the minds of all children to the study of arithmetic until a certain specific attainment has been reached, is as unnatural and absurd as it is tyrannical and useless; and persistence in the effort tends to devitalize and sometimes almost to dehumanize our schools.

It is gratifying therefore, from the statistics to know that regular progress has been made for a number of years in the right direction. This appears from the increased attention that is now given to various branchcs, that have in past time been much neglected, as well as from the great improvement in methods of instruction that have been adopted.

In Geography, for instance, the number of pupils has been steadily increasing now for several years. And in no other branch, has the same degree of improvement been manifested. The text-books in Geography are incomparably superior in every respect to any that were known a few years since; indeed it would be difficult to suggest improvement in some that are extant. And although our citizens have been exceedingly slow to procure and furnish to their schools the articles of apparatus, that now everywhere abound, still to the credit of our teachers it may be said, that in no other branch of study has there been shown so great a readiness to accept and adopt suggestions that lead to improved methods of instruction, as in regard to Geography.

Few, if any of the branches that are taught in our schools are susceptible of being made so attractive under proper instruction, as is Geography. When taught by mere question and answer, and when reliance is had upon the mere power of the mind to retain isolated facts without elucidation, connection or association, it is the dreariest known method of wasting time to no useful purpose. But when by oral instruction, by the use of Outline Maps, by Map-drawing, by object lessons, and by illustrations drawn from the science of Physical Geography, the competent teacher allows the subject to appear clothed in its inherent attractiveness, the recitations in Geography alone will do much to renew the life of the school.

A very decided improvement is also indicated in regard to written exercises in the schools. An increase of eighteen per cent in the number who have given their attention to composition is revealed by the statistics, and is a very pleasant indication. It would seem to require little argument or proof to sustain the propositions, that the power to give apt and forceful expression to thought is one of the most valuable results of education-that this power can only be attained even to a moderate extent, by long practice, and therefore that written exercises in composition should be required in every public school, of all the elder scholars. And yet a strange and sometimes perverse spirit of opposition to a course so entirely reasonable and necessary, has often been manifested. In a recent volume of Vermont Reports will be found a decision of the Supreme Court, by which the Court find that as English Grammar is the art as well as science of writing and speaking the English language correctly, and as arts are to be acquired by practice rather than instinct, therefore that a written exercise in composition is a proper requirement in a public school. That such an adjudication should have been necessary, proves the exis

tence of the spirit of hostility to exercises in composition, to which I have alluded, in a manner more conclusive than satisfactory.

The unusual increase of attention given to this matter in the schools during the past year, is specially hopeful.

MUSIC IN THE SCHOOLS.

If, in the language of the law, the teacher stands "in the place of the parent"-then the good teacher will resemble the good parent. But if this be so, it follows, that that school is the best, which in its aims and purposes and means and results and general condition, most nearly resembles a good home.

The conclusion seems inevitable, and contains the material for various deductions and inferences applicable in somewhat unexpected directions.

If a knowledge of music and a capacity for its enjoyment, renders a man more happy, and generally makes him a better man at home, it must make him a better citizen; and if this be true, it is difficult to see any very valid reason why music should not be to a certain extent taught in the public schools.

I am glad to say that within the past few years, as the result of much public discussion, both within and without the State, the practice of opening and closing the schools with vocal music, has been rapidly gaining ground. This practice has been long prevalent in European schools, and in some countries has become universal; and it has, within the past twenty-five years, been introduced into the public schools of many of our own cities and large towns. An opening exercise in singing has prevailed with great success, and to almost universal satisfaction in the schools in Boston and New York. And here and wherever known and used, vocal music as an aid to the discipline and moral culture of children in school, has received the enthusiastic commendation of the best friends of the schools.

