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In common cases, however, as I have already said, we do should press upon the chest with more than its own natural not find too much oxygen in the air; though we very often weight. Infants, used to be swathed too tightly, when first find too much nitrogen, and what is still worse, a quantity of born; and some are so still. This is particularly unfortunate; carbonic acid gas. For whether the dark, foul, impure blood for if no body else has free motion of the chest, it is indispenof the veins really gives out carbon or not, as it comes along sable to infants. through the lungs and is purified, one thing is certain, which is, that carbonic acid gas is certainly made in the lungs, and is continually expelled when we expel the air, at every successive breath. As soon as it is expelled, if the air around us is not confined, and is of a proper temperature, it escapes, first by rising a little way, as heated air is apt to do, and next by falling to the floor, or ground, because it is heavier, when cool, than common air is.

Those persons, therefore, as will be obvious to all who reflect upon the subject, who live much in the open air, will be able to avoid breathing this carbonic acid gas over again, while those who are in hot or close rooms, will be liable to inhale it, and have it on their lungs the second time. This is very bad indeed for them; and if they inhale very much of it, may make them sick. Indeed persons who are shut up in a tight room, where the air cannot circulate, may be made sick, and may even die, in a very few hours. We make carbonic acid gas enough, in breathing, to spoil a gallon of air a minute, or about a hogshead an hour; so that the air of a small tight room would very soon be all spoiled.

It is of exceeding great importance to human health and happiness, that we always inhale pure air. We should be, as much as possible, out of doors, and in motion. Our rooms, when we are obliged to occupy them long, should be well aired or ventilated; not our sitting rooms only, but all our rooms, especially our sleeping rooms. If they are not so, our health will soon suffer. Few persons, very few indeed, always breathe pure air.

I have only one idea more to present, at the present time. You will remember that I told you the lungs rest on the midriff, or diaphragm, a thick membrane, which separates them from the stomach, and liver, and intestines. Now all compression of the chest compels the lungs, when we breathe, to push down the diaphragm much more than is natural; and this crowds the stomach and intestines, especially if they are full and distended. This interferes with digestion; and the chyme and chyle, of which I said so much on a former occasion, are not apt to be well elaborated. So that the blood is injured in two ways by every form of compressing the chest; first, by not being well formed; and secondly, by not being well changed, or reformed, after it has become impure.

In my next, I shall endeavor to tell you something about the skin; a part of the human machinery which, though nobody thinks much of it, is exceedingly curious, and in some of its offices or functions, exceedingly important.

NORMAL SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS' SEMINARIES.
BY CALVIN E. STOWE, D. d.
IV. Course of Instruction.

2. The philosophy of mind, particularly in reference to its sus ceptibility of receiving impressions from mind.

The teacher should learn, at least, not to spoil by his awkwar1 handling what Nature has made well; he should know how to pr serve the intellectual and moral powers in a healthful condition, if he be not capable of improving them. But, through ignorance of the nature of the mind, and its susceptibilities, how often are a teacher's

most industrious efforts worse than thrown away-perverting and deis gained by judicious efforts in one direction is counteracted by a stoying rather than improving! Frequently, also, the good which

When people read in books of the motion of the chest, or hear lecturers speak of it, they are apt to think only of that motion by which the body is bent to the right or to the left, or backward or forward. But as I have attempted to make it ap-mistaken course in another. pear, the chest has a more important motion than all this.- Under this head there should be a complete classification of the This consists in its heaving and swelling motion. Now any thing which disturbs this sort of motion, is as injurious, if not more so, than breathing bad air; only it does not always kill people outright. For while bad air poisons us through the medium of the thin air cells of the lungs, any thing which compresses the chest on the outside, and prevents it from enlarging so as to take in a full supply of good air, and thus permits the impurities of the blood in the veins to go round and round through the heart to all parts of the body, every four or five minutes, poisoning wherever they go, and slowly but almost inevitably destroying us.

sources of influence, a close analysis of the peculiar nature and
causes of each, and of its applicability to educational purposes.—
There should be also a classification of the errors liable to be com
mitted, with a similar analysis, and directions for avoiding them.
It appears to me that there are some valuable discoveries yet to be
made in this branch of knowledge; and that, for the purposes of ed.
much better than that which has hitherto been adopted.
ucation, the powers of the mind are susceptible of a classification

children, as modified by sex, parental character, wealth or poverty,
3. The peculiarities of intellectual and moral development in
city or country, family government, indulgent or severe, fickle or

steady, &c.

