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pupil shall become a staunch defender of his cian's-wand which is still in this age magical. country, as well as an intellectual, upright citi- Perhaps no person is really self-possessed who zen. Special schools for the civil and for the cannot sight and fire a rifle without a quickenmilitary departments do not meet the need. ing of the pulse. But we encroach on our next The scholar must be the soldier, not his eulo- topic. We must say, in concluding this subject, gist. Thus, too, the soldier shall be the scholar, that it seems to us not fitting that our boys and so be armed in triple steel. Then the boy should now, or henceforth, throw bags of beans, shall nobly pay for his schooling, while he perils or swing little wooden clubs, for the develophis life in defence of the State which taught ment of their bodies; but that, inasmuch as him the lesson. stern work seems to lie in our future, they

To the patriot, the subject, at this point, opens should be prepared, in a noble and earnest way, to an infinite extent. The advantages which for peforming it thoroughly, and as becomes would accrue from such military training of the strong men.

youth, present themselves to him so rapidly, Of the moral side of our subject much has and appear so immense and so practicable, that already been said in a hostile, depreciatory way. he is tempted to set forth the political bearings This has usually been accepted. But the new of the scheme in a strain of unmixed praise. times have wrought other opinions by letting in The revolution which would be effected in the new light and new reasons. The meeting of the school-room more nearly concerns us as teachers. company will not soon again be for coarse conUntil some details of a plan are determined, it vivality. Nor does it, by any means, follow, remains impossible to discuss the question from that, because the military system is introduced, the teacher's point of view, either with assur- anything of the license of the soldier's life would ance or minuteness. But some of the most ob- be imported into the schools. This view of the vious considerations on its two sides,- the phy- question need trouble no one. sical and the moral,- seem to be the following. The good influences of a military training on While gymnastic systems prove inadequate, the character are manifest. The lesson which through failure to interest the mind, to promote it most behooves Young America to know, but physical culture to a high degree, this plan which he learns the hardest, is subordination. promises to secure the desired end, by afford- We mean that voluntary yielding of one's own ing for the body a permanent exercise which will, on fitting occasions, to that of another will be heightened by the accompanying intel- man, whether this latter be a personal friend lectual activity. Daily drill in the manual of or a personal enemy, to the end that, through the rifle, with the precision and alertness essen- unity of purpose, we may be invincible. Yantial to military movements, is well known to kees must learn to keep silence in the ranks and produce the excellent qualities of strength and not sneer at their officers. You like the noble endurance of muscle, and agility of motion. In mien and superior presence which command frequent long marches and encampments in the reverence: but you must learn to pay outward open air, a certain Spartan contempt for cold respect, at least, to the parchment commission. and heat, hunger and fatigue, might be fostered, The divine gifts are rare. Till they appear, let which would purge our general manner of life us learn to obey, in all gravity, quite other beof much that is sickly and mean. Then we hests. Closely allied with this virtue of subormust notice the development of form and the dination, and including it, is dignity. We do not graces of a supple body. Every one admires the like to see our young officers strutting through erect carriage and self-poise of a West Point the streets. Not so the Lacedemonians, or the Cadet. Familiarity with the destructive power Romans, or the soldiers of Cromwell. Our of fire-arms, and the consciousness that we can boys' heads are turned by the uniform, even if control this, are important features of a generous it means no more than assistant-paymaster or discipline. We teach the young that the inven- corporal. We would have the epaulets, sword tion of gunpowder helped our fathers out of the and sash made a reward of merit, not the trapdark ages. Why not show them how the use pings of a holiday. The boys should not stand of it in these very days may still help us out of in awe of them, but respect them as they now darkness? The rifle is hardly so dangerous as respect high scholarship and feats of daring. the jack-knife. It teaches more natural philoso- Military emulation would prove a wholesome phy than a whole set of apparatus; and more corrective of the influences of trade and the unethics than all the books. It is the only magi- due homage to wealth. It seems that the so

