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iSra®. BOOKS, PAMPHLETS and CIRCULARS, Posting anti Stnnr tints , BUSINESS AND VISITING CARDS, AND JOB WORK, IN GENERAL. EXECUTED WITH NEATNESS AND DESPATCH, At the Office of the “ Southern Post,” Macon, BY C. R. HANLEITER. AN ADDRESS ON FEMALE EDUCATION, DELIVERED IN THE CHAPEL OF THE GEORGIA FEMALE COLLEGE, ON THE LAST DAY OF THE EX AMINATION, BY GEORGE F PIERCE, PRESIDENT. This is an occasion of interest to the Guardians of this Institu tion and to the public, identified as it is with the performance of obvi ous duty and that generous ambition which seeks on liberal and en lightened policy the intellectual elevation of the State. It is a prophe cy of the tuture, and the beginning of the fulfilment. Whatever may have been the delinquencies of the past, the present affords cheering evidence that the public mind is awake, and in motion. The impulse has been given, and the first effect betokens large results, predicts a prosperous i c sue to this enterprise, the first-born of its practical devel opement. Great evils in government, in society, in education, unless their dis astrous operation can be traced, analyzed, understood, without some labor of mind, unless the cause and the effect be in such juxtaposition as to make the connexion striking, cannot be suddenly remedied. If there be other apparent causes on which we may charge the wrongs deprecated—we must work backwards —annihilating, as we go, the secondary agencies which have sprung from the great source of all. It is utterly impossible to introduce great radical changes, however cx jiedient or necessary, by one sweeping innovation, without peril of total discomfiture and shame. To attempt too much at once is to defeat the whole. Some public spirited minds, comprehending at a glance the proposed plan of improvement, may leap, without hesitation, to its .adoption ; but the mass of the people on whose concurrence we must at last rely for success, are slow to believe, not from inability to think correctly, but from their adherence to established forms—their preju dices in favor of the customs with which they have been familiar. The people are practical lielievers ia the Baconian philosophy—they must have the demonstration of experiment. Speculation, however sound, is with them but speculation still, until they have tangible proof of sub stance—some sensible manifestation of fitness for use. The operation of these prejudices sometimes annoy the eager confident revolutionist, and doubtless, frequency hinder the application of the most wholesome correctives to existing wrongs. Yet it is a question whether the} - may not be regarded as valuable safeguards against the introduction of those wild schemes of reform that come with all the pride of pretension, as sume the character of philosophy, are in themselves imposing, and yet preposterous and absurd. One thing is certain—they demand respect, if not for the preponderance of benefits in their favor, at least, for their inevitable action, if condemned and set at naught. We live in an age of extraordinary inventions—of bold, startling, independent theories— customs venerable for their antiquity are associated without respect to their age —institutions long approved are displaced bv the substitutes provided in modern wisdom—opinions which have been received on trust from time immemorial are exploded—faith in them destroyed— populaiity constituting no shield to defend them from attack and over throw. There is a curious prying revolutionary spirit abroad, and whatever may have challenged our admiration, or secured our esteem hitherto, must now be subjected to tlio ordeal of rigid scrutiny—the se cret reasons must come forth—the intrinsic merits must be disclosed, and if found wanting, must lie swept off, to join the rubbish of 1 *.gen dary lore. According to the rule by which the judgment of the world is now decided, reformers in design must expect opposition, ere they can became reformers in fact. Under such circumstances, cautio; becomes us. Every change's not an improvement. Indeed, a system that is clearly erroneous in some prominent particulars, and yet is permanent and uniform, is pre ferable to o scries of changes. In the one case, experience may teach ns to counteract the evil—we know what it is—how to neutralize it. In the other, the evil, if not prominent, (and if insidious, only the mpre to be dreaded,) operates for a while unseen, unsuspected, until at last we are enlightened hy the consequences, and tiicn, it forced upon new untried plan, we may, most likely will, repeat experiment, only to renew our disappointment. These remarks are generally true in their application, but especially so, on the subject of education. Innumerable difficulties encompass it. and whoever undertakes reform or enlargement, may confidently anti cipate opposition. It is the doom of every thing good. Discourage ments will arise to check the ardor of enterprise, illiberal opinions will be entertained, predictions of failure will be made, chilling fears will be hinted of labor lost, money squandered without profit, ridicule will shoot its arrows, and the whole scheme will be consigned, in imagination, to disappointment