476 Movements in Ohio. HOLLISTON MANUAL LABOR SCHOOL. There is a Manual Labor School in Holliston, in this State, under the care of a Mr Rice and two or three assistants, which deserves at least a passing notice. Without funds, and, we might almost say, without friends, about three years Mr Rice has sustained this institution, during which time, he has instructed between two and three hundred pupils, male and female, in a manner highly creditable to himself, and interesting to the community. He has under his care, a large and commodious boarding house; but most of the pupils merely take rooms in the building, and board themselves. Such of the young men as are acquainted with shoe-making, find employment in that business in the vicinity of the school; and some have in this way paid their expenses. We do not know whether there is opportunity for any other manual labor in connection with the seminary except shoe-making; but we hope there is. For though we have no doubt that energetic young men may pay their way by shoe-making, yet we do not believe it safe for them to do so. Young men confined to the school room four, five, or six hours a day, and to their books more or less at other hours, need active exercise in the open air, for much of the time which remains. Above all, they ought not to be confined to the shoe bench, and its cramped positions, and confined air. All may go on well for a while, at least apparently so, but suffering must follow, sooner or later; and we shall almost inevitably find young ministers, fitted for college in this way, breaking down prematurely. MOVEMENTS IN OHIO. The Superintendent of Common Schools in Ohio, Mr. Lewis, is perambulating the State, and attending County and other Conventions; and, as we trust, doing great good. Mr. L. is a true son of New England-as thorough and efficient in what he undertakes, as the soil from whence he emanated is sterile, rocky, and iron-bound. His inexhaustable fund of information, as precise and accurate as it is extensive, give abundant evidence that the trust the Legislature imposed in him, has not been misplaced. Mr. Lewis is accompanied—at least in many places,-by President McGuffey, of Cincinnati College. The latter is the author or compiler of the Eclectic series of School Books, about which so much has been said of late in the Western papers. He is, we understand, a flippant speaker; but we know not how far he is acquainted with the character and wants of Common Schools.-We have heard it said that the places through which he passes, in company with Mr. Lewis, are very generally adopting his school books! At a meeting of the Cayahoga Common School Association, in Oberlin Collegiate Institute. 477 Cleveland, in August last, at which the gentlemen of whom we have beer speaking were present, the following important resolutions were passed, but not without much able discussion. Resolved, That in the opinion of this Association it is a serious evil to have too many scholars in a school. As a general rule, we think a school of thirty or thirtyfive is large enough for one teacher. 2. That it is desirable that a system of books should be procured and adopted by state authority. 3. That it is desirable that the school books should inculcate a uniformity of spelling, and the reading books should be calculated, as far as practicable to convey valuable information. 4. That School Districts should provide an apparatus, such as globes, blackboards, &c., to facilitate the instruction on useful branches, and should procure a School Library for the use of the pupils. OBERLIN COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE. We have received a Catalogue of the Trustees, Officers and Students of the Oberlin Collegiate Institute, for 1838, of which an account has been given, from time to time, in this journal. We perceive that the whole number of names on the Catalogue, is 391. Of these, 265 are males, and 126 are females. Of the males, 97 belong to the preparatory department, 44 to the logical school, 9 are attending a shorter course of study, 2 are irregular students, and 113 are attending the collegiate Of the females, 21 belong to the preparatory department, and 105 to the collegiate school. course. There are many things in regard to this Institution to render it interesting to every friend of education. Its moral tone and standing-its broad temperance principles-its banner of freedom-the large benevolence it inculcates and encourages, and the habits of industry, in both sexes, which it enjoins and secures, give it a prominence in the view of the Christian philanthropist, which few literary or religious institutions can claim. But its most interesting feature-to us,-is the uniting of the sexes in a course of liberal study, and the unexpected results which have followed. Many good men among us, when they heard that males and females were to recite together, sit at the table together, &c., constituting one large family, and living together in some measure on the principles of a well-ordered Christian household,-did not fail to predict a failure. Yet the Institution has flourished, and the experiment is unequivocally successful. We consider it now fully established, that the sexes may be educated together. This discovery is one of the most important ever made. The benefits which are likely to flow from it are immense. Woman is to be free. The hour of her emancipation is at hand. Daughters of America, rejoice! 478 School under a Tree. NEW INSTITUTIONS.-NEW COLLEGE IN MISSOURI. We have received the Prospectus of a new College at Columbia, Boone County, Missouri, of which Rev Luther H. Van Doren is to be President, and Rev Robert J. Thomas, and Mr David Dunlap, Professors in the various departments. Connected with the College is also a Preparatory Department, of which Rev E. P. Noel is the Teacher. The course of studies proposed for the former, appears to be thorough; that of the latter consists of those branches which are usually taught in common English Schools. There has also been lately erected here and elegantly furnished, an InStitution for young ladies, of the most respectable and desirable kind. We rejoice that these Western institutions are continually rising; and hope they will prove as efficient as they are numerous. THE ABBOT FESTIVAL. The papers are teeming with accounts of the late festival at Exeter, N. H. The circumstances were interesting, but we dislike these festivals, especially where wine and toasts are introduced; and we are astonished that the good sense of our New England communities should continue to tolerate them. The following is a very brief account of the