$16.50 SCHOOL DISTRICT LIBRARIES. The glorious law of 1837, and which in the course of five years will secure the appropriation of more than six hundred thousand dollars to the purchase of books for district libraries, and it is calcu lated will within that time, disseminate more than one million of volumes through more than ten thousand school districts, and thereby bring the blessings and advantages of knowledge to every family, however humble, in the State, did not commence its mission of civil. ization and patriotism until 1839. The Report says The returns show that 2,750 volumes have been purchased in 22 towns. As it was not obligatory on the districts to report their libraries in 1838, these returns are not to be relied on as exhibiting the actual number of books procured in that year. There are two classes of these departments in various academies of the State. One class consists of those established by the Regents of the University by virtue of chap. 140, of the laws of 1834. There are eight academies, the trustees of which have agreed to establish Several thousand libraries have been procured during the year departments for the instruction of teachers of common schools, in 1839, by means of the fund distributed for that purpose, with the consideration of receiving from the Regents four hundred dollars, a addition in numerous instances of money raised by voluntary tax. sum supposed to be equal to the expense of such departments. The returns of these would not ordinarily reach the Superintendent By the 9th section of the Act to appropriate the income of the until the month of September next. But in order to obtain the means United States Deposite Fund to the purposes of education and the of laying before the Legislature at its present session, information diffusion of knowledge," passed April 17, 1838, it is made the duty respecting the operation of the system now in force, reports have of the Regents of the University to require of every academy recei- been directed of the measures taken by the school districts under ving a distributive share of public money equal to seven hundred dol- the law requiring them to expend the "library money" received du. lars per annum, to establish and maintain in such academy, a depart-ring the year 1839, which returns will form the subject of a separate ment for the instruction of common school teachers. Under this report. provision the regents have required eight academies to establish such departments. The following is the condition of the departments in eleven of these academies as exhibited in their reports: 498 86 Number of students belonging to the Teachers' Departments, Number connected for a period not exceeding one quarter, Exceeding one but not two do. Exceeding two but not three do. 66 Three but not four do. 81 Four quarters, 28 Annual expense of the Departments, $4,522 50 Upon the whole, the establishment of these departments has had a favorable influence upon the character and qualifications of teachers. The standard has been raised, the demand for competent teachers has increased, and the supply has been materially augment. ed. It should be made the interest of those who intend to be teach. ers, to avail themselves of these departments. This could be effect. ed by a legislative provision, declaring that a certificate of qualifica. tion given by the trustees of the academy under their seal, should constilute the person receiving it, a qualified teacher in the common schools of the State, without any further certificate from the inspec. tors of a town; but that the latter might annul such certificate for conduct affecting the moral character of the individual holding it, subject to the usual right of appeal to the Superintendent. The certificate from these academies would confer upon the holder decided advantages in procuring employment, and would thus have a great tendency to induce the persons engaged in the honorable and important duties of teachers, to make that business a profession. Others would emulate the attainments of those who received steady employment, and just compensation and a higher standard of qualification would be introduced. In order to render these departments more useful, a regulation will be introduced by the Superintendent making it an indispensable part of the system, that the persons instructed shall be required to practice teaching in the presence and under the direction of the preceptor of the academy. NUMBER OF CHILDREN UNEDUCATED. of ascertaining the number of children who are not instructed at all, There cannot be any more important subject of inquiry, than that Some remarks have already been made, to show how fallicious are the returns for the whole number of children in the state between 5 and 16 years of age. Until this is ascertained, we can make no pro. gress in determining the number who are without instruction. If we possessed that number accurately, it would then be necessary to know how many children are educated at private schools, boarding schools, academies and high schools. Among the instructions given to the visiters of common schools, appointed under the act of the last session, they were particularly directed to collect information on these subjects. Their reports will be received, it is hoped, in the course of the present month. The results will be submitted to the Legislature, with such suggestions as may appear to be warrant. ed by them. CHILDREN OF LABORERS ON PUBLIC WORKS. The situation of the children of laborers on our public works, demands consideration. The existing laws recognize inhabitants of districts, only, as entitled to a full participation in the benefits of the common schools. Many of the laborers are temporarily employed, and are not considered inhabitants. Others, who expect to remain for years at a given place, purchase or hire tenements, and become legally inhabitants. To reckon all the children of these as belonging to a school district, when they do not in fact attend the schools, operates injuriously to the other districts; and yet, in many cases children who are thus returned as belonging to a district, are prevented from attending its school by inability to procure books, or to appear in what their parents deem a proper dress, or from their unwillingness to be instructed by teachers of a different faith. The most effectual remedy which occurs to the Superintendent, is to allow persons