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|~NO. 93. LITERARY. i LECTURE perfections of our Primary Schools, bf method of correcting them pi before the North Carolina In f Education at Chapel Hill, June V WILLIAM HOOPER, j ancient languages in the University. (includedfrom our last.) jEit cause of the imperfections of imarv schools, which 1 shall inen searcity of able teachers. They leraltoo" young and inexperienced, btr charge of training the minds , in g ihe tempers, arid forming tlie the young, is confided, in a great 3 to'persons very little older than themselves, to half-educated young , those who, if they have diplomas ands, must be confessed to have n in their hands than in their heads, iduates of our numerous colleges, ame teachers, who were among the inrv scholars. These like other in- B gate their kind with pernicious They send out annually their lit is candidates for the several col carrving evident marks of their | parentage and, verifying the max ancient philosophers, tnat “ex ni | j\(.” Their Alrna Mater cannot of these her pedagogick sons as ng her back as much as they receiv eversing the apostolic remark, she t> them, “ ve cairied nothing out of Id, and it is certain ye can bring n” These teachers, if they deserve credit, are at least entitled to the joon making their pupils as wise as es. The furniture of their upper so light and scanty that it is aseasi irred from their own noddles to those wpils, as are the moveables of a omone garret to another, at the be if the new year. Indeed it is ac o the analogy of nature, that the ,f all the inferior tribes should take months to attain the size of the pa al. there be among my auditors any sh* look upon the seventy of the g remarks as an attack upon them t them spare their resentment, by [thatthe present company is always , and that critics carry on a kind of warfare discharging their shafts, not before their faces, but those behind gives me pleasure to state that many achers are the flower of ourgradu would it were the case that the pal rere liberal enough to induce many such to choose for the business of s this most useful and laudable oc- As it is however, other professions e tempting prizes to their talents, devote to school-keeping one or two green, inexperienced years, only as ns of enabling them to prosecute re lucrative and less laborious pro pulling, the school room, just when i scholarship and acquired experi. s fitted them for their work. The ight to see this, and ought to pro nst it, by setting before such young prospect of honorable remuneration, u would see our academies sough, af ie first scholars among our graduates, ing, with the other liberal professions, ius anil learning of the land. Then would not be considered, as it now i is a mere stepping-stone to some ition more lucrative or more honora would be embraced as an eligible for the whole of life. Thus our would have the advantage of the J wisdom and experience of a life- j lit in the same occupation —ln oth -1 we deem it of prime importance to services of a man long practiced in ssion, from the farrier who shoes our j 'to the physician, to whom we en-I lives and the judge who sits upon ' nesof the public. In teaching alone ! entented with the services of tyros ;t ' B, A physician shall not prescribe wn in a fever, a lawyer shall not j ce respecting that son’s property, | f J both be men of tried knowledge, son’s intellect, that son’s temper,! 'moral character, the detcrminaiion Ud of a man that son is to be—all "I mailers arc rashly committed to in of very slender experience. Now, "'onof the youugmind and the man °f the young heart, the only art in ’apprenticeship is required, no years Ce are necessary ?—Does not every 'has tried the business of teaching *t he learns something important 6ar , either in the subjects on which "tts, or in the human nature on which ln d that he is worth fivefold as much nployers at thirty years of ago as he * ent y I I<et a young teacher there ever so clever and faithful to his un ?> he wants that which nothing but 1 P v e him, and hew seldom wc find “oh promise sufficiently rewarded to : m ( his laborious business until I| oh ripens wine and cheese and 'IS shall ripen his raajesteiial facul °'v the crudeness of his knowledge, ll - sharpness of his temper, and (to ""r similitude of old Madeira) give of sound knowledge and good &2SK& &SreQ<SMMNB a PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY NARNIDUKE J. SLADE, AT THREE DOLLARS PER ANNE’S. 1 sense, from which bis pupils uiay continually drink in strength and virtue. Let me now, with deference, suggest to my i brethren in the task of instructing youth, some improvements which have occurred to ine, and particularize some faults which my observations on various