briety of demeanor required of soldiers while is enough for me to educate my own children. on duty, would diffuse itself in the form of se- It is oppression to take money for such a purriousness throughout the whole activity. Who- pose." If the rich man had no children, he ever commands himself acquires self-respect and would probably call the project visionary, quidignity. Herein our boys would, each in his xotic, fanatical, or use some other epithet of odisphere, perform a part as grand as that of colo- um to prejudice people against it. Others would nel or general. be found prophesying evil. The whole scheme The Western railroad companies which sought will prove a failure. The money spent for buildthe services of McClellan and Burnside well ing school-houses will be wasted. Children will knew the value of military precision and prompt- behave badly. Teachers will not be able to ness. Though the public schools could only im-govern them. They will not learn much, and itate from far the great national academy where even if they do, what good will it procure for these men were taught, yet, on a small scale, them who have to labor for a living with their the same qualities of character could be sought hands. Some poor ignorant men would be likeand promoted. ly to call it a project of the rich to get money from the poor in order to save a few coppers in their own pockets. There would be no end to the fears, conjectures and bugbears raised to deter people from giving countenance to schools supported by general tax.

If something of the true soldier's sacred regard for his honor could be infused into the boys of our schools, this alone would justify any expense and repay all the trouble of the innovation.

When, in the course of time, the teacher But we have the free schools. We owe them could be taught to act as drill-master, also, of to the wisdom and benevolence of our forefahis boys, a new element of power would be thers. They have stood the test of trial. Foradded to his authority, which would increase tunately they were established in the infancy of his influence, and cause him to be held in higher our country's settlement. In consequence of honor with his pupils. The teacher himself the successful practical operations of the instimight lose something of that stiffness which tution of common schools, we perceive the fuputs so great a barrier between him and the vi-tility of the objections that would be raised gorous, animated boys. He would be nearer to against it, if it were now for the first time to be them in many ways. His illustration of our brought forward as a measure of reform. history, and his exposition of our Constitution, consideration ought to make us the more gratewould be a vital matter to youth whose daily ful for the possession of free schools, and more exercise should be directed to qualify them to earnest to make them yield all the good of which add to that history, and to defend that Con- they are capable. The means of our forefathers stitution. Geography would become full of sig-were small—ours are ample. But do we effect nificance. In fine, the public schools would as much in proportion to our means as they did? rise to a higher place in the affections of a peo- We are, no doubt, doing well. We have many ple who should rely on them not only for edu- excellent teachers, and of course, many excelcated youth, but for zealous protectors of the lent schools. There is every where some pro

national honor.

The Winter School.

This

gress towards a better condition of the schools.

It is not a little remarkable, however, that some of the very persons for whose benefit, or WERE the proposition made to abolish the for the education of whose children, free schools free school system in New Hampshire, who are open, should appear to set so little value Their children attend school very would not raise his voice against it? But sup- upon them. pose we had no free schools, and some persons, irregularly. They are often absent for trivial calling themselves philanthropists, were to start reasons, and sometimes for no reason at all. the project of establishing them on such foun- Although they have never visited the schools dations as they now rest. What a host of ob- which their children attend, to observe the ways jections would be raised! The rich man who and means adopted by the teachers, yet they loved his money better than his neighbor, would are not backward in finding fault, and often say, "What! tax me according to my property create no small disturbance.

All

for educating my neighbor's children? He has Our winter schools will soon commence. twice as many children as I have, and he does persons should heartily coöperate with the teachnot pay a fifth part of the tax which I do. It ers employed, or if they do not deem them duly

cess.