thus situated to organize themselves into a school society, choose their own trustees, make their reports to the commis. sioners of the town, and receive a share of the public money in proThese reports generally exhibit an increase in the supply of teach- portion to the number of pupils, between 5 and 16 years of age, who ers, and represent the demand for them as continually augmenting. shall have been instructed at least four months by a qualified teacher. Believing that with the improvements that can be made in these de- It may be unjust to the towns to direct such share to be paid out of partments, they can be rendered more efficient in furnishing teach. the town funds, as the collection of the persons to be benefitted is ers of common schools of the proper grade, than in any other mode rather accidental and temporary than permanent. Provision might be which has yet been suggested, the Superintendent concurs in the re-made for the payment, out of the surplus income which now goes to commendation of his predecessor, to authorize the establishment of increase the capital of the School Fund. eight in addition to the present number, that are endowed specially for that purpose, and to increase the allowance to each to the sum of five hundred dollars, to be applied exclusively to the support of the department. The present allowance is $400, which is paid to eight academies. The increase recommended would amount to $4,800, which can be spared without inconvenience from the annual surplus of the United States Deposite Fund, estimated, as before mentioned, at $51,370.13 This surplus is now directed to be applied to in. crease the pecuniary capital of the common schools. The applica. tion of the amount as above suggested, to the education of teachers, would increase the intellectual capital, and improve the condition of the schools more effectually, than the distribution of money to deficient teachers. COMMON SCHOOL JOURNAL. There are no means of diffusing information to the school dis tricts, of the alterations in the laws or regulations, or of directions upon questions of great practical importance, but through the ordinary newspapers, or by circulars transmitted from this office. The expenses of printing and postage, on these circulars, is great, and they often fail to reach the persons interested. In Massachusetts, Connecticut and Michigan, there are journals devoted exclusively to the promotion of common school education. They are conducted under the superintendence of the officers charged with that subject, and are made the organs of communicating to the subordinate officers, to teachers, and to the inhabitants of districts, the various in. formation so necessary to the correct discharge of their duties, and to prevent disputes and litigation. They contain, also, valuable es says upon reforms and improvements of the system, and discussions the people unquestionably entertain proper feelings on the subjeci.— on various topics connected with education, calculated to awaken attention to the subject, and produce a more active and vigorous spirit in forwarding the cause. There can be no doubt that a similar journal in this state might be made eminently useful in the same way, and it would certainly relieve this department from a very severe labor-that of answering inquiries as to the duties of officers, and resolving doubts and difficulties. Although the time of the Superintendent could not be spared to provide essays or selections for its columns to any great extent, yet a general superintendence could be exercised, and with the aid of a competent editor, it may be made most efficient. Such an editor can be obtained; and if the Legislature authorize the Suerintendent to subscribe for copies sufficient for all the school districts of the State, and for each board of town commissioners, at an expense not exceeding $2,800, there is reason to believe the attempt will be immediately made to publish a monthly journal of the character described. In the opinion of the Superintendent, the necessary sum may be applied from the surplus income of the United States Deposite Fund, without inconvenience; and its application to such a purpose will contribute, in his judgment, to an improved administration of our common school system. NEW JERSEY.-EXTRACTS FROM GOV. PENNING- You may expect a report from the Trustees of the School Fund during your session. The subject of common school education is a all times entitled to your highest consideration. It can never fail to interest us all, intimately connected as it is with the intelligence and virtue of the people, on which all our institutions securely stand. I invite your attention to an improvement in our system suggested in the last report of the Trustees of the School Fund, that some mode should be adopted for educating teachers, and qualifying them for the discharge of their responsible duties. It is decidedly better to have no school in a district, than to have one under the government of an illiterate or immoral teacher. ABSTRACT OF SCHOOL RETURNS FOR 1839. Whole number of districts in townships returned, Whole number of children between ages of 5 and 16 in Number of children at schools, Average length of school in months, Amount appropriated from School Fund to townships Amount raised by tax in townships returned, MASSACHUSETTS. They prize education as they ought, and wish their children to enjoy its advantages. Where the condition of the common schools is bad, and manifestly inadequate to the due preparation of the young for the duties of life, (as far as that preparation is to be acquired at places of education,) it may be presumed to result, in most cases, from ignorance of what has been accomplished in other parts of the commonwealth, and might be effected in all, by proper exertions on the part of those to whom this important trust is confided by law. Inasmuch as zeal on this subject is almost sure to follow in the train of intelligence, the Board know of no agency which can more safely be relied upon to awaken and sustain the proper interest, than public meetings in every part of the commonwealth, at which the friends and conductors other and the public, the results of their experience and observations. of education may have the opportunity of communicating to each Such assemblies are entirely in accordance with the character of our political institutions, which aim to