schools have brought I under view. The first and most glaring defect in the conduct of our classical schools, is the ne glect of the common rudiments of English education. It is quite usual for young men I to be sent from the academy to college so de i plorably deficient in orthography and pen i manship, as would disgrace the urchin of an old school. Many a sad hour have 1 spent t ovcr collegiate compositions, in deciphering hideous hieroglyphics, and in restoring to | their proper English physiognomy such mon sters as weight and wrong, neighborhood, han out, foiluge, separate, colledge, jenius, terri. blepersuit, Ax. This is a serious evil—it is | the very thing to bring classical teaming in* ;to discredit. Plain, uneducated people are | competent judges of such blemishes as these, * and may very justly complain of a course of j instruction which, professing to communicate ; the higher parts of learning, leaves the young j man so shamefully untaught in spelling and writing his mother tongue, that he cannot pen a common epistle without danger of disgrac ing himself. There should then, be a compe tent teacher ol English attached to every | grammar school, into whose hands the boys should pass for an hour or two every day, to be practised in the several English branches. This is better done in conjunction with their classical course, because it only introduces a relieving variety of occupation, and cannot advantageously either precede that course, or be delayed till that course is considerably ad vanned. A second practice of our Preparatory Schools, against which I must be permitted to inveigh, is the omission of a great part of the prescribed classical course.—Of this the faculty of the University have reason to speak with much feeling. A certain quantity of Greek and Latin is required to be read ir. or der to admission into college. It is as little as is at all consistent with respectability— less than what is demanded by most of our colleges. Rut in the payment even of this pittance, we are not fairly dealt with. Few academies render us honestly the full debt. One teacher clips oIF a little here, and anoth cr there. For example: we require the whole seven books of Caesar's Gallic War; but one youth comes prepared only on five, another on sou 1 *, another on only two. Wc require the whole of Virgil's -Eneid, or Ovid Expur gata,* as an equivalent for the latter half; and we require these authors not only to be construed and parsed but scanned. But this requisition is in most cases not complied with, and all we can extort is the first half of the .Eneid, read without any attention to proso dy. Here at once is Latin enough to fill up a whole year,of which the pupil is cheated by this system of literary fraud. Another has read the Gospel of John in Greek, hut has not looked at the Acts, and surely we must be hard and austere men to insist upon more than half of what is prescribed in the course. A third has gone no further in his arithmetic than fractions, and depends on making up the deficiency after be enters college. A fourth lias not studied geography. Laboring under one or another of these deficiencies, a youth comes to the University, perhaps from the extremity of the State. The faculty are then placed in this painful dilemma: they must cither depart from their proclaimed terms, in violation of their conscience and of authority, or they must turn away this young man, who has come from such a distance, and deprive him of the benefits of the institu tion. Now we ask, is it fair, is it kind, in teachers to iui|H>sc upon us this distressing conflict between feeling and duty ? Is it deal ing fairly with their pupils, to expose them to this mortifying repulse ? Is it doing justice to the cause of classical learning, of which they aro the professed advocates, to subtract thus largely from a quantum in itself sufficiently meagre? We hope this appeal will not he made in vain, f * Ovid Erpurgaia. Since the appearance of Mr. Gould's beautiful and chastened edition of this author, there can be no proper objection to his restoration to a place in our schools. The richness of his poetry, the vivacity of his des criptions, and his entertaining stories, cannot fail to render him a pleasing and improving compau ion, while theancient mythology, arrayed in such 1 drapery, must be much better remembered than | when searched out by piecemeal in the dry pa-1 ges of a dictionary. This edition of Mr. Gould j is further recommended, by its containing some ; beautiful selections from the Heroides, to initiate the student into pentameter verse, of which he j would otherwise remain ignorant through his ! whole course. + From this censure and complaint, let me be | permitted to except the present able and ebtima- j tie Master of the Hillsborough Latin School.