time being; by whom also the salaries of such teachers, from time to time, shall be contracted for, and paid by orders by said Committee, drawn on the town treasury. The Assistants to be occasionally appointed, when need may require.

Your Committee are further of opinion that, all the aforesaid schools be subjected to such rules and regulations, from time to time, as may be devised and formed by the School Committee, for the time being, after the same shall have received the approbation of the Freemen of this town, in town meeting legally assembled.

And as the Society of Friends have a convenient School Room of their own, and choose to educate their children under the tuition of their own members, and the direction of Committees of their own Meeting; it is recommended, that they receive, from time to time, of the money raised for schooling, according as the proportion which the number of scholars in their school shall bear to the whole number educated out of the town's funds, to be ascertained by their Committee to the Town's Committee, who are to give orders on the town. treasury for the same, as in the case of other schools;- their school being open to the Town's Committee, for their inspection and advice in regard to the moral conduct and learning of the children, not interfering in respect to the address or manners of the Society, in relation to their religious opinions.

Finally, your Committee recommend, as new and further powers are hereby proposed to be granted to, and exercised by, the Town's future School Committee, which were not in contemplation at the time of their appointment, that they have liberty to resign their places, and that a School Committee be appointed for the Town of Providence, to remain in office till the next annual choice of Town Officers, and instructed to report the rules and regulations aforesaid to the next town meeting: That a committee be also appointed to contract, in behalf of the town, for suitable lots where to build the two new School Houses proposed to be erected, and to form plans and an estimate of

the expense of such buildings; and to report the same to the next town meeting: That said committee last mentioned also inquire and report on what terms the proprietors of the Brick School House and Whipple Hall will relinquish their claims to the town.

And the said report having been duly considered, It is Voted and Resolved, That the same be received and adopted, except as to the resignation of the School Committee, who are hereby continued, and directed to draft rules and regulations for the government of said schools, and to make report at the next town meeting.

It is further Resolved, That Messrs. Moses Brown, John Brown, Welcome Arnold, Edward Thurber, Charles Keene, Zephaniah Andrews and Charles Lippitt, or the major part of them, be and they are hereby appointed a Committee to procure the lots in said report mentioned; to inquire the terms on which the proprietors of Whipple Hall, and the Brick School House, will relinquish their rights in said buildings to the town; to estimate the expense of the two new School Houses, and to perform all other business required of the Committee last mentioned in said report; and that they also make report to the next town meeting.

Ordered, That these resolutions be published in the newspapers in this town.

A true copy-witness,

DANIEL COOKE, Town Clerk.

MR. SLOW-AND-EASY.

SOME teachers follow the same routine, day after day and week after week, with a monotony much like that of travelling across an Illinois prairie. The text-book, and that alone, seems to be their infallible guide, and any movement made beyond it is avoided as a "radical" experiment. Some, perhaps, think they are the regulators of the educational clock-work, and look with religious horror upon one who may be a little "ahead of the time."

Well, it may be that these conservatives are needed in the educational circle, as well as in the political arena, to be a general warning to those who may get too fast in the onward march. But, after all, it would please us better to see more of the genius of the present time exemplified in their lives. We should like to have them subscribe and pay for at least one educational publication, and moreover, attend, occasionally, some of the various meetings devoted to the general prosperity of the rising generation and consequently for the

good of the country. Still, we remember "this is a free country," and all we would wish we cannot at present obtain, for each will take his own course; yet we might feel some satisfaction if this Mr. Slowand-Easy would wake up at home, even in his own school-room. But this is not so; for we lately visited his school and found he had the same monotonous way there. It was a warm day, and Mr. S. was, with the pupils, breathing air from which a very large per cent. of oxygen had taken its leave, and on speaking with this honored member of the profession about the means of ventilation and the influence of good air, he seemed to be entirely indifferent, and worse than all, ignorant of the general laws pertaining to the subject.

Mr. Slow-and-Easy had a slow-and-easy school. The pupils took their own time to answer, which was often so long that any other teacher would have been unable to command his nervous system under the charge," but Mr. S. is of other stuff. He took his time, and the pupils took theirs.

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We soon saw that our stop there must be short, for we could not endure it, but fortunately it was near noon. The teacher sticks close to the text-book. The pupil who gets the printed questions is safe, and sure to be "perfect." Mr. Slow-and-Easy never ventures to depart from the “authorized text-books." The reason "why" would cause as much surprise in that school as a sudden earthquake without previous notice. Mr. S. never smiles in school, on principle, we suppose. The "nice points" he considers of small importance, and the rules in Latin are invariably read from the text-book during recitation. We dined with this gentleman of our profession. He had a few books. The conversation turned upon the new Latin Grammar by Prof. Harkness, and other publications of a late date on topics connected with our profession. He had never seen them, and much worse, knew nothing of them.