effect the great objects of human society, as far as possible, by the voluntary action of the people; and which look to the government only for such measure of aid and organization as is needed to call into the highest action the enlightened sense of the community. It is confidently believed that the manner in which the county conventions have been attended, the character of the addresses, discussions and proceedings, and the influences they have been calculated to exercise, are such and such only as were desired and intended by the Legislature, in passing the law which makes it the duty of the Secretary to be present. No sectarian or party interest has, in any single case, been manifested; and those attending the meetings have come together as on ground common to every good citiresults of holding these conventions, that they mite in an object of It may be regarded as by no means one of the least beneficial each other in reference to other topics of public concernment, take a permanent and sacred interest, all those who, however alienated from lively and a common interest in the welfare of the rising generation. NORMAL SCHOOLS AT BARRE AND LEXINGTON.* zen. for the qualification of teachers, at Lexington and Barre, have gone In the course of the past year, the normal schools or seminaries into operation. The Board refer to their last annual report, for the detail of the steps taken in the location of these institutions. As it was very important to secure the highest attainable degree of quali139 fication, in the immediate superintendence of these schools, much time 89 was unavoidably required for the selection and appointment of in942 structers. The arrangements for the school at Lexington were first 835 completed by the choice of Mr. Cyrus Pierce, who, at the time of his election, was engaged with uncommon success, as principal of the 64,411 public school at Nantucket. The Normal school at Lexington, it will 33,954 be recollected, was exclusively designed for females, and as it went & into operation at a season of the year, (the month of July,) when female teachers are generally under engagement in schools, the atten$17,600 dence the first term, was not large. This circumstance, however, was $26,339 the less to be regretted, as it enabled the principal of the school to pro$2 ceed in its organization with the caution desirable in an institution of a novel character in this country. After a vacation of two weeks, the second term commenced about the middle of October, with a considerably increased attendance. The present number of pupils is twenty-one. At the same time, a model school connected with the in Third Annmal Report of the Board of Education, together with the stitution, was put into operation. This is a school attended by thirty third Aunual Report of the Secretary of the Board. We are indebted to the Hon. Horace Mann, for copies of these valuable reports. We shall copy such parts of them as throw light on the condition of education in Massachusetts, or seem to be applicable to our own circumstances. SCHOOL CONVENTIONS. The conventions directed by law to be attended by the Secretary of the Board, in each county of the Commonwealth, have been duly held. The presence of teachers, of the members of school committees, and of the friends of education generally, at these meetings, is, of course, voluntary, and must, therefore, vary with circumstances. At several of the conventions, there has been a gratifying attendance. Discussions on important subjects connected with education, have been had at these meetings. Among the most prominent subjects considered, have been the education of children in factories; and the supply of books well adapted to the wants of the people generally, and especially of the young. These discussions have, in many cases, been sustained in a manner which evinces deep interest in the subjects considered. At the several county conventions, addresses were delivered by the Secretary of the Board, on the necessity of education, as a preparation for all the great personal and social duties. It is believed that, by the various exercises of these meetings, an increase of zeal has been produced, in that part of the community to which we must most directly look for the improvement of the schools. The influence proceeding from those conventions, is regarded as one of the most important instruments which can be employed, for raising the standard of common school education. The great majority of pupils of both sexes, between the ages of six and ten years, gathered from the several school districts in the town. This school is under the general superintendence of the principal of the Normal school, but is taught by the pupils of that institution. It is visited every day by the pupils, as a listener and observer, and occasion for remark is by the pupils of the Normal school. Occasionally, the principal taken, on the manner in which the duty of instruction is performed, instructs the model school, in the presence of all the pupils of the Normal school, who consequently have the benefit of his example.The establishment of the model school is understood to have been very favorably viewed by the community, and a much larger number of children could have been obtained for it, had it been practicable to receive more to advantage. The resort The Normal school at Barre, went into operation on the fourth of September, under the superintendence of Mr. S. P. Newman, who had for many years filled with reputation the office of a professor in Bowdoin college, in the State of Maine. The school at Barre, for reasons intimated in the last annual report, was opened for males and females, and thirty-nine pupils attended during the term. was so great that it was found necessary to employ an assistent teacher; but as the schools kept for females are generally opened in the spring, and as the larger part of the pupils are of that sex, it is presumed that a reduction of numbers will take place at the third term. It is supposed that a main cause why the resort of pupils at Barre, has been greater than at Lexington, is to be found in the circumstances, that both sexes have been admitted at Barre, and females only at Lexington; and that pupils have been received for a single term at the former place and not at the latter. The course pursued on the These strong and obvious considerations, have, in other countries, first point, as