Miscellaneous.

HE MANAGEMENT OF BOYS BY MOTHERS.

BY THE REV. JOHN S. C. ABBOTT.

ergyman of much observation recently remarked, that the ee of sixty years had taught him, that if boys had a faithful cious mother, they were pretty sure to turn out well, whatght be the character of the father. There are mothers who, ious causes, in rearing their sons, are deprived of the con of the father. The following hints are intended for the ce of such mothers.

eep your boys by all means out of the streets.-At the imes for play, allow them to invite some of their neighbors' into your yard, or permit them to visit those children of ends with whom you are willing they should associate. But an immutable law, that they are not to rove the streets in to play with whatever companions chance may throw in ay. By commencing early and firmly with this principle, I have no difficulty in enforcing it. Turn a boy loose into ets, to associate with the vicious and the profane, to lounge orners of stores and stables, and he will almost certainly be Therefore, at all hazards, keep them out of the streets.

o not allow your boys to play out of doors in the evening.something in the practice of night exposure and night plays eem to harden the heart. You never see such a boy posof a gentle and modest deportment. He is always forward, ed, unmanageable. There is always temptation in the s of the evening, to say and to do things which he would willing to do in the open blaze of day. The most judicious

will never allow their children to be out at such hours; ently, the only companions he can be with are the unmand unmanageable. There is something almost fiendlike in uts which are occasionally heard from such troops of boys ated at the corners of the streets. If you would save your m certain ruin, let him not be with them. Keep him at n the evening, unless, by special permission, he is at the of some judicious friend, where you know he will engage fireside sports.

Do what you can to keep your sons employed.-Let play be r occasional privilege, and they will enjoy it far more highly. them in the garden, if you have one, at work, not at play. do them no harm to perform humble services. It will help

id help them still more, to have them bring in the wood or , to scour the knives, to make their own beds, and to keep n order. You may thus render them highly useful, and contribute to their future welfare. If you are sick, it is ore important you should train up your sons in these habits try, for they stand peculiarly in need of this moral and 1 discipline. Louis Philippe, the late king of the French, the son of the proudest and the richest noble of France, was hood and early youth required to wait upon himself in the ance of the humblest offices. It was through this culture was trained up to be one of the most remarkable men of the age.

lake an interest in your children's enjoyment.—A pleasant in encouraging smile, from a sympathizing mother, rewards tionate boy for many an hour of weary work; and the word e smile reach the heart and make a more pliable, gentle, loving boy. How often will a bey, with such a mother, the afternoon to build a play-house, or a dove cote, cheered e anticipated joy of showing it to his mother when it is done. hen he takes her hand to lead her out and show her the e of his mechanical skill, how greatly can his young spirit ified by a few words of encouragement and approbation. By hizing in the enjoyment of your children, by manifesting the you feel in the innocent pleasures they can find at home, is shield them from countless temptations.

Incourage as much as possible a fondness for reading.— n's books have been, of late years, so greatly multiplied, that s but little difficulty in forming, in the mind of the child, a or reading. When the taste is once formed, you will be Il further trouble. Your son will soon explore the libraries

of all his associates, and he will find calm, and silent, and improving amusement for many rainy days and long evenings. And you may have many hours of your own evening solicitude enlivened by his reading. The cultivation of this habit is of such immense importance, and is so beneficial in its results, not only upon the child, but upon the quietude and harmony of the whole family, that it is well worth while to make special efforts to awaken a fondness of books. Select some books of decidedly entertaining character, and encourage him for a time to read aloud to you, and you will very soon find his interest riveted; and by a little attention, avoiding as much as possible irksome constraint, you may soon fix the habit permanently.

The great difficulty with most parents is, that they are unwilling to devote time to their children. But there are no duties in life more imperious than the careful culture of the minds and hearts of the immortals entrusted to our care. There are no duties which we can neglect at such an awful hazard. A good son is an inestimable treasure language cannot speak his worth. A bad son is about the heaviest calamity that can be endured on earth. Let the parent, then, find time to "train up the child in the way he should go."

EVILS OF THE RATE-BILL SYSTEM.

