NEW ARRANGEMENT FOR SCHOOL DESKS.

We give below a new plan for seating scholars, for which the inventor, Mr. Woodcock, of New Hampshire, has taken out a patent. Mr. Woodcock's description, together with the illustrative cut, will sufficiently explain the plan, and we see no good reason why the advantages claimed by him may not be secured by his novel arrangement of chairs and desks. Without feeling fully prepared for an unqualified expression of our own, we have no hesitation in calling the attention of our readers to the subject as one deserving of consideration.

in the arrangement of School Desks and Seats in School Rooms, and have received Letters Patent from the United States for the term of fourteen years from the 6th day of March, 1855, I hereby solicit the attention of all interested in the cause of education throughout these United States.

My claim embraces the Diagonal Arrangement of the desks and chairs, and possesses great and signal advantages over any other ar rangement, and gives to every scholar a separate desk and chair, and the full control of his books and writing; it releases every one from any interference with another, and gives to all the privilege of inhaling the pure air without taking it second handed from the one sitting near him, as by the old method of double desks. So great is the saving in room, that hereafter all double desks may be entirely dispensed with, and every scholar provided with single desk and chair. By this arrangement, as many scholars can be seated at single desks as at double ones, and they will only occupy the same floor room. There is also a great gain over single desks as arranged in the common way in schools by seating forty-eight scholars in the same space as thirty-six are commonly seated, (a gain of one-fourth, and so in proportion for a greater or less number.) The desks and chairs are arranged diagonally on the floor so that no one scholar can see the face of another without one of the two being at right or left half face. When the school is called to procession, all can rise at once and step into files in the aisles without coming in contact with one another. Scholars are more directly in view of the teacher; and can therefore be kept in better order, which greatly diminishes the labor of the teacher.

This

The usual method of arranging single desks in school rooms is to place them in independent rows, with an isle between each row. method of seating requires so large a room to seat the number of scholars required, that but few feel able to erect houses of such magnitude as is required for said arrangement, therefore they are required to use double desks. By my new arrangement it is not necessary to increase the size of the room beyond what is required to seat with double desks, and also gives all those important advantages gained by the diagonal arrangement. The annexed engraving is a perspective view of my new arrangement—two rows of single desks are combined together with a connecting board between them;—the under edge of the board is even with the under side of the desks and neatly graduated on the top to conform to the shape of the upper surface of the desk, and to corres pond to the different heights of the desks as they are graduated for large or small scholars..

A, A, and C, C, are shown connected to each partition board D. The teacher's desk is represented at E-B the chairs of the scholars at their desks—a, a, are the desk standards. Each scholar's desk is arranged opposite the seat space of the opposite scholar, thus completely separating them and preventing playing and whispering except by the agonizing method of wriggling their heads as shown by the attempt of the two little fellows in the middle of the room. When thus arranged and combined, one end of each desk is fastened to the connecting board with wood screws, the end of one desk to one side of the board and the end of the next to the other side, alternately. In connecting them in this manner, the iron standards on which the desks are mounted are much lighter than are required where they stand independently by themselves, and it is not necessary to place a standard under each end of every desk, as every other desk will be supported at the connecting end by the connecting board, and is much more convenient in sweeping, and fewer and smaller obstructions for the feet. If arranged without the connecting board, a standard must be placed under each end of every desk, the same as are used when desks are placed in independent

rows.

I have seated one house with my improved plan, at Bellows Falls, Vermont. Said house was seated about the middle of January last; with 235 single desks and chairs. The desks and chairs I furnished from the manufactory of Joseph L. Ross, of Boston. The desks are made of cherry, mounted on cast iron standards, of which I have a new set of beautiful patterns. The chairs are made of hard wood and mounted on a cast iron bedstead, the upper end of which is screwed to the chair seat, and the lower end screwed to the floor. The centre of the chair back extends to and connects with the lower end of the pe destal, which greatly diminishes the danger of breaking off at that part which is usually the weakest. The desk standards are also screwed to the underside of the desks and to the floor.

Town and District rights will be sold, and school furniture of every description furnished or made to order by applying to the patentee by letter or otherwise. All information given with regard to seating school-rooms and the graduation of schools according to the age and number of scholars; the number of desks in a room, &c., on receiving an outline of a plan of the room, with the situation of the doors, &c."

