becoming and graphic style, of the sterling advantage of mental culture of female integrity and virtue and of the dignity of the teacher's profession."

A vote of thanks was unanimously passed to Mrs. Haines for her excellent address. Voted to adjourn.

AFTERNOON SESSION.

The Association was called to order at 2 o'clock. Voted to adjourn at 4.

A vote of thanks was passed to those who had been instrumental in adding to the convenience and comfort of the teachers attending the meeting of the Association.

On motion of Mr. Butler, the subject of Music was taken up and discussed until 3 o'clock, when a lecture was delivered by W. H. Wells, Esq., Principal of the Putnam School, Newburyport, on "The importance of inculcating self-reliance on the part of the pupil." The lecture was highly practical and instructive, and the views advanced were illustrated by interesting anecdotes, and enforced by sound argument. Mr. Wells was listened to with marked interest and pleasure.

On motion of Mr. Capen, it was voted, that the thanks of the audience be presented to Mr. Wells for his exceedingly practical and interesting lecture, and for the kindness he has manifested in being present from so great a distance to favor us.

At 4 o'clock, the Association adjourned, to meet at such time and place as the directors may hereafter appoint.

Thus passed off one of the most agreeable and profitable of the meetings of this Association. Notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather on Monday, acknowledged to be the most disagreeable winter's day we have had for many years, we counted about fifty teachers in attendance, and it was gratifying to notice several members of School Committees present, a fact which speaks well for the interest which is taken in the Association of Norfolk County. C. J. CAPEN, Sec'y.

BOOKS.

Books, like friends, should be few and well chosen. Like friends, too, we should return to them again and again - for, like true friends, they will never fail us never cease to instruct never cloy. Joineriana.

It is with books as with women, where a certain plainness of manner and of dress is more engaging, than that glare of paint

and airs and apparel, which may dazzle the eye, but reaches not the affections. Hume.

Books (says Lord Bacon) can never teach the use of books; the student must learn by commerce with mankind, to reduce his speculations to practice. No man should think so highly of himself, as to think he can receive but little light from books, nor so meanly as to believe he can discover nothing but what is to be learned from them. Johnson.

Knowledge of books in recluse men, is like that sort of lantern which hides him who carries it, and serves only to pass through secret and gloomy paths of his own; but in the possession of a man of business, it is as a torch in the hand of one who is willing and able to show those who are bewildered, the way which leads to prosperity and welfare. Spectator.

Books, to judicious compilers, are useful to particular arts and professions absolutely necessary to men of real science they are tools; but more are tools to them. – Joineriana.

One of the amusements of idleness is reading without the fatigue of close attention, and the world, therefore, swarms with writers whose wish is not to be studied, but to be read.—Johnson.

[For the Massachusetts Teacher.]

MR. EDITOR: I find that some of :my friends suppose the lines entitled "Be Kind," in the January number of the Teacher, owe their authorship to me. Allow me to say that, although I cheerfully adopt their sentiments, I have no claim to their origin. The lines fell in my way, and thinking they would be useful to our fraternity, I sent them for publication.

The following are among some scraps I have gathered, and I offer them for your next paper. G. F. F.

No one performs an act of kindness, but plants a flower in his own heart.

We must be helpers of others' joy, in order to promote our own.

Harsh words are like hail stones in summer, which, if melted, would fertilize the tender plants they batter down.

A good example, like the noiseless dew, does not agitate the tenderest plant, though it refreshes and makes it thrive.

SELECTED ITEMS.

TESTIMONY OF A RICH MAN.

The late Mr. McDonogh, the millionaire, in his will, says: "Let the poorer classes of the world be consoled, assured that the labor-loving, frugal, industrious and virtuous among them possess joys and happiness in this life which the rich know not and cannot appreciate. So well convinced am I, after a long life and intercourse with my fellow men of all classes, of the truth that the happiness of this life is altogether on the side of the virtuous and industrious poor,' that, had I children (which I have not) and a fortune to leave behind me at death, I would bequeath, after a virtuous education, to effect which nothing should be spared, a very small amount to each, merely sufficient to excite them to habits of industry and frugality, and no more.'

6

The last item in the will of John McDonogh, is as follows:

"And (I was near forgetting that) I have still one small request to make, one little favor still to ask, and it shall be the last. It is, that it may be permitted annually, to the children of the free schools, situate the nearest to my place of interment, to plant and water a few flowers around my grave. This little act will have a double tendency; it will open their young and susceptible hearts to gratitude and love to their divine Creator, for having raised up, as the humble instrument of his bounty to them, a poor, frail worm of earth like me, and teach them at the same time, what they are, whence they came, and whither they must return."

THE MORE HASTE THE WORSE SPEED.

