In" 
 
 AN 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 UPON 
 
 EDUCATION 
 
 AND 
 
 COMMON SCHOOLS, 
 
 DELIVERED AT 
 
 COOPERSTOW, OTSEGO COUNTY, SEPT. 21, 
 
 AND REPEATED BY REQUEST, AT 
 
 JNSTOWN, FULTON COUNTY, OCT. 17, 1813. 
 
 BY JAMES HEMY, JUN. 
 
 SUPERINTENDENT OF COMMON SCHOOLS FOX THE COUKTT OF HBUQKEB. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 A. S. BARNES & CO. 
 1847.
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 UPON 
 
 EDUCATION 
 
 AND 
 
 COMMON SCHOOLS, 
 
 DELIVERED AT 
 
 COOPERSTOWN, OTSEGO COUNTY, SEPT. 21 
 
 AND REPEATED BY REQUEST, AT 
 
 JOHNSTOWN, FULTON COUNTY, OCT. 17, 1843. 
 
 BY JAMES HENRY, JUN. 
 
 SUPERINTENDENT OF COMMON SCHOOLS FOR THE COUNTY OF HERKIMER. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 A. S. BARNES & CO. 
 1947.
 
 RECOMMENDATIONS. 
 
 Cherry-Valley. September 26, 1848. 
 
 FIE Sm: I need not say that I listened to your address on Popular Education, delivered at 
 the Court-House in Cooperstown last Thursday evening, with high gratification. I trouble 
 you with this note for the purpose of expressing my deep regret, that, when the numerous and 
 respectable audience before whom it was delivered, by their resolution unanimously requested 
 you to furnish a copy for publication, you intimated some hesitation and doubt of the propriety 
 of granting that request. I am quite sure that the resolution was not adopted by the meeting, 
 merely as a compliment to the Orator, but that it was elicited from a decided conviction that 
 its publication would be extensively and permanently useful. 
 
 I assure you, my dear sir, that I have seldom heard or read a more excellent compendium of 
 our Common School Laws than was contained in your address. You pointed out, distinctly 
 and clearly, the duties of the various school officers; you also exhibited, in a manner able and 
 lucid, the principles which ought to govern in the selection of Text Books, the qualifications 
 which Teachers ought to possess, and the high duties they are required to perform, accom- 
 panied with an impressive and eloquent appeal to the public, and especially to the philanthro- 
 pist, the patriot and the Christian, in behalf of those seminaries which' you denominate with 
 peculiar propriety _ THE PEOPLE'S SCHOOLS. 
 
 I am fully aware of the ardent zeal with which you, for a long time, have indefatigably 
 devoted yourself to improve and perfect these institutions ; a zeal which has been, and which 
 I trust will be hereafter attended with signal success ; and I earnestly hope that you will fur. 
 nish another evidence of your attachment to the great and good cause by giving to the public 
 this address. 
 
 I am, with great respect, your obed't serv't, 
 
 To JAMES HESRY, Jun. Esq. JABEZ D. HAMMOND. 
 
 Having heard a portion of Mr. Henry's address read, and being acquainted with his views 
 on the subject of Common Schools, I cheerfully unite with the Hon. Mr. Hammond in express- 
 ing the hope that it may be given to the public. 
 
 ALONZO POTTER. 
 
 Union College, Nov. 7, 1843. 
 
 I have listened with great pleasure to the whole of Mr. Henry's address, and fully concur in 
 the opinion expressed by Judge Hammond and Professor Potter, that it ought to be given to 
 the public. 
 
 S. YOUNG 
 
 Ballston, Ao. 9, 1848. 
 
 A correspondent of the Massachusetts Common School Journal of January 15, 1844, says : 
 
 " The Address, whose title has been given above, is so much superior to ordinary addresses, that 
 think the attention of the people should be directed to it, by some notice in every periodical that aims 
 to direct the public rnind. I could without difficulty, make a long article of this notice, for there is 
 hardly a paragraph in the Address that would not furnish a useful quotation, or a subject for thought 
 and serious remark: but no such notice will be attempted, it being far better that those interested in 
 the subject of the Address should procure it, and read it, and think it over, as a whole ; as a connected 
 view of what education, school books, teachers, should be; as an outline of the plan on which a 
 mighty State is now conducting one of the most important works ever undertaken by any government, 
 the instruction of every soul subject to its legislation." 
 
 As further evidence of the public estimation of the value of this Address, it may be remarked that 
 of the two editions of 5,000 copies each, the former was sold before the work issued from the press, and 
 the latter in a very few weeks after.
 
 JSP 
 
 H3f 
 
 !. 1947 
 
 DEDICATION. 
 
 
 To THE HON. SAMUEL YOUNG, 
 
 STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF COMMON SCHOOLS : 
 
 Sir In dedicating the following address upon Education and Common Schools to you, 
 I have no expectation that it will be in my power to attract still further to yourself public 
 attention, or to deepen in one single particular the profound sense of obligation which is 
 every where felt to you for the noble services which you have rendered the State as head 
 of the Department of Public Instruction. 
 
 It will be the agreeable task of the future historian to declare to your fellow-countrymen, 
 
 tn that you came into the administration of the Department in times of almost unequalled em- 
 
 ti barrassment ; when an entirely new and untried organization had just been called into 
 
 being ; an organization admirable in its conception, but against which, for reasons assigned, 
 
 ^ you have frankly declared that you were strongly prepossessed ; that you had the candor to 
 
 : examine that organization impartially, and the magnanimity publicly to avow that your first 
 
 i conception of it was wholly erroneous ; that from the moment you discovered its true cha- 
 
 J racter, you embraced it with your whole soul, and breathed into every part of it a good por- 
 
 tion of that invincible and virtuous energy for which you have been so long and so justly 
 
 distinguished ; that you have exerted with untiring assiduity all your ample and varied 
 
 t powers to perfect that organization in all its ramifications, and to provide adequate securities 
 
 i' for the public moneys, which had been in but too many instances lost by the faithlessness 
 
 M of the agents to whom their keeping had been intrusted ; in all of which you have been 
 
 2 completely successful. 
 
 " One service more and the crown of your glory is perfect. A portion of the community 
 appear to have fallen into the sad and fatal misconception, that the C6mmon School System- 
 is to become a part and parcel of ordinary party arrangements ; and that its offices are to 
 be bestowed as rewards of partisan exertions. A more lamentable error than this cannot 
 take root in the minds of the citizens of this State, and if unchecked and uncorrected, this 
 V noblest and proudest monument of our wisdom and patriotism, will be 'prostrated in the 
 dust. To you, sir, the eyes of all enlightened and virtuous citizens are now directed, with 
 full hope and confident assurance that you possess both the ability and the will to point out 
 this dangerous error to your fellow-citizens with the light, fervor and truth of the noon-day 
 1 sun-beam and to make such an irresistible appeal to the intelligence, virtue and patriotism 
 of the State as will lead to its prompt and permanent correction. You, sir, can enunciate 
 the grand fundamental truth in such a form, as to render practical in every portion of the 
 \ State, that if there is in each town and each county of this State, one individual who is 
 more deeply impressed with a conviction of the importance and necessity of a thorough and 
 general system of instruction one more profoundly versed in the philosophy of Education 
 one more ardently desirous to see the Common School System perfected, and one who 
 will labor more efficiently and perseveringly for the attainment of that perfection than will 
 any other person, no matter to what sect or party such a person may belong, it is the impe- 
 rative duty of all men and all parties to see that he is appointed a school officer, and con- 
 tinued as such so long as he performs the duties of his office with fidelity. 
 
 With such confident hopes and high expectations, this address is now most respectfully 
 inscribed to you by your humble, though sincere, friend, 
 
 ITS AUTHOR. 
 
 397466
 
 FRIENDS AND FELLOW CITIZENS : 
 
 We are this evening met for the purpose of contemplating for a 
 short time, one of the most interesting subjects which can occupy our 
 thoughts ; a subject which has been so long canvassed, that it is divested 
 of every semblance of novelty, yet still a subject whose intrinsic im- 
 portance has justly claimed the profound attention of the wisest and 
 best of men in all the long ages of the past, and will claim similar 
 attention of such men in all future time. Need I now add, that edu- 
 cation, thorough, complete, universal education, is my theme ? 
 
 The term education is here used in its broadest and most compre- 
 hensive sense ; and in it I design to include all useful modes of train- 
 ing the human faculties, and every description of necessary knowledge, 
 without which it is utterly impossible that a man can properly dis- 
 charge his duties as an individual, as a member of society, and as a 
 citizen of a free State. 
 