and mortification, and forgetfulness. If there be in the scheme proposed aught of novelty, any thing that savours of extrava gance in calculation, the changes will be rung upon that magic word, “ Utopian,” a sort of generic term for every thing considered chimeri cal and wild. Two years ago the notion of a Female College was laughed at as a Platonic idea—a mere dream—an impracticable fancy born in the reverie of some speculative mind, well meaning perhaps, but utterly ahead of sober sense and prudent wisdom. A Female Col lege ! Anomalous, absurd. A Town Academy, with its thirty or forty pupils, was the “ Ultima Thule all beyond was fairy land. So thought many. And yet this building is monumental proof that the original projectors did not reckon without their host—that they did not proceed upon an exaggerated estimate of the wants of the people, or an unjust calculation of their liberality. The very flattering auspi ces under which, as to number, this Institution has opened its exerci ses, is demonstration of public feeling, and declares the sense of neces sity to have been general. The wants of society demand that the level of intellectual culture shall be elevated—that literary acquisitions on a more extensive scale than have been common, should lie put within the reach of that portion of our population, whose influence, silent and un ostentatious, yet powerful and immense, tells with an emphasis upon character and destiny too mighty to be surrendered to chance, too ya’- liable not to be summoned to the promotion ot knowledge, patriotism and religion. This Institution accords in its plan and general arrange ments with the spirit of the times, and its infancy promises a maturity of strength and wide-spread usefulness. The design is entitled to ad miration and patronage upon every principle of political economy, eve ry dictate of pract’cal wisdom, every obligation of saving Christianity. Reared by individual munificence, who will repudiate its privileges or denounce its aims? An acknowledgment of the capacity-—the wosth of the Female mind—who shall demur to the confession ? The esti mate is not exaggerated, and though the calculation has been tardy, the conviction is completed. The only atonement we can make for past oversight and carelessness, is ample provision for the present, and suitable and efficient arrangements f r the future. In reliance upon a liberal public, the Trustees of this Institution have essayed to redeem the country from a stigma deep and deserved, and the past predicts and ensures “ a crown of rejoicing,” as the reward of tiieir toil. In favor of every enterprise like this, it may lie remarked that there is an essential advantage in aiming ot the highest results. The failure cannot be total, and even though the end accomplished fall far short of the end proposed, it cannot but reach far in advance of the point from jvhich we start. N< thing great or good ever was or will be exe cuted but by hoping for and aiming at something greater and better A diminutive contracted plan, when fillcJ up, confers but little lienefit, and very often operates injuriously, inasmuch as the fact that something has been done may lie appealed to in proof of lalior, mid in justili cation of repose; while a higher standard, a more comprehensive sys tern would have elieitcil our dormant energies, and sustained them in prospect of a consummation proportioned in its usefulness to our abili ty, and worthy of our nature in its enjoyment. In llie pursuit of Knowledge, Burke has said that “ whether wo take, or whether we lose j the game, the chose is certainly ol service.” BY P. C. PENDLETON. VOL. 11. I The object of intellectual education is twofold : “the discipline and the furniture of the mind, the enlargement of its powers, and the storing it with knowledge.” The faculties of the Pupil must lie elicited, roused, j directed. Whatever may be the creative power of the mind, it is still i a dependent agent, needs training, must be supplied with tiic materials j for combination, taught to analyze subjects—to discriminate with {judgment, taste must be elevated, refined—the treasures of memory must be classified and skilfully arranged. This is no ordinary task. It | cannot lie accomplished by a partial course of study. The hasty sketch of a few text books, however well selected—taking notes on lectures, I though scientific and valuable—to store up the technicalities of philo sophy, to be able to call the stars by name, will not suffice for these no | ble ends. It is a law of the mental world, that whatever is above the j common standard of value, shall be obtained only by laborious dili j gence. Attention, study, time, are all necessary. The habit of think ing must be formed and incorporated with ail that is taught, identified in its legitimate use with all that is learned. Without it, instruction is transient in its impression, study a mere mechanical operation, and the mind itself, under tutors, an apprentice, forever doomed to minority, dependent on the master-hand for guidance. The intellect must be tiirown on its own resources, or it is inevitably barred from all honora ble attainment. Any system of education which proposes to fit its subjects for