may remain the same by simply increasing all the parts in propor- omitted. In case the gable cornice is omitted the cornices of tion. If three feet be added to the length no other change need be the porch and woodhouse should drop below that of the main made, but if the addition is made to the width the porch should be building. The porch is lighted by a headlight above the door. enlarged in proportion. The materials of this building may be either brick or wood. ELEVATION No. 3.-This elevation is more ornamental. The corners of the gable are cut off, of which we do not at all approve, and a small gable is erected over each of the large windows in the sides. The porch is finished with a common gable. The ornamental filagree work of the gables may be omitted, and the cornice made wide and plain, like that of Elevation No. 1. The only extra cost of this elevation is raising the gables over the windows, and in cutting down the corners of the roof, the whole of which ought not to exceed a few dollars. This elevation is represented as finished with battens, but clapboards may be used, or the house may be built of brick. The superior appearance of this design will more than warrant the additional expense. ELEVATION NO. 4.-In villages and country places near cities, where the dwellings are of fine architectural appearance, the school-house should be in harmony with the surroundings, and there is a demand for ornamental designs. Elevation No. 4 has been prepared to ELEVATION NO. 2.-In this elevation the roof of the main build- meet this demand when a small school-house is wanted. The gening is placed at right angles with the roof of the porch and of the eral features are Gothic, but the whole is chaste and neat and not excessively expensive. The steep gables all ter minate in minarets or pinnacles. An ornamental bell-tower surmounts the front. The porch has an ornamental tent-roof, sloping down from the front gable. Gables are erected above the side windows, and a beautiful ornamental chimney extends upward from one side of the porch. The material may be brick or stone, the finish of the gables being a stone coping instead of a cornice. This coping may be made of wood with a covering of tin. This elevation might also be used as a Sunday school room for a church, and fora variety of other public school purposes. The roof should be covered with slate. In some parts of the country the small number of pupils in the district is given as an excuse for a miserable school-house. The fact of a limited number of pupils may be a sufficient reason for the construction of a small school-house, but not for a poor one. The educational wants of a small district and of a small number of children are just as pressing as though the territory and the number were indefinitely increased, and a neglect to supply wood-house, giving a fine architectural effect to the group. The them is just as detrimental in the one case as in the other. If this cornices of the three parts are upon the same level, and an orna- excuse were a good one, the Inspector would be justified in withmental cornice extends across the gable. This feature may be holding the public funds on the same ground. Elevation 3. But, again, it is argued that the smaller districts are often too poor to erect a respectable appearing and comfortable school-house. It may be that many of the districts are very poor, and in that case they are far too poor to subject their children to exposures and consequent disease, and so a good school-house becomes indispensable. Each district that partakes of the public money of the State is morally bound to provide all the appliances necessary for the proper expenditure of the money so obtained; and the poorer the district the greater is the necessity for all possible means for moral and physical advancement. HYGIENIC CONDITION OF SCHOOL The Michigan Medical Society recently ap pointed a committee to investigate the hygienic condition of the Public Schools of the State. An examination of those of Detroit has already been made. A physician, thoroughly competent to judge, visited fourteen school- rooms, analyzed their atmosphere, and determined their temperature and the amount of moisture contained in it. In none of the Schools was there anything which deserves the name of ventila tion, and no real attempt at it except in one instance. The air was everywhere so bad that no II. Lord Dufferin on Education. 