other people. We must therefore limit our conceptions of liberty by conceptions of public duty. Individuals? We are not individuals except in a very limited sense. Society is a corporate body. An institution like this is a corporate body, and has its members, its arms, its feet, its hands. While you consider each individual in his individual capacity, you must also consider him in his corporate capacity, as a member of the community. The eye, the ear or the foot, has no right to set up for itself. Fortunately the physical faculties cannot, and the spiritual faculties must not. The greatest of all charities is that which educates men. Your public schools, your common schools, are the fundamental charity in this community. Support, uphold them. Be not afraid of over educating those who come to them. Do not think as some do think, I believe, that we are in danger of over-educating and making uncomfortable the poorer class of our population. That is a foreign notion, and rests upon the superficial idea that there is a kind of hierarchy here. There is no stratification of society here. The poor are the granite, which, while it forms the basis on which all rests, drops out through the other strata, and in the mountain's summit overtops the whole. The examples of Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson should drive from our minds all fear of over-educating the people. No; let us get out of men all that the hydrostatic press of popular education can. Let us search for the jewels; let us look out in those richest of all mines, the human soul, for those splendid gifts and capacities which turn out the inventors, the poets, the statesmen of the communities that are so fortunate as to possess them."

A WORD EDITORIALLY AS TO INSTITUTES.

We have received letters from various friends of education in different parts of the State, with reference to holding Institutes in their vicinity. The number of Institutes during the year, and the time and place of holding them, are determined by the Executive Committee of the R. I. Institute of Instruction. This Committee have as yet held no meeting with reference to the Institutes for the ensuing year. That meeting will be held in May. All parties desiring Institutes to be held in their section of the State, are requested to make known their wishes to the President of the Institute, and these applications will be acted on at that meeting of the Board. It seems desirable that at least one Institute should be held in each county during the year, beside the Annual Meeting at Providence in January.

Several applications are on file with the President, with reference to sessions of the Institute for the coming year. There is room for more.

OUR friend Gallup, of Washington village, has galloped away from that place to Elmwood, where he proposes to halt. His new friends here will soon learn why the Washington people were so unwilling to part with him. We congratulate our friends in Elmwood on their choice. and hope they will pay Mr. Gallup what he is worth a good salary.

REV. J. P. CHOWN, of England, who spent the last summer in this country, gave a lecture in Exeter Hall, London, November 2d, on America, in which he said: "As to education, it was a striking feature of their country. There was no doubt that in this matter they were far in advance of us. Their system was one of the most wonderful schemes he could conceive of. It employed some of the noblest buildings in the New World, and all were open to the poorest boy in the land, who might sit side by side with the son of the President. Throughout the States they could not find half a dozen log huts without a school.”

OUR BOOK TABLE.

SPENCERIAN KEY TO PRACTICAL PENMANSHIP. By H. C. Spencer.

Perhaps no man has ever taken a higher position in the art of writing than he whose name is given to a system of Penmanship which is not surpassed, if equalled, by any system adopted in this country Pratt R. Spencer, was, in many respects, a man without an equal. His keen perception of the beautiful in nature, his delicate organization, and his enthusiasm in whatever he became interested, all combined to make him successful in his chosen art. In his youth, he had to struggle with poverty, but his determined and energetic nature overcame every obstacle and enabled him to bring out a system of writing which is a greater monument to his memory than can be chiseled on marble. The Publishers of his system have offered a tribute to his memery in the Key to his Penmanship which tens of thousands whose first thought of the beautiful in lines and curves was elicited by seeing him trace them, or by attempting to imitate what his hand had traced. We have read again and again the Key before us, and the more we peruse it, the more do we admire the genius that has so beautifully and completely developed the whole subject of Penmanship. It contains a full analysis of all the letters in every form in which they are made, and points out to the teacher how to correct the errors in their formation. A great variety of styles in making capital letters is given, and all explained in a clear and concise manner. An Appendix, containing a lecture on Chirography, by Prof. Spencer, is added. The lecture gives a graphic account of the early history of the art. The Key contains about 200 pages, printed and bound in a style which does great credit to the enterprising publishers, Messrs. Ivison, Phinney & Co., of New York.

AN EXPLANATORY AND PRONOUNCING DICTIONARY OF THE NOTED NAMES OF FICTION; including also familiar pseudonyms, sur names bestowed on eminent men, and analogous popular appellations often referred to in literature and conversation. By William a Wheeler, Boston. Ticknor and Fields.

Some men are appointed to do a special work, and the world must wait patiently until they appear. Scholars and readers generally, have long felt the want of such a work as the one before us, in which should be gathered, as far as may be, those fugitive and scattered patronymics, sobriquets, and mythological names which are so frequently found in our literature. Mr. Wheeler has given to these a local habitation with their genealogy and early history, for which he will receive the thanks of all the friends of learning. We would recommend the readers of the Schoolmaster to place this book on their desks at the earliest opportunity.

OUR YOUNG FOLKS.-The April number of this truly wonderful Magazine has been received. The little folks are greatly indebted to Messrs. Ticknor & Fields for publishing so interesting a monthly for their perusal. Every article in the April number contains a moral for our youth to treasure up for future use. "The Four Seasons" presents the great outlines of Botany in so interesting a style, that the young are led to find in nature illustrative of the principles brought out by the writer. When every child in this country becomes a reader of Our Young Folks, we shall cease to commend it, and we hope not till then.