We also found he seldom if ever visited the parents, but kept close, or, as he, with some self-inflation, expressed it, "attended solely to his own business." We did not venture to suggest that it might be his "business" to become acquainted with parents and show an interest in all connected directly or indirectly with his school.

But time and space will fail us if we attempt to go further. Fellow teacher, be alive; and if you wish others to be interested in you, be interested in them. If you are dreaming, wake up to the demands of the age. We live fast, and you may get so far behind, that the darkness of old times will completely envelop you.

Ј

THE RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF TEACHERS.

AN IMPORTANT DECISION BY JUDGE SANFORD.

THE following decision, rendered by Judge Sanford in the case of Mr. Lewis, who was prosecuted for assault and battery in the punishment of a pupil of his school, will be read with great interest, as the matters of which it treats are of great practical importance, and are but imperfectly understood by very many people.

STATE VS. JOHN G. LEWIS, City Court, New Haven.

This is a prosecution brought by the State against John G. Lewis, principal of one of the public schools of New Haven, charging him with an assault and battery on one Francis M. Hoban, a pupil in the school, on the 21st day of July last.

As reference has been made by counsel to the law applicable to cases of this character, it may be well to consider for a moment what the legal rights and powers of a schoolmaster are, in respect to the infliction of punishment, where, in his judgment, the same is necessary to prevent the repetition of an offense, on the part of a pupil, and for the support of good government and proper discipline in the school. I say, in his judgment, because, from the nature of the case, the master alone can determine whether punishment is necessary. Says Judge Blackstone: "The master is in loco parentis, and has such a portion of the powers of the parent committed to his charge as may be necessary to answer the purposes for which he is employed."

The right to inflict punishment, for proper cause, belongs to the master, the law having clothed him with that authority; and the question is simply in what form, and to what extent, it may be administered by him.

Judge Swift, remarking upon this subject, says: "A schoolmaster has a right to inflict moderate corporal punishment upon his scholars, for this is necessary for the support of good government in his school; but he should reserve this as a last resort, when all other measures fail. He should avoid all unnecessary severity, or extreme cruelty. If all gentle and moderate measures fail, the master is vested with the power of inflicting corporal punishment. This should be done

with coolness and deliberation, not in the heat of passion, and with a suitable instrument; the blows should be inflicted, not on the head, but on those parts of the body where there is no danger of material injury, and with a moderation or severity proportioned to the nature of the offence, and the stubborness of the offender." 1 Swift, Dig. 63. The Supreme Court of Massachusetts has held, that "if in inflicting punishment upon his pupils, the master goes beyond the limit of moderate castigation, and either in the degree or mode of correction is guilty of any unreasonable and disproportioned violence or force, he is clearly liable for such excess in a criminal prosecution." 4 Gray's R., 36.

In North Carolina, it has been held that "A teacher will not be held responsible, unless the punishment be such as to occasion permanent injury to the child, or be inflicted merely to gratify his own evil passions." 2 Dev. & Bae., 365.

This is the only case in which the court undertakes to define what excessive punishment is, namely, "Such as to occasion permanent injury to the child," and is not, in this regard, sustained by the more modern authorities.

I refer to but a single decision further, and I quote somewhat at length.

In the case of Lander vs. Seaver, 32 Vermont, 124, the court used this language: "In determining what is a reasonable punisment, various considerations must be regarded, the nature of the offense, the apparent motive and disposition of the offender, the influence of his example and conduct upon others, and the sex, age, size, and strength of the pupil to be punished. Among reasonable persons much difference prevails as to the circumstances which will justify the infliction of punishment, and the extent to which it may properly be administered. On account of this difference of opinion, and the difficulty which exists in determining what is a reasonable punishment, and the advantage which the master has by being on the spot, to know all the circumstances, the manner, look, tone, gestures, and language of the offender, (which are not always easily described,) and thus to form a correct opinion as to the necessity and extent of the punishment, considerable allowance should be made to the teacher by way of protecting him in the exercise of his discretion. Especially should he have this indulgence when he appears to have acted from good motives, and not from anger or malice. Hence the teacher is not to be held liable on the ground of excess of punishment, unless