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"Now, imagine a week, month, or year, of the intercourse | scenes and histories, which might be truly described or narrated in such a domestic society, the course of talk, the mutual in the words of the preceding extracts. And just in proportion manners, and the progress of mind and character; where as the lights of knowledge and the influences of religion are there is a sense of drudgery approaching to that of slavery, wanting in families, in the same proportion will their domesin the unrelenting necessity of labor, where there is none of tic intercourse approach towards a realization of that dreadful the interest of imparting knowledge or receiving it, or of re- representation just presented, and sketched by a sagacious ciprocating knowledge that has been imparted and received; observer of mankind, as a faithful picture of the effect of where there is not an acre, if we might express it so, of intel- ignorance on the family circle. lectual space around them, clear of the thick universal fog of ignorance, where, especially, the luminaries of the spiritual heaven, the attributes of the Almighty, the grand phenomeOBJECTIONS TO CLASSIFICATION IN SCHOOLS. non of redeeming mediation, the solemn realities of a future state, and another world, are totally obscured in that shade; school-masters extremely limited; they labor under the further But not only is the stock of knowledge of our common where the conscience and the discriminations of duty are dull disadvantage of being ignorant of the best modes of impartand indistinct, from the youngest to the oldest; where there ing to their pupils even the modicum they possess themselves. is no genuine respect felt or shown on the one side, nor affec-I was recently informed by the Superintendent of Common tion unmixed with vulgar petulance and harshness, expressed Schools in Pennsylvania,* that a teacher in that state told perhaps in wicked imprecations on the other; where a mutual him that he had heard much of the advantages of classificacoarseness of manners, and language has the effect, without tion in schools, but that, having tried it himself, he had found their being aware of it as a cause, of debasing their worth in it was all folly, and that he was now satisfied that the only one another's esteem all round; and where notwithstanding useful method of instruction was to hear the pupils recite all, they absolutely must pass a great deal of time together, to their exercises one by one. converse, and to display their dispositions towards one another, so signal a failure of one of the simplest methods of econoWould you know the cause of and exemplify what the primary relations of life are reduced mizing the labor of a teacher, and multiplying the benefits of to, when divested of all that is to give them dignity, endear-instruction? Behold this gentleman's plan of operations! ment, and conduciveness to the highest advantage of exis-He divided his scholars off into classes, gave each an invari"Home has but little to please the young members of such the same end, and required as nearly as possible an equal proable position in the class, always commenced the recitation at a family, and a great deal to make them eager to escape out portion of the lesson to be recited by each member. Now, of the house; which is also a welcome riddance to the elder sirs, I ask you whether it requires the gift of second sight to persons, when it is not in neglect or refusal to perform the perceive what this master's objection to classing his pupils ordinary allotments of labor. So little is the feeling of a peaceful cordiality created among them by their seeing one was? Each, for the most part, learned only the portion that he supposed would come to him in the recitation. The obanother all within the habitation, that, not unfrequently, the jection, therefore, was, that classification had a bad effect on passer-by may learn the fact of their collective number being both the morals and the knowledge of the pupils, tempting there, from the sound of a low strife of mingled voices, some them at the same time to use deceit and to neglect their studof them betraying youth replying in anger or contempt, to ies. And this is but a specimen of the thousand and one ermaturity or age. It is wretched to see how early this liberty rors in the modes of instruction, assuming as many different is boldly taken. As the children perceive nothing in the shapes and hues, which have arisen out of the ignorance and minds of their parents that should awe them into deference, inexperience of teachers;-errors, which have degraded the the most important difference left between them is that of profession of teaching and perverted its ends, which have torphysical strength. The children, if of hardy disposition, to tured and dwarfed the intellects of learners, and contributed which perhaps they are trained in battles with their juvenile more perhaps that any other cause to that wide-spread indifrivals, soon show a certain degree of daring against this su-ference which is now the principal obstacle in the way of the perior strength. And as the difference lessens, and by the adoption of improved systems of general education. time it has nearly ceased, what is so natural as that they should assume equality, in manners, and in following their own will? But equality assumed where there should be subordination, inevitably involves contempt toward the party against whose claim it is asserted.

tence.