IN the Atlantic Monthly for April will be found several articles of particular interest. The first article is an account of the last days of the venerable poet, Wal-. ter Savage Landor, by one who knew him intimately, and is the first of a series of articles giving glimpses of the old man of Florence during the year 1859, '60, and '61. Passages from Hawthorne's Note-Book are continued. John Foster Kirk, author of "Charles the Bold," contributes an essay on Sainte-Beuve, editor of the Revue des De Mondes, and one of the prominent literary men of France at the present time. Under the title of "A Struggle for Shelter," Miss C. P. Hawes discusses the tribulations which beset all who are so unfortunate as to live in these times of high prices. Rev. G. Reynolds, in a paper of remarkable power, sets forth the causes which impelled the recent outbreak in Jamaica, and vividly describes the horrible massacres which followed. Mrs. Stowe, from her Chimney Corner, discourses on the proprieties of dress. On the political situation, the Atlantic has also a word to say, and a paper of no little pungency, discusses the issue between Congress and the President. For light reading, it offers the continuation of Doctor Johns and Griffith Gaunt, and Madame Waldoborough's Carriage, by J. T. Trowbridge. Longfellow, Holmes, and Leland, furnish poems of characteristic excellence. The number contains sixteen extra pages. Ticknor & Fields, Publishers.

HOURS AT HOME.-- The April number of this popular religious monthly closes the second volume, and the May number commences the third volume. We have witnessed with pleasure the steady and firm position that this magazine has taken, on all subjects which have agitated the public mind, and believe its influence has been always for good. The great social questions of the times have been handled in the true spirit of reform, and the leading publications of the day have been carefully examined, and their tendency noted. The contents of Hours at Home, without being exclusively religious, are pervaded by a high moral tone, making it truly the magazine for our homes. Among its contributors are many of the ablest writers of our country. The late lamented Dr. Wayland was deeply interested in the success of it, and was a contributor to its pages. Edited by J. M. Sherwood, and published by Charles Scribner & Co., 124 Grand Street, New York.

MORE VALUABLE THAN TREASURY NOTES.-How that old cynic, Sam Johnson, would have revelled through Webster's massive new Unabridged! How he would have gloated over its magnificent letter-press and its illustrations, beautiful as new Treasury Notes, and much more valuable to the student. The Merriams have incurred a fabulous expense in having the whole work rewritten, reset, recast, and republished. It is not a mere revision, but a reconstruction. To insure excellence in typography, it comes from the Riverside Press, which is all that need be said about its mechanical execution. It is a marvellous specimen of learning, labor, research, and taste. It is by far the greatest literary work of the age.-Baltimore American.

THE California Teacher contains articles on "Course of Study for Ungraded Schools; "Public Schools and Taxation;""State Agricultural College; ""The Typical Flower." This is an able journal. Does every California teacher subscribe for it? All ought to. We greet and read it with delight.

REPORT OF SUPT. OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION OF KANSAS. This young State is doing well in the good cause. We welcome this co-worker to the company of educators who are to carry our banners onward and westward.

For Book Notices see next number.

There is a little French phrase often quoted, which says that style is the man; le style c'est l'homme. There is a great deal of truth in this very brief expression. Of course it is understood that the word style here refers to an intellectual and moral quality. It is at the same time obvious, that the mode adopted in adorning the person also indicates, in a degree, the character of the man. But in this article we only wish to say a word upon the importance of giving attention. to expression. Particularly in our country, where even educated people are so apt to fall into a habit of carelessness in the use of language, is there need of frequent warning to those whose habits are forming, to be constantly on their guard. It is impossible for one holding the office of instructor, to be too careful in watching the language of the learner, or to be too emphatic in urging him to make effort to acquire a clear, correct, and graceful mode of expression. To speak grammatically, is not enough; there should be untiring endeavor to get rid of all provincial and hackneyed phrases, without grace or force, and to acquire agreeable intonations of the voice. Our hurrying American life, leads us to neglect the cultivation of habits of carefulness and attention. Thoroughness is not so much as it should be, a quality of our national character. We do not make so much effort as we should to rise above the wearisome level of mediocrity, to which democratic communities, in their infancy, are apt to fall. The language we use is too often as untidy as our ill-trimmed

hair and whiskers. We find examples enough of this if we listen to the language of a crowd, or look into an illustrated, or any other kind of newspaper.

We vulgarly "guess," and "guess," and "guess," until all people of any taste are weary. When we should think, and believe, and know, we "guess" and "guess," until there seems to be danger that our national vocabulary will, at last, be reduced to a single word. Even our science, as Emerson so well says, is often but a lucky "guess. Let us make an effort to break up such a childish habit, and use words which have beauty as well as meaning. We are trying to build up on this continent a great nation, and every American is a representative man. At home or abroad there is a national dignity, which we are called upon to sustain. That dignity depends a great deal more upon the language we use, than upon the style of the hat that we wear, or the cut of our clothes; however much we may magnify the importance of these. If we speak no language but our native tongue, let us use that not only free from vulgar errors, but with purity and simple elegance. It is no doubt true, that we cannot really know our own language, or have an intelligent understanding of what language means, until we have obtained some knowledge of one or two foreign tongues. The value of such discipline we cannot easily over-estimate. We came by our own language, we do not know how. We got it with our first nourishment, as we have the blood in our veins, and the marrow in our bones. The foundation was laid without any process of philosophic thought. Thus how many childish defects are we called upon in later years to correct. And how much we are aided in our work of purification by the study of foreign languages, and the scientific analysis of our own. Let us have sufficient strength and persistency not to be corrupted by the false examples everywhere around us. If we see "balance," (balance of the day,) and "quite," (quite a house,) and scores of other words, every day incorrectly used in the newspapers, let us be on our guard, and not give way to such ridiculous faults. We must learn to be critics of each other, and try to bear with what patience we may, the suggestions of those who remind us of our colloquial faults. We shall be less and less annoyed by what foreigners say of us, in proportion as we become severe and thorough critics

ourselves.

We are called to play a conspicuous part in the great theatre of the world. We must be prepared to acquit ourselves with dignity, if we