was explained in the Report of the Board the last year, led to the adoption of Normal schools, as a part of the regular system has been in conformity with what was understood to be the public of public instruction; and it would seem that they are as decisive of preference in the two places. The same reason existed for permit- the question of the utility of such institutions in America as in Euting a shorter term at Barre, united with a wish to ascertain, by the rope. They are the considerations, it is presumed, which led the practical operation of the two plans, which will be entitled to prefer- Legislature promptly to engage in the experiment now in progress, ence, as the permanent rule. The Board is strongly inclined to the and on which the attention of the friends of education throughout the opinion, that a year, at least, should be passed at the Normal schools country is anxiously fixed. The board ask permission, in closing by each pupil; but it may be found, on trial, that the advantages of a this part of their report, to quote the words of one of the most distinshorter term are sufficient to outweigh the obvious objections to it.-guished philosophers of the age, on this subject. "We need an instiA model school has not yet been organized at Barre; but it is pro-tution for the formation of better teachers; and until this step is taken posed to connect one with the Normal school, as soon as the requisite arrangements for that purpose can be effected. The Board express themselves with entire approbation of the institutions at Lexington and Barre, with respect both to the fidelity with which instruction has been dispensed, and the disposition and capa ity of the greater portion of the pupils. They feel that a degree of success of the most gratifying character, has been realized in both institutions. At an expense to the Commonwealth of less than $1,000, for the past year, two seminaries for the qualification of teachers have been organized in commodious buildings, with adequate libraries and apparatus, and under the superintendence of experienced and distinguished instructers. The combination of circumstances which has produced so desirable a result, by the application of so moderate a sum from the treasury, must be considered as an event peculiarly auspicious to the cause of education. OBJECTS AIMED AT IN THE NORMAL SCHOOLS. * we can make no important progress. The most crying want in this 6 THE SCHOOL LIBRARY' OF MARSH, CAPEN, LYON & WEBB. In the course of the year, ten volumes have been published by Messrs. Marsh, Capen, Lyon and Webb, under the sanction of the Board, being the first ten of a series, to be issued under the name of the "School Library." Other volumes will follow, as rapidly as they can pass through the press. In giving their joint sanction to the volumes thus published, nothing was further from the intentions of the Board, than to attempt any control over the free choice of the com is well known to all who have turned their thoughts to this subject, that an ample supply of instructive books, in the various departments of useful knowledge, does not exist throughout the community. The Board believe, also, that the inspection of the volumes already published, and of the titles of those proposed, (a list of which is subjoined,) will effectually remove all apprehension which may have been felt, that the sanction by the Board, of books suitable for a school library, might have a sinister effect, either positive or negative, in ref The instructions given in the Normal schools, have, under the regulations adopted by the Board, been directed to the two great objects of an institution for the qualification of teachers, viz., 1st, to impart to the pupils a more correct and thorough knowledge of the various branches required by law to be taught in our schools, and 2d, to teach the principles of communicating instruction, both in theory and in practice, at a model school, to be connected with the main institution. The importance of these two branches of instruction, and their connexion with each other, in a seminary for the qualification of teach-mittees employed to purchase books, for the district libraries. But it ers, is too obvious to require an elaborate explanation. Few persons who have been called to the performance of the duty of a member of a school committee, can have failed to observe, that of those who offer themselves as teachers, a large number are destitute of an accurate and thorough acquaintance with the various branches of knowledge required by law to be taught in the schools. They neither read nor write well, are deficient in the science of numbers; and have an imperfect knowledge of the grammar of our language; but they have a foundation in all these branches. It is not to be expected that a major-erence to religious instruction. ity of the district school teachers in the State can afford the time for a very long and thorough revision of the branches of knowledge which they are required to teach. But it is nevertheless true, that much may be learned, even in a short time passed with that particular object in view, in an institution expressly devoted to that object, and at an age when the mind has attained some degree of maturity, and the moral motives to diligence are powerfully felt. There can be no doubt, it is believed, in the mind of any person practically acquainted with the subject, that if, of two persons of equal capacity, posseesing beforehand the usual average proficiency in the branches to be taught, one should immediately take charge of a school, without any previous preparation, and the other should devote even so short a period as three months, to a diligent review of all those branches, a review to be made under the direction and with the aid of an accomplished and faithful instructer,—the advantage would be greatly on the side of the last, in commencing his duties as a teacher. But the art of instruction, that is, of communicating knowledge to the youthful mind, and aiding and encouraging its own efforts; the art of governing a school, or rather of so forming and influencing it as to supersede the necessity of that mixture of harsh discipline and capricious iudulgence which is called government, is also one of great difficulty and importance. It has its principles, which lie deep in the philosophy of our nature. Some of the best talent in several countries for the