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EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.

OUR SUMMER SCHOOLS are about to commence,—an event of no small interest to this commonwealth. From our district schools flow the life-blood of the State. To these chiefly must we look for that instruction, discipline and influence, which are to give character to the rising generation and to fit men and women for the responsible duties of the ominous future. Home education as it is, cannot be relied upon for this purpose; the Pulpit can only aid in the great work,-cannot accomplish it alone. How little do Vermont parents and citizens realize the importance of our public schools. And especially are we in danger of neglecting the interests of education amid the excitements of the day, when the public mind is roused to the defence and protection of our Altars, our Homes, and our Free Institutions. But we may know that our national difficulties would never have occurred, the dark cloud that now hangs over us would rever have gathered, if publie schools had always and everywhere been what they should have been. No one will deny this statement, yet the idea is an important one in all its bearings upon the present and the future. Our Common Schools, under proper management, are a surer protection of our rights and would afford a more formidable defence against wrong and oppression, than all the physical strength that can be cultivated and employed. We must depend more upon education than upon bayonets, for the support of our cherished institutions, or despotism will soon assume the throne. Come what may, our schools cannot with safety be neglected.

With what care and earnestness will our farmers engage in their "Spring's work" in the cultivation of the soil. No time will be lost to break the "fallow ground," to mellow and enrich the earth and to deposit the seed, so as to make available the sun-light and heat, and the "former and latter rain." They have already secured the best (not the cheapest) laborers for the field and the kitchen. The most approved and hence the most expensive implements of husbandry, have been purchased; the patent hoe, and rake, and scythe, and mowing-machine. Indeed, everything necessary or desirable will be done and in good season; for success and profit depend upon these very things.

Now the question arises, have the Vermont farmers made as careful and thorough preparation for our Common Schools, about

to commence? Every one must admit the necessity of such preparation. Have they repaired and put in order their school houses with as much care as they have their barns? Have they provided their children, with a supply of the best books and apparatus, as they have their servants with the best tools? Have they sought and secured only the best qualified Teachers, without regard to expense, as they have their help employed? And have they resolved to give their children the full control of their time, that they may make the greatest improvement; and often to visit their schools, that they may cheer and encourage both teacher and pupils, and know for themselves that their money spent for school purposes, is not wasted? These are important questions, and parents will do well to consider them attentively and answer them conscientiously.

Our Summer Schools will be under the management and instruction of female teachers. This is as it should be. Woman is, by nature and education, peculiarly fitted for the position and duties of the teacher. The family and the school is her sphere of action. While she remains in that sphere and when fitted for it, she exerts the greatest possible influence for good; but when she leaves it for the pulpit or the forum, her strength is wasted and her glory has departed.

It is a wise policy that has, in many instances, substituted female for male teachers for our winter schools. The wages usually paid ordinary male teachers, the mere drones in our profession, who eat a full share but make no honey, would secure the services of the best professional female teachers who are capable of governing and instructing our most difficult schools. Let school agents remember this fact and act accordingly.

In the success of our Summer Schools we feel a deep interest, and to the hundreds of young ladies about to be employed in them, we would speak a word of encouragement. We propose in our next numbers, to make some suggestions for their special benefit, upon the mode and means of school keeping, and to give them the benefit of our experience and observation in the district and the school room.

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"Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him."

"He that spareth his rod, hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes."-PROVERBS.

EDITORIAL MISCELLANY.

The next annual meeting of the American Institute of Instruction [Hon. D. B. Hagar, of Jamaica Plain, Mass., President] will be held at Brattleboro, sometime during the month of August next. A more extended notice of the meeting will be published in future numbers of the Journal.

DAVID MARSH WARREN, A. M., of Philadelphia, the distinguished author of Warren's Physical, Common School, and Primary Geographies, (which are among the best text books in our schools,) died in Baltimore, March 10. Mr. Warren has been long known and highly esteemed among the educators of our country.

MASSACHUSETTS has 4497 public schools; her pupils between. the age of 5 and 15, number 233,714; the number of teachers in the winter schools is 5210; average wages of male teachers, including board, $50,56; of female teachers, $19,98; amount expended on public schools alone, for instruction and board of teachers, $1,565,103 75.

OHIO has 892,844 pupils from the age of 5 to 21; 20,791 teachers have received the past year for services, $2,760,828.

RHODE ISLAND has 27,756 pupils, and has employed 595 teachers, and expended for the support of her schools $120,075 26.

NOW, AND THEN.-The Anglo-Saxons, who now stand at the head of the races, were heathen barbarians less than 2000 years ago.