In our own associations of teachers, the matter has been much discussed, and preferring to use the language of another in regard to a matter that I have so often dwelt upon officially in every part of the State, I insert here an address or essay upon the subject, that was delivered before the Chittenden County Teachers' Association, a year since, by the Rev. T. J. Holmes, of Richmond, and which Mr. Holmes has kindly allowed me to use:

VOCAL MUSIC IN THE COMMON SCHOOLS.

It is impossible to consider this subject intelligently, without having correct ideas as to the object of common school instruction. True education is not simply cramming the head with knowledge. It aims to expand and elevate every part of the soul; nourishing its better tastes, giving development and practice to all its wondrous powers, stimulating and ennobling its purposes; it aims to elevate the man. The number is not small of those who think that the real office of schools is, to develop and harden the

muscles of body and mind, as a training for business. Knowledge they value only as capital, which, put to interest, will help to fill miserly coffers. They appreciate readily the worth of a book which will reveal to them the secret of getting the largest crop of potatoes or of raising the best stock. But beyond the acquisition of learning like this, their aspirations rarely stretch, and the prevalence of such ideas reduces greatly the number of our educated men. Many a parent, able to furnish his children with all the appliances of a ripe education, denies them the priceless gift because he cannot see how it will make them sharper salesmen. As though to drive shrewd bargains, were the chief end of man. This tendency is proverbially strong in a country like this, where everybody is in a hurry to get rich. No one, here, can stop to take comfort or enjoyment-all the vast resources of happiness within the soul, are neglected-their voices all hushed by the coarse clamors of avarice. The godlike powers of the mind are spent in the one single aim, not to be happy, not to be useful, but simply to be rich. This idea pervading so thoroughly the national life, naturally subordinates to itself all other considerations. Everything is valued by the test-"Will it pay?" and the only currency in which payment is wanted, is that of dollars and cents."

We need, therefore, to guard against wrong notions with regard to education-to remember it is not the culture of any one part of the soul, but the harmonious development of the whole; not merely the instrument for getting material advantage, but the means of securing better good-of providing, within the individual, resources from which he may draw unfailingly for his own enjoyment and that of his fellow men; the means, in short, of fitting for life, for death, too, and the life beyond.

It is only with such a liberal conception, that there can seem propriety in making the culture of the finer powers a part of a child's education. It is chiefly on such a ground that music is urged as an element in the instruction of our common schoo.s. It is by no means conceded that the study of music has only an indirect benefit, that its value is merely aesthetic-for it assists greatly in the acquisition of advantages that are more practical. For instance, all teachers who have tested the matter experimentally, praise warmly its worth as a means of discipline. There is something in the prompt and measured time of a spirited melody, that infuses a habit of method and harmony into a whole school. What could be a more effective charm to quiet a multitude of children, at the opening of a session, and fit them for work; and, moreover, as every teacher knows, there are many odd moments scattered through the day, which it is difficult to use to advantage. There is no time for a recitation,, it is not the hour for recess, and yet discipline must suffer unless the school can be kept occupied. Now what can so well fit into such little nooks, as a familiar cheerful song?—and it is an advantage that this employment, answering so good a purpose, is, in its nature, recreation. The children are occupied, and at the same time rested. When the mind of a scholar has been stretched, for an hour, in hard application, it is economy of time to let it unbend a little, to freshen its strength and receive a stimulus to new industry. And such recreation is valuable because it rests but does not dis ipate. It is not idleness, but a change of occupation. Frequent recesses would be unprofitable, since the ideas of the pupils are then scattered, and it requires some time to call them back to study. But no such disadvantage is connected with music. A school may stop for a moment and unite in a song, and when the melody ceases, they are refreshed and ready at once for their books. The wheels have been oiled, and the machinery runs more smoothly and turns out better work.

Besides this general benefit, the study of vocal music promotes directly one branch of instruc ion of great importance, viz., elocution. How few educated people are effect ive readers. Very many can pronounce politely a little French, or a little German, who yet cannot speak well their own tongue. Good reading depends on the culture of the voice; its expression, pitch, modulation, compass, and on the distinct enunciation of letters and words. But careful drilling on these points, our schools, to a great extent, neglect. And precisely this would be afforded by systematic instruction in vocal music.