competent, they should not take such a course this can be used in a manner as little obvious to as must surely make them worse. Teachers the spectators as possible. Those who have this have no easy task to perform. They are respon- habit inveterately established, should carry an sible for much, but all the responsibility does extra handkerchief, that the one " wisely kept not rest upon them. The best teachers will fail for show" may be as little objectionable as posof success, if they are not properly sustained sible. in their work. They may do something under Seriously, our secretions, if healthful, are many opposing influences, but the more efficient never offensive, and never in undue quantities. aid they receive, the greater will be their suc- The habit of casting the saliva from the mouth It appears that some fifty "real teach- causes an extra secretion, which must in turn ers" are in attendance at the present session of be ejected, and thus nature is severely taxed to the Rockingham Institute. They are seeking supply the waste; the gums shrink the teeth better qualifications for the discharge of their fade- the throat is parched-bronchitis first, duties. But better qualifications will not avail and finally consumption, or some other decay of to the benefit of their schools, if parents insist a weak organ comes in to close the scene. upon their adhering to some old routine, and An Arab would run a man through who call every departure from it a useless innova- should presume to spit in his presence. The Let them have a fair chance to try what bird never spits - the toad squats to the earth, they can do with the improved methods of in- and the serpent secretes saliva as a deadly poistruction, which, it may be presumed, they have son. If we weep passionately, the saliva is bitlearned and practiced at the Institute.-Exeter it is pungent and scanty in the action of News-Letter. the baser emotions, while love renders it sweet and abundant. The saliva is associated with our whole animal economy, and follows closely upon the action of our minds, sympathetically, intimately with all its moods.

tion.

ience.

Spitting.

ter

WILL the time ever come when the spittoon, that disgusting reminder that people spit, will be removed from our parlors, steamers and cars? Sensitiveness inclines us to swallow down our Those who chew tobacco should feel a delicacy saliva, while disgust disposes us to spit it out. in having this, one of the lower vices, made The scent of roses moistens lips more than the apparent by the use of la case de tabac, as few tongue; lemons cause the mouth to be filled others rarely avail themselves of this conven- with saliva. The sight of one hateful to us dries the mouth, while on the contrary, one who The habit of spitting is probably one reason is agreeable moistens it. Hence those who weep why the Americans are so meagre in person. much have dry lips, while those who suffer withThey spit themselves to death, and then talk out tears, have not only dry lips, but an acrid wonderingly about our climate-swell the num- mouth. Here is a beautiful philosophy in this, bers of those who die of consumption, and look like scare-crows during the period of their natural life. Women and girls rarely spit- from an instinctive sense of its indelicacy, but men look solemn, talk grave and spit, and some men think it no consequence to spit upon your best parlor carpet - but what their ideas of decency can be is more than I can imagine.

They finish a sentence in conversation by a spit, just as we close a paragraph in our editorial with a period.

Boys, as soon as they are installed into a broad collar, spit. They practice in order to do

and those who waste the secretions by spitting, lose the action of these glands, unquestionably weakened by the fine sensibilities associated with them.

Show us a man who spits, and you show us a man of uncertain characteristics, and one whose sensibilities are not to be trusted. Do away spittoons, and nature will do her work more genially for man; she will beautify him, whereas now she is obliged to be continually patching him.MRS. E. OAKES SMITH.

THE following bill, rendered by a carpenter this well, shooting forward the body and the to a farmer for whom he had worked, seems, at under-lip, till they become masters of the art, least, curious: To hanging two barn doors and able to hit a spittoon at the greatest possi- and myself seven hours, one dollar and a half." ble distance.

If spitting must be done, the pocket hand- A HERMIT prefers always to be “left a loan,” kerchief is the only legitimate medium, and but as for us, we would rather be left a fortune.

Dignity and Universality of Music.