1. EDUCATION IN ONTARIO. human being should be forced to breathe it for six hours a day. the walls of the University a greater number of subjects is taught Many of the children complained of headache, and there was a and a more practical direction is given to the education and to the difference of from thirteen to nineteen degrees between the tem- studies of the students than in any University with which he had perature of the floor and the upper parts of the rooms. The been previously acquainted. He found, moreover, athletic sports scholars' feet were cold while their heads were overheated. A as popular in the Colonial University as they are in the Universities similar examination might find defects in model school houses in of England. Trinity College contains an institution for the trainother localities than Detroit. ing of young men in the special principles of the Church of Eng land, and for maintaining a supply of ministers to extend her influence. Upper Canada College affords a successful attempt to reproduce the system of an English Public School, and it is amus ing at the present time to find the Governor-General discussing in Toronto the advantages and dangers of the monitorial system. The City Public Schools show a daily average of 5,000 children, taught at an annual expense of £9,000, the whole of which, with the exAt the moment when two Ministers of State are giving an impulse ception of £600, is provided by an assessment on the ratepayers. to the cause of Education in England we receive a remarkable illus- The instruction given in these Schools is described as free from all tration of the interest already felt in that cause in one of our Col- sectarian character, and to this feature in the system the School onies. The educational system of Canada has long been most Board attributes the great success which has attended their efforts favourably known in this country from official Reports, but its ex in the cause of public education. In Bishop Strachan's School he tent and variety are really surprising. The Governor-General, found, to his pleasure "as a member of the Episcopal Communion, during his recent visit to Toronto, visited the principal educa- a flourishing institution where the principles in which he believed tional institutions of the city, and his speeches on those occa- were inculcated from earliest youth." He further visited the Rosions, as reported in the monthly Journal of Education for the Pro-man Catholic institutions of St. Michael's College and St. Joseph's vince of Ontario, are equally honourable to the Province and to Home, where it was fortunately discovered that his family mottohimself. They are far too numerous for us to reproduce, but they "Per vias rectas "-is conspicuous on one of the antiphons of the prove very clearly that the office of a Governor-General is no sine- Church. His connexion with the Church of England seems in no cure when a man is expected in one visit to make fifteen speeches way to have lessened the warmth of his reception, and here also he on a single subject. It is true they need not be long; but they took occasion to express the pleasure with which he observed the must all be fresh and interesting, and no little tact is required to harmony and liberality of sentiment which all the religious denommaintain a demeanour of impartial patronage towards the varying inations of Canada maintain towards each other, and the common religious and national interests of a growing colony. Lord Dufferin, feeling of loyalty by which they are bound to the Throne. The however, appears to have been in all respects equal to the call made Irish members of these institutions displayed unreserved attachupon him, and to have left pleasant reminiscences among all who ment to the Crown, and Lord Dufferin expressed his perfect conreceived him. Lady Dufferin did not forget the Girls' Schools, and viction that "among no section of the inhabitants of the Dominion the visit is described as a real encouragement to all classes of teach-had Her Majesty more faithful, more useful, and more loyal subers and students. It is remembered in Canada how much was done jects than among those who had the honour of claiming an Irish for the cause of Education by the countenance of Lord Elgin, and descent." A deputation from the Sabbath School Association of how largely he contributed to the popularity of the Canadian sys- Canada and a visit to a Sunday-school in Toronto completed this tem abroad; and the people of Canada seem to look for a similar comprehensive survey of the educational institutions of the city. service from Lord Dufferin. There are, indeed, few statesmen who In this slight sketch we cannot do justice to the exuberance of would be better disposed to appreciate the value of Education, and oratorical, poetical, and musical fervour which accompanied the he is peculiarly able to encourage some of the elegancies of learn-Governor-General in his progress through the Schools and Colleges ing which a growing community is apt to neglect. Perhaps, indeed, of Toronto. But such a list of flourishing institutions for the prothe consciousness of this danger may partly account for the earnest- motion of education does great honour to the enterprise and intelliness with which Education has been promoted by some of the ablest gence of the colonists, and it is worthy of especial observation how public men in Canada. In a country where constant energy is de- little they are hampered by the difficulties which seem so insupermanded for the daily work of life the importance of intelligence able among ourselves. The Religious and the Race Difficulties cannot be over-estimated, while at the same time the utmost zeal appear to have both been satisfactorily surmounted; Catholics and and attention are required in order to insure its cultivation. Men Protestants work well together, and the Irish population is cannot afford to