Thus, it is evident, the study proposed has a very practical use. It improves elocution, is a valuable aid in enforcing healthy discipline, and affords a means of resting the mind from fatigue and fitting it better for work.

But on other grounds we recommend it. If it had no relation to other branches of instruction,—for its own intrinsic worth it would deserve much consideration.

One of its important benefits is this. The words of the hymns are a great instrumentality for fastening, in the mind and heart, right sentiment. Verses, committed to memory and sung again and again in school, are repeated at home and everywhere till the thoughts enter into the very life of the soul. If these songs ring as they should with noble sentiment, with moral truth, with the ideas that underlie civil freedom-they cannot sound in the voice without echoing in the heart; and thought made familiar by

association with charming melody, is fastened and cannot be forgotten. It is this prin ciple which is illustrated in that familiar saying of an eminent man, that he "would rather make the ballads of a nation than its laws."

Besides, there are influences for good derived from the music alone. Its tendency is refining. A character touched by the sweet breath of music cannot be rough and coarse. The sharp edges will be smoothed off. Music, more than any other human influence, awakes the tenderest sensibilities. It can touch chords that will vibra to every emotion The swelling tones of an organ, floating into the soul, carry with them a spirit of devotion. The strange harmonies of an orchestra paint for the ear every passion of the heart. In martial strains is a fire that keeps glowing a soldier's fortitude. If the heart throbs with gladness, or sighs with sorrow, music is its best expression, And this power to stir the emotions is such, that it often affects those who are impervious to other influences. We see this in religion. Hearts long shut, fastened against feeling, may be unlocked by music. Men that will neither be frightened by warning, nor won by entreaty, nor forced by logic, are often melted by the sweetness of a simple bymn.

So, it is the legitimate influence of music to lift the soul as with a golden cord to a higher plane-above sense, to the spiritual. There would be other advantages from the introduc ion of this study into our schools.

By the cultivation of musical taste and talent, a sense of pleasure is furnished, from which may flow increasing happiness through life-and by this means the heart is kept fresh and elastic, and is better fitted to enjoy the pleasures, to bear the trials and do the work of human experience.

Then, there is another important aspect of the same benefit. To provide an exhaustless source of innocent pleasure, would furnish the most effective safeguard against injurious pleasures. The best way to start the young in the path of virtue, safe from the seductive allurement of wicked indulgence, is to have the heart stored with sources of enjoyment that is consistent with virtue-and without this, no influence in the right direction can be of much avail. You cannot, by arbitrary command, force a child to grow up virtuous. He may have the semblance of goodness while the fetters bind him. But bye and bye these restraints will be removed, or may be snapped by a growing will-and then, there is reason to fear, he will hate the virtue he was forced to assume. The great moral lesson that, more than any other, needs to be impressed upon the young, is that no life is so full of real solid happiness as an upright life. Virtue has enough resources of pleasure, only let them be developed. Encourage every enjoyment consistent with right. Let all cheerless morbid views, which libel the truth, be banished, and virtue, for its own sake, will be loved and lived by many who now hate it as a foe to happiness.

Now there is no one source of innocent pleasure so full, and yet so simple as music. It furnishes the purest happiness for the fireside, and so gives to home a charm against outside fascinatious; in short, it cheers and gladdens the whole of life. And is there any other source of healthy enjoyment which could, so easily and at so little expense, be placed within the reach of every boy and girl in the land?

Such are the practical benefits of the study of mus c. If these are real, they should not be confined, as they generally are, to the few who are rich enough to buy them, but should be as free as knowledge of other kinds; and this can only be effected by making the study an element in a c mmon school education.