Does any one ask what there is which thus compresses the These diversities all exist in every community, and exert a most chest? I answer, some employments do it. There are per important influence on the developments of children; and no teach. sons who sit in such a position at their tables or writing desks, er can discharge his duties diligently and thoroughly without recog that the chest is confined or cramped, and the blood is not as nizing this extensive class of influences. The influence of sex is fully charged as it should be. Engravers and turners, and one of the most obvious, and no successful teacher, I believe, ever men who sit much a great part of the day, at almost any em- manages the boys and girls of his school precisely the same man. But other sources of influences are ployment, and even students, are very apt to experience the ner. less important. Parental evils of confining or compressing the chest. For I say again, character is one. Parents of high-minded and honerable feeling, will the chest ought to be entirely uncompressed, and wholly free. be likely to impart something of the same spirit to their children.No person, in writing or laboring, ought to rest his breast Such children may be easily governed by appeals to their sense of against his desk or bench; nor is there usually any need of it. If parents are mean-spirited and selfish, great allowance should be character, and perhaps ruined by the application of the rod. I can write a great deal easier-and so can any body else-made for the failings of their children, and double diligence emwho will try it, and accustom themselves to it, for sitting up ployed to cultivate in them a sense of honor. straight. Let every one who reads this, make the experiment. Employments which lead us to sit in a crouching posture, as shoemaking or tailoring, are also very apt to prove injurious and unhealthy.

All dress which presses upon the chest, is wrong. Young men at military schools, sometimes, as I am told, have their breasts, or at least their shoulders, braced. This, if done, must seriously affect the lungs. The custom of dressing in stays, was once common; and the dress of a large proportion of our females, even now, is very injurious. Even the bones themselves, (the ribs and breastbone,) become distorted and injured; and sometimes in a very great degree.

Instead of compressing the lungs, in the least possible degree, by our clothes, it should always hang loose from the shoulders; or at most, be loosely buttoned around us, or fastened in its place by a sash. Not even a vest or wrapper

The different circumstances of wealth and poverty produce great differences in children. The rich child generally requires restraint, the poor one, encouragement. When the poor are brought in contact with the rich, it is natural that the former should feel somewhat sensitive as to the distinctions which may obtain between them and their fellows; and in such cases special pains should be taken to shield the sensibilities of the poor child against needless wounds, and make him feel that the poverty for which he is no way blameable is not to him a degradation. Otherwise he may become envious and misanthropic, or be discouraged and unmanned. But how often does the reverse of this take place, to the great injury of the character both of the poor and the rich! Surely it is misfortune enough to the suffering child that he has to bear the ills arising from ignorance or negligence, vice or poverty, in his parents; and the school should be a refuge for him, where he can improve himself and be happy.

Again, city and country produce diversities in children almost as great as the difference of sex. City children are inclined to the ar

dent, quick, glowing temperament of the female; country children lean more to the cooler, steadier, slower development of the male. City children are more excitable; by the circumstances in which they are placed, their feelings are kept in more constant and rapid motion, they are more easily moved to do good, and have stronger temptation to evil; while country children, less excitable, less rapid in their ad. vances towards either good or evil, present, in their peculiarities, a broad and solid foundation for characters of stable structure and enduring usefulness. Though human nature is every where the same and schools present the same general characteristics; yet the good country teacher, if he remove to the city, and would be equally successful there, will find it necessasy to adopt several modifications of his former arrangements.

6. The art of governing children, with special reference to the imparting and keeping alive of a feeling of love for children. Children can be properly governed only by affection, and affec. tion, rightly directed, is all-powerful for this purpose. A school governed without love is a gloomy, mind killing place; it is like a nursery of tender blossoms filled with an atmosphere of frost and ice. Affection is the natural magnet of the mind in childhood; the child's mind is fitted by its Creator to be moved by a mother's love; and cold indifference or stern lovelessness repels and freezes it. In governing children there is no substitute for affection, and God never intended there should be any.

General rules can be given for the government of a school; the results of experience can be treasured up, systematized, and impar. Many other circumstances give rise to diversities no less imported; the candidate for the teacher's office can be exercised to close tant. It is the business of the Teachers' Seminary to arrange and observation, patience and self.control; and all these are essential classify these modifying influences, and give to the pupil the advan- branches of instruction in the art of governing. Still, if there be tages of an anticipated experience in respect to his method of pro- no feeling of love for children, all this will not make a good schoolceeding in regard to them. No one will imagine that the teacher is governor. There is great natural diversity in individuals in regard to let his pupils see that he recognizes such differences among them; to this, as in all other affections; yet every one whom God has fitted he should be wise enough to keep his own counsel, and deal with to be a parent has the elements of this affection, and these elements each individual in such manner as the peculiar circumstances of each are susceptible of development and improvement. may render most productive of good.

