The other institutions of the same nature are conducted on the same general principles. There are differences in their governments, endowments, and discipline, but there is a strong general resemblance. It is not for us to say which is best conducted, and we have only selected that in South Boston, because, having witnessed its operation, we are able to bear witness of its peculiar utility, and of the skill, patience, and integrity of the gentlemen who have hitherto had charge of it.

laughed at, or disregarded by any force of animal spirits, however strong or vigorous of mind or body the individual may be. The dull, unvarying course of hard labor, with hard fare and seclusion, must in time become so painfully irksome, and so wear and distress him, that he will, inevitably, in the end, be subdued.' If Mr. Western's plan would be attended with the effects he describes, 'to deter, correct, and reform,' how much more certainly would those consequences attend that followed at Auburn, where the offenders suffer the penalty of total exclusion from society, deprived of all knowledge of their friends and relations, and of their associates, even if confined in the same prison with them; are doomed to constant hard labor, their earnings altogether applied for the benefit of the state; subjected to stripes, inflicted summarily and instantly, by any one of the keepers, for every infraction of the prison rules, even for the slightest attempt to break silence, or for inattention to work, or not working constantly and well.

The punishment of stripes has been found fault with; but both at Ghent and Auburn, the keepers have given it as their opinion, that constant labor, and the maintenance of the very strict discipline enjoined, cannot be enforced without their having the power to inflict this summary punishment. It is only permitted to be inflicted on the back of the convict, in such manner as to produce personal suffering, without danger to the health or any vital part. In point of fact, however, the certainty of punishment following every offence is so thoroughly understood, that the power is, as already noticed, seldom

exercised.

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CHAPTER XVI.-LITERATURE AND EDUCATION.

THE language of the United States differs little or nothing from that of the middle and southern counties of England. The slight peculiarities are chiefly such as relate to accent and intonation, and do not affect the sense. Most of the expressions which are now peculiar to the Americans, and especially to the Yankees, were in use by the pilgrim fathers,' at the time of their emigration, and to them, probably, ought to be attributed the nasal drawl of the least educated inhabitants of New England. The peculiar words of the Americans are too few to deserve particular notice. The educated men of all the states, and especially the inhabitants of the larger cities and towns, speak a language scarcely to be distinguished from that of the higher classes of the mother country. It is yet a question, in what part of the union it is spoken in its greatest purity, each of the different sections arrogating that praise to itself. A practised ear, however, can distinguish a difference between them, so as to decide at once to what division the speaker belongs. The want of a capital, by which the standard can be fixed, is probably the cause of this variety. It may truly be asserted, that, on the whole, English is as well spoken in the United States as in the mother country, and that the jargon put into the mouths of Americans by foreign travellers, bears the same relation to the tongue actually spoken, that a gross caricature does to its original.

Education has met with few obstacles in the United States. Neither the interests and prejudices of an aristocracy, nor poverty and dependence of working classes have checked it in the least. State has vied with state in giving the means of instruction to the humblest individuals. Large tracts of land have been granted by the general government, for the support of schools in the new states, and a reservation is made in every new township for that purpose. In the old states, the legislatures have, by legal enactments, compelled every township to provide for the instruction of its population by assessment, and a punishment is provided for neglect. In the New England and some other states, education at the public expense is accounted one of the rights of freeborn citizens.* It appears from

Education in Maine.—A writer in the Saco Republican furnishes some details respecting the public provision for education in the state of Maine. After its separation from Massachusetts, a law was passed, requiring every town to raise annually, for the support of schools, à sum equal to forty cents for each person in such town, to be distributed among the school districts, in proportion to the number of inhabitants in each. In 1825, the number of districts, as appears from the reports made to the legislature, was two thousand, four hundred and ninety-nine; the number of children, between the ages of four and twenty-one, one hundred and thirty-seven thousand, nine hundred and thirty-one; the number who usually attend schools, one hundred and one thousand, three hundred and twenty-five, and the total annual expenditure, one hundred and thirty-seven thousand, eight hundred and seventy-eight dollars, and fifty-seven cents. The present number of scholars is estimated by this writer at one hundred and forty thousand. The schools kept by male teachers are open, on the average, two months in

the returns from a hundred and one of the towns of Massachusetts to the legislature, that the amount annually paid in those towns for instruction is one hundred and seventy-seven thousand, three hundred and forty-two dollars. Twelve thousand, three hundred and ninety-three pupils attend private schools in the same towns, at an expense of one hundred and seventy thousand, three hundred and forty-two dollars. In all these towns, the whole number of persons between the ages of fourteen and twenty-one, who cannot read and write, is only fifty-eight. In one considerable town, there are but three persons of the above-mentioned age who cannot read and write, and those three are deaf and dumb.

