coöperate in the good work; and that, if they do not unite, an Association will be formed in Plymouth County forthwith.

The people of Norfolk County may well congratulate themselves that their teachers are awake to the importance of their calling, and to the necessity of using the means which the State has so liberally afforded them, of gaining that wisdom which each one in part possesses, but which is derived, in its full force, only from the combined experience of many.

C. J. C.

DANIEL WEBSTER AT EXETER ACADEMY.-In Mrs. Lee's Memoir of Buckminster, recently published, is a paragraph quoted from a manuscript autobiography of Daniel Webster. It shows the great statesman in a new character, and gives a fact both encouraging and consoling to diffident school-boys.

"My first lessons in Latin," says he, "were recited to Joseph Stephens Buckminster, at that time an assistant at the academy. I made tolerable progress in all the branches I attended to under his instruction, but there was one thing I could not do I could not make a declamation, I could not speak before the school. The kind and excellent Buckminster especially sought to persuade me to perform the exercise of declamation, like the other boys, but I could not do it. Many a piece did I commit to memory and rehearse in my own room, over and over again; but when the day came, when the school collected, when my name was called, and I saw all eyes turned upon my seat, I could not raise myself from it. Sometimes the masters frowned, sometimes they smiled. Mr. Buckminster always pressed and entreated with the most winning kindness that I would only venture once; but I could not command sufficient resolution, and when the occasion was over I went home and wept bitter tears of mortification."

I SMILE when I hear poetry called light reading. The true poet has far reaching thoughts, a perception of the harmonious and exquisite relations of the Universe, an eye that pierces the depths and raysteries of the soul, placing him amidst the most gifted and exalted intelligencies. Channing.

SOME HINTS ON MAKING COLLECTIONS FOR THE USE OF SCHOOLS.

It is not my object here to give complete instructions upon making collections for scientific purposes, but simply to direct the attention of teachers to such objects as they can easily procure everywhere, for the special information of their classes.

The first object in such a collection, should be a series of the stones which occur in the vicinity. Every quarry in the neighborhood should be visited, and specimens of the stones, quarried there, collected. Let the specimens be broken from fresh surfaces, upon which the action of frost and moisture has not been felt, and broken with the hammer into convenient shape, say two or three inches square, and perhaps an inch, or an inch and a half thick if the stone splits easily. Railroad cuts, the opening of new highways, the clearing of grounds, the laying of foundations for new buildings, or the digging of wells, will often afford convenient opportunities for increasing such collections. Loose pebbles, lying upon the surface of the ground, should be broken, and specimens of all their varieties collected. But such specimens should be kept apart from those of the solid rocks, in situ, such as are found in ledges. River-beds, cascades, sea-shores, will also often afford opportunities for finding various different stones. Crystals occurring in veins, or geodes, mineral ores, different varieties of coals, and all the useful materials derived from the Mineral kingdom, should be collected with equal care, in suitable specimens. Especially should specimens of the different soils suited to our agricultural purposes, be collected and preserved, in small boxes. Occasional visits to the collections in our Colleges, or to Museums of Natural History Societies, will afford the teachers an opportunity to see what is the best shape to give such collections, and the best mode of preserving them.

In the beginning, a few drawers in a bureau will protect them from dust and other injurious influences. Occasional intercourse with men, knowing something about the subject, will afford an opportunity to ascertain what the different varieties of stones and minerals may be, and to label properly the specimens.

Among plants, attention should be first directed to those most useful in our rural economy. The heads of the different varieties of wheat, rye, barley, oats, corn, should be collected in their mature state, as well as in earlier periods of their development. Bundles of the entire plants may also be very properly brought together; the difference in the size and form of the leaves in corn, wheat and other grains, shown and compared. Next the potato plant; and, where possible, contrasted with the sweet potato.

And not the tubers only should be shown, but also the whole plant, leaves and flowers, as well as the fruit, so that the same objects should be collected in different seasons, and in different stages of growth. The same attention should be paid to the other vegetables, such as peas, beans, in their varieties, cauliflowers, cabbages, mustard, turnips, and other productions of our gardens; and not only the seeds, but also the seed-vessels, and, in the proper time, the flower and leaves, even the whole plant put between leaves of paper, and dried, to be preserved for the season when they cannot be procured. Drawings of them might be made, by the more advanced pupils, from Nature, rather than have them copy indifferent pictures of useless objects. Next, the different grasses upon which cattle are fed, the injurious weeds which infest our gardens, should be collected and made known. Particular attention should be paid to the fruittrees in all their varieties; apples, pears, peaches, plums, cherries, currants; and where there is a disposition to make permanent collections of all the varieties, they can be very well preserved in glass jars filled with alcohol. The fruit of wild plants can be preserved in the same manner, or in a dried state, when they are not too juicy. Grapes and other wild varieties might be prepared in the proper time, and preserved in the same manner. Next, forest-trees and shrubs should be considered; twigs with leaves, others with flowers should be cut in the proper season, and hung up with labels, around the room. Pieces of the wood cut transversely, and split longitudinally with their bark preserved, should be secured also, to show the annual growth of rings of the wood, its appearance when rough, as well as when polished, if so much pains is taken as to secure specimens so well prepared to illustrate the various uses of the different sorts of wood. Pieces of the smaller elastic branches, or the shrubs which are employed in the manufacture of hoops, or poles, or of the withs which are sometimes used to tie together bundles or to secure the stakes of fences. Finally, the collection may be extended to all sorts of wild flowers.