PATRIOTISM.

Wines.

ment of attachment to one's native soil, but the intelligent and hearty Patriotism is the first of republican virtues; not the mere senti love of country, prompting to thought and effort for the country's welfare. This is the virtue of a freeman. Who expects the slave to love into the soil, with nothing to lose or to gain by the vicissitudes of emthe country which will not own him for a man? The serf trodden pire-who expects him to care for any interest out of his own cabin? Patriotism is the virtue of a citizen, a member of the commonwealth; not of a mere subject. The whole political duty of a mere subject, whether under a monarchy or an oligarchy, is summed up in silent obedience. Where society is divided into orders, patriotism in the lower orders is a dangerous affair-dangerous to themselves-dangerous to the state,-eminently dangerous to the established system. Hence, though Europe has had patriot kings, and patriot nobles and statesmen, we hear of a patriot peasantry, only in connection with another name for revolution; the faintest whisper of it "with fear of tumult and arms. Patriotism among the people, is, in the old world, change perplexes monarchs." But with us, patriotism is an every day duty for every man. Every man, not dead to virtue, loves his country with a manly affection-thinks, reasons, inquires, acts for his country's welfare. He loves his country as the virtuous sovereign loves his kingdom, because it is his own, because its destinies are in a degree entrusted to his hands. His pride of ancestry is, not that he is born of better blood than his countrymen, but that he is born of the of Bennington, and of Yorktown. His hopes, too, for his posterity, same blood with the men of "the heroic age," the men of Bunkerhill, are all patriotic, not personal. His hopes for them are identical with to care for their posterity in coming ages, leads him to care that these his hopes for his country. That strong impulse which leads all men equal laws, this well ordered liberty, this universal diffusion of knowledge, these purifying and sustaining influences of Christian truth,

"The relative condition of such parents as they sink into old age, is most deplorable. And all that has preceded leads, by a natural course, to that consequence which we have sometimes beheld, with feelings emphatically gloomy,-the almost perfect indifference with which the descendants, and a few other near relatives, of a poor old man of this class, could consign him to the grave. A human being was gone out of the world, a being whom they had been near all their lives, some of them sustained in their childhood by his labors, and yet not one heart, at any one moment, felt the sentiment I have lost (a father or a friend.) They never could regard him with respect, and their miserable education had not taught them humanity enough to regard him in his declining days as an object of pity. Some decency of attention was perhaps shown him, or perhaps not, in his last hours. It is a very melancholy spectacle to see an ignorant, thoughtless father, surrounded by his untaught children, at the sight of whom our thought thus silently accosts him: The event which will take you finally from among them, perhaps after forty or fifty years of intercourse with them, will leave no more impression on their affections, than the cutting down of a decayed old tree in the neighborhood of your habitation." This, it must be confessed is a high wrought and most melancholy picture, but who shall say that it is exaggerated? Owing to the general diffusion among us of some degree of intellectual cultivation and religious knowledge and influence, may be perpetual. originals are not, indeed, as common in this country as in some others; but the memory of many persons will doubtless recall ular education in the country.

Rev. L. Bacon.

*Mr. Burrows, one of the most able, judicious, and useful friends of pop

VOL. III.

Published under the direction of the Board of Commissioners of Common Schools.
HARTFORD, MARCH 1, 1841.

Fig. I.

NO. 9.

[graphic]

of the proceedings having been communicated by some one who was present, to the Congregational Observer, we were requested to communicate a copy of our remarks for publication in that paper, which we did from time to time as they were called for. As the plan of this house is thought to embrace many desirable improvements, and as our remarks as written out embrace the best views we have been able to form on this subject, we republish them in the Journal with the introductory note to the Editors. NEW DISTRICT SCHOOLHOUSE, WINDSOR.