4. The science of education in general, and full illustration of the difference between education and mere instruction.

7. History of education, including an accurate outline of the edu. cational systems of different ages and nations; the circumstances which gave rise to them; the principles on which they were founded; the ends which they aimed to accomplish; their successes and failures, their permanency and changes; how far they influenced individual and national character; how far any of them might have originated in premeditated plan on the part of their founders; whether they secured the intelligence, virtue, and happiness of the people, or otherwise, with the causes, &c.

Science, in the modern acceptation of the term, is a philosophical classification and arrangement of all the facts which are observed in respect to any subject, and an investigation from these facts of the principles which regulate their occurrence. Education affords its facts, and they are as numerous and as deeply interesting as the facts of any other science; these facts are as susceptable of as philosophi cal a classification and arrangement as the facts of chemistry or astronomy; and the principles which regulate their occurrence are as appropriate and profitable a subject of investigation as the principles of botany or zoology, or of politics or morals. I know it has been said by some, that education is not a science, and cannot be reduced to scientific principles; but they who talk thus either make use of words without attaching to them any definite meaning, or they con. found the idea of education with that of the mere art of teaching.—tems under diverse influences, and of the thousand combinations Even in this sense the statement is altogether erroneous, as will be

shown under the next head.

The teacher should be acquainted with these facts, with their classification, their arrangment and principles, before he enters on the duties of his profession; or he is like the surgeon who would operate on the human body before he has studied anatomy, or the attorney who would commence practice before he has made himself acquainted with the first principles of law.

To insure success in any pursuit, the experience of our predeces sors is justly considered a valuable, and generally an indispensable aid. What should we think of one who claimed to be a profound politican while ignorant of the history of political science; while anacquainted with the origin of governments, the causes which have modified their forms and influences, the changes which have taken place in them, the different effects produced by various sysin which the past treasures wisdom for the future? What should we think of the lawyer who knew nothing of the history of law? or of the astronomer, ignorant of the history of astronomy? In every science and every art we recognize the value of its appropriate his tory; and there is not a single circumstance that gives value to such history, which does not apply, in all its force, to the history of edu cation. Yet strange to say, the history of education is entirely neglected among us; there is not a work devoted to the subject in the English language; and very few, indeed, which contain even notices or hints to guide one's inquiries on this deeply-interesting theme. I wish some of those writers who complain that education is a hackneyed subject, a subject so often and so much discussed that nothing new remains to be said upon it, would turn their inqui. ries in this direction, and I think they will find much, and that too of the highest utility, which will be entirely new to the greater part even of the reading population.

Man has been an educator ever since he became civilized. A great variety of systems of public instruction have been adopted and sustained by law, which have produced powerful and enduring influences; and are we to set sail on this bonndless ocean entirely ignorant of the courses, and soundings, and discoveries of our predecessors ?

It is a common error to confound education with mere instruction; an error so common, indeed, that many writers on the subject use the words as nearly, if not entirely, synonymous. Instruction, how. ever, comprehends but a very small part of the general idea of education. Education includes all the extraneous influences which combine to the formation of intellectual and moral character; while instruction is limited to that which is directly communicated from one mind to another. "Education and instruction (says Hooker) are the means, the one by use, the other by precept, to make our natural faculty of reason both the better and the sooner to judge rightly between truth and error, good and evil." A man may be. come well educated, though but poorly instructed as was the case with Pascal and Franklin, and many others equally illustrious; but if a man is well instructed, he cannot without some great fault of his own, fail to acquire a good education. Instruction is mostly the The Hebrew nation, in its very origin, was subjected to a prework of others; education depends mainly on the use which we meditated and thoroughly systematized course of national instruc ourselves make of the circumstances by which we are surrounded. tion, which produced the most wonderful influence, and laid the The mischiefs of defective instruction may often be repaired by our foundation for that peculiar hardihood and determinateness of char<wn subsequent efforts; but a gap left down in the line of our edu.acter, which have made them the astonishment of all ages, a miracle cation is not so easily put up, after the opportunity has once passed by. among nations. A full development of this system, and a careful 5. The art of teaching. illustration of the particulars which gave it its peculiar strength, and of the circumstances which perverted it from good to evil, which turned strength into the force of hate, and perseverance into obsti nacy, would be a most valuable contribution to the science of general education. The ancient Persians and Hindoos had ingenious and thoroughly-digested systems of public instruction, entirely diverse from each other, yet each wonderfully efficacious in its own peculiar way. The Greeks were a busily educating people, and great varieties of systems sprung up in their different states and under their different masters, all of them ingenious, most of them effective, and some of them characterized by the highest excellences. Systems which we cannot and ought not imitate, may be highly useful as warnings, and to prevent our trying experiments which have been often tried before, and failed to be useful. The Chinese, for example, have had for ages a system which is peculiarly and strictly national; its object has always been to make them Chinese, and nothing else? it has fully answered the purpose intended; and what has been the result? A nation of machines, a people of patterns, made to order; a set of men and women wound up like clocks, to