Many minds will raise the question whether such a thing is practicable. Some ob ject that attainment in music depends on native ability, and therefore would not be possible to children in general. Nature, it is true, does very much, and there would be different degrees of progress as in other studies. But, according to the testimony of teachers, there are very few children who could not be taught to sing. The study must be commenced at an early age, when the vocal organs are tender and susceptible-just as a child needs to learn a foreign language, when young, to acquire and retain a true pronunciation.

The ear, too, must be cultivated. We see many adults who have net the slightest discrimination of musical sounds, but it is owing, in most cases, to defect in early education. It is rare that a child, brought up in a musical atmosphere, has not some taste and ability for music; and if the study were introduced among all the children of our schools, but a very small number could fail to derive from it valuable benefit.

But even if this difficulty were less formidable, some may doubt the practicability of making it a part of school instruction. Fortunately, this is no longer a question. It has been thoroughly tried, and with entire success. The idea originated in Germany, and spread thence into Holland, Switzerland, France and Great Britain, and finally to the United States.

It was first inaugurated in this country, in Boston, about 24 years ago, at the recommendation of the Academy of Music. It was tried originally in a single Grammar school, and the experiment was regarded as altogether satisfactory. From that time it gained increasing favor and was more generally introduced, till at present, it has a place in all their public schools; and judging from their annual reports, it is more highly approved and valued the more it is tested.

In the city of New York, a fair examination has had the same result. The Superintendent of Public Schools there, having, within the past six months, been applied to for his opinion on the subject, says :-"We have had music taught in our schools for the past ten years. We began very gradually, but now have introduced it in all our Departments-even the Primary. If the ordinary teachers are not qualified to give instruction in it, other persons are employed especially for this purpose. We aim not merely to educate the voice by the practice of tunes by rote, but to teach as far as practicable, the science of music. We have given the plan a thorough trial, and such is our appreciation of its value, on various grounds, that we feel we could not on any account dispense with it."

These two places are mentioned because there, the system has been most extensively and critically tried. Very many other cities would bear the same te timony.

And in smaller towns and communities in the country, it is just as feasible. Its details would be necessarily different, but we could have the essential advantages. Precisely how, it is not the place here to suggest. If its importance be admitted, ways will be readily devised of carrying it into effect.

GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY OF VERMONT.

In the last Annual Report, referring to the fact that in our schools neither custom nor law require or expect any special attention to be given to the acquisition of accurate and complete knowledge of our own State, I made use of the following language:

"But there is one subject to which, at this juncture particularly, the mind of every lover of our State should be turned.

No special attention is given in any of our schools, to imparting a thorough knowledge of our own State. The very purpose of the common schools, the inducement to their establishment and support by the State, is that therein all the children of the State may be properly and thoroughly prepared, so far as practicable, for the duties of their future citizenship. And in order to this an accurate knowledge of the State itself, its position, character, capacity, soil, climate, productions, its history, its institutions, its government, is really indispensable. Hence it is painful and humiliating to visit the schools-the nurseries of Vermont freemen-in all sections of the St te, and to find here an i there in all portions, most excellent instruction given in all the so called common branches of education, but nowhere any effort even, to imbue the minds of the children with an intelligent and patriotic appreciation of their birth, or of the generous and kiberal institutions under whose beneficent influences they are enjoying so great a measure of happiness and peace.

It may be doubted whether a large Map, or iiistory, or Gazetteer of Vermont can be found in ten common schools within her borders; and it is shameful to be said, and yet it is too true, that ignorance of our own State rather than knowledge, is the prevailing characteristic of our schools; and as a necessary consequence, ma y older than school children may be found who are scarcely less than ignorant of the character and resources of their native State.

Now it may be said generally, that an intelligent, thoughtful and well founded patriotic attachment to the land of his birth and residence, and to its government and institutions, is an indispensable characteristic of a truly good republican citizen, and that such an intelligent and patriotic attachment is impossible without a thorough knowledge and considerate appreciation of the reasons for such attachment. And it follows, that any republican State that allows this important matter to be overlooked in its schools, will not and cannot escape the injurious consequences that result there. from."