The system of Rate-bills for the payment of part of the Teachers' salaries is found in its practical operation to be much less satisfactory than its projectors probably expected it to prove. It is rather an expensive evil, than a positive good. For in any School Section where it is depended upon,-it is in the power of a few either to break up the School, or to render its sustentation a heavy burden upon those who support it. Nor is the plan of voluntary contribution for this purpose, which is adopted in some School Sections, fully adequate to remedy the evil, since if the heads of two or three large families in a School Section, refuse to unite with their neighbors in order to make up the required sum for the Teacher's salary, the endeavours of the rest must prove abortive,➖➖ or they must contribute more than they would otherwise be required to pay. Hence many schools are occasionally left vacant for a long time; and thus the children suffer from the want of instruction ;-or otherwise incompetent teachers are employed, at low salaries, whose efforts at instruction are frequently more productive of ill to their pupils, than fruitful in furnishing the elements of necessary knowledge.

A judicious system of taxation for school purposes, if properly carrried out would doubtless provide the means of maintaining our schools more liberally and more certainly than the present system of Rate-bills; --but it is questionable whether, at least this porIt is tion of the Province is generally prepared for such a system. certain there is, in many Townships, great prejudice existing against it; and it is to be feared its introduction, at the present time, would not be productive of much satisfaction.-Rev. James Padfield, Supt. Com. Schools, Bathurst District.

EVILS OF DELAYING THE COLLECTION OF SCHOOL ASSESSMENTS.

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There is, however, another evil of a most serious character that calls aloud for immediate reformation, and does, I presume, lie within your province to remove. I refer to the unnecessary and injurious delay in collecting and paying over the School Assessment, which is now but too general. This delay not only deprives the Teachers for a long time, of one half of their income derived from the School Fund,-but it also hinders their obtaining the remaining balance of their salaries, since the rate-bills cannot be made out till the amount of assessment is made known. Thus they are deprived of two-thirds of their wages for weeks, and sometimes for months, and are often left worse than penniless to provide for their families at the most inclement season of the year. I say worse than penniless, for they are often obliged to incur debts to procure the absolute necessaries of life. Nor does the evil stop here. It also gives rise to imperfect and inaccurate reports on the part of School Trustees,--and thus puts it out of the power of the District Superintendent to furnish the information required from him by the law of the land, within the time limited for supplying it. It leaves the accounts of the present year to be detailed and completed in the next, doubling the amount of labor; and after all the additional trouble thus occasioned, too frequently leaves him deprived of the

power of rendering a satisfactory statement.

The remedy for this And I would beg to

evil lies, as I have stated, with the Council. submit to their favorable consideration the importance of having it carried into effect for the benefit of a most deserving class of men, whose labors, in general, are but inadequately remunerated at the best, even should their scanty wages be punctually paid.-Rev. James Padfield, Supt. Com. Schools, Bathurst District.

BOOK-KNOWLEDGE OF FARMERS-DERIDED BY WHOM? With a man of any reflection and honest care for progress in all the arts and employments of useful industry, there are few things more trying to his patience than to hear men, sometimes even gentlemen, who have some pretensions to education, and who therefore ought to know better, denouncing book-knowledge as affording no guide in practical husbandry. Now, to all such, and especially to practical men who succeed well in their business, and who have always something useful to impart, as the result of their own personal experience, does it not suffice to say, "I am obliged to you for what you have told me; your integrity assures me that it is true, and your success convinces me that yours is the right rotation, and yours the proper process, since I see that while you gather heavy crops, your land is steadily improving; but now, my friend, let me ask you one question further. What you have imparted is calculated to benefit me personally, and unless communicated again by me to others, with me its benefits will rest. Now, suppose, instead of the slow and unsocial process of waiting to be interrogated, and making it known to one by one, as accident may present opportunities, you allow me to have recourse to the magical power of types, which will spread the knowledge of your profitable experience, gained by much thought and labour, far and wide throughout the land, that thousands may enjoy the advantages which otherwise I only shall reap from your kind and useful communication Will not that be more beneficial to society, and is it not a benevolent and a Christian duty not to hide our lights under a bushel ?" Doubtless such a man, if not a misanthropic churl or fool, would say, Yes. Yet the moment, by means of types, such knowledge is committed to paper, it becomes (by fools only derided) book-knowledge.— Plough, Loom and Anvil.

MENTAL INTOXICATION-INSANITY.

