games and tableaux-vivants, are made of wood. Any common hard wood will answer, though cherry, birch, and mahogany are preferable.

The ring is turned from two pieces of board, one-half of an inch thick, glued together, with their grain running in contrary directions. It should be varnished with shellac, at least three coats, and highly polished. Thus made, it is beautiful and strong. Fig. 21 is a good illustration of a mahogany ring.

Two sizes afford a sufficient variety. The body of the ring, for men and women, is seven-eighths of an inch thick, and its

inner diameter four and one-fourth inches. The ring for boys and girls has an inner diameter of four inches, with a body threefourths of an inch thick.

All ring exercises are performed by the combined efforts of the students arranged in pairs, as in Figs. 22 and 23. They should be sedulously practiced; for, while they bring into play every joint and muscle of the body, they are peculiarly effective in increasing the volume and power of the extensors of the shoulder, arm, and forearm-muscles that are usually weak in most persons, and they also give rapid development to the chest.

TA

This

ALKATIVE men seldom read. is among the few truths which appear the more strange the more we reflect upon them for what is reading but silent conversation? People make extremely free use of their other senses; and I know not what difficulty they could find or apprehend in making use of their eyes, particularly in the gratification of a propensity which they indulge so profusely by the tongue. The fatigue, you would think, is less; the one organ requiring much motion, the other little. Added to which, they may leave their opponent when they please, and never are subject to captiousness or personality.

In open contention with an argumentative adversary, the worst brand a victor imposes is a blush. The talkative man blows the fire himself for the reception of it; and we can not deny that it may likewise be suffered by a reader, if his conscience lies open to reproach: yet even in this case, the stigma is illegible on his brow; no one triumphs in his defeat, or even freshens his wound, as may sometimes happen, by the warmth of sympathy.

All men, you and I among the rest, are more desirous of conversing with a great philosopher, or other celebrated man, than of reading his works. There are several

reasons for this; some of which it would be well if we could deny or palliate. In justice to ourselves and him, we ought to prefer his writings to his speech; for even the wisest say many things inconsiderately; and there probably never was one of them in the world who ever uttered extemporaneously three sentences in succession, such as, if he thought soundly and maturely upon them afterward, he would not in some sort modify and correct.

Effrontery and hardness of heart are the characteristics of all great speakers; or if one is exempt from them, it is because eloquence in him is secondary to philosophy, and philosophy to generosity of spirit.

On the same principle as impudence is the quality of great speakers and disputants, modesty is that of the taciturnespecially of great readers and composers. Not only are they abstracted by their studies from the facilities of ordinary conversation, but they discover, from time to time, things of which they were ignorant before, and on which they had not even the ability of doubting. We, my readers, may consider them not only as gales that refresh us while they propel us forward, but as a more compendious engine whereby we are brought securely into harbor, and deeply laden with imperishable wealth.

N

O subject requires the aid of apparatus to illustrate its problems so much as astronomy. It is a science which has been built up by the combined agency of observations on natural phenomena, and of mathematical investigations founded upon them. Neither branch of the subject is complete in itself. To make observations upon the heavenly bodies, even with the most perfect instruments, without bringing into use the agency of mathematics to develop them, is at best only a scientific amusement. To study only the laws of astronomy, without going back in our discussions to the fundamental observations, and verifying the methods by which they were made, is, to say the least, to reason without making sure of our premises.

To teach astronomy intelligibly and successfully, both its two great departments must be taken into account. As in land surveying, no instruction in the theory is valuable without the use of surveying instruments, and as in navigation, the principles of the science must be inculcated by the aid of actual observations, so in astronomy, no thorough comprehension of its principles, and no ability to expand and apply them, can be attained without a reasonably complete knowledge of the matter and methods of astronomical observation.

For these reasons it is to be feared that most of the instruction in practical astronomy in our institutions of learning is very defective. A knowledge of the facts of astronomy can of course be communicated, but the manner in which the science is built, the methods by which our knowledge of these facts has been obtained, the mutual dependence of theory and observations, these can not be made plain without introducing the student into the mysteries of an observatory. We venture to say that not one student in a hundred, even of our colleges, comes out with any definite ideas of the vast system of facts and computations which have rendered astronomy the most perfect of all sciences.

To remedy these defects, many institutions of learning have provided themselves

with extensive observatories. They have purchased large and valuable telescopes, which have been mounted in the most approved methods; and they have added to these all the essential appliances of firstclass observatories. Praiseworthy as are these efforts to extend this science in this country, they still fail entirely in giving the kind of aid that is wanted to students in the subject. The very costliness and excellence of these instruments unfit them for the uses of class instruction. Their delicate adjustments would be utterly ruined by subjecting them to the handling necessary to explain their principles to a class of students. If they are to be used for purposes of instruction, they become utterly unreliable and valueless for the refined and delicate observations of the scientific observations of the scientific astronomer. No astronomer who desired his observations to take rank in the scientific world, would for one moment think of permitting his exquisite instruments, with all their complicated mechanisms, to be turned "to such base uses." As soon would the surgeon permit the instruments with which he can find his way along those subtle boundaries which skirt the vital organs of the human frame, and with their exquisite edges can nimbly divide health from disease, and life from death, to be degraded by being used to carve a turkey for his Christmas dinner.

