Journal of education, 1 décembre 1861, Décembre

$ LAÔ°â giP?JOURNAL OF EDUCATION.„ ,fjy^T'l.| piijj».• _ns.vv > VM ¦'"< G¦¦ r^1* r-*T*"Y***',P .VrgV.- -.-«If-g tW! ?' ,J- y*-*- '11 11 Volume V.Montreal (Lower Canada) December 1861.No 12.SUMMARY.—Literature.—Poetry : Christmas Tide.—Song of the Old Year.—Song for the New Year, (Eliza Cook).—Nothing to do.—Education : Education of the Poor in England, (concluded).—School Days of Eminent Men in Grcal Britain, by .1.Timbs, [continued],—Be Patient with Children.—Teaching the Alphabet.Official Notices : Erection of School Municipalities.—Appointments: Boards ol Examiners.—School Commissioners.—Diplomas granted by Boards of Examiners.—Editorial : Death ofH.R.H.Prince Albert.—The War in America.—School of Art.—Teachers’ Convention for the District of St.Francis.—Extracts trom the Reports of School Inspectors for 1859 and 1860, [continued]—Monthly Summary : Educational.Intelligence.—Statistical Intelligence.—Miscellaneous Intelligence.King Frost may make a slave 01 the river’s rapid wave, The snow-drift choke the path, Or the hail-shower spend its wrath ; But the sternest blast right bravely is defied, While limbs and spirits bound To the merry minstrel sound, And social wood-fire’s blaze at Christmas tide.LITERATURE.POETRY.CHRISTMAS TIDE.When the merry spring time weaves Its peeping bloom and dewy leaves ; When the primrose opes its eye, And the young moth flutters by ; When the plaintive turtle dove Pours its notes of peace and love ; And the clear sun flings its glory bright and wide— Yet, my soul will own More joy in winter’s frown, And wake with warmer flush at Christmas tide.The summer beams may shine On tlie rich and curling vine, And the noon-tide rays light up The tulip’s dazzling cup : But the pearly misletoe And the holly-berries’ glow Are not even by the boasted rose outvied ; For the happy hearts beneath The green and coral wreath, Love the garlands that are twined at Christmas tide.Let the autumn days produce Yellow corn and purple juice, And Nature’s feast be spread In the fruitage ripe and red; ‘ Tis grateful to behold Gushing grapes and fields of gold, When cheeks are browned and red lips deeper dy’d.But give, oh ! give to me The winter night of glee, The mirth and plenty seen at Christmas tide.The northern gust may howl, The rolling storm-cloud scowl, The song, the laugh, the shout, Shall mock the storm without ; And sparkling wine-foam rise ’Neath still more sparkling eyes ; The forms that rarely meet Then hand to hand shall greet, And soul pledge soul that leagues too long divide.Mirth, friendship, love, and light Shall crown the winter night, And every glad voice welcome Christmas tide.But while joy’s echo falls In gay and plenteous halls, Let the poor and lowly share The warmth, the sports, the fare ; For the one of humble lot Must not shiver in his cot, But claim a bounteous meed from wealth and pride.Shed kindly blessings round, Till no aching heart be found ; And then all hail to merry Christmas tide ! SONG OF THE OLD YEAR.Oh! 1 have been running a gallant career On a courser that needeth nor bridle nor goad ; But he’ll soon change his rider and leave the Old Year Lying low in the dust on Eternity’s road.Wide has my track been, and rapid my haste, But whoever takes heed of my journey will find, That in marble-built city and camel-trod waste, I have left a fair set of bold waymarks behind.I have choked up the earth with the sturdy elm board, I have chequered the air with the banners of strife, Fresh are the tombstones I’ve scattered abroad, Bright are the young eyes I’ve opened to life.My race is nigh o’er on Time’s iron-gray steed, Yet he’ll still gallop on as he gallops with me, And you’ll see that his name will be flying again Ere you’ve buried me under the green holly-tree.N 174 JOURNAL OF EDUCATION If 37e tell of the sadness and evil I’ve wrought, Yet remember the share of “ good works” I have done ; Ye should balance the clouds and the canker I’ve brought, With the grapes I have sent to be crushed in the sun.If I’ve added gray threads to the worldly-wise heads, I have deepened the chesnut of Infancy’s curl ; If I’ve cherished the germ of the shipwrecking worm, I have quickened the growth of the crown-studding pearl ; If I’ve lengthened the yew till it brushes the pall, I have bid the sweet shoots ol the orange bloom swell ; If I’ve thickened the moss on the ruin’s dank wall, I have st engthened the love-bower tendrils as well.Then speak of me fairly, and give the Old Year A light-hearted parting in kindness and glee, Chant a roundelay over my laurel-decked bier, And bury me under the green holly-tree.Ye have murmured of late at my gloom laden hours, And look on my pale wrinkled face with a frown ; But ye laughed when I spangled your pathway with flowers, And flung the red clover and yellow corn down.Ye shrink from my breathing, and say that I bite— So I do—but forget not how friendly we were When I fann’d your warm cheek in the soft summer-night, And just toyed with the rose in the merry girl’s hair.Fill the goblet and drink as my wailing tones sink.Let the wassail-bowl dip and the revel shout rise— But a word in your ear, from the passing Old Year, ‘ Tis the last time he’ll teach ye—“ be merry and wise !” Then sing, while I’m sighing my latest farewell, The log-lighted ingle my death pyre shall be : Dance, dance, while I’m dying, blend carol and bell, And bury me under the green holly-tree.SONG FOR THE NEW YEAR.Old Time has turned another page Of eternity and truth ; He reads with a warning voice to age, And wispers a lesson to youth.A year has fled o’er heart and head Since last the yule log burnt ; And we have a task to closely ask, What the bosom and brain have learnt?Oh ! let us hope that our sands have run With wisdom’s precious grains ; Oh! may we find that our hands have done Some work of glorious pains.Then a welcome and cheer to the merry new year, While the holly gleams above us ; With a pardon for the foes who hate, And a prayer for those who love us.We may have seen some loved ones pass To the land of hallowed rest ; We may miss the glow of an honest brow And the warmth of a friendly breast : But if we nursed them while on earth, With hearts all true and kind, Will their spirits blame the sinless mirth Of those true hearts left behind ?No, no ! it were not well or wise To mourn with endless pain; There’s a better world beyond the skies, Where the good shall meet again.Then a welcome and cheer to the merry new year, While the holly gleams above us ; With a pardon for the foes who hate, And a prayer for those who love us.Have our days rolled on serenely free From sorrow’s dim alloy ?Do we still possess the gifts that bless And fill our souls with joy ?Are the creatures dear still clinging near?Do we hear loved voices come ?Do we gaze on eyes whose glances shed A halo round our home ?Oh, if we do, let thanks be poured To Him who hath spared and givsn, And forget not o’er the festive board The mercies held from heaven.Then a welcome and cheer to the merry new year, While the holly gleams above us ! With a pardon for the foes who hate, And a prayer for those who love us.Eliza Cook.NOTHING TO DO.Miss Molina McMoren was hearty and hale, Yet wished to be slender and languid and pale, So defrauded her stomach of what was its due, And cheated her muscles of exercise too.She dipped in the goblet her fingers so rare, And wiped their tip-ends with a delicate air, Then clasped her white hands on her hoop-bespread lap.Too inert to converse and to vain for a nap ; For still ’twas her aim in attracting the view, To convince all beholders she’d nothing to do.Miss Julia D.Scamper was agile and bright, Her step, like the Queen of the Fairies, was light, So her feet for the sloth of her hands made amends, And she took for her calling to call on her friends.At all seasons and times she saluted their view, Though they might be busy, she’d nothing to do, But p'enty of small talk around her to fling.So she babbled away like a brooklet in spring, Hanging up a slain hour as she went from the door ; Alas, for such tophies when time is no more.Miss Celestia Fitz Mackerel would dandle all day Over crotchet and worsted, or novel and play ; She sorted her shades with an accurate eye, But let her poor mother’s wan features pass by ; Who, worn half to death with her family care, Found nothing like help from her daughter and heir.“The getting of dinners, the toil and the stir Of such vulgar pursuits were disgusting ” to her; And thus to her nondescript creed she was true, The mother might fail, but she’d nothing to do.0, young men, my masters, who dream with delight, Of a home of your own which no discord can blight, Where are roses of Eden, from fading exempt, And an Eve whom no contraband apple can tempt ; Where the wheels of good order like clock-work shall move, And babies well trained bring an ocean of love ; Where prudence with smiles of endearment shall glow, And wealth hand in hand with economy grow ; I’d fain sound a trumpet and bid you beware Of quicksands beneath, though the surface seems fair ; Avoid, like the Upas, with poisonous dew, Those exquisite ladies, who’ve nothing to do.EDUCATION.Education of Hie Poor in England.^Concluded from our last.) The infant school should in all cases, as it As now in some, be emoved from the workhouse to the district or separate school we elieve there is no sound practical objection to this.YVhateve taffis provided at the workhouse, to teach or take care of the in-mts.might be removed to the school ; and to assist in taking care f the little ones is a valuable part of the training of the elder gir s.'he testimony of the Report as to the value of early training s onvincing, and proves clearly that well-managed infant-schocus ,-iU nr0 far to obviate the great evil which has hitherto been com aterT in vain-the early removal of the children from ahi p aces f education.This part of the Report should not be lost upon thos f the wealthier classes who are tempted to countenance the tancy rat early instruction cramps the development -of the ut tel^'ect- 11 .me that, imperceptibly and unconsciously, the children of retin FOR LOWER CANADA.175 homes acquire much which the child of the cottage must be laboriously taught.But to rich and poor the early awakening of the powers of observation, of attention and application, is of the utmost value.And though trie young patrician is not taken from school to follow the plough, he can ill afford to lo-e the first years of his education.But when all is done that can be devised for the inmates of the workhouse, there are still beyond its walls upwards of 288,000 pauper children receiving out-door relief.This class was left in a perfectly hopeless condition previously to the passing of Mr.Denison’s Act, by which ‘ guardians are permitted, ij they deem'it proper, to grant relief to enable out-door paupers to provide education for their children, provided always it shall not be lawful for the guardians to impose as a condition of relief that such education shall be given.’ Thus the education of these children depends on the co-existence of zeal for education on the part of the guardians, and a desire for it on the part of the parents.Under the head of out-door paupers, as Mr.Ruddock observes in his Report, are ranged two very different classes—those who are the victims of chronic pauperism, receiving relief each winter, or on every accidental failure of employment or increase of the price of food ; and secondly, those who have fallen into accidental pauperism from sudden causes, such as death, contagious disease, total cessation of a branch of industry, or any of the many breaks to which social economy is exposed.In habits and feelings these two classes are essentially different, the one being scarcely depressed below the level of the independent labourer, the other hardly raised above that of the workhouse pauper.Yet neither can be expected to co-operate very heartily with the efforts ot the Legislature for the education of their children.There seems to be much uncertainty as to the number of children receiving education under this Act ; but, on the most favourable supposition, there are at least 100,000 who attend no schools whatever ; and there is strong evidence to prove that the ‘ education of those who do attend school is most deplorable.’ The remedy recommended by the Commissioners, and by almost all the witnesses whom they have examined, is- to make the Act imperative, and to trust its execution to the Poor-law Board.It is not proposed that that Board should provide schools, but that they should enforce attendance at some school (under Government inspection, if possible).It is, we think, a good suggestion, that the district shoots might in many instances be made available for the out-door pauper also.But there are not a few practical difficu-ties.4 If would not be sufficient,’ says Mr.Lingen in his examination before the Ragged Schools’ Committee, ‘to make Mr.Denison’s Act compulsory ; it would also require a carefully-devised code of rules’ to regulate its operation.It may not perhaps be easy to fix the limits of age before and after which education ceases to be compulsory ; and there is some difficulty in the case of a child "'ho is earning money in aid of his parents’ support.But this, we think, may be obviated by allowing a discretionary power to the Poor-law Inspector, add also by the plans for combining a certain amount of education with remunerative labour, which the example of the ‘ Norwich Homes’ has brought into notice, and for which the half-time system (hereafter to be mentioned) affords great facilities.The committee above referred to seem also to fear that this alteration ol the Act would be considered as a step towards compulsory education.But it education has already been made the condition ol a boy’s earning his bread, where is the hardship ol making it the condition of his eating the bread of the public?However ill compulsory education may sound in the ears of the House of Commons, there is no doubt that when they by law enforced education on any class, they did, in fact, assert the principle ; and how lar it shall be carried out is merely a question of policy and expediency.One great obstacle to making the Act impel ative is the same which has paralysed its operation while only permissive.Guardians are reluctant to clog with conditions their scanty measure of out-door relief, and still more reluctant to raise it so as to send the children properly to school.But in spite of these, and other objections which may be raised it seems scarcely possible to propose any remedy for this enormous evil that does not, in the first instance, involve the amendment ol Mr.Denison’s Act.The law has for some time, we are told, been voluntarily carried out at Reading with great success; and we do not doubt that when its working is superintended and supplemented by priva e benevolence—and to no more useful object can private bene-volfnce .aPP!y itself as much will be effected as at present is pos-sible to improve the education of the out-door pauper.,- , , ^ objection to the establishment of good schools for pauper children which operates most strongly, though it is more frequent-y, telt than stated, is, that it gives the pauper an advantage over the independent labourer.We are not of those stern moralists who would visit on the children the sins of the fathers.That such is the course of Providence none who look on the world around them can doubt.But it is not laid upon roan to be consciously and intentionally the executor of the decree.It is rather his duty and his privilege to do all in his power to lighten its severity.But great care must be taken in our zeal for the unfoitunate not to hold out rewards to the guilty ; and this makes the act of ‘ doing good,’ of all others, the most difficult.We do not desire that the idler and the drunkard should be enabled to provide for his offspring the benefits of an affectionate home and ‘ voluntary guardianship,’ by living a life of vice and dying a death of shame in the workhouse or gaol.But we would save the child from the necessity of following the father’s steps.We can only strive to steer a middle course.Suchlike objections never can be fully answered.We must give the criminal in his cell a better meal than many an honest man can earn for himself, or he wmulddie of gaol fever.We must educate the pauper ‘ above his station’—that is to say, above his station of pauper—for the object is to prevent his ever being a pauper again.The best practical answer to these objections is to rai«ethe standard of education generally ; and not merely for the children of the independent labourer, but for those of the farmer and the tradesman—a most important part of the subject, which we must reserve for future consideration.The great obstacle to improvement is the want of hearty and intelligent sympathy with the advancement of education on the part of a large portion of the public.It is easy to account for the lukewarmness of landed proprietors and the hostility of farmers, by attributing an extraordinary degree of narrow-mindedness to the possession or occupation of land ; but in truth by the passive and inert public at large, the present system has been accepted rather than approved, and is tolerated rather than supported.Even by the promoters of education the Privy Council’s arrangements are less generally applauded than Inspectors are apt to suppose.‘ Cer tificated teachers are popular,’ but it must be remembered that part of their salaries is paid by the public ; and it is only because they hold the purse-strings that their Lordships have been enabled to impose, if not without murmurs, at least without resistance, not only their whole scheme of education, but every crotchet which they were pleased to embody in their code of rules.In fact, the supposed enemies of education have a better case than theyalwavs have the skill to make good.Neither the scheme itself, nor the manner of its execurion, is above exception.The Commissioners’ Report startles us with the information that three-fourths ot the children ‘ do not learn, or learn imperfectly, the most necessary part of what they come to learn—reading, writing, and arithmetic.’ And it further attests a still more lamentable failure in imparting sound religious knowledge.Too much is attempted ; and what ought in the first place to be made sure is neglected.This unfavourable statement, we own, takes us by surprise ; but it is the part of wisdom to inquire not how far it may be denied, but how far it must in candour be admitted.If, upon a fair view ol the whole country, it should happily prove that a more satisfactory account would be justified, still’the present Report is valuable, as pointing out the faults which the Privy Council scheme has a tendency to encourage.Unsoundness in teaching the elements is, indeed, the besetting sin of all places of education, especially for the poor.An educated person, when speaking to the very ignorant, has a difficulty in fully realizing to himself that he is almosi in the position of a Frenchman who speaks no English, snd is teaching an Englishman who understands no French.The Report contains some ludicrous answers to the Questions of the Catechism, which were given in writing by school children, and prove—not that they had learnt it by rote, but that they had never learnt even its words, and, instead of them, had been accustomed to repeat a senseless gabble which might be mistaken for them by a master who did not take pains to make his pupils pronounce audibly and distinctly.But the root of the evil is that, in the laudable endeavour to raise the standard of education, the Privy Council make the mistake of grasping too much.No doubt the examination papers quoted by Mr.Senior (p.323), and the many others we have seen, would lose much of their apparent absurdity if we knew the class-books on which they are grounded.But the range of information required is such as in the time can be mastered only by the help of ‘ cram.’ And the masters, havino-been crammed themselves, are apt to cram their scholars.Instances are mentioned of children who were scarcely acquainted with tile great elementary truths of the Gospel, but could answer questions on the succession of the kings of Judah, the names of the minor prophets, and the geography of Asia Minor.Contrast this state of religious knowledge with the answers of the little boy JOURNAL OF EDUCATION 176 mentioned (we think) by Mr.Chadwick—answers not learnt by rote; but suggested by iris own reflection.Having said that he believed a waterman’s was the state of life to which he expected to be called, he was asked how he would do his duty in it.In the first place, ‘he would not take more than his licence allowed.’ ‘ Anything else?’—¦ Land the passengers dry on the other side.’— Anything else?—‘Behave civil to them.’ ‘ Anything else?—‘ Not ask more than the fare.’ ‘Anything else ?—‘ Live a good and sober life.’ This is the practical application of Scriptural truth, which it is the business of religious training to teach.An inspector told Mr.Foster, one of the Assistant Commissioners, that, if he found an acquaintance with the minutiae of Scriptural history and geography, he inferred a general knowledge of religious truths.’ And perhaps, if he were questioning the child of one of his own colleagues, he might be right.But let him think of the dense ignorance of the little pauper ; how much is to be done, and how short is the time ! Before he is eleven or twelve years of age, such a knowledge of Ihe great truths of Christianity is to be impressed as the toils and trials of the world may not afterwards obliterate.Conscience is to be awakened, strengthened, and enlightened, to guide hun, it is to be hoped ; or it may be to punish, and in the end to reclaim.A seed is to be sown, which, even if long smothered, as is too probable, may always be ready when occasion serves to spring lo life.There is barely time to learn as much history and geography as may give life and reality to the page of Scripture.So far is a knowledge of minutiae from implying an acquaintance with Scripture truth in such a case as this, that the one excludes the other.And the Inspector forgets that the ‘ course of his examinations must,’ if the schoolmaster is human, ‘ give the direction to the daily teaching of the schools.’ One of the principal remedies suggested by the Commissioners is to appoint Sub-inspectors of inferior grade and qualifications, who will ascertain that the children have acquired those inferior attainments which have escaped the superior Inspector’s notice.This is doubtless an imitation of the philosopher’s alleged scheme of cutting a small hole for the egress of the kitten by the side of the larger hole for the cat.Mr.Senior, on the contrary, would prefer the appointment of one or two commanding officers, like the generals in command of an army, to drill the present Inspectors, and reduce them by the effects of subordination to the level of the task they have to perform.This is indeed a mountain in labour.More machinery, more expense, more places, more correspondence,—anti all this array of disciplined intelligence to ascertain whether little children have or have not learned to read, write, and cipher! Much less energy and talent than is possessed by the present Inspectors, we are sure, would suffice for such a task.But if not, the system of inspection must be radically unsound.It cannot be patched—it must be changed.For some time past we believe a conviction has been growing up amongst the Inspectors themselves, that their system was overstrained ; and in fact in not a few particulars it has been relaxed.Many of the most important admissions as to the faults of the present plan, and many of the best suggestions for its improvement, are to be found in the evidence of the Inspectors.But as a body they are fettered by their own traditions, the regulations of the office, and the instructions of their employers.‘ The Privy Council,’ says Mr.Senior (p.322), ‘ virtually regulates the instruction given,’ and no adequate remedy can be applied till the fault is acknowledged in the high quarter where it originated.It requires no small exertion of courage and candour to admit the faults of a plan which has been sedulously pursued for so many years; and till public opinion is very loudly expressed on the subject we despair of any adequate reformation.In the meantime the managers of schools must exert themselves by vigilant superintendence to counteract the faulty tendency of the system.Above all, in establishing district schools, the utmost care must be taken to secure sound religious training.In this point it is obvious that ‘ homes ’ superintended by private benevolence have the advantage, and to raise the district schools to the same level no pains should be spared.We deny that if we could make schools and their teachers what we desire, we should “ lower the standard of education.’ The old schools were bad, not because they taught only reading, writing, arithmetic, and English, but because they taught them badly.General information is valuable, because it implies extensive reading and reflection.Minute knowledge of the names and facts of Scripture is prized, because it implies familiarity with the sacred text ; but when the results of long study are given in compendiums and got by heart, they are utterly worthless.It is not by inspecting the schoolmasters more vigilantly that the change can be effected, but by training them more judiciously.The Privy Council have been long manufacturing razors for the purpose of cutting blocks, and in future the instrument must be better adapted for its purpose.We must defer the further discussion of this subject for the present ; but one piece of evidence, undesignedly given, the Report contains, to which we beg to draw the reader’s attention.After giving many excellent reasons why one of the first-class schoolmasters cannot be induced to teach in the workhouse—reasons which we have not discussed because, if separate schools are established, teaching in the workhouse is at an end—the Commissioners candidly admit that the tuition in these schools is unaccountably good ; and this they attribute, among other reasons, to the unambitious character of the instruction given, which gives time for what is taught being taught thoroughly.’ We will not weaken this admission by any comment of our own.But as the first great preliminary to all improvement, the public mind must be impressed with clear notions as to the meaning of the word education.“ By every speaker at the Conference,’ says Mrs.Austen, ‘ the word education was used to denote solely school learning.The main object of all education is, or should be, the cultivation and development of the intellectual faculties and the moral perceptions.On this we are probably all agreed.But the direction given to these faculties, and the application of these perceptions, are not less important, since upon them it depends whether the mental and moral culture shall have any direct bearing upon actual life, or shall remain something foreign to its daily demands, soon to be effaced by the rude hand of necessity and by contact with a bard and corrupting world.It is worse than useless to give acquirements which have no tendency to quicken or strengthen the intelligence for the performance of the imperative duties of life.’ That education in this, as we think, its truest sense, has not been adequately advanced by the efforts of late years, is the conclusion to which the candid perusal of the Commissioners’ Report cannot fail to lead.The fault has long been perceived by some of the eminent persons who were the first leaders of what is called the educational movement—and the community at large more or less distinctly feel this to be the case.Hence it is that thirty years have not sufficed to dispel what are called the ‘ prejudices against education.’ We quote again from Mrs.Austen’s admirable ‘ Two Letters.’ What she says of farm maid-servants may be transferred, mutatis viutandis, to the other sex.‘ While the wives ot small farmers and tradesmen find the girls furnished them by the national schools so useless and insubordinate, so ignorant of every useful work, and so little inclined to be taught as they declare them to be, it is not likely that they will be very enthusiastic in favour of the establishments which supply so worthless an article.’ The experience gained in the management ol the industrial schools points strongly to the conclusion that no education will be really serviceable for the working classes that is not in some degree industrial ; and that, if the education of paupers is industrial, while that of the independent poor remains as it is, the paupers must have the advantage.Against the industrial training of girls we have heard it urged that young women brought up as servants in private families do not make the best wives for working men.This brings us to the evil which lies at the root of the matter.‘ The whole current of modern society,’says Mrs.Austen, p.36, ‘ appears to set iri against the formation of that consummation of womanhood—the housewife.In domestic service, the negligence, profusion, and absence of vigilant supervision on the part of the employers ; out of it, the factory and the various ways in which girls are taught to earn rather than to distribute or to save money ; in all conditions, the delusive and corrupting cheapness, and the preposterous style of dress, which afford every possible discouragement to neat and frugal habits of conservation and repair—all these influences, and many more, are directly hostile to the formation of the domestic virtues and talents in the lower classes.In the higher, luxury, the affectation of superiority to domestic employment, and the preference for public and showy over private and obscure duties, which characterize our age, are no less fatal to the cultivation of the homely but venerable accomplishments which distinguished those illustrious ladies of former limes who governed their households with calm vigilance an intelligent authority.’ ” .Service with high or low is not the training school it was ; an the least ill consequence of this is that the race of servants is grievously deteriorated.‘ There is no longer,’ says Mrs.Austen, quoting the remark of an intelligent foreman, ‘ such a thing now as a poor man’s wife.His helpmate is a bad economist, a at cook ; she cannot make his home comfortable to him ; and tie consequences are that want, debt, and disorder, a.nd all that can make a man’s home comfortless and irritating, take from him a FOR LOWER CANADA.177 hope of improvement in his condition, all regard for so useless a partner, and drive him to the alehouse.Cooking with Ihe working classes is not a matter of luxury, it is a question of health or disease, and of plenty or of want.’ The problem to be proposed to the pupil of the training school is, ‘ Given, such a quantity of the cheapest raw material ; in what manner to produce the largest quantity of nutritious and agreeable food.’ Mrs.Austen notes with reprobation the ill-considered remark of some speaker at the Birmingham Conference, that the working women of this country were not deficient in the art of cooking, but that they had nothing to cook.These sallies are certain to excite a momentary applause in a public assembly, but they do a great deal of harm.Mrs.Austen, whose observation of foreign countries is as accurate as it is extensive, replies, with great truth, that in no country of Europe is so much meat consumed by the working classes aR in England.Were the English workman not able to purchase good materials, with such a cook he would be starved.In the south of Europe, she truly says, the working classes eat meat only on the great festivals of the Church, and many, she might add, do not taste it from year’s end to year’s end.The natural training of the housewife is the house ; but as the house no longer supplies the training, we must find it or make it at the school.But how is this to be done ?The best hints we have seen on the subject are contained in Mr.Norris’s clever and interesting little pamphlet on Girl’s Industrial Schools ; but unluckily, no cut and dried receipt can be given for turning an ordinary day school into an industrial one.Charity moves easily in its accustomed groove, but in none other.If a house were to be built, or half the kingdom to be importuned with begging letters, the thing would be done at once ; but in order to add industrial training to a village school, much thought, much patience, and much dexterity are needed to seize and profit by such helps as in each several case may be offered.The great difficulty is to find a dinner to be practised on.In populous places there is the soup-kitchen ; and dinners for the sick, and dinners sold to single men, might be dressed.Mr.Norris suggests that the schoolmistress might take in boarders.To cook the dinner for the school is the most obvious expedient ; but the poor, like their betters, prefer money to money’s worth.‘ At present,’ says Mrs.Austen, ‘ parents seem to prefer sending the girls with more costly and less wholesome cold food to paying a small addition to the weekly sum for which the children would have a wholesome warm meal cooked, under excellent superintendence, by themselves.’ Several attempts, however, have been made, and with considerable success.But no doubt there have also been failures, and among them there is none more mortifying than that of Miss Martineau’s (not Miss Harriet Martineau) industrial paying school at Norwich, of which Mrs.Austen has given so interesting an account.We cannot applaud the supineness which from such disappointments would draw an argument for inaction.The prejudices of the poor no doubt are strong, but they are by no means everywhere alike ; they are not always insuperable, nor are they always without foundation.We have known cases where school-girls, when laken into the ‘ soupkit-chens ’ to assist, were immediately set to do all the drudgery of the scullery, and were allowed to see nothing of what was done anywhere else.What wonder if the mothers complained that their girls were fagged with hard work, spoiled their frocks, and learnt no cookery nor anything else which they could not have learned just as well at home ?Mr.Norris rightly lays it down as a rule that the industrial work must be made attractive.The methods he proposes for the purpose are ingenious and well imagined ; but the most certain mode of making it attractive is to make the pupils feel that they are learning what is eminently useful, and what they cannot learn elsewhere.If schools to teach the art of housewifery were multiplied, they would be so many lumps of leaven to give life to the inertness of society.A true housewife is always animated by a missionary spirit, and cannot refrain from trying to make converts.She cannot Lear untidiness even when it does not interfere with her own comfort.Private industrial schools have considerable advantages over the district schools.The latter, especially where the establishments are large and well supplied with all the modern appliances of gas, of ‘ lifts,’ and of water laid on to every part of the house, cannot, without some special machinery for the purpose, be made good training-schools for life in the cottage or for domestic service in humble families.We have heard of a servant taken from a London district school, who broke down on her second day of service on being desired to carry a pail of water upstairs.But before an industrial character can be given to the village schools, we must make some change in the training colleges for schoolmistresses.In most respects they are admirable institutions, but the standard of acquirements is unreasonably high.What has been said of the training-schools for young men applies with still greater force to those for young women, whose sex does not admit of such severe application, and whose position does not require so high a standard of instruction.However, it is wisely arranged that they should do all the work of the house.Books on domestic economy and housewifery are rightly included in the course ; but we much wish that matters of matronly management were taught in a more simple and practical manner : a written examination on such points, conducted by the Privy Council, cannot afford any satisfactory test of proficiency ; and there is some thing ludicrous in the contrast presented by the homeliness of the matter with the learned obscurity of the University style of interrogation.(1) In the midst of all this it is some comfort to hear that the pupils prepare the Inspector’s luncheon.We hope it is true, for here, at least, is an intelligible criterion.Mrs.Austen is right in supposing that the young schoolmistresses will not be worse scholars for being better housewives.