The effects of these measures were, in many instances, most salutary. In Nantucket, a town of ten thousand inhabitants, two additional schools for young children, and one for more advanced pupils, were added in one year to the previous number. Within the last year,' says the secretary, every 'school-house in Nantucket has been provided with a good ventilator. For the town school, an extensive and valuable apparatus has been provided. A year ago, in the town of Salem, 'the school-houses were without ventilation, and many of them ' with such seats as excited vivid ideas of corporal punishment, ' and almost prompted one to ask the children for what offence they had been condemned to them." At an expense of about two thousand dollars, the seats in all the school-houses except one, have been re-constructed, and provisions for ventilation ' have been made. I am told that the effect, in the quiet, attention, and proficiency of the pupils, was immediately manifested.' The following facts also indicated improvement :

6

6.66

6

In 1839, the sum raised by taxation on the towns for

In 1839, the average amount of salaries paid to male

Being an increase on the salaries, per month, of

In 1839, the average paid to female teachers per month,

was, say

In 1837, it was only

Dollars. Cents.

477,221 24 447,809 96

29,411 28

33 08

25 44

7 64

12 75

11 38

1 37

Increase,

During the year 1840, more school-houses have been erected than for ten years previous to 1838; and not only is the number greater, but many of them are admirable specimens of 'school-house architecture.'

The public mind was awakened to the importance of education, and the deficiencies of the teachers were widely recognized. There is scarcely a single instance,' says the secretary, in the reports, where the school committees speak with universal com'mendation of the teachers whom they have appointed.' An improved education of the teachers is loudly called for. These facts afford strong evidence of the possibility of operating on the public mind by means of an organized system, and authorized

functionaries, wielding moral powers alone; and in this point of view they appear to us to be instructive to ourselves.

In these Reports, another and rather singular fact is mentioned, which ought also to excite attention on this side of the Atlantic. A change, it is said, is rapidly taking place, both in the public 'sentiment and action, in regard to the employment of female 'teachers. The number of male teachers, in all the summer and winter schools, for the last year, was thirty-three less than for 'the year preceding, while the number of females was one hundred and three more. That females are incomparably better 'teachers for young children than males, cannot admit of a doubt. Their manners are more mild and gentle, and hence 6 more in consonance with the tenderness of childhood.' This statement is worthy of serious consideration in this country, where employment suited to women of cultivated minds and polished manners, is greatly wanted.

Much as Massachusetts was suffering from the deficiencies of her common school teachers, the state had, hitherto, made no provision for training and instructing schoolmasters. Amidst the general excitement, however, produced by the publications of the Board, a private citizen stepped forth and conferred on his country that inestimable benefit. Mr E. Dwight, a merchant of the city of Boston, offered a gift of ten thousand dollars, on the condition that the state should grant an equal sum, to be applied to the institution of Normal schools. The offer was accepted, and three excellent schools for the training of teachers are now in operation.

Feeling deeply the want of proper and instructive books, to carry forward the mental progress of the young after they had learned to read, the next object of the Board was to take measures for the publication of a series of works, to compose a suitable common school library. No funds are placed at their disposal for this purpose; nor have they any power to compel the school committees to purchase their books in constituting district libraries. They depend on the zeal and enterprize of a publishing firm in Boston, Messrs Marsh, Capen, Lyon, and Webb, for the production of the works; and these gentlemen rely on the intrinsic merits of the books, and on the moral influence of the Board in recommending them, for their sale. The library will embrace two series of works of 50 volumes each; the one to be in 18mo, averaging from 250 to 280 pages per volume; the other in 12mo, each volume of which will consist of from 350 to 400 pages. They are designed for reading, and not for school, class, or text books. In the preparation of these works, as well as in the subjects to be taught in school,

.

we might have expected some difficulties to arise, as in this country, on the thorny point of difference in religious opinions. But this evil also has been successfully avoided. No work is admitted by the Board into the school library, except it has received the sanction of every one of its own members. Although,' says the report, it may not be easy theoretically to draw the line between those views of religious truth and of Christian faith which are common to all, and may therefore with propriety be inculcated in school, and those which, being peculiar to individual sects, are therefore by law excluded; still it is believed, that no practical difficulty occurs in the conduct of our schools in this respect. It is the general sentiment of the people of all denominations, 'that religious instruction shall be left to parents at the fireside, and to those religious teachers to whose ministrations parents ' and guardians may choose to confide their own spiritual guid" ance, and that of those dependent on them. The legislature, therefore, has but acted in accordance with the sense of the whole community, in prescribing that no books shall be directed by school committees to be purchased, or used in any of the town schools, "which are calculated to favour the Stenets of any particular sect of Christians."

The list of authors who have undertaken to prepare works for the school library, contains the names of the most distinguished men in the United States, and the volumes are prepared in a handsome and substantial style by the publishers.

