for every thing, and every thing in its place; a time for every thing, and to do every thing in its proper time.' That the children may be practically taught, the teacher is forbidden to do for her pupils that which they can do for themselves."

MONITORIAL SCHOOLS.

A Monitorial School was instituted in Wiscasset, (Me.) in August last, and one in Gardiner, (Me.) in October. The former was opened with 100 scholars,-50 males and 50 females.

NOTICES

IN THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION.

The Franklin Primer, or Lessons in Spelling and Reading, adapted to the understanding of children; composed and published by a Committee, appointed for the purpose by the School Convention of Franklin county, May 25, 1826. Greenfield, Mass. 18mo. pp. 36.

Amidst the indications of approaching legislative measures for elevating the standard of instruction in common schools, it is gratifying to observe the spirit of improvement at work in narrower spheres, and a county convention of school committees taking the business of practical reformation into their own hands. This result is the more pleasing that it is in the instance under notice peculiarly successful. The method adopted in the Franklin Primer is simple and natural. We have here no useless columns of rare and hard, words, which the scholar will hardly meet again in the course of a life time's reading. The book is arranged in lessons so as to present an analysis of every portion of reading exercise: this analysis consists of all the words in a lesson placed over it in columns for spelling.We would not leave this highly meritorious production, without adverting to its excellent adaptation to the minds of very young children. All the reading lessons are simple, easy, intelligible, and natural in their style; and they will prepare the little learner to read with an unassuming and lively manner, in works of a higher order.-Amer. Jour, of Ed.

In a subsequent notice of a Spelling Book,' the editor of the Journal has the following remarks; "For our own part, we confess we have no great partiality to spelling books, and think very favorably of the more recent plan of using only a primer and then an easy reading book of a simple and intelligible character; the little scholar making his own spelling book by spelling every lesson he reads; and taking his pronouncing lessons from the dictionary. Under the management of a careful teacher, this will be found a much more efficacious course, than endless drilling on the dull unmeaning columns of a spelling book.'

Outlines of Modern Geography, on a new plan, carefully adapted to youth, with numerous engravings of cities, manners, costumes, and curiosities; accompanied by an Atlas. By Rev. C. A. Goodrich. Price 75 cents for the Geography and colored Atlas.

We have not yet had opportunity to examine either this work, or the two small geographies mentioned in our first number; but we are induced to notice them from a conviction, that it would be more conducive to improvement, as well as more economical, to use smaller books in teaching children, than is now customary in most of our schools

The favorable reception which the first No. of the TEACHER'S GUIDE has met, and the language of approbation and encouragement which has reached us from various quarters, induce us to issue a second number, although the state of the subscription list is not yet such as to sustain the expenses of the publication. Should there be that increase of patronage which we anticipate, the third number will appear on the 1st of January; after which, the publication will be semi-monthly, as was originally proposed. Subscribers' names may be sent to ARTHUR SHIRLEY, Portland, Me. or to J. L. PARKHURST, Wiscasset, Me. CONDITIONS.-One Dollar a year, to be paid within the year if delayed beyond that time, $1,50. To those who procure subscribers and pay in advance, every sixth copy gratis.

:

PORTLAND: A. SHIRLEY, Printer-J. L. PARKHURST, Editer.

METHOD OF TEACHING THE ALPHABET. Amid the various improvements in the business of education, which are making at the present day, the method of teaching the alphabet has not been overlooked. Skilful teachers and able writers have not deemed this humble department of instruction unworthy their attention. The result is, that improved methods. of teaching the alphabet have been invented, and are coming into use. That these should be generally known and adopted, is important on several accounts. A child, when skilfully taught, can learn his letters in much less time; and he will thus be sooner prepared to proceed to the next step of his progress in the art of reading. And though it may not be of much consequence whether the child becomes able to read a few weeks or months sooner or later, yet the saving of time to the teacher, is a consideration not to be overlooked. When a person for want of skill, spends more time than is necessary in teaching the alphabet, he wastes, not only the childs' time, but also his own; or rather, if employed in a school, he defrauds his older scholars of that share of attention which he might otherwise bestow upon them. But the consideration which is of the greatest importance in this case, is the impression which the method of teaching leaves on the mind of the little learner, and the intellectual habits which it contributes to form.

In pursuing the subject, we shall notice the principal methods of teaching the alphabet, which have come to our knowledge.

1. We begin with that method, which, we fear, has been, and still is, the one most commonly adopted. The teacher, holding a book in which letters are arranged in their usual order, points, with any thing that may be convenient, at the first letter, and says, "A." The child, looking at the letter, repeats, "A." The teacher immediately points at the next letter, and says,

1

"B." The child, following the pointer with his eye, repeats, "B." The teacher then proceeds to C,' which is dispatched in the same manner. And thus on, until both teacher and learner have said "Z,"-which ends a lesson.

The child then takes his seat, having seen, for the first time, six and twenty different marks, and having heard and pronounced the names of them all, but without having been able to notice any one of them sufficiently to recognise it on seeing it again. The And succeeding lessons are a repetition of the same process. this process is repeated day after day, week after week, and month after month. Still, the child has not learned his letters. The forms of the letters have, indeed, become familiar to his eye, and their names to his ear; but he cannot tell to which letter each name belongs. He may even, by the frequent repetition of the same sounds in the same order, have become able to repeat the names of the letters, without assistance, from beginning to end; and the teacher may thus be led to imagine that he knows the letters; when in fact he could not tell three of them, if he should see them any where else. Some teachers, to guard against this, occasionally reverse the process, beginning at 'Z.' and ending at 'A' But this expedient is far fron remedying the evil; and some children, while they know scarcely a single letter of the alphabet, become able to repeat the letters correctly, not only from A' to Z,' but also in retrograde order, from 'Z' to ' A.'

