authority of manner, softened by a well regulated temper, cultivated taste, and a courteous deportment, are not less important, than that amount of informa tion, which is always expected. It may be thought, that this responsibility rests solely with the examining committee. Is it thus, in fact? Several of the above named qualifications, in a teacher, can be ascertained, only by inquiry of those, to whom he is familiarly known, and by whom he has been employed. And, besides this, the circumstances, under which teachers are usually examined, seem almost to forbid, with the exception of extreme cases, the free exercise of that discretionary power, with which the committee are legally invested. Public notice has usually been given, that the committee will be in session, on certain days, for several weeks, preceding the commencement of our summer and winter schools, for the examination of teachers. But very rarely, have any considerable number of candidates been present, at these times. The more common course is this; one or two days before the school is to be opened, the individual, who has engaged to become its teacher if he can obtain a certificate, calls on the committee, and asks to be examined. Now, it must be very obvious, that, unless there is marked deficiency in literary attainments, the desired certificate will not be withlolden. Notice has been given, throughout the district, that the teacher has arrived, that the school will commence, on the second or the third day. If approbation be refused, there is a general disappointment to parents and children; another instructer must be found; and those, who are competent, are generally engaged; and, not unfrequently, when this course is adopted, the committee are censured, as if they were unfriendly to the weltare of the district.

Hence, certificates are sometimes given, as a choice of evils, when, under different circumstances, they would be withholden. We, therefore, urge upon the prudential committee, the importance of inquiry, concerning the general, not less than the literary, qualifications of those, to whom they would commit the charge of their respective schools; and also, to secure their examination, several weeks if possible, previous to the time assigned for the commencement of their official labors.

The committee also respectfully urge, upon parents and guardians, the value of a strong and persevering interest, Lot only felt but manifested, in the education of their children, and the welfare of their schools. To such, we would say, this work is emphatically your own. Committees and teachers are but auxiliaries in its execution; to them, our own responsibility cannot be transferred, they are but your agents. Will you not watch their efforts? Will you not aid them in their labors, by endeavoring to inspire the minds of those immediately about you, over whom your influence is constant, with a thirst for knowledge, and a love of improvement? You may do much, by incidental remarks, by daily inquiries, concerning their progress, and by your presence in the place of their instruction. In several districts, the past year, there has been a manifest improvement, in this particular, on the part of parents; and it has been followed by a corresponding improvement in the state of the schools. An impulse is given to the minds of the young; they see, and feel, that the object, for which they daily assemble, is dear to the hearts of those, whose opinions they most truly reverence, whose approval is the highest reward.

We wish, further, to suggest to parents, the necessity of impressing the minds of their children with the idea, that they must render unqualified obedience to the directions of their teacher. If these directions are unwise, or unreasonable, let parents, in private, labor for their correction; but never encourage, in the young, habits of insubordination. On this point, we cannot but express the fear, that notions, radically wrong, are becoming generally prevalent. There is a dangerous unwillingness to submit to rightful authority. We would ever discourage austerity of manner, and severity, in the infliction of punishLet the manner be kind, and the government parental. Still, authority must be maintained, and obedience must be enforced. It is believed, if parents universally frowned on their children, instead of condoling with them, when subjected to wholesome discipline for the correction of their faults, that judicious teachers would, very rarely, find any necessity for resorting to harsh measures, in maintaining the order and quietness of their schools. We urge this course upon parents, because there can be no considerable intellectual

ment.

advancement in that school, in which order and obedience are not habitual. Instances might be cited to verify this statement. The committee have found schools, under kind and well educated teachers, making but little, if any, literary advancement, for this single reason, that, in the school, there were no just ideas of the respect, due from the pupils to the teacher.

There is another view, under which this subject should be presented. The acquisition of knowledge is not the sole end of education. The formation of character is its highest object. You would prepare your children for the duties and responsibilities of maturer life. It is, therefore, necessary, that, in early years, they should acquire habits of obedience, and of submission to whole, some restraint. They should go to school, with the impression, that, while they are instructed in the rudiments of knowledge, they are also to be governed. *

* *

SCHOOL COMMITTEE.-CALVIN LINCOLN, EBENEZER W. BULLARD, N. W. SMITH, A. CROCKER, THOMAS C. CALDWELL,

GARDNER,

(1) Population, 1,276. Valuation, $198,025 50. Number of Public Schools, 6.