We might have anticipated serious obstruction to the Board of education, from the political parties and religious sects which contend for superiority in Massachusetts. Such, however, has not occurred. Fierce opposition, as we shall immediately show, did arise; but it emanated exclusively from the enemies of all public improvements. The real friends of the people, with admirable magnanimity, laid aside every prejudice, and joined cordially in promoting the general good. The Board reports, that no sectarian or party interest has, in any single case, been manifested; and those attending the meetings have fcome together as on ground common to every good citizen. It may be regarded as by no means one of the least beneficial results of holding these conventions, that they unite, in an object of permanent and sacred interest, all those who, however alienated from each other in reference to other topics of public concernment, take a lively and a common interest in the welfare of the rising generation.' This point is so impor tant, that we subjoin Mr Mann's own testimony and experience on the subject. In the autumn of 1840, when his educational

conventions were held, the political struggle between the Democrats and the Whigs was at its height. The two parties, drawn up in hostile array, were closely engaged in the election of a President of the United States. The contest resulted in the ejection of Mr Van Buren at the end of his first term of four years; and the election of General Harrison, the Whig candidate, in his stead. The contest thinned the attendance at several of the conventions; but, says Mr Mann, notwithstanding the height to which the voice of party contest arose out'side the walls where we met, not a whisper, nor a breath of it, 6 was heard within them. By tacit and almost unanimous con'sent, the grand and enduring interests of education are held to 'belong to all mankind, and not to be restricted to any portion 'or party of them. It is a cause which enlists its advocates and champions alike from ranks which, on other subjects, are arrayed in hostile attitudes against each other; and it seems now, at least to a very considerable extent, to have become an axiom in the public mind, that the diffusion of useful knowledge, the increase of intellectual energy, the habit of impar'tial investigation, and a higher moral purity and purpose, will assuredly, in the end, promote whatever is right, and diminish 'whatever is wrong, in the views of all parties into which our 'society is unhappily divided.' It is difficult to avoid the inference that these fortunate dispositions resulted from two causesfirst, the absence of all powers of compulsion in the Board; and secondly, the perfect impartiality of its constitution. To these may be added the discretion and strong sense of the Secretary, which seem to have acquired for him universal respect.

6

Of all the influences, exhibited in these Reports, as having been brought to operate favourably on the public mind, it appears to us that the publication and circulation throughout the State, of the abstracts of the common school returns,' has been the most powerful. In 1837, 294 towns made returns; and in 1840, 301 complied with the law; the total number of towns being 307. The returns varied in length from five to fifty lines, and, in the latter year, amounted in the whole to more than 2000 compactly written pages of letter-press.

The Secretary perused them all, made selections from them, and printed the selections under the title of Abstract of 'the Massachusetts School Returns.' These make known the actual condition of the common schools, and also the views of the school committees on a great variety of topics connected with education. The Abstract,' with the Report of the Board and that of the Secretary, as we have already mentioned, are presented annually to the legislature, by whom they are ordered

6

to be printed, and then widely circulated throughout the State. By this means, the mirror is held up to nature in the most effectual manner; and not only is there a vast amount of valuable information and useful suggestion presented to the public mind, but each district is informed of what all the others are doing. Each also sees its own attainments and deeds contrasted with those of all the other districts in the State. Instances of stolid ignorance and stupid indifference appear side by side with bright examples of talent, intelligence, energy, and zeal. These contrasts operate powerfully on the spirit of emulation; and even the most callous are roused into sensibility and shame, when they see their own imperfections exhibited to the public gaze.

In addition to the information to be derived from the official labours and yearly Reports of the Board, we may refer also to the Common School Journal,' published at a cheap rate every fortnight, and dedicated to the diffusion of knowledge on education. It seems to be conducted, not officially, but as a labour of love by Mr Mann, with the assistance of several able and zealous coadjutors; and from the specimens we have seen, we regard the work as well calculated to advance the cause of public instruction.

Every friend of education will recollect the bitter and inveterate hostility with which certain very moderate proposals, on the part of our own government, for the promotion of public instruction, were received in both Houses of Parliament, under the influence, in some instances, of a purely fanatical, and in others of an unyielding party spirit. We regret to observe, that even in Massachusetts, where the people wield the supreme power, the efforts of the enlightened and philanthropic members of the community in this great cause are obstructed. In that State, hostility to the Board of Education has been strongly and perseveringly manifested, not only through the medium of the press, but in the legislature. One circumstance, however, attending it, is consolatory. It has proceeded, not from religious and enlightened individuals who have attended the conventions, studied the Reports, and watched the proceedings of the Board, and by these means become capable of forming a sound judgment on their merits; but, apparently, from persons who are hostile to all improvement in the public mind, and who consider their own influence in danger of being diminished in proportion as that of reason and morality is increased. We are led to this conclusion by a statement of the secretary, that the returns from the school committees in general breathe no hostility to the Board ;by the unsound and factious arguments adduced by the opponents in support of their own views ;-and by their proposing simply to