neglect a single opportunity, and yet the exigen- thoroughly loyal. Lord Dufferin could not but observe that it . cies of a laborious life tempt them to disregard everything but what seemed to him disgraceful, in the fact of such an example, that "in is practical. Education, however, has been rendered in Canada, "the great contention which we are waging with ignorance, and even more than in America, the foundation of the national life, and " consequently with crime, the various religious denominations of the means of it have by the Public School system been brought Europe should not yet have learnt to put aside their jealousies and within the reach of every one; while side by side with this public "combine in so Catholic a cause." The truth probably is that in system, the various religious denominations appear to enjoy com- Canada they have no time to spare for such quarrels, and, having plete liberty to promote their peculiar principles of training. few idle hands, they cannot get to mischief. It is because, with the Lord Dufferin began by a visit to the Education Department for On- lessened keenness of our struggle for life, we have gained also a less tario, to which the task belongs of establishing the Normal and Model keen sense of the urgent practical necessity of education that we Schools for the training of teachers, framing the regulations for the waste our energy on denominational squabbles, and we may be sure management of the Public and High Schools, and selecting the text- that is the paramount necessity of mental cultivation becomes betbooks and books for prizes and free libraries. It is described as ter recognized among us our so-called religious difficulties will gradtheir aim "to devise and develop a system of sound universal edu-ually disappear.-From the London Times. 2. LORD DUFFERIN ON POLITE EDUCATION. cation on Christian principles, imbued with a spirit of affectionate loyalty for the Throne and attachment to the unity of the Empire," and they boast that in this task they have received the friendly co-operation of all religious persuasions, the Schools under the Depart- His Excellency the Governor General and Countess Dufferin visment have increased to the number of 4,703, and the pupils in them ited the McGill Normal School in Montreal lately, and was presented to the number of 454,616; and the amount provided last year, almost with an address of welcome. Lord Dufferin replied as follows:-"I entirely by voluntary local rates, for the support of the Schools the can assure you it gives me the greatest pleasure to have had an oppreceding year was about £465,360, showing an increase on the pre- portunity of paying you this visit, and of showing you by my presceding year of £40,000. Lord Dufferin, in his reply to the address ence here to-day not only what an interest I take in the general presented to him, observed that to one who, in Ireland, had been subject of education, but how much importance I attach to those accustomed to live in the midst of religious contention, and where particular functions which you will be shortly called upon to perform. education is itself the battle-field upon which the conflicting denom- In fact it would be almost impossible to exaggerate the responsibility inations encounter each other with the greatest acrimony, it afforded which rests upon you, because, after all, it is upon you, upon the the greatest pleasure to meet the representatives of many different teachers who are spread abroad in every village and district religious communions, all co-operating heartily in the same work. from one end of the country to the other, that must depend The University of Toronto is located in a handsome Gothic build- the due education of the great mass of the people. I am happy ing, designed by a colonial architect. He met there a body of Pro-to think from what I have seen in Toronto, and what I now see fessors fully competent to uphold the interests of that which he here, that every precaution has been taken and every means described as "the backbone of a liberal education-the arts and has been furnished which man's ingenuity can contrive to fit you for the Greek and Roman classics," while he also observed that within the successful performance of your important task. It is indeed a 6 III. Papers on Educational Progress. 1. SUCCESSFUL SCHOOL TRUSTEE MEETINGS. matter of equal satisfaction to us all, that a number of young men however, in looking over the programme, that the science of cookand women whose intelligence is printed on every movement of their ing has not been overlooked. In a new country like this there could countenance should year after year be sent forth from each of their be no doubt but that the subject of domestic economy was one of parent establishments, spreading abroad in all directions sound teach-very great importance, particularly they should, the young ladies, ing and everything that is necessary to develop the intellectual vig- study how to make their future husbands comfortable." our and activity of the country. I do not know that there is any We believe there are few who will not echo the practical lesson practical suggestion which it would be incumbent upon me on the here given by the Governor-General.