196 Duties of Parents and others. How are the rest of the expenses paid? Is the public money applied to the same scholar in both seasons, summer and winter? What is the condition of those schools which have usually been wholly supported from funds, compared with those which have been partly supported by the taxation, or the contributions of the proprietors ? Are the schools ever visited by the proprietors? Are there set days for visiting by parents or others, or are the doors always open to visitors? Is there a frequent and friendly intercourse subsisting between the parents and the teachers? Do they often interchange visits? Is the intercourse between teachers and pupils, out of school, as familiar as it should be? Do any of the ministers, or physicians, or lawyers of the town manifest an increasing interest in the teachers, and an increasing fondness for their society? Do both parents and instructers manifest, at all times, especially whenever and wherever their children or pupils are present, a deep and permanent interest in their physical, intellectual and moral improvement? Or is the future well being and happiness of the young the last topic of common conversation? Is the teacher furnished with every possible facility for promoting the improvement of his pupils ? Does he consider all his time-as well as the six hours of school-sacred to his pupils? Do parents consider his whole time as theirs? In view of his responsibility to God and society, is it his grand aim to form moral character? When parents and teachers fail to furnish pupils with every thing necessary for their progress at school, what provision is made as a substitute? Do good men and ministers ever mention common schools in their public prayers? What proportion of even good men do you suppose, have ever prayed for common schools in public or in private, during their whole life? II. PHYSICAL EDUCATION. Are all the districts in your town supplied with school houses? On what principles are these houses located? Is it the grand point to place them in the centre of the district, be that where it may? Structure and Character of School Houses. 197 What is the greatest distance which the pupils have to travel, to reach the school house? What striking natural scenery, as hills, mountains, lakes, rivers, cascades, &c., is there near the school house? What works of art? Is the house contiguous to dwelling houses? Is it close to a sandy public road? Is it contiguous to pounds or prisons? Is the soil around highly cultivated? Are there shade trees near the school house? Are the latter enclosed? Are there swamps, marshes or stagnant waters near? How large is it? Is any part of it covered with a roof or awning? Is any portion of it covered with sand? Is there a garden connected with the grounds? Does it contain flowers? Do the teachers or the pupils labor in it? For what is the rest of the building used? What other buildings are there connected with the school house? Are they kept clean, and in repair? Is every part of the school house itself kept clean? How often is it swept? How often washed? What are the dimensions of the school room? Is the floor level or inclined? Is the ceiling arched, or horizontal? Is the outside of the house painted-and if so, of what color? Is it well lighted? How high are the lower panes of the windows from the floor? Can the upper sashes of the windows be lowered, as well as the others raised? Are there blinds or shutters to the windows? 198 Sports and Health of Children. Are there curtains? Of what color are the curtains? Has each pupil a separate desk? Are the seats fixed, or are they movable? Are the desks and seats connected? How is the height of the desks adapted to the varying size and height of the pupils? Are the desks disposed in rows parallel to each other, all facing the instructer; or are they arranged in a semicircle? Are there backs to all the pupils' seats? Is there an unoccupied space, of considerable breadth, around the sides of the room? Is the floor tight? Is the room ornamented in any way? What else is done to give an air of cheerfulness to the place, and render it as much like a pleasant parlor as possible? How is the school room warmed? Is the stove open or closed? Is a large portion of the pipe carried through the upper parts of the room, thus injuriously keeping the head hotter than the feet? Connected with the school room, are there closets for hats, bonnets, clothes, &c.? Or are all these things hung up in the school room? Are the entrances and closets commodious? Are there any rooms for recitation, or for expostulating, confining, or praying with offenders? Is the whole establishment kept well ventilated? What is the usual number of school hours? How early do the schools commence in the morning, and what proportion of the hours are taken from the afternoon? What is the length of the intermission? What proportion of the pupils usually remain about the school house, during the intermission? How are they generally employed? Does the teacher ever join in their sports? Does he influence or control these sports, directly or indirectly? Does he give them a healthful tendency? Is his influence acceptable to his pupils? Are the sports of the two sexes connected, or are they separate? Besides the intermission, have they other recesses? Of what length and character? Are the pupils encouraged to play violently? Intellectual Education. 199 Are they encouraged to expose themselves to the cold, the rain, or the snow? And if so, with what restrictions? When drenched with perspiration, are they allowed to cool themselves suddenly, by sitting in currents of cold air, as at a window, or by lying down on the cold or damp ground, or by taking off a part of their clothes, or by drinking large draughts of cold water? What methods are taken to prevent these evils ? When the school room has been for some time too warm, are the pupils allowed to go out, without caution against taking cold? Are there any special physical exercises adopted in the school room, as clapping hands, alternate rising and sitting, marching, running, jumping, dancing or singing? Is vocal music taught, to strengthen the lungs? Is instrumental music, in any instance, taught? Have you no arrangements for washing hands and faces, at the school room? Does the teacher strive to promote cleanliness, both by precept and example? Does he take great pains about temperature? Is the practice of eating between meals-fruits, cloves, orange peel, seeds, &c.,-and especially of eating in school, discouraged? Are any of the small pupils ever allowed to sleep after dinner? Does the teacher deem it as much his duty to promote the health of his pupils, as to cultivate their minds or their hearts? Does he set them a perfect example in this matter, or does his example continually contradict his precepts? Does he ever try to teach the laws of health; or is he ignorant of them himself? III. INTELLECTUAL EDUCATION. What is the number of children in your district school between four and sixteen years? What number of different scholars on the roll? What is the average attendance? Are they regular in their attendance? Are they punctual to the hours? Is every pupil furnished with every necessary article—books, slates, stationery, &c.? Are there slates, &c., provided for those who are unable, or who neglect to furnish them? Is there a supply, either of large slates or black boards, to be placed upon the wall? 200 Instruction in Different Branches. Are there large maps, &c., for the same purpose? Are there engravings, &c., to illustrate the various branches taught? Are there globes, an orrery, a laboratory, and an herbarium? Is it kept in the school room, or elsewhere? On what conditions, and how often are the books drawn? Is apparatus provided, either by the district or by the teacher, for illustrating the various sciences, as cubes, marbles, the elements of geometrical figures, &c., in Geography and Arithmetic, the elements of letters, large and small, printed and written; specimens in Chemistry, Mineralogy, Geology, &c.? In teaching spelling, what books are used? Or does the instructer teach orally-without books? If only a part of these branches is taught, which are selected? With which branch is it customary to begin? If you begin with Geometry, do you teach your pupil to write the figures as fast as he learns them? Do you prefer the blackboard, or the large slate? Does your pupil write his lessons in almost everything he studies at school, from beginning to end? In studying geometrical figures, do you commence with the circle, or with the straight line? If with straight lines, which of them-the horizontal or the |