— This gentleman deserves much of every friend of solid education in the State. Possessing one of those sound, judicious minds, and gentle, well regulated, yet firm tempers, to which youth can be so safely committed, he has devoted to this j useful but laborious profession, talents which I might haveearned him more splendid distinction, | and ampler onuluinents in other walks of life, j A continually increasing number of pupils shows i that the public appreciate his merits. May well- j earned cornpciency long induce him to continue j his useful toils ; and in the evening of his days, if he is not able to make the boast of the famous I Dr. Parr, that his potent arm has placed many a! bishop on the bench, be will probably have the honor and comfort of seeing many of his pupil* ‘•\N E NEVER DESPAIR OF ANV THING—TRUTH REINS OUR SLIDE, WK SHALL SAIL UNDER HER AURPK^S.” —HORACE. GEORGIA TIXMEDS 1 Among the imperfections of our school system, i may be pardoned for numbering lb* want, in many teacheis, of an advantageous manner of communicating their instructions. There is often discoverable in the teacher, a lamentable want of animation and vivacity of manner, a want of spirit and energy ir con ducting business. If instruction is imparted with spirit and life. If the master keeps wide awake, his pupils will also. But if he jbe listless, languid, speaking scarce y loud enough to be heard, and allowing then) to an- I swerm the same style, why the whole school will he pervaded by the same listless hum drum, careless manner, which sickens a spec tator just to witness it for one half hour. The manner of a school-muster should have in ij much of the promptness, energy and decision r of a military officer giving the word of coni maud to a company of soldiers. Then lie will receive the same prompt obedience. Then ■ each boy will be on the alert, have all his ' wits about him, and letirn to have all his knowledge ready at command, to march at a moment’s warning. In this way not only would the intellect be sharpened and the rne -1 mory kept bright, but a vast deal of time would be saved, which is now consumed in waiting upon the indolence und tardiness of sluggish or inattentive boys. Situated as 1 | have beeh for many years, destined to take I up and prosecute the unfinished labors of oth ers, I have had considerable opportunity of i observing the effects of different modes of discipline on the various youth who repair to 1 this place. Some are in their recitations ani mated, confident, and pour forth with fluency | all that they know. Such it is a pleasure to > hear, and their recitation, though minute and critical, passes off with smoothness and ra ! pidity. But in too many other cases we are [obliged to say that the delivery of the student is so lifeless, so indistinct, his manner so in ert; and his replies to questions so slow, that it must damp the ardor and weary the pa tience of any teacher, and actually consumes the huur to which the recitation is limited, before half justice is done to the lesson. 1 am convinced that twice the business might be done, twice the instruction imparted and received, just by the correction of this one fault. It is in vain to attempt to reform the manner of delivery after the youth comes to college ; it is by that time incurable. Let then the teachers of ourprimary schools take j lessons from the drilling officer, and cirdea , vor to exhibit in their own manner, and to ' stamp upon their young militia, the same quickness and energy. I know my pedago gick brethren can say much in palliation of this fault. They will tell me that I talk like one who has had no experience in such things— that animation cannot be kept up amid the ! dull, daily round of school-business—that it j is a plant which cannot live in such an atmos phere ; and they will wish me no other pun ishment for my censure than to be condemn ed to go into the schoolroom after dinner, in a hot summer’s day, and-hear a class of little i marble players recite a lesson in Caesar, giving poor Julius, alas ! more stabs than he recei ved from the daggers of all the conspirators j ir. the Senate-house, and avenging the Gauls j i upon hint for all his murders. “ If.you,” they J will tell me, “ can keep the edge of your ani mation sharp upon such materials, you must be made of better metal than a Damascus sword blade, or the farfamed penknives of Rogers. Tho expense of animal spirits and of lungs that would be incurred by sucli a lively inode of instruction constantly kept up, would wear any man out in a short time.” To this I leply, that the thing is not impractica ble, is proved by the fact that some teachers have exemplified it and shown its happy ef fects.