—Belleville Intelligencer. present occasion to make to you, and yet there is one observation which I am almost compelled to submit, and that is I would venture to remind you that in your future relations with your young pupils you will be careful to remember that your functions must not be confined merely to the development of their intelligence and the imparting of information, but that there is also another duty as important as either of these, and that is that you should endeavour to refine, discipline, and elevate their general behaviour, rendering An energetic Inspector gives the following interesting account of them polite, well-bred, deferential, respectful to their parents, to School Meetings which he recently held :-"Since the annual School their elders and their superiors. Perhaps in a new country, where Meetings have been held I have convened meetings of the various on every side we are surrounded by the evidence of prosperity, Boards of Trustees in each Township in this County, for the purwhere a spirit of independence is an essential element of success, pose of receiving the annual reports, and correcting any mistakes where at a very early age young persons are called upon to fight that might be in them, so that my reports to your department might their own battle and to undertake their own responsibilities, it is be reliable. Their meetings have been very successful and I trust very natural that there should be developed an exuberant spirit of that their efforts will prove beneficial. A number of topics for disself confidence. Now what I would venture to ask you from time cussion were brought forward, and a great deal of interest manifested to time to impress upon your pupils is this, that although upon the in them. The subjects discussed were the advantages of providing one hand there is no quality more creditable than self-respect, yet weekly reports' so as to bring parents and teachers into more direct on the other hand the very idea of self-respect excludes self-assertion, communication with one another, of general registers' so that the and I say it the more readily because I confess if there is any criti- general management of the Schools can be readily seen, of adecism which I have to pass upon the youth of this new country-Ido quate School accommodation' including play grounds, fences &c., not say of Canada especially, but of the continent of America-it &c., so that our Public Schools shall be more attractive to the young, is that I have been struck by the absence of the deference and res- of suitable libraries' especially reference books, and of the employpect for those who are older than themselves, to which we still cling ment of none but thoroughly competent Teachers,' who are the in Europe. Now, to use a casual illustration: I have observed in best and cheapest in the end. travelling on board the steamboats on the St. Lawrence, children running about from one end of the vessel to the other, whom more than once I have been tempted to take up and give a good whipping. I have seen them thrust aside two gentlemen in conversation, trample on ladies' dresses, shoulder their way about, without a thought of the inconvenience they were occasioning, and what was more remarkable, these little thoughtless indiscretions did not seem to attract the attention of their parents. When I ventured to make an observation on this to the people with whom I have been travelling, I was always told that these little pleasing individuals came from the other side of the line. Well, I only hope that this may be so; at all events, without inquiring too strictly how that may be, I trust that the teachers of the schools of Canada will do their very best to inculcate into their pupils the duties of politeness, of refined behaviour, of respect for the old and of the reverence for their parents, that they will remember that a great deal may be done by kindly and wholesome advice in this particular, and that if they only take a little trouble they will contribute greatly to render Canada, not one of the best educated, most prosperous, most successful and richest, but one of the most polite, of the best bred, and well mannered countries of the American continent." 3. LORD DUFFERIN ON YOUNG LADIES' EDUCATION. Lord and Lady Dufferin visited the Ottawa Young Ladies' College on Monday, Dec. 16th, where he was met by a number of those most interested in managing the establishment. During his visit he entered freely into conversation with the Rev. Mr. Moore, of the Presbyterian Church, which the Ottawa Free Press reports. Among other things the following is reported: "Lord Dufferin-It is a mixed institution, of French and English. "Rev. Mr. Moore-No; we have no French. "Lord Dufferin-I suppose it is something on the same principle as the schools conducted by the Nuns. How many have you on the roll at present? "Rev. Mr. Moore-About 200 on the rolls at present. We have fifty-two boarders. "Lord Dufferin-I didn't know that it was such a young Institution. "Rev. Mr. Moore-We teach Latin, French and German. We have no Italian. "His Excellency-Do you