by some trivial air flowing from the lips of a mother. Melody may be used by a superintendent of an infant school for a twofold purpose. When he perceives the little company, whilst engaged in their lessons, to grow weary, he may, without previous notice, commence some cheerful air, in which the whole of the school will almost involuntarily join. Their spirits will be immediately revived, and they will address themselves to their tasks with renewed energy. I will not long detain the reader in remarking, that RHYTHMICAL ACTION may be introduced into the system of infant schools, with similar, but perhaps more beneficial, effects than the former. If the affections of the school have been gained to the person of the master, they will be easily induced to imitate every movement which he may choose to perform. There is, in the minds of most infants, a natural inclination to a love of rhythmical measure. Proportion and succession win their ear, and act more powerfully upon them than any animal excitement. They will beat the ground with their feet, or clap their hands, immediately on hearing or observing others engaged in so doing. One united sympathy is thus disseminated, and the step from that point to order and silence and attention, is at all times easy.

The bodily action, moreover, which is thus promoted, tends materially to their health; and, while it refreshes their languishing attention, causes the animal spirits to flow more freely.

In the use of these various modes of diffusing an influence over the little multitude, some discretion will be requisite on the part of the teacher. Prudence will suggest to him, that, excepting the cases where instruction must flow directly from himself, his personal authority should be brought as seldom as possible into action. This he should endeavor rather to increase than to use; until his presence should suggest the love of order, and the habit of attention.

It may be expected that I should here introduce some remarks on the subject of punishments and rewards. It is possible, that, notwithstanding the good influence of sympathy and example, some punishment may be found to be requisite; not only for the good of the child himself, but also for that of all the assembly by which he is surrounded. The choice of this punishment will offer no little difficulty to the teacher, and require no little discrimination. To correct in the way of retribution, or especially with the slightest appearance of ungoverned anger, must produce the worst effects upon children, whose judgement is for the most part formed on impression, and who imitate that which seems to offer them a momentary gratification, without regard to the consequences which may follow. For the same reason, any exposure of the guilt of the little delinquent, which is calculated to feed the pride or excite the

personal dislike of those around, is by all means to be avoided. It may be stated as a fact, that children who have entered, such schools with apparently fixed habits of sin, have lost those habits, within a few weeks after their introduction, without the use of corporal punishment.

Objections, similar to those which have been expressed concerning corporal punishments, may be made to the common mode of manifesting the approbation of a superintendent by rewards. These are not necessary, and, generally speaking, are unsuitable to the system of infant schools. Success is not, in the majority of instances, anywhere the mark of excellence. It is decidedly not so in these establishments, where the moral dispositions are as much the subjects of education as the intellect.

To rewards which are given generally through the school, I however by no means object. That which gratifies all, can excite a questionable feeling in none. When all are pleased, the spirit of unity is not injured, and the general tone of the establishment is improved.

(To be continued.)

BOSTON MONITORIAL SCHOOL.

(Continued from p. 42.)

It would be unne

We come now to the subject of discipline. cessary to say that no corporeal punishment is inflicted in this female school, could we believe that it is never allowed in others. We need no check upon absence; for the absence itself is a severe punishment to the pupil. We check tardiness by rewarding punctuality; but, if this is not sufficient, we deduct the tardiness from the time allowed for recess; and, as few children love to sit still while their fellows are playing, such cases seldom occur. This is the only penance we inflict. By a vote of the trustees, the sum of twenty-five cents a scholar is appropriated every quarter, for rewards. This forms a fund, say twenty dollars, to be distributed quarterly, amongst the scholars. Now, as the usual method of distributing prizes and medals, while it gratifies one or two pre-eminent scholars, disappoints and disheartens a great many, fully as deserving, and affords no stimulus to the majority of the school, who never expect to gain the prize, we have adopted a more equitable and satisfactory method, which relieves the master or trustees from the painful task of selecting the best scholar, and affords even the least eminent as much reward as she deserves. A nominal currency, called merits, is introduced, and a certain number of merits fixed for

every exercise; so that each child knows how much she can earn, and how many merits her classmates are entitled to receive. An alphabetical list of names is written, against which as many merits are marked in scores, as she is entitled to. If she can do more than the exercise required, she receives extra merits. These merits are marked, the moment the exercise is finished; but, as it would take too long to call the roll of the whole school at the end of every exercise, each monitor is required to keep a list of the children in her class, say five or six, and, at a given signal, the marks are in a minute recorded upon these lists, from which they are, once a week, transferred to the general list kept by the master. At the end of the quarter, the number of merits each child has acquired is counted, and then the whole number awarded to all the scholars, added up. By this gross amount the prize fund of twenty dollars is divided, and the cash value of each merit is found. By this method every child receives as much as she is entitled to by her industry; and no murmur has ever been heard. Those who have been able to understand this description will see that there is no limitation to the number or value of merits, the latter depending upon the former; and whether there be one thousand or ten thousand merits distributed in the quarter, each child will receive her proportion of the fund. But, as the share of some will be too inconsiderable to purchase a valuable prize, the amount is credited, if they request it, in a book kept for that purpose, and then added to the amount of the next quarter. Some pupils have never taken up a cent since they first entered the school, preferring to receive their whole sum, when they withdraw.