In all this. there is so little to interest either teacher or learner, that the former usually hurries through the process as fast as he can, and the latter, while his lips are repeating the names of the letters, suffers his eye to wander far from the book. Thus the learner would go through the lesson without seeing half the letters, did not the teacher, now and then chide his negligence, and say, "Look at the letters-keep your eye on the book."

That this method of teaching is very unphilosophical and injudicious, if not sufficiently apparent already, will become so by a comparison with some other methods which we shall bring into view before we dismiss the subject.

2. The following, extracted from Mr. Wilderspin's book on the education of infants, is an account of his "method of teaching the alphabet and giving ideas of things at the same time."

"We have 26 cards, and each card has on it one letter of the alphabet, and some object in nature. The first has letter A on the top and an apple painted on the bottom. The children are de

sired to go into the gallery, which is simply seats elevated one above another at one end of the school like stairs; the master places himself before the children in a situation so that they can see him and he them, and being thus situated he proceeds nearly as follows.

Q. Where am I? right side of me? A. me? A. A chair.

A. Opposite to us. Q. What is on the A lady. Q. What is on the left side of Q. What is behind me? Q. What is behind me? A. A desk. Q. Who are before me? A. We children. Q. What do I hold up in my hand? A. Letter A for apple. Q. Which hand do I hold it up with? A. The right hand. Q Spell it. A. A-pp-l-e. Q. How is an apple produced? A. It grows on a tree. Q. What part of the tree is in the ground? A. The root. Q. What is that which comes out of the ground? A. The stem. Q. If the stem grows up straight, in what position would you call it? A. Perpendicular. Q. What is on the stem? A. branches. Q. What is on the branches? A. Leaves, and they are green. Q. Is there any thing besides leaves on the branches? A. Yes; apples. Q. What was it before it became an apple? A. Blossom. Q. What part of the blossom becomes fruit? A. The inside. Q. What becomes of the leaves of the blossom? A. They fall off the tree. Q. What was it before it became blossom? A. A bud. Q. What caused the buds to become larger and produce leaves and blossom? A. The sap. Q. What is sap. A. A juice. Q. How can the sap make the buds larger? A. It comes out of the root and goes up the stem. Q. Where next? Q. Where next? A. Through the branches into the buds. Q. What do the buds produce? A. Some buds produce leaves some blossoms, and some a shoot? Q. What do you mean by a shoot? A. A shoot is a young branch, which is green at first, but becomes hard by age. Q. What part becomes hard first? A. The bottom.

B.

Q. What is this? A. B for baker, for butter, for bacon, for brewer, for button, for bell, &c. &c. The teacher can take any of these names he pleases; for instance, the first: Children, let me hear you spell baker. A. B-a-k-e-r. Q. What is a baker? A. A man that makes bread. Q. What is bread made of? A. It is made of flour, water, yeast, and a little salt. Q. What is flour made of? A. Wheat. Q. How is it made? A. Ground to powder in a mill. Q. What makes a mill go round? A. The wind, if it is a wind-mill. Q. Are there any other kinds of

mills? A. Yes; mills that go by water, mills that are drawn round by horses, and mills that go by steam. Q. When the flour, and water, and yeast are mixed together, what does the baker do? A. Bake them in an oven. Q. What is the use of bread? A. For children to eat. Q. Who causes the corn to grow? A. Almighty God.

C.

Q. What is this? A. It is letter C for cow, c-o-w, and for cat, &c. Q. What is the use of the cow? A. The cow gives us milk to put into the tea. Q. Is milk used for any other purpose, besides putting it into tea? A. Yes, it is used to put into puddings and for many other things. Q. Name some of the other things. A. It is used to make butter and cheese. Q. What part of it makes butter? A. The cream which swims at the top of the milk. Q. How is it made into butter? A It is put into a thing called a churn, in the shape of a barrel. Q. What is done next? A. The churn is turned round by means of a handle, and the motion turns the cream into butter. Q. What is the use of butter? A. To put on bread, and to put into pye-crust, and many other nice things. Q. Of what color is butter? A. It is generally yellow. Q. Are there any other things made of milk? A. Yes, many things, but the principal one is cheese. Q. How is cheese made? A. The milk is turned into curds and whey; which is done by putting a liquid into it called rennet. Q What part of the curd and whey is made into cheese? A. The curd, which is put into a press; and when it has been in the press a few days, it bec mes cheese. Q. Is the flesh of the cow useful? A. Yes, it is eaten, and is called beef; and the flesh of the young calf is called veal. Q. Is the skin of the cow or calf of any use? A. Yes, the skin of the cow is manufactured into leather for the soles of shoes. Q. What is made with the calf skin? A. The top of the shoe, which is called the upper leather. Q. Are there any other parts of the cow that are useful? A. Yes, the horns, which are made into combs, handles of knives, forks, and other things. Q. What is made of the hoofs that come off the cow's feet? A. Glue to join boards together. Q. Who made the cow? A. Almighty God.

D.

Q. What is this? A. Letter D, for dog, for dove, for draper, &c. Q. What is the use of the dog? A. To guard the house, and keep thieves away. Q. How can a dog guard the house and keep thieves away? A. By barking to wake the persons who live in the house. Q. Is the dog of any other use? A. Yes, to