A CLERGYMAN BECOME A TEACHER.-The Rev. H. M. Grout resigned the charge of the Congregational Church in Putney, and was dismissed by a council February 27th. He has since been elected Principal of Monson Academy, at Monson, Mass.

DARTMOUTH COLLEGE.-Rev. G. T. Chapman, D. D., of Newburyport, says the Journal, is now completing the biographical notices of the alumni of Dartmouth College, commenced by the late Dr. Richards, and wishes all those who have not supplied the desired information, to do so without delay.

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTE.-William B. Astor, of New York, Hon. William L. Dayton, of New Jersey, and President C. C. Felton, of Massachusetts, have been appointed regents of the Smithsonian Institute.

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NOTICES OF BOOKS, PUBLICATIONS, &c.

The Old Log School House, furnitured with Incidents of School Life, Notes of Travel, Poetry, Hints to Teachers and Pupils, and Miscellaneous Sketches; Illustrated. By Rev. Alexander Clark, Editor of Clark's School Visitor. Large 12mo., price one dollar. Learz, Getz & Co., Philadelphia. We have read this work with much interest. It offers a rich treat to all. The story of the Old Log School House is founded upon fact, yet no one will fail to find in it many a well drawn picture of incidents in his own boyhood. As we read the book, so graphic and life-like is the narrative, we forgot the present in the stirring scenes of the past. Blessed be the memory of the old school house where we first stood up with Webster in hand, to say our a bc's. How abashed we felt as we looked at the frontispiece and then at our teacher, and thought of the sublime height he had attained, while we saw ourselves at the foot of that rugged hill.

To every teacher who commenced his course in a rough country school house, we would say, buy this book and read it, if you would revel once more in the joys and struggle again with the trials of your early school days, and enjoy anew the pleasure of the triumphs which marked your early progress in the path of knowledge.

Palmer's History of England, a new text book, upon a plan novel and attractive, illustrated by plates, with a chart-the "Royal Oak," showing the succession of the Crown of England, from Egbert to Victoria. 12mo., 445 pages. One dollar, retail, or nine dollars per dozen to teachers. Robert S. Davis & Co., Boston.

This book supplies a desideratum long felt by teachers who have desired a text book that should contain, within a suitable compass, a history of England that would be sufficiently complete for the American student, and at the same time be written in an attractive style. The style is attractive and the arrangement methodical. The work has been used with great success in many of the best schools of the country, and we heartily eommend it to teachers and school officers. Next to a knowledge of the history of our own country, ranks in importance an acquaintance with the history of the mother country."

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Greenleaf's Series, published, also, by R. S. Davis & Co., arc, together with Colburn's Mental, the only authorized text books upon the science of Arithmetic, in Vermont. The quiet unanimity

with which they have been received into our schools since their adoption by the Board of Education, strongly attests their high merit.

Questions on the Acts of the Apostles, by H. Hamlin. Published by Henry Hoyt, Boston. This series of lessons is designed, both for young minds and for those of maturer growth. We are pleased with the arrangement and scope of the questions and references, and doubt not that it will prove an excellent help to the study of the Acts.

North American Review. The April number of this erudite quarterly is before us, being the last of Vol. XCII., and No. CXCI. from the commencement of the publication. The contents of the present number are: I. Criminal Procedure; II. Smith's Tables of Ecclesiastical History; III. Explorations in Eastern Africa; IV. Documentary History of the Revolution; V. De Gerando; VI. Temporal Power of the Church; VII. The Literature of Power; VIII. Slavery-Its Origin and its Remedy; IX, Appleton on the Rules of Evidence; X. Travel in Europe; XI, Critical Notices. Terms, $5,00 per annum. Address: Crosby, Nichols, Lee & Co., 117 Washington Street, Boston

Atlantic Monthly for May. Contents: Agnes of Sorento, Rest and Motion, Lights of the English Lake District, Pink and Blue, Pomegranate-Flowers, the Prairie State, Concerning Future Years, Brother Jonathan's Lament for Sister Caroline, Original Memorials of Mrs. Piozzi, The Niger and its Explorers, Reviews and Literary Notices.

The first article is the commencement of Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe's new Serial, which is to be continued throughout the year. This opening number is charming. It was written while the author was sojourning in Southern Italy, and her pen seems to have been inspired by the beautiful scenery of Sorento, blended with the dash of the Mediterranean upon her rocky shores. Let all who would enjoy a monthly treat from this gifted author, subscribe at once for the Atlantic, which is still furnished with the School Journal for three dollars per year.

Harper's New Monthly Magazine for May, closes the twentysecond volume of this valuable publication. The contents are, A Summer in New England, (Boston and Lowell,) The Old Love

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