 Upon the importance of this subject, it would be a work of superero- 
 gation to dwell for a single moment ; and I pass at once to the con- 
 sideration of the means by which this indispensable requisite of human 
 happiness and human progress, may be made certain to every member 
 of the community. 
 
 First, then, it must be apparent to all, that if the whole mass of the 
 people is to be educated, nothing short of an enlightened and compre- 
 hensive system of common schools, can in any sense be adequate to 
 the accomplishment of such a work. Private schools, excellent as they 
 may be in themselves, and invaluable as they often are to individuals, 
 never have, and in the very nature of the case, never can embrace the 
 whole number of the people. That the people can be educated only in 
 the people's schools, is a fundamental truth not yet sufficiently under- 
 stood, though the unrivalled Common School system of New- York, 
 gives cheering evidence that this truth is to some extent properly ap- 
 preciated. 
 
 In the system of Common Schools, and in that only, the enlightened 
 statesman sees stability and perpetuity for our free institutions ; in that
 
 ADDRESS, ETC. 
 
 system, the political seer beholds the harbinger of a more glorious 
 civilization ; and in that system, Christian faith perceives the approach 
 of that blessed era predicted by the prophets, in which " the nations 
 shall learn war no more ;" and entire humanity, enlightened by science 
 and sanctified by religion, shall possess the whole earth, in order, har- 
 mony and peace. 
 
 The history of the Common School is a fit subject for the deepest 
 philosophical research and the most accomplished pen, and it is ardently 
 hoped that some writer, competent to do justice to so noble a theme, 
 will soon enter upon this work ; and wherever and whoever this writer 
 may be, I would say to him, whether present utility or future glory b 
 his object, there is no topic that can give greater assurance than this, 
 that both purposes shall be attained. 
 
 Not to contemplate longer, things in promise or in prospect only, let 
 us direct our attention to our Common School system as it now exists, 
 since the latest enactments of the Legislature. 
 
 Experience had sometime since, demonstrated, that our system of 
 popular education, glorious and perfect as it is in principle, was never- 
 theless, in its practical details, in many respects, capitally defective. 
 Its recent almost countless number of officers, extending literally to 
 many thousands, and those officers, by the frequency of popular elec- 
 tions, in a vast majority of cases, giving place to successors before the 
 duties of their offices could have been completely learned, much less 
 thoroughly performed, necessarily precluded that perfect knowledge, 
 unity and efficiency of action, so indispensable to the success of a de- 
 partment, acting upon so extensive a plan and comprehending within 
 its sphere, such a countless and varied array of particulars. The con- 
 sequence was, that after many years of laborious application, and the 
 expenditure of vast sums of money on the part c/ the State and people, 
 a majority of the community were but very imperfectly educated, while 
 great numbers were left, almost as hopelessly beyond the pale of in- 
 struction as are the untaught savages of the western wilderness. All 
 this too, while the department itself, could not, by any knowledge offi- 
 cially brought within its possession, determine whether it was ac- 
 complishing the object of its institution or proceeding in an opposite 
 direction. 
 
 Various attempts to correct the errors wb ch were seen and acknow- 
 ledged upon all hands, were made, but * ithout much success, until 
 the law was enacted requiring the appointment of County Superintend- 
 ents. This measure, like all experiments, was at first destined to en-
 
 ADDRESS, ETC. 5 
 
 counter some opposition, but its effect has been such, that within the 
 short time it has been in operation, the popular opinion has undergone 
 nearly an entire revolution ; and instead of being now looked upon as 
 a measure of doubtful propriety, and therefore unpopular, it is almost 
 universally regarded as one of the wisest and most salutary measures 
 that ever emanated from a Legislative Assembly. Inexperienced as 
 all these officers necessarily were at the time of their appointment, im- 
 perfect and inadequate as their first attempts to discharge their new 
 and complicated duties in the very nature of things must be, the State 
 Superintendent of Common Schools has publicly declared in his last 
 annual report, that through the agency of County Superintendents, 
 masses of the most useful and important facts, hitherto neglected, have 
 been brought before the Department ; facts, too, which will constitute 
 the basis of future and extensive reforms.* Still the Department was, 
 in its organization, too multifarious and complicated to secure the great- 
 est practicable amount of good ; and in conformity with the recommend- 
 ations of the present judicious and able head of the Department, a vast 
 reduction of the number of its officers was made by the last Legislature. 
 
 Instead of three Commissioners and two Inspectors of Common 
 Schools, each town is now restricted to the choice of a single individual 
 called a Town Superintendent, who is to perform all the duties hereto- 
 fore requiring the concurrent action of five distinct, and sometimes con- 
 flicting agents. So great a reduction of the number of officers, while 
 it will impose increased duties upon individuals, must simplify and ren- 
 der intelligent, to an extraordinary degree, the action of the Department. 
 
 Under its present organization, granting only that proper persons be 
 selected to fill its offices, and that they faithfully perform their duties, 
 the Department must necessarily be more intelligent, more efficient, 
 more salutary, and therefore more popular, than it has ever before been. 
 
 To secure these desirable results, however, it will be necessary that 
 Town, County and State Superintendents act in obedience to uniform 
 rules, and in perfect harmony ; harmony with each other, and in har- 
 mony with that all-pervading, all-controlling public opinion, which has 
 long been, is now, and for ages to come, will, as we trust, be the su- 
 preme law of our land. The Superintendents must keep ever before 
 them, the fact that they are the counsellors and servants, not the dicta- 
 tors and masters of the people. They will do well also, to bear con- 
 stantly in mind, that sound republican maxim of the British Parlia- 
 ment, that however wise one man may be, the whole Parliament uni- 
 
 See Appendix A.
 
 6 ADDRESS, ETC. 
 
 ted, is wiser than he. But while due respect must ever be paid to pop- 
 ular opinion, it would be a base betrayal of a high public trust for any 
 Superintendent to be guided solely by that opinion, without any effort 
 on his part to enlighten and reform it, in all cases in which that opinion 
 is known to be erroneous. Let no man be deceived on so vital, a point 
 as this. The people require the truth, and the whole truth, to be intel- 
 ligently, clearly and respectfully spoken, on the part of all their public 
 servants, in every department. No positive good can be attained, no 
 permanent popularity acquired, by departing from fact and reality, in 
 any instance whatever. 
 
 It will be remembered that, in our definition of education, we made 
 the term to embrace the entire human being, physical, mental, and 
 moral ; individual, social, and political. To all these particulars, and 
 in the order in which they have just been named, we will give a few 
 moments' consideration. 
 
 The physical wants for which ample provision should be made in a 
 judicious system of popular education, may be enumerated as follows : 
 air, cleanliness, exercise, and the general convenience, health, and com- 
 fort of the body, in the various positions and attitudes which the pupils 
 are required to assume in the execution of the orders of the school. 
 All these are matters of high moment, though, hitherto with few rare 
 exceptions, they have not received that attention which their importance 
 requires. By the copious and various instructions, which were with 
 great care and labor prepared by the late Superintendent, the Hon. 
 John C. Spencer, and since adopted by Col. Young, which instructions 
 should be ever .present to the mind of every person who is charged 
 with the supervision of our schools, it will be seen that very minute 
 observation and accurate description of a great number of particulars 
 are required at his hands. There can be no really excellent schools, 
 unless due attention be paid to school-houses. Their location, archi- 
 tecture, color, ventilation, internal arrangements, cleanliness, play- 
 grounds, shade-trees, out-houses, fuel, &c. &c., must each and all re- 
 ceive due and patient consideration. The requisites of a good school- 
 house and its appropriate apparatus, are a study worthy of a philoso- 
 pher, and must ever be subjects of persevering investigation to every 
 person studious to promote the welfare of the schools. 
 
 Having made all proper provisions for the health, exercise and com- 
 fort of the body, we must next provide a suitable apparatus for the 
 development and discipline of the mind. Text-books for the use of 
 the schools, will now be the principal subjects for our consideration.
 
 ADDRESS, ETC. 
 
 To determine whether books are suitable to be used in the schools, we 
 must first inquire whether the principles they contain are true, and the 
 sentiments inculcated by them just ; and, next, whether their lessons 
 are arranged in conformity to the fundamental law of mental develop- 
 ment. As this is a topic of great importance, and by reason of the 
 conflicting views and interests of authors and publishers, necessarily 
 encumbered by almost insuperable difficulties, I trust I shall be par- 
 doned for dwelling upon it at considerable length. 
 