One of the most encouraging aspects of common school education at this time in this State, is the increasing interest manifested by parents and districts in the condition and improvement of the places where this education must be carried on. Three years ago, after visiting every county, we could not point to but one district schoolhouse, which in respect to location, construction and internal arrangement, could be safely recommended as a model. This was at Greenville, in Norwich, and was built in 1838. Even the academies and private schools, although in general properly located, and expensively built, were The accompanying cuts, executed by Mr. Clark, from drawobjectionable in the arrangement of seats and desks, and ings by Mr. Austin, represent the front and side elevation, in the mode of lighting, warming and ventilating. Since and the ground plan of the new schoolhouse at Windsor, the that time, more schoolhouses have been repaired and These plans will, I trust, induce some of your readers to look opening of which was the occasion of the following remarks. new ones built according to approved principles, than for into the district schoolhouses in their vicinity, to see if sometwenty years previous. Among the best specimens of thing need not, and cannot be done to make them more attracschoolhouse architecture which have been recently erect- tive, convenient and healthy. Taste, health and personal aced, we can refer to the Academy buildings in Bethlem, commodation, have been consulted in the erection of new Norfolk, New Hartford, Warren, Haddam, Lyme, the churches, hospitals, asylums, prisons, and poor-houses, dwelGrammar school at New Haven, and to the District ling houses, barns, stables, and every other structure intended school, [Whiting st.] New Haven, Do., [North and South for man or beast. And who regrets or complains of these districts,] Hartford, Brooklyn, Sterling, Groton, [Porters-again to the damp, unhealthy dungeons of the old Newgate improvements? Who would doom the criminals of the state ville,] New London, Norwich, [Greenville,] Waterbury, prison? Who would think of herding them together in the Southbury, Newtown, [Sandy Hook,] Winsted, [Clifton,] half lighted and unventilated rooms of the old county jail? Windsor, [in Poquonock and district No. 6.] Who would send the afflicted and unfortunate of our race to retreats and asylums, which were repulsive without, and inconvenient and unhealthy within? Who would exchange a slip in any one of the new, tasteful, and commodious churches, which have been erected within ten years past in almost every meeting house, where a good deal of sacred fire in the heart town in the state, for a pew in the old, forlorn, dilapidated was needed to keep the outward man comfortable, and which had a hand in locating, building and seating, so as to make indeed the "old mischief maker" has been accused of having even the "old standards" who loved the house of prayer, love to leave it too, with as much eagerness as was becoming in good men? And why should not the same good sense, and good taste-the same spirit of reform and improvement characterize the action of the community in reference to schoolhouses?

We were consulted in reference to the last, and our views have been carried out by the building committee, as far as could be done with a proper regard to the size and ability of the district. The cost of the building and land to the district will be about $1000. The Library, apparatus and maps were presented by individuals, and cost about $200.

It was thought desirable to open the schoolhouse with appropriate exercises, and in company with Governor Ellsworth and others, we were invited to be present and take part in the exercises of the occasion. An account

For a description, see Journal, vol. 1, p. 193.

I am happy in being able to point to at least one district If humanity and a wise economy demand that better care and accommodations should be provided for the criminal and the which has acted in this spirit and erected a house which empauper, who are generally the victims of neglected or pervert- braces most of the latest improvements in school house archied education, why not do as much and more for the innocent tecture. All of the buildings which have been erected withchildren, and thus prevent them from becoming either paupers in two years past, are superior to what before existed, but with or criminals? If parents, acting as religious societies, have many excellences, they embrace some of the radical defects turned out the "old mischief maker" in order to furnish desk, of the old stereotyped school house.