Infant schools have been established all over the union, with great benefit, and great attention has been given to the improvement of seminaries of all descriptions, as well as to the means of rendering teachers competent to their office. The press teems with myriads of books for the use of children, institutions for the improvement of teachers are established, thousands of associations for mutual instruction are formed, countless lectures are delivered, libraries are accumulated, and, in short, no means of disseminating knowledge is neglected.

The elements of knowledge being thus accessible to all, it follows naturally, that the wealthy should be desirous to give their children a more perfect education than elementary public schools can afford. There are, therefore, an almost infinite number and variety of private schools, in which children may be educated in conformity to the views which their parents may entertain for them. In some instances, public schools have intrenched materially upon private academies; in others, the case has been reversed. Females are not neglected in the same degree as in other coun tries-in some of the seminaries, they are taught Greek, Latin, the exact sciences, philosophy, botany, chemistry, &c. &c. The great fault of American instruction in general is, that it is superficial, some knowledge of many subjects being communicated, without a very thorough knowledge of any particular one. There are, however, many distinguished excep tions to this remark, and eminent scholars are yearly becoming more nu

merous.

There are more than sixty colleges in the United States, besides many academies, several theological seminaries, and numerous medical and law schools. Of all these, the most distinguished are Harvard university and Yale college. The object of nearly all of them is to give a thorough edu cation, in languages, mathematics, and the sciences, and it cannot be doubt ed that most of them afford to the diligent student all the necessary means of acquiring such knowledge. Yet it is not to be denied, that very many of the students leave college studies for the more active pursuits of life, without having given sufficient time or pains to their studies, and in this respect, our universities will not, certainly, compare advantageously with those of England. The reason is obvious-in the old country, few students would spend the best of their years in celibacy and seclusion, in the pursuit of knowledge, were they not supplied with the luxuries of life by endowments, and cheered by the prospect of comfortable future establish

the year, and those kept by female teachers, about two weeks longer. The writer sug gests, that if the sum of one dollar and six cents, instead of forty cents, for every in habitant, were required to be raised, that the schools might be kept open during the year, and believes that the additional tax would not he regarded as a burden.

ments by provision of law. We may console ourselves for this manifest inferiority by the reflection, that if we have fewer great scholars than European nations, neither have we peasants or beggars.

The consequences of the superficial but universal diffusion of literature and science in the United States are remarkably singular. Literary productions of the lowest order exist in excess. We think we should not speak much amiss in saying, that more newspapers are published in this country than in all Europe. A great number of them are of an inferior character, being filled with virulent and crude political speculations, reli- gious controversy, or rather vituperation, items of common-place intelligence, such poetry and literature as may be expected from writers beneath their majority, advertisements, puffs, and trash of all kinds. Some, which are purely political, mistake abuse for the energy of eloquence; others, which are devoted to the interests of the commercial classes, are chiefly filled with advertisements; some contain little beside invective against masonry or antimasonry, and not a few disgrace religion, under pretence of promoting its progress. The cause of this perversion of the press is very simple. The expense of starting a newspaper is so trifling, that any successful apprentice can establish one on arriving at his majority; and an excellent printer may make a very indifferent editor. Having once began to publish a print, he must conduct it on his own mental resources, for there are few establishments of this kind which can afford to pay for really valuable assistance. Yet, every state can boast of some public journals of higher character. There is also another class of journals which are really valuable, and which partake of the nature of magazines. These are periodical records of facts connected with trade, commerce, internal improvement, mechanical inventions, and matters connected with the proceedings of the national and state legislatures. Such are Niles's Register, Blount's Annual Register, and a few others of the same character.