 If it be conceded, as I think it readily will be on all hands, that the 
 human powers in their first exercises are weak and imperfect, and that 
 they are invariably carried forward from weakness to strength, by 
 slow and regular gradations, it must also be conceded that all proper 
 text-books must be arranged in strict conformity to this universal law 
 of mental progression. Such books must first present the elements of 
 knowledge, next, the simplest combination of those elements; thus on, 
 step by step, to the highest combinations, the lessons always increa- 
 sing in difficulty in exact proportion to the learner's increase in ability. 
 This general law has long been acknowledged by authors and compi- 
 lers ; but, while all have professed to know the law, few have prac- 
 tically obeyed it in the construction of their works. The public, how- 
 ever, ought rigorously to exact unqualified obedience to this law on trie 
 part of every writer of text-books for the use of the Common Schools. 
 No matter what department of study an author may select for his la- 
 bors, from simple to complex, by regular gradations, is the universal 
 rule : philology begins with the alphabet, and mathematics commences 
 with unity. 
 
 Text-books should, also, have something beyond correct arrangement 
 of lessons to recommend them. Mere arrangement, though perfect as 
 pure science itself, can never excuse the least impurity of thought, or 
 the slightest indelicacy of language. If text-books contain aught that 
 tends to pervert the taste or corrupt the morals of youth, they ought 
 to be promptly excluded from the schools. Patriotism, or love of coun- v 
 try, ought to be inculcated by the lessons read in our schools. If not 
 known to all, it is, at least, to the observing, that the literature of every 
 country reflects its institutions. This is a subject worthy of profound 
 attention. The influence of popular literature is much greater than is 
 generally imagined. A close observer of human affairs, once remar- 
 ked, that, provided he could make the songs, he cared not who made 
 the laws of a people. If we allow foreigners, the opponents of a re- 
 public, to form our minds as well as fashion our garments, is it not
 
 ADDRESS, ETC. 
 
 reasonable to suppose that they will mould the former, as well as shape 
 the latter, after their own peculiar models. It has been well said, in 
 reference to ours and the mother country, that "dependance can never 
 cease, if one nation is always to teach and the other always to learn. 
 If we can only be wise when they are wise, we must also be foolish 
 if they are foolish, dote when they dote, and die when they die." 
 
 The convenience of the pupil, and the pecuniary interest of the pa- 
 rent or guardian, require that text-books, in almost every department 
 of study, should be written in regular successive numbers ; and the ju- 
 dicious and orderly construction of books upon such a plan renders it very 
 important that these successive numbers should proceed from the same 
 hand. This truth is also generally recognised, and many series, by diffe- 
 rent authors, have been placed before the public. It is believed that 
 very few, if any of these series, possess every desirable requisite ; 
 yet that some of -them approximate much nearer to proper standard 
 works than do others, is a truth that will at once present itself to every 
 person who is at all conversant with the powers and operations of the 
 human mind. It should be the constant aim, and imperative duty of 
 all persons, charged with the selection and recommendation of text 
 books for the use of the Common Schools, always to fix upon the high- 
 est standards of excellence in the different departments of study. 
 
 The most important book, and usually the first one in which chil- 
 dren are taught in the Common Schools, is the Spelling-Book. A good 
 work of this kind ought, among others, to possess the following requi- 
 sites : First, it should embrace the elements of the language, arrang- 
 ed in a scientific order. Second, it should include the words of most 
 common use in the language. There is a great number of words in 
 all languages, which may be-compared to small change in the moneta- 
 ry system : the cent, five-cent, ten-cent, quarter, half-dollar and dollar 
 coins, are wanted every day and every hour, while the larger deno- 
 minations are seldom used. So in language ; there are certain words 
 which must be used every day and every hour ; words, without the use 
 of which, it is hardly possible to form a single sentence. Every Spel- 
 ling-Book ought to contain this class of perpetually recurring words. 
 Third, a good Spelling-Book will contain a correct classification of 
 words. Words should be classed according to the sounds of the let- 
 ters and combinations of letters of which they are composed. Whoever 
 has examined our language with attention, need not be told that its 
 orthography abounds in anomalies. A letter and a union of letters 
 have not unfrequently three or more distinct sounds ; thus, ou in one
 
 ADDRESS, ETC. 9 
 
 place sounds like mo, as in thou ; in another, like oo, as in tour ; and, 
 in a third like u short, as in rough. There are hundreds of similar ano- 
 malies : they are imperfections inseparable from the language, at least 
 such is the common opinion, and all that can be done to obviate the 
 difficulties and perplexities of the learner, necessarily arising from 
 these anomalies, is to give them a correct classification; that is, to 
 bring together in one table or column, and under proper marks of nota- 
 tion, words in which letters and combinations have one sound ; and in 
 another table or column, those words in which they have a different 
 sound. Fourth, a Spelling-Book should be a perfect transcript from the 
 Dictionary which accompanies it, so that if any doubt arises respecting 
 the spelling or pronunciation of a word, that doubt may be immediately 
 removed by referring to the Dictionary. 
 
 The New- York State Society for the Diffusion of Useful Know- 
 ledge, by -whose patient and persevering examination of text books the 
 cause of education has been greatly benefited, have arrived at the con- 
 clusion that of the one hundred and twenty Spelling-Books extant, 
 purporting to exhibit a correct arrangement of the elements of our lan- 
 guage, two only make any near approaches to proper standard works. 
 Probably no work of this kind now before the public, is more generally 
 correct than Cobb's New Spelling Book. 
 
 Of the three hundred and fifty Grammars of our language, one 
 hundred and sixty-four English, one hundred and eighty-six American, 
 the examining committee of that society are of opinion that three only, 
 one British and two American, can be properly regarded as approxima- 
 tions to standard works. Of the American Grammars, Brown's and 
 Bullions' are generally regarded as the most correct and valuable. 
 Bullions' being the latest, and forming one number of a grammatical 
 series, embracing the Greek, Latin and English languages, is deemed 
 by many persons, whose judgment and acquirements are entitled to 
 high consideration, the best work of its kind. 
 
 Of all studies, grammar, properly understood, is the most important. 
 It is language which opens to us the treasures of the past if is lan- 
 guage which makes known to us the progress of the present, and by 
 language only, can we address the future. It is language which has 
 placed man at the head of all earthly intelligences ; and without this, 
 he would soon sink to the level of the brutal herd. Let none be re- 
 pelled from this most useful study by the scholastic nonsense and tech- 
 nical jargon with which this noble science has been too long encum- 
 bered. Let it be always remembered, that the principles of language,
 
 10 ADDRESS, ETC. 
 
 
 
 like those of every other department of knowledge, have been fixed 
 by the Creator himself; and, like those laws, are characterized and 
 recommended by a divine simplicity and perfect order that render a 
 knowledge of them easily accessible to every person to the extent that 
 his duty requires their use. 
 
 A dissertation upon grammar would not be in accordance with the 
 expectations of the present occasion, and I take leave of this topic, 
 with the expression of my full confidence, that when our present gram- 
 matical babel has been fully and freely subjected to the correcting and 
 reforming action of the philosophical mind, the same patient induction 
 and rigid analysis which translated from the mists and mazes of alche- 
 my the exact science of chemistry, will, in due time, present us with a 
 simple, harmonious and exact system of grammar, which will enable 
 the student readily to master the construction of his native tongue, and 
 to wield that tongue with energy and precision. 
 
 In the department of arithmetic and mathematics, the works of Pro- 
 fessor Davies, of the United States Military Academy, at West Point, ex 
 tending by regular and scientific gradations from the elements of arithme- 
 tical calculation to the highest department of pure mathematics, are pro- 
 bably unsurpassed by anything of their kind which has appeared in this 
 or any other country. It is a very general opinion among the most 
 competent judges that these works are better calculated to advance the 
 student in his progress, and to give him a regular, connected and intel- 
 ligent mastery of this important department of science than any other 
 works now before the public. The series embraces several separate 
 volumes, each forming, as far as it extends, a complete treatise in it- 
 self. These works are eminently entitled to the attentive considera- 
 tion of all persons who are duly impressed with the importance and ne- 
 cessity of fixing upon uniform standard text-books for the Common, 
 Schools. I trust the day is not far distant in which these works will 
 be found in all the schools in this State and in the Union. Should any 
 persons desire a more extended common school course than is contain- 
 ed in ttye First Lessons and Common School Arithmetic, Mr. Perkins' 
 Higher Arithmetic is happily adapted to be connected with them, and 
 when so united, they would form a series that would, as it appears to me, 
 leave little further to be added, or even desired. It is not by authority, 
 by recommendation and puffing, that books can be much longer sus- 
 tained before the public. The time is near when all works will be 
 tested by the severest scrutiny and most rigid analysis, and whenever
 
 ADDRESS, ETC. 11 
 
 and wherever books are so tried, I venture the prediction that there 
 will be a unanimous verdict in favor of Professor Davies' works. 
 