Among animals, particular care is required to preserve most of them, as there are few which can be simply dried. But large numbers of land and fresh water, and marine shells might easily be procured, as also corals, starfishes, and sea-urchins. Insects should be pinned in tight boxes to prevent the access of other, injurious insects. In the selection of pins, care should be taken to have them sufficiently long, and proportionally thin, and to adapt them to the size of the insects. The wings should be stretched, to show all parts, and care taken not to break the legs or antennæ. Crabs and Lobsters, having considerable masses of flesh, should be emptied before being dried, by separating the tail from the chest, and the large claws from their joints, and the

shell and legs placed in a natural position, and afterwards allowed to dry. The inside may be dried with ashes or powdered alum, instead of using arsenic, which is rather dangerous in collections which are to be used freely by children. Softer animals, as Worms, Leeches, Slugs, with animals of shell-fishes, and even Jelly fishes may be preserved in alcohol, in glass jars. Where stuffed skins of quadrupeds and birds cannot be easily procured, it may be sufficient to take off the skin carefully, to rub the inside with ashes, and to allow it to dry. Though such skins will not show the natural forms of the animals, they may be very useful to compare and contrast with common animals constantly about our houses, and their distinguishing characters shown from Nature. Skulls and other bones of these animals may be obtained by boiling them thoroughly, or macerating them for a long time in water, and cleaning away the flesh and other soft parts. Turtles may be emptied, and the shell, with the neck and legs stretched in the natural position, allowed to dry. Snakes, Lizards, Frogs, Toads, Salamanders, and other naked animals are best preserved in glass jars with alcohol, and large collections of Fishes, from our lakes and rivers and the sea-shores, should be preserved in the same manner in a number of glass jars. But to avoid expense, smaller specimens should be selected; and a number of different species may be preserved in the same jar, or kept in a cellar together in a barrel until used for illustration; when those under consideration can be for the time placed in single glass jars, filled with clear alcohol, or even taken out of the alcohol, and shown round to the pupils; who, in this way, will not only learn to know all these objects, but also the manner in which they are best preserved; and will be prepared occasionally to secure most valuable specimens. Fishes may also be skinned and stuffed, as easily as any other animals, but it requires some practice to do it well. If such collections were made in the schools of every township, (and this could be done at a trifling expense) within a very few years, the materials for a special Natural History of every State would thus be secured throughout the Union, and Science itself, in its most extensive range, be highly benefited. For there are large numbers of animals of all classes, living everywhere in this country, which have never yet been investigated, and are still quite unknown to Naturalists, and even the Natural History of those which are known, might be improved; as it is hardly possible to make such collections without at the same time noticing peculiarities in their habits, not observed before. Nothing would be more desirable than to collect, at the same time, specimens in various stages of growth, to ascertain the changes which they undergo naturally. Thus, from every insect in a complete collection, we should have its larva, pupa, and the perfect animal. Secure the cocoons of those which protect themselves from external influences, and

preserve also their nests and eggs. And wherever the young are too soft to be prepared in the same manner as the full-grown animal, put them in alcohol, as we should always do with the softer insects, especially the spiders. I have not the slightest doubt, that a single hour in the week, employed in showing to a class such a collection, would greatly benefit the rising generation, give them a taste for useful employment, and prevent them from doing mischief; and the habit of considering these objects in a useful light, would at the same time be the greatest inducement to avoid the cruel sport of robbing birdsnests for the gratification of a thoughtless curiosity or of a cruel natural disposition. Scholars, known to have failed in this respect, might well be punished by being deprived of that hour of captivating instruction, which they would derive from the time employed in illustrating these objects in school.

Such collections of Animals and other objects might also very properly be used as models for drawing, to accustom the pupils, at an early age, to make sketches from Nature, after they have learned how to copy ready-made drawings. And the large amount of details, to be observed in all these things, will render them far more attentive, and prepare them to be far more accurate than will the imitating of objects which may vary in outline, such as landscapes or human figures, and which frequently look well enough even if they have been copied loosely; but in the drawing of animals, the greatest precision being always required to produce a true likeness, their imitation best teaches accuracy and neatness.

GOOD MANNERS- No. I.

Good morals and good manners are more nearly allied than is commonly supposed, although some exceptions in high life, besides that of Chesterfield, may be found. But good manners, in a strict sense of the phrase, proceed from the heart; and in a less strict sense, from the head. The former is polished benevolence, and the latter is an assumed passport, very useful for the bearer, for good or for evil purposes. But vice, even with good manners, is less shocking than without them.

Civility and urbanity are words which imply that they proceed from a city life, being derived from civitas and urbs, two Latin words. This implication, however, applies more especially to old countries, where there is nearly as much difference between castes, as between Africans and Americans, in this country. I should say between slaves and freemen-for we must admit that the black gentlemen of our cities are not at all our inferiors in good