School Childrens' Associations.

331

'As much money,' says the zealous superintendent, as would annually construct half a mile of railroad, given each year to the colleges, and the cost of only one mile of canal, to the academies, will place both on a foundation of permanent security and usefulness. Will Pennsylvania rather increase her wealth, than educate her sons? She has shown, in her munificence to the common school system, that she will not.'

EDUCATOR'S INSTITUTE, FRANKLIN.

The semi-annual meeting of this Society was held at Franklin, on the 23d of May last, at which seven individuals were admitted to the society as qualified to instruct an English School, according to the requirements of the State. An address was given by the Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education, and several honorary members admitted, &c. It was also voted by the Society to send a copy of the following questions to each of its members within the distance of thirty miles, with a request that an answer, at length, in writing, to at least one of the questions, be transmitted to the Corresponding Secretary, at, or before the next regular meeting; which we believe will be the last Wednesday of September next.

1. Have you been engaged in teaching, and if so, where, how long, &c.?

2. What are the chief discouragements and encouragements at present to the educator?

3. How can parents be made interested in the success of their schools? 4. How can scholars be interested in their studies?

5. How can the teacher become interested in the good progress of his pupils?

6. Ought emulation in any form to be encouraged?

7. Is compulsion to study, or the learning of tasks, favorable in a moral point of view?

8. Can you suggest any improvement in the teaching of the Alphabet, of Reading, of Writing, of Spelling, of Geography, of Grammar, of Arithmetic?

9. To what extent, and in what manner, ought the Bible, to be made a text book in common schools?

VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONS AMONG SCHOOL CHILDREN.

The Annual Report of the School Committee of Portland, for the year ending with March 1838, has been received. It is, as usual, full of interest. We are glad to find these reports so full; and that they point out defects as well as excellencies. We notice in the report, an account of the formation, among the scholars of one of the schools, of an Antiswearing Society. Great as is our abhorrence of this vice, and greatly in favor, as we are, of voluntary associations to put down great national

332

Making Children Happy.

sins, we have many doubts of the propriety of encouraging, as the Portland School Committee do, the formation of associations of the kind among the children of Common Schools.

CONNECTICUT REDEEMED.

This was the title of a brief article in our last number, but it is still more appropriate as a caption to the following paragraph from the Connecticut Observer, of Hartford.We understand that the Bill referred to, passed the Senate with almost as much of unanimity as it did the House of Representatives.

"The Bill creating a Board of Commissioners for Common Schools, passed the House with only one dissenting voice. The bill provides for the appointment of eight persons, one from each County, who in connection with the Governor, shall constitute a "Board of Commissioners of Common Schools." This Board is to report annually to the legislature the condition of every Common School in the State, the means of popular education generally, and to suggest such plans for the improve. ment of common schools, and for promoting popular education, as they shall deem expedient. To enable them the better to discharge their duties, the Board are authorized to appoint a Secretary, who shall devote his whole time, if required, to ascertain the condition, increase the interest, and promote the usefulness of Common Schools, and who shall be compensated for his services from the Treasury of the State.'

GRAND RIVER INSTITUTE,

This institution is located in a pleasant and healthful situation, in Austinburg, Ashtabula County, Ohio. There is belonging to it an excellent farm of 225 acres; one half, at least, of which is under good improvement, and furnishes to the students opportunities for labor in the different departments of agriculture. Students are expected to labor, when the weather will admit, not less than three, nor more than four hours daily; and are compensated according to their power, skill, and industry. Convenient situations for prosecuting different branches of mechanical labor are also furnished to such as are accustomed to the use of tools, and it is designed that the facilities and advantages of an efficient manual labor system shall be rapidly and constantly increasing.

The objects of the institution are mainly to assist in training young men for the gospel ministry, and to benefit mankind by preparing any who enjoy its privileges for vigorous and healthful action upon the mass of mind around them.

The building of the Institute will accommodate 75 students. Tuition $15 a year. Board, exclusive of washing, about $1,00 to $1,25.

Notices of Books.

333

NOTICES OF BOOKS.

IINTS FOR THE YOUNG, on a subject relating to the health of body and mind. Boston: Weeks, Jordan & Co., 1838.

pp. 60. Some portions of this work have already appeared in the form of essays, in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal. The author, however, the worthy Superintendent of the Hospital for the Insane at Worcester at the request of many friends of education, has at length consented to present them in a more popular form, for the benefit of parents, teachers and youth.

In consenting to the publication of this little manual, Dr Woodward has rendered a great public service. The evil to which he alludes is far more common and destructive than is generally supposed. Thousands believe, or feign to believe, that Mr Graham and others, have either unintentionally or with design, exaggerated it. We hope the work before us will serve to convince-if aught can do it,' — the most skeptical, that it is high time to understand this matter, as it is; and to take such measures in reference to its prevention, as the nature of the case and the circumstances may admit.

The closing remarks of Dr W. may give the reader some idea of the general character of the work.

