Besides, there can be no question that this town, by following the directions of a judicious committee, for the term of five years, would save, annually, from fifty to one hundred dollars, which would be worse than thrown away, by following the caprices of every teacher.

Another cause worthy of notice, injurious in its effect upon schools, is the almost universal disposition, on the part of scholars, to use books and pursue branches of study, above their comprehension. And your committee regret to say, that this disposition is too often gratified by teachers, especially in summer. The first class, in summer, however young they may be in years, and knowledge, and understanding, too often think, that as a matter of course, they must not only stand and sit where the senior class did in the winter previous, but that they must also use the same books, and pursue the same studies. * * * Your committee cannot but regard it, therefore, as a prominent defect in our schools, that this disposition in children, to use books above their comprehension, is gratified to such an extent by teachers and parents.

In some, if not in all the schools, scholars are too irregular and inconstant in their attendance. * * *

Your committee are of opinion, that sufficient attention is not paid to the location and structure, and general comfort of schoolhouses. A majority of the schoolhouses in town, are far from being what they ought to be. * * *

The committee would also suggest, for the consideration of the town, the inquiry, whether it would not subserve the cause of education, in district No. 5, if the two schoolhouses now occupied should both be abandoned, and the district brought together, to build and occupy one new house, in some central spot.

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*

The statute of the Commonwealth provides for moral, as well as intellectual instruction, in Common Schools.

* * *

Teachers manifest too much laxness and indifference on this point. In some instances, it is to be feared, that they have entirely overlooked this part of their duty, and directed their efforts solely to the intellectual improvement of their pupils. And in other instances, where moral instruction has been imparted, it has too evidently been considered as of secondary and minor importance. * * * It is required by our statute, and ought to be expected by every parent and guardian, that the teachers in our primary schools, be as punctual, and systematic, and faithful, in imparting moral instruction, as literary. And every teacher ought to feel himself as sacredly bound to do the one as the other, and that he is recreant to his high and important trust, if he neglects it; that he betrays the confidence of his employer, if he disregards it. And those who feel themselves either incompetent or indisposed to communicate to their pupils moral instruction, whatever may be their literary attainments, ought to seek some other employment. *

* *

Teachers' meetings, for the discussion of important points, connected with the prosperity of schools, it is believed might be made useful to themselves, and beneficial to the schools. The improvements of one, might then be made easily available by all. And teachers would unquestionably find their time well spent, in occasionally visiting each other's schools. The salutary influence of such visitation is most manifestly visible, upon both teachers and pupils, in those instances where the experiment has been tried.

** *

Your committee are of opinion, that the inquiry is quite too prevalent, "Where can we get a cheap teacher ?" It is time that that inquiry was done away. A double price for a good teacher, is ultimately cheaper than no price for a poor one.

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* * *

By careful attention to these, and similar points, competent teachers may be obtained; schoolhouses properly located and constructed, and kept in repair; schools be what they should be, and the rising generation grow up under such advantages for moral and intellectual culture, as will fit them for enjoyment, usefulness and respectability. * * *

SCHOOL COMMITTEE.-JOHN H BISBEE, THOS. A. HALL, MORTIMER L. HIGGINS.

HAMPDEN COUNTY.

BLANDFORD,

(1) Population, 1,443. Valuation, $331,579 00. Number of Public Schools, 15.

(2) No. of Scholars of all ages in all the Schools-In Summer, 315-In Winter, 420. (3) Average attendance in the Schools-In Summer, 204-In Winter, 253.

(4) No. of persons between 4 and 16 years of age in the town, 374.-No. of persons under 4 years of age who attend School, 25.-No. over 16 years of age who attend School, 56. (5) Aggregate length of the Schools, 115 mths. 7 days.-In Summer, 63 14-In Winter, 51 21. (6) No. of Teachers in Summer-M. —F. 16.—No. of Teachers in Winter-M. 15—F. 5. (7) Average wages paid per month, including board-To Males, $21 46-To Females, $10 89. (8) Average value of board per month-Of Males, $6 26-Of Females, $5 28.

