the circulars that preceded the publication of the Journal, and in its pages since.

When the committee accepted from the State Association the responsibility of establishing an educational journal in Vermont, they did it with a full knowledge of the difficulties that surrounded the undertaking, and of the responsibilities they must meet, both pecuniarily and othrwise.

Having previously obtained about six hundred subcribers, they commenced the publication with an edion of fifteen hundred copies. One of the committee ave up his school and devoted four months of his time holly to canvassing for the Journal in nine counties of he State. The other continued his school by the aid of assistants, and gave the most of his time to the same interest. They found the teachers and friends of education in the State largely in favor of the enterprise, although not always ready to attest their interest by the small subscription of one dollar.

At the end of nine months they felt authorized to enlarge the Journal to thirty-two pages and the monthly edition to seventeen hundred copies.

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With volume second the edition was increased to two thousand copies per month. Since then, this number has been issued monthly. Many copies have been distributed gratuitously, for the purpose of extending the circulation of the Journal, and our exchange list is large. On closing their official relation to the Journal, Sept. 22d, 1860, the committee found that the Journal was indebted to them about one hundred dollars each for money actually paid out, as no charge has ever been made for time (which was more than money to them) spent in its service. They also found that there was enough due the Journal to cover the expense incurred, as above mentioned, provided it were all paid.

The committee have twice reported to the State Association, and tendered the Journal to that body. It de

clined accepting the charge, but endorsed the action of the committee and requested them "to continue the publication of the Journal according to their best judgment of what the best interests of education in the State require, and on their own responsibility." By this repeated action, the Journal is compelled to assume, in some degree, the character of a private enterprise. But it is not, therefore, nor can it be made, a money-making enterprise. If any of our friends think so, we should be glad to let them try it on, until they should be satisfied that whoever undertakes to sustain an educational Journal, must do so at a loss, is a work that requires much self-sacrifice.

The question with us has been, shall we discontinue the Journal, and thus lose the vantage ground gained to the cause, or go on? Neither of the committee could bring himself to favor the first course. The Journal must be sustained! And, now, friends, who will do it? Will you help, by increasing its circulation and cheerfully contributing your mite to its support? Its character will be, in a great degree, what your support makes it.

A word as to the change of place of publication. A slight rupture in our business relations at Montpelier obliged us to job out the November and December num. bers. This has delayed their issue. The printing was well done. But we were not able to be present, and some mistakes were made. The wrong paging of the November number we have tried to make up for in the index. The title page in the December number was put in by the printer without our direction. We shall endeavor to guard against similar errors in future, as their occurrence has made us feel the necessity of having the printing done at Brattleboro hereafter, and as this is the place of all the business of the Journal, we have thought it best to substitute Brattleboro for Montpelier, upon the title page. Some have expressed fears to us that this change will tend to decrease the circulation of the Journal. We hope not. Many letters and exchanges intended for us

I

are now sent to Montpelier, greatly to our inconvenience. Besides, this is the place of publication, and it seems to us that it should so appear upon the title page. The distribution can be made as rapidly from this place as from Montpelier, and many will receive their numbers sooner. Our last number paid a visit to Boston by express, which lelayed it some.

On behalf of the publishers, past and future, I subscribe nyself Yours, without end to the Journal,

A. E. LEAVENWORTH.

WHY NOT ADVERTISE?

We advertise our schools in the Journal, as we do largely in other periodicals, because we believe that advertising pays. It costs us money, too; but we again call the attention of the Principals of Academies and Seminaries to our proposition to advertise for them free— that is, to the full amount of new subscriptions sent us by them. For $3 we will send three copies of the Journal one year and advertise one-half page, one insertion. For $5, five copies and one page, one insertion. For $12, twelve copies and one-fourth page one year; or at any other of the rates for advertising in the Journal, for one month or one year, according to the amount paid.

We call the attention of our readers to the advertisements appended to this number.

Boardman, Gray & Co.'s Pianos, with insulated iron rim and frame, are the instruments to buy; and, then, they are so cheap. Every School House should have a Bell, and Meneely's Sons know how to make them.