practical useful life, must distinctly recognize the fact, that however its arrangement of motives and instructions may stimulate and enlighten, yet the scholar must form himself. If residence in an Acad emy or College entitles to literary reputation, irrespective of merit and acquisitions—if in the mode of Teaching, no regard is to be had to future character and influence, then the materials may be ol a looser kind, and more hastily put up, but the building unfit for utility or ornament, is fated to mockery and ruin. The common plan of education, as adopted in the country, isesnen tially different from that which we approve, and contemplates results when compared to all the benefits of a legitimate efficient system, that I are at last but a substitution of names for tilings. The very best that (can be said of it is, that it is better than none. In almost every other ;case pecuniary surrenders are made with hesitancy and close calcula tion of value received, but in this there has been the most improvident expenditure of money, if not without complaint, at least without any j equivalent consideration. The universality of the evil, like responsi bility, when thrown into common stock, without a specific appropria tion to each individual, see.ns to have diminished the burden, and made endurance a virtue. Who does not know that in the popular mode of j Female Education there has been more tinsel than gold—more regard 'to imposing display than substantial benefit ? The polish of manners,! initiation into the mysteries of dress, the arcana of the toilet, to teach j | the feet the poetry of motion, the lingers to strike melodious numbers j from the well tuned instrument, the ornament of a name signifying ! nothing, the eclat of haviig finished education at some distinguished i Seminary, have been the end and aim of too many Parents, and of ah most all who have assumed the management of youth. Education I hitherto has not corresponded with the capacity of Woman—her re sponsibilities, her relations in life, her merits, or her influence. Vari ous causes have operated to produce this state of things. It is a supeificial age—hasty, enterprising, locomotive in spirit. It I appears in the adventurous speculations of commerce—in the aban donment of the former slow processes of accumulation —in the wild i schemes of men that make haste to be rich, and in the increasing dis , osit on apparent every where, to make a . .irshow of character and jof means upon fictitious capital. The world is travelling under an j impulse that scorns delay, ridicules the sobriety of steady motion, turns icontemptuously away from the actual advantages that are scattered by [the way, and posts precipitately' ahead, bounding with hope of iro i measurable good I* come. The certain is abandoned for the problem jutienl. A real good that comes along in the way of sober industry, land every lav toil dwindles into downright dwarfishness, in prospect ! of the magnificent boon that eager expectation conjures up in airy form | from the dim but not distant future. There is a want of patience, a I restless longing that spurns at the lesson of experience, a passion forj tlieoiies and experiments that looks up the energies of the people in [false confidence, presumptuous reliance upon plans and notions, or| ievaporates them in dreams of the philosopher’s stone, that is to turn! [every clod into gold, rescind the decree of God, and exonerate the; I world from the curse of labor. Idleness expects to reap the rewards j of industry, the poor man of to-day to be the rich man of to-morrow, ! and fortune is to plant our crops, gather our harvests, prepare our food, I weave our apparel, and meet all our expenditures, while we sit u in olio j cum dignitate,” burning incense to our skill and shouting huzzas toj the march of mind. Distance must be annihilated, mountains dug down, vallies filled up in the flash of thought, twenty years must be j crowded into one, and the young man of this generation must have| more, know more, enjoy more, than the patriarch of the past, and all jby the potent talisman of the ago which realizes every tiling it ima* j Igines, and imagines whatever it pleases. The same spirit prevails as to Literature and Science. It pervades [ [all departments of learning from the School Mouse to the University.' | The course of education must be brief and rapid. The opinion seernsj i to be entertained that patient study, diligent laborious application would [suffer the world to get a century in advance of the rising generation, j j and leave them forsaken of the eager crowd to plod along in darkness jand in want. Every step must be regulated by quick time; and yet I the untaught scholar must talk of books familiarly, as though he had, | been born and reared in a Library. Parents yield to the course of things, catch the spirit of the times, [ j and are content with the name instead of the substance of ancduca-j i tion. The ill-advised policy of the country upon this subject, operates j disastrously upon the whole circle pf Female Literature. The inferior ; standard of attainment which has been set tip has brought down [cation in the estimation of the people generally, to a corresponding [level.