we can see no good reason why the teacher should be subjected to such a course any more than the doctor, the lawyer or minister. Suppose the minister should be required to seek his food and lodging from house to house, staying two days in one place, three at another and six at another;would it increase his ability to write good sermons? Would it not rather unfit him for his work, by depriving him of that quiet and retirement so essential to study? Why should the teacher be made an exception? We must confess that we can see no reason for it. It has been said that the plan affords parents an opportunity to become acquainted with the teacher. But the same might be said in favor of a like plan for the clergyman. We contend that the best place for becoming acquainted with the teacher is the school room, and the parents who have not interest enough in the teacher and the teacher's work to lead them to visit the school, will not, we fear, do much to make a teacher's boarding term in their families either pleasant or profitable.

A young lady who possesses much of the spirit of a true teacher writes, "I have no leisure for writing or study. I am servant to my pupils, to their tiny brothers and sisters, their parents and indeed to all the district, for I "board 'round." I try to read, write and rest amidst scenes of confusion, but my only real rest of mind is in my walks to and from school, from a half mile to a mile and a half long, up and down the icy hills. The school room is my retreat. Though trying and wearing, it is easier to control thirty restless youth in the school room, than to be obliged to spend passive hours in a family of ungoverned children. Could our school visitors accompany me to some of the families within my boarding range, they would not be so much surprised at the want of success in school government by our young teachers. They might rather be surprised that any did succeed."

The teacher's work is an arduous and exhausting one, and when a day's toil is ended, the poor teacher needs and should have a pleasant and quiet boarding place, where she may feel free and at home,-and not be under the necessity of

making herself agreeable to strangers or of tending the babies of the district during the intervals of school. Teachers, like other people, are wonderfully affected by their surroundings, and we contend that a pleasant and regular boarding place is essential to a teacher's cheerfulness and success.

May the boarding 'round" system rapidly decline and soon be numbered among the "things that were."

PHYSICAL CULTURE.

BY DIO LEWIS, M. D.

Ir cannot have escaped the attention of observing persons that laborers who carry burthens on the head, are strikingly erect, and free from side to side shambling, and other unseemly irregularities in the manner of walking.

In the southern states of America, and in various European countries, I have been struck with the noble uprightness and carriage of even the commonest people, if their occupation involved this necessity.

The numberless women who are engaged in Southern Europe, in carrying huge buckets of water up the mountainsides to supply the little villages situated above the springs, bear their great loads upon the head, and thus cultivate an attitude and gait which marks them wherever they are seen.

In our southern states, the negroes whose occupation is the "toting" of heavy weights about the plantations, lose that stooping, awkward gait so characteristic of that unhappy people, and walk whether bearing a load or not, with an equipoise and elasticity which marks them among their fellows.

The physiologist would a priori, from his knowledge of the peculiar structure of the spine with its cartilages and muscles, have deduced the result under consideration.

Had such facts as I have adduced even escaped observation, the thoughtful non-physiologist would inevitably be led to the conclusion that the exact perpendicularity, necessary to the bearing of a weight upon the head, with the development of cartilage and muscles, consonant with such

perpendicularity, must result in an upright and well-balanced carriage.

The general introduction into our schools of a daily exercise based on this physiological principle, would prove invaluable.

Besides, it would involve but little expense or inconvenience.

The apparatus could be hung on nails about the walls, conveyed to the heads of the children in a moment and the marching done in the aisles, among the desks, or in the school-yard.

To cultivate the muscles of the back most advantageously, and to secure with perpendicularity the greatest flexibility, it is important the pupils should walk in a variety of ways. A great variety of steps is possible, but after a careful study of the dorsal muscles, and their relations to the lower extremities, I have devised the following, which I think the best.

Hold the body erect, hips and shoulders thrown far back, and support the weight rather on the front part of the head. In each of the modes of walking now to be described, it is well to walk about 100 feet performing each one in the most extreme manner.

1st, turn the toes inward; 2d, toes outward; 3d, walk on the tips of the toes; 4th, on the heels; 5th, on the right heel and left toe; 6th, on the left heel and right toe; 7th, walk on the bottoms of the feet without bending the knees; 8th, bend the knees so as to walk while almost sitting on the heels; 9th, bend the right leg so as to make a right angle at the knee, and holding it rigidly in this position, walk, rising on the straight left leg at each step; 10th, crook the left leg, and rise on the straight right leg at each step.

In my own gymnasium, I use many other steps, as for example, long strides alternately from side to side, and running on the tips of the toes, but the above ten are enough, and bring all the muscles into almost every variety of action.

Standing in classes, and to the beat of the drum or other mode of keeping time, all sit down on the heels and rise to

the upright position, in the mean time keeping the weight on the head well balanced, is a very profitable exercise.

As to the weight for the head, I have within a few years used many things. Almost any thing will do. A bag of beans is good. An oblong, rounded board sixteen inches long, with a slight projection at the periphery on one side, and a projection of two inches on the other side, nearly the size of head, and of course at some distance from the edge of the board, with the head piece padded with hair or cotton, is a thing I invented a long time ago.

You can load the upper side with bean bags. This is the contrivance I used for some time.

Last year I had a cast-iron crown made, which is thought to be perfect. The following cut will give a good idea of it.

The manufacturer paints these crowns with much taste, so that they are exceedingly beautiful. Adjustable weights are fitted to the upper half of the inside, so that they can be made light or heavy to suit the wearer.

This is a valuable feature, for although you may not be able to begin with more than ten pounds you will soon bear twenty or thirty.

The skull cap which comes in immediate contact with the head, is made of strong cotton, and is drawn into the center, sliding on a strong cord, with which the crown may be made

to fall or rise on the head. Besides which it is so arranged that you must balance the crown with much care and skill, still in case it does tip, the sides of the crown will catch, and prevent it from falling.

I think, in common with many scientific men, who have examined this contrivance, that it lacks nothing. But as I have intimated, this iron crown is by no means necessary. A book, a bag of beans or coin, a padded board with a weight upon it, and a hundred other things will do just about as well.

EDUCATIONAL MEETING AT OSWEGO.

In compliance with the request, and upon the invitation of the Board of Education of Oswego, a number of gentlemen met in that city on the 11th of February, as a committee appointed to examine into the system of Primary instruction by Object Lessons, and to report on the feasibility of introducing the system into the Primary schools of the country. The members of the committee present were: E. W. KEYES, Dep. Sup. of Pub. Ins., New York.

D. H. COCHRAN, Prin. State Normal School, New York.
S. B. WOOLWORTH, Sec. of Board of Regents, New York.
GEO. L. FARNHAM, Sup. of Schools, Syracuse, N. Y.
S. W. STARKWEATHER, Sup. of Schools, Rochester, N. Y.
D. WILBUR, Sup. Asylum for Idiots, Syracuse, N. Y.

JAS. CRUIKSHANK, Ed. N. Y. Teacher.

W. NICOLL, School Commissioner, Suffolk Co., L. I.
WM. F. PHELPS, Prin. State Normal School, New Jersey.
D. MCCLELLAN, Paterson, N. J.

B. HARRISON, Teacher, New York City.

N. A. CALKINS, New York City.

D. N. CAMP, Conn.

After the organization of the committee, and the appointment of sub-committees on examinations and reports, the examinations commenced Tuesday morning at 11 o'clock, and were continued till Thursday evening.