 In the Geographical department there are great numbers of text- 
 books, and many of them works of decided merit ; but I think Mitch- 
 ell's extensive and apparently perfect series, is justly entitled to prefer- 
 ence over all its numerous competitors. This series, extending from 
 the rudiments, and embracing in its ample course his numerous and 
 incomparable outline maps, seems to leave but a single further wish in 
 relation to this most useful and interesting department of study ; and 
 that wish is, that these works may, as soon as may be practicable, be 
 placed in all the Common Schools. 
 
 Mitchell's Outline Maps are, in my judgment, by far the most valu- 
 able of the apparatus which has yet been prepared for the use of the 
 schools. The proprietor of these maps is now getting them up in two 
 divisions, so that a half set may be purchased by the smallest districts ; 
 and by this arrangement, in two years only, complete sets may be pro- 
 cured for all the schools in the State. 
 
 While upon the subject of apparatus, I will respectfully call your 
 attention to a map showing chemical composition of all the metals, pre- 
 pared by Dr. James Hadley, M. D., then Chemical Professor in the 
 Western College of Physicians at Fairfield, in the county of Herki- 
 mer. I regard this as a very valuable work, and it might be placed in 
 all the schools at an expense merely nominal. 
 
 In the department of reading and elocution there are more text-books 
 than in any other, many of them good works too; but I think the 
 course of Lyman Cobb, A. M., since his latest revision, is superior to 
 that of any other author, for giving pupils critical accuracy in the use 
 of their language ; and as this is the principal object of text-books, it 
 appears to me that this consideration alone is amply sufficient for giving 
 to these works a preference over any of their numerous competitors. 
 This course embraces Juvenile Readers numbers one, two and three, 
 a sequel to Juvenile Readers and Cobb's North American Reader. 
 Other books may possess some desirable requisites in a higher degree 
 than do these works, but as a whole, I am of decided opinion that a 
 great majority of competent judges would decide in favor of Cobb's 
 books. 
 
 Porter's Rhetorical Reader contains the best explanation and illus- 
 tration oP*the principles of good reading that I have ever seen, and I 
 respectfully recommend to both Town and County Superintendents, to 
 make this Reader their text-book in the examination of teachers in this
 
 12 ADDRESS, ETC. 
 
 department. It is a work which might be studied and read with sig- 
 nal advantage by both teachers and pupils in all the Common Schools. 
 
 Kale's Premium History is a work of extended and deserved popu- 
 larity. Perhaps no better compendium of the history of the United 
 States, has yet been written ; and its solid merit will probably long re- 
 tain for it what it now enjoys, a prominent place in all the schools of 
 the country. 
 
 As a book of reading exercises, however, Mrs. Emma Willard's 
 Abridgment of her History of the United States, is greatly superior to 
 Hale's work, while her geographical, chronological and statistical facts 
 are stated with great accuracy and clearness. How so dry a subject 
 can be invested with all the charms of works of the imagination while 
 the thread of historical facts is never broken, the History of Mrs. Wil- 
 lard can alone explain. Both Mrs. Willard's History and its Abridg- 
 ment are works of unrivalled merit, and it is hoped that the Abridg- 
 ment will be generally read by classes in the schools, and her larger 
 work procured for all the District Libraries. 
 
 Palmer's Moral Instructer, in four parts, is a work which has been re- 
 cently prepared by its able author, and is designed to develop and 
 bring into virtuous activity the moral principles. Such a work ap- 
 pears to be eminently needed, and this author has accurately conceiv- 
 ed his subject, and clothed his views in a style which will be forever 
 attractive to juvenile learners. The reputation of the author of the 
 prize essay upon education is fully sustained in this, his latest work. 
 
 Wedgewood's Revised Statutes of the State of New-York appears 
 to be a valuable publication. This little manual,, in the form of ques- 
 tions and answers, will constitute an excellent preparatory exercise 
 to a more extended course of reading or studying the constitution and 
 laws of the State, subjects with which every voter to a certain extent 
 ought to have a practical acquaintance. 
 
 Peter Parley's extensive works, including his Histories and Maga- 
 zine for juvenile learners, deserve the attentive and candid examina- 
 tion of parents, teachers, and the friends of education generally. They 
 are, probably, as well calculated to interest children and youth, and 
 thus produce a taste for reading, as any books of their kind that have 
 yet issued from the press ; while the knowledge they impart is gene- 
 rally of a useful and practical character, and their moral tendency, so 
 far as I have observed it, is without exception good. These works 
 may be used with advantage in both the Common Schools and District 
 Libraries.
 
 ADDRESS, ETC. 13 
 
 T ' 
 
 The book that is most eminently needed in our Common Schools, 
 and of which they are now almost universally destitute, is a suitable 
 Dictionary of our language. The quarto and octavo editions of Web- 
 ster are too bulky and expensive for common use, while his small work 
 is so much abridged, both in the number of its words and their defini- 
 tions, that it is of comparatively little value to the student. The book 
 of this description, which I think would be most useful in the Common 
 Schools and in families, is Worcester's Comprehensive Dictionary. 
 This book contains a great variety of necessary information, not to be 
 found in any other work of its kind, besides a more numerous cata- 
 logue of words and more extensive definitions, than are to be found in 
 any other book of its price with which I am acquainted. This Dic- 
 tionary is recommended for the use of the Common Schools in Massa- 
 chusetts, and of its merits, the accomplished Secretary of the Board of 
 Education in that State, expresses himself in the following manner: 
 
 " IT IS THE BEST DICTIONARY EXTANT FOR SCHOOLS." 
 
 The department of penmanship has hitherto been very much neg- 
 lected. Seldom indeed do we find any teacher, male or female, who 
 possesses competent skill to instruct in this most useful art. The works 
 which have been published upon this subject, so far as I have been ac- 
 quainted with them, have not in most instances appeared to me to be 
 well adapted to supply the deficiencies of teachers. I am of opinion 
 that Root's System of Philosophical Penmanship is one of the best 
 works of its kind. It appears to be more perfectly adapted to the 
 fundamental principle of progressive development than any other work 
 with which I am acquainted. I hope its merits will be fairly tested by 
 actual experiment, and when so tried, I doubt not that it will be found a 
 scientific and valuable work. Writing is almost purely a mechanical 
 art, and may, without doubt, be generally taught with far greater suc- 
 cess than it has heretofore been. 
 
 Here, in conformity to usage, by far too general, the course of stu- 
 dies pursued in the Common Schools, has been closed. Reading, 
 Writing, Grammar, Geography and Arithmetic, and these elementary 
 branches, in most cases but very imperfectly and inadequately taught, 
 have long constituted the whole circle of arts and sciences, taught in 
 the people's schools. May it not be reasonably hoped, in this reforming 
 age, that this meager catalogue will be liberally extended ? May not 
 Book-keeping, the elements of Anatomy and Physiology, Natural and 
 Moral Philosophy, Chemistry, Agriculture, Mechanics, Political Econ- 
 4my, Drawing, Architecture and Music, be included in the prescribed 
 
 2
 
 14 ADDRESS, ETC. 
 
 course of Common School studies ? The question has been already, 
 in numerous instances, affirmatively and successfully answered, and 
 it is ardently hoped and confidently expected, that at no distant day, 
 instruction will be given in all these departments of science, together 
 with their kindred branches, and that, too, in the Common Schools.* 
 
 Before taking leave of this subject, allow me to call your attention to 
 the importance of having uniform text-books. That the present end- 
 less variety of these works is one of the greatest evils connected with 
 the Common Schools, the cause of unnecessary expense to parents, 
 needless labor and perplexity to teachers, and of gr,eat delay and dis- 
 couragement to the learners, is the unanimous opinion of all persons 
 who have fairly examined this matter. But while the magnitude of 
 the evil is obvious, its remedy is not so apparent. If the introduction 
 of text-books is left, solely, in the hands of authors and publishers, 
 this evil will always exist ; and yet every attempt on the part of the 
 public to remove it, without due respect to the interest of the trade, 
 will, in all human probability, prove utterly unsuccessful. 
 
 If any method can be devised by which the pursuit of private inte- 
 rest can be made to promote the public good, we may then reasonably 
 expect that this great evil will, in due time, be removed. I am of 
 opinion that such a method may be devised ; indeed, measures have 
 been already adopted in many places, to secure the uniformity which 
 all admit to be so desirable and necessary. 
 