Should any person or district refer to these plans, for models, and seats, and all other fixtures proper and comfortable for themselves and their pastor, for three hours of one day in the they should remember that they were prepared for a small week, why not turn out the same committee-man, with his district, numbering only thirty-six children, and that the diunseasoned and knotty materials, miserable plastering, half mensions on the floor are small even for that number. If the made window blinds, red paint pot, dilapidated stove, broken district numbers over forty children, there should be a sepatongs and shovel, badly matched floor, slab seats without rate apartment for the small scholars, and in all cases, a class backs, and both seats and desks high enough to accommodate a race of giants; and appoint a committee who will provide a pleasantly located, well built, neatly painted school house, with seats, desks, light, heat, and apparatus and library, which shall make it attractive, comfortable and profitable to the children who are to spend six hours a day, for five or six days in the week, for thirty or forty weeks in the year, and for ten or twelve of the most susceptible and important years of their being?

Fig. II.

Fig. III.

room, useful for various school purposes, should be provided.
The remarks which accompany these cuts I have written
ont from recollection, at your request, and have probably omit-
ted some things that were said, and added others that were
Yours truly,
not said.
HENRY BARNARD, 2D.

The house was built by Mr. James Burnham. District Committee, Mr. L. M. Smith. Building Committee, Messrs. Isaac Hayden, Samuel W. Ellsworth and Edward B. Munsell.

Fig. IV.

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EXPLANATION.

FIGURE I represents a perspective view of the front and one side. FIGURE II represents the general arrangements of the in

terior.

and desks.

FIGURE III represents an end view of one range of seats Figure IV represents sections of a seat and desk lately introduced into the schoolhouses of Boston. A similar seat is used in all of the schools of Providence, except the pedestal is of cast iron. It would be an improvement in the modes of seating this and other schoolhouses, if each scholar was provided with a similar seat, detached from the adjoining desk. Figure V represents a section of a sand desk, for small children, a specimen of which can be seen in the South district school, Hartford-a is an opening to receive a slate, b, a groove like space for a thin layer of sand. The sand can be smoothed by a broad brush, and be swept, when not wanted, into a draw at one end.

Figure VI represents a section of a gallery, or platform of seats rising one above another, as described on page 116-the lower seat is 6 1-2 inches and the higher 10 inches. A specimen of such a gallery can be seen in the primary department of the south district school, Hartford.

FIGURE VII represents a set of common school apparatus, as made by N. B. Chamberlain, Nos. 2 and 3 School street, Boston. Several of these articles are represented by Fig. A, (globe,) B, (orrery,) C, (numerical frame,) D, (Tellurium or season machine.)

The building stands 60 feet from the highway, near the centre of a dry, elevated, triangular shaped lot which slopes a little to the south and east. Much the larger portion of the lot is in front, affording a pleasant play ground, while in the rear there is a woodshed, and other appropriate buildings, with a separate yard for boys and girls. The walls are of brick, and are hollow so as to save expense in securing the antaes or pilasters, and to prevent dampness. This building is 33 feet 6 inches long, 21 feet 8 inches wide, and 18 feet 9 inches high from the ground to the eaves, including 2 feet base or underpinning. The freize and cornice are of wood.

The entries AA, one for boys and the other for girls, are in the rear of the building, through the woodshed, which with the yard is also divided by a partition. Each entry is 7 feet 3 inches, by 9 feet 3 inches, and is supplied with a scraper and mat for the feet, and shelves and hooks for outer garments.

The school room is 24 feet 5 inches long by 19 feet 4 inches wide, and 15 feet 6 inches high in the clear, allowing an area of 472 feet, including the recess for the teacher's platform, and an allowance of 209 cubic feet of air to a school of 36.

The teacher's platform B is 5 feet 2 inches wide by 6 feet. deep, including 3 feet of recess, and 9 inches high. On it stands a table, the legs of which set into the floor, so as to be firm, and at the same time movable, in case the platform is needed for declamation or other exercises of the scholars. Back of the teacher is a range of shelves b, already supplied with a library of near 400 volumes and a globe, outline maps, and other apparatus. On the top of the case is a clock. A black board 5 feet by 4 is suspended on weights and steadied by a groove on each end, so as to admit of being raised and lowered by the teacher, directly in front of the book case, and in full view of the whole school. At the bottom of the black board is a trough to receive the chalk and the sponge, or soft cloth.