material facts-dinner, evergreens, processions and fine speeches, of course excepted. The meeting of the Alumni of Phillips' Exeter Academy, for the purpose of paying a tribute of respect and affection to the venerable Principal of the Academy, Benjamin Abbot, LL. D., who has just completed his fiftieth year of arduous and honorable services in that station, took place on Thursday, 23d inst. (August.) The total number of students in the school since its formation exceeds two thousand, of whom almost the whole have been pupils of Dr. Abbot -he having become the head of the institution within a few years after it was founded. About four hundred of these students were present upon this occasion. The meeting between the venerable preceptor and his grateful scholars, was exceedingly affecting.' If we recollect rightly, the venerable Mr Woodbridge-father of the former Editor of the Annals of Education,-was once the principal of Phillips' Exeter Academy. If so, it is worthy of remark that Mr W. also lived to be a teacher, in various parts of the United States, for fifty years. Such instances of longevity in American teachers are rare. SCHOOL UNDER A TREE. A late number of the Youth's Friend, relates the following anecdote in regard to teaching the children of the convicts at Botany Bay, in New Holland. 'An English captain who visited the colony in the year 1837, found that there was no school in a place called Adelaide, and that the children were growing up neglected and ignorant. He determined to begin a school, and as there was no room or house for such a purpose, he gathered the children under a shady tree, which was large enough to protect a hundred scholars from the heat of the sun, which is very great in that country. On the branches of the trees he hung the cards, from which he taught the young colonists to spell and read. He taught them also to sing, and very often the whole school would stop their other lessons, and join together in a cheerful hymn. There were several sorts of beautiful birds in the tree, and notwithstanding all the noise that the children made with their lessons and singing, the old birds continued to occupy the nests and to feed their young. What a delightful schoolroom this must have been in a warm day, and how sweet to have the birds singing and flying about the branches, and the little ones, too weak to leave their nests, chirping over the heads of the school! When this school was well established, the captain obtained a pious woman, the wife of a cooper, to take charge of it, and since that an excellent teacher has been sent from England. GOOD HEALTH THE RESULT OF EDUCATION. In Goodrich's Fireside Education,' at page 76, we find the following important and valuable sentiment. The italicising is, however, our own. It may be supposed that a good constitution is not at the command of the parent. But let him devote his attention to this as a point of duty. as a thing of high interest; let him pursue it with the sagacity, practical good sense, and energy with which he pursues his ordinary business, and, in nine cases out of ten, he will secure his object. The truth is, that feeble constitutions are, in most cases, the result of neglect or mismanagement. The parent, therefore, may usually decide the physical character of his child for life. NORMAL SCHOOLS. The long-neglected subject of Normal Schools, or seminaries for the preparation of Teachers for this country, is now fairly before the community. We hope it will sleep no more till something efficient is accomplished. We have been led to this remark, by seeing in the papers an account of a meeting of the Plymouth County Association, at Hanover, Mass., on the 3d of Sept. last. The meeting was addressed in the forenoon by Mr Mann, Secretary of the Board of Education, who spoke with much ability on the subject of the special training of teachers, and presented many able arguments in favor of the establishment of Normal Schools. 480 My First School Book. In the afternoon, a resolution for the establishment of a Normal School in Plymouth County, was ably and thoroughly discussed, by Rev Mr Brooks, of Hingham, Ichabod Morton, Esq., of Plymouth, Robert Rantoul, Jr. Esq. of Gloucester, Rev Mr Putman, of Roxbury, Hon. John Q. Adams, of Quincy, Hon. Daniel Webster, of Boston, and Rev. Thomas Robbins, D. D.; and finally passed by a unanimous vote. We confidently expect, ere long, says the paper whence we have made this extract--and we expect the same-to see Normal Schools in successful operation not only in Plymouth County, but in every county in the State. MY FIRST SCHOOL BOOK. This is the singular title of a new first book for children, published by Perkins and Marvin of this city At least this is the principal title. The whole title reads thus: My First School Book, to teach me, with the help of my Instructor, to read and spell words and to understand them. By a Friend of Mine.' Appended to the title is also the following motto from Miss Edgeworth. We think that nine tenths of the labor and disgust of learning to read may be saved; and that instead of frowns and tears, the harbingers of learning, cheerfulness and smiles may initiate willing pupils in the most difficult of all human attainments.' We are the more interested in this little work, because it is, the very school book which we ourselves have long contemplated; and of which we have given some hints in the former numbers of the Annals of Education; and which in fact we had long ago commenced. Among its leading improvements of the work are the arrangement of the words in families, without reference to their length, instead of grouping them together in an arbitrary manner; and the omission of that chaotic mass of fragments of words,' with which the first pages of many spelling books are crowded to no purpose but to perplex, and confound, and disgust the learner. This book, small as it is, though it may be too good to find favor at first, is probably destined, ere long, to produce an entire revolution in our schools. Without detracting from the merits of other authors and discoverers, we believe we hazard nothing in saying that no school book which has appeared within the last twenty five years-Colburn's First Lessons in Arithmetic and Woodbridge's Rudiments of Geography not excepted, has done so much to bring about a new era in the history of elementary education, as will ultimately be done by My First School Book ;' and we congratulate the teachers on this important accession to their instruments of instruction. We purpose in our next number to give a more full account of this exceedingly valuable and timely little work. |