The art of teaching, it is true, is not a science, and cannot be learn. ed by theoretic study alone, without practice. The model-school is appropriately the place for the acquisition of this art by actual practice; but, like all the rational arts, it rests on scientific principles. The theoretical instruction, therefore, in this branch, will be limited mainly to a development of the principles on which it is founded; while the application of those principles will be illustrated and the art of teaching acquired, by instructing in the model school under the care of the professors, and subject to their direction and remarks. The professor assigns to the pupil his class in the modelschool, he observes his manner of teaching, and notices its excel. lences and defects; and after the class is dismissed, and the stu. dent is with him alone, or in company only with his fellow-students, he commends what he did well, shows him how he might have made the imperfect better, and the erroneous correct, pointing out, as he proceeds, the application of theoretic principles to practice, that the lessons in the model-school may be really an illustration of all that has been taught in the Teachers' Seminary.

go in a certain way, and for a certain time, with minds wonderfully nice and exact in certain little things; but as stiff, as unsusceptible of expansion, as incapable of originating thought, or deviating from the beaten track, as one of their own graven images is of naviga. ting a ship. In short they are very much such a people as the Americans might become in a few centuriees, if some amiable en thusiasts could succeed in establishing what they are pleased to denominate a system exclusively American. Education, to be useful must be expansive, must be universal; the mind must not be trained to run in one narrow channel; it must understand that human beings have thought, and felt, and acted, in other countries than its own; that the results of preceding efforts have their value, and that all light is not confined to its own little Goshen.

When a science has become fixed as to its principles, when its facts are ascertained and well settled, then its history is generally written. Why, then, have we no history of education in our language. Simply because the science of education, with us, is yet in its infancy; because, so far from being a hackneyed or an exhausted subject, on which nothing new remains to be said, its fundamental principles are not yet so ascertained as to become the basis of a fixed science. It cannot be pretended that there are no materials for the composition of such a history. We are not destitute of information respecting the educational systems of the most ancient nations, as the Chaldeans, Assyrians, Egyptians, and Carthaginians; and in respect to the Hindoos, the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Chinese, the modern Europeans, the materials for their educational history are nearly as ample as those for their civil his. tory; and the former is quite as important to the educator as the latter is to the civilian. The brief and imperfect but highly interesting sketches given by Sharon Turner in his history of England, afford sufficient proof of my assertion; and they are to a full history of English education, as he first streaks of dawn to the risen sun. Should Teachers' Seminaries do nothing else than excite a taste and afford the materials for the successful pursuit of this branch of study only, they would more than repay all the cost of their establishment and maintenance. Systems of education which formed and trained such minds as arose in Egypt, in Judea, in Greece, systems under whose influence such men as Moses and Isaiah, Solon, and Plato, and Paul, received those first impressions which has such commanding power over their mighty intellects, may afford to us many valuable suggestions. The several topics to which have above alluded, as particularly worthy of notice in a history of those systems, are too obviously important to require a separate illustra

tion.

8. The rules of health and the laws of physical development. The care of the body while we are in this world is not less impor. tant than the culture of the mind; for, as a general fact, no mind can work vigorously in a feeble ard comfortless body; and when the forecastle of a vessel sinks, the cabin must soon follow. The educating period of youth is the time most critical to health; and the peculiar excitements and temptations of a course of study, add greatly to the natural dangers of the forming and develop ng season of life. Teachers, therefore, especially, should understand the rules of health, and the laws of physical development; and it is im. possible that they should understand them, unless they devote some time to their study. What a ruinous waste of comfort, of strength, and of life, has there been in our educational establishments, in consequence of the ignorance and neglect of teachers on this point! And how seldom is this important branch of study ever thought of as a necessary qualification for the office of teacher !

As it is a most sacred duty of the teacher to preserve uninjured the powers of the mind, and keep them in a healthful condition, so it is no less his duty to take the same care of the physical powers. The body should not only be kept in health, but its powers should be developed and improved with as much care as is devoted to the improvement of the mind, that all the capabilities of the man may be brought out and fitted for active duty. But can one know how to do this if he never learns? And will he be likely to learn, unless he has opportunity of learning? It is generally regarded as the province of teachers to finish out and improve on Nature's plan; but if they can all be brought to understand their profession so well as not to mar and spoil what nature made right, it will be a great improvement on the present condition of education in the world.

