help in assigning lessons; and the scholar, in studying and remembering them. 5. Its omission of details. A school text-book on this subject should not be a compendium of political statistics, nor an office-holder's guide, but a citizen's manual. Experience has shown that young men and women from fifteen to twenty years of age may become deeply interested in the study of civil polity if the teacher is interested, and knows his subject. The best results in knowledge and discipline are attained by making the class exercise one of discussion, rather than of mere recitation. It is not intended that the chapters on the colonial governments should be committed; but read in the class-room, and compared, and a summary made of their general features. Every school should have among its reference books a copy of the General Statutes, the Acts and Resolves of the Legislature, and a Law Dictionary. As Parts III. and IV. of the book are themselves summaries of the constitutions of the State and the United States, summaries at the end of the chapters are omitted. BRIDGEWATER, August, 1875 |