It is well known, that the constant use of alcohol results in inflammation of the stomach or brain. The mental constitution is similarly affected by unnatural stimulants of the mind. The body sympathizes with the unhealthy action of the mind, and disease affecting both often succeeds the intoxication which exciting romances and tales induce. The records of insane asylumns show, that many a patient has had the seeds of madness sown by indulging the taste for "light reading." Dr. Stokes, of Mount Hope Institute for the insane, states that several cases of insanity can be assigned to no other cause than excessive novel-reading. Nothing is more likely to induce this disease, than the education which fosters sentiment instead of cherishing real feeling; which awakens and strengthens the imagination, without warming the heart. Who has not met with persons whose heads have been “turned" in this way -Quixotes, male or female, who are better fitted for the dreams and visions of cloud-land, than for the sober duties of a real responsible existence in a sin-stricken, but a redeemed world? Total abstinence from the means of intoxication, is the only safe principle for readers as well as drinkers. If men who make and sell bad books, as well as the manufacturers and venders of intoxicating drinks, should find a retreat in the asylum with their victims, the world would not be the sufferer.-The Casket.

LINEAR DRAWING IN COMMON SCHOOLS. Linear drawing is more simple, more elementary, and more intelligent than writing, and of course ought to precede it in early. instruction; especially as it is fully proved by experience, that drawing and writing are learned in connection sooner and better than writing is or can be by itself. If the objects drawn are also described, not only drawing and writing, but grammar, rhetoric, logic Land composition are more effectually acquired than they are or can be by mere lessons from books. They are acquired rapidly and thoroughly, because they are studied practically..

In Prussia, and other parts of Germany, and in some sections of

pay over to those you owe. If you cannot co note every year, and get the best security you can. diligently, and be industrious; waste no idle m economical in all things; discard all pride; be duty to God, by regular and hearty prayer moi attend church and meeting regularly every Sund all men as you would they should do unto you. needy in circumstances to give to the poor, do v in your power for them cheerfully, but if you can, worthy poor and unfortunate. Pursue this cour sincerely for seven years; and if you are not hap and independent in your circumstances, come to m your debts." Young people, try it.

EARLY RISING-ITS HAPPINE

I was always an early riser. Happy the man morning comes to him with a virgin's love, fu purity, and freshness. The youth of nature is the gladness of a happy child. I doubt if any m "so long as he is an early riser and an early wall youth-take my word for it-youth in dressing go dawdling over breakfast at noon, is a very decripi of that youth which sees the sun blush over the the cares of life are forgotten.-Youths' Instructo

ANCIENT PAPER MONEY.--Paper money is, by s stated to have been current in China during the tin Marco emperors, or of the regal tribe of Yu. following account of it :-" It is made of the finest of the mulberry tree, rubbed and stamped, and m so as to resemble cotton paper; these coins are oblong square form, and are made with great formality, every officer engaged in the process putt each piece; and, last of all, the intendant appointed makes a stamp upon it with red cinnaber, from receives its value and currency. The counterfeiti punished with death, as is the refusing it, and a made in it."-Merchants' Magazine.

NUMBER OF PROVINCIAL WORDS IN ENGLAND.provincial words that have hitherto been arrested b ies, we find to stand as follows :-Shropshire, 1,9 and Cornwall, 878; Devonshire, (North) 1,146; Herefordshire, 822; Lancashire, 1,932; Suffolk, 2,500; Somersetshire, 1,204; Sussex, 371; Ess shire, 592; Hampshire, 1,568; Craven, 6,169; 3,750; Cheshire, 903; Grose and Pegge, 3,500 Metropolitan) Total, 30,687. Admitting that foregoing are synonymous, superfluous, or common there are, nevertheless, many of them which, altho graphically, are vastly dissimilar in signification. allowances, they amount to a little more than 20,00 to the number of English counties hitherto ill average ratio of 1,478 to a county. Calculating unpublished in the same ratio, they will furnish 3 provincialisms, forming, in the aggregate, 59,00 colloquial tongue of the lower classes, which ca part, produce proofs of legitimate origin; about th in short, of authorized words that are admitted int of Johnson's Dictionary.-Westminster Review.

School Architecture.

ELEVATION AND PLANS OF A SUPERIOR HIGH SCHOOL-WITH EXPLANATIONS.