The passages D D are two feet wide and extend round the

room.

E E are 13 inches, and allow of easy access to the seats and desks on either hand.

F is 5 feet, three inches, and in the center stands an stove C, the pipe of which goes into one of the flues b. temperature is regulated by a thermometer.

open

The

The aisles DD and F have a special reference to doors.

the

Each pupil is provided with a desk G, and seat H, the front of the former constituting the back or support of the latter, which slopes 2 1-2 inches in 16. The seat also inclines a little from the edge. The seats vary in height, from 9 1-2 inches to 15, the youngest children occupying those nearest the platform. The desks are two feet long by 18 inches wide,

with a shelf beneath for books, and a groove on the back side, a [Fig. 3,] to receive a slate, with which each desk is furnished by the district. The upper surface of the desk, except 3 inches of the most distant portion, slopes 1 inch in a foot, and the edge is in the same perpendicular line with the front of the seat. The level portion of the desk has a groove running along the line of the stope, b [Fig. 3,] so as to prevent pencils and pens from rolling off, and an opening, c [Fig. 3,] to receive an ink-stand. These are of metal, and shaped like the section of a cone, and are covered by a metallic lid, they can be removed when not in use in a tin case with a shelf perforated with holes to receive the given number of ink-cones, to the case back of the teacher.

The windows I, three on the north and three on the south side, contain each 40 panes of 8 by 10 glass, are hung (both upper and lower sash) with weights so as to admit of being raised or lowered conveniently. The sills are three feet from the floor. Those on the south side are to be provided with curtains or outside blinds. It would be better if the windows in a southern or western exposure were glazed with ground glass, which softens without obstructing the light. The proper ventilation of the room is provided for by the lowering of the upper sash and by an opening 14 inches by 18, near the ceiling into the flue a, which leads into the open air. This opening can be enlarged, diminished, or entirely closed by a shutter controlled by a cord. There should have been an opening near the floor into both the flues a a, with an arrangement like the register of a furnace, so as to have reached'the carbonic acid gas, which being heavier than atmospheric air, settles to the lowest place in the room. This however can be reached by opening the doors at the two extremes of the room, and allowing a current of pure air to sweep through like a broom, at the time of recess.

The sides of the room are ceiled all round with wood as high as the window sill, which, as well as the rest of the wood work of the interior, is painted to resemble oak.

Along the walls on one side of front door is suspended Mitchell's large Map of the United States, and on the other his Map of the world on Mercator's projection. Between the windows are maps of Connecticut, Massachusetts, Palestine and other portions of the earth mentioned in Scripture, and Catherwood's large colored plan of Jerusalem.

The following articles of apparatus have been or soon will be purchased for this school. Numerical frame or abacus-set of geometrical solids-set of blocks to illustrate cube rootdiagrams of geometrical figures-globe-orrery-tellurium or season machine-tide dial-moveable blackboard and a slate for each scholar.

The library is, or will be soon, supplied with the following books for the use of the teacher.

Webster's Dictionary, Worcester's edition-Calmet's Dictionary of the Bible-Encyclopedia Americana 13 vols-Murray's Encyclopedia of Geography-Cyclopedia of HistoryHaywood's Gazetteer--Blake's Biographical Dictionary--Coe's Lessons in Drawing-Mayo's Lessons on Objects-Abbott's Teacher-Palmer's Prize Essay-Davis' Teacher TaughtDunn's School master's Manual--Dwight's Teacher's Friend-Wines' "How shall I govern my school?"—Alcott's Confessions of a schoolmaster-Alcott's two days in a primary school-Alcott's account of the first district school, HartfordWood's account of the Sessional School, Edinburgh-Stow's Glasgow Training System-Cousin's Report on Education in Prussia-Cousin and Cuiver's Education in Holland-Prof. Stowe on Education in Europe-Journal and Annals of Education, 8 vols.-Massachusetts Common School Journal, vol. 1 and 2-Connecticut Common School Journal.