teach Latin? "Rev. Mr. Moore- We do. "His Excellency (after a pause)—Do you teach cooking? (Laughter.) "Rev. Mr. Moore-It is our intention to do so." There is a moral in this last question, which it would be well for educationalists to take home and consider. His Lordship did not stop at the mere question, but added, in his reply to an address which was presented to him, that "it gives me great pleasure, "Several Boards of Trustees requested me to enquire if the 100% will be granted to Trustee Boards who wish to provide Worcester's Unabridged Dictionary,' The Pronouncing Gazetteer of the World,' and some work of reference on the structure of the English Language, say 'Fowler's Grammar unabridged,' or 'Angus' Handbook of the English Language.' I have recommended these books to be placed in every Public School in this County for the benefit of pupils and teachers. The subject of Township Boards of Trustees was also discussed at several of these meetings, and I believe that the public opinion of this County is going in favour of them." 2. COUNTY OF HURON AND TOWNSHIP BOARDS. At the recent meeting of the Huron County Council at Goderich, the following resolutions were passed on the recommendation of the Education Committee of the Council :— 1st. That Township Boards of School Trustees be made compulsory, instead of permissive, as at present. 2nd. That in the event of Townships being divided into Wards, one Trustee be elected in each Ward, that the Chairman of such Board be elected by the whole Township, and that the nomination and the election be held at the same time and place as that of Councillors. 3rd. That the property qualifications required for a Trustee be the same as that at present required for Councillors. 4th. That the law be so formed that Township Councils interested in Union Sections, shall be compelled to raise an equivalent sum according to equalized assessment in each part of such Union Section, for all school purposes, including the erection of school-houses. 5th. That in Union School Sections, the management of such schools shall be controlled by the Trustee Board of that Township in which the school is situated. 6th. That the Warden and Clerk petition the Ontario Legislature at as early a day as possible, in accordance with the foregoing recommendations. 3. PREPARATORY CLASSES IN HIGH SCHOOLS CONDEMNED. The Public School Board at Ottawa has petitioned the Government as follows: The Public Schools so denominated-as contra-distinguished from High Schools and Collegiate Institutes-are legally governed and administered by Boards of Trustees elected by the people in the same manner, and by the same machinery as the Municipal Councils, and are thereby amenable to the judgment of their constituents, the ratepayers who support the said schools, who, if dissatisfied with their management, can at stated periods relieve them of family that neglects to send its children to school. It is estimated that the number of illiterates is three per cent. their offices and elect in their places, persons in whom they have confidence. But the Board who control the High Schools and Collegiate Institutes are nominated and appointed by the Municipal In Norway almost all the native population can read, write, and Councils and forthwith become possessed of large powers which they account passably well. Instruction is obligatory. may exercise without let or hindrance. They become in fact inde- In Bavaria, among one hundred conscripts, only seven whose pendent Boards and may and do demand from the Councils sub-education was incomplete or entirely wanting were found. sidies which must be granted to them although entirely out of pro- also instruction is obligatory. 7. HOW PRUSSIA DOES IT. Here portion with the works they perform. Not satisfied with this ar- France, with its twenty-three illiterate conscripts in a hundred, bitrary exercise of power some of them transcend the obvious occupies the twelfth class. It is followed by Belgium, Italy, Ausintentions of the law by establishing in connexion with their Insti- tria, Greece, Portugal, Moldo-Wallachia, Russia, and Turkey, in tutions, classes where the first rudiments of education are taught the order named. In Italy, however, the conditions vary much to the children of parents, who from an assumed social superiority according to the province. prefer paying or promising to pay a portion of the cost of sustaining such classes, and in this way the Public Schools, however well officered, amply provided for and managed, as are those of this city, suffer disparagement and prejudice. The remedy for these palpable evils appears to your petitioners to be easy of attainment in the cities at least, if not every where-and as they believe would be found in making the management of the High Schools immediately and directly dependent in common with the Public Schools upon the approval of the people at the polls. For this purpose a general Public School Board having the supervision and The school law, as then presented for discussion, provided that government of all classes of schools, from the collegiate institutes the supervision of the schools, which had so long been considered a downwards, might be elected in the same way as the Public School Trustees are now called into and kept in existence, and there can the office of inspectors of schools, formerly held by the parish clergy prerogative of the Church, should belong to the State alone; that hardly exist any doubt that the people would through such a Board, make full and sufficient provision for giving an absolutely free edu-other words, that it should become a civil and not an ecclesiastical ex officio, should hereafter be filled by appointees of the State. cation to all classes alike. 