Let a child's first lesson be obedience, and the second may be what thou wilt.-Fuller.

"MIND YOUR STOPS!"

Teachers have frequent occasion to say to their pupils, when reading, "mind your stops ;" and yet, we are sorry to say, many teachers and others often write as though there were no stops to be "minded." There once lived an eccentric character, self-styled Lord Timothy Dexter. He was very rich and as ignorant as he was rich. This same Lord Timothy "took it into his head" that he might add to his fame by printing a book, and not knowing the proper rules for punctuation, he had the last two pages entirely covered with periods, colons, commas, &c., preceded by the request, that the "knowing ones" would pepper and salt to suit their taste.

But some of our more modern letter writers, and even some of our teachers, are less provident, inasmuch as they furnish no stops of any kind or in any way; though their writings often cause the reader to stop in order to puzzle out their meaning.

Wrong or deficient punctuation often causes a sentence to read, or to be read, very queerly, as in the case we will name.

A certain company, in a State north of Mason & Dixon's line, desired to obtain permission of the legislature to plant oysters in a certain bay or stream. It was necessary that their petition should be entered in the office of Secretary of State. It was introduced, very modestly, with the request that the said company "might be permitted to enter their petition for a law relating to the planting of oysters in the Secretary's office, any rule or law to the contrary notwithstanding.”

As

Now, Mr. Editor, we may, naturally enough, infer that the wish of the aforesaid company is to plant oysters in the Secretary's office. a friend of oysters, I should strongly oppose this. Why, unless that Secretary and his clerks are wholly unlike most men, similarly situated, it would be sure destruction to all oysters that might be planted within said office. They would go, but not grow; while the aforesaid Secre tary and his clerks would be more inclined to grow than go. If, however, it shall be provided to plant the bivalves in the said office, we would respectfully suggest that the Secretary and his clerks be allowed a certain salary and board, and that they take their meals (or oysters,) within the office.

Teachers! see that you mind your stops, as well for your own sake as for the oysters' sake and the reader's sake.

FOURTH OF JULY AT THE NORMAL SCHOOL.

"The Fourth was celebrated in New Britain by very pleasant and interesting exercises in the North Hall of the Normal School, consisting of appropriate declamations, select readings, music by the Normal Choir and Glee Class, etc. The declamations were by Messrs. Upson, Paddock, J. Marshall Guion, and Dutton, and the readings by Misses J. L. Thomas, M. J. Wood, and S. A. Morse—and are spoken of as having been appropriate and highly creditable to the parties. The young ladies, especially, showed themselves to be excellent readers and possessed of a rare talent to appreciate the genius and scope of their selections. They were listened to with interest by the spectators.

After an entertainment of this kind for the space of two hours, appropriate sentiments were read and speeches made by a number of gentlemen present, including members of the clerical, medical, and legal professions. At the close of the speaking, Mr. Philbrick, the Superintendent of Public Instruction for Connecticut, who presided on this occasion, made a few remarks in relation to the general claims of education, and alluded to the unwillingness of the State to grant appropriations for several objects of importance to the advancement of the common cause. He was happy, however, to say, that at the very last hour of the late session of the General Assembly an appropriation of $1,000 had been made for apparatus and a library for the benefit of the Normal School. This appropriation was owing not so much to the efforts of the regularly constituted Committee on Education, as to the timely labors of a gentleman then and there present-Mr. MERRIMAN, of New Britain, the Senator from the First District. When this fact was made known yesterday to the members of the Normal School, said Mr. P., they unanimously desired to present to Mr. Merriman some token of their appreciation of his efforts. As a result, Mr. Philbrick in behalf of the School, and in a happy manner, presented to Mr. M. a beautiful and costly ring. It was an onyx-stone, the face presenting a white shield, elaborately carved; and the setting was in a massive ring of finest gold, richly chased. It came from the celebrated Jewelry Manufactory of Churchill, Stanley & Co., of New Britain.

On receiving the ring, Mr. Merriman, with manifest emotion, replied in some appropriate remarks, which we have not space to give. The affair passed off pleasantly to all concerned."

We take the above from the Hartford Times, and give below, an abstract of Mr. Merriman's remarks.