* The reputation of scholarship lias been acquired by a course jof instruction too hurried to give it a substantial value. The tempta tion is thus presented to the young to content themselves with know- j ledge too superficial for actual life, simply because prevailing sentiment; [and pernicious doctrine secure currency to the possessor. Many .persons of limited means, unable tocncountei the charges of instruc- ! [tion for a series of years, and yet anxious that their children should be educated, made competent to compete with theirfellows, resolve that they , j shall at least pass over every thing within a- period too brief to learn more than a fraction of the allotted task. The vanity of the parental heart is flattered by the seeming attainments of the child so dispropor t’oned to its age, the precocious deyelopement of mind, the rapid travel through text boons, and delighted with the approximation of the time when the expenses of board and tuition shall cease, and the youthful disciple of learning launch into society : no inquiry is made into the 1 nature and extent of the preparation for the duties that ensue. When the time has come in the prevailing fashion of the country, when it should be said that the young lady has “finished her education,” the | qualifications necessary to justify her withdrawal from the place of in [ stn.trlion are presumed, and education ceases. The real signification of the current phrase, her education is finished, if interpreted aright, is simply, that she has quit going ttmchool. In the exaggerated judg j meat of partial friends, it is thought a fair conclusion, considering the lulls of money paid, and the time consumed, and the capacity of the child withal, that the amount of learning should correspond ii value [land extent. And so pci haps it might, it there had been a proper ad justment and proportion of time and studies, but on this overcharged j system, wliere quantity nod not kind is the wlesideratim, no wonder ; need be felt if the material turns out to be of a quality so f ail and unfit for use as, in the issue, to find its home with the rubbish of the world In the name of Literature and Science I protest against the principle of meusuring education by dollars and cents, 'i lie question is not, DEVOTED TO LITERATURE, INTERNAL IMPROVEMENT. COMMERCE. AGRICULTURE, _____ FOREIGN and DOMESTZC NEWS, AMUSEMENT, &c. Ac. TERMS . THREE DOLLARS, IN ADVANCE FOUR DOLLARS, AFTER THREE MONTHS. 1 MACON, (Ga.) SATURDAY MORNING, AUGUST 3,1839. a hat it costs, but, what is it worth ? Who can compute the sum ? Its accomplishments are so splendid, its advantages so manifold, that it is profanation to depreciate it by comparison with gold and silver. Beauty fades into deformity, strength degenerates into weakness; fame is fickle as the veering winds, fortune is a bird of passage, and like the stormy Petrel, rests not; health, sight, hearing, friends, all fail, but knowledge abideth, and well nigh defies the fluctuations of this troublous world. A title to influence with those who know us well, a recommendation to those who know us not, an employment when we are vigorous, and a solace when we arc weary ; an independence in poverty, and distinc tion in wealth ; an ornament in youth,a resource in age; who would despoil it of its claims and reduce it to the grade of an ordinary inter est? Shall we talk of expense in the attainment of a good like this-? Hoard our treasures for ignobfe ends, or lavish them upon the ridicu lous fripperies of a vitiated taste ? But, miserable folly ! Look over the country, survey its domestic arrangement, and say whether ex penses are actually diminished by the withdrawal of Pupils from our Female Institutions. Many persons who are too poor to educate their children as their true interest and the Parent’s duty demand, squander enough in blind and mischievous* devotion to unreasonable customs, not only to secure all the blessings forfeited, but to extend them to those who now are outcasts from every educational privilege. The plea of exhausted means by which knowledge is arrested, means no thing less than that, if any more is expended 6n this interest, some use’ess ornament of mere taste must be foregone; the circle of festive enjoyment must be contracted ; some altar of fashion must be left with out incense, and the whole household perhaps, w ithout a represent ative in the temple of the great Diana. It is thus that Schools ore scantily supported, children half taught, knowledge doomed to a bound ed sphere, and the means of the country appropriated to follies, diver sions and entertainments, that minister to no virtue, and that pamper a thousand vices. The operation of the causes to which we hove referred, have found but too much countenance from those who have assumed the responsi bilities of Teachers. To learn a child with rapidity lias been consi dered a prominent recommendation of an Instructor. Reputation has been made dependent upon this art. A slow painstaking system is considered a relic of the dark ages, a sure indication of incompetency. I t requires rare courage and independence to set one’s self in opposi tion to an evil not only common but decidedly popular; to grapple in hostility with