Dr. Orville Dewey's lecture before the Mercantile Library in Boston, was upon the Law of Progress, which he thought was slowness, calmness and moderation. He said in these times every body and every thing seemed to be in a hurry, going at railway speed. A railway train should be the emblem on our shield, with the motto, "Hurrah!" This haste he did not like. He saw the evil effects of it in all directions. Young women were in too much haste to be brought out, and boys in too much haste to assume the position of men. In our schools

the children were pushed through their studies too rapidly, and too much is attempted to be done. He had heard a teacher use the characteristic expression that his pupils should be "put through" such and such studies. This, he said, is a modern practice.

We put children through philosophy-put them through history-put them through Euclid. He had no faith in this plan, and wished to see the school-teachers set themselves against this forcing progress.

ALFRED THE GREAT.

When Alfred was twelve years old, Judith, his step-mother, was sitting one day surrounded by her family, with a manuscript of Saxon poetry in her hand. As Aldhelm and Cedmon had written poems of great popularity, it may have contained some of theirs. That she was able to read is not surprising, because she was a Franc, and the Francs had received from the AngloSaxons a taste for literary pursuits and were cultivating them with superior ardor. With a happy judgment, she proposed it as a gift to him who would the soonest learn to read. The whole incident may have been chance play, but it was fruitful of consequences. The elder princes, one then a king, the others in mature youth or manhood, thought the reward inadequate to the task, and were silent. But the mind of Alfred, captivated by the prospect of information, and pleased with the beautiful decoration of the first letter of the writing, inquired if she actually intended to give it to such of her children as would the soonest learn to understand and repeat it. His mother repeating the promise with a smile of joy at the question, he took the book, found out an instructor, and learned to read. When his industry had crowned his wishes with success, he recited it to her. To this important, though seemingly trivial incident, we owe all the intellectual cultivation, and all the literary works of Alfred; and all the benefit which, by these, he imparted to his countrymen. If this family conversation had not occurred, Alfred would probably have lived and died, as ignorant and unimportant, and as little known as his three brothers. For the momentous benefit thus begun to Alfred, the memory of Judith deserves our gratitude. This French princess was the kind Minerva from whom arose the first shoots of that intellectual character which we admire in Alfred. To such remote and apparently inconnected causes do we often owe our greatest blessings.-Sharon Turner's History of the Anglo-Saxons.

SCHOOLS OF MASSACHUSETTS FOR 1849.

The towns raise by taxation for the support of schools, annually, $830,577. Besides this, $5,483, income of the "Surplus Revenue," is so appropriated. Total, $836,060. Add $35,2 80, contributed as board and fuel. Number of children in the

State from 4 to 16 years old, 215,926. Number that attend school under 4 years, 3,326; over 16 years, 10,452. Number of public schools in the State, 3,749. Number of male teachers, 2,426. Number of female teachers, 5,737. Number of scholars in summer schools, 173,659. Number in winter schools, 191,712. Average wages per month, inclusive of board, paid to male teachers, $34.02. Do. to female teachers, $14.19. Amount of School Fund, December 1, 1849, $876,082; increase during the year, $27,815. There are 64 incorporated academies in the State, with 3,864 pupils, and an aggregate of $61,694 paid for tuition; also, 1,047 unincorporated academies and private schools, &c., with 27,583 scholars, and an aggregate of $240,780 paid for tuition. There are also local funds for the support of academies, &c., to the amount of $354,620, yielding an income of $21,584. Number of volumes in school libraries, 91,539. Value, $42,707. Value of apparatus, $23,826. The value of the public school-houses in the State, in 1848, was $2,750,000, of which $2,200,000 had been expended since 1838. There are three Normal Schools supported by the State, at an annual cost of about $6,500; one at Westfield, one at West Newton, and one at Bridgewater, -averaging annually, in all, 225 pupils. Am. Almanac.

STATE REFORM SCHOOL, WESTBORO'.

W. R. Lincoln, Superintendent.

Boys in the school, December 1, 1848, 23; received since, 311; discharged during the year, 24; remaining, November 30, 1849, 310. 3 were 7 years old; 10 were 8; 17 were 9; 27 were 10; 36 were 11; 46 were 12; 33 were 13; 59 were 14; 69 were 15; 3 were 16; 3 were 17; 1 was 18; 2 were 19; and the age of one was unknown. 119 were committed for larceny; 5 for breaking and entering with intent to steal; 21 for breaking and entering, and larceny; 20 as idle and disorderly; 2 for having obscene books for circulation; and 110 for stubbornness. 247 were committed during minority; 8 for 5 years; 22 for 3 years; 18 for 2 years; and 18 for 1 year. 112 were received from Suffolk County; 68 from Middlesex, 66 from Essex, 31 from Barnstable, 24 from Worcester, 19 from Norfolk, and 6 from Bristol. 268 were born in the United States, and 66 in foreign countries. All the boys are employed during a portion of the day at some mechanical, agricultural, or domestic labor. They do the washing, ironing, and cooking, and make and mend their own clothes. Each day, 4 hours are devoted to school, 6 to labor, 8 1-2 to sleep, and 5 1-2 to recreation and miscellaneous duties. 180 acres of land were originally purchased, and since that time an adjoining farm had been added. The buildings can accommodate