last generation, has been employed in elucidating these principles. To comprehend them thoroughly, and with the ability to apply them practically, is the endowment of a gifted few. A thoroughly accomplished teacher is as rarely to be met with, as an individual of the highest merit in any of the professions or other most responsible callings in life. Ifthese considerations, in one view of the subject, should lead us to despair of furnishing many of our schools with teachers of this description, they should lead us directly to the conclusion, that for the practice of such an art some specific preparation is far better than none. The preparation may be inadequate, but nothing is so bad as wholly to want preparation. Of two individuals, otherwise equally well qualified, and proposing to engage in the business of teaching school, if one should enter upon his duties without any special instruction in them, and no guide but his own judgment, and the recollections of his own experience at school, (possibly an indifferent school,) while the other should pass, even so short a period as three months, in an institution exclusively for the qualification of teachers, where he should be carefully instructed in the principles of teaching and governing a school, can there be a doubt that the latter would be in a condition to give by far the greatest aid and encourage ment to his pupils? The attention of the Legislature, of the friends of education, and the public generally, is invited to these volumes, which may serve as a fair specimen of the whole. It will be seen, that they are recommended, in the first place, by great neatness of execution, and by being afforded at a priee, which, considering the style of the typography, must be considered very reasonable. The Board attach some importance to these circumstances, believing that the formation of a taste for reading in the community depends, to a considerable degree, on a supply of books at a moderate price, which are correctly printed, and can be read with ease. Could the distaste for books sometimes manifested by young persons, whose character is not formed, be traced to its source, it might no doubt, in many cases, be found in the repulsive exterior, obscure type, unsightly paper, and incorrect printing of the few books within their reach. The books recommended by the board, without any pretensions to typographical luxury, are free from all these objections. With respect to the more important point of the subjects of the books, it is believed, they are without exception, such as a Christian parent would approve. It has not been possible to proceed on a systematic plan, in giving, in the first ten volumes, a proportionate share to every branch of knowledge. Still, there will be found to be a due degree of variety in their contents. The Natural Theology, of Paley, with the illustrations and supplements of Sir Charles Bell and Lord Brougham, and the notes of Dr. Elisha Bartlett, by whom the present edition is prepared, is contained in two of the volumes. Nothing need be said in commendation of this great work, in which the fundamental truths of natural religion are placed on a basis which can never be shaken, and set forth with a beauty and variety of illustration never surpassed. An Abridgment of Mr. Irving's Life of Columbus has been prepared for this series, by its distinguished author, and is contained in another of the volumes already published. Three volumes selected from Spark's Library of American Biography, contain the lives of many of the most distinguished statesmen and heroes of our country. Four volumes of the Sacred Philosophy of the Seasons, by Dr. Henry Duncan, of Scotland, have been prepared for the School Library, by the Rev. Dr. Greenwood, and will be found to contain the most interesting and instructive views of almost all the phenomena of the natural world. COMMON SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES. In conclusion, they would invoke the continued attention of the Leg slature to the great interests of that Common School education, which, as far as human means go, is the foundation of our prosperity Rev. Dr. Channing, as a people. It is not intended to utter any sentiment unfriendly to modation. But the school-house, which leads directly towards the our higher seminaries of education. But without instituting any in-church, or rather may be considered as its vestibule, and which furvidious comparison between the different classes of institutions for ed-nishes to the vast majority of our children the only public means they ucation; and firmly believing that the colleges and schools are the best will ever enjoy, for qualifying themselves to profit by its counsels, its friends of each other, and prosper most where they prosper together; promises, its warnings, its consolations; the school-house, which leads the Board would still respectfully submit the opinion, that the improve- directly from the court-house, from the jail and from the prison, and is, ment of the Common Schools is emphatically, and in the first instance, for the mass of our children, the great preventive and safe-guard the concern of the people. They are intended for the children of the against being called or forced into them as litigants or as erminals;— whole community, while comparatively a small number receive a col- this class of buildings, all over the State, stand in afflicting contrast lege education. The elementary school must be placed at the door of with all the others. The court-houses, which are planned and erected the individual citizen, or at least in the centre of the village, or many under the advice and control of the county authorities, and of the leadof those for whom it is intended, will fail to enjoy its benefits. While ing men in the county, for themselves, and in which they spend but a it is also desirable that the means of a collegiate education should be few terms in the year, and the meeting-houses, where the parents as widely diffused as is possible, without lowering its standard, it spend but a few hours in a week. are provided with costly embellishmust, of necessity, in almost all cases, be sought at some distance from ments, and with every appurtenance that can gratify taste or subserve home, and if not found in one place, it may be obtained at another. comfort; but the houses where the children, in the most susceptible peFor this reason, the state of the higher seminaries of learning, does riod of their lives, spend from thirty to forty hours in a week, seen to not of necessity determine the character of a community, even in refer- be deserted by all public care, and abandoned to cheerlessness and dience to those branches of education for which they are provided. Not lapidation. I do not think there are more than a hundred of the three so with the common schools. Their condition is an infallble index of thousand school-houses in the State, erected in a style at all superior, that of the community. Never was there a prosperous, virtuous, intel- even if equal to that of the very poorest public buildings of any other ligent people, where the schools were in a languishing condition.