Besides, it would be found that the details of those ingenious mechanical contrivances, which give such power and accuracy to these instruments in the hands of the skillful observer, would serve to confuse and repel the first efforts of the students to master their principles. Comparatively simple and inexpensive apparatus is greatly to be preferred. The instruments themselves may be as perfect as possible of their kind. The glasses may be good, their arrangement convenient; but great power is not at all necessary, and much of the complex apparatus connected with the mounting may be safely dispensed with. The most that can be attained in the limited time usually devoted to astronomy,

The trustees of Rutgers College are endeavoring to supply precisely this want in their institution. An equatorial telescope has already been presented to the college by a liberal and public-spirited citizen. The additional instruments required are:

1. A meridian circle, serving the purposes both of a transit and meridian circle, and costing, perhaps, $500.

2. An astronomical clock, costing $300. 3. Star catalogues, recording apparatus, etc., $150.

4. Building, piers, etc., for mounting, $1,200.

We have no doubt that these needs will be speedily supplied, and that this college will then possess facilities for teaching astronomy equal to any in the country.

THE

HE report of the Superintendent of Common Schools for the State of New York has been presented to the Legislature. The subjoined abstract will afford a clear idea of its scope and character.

The number of school districts in the State reported in 1863 was In 1862 the number was

11,734 11,763

There are 11,753 school-houses, of which 216 are of logs, 9,969 framed, 995 brick, and 573 of stone.

The reports do not show the number of school-houses built during the year to replace others of the same material, but only the amount actually expended for sites, and for building, purchasing, hiring, repairing, and insuring school-houses, and for fences, &c., which was in cities, $242,547.53; rural districts, $186,961.40; total, $429,508.93.

During the last ten years, there have been expended for this purpose $6,322,998.68, and a very large part of this expenditure has been incurred for the erection of better school-buildings, furnished with more appropriate accommodations.

The Legislature of 1863 made an appropriation of $500, to be expended in preparing designs, specifications, and workingdrawings, for the school-houses and their accessories, under the direction of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

The work was intrusted, under his direction, to a competent architect, and will be soon published. It will contain a number of separate plans, with full specifications for building of brick or wood, and with due regard to health, comfort, and economy.

There was expended for libraries in 1863, $29,465.65, of which sum $23,099.95 was expended in the rural districts. The number of volumes in all the district-school libraries in the State is reported as 1,172,404. There is apparently a falling off from the number of the year before. The statistics in this regard are, however, far from being reliable, because, as is well understood, trustees make their reports without even counting the books. The average amount of library money apportioned annually to the rural districts is only $3 05 to each, and the amount expended, $2.77—a sum too small to keep up the waste, to say nothing of adding new books. The libraries are of less value than formerly, for reasons fully stated in the annual report of 1863, and the Superintendent suggests that the people of the districts be allowed to elect whether to expend the library money for books, or apparatus, or for teachers' wages. Also, that they have the power of taxing themselves at least ten dollars

annually to replenish the libraries. He suggests that this would create greater solicitude as to the use, care, and preservation of the books, and that the authority would be exercised by districts in which the libraries are appreciated.

There was expended for school apparatus in the cities, $124,580.03; in the rural districts, $8,626.17; total, $133,206.20 (showing a gratifying increase over the expenditure of the previous year of more than $38,000). Of the amount expended for libraries and apparatus ($162,671.85), the sum of $55,000 was from the income of the U. S. Deposit Fund.

The number of persons in the State between the ages of four and twenty-one years is 1,357,047 (a reported increase over the preceding year of 34,224). Of this number, 453,798 are in cities, and 903,249 in the rural districts.

Of the whole number of children of school ages, 886,815 are reported as having been at some time during the year in school. In 1862, there were 892,550, showing a decrease in attendance of 6,745. This is accounted for by the increased demand for the services of the youth between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one years. Of those who are not themselves connected with the army, many are withheld from the schools on account of the want of necessary laborers. The decrease in the attendance at the academies may be attributed to the same

cause.

There are 771 free schools and 1,668 private schools. The attendance upon the latter was 51,023. Two cities do not report private schools. Allowing for these, the attendance is not far from 60.000.

In the colleges there were 2,688 students, and in the academies and academical departments of Union schools, 35,192-making the aggregate attendance upon all the chools in the State, 984,695. A little more han 90 per cent. were in private schools,

per cent. in academies, and 3-10 per ent. in the colleges. When so large a proportion of the people look to the common school for the education of their children, the character and support of these schools are of paramount concern.