(9) Average wages per month, exclusive of board-Of Males, $15 20-Of Females, $5 61. (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, $756 70.

(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, 2.-Aggregate of months kept, 12.-Average No. of Scholars, 23.-Aggregate paid for tuition, $218.

(14) Amount of Local Funds, $2,200 00.-Income from same, $132 00.

BOOKS USED.- -Spelling-Worcester's and Webster's. Reading-Testament, Bible, Easy Lessons, Child's Guide, Intelligent Reader, English Reader. Grammar-Smith's. Geography-Parley's, Olney's, Smith's. Arithmetic-Sinith's, Daboll's, Colburn's, Adams'. All others-Algebra, Euclid, Andrews' and Stoddard's Latin Grammar, Latin Reader, &c.

SELECTIONS FROM REPORT. * * In one important particular, the committee feel bound to notice a decided improvement. In many of the schools, the department of writing has occupied a more prominent place; the teachers having attended to the exercise with greater regularity, and having taken more pains with the scholars while thus engaged. The good effect is seen in the improved appearance of the books devoted to writing. In most of the schools, the standard of spelling and reading is deplorably low. In both particulars, gross mistakes often grate upon the ear. Nor is this a matter of surprise. For in no respect have the committee found those, who have been presented for examination, more deficient than in these fundamental branches. While they would call general attention to this point, they would recommend to the prudential committees, to mention the subject to those, whom they would employ, and suggest to them the propriety of giving it particular attention. For, if the teachers be deficient in spelling and reading, what better can be expected of the scholars? In that case, our schools must fail of imparting a knowledge of two primary branches of an English education.

* * *

A great effort is now making in this Commonwealth, to raise the standard of our Common Schools, and render them more beneficial to our children. Whether it will prove successful or not, depends much upon the course which parents pursue. And they and their children are most deeply interested in the result. If it fail, the injury will come to their own doors, and they, on whom their expectations are built, who are to inherit their possessions, and hand down their names, will suffer the consequences. If it succeed, parents must lend a helping hand. *

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SCHOOL COMMITTEE.-CHARLES J. HINSDALE, TIMOTHY H. KNOX.

BRIMFIELD,

{ (1)

(1) Population, 1,518. Valuation, $403,732 00. Number of Public Schools, 10.

(2) No. of Scholars of all ages in all the Schools-In Summer, 293-In Winter, 414. (3) Average attendance in the Schools-In Summer, 240-In Winter, 343. (4) No. of persons between 4 and 16 years of age in the town, 413.-No. of persons under 4 years of age who attend School, 28.-No. over 16 years of age who attend School, 63. (5) Aggregate length of the Schools, 64 mths. 14 days.-In Summer, 28 14-In Winter, 36. (6) No. of Teachers in Summer-M. -F. 11.-No. of Teachers in Winter-M. 8-F. 4. (7) Average wages paid per month, including board-To Males, $25 42-To Females, $13 59. (8) Average value of board per month Of Males, $7 00-Of Females, $6 00.

(9) Average wages per month, exclusive of board-Of Males, $18 42-Of Females, $7 59. (10) Amount of money raised by taxes for the support of Schools, including only the wages of Teachers, board and fuel, $900.

(11) Amount of board and fuel, if any, contributed for Public Schools, $375. (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, 1.—Aggregate of months kept, 2.—Average No. of Scholars,

gate paid for tuition, $26.

(14) Amount of Local Funds, $

.-Income from same, $

-Aggre

BOOKS USED.-) Spelling-New National. Reading-National Preceptor, Intelligent Reader, New Testament, Child's Guide. Grammar-Smith's. Geography-Smith's. Arithmetic Smith's. All others-Goodrich's History of the U. S., Webster's Dictionary.

REMARK.—The average number of scholars in the Private School is not given.