9. Dignity and importance of the teachers office. Self-respect, and a consciousness of doing well, are essential to comfort and success in any honorable calling; especially in one sub. ject to so many external depressions, one so little esteemed and so poorly rewarded by the world at large, as that of the teacher. No station of so great importance has probably ever been so slightly estimated; and the fault has been partly in the members of the pro. fession itself. They have not estimated their official importance sufficiently high; they have given a tacit assent to the superficial judgment of the world; they have hung loosely on the profession, and too often abandoned it the first opportunity. They ought early to understand that their profession demands the strongest efforts of

their whole lives; that no employment can be more intimately connected with the progress and general welfare of society; that the best hopes and tenderest wishes of parents and of nations depend on their skill and fidelity; and that an incompetent or unworthy dis. charge of the duties of their office brings the community into the condition of an embattled host when the standard bearer faileth. If teachers themselves generally had a clear and definite conception of the immensely-resposible place they occupy; if they were skilled in the art of laying these conceptions vividly before the minds of the people among whom they labor, it would produce a great influence on the profession itself, by bringing it under the pressure of a mightier motive, and cause all classes of people more clearly to understand the inestimable worth of the good teacher, and make them more willing to honor and reward him. And this, too, would be the surest method of ridding the profession of such incumbents as are a disgrace to it, and an obstacle to its elevation and improvement. Julius Cæsar was the first of the Romans who honored school-teachers by raising them to the rank of Roman citizens, and in no act of his life did he more clearly manifest that peculiar sagacity for which he was distinguished,

10. Special religious obligations of teachers in respect to benevo. lent devotedness to the intellectual and moral welfare of society, habits of entire self control, purity of mind, elevation of character, &c.

The duties of the teacher are scarcely less sacred or less delicate than those of the minister of religion. In several important respects he stands in a similar relation to society; and his motives and encouragements to effort must, to a considerable extent, be of the same class. It is not to be expected that teaching will ever become generally a lucrative profession, or that many will enter it for mere love of money, or that, if any should enter it from such a motive, they would ever be very useful in it. All teachers ought to have a comfortable support, and a competency for the time of sick. ness and old age; but what ought to be and what is, in such a world as this, are often very different things. Il a competency is gained by teaching, very few will ever expect to grow rich by it. Higher motives than the love of wealth must actuate the teacher in the choice of his profession, and animate him in the performance of its laborious duties. Such motives as the love of doing good, and pe. culiar affection for children, do exist in many minds, notwithstanding the general selfishness of the world; and these emotions, by a proper kind of culture, are susceptible of increase, till they become the predominant and leading desires. The teacher who has little benevolence, and little love for children, must be a miserable being, as well as a very poor teacher; but one who has these propensities strongly developed, and is not ambitious of distinction in the world of vanity and noise, but seeks his happiness in doing good, is among the happiest of men; and some of the most remarkable instances of healthy and cheerful old age are found among school teachers. As examples, I would mention old Ezekiel Cheever, who taught school in New England for seventy one years without interruption, and died in Boston in the year 1708, at the advanced age of ninety. three; or to Dr. G. F. Dinter, now living at Konigsberg in Prussia, in the eightieth year of his age. Indeed, the ingenious author of Hermippus Redivivus affirms, that the breath of beloved children preserves the benevolent school master's health, as salt keeps flesh from putrefaction. In Prussia, school-teachers generally enter on their profession at the age of twenty-two or twenty-five, and the average term of service among the forty thousand teachers there employed is over thirty years, making the average duration of a teacher's life there nearly sixty years; a greater longevity than can be found in any profession in the United States. Many teachers continue in the active discharge of their official duties more than fifty years; and the fiftieth anniversary of their induction to office is celebrated by a festival, and honored by a present from government. The other qualities mentioned, self-control, purity of mind, elevation of character, are so obviously essential to a teacher's useful. ness, that they require no comment. We need only remark, that these are moral qualities, and can be cultivated only by moral means; that they are religious qualities, and must be excited and kept alive by religious motives. Will any one here raise the cry, Sectarianism, Church and State? I pity the poor bigot, or the nariow-souled unbeliever, who can form no idea of religious principle, except as a sectarian thing; who is himself so utterly unsusceptible of enno. bling emotions, that he cannot even conceive it possible that any man should have a principle of virtue and piety superior to all external forms, and untrammelled by metaphysical systems. From the aid of such men we have nothing to hope in the cause of sound education; and their hostility we may as well encounter in one form as another, provided we make sure of the ground on which we stand, and hold up the right principles in the right shape.

