be furnished at one half the usual price, to those who go from Boston over the Western Road to attend the meeting. The tickets may be obtained at the book store of Ticknor & Co., 135, Washington street.

The arrangement for the meeting, announced in our last number, was changed in consequence of the refusal of the railroad corporations south of New York to make the usual reduction of fare.

The American Association for the Advancement of Education, will meet at Newark, N. J., on Tuesday, the 10th of August, at 10 o'clock, A. M. The arrangements are such that persons from the vicinity of Boston may attend this meeting, after the meeting of the Institute at Troy, and return on the free ticket.

The seventh annual meeting of the New York State Teachers' Association will be held in the village of Elmira, Chemung Co., commencing on the first Wednesday of August next, at 10 o'clock, and continue at least two days. "The subject of establishing a State Board of Examiners, with Auxiliary County Boards," is one of the topics for discussion. Fare from the city of New York and back, $5.00. A large delegation of teachers from Ohio propose to attend. Who will meet them from the East?

The semiannual meeting of the Ohio State Teachers' Association will be held at Sandusky, July 7th.

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

Elementary Latin Grammar and Exercises. By Dr. Leonhard Schmitz, F. R. S. E. Philadelphia: Blanchard & Lea. 1852.

History of the United States of America, on a plan adapted to the capacity of youth. By Charles A. Goodrich. To which are added the Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence. Boston: Jenks, Hickling & Swan. 1852.

The School Chimes: a Collection of Songs and Pieces for Schools, Juvenile Classes and School Exhibitions. By B. F. Baker and L. H. Southard. Boston: Wilkins, Carter & Co.

A Practical System of Bookkeeping by Double and Single Entry. By B. Wood Foster. Boston: James French. 1852.

THE

MASSACHUSETTS TEACHER.

Vol. V. No. 8.] CHARLES HAMMOND, EDITOR OF THIS NUMBER.

[August, 1852.

EDUCATION.

No subject is more commonplace than that of education; unless it be religion. But because both of these topics have be come trite, they are not the less important, having respect, the one, to the highest welfare of man for time, the other, for eternity. It is not to set forth what is new, that we so often discuss themes which have called forth the best thoughts of the best men in all ages; for "there is nothing new under the sun;" but we engage in such topics to keep up an ever-living interest in what are among the oldest realities of which men are conscious; and to waken in the passing generation, to which we belong, deeper convictions of duty to be performed, than have heretofore existed, in relation to the claims of that generation which is next to succeed our own.

When truth finds expression every where in such common popular maxims, as that "Knowledge is power," or that "Education is the best defence of liberty," we have sometimes thought that it is somewhat shorn of its power to move the sensibilities of men, by the very fact that the truth in such forms is universally received. Faith in the truth, sometimes, is so unproductive of good fruits, as that it becomes dead; and this differs not much from unbelief. The very formularies of truth sometimes partially conceal the truth, so that while the lips speak knowledge, the soul is not enlightened with wisdom. The adaptations of truth to the wants of practical life are not seen, or else the semblance of truth is mistaken for the substance. Hence it is that Education as well as Religion, whose handmaid she is, suffers so much from the folly of pretended friends, who professing them

selves to be wise, are the veriest victims of delusion. Still no serious danger is to be apprehended. It is well sometimes, that truth shall be questioned for her evidences, that opposition be made so as to call for a triumphant defence; and even if some of the important principles of truth should be for a time lost to the world, their re-discovery may give to what is now commonplace, the great advantage of novelty, to waken enthusiasm in the public mind.

In these latter days, the ideas which in the ancient and mediæval ages were the exclusive property of the learned, have become popularized, so that it is not uncommon to hear from the lips of a child in the common school, statements of truth which once were unknown to the wisest philosophers. But it does not follow, that such knowledge makes a wise child, or has that tendency, unless it is laid hold of by the reason of the learner, and becomes a part of his intellectual character.

The value of education, in respect to its ultimate uses, is sure to be found out by him who possesses it; and the estimation of this value by those able to judge of it has been the same in every age. They who are unlearned, judge falsely of the uses of learning, some by an over-estimate of what is of little importance; and others, by far the greatest number, wholly misjudging and underrating the real benefits of learning.

It is the glory of our days, to witness vigorous efforts to extend as far as possible a knowledge of the rudiments of learning. In former ages, even while learning had most earnest votaries, and the boundaries of knowledge were greatly enlarged, still the popular mind, without a knowledge of the rudiments of learning, remained dark as ever. The light shone brightly in the schools and cloisters, but only for the favored few. It is not so now, at least, with respect to the elementary branches of education: a knowledge of which becomes a key to unlock all the treasures of wisdom, and it should be placed by every enlightened state, in the hands of every one of their subjects. In our own land, we may expect with confidence, that the support of the schools designed for the rudimental education of the whole people, will always be maintained. It is the glory of our own Commonwealth, that the education of all her sons and daughters has been her policy from the beginning.