(2) No. of Scholars of all ages in all the Schools-In Summer, 270-In Winter, 275. (3) Average attendance in the Schools-In Summer, 194-In Winter, 205.

(4) No. of persons between 4 and 16 years of age in the town, 324—No. of persons under 4 years of age who attend School, No. over 16 years of age who attend School, 99. (5) Aggregate length of the Schools, 32 mths. 25 days.-In Summer, 20 3-In Winter, 12 21. (6) No. of Teachers in Summer-M, F. 6.-No. of Teachers in Winter-M. 6-F. . (7) Average wages paid per month, including board—To Males, $29 44—To Females, $11 75. (8) Average value of board per month-Of Males, $8 11-Of Females, $5 40.

(9) Average wages per month, exclusive of board-Of Males, $21 33-Of Females, $6 35. (10) Amount of money raised by taxes for the support of Schools, including only the wages of Teachers, board and fuel, $600.

(11) Amount of board and fuel, if any, contributed for Public Schools,

(12) No. of incorporated Academies, .-Aggregate of months kept, -Average number of Scholars, -Aggregate paid for tuition, $

(13) No. of unincorporated Academies, Private Schools, and Schools kept to prolong Common Schools, 2.-Aggregate of months kept, 3.-Average No. of Scholars, 38.-Aggregate paid for tuition, $30.

(14) Amount of Local Funds, $ -Income from same, $

BOOKS USED-Spelling-New National. Reading Porter's Rhetorical Reader, American First Class Book. Grammar-Pond's Murray's and Smith's. Geography-Malte-Brun's, Olney's and Peter Parley's. Arithmetic-Adams' and Smith's, Colburn's First Lessons.

* *

SELECTIONS FROM REPORT. * * In the course of the time your committee have been engaged in the duty of visiting the schools, we have not been able to recognise the presence of but a few of the parents in school. We think the inhabitants of this town would not hire a mechanic, to do a job of work for them, and then leave the business to take care of itself, without giving themselves any further concern about it. This seems to be too much the case, as regards the education of their children. We would earnestly impress upon your minds, the importance of furnishing the schools with an apparatus, for the illustration of the different brauchest hat are taught in our schools; -the advantages, we are satisfied, would be incalculable. We venture to say that more than one-half of the time would be saved, in teaching some of the branches, in our schools, if we could have a suitable apparatus. And the committee would further suggest to the town, the propriety of choosing a committee, to take into consideration the expediency of purchasing some geographical and philosophical apparatus, for the use of the schools.

In conclusion, we have only to add, that we think it would be highly beneficial if more funds were raised, so that our schools might be prolonged.

SCHOOL COMMITTEE.-MARTIN DUNSTER, THEO. P. WOOD, JONA. BROWN.

GRAFTON,.

(1) Population, 2,910. Valuation, $551,189 25. Number of Public Schools, 10.

(2) No. of Scholars of all ages in all the Schools-In Summer, 659-In Winter, 691. (3) Average attendance in the Schools-In Summer, 449-In Winter, 536. (4) No. of persons between 4 and 16 years of age in the town, 752.-No. of persons under years of age who attend School, .-No. over 16 years of age who attend School, (5) Aggregate length of the Schools, 70 mths. 21 days-In Summer, 34-In Winter, 36 21. (6) No. of Teachers in Summer-M. 2-F. 12.-No. of Teachers in Winter-M. 7—F. 7. (7) Average wages paid per month, including board-To Males, $29 81-To Females, $13 05. (8) Average value of board per month-Of Males, $8 75-Of Females, $5 87.

(9) Average wages per month, exclusive of board-Of Males, $21 06--Of Females, $7 18. (10) Amount of money raised by taxes for the support of Schools, including only the wages of Teachers, board and fuel, $1,067.

(11) Amount of board and fuel, if any, contributed for Public Schools, $

(12) No. of incorporated Academies,

Aggregate of months kept,

Scholars, -Aggregate paid for tuition, $

-Average number of

(13) No. of unincorporated Academies, Private Schools, and Schools kept to prolong Common Schools, 6.-Aggregate of months kept, 10.-Average No. of Scholars, 150.-Aggregate paid for tuition, $100.