 Let teachers and all other persons interested in the welfare and pro- 
 gress of the Common Schools, thoroughly and impartially examine and 
 compare the text-books now in most common use ; and let the real 
 merits of each work be fairly stated ; let the object of the examination 
 be to ascertain the truth, and not to bias public opinion in favor of, or 
 against particular works and a surprising coincidence and harmony 
 of views will soon be developed, which will speedily open the way for 
 effecting all desirable changes. Let these examinations be first made, 
 in all instances, in town associations ; let the works recommended by 
 the towns, be re-examined in the county associations, and let the re- 
 sults of the county examinations be imbodied and afterwards reviewed 
 by the State Convention of County Superintendents ; and lastly, let 
 their proceedings be thoroughly canvassed by the State Superintendent. 
 By such an arrangement, the merits of books would be ascertained, 
 public opinion harmonized and concentrated, the imperfect works now 
 in the schools, whenever new purchases became necessary, would give 
 
 * Appendix B.
 
 ADDRESS, ETC. 15 
 
 place to those approved by the public, and in a few years uniform 
 books in the towns, counties and State would be secured, and the 
 whole reformation accomplished, without injustice to authors or pre- 
 judice to booksellers. By such means, the best works would be placed 
 in all the schools, while the aggregate expense for books would be 
 reduced at least one-third. 
 
 Thus far, we have restricted our views to physical and mental wants, 
 and to provisions for their supply; but capitally and fatally defective 
 will all systems of education be found that do not arouse and bring 
 into virtuous activity the moral principles of our nature. An individual 
 may possess perfect physical and mental faculties, and these may be 
 trained and disciplined to the highest possible degree ; yet, if his moral 
 faculties are neglected, he will be miserable in himself, and a scourge 
 and curse upon community. Characters of this description are too 
 common in history to render the designation of individual instances 
 necessary. It has been the great error of all preceding times ; and it 
 is, in fact, the most alarming indication of the present age, to over- 
 estimate mental, and to underrate moral excellence. This fact will 
 explain why, in the history of the world, we meet with so many Alex- 
 anders, so many Cesars, but so few Washingtons. It is to the action 
 of intellect, uncontrolled by moral principle, that we are to attribute 
 nearly all the social and political evils which have ever existed in the 
 world. It was to this cause, more than to all others, that we owe the 
 pressure and embarrassments -of the trying period through which we 
 have recently passed. To correct, then, this palpable, this bold defi- 
 ance of the Creator's moral laws, is the imperious duty of the men of 
 our times. Our Common Schools must not only teach the truths of 
 science ; they must also explain the principles and enforce the practice 
 of sound morality. 
 
 If the sphere of the Common Schools is so extensive ; if these insti- 
 tutions are designed to make our children practically acquainted with 
 the physical, mental and moral Jaws of their being ; to impart a tho- 
 rough knowledge of individual, social and political duties ; to illumi- 
 nate the mind, correct the taste, and form the manners ; to inspire the 
 soul with unconquerable aversion to all that is low, grovelling, dishon- 
 orable, and depraved ; to awaken in it perpetual aspirations after all 
 that is useful, great, glorious and good ; in one word, to form their whole 
 character upon such a model as will fit them to fill with honor to them 
 selves and with advantage to their country, any and every station in 
 which duty shall require them to act ; is it not apparent, obvious, pal-
 
 16 ADDRESS, ETC, 
 
 pable to all. that none but accomplished and experienced masters can 
 perform a work like this ? Yet, in practice, how strangely have we 
 lost sight of this self-evident truth ? How often have we placed our 
 Common Schools in charge of persons, so unlike competent masters, 
 that they were ignorant of the very elements of their duty. Such an 
 error was too glaring in itself, too fatal in its effects, to remain long 
 unobserved. It is now every where seen, felt, and acknowledged, and 
 laudable attempts to correct it have already been made. 
 
 To secure that high grade of qualifications, literary, scientific and 
 educational, so indispensably necessary to the success of the Common 
 Schools, it was, sometime since, perceived that some legal provision 
 for the education and thorough preparation of teachers must be made. 
 Teachers' Departments, in sixteen academies, two in each Senatorial 
 District, were established ; these departments have been tested by se- 
 veral years' experience, and, while they have been productive of much 
 good, it was nevertheless believed that a greater good would be at- 
 tained by concentrating the funds, and more amply endowing a smaller 
 number of institutions. In conformity, therefore, with this opinion, the 
 Regents of the University propose to designate four academies, which 
 are hereafter to receive the funds that have hitherto been distributed 
 among the sixteen academies under the provisions of the former law. 
 In the four academies which the Regents may designate, it is expected 
 that the education of Common School Teachers will become the prin- 
 cipal business. 
 
 This alteration will, no doubt, be found, in practice, a great improve- 
 ment upon the former system. Still, it must be apparent to all, that 
 some farther provisions must be made before all our schools can be 
 supplied with properly qualified teachers. In some counties, teachers' 
 classes have been formed in the academies ; in -others, temporary nor- 
 mul schools have been opened, both of which will have a direct ten- 
 dency to elevate the character of the Common School Teachers, and 
 should, therefore, be countenanced and encouraged by the active co- 
 operation of all the friends of popular education. 
 
 Our present law, by instituting three grades of qualification in the 
 teacher's profession, has nearly assimilated it to the other professions, 
 and has opened a fair way to a young gentleman or a young lady, for 
 securing a competence and a respectable position in society, without 
 abandoning this most useful and important of all the departments of 
 honorable labor. Let no town or county certificate of qualifications be 
 granted, until after thorough and impartial examination of the appli-
 
 ADDRESS, ETC. 17 
 
 cants, and the exemplification of the most indubitable testimonials of 
 good moral character. I would respectfully suggest the propriety of 
 having applications, in all cases, first made to Town Superintendents : 
 that county licenses shall, hereafter, be granted only to persons of 
 superior literary and scientific attainments, and who possess more than 
 ordinary aptitude in the business of instruction, and great talent in the 
 government and general management of a school.f 
 
 State certificates are granted upon the recommendation of County 
 Superintendents ; they are intended to be evidence of the highest order 
 of educational talent, and very superior scientific and literary attain- 
 ments. Great caution and vigilance ought to be exercised in making 
 recommendations of candidates for State Licenses, or the noble aim of 
 the law will be defeated. I would respectfully recommend the forma- 
 tion of a board of examiners, to consist of any given number of the 
 most competent friends of education in each county, whose duty it shall 
 be to act in concert with the County Superintendent, whenever can- 
 didates for State certificates are to be examined? 
 
 For the purpose of affording the Superintendent of Common Schools 
 the means of constant and regular communication with all the various 
 school officers throughout the State, and also for the purpose of keep- 
 ing the inhabitants of school districts informed of all the best and most 
 practicable plans for the improvement of the schools, the State, by its 
 liberal and judicious subscription for the District School Journal, has 
 established upon a permanent foundation, one of the most popular and 
 useful educational journals of the present times. This paper is the 
 regular organ of the Department ; in it are published all the laws rela- 
 ting to the Common Schools, with their expositions, and the decisions 
 of the State Superintendent. Most of the improvements and disco- 
 veries in educational science, both in Europe and America, are also 
 published in the Journal, while its columns are still farther enriched by 
 the discussion of many of the most interesting topics connected with 
 popular education, by some of the most intelligent and able writers of 
 the day. To give greater attraction and usefulness to the Journal, the 
 editor has recently commenced the publication of a valuable and in- 
 teresting Miscellany for youth, which cannot prove otherwise than 
 profitable and entertaining to a vast number of juvenile readers. This 
 Miscellany, it is hoped, will be read by the higher classes in the 
 schools, in the same way that the miscellany of the Massachusetts 
 Common School Journal is read in the schools of that ancient and ven- 
 erable commonwealth. Every school officer, every school teacher and
 
 18 ADDRESS, ETC. 
 
 every family throughout the State, ought to take at least one copy 
 each of this invaluable paper. Twelve numbers a year, on fine paper, 
 fair type, and sixteen double column octavo pages each, are afforded 
 for the trifling expense of fifty cents. One copy of the Journal for 
 each school district, is paid for by the State and forwarded by mail. 
 Trustees are by law required to pay the postage on these papers, take 
 them from the office, preserve them, and, at the end of each year, to 
 have them neatly and substantially bound, and placed in the District 
 Library. 
 
 While upon the subject of educational papers, I should do injustice 
 to the cause of education, were I to omit to mention the Massachusetts 
 Common School Journal, conducted by that distinguished and accom- 
 plished advocate of the Common Schools, the Hon. Horace Mann. It 
 appears to me that the volumes of this paper are well deserving of a 
 place in the District Libraries of this State. A more varied, rich and 
 instructive educational journal, I have never read ; nor one better cal- 
 culated to exert a permanent and salutary influence on behalf of the 
 Common Schools. It appears to me, that the friends of popular edu- 
 cation owe it to the noble cause they have espoused, to themselves, and 
 especially to its able, devoted, and indefatigable editor, to give this 
 paper the widest possible circulation. 
 