The following sets comprise the reading for the scholars and their parents.

THE SCHOOL LIBRARY, large and juvenile series as far as published, 26 vols. Published by Marsh, Capen, Lyon & Webb, 33 Washington st., Boston, and consist of books which have been prepared with special reference for school libraries, and approved by each member of the Massachusetts Board of education.

THE DISTRICT SCHOOL LIBRARY, 3 series, 145 vols., published by Harper & Brothers 96 Cliff st., New York. These works have been approved and recommended by the present and former Superintendent of common schools in New York, and by Governors Marcy and Seward.

THE SCHOOL LIBRARY, 121 vols., published by the Sunday School Union, Philadelphia. These works are intended mainly for juvenile reading, and have been long before the christian public.

REMARKS MADE AT THE DEDICATION OF THE NEW
SCHOOLHOUSE IN DISTRICT NO. 6.

It is good and proper for us to be here, and I am happy in

present and take part in such exercises as have been deemed appropriate to the opening of a new schoolhouse, so retired, attractive, and convenient as this.

THE CHRISTIAN LIBRARY, 45 vols., published by the Amer-being able to accept the invitation of your committee to be ican Tract Society, N. York. This set is intended to meet the wants of the young and the old for a higher order of moral and religious reading, than is embraced in works of history, biography, travels, &c., which are usually selected for school or public libraries.

The Christian Library was presented to the District, by Governor Ellsworth, as a testimony of his continued interest in the moral and intellectual improvement of his native district. This act will cause his name to be remembered with delight, by many of the old and the young, in present and future generations who may have access to the pleasures and consolations which these volumes are calculated to impart. Besides the above sets there are thirty or forty miscellaneous volumes, and among them the works of Milton, Cowper, &c. presented by Erastus Smith, Esq., of Hartford.

There is an intrinsic propriety in the sacredness of the purpose, for which this edifice was erected, the physical, intellec tual and moral culture of every child in this community, to call for its consecration in prayer, as has just been done in the presence of parents, teachers and children, to the cause of truth, justice, patriotism and religion. But important as this occasion is in itself, and to this district, not only in the present, but in the future generations of children, I cannot but feel that the completion of such a schoolhouse, combining so many advantages in respect to location, construction, and internal arrangement and furniture, will help to awaken a spirit of inquiry and improvement in this and other departments of our school system, far beyond your immediate limits; and thus The following regulations have been adopted by the district. restore it to its proper place in the regards of the patriot, the I. The District Committee for the time being shall be held res-ties I have had occasion to visit and examine more than one philanthropist and christian. In the discharge of official duponsible for the preservation of the Library, and shall cause to be thousand school houses, scattered through the eight counties, made out one or more catalogues of the books, to be kept by the in more than two thirds of all the towns, and in every variety Librarian, and to be open to the inspection of the inhabitants of the of district as to wealth, territory and population, and every where there is a pressing necessity for just such improvements as you have introduced here. The health, manners, morals and right education generally of the children, require it. To satisfy you of this, before passing to a consideration of what parents, teachers and children must do to make this a model features of this schoolhouse, compared with what you and school, I beg leave to dwell briefly on some of the principal every one who has turned any attention to the subject, know to exist too generally, not only in this vicinity, but all over the

District at all reasonable times.

II. The Teacher for the time being, or any other person residing in the district, may be entrusted with the charge of the Library, and held responsible for the preservation and delivery of the books, un. der such regulations as the District Committee may prescribe not inconsistent with the regulations of the District.

III. The Library shall be open for the delivery of books on Wednesday and Saturday of each week, unless otherwise directed, at such hour as the District Committee may designate.