4. THE GALT SCHOOLS. One of the most brilliant and memorable of parliamentary debates took place in the Prussian House of Lords, in the month of March, upon the new school law. So much interest was manifested that one of the oldest members declared that he could not remember ever to have seen so large an attendance of peers, some of whom had scarcely appeared in the house for twenty years. In office; and for this change an appropriation was called for to pay The Very Rev. Dean Boomer, in replying to a complimentary ad-men. dress and presentation on his leaving Galt, thus referred to its schools: -I was with Galt in what may be called its school days, and when as regards education and its privileges it was only in its alphabet. I need scarcely say to those acquainted with its history, that this was the department in your public weal which ever attracted my sympathy and support. And I am truly thankful, my friends that I have been permitted to witness such an advancement in this respect, that with your noble Central School and still nobler Collegiate Institute, there are few towns in Canada which possess your educational advantages. I need not, my friends, detain you in this rather lengthened response, by any reference to your prosperity in a material point of view which has been equally great and which has been owing, I must say, to the industry, energy, and moral character of your people. 5. POPULAR EDUCATION IN EUROPE. The educational systems of several of the countries of Europe have been discussed in the JOURNAL, and other articles will be given in future numbers. However, an Italian journal, L' Eco d'Italia, contains some interesting reports regarding the educational condition of different European nations. In Saxony education is compulsory. All the inhabitants of the kingdom can read and write, and every child attends school. In Switzerland all can read and write, and have a good primary education. Education is obligatory, and greater efforts, in proportion to the means at the disposal of the government, are here made to impart primary instruction than anywhere else in Europe. In all the smaller States of North Germany education is compulsory, and all the children attend school. In Denmark the same is true. All the Danes, with but few exceptions, can read and write and keep accounts. The children all attend school until the age of fourteen. In Prussia almost all the children attend school regularly, except in some of the eastern districts. An officer who had charge of the military education of the Landwehr, in twelve years met with only three young soldiers who could neither read nor write. An enquiry having been instituted, it was found that these three were the children of sailors; and, having been born on the river, had never been settled in any place. Instruction is obligatory. 6. COMPULSORY EEUCATION IN EUROPE. In Sweden the proportion of inhabitants who can neither read nor write is one in a thousand. Education is obligatory. In Baden every child receives instruction; and in Wurtemburg there is not a peasant, nor a girl of the lowest class, nor a servant in an inn, who cannot read, write, and account correctly. Every child goes to school, instruction being obligatory. Germany thus stands at the head of progress in educational freedom among the countries governed by clerical influence. In this, as in other movements, Bismarck evinced a far-reaching, far-seeing sagacity and wisdom that grasps the possibilities and the foreshadowing of events during the present. Seeing, almost prophetically, the tendency of events, he solves the problems of the future without For him, to will is to do; waiting for the future to evolve them. to wish is to consummate and carry out what he desires. Thus far he has placed himself in the foremost rank of statesmen, warriors, and scholars, and with characteristic Teutonic calmness wraps his drapery around him not to sit down to quiet dreams, but to ponder, and to watch the next role he and the world are to play together in the world's progress.—University Monthly. 