The means of education, in the providing of teachers, and the entire apparatus of instruction, are of priceless value if the end of all be attained; otherwise they will be of but little service, even to the learner himself.

It should therefore be considered as an object of the highest importance, not only to extend the benefits of popular education, but to improve the quality of it, that the fountains of elementary knowledge may be free and constant as the streams that glad

den every vale, and made productive of the greatest amount of good.

When Wordsworth said

"The child is father of the man,

And I could wish my days to be
Bound each to each by natural piety,"

he expressed in the seeming paradox of the first line, a perfect theory of education, while in the beautiful sentiment of the appended wish, he has recognized his own deep indebtedness to his early training for all that he afterwards became. As there is a natural sentiment of "piety," in the classical sense of the word, existing between parents and children, so, also, is there a most intimate relation of the mind to itself in its earliest and latest periods of development; and therefore the mature mind must ever look back with reverence and deep affection to the influences that kindled its first inspirations and cherished its early growth, and at length formed its latest character, if that character be one of merited self-respect.

We might expect that the author of the Prelude, the noblest tribute to education in modern times, would never desire to forget the days when as he tells us

66

meadow, grove, and stream, The earth and every common sight To me did seem

Apparelled in celestial light,

The glory and the freshness of a dream."

We might well expect that the days of his youth and the days of his latest years would be "bound each to each" in the closest bonds of association and grateful recollection. But the words of the great poet, though so true in relation to the history of his own intellectual culture, and of all who like him were early trained for the noblest manly duties, are not true of those whose education has not been conducted with a proper end and aim, viz. a preparation for the active duties of life in this world, and for admission, at last, into the immortal kingdom of God. Without such an aim, no real manhood of the mind is ever attained. It remains always a "child."

A distinguished living divine has said, that the end of Education is that the "pupil may obtain thereby the possession of himself." He, then, is perfectly educated who is a complete master of his own powers, and is able to exercise those powers with proper judgment for "the glory of God and the relief of man's estate," which Lord Bacon has said is the "last or farther end of all knowledge." On this point the wisest men of every age agree, that mental discipline is the end of all proper study. This was the opinion of Cicero when he tells us that the methods

and discipline of letters are needed to form and embellish a noble nature.* This shows us the difference there is between education and instruction, which are often in the popular understanding regarded as one and the same; but which differ from each other, as wisdom and knowledge differ, the one having respect to the attainment of wisdom, or the right use and ready exercise of the powers of the mind; the other is needed, to be sure, to impart knowledge, but is of use only on condition that the mind is disciplined to receive and apply it, and is thereby brought "to real thoughtfulness such as alone gives wisdom."†

If the great end of Education be mental discipline, then the utmost care should be taken in the selection of studies which are to be employed for this purpose; and especially is this the case in relation to all the elemental schools supported by the public funds. Inasmuch as the time for school privileges is very limited to the great majority of those who attend the public schools, the most of it should be employed on the severe studies, or those which require the closest application to master them; while very little, should be appropriated to what some are pleased to call practical and ornamental branches; not, surely, because they serve to embellish the scholarship of those who study them. Our experience has led us to the belief, that the poorest scholars in the lowest grades of schools and academies, are most anxious to study such branches; while in the college and university the idea of a practical study, in distinction from one which is disciplinary, if properly attended to, is unknown. If, in the course of instruction prescribed for the highest seminaries of learning, nothing is deemed important, unless it aids in the work of mental discipline; surely the advocates of popular education should be slow to admit a theory of education, which dispenses with any study, because some students find it difficult and make but little progress in it.

We know that there are earnest advocates of an entire revolution in our whole system of education, embracing all grades of schools, from the primary school to the university; and this movement is based upon the idea that a great part of the present course of elementary instruction is too rigid and impractical, and therefore unproductive of good. On this ground, more than one plan of a university has been formed in our own country, and we have been requested for letters of recommendation to an institution, nominally of the highest grade, where little or no preparation for admission was required, except what may be obtained in an English school.

* Cum ad naturam eximiam et illustrem accesserit ratio quaedam conformatioque doctrinae, tum illud nescio quid praeclarum ac singulare solere existere. -Archias 7.

Rare as knowledge is, wisdom is rarer, and knowledge, unhappily, can exist without wisdom, as wisdom can exist with a very inferior degree of knowledge.Dr. Arnold's Sermons on Christian Life.