On the 65th page of this Journal will be found the Front Elevaof a Superior High School in Providence, Rhode Island. The ement, First and Second Stories are fitted up as School-rooms, the entire building, thus divided, is capable of accommodating pupils-boys and girls. We will now proceed to give an exnation of the accompanying Plans of the different School-rooms the building. A reference to Fig. 1 (page 65) will be advaneous in connexion with such explanation.

P, which is raised seven inches from the floor, is a long table, d, made convenient for experimental Lectures in Chemistry, Natural Philosophy, &c., having pneumatic troughs for holding gases. At F, (i, g, i,) are suitable provisions for furnaces, &c., required in the preparation of chemical experiments. The pump, p, with a sink like the other, (in Room H,) is used exclusively by the pupils in the boys' department.

At all Lectures and other exercises in this room, the girls, entering at a, occupy the seats on the right of the middle aisle. The boys, entering by descending the short flight of stairs b, are seated at the opposite side of the room. This arrangement is deemed advisable in order to obviate the objections sometimes made against having a School for boys and for girls in the same building. The departments are thereby kept entirely separate, except in exercises in vocal music and occasional lectures. The boys enter the house at the end door B, which is 6 feet above the basement floor, and by a short flight of stairs, they reach the first story at e (Fig. 3.)

2

F

PLAN OF THE BASEMENT STORY.-FIG. 2.

e Rooms in the Basement Story (which is 12 feet high in lear,) are separated from each other by solid brick walls. The , in the girls' department, entering the house at A, (Fig. 2,) into the large lobby C, 12 feet by 28, from which they can all parts of the building appropriated to their use.

me furnace room H has a brick floor, and can be kept in as order as any other parts of the house. The wood boxes, n, n, he furnace F are so constructed, that, with an ordinary degree re, the room may be kept as clean as any of the School-rooms. is room, at m, m, provision is made for setting up umbrellas. embles a ladder placed in a horizontal position, and is fastened ceiling on one side, and supported on the other by substansts of oak or other strong wood turned in a tasteful style, et into the floor. The pump p, accessible to all in the girls' ment, connected with a nice sink, lined with lead, affords an ant supply of excellent water, The rooms E, G, and I, nearly et by 24 each, are appropriated as offices of the School Com, Superintendent and Masters, &c.

e large Lecture Room D, on the left hand side of the Plan, nished with a sufficient number of seats (a specimen of which wn at t) to accommodate about 250 pupils. On the platform,

PLAN OF THE FIRST STORY.-FIG. 3.

The three rooms, D, E, and F, (Fig. 3,) are appropriated to the department for girls. They are easy of access to the pupils, who, ascending the broad flight of stairs (at a, Fig. 2), terminating at B, can pass readily to their respective rooms.

As the course of instruction in this School occupies three years, the room D, (Fig. 3, is appropriated to the studies of the first year, E to those of the second, and F to those of the third. In each room, there are three sizes of seats and desks, but the arrangement in all is uniform-the largest being at the back of the room. The largest desks are 4 ft. 8 inches long, and 22 inches wide on the top; the middle size is 2 inches smaller, and the other is reduced in the same proportions. The largest seats are as high as common chairs, (about 17 inches,) and the remaining sizes are reduced to correspond with the desks. The passages around the sides of the rooms vary from 2 to 4 feet wide, and those between the rows of desks from 18 to 24 inches.

On the raised platforms, P, P, P, P, are the Teachers' Tables,

17 No 7 J7 J

and the pipes, p, P, P, conduct it into the rooms in the upper story. The passage, b, leads into the yard, which is ornamented with a variety of shrubbery. The door near e, leading from the room F is used only for Teachers and Visitors, except when the two departments assemble in the hall. In the room C, the boys pursue the studies prescribed for the first year. The other rooms in this department are in the next story.

Pupils ascending from the area e, Fig. 3, by two circular stairways, land on the broad space, a, c, from which, by a short flight of stairs, they reach the second story, which is sixteen feet high in the clear. This second story is divided into three school rooms-two of the smaller of which, separated from the third by a cross partition, are fitted up precisely like rooms C and F, in Fig. 3, and are immediately over them; and the third is fitted up like D, Fig. 2, only that it is furnished with three rows of seats instead of two, and has three seats and desks on each side of, and parallel to the ends of, the Teacher's platform.

Fig 4

PLAN OF SEATS AND DESK.

