of the waters-the effulgent glory of the day, the lesser lights of the night-the graceful movement of the ships-the furious rushing of the trains-the ten thousand forms, motions, and noises of nature, furnish him with employment enough, and, with ordinary parental care, yield him instruction enough to fill up the round of his earlier days. I believe if he is kept from the school room until the age of six-under the training of a careful mother-he will then be better prepared for rapid intellectual progress, than he would be if prematurely confined within its walls, and bent over its text books.

By proper development and instruction at home, a child will be prepared, in some degree, to comprehend the nature and object of study. Those children who are sent to school without such preparation at home, soon become disgusted with exercises quite beyond their comprehension. They understand neither the mean. ing nor the object of their lessons; and as soon as the influence of novelty has passed away, their interest falls down into apathy and disgust. Instead of grasping books as keys which shall unlock to them stores of knowledge, they turn from them as bolts. which shut them out from the wonderful things they so much desire to know.

Again, many of those who are recorded as absentees, are over fifteen years of age, and, under the plea of necessity-in many cases, it must be confessed, a very urgent plea-they are removed to employment upon the farm, in the work shop, and factory. The disposition of parents is, to consider the education of their children completed at quite too early an age. This is true, both in public and private schools. The tendency is to be "fast" in our education, as in every thing else. Time is requisite for intel lectual, as well as for physical development and culture. It is as preposterous to force the one, as the other. You may, if you will, grow an oak in a tub, in a single year, but it will not be the oak which shall cast its shadow and defy the storms for a century. For this, it must receive the sweet influences of the sunshine and

the rain for a long series of years. "Fruits ripened by art before their time, are neither toothsome nor wholesome; so children made men when they should be children, prove children when they should be men."

But after making all reasonable deductions, absenteeism is a very serious impediment to the efficiency and success of our public schools. To abate and, if possible, to remove the evil, demands the closest scrutiny of those to whom our schools are intrusted. School committees and trustees can do much, by visiting those families whose children are habitually absent or irregular in their attendance, and by a judicious exercise of that moral influence which is in their power and their province to exert. Teachers may accomplish much by visiting the homes of their pupils, and manifesting, by a cheerful spirit, and words of encouragement, the interest they have in the welfare of parents and children. This will secure the friendly sympathy and co-operation of both, and so establish that singleness of purpose, and that unity of action, necessary for the accomplishment of any desirable result.

Another evidence of the abiding interest in our schools, is the continually increasing amount annually appropriated for their support. In several of the towns, this has been more than doubled, within a few years. The community has come to understand, that a good schoolmaster can no more be employed for a small compensation, than a good farmer, mechanic, or lawyer; and that the only true economy, in either case, is to secure the person competent to the business to be accomplished.

PRIMARY SCHOOLS.

Erroneous impressions have prevailed, with regard to these schools. The popular idea has been that any body could teach a primary school, even the very young with limited attainments and no experience. This is a mistake; for no schools so impera

tively demand all those traits and excellencies of character which constitute a model teacher: namely, gentleness of disposition, courteous and winning manners, self-control, skill in discipline, quick perception, ingenuity, a mind fruitful of expedients, habits of order and neatness, an attachment to children, a love for the profession of teaching, with a full average of mental endowment and intellectual culture. No department of instruction suffers more from inattention. "What cultivator who should neglect his plants and young trees while in the nursery, and assign as an excuse, that they were soon to be transplanted, and then would receive more attention but would be pronounced exceedingly unwise." Every child, as well as every plant and tree shows the effect of early culture. Our primary schools are of primary importance. Impressions made here remain through the whole course of instruction. Foundations laid here must modify, as well as sustain, the entire superstructure. The temple cannot be broader than its base. In these schools it is not enough to make right impressions; they should be made in the right way. All the exercises of the school room should be pleasant and attractive. A forbidding manner, or injudicious chiding, should be studiously avoided.

The general impression seems to be, that children naturally love play, and dislike study; that they will run to the one, but must be forced to the other. That this is in so great degree true, comes more from the fault of the parent and teacher, than from the nature of the child. From early infancy, we woo a child to his play, and encourage him if he fails. We certainly never think of chiding him, but how we pursue the opposite course when we turn him to his books. Now, suppose we reverse our practice. Insist upon his playing in a particular manner, at a stated time, and for a fixed period, and scold and punish him when he is tardy, indifferent, or plays badly: but, on the other hand, make everything attractive, encourage and commend him even though he may fail at his study. How soon would his nature be changed? He would love his book, and hate his ball.

Text books are too closely followed in our primary schools, and, indeed, in all our schools. We want more of oral instruction, more of the living voice. Object lessons, when skillfully managed, are always attractive and interesting, especially to young children. A bit of glass, a scrap of iron, a sponge, a flower, an ear of corn, a gray stone, a green or dry leaf, any of the most common objects, often furnish a much better text than a printed book. The ques tion in a primary school should be, How can it be entertained, as well as instructed? and so of all schools.

The attention of our best instructors, is turning to the improvement of primary schools; and they certainly merit the cordial support, and fostering care, of all who feel an interest in the cause of education. A most valuable aid to oral instruction, in these schools, has recently appeared in the form of "Primary School Tablets," designed by Hon. John D. Philbrick, the accom. plished Superintendent of the Public Schools of Boston. They af ford important facilities to oral teaching, which experience has proved to be indispensible to the highest success in elementary instruction. No greater mistake can be made, than to attempt to confine the attention of a young child, for any considerable time, to the printed pages of a school book. It cannot be done. Childhood will be entertained. It is impatient of confinement, and loves variety; and if the teacher does not furnish it, the boy will. All the appliances of severe discipline, will not hold him much in check.

The "Tablets" referred to, are well adapted to the purpose for which they were designed, and I cordially commend them to the attention of those entrusted with the management of our schools. A set of them may be seen in the office of your Commissioner.

EXAMINATION OF TEACHERS.

think the time has arrived, when these should be more comprehensive and more thorough. The evidence can not be

ignored, that these examinations are, in quite too many instances, altogether superficial; nor are they made in the right direction. I apprehend, that a question or two in geography-perhaps as many more in history-a paragraph in reading-a few words in spelling a sample of penmanship-a reference to the very sim. plest elements of grammar-the repetition of a few rules of arithmetic, and the solution of a problem, make up the whole of very many examinations, all of which may be passed through, without so much as touching the real qualifications of a teacher: his idea of manners, of morals, of discipline, of teaching. Guizot remarks, "That a good schoolmaster, ought to be a man who knows much more than he is called upon to teach, that he may teach with interest, intelligence, and taste; who is to live in an humble sphere, and yet have a noble and elevated soul, that he may preserve that dignity of mind and deportment, without which he will never obtain the respect and confidence of families; who possesses a rare mixture of gentleness and firmness;" * * * * * * “a man not ignorant of his rights, but thinking much more of his duties; not given to change, but satisfied with his situation, because it gives him the power of doing good. A bad schoolmaster, like a bad parish priest, is a scourge to the community, and, though we are often obliged to be contented with indifferent ones, we must do our best to improve the average quality." The schoolmaster should not merely know: he should know how-just as a farmer should not only know enough to hold a plow, but should know how to hold it. Very many teachers have sufficient endowment, and intellectual culture, while they are quite ignorant of the art of teaching. Their labors are awkward and ill advised, and consequently they fail. Their schools are dull, lifeless; with no system-no purpose-no mental activity-no progress.

Now, the object of Normal School training, is to supply this deficiency, and it should be the first solicitude of examining committees, to see that it is supplied. They should labor to ascer tain, not merely how well the candidate knows a truth, but, also,