few questions and answers united in bonds of endearing affection the philosopher and Xenephon, the historian, who wrote, like Thucydides, for eternity. The demon which Socrates claimed as his private monitor was nothing but prudence, which, etymologically, is providence. Socrates, in the civil wars of Greece, was a patriot and a soldier. His history is eminently suited to our times.

It would be contrary to the most approved usage in a letter for a public Journal, or in an essay on any topic of general interest, not to allude to the theme which occupies all minds, distresses all hearts, and draws tears from all eyes.

We have all read history from our youth. You and I have studied the graphic and sententious descriptions which Thucydides and Tacitus have given us of the civil wars of Greece and Rome. We have also heard of the thirty years war in Germany, of the war of the Roses in England, and of the bloody French Revolution, and we have regarded these instructive lessons of the past as somewhat mythological. For myself I should as soon have expected Jupiter to resume his throne on Olympus, or Neptune to raise his trident in the Aegean sea, or Pluto to wield his iron sceptre over the "grizzly ghosts" of the nether world, as to live to see our happy land bathed in fraternal blood. The fountains of the great deep of human passions have been broken up; the flood is rolling in upon us, and we do not yet descry any consecrated ark riding upon its surges. It is far easier to demonstrate its cause than its cure. Physicians sometimes find it more convenient to give the diagnosis of the disease than to prescribe a remedy. So the sage Don Quixote reasoned with his poor Esquire, smarting under his wounds: "The reason, Sancho, why thou feelest pain all down thy back, is that the stick that gave it thee was of a length to that extent." "Odds my life," exclaimed Sancho impatiently, "as if I could not guess that of my own head. The question is, how am I to get rid of it." This is the problem

with us.
We all hope and pray for a speedy issue; but
the great lesson that history teaches, is that such civil
wars usually last as long as the generation lives that orig-
inated them. The encouragement we derive from the
teachings of history is, that the results of all these desola-
ting conflicts alluded to, have been worth the expense of
maintaining them. We all have an abiding faith that
truth and justice will ultimately triumph; but we must
remember that justice is lame and tardy, and truth is the
daughter of time. We do well to be hopeful, to cherish
the land of our birth; we do better to hold fast to the
Union of these sister Republics, by whose mutual aid the
great temple of liberty has been reared, whose ample arch
shelters the oppressed of every land, and gives security
to the arts of peace and sanctity to the works of benevo-
lence. We do BEST when we reverence the Constitution
of the United States, as the noblest production of human
wisdom, and the most beneficent form of government ever
devised by man. It has been our palladium for the lar-
ger part of a century; it will, I trust, continue to be so in
future years,—

"That o'er each sister land,
Shall lift the country of our birth,
And nurse her strength till she shall stand,
The pride and pattern of the earth.
Till younger Commonwealths for aid,
Shall cling about her ample robe,

And from her frown shall shrink afraid,
The crowned oppressors of the globe."

-N. H. Journal of Education.

RELIGION AT HOME." Let them learn first," says Paul, "to show piety at home." Religion should begin in the family. The holiest sanctuary is home. The family altar is more venerable than that of the cathedral. The education of the soul for eternity should begin and be carried on at the fireside.

VERMONT TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION.

PROF. M. H. BUCKHAM'S LECTURE.

ABSTRACT.

Tuesday morning, at the time appointed, the President of the Association introduced Prof. M. H. Buckham, who announced as his theme, "The English Language in Schools." The Professor observed, that a man is known by his speech. His moral and intellectual character and culture, and his early home and school training are all largely expressed by it. Moral character is expressed in tones; intellectual, in the selection of words and the management of sentences. Speech is the greatest power we have. Do our schools sufficiently cultivate it? The lecturer charged all our schools with neglect, but said the higher schools were guilty of the greater neglect. Our educated men are also guilty of gross neglect. In no civilized country is the mother tongue so carelessly spoken as in America. The schools can do something to improve the national speech. They can cultivate good full tones and clear English articulation. There are imperfect points, and the teacher should always set a good example in regard to them. Spelling is to be included in our study of English, and is best taught by taking words as they are found grouped in sentences. Special care should be taken in regard to the spelling of all inflected words, the plural of money is moneys, not monies, in spite of the newspapers. Spelling should sometimes be by writing. Penmanship is also worthy of attention. Time was when writing was something to be read and that could be read.

The lecturer thought that the importance of reading had come to be appreciated, though good readers and good teachers of reading were yet far from common enough. He said that reading is dropped too soon in the course of education. To read well requires much mental discipline and much practice. Readers are not adapted to the wants of higher schools. A volume of history or of poetry is better, and of these let there be an occasional

change; with good management the expense need not be very great. The Professor's remarks here seemed to imply the reading of long lessons, that is of a page or two, by advanced classes; and this is doubtless well for classes that are really advanced. In regard to the choice and arrangement of words the school can do something, but the chief reliance must be placed on example. Those studies which require the pupil to extemporize his language in recitation are of great value in this respect; in such studies the pupil's language should be made a matter of criti cism. In translations it is important that the author read should be rendered into good English, leaving the pecu. liar syntax of the original to be determined by other exercises after the translation.

MR. JUDAH DANA'S LECTURE.—ABSTRACT.

The Association was called to order by the President, and, after singing, was addressed by Mr. Judah Dana, of Windsor High School, on the subject of Teaching Arithmetic.

Mr. Dana said that every teacher should have some mode of teaching every subject, and particularly so of Arithmetic. The method should be really the teacher's own, either originally his, or borrowed from some other source and made his. He must not be compelled to rely on books, above all on keys. He should not hurry. To do a thing quick be slow about it. Let the pupil do his own work; observe his method; if that is right do not correct his mistakes.

Definitions are the foundations; let them be firmly, clearly fixed and understood. Take time with them; half a lesson learned is all gain, a whole lesson half learned is all loss. After the definitions comes Numeration. Teach the order of units in one period, then the periods; this is all. After reading, write. Then comes Addition. Look to the definitions. See what is essential, what convenient. One point essential: things to be added when of a specif

ic name must be of the same kind. In Subtraction proceed as in Addition. In Multiplication note always what is the true multiplicand, and that the multiplier is an abstract number; also show that to multiply a number by each of two numbers, and then add the products, will give the same result as to multiply the given multiplicand by the sum of the two multipliers.

Mr. Dana insisted that short and long division were not two, but one; both are equally carried on in the mind. In fractions he said we should first be sure the pupil understands the meaning of the terms used. The numerator is the true number to be multipled or divided; the denominator is its label. The terms of the fraction you became acquainted with in division; treat them as old friends now. In division of fractions it is best to reduce both dividend and divisor to a common denominator; we really do so of necessity, to do so in form and explain accordingly is easiest for the pupil : and to divide a whole number by a fraction always first multiply the whole number by the denominator of the fraction, for this reduces the dividend to the denomination of the divisor.

Mr. Dana maintained, as stoutly as justly, that we should never allow the pupil to suppose that operations with compound numbers and decimal fractions differ at all, in principle, from those in simple numbers and vulgar fractions.

The reasons for some operations in simple numbers are most clearly explained by comparison with like operations in compound numbers, as for example that of carrying in addition.

For reckoning interest two methods should be taught; 1st. Find the interest on one dollar for the given time, then on the number of dollars: 2d. Find the interest on the given sum for one year, then for the number of years.

Mr. Dana would not give the pupil set rules to learn, but would perform an example, and require the pupil afterwards to write out his own rule.