8. EDUCATION AND THE LATE FRENCH WAR. In a recent lecture Rev. Henry Ward Beecher remarked that in the late European war ninety-eight per cent. of the Prussian soldiers could read and write, while only forty-eight per cent. of the French the lecturer adds. This hasty sort of reasoning has become very had the like knowledge. "Of course they (the French) went down." common lately, but it is hardly to be relied upon. Did the needlegun, the excellence of the German officers, and the genius of Von Moltke have nothing to do with the defeat of the French? Suppose that the German army, with all its superiority of numbers, generalship, and equipment, had nevertheless been composed of private soldiers who could neither read nor write, does any one really suppose that in such case McMahon would not have marched to Sedan, or that Bazaine would not have shut himself up in Metz? Most military men will be of the opinion that the literary accomplishments of the Prussian rank and file were of less value than the condition of their shoes and the quality of their ammunition. The attachment of Lord Hatherley to Sunday schools is well known; but it is not equally well known that his successor, Lord Selborne, has for many years engaged himself in the work of teaching. In Lord Hatherley's recent address upon Sunday schools at In Holland public assistance is taken away from every indigent Leeds, he "strongly urged the gentry to bear a considerable pro portion of the work connected with them." With two such exam-they pass their examinations well. It is then only that the great ples, a hope may not unreasonably be cherished that his Lordship's divergence begins. At twenty or twenty-two the daughter is mar may be acted upon; and perhaps no better testimony to the value of ried; her books must be dismissed then. Her health has been Sunday school teaching could be given than that two such eminent seriously impaired. Her brother, who at nineteen knew less than lawyers as Lord Hatherley and Lord Selborne have been for years she, at twenty-two surpasses her; at twenty-eight there is no comin the habit of personally devoting their time to it. parison. Boys' schools do not allow such cramming as those of girls do; healthy exercise, and the postponement of urgent work for four or five years longer than their sisters can, does the rest. 9. EDUCATION IN DENMARK. The girls have too many studies. The practice of the piano alone The new Education Bill introduced into the Danish Chamber by absorbs a large portion of the day, bringing considerable physical M. Hall, the Minister of Worship and Instruction, though not in exhaustion with it; what are commonly known as accomplishments, advance of public opinion in Denmark, is evidently of a very such as drawing and painting, take up much more, and the remainthorough-going character. Compulsory education at the expense der of the day is occupied in grappling with all manner of things. of the State has existed in Denmark since the beginning of the cen- Most of these seminaries give for a graduating course, among other tury, but the compulsion put in exercise has not been found ade- things, instruction in four languages, but it would be entirely safe quate for the purpose. According to the new bill, children of both in saying that neither of them become useful. The pupil is never sexes are to be under strict obligation to attend school until their able to converse or translate easily in either of them, in a year has fifteenth year is completed, after which it is assumed they will be lost even what little skill she did have, and in ten years retains ready for secondary instruction. Those children who go on to the scarcely a single word of either. In the case of the boy, however, latter will be taught in separate schools, especially created for the he has leisure enough for the first few years to keep up his knowpurpose. The demands by any six pupils above the age of fifteen-ledge, and his whole subsequent life enables him occasionally to find either boys or girls-for higher instruction than the elementary this instruction of value, even though he may not have increased schools can provide will impose the duty of establishing in any it, or it may have diminished. If young women could attend school commune a superior school for their use. The course of study, until twenty-one, and then have three years of post graduate leiswhich now extends to six years and a half is raised to seven and a ure, there can be no doubt that the productive result would be far half. Compulsion is exercised by means of fines inflicted on neg-greater. The hot-house plant now withers and dies. lectful parents, the amount of which is to be increased. The money to be obtained in this way is to be distributed among the families of the poor who shall have exhibited most zeal in the ins struction of their children. The most effective supervision of the schools is provided for by the appointment of eight general inspectors entrusted with the duty of seeing to the strict observance of the rules and regulations laid down. 10. HIGHER EDUCATION FOR GIRLS. We have seen the efforts made to bring into greater prominence the desirability of higher female education but less has been said of the arguments against attempts to achieve too much in this direction. The N. Y. Albion speaks of forcing processes which are a mistake in the majority of instances, and the inutility of expecting that boys and girls are to attain to a similar educational condition. We fancy that excessive toil at girls' schools is not so much in vogue as formerly. Still the point is well taken. The Albion says, after noting certain instances of distinguished French scholarships: With the examples