 The Northern Light is another journal principally devoted to sci- 
 ence, literature, and the dissemination of useful knowledge. It is 
 conducted by an association of gentlemen, of distinguished ability and 
 high attainments, and its influence is eminently salutary in forming a 
 correct taste, and in the elevation of the character of the press. This 
 paper is the organ of the Young Men's State Association, an invalu- 
 able institution, which has done much good service, and rendered 
 efficient aid in the great educational efforts of our times. I cordially 
 recommend the Northern Light to the favorable consideration of all 
 friends of education, sincerely believing that they will always find it 
 an able and worthy co-operator in the great and patriotic work in which 
 they are so nobly engaged. 
 
 While acknowledging the value of the services rendered by those 
 papers which are generally or exclusively devoted to scientific, literary 
 and educational purposes, the obligations of the friends of education 
 to the press at large, ought always to be remembered. Upon the great 
 interest of popular education, political editors, to their everlasting 
 honor be it spoken, have acted as patriots and philanthropists ; they 
 .have nobly risen above all party prejudice and bias, and have cordially
 
 ADDBESS, ETC. 19 
 
 united, and energetically advocated that great cause, without which 
 independence, liberty and free institutions, are empty and unmeaning 
 sounds. 
 
 I will take this opportunity, respectfully and earnestly to invite the 
 careful attention of parents, teachers, school officers, and the friends 
 of education at large, to that most excellent work, the School and 
 School-Master, a joint production of Professor Potter of Union Col- 
 lege, and George B. Emerson, Esq., of Boston ; two of the most com- 
 petent, devoted, practical, and successful educators of our times. A 
 work better calculated to awaken and arouse the true educational spirit, 
 and, at the same time, to guide that spirit into right modes of action, 
 cannot be easily conceived. Were this admirable book the only aid 
 which its distinguished authors had rendered the cause of education, 
 they would be amply entitled to the honors of public benefactors. By 
 the enlightened and patriotic liberality of two other distinguished 
 friends of popular education, James Wadsvvorth, Esq., of New- York, 
 and the Hon. Martin Brimmer, of Massachusetts, a copy of the School 
 and School-Master has been presented to each Common School dis- 
 trict in both of those States. Its authors have nobly indicated a field 
 in which men of the most eminent talents, science and erudition may 
 exert themselves for the benefit of our country ; while its munificent 
 patrons have set an example of beneficent employment of wealth, 
 which, it is ardently hoped, other gentlemen of fortune will not be 
 slow to imitate. 
 
 The crowning glory of our whole Common School system, is the 
 institution of District Libraries. The man who was the originator of 
 this magnificent scheme, has secured for his name and memory an 
 enviable immortality ; and the Legislators who gave to it a legal ex- 
 istence and practical effect, will be honored as public benefactors to 
 the latest posterity. These institutions are designed to carry onward 
 and complete the process which is but commenced in the Schools. The 
 Schools are intended to teach children and youth the art of acquiring 
 useful knowledge ; the Libraries are designed to afford them the means 
 of reducing that art to practice. None but standard works, in the 
 different departments of knowledge, ought ever to be admitted into the 
 District Libraries. It is not from the great number, but from the high 
 quality of the volumes, that the vast benefits expected from these in- 
 stitutions are to flow. If, during the period of the State's patronage, 
 none but works of the first character are obtained, the increased know- 
 ledge and ability which will every where surround these precious de-
 
 20 ADDRESS, ETC. 
 
 positories, will carry onward and complete the beginnings which have 
 been thus auspiciously made. Nobler foundations for the intellectual 
 and moral culture of a whole people, were never laid by any State 
 ancient or modern. From these generous fountains, provided, only, 
 they shall be always kept pure, will hereafter issue copious streams 
 of healthful knowledge, which will in due time produce an ennobling 
 social and political regeneration. Let the good seed be sown with a 
 generous broadcast throughout the entire length and breadth of the 
 State, and, though- our eyes may behold only the promise of the glo- 
 rious harvest, we may rest in undoubting assurance that our children 
 will possess its full fruition. May we be duly impressed with the 
 magnitude and value of the trust which is committed to our keeping 
 in the District Libraries; and let us ever preserve these sacred trea- 
 sures of knowledge from all desecration, with the same vigilance and 
 energy with which we would protect and defend the citadels of liberty, 
 and the altars of religion. 
 
 The legal- organization of our Common School system, has been pro- 
 nounced by competent judges far in advance of that of any other State 
 in the Union ; but to give to its action that unity, efficiency and suc- 
 cess so desirable, the enlightened and judicious provisions of the law 
 must be sustained and enforced by cordial and constant individual and 
 social effort. Associations, both town and county, ought to be imme- 
 diately formed to devise, promote and sustain all further necessary and 
 useful measures for the advancement of education, which has been 
 truly pronounced the cause of human progress. Town associations 
 would be composed of the Town Superintendent, all the teachers of the 
 Common Schools, and such other active friends of reform as would of 
 choice unite with them. These associations would meet monthly, or 
 semi-monthly, on Saturday afternoon, or on any other day that might 
 be more convenient. At these meetings, reports on the character of 
 text-books and essays upon various subjects would be read ; discus- 
 sions upon the different modes of teaching and the best way of gov- 
 erning and managing schools, would be held. Such meetings, prop- 
 erly conducted, would excite a deep public interest, which would make 
 them more and more valuable each succeeding year ; and both parents 
 and teachers would be thereby better prepared to discharge success- 
 folly the important duty of educating children and youth.* 
 
 The formation of a County Education Society, which should hold, 
 
 * Appendix C, 1.
 
 ADDRESS, ETC. 21 
 
 at least, one meeting in each year, would be a measure of great im- 
 portance. At the annual meeting of this society, an address, by some 
 distinguished friend of education would be made, reports from town 
 associations would be read, and general measures for further improve- 
 ment would be discussed. Town and County Superintendents, by 
 virtue of their offices, might be members of such a society, and they, 
 together with principals of academies, teachers of common schools, 
 and such other friends as would of choice* unite with them, would at 
 all times form a society respectable in numbers, judicious in counsel, 
 efficient in action, and glorious in its entire consecration to the promo- 
 tion of the greatest and noblest of all human enterprises.* 
 
 To perfect our system of popular education, all rivalry and opposi- 
 tion between Common Schools, Academies, Colleges and Universities, 
 must be removed. These different institutions, different in grade only, 
 ought all to be devoted to the one grand purpose of thoroughly educa- 
 ting the children and youth of the State: they must, therefore, act in 
 perfect harmony, for 
 
 " All are but parts of one stupendous whole." 
 
 This desirable harmony might be produced by assigning to each in- 
 stitution its appropriate part in the process of educating. The compre- 
 hensive plan of popular education which Mr. Jefferson, more than 
 sixty years ago, recommended to the people of Virginia, is the only one 
 which will fully satisfy the desires and hopes of the statesman, philo- 
 sopher and patriot. The system of Mr. Jefferson, commenced with the 
 primary school and thence passed onward, by regular gradations, through 
 higher institutions to the University. The schools, according to Mr. 
 Jefferson's plan, to the extent of giving every child a thorough English 
 education, were to be absolutely free to all. If any person wished his 
 child or ward to pass beyond this, he was to pay the tuition of that 
 child from his own means. Mr. Jefferson further proposed, that such 
 rare geniuses as this plan would necessarily develop among the desti- 
 tute poor, and whose services in the higher departments of science 
 would be highly valuable to the commonwealth, should, at the cost of 
 the State, be passed on to and through the University. This is the 
 most perfect and magnificent system of education ever devised for a 
 free people, and its conception and partial execution alone, would for- 
 ever justly designate Mr. Jefferson as the profoundest statesman and 
 philosopher of his age. Such will our system be, when the outline 
 
 * Appendix C, 3.
 
 22 ADDRESS, ETC. 
 
 which we have already so nobly sketched, shall be entirely filled up 
 and completed. 
 
 A system of education such as this, embracing each child of the re- 
 public, would draw out every latent resource, develop and bring into 
 vigorous and harmonious action all the dormant energies of the peo- 
 ple : it would exhibit to the world, the sublime spectacle of the genius 
 of Napoleon, again returned to earth, achieving new victories and new 
 glories upon the fields of peace. On a spectacle such as this, the sun 
 has never yet shone ; on such a spectacle, the sun of this century will 
 shine, if the people of our times and of succeeding generations, shall 
 prove faithful to the high mission to which they are emphatically and 
 imperatively called. 
 