It is a curious fact in Natural History, that of all beasts, there is not one who is not delighted with music except the donkey! A writer in the National Quarterly, says:

"H. Stephens avows that he saw a lion in London leave his prey to hear music; and Mr. Playford informs us that, as he once travelled in Hertfordshire, he met a herd of stags upon the road following a bagpipe and violin; that while the music played they went forward, but when it ceased they stood still; and in this manner they were brought from Yorkshire to the park at Hampton Court. It may indeed be doubted whether the lion could be induced to

M.

ly ceased to move, fell down, and expired without evincing any symptoms of pain.' The Abbé d'Olivet, than whom there is no more credible authority, informs us that Pelisson amused himself in a similar manner while confined in the same fortress. For some time,' says the Abbé, he placed his flies on the edge of a spider's web, which was in the process of being formed, while his valet, who was with him, played on a bagpipe. Little by little the spider used itself to distinguish the sound of the instrument, and issue from its hole to run and catch its prey. Thus calling it always by the same sound, and placing the flies at a still greater distance, he succeeded, after several months, in drilling the spider by regular exercise, so that, at length, it never failed to appear at the first sound to seize the fly provided for it, even on the knees of the prisoner.'"

Babylonian Bank-Bills.

abandon his prey by his love for music; nor does the story about the stags seem altogether credible; but as strange occurrences, resulting from the power of music, as either of those described by Dennis, are well authenticated. De Vernet, a French officer, while confined in AMONG the curious discoveries lately made the Bastile, used to beguile his weary hours by in the region of Babylon, a lot of Nebuchadplaying on the lute. He had thus, for several nezzar's Bank Notes, is mentioned by Mr. Lofweeks, found consolation in his solitude. When tus. He was exploring the ruins of Warka, (by playing one day, he observed, to his astonish- some supposed to be "Ur of Chaldees,") when ment, a number of mice and spiders issuing from one day he met with a number of small brick their holes. He repeated the experiment with tablets, covered, on both sides, with minute the same effect several times, and even found characters. There were forty of them in the some entertainment in observing the attentive locality, (perhaps the strong box of some Babyaudience which he could assemble whenever he lonish money-lender or note-shaver,) varying pleased. A still stranger case is reported in the from two to four and a half inches in length, by Philadelphia Medical and Physical Journal for one to three inches in breadth. Many others 1817, by Dr. Craner, of Jefferson county, who were irrevocably damaged or broken. Sir Henstates that, 'One evening in the month of De- ry Rawlinson found the larger ones to be notes cember, us a few officers on board of a British issued by the Government, for the convenience man-of-war, in the harbor of Plymouth, were of circulation, representing certain values, exseated round, one of them began to play a plain- pressed by weight of gold and silver, and retive air on the violin. He had scarcely perform-deemable at the royal treasury. They bear the ed ten minutes, when a mouse, apparently fran- names of Nabopallasar, Cyrus, &c., (626 to 522 tic, made its appearance in the centre of the B. C.) The precise day of issue is given in evefloor. The strange gestures of the little animal ry instance. The smaller tablets seem to be pristrongly excited the attention of the officers, vate notes of hand, or acknowledgments of inwho with one consent, resolved to suffer it to debtedness. continue its singular actions unmolested. Its These writings are, of course, in the same exertions now appeared to be greater every mo- wedge-shaped character that prevails in all anment. It shook its head, leaped about the ta- cient inscriptions of that part of the world, and ble, and exhibited signs of the most ecstatic de- which has but recently been deciphered. Bricks, light. It was observed that, in proportion to tablets, and cylinders of burnt clay, &c., served the gradation of the tones to the soft point, the for paper; and the records of those ancient dyfeelings of the animal seemed to be increased, nasties, laid up in the palaces of kings, in temand vice versa. After performing actions which ples and in libraries, have withstood the dean animal so diminutive would at first sight stroying influences of time, and come to us legiseem incapable of, the little creature, to the as-ble and fresh from the ruins of burnt cities, aftonishment of the delighted spectators, sudden-ter the lapse of 2,500 or 3,000 years.

Educational Entelligence. part knowledge in an easy and agreeable manner.

COMMUNICATIONS for this Department should be addressed to the PUBLISHERS OF THE SCHOOLMASTER,

Providence.

Meeting of the Rhode Island Institute of
Instruction.

Virtue is also to be developed in the community through the agency of schools, and the teacher must be an exemplar of morality. He must also have executive capacity. A mere student is not fitted for

the work of a teacher.