IV. Any inhabitant of the District, who shall express a willing. ness to comply with the regulations which may from time to time be prescribed by the district, and has paid up all fines duly imposed, and any minor residing in the district, whose parents, guardian, or any other inhabitant, will become responsible for any fines which may be imposed for the damage or detention of books taken by 'such minor, shall be entitled to the privileges of the Library.

V. Every person entitled to the privileges of the Library may draw one book, and one only at a time, and retain the same for two weeks and no longer; but the same person may, after returning a book to the Librarian, take it again, unless application has been made for it by some one who had not previously borrowed the same, who shall in that case be entitled to its use.

VI. Any person who shall detain a book longer than fourteen days, shall forfeit and pay to the Librarian two cents for each day's detention, until the fine shall equal the value of the book, and at the expiration of such time, due notice shall be given by the Librarian to the borrower, to return such book within three days, and in case of its longer detention, the full value of the book, or of the set to which it belongs, shall be charged to the borrower, and on the payment of such fine, the book or set may be claimed and taken by the

borrower.

state.

1. Location. Thanks to the good sense and good taste of your committee, and to the public spirit of the original proprietor of the land, the house is located on a dry, elevated, and in every respect a healthy site. It is removed some sixty feet from the noise and dust of the highway, and from all sights and sounds of idleness and dissipation. While there is ample room in front for all to occupy in common for recreation and sports, there is in the rear of the building a separate yard for either sex. When spring returns it will deck the green sward properly enclosed, and nourish, I trust, some elms, oaks and maples, which will in a few years throw their sheltering shadows over house and play ground in summer, and break the inclemency of the storm in winter.

How striking and mournful the contrast presented in the location of most of our district schoolhouses. Go where you will, you find them on or rather in the public road, and not unfrequently in the public roads, where the attention of the scholars is disturbed by every passing object. I have visited them perched on the bleakest spot in the district, where all the winds and all the ways meet, on low marshy VII. Any person, who shall injure, or deface any book belong-ground, or in the midst of minutely grained sand-spots which ing to the Library, shall forfeit and pay such sum as shall be as. sessed by the District Committee or the Librarian, with the liberty a mechanic with his workshop, if they could be had free of no prudent farmer would occupy with a barn or a pig pen, or of appeal to the District Committee; provided the sum so assessed shall not exceed the full value of the book, or of the set, if it belongs to one; and all fines either for detention or damage of books shall be applied to the benefit of the Library.

VIII. No book shall be taken away from the Library, until the name or the number of the book, the name of the person taking it, and the day on which it is taken, are entered in a book to be provided for that purpose, and every person shall be held responsible for any book charged to him, until he sees the above entry erased, or crossed, on his returning the book to the Librarian.

IX. Such books as may have been or may hereafter be given to the Library with the understanding that they were to be accessible to teachers or other persons, residing without the district, will be to such extent excepted from the operation of the rules and regulations, and such books as the District Committee may specially direct to be retained in the Library, shall not be delivered to any person, without a written permission from the Committee.

X. The District Committee shall at the close of their official year, and at such other times as may be required, make a report to the district on the condition of the Library.

expense. But bad as the location too often is, there is no provision made for play ground, shade trees or out door arrangements of any kind. It is the want of such arrangements which makes the schoolhouse an annoyance to the neighborhood where it is placed, and the common school objectionable to that class of parents who regard the health, manners and morals of their children as too precious to be exposed by the shameful neglect of the districts.

2. Construction and Material. This house is built according to rules of good taste, of durable materials, and in a workmanlike manner. The brick are not likely to be washed out by the rain, or the woodwork to shrink in the heat of the stove or sun, so as to leave knot holes, and cracks for the "crannying winds" to whistle through. It is protected from cold beneath by a solid foundation of stone and mortar, a well matched floor, and a ceiling of wood as high as the window sills. The woodwork in the interior is "oaked" so as to give a finish and respectability to its appearance which entitle it to the care and respect of the children, that I doubt not, it will receive.

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