* 1 The assumpt on that the intelligence is more exercised and fortified by learning by rote a vast number of so-called facts, dates, scraps of science, or propositions unintelligible to the learner, than by the exercise of the accurate observation and rapid induction required in household operations, is an entirely false one, and has a very mischievous tendency to exalt the showy above the useful—the superficial above the solid.As combining industrial training with school learning, the district schools by their success confirm the notion that little is lost by shortening the usual hours ol attendance in the school-room.For three or four hours a day any child may be profitably engaged in mental labour ; beyond that, it depends on the skill of the teacher and the capacity of the pupil how far the lessons may be prolonged with advantage.The instruction that is forced on jaded attention and flagging spirits is not remembered, and the power of commanding attention by being overstrained is weakened.At all events, for the children of the working classes the ‘ halt-time system,’ as it is called, is probably the best.It virtually prevails in the ragged schools, where the attendance is discretional on the part of the pupil, and is perhaps to many the chief attraction of those schools.In the girls’ schools it has always been pursued (though undesign-edly), inasmuch as the afternoons are almost universal!)' allotted to needlework ; and with not less benefit, we will add, might a portion of the boys’ time be bestowed on learning some sort of sedentary work, such as knitting, plaiting, netting, or even a little tailoring, which might afford no slight comfort in after-days, in times of sickness and privation of work, and might detain many a man in his not veVy comfortable home, when, if he had nothing to do, he would be driven by ennui to the alehouse.We have not space to dwell on the many facilities which the half-time system affords for combining remunerative labour and industrial training with book-learning, though these supply the most unanswerable arguments in its favour.On these points we refer the reader to Mr.Chadwick’s most useful and practical pamphlets ; but we cannot omit to notice his suggestions with respect to the naval and military drill, inasmuch as they are especially applicable to the pauper schools, the establishment of which it is our principal object to urge.The practical character, on which as a nation we pride ourselves, makes us so incredulous of projects which promise much that, if Mr.Chadwick’s assurances were not fully supported by the evidence he adduces, we should be afraid to repeat with what benefit to the pupils and advantage to the public service these exercises may be introduced.Not only do they develop the muscles and strengthen the constitution to overcome the seeds of congenital disease, so often lurking in the offspring of pauper parents, but their moral effects in sharpening the attention, quickening the observation, and inspiring the spirit of subordination, are found by experience to be most beneficial.The naval drill is the more effectual and the more popular, and by far the most likely to conduce to the advantage of the service.It is not probable the army can be recruited to any extent from the district schools.The children of pauper parents are usually undersized, and in the interval between leaving school and the time when they could be received into the ranks, they usually apply themselves to some other occupation.But the naval drill may be made a most useful training for actual service.Mr.Tufnell is of opinion that a boy may be made ‘ almost a seaman’ by training in a ship on dry land.Every large pauper school (certainly those situated in large towns where there are no facilities for agricultural labour) he thinks (1) The obscurity of the examination papers, as well as their difficulty, was the subject of a remonstrance addressed by the managers of the Warrington Training-school to the Committee of Privy Council in the l year 1856. 178 JOURNAL OF EDUCATION should be supplied with a model ship ; but in order to bring his plan to bear, the Admiralty must supplythe materials gratuitously.The expense of these, he calculates, would not exceed 2001.; and the London pauper school alone, he pledges himself, would turn out yearly 500 boys who, ‘ on first getting on board a sea-going ship, would be able to run aloft, to set and furl sail, and, in fact, to be three parts sailors though they had never seen the sea ; and thus, at a trilling expense, the Admiralty might in a great measure dispense with training ship?.’ This sounds too good to be true.But, at least, let Mr.Tufnell’s challe nge be accepted.When the project for establishing railways was first broached, the late Mr.George Stephenson was warned not to speak to the House of Commons of a greater speed for his carriages than ten miles per hour, lest he should be ‘ scoured as a visionary.’ Thus far the direction which improvement must take is tolerably clear, but we are now come to the debatable land between poverty and crime where the scheme of the Privy Council stops —the land where roam the children of the streets, tile destitute arid unowned, whom benevolence has not yet adopted, nor the law got within its grasp—those, in short, who fill the ragged schools.The Report of the Commissioners on this part of the subject is less strong than that of the Assistant-Commissioner, on which it is based ; but we understand them to accept and sanction the statement that the ragged scholars are of precisely the same class as the pupils of the ordinary schools—that they might pay if they would, and would pay if they had no school which dispensed with payment ; or that, if it be really true some parents cannot pay, the national schools would receive their children gratuitously, or some good Samaritan would readily be found to give the weekly two-pence for their schooling ; moreover, that the pupils are allowed to attend irregularly, 10 appear most filthily, and behave most insubordinately, without any attempt on the part of the teachers to do more than convey literary instruction ; that the majority of the children can never be reformed till removed from the influence of their parents ; and that the competition of the ragged schools is mischievous to the established and better-ordered schools.— London Quarterly Review.School days of Eminent Men in GreaGRrltain.By John Timbs, F.S.A.(Continued from our last.) CLXIV.GEORGE STEPHENSON, THE RAILWAY ENGINEER, AND HIS SCHOOLMASTERS AND SELF-TUITION.day.He had plenty of spare time on his hands, which he spent in birdnesting, also in making whistles out of reeds and scrannel straws, and erecting Lilliputian mills in the little water streams that ran into the Dewley Bog.There can be no doubt that he indicated thus early that bent which is termed a mechanical genius.His favourite amusement, and this deserves to bo noted, was the erection of clay engines, in conjunction with a certain Tom Tholo-way.The boys found the clay for their engines in the adjoining bog, and the hemlock which grew about supplied them with abundance of imaginary steam-pipes.The place is still pointed out “ just aboon the cut end,” as the people of the hamlet describe it, where the future engineer made his first essays in modelling.As the boy grew older, and more able to work, he was set to lead the horses in ploughing, and to hoe turnips, at the advanced wages of fourpence a-day.Then he was taken on at the colliery as a “ picker,” at sixpence a-day, whence he was advanced to be driver of the gin-horse at eightpence ; and there are those who still remember him in that capacity as a “grit bare-legged laddie,” whom they describe as “ quick-witted and full of fun and tricks.” He himself had some misgivings as to his physical dimensions, and was won to hide himself when the owner of the colliery went round, lest he should be thought too little a boy to earn his small wages.His fixed ambition was to be an engins-man ; and great, therefore, was his exultation when, at about fourteen years of age, he was appointed fireman, at the wages of one shilling a-day.Thenceforth his fortunes took him from one pit to another, and rocured him rising wages with his rising stature.At Throokley-ridge, when advanced to twelve shillings a-week, “ I am now,” said he, “ a made man for life.” At seventeen he shot ahead o( his father, being made an enginetnan or plugman, while the latter remained a fireman.He soon studied and mastered the working of his engine, and it became a sort of pet with him.His greatest privilege was to find some one who could read to him by the engine-fire out of any book or stray newspaper which found its way into the colliery.Thus he heard that the Egyptians hatched birds’ eggs by artificial heat, and endeavoured to do the same in his engine-house.He learnt also, that the wonderful engines of Watt (1) and Boulton were to be found described in books, and with the object of mastering these books, though a grown man, he went to a night-school at threepence a-week to learn his letters.He also practised “ pot-hooks,” and at the age of nineteen was proud to be able to write his own name.Stephenson may be said to have anticipated a Mechanics’ Institute at the bottom of a coal-pit ; for he, and others of the workmen less gifted, made their companions who could read give them some In the present age of great social changes, the application of steam to locomotive purposes, or, in other words, the invention of the railway, takes foremost rank, and confers upon its introducer the high merit of being a signal public benefactor.This honour is duetto George Stephenson, who, from being a poor “ cow-boy,” raised himself to wealth and eminence, and without one solitary advantage except what he derived from his own genius, stamped his name upon the most wonderful achievement of our times.His early history is a surprising example of the triumph of singular and unerring sagacity over difficulties.His school instruction was little and late ; but his education may be said to have begun almost from the moment fie saw coal-waggons drawn upon the tramway before his father’s cottage-door, and from his moulding clay-engines with his playmates.George Stephenson was born in 1781, in the colliery village of Wylam, about eight miles west of iVevvcastle-on-Tyne, amid slag and cinders, in an ordinary labourer’s cottage, with unplastered walls, bare rafters, and floor of clay.His father was the descendant of an ancient and honourable line of working men, and his mother, Mabel, was “ a rale canny body but the wages of the former as a fireman amounting to no more than twelve shillings a week, schooling for George was out of the question, and he was taken by his father birdnesting, or told stories about Sinbad and Robinson Crusoe as a substitute.Ilis interest in birds’ nests never left him to his dying day, nor were other sights of his childhood less identified with the serious business of his life.In the rails of the wooden tram-road before his cottage, on which he saw the eoal-waggons dragged by horses from the pit to the loading-quay, half the destiny of an age was latent, to be evolved hereafter by the very boy who, after his own probation was over, had to keep his younger brothers and sisters out of the way of the horses.Thus eight years passed away, when the family removed to Dew-ley-burn, and George, to his great joy, was raised to the post of cow-boy to a neighbouring farmer, at the wages of two-pence a- (1) James Watt, the great improver of the Steam-engine, born at Greenock, in 1736, received his early education mostly at home ; although he attended for a time the public elementary schools in his native town .His ill-health, which often confined him to his chamber, appears to have led him to the cultivation, with unusual assiduity, of his intellectual powers.It is said that when only six years of age, he was discovered solving a geometrical problem upon the hearth with a piece of chalk ; and other circumstances related of him justify the remark elicited from a friend on the above occasion, that he was “ no common child.” About 1750, he amused himself by making an electrical machine ; and it is related that his aunt upbraided him one evening at the tea-table for what seemed to her to be listless idleness : taking off the lid of the tea-kettle and putting it on again ; holding sometimes a cup, and sometimes a silver spoon, over the steam; watching the exit of the steam from the spout ; and counting the drops of water into which it became condensed.Hence, the boy pondering before the tea-kettle has been viewed as the embryo engineer prognosticating the discoveries which were to immortalize him.During his youth he indulged his love for botany on the banks of Lock Lomond, and his rambles among the mountain scenery of his native land aroused an attention to mineralogy and geology.Chemistry was a favourite subject when he was confined by ill-health to his father’s dwelling.He read eagerly books on natural philosophy, surgery, and medicine.Leav-ving, however, all these studies, Watt applied himself to the profession of a mathematical instrument maker, and after a time settled in Glasgow, where, displaying much ingenuity and manual dexterity, his superior intelligence led to his shop being a favourite resort for the most eminent scientific men in Glasgow.Watt needed only prompting to take up and conquer any subject.; and Professor Robison states that he learnt the German language in order to peruse Leupold’s Theatrum Mnchinarum because the solution of a problem on which he was engaged seemed to require it; and that similar reasons led him subsequently to study Italian.Without neglecting his business in the daytime, Watt devoted his nights to various aDd often profound studies; and the mere difficulty of a subject, provided it was worthy of