Littell's Living Age-read the Star Paper and then send for the Age.

The advertisements of S. S. & W. Wood, and of D. Appleton & Co., will repay a careful perusal.

Prof. Owen's Classical series should not be passed by.

You will always find the advertisements of the two great Dicticnaries, and of Barre Academy.

Dr. Blackall's Water-cure is worthy of attention, and the WaterCure World will give much useful information.

The Brattleboro cards are genuine.

NOTICES OF BOOKS, PUBLICATIONS, &C.

THE MATHEMATICAL MONTHLY.

Teachers and students of Mathematics! you ought to subscribe to the Mathematical monthly for the following reasons:

1st-Each number contains simple and elementary notes upon subjects which you teach and study.

2nd-You must have text books, and you wish to use the best The Mathematical monthly contains carefully prepared notices especially intended to aid you in making a selection.

ones.

3rd-You need works of reference upon all the subjects of Mathematics which you teach and study, and the Mathematical Monthly notices will save you many times the subscription pri by preventing the purchase of useless books.

4th-You will aid in sustaining the Mathematical Monthly Prizes offered to students for solutions and essays.

5th-You will aid in sustaining a Journal devoted to your own profession.

6th-You will find a large list of Mathematical books from which, if you wish, the editor, Mr. I. D. Runkle, will aid you in making selections adapted to your wants.

Subscription price $3, or twenty-five cents per number, with large reductions to clubs. Address Sever & Francis, Publishers, Cambridge, Mass. We will send the Vermont School Journal and Mathematical Monthly one year for $3.

DEATH.

In Brooklyn, N. Y., Sunday, Dec. 2nd, after a brief illness, Mrs. Lucy R., wife of E. Sprout, Esq., of B., aged 29 years and 7 months. Seldom are the judgments of God more unsearchable or his ways past finding out than in this death. Mrs. Sprout was the daughter of Mr. William Brown, of Williamstown, and for many years had been engaged as teacher, both in Vermont and at the South, and for nearly four years previous to her marriage, in Oct. 1859, she had been connected with the Ladies' Seminary at North Granville, N. Y., as one of the principal assistants of Mr. Orcutt. For thoroughness of scholarship, clearness and aptness in teaching, easy but complete control of her scholars, and for foree and energy of character, and general executive ability, she had few superiors or equals. To these rare qualities were added the graces of an earnest Christian life. Not only is the stricken husband with his little motherless daughter and the other immediate friends of the deceased most sorely afflicted, but the intelligence of this death will fill with deepest grief the hearts of the hundreds of her pupils scattered over the land. Surely the ways of God are in the deep, clouds and darkness are round about him.- Vt. Chron.

VERMONT

SCHOOL JOURNAL AND FAMILY VISITOR.

VOLUME III.

FEBRUARY, 1861.

NUMBER II.

SCHOOL LIFE-ITS SHADY AND ITS SUNNY SIDE.

Every object in the world of matter, when illuminated by the light of the sun, presents, at the same time, a shady and a sunny side. The star of the first magnitude, which seems, to the eye of sense, but a ball of fire, reflecting, from its every side, the brightness which it has gathered from the orb of day, is nothing less than a mighty planet, with its one side lighted up with celestial radiance, while over the other, sable Night stretches her scepter, and holds undisputed sway in her empire of Darkness. So, in the immaterial world, those objects which are seen by the eye of Mind are, at times, illuminated by the clearer light of Heaven, and again bedimmed and darkened by its frown. School-Life furnishes a fit illustration of this truth. It, too, has its shady and its sunny side. Let us see how shady is the one, and how sunny is the other.

In opposition to the popular but erroneous opinion that School-Life is a life of unalloyed pleasure, we contend that it is not less a life of trials. Of these the name is Legion. There are trials of skill, when intricate questions are to be solved, and knots to be untied, more difficult than that which proved too complicated for the art of Alexander. There are trials of judgment, when the nice distinctions to be made in classic research demand the practiced eye and the quick perception. There are trials of strength, when the student turns the ponderous lexicon, or when