'I have purposely selected a class of most respectable individuals who have been the victims of this vice, because I believe that in our High Schools, Academies and Colleges, the evil is as alarming, or more so, than amongst an equal number of young men in the humble walks in life. I am confident that the sedentary and inactive are more commonly its victims than the laborious and active. The idle, sedentary, and those who pursue light employments, have more frequently come under my observation, and are most likely to suffer serious injury, -young men who congregate together, more than those who labor secluded from associates; students, merchant's clerks, printers and shoemakers, more than those young men who labor at agricultural employments, or active mechanical trades.

'Labor in the open air conduces to sound sleep, and invigorates the physical powers; in this way tends to prevent the practice, and in some measure fortify the constitution against its effects;—at least, the same indulgence will produce less perceptible influence;—but no means will secure any person from danger, for no class of the young is exempt from the most melancholy and fatal results, who are to any extent in the habit of this secret vice.

'I am aware that full credence is not given by all to the extent of the evil which results from this cause. My own knowledge is almost ex

clusively derived from observation. I was not sensible of the extent and universality of the practice, nor of the disastrous effects which followed from it, till circumstances placed me in the way of extensive experience.

'For the last four years, it has fallen my lot to witness, examine and mark the progress of from ten to twentyfive cases daily, who have been the victims of this debasing habit, and 1 aver, that no cause whatever, which operates upon the human system, prostrates all its energies, mental, moral and physical to an equal extent. I have seen more cases of idiocy from this cause alone, than from all the other causes of insanity. If insanity and idiocy do not result, other diseases, irremediable and hopeless, follow in its train, or such a degree of imbecility marks its ravages upon body and mind, as to destroy all the happiness of life, and make existence itself wretched and miserable in the extreme.'

THE HAWAIIAN SPECTATOR, Vol. I., No. 1. Conducted by an Association of gentlemen. Jan. 1838. Honolulu, Oahu, Sandwich Islands. 8vo. pp. 112.

Who could have thought, twenty years ago, that a handsome quarterly of 112 pages, would soon spring up in the far distant isles of the sea? And yet such a quarterly is before us.

The following is a list of its principal articles. 1. Introductory Observations; 2. A sketch of Marquesian character; 3. Marquesian and Hawaiian dialects compared; 4. The Oahu Charity School; 5. Female Education at the Sandwich Islands; 6. Account of the Russians in Kauai; 7. Decrease of Population; 8. Sketches of Kauai; 9. Foreign Correspondence; 10. Phenomena of the tides.

The fourth and fifth articles embrace many important facts in relation to the education of both sexes at the Sandwich Islands, and much valuable information in regard to the condition and character of females there. We should be glad, had we room, to transfer several paragraphs from the Spectator to our own pages. It would not be necessary to go farther than Hawaii, if human testimony can ever be relied on, to show that the sins of parents-the physical sins at least―are visited upon children through many subsequent generations; and that no permanent introduction of christianity can be effected, which does not contemplate physical as well as moral and intellectual improvement and elevation; in other words, that we must attend closely to the physical frame and its laws and relations, in every effort at human improvement, renovation, or redemption.

THE YOUNG HOUSEKEEPER, or Thoughts on Food and Cookery. By Wm. A. Alcott. Boston: George W. Light. 1838. 16mo. pp.

424.

This the author claims to be a work on education, in two respects:

Notices of Books.

335 first, because both food and cookery have much direct influence in the formation of human character; and secondly, because the principles of the author, could they be carried out judiciously, would give the mother, who is supposed to be for the most part the housekeeper, a large amount of valuable time and means for direct instruction. The work is based on the principle that the family school is the true school, for which all other schools are only substitutes.

THE LIBRARY OF HEALTH, AND TEACHER ON THE HUMAN CONSTITUTION. Geo. W. Light, Boston, Publisher.

In January 1835, a periodical was established in this city, by the present editor of the Annals of Education, under the name of the Moral Reformer, and Teacher on the Human Constitution. Its object was to improve the public morals by promoting the public health; and this last, by correct physical education. As the name of the work, however, that of "Moral Reformer,"-for the secondary title seemed to be overlooked-led to a wrong impression respecting its character, it was changed to the name which now stands at the head of this article. With this title it has now been issued a year and a half longer.

The character of this work-the Library of Health-has not been essentially changed with the name. It is still, in substance, a work on health and early physical education in schools and families. The whole series of volumes-four in number, when this year's volume is completed is believed to contain more on the subject of physical education, than any other series of books which can be obtained for the sum of five dollars any where in this country or in the world. If this seems like commending ourselves, our only apology is what seems to us to be the necessity of the case. It is but the merest act of justice, that the work should be better known as a work of physical education than it is, since more than two thirds of the articles-perhaps three fourths-have that bearing, and are of that description.

Nothing more would be necessary, in order to substantiate the claim we have made in regard to the character of the Library of Health and its predecessor, than to present the list of contents found at the beginning of each volume. For this, however, we have not room, nor can it in a journal like this, be necessary. The following, as a specimen, will be abundantly sufficient. It is from the contents for the volume of last year, and is taken at random. Rational Apothecaries; Reforın in Schools; Reformation; Reformers, fate of; Rich enough; Right use of Physicians; Rising Early; Rosy Cheeks.'

THE YOUTH'S PENNY PAPER.

This little paper is published weekly at New York, by E. French, No. 146 Nassau Street. The price is fifty cents a year, twentyfive cents for