(14) Amount of Local Funds, $5,604 00.-Income from same, $341 38.

BOOKS USED.- -Spelling-Webster's, Cummings'. Reading-New Testament, Pierpont's First Class Book, Child's Guide, Intelligent Reader. Grammar-Smith's, Peter Parley's, Olney's, Balbi's. Arithmetic-Smith's, Adams', Emerson's, Colburn's.

SELECTIONS FROM REPORT.

* * In general, the committee would remark of this school, that in each of its departments the number of scholars is too great to be properly governed and taught by one teacher, and would recommend that for the future, it be divided, as it has sometimes been, into three schools. The construction of the schoolhouse is defective in some important particulars. It is too low studded to contain a sufficient quantity of air, for the number of scholars it is designed to accommodate, and it has no provision for ventilation. The arrangement of the seats is very inconvenient, whether we regard the comfort of the scholars, whilst they occupy them, or the facility of going to and from them. And it is always objectionable, if it is possibly avoidable, to have more than one school in the same house. If, however, such an arrangement is, for any reason, deemed indispensable, the house should be constructed with a door at each end, a substantial partition through the middle, sufficient to prevent any sound being heard from one room to the other, and a fence which should keep the pupils of the two schools separate during the recesses. * *

*

With respect to the venerable schoolhouse in this district, the committee forbear to suggest any alterations or amendments, not because they consider it faultless, but because they are convinced that it would be easier to make a new one, than to make the present one decent. They are of opinion that this aged servant of the district has done its duty long enough, and should be forever discharged from further service.

* * At the close of the winter term, that portion of the school which submitted to an examination, appeared very respectably, and the committee know nothing which forbids their drawing the natural inference, that this was the best portion of it. A number of the pupils had been previously withdrawn, by

two or three of the parents, with the avowed purpose, it is understood, of preventing their being examined by the committee. The committee feel that they have had to contend with the decided opposition of a considerable number of the parents in this districts, and believe that the usefulness of the school was greatly impaired by this cause. A spirit of disaffection among the pupils, is a natural consequence of their seeing that the committee have not the confidence and sympathy of their parents, and one powerful incentive to diligence is taken away, by the knowledge that they will be permitted to avoid the exposure of their deficiencies, by absenting themselves from the examination. The committee deeply regret this circumstance, not for their own sakes, for no personal injury is done to them by it; they have no interest in the school adverse to, or in any degree separate from, the interests of the children and the parents. They wish to do all in their power to bring each school to the highest possible point of efficiency and usefulness, and feel that for, this purpose, it is necessary that they should have the coöperation and support of the parents; it is with pain, therefore, that they see parents impairing the value of the means of instruction, which their children might have enjoyed, and throwing the whole weight of parental influence into the scale of insubordination. The committee are aware of no cause which could have produced this state of feeling, unless it were the rule which they have uniformly observed, of taking the examinations of the schools entirely into their own hands. *

*

*

* * The appearance of this school, and the progress of the scholars, were such as to afford the committee high gratification at the summer examination. The winter term is not yet closed. The schoolhouse is by far the best in town. It is light, airy, cheerful and convenient, and its external appearance is ornamental to the section of the town in which it is situated. Such a schoolhouse must be an inducement to the children to go to school, and must give them an additional interest in their attendance. The committee would gladly anticipate the time, when all the schoolhouses in town will be equally attractive.