pursuit, seems to have recommended it to his indefatigable character.Thus was passed the early life of Watt, previous to his seriously directing his attention to the properties of steam. FOR LOWER CANADA.little instruction, and read any stray paper which might reach their remote village in the days of the First Napoleon’s first efforts to conquer Europe.In the winter of 1799, George removed to the night-school kept by a Scotch dominie, named Andrew .Robertson, who was a skilled arithmetician.Here George learnt “ figuring” much faster than his schoolfellows—“ he took to figures so wonderful.” He worked out his sums in his bye-hours, improving every minute of his spare time by the engine fire, solving the arithmetical problems set him upon his slate by his master, so that he soon became well advanced in arithmetic.At length, Robertson could carry Stephenson no further, the pupil having outstripped the master.He went on, however, with his writing lessons, and by the next year, 1802— when he signed his name on his marriage—he was able to write a good, legible round hand.By improving his spare hours in the evening, he was silently and surely paving the way for being something more than a mere workman, by studying principles of mechanics, and the laws by which his engine worked.By steady conduct and saving habits, he not only sustained the pressure of the times, but procured the coveted means of educating his son.Soon afterwards he signalized himself by curing a wheezy engine, at which “ all the engineers of the neighbourhood -were tried, as well as Crowther of the Ouseburn, but they weie clean bet.” He got 101.for this job, and from this day his services as an engineer came into request.In 1814, he placed a locomotive on the Killingworth Railway ; and this engine, improved in 1815, is the parent of the whole race of locomotives which has since sprung into existence.This was, indeed, a year of double triumph to Stephenson, for in it he produced his Safety Lamp for miners ; though Sir Humphry Davy’s lamp was reported to be something more perfect than what was called “ the invention claimed by a person, an engine-wright, of the name of Stephenson.” In 1825, Stephenson’s locomotive was worked on the Stockton and Darlington Railway; and in 1830, he drove his engine, “ The Rocket,” upon the Liverpool and Manchester line, across Chat Moss, at the rate of thirty miles an hour, and thereby gained the prize of 500/.Thirty years after he had been a worker in a pit at Newcastle, he travelled from that city to London, behind one of his own engines, in nine hours ; and Liverpool and London have raised statues to George Stephenson, the Engineer, to whose intelligence and perseverance we owe the introduction ofthis mighty power.(1) CLXV.BOYHOOD AND EARLY DEATH OF HENRY KIRKE WHITE.Few instances of early death fiom ardour in the pursuit of know-edge are so touching as that afforded in the brief span of the life of the amiable and gifted Henry Kirke White.Fie was born in 1785, at Nottingham, where his father followed the business of a butcher.He was sent to school at three years of age, and soon became so fond of reading that he could be scarcely got to lay down his book, that he might take his meals.At the age of seven, he attempted to exptess his ideas upon paper ; his first composition being a tale, which, however, he only communicated tofthe servant, whom he had secretly taught to write.Before the age of eleven, in addition to reading and writing, he outstripped his schoolfellows in arithmetic and French.Soon after this, he began to write verse.He assited at his father’s business for some time, carrying the butcher’s basket; but he so disliked this occupation, that at the age of fourteen, lie was apprenticed to a stocking-weaver.But, to use his own words, he “ wanted something to occupy his brain ;” still, he scarcely dare complain, for he knew that his family could hardly affoid to educate him for any higher employment.His mother, however, moved by his wretchedness, after he had been about a year at the loom, prevailed upon his lather to place him in an attorney’s office at Nottingham ; where, notwithstanding he attended the office twelve hours a day, he applied his leisure to studying the Greek and Latin languages, and was able, in ten months, to read Horace.He also made considerable progress in Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese ; ill chemistry, electricity, and astronomy; while his lors severe studies were drawing, music, and practical mechanics; and.in extempore speaking, he distanced his competitors in a debating-society which was then held at Nottingham.(1) The narration of these events has been principally condensed from Mr.Smiles’s Life of George Stephenson (published in 1857) ; an admirable specimen of biographical writing, earnest and unaffected, and in every way worthy of its great subject.In his fifteenth year, he sent to a London periodical, the Monthly Preceptor, a translation from Horace, for which he received a silver medal.This success induced him to print, in 1803, a volume of verses, the longest of which, entitled Clifton drove, is in the style of Goldsmith.'' This publication was harshly criticised in the Monthly Review, which distressed the young poet exceedingly; but it obtained for him the kindly notice and friendship of Mr.Southey, who considered the poems u to discover strong marks of genius.” Meanwhile, Henry, by a course of religious reading, grew ardently devotional, so as to increase the desire which he had long felt for an University education.Despairing of this, he renewed his legal studies with such severe application, as rarely to allow himself more than two or three hours’ sleep during the night, and often not going to bed at all.This excessive app.ication brought on an alarming illness, from which his friends thought that he never recovered.At length, in 1804, he quitted his employer at Nottingham, and after a year’s preparatory study, entered St.John’s College, Cambridge, where a sizarship had been obtained for him ; but, says Mr.Southey, “ the seeds of death were in him, and the place which he had so long looked on with hope, served unhappily as a hot-house to ripen''them.” His exertions at the University were very severe : he studied for a scholarship, but through ill health, could not come forward.He then passed fhe o-eneral college examination, and at its close was declared the first man of his year.As an instance of how he used “ to coin time, it is related that he committed to memory a whole tragedy of Euripides, during his walks.” At the end of this term, be was again pronounced first man : a tutor in mathematics for the long vacation was now provided for him by the college : but this distinction was purchased at the sacrifice of health and life : he went to London to recruit his shattered nerves and spirits, but he got no better.He returned to the University worn out in body and mind, and died after an attack of delirium, October 19, 1806.Mr.Southey wrote a sketch of his life, and edited his Remains, the publication of which proved highly profitable to White’s family .A tablet to his memory, with a medallion by Chanlrey, was placed in All Saints’ Church, Cambridge, at the expense of Mr.Boott, a young American gentleman.It bears the following inscription by Professor Smythe : Warm with fond hope and learning’s sacred flame, To Granta’s bowers the youthful poet came ; Unconquered powers the immortal mind displayed, But worn with anxious thought, the frame decayed.Pale o’er his lamp, and in his cell retired, The martyr student faded and expired.Oh I genius, taste, and piety sincere, Too early lost ’midst studies too severe ! Foremost to mourn, was generous Southey seen, He told the tale, and showed what White had been ; Nor told in vain.Far o’er the Atlantic wave A wanderer came, and sought the poet’s grave : On yon low stone he saw his lonely name, And raised this fond memorial to his fame.Lord Byron has consecrated some lines of pure pathos to the memory of White, who “ View d his own feather on the fatal dart, And wing’d the shaft that quiver’d in his heart.” Henry Kirke White’s verse is fluent and correct, plaintive and reflective, and rich in fancy and description ; and he affords a fine example of youthful ardour devoted to the purest and noblest objects.His case has, however, been referred to as an alarming instance of the danger of mental pressure, and of the injury that extreme and misdirected application of the mind may do to the body.“ The picture of a Kirke White,” says a popular writer ¦< dying at the age of 21, of nocturnal study, wet towels round heated temples, want of sleep, want of air, want of everything which Nature intended for the body, is not only melancholy because it is connected with an early death ; it Is melancholy also on account of the certain effect which would have followed such a course unchecked if he had lived.” Dr.Forbes Winslow, however, considers this illustration unfortunate.“ Kirke White,” he adds, “from his earliest infancy, was of so delicate a constitution as to be unfit (as was supposed) for any active occupation.The question may naturally arise—Would so active and irritable a mind, united to so feeble a frame, have lacked opportunity under any circumstances of rapidly wearing out both itself and its earthly tenement ?The wasting fever of such a mind is not to be allayed by any restrictions as to hours of study, rest, or general hygiene.” (1) Although difference of opinion exists (1) Journal of Psychological Medicine and Mental Pathology.New Series.—No.IX. 180 JOURNAL OF EDUCATION as tu ihe case of Kirke White, the effect of mental labour upon bodily health, in relation to age, temperament, and other circumstances, cannot be too closely watched ; and wherever there is an | insatiate craving after knowledge, so as to produce an overgrowth of mind, the extreme application cannot too soon be restrained.Be Patient with CSiiîdren.u ^ e have need of patience !” Nothing can be more true than this, and nothing is more applicable to those who have to do with boys and girls.There are so many provocations which demand endurance, so many faults which require correction, so much carelessness which provokes rebuke, and so much perverseness which calls for firmness and control, that “ teachers of babes,” if not of a temper absolutely angelic, need to have “ line upon line—line upon line, precept upon precept—precept upon precept,” lo aid in the work which has fallen to their lot.There are so manj7 temptations and accessories to impatience, too.It is so easy and so natural for the strong to tyrannize over the weak.Absolute power is too frequently abused ; and the power which a parent or a teacher exercices over a child is so far absolute that immediate resistance can be rendered unavailing.True ; the parent has parental tenderness and love to restrain the impetuosity of impatience, but the teacher has not ; and if parents are often, in spite of natural barriers, impetuous, what wonder that teachers are so, too.It is less trouble, so far as the present time is concerned, to blame, and scold, and punish a child for negligence, stupidity, or misconduct, than to explain, reason, and instruct.It takes less time to box a boy’s ears for being mischievous, or to push a girl into a bedroom “ all by herself,” for being idle, or troublesome, than it does to investigate intentions and motives, or to inquire into causes ; and we do not wonder that the patience of the most patient sometimes gives way ; but it is not the less to be deplored when it does give way.In one hour—in less time than this—in one minute, evil may be wrought which will undo the work of months, or which years of judicious treatment will not obliterate.Do we say, then, that children should be indulged arid pampered, and their faults overlooked ?No ; this, again, seems eaffer to the indulgent and self-indulgent teacher than the wearying work of constant watchfulness and wise circumspection.But patience is as much required in the avoidance of false indulgence as in the banishment of undue or injudicious severity It is 'easier, for the moment, to yield to the wishes and dispositions of children than to oppose or regulate them ; but, notwithstanding this, Patience should “ have her perfect work.” Oh, ye teachers of the young, “ ye have need of patience ?” And not patience only.In the proper exercise of discipline, discrimination and keen perception must be united with it, or even patience will fail.Perhaps no two children in any given number are precisely alike in formation of mind, disposition, and general capacity.One will be timid, another bold; one sensitive, another obtuse ; one quick, another slow.In different things, and at different times, the same boy or girld may exhibit contradictory qualities, and yet theie shall be nothing in all this that ought to be construed into a fault, or that should call for even a rebuke.Patience here will be lost in a maze, to which discrimination alone can furnish the clue, and that not always, for we have the word of inspiration to assure us that “ the heart is deceitful above ail things but, in general, perhaps, the heart of a child may be pretty correctly read by those who do not, idly or contemptuously, neglect its study.At all events, it is better to be credulous than incredulous— better that a child should ten times escape the just punishment of a fault through an excess of patience, than be once unjustly punished through want of discrimination.The memory of the injustice will rankle in the soul, and produce worse fruits there, tenfold, in after years, than will spring from the consciousness of having committed faults innumerable with impunity.Teachers or parents never will or can deal wisely with a child unless they dispense with impulse, and scrutinize, in every possible way, what appears worthy of condemnation ; and the best way to follow oui this scrutiny is mentally to change places with the offender—to be a child again—to divest one’s self of all but a childish judgment and capacity—to throw back one’s self upon childish views and feelings—and lo submit to be guided by childish reasonings, and then, after all, if there be a doubt, to give the child the benefit of that doubt.But, oh ! what a deal of trouble is all this ! Very well ; we are not thinking about your trouble, but about the child’s good.Though as to trouble, the best way of doing anything is the least trouble some way in the end.But by trouble you mean painstaking, time, attention, and regard to the ultimate object.