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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. It 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

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 delayed it some.

On behalf of the publishers, past and future, I subscribe myself 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 price 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 force 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 whieh 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

some unfeeling son or daughter of Appollo has imposed upon the young pianist the task of walking with a staff loaded with Sixty-Fourths! There are trials of patience, when many a severe effort fails to accomplish the task imposed, and curses are heaped upon the hated volumo and the discordant harp. There are trials of thought, when the mind must find expression on the written page, and hungry critics are eager to scan its productions with an uncharitable eye and an unfeeling heart. There are trials of confidence, when the stage calls for its trembling victim, and the heart shrinks before the gaze of piercing eyes. There are trials of shrewdness, when, in the heated debate, the quickest turn and the sharpest saying are to set the seal of ability.

But the darkest shades are yet untouched. There are trials of self-control, when unmerited abuse is suffered, and depraved human nature rises to wreak its vengeance on its oppressor. There are trials of self-abasement, when friends lavish their praises, and Flattery administers her intoxicating draughts. There are trials of moral courage, when Temptation flaunts in gilded trappings, and seeks to allure us from the paths of Industry and Virtue ;—when Pleasure persuades us to ignore the teachings we learned on a mother's knee, and forces us to accept her call though entreaty and authority and Reason and Conscience are saying, "This is the way; walk ye in it ;"—when Gayety leads to enchanted Halls, whose scenery vanishes before the light of day, and whose pleasures are

"like the snow-flake on the river,

A moment white, then gone forever."

There are trials of the heart, when beauty dazzles the eye, and talents win esteem; when glances tell a thousand tales, and smiles are all-powerful to charm; when Cupid's arrow flies with unerring aim, and Venus' altar is heaped with the willing sacrifice. There are trials of the body, when servants prove faithless, and we are forced to exlaim, "What shall we eat, and what shall we drink?"

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