schools. By this means teachers have sometimes been able to get up showy examinations, and to acquire a species of popularity; but it is all mere sounding brass of the most worthless kind. What then shall be taught? The elementary principles of knowledge; and let the application of them come afterwards. Those habits so essential to mental growth, as accuracy, care, certainty, in all kinds of work, must also be carefully inculcated. You must go to the foundation of things. The effect will not be apparent so soon, but the best of a good school cannot be seen for many years. It is like the seed sown in the earth; it must be out of sight a long time, and our impatient efforts to see and exhibit it before its time, destroy it.

The address was followed by fine music from the choir.

On Saturday the exercises were begun with prayer by Rev. Mr. Audem. Mr. Colburn was chosen a member pro tempore of the Executive Committee. Messrs. Tillinghast, Hunt and Spear were appointed a committee to prepare resolutions. Dr. Stone of Boston, according to an arrangement made with the Executive Committee, proceeded to exhibit some of the results of Phonographic and Phonotypic methods of instruction. This exhibition was exceedingly interesting and instructive.

From the close of the exhibition to the adjournment, the time was very profitably occupied in the discussion of the subject of Phonotopy, and the following resolution presented by Mr. Morton, of Plymouth :

Resolved, That it is the duty of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to establish an institution, of high literary character, for the education of persons of either sex, free of charge to such persons for tuition or room rent.

Messrs. Tillinghast, Spear and Hunt were appointed a committee to consider this resolution and to report at some subsequent meeting.

The President exhibited a specimen of India rubber globe, furnished from the office of the Secretary of the Board of Education.

He

After the report of the Committee on Criticism, in the afternoon, the President announced J. W. Hunt, Esq. as the lecturer of the day. He had selected for his subject, the defects. of the Massachusetts school system. In some respects the system was more defective than in the days of our fathers. showed that in our colonial days, a great many enactments were in force, whose tendency and result was to ensure ALL the children a more rigid HOME training, than at present, of body, mind and heart, as a firm basis for school education. The youth of those times were shielded from ignorance and vice by living legal restrictions. An enactment concerning tobacco, that foe to neatness and germ of dissipation, was, with others, instance. Idleness, by our fathers, was treated as a crime. And that

from the falling into disuse of such excellent laws, the seeds of dissipation and immorality had sprung into a vigorous growth, thus paralyzing the influences of our school system. The greatest evil our schools labor under is the WANT of such effective measures, to give correct habits physically and mentally. Several old laws were cited to show that the expenditure for schools was then greater than it now is, in proportion to the number and ability of the inhabitants; and to show that the requirements in regard to high and grammar schools were very much. more stringent than at present. A plan was recommended for completing the Normal system, by the establishment of a Normal College, in which teachers might be fitted for High schools, and instructed in the ancient languages. For the examination of teachers, a State board was recommended, composed of practical teachers, selected equally from each county, whose duty it should be, to examine the graduating classes from the Normal schools, with others that might apply, and whose certificate. should be honored in ANY part of the State. Also County boards of practical teachers, with County jurisdiction. The members of both State and County boards to be chosen for three years, one-third retiring annually. The lecturer expressed himself opposed to the district system now in force in the greater part of the State, as a system fostering aristocracy and local jealousies. He would have schools, fewer, larger, better classified, and enjoying more equal privileges; and the Town Superintending Committees also chosen for three years, one-third retiring each year, that more STABILITY might be given to the teacher's vocation. By such improvements in our system could the teacher's profession be elevated to its appropriate position.

After the lecture, the time was spent in discussion. This was conducted by several gentlemen, including G. F. Thayer, Esq., who spoke encouragingly to the teachers present, urging them to do every thing they undertake well.

Several resolutions, returning the thanks of the Association for attentions received, were adopted.

The next meeting of the Association will be held at Kingston, on the Friday and Saturday next preceding Thanksgiving. Messrs. Sanford and Edwards, of Bridgewater, were announced as lecturers for the occasion. Hereafter, by a vote of the Association, the meetings are to be held regularly, the one on the second Friday and Saturday in June, and the other on the Friday and Saturday next preceding Thanksgiving.

Two prizes of $10 each are offered for essays on the subjects given out at the last meeting.

The interest in the Association has been constantly on the increase. No less than 700 persons were present during some of the exercises of this meeting, and at no time was the number less than about 250. RICHARD EDWARDS, Secretary.

SEEK WISDOM.

"KNOWLEDGE is power," and he who will
Its potent spell may feel,

For Nature's thousand willing tongues,
Instructive truths reveal:

Seek but to know them, and the mind,
In their pursuit, will pleasure find.

Seek wisdom from the little child
That lives mid smiles and tears,
And from the aged man, whose form
Is bent and curved with years;

Scorn not the source from whence it springs,
'Tis worthy of the aid it brings.

The daisy on the verdant lawn,
The summer cloud on high,

The purling brook, the fragrant breeze,
And stars that gem the sky,

Are volumes all whose words divine,
Proclaim to man God's great design.