| Now, can anything in the world, worth doing, be well and properly I accomplished without these ?Trouble ! shame upon those who, under the selfish, but vain, plea of saving themselves trouble— present trouble—make trouble for others in after years ! Let them do anything, be anything, rather than teachers of the young.— Godey.Teaching tlie Alphabet.We are sorry to know that there are many teachers who still adhere to the old repetition method of teaching “ young ideas ” the form and sound of the letters of the alphabet.Some, it is true, have found and pursue a more excellent way, but there are, nevertheless, too many who cling to the old mechanical routine.You remember the method, fellow teacher (but we hope you don’t practice it now), and we remember it, too.You remember how the little ones hung their heads, when they were called upon to “ come and say their letters;” how some, not to be won by coaxing, had to be dragged out, vi et armis ; how the little things stood with palpitating hearts, hands behind their backs, and their eyes fixed, not upon the book, but upon the mysterious “ penknife,” the pointer, which was to them the object of so much dread, least it might, perchance, come in contact with their “ ears ; ” how in response to the question : “ What’s that ?there was a pause,— and when you in your dignity vociferated, one after another, the names of the letters, then followed in imitation (?) those never-to-be-forgotten sounds, a-yer, b-yer, etc., etc.And thus the parrotlike exercice went on, day after day, and week after week ; yes, arid month after month ; and at the end of the term many a little urchin had hardly learned to “say” his letters.But you tried hard, and so did the little ones.It was slow work.More than that, it was unsatisfactory work.In your own case, you did not like to call your efforts a failure,—but in the case of any other person in whom you had less interest than in your own individual self, you would have applied just that epithet to them.It did not enhance your idea of the dignrty and pleasure of teaching.Something, then, was wrong.Of this you were fully confident, but it required experience, perhaps, as in most cases, to see wherein you had been following on the wrong track, for a track it most certainly was, and one well beaten.It had been faithfully trodden, from the time beyond which the memory of the teacher certainly extendeth not.Nevertheless, it was wrong.It w as wrong to attempt to teach young children the names merely, of twenty-six arbitrary characters or letters; by simply pointing to them and pronouncing their names, and then requiring them to be repeated, without teaching, at the same time, the sound of those letters, and how they are to be used in reading.It was wrong to suppose, as you really did, that when your pupils had learned the names of all the letters, that they were prepared to commence reading; when in reality they could do no such thing, until they had learned the sounds and powers of those letters.It was wrong to teach your pupils separately, when there were several who might have formed one class.It was wrong to suppose that anybody, however young and inexperienced, can teach the alphabet well enough.In truth, the success and scholarship of many a person has been nipped in the bud, or blighted, by a faulty method of teaching the alphabet.That method, by its mechanical dullness, faded to interest the pupil, and the child never loved its school and study as every child ought to love them.It made the pupil do the work of the parrot, exclusively, and its education at the outset was from without, instead oi from with ;ir, as it ought to have been.It was cramming, and not developin g.The work that should have been well done in a few days, was but badly done in the course of months.A poor foundation was laid, and upon such a foundation it is hard to erect a good superstructure.Bad habits of study were formed, and much time was lost.All these, and many more, are among the evil consequences of early bad teaching,—consequences that were in after-life hindrances and obstacles which were never fully surmounted.But there is such a thing as the philosophy of teaching ; and, thanks to those master minds who, from time to time, have called the attention of teachers to the importance of making “ How to leach ” a study, that philosophy has shown us a better way in teaching the elements of knowledge.The fruits of that philosophy are everyway good and satisfactory.“ But,” says some inquiring teacher, a beginner, perhaps in the rural districts, with several aspiring a, b, c, d-arians, “ pray tell how you would have me teach the alphabet?We have no ‘ Nor- FOR LOWER CANADA.181 mal Institutes’ here, no ‘ vocal charts or tablets nothing but the spelling book or primer, which the committee think are good Very well ; you have the primer.Lay that aside in your desk, and turn the key, until after your children have had their exercise in reading.It will do then for them to amuse themselves with while you are busy about something else.You have a blackboard, I suppose.If not, lose no time in informing your committee that there can be no school without a blackboard.—Better make bricks in E°-ypt without straw, or cook without a fire, than attempt to have a school without a blackboard.Tell your children (if you have a class of several, it will be far belter than with one) that you are going to make some letters on the blackboard.Ask them to come and see them.They will, most likely, be pleased with the idea, and you will secure their interest at once.Arrange them before your blackboard, and ask them to watch you closely.Make a letter upon the board ; A, for instance.Tell them the name and sound of that letter, and require them to repeat it in concert after you.Erase it, and then make it again, with one or more diffèrent letters by the side of it.Ask them it they are all the same, or all A’s.Let them point out the one they have just seen on the board.Tell them how you make it.Thus : (beginning at the top), “ Make a line so (downwards towards the left), then so, (towards the right), then so,” (across from one side to the other).This will call their attention to the particular form or shape of the letter, by which they will the more readily remember and recognize it.After learning one letter in this way, take another,—another vowel,— and pursue a similar method with it.Let the pupils practice in pointing out and pronouncing them, and showing how they are made.Go through with all the vowels, showing how they are made.Go through with all the vowels, before taking up the consonants, for the names and the (long) sounds of the former are the same.While practicing upon the consonants, be sure and point out to the child the difference between the name and the sound of the letter.Let him, as an example, pronounce b, a, ba ; and, after telling him that while the name of the letter is bee, the sound of that letter in the word ba is different.This must be shown him by giving the power of the letter, requiring him to watch your mouth, and then to imitate you, giving first the sound of the letter by itself, and then with a vowel following.—Although the sounds of the consonants thus given are scarcely audible, and consist almost wholly in arranging and moving the lips and tongue, etc., with the commencement of that sound, which is prolonged when followed by a vowel, they may, nevertheless, be given as fully and as distinctly by children as by adults.In teaching children to read words, it is not always necessary to begin by giving the sounds of the letters separately and then combining them.After learning the letters, short and simple words, words in which the child will be most likely to take an inteiest, may be learned and pronounced at sight.It is much easier to teach a chiid to learn familiar words in this manner, than to teach them to study and spell them out.It is the surest method to secure readiness and promptness in reading, and to prevent that common habit of hesitating and halting, so painful to the ear and so fatal to good reading.In these exercises with children, the teacher must conduct them so as to keep up an interest, a lively interest.We have given a bare outline above, of a few steps merely.The teacher must be interested ; must talk much ; explain and simplily much, and constantly vary the exercise, so that the children shall feel that they are “ having a right good time in saying their letters.” Success will depend very much upon the ingenuity, interest, and easy familiarity of the teacher in conducting the exercise.“ Well,” says the inquirer, “ do you call that a philosophical method of teaching the alphabet ?” Call it what you please.We will onlj' call it a good method ; and that for two reasons.It has common sense in the face of it.That is a good recommendation for it to begin with, in these times.It proves itself, in the hands of a teacher of even no more than ordinary ingenuity, a successfut method.Children learn their letters readily and well ; they do everything promptly and independently, and nothing tardily and mechanically.They become intensely interested in the exercises, and are anxious to learn to read.Such are the fruits of this method.Try it, will you ?—Mass.Teacher.OFFICIAL NOTICES.ERECTION OP SCHOOL MUNICIPALITIES.His Excellency the Administrator of the Government, on the loth November last, was pleased, 1.To erect into a school municipality the parish of St.Anaclet, m the county of Rimouski, with the same limits as the judicial Uivision, defined in the Proclamation of His Excellency Sir Edmund Walker Head, bearing date the 9th May, 1859 ; together with that portion of the parish of St?Luce, in the said county, recently annexed to the said parish ot St.Anaclet for ecclesiastical purposes,—bounded as follows : On the southwest by the line dividing the said parishes of St.Anaclet and St.Luce, on the north-west, from the said line between the parishes above mentioned, by the line dividing the first from the second range in the seigniory éf Lessard, to the place of intersection by the lme dividing, the land of Sieur Jean-Baptistc Proulx from that of Sieur Pierre Lavoie in the said second range ; on the north-east, partly by the line of separation between the lands of the said Jean-Baptiste Proulx and Pierre Lavoie, partly by the line dividing the land of Sieur Victor Proulx from that ; o Sieur Pierre Langlois, in the third range of the said seigniory, and partly bv the line dividing the land of Sieur Olivier Roy from that of Sieur Samuel Roy, in the fourth range of the same seigniory ; and on the south-east,"by the township Neigette.2 To erect into a school municipality the township of Callières, in the county of Charlevoix, with the same limits as the said township.His Excellency the Administrator of the Government was pleased, on the 20th November, To divide the parish of St.Agathe, in the county of Lotbmiere, into two school municipalities, erecting them under the name of St.Agathe No.One, and !