11. The influence which the school should exert on civilization and the progress of society.

It requires no great sagacity to perceive, that the school is one of the most important parts of the social machine, especially in

modern times, when it is fast acquiring for itself the influence which was wielded by the pulpit some two centuries ago, and which, at a more recent period, has been obtained by the periodical press. As the community becomes separated into sects, which bigotry and intolerance force into subdivisions still more minute, the influence of the pulpit is gradually circumscribed; but no such causes limit the influence of the school. Teachers need only understand the position they occupy, and act in concert, to make the school the most effective element of modern civilization, not excepting even the periodical press. A source of influence so immense, and which draws so deeply on the destinies of men, ought to be thoroughly in. vestigated and considered, especially by those who make teaching their profession. Yet I know not, in the whole compass of English literature, a single work on the subject, notwithstanding that education is so worn-out a theme, that nobody can say anything new upon it.

many: but, instead of the practical and independent use of these by each person for his own guide, a course of singing by ear generally commences with the early lessons, which often follows through life. The consequence is, that, of the many thousands who sing, probably not as many hundreds could sing at first sight even a very simple melody. This fundamental defect will be found pervading almost all classes of singers and players in our country; and, of course, it becomes an interesting question with every friend of thorough instruction, how can an improvement be made?

The advocates of the German method say, that we teach names more than things: that is, terms expressing sounds, 12. The elements of Latin, together with the German, French and what relates to sounds, to pupils who have not been taught and Spanish languages. The languages of Europe have received most of their refinement by experience the ideas which those terms represent. The and their science through the medium of the Latin; and so largely Germans begin with calling each note in the scale, at concert are they indebted to this tongue, that the elements of it are necessary as a foundation to the study of the modern languages. That the pitch, by a distinct name: that is, do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, se, do. German should be understood by teachers, especially in Pennsyl. They then practice the pupil long on these names in connecvania, Ohio, and the Western States generally, is obvious from tion with their appropriate sounds, until they can recognize the fact, that more than half the school districts contain German them with readiness. The English and French, contrary to parents and children, who are best approached through the medium of their own tongue; and the rich abundance and variety of educa. this plan, call the same sounds by the letters of the alphabet, tional literature in this language, greater, I venture to say, than in while they name the key note of the major scale do, the next all other languages together, render it an acquisition of the highest above it, re, the next mi, &c., going up in the same order. It importance to every teacher. In the present state of the commercial world one cannot be said to have acquired a business education is important to keep this difference in view, to understand diswithout a knowledge of French; while our intimate relations with tinctly the following explanatio f the German method. Mexico and South America render the Spanish valuable to us, and In the next place, the semi-tones are called by names alterindeed, in the Western country, almost indispensable. The mental discipline which the study of these languages gives is of the most ed a little from the notes from which we consider them as valuable kind, and the collateral information acquired while learn- formed by flats or sharps. Thus do sharp is called don, and ing them is highly useful. Though a foreign tongue is a difficult do flat dor; re sharp ren, and re flat rer. Thus each sound acquisition for an adult, it is very easy for a child. In the Rhine provinces of Germany, almost every child learns, without effort, has a name of its own; and this, it is supposed, gives a pupil both German, and French, and in the commercial cities, English a more proper as well as a more distinct impression of it.— also; and the unschooled children of the Levant often learn four or Certain it is, that even young pupils, accustomed to this kind five different languages merely by the car. I do not suppose that the modern languages will soon become a regular branch of study of practice often display an accurate recollection of pitch, in all our common schools; still, many, who depend on those schools while, the common methods have nothing at all in them to fix for their education, desire to study one or more of them, and they it in the memory. They at the same time make at least an ought to have the opportunity; and if we would make our common schools our best schools, as they surely ought to be, the teachers equal proficiency in the knowledge of intervals and time; and must be capable of giving instruction in some of these languages. and are behind pupils taught on the old methods only in the I have thus endeavored to give a brief view of the course of study names and definitions of such signs and terms, as may have which should be pursued in a Teachers' Seminary, and this, I sup-been presented to the latter. We say "the names and defi

pose, in itself, affords a strong and complete argument to establish the necessity of such an institution. A few general considerations in favor of this object will now be adduced.

MUSIC IN SCHOOLS.

