Common School System of Connecticut.

THE historical example of Connecticut is interesting and instructive. As early as 1656, explicit laws were added to the general law by which the schools were first instituted, and the deputies, constables, and other officers in public trust, were required to take care "that all their children and apprentices as they grow capable, may, through God's blessing, attain at least so much as to be able duly to read the Scriptures, and other good and profitable printed books in the English tongue, and in some competent measure to understand the main grounds and principles of the Christian religion necessary to salvation." By repeated legislation, and patient effort, the school system was brought to such a degree of efficacy, that, as President Kingsley remarked, "for

nearly a century and a half, a native of Connecticut, of mature age, unable to read the English tongue, has been looked upon as a prodigy. The source of the wide-spread and incalculable benefit of popular education in America," President Kingsley continues, "may be traced, without danger of error, to a few of the leading Puritans. If the early Pilgrims, more particularly of Massachusetts and Connecticut, had not struggled and toiled for this great object, and if they had not been immediately succeeded by men who had imbibed a large portion of the same spirit, the schoolsystem of New England would not now exist."

"The schools of this State," says the Connecticut Common School Journal, "were founded and supported chiefly for the purpose of perpetuating civil and religious knowledge and liberty, as the early laws of the colony explicitly declare. Those laws, some of which were published in the first number of this Journal, as clearly declare, that the chief means to be used to attain those objects, was the reading of the Holy Scriptures.

"In many schools, in later years, the Bible has not been used; though there is reason to believe that the ancient custom of our venerable ancestors has recently been gradually reviving. Circumstances have favored its restoration; and increasing light on the principles of sound education cannot fail to establish it everywhere.

"Certificates are in our hands, from experienced instruct

ors out of this State, which bear strong testimony to the happy influences exerted in their schools, by the daily use of the Scriptures.

"Different teachers we have seen, who used the Bible in different ways: some as a class-book, some as a text-book; and it is interesting to see in how many forms it may be brought into use. Some teachers, with a map of Palestine before them, will give most interesting lessons on almost any book in the Bible, by mingling geography, history, ancient manners and customs, with moral and religious considerations. Others make the Bible the law-book of the school; and by showing that they consider themselves and their pupils equally bound to conform their lives and thoughts to its sacred dictates, exercise a species of discipline of the happiest kind. Others still, by the aid of printed questions, or some systematic plan of study, employ the Bible in training the intellect, storing the memory, and furnishing the fancy with the richest treasures of literature. Others think that the various styles found in the sacred volume, offer the very best exercises for practice in reading with propriety and effect; while a critical attention to the character, situation, and feelings of the speakers, which such exercises require, has favorable moral influences. Finally, other teachers believe that the daily reading of the Bible in schools, is of essential benefit to the pupils in various ways; and that the frequent repetition of the Word of God in the hearing even of those too young to read, is an inestimable blessing-a part of the birthright of every child in a Christian land, which cannot be rightfully withholden.

"To these views our readers may add their own as they often and seriously consider the subject. It is one which will probably be ever esteemed a vital one in Connecticut; and if Monsieur Cousin so warmly urged upon the government of France, to make religious instruction the corner-stone of their national system of education, and urged

with success the example of Prussia, we may with greater confidence invite the people of our State to supply their schools with the Scriptures, and point to the laws passed by their fathers for this very end, nearly two centuries ago, and (so far as we have the ability to comprehend so vast a subject) to the noble effects produced even by their imperfect observance."

"The interests of education," says Chancellor Kent, speaking particularly of the State of Connecticut, "had engaged the attention of the New England colonists from the earliest settlement of the country; and the system of common and grammar schools and of academical and collegiate instruction, was interwoven with the primitive views and institutions of the Puritans. Everything in their genius and disposition was favorable to the growth of freedom and learning, but with a tendency to stern regulations for the maintenance of civil and religious order. They were a grave and thinking people, of much energy of character, and of lofty and determined purpose. Religion was with them a deep and powerful sentiment, and of absorbing interest. The first emigrants had studied the oracles of truth as a text-book, and they were profoundly affected by the unqualified commands, the awful sanctions, and the sublime views and animating hopes and consolations which accompanied the revelation of life and immortality. The avowed object of their emigration to New England was to enjoy and propagate the reformed Protestant faith in the purity of its discipline and worship. They intended to found republics on the basis of Christianity, and to secure religious liberty under the auspices of a commonwealth. With this primary view they were early led to make strict provision for common school education, and the religious instruction of the people. The Word of God

was at that time almost the sole object of their solicitude and studies, and the principal design in planting them

selves on the banks of the Connecticut was to preserve the liberty and purity of the gospel. We meet

with the system of common schools in the earliest of the colonial records. Strict and accurate provision was made by law for the support of schools in each town, and a grammar school in each county; and even family instruction was placed under the vigilant supervision of the selectmen of the town. This system of free schools, sustained and enforced by law, has been attended with momentous results, and it has communicated to the people of this State, and to every other part of New England in which the system has prevailed, the blessings of order and security to an extent never before surpassed in the annals of mankind."