Mr. I. F. Cady, of Warren, maintained that the first requisite of a teacher was to have a deep and abiding sense of the importance of his work, and to correctly estimate his relations to his pupils. PaA special meeting of the Rhode Island Institute of tience and discrimination were also important qualiInstruction commenced on Friday, Nov. 22d, at Car-fications for the government of a school.

olina Mills. It was originally intended that a session The President, in closing the discussion, argued should be held on the morning of that day, but it that a teacher should have a definite ideal toward was omitted to allow the members an opportunity of which to direct his efforts, and should let each day's attending a funeral in the family of the Hon. John labor approximate to that result. He should be W. Money, who had been mainly instrumental in pro- truthful to his promises. His rules should be few curing the holding of the session at this place. and rigidly enforced. He should also cultivate familiarity with the people in the section in which he was laboring.

The afternoon exercises were of a most vivacious

EVENING.

At seven o'clock in the evening a very large con

At half-past two o'clock in the afternoon, over fifty teachers had arrived, who, with a goodly number of people residing in the neighborhood, assembled in the Freewill Baptist Church, where the Institute was call- and interesting character, and were attended by one ed to order by the President, Mr. J. J. Ladd. M. S. of the fullest delegations of teachers ever assembled Greene, of Westerly, was chosen Secretary pro-tem. at any Institute held in this State. The number of The President made a few introductory remarks, representatives from Washington County was espestating that the object of the Institute was the cultiva- cially large. tion of a friendly interchange of views among the teachers of the State in reference to popular education. Although the war had prostrated other kinds of business, education must go on. Liberty and loy-gregation assembled, comprising the residents within a circuit of many miles, and the church was alty must be taught to the children. And for this end, teachers must become better acquainted with each thronged. The exercises were opened with singing, other. Another object of the Institute was the mutual improvement of its members. Teachers should appreciate the dignity of their calling. It was a profession demanding extraordinary qualifications. structive lecture upon the subject of “Education.” Hence, but few succeeded in it. The difficulties in teaching were met only by experience; children were not alike, and different kinds of management must be adopted in diferent cases.

The business of the session commenced with the discussion of the following question:

"What are some of the most important requisites of success in teaching?"

after which the President introduced to the audience the Hon. Henry Rousmaniere, Commissioner of Public Schools, who delivered a most valuable and in

We have not space to do justice to the merits of a production so comprehensive in its scope of thought,

and elaborate in its treatment. His remarks seemed to co.ne out of the depths of experience, and the tone of them was practical and calculated to exert a positive influence upon the teacher in the conduct of his school. He made many useful suggestions which showed the results of long and sharp observation

The President opened the discussion by urging upon educational systems, and a capacity to apprecithat the most important requisite of a teacher was ate the exigencies of the teacher's position. self-command. He spoke at length upon the advantages to be derived from studying the characters of scholars, and observing their physiognomy.

Mr. A. J. Foster, of Westerly, argued that the teacher must make the scholar believe that he wishes to do them good.

He commenced with the observation that universal experience has taught that plans of education however good, can never create great men. Educators in their attempts to bring down to earth the divine fire Natural talent and inof genius, have ever failed. tense mental application are the great causes why Under one system these Mr. N. W. DeMunn, of Providence, in his remarks, men attain to eminence. dwelt with much earnestness upon the necessity that qualities may be elicited far more readily than under the teacher should exercise dilligence and assiduity another. Still, what is beneficial in one case is often in his calling. injurious in another.

Mr. Joshua Kendall, Superintendent of the Normal Education, in order to be wise and beneficial must School, at Bristol, referred to the fact that the public be founded upon the inherent principles of our nature. school is a centre of influence whose function it is to The world is often told that the young mind can be promote knowledge and virtue among youth. Teach-moulded to any form. Such were the dreams of Laners must have a thorough acquaintance with the caster, who was by his flying artillery of monitors to studies they are to teach. They must be able to im- create genius, change nature and install mere Art

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