We hope that all the teachers in this State will give this subject some attention during the interesting season now conmencing, when thousands of children and youth are assembling for another period of instruction. We earnestly request instructors, school visiters, and parents to exert themselves to have singing introduced into their schools. While we refer them to several of the former numbers of this journal, for suggestions on the utility of teaching children this agreeable branch, and descriptions of some of the simplest methods of elementary instruction in it, we would add here a few remarks on certain principles which are adopted by the Germans, and to some extent, introduced into our own country.

nitions of such signs and terms:" for, although a small proportion of pupils thus taught may be found who practically apply them, the great majority, it is generally conceded, do not progress so far in some months or even years. Besides, it has been affirmed that the practice of repeating definitions and looking upon emblems without understanding them is an injurious practice; and that it is more difficult to reduce to good habits pupils accustomed to bad ones, than to train novices from the first elements.

The German principles of instruction in music, which we have attempted here in some degree to explain, have been but little taught in the United States. Mr. Ives, an eminent instructor in New York, gives them decided preference; and has published a Solfegge, or set of elementary lessons, for the use of his pupils, founded upon them. He maintains, that, after sufficient practice on pitch and intervals, pupils become In the first place, however, we would make a few remarks familiar with various modulations, or changes of key, and on the considerations by which this plan is recommended.-readily fall in with them in performance; and are well preWhoever has attempted to teach music must be ready to conpared to understand the meaning of definitions and rules, when fess that complete success in bringing pupils to a ready practi- the teacher comes to speak of the scale, its composition and cal use of the scientific principles, is very rarely attained. It is so easy to sing by ear, and that the reading of the notes is dispensed with, because labor and care are necessary to acquire the ability. The "raising and falling of the eight notes" may be soon acquired by most pupils, at any age; and the definitions and rules given by the teacher, or in books, are learnt by

transpositions.

After these prolonged remarks, on a subject perhaps ab. struse to some of our readers, we will only add, that primary lessons on this plan may begin with semibreves, minims, &c., on the G cleff, natural, beating time carefully, keeping concert pitch, and gradually rising from one to two and more toned.

ORTHOGRAPHY.

The teacher requests his pupils to take their spelling books-any other book would answer just as well-and open to a certain place which he designates, and hold themselves in readiness to answer such questions as he may propose. The following will exhibit the spirit of the process.

The teacher requests the class to observe, on the right hand page, the word baker; and on the left hand page, the word name, and compare them. Are they alike? says he. "No." In what do they differ?"The word baker is the longest, and has the most letters in it." Is that all the difference? "No; the word baker is divided." How divided? "Into two parts." You mean two syl. lables. It is so. Baker has two syllables, while name has but one. B is the first syllable, and ker the second.

there in the word behave?

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Now turn over the four next leaves on your right hand, and tell me how many syllables there are in the last word on the right hand page. "There are four." Very well; you may now answer my questions without referring to the book. How many syllabies are Two." How many in atonement! "Three." Great Britain? "Three." Ice? "One." Impenetra bility? "Seven." Do you know of any name by which all words of only one sylla. ble are sometimes called? No." I will direct you to a place where you can find out. Please to turn to such a page, (designating the page) you may read that sentence, (pointing to it.) "A word of one syllable is called a monosyllable." Very well. Endeavor to find out now, what a word of two syllables is called. When you find out, you may read, or repeat it. "A word of two syllables is called a dissyllable."-Now think, if you can, of some word which is a dissyllable, and tell me when you have thought. 16 Table; pencil; inkstand; window." That is sufficient. The same slow and gradual but natural course is pursued till the pupil thoroughly understands what a syllable is, that though he may not be able to repeat the language of the book, he can at all times, tell you what a monosyllable is,-a dissyllable,-a trissyllable-etc. The process, thus far, if examples enough are cited to render the whole sufficiently intelligible, may take up the time of two short lessons.

tables, by figures. It is not, however, sufficient for the learner to understand, merely, what figure governs the sound of the principal vowel, in the accented syllable; he must also be able to state what figure would be placed over every vowel in a word, in order to mark its true sound.

When this whole subject has been gradually developed and presented to the mind of a child, the questions, during an exercise, might be something like the following;-the word selected for the purpose being rhinoceros.

Which is the accented syllable of the word rhinoceros? What figure should be placed over it, to mark the sound correctly? Has any other sounds? What figures would indicate each of them? Are there any other vowels in the word ? Name one. What figure would govern that, if we were to place a figure over it? How many other sounds has i, and what figures would mark them? A similar course may be pursued with regard to e.

Is r a vowel, or a consonant? a mute or a semi-vowel? Is a ever silent? Has it more than one sound?-What is h? Is it ever

silent? How is it in this instance-Is n a consonant? a mute or a semi-vowel? Is it ever silent? Has it more than one sound?— What is c? Has it more than one sound? Which sound has it here? Is it then, a mute or a semi-vowel? (We may omit r, as it has occurred in the first syllable of the word). What is s, a mute or a semi-vowel? Has it ever more than one sound? Which has it in the present instance?