>t.Agathe No.Two, the first to embrace that portionlof the seigniory of St.Croix, extending from the place known as Terrelm teS taDeni.McGinley’s land,Inclusive ; and St Agathe No.Two to embrace the remainder of the said seigniory to the twentieth lot of land on Gosford Road, in the seigniory of Beaurtvage, within the limits of the said parish of St.Agathe.APPOINTMENTS.BOARD OP EXAMINERS.His Excellency the Administrator of the Government was pleased, November 19th, to appoint Rev.John Irwin to be a member of the Montreal Protestant Board of Examiners, vice Venerable Archdeacon Samuel Gilson, M.A., absent from this Province.His Excellency was also pleased, on the 27th November last, to appoint Rev George Heaton to be a member of the Board ot Examiners for the District of Three Rivers, vice the Rev.Frederick A.Smith, absent from this Province.SCHOOL COMMISSIONERS.His Excellency the Administrator of the Government, on the 15th November last, was pleased to approve of the following appointments of School Commissioners : County of Lotbinière.—St.Sylvestre South: Rev.G.Drolet, Priest ; md Messrs.Charles McCaffrey, John Coarr, Louis Dion, and Joseph St.Sylvestre North : Thomas McGoldrich, Esquire, and Messrs.Cornelius Plunkett, John Orr, Joseph Gagné, and Janvier Flammand.County of Charlevoix.—Callières : Messrs.Eliphe Savard, Thomas Rnnchard.Lazare Simard, Octave Bouchard, and David Savard.On the 19th of the same month : County of Chicoutimi.—St.Jean : Messrs.Simeon Boudreau, and Vital Boudreau.On the 20th : County of Gaspé—St.Ann des Monts: Messrs.Augustin Levasseur, and Hilaire Emond.On the 23rd : County of Rimouski.—Village of Rimouski: Rev.G.Potvin, Priest.On the 26th : County of Compton.—Hereford : Messrs.John Hart, and Charles 0.Hibbard. 132 JOURNAL OF EDUCATION County of Saguenay.—Bergeronnes : Messrs.Joseph Bouliam, Thadée Gagnon, Jean Savard, Thomas Desbiens, and Benjamin Simard.County of Dorchester.—Cranbourne : Messrs.Edward Colgan, Thomas Sheerm, and James McClintock, Sr.On the 27th : County of Huntingdon.—Hemmingford : Mr.Julius Scriver.PROTESTANT BOARD OF EXAMINERS FOR THE DISTRICT OF MONTREAL.Mr.Giles Sowles, and Miss Sarah Shaw, on the 9th instant, obtained^ diplomas authorizing them to teach in Eltmentary schools.A.N.Rennie, Secretary.BOARD OF EXAMINERS FOR THE DISTRICT OF KAMOURASKA.Messrs.Cyprien Potvin, Elzéar Guay, Joseph Roy, and Miss Delvina Deschênes, on the 3rd September last, and Miss Fébronie B'anchet, on the 3rd instant, obtained diplomas authorizing them to teach in Model! schools.Misses Addline Delisle, Sophie Guay, Geneviève Drapeau, Henriette! Bérubé, Honorine Potvin, Caroline Guy, Justine LeBel, Caroline Pelletier, Julie Rioux, Jovite Sirois, Sophie Rioux, Marie Martin, Justine Cor-bain, Olive Caron, Louise Francœur, Clémentine Miville, Zoé Ouellet,, and Christine Boucher, on the 3rd September last, and Misses Caroline STANSTEAD COUNTY BOARD OF EXAMINERS.Messrs.François Xavier Duplessis, Félix Reuiville, T.W.Lee, Isaac |Blake, Albert Hall, Joshua J.Parker, J.J.Beldon, Evalyn Quimb7 lira M.Hill, and Misses Mary Boyle, Anna Blake, Mary A.Munro, Martha jHouse, Lucretia Searles, Louisa Woods, Mary E.Rhoades, and Lodicea IJ.Slearnes have obtained diplomas authorizing them to teach in Ele-jmentary schools.C.A.Richardson, Nov., 19th and Dec., 2nd, 1861.Secretary.JOURNAL OF EDUCATION.MONTREAL (LOWER CANADA) DECEMBER, 1861.Death of Prince Albert.Dumais.Secretary.OTTAWA BOARD OP EXAMINERS.Mr- Authony Couroy, in August last, and Mr.John C.Ferguson, on the 10th September last, obtained diplomas authorizing them to teach ïn Elementary schools; also, Miss Margaret McLauchlan, on the 1st -August, Miss Frances O’Neil, on the 10th September, and Misses Mary -Ann Dowes, Catherine McCullum, and Margaret Timmons, on the 15tb .November last.John R.Woods, Secretary.QUEBEC PROTESTANT BOARD OF EXAMINERS.Messrs.Charles Smith and Alexander Sturgeon have obtained diplomas] authorizing them to teach in Elementary schools.D.Wilkie, Secretary.OTTAWA BOARD OF EXAMINERS.Mr.Albert Blest Byron has obtained a diploma authorising him tol teach in Elementary schools.John R.Woods.3rd Dec., 1861.Secretary.CATHOLIC BOARD OF EXAMINERS FOR THE DISTRICT OF MONTREAL.Messrs.Joseph Casgrain and James Fit-zsimon have obtained diplo mas authorising them ts teach in Model schools.Messrs.Jean Marie Mathieu, Elie Lemire Marsolais, James McCarthv George Mondor, Victor Brunei, and Misses Mathilde Balard, Philomène Lefebvre, Marie Louise Prud’homme, Julia McGuire, Odile Leblanc, -Odile Michaud, Maiie, Caroline Laviolette, Philomène Lavoie, and Mrs.Henry Brown, (Elise Uourville,) have obtained deplomas authorizing them to teach in Elementary schools.F.X.Valade, Secretary.3rd Dec , 1861.SHERBROOKE BOARD OF EXAMINERS.Messrs.George J.Bompas and Wm.B.Ives have obtained diploma: authorizing them to teach in Model schools.Messrs.George Chase, Benj.F.Dickinson, Sylvanus C.Glines, Thad-deus 0.Ives, Charles Mnllett, Laurin Martin ; and Misses Helen M Bompas, ADnie Caffrey, Eliza Dougan, Achsah Farnsworth, Jane Hurd, Elizabeth Hamilton, Lydia Ann Heath, Martha Kent, Eliza McCurdy.Melissa Metcalf, Amanda Marshall, Sarah Pope, Amelia Saunders, Theodata SuDbury, Sarah P.Stanford, Ellen S.Young, and Lorinda Wiggins have obtained diplomas authorizing them to teach in Elementary schools.S.A.Hurd, Deep and universal regret was manifested among all classes of our community on the announcement of the death of the Prince Consort, which took place on Saturday, the , .-, —______________Jl4th instant.The painful intelligence, brought by the Michaud, Zoé Caron, and Sarasme Auctil, on the 3id instant, obtaineda/’ema, was first communicated on Tuesday, the 24th instant diplomas authorizing them to teach in Elementary schools.Bby telegraph from St.Johns, Newfoundland.All the news- papers in the Province appeared in mourning on the occasion ; and all have expressed profound sympathy for our beloved Sovereign, so suddenly overwhelmed by this domestic affliction.Her Majesty had indeed been so much depressed by the recent loss of her Royal mother that much anxiety was felt to learn with what fortitude this fresh calamity might be borne.Although, from his political position, Prince Albert could take no active part in the management of public affairs, he had acquired by his many good qualities and estimable virtues, not only the respect and attention of the nation, but even great popularity within the last few years.He had, with that high sense of the duties of a father to be expected from a well poised mind, given a constant personal attention to the education of his children.Deeply jinterested in the cause of popular education, he took a prominent part at the meetings held to promote public instruction, and in the proceedings of scientific associations.A liberal patron of the fine arts, he has greatly contributed to their advancement.It was also his delight to excel in [agriculture, and in this recreation a scientific knowledge enabled him to he eminently successful.We subjoin the following from the Men of the Time :— Albert, Franz-August-Karl-Emanuel, Prince Consort, and Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, is next brother and heir-presumptive to the Duke ot Saxe-Coburg, whose ancestors were Margraves of Meissen in the twelfth century and Electors of the Empire from 1425 to 1547, when the electoral dignity passed over to the collateral line of this house, whose present head is the King of Saxony.Prince Albert was born August 26, 1819, at the castle of Rosenau.After receiving a thorough education at the hands of private tutors, he entered the University of Bonn on the 3d of May, 1837, as a student of jurisprudence.A small house, of most simple aspect, standing behind some young trees, on one side of the cathedral at Bonn, is shown as the residence of his Royal Highness during his university course.Here, surrounded by the memorials of ancient Christendom, and in view of the historical Rhine, the Prince is said to have devoted himse.f to the studies of the place with an ardour which is spoken of with pride by the teachers of the university.It was his custom, they say, to rise not later than six everey morning, and to pursue his studies until seven in the evening, allowing himself an interval of three hours for dinner and recreation.The labours of the day finished, he would pay visits to families ot his acquaintance, or entertain students of worth at his own table.Among the chief professors of Bonn at this time were Dr.Walter, a jurist celebrated for his thorough mastery of the civil and Germanic laws; and Dr.Loebell, remarkable for his skill in the treatment of the history of Europe.Besides these may be mentioned Professors Booking and Perthes, colleagues of Dr.Walter.The Prince was Dec., 3rd., 1861.Secretary. FOR LOWER CANADA.18$ .the habit of attending their public lectures, and of afterwardsj receiving their more speciai assistance at his own residence.Hav-• • Spelit three academical seasons at Bonn, Prince Albert took! his leave of the university at the close of the summer half-year of* 1838.In July of the same year, the Prince, with his father and! brother, visited England to attend the coronation of her Majesty,! and at Michaelmas returned to Coburg, Prince Albert having foil the first time made the acquaintance of her Majesty.After hisl departure, rumour was busy in England in pointing out Prince Al-J bert as her Majesty’s future consorf; and although the report was] contradicted by the ministerial newspapers, the belief was strength-: ened by a journey to England made about this time by Leopold,! kin" of the Belgians, and the subsequent arrival in this country of the"young prince himself during the autumn of 1839.Immediately! after the°departure of Prince Albert, the Queen caused all the members of the Privy Council to be summoned, to meet at Buck-iiioham Palace on November 23, and then and there communicated tôlier council her royal intention to form a matrimonial alliance! with the Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.On the announce-J ment to the House of Lords of her Majesty’s intention, the Duke; of Cambridge spoke from his personal knowledge of Prince Albert,: and confidently predicted his future high popularity.The Duke] of Wellington expressed his surprise that the House had not been informed that the Prince was a Protestant, and received the most; satisfactory assurances on that head from the ministry.Tho Prince; is a "reat admirer of the arts, a ready draughtsman, has skill in musm, and has written verses.His popularity in England has been greatly increased by his patronage of the Great Exhibition of 1851 in Hyde Park ; and to him is due the credit of having suggested that that noble display of human skill should not, as was at first intended, be a mere exposition of British productions, but should be an Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations.This notice] would be incomplete without a list of the dignities enjoyed by the; Prince.He was naturalised on his mariage to her Majesty, Feb 10, 1840, by Act of Parliament, and received a grant of 30,000L a year ; the title of Royal Highness by patent; the right to quarter] the royal arms of England ; precedence by royal warrant next to the Queen ; and Prince Consort by order in Council, in June 1857.He is a member of the Privy Council ; Chief Steward of the Duchy of Cornwall, and Lord Warden of the Stannaries ; Governor and Constable of Windsor Castle ; Grand Ranger of Windsor, St.James’s, and Hyde Parks ; a Field Marshal and Colonel-in-Chief of the Rifle Brigade ; Colonel of the Grenadier Guards ; Captain-General and Colonel of the City of London Artillery Company ; a Knight of the Garter, of the Thistle, and of St.Patrick ; also G.C.B., G.C.M.G., Acting-Grand Master of the Order of the Bath, and Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece.His scholastic dignities in England are, Chancellor of the University of Cambridge LL.D., D.C.L., and Ph.D.He is also Master of the Trinity House, and he was President of the Royal Commission of the Patriotic Fund for the relief of the widows and orphans ot soldiers, seamen, and marines who fell in the war with Russia.Since writing the above we learn that the Queen and Royal family had removed to Osborne, owing to the unsatisfactory state of the Queen’s health; while the Prince of Wales remained at Windsor until the funeral of his father should take place.The! Crown Prince of Prussia had also arrived at Osborne.Several of the European courts had already gone