 Fellow-Superintendents, an enlightened, a generous, patriotic and 
 confiding people have invested us with a power far transcending indeli- 
 cacy and importance, that of ordinary legislation. That virtuous and 
 watchful jealousy of government, which is always found in a real re- 
 public, permits the legislator to touch the liberty and property of the 
 citizen only by means of well defined and cautiously guarded general 
 laws ; while unto us have been committed the supervision and direc 
 tion of both public teachers and public schools, thus giving us a con- 
 trolling influence over the mind-forming apparatus by which we may 
 stamp impressions on the very souls of the whole rising generation 
 which will powerfully affect it, for evil or for good throughout the 
 whole period of its existence : nay, farther, our action will affect in 
 like manner, though in less degree, many succeeding generations. 
 Well may we be humbled before the magnitude of such a trust ; most 
 reasonably may we ask ourselves, with the utmost intensity of our 
 souls, are we worthy to receive such a charge ? Are we competent to 
 the performance of the duties it imposes ? 
 
 Our mission is that of reformers : as such we must always remem- 
 ber that by gentleness, kindness, perseverance, charity, addressing 
 ourselves to the reason and affections, and carefully avoiding to shock 
 too violently even the prejudices of the people, we shall best secure a 
 permanent popularity, and lay a broad foundation for lasting useful- 
 ness. In the wise order of the universe, all violence is of short dura- 
 tion. The names of Alexander and Cesar now serve only " to point 
 a moral or adorn a tale," notwithstanding each of those individuals 
 once ruled the world by the power of the sword. 
 
 In the execution of the duties of our office, we must always act the 
 genuine republican, while the political partisan must never appear ;
 
 ADDRESS, ETC. 23 
 
 and while we forever leave in utter forgetfulness and oblivion, all sec- 
 tarian feeling and technical theology, our whole course ought to be 
 animated by the hopes, and guided by the principles of the Gospel. 
 So feeling and so acting, a high career of usefulness is now opened 
 before us. Let us publicly, upon the altars of our country, pledge 
 ourselves to fidelity in the performance of our duties, and provided we 
 shall redeem this pledge, the applause of our fellow-citizens, the testi- 
 mony of a good conscience, and the approbation of Heaven shall be 
 our reward. 
 
 It may not be inappropriate to the occasion to notice briefly the in- 
 dications of the times for the purpose of animating the hopes and re- 
 newing and sustaining the efforts of the friends of popular education. 
 Even a good cause is sometimes as much advanced by strong promi- 
 ses of success, as by its inherent right and excellence. It is right and 
 proper, therefore, nay, it is the duty of all advocates of education, to 
 present fairly and truly, and in a strong light, all facts and observa- 
 tions which are calculated to arouse and fix the attention, and gather 
 around the standard of education as much of the talent, virtue and 
 wealth of the community as possible. 
 
 Though self-love, in the ordinary acceptation of the term, is not re- 
 garded as the highest motive of action, all will readily admit that its 
 general influence upon men is second to that of no other. Mankind 
 will always be found pursuing that course which they conceive to be 
 productive of the greatest good to themselves. If, therefore, human 
 welfare is ever in proportion to the number and harmony of the facul- 
 ties excited to action, it follows as a self-evident proposition, that the 
 happiness of every person will be denominated and measured by his 
 education. Who does not desire sound health ? Who would not have 
 an enlightened mind ? Who, above all things, would not possess an 
 honest heart ? These inestimable blessings, and innumerable oth- 
 ers, are to a very great extent, the natural results of right education. 
 
 The love of gain is another powerful instinct or propensity of hu- 
 man nature ; and provided you can show men a course of conduct that 
 will result in the greatest increase of wealth, you may reckon with 
 certainty upon their adoption and persevering pursuit of that course. 
 That the wealth of every community is indicated by its intelligence, 
 industry and economy is a truth which will be found upon every page 
 of human history. Were the acquisition of riches the sole object of 
 our pursuit, we should much sooner attain it by developing and bring- 
 ing into action the powers of the mind, than by draining the gold and
 
 24 ADDRESS. ETC. 
 
 silver veins of the Andes. The names of Faust, Arkright, Watt, Ful- 
 ton and Whitney, not to mention others, will at once tell how the 
 wealth of whole nations has been augmented by the action of indivi- 
 dual minds. 
 
 The innumerable societies which, within the last quarter of a cen- 
 tury have sprung up in all parts of the country Agricultural Socie- 
 ties, Mechanics' Associations, Lyceums, Young Men's Associations, 
 &c., are all indubitable proofs of the fact, that vast masses, in every 
 department of life, have discovered that their true interest and well 
 being, are most certainly and best promoted by developing and disci- 
 plining their own faculties, and bringing into greater activity their 
 mental powers. 
 
 The farmer has learned that a knowledge of geology, chemistry, 
 zoology, in a word, natural philosophy, in all its branches, is eminently 
 useful, not to say indispensably necessary, to the successful prosecu- 
 tion of farming, the primary, most important and most noble depart- 
 ment of virtuous industry. From the time the mechanic first sub- 
 stituted the purling brook and wheel for the foot-lathe, he has known 
 that though his hand must always be employed, the grand reservoir of 
 his power, the most certain element of his success, will ever be found 
 in his head. The farmer and mechanic, therefore, have ever been and 
 ever will be numbered among the firmest and most active frientls of 
 popular education and Common Schools. 
 
 The embarrassment and pressure of the times are favorable to popu- 
 lar education. This may to some, appear paradoxical, but I think a 
 few moments attention to facts will make this assertion plain to all. 
 In that hollow and unsubstantial prosperity which sprung out of a 
 fal?e credit system, the seeming favorites of fortune began seriously to 
 believe that they were of nobler origin, and of higher race, than the 
 common masses of humanity ; they, therefore, filled our country with 
 private schools and misnamed academies, for the education of their fa- 
 vored children, while the Common Schools, and the equally deserving 
 children of honest manual labor were neglected and uncared for. The 
 complete bursting and utter annihilation of the bubble has restored 
 thousands upon thousands to their sober senses again, and they now 
 perceive that their true interest, no less than their country's, requires 
 them to place able and accomplished teachers in the Common Schools, 
 and to return their children once more to those institutions, from which 
 they ought never to have been withdrawn.
 
 ADDRESS, ETC. 25 
 
 The pressure of the times, also, has opened to the minds of all, the 
 truth, that next to absolute crime, a state of perpetual indebtedness is, 
 of all human conditions, the most humiliating and deplorable. It is 
 now, at least to some extent, perceived that the " credit system," as 
 we have formerly practised it, is incompatible with republican in- 
 stitutions, and that we have indeed to make, as Mr. Jefferson long since 
 taught us, " our election between economy and liberty, or profusion 
 and servitude." Industry, economy and frugality must again become 
 household virtues, and in our families and schools must all our chil- 
 dren be taught that the only real philosopher's'stone, which turns all 
 things into gold, is to PAY AS YOU GO. There is a momentous truth of 
 the deepest significancy, in the scriptural injunction, OWE NO MAN ANY 
 THING.* 
 
 Our government is not only favorable to education, but its funda- 
 mental principle, the sovereignty of the people, absolutely requires 
 that every citizen should be well taught in all principles of his duty. 
 A more important truth for a republic, was never uttered by human 
 tongue, than that which John Quincy Adams proclaimed, when he declared 
 that the " people, correctly informed, will always do right." Correct 
 information is the indispensable condition of right action. It is then, 
 and then only, that it can with truth be said, " The voice of the people 
 is the voice of God." By our constitutions we have given civil omnipo- 
 tence to the ballot boxes ; by our laws we must now give sound educa- 
 tion to every voter, or the grand experiment of popular suffrage and 
 free institutions, around which the brightest and holiest hopes of hu- 
 manity have clustered, will result in the utter and hopeless destruction 
 of the republic. The only impregnable fortress of popular liberty is 
 the Common School System : without this all our other armaments and 
 munitions will be vain ; with this, a generous, patriotic people will be 
 forever invincible. This truth has been long known and acted upon 
 by many of our virtuous and enlightened statesmen, but the conviction 
 of its momentous importance has now become so general that univer- 
 sal education and universal suffrage are proclaimed by national parties 
 as their motto, and are put forth even now by the federal government, 
 under which we live as cardinal and fundamental principles of its po- 
 litical faith. 
 
 Many of the ripest scholars of our country, the men at the head of 
 the philosophy and literature of our day, are now deeply engaged with 
 their voices and with their pens, in maturing, directing, defending and 
 
 Appendix D.
 