—This is particularly the case in the European schools. There the master enters upon his business with an emphasis arid viva city and gusto unknown to most of our Ame rican seminaries. To them our manner would appear frigid and spiritless in the extreme. All depends upon the teacher’s heart being in the thing. If he thinks his business an : important one, and that whatever is worth : doing at ail, is worth doing well, he will be willing to use all requisite efforts to make his instructions acceptable and successful, j And here again a| pears the mischief of our! schools being in tho hands of more transient ’ young men. They cannot enter upon their daily duties with that relish and enthusiasm with which a man carries on his main ultimate ! business, on which ho is to depend for repu- j 1 talion and for bread. Feeling very little in | terest in their temporary occupation, they | will make no exertions to improvo their scho ' larship, and their object will be, to get over | the drudgery of the day, on as easy terms as they can, and lay upat the end of a two years’ | contract, as much money as will bear their ■ expenses in studying a profession. No won i tier the cause of lettcisshould languish under j such management. Another feature which, I think, would be a great improvement in our schools, is the use of oral lectures. Were a teacher to de liver frequent lectures in a spirited and en tertaining manner, on Roman and Grecian | ; I adorning the halls of legislation, and the chairs i ! of ihe liberal professions- *j j To have paid this small tribute, in passing, to i a gentleman whose proximity to the University, | ! and whose well trained contributions to its class- , | ns, enable the writer to be particularly well ac | quamted with his merits, will not, he hopes, be \ ! considered as invidious—other teachers, more re- j 1 mote, may deserve as wall, of whom personal ' I knowledge will not enable him to speak with 1 equal confidence. MILLEDGEVILLE, GEORB4A, JUNE 10, 1833. ■ history aod antiquities, on geography, and the manners and customs of different nations, : putting questions every nowand then to keep alive attention and make memory responsible ■for what it has received, I am inclined to jtliink it would have the happiest effect. How i different an impression is made by the dull, I customary operation of getting any thing by 1 book, and having it delivered from living > lips, with all the advantages of look, voice j a,| d gesture, which a teacher of good sense and affectionate disposition coultl throw into his manner. In doing this, he ought to have ; the ussistanqe of all necessary apparatus, maps, globes, plans of towns and sieges, mill j tary engines, and so forth. When a class is engaged Ujjon Caesar's campaigns in Gaul, their teacher ought to be able to exhibit to j their eyes tiic line of his march—a picture of the battle-ground as the author describes it— of the situation of the town besieged, the dif ferent columns of the two armies,and all the testvdos and rtnece and battering rams which were employed. Then, what is now a task would become a pleasure, and the authors read would be far better understood and re membered. Let me here suggest the expe diency of the trustees of our several acade. mies taking pains to procure such apparatus for the schoolroom. A common carpenter, under the direction of the teacher,could make models for instance, of Ctesar’s bridge, and of some of the Roman engines of war: and then that Bridge chapter, noiv the terror of schoolboys, would be as attractive to them as it is now formidable. They would not “come to the river, all in a shiver,” but would think of crossing the deep and rapid Rhine with as much pleasure as they innke mill-dams over the rivulets that traverse their paternal fields. It is unfortunate that good maps and charts and pictures, for the illustration of our school books are either not yet made, or are too cost ly to come within the reach of ordinary se minaries. This is a desideratum which ought to he looked into and supplied. There ought to be a general call from all the schools for sucli engravings, and such machinery, and then the book-sellers could afford to have them supplied at a reasonable price. It is to be hoped that the art of lithography, whicu has been so rapidly improving within a few years, anti has multiplied prints on such cheap terms, will ere long, be employed to furnish all our schoolrooms with agreable and strik ing delineations of all those parts of youthful study which can be exhibited to the eye. Tlie proper construction of schoolliouses is another point which deserves distinct atten tion. When I have visited the classical schools in our large cities, I have been struck with the inconvenience under which they la bor of being situated