XI. WILLIAM RUSSELL.

EDITOR OF THE FIRST SERIES OF THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF EDUCATION,

BOSTON, 1826 TO 1829.

THE following are a few particulars of the professional life of Mr. William Russell, the editor of the first periodical published in the English language, devoted exclusively to the advancement of Education, and for nearly forty years an active teacher and laborer in the educational field.

Mr. Russell was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and was educated at the Latin school, and the university of that city. During his course of study in the latter of these institutions, the "First Philosophy Class," -embracing the subjects of intellectual philosophy, logic and rhetoric,—was, fortunately for Mr. Russell, in his subsequent life as a teacher, under the care of Professor George Jardine, author of the "Outlines of Philosophical Education." That eminent and revered instructor, by his zeal and eloquence on his favorite theme, the philosophy of human culture, awakened a lively sympathy with his views, in the minds of his students. After fifty years noble service, he still retained a warm feeling for whatever concerned the subject of education; as he manifested in his cordial expressions of pleasure on the establishment of the American Journal of Education, in the city of Boston, in the year 1826.

An incipient pulmonary affection made it advisable for Mr. Russell, immediately on completing his college course, to leave his native land, for a residence in a warmer climate. He came, accordingly, to the State of Georgia, in the year 1817; and, deeming it unadvisable, at so early a stage of life, to accept the offered situation of "rector" of an academy, commenced the business of instruction, as a private tutor, in the family of a distinguished Georgian statesman.

In this occupation, he passed, advantageously to his health, a few of the earlier years of his life as a teacher. He subsequently revisited Scotland; but, at the solicitation of his southern friends, returned in the year following to the State of Georgia, and for two years, took charge of the Chatham Academy, in the city of Savannah. His marriage connection with a lady from the state of Connecticut, creating a preference for a family residence in the city of New Haven, he taught there for some years, the New Township Academy, and the Hopkins

Grammar School,-the preparatory classical seminary connected with Yale College.

The peculiar form of illness, to which Mr. Russell is liable in cold latitudes, having returned, a less sedentary mode of teaching became desirable for him; and with a view to the benefit of such a change, he commenced the instruction of classes in elocution, in connection with the Theological Seminary at Andover, the University at Cambridge, the Public Latin School, and Chauney Hall School, in the city of Boston. Soon after this change of occupation, he was invited to take the editorial charge of the American Journal of Education, published in Boston, first by Mr. Thomas B. Wait, in 1826, next by Mr. S. G. Goodrich, and subsequently by Messrs. Carter & Hendee. Mr. Russell continued to conduct this periodical for nearly three years from the date of its publication.

The early direction given to Mr. Russell's studies and pursuits by the influence of Professor Jardine, led him to take a deep interest in the general subject of modes of education, in their adaptation to the development of mind and character. This circumstance subsequently proved a useful preparation for the business of conducting an educational journal at a time when, as yet, no publication of that description existed in our own country or in England; although the light shed on the whole subject of education by the labors of Pestalozzi, had excited, throughout Europe and America, a fresh interest on all the great questions involved in the various departments of physical, intellectual, and moral culture.

The only Journals then devoted to the subject of education, were those of Germany, France, and, perhaps, one or two other countries on the continent of Europe. The necessity of important changes in the plan and character of education, was beginning to be deeply felt in England. But this feeling had hitherto been expressed only in detached suggestions from the minds of individuals, in occasional pamphlets, or similar forms of publication. In the United States, the condition of matters was much the same as in England; although, in some instances, the degree of attention excited on the subject, was both stronger and more definite.

Warren Colburn's invaluable contribution to the improvement of education, in the publication of his Intellectual Arithmetic, had virtually introduced the spirit of Pestalozzi's methods of instruction. into the schools of New England; and much had been effected by the diffusion of liberal views on the whole subject of education, by Mr. James G. Carter, through his numerous and able editorial articles in the United States Literary Gazette.