Let every moment as it flics
Be spent with zealous care
To gain instruction that shall make
The mind new lustre bear.

Around thy path 'twill shed a light
To cheer thy way through sorrow's night.

Resident Editors' Cable.

Resident Editors.

JOSHUA BATES, JR.
J. D. PHILBRICK,

WILLIAM D. SWAN,
GIDEON F. THAYER,

of Boston.

THE Examining Committee of the Boston schools for the year 1851, have made their annual visit, and completed the examination of all the schools. The examination of each school was conducted by the Rev. Mr. Winslow, Chairman of the Examining Committee. The Superintendent, Mr. Bishop, was present at the examination of each school. We are happy to hear from many teachers, the favorable impression Mr. Bishop has made in his visits to the different schools. Mr. Bishop came among us as a stranger, and he has so speedily commended himself to the good opinion of the Boston instructors, that we believe he will receive the cheerful and hearty coöperation of all teachers, in his efforts for the welfare and success of the Boston schools.

J. B., JR.

WE understand that W. D. Swan, Esq. has tendered his resignation to the School Board, as Principal of the Mayhew School. He leaves the profession to connect himself with one of the best established houses in the book trade.

Mr. Swan has been for a number of years a most successful teacher. In early life, he commenced his professional career in one of our interior towns, and soon by faithfulness and success in teaching rose to his present position, where, as the numerous reports of different school committees show, he has always sustained himself with distinguished ability. Mr. Swan has always mani fested a deep and lively interest in the welfare of our public schools. At our State School Conventions and at our Institutes, he has always been regular in his attendance, his influence has been felt, and his opinions have been favorably received in all matters pertaining to the general interests of education. In the meridian of life and usefulness, he leaves the profession with the esteem of his brethren and the respect of the community. That success and happiness may attend him, and that his influence may still be given to sustain and improve our noble system of free schools, is the sincere wish of his numerous friends.

J. B., JR.

WE learn that S. S. Green, Esq., for some years the successful and popular principal of the Phillips School, Boston, and late assistant to Dr. Sears, Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education, has been appointed Superintendent of the Providence schools. We congratulate the citizens, school committee, and teachers of Providence in securing the services of one so well qualified for the situation, both by his practical and sound views of educational matters, and by his experience in teaching. His reputation as a scholar, his success as a teacher, his worth as a man, eminently qualify him for usefulness and dis tinction in the honorable office which he has been called to fill. J. B., JR.

Sixth Annual Report of the Superintendent of Common Schools of Connecticut, 1851.

THIS document contains about 175 pages, and consists of three departments. I. The general report of the Superintendent, Hon. Henry Barnard. II. Reports of proceedings of Institutes. III. Reports of the County Inspectors.

We regard this as one of the most valuable publications on the subject of common schools which we have seen. Its chief excellence consists in its eminently practical character. We have here no Utopian dreams, and no empty declamation, but a plain and intelligible statement of the evils and defects of the schools, with their proper remedies.

The principal topics discussed by Mr. Barnard in his Report proper, are the following:-Teachers' Institutes; State Normal School; School Attendance; Adaptation of our system of Common Schools to the peculiar circumstances of the population(1) to Agricultural Districts, (2) to Manufacturing Districts, (3) to Cities; Improvement in the system of Common Schools. Under the last head, certain features are proposed as desirable to be incorporated into their system.

"I. The territorial organization and administrative agencies of our common schools should be made more simple and efficient. "II. The means provided for the support of common schools should be increased, and should be raised and appropriated in such ways as to awaken the highest degree of parental and public interest, and secure the greatest practicable equality of the best school privileges to all the children of the State.

"III. A broad and liberal system of measures should be adopted by the State, to provide a supply of well qualified teachers, and to exclude from the common schools all persons who do not possess the requisite moral character, 'aptness to teach' and govern children, literary attainments, and professional experience."

"IV. Uniformity of text books."

"V. A law to make it imperative on towns and districts to provide suitable school-houses, furniture and appendages for the same, apparatus and school library."

The Reports of the Institutes are arranged topically, and they may be read with profit by most teachers of large experience, as well as by those just entering upon the duties of the profession. It is hoped that the pages of this Journal may be enriched with somewhat extended extracts from them.

But valuable as this publication is, its preparation constituted but a fraction of Mr. Barnard's labor for the year. He has put in motion and superintended a very comprehensive system of operations, whereby an impulse in the line of improvement has been communicated to nearly every teacher and every district in the State. If these agencies are continued, the time is not distant when the schools of Connecticut will stand in the foremost rank.

By a resolution of the General Assembly, the Superintendent was authorized to prepare and publish a series of essays, in which the most important topics of school organization and instruction should be discussed. The friends of popular education will be glad to learn that two of the proposed Essays are now ready for publication, viz. :-I. Practical Illustrations of the Principles of School Architecture, 176 pp., 150 illustrations. II. Normal Schools in the United States, 200 pp.

J. D. P.