close upon the street, stunned the live-long day with the rumbling of drays, the rattling of coaches, the cries of market people, in short the full diapason of discords which come upon the tortured ear trom the commingled voices of men, women and children, dogs, mocking-birds and pianos, belonging to a great town. What an advan tage, thought I, do we enjoy in the solicitudes of Carolina, where we can flx our academies j in the quiet grove, apart from all this pestifer | ous hustle, and where our boys can read or play under a canopy of majestic oaks, surpass ing those of Dodoua or of Bashan—where trie dryads or the muses need not have scorned, to dwell—skirled with a shrubbery of chinque pins and birches, those quickencrs of genius, those wonder-working weapons of the faith ltd pedagogue,' possessing ad the powers ofj the wand of Mercury, save that of lulling, mortals to sleep. In the midst of such a giove stands the schoolhotise, the temple of' Astrea herself, stern goddsss of justice whom, though the poets may feign, and the poor Cherokces rnay really suppose to have forsa ken this world, yet heio, if no where else on earth, she holds her awful reign seated on a j throne of flint,with the hickory sceptre in her | right hand, and the faithful balance in her i left; to whose altar her high priest, the ! schoolmaster, daily brings each pale delin quent, weighs him in the balances, and by | her command administers to his shoulders, ; hack, legs, et cetera, the full measure of his i deserts. But these nurserfcs of puerile gen. ; ius and penitentiaries of puerile misdemean- 1 j ors, our schoolliouses, are not so fortunate in j their construction and furniture, as they are in their location. They ought to be built with a special eye to the purposes to which they are to be applied, and furnished with commodious seats,and desks, alleysqnd doors for ingress and egress. Every pupil should have before him all accommodations for read ing and writing, a separate desk under lock arid key, where he may secure all his books and his stationary, which, in our schools now, is any thing but stationary ; his pens, ink, ruler and pencil having to travel all around the room for the accommodation of his fel-, lows. The trustees ot each academy should j see it provided with such conveniences, and if they will not, each parent ought lobe wil- ! ling to incur the expense of such furniture,' for nis son's benefit, the owner being allowed,; upon leaveing tho school, to transfer it to a : successor, for as near cost as its condition wil! : merit. In winter every school-room should j be wafrned by a stove. In no other w»y can any degree of order be kept up: each shiver, ing urchin will he continually running to the fire, and when caalled to recite, he will have nothing at lus fingers, end but —cold. ( Os the institutions which I have seen,* those approaching nearest to my heav ideal ol a schoolroom arc tlie celebrated Round; Hail school in Massachusetts, and the New | hern academy in this State. But if I might be indulged in the description of one of these , little castles in the air, with whose building 1 have somtiines amused myself, I would say, ; let this spot* where st» many years of the sweet spring of life are to be spent, be made as pleasant as possible to the senses. Let the j dejected hoy, just banished from the delights iof home, as he approaches the schoolhouse 1 lor the first time, see every thing thing toex ! hilaratc and refresh the spirits, and form no dismal forebodings of meeting the Muniteur as soon as he steps over tho thresnhold.* ’Lei it be one of those umbrageous retreats which , I before described, with ground smooth and i a little sandy, to form a natural aietia for his sports, free from those cruel enemies of i youthful foes and incendiaries of youthful tempers, stumps, roots anil stones—let the 1 house he of an oblong shape, with a door in I front, from which leads a central aisle down to the other extremity, where sits the sover eign of the little world, m insulated gran deur, on a slight elevation, sufficient to com mand a view of II his dominions. Let the floor be of brick,* to prevent noise, and let it slope gradually from the door down to the seat of the teacher. Let tlie whole area be -covered with single desks, one behind the i other; with aisles between the pupils, while at their desks, sitting with their hacks to the master; this arrangement answering the same end as blind bridles upon carriage hor ses, that they cannot see the danger trom be hind, but being in momentary expectation of it, will he always on the alert. The throne ; as I said, must be situated in the centre ol the lower end. Before it, in a space left for the purpose, must be fixed a semicircular bench for the class under