public sentiment, unaided and alone; to wage war upon a policy where resistance is the signal for ejectment from business. Besides this hurried superficial course diminishes labor. It is far easier to ask questions printed in the book than it is to originate them ; to hear successive lessons that have been memorized ; adhering strictly all the while to the text than it is to enter upon a lucid explication of principles, showing their reason and their application. To gather about an Academy the eclat of a name, no matter for what, so it brought scholars, has been considered an attainment and a blessing. This could be accomplished the more readily by conformity to the reigning custom, than by an iudependant and diverse mode. Popu larity has been the price of error, and desertion the reward of truth and faithfulness. Besides, it is the interest of Instructors to please patrons in their own way. The result is, that plans have been circumstantial, vary ing with itie imites und views unci prejudices of those who have en couraged the School, On all other subjects the professional man is presumed Ki know best the rules and principles and action of his pro fession. Ihe lawyer may be independent in the management of his case; the physician in the treatment of his patient; but the school master is under authority, and must obey or suffer defection and aban donment. As to what is to be taught, and how long, and how much, and as to the best mode of teaching, every man lias his opinion, and must be heard, and generally submission is the condition of support. In this conflict of opinion, where caprice originates and sustains one side of the question, and is seconded by interest and policy on the part of the Teacher, it is not surprising that sound judgment should be surrendered to terminate the struggle. Parents sometimes submit the choice of studies, and the length of time they are to be pursued, to the inexperience of their children. By the sweeping privilege, “study what you please,” they seem to think they shift all responsibility, and cut off all reproach and clamitous afterthought. The authority which God has ordained for the direction and control of the rising genera tion is injudiciously and wickedly abandoned, and one of the dearest interests of time is committed to the immaturity and fickleness and ignorance of childhood. This recreant desertion of the order of na ture, of the wisdom of years, of the lessons of experience, lias buted much to diversify and augment the errors of a system already piebald and absurd. The higher branches of education command the highest prices, nnd the doating fatlier or the careless guardian is made to believe that the infant mind has been underrated, its immense capa cities misunderstood that what a child can learn was never dreamed of in the ancient philosophy, and can hardly be credited, even in this age of mental illumination, and accordingly, the alphabetical scholar is introduced to the sciences. The Spelling Book now belongs to the ■nursery, and is an offence to the Academy. Grammar is too simple for a j oung lady of nine or ten, and must yield to Chemistry, Philoso phy and Astronomy, as the only appropriate employment of the extra ordinary mind's of the rising generation. Arithmetic, the graduating text-book of our fathers, ra dismissed as a vulgar, useless study, that ought not to be mentioned when children are learning Algebra and Geometry. In a word, elementary education, the only basis on which valuable practical knowledge can be reared, is utterly neglected. The cone is inverted—the pyramid is set upon its apex, and while propped and supported by thecontrivcr’s skill,excites wonderand admiration_as a triumph of intellectual mechanism; but, abandoned, to find its own cenl re of gravity, necessarily obeying the laws that govern both matter and mind, it totters and falls. The chaotic mass, even in its ruins, indicates a labor and ingenuity, which if properly directed, might have wrought a monument more durable than brass or marble. The waste ot time, and the |>crversion of ability, and the utter violence done to the analogy of things in the prevailing modes of leaching, arc melancholy. No man can form a distinct conception of the preposterous plans that arc in operation under the specious pretence of improvements, unless favorably located so as to extend his survey over all. The only fea ture of system that appears is uniformity of error. This judgment is founded chiefly upon the developements made by the examinaiions of pupils for admission into this Institution. Among the teachers whose scholars contribute to make up our number, there are a few honorable exceptions, exempt from the censure and condemnation pronounced above. But, as a general truth, if grossest error had been sought by labor of thought, of set purpose, success could not have been more complete. Every thing winch ought not to be is, and every tiling which ought to be is not- This remark is intended to apply to the age and capacity of the child, the character of its studies, to the time, the mode the results of its instruction. Nothing is more true than that a well i proportioned education is essential to symmetry of mental, character. But