The present number of magazines and reviews would seem to indicate a very rapid improvement in American taste and knowledge. Some years since, many abortive attempts were made to establish an American review, and the North American was the first to maintain its ground, and its improvement has been constant. It is now very well known, and often quoted in Europe. Silliman's Journal of the Sciences is deservedly esteemed. There are also several monthly magazines of a very respectable character. The Knickerbocker, issued in New York, has acquired considerable notoriety. The New York Review, conducted by Professor Henry and J. C. Cogswell, Esq., is fast gaining a high reputation. "Colman's Monthly Miscellany," just issued, under the editorial direction of Grenville Mellen and William Cutter, gives promise of a good progress. Even the new western states are not wholly without periodical literature. Theological magazines are very numerous, and some of them are ably conducted. The Christian Examiner and Unitarian Advocate are the organs of Unitarianism. The Christian Spectator and Spirit of the Pilgrims are Calvanistic works, and, indeed, almost every sect in the union has its particular organ. Christians of all denominations will be disposed to question the merits of many of these; but none will deny that they are all useful in some degree, as they serve to awaken a spirit of inquiry. The annual publications are, the American Almanac, the merits of which are denied by none, and which is constantly improving; and the Annual Register, also a very useful work.

The beautiful books of the New Year, as the Annuals may perhaps be called, can receive no other notice here of course, than as they may be considered as evidence of improvement in the arts.

Literature, in the form of both poetry and prose, is certainly taking a ground, in the United States, increasingly honorable to writers and to the cause. Still, our novels, though many are striking, and some powerful, want the vigor of another day, as exemplified in Brown. Useful books can have no better champion than they find in the name of Sedgwick. The drama, it may be observed, has been illustrated in latter days, by efforts that reflect honor on some of our poetical writers. Meritorious law books of American production are not rare. The labors of Chancellor Kent are an honor to the sci ence of jurisprudence. In history, we have Judge Marshall's Life of Washington, Belknap's History of New Hampshire, and well-written histories of most of the old states. Many more writers we have, whose pens have been employed merely on matters of local and temporary interest. Still, however, our literature has not kept pace with that of the mother country. Little has been done to encourage it, and many causes have contributed to retard its growth. It has been in a great measure superseded by foreign publications, which the American bookseller can republish without paying the author, and which he therefore prefers. There is little honor and less profit in the pursuits of our writers. Our mechanics become wealthy by hard labor, whereas our writers might starve, did they depend on their pens. There is a great demand for all things which are of practical, tangible, every-day utility, but a very limited one for fine reading. Few of our people have the leisure and fortune which might enable them to cultivate literature and science advantageously. Under these circumstances, most of what is written is done hastily, and consequently badly done. But notwithstanding the great number of discouraging circumstances, enough has been well done to indicate the existence of much talent and learning.*

*The following observations are from the pen of a writer, who has done as much for the really useful literature of the country as any other man. We refer to Mr. Flint, of whose valuable writings we have so often taken the liberty to avail ourselves.

I. Our national and state governments do little or nothing for literature, by furnishing.example, premiums, excitement, money. They have taken no pains to inspire a taste for it, or to cause it to become part and parcel of the national glory. To produce a rail-road, a canal, a joint stock company, is felt to confer more national renown, as well as advantage, than to rear a Milton, Burke, or Walter Scott. We hardly retain our West Point. Beside our solemn farce of sending among the few respectable ex aminers, a large proportion of ignorant and incompetent men to examine the pupils, legislators have not been found wanting, who, availing themselves of the miserable ap peal of demagogues, to the sordid appetite, miscalled economy, have wished to put forth their unhallowed hands to demolish this only vestige of national show of a disposition to foster the sciences. Profound respect for our country interdicts the thoughts that arise in our mind upon this head. Literature, science, what are they at Washington, more than they would have been in the day of Attila? The members of the legislature have more than they can do to write letters to their constituents, and secure the means of a future election, and to make excuses for refusing their names to the thousand applicants for patronage to new books and periodicals.

In reply to all this, we are sometimes asked, what a government, with the genius and limitations of ours, could do to foster literature? Every one must be aware, that if the constituent parts that compose the government felt keenly and saw clearly, that advances in science and literature constituted the true interest and glory of the country, they