recitation, from , which, at the signal, one class can retire, and [ to which another can repair, wheeling in ca ! sy circles through the aisles, like well trained I hattallions, without any confusion. The j smallest hoys I would have to occupy the seats nearest the focus of light and warmth, liko the planner mercury, because having \ most mercury ill their constitutions, they ; would most apt to he flighty, if moving in a ; remoter orbit. If I durst add another appur ; tenanc« to iny school-room, it should be a small apartment in the rear, just behind the throne. made strong, with no exterior win dow for admitting the whispers of sympathy, but only a grated window, opening into the schoolroiq and afibrdirig sufficient light for j study. Neod I mention the purpose of this j mysterious apartment ? It is fur the accom modation of criminals aud debtors, and by way of variety in the penal code, to relieve the right hand of the teacher from perpetual j vibration, and to prevent the too rapid ex haustion of those birchen and chinquepin nurseries before mentioned. Here the de linquent could, during play hours, repent ol his offences in solitary meditation, assisted by ; fasting; and here tiie truant and the idler could be tasked and made to pay their debts, an advantage unatuined by the usual impri sonment of debtors,awliose time is complete]) thrown away both to themselves and their ere editors. A school-room thus constructed, j would be attended with many advantages , the teacher having every facility both for | communicating instruction and maintaining order, commanding, like Jupiter from the top of Olympus, lus whole dominions with one glance of “ that eye whose bend doth awe the I world,” and ruling all by the tap of his feru i la or the nod of the head, Shakes his embrosial curls and gives the nod. The stamp of fate and sanction of a god. i If any of my audience should liete charge me with an over-sight in supposing a monarch to rule with a nod, subjects who sit w ith their 1 backs to him, I can only say that such an ob jector knows not the marvellous flexibility ol the human neck, nor how often a schoolboy is found in the posture of Lot’s Wife. I am sensible of the peril to which 1 am exposing myself by these suggestions for the reformation of youthful culprits, that I am hazarding the wrath of that numerous tribe; hut I hope the freedom of discussion is not yet fettered on this floor, as it has been on some other floors,f and that I shall he in no danger of meeting a pistol or a club on my way home. If I should, let them take care, for they know not but my innocent-looking, ivory-headed cane, which I never yet at tempted to draw, may unexpectedly fly a sunder, and like tho Trojan horse, disclose death in the inside. Let them know, tliai though my profession commands me to be “no striker” yet tnv blood is of that nation which hears the thistle as its emblem, anc whose motto is: Nemo me impune lacesset in all these remarks 1 have had my eve en tirely upon schools for hoys; hut most ot them may he applied, (mutatis mutandis) tc senools for girls. With respect to the latter, it may be added, that in some of our fcnviii seminaries too much is attempted. The whole encyclopedia of know ledge is embrac ed in the list of studies, and in the compass of two or three duodecimos ; and the young lady, hy the time she reaches her teens, is in tianger of thinking herself, a grammarian, geographer, astronomer, chemist, botamst,mu sician, painter and what not. Site is taken from school just at tho age when she begun * Nou bene. The brick must be laid o p-m a \ floor of boards, with air circulating bept-aih, par i ticularly in a humid atmosphere, last il should become damp and unwholesome. t Alluding to the Lite assault oo certain mem , 1 bus of Con g fj. to be capable of appreciating her studies, and having got by rote a little smattering of i every thing, she forgets it all, and never will have any valuable knowledge unless she chance to fall afterwards into the hands of a sensible mother, who shall carry on the culti vation of tho mind at a riper age. Our schools for girls ought to he, as some of them really are, under the care of men or of ladies of age and experience and sound scholarship. Under such guardianship, a young lady’s ed ucation might be continued advantageously till she was eighteen years of age, by which time she might make solid attainments, and her mind acquire a training and an impulse which would carry it on in progressive im provement through future life. If her teach er should have the happy faculty of breath ing into the young female mind an ardent thirst of knowledge, which shall raise her a hove the petty, cares and vanities of dress, and exclude all desire of entering into com pany and taking her place in the world until tier appropriate studies arc finished—such a solid and protracted education would rear a 1 generation of women that wouid have a migh ty influence on society. Our sex would bo ■ obliged to push forward their acquisitions in order to escape the humiliation of inferiority, and tlie whole race of dandies, who now be i ly upon the gentility of a coat and the grace ! fulness of a bow, to make up for what is lack : ing in the head, all these would he compel!