that class of studies which not only forms the most effectual dis cipline of tlic mental faculties, but is best adapted to the initiatory train ing of the pupil is displaced, and in its stead is substituted a course which is l oyond nature in the order of time, disjointed, overstrained and ridiculous. Whatever the native character of the mind may be, 1 its capabilities of enlargement, whatever its readiness of memory or its devotion to study, there is an order es study appropriate to its pro ! gressive dcvelopemcnt. An unnatural violent transfer from the sim ple elements of learning toils more complex and subtlu combinations, cannot hut derange its movements, encumber the process of growth, nnd most likely, give nn obliquity to the intellectual habits, deleterious in its primary and ultimate effects.—lf tin* mode of instruction cherish tin* sense ot dependence, in the pupil, on books, promote reliance on C. R. IIANILETER, PRINTER. NO. 41. memory for ideas, abandon invention to chance, the mind, whatever its stature or its adornment, must be effeminate, deficient in vigor, and all its life time subject to bondage. Education cannot create ge nius, but education may well nigh destroy it. And even now, there lurks in society many minds capable of reasoning, and sentiment and poetry in their strength, and tenderness and inspiration, that are doom ed to depart from earth unknown to fame, because misdirected and perverted by their unfortunate early training. I am not one of those who sliout paeans to the genius of the age hail every production os an improvement—receive on trust everything that is recommended, and am old-fashioned enough to believe that no velty and advantage are not synonimous terms. The ostensible facil ities of the day in the simplification of school books, by way of learn ing fast, in my judgment, ought to be regarded as an injury. That books ought to be simple in explanation ; distinct, clear and easy of comprehension, is too obvious to need comment. But this is not the end or attainment of those who have flooded the land with revised edi tions of old books, or with some comprehensive substitute for off.— Abridgements—compcnds—affect no valuable purpose, and operate in juriously, inasmuch as they give superficial views of the subjects on which lltey treat; and having been adopted because of some exigency, real or supposed, as to time or means, they preclude alt likelihood of any further information. If more had been regarded desirable, a more, extensive work would have been selected, or if an apparent necessity controled the choice it is not probable that a change of circumstances will promote the enlargement of those desires which have been schooled into satisfaction with a fraction. The most of the modern books have reference in their arrangement only to one of the powers of the mind. Questions and answers ore. arranged for the convenience of memory, without regard to any other faculty. A disproportionate attention is thus rendered to the severaV powers by all who adopt them. The natural consequence has been that the thinking faculty has been left to its native slate, or to such training as was collateral with what seems to have been the great busi ness of instruction. The exercise of judgment, the work *f discrimin ation, analysis—the art of classifying the materials of knowledge, as signing each to its proper place, and giving to all a practical use and value, have foimcd no part of Female Education. Whatever impor tance may attach to memory as an attribute of mind, it is at least cer tain that it is not entitled to take prcccdcrKe of all the rest. Education is a term injudiciously and deceptionally applied, while it distributes its benefits with partial haßd and selects from the intellectual powers the especial object of its favoritsm that, which is, at best, a mere recipi ent —capable it is true of improvement, but wholly dependent. The inevitable result is a distortion of the mental character—an unintelligi- ble compound—an omnium gatherum without order—a “stretching out of the lihes of confusion and the stones of emptiness.” To bring out the mind in full and vigorous exercise there most be a balance of pow er—symmetry, in adjustment securing the harmonious co-operation of’ all the native endowments respectively. Reason, imagination, taste* can never be brought to full perfection unless cultivated in due propor tion. If either predominates character must correspond, and will be determined by the excess, the preponderance will unsettle, distort and circumscribe the habits and operations of the menial man. This mode, of educational painting furnishes society writh caricatures instead of Tike*- nesscs. Nature’s design must be filled up by dilfigcut study of thw , sketch :if freedom be allowed to fancy,and prejudice, in mixing colors and choosing positions, we shall have a flaming back ground with tiny figures without force or spirit to redeem their littleness. Apart froan j all other considerations it is objection enough to say, that the whole class of ideas is made upon the principle of association, dependent upon, the tenacity of memory. The words identified with all that is known,, once forgotten, the last trace ol knowledge