Much also had been done toward the same results by the successful exertions of Professor Walter R. Johnson, in connection with the establishment of the Franklin Institute, in Philadelphia, and with the introduction of the school system of Pennsylvania. Valuable aid had been rendered, likewise, to the interests of education, by the exertions of the Rev. Mr. Gallaudet, of Hartford, for the introduction of modes of instruction adapted to seminaries for the deaf and dumb, but incidentally shedding a truer light on all forms of mental development. The arduous labors of Mr. Russell, in the unassisted editorial care of the Journal of Education, although of no pecuniary benefit to him personally, were amply rewarded by the many invaluable results to which they led. Prominent among these were the instruction of physical education, in various forms, into American seminaries; more liberal views on the subject of female education; more genial methods of conducting the business of early culture in primary schools; the establishment of lyceums and other popular institutions connected with the diffusion of useful knowledge; the formation of Teachers' Associations, and the establishment of seminaries for teachers.

The Journal met with warm encouragement throughout the Union, and was extensively used as a vehicle of communication, both for developing the views of the friends of education in several of the States which were then occupied with the establishment of systems of public instruction, and for the diffusion of improved methods of teaching, which were then claiming general attention in New England. and other parts of our country, where the subject of education had attained to a more mature stage of advancement. Eminent educators and philanthropists abroad, both in England and on the continent, gave their cordial sympathy and commendation to the design and character of the American Journal, and contributed effectual aid to its purposes, by liberal exchanges, and copious supplies of material, in the shape of important public documents.

The editorial care of the Journal, though an exceedingly laborious form of occupation, was one which was peculiarly agreeable to Mr. Russell, from his personal tastes and habits; and he would gladly have continued it, could he have done so with safety. But the employment of conducting an educational periodical being necessarily, for the most part, a gratuitous service, it could only be performed by laboring at night after the days' occupation in teaching. Three years of this double toil occasioned a reduction of strength which called for a temporary cessation of exertion; and at the request of an eminent friend of education, residing in Germantown, Pennsylvania, Mr. Russell taught, for several years, a limited class of young ladies, in that

village, and, subsequently, a school of a similar description, together with private classes, in the city of Philadelphia.

On his return to Boston, he resumed his former line of teaching there and at Andover; attending, at intervals, as lecturer and instructor, at tlie spring and autumn sessions of Teachers' Institutes in the State of Rhode Island, under the direction of the Hon. Henry Barnard, then State Commissioner of Schools. Mr. Russell was em ployed, also, for some years, in conducting the exercises of similar associations in the State of New Hampshire; occupying himself, during the winter season, for the benefit of a milder climate, in teaching classes at Princeton College, and in the cities of New York and Brooklyn. In fulfilling these numerous engagements, he was frequently assisted by his son,-now Rev. Francis T. Russell, of New Britian, Connecticut, who, from his interest in the cause of education, still affords such aid to the Teachers' Institutes of that State.

In 1849, at the invitation of friends of education in New Hampshire, Mr. Russell established there a seminary for teachers, which he continued to conduct or direct, for several years. But his health incapacitating him for the active duties of teaching, during the severe winters of that region, he was induced, in the spring of 1853, to move his Seminary to Lancaster, Massachusetts, where he now resides.

Mr. Russell commenced his seminary in Lancaster, with liberal aid from the local friends of education there, and with the assistance of a numerous and superior corps of instructors; among whom were Professor Hermann Krüsi of Switzerland, previously instructor in mathematics and modern languages, in the Home and Colonial Normal Seminary of London, and now Instructor in the Massachusetts Teachers' Institutes,-Professor William J. Whittaker of London, subsequently Principal of the Boston School of Design, and now similarly occupied in the city of Philadelphia,-Mr. Dana P. Colburn, now Principal of the Rhode Island Normal School, Providence, and Sanborn Tenney, A. M., of Amherst College, now Instructor in the Massachusetts Teachers' Institutes.

But the highly liberal course now adopted by the State of Massachusetts, in establishing State scholarships in her colleges, for the benefit of young men intending to devote themselves to the business of teaching in the public high schools of the State, and in the generous encouragement given to students of both sexes in the State Normal Schools to extend their course of professional study, has, to a great extent, superseded the necessity of any private establishment for the higher professional training of teachers. Mr. Russell, therefore, devotes, at present, but a limited portion of the year to instruction in Lancaster. During the spring and autumn months, he continues to