- • ed to fit themselves for the company of the ■ fair by a stock of usctul and polite knowledge. I Then we should not hear those sarcastic re flections upon the capacity of the female sox; I sarcasms of little wits, who are incapable of r discriminating between want of opportunities • and want of talent, and who, perchance, may i on some occasion encounter a cultivated wo man, that will make them rue their flippant pretensions, and be cautious how they ever I talk again of female inferiority, t The sum of all I have said then, may be : comprised in one remark, that inadequate pat , ronage deprives the country of skilful expe rienced teachers. Patronage, lilieral patron ' age, will command excellence in all the de i paitments of life. Men ought to he willing - to pay tlie best prices for good tuition, aslbi-y i are for the best merchandize, the best mt--- ; chanical work, the best legal and medical ad • vice. A cheap bargain is generally a mean , one, and in nothing docs this hold more true, i than in the cmplovment of a teacher. When r a father once brought his son to the philoso i pher Aristippus, to put Inin under his tuition, • and objected to his price, saying that he coultl i buy a slave for that sum : “ Do so,’' exclaim : ed the philosopher, “and then you will have 1 two.” There is nothing which would provide a i more eflectual antidote for ihe evils incident - lo our schools, nothing w Inch would sooner I brins: them to a high standard, than a semina f ry for the education of schoolmasters. This r is really a desideratum. The art of teaching i, is one which requites all the lights that can • lie collected from the inventions and experi y mentsof past ages. As tilings now are, eve !■ ry teacher Inis to acquire the art of hinmeif, I, after many years’ experience, after having In. ; Loured under the disadvantages of involunta r ry ignorance and mistakes through most of ’ bis life. Many never learn the art at all, and > arc satisfied to plod on in the old track, teacii : ing others as they themselves were taught.- • But there are others who really wish to in.- • prove themselves, whose minds are open to welcome any suggestion, who read and’ in qire, and would be glad to adopt any mode of instruction and discipline which has been tried with success. Now ; a seminary for i teachers, conducted hy men of high reputa • lion, would furnish the results of all the wis . dom and ingenuity that have linen employed upon the science of instruction in different countries. There a man would Itarn what ire the best school books, what is the best course of study, what is the best mode of im parting knowledge, the best mode of manag ing youth, and what arc tlie greatest attain ments practicable in a given time. All these important particulars lie would learn, as well as bring hisown scholarship to much greater perfection. A teacher, trained ut-such a se minary, would proceed with a confidence ami courage and enthusiasm, now unfrlt. He would not take every step tremulously, with the hesitation and uncertainty of a man who is feeling bis way and relying on hisow n sin-- i/lc experiment. The putflic would feel con fidence in such a teacher; and a certificate* of "having prepared one’s self for a school .nastcr at such an institution, would he worth wore than a hundred college diplomas. It is istonishing that the public have not long seen .he necessity of such an institution. We lave seminaries for training up physicians, lawyers and divines ; ctcn mechanics learn their trades under the best masters. But that most important, delicate and difficult business of fashioning the intellect, moulding the dis position and w ielding the nascent energies of thosu who arc soon to be rulers of tlie world, is left to mere accident, or falls to the lot of tho most inexperienced characters. If a man lias bought a fine piece of cloth, it is not eve. ry tailor that ho will trust to make it up for him. No; he inquires for the best workman for him who has served his time iri one of the cities, in some reputable shop. He is not going to have lus suit spoiled Ly some hunr ler in the art. But this same man wiil put his sori, Ins dear son, who is worth more than ten thousand suits of clothes, he will put his C Coueludcd on second I’» gc. J