SELECTIONS FROM REPORT. * * Why shall we employ competent teachers, (and not unfrequently, those that teach our summer schools are the most competent,) and waste our money upon them? And surely it is wasted, as it regards one third, at least, of those children who should be at school. We hope, erelong, to see our summer schools something more than a mere apology for such schools. If parents would but consider the matter; if they would place a proper estimate upon the education of their children, they would regard that as an exceedingly narrow policy which should lead them to keep their children from school, during an entire season, for the sake of the few sixpences they might earn at home. Besides, it should be considered, that, in long days in the summer, children may find time to do, in domestic concerns, about all they are capable of doing at that early age, and attend school six hours in a day; and so much employment they might need as suitable exercise, to enable them to prosecute their studies to advantage. *

* *

Do any say, that a lower estimate is to be put upon our summer, than our winter schools, because they are usually taught by females? This is a reason why they should be held in higher estimation, for we are fully satisfied, that females, in general, are the most successful teachers, and we would no sooner approbate one to instruct a summer, than a winter school; that is to say, we would require the same qualifications for both. Is not the principal reason why our winter schools are so much more numerously attended than those in summer, to be found in the fact, that our children then have little or nothing to do at home? and thus their education is made a mere incidental affair, to be pursued simply when they have nothing else to do. We speak freely on this subject, because we regard it of vital importance in elevating the standard of education in the community.

We come now to speak of our schools during the last winter, and it gives us pleasure to be able to report, as we think, a manifest improvement upon those of the previous winter.

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We were sorry to find some of our schools closing just at the time they were beginning to improve. Such was the fact with those, that were continued for only three months. We are constrained to believe, that the last of four months, in schools properly instructed, is worth one third more to the pupils, than

either of the preceding. Besides, with those schools that close on the last of February, one entire month is well nigh lost to the children, and to their parents too; for, at that season of the year, their services at home could be of little worth.

We hope, that the time is not far distant, when, by an increase of the public money, or by pursuing plans of stricter economy in its use, no school in town shall be kept for a shorter period than four months for one session, making eight months for the year, and, of course, leaving four for vacations; which, all must allow, is sufficient, and more than sufficient.

One method, by which, with the same amount of money as is now raised, the schools might be prolonged, is by the several districts furnishing the fuel; and another, the itinerant boarding of the teacher; each family, that can do it conveniently, taking their turn to board a week or so, and thus saving the expense in this department, to prolong the school. To this measure, there may be, perhaps, some objections, but not of sufficient weight, it is believed, to counterbalance the amount of advantage to be gained. This plan, it could hardly be expected, could be adopted with female teachers, and especially in the winter, nor, with such teachers, would it be necessary, for the purpose above mentioned; for, at the rate they could be employed, including their board, the expense of four months' schooling would not be a fraction more, than that of three months with a male teacher.

*

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But what formidable objection can be found, against the itinerant boarding of a male teacher? In the first place, he will need the exercise, to promote his health and render elastic his spirits. And in the second place, it gives him a fine opportunity to become acquainted with the families of his pupils, and they with him, and thus to excite a deeper interest in himself, and in the prosperity of his school, than it is possible for him to do by boarding in one place. "Wherever he goes, he is a welcome guest. The children feel honored by his presence, and the parents are happy to have him at their table and by their fireside." If he is the right sort of a man, he will thus win their confidence, so that the children will more cheerfully attend school, and the parents will the more cheerfully send them. Thus, while many advantages of this kind grow out of this itinerant boarding of the teacher, the expense of which is not felt, some 30 or more dollars, for a single winter, is saved to the district, to be employed in advancing the improvement of our children in useful learning. * * * Some of the defects in our system, which were mentioned by the committee of last year, we are sorry to say still exist. Such as inconstancy in attendance, tardiness, the older scholars frequently leaving the school before the term closes; to which may be added, that of consuming the teacher's time, by having too many sorts of books in the same branch. We have, for instance, found four different classes, in the same school, in geography; there being so many different geographies introduced, when there should have been but one, except it might be some simple work, for the small children.