If we were to select for parsing-for this is none other than the true method of orthographical parsing-the word thousand or champaign, questions would naturally arise on the diphthongs ou and ai; and on the sounds of the compound characters ch and th; and on the silent g, etc.

From the knowledge I have of the common methods of teaching these things; from the partial experiments I have made, in this method; and from the very nature of the case, I am confident that thirty minutes a day, spent in this way, with a class for three months, will give them a more thorough knowledge of the subject than ten, yes, twenty times that amount of time spent as it usually has beenand to some extent still is-in our common schools, especially in New England.-Confessions of a School Master.

READING.

It will next be proper to analyze syllables. A word of one syllable is first selected;-say at. You see, says the teacher, that there are two letters in this little monosyllable. Are they precisely An intimate acquaintance of twenty-five years with the alike? "No." How do they differ? "One is a and th other is t." schools in the town in which I reside, enables me to know True; but there is another difference, which I am now about to ex-something of the defects in our Common School education.plain. I will direct to a sentence-you may read it. "The vow. One of the greatest defects, that has come under my observaels are a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes w, and y." You see then that tion, is, the manner which usually prevails in instructing chilsome of the letters of the alphabet are called vowels, do you not? dren to read. Good reading is to be regarded as the most im"Yes." Now tell me whether any of the letters in the word at be long to this number. "Yes, a." Does not t? "No." Is not tportant branch of education. It is, indeed, a great accomplishthen a vowel? "No." ment and youth is the season, and the Common School is the Other monosyllables, including other vowels, are treated in the place for acquiring it. It is obvious that so difficult and imsame manner. It is unnecessary, at first, to speak of the conso. portant an attainment cannot be made without great attention nants, except to say that they are not vowels; but we should con. to the sentiment of the writer, and to those elementary rules fine ourselves, as much as possible, to one thing at a time; and first given in regard to the pauses, emphasis, cadence, and the vateach that thoroughly. W and y may also, at first, be omitted.-rious inflections of the voice. Neither are rules alone suffiBut as soon as the vowels are readily distinguished from the consonants, the teacher proceeds.

Here is the word amber. Is it a monosyllable? "No." What then? "A dissyllable." What is a, a vowel or a consonant? "A

vowel." What is m? What is b? What is e? What is r?

When this exercise has been pursued till the whole class can

distinguish every vowel and every consonant-but not in my opinion before-it may be well to explain the nature of the vowels and consonants respectively. I begin with the consonants.

Suppose we take up the word magic. Is this a monosyllable, or a dissyllable? "A dissyllable." Is m a vowel or a consonant? "A consonant." Here after referring the class to the two kinds of consonants, mutes and semi-vowels, I inquire; Is m a mute or a semi-vowel? "I do not know." But examine your list of mutes. Do you not find it there? "No." Is it among the semi-vowels?

"Yes."

mute or a semi.vowel?

a

cient. It is necessary that the teacher give an example of their application in his own correct manner of reading. The scholar will learn to place the emphasis properly, and to regulate the inflections of his voice as the sentiment requires, by having a pattern to imitate, when he may not be successful in apread daily with the class under his instruction, as it is that the plying his rules. It is, therefore, as requisite that the teacher instructer of vocal music should sing with the choir under his direction.

Learning to read is, in fact, something like learning to sing. There must be compass and volubilty of voice in the one exercise, as well as in the other. The teacher in music does not expect his scholars, in every instance, to strike every note aright, though they have learned to call its name. He requires them to go through one strain first, and to give every note its true sound, before they proceed to another. In this way, he drills them through the tune-often assisting them to make every intonation correct, by the example of his own voice. Having accomplished one tune, he then, in the same thorough manner, teaches them another and another, and thus he makes them accurate and accomplished singers.

What is a? "A vowel." What is g? "A consonant." Has it here the hard or soft sound? "The soft." Is it then a mute, or semi-vowel?" A semi-vowel." What is i? What is c? Is it a When everything is understood, thus far, the various sounds of the vowel, a are introduced; afterward those of e; and subsequently the rest, one at a time. When these are familiar, the diph. thongs and tripthongs are attended to, then the compound charac. A similar method is to be adopted in order to make goon readters, not only those which represent simple sounds, but others; anders. The teacher should not suffer a single sentence to be passed over, till every scholar in the class is able to read it correctly-observing every pause, emphatic word, and inflection aright. The whole exercise may often be confined to a few sentences-each scholar repeating the same, and thus making

finally, the silent letters.

The same principles will guide us in teaching the nature of accent, emphasis and cadence; of primitive, derivative, and compound words; and the art of designating the vowel sounds, in the

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