is gone ; or, if not utterly effaeed, becomes at least so dim and indistinct ns not to be a converti ble medium for the demands of life. The image and superscription, disappear with the lapse of time, and the coin can not be recognized! The mere recitative exercises, commonly adopted, may be perform ed by the pupil with distinction, without enlarging niatcrially the of actual knowledge ; the technicalities of science may be stored away in the recollection in utter separation from acquaintance with the prin ciples tlicy define ; the rules and the examples under them may all' be |so studied as, that while the instructor observes the order of the book; in his interrogatories, no mistake shall lie made by the scholar; but [invert the order, change the phraseology pf the question, bring it up. under some aspect different from the* book, and confusion follows.— ;The principle is not understood away from the terms in which its de i finition is couched, nor its application away from the examples associ ated in the text with the rule. Wlmt child is there to be found ac quainted with the scholastic phrases employed in all' works of science 7“ f)oe3 the committing them to memory explain and define ? Will tha* repetition of them at the daily lessons, or the annual examination, en lighten the understanding as to their meaning ? Nay, verily ; all this may be done and yet the secrets of science lie unrevealed among tho definitions of the book, even as the lore of Egpyt amidst the obscurities, of her hieroglyphics. The pomp and circumstance of an examination, and the special, training for it, both operate to produce the conviction that reputation! is made to rest upon the fictitious plausibilities of an imposing parade rather than the sound practical acquirements of an unpretending, yet thorough scholarship. To stand an examination, respond fluently to every question, seems to be the chief good to which academic ta ilors usually point. The ordeal passed, the teacher smiles with grati fication, and public opinion confers its diploma, and the delighted scho lar moves oft' the stage with all her blushing honors thick upon her ; but what availsit all ? The lapse of a few months—absence from books — new engagements sweep the ill-understood words away, and the mind: 1 instead of being enriched, as it might have been under proper manage ment, becomes barren, like the soil of earth by its own cultivati in.— The labor of years departs with the forgotten terms, and leaves only those slight benefits winch result necessarily from kirtmaey with books-, i Like rugged rocks that tower up shrubless, and without verdue —the rains of heaven having washed the vegetable mould away; minds thus educated, stand out in society with scarce soil enough to support ’ the bloom, or feed the fragrance of a solitary thought. A partial education is infinitely preferable to a superficial one. To> know a few things well, to have them rooted in the mind, is certainly better than a hasty sketch of every thing. Tue vnodera fashionable plan not only lavishes too much time on ornament and accomplish*, meet, (by the way a wretched misnomer,) but is essentially defective in the mode and extent of instruction. To elevate the literary charaotv of our countrywomen, the whole system must lie revolutionized. Lim-. it the range of investigation and examine with care-*—initiate. the scho-. lar into the art of learn ; ng—make the mind self-dependent—rouse up, its energies, end give the direction for profitable employment. The. foundation is.then stable ; the plan is intelligible; the mind knows its powers, and how to use them.; the consciousness of capacity is stirred., into life; a generous emulation will find in the bosom a welcome, aojl a home ; the promise of distinction will redeem the intellect from stag nation, and revolving years wiH witness constant improvement- Bat. the popular system discards the reason of the case, puiis ari its fevers and pulleys to work, us if the mind were to be s\v-u»g up to its appro priate altitude like d*nd matter without effort of its o\v* by. the nwra. force of plan. Apart from the instruments of elevation there is no. ground to stand upon,'and the ill-treated subject cannot sustain itself. We might just as soon expect the unfledged eaglet to.soar from its muuutain cyry und rival- in ibght, the parent bird, whose well-tried wing Imd swept the thunder’s path full many a rime, as to sec u mind thus educated, lifted high ; seif.poisod, die wonder and admitntion of nil Isdow, or sweeping abroad on pinions hold, unwearied and -Arong. .Substantial knowledge, high attainments in science, intinurtti acquaint- THE 1* published in the city at Mscrvi every fhiUmisy Morning, at three dollars in advance, rotnc dollars after three months —two dollars for six months— and mailed to country subscribers by the earliest mails envefoped by good strong wrappers, with legible diree tions. Mr No subscription received for a less period than six months—and no paper discontinued- until all arrears are paid. AdvertLietnent* not exceeding twelve lines will be in serted at SI OO for the first insertion, and SO cents for each ones in proportion. 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