But there is another class-list, kept for a very different purpose, and called the demerit list. Whenever a child offends against the known regulations of the school, one or more demerits, according to the nature of the offence, are marked against her name; and these demerits are deducted from the amount of her merits, at the end of the quarter; but should they outnumber her merits, they are charged to her, in account, and deducted from the next quarter. This is the only punishment, except the loss of recess, ever used in the school, and it has been found sufficient to restrain the most careless or ungovernable. Your instructer is of opinion that no other punishment is necessary in any school. Corporeal punishment is allowed in some monitorial schools; but the founder of the system discountenanced it, as hardening vicious boys, and ruining the temper of good ones. He proposed various modes of mortification and penance; but it is believed that a few dollars, appropriated and distributed as we propose, will be found more simple and efficacious. The only school I ever taught, previous to this, was composed of children mostly of the poorest class in our city, such as

cannot now be found in any other public school. One year, I pursued the system of castigation, with no little rigor; but, becoming convinced of its evil tendency, I tried my present system, the second year, with perfect success. The children were more obedient,

more attentive, and more happy.

It may seem unnecessary to say a word in answer to objecttions which have been made to the monitorial system; since its success has refuted them, in the most effectual manner; but I think they may be proved theoretically, as well as practically groundless, and therefore beg your indulgence for a few moments longer.

It is said that children, comparatively ignorant, are unqualified to teach others. In answer to this, it might be sufficient to assert that we do not require children to teach any thing of which they are ignorant; but it is said that children are not qualified to teach what they do understand; because they are ignorant of other subjects, and but little older than their classes. This principle appears to me to strike at the root of all instruction; and no adult teacher, who must necessarily be ignorant of many things which he does, or does not pretend to teach to an audience older perhaps than himself, ought to be countenanced, for a moment. But the wisest and best of us go to church, and to lectures on all subjects, without suspecting that the teacher is only a monitor, who knows a little more than we do of the subject under consideration, but is perhaps our inferior in other respects. The art of teaching consists chiefly in adapting the explanation to the capacity of the learner. That this qualification is possessed by few—very few— adults, is a lamentable fact. Even their familiarity with a subject is sometimes the cause of their failure, in attempting to communicate it to others. Is it not a reasonable supposition, that the explanations of children to children, may be often better suited to their capacities, than the explanations of adults? If it be granted that one child can teach another the alphabet, it follows that, with proportionate increase of knowledge, she can teach syllables, then short words, and so on to the end of all knowledge. It may be said, then, there is danger of a child's being required to teach too much. If the master is so ignorant of her capacity, as to require such an exercise, she will not attempt it. Children are more sensible of their defects, than their elders are, and have less art, and no motive, in concealing them. If, because a child is not thoroughly instructed, the capacity of her monitor must be questioned, what is to be inferred from the fact that pupils of all, even the best teachers, are often in the same condition?-I am almost

ashamed to be opposing theory to theory, when I am furnished with what is the best of all arguments-a successful experiment. But it has been said, grant that they can teach, it does not follow that they can govern. Children, it is said, lack judgement-so do men. Children are often partial-so are men. Children love to domineer-so do men. Children, then, are little men; and in what does their peculiar inability consist? Men, it is replied, have more judgement, when compared with children, than the latter have, when compared with each other. We may safely grant all this, and destroy its force, by saying that if they have less judgement in proportion, the drafts upon it are less also. The child's sphere of government is very limited, and always subordinate to the master's. The objection goes upon the presumption that monitors have full power to punish or reward, without being accountable for their conduct. But the reverse is the fact; for, in every case that can possibly be anticipated, their duty and power is clearly defined; and, in all cases, the scholar is allowed to appeal from the monitor's decision, to that of the master, who is always at hand.

. It is contended that self-government, and the government of others, should constitute a prominent feature in every system of education. But shall children be taught that they must be discreet, impartial, and self commanding, and have no opportunity of exercising these qualities? If children lack judgement, they will run no risk of lessening their stock, by exercising the little they do possess. It should be recollected that every monitor is also a scholar; and our system is truly republican. Being sometimes governed, children will be less likely to grow imperious; and sometimes commanding, they will not easily become servile. Men were once thought incapable of governing themselves, but experiment has proved that those who made the assertion did not know every thing.

Perhaps the best test of the excellence of a government, is the general morality, order, industry, and happiness of the governed. In the best communities, some irregularities will appear; but these should not weigh against the general regularity. In forming an opinion of our discipline, however, if a death-like silence be the criterion of perfection, we shall certainly be cast. We have no ambition to produce such a state of things, and maintain it at its known cost of happiness, time, and labor. We love the hum of business; and our practical system cannot go on without it. The old system of committing to memory, and obliging the whole to be idle and silent, that one may work, is an unprofitable system. We aim at full and complete employment; and this we obtain with as little noise as possible. But we go farther, and assert from expe