-kind, in the very poorest and most sparsely populated portions of the They furnish the keys of knowledge to the mass of the people. They Commonwealth. Leaving the city of Boston out of the account, it are the only avenue by which the majority of the rising generation would be easy to select a hundred churches, which the parents have are able, as they grow up, to make their way into life, prepared to dis- built for themselves, worth all the three thousand school-houses colleccharge its duties and fulfil its relations with ease and credit to them- tively, which they have built for the children. At the rate of one hunselves, and with advantage to society. dred a year, it will take more than a quarter of a century to renovate them all. Of many of them, however, it may be predicted with certainty, that, however long they may be able to endure the weight of public opinion, their own weight they cannot long sustain. MR. MANN'S THIRD ANNUAL REPORT. PROSPECTS OF COMMON SCHOOLS. 1 feel fully justified in affirming, that the prospects of the rising generation are daily growing brighter, by means of the increasing light which is shed upon them from our common schools. I refer here, more particularly, to such proofs, as are hardly susceptible of being condensed into statistical tables, or even of being presented as isolated facts; these speak for themselves. But I refer to such indications of returning health, as prove to the watchful attendant that the crisis of the malady has passed. Stronger feelings and firmer convictions of the importance of our common schools, are taking possession of the public mind, and where they have not yet manifested themselves in any outward and visible improvement, they are silently and gradually working to that end. CHILDREN IN MANUFACTURING ESTABLISHMENTS. The law "for the better instruction of youth, employed in manufacturing establishments," was enacted in April, 1836, and was to take effect on the first day of April, 1837. The substance of its provisions, is, that no owner, agent, or superintendent of any manufacturing establishment, shall employ any child, under the age of fitteen years, to labor in such establishment, unless such child shall have attended some public or private day school, where instruction is given by a legally qualified teacher, at least three months of the twelve months next preceeding any and every year, in which such child shall be so employed. The penalty for each violation, is fifty dollars. The law has now been in operation sufficiently long to make manifest the intentions of those to whom its provisions apply, and whether those humane In Greenfield, the shire town of Franklin county, containing a pop- tion obtained, I feel fully authorized to say, that, in the great majority provisions are likely to be observed or defeated. From the informaulation of nearly two thousand, the sum raised by taxes for the sup- of cases, the law is obeyed. But it is my painful duty, also, to say, port of schools, in each of the years 1836 and 1837, was $800 only; that, in some places, it has been uniformly and systematically disreand the school-house in their central district, was mainly valuable, as showing how school-houses should not be built. During the last year, In several of the mose extensive manufacturing villages and districts, garded. The law is best observed in the largest manufacturing places. the sum raised by taxes, in the town was increased to $1,700, and the all practicable measures are taken to prevent a single instance of viocentral district, (which has been incorporated as a separate school dis-lation. Some establishments have conducted most generously towards trict,) has provided itself with a large and beautiful house, at an ex- the schools; and in one case, (at Waltham,) a corporation, besides pense of $3,300, and has established an annual school therein. paying its proportion of taxes for the support of the public schools in Roxbury was one of the towns required by law to keep a town the town, has gratuitously erected three school-houses, the last in 1837, school; but since the year 1826, when the present provision of the law a neat, handsome, modern stone building, two stories in height, and in regard to town-schools was enacted, it has belonged to that large maintained schools therein at a charge in the whole, upon the corpoclass of towns which have non-complied with the requisition. The rate funds, of a principal sum of more than seven thousand dollars. largest sum, as it appears by the abstracts, heretofore raised in that It would be improper for me here, to be more particular than to say, town, is five thousand dollars. This year the town has raised the sum that these generous acts have been done by the “Boston Manufacturing af $14,500 and has established the town school required by law, and Company," though all will regret that the identity of the individual voted to its teacher one of the most liberal salaries given in the State. members who have performed these praiseworthy deeds, should be lost In Phillipston, in Worcester county, five new and commodious in the generality of the corporate name. school-houses have been erected. The town of Chatham, in Barnstable county, raised last March, $4000 for the improvement of their school-houses only. It is obvious, that the consent of two parties is necessary to the infraction of this law, and to the infliction of this highest species of injustice upon the children whom it was designed to protect. Not only The city of Boston is erecting twelve large and elegant school-ers and capacities of the human soul are wrought into thorough made must the employer pursue a course