Making due allowance for the large number of children between four and six years

of age, who do not (and ought not) attend school, and for those between sixteen and twenty-one, as above stated, and the number of children of "school age" reported as not attending any school (372,352) creates less astonishment.

Of the seventeen school years as fixed by law, there are therefore, six which are not, practically, school-going years.

Of the 886,815 registered in the common schools, only 72,104 attended over 10 months; 65,161 eight months and less than ten; 115,450 six months and less than eight; 176,221 four months and less than six; 240,328 two months and less than four; and 217,551 less than two months.

A majority of the children, therefore, attend but a very short period each year; and a brief calculation will exhibit the virtual loss incurred by this enormous failure in the duty of school attendance. The aggregate loss of school instruction, for those children who attended less than six months during the year 1863 amounts to 1,876,185 months, equal to 312,697 school years of six months each, in one official school year. If it be assumed that the 634.100 children, whose attendance ex hibits this deficiency, could have been taught the whole six months by the corps of teachers actually engaged, then, allowing fifty pupils to each teacher, we have a loss equal to the service of more than 5,000 teachers. The loss, therefore, in the remuneration paid to the 15,703 teachers employed, will exceed one million of dollars annually! and a far more serious and injurious loss is inflicted upon the future of our country. The loss of 312,697 school years is equivalent to the schooling of 312,697 children for one school year of six months. It may be shown that in a single decade, as to these now neglected children, taking one hundred dollars as the minimum value of a lifetime of an educated over that of an uneducated person, and we gain in ten years the sum of $62,539,500; and if this be added to the amount above estimated at $10,000,000, it makes $72,539,500, or an annual relative, none the less real because relative loss, of $7,253,950. Large as the figures appear, they do not show the whole loss. Time (and time is money), the harvest time of youth is lost, and oftentimes

replaced by mischief and damage. Human happiness-all the beneficial results which most surely flow from the acquisition of a knowledge of our political duties as citizens of a free State, from a proper appreciation of the principles of social ethics, and from a conscientious understanding of the obligation of obedience to the wholesome restrictions of law, both human and divine -all are jeopardized or lost, or worse than lost.

Few parents are aware of the serious injury wrought by a day's absence once or twice a week in the child and in school. In the mind of the child despondency takes the place of cheerfulness and courage, indifference supersedes animated interest, and the apathy of ignorance supplants all fruitful desire for intelligence, or for an honorable and useful career in life. In the school the classes are deranged and demoralized, and extra care and labor are imposed upon the teacher in the government and instruction of the pupils. In whatever light presented, the non-attendance and irregularity of the attendance upon the schools, must command the serious attention of the Legislature.

It is suggested, that in the rural districts, greater regularity of attendance might be secured, if a part of the public money were apportioned on the basis of attendance. This would make it the pecuniary interest of every taxpayer to encourage a regular and general attendance at school. This mode of apportionment has been adopted in sister States with happy results.

The average time school was taught during the year, not including the cities, was seven months and eleven days-from year to year quite uniform.

The number of teachers, employed in 1862 was 26,500-7,585 males and 18,915 females. In 1863 there were 26,213-6,394 males, 19,819 females. This includes all who were employed for any term, however short.

The number of teachers reported as having been employed at the same time for six months or more (indicating more nearly the number required to supply the schools), in 1862, was 15,685; in 1863, was 15,703. For the payment of teachers' wages, there were expended, in the cities, $1,294,871.65;

in the rural districts, $1,431,015.02: total, $2,725,886.67. This amount is upward of $50,000 less than that expended in 1862, and the decrease may be accounted for in part by the diminution in the number o. male teachers, and in part by a more rigid economy practiced in the rural districts, induced by the pressure of the times. There were raised by local taxation for school purposes:

In Cities. Rural Districts. Tots!. In 1863. .$1,595,728.80 $503,181.28 $2,095.910.08 In 1862.... 1,560,456.40 507,601.34 2,068,057.74

To the amount raised by taxes in the rural districts, it is necessary, in any comparison with the cities, to add that raised by rate-bill, which was $363,741.05. This

will make the sum raised outside of the cities during the past year $886,922.33.

The amount of school money for the fiscal years 1863-4 is as follows:

From the Common School Fund... $155,000.00 From United States Deposit Fund... 165,000.00 From the State School Tax........ 1,090,841.11

The New York Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb is effectively fulfilling the purpose of its establishment. There are among its pupils 257 beneficiaries of this State; 31 country pupils, under the act of 1863; 33 supported by their friends, and 11 by the State of New Jersey; in all 332. Forty-six State pupils have been appointed during the year, and 43 reappointed. The "high class" has been a success, the pupils having very generally acquitted themselves with credit. The health of the inmates is good; no death has occurred during the year.