into mourning.Tlie War ists America.The contest now raging on this continent involves! interests of such paramount importance,—and possibly the! solution of that grave social question which, for nearly halt] a century, has threatened the destruction of the American Union—that we feel justified in alluding to the subject in these columns.In the short review we purpose to lay before our readers we shall endeavor to look upon both parties with an eye strictly impartial, though the task may] be a difficult one Where we are all, more or less, indirectly concerned.It is very well known that the secession of the southern] states had long been foreshadowed, if not long premeditated ; indeed ‘ secession,’ in some form or other, would appear almost coeval with the existence of the Republic.Since the days of Aaron Burr and his associates who were suspected of planning the dismemberment of the confederacy, how often has the cry been defiantly shouted and reechoed ! It will be observed that slavery is not the only subject which served the advocates of disunion, as the nullification Act of South Carolina will attest.The looseness of the federal compact, the inherent weakness of its government, and the very generally received doctrine of state sovereignty, offered great encouragement to those who sought in secession, a satisfactory adjustment of the questions, which, even the framers of the Constitution, had found beyond their means of control.Thus the distinct state governments of the republic, acting with the prestige of recognized authority, have always been able to offer the most formidable opposition to the central government ; and it may well be doubted whether even the energetic measures of General Jackson would have been sufficient, without a long and sanguinary struggle, to retain South Carolina in the Union had not Clay’s compromise tariff been adopted.It is not our intention to trace to their origin the causes that led to the present unhappy state of things ; yet a glance at some historical facts may not be inapposite.Long before the days of ‘ nullification,’ the people of the northern states had seen with uneasiness the rapid growth of the lave power, and its extension in the unsettled territories of the confederacy, and had made an attempt in Congress to exclude it from the new state of Missouri, which, after long and acrimonious debates, resulted in the celebrated Missouri Compromise of 1820.This may be called the first phase of the question ; the next may be traced to the anti-slavery feeling of the North, «¦rowing out of the emancipation in the British colonies.This great event, and the attendant agitation of the subject of African slavery in the Imperial Parliament, gave a new impulse to the anti-slavery element.The Anti-Slavery Society sprang into existence, and at once set about getting up innumerable petitions against slavery, and circulating inflammatory tracts throughout the country.Many of these effusions having been distributed in the southern states through the mails, the people became highly indignant ; and although the proceeding was condemned by many of the Northern representatives in Congress, and the use of the mails interdicted for such purposes, protracted and angry discussions followed.Calhoun predicted that the North would certainly fail to check the career of her abolitionists, and that the “ only safety of the South was the doctrine of state intervention, carried into successful practice on a recent occasion,”—alluding to the nullification by South Carolina.Others declared bluntly that unless the abolitionists were silenced the Union could not continue.So embittered were the disputants that, to avoid discussion, a rule was made by which all petitions against slavery were laid on the table ; some members had even gone so far as to propose the abolition of the right of petition.Yet it must not be supposed that the noble example set by Great Britain was altogether without effect on the southern mind, for we are told that emancipation was earnestly discussed at the South ; and in the Kentucky Legislature, a bill was introduced proposing the liberation of the slaves twenty-five years from its date ; but there the matter 'seems to have ended.Clay’s famous compromise of 1850 put an end to the tempestuous debates which, during several sessions, had shaken the Republic to its very foundations, and at length harmony was restored.The principal stipulations of this ‘omnibus bill,’ as it was sportively designated, may help to show the points then in dispute ; they ]were, first, that California should be admitted with its antislavery constitution ; second, Utah and New Mexico should be made Territories without mention of slavery ; and last though not least, that all fugitive slaves should be returned to thier owners.It was this last stipulation that subse- 184 JOURNAL OF EDUCATION quently caused so much popular irritation.Thus closed the second act of the great drama ; and the question naturally presents itself, “ could the present conflict have been avoided, had slavery not been again made a subject of legislation 1” b We will not enter upon this inviting field of speculation ; indeed, even the most positive inference that could be drawn from a thorough investigation of the subject would be of no practical importance whatever.Henry Clay’s last conciliatory measure had been generally accepted as a final settlement of the vexed dispute, and honor was universally rendered to that great man ; yet, although oil had been poured on the troubled waters, it was not impossible to discern the suppressed upheavings of that fierce storm of faction which needed but a slight incentive to burst forth with renewed fury.That incentive was unfortunately not long withheld.A bill, introduced by Mr.Douglas in the Senate, erected Kansas and Nebraska into Territories, with a clause permitting the Territorial Governments to accept or reject slavery at their option.The principle, laid down in this measure found many supporters in the North, who argued that as the states had this right, so should the Territories have it.This proviso, however, was regarded as a direct violation of the compromise of 1820 by the staunch opponents of the system, and was received with most violent indignation.The popular animosity which had attended the agitation of the subject on former occasions was fully revived ; innumerable petitions against the bill from all parts of the northern states, poured into the Senate.The debate lasted from the 30th January to the 3rd March in this body ; and a fortnight without intermission in the House, where, on one occasion, the sitting was prolonged for thirty-six hours, and finally broke up in confusion.Yet the measure passed in an amended form, by the close vote of 113 to 100, and soon became law.So far the South had prevailed, with the help of her northern auxiliaries ; but the danger that slavery should take root in Kansas, and the bare possibility that it mi°ht extend to Nebraska, which, as our r aders are aware, Ties so far north as to touch the British possessions, roused the Northmen to action.They determined that Kansas should be colonized by freemen, and for that purpose actively encouraged emigration from the northern states.The slave-holders resorted to similar means to accomplish their design ; hence the open warfare which soon ensued in that Territory, and the exasperation of the people throughout the country.Mr.Douglas, the originator of this obnoxious and impolitic measure, was spoken of in terms of unmeasured abuse, and when he reached his home in Chicago, was not allowed to address the people.For three lon°-hours he endeavored to make himself heard but without success.Hisses, groans and other insults were heaped upon him.All political factions opposed to the extension of slavery now coalesced and formed the great Republican party.The formation of a party, whose great bond of union was its expressed determination to check the extension of a cherished institution, was not likely to dispel the apprehension, nor quiet the jealousy of the South.Meanwhile, as the Presidential election was drawing near, the representatives continued to assail each other in Congress with vehement invectives ; one faction hurled defiance at the other ; and now was the threat uttered which has since been fulfilled, that the success of the Republicans would be the signal for secession.The Republicans however did not elect their candidate, and President Buchanan entered upon his career with fair prospects of a quiet term of administration.(7'u be continued in our next.) School or Art.\v e often hear expressions of regret that Lower Canada should have no school of design, nor gallery of paintings and sculptures, under the direction of the Department of Education, as in Upper Canada.More pressing wants, and especially the necessity of maintaining three normal schools instead of one as in Canada West, have retarded the realization of a project, whose importance is, nevertheless, fully appreciated and generally acknowledged.It was, therefore, with a lively interest that the Hon.the Superintendent of Education and the Principal of the Jacques Cartier Normal school hastened to attend to the proposals of an able native artist, M.Bourassa, who, anxious to establish a school of design, had offered to open one in connection with the Jacques Cartier Normal school.Before commencing a course on design in this school, Mr.Bourassa had taken occasion to invite public attention to the subject ; and for this purpose a meeting has been called by advertisement, which now brought together a numerous and distinguished assemblage of the citizens of Montreal.We also noticed with pleasure the presence of many artizans and young men belonging to the industrial classes, to all of whom the subject is of the utmost importance.The Superintendent of Education opened the meeting with a speech in which he gave a rapid sketch of the history of the fine arts in Canada, and concluded by paying a well merited compliment to M.Bourassa, at the mention of whose name—as also those of Messrs.Légaré, Plamon-don and Hamel—the audience burst into loud applause.M.Bourassa,—who has already distinguished himself in painting, sculpture, music and literature—then read an essay on the importance of the fine arts, from which we translate the following extract : “ Here are some of the advantages, present and to follow, that may be derived from the establishment of this course, and afterward of a school of fine arts.A number of young men, having an aptitude for drawing, might spend a few hours of our long winter evenings in an exercise which is very attractive to those who have a taste for it, and which would be always useful to them in afterlife, if it were only to enable them to judge of the merits of works of art.One is often called upon to express an opinion on the merits of a picture or piece of sculpture, and sometimes to become a purchaser ; it is then the part of the well educated to do so with discrimination, otherwise great is the possibility of incurring a species of ridicule similar to that awaiting the literary critic who mistakes the effusions of Chapelain for the poetry of Racine.I know some honest folk who, having imported a few pictures from Europe, talk of their collections ! These good people would be quite astonished, nay highly offended, if they were told that their collections consisted of mere daubs (croûtes) and gilt wood.Perhaps a greater number of well-meaning, persons—and even intelligent and educated men—have been duped through the agency of paintings than by any other means.“ Young artizans who, for example, are engaged in any kind of ornamental carving, decorative painting, the gold or silver smith’s art, or architectural work, will be offered here an opportunity of attaining a higher degree of excellence in their respective callings.“ Talent of a high order, restricted within the limits of a mechanical trade, is often found in the humble sphere of the workshop, almost ignorant of its own existence.To its possessor we should say, ‘ Go hence ! a spark of Promethean fire burns within you : let it shine forth.’ The Sangalli, who have strewn Italy with splendid monuments, were a family of carpenters ; and it were an endless task to mention the names of all the men of genius rescued by the discerning eye of the master and placed on the road to fame. FOR LOWER CANADA.185 “ It is in the school-room that talent is first manifested ; and no one can detect its presence more readily than school youths themselves, who will hasten its development, either by manifesting jealousy for its possessor, or by stimulating his exertions with that enthusiastic praise which youn