of action by which the godlike powrooms this season. One house alone will cost, by estimate, twenty products of ignorance, and misery and vice, with as much certainty thousand dollars, and is intended to be constructed throughout on the and celerity as his raw materials of wool or cotton are wrought into most improved plan. fabrics for the market, by his own machinery; but the parent also, must be willing to convert the holy relation of parent and child into the unholy one of master and slave, and to sell his child into ransomless bondage, for the pittance of money he can earn. Yet, strange to say, there are many parents, not only of our immigrant, but of our native population, so lost to the sacred nature of the relation they sustain towards the children whom they have brought into all the solemn Taking all the constituents of a good school-house into the account, decidedly the best I have yet seen in the State, is one erected during the last year in the upper district of the town of Chelsea. [For description, see page 179 of this Journal.] SCHOOL HOUSES AND OTHER PUBLIC EDIFICES. By what I have learned from authentic sources, and have seen in realities of existence, that they go from town to town, seeking opporthree annual circuits through all parts of the Commonwealth, respect-tunities to consign them to unbroken bodily toil, although it involves ing its three thousand school-houses, I am convinced that there is no the deprivation of all the means of intellectual and moral growth; other class of buildings within our limits, erected either for the per- thus pandering to their own vicious appetites, by adopting the most manent or the temporary residence of our native population, so incon-efficient measures to make their offspring as vicious as themselves. venient, so uncomfortable, so dangerous to health by their construction If, therefore, we would not have, in any subsequent time, a populawithin, or so unsightly and repulsive in their appearance without. tion like that of the immense city of Manchester, where great numEvery other class of edifices whether public or private, has felt the bers of the laboring population live in the filthiest streets, and mostly hand of reform. Churches, court-houses, even jails and prisons, are in houses which are framed back to back, so that in no case is there any rebuilt or remodelled, great regard being paid, in most cases, to orna-yard behind them, but all ingress and egress, for all purposes, is be ment, and in all cases, to health, to personal convenience and accom- Lween the front side of the house and the public street,-if we would not have such a population, we must not only have preventive laws, No. of towns not heard from, vice. ULTIMATE CONSEQUENCE OF NEGLECTING THE EDUCA- age, 16 20,966 In addition to the above, there are, in the State, from ten to fifteen town libraries, that is, libraries to which all the citizens of the town have a right of access. They contain in the aggregate, from three to four thousand volumes, and their estimated value is about fourteen hundred dollars. There, are also, about fifty district school libraries, containing about ten thousand volumes, worth by estimation, about thirty-two or thirty-three hundred dollars. It is obvious that children of ten, twelve, or fourteen years of may be steadily worked in our manufactories, without any schooling, and that this cruel deprivation may be persevered in for six, eight or ten years, and yet during all this period, no very alarming outbreak shall occur to rouse the public mind from its guilty slumber. The children are in their years of minority, and they have no control over their own time, or their own actions. The bell is to them what the water-wheel and the main shaft, are to the machinery which they superintend. The wheel revolves, and the machinery must go; the bell rings, and the children must assemble. In their hours of work, they are under the police of the establishment; at other times, they are under the police of the neighborhood. Hence, this state of things may continue for years, and the peace of the neighborhood remain undisturbed except perhaps by a few nocturnal or sabbath-day depredations. The ordinary movements of society may go on without any shocks or collisions, as in the human system a disease may work at the vitals, and gain a fatal ascendan there, before it manifests itself on the surface. But the punishment for such an offence will not be remitted, because its infiiction is postponed. The retribution, indeed, is not postponed; it only awaits the full completion of the offence; for this is a crime of such magnitude, that it requires years for the criminal to perpetrate it in, and to finish it off throughly, in all its parts. But when the children pass from the condition of restraint to that of freedom, from years of enforced but impatient servitude to that independence for which they have secretly pined, and to which they have looked forward, not merely as the period of emancipation, but of long delayed indulgence; when they become strong in the passions and propensities that grow up spontaneously, but are weak in the moral powers that control them, and blind in the intellect which foresees their tendencies; when, according to the course of our political institutions, they go, by one bound, from the political nothingness of a child, to the political sovereignty of a man,-then, for that people who so cruelly neglected and injured them, there will assuredly come a day of retribution. It scarcely need be added, that if the wants of the spiritual nature of a child, in the successive stages of its growth, are duly supplied, then a regularity in manual employment, is convert-tle more than fifty thousand volumes. ed from a servitude into a useful habit of diligence, and the child up in a daily perception of the wonder-working power of industry, and in the daily realization of the trophies of victorious labor. A majority of the most useful men who have ever lived, were formed under the happy necessity of mingling bodily with mental exertion. The "Coffin School," (incorporated) at Nantucket, has a library of fourteen hundred volumes. A few of the academies have small libraries, but I have not been able to ascertain the number of volumes, or their value. There are also a few Circulating Libraries in different parts of the State;-probably the number out of the city of Boston, "does