the universality of these means of instruction is based the greatness and permanency of our free institutions.

We shall see that this system is wisely adapted to the wants of the people, when we consider that the great proportion of the children which it educates must be instructed while they are at home, connected with their parents or guardians. The children and youth require the guardianship of the parental eye; and the parents need the assistance of their children during those parts of the day they are not engaged in the school. But few parents, likewise, if they could spare their children, would be able to support them at public institutions. Hence the necessity of devising a system which shall afford the means of instruction to every individual,—that shall leave the children under the parental care, and permit them to continue to render some assistance to their parents,-that shall be fitted to give that kind and degree of instruction which the citizens need,-and that the system be so cheap and simple that the people will be wealthy and wise enough to support and regulate it. The system of district schools, when properly applied and supported, is found to have this wise adaptation and happy influence. It is this system which carries intelligence and liberty through the Union.

The importance of good common or district schools is seen and felt but by few. The necessity of virtue and intelligence among a free people is always admitted; yet the great majority of our

citizens are almost wholly indifferent to the primary schools, the very sources of a nation's intelligence; for, as it is well known, nineteen citizens out of twenty receive all their education in them. Even reflecting men seldom look so near the beginning of things as to see that the blessings and perpetuity of our happy government are in the hands and under the direction of the common schoolmaster. In our common schools the nation receives its character and education. Mothers and schoolmasters sow the seeds either of tyranny, anarchy, or liberty; for the strength and destiny of any community lies in the virtue and intelligence of its younger members. members. A wise and good government can be established and sustained only by the wise and good; and if the teachers in our common schools are ignorant and vicious, they can impart nothing but what they have, and the youthful part of the nation must be like them: but if they are wise and good, the character of the people will be the same. In our common schools, our ministers and magistrates, legislators and presidents, commenced their education. Here did the men whom we admire as the strength and beauty of our nation receive their first impressions, their first principles, and their first character. In these schools did the men to whom we look up for counsel and instruction commence their moral and intellectual greatness; and in these primary founts of knowledge are placed those who will perpetuate or de

stroy all that is excellent and beautiful in this young republic.

Is not the condition and character of our common schools, then, of the highest importance? Are not the character and qualifications of their teåchers of the very first consideration? These schools have in embryo the future communities of this land. With them the empire and liberty of these States must rise or fall; for they are at once the repositories of freedom, and the pillars of the republic. And now, we again ask, are not these schools of the highest importance? Should not every individual feel the deepest interest in their character and condition? Should not the strong arm of government be thrown around them for a protection? And should not the wisdom of legislation watch over and counsel them with a parental solicitude? To what purpose shall we enact laws, unless there is intelligence to perceive their justice, and principle to which they can appeal? And what other fountains of intelligence have we for the whole people, but our common schools? But do these schools receive that close attention, that friendly aid, that enlightened and fostering care, which their high importance demands? Our representatives in legislation have done well, but as individuals we do nothing! Our intelligent men appear as if our individual happiness, and the glory and prosperity of this nation rested rather in our constitutions, revenues, and armies, than in the virtue and intelligence of the

whole people. And how often do philanthropists forget that the chief part of human vice is evidently founded on the predominance of the sensual over the moral and intellectual nature!

The learned and leading men in nearly every section of the United States overlook the common school, and give all of their attention, influence, and pecuniary support to select schools, academies, colleges, and seminaries. These men seldom inquire into the character or capacity of the teacher of the district-school: not giving these schools their patronage, they feel entirely indifferent to their condition. The teacher, consequently, is selected by the ignorant; and the whole management of the school left to the direction of the careless and illiterate. The uninformed part of the district know not the proper qualifications of a teacher, or the value of an education; and therefore a man of but very limited acquirements, and probably of many forbidding qualities, and without the least aptitude to teach, is often employed to impart character and education to the children. What may we expect the teacher to be when chosen by such men! What efficiency can we look for in the school, when the careless and the ignorant have the whole direction !

These schools, then, should have the superintendence of the learned and leading men; they should assist in making choice of the teacher; they should give the teacher their co-operation, and encourage him by their attention and their patronage. This

more favoured part of the community should feel that they have a duty to perform towards the less favoured; and that the blessings of society are multiplied by affording the means of moral and intellectual instruction to every individual. The learned and wealthy should perceive that the education of the infant mind is far less expensive to them than the support of the aged criminal; that the fruitfulness of their lands depends not so much upon the richness of the soil as upon the intelligence of the cultivators; and that the labour of him whose head can help his hands is far more profitable than the service of the ignorant. The learned and wealthy should see likewise that universal education is the only true security of life and property.

Learned and influential men may do much for common schools, by encouraging qualified teachers, and by obtaining for them public assistance. They may give their respect and lend their influence to the profession of teaching, and by this means make it more reputable and lucrative than it is at present. They may give interest and assistance to institutions and associations which are intended to qualify teachers and diffuse knowledge; and they may see that legislation does all that it can do for such schools.

The duties of Inspectors are very important to common schools. As the character and usefulness of the schools depend upon the qualifications of the teachers, the inspectors should be strict in their examinations, and well assured of the competency