Republication of Cousin's "Report on School System of Prussia". Aid to Taylor's "Common School Assistant' 404 404 Portrait.. Education. Early Experience in Teaching.. Tutor in Harvard College..... English Classical or High School.. Private School for Girls... Lectures.... The Schoolmaster. State Scholarships.. VIII. JOHN LOWELL AND THE LOWELL LECTURES. Memoir. By Edward Everett..... The Lowell Foundation... IX. AUGUST HERMANN FRANKE, and the Orphan House at Halle.. Memoir.... Small beginnings of the Orphan House... Condition of Franké's Institution in 1705.. Theological instructions... Seminary for Preceptors.. Latin School... Pedagogium.. Select Class... Art and Practice of Teaching. Canstein Bible Society.. Foreign Missions.. Missionary Schwarz... The Orphan House in 1858.. X. JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU... Memoir...... Educational Views in "Emile". 1. Nature and Art. 2. Teachings of. 3. Nurses 4. Father.... 5. The Tutor.. 6. First instructions under the tutor... 417 417 418 419 419 420 421 421 422 427 427 437 441 441 443 445 453 454 455 455 458 459 459 463 464 465 466 466 466 466 7. Unnecessary Sympathy and Teaching... 469 12. Too much education before the age of twelve to be avoided.. 472 XI. JOHANN BERNHARD BASEDOW, AND THE PHILANTHROPINUM. 487 Legislative appropriations in aid of the College.. XVI. TIMOTHY DWIGHT AS A TEACHER. By Prof. Olmsted.. 1. Intellectual character....... 573 567 568 Letter of St. Jerome to Læta, on the education of her daughter......... XIX. MICHAEL NEANDER. By Karl von Raumer... 594 599 I. MEMOIR OF CALEB BINGHAM. WITH NOTICES OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF BOSTON, PRIOR TO 1800. BY WILLIAM B. FOWLE. CALEB BINGHAM, who enjoyed an enviable reputation as a private and public teacher in Boston, Mass., toward the close of the last century, and, who, through his school books, was, perhaps, more extensively known than any contemporary teacher in the United States, was born at Salisbury, in the north-western corner of Connecticut, April 15th, 1757. His father* was a very respectable farmer, and his mother a descendant of Roger Conant, first among the worthies that settled at Salem, before Boston was founded by Governor Winthrop. Little is known of the youth of Caleb. Salisbury was a new town, containing many Indians of such doubtful character, that the worshippers on Sunday, went to church armed; and the log house used for a church had portholes like the forts of older New England towns, and a guard was stationed at the door. Such a state of society would afford but little chance for a regular education, and the tradition is, that Caleb was prepared for college by the Rev. Dr. Salter. The sisters remembered that Caleb was a slender boy, while his brother Daniel was unusually robust, and there can be no doubt that the same mistake was made, in this case, that is every day made in our agricultural districts; the boy who needed air and exercise was con There may be no difficulty in tracing his paternal ancestors. The tradition is that Jabez, the grandfather of Caleb, presented his son Daniel, with a hundred acres of land in Salisbury, near the mountain, and he, after the birth of Caleb, purchased the beautiful farm between the Lakes Washinee and Washining, and lived there till his decease, February 1, 1805. His wife had died just a year before him, and the homestead came into the possession of Caleb, whose local attachment induced him much against his interest and the advice of his family, to buy out the other heirs, and erect a somewhat expensive house adjoining the old mansion in which he had spent his youth. Cotton Mather informs us that, about the year 1624, a worthy gentleman, Mr. Roger Conant, was sent over from England to Salem, for the purpose of encouraging, strengthening, and promoting the settlement of the new country. Soon after his arrival, which was with a company of whom he was chief, his son Exercise was born. How many other sons he had we are not told, but this Exercise had Josiah and Caleb, and removed into Connecticut, where he died. His remains were deposited in the burial ground of the First Society in Mansfield, where his tomb stone is still to be seen. Josiah had but one child, Shubael, who was a counsellor for the state, colonel of the regiment, judge of the county court and of probate, and deacon of the church in Mansfield. Caleb had seven children, of whom Hannah, the youngest, married Daniel Bingham, and removed to Salisbury, in Connecticut, where Caleb, their second son, the subject of this memoir, was born. fined to, what is more fatal than hard labor in a penitentiary, the narrow walls of a school-room or college, and the hearty boy, who was able to endure such inactivity, was sent into the field. Whether Caleb had shown any unusual love for study is not known, but if he was feeble, as seems to be the fact, he was probably indulged, and allowed to read while his brother was at work. The family of Dr. Wheelock, the founder of Moor's school and Dartmouth college, and that of Mr. Kirkland, the distinguished missionary to the Indians, were related to the Binghams, and this probably led Caleb to Dartmouth rather than to New Haven. Moor's Indian school had been removed to the wilderness a few years before, and the high character of the elder Wheelock, had even obtained aid from England to found a college, where the scattered condition of the inhabitants made even common schools a rarity. Mr. Bingham entered college in 1779, a bustling period on the frontiers, and he graduated in 1782. Immediately after he graduated, he was appointed master of Moor's charity school, which was an appendage to the college, and under the direction of the same persons who managed the affairs of the higher institution. The respectful intercourse that always existed between Mr. Bingham, the Wheelocks, father and son, the professors of the college, and the venerable Eden Burroughs, clergyman of the town, to much of which the writer was a witness, abundantly proves the high estimation in which Mr. Bingham was held as a scholar and a man. While an under-graduate, Mr. Bingham united himself with the church under the care of Mr. Burroughs, and his affection for this excellent man no doubt led him to take the interest he did in endeavoring to check the wayward career of his son, the somewhat notorious Stephen Burroughs. Mr. Bingham removed to Boston, about the year 1784.* He had It is suspected that, on the way to Boston, he stopped at Andover, and had the care of Phillips Academy, a few months, after Dr. Pearson left it to assume the professorship of Hebrew at Harvard college; for the venerable Josiah Quincy thinks he was for several months a pupil of Mr. Bingham at Andover, where an unsuccessful attempt was made to induce him to become the permanent Principal. There is much truth and feeling in the following extract from a letter of this distinguished man, and to fully appreciate the tribute, it should be known that the parties were at the opposite extremes in politics, when such a position generally embittered all the intercourse of life. "As the subject lies in my mind," says Mr. Quincy, “in the autumn of 1785, Mr. Bingham succeeded Dr. Pearson, in the care of the Academy, but did not remain longer than the April of 1786. While there. I was his pupil, and recollect well that his kind and affectionate manner of treating the scholars gained their attachment, so that his determination not to become a candidate for the permanent instructorship was a subject of great disappointment to the boys. All my impressious concerning him are of the most favorable kind. He was a man of heart; and his feelings led him to take great interest in the character and success of his pupils, and, as is usual with such men, his kind affections were reciprocated by those who enjoyed his instruction." This reminiscence, which is entitled to great weight, places Mr. B.'s advent in Boston, much later than the time named by his family, and as he married in 1786, it hardly allows a reason. able time for forming an acquaintance, which must have commenced after his arrival. |