One of the smaller rooms in the second story is appropriated to the middle class, and the other to the senior class of pupils. The arrangement of the seats and desks are the same as in the other rooms, except that they are movable-being screwed to a frame not fastened to the floor, (as shown in Fig. 4.) The cross partition, referred to above, is composed of four very large doors, about 14 ft. square, hung with weights in such a manmer that they may be raised into the attic, thus throwing the whole upper story into one large hall-an arrangement by which one room can be changed into three, and three into one, as occasion may require. On all public occasions, such as Quarterly Examinations. and Annual Exhibitions, the rooms are thus thrown together, and the seats and desks turned so as to face the large platform in the principal school-room."

In erecting a building, such as we have described, in which the School-rooms are necessarily placed one over the other, care should be taken to deaden the noise overhead. This may be done by filling up (with proper precautions) the spaces between the joice of the floors with tan bark, cork shavings, or some other compact light substance.

We have been more than ordinarily minute in our explanations of the foregoing plans, in order that parties wishing to avail themselves of the information afforded in the Department of "School Architecture" in this Journal may be furnished with every particular of importance connected with the construction of the Superior High Schools in the best educated parts of America-the New England States. In our next number we will present a very complete series of plans, &c., of a very beautiful Grammar School-house, with appropriate explanations.

ON THE VENTILATING AND WARMING OF SCHOOLHOUSES.-No. II,

To the Editor of the Journal of Education.

SIR,-In my first letter on this important subject, I endeavoured to point out the inefficiency of the method of ventilation, and warming, as explained in the January No. of your Journal, and to point out the evils attendant on the want of a regular supply of pure air for the use of the scholars during the winter season. Those remarks were intended to apply principally to the ventilation and warming of School-houses. That they are applicable to any description of building must be obvious, with this difference, that in some buildings the air has to be supplied in a much greater quan

open fire-places, or stoves; the hot air, hot water, will then be discussed, and the means explained incident to the use of the foregoing systems may avoided.

It would be occupying too much space to enter discussion of the several systems of ventilation present in use; for all practical purposes, it w point out their obvious disadvantages. That those d existed, and still exist, is proved by the numero are continually making their appearance, and each purports to be an universal panacea for every ev ventilation, and warming. The principal cause these patents may be explained by the neglect o authors, of applying FRANCIS BACON's rule (as "Novum Organum"), which has led to so ma science, of tracing effects to their causes. In te the open fire-place is more generally used than a even at the present time, it is much used in this larly in the newly settled districts, where fuel ca cheap rate. As the country becomes cleared, and is increased, the stove generally supersedes its us exception, the most expensive method of warmi been introduced. According to Dr. ARNOTT, the power is as much as 3, while Count RUMFOord es as 13. Its superior advantage with regard to ven ever, fully admitted; but those advantages are expense of greater inconveniences. Heating, by fire-place, is principally effected by radiation; bu the fuel diminishes, in proportion as the square increase, the temperature is unequal; besides t the cold air which is drawn into the room, throu crevices of the doors, windows, and flooring, heavier than the rarified air in the room, will a point, which will be the floor level; thus another temperature is created. The other objections to occasioned by smoke and dust, the attendance w required to renew the fuel, and the danger whic an occasional spark, which, in many instances, loss of a large amount of property.

The air in a room, heated as above stated, is from a damp cellar, where vegetable decomposit going on, as from any other source. The air thus the floor, and brings with it a large amount of d other impurities: a portion of this impure air radiation, it ascends to the ceiling, and as it cool walls of the room to the floor, to undergo the person, therefore, sitting in a room heated by an subjected to a variety of currents, cold draughts f windows, as well as the inconvenience of an une all of which evils produce many injurious and dis particularly to persons of delicate constitutions. objection to the open fire-place is caused by the oc of smoke, and other dangerous exhalations, down t the fire is not lighted. Two members of a most in this City were very nearly suffocated from time ago; and this is not the only instance that co rooms with open fire-places are continually liable and more particularly when coal fuel is now so Various remedies have been proposed in order to re the most effectual by which ventilation and warmi the introduction of a flue at the back of the fire-p external air becomes heated before it enters the roo ward system of ventilation is produced, and ha answer very well; at the same time, it has its d supply of pure warm air may be obtained in this other objections are not removed, they are only le I have the honor to be,