before them of what their sex can do, it is not improbable that the next generation may even contest supremacy with men on these grounds, as Elizabeth Carter did with classical scholars in her day, and Caroline Hershchell with astronomers of the present age. This possibility their opponents do not deny, They simply assert that this result is gained at too great a cost, and that the essential character of womanhood is too much changed by these strenuous efforts to enable woman to fulfil her duties in life properly. Few out of those who attain distinction at their school would be able to keep up their studies in their after life, and they only at the price of great exertions. Married life must be nominal; no family can be attended to, the cares of maternity are absorbing, and the conducting a household takes many hours a day. Men could not succeed if so weighted down; neither can women, with less physical power. That education is the best that leads to the improvement of the actual condition of him or her who receives it, and any instruction which is not fitted to the nature of the pupil is thrown away. Of what avail is it for a girl whose life will be passed in domestic cares to study Greek or Latin? Her school hours can only teach her the rudiments of this knowledge; the filling in, the continued pursuit of the literature of those nations, can only be done with leisure and means. An education takes money, as well as time. IV. Papers on Practical Science. 1. NECESSITY FOR EDUCATION IN PRACTICAL SCIENCE. At a meeting of the Machinists and Blacksmiths' Convention, held in Albany, in September, a resolution was adopted, deploring the general deficiency of mechanics and a knowledge of the theory and higher branches of their trades, and recommending that some means be taken for affording opportunities for elevation in this respect. The machinist would be none the worse if he had more of an acquaintance with Euclid, and less with lager beer; or the blacksmith, if he knew how to drive home and clench an argument in metaphysics as skilfully as a horse-shoe nail; or the dentist, if he could extract hidden Greek roots with the same facility as grumbling molars. A man who wants to run an engine ought to be educated for his business, just as much as a lawyer for his profession. We are a patient and long-suffering people, or we would never permit ourselves to be blown up by hundreds by ignorant engineers, who know nothing more of the monsters which they control than enough to feed them with wood and water, and oil up their creaking joints; or suffer ourselves to be sent to our graves by striplings in short jackets, who give us arsenic for paregoric, and strychnine for the elixir of life. The time is coming, and we trust is not far distant, when all positions of responsibility will be filled by men of education, and can be filled by none others; when ignoramuses will be obliged either to fit themselves for their proposed labours, or seek other employments.-N. Y. State Educational Journal. 2. PRACTICAL SCIENCE-REGRETS OF HORACE GREELEY. elements of practical science in his youth, Mr. Greeley in an adIn expressing his regrets that he had not been taught any of the dress in Pennsylvannia, said: "I have travelled all over this earth, from the Adriatic Sea on the east to the Pacific Ocean on the west, and every day I have deplored the want of knowledge of chemistry The question now arises, whether our schools here answer the of God's creation across the plains, which spoke with God's eloand geology as I walk dumb and blind amid the wonderful works purpose for which they are designed? Is the result as good as should quence, which my limited education prevented me from enjoying. be expected? We are afraid most impartial persons, whether I had no other time for schooling than in the winters of the first friends of high education for women, or opponents, will say that ten years of my youth. I never saw during that time a book on these institutions which go beyond the range of the public schools chemistry or geology-never knew that such books existed-and I do not answer. Our female seminaries, colleges, and high schools feel now that my life would have been more useful and more enjoytend too much to cramming. No one has sufficient ability to pursueable if I had time and the chance to study them." 3. THE RELATION TO ELEMENTARY, OF SCIENTIFIC TEACHING. all the studies laid down for feeble girls, and the very assiduity with which these young pupils apply themselves to their books prevents them from equalling their brothers. Boys are enabled to study hard by having sufficient play and exercise. Their lessons are notoriously not so well prepared as those of the other sex; their attainments, The two fundamental principles on which the science of teaching judged by the book standard, are less at the age of nineteen than rests are: first, the mind is developed by a right exertion of its those of the young ladies. But with the latter it then ends. The own power; second, the kind of action excited and knowledge obteaching of six or seven years is compressed for girls in three; and tained is determined by the occasions presented. |