The subject of most anxious deliberation, and of the greatest practical difficulty, which has occupied the committee during the year, has been the organization of the high school. It is unfortunate that this undertaking, which, it is to be remembered, was not optional on the part of the town, but was absolutely required of it, under a penalty, by a statute of the Commonwealth, should have begun with the opposition of a considerable minority, and that that minority should have been so swelled by the disappointment of the unreasonable expectations, entertained by many respecting it. So numerous and discordant were these expectations, that the satisfaction of even a bare majority, was utterly hopeless; and no course was left to the committee, but to adopt that plan which, according to the best of their judgment, would make the school most useful to the greatest number. Their operations were further embarrassed at the outset, by the town's having devolved on them two important and delicate duties, which, according to the law, belonged to itself; namely, the determination of the place or places in which the school should be kept; and the provision of a suitable building or apartment, for its accommodation. With regard to the first point, finding it impossible to gratify the wish which seemed to be entertained by a large number, that the school should, at some part of the year, be brought close to each individual's own door, and believing, that as many would be dissatisfied with three locations as with one, whilst the order and utility of the school would be greatly promoted by fixing it permanently in one spot, the committee concluded, after mature deliberation, to adopt the latter plan. With regard to a room, it appeared plain to your committee, and their opinion was sustained by highly respectable legal advice, that they had full power to hire, purchase, or build a suitable apartment, and that the town was bound to pay for it, in addition to the appropriation made for the support of the school, which could be expended only for fuel and the teacher's compensation. The law imposes on the committee the same duties, and confers on it the same powers, in reference to the high school, as on a prudential committee in reference to a district school. It is the duty of the town, as it is of the district, to provide a place for its school; and in case of a neglect of this duty, it becomes the duty of the committee, as in a similar case it is the duty of

the district committee, to provide one at the expense of their constitu

ents.

The next point to be determined, was, who shall be admitted to this school? The power of the committee to "determine the number and the qualifications of the scholars who shall be admitted to the school, kept for the benefit of the whole town," is derived from the fifteenth section of the twenty-third chapter of the Revised Statutes. In the exercise of this lawful and necessary authority, the cominittee have encountered much opposition, and have been the objects of much illiberal judgment and unkind remark, from those who either could not understand, or would not consider, the circumstances of the case and the inherent difficulties which encompass it; and as this is the only opportunity, which they will officially enjoy, of explaining and defending their course, they would embrace it, to ask their fellow-citizens, candidly to consider what course, that could have been adopted, would have been likely to suit a greater number? Would you have had the committee open the school to all comers, without requiring any qualifications at all? This would have been to make it an overgrown, unwieldy primary school, to which, at some seasons of the year, hundreds would flock, and, instead of appropriating four hundred and fifty dollars for its support, you should have voted five or six times that sum, for as many teachers, and hired the whole Arcade for their accommodation. Would you have had age a qualification for admission? The committee could see no reason or propriety in this course. Age is the qualification for admission into the primary school, because there education commences;—the primary school presumes its pupils, on their first entrance, to know nothing; but to receive scholars into a school whose specific object, as described in the law, is instruction in the higher branches, requiring some previous knowledge,--without reference to their intellectual qualifications, and merely in consideration of their age, seemed to your committee as absurd, as to admit them according to their height, or the color of their hair. If a boy of fourteen knows little of arithmetic, less of geography, and nothing of grammar, after having, for ten years, attended the district school, where these branches are taught, why should he not continue to attend it, till he has mastered these studies? Why establish another school for his accommodation? Why make a new provision for an object which is already sufficiently provided for by the existing system? It seemed clear to your committee, that the law contemplated in the high school, a seminary, which should carry on the course of instruction pursued in the primary school; that it should begin where the primary school leaves off; that, consequently, for admittance into it, proficiency should be required in the branches taught in the primary school; that, as the advantages of the high school would, by necessity, be confined to a limited number, none should be admitted to it, who had any thing to learn which could be as well learned in the district school. Here, therefore, and for these reasons, the committee fixed their standard. And they would ask their fellow-citizens to consider, whether they could reasonably have fixed it any where else? Whether they could have avoided any practical difficulty by fixing it any where else? Suppose they had required a fixed quantity of grammar, arithmetic and geography, less than that which they actually required; is it likely that there would have been any less discontent? Let the requisitions be fixed where they might, there would always be many who knew a little less than what was required, who would be consequently rejected, whilst their neighbors, who knew but a little more, would be admitted, and who, if they were disposed to unreasonable complaint, would suppose themselves in possession of abundant cause for it. * * Nothing has been required, for admittance to the high school, which is not required by law to be taught in the primary schools. Nothing has been required which has not been actually attained by boys of fourteen and even eleven years of age, who have enjoyed no other advantages than those furnished by the primary schools. Nothing has been required which more scholars than the high school could possibly have held, would have been found to be possessed of, had it not been for the previous low condition of the primary schools. Some scholars in these schools, who have made good proficiency in some branches of study, have wholly neglected others; and many, who have attended to all, have never, as they might, gone wholly through any one of them. Your committee, there