not exceed twenty. From these results, it appears, that the books belonging to the public Social Libraries in the city of Boston, constitute almost one half of all the books in the Social Libraries of the State; and yet, but about one-tenth part of the population of the city, has a right of access to them. If we include the Circulating Libraries, much more than onehalf of all the volumes in this class of Libraries, is in the city. Libraries, represents, on an average, four persons, (and this, considerIf we suppose, that each proprietor or share holder, in the Social ing the number of share holders, who are not heads of families, is, probably a full allowance,) the population, represented, by them, as having access to all the Social Libraries in the State, will be a small fraction over one hundred thousand; leaving a population of more than six hundred thousand, who have no such right of access. that, in a few instances, very small libraries have been referred to in To come as near to exactness as practicable, it ought to be added, the returns, the particulars respecting which, my informants thought it not worth while to ascertain; and, also, that in a very few cases, the number of volumes, their value, and the number of proprietors, have been omitted in the returns. Probably, six per cent., added to the above returns, would be an ample allowance for all these omissions. On the other hand, it is to be observed, that, in many cases, the number of books has been taken from the catalogues of the Libraries, without any deduction for missing volumes; and that the same individual has in some instances, a right in two or more libraries, and, therefore, has been counted, twice or more, as a proprietor. PUBLIC LIBRARIES. public, literary and scientific institutions in the State, is as follows; The number of volumes composing the libraries of the principal Harvard University, including the students' libraries, contains a lit and that of the " Adelphic Union," a society connected with the college, grows The Library of Williams College contains four thousand volumes, eighteen hundred volumes,-total, five thousand eight hundred volumes. The college and society Libraries at Amherst College, contain thirteen thousand volumes. The several libraries connected with the different departments of the Institution at Andover, contain but little less than twenty thousand volumes. As the tastes and habits of the future men and women in regard to reading, will be only an enlargement and expansion of the tastes and habits of the present children, it seemed to me one of the most desirable of all facts, to learn as far as practicable, under what general in- more than twelve thousand volumes. It has fifteen thousand separate The American Antiquarian Society at Worcester has a librar of fluences, those tastes and habits are now, daily, forming. For who tracts, bound up in one thousand and thirty-five volumes, and it has can think, without emotion, and who can remain inactive under the also one thousand two hundred and fifty-one volumes of newspapers. conviction, that every day which now passes, is, by the immutable law Thus, omitting the Circulating Libraries, it appears that the aggreof cause and effect, predestinating the condition of the community, gate of volumes in the public libraries of all kinds, in the State, is twenty, thirty, or forty years hence; that the web of their character about three hundred thousand. This is also exclusive of the Sabbath and fortunes is now going through the loom, to come out of it, at School Libraries, which will be adverted to hereafter. To these three that time, of worthy or of worthless quality, beautified with colors hundred thousand volumes, but little more than one hundred thousand and shapes of excellence, or deformed by hideousness, just according persons, or one-seventh part of the population of the State, have any to the kind of the woof which we are daily weaving into its texture? right of access, while more than six hundred thousand have no right Every book, which a child reads with intelligence, is like a cast of therein. a weaver's shuttle, adding another thread to the indestructible web of Of the towns heard from, there are one hundred, (almost one-third of the whole number in the State,) which have neither a town, social, In the general want of private libraries, therefore, I have endeavor- nor district school library therein. What strikes us with amazement, ed to learn what number of public libraries exist; how many volumes in looking at these facts, is, the inequality with which the means of they contain, and what are their general character, scope and tenden- knowledge are spread over the surface of the State;—a few, deep, cacy; how many persons have access to them, or,-which is the most pacious reservoirs, surrounded by broad wastes. It has long been a material point, how many persons do not have access to them;-and common remark, that many persons read too much; but here we have finally, how many of the books are adapted to prepare children to be proof, how many thousands read too little. For the poor man and the free citizens and men, fathers and mothers, even in the most limited laboring man, the art of printing seems hardly yet to have been dissignification of those vastly comprehensive words. It seemed to me, therefore, that nothing could have greater interest or significance, than an inventory of the means of knowledge, and the encouragements to self-education possessed by the present and the rising generation. Aggregate of Social Libraries in the State, existence. No. of vols. Estimated value, No. of proprietors, or persons having access in their own right, covered. volumes, in all the Town and Social Libraries in the State, (or only With an aggregate then, of about one hundred and eighty thousand one hundred thousand out of the city of Boston,) to which only one hundred thousand persons have a right of access;-or, (which is the 299 important point,) to which more than six hundred thousand persons 180,028 have no right of access ;-with a proportion of at least nineteen twen$191,538.00 tieths of these volumes, confessedly ill adapted to the wants of children; with but about fifty school libraries; with the fact, that, from the very 25,705 conditions of their existence, our people must obtain their information, mainly, from reading, or must live and die in ignorance;-the great |