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Your committee would take the liberty of offering a suggestion or two, on the subject of schoolhouses. Great care should be taken, as it regards this matter, would you successfully advance the education of your children, and improve their manners and taste. Now, it is a fact not to be questioned, little as it may be considered, that children take their shape, particularly as it regards their manners, from their early associations; and very much is depending upon the place with which their pursuit of learning is associated. Would you make them groveling, and coarse, and vulgar, and prevent their forming a correct and delicate taste? there is no more sure way to do it, than to send them, year after year, to a schoolhouse about which everything is coarse and unseemly; whose writing desks are botched up out of the very poorest materials, aud which, consequently, the scholars feel at perfect liberty to cut and hack, deface and destroy; whose walls, if plastered at all, present a surface as uneven as the ocean in a storm; whose windows are so shackling, as to keep up in the wind, a constant clattering; or whose broken glazing is either quite open, or supplied with anything but glass; whose doors are without latch or catch; whose window shutters, if such there be, are swinging in the wind, or hanging by a solitary hinge; whose floor is covered with filth, not to be removed more than once in a season. Now, if you wish to make your children vulgar

and groveling, send them to some such place as this, to pursue their education. But on the other hand, if you would wish to humanize and refine them, and promote in them habits of cleanliness and taste, provide them a schoolhouse every way neat and commodious. See that everything is done up in good style; that the benches and desks are handsomely made, and, withal, convenient; so that the scholar can do his work to good advantage. And then see to it, that it is often cleansed, and also, that it is so warmed, that its temperature may be congenial to health, and to the successful pursuit of study. There are district schoolhouses in this Commonwealth, that would not suffer in point of neatness, in comparison, we were about to say, with some of the best rooms in our private dwellings. Painted inside, as well as out, with handsome desks and good easy seats; furnished with a ward-robe, book-case, clock, thermometer, school apparatus, &c., &c. And these are the houses that are kept clean, and whose desks, and benches, and walls, the scholars would never think of defacing, because of their neatness. Send your children to such a place for instruction, and they will instinctively feel some ambition to be something, and do something. It will have, you may rely upon it, a most powerful influence in encouraging them in the pursuit of learning, in refining their manners, in divesting them of that coarseness and vulgarity, which find aliment in a stable or hovel; but not in a clean, tasteful, pleasant schoolhouse. Some of our schoolhouses are decent, while others need to be thoroughly new modeled. SCHOOL COMMITTEE.-JOSEPH VAILL, EBENEZER KNIGHT, SOLOMON HOMER, Jr.

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(2) No. of Scholars of all ages in all the Schools-In Summer, 279-In Winter, 386. (3) Average attendance in the Schools-In Summer, 207-In Winter, 276. (4) No. of persons between 4 and 16 years of age in the town, 401.-No. of persons under 4

years of age who attend School, 18.-No. over 16 years of age who attend School, 35. (5) Aggregate length of the Schools, 90 mths. 14 day.-In Summer, 53 14-In Winter, 37. (6) No. of Teachers in Summer-M. -F. 14.-No. of Teachers in Winter-M. 8-F. 5. (7) Average wages paid per month including board-To Males, $17 94-To Females, $11 42. (8) Average value of board per month-Of Males, $5 50-Of Females, $5 50. (9) Average wages per month exclusive of board-Of Males, $12 44-Of Females, $5 92. (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, $620.

(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, 1.-Aggregate of months kept, 3.-Average No. of Scholars, 30-Aggregate paid for tuition, $90.

(14) Amount of Local Funds, $600 00.-Income from same, $34 00.

BOOKS USED.-Spelling-Webster's Elementary. Reading Testament, National Reader, Class Book, Child's Guide, Early Primer. Grammar-Smith's, Ingersoll's, Murray's. Geography-Smith's, Olney's, Parley's and Brinsmade's. Arithmetic-Smith's, Daboll's, Colburn's Mental. All others-Philosophy, History, Chemistry, &c.

SELECTIONS FROM REPORT.

In the discharge of this duty, your committee have more than once found themselves in difficult and delicate circumstances, from the fact, that too many who offer to teach, fail of giving that satisfaction, which we could wish and which the schools demand. We have exercised much lenity, sometimes even to a fault, as the sequel has proved; but the facts are, our prudential committees generally neglect hiring a teacher, till the last, which lays your committee under the necessity of delaying their notice of examination, till just before the time for the schools to commence; and then,