 26 ADDRESS, ETC. 
 
 making popular the grand scheme of developing and bringing into vir- 
 tuous activity all the latent principles and dormant energies of the peo- 
 ple. Eminent and commanding is the position which these men occu- 
 py, and thej are nobly evincing to the world that they comprehend the 
 truth, that to inform the ignorant, reclaim the vicious, arouse the indif- 
 ferent, and to quicken all into a prompt performance of every duty, are 
 the end and object of all true science, literature and philosophy. 
 
 Most auspicious and encouraging too, is the fact that at the present 
 time a 'corps of Common School masters, of far higher qualifications, 
 juster appreciation of the duties and responsibilities of teachers, and 
 of more elevated character generally, is now organizing in every 
 county of the State. Pursuing for a few years to come, the noble 
 course of two years past, and the majority of our Common Schools 
 will be in charge of really competent teachers. Here is a field in 
 which philanthropy and patriotism may exert themselves to the greatest 
 extent ; and it is heart-cheering to the friends of popular education to 
 see so great a number of virtuous and competent young men enrolling 
 their names on the lists of the Teacher's Profession, and conscientious- 
 ly and ardently devoting themselves to the arduous, yet glorious work 
 of graving upon the tender and impressible minds of children and 
 youth, the eternal and unchangeable principles of truth and duty, and 
 forming them by their own constant and bright example, to the love 
 and practice of all that is useful, pure and ennobling in human con- 
 duct. 
 
 Not only have the farmer, mechanic, scholar, statesman, philosopher 
 and patriot enrolled themselves under the banner of educational reform, 
 but woman, with all her inherent beauty and loveliness, with her in- 
 nate shrewdness, aptness, patience, hopefulness, perseverance and 
 irresistible power, has with a devotion and ardor which none but 
 herself can feel or know, espoused this noble cause and rendered 
 it such good service, as none but woman can render. Not only as a 
 mother does she indelibly impress upon the tender infant mind the love 
 and practice of the true, the beautiful, the great, the glorious, and the 
 good, but as a teacher she has entered the once unattractive, not to say 
 repulsive school-house, and its whole aspect has been changed as with 
 the wand of an enchantress. The hoary cobweb which from time im- 
 memorial has occupied its prescriptive corner or window, has been re- 
 moved ; the dust of ages has been brushed from the walls ; the virgin 
 loveliness of white is once more seen upon the floors ; yards have been 
 levelled, enclosed, and planted with shrubbery ; window tables and
 
 ADDRESS, ETC. 27 
 
 mantsl-pieces are surmounted by pols of flowers ; graceful festoons of 
 evergreens, maps, paintings, and drawings adorn the walls; in a word, 
 that perfect cleanliness, order and beauty which at once endear and 
 consecrate the domestic fire-side, have been transferred to the school- 
 room, making it no longer the hated prison house, but the dear, chosen 
 and loved retreat of childhood. Woman, whose unrivalled dominion 
 ever has been, and ever must be in the most tender and holiest affections 
 of humanity, understands full well the art of addressing and winning 
 the juvenile heart, and drawing it out successfully into ardent and 
 constant aspirations towards all that is great and noble and pure in the 
 universe. Well too, has woman by her noble actions, repelled the un- 
 natural and unjust prejudice, once generally, and I fear even now by 
 some entertained, that she is incompetent to preside over and direct 
 intellectual education. 
 
 The tutor of Louis Phillippe, the citizen king of the French, who, 
 apart from royalty and all considerations of rank and place, is a man 
 of sound judgment and highly cultivated intellect, was a female; and 
 well did she discharge the duties of her sacred office. In her hands 
 the untaught youth was made to lay aside and forget his royalty. She 
 deprived him of his costly viands, stripped him of his regal vestments, 
 and took away his golden canopies and bed of down ; instead of all 
 which she gave him the plain fare, modest apparel, and hard bed of 
 honest labor; in a word, she made him feel and comprehend the great 
 truth, that apart from all the accidents of rank and fortune, every in- 
 dividual is to take and hold his place in the community by the exercise 
 of his own faculties, and by his practice of the private and social vir- 
 tues. So educated, so taught to know himself and others, it is not at 
 all surprising that when in the terrible experiment of the French Revo- 
 lution, his rank was abolished, his fortune confiscated, and himself 
 driven into exile, naked and destitute as the veriest beggar-boy of Paris, 
 he still found all the elements for reconstructing his fortune within 
 himself ; and now, when raised to a higher position than he ever be- 
 fore occupied, he bears his honors and exercises his powers with mode- 
 ration ; and while he discharges his duties as a monarch, he feels and 
 knows, what few other monarchs can perceive or even imagine, that he 
 is but a man. He owes his unrivalled success to his education ; nor is 
 it too much to affirm, that had there been no Madame Genlis, Louis 
 Phillippe had never been citizen-king of the French. 
 
 The most grand, daring, and successful genius of his age, a man 
 of giant intellect, a profound statesman, an unrivalled negotiator, and
 
 28 ADDRESS, ETC. 
 
 the greatest military captain of the world, Napoleon, always ascribed 
 the greatness and glory of his unequalled career to the lessons taught 
 him by his mother. So deeply graven on his mind was the truth of 
 woman's pre-eminent influence in the formation of character, that it 
 was one of the standing maxims of his life, " That there never was an 
 extraordinary man who was the son of an ordinary mother." 
 
 Many of the master spirits of our own country, whose splendid 
 achievements have enrolled their names high upon the imperishable 
 records of true glory, and whose private and social virtues have en- 
 * shrined them in the hearts of their fellow-citizens, wero trained and 
 fashioned by female intelligence and virtue. Jackson and Calhoun, 
 not to mention others, are noble specimens of what poor, virtuous, wid- 
 owed mothers can achieve. The brightest and purest name of our his- 
 tory, and of the world's history, which will grow brighter and brighter, 
 and become more and more holy, as it goes sparkling down to poster- 
 ity, our own beloved, immortal Washington, received the elements of 
 that character of which we are all so justly proud, from the vigilant 
 guardianship, sound judgment, and spotless virtue of his widowed mo- 
 ther. To the male youth of our country, whose generous bosoms glow 
 with ardent aspirations for enduring fame, with all the sincerity and 
 energy that I can command, I would say, make Washington your per- 
 petual model. And to the fairer and lovelier sex, would you reign 
 without rivals in our hearts, would you desire that the great and good 
 of the republic shall raise monuments to your memory and pour the 
 warm tears of a mighty people's gratitude upon your graves, imitate, 
 forever imitate, the virtues of Mary, the mother of Washington. 
 
 Phrenologists assert that the love of approbation is one of the most 
 active and powerful organs of the human brain ; and history assures us 
 that popular applause has been in all ages, one of the most effectual 
 stimulants to great and heroic actions. I have recently witnessed a 
 remarkable proof of the truth of this concurrent testimony of phreno- 
 logy and history. I have seen the honored representative of one of the 
 most illustrious names of our history,* a man of iron nerve, strong native 
 intellect and most thorough and accomplished education, who has 
 passed twenty years of his life in the highest diplomatic circles of Eu- 
 rope, who has represented his country and asserted and maintained its 
 interests and honor at the courts of many of the most powerful mo- 
 narchs, and stood unawed and unbowed in the presence of kings ; and 
 who has since been raised to the highest honors of his native country ; 
 such a man, now upon the verge of fourscore years, with all terrestrial 
 * Hon. J. Q. Adams.
 
 ADDRESS, ETC. 29 
 
 things rapidly receding forever from his sight, I have seen unnerved ; 
 his eyes streaming with tears, his lips quivering, and his voice stifled 
 with emotion by the simple presence of his unsophisticated fellow-coun- 
 trymen, who gathered around him to testify their respect and admira- 
 tion of his character, to take him by the hand and to wish him God 
 speed upon his way. 
 
 If such a man, under such circumstances, can be so moved, what 
 must be the influence of popular applause upon men in middle life, with 
 fair promise of many years, filled with ardent hopes and high expecta- 
 tions ? In this strong, ineradicable and irrepressible feeling of the 
 human soul, Providence has placed in the hands of the people a cheap, 
 simple, yet all-efficient power, by the right use of which they may ulti- 
 mately raise our country to the highest possible attainments of happi- 
 ness and glory ; or by its misapplication and abuse, rapidly sink it to 
 depths of degradation and misery, from which it can never arise. If 
 popular applause be bestowed only upon the really meritorious, upon 
 talent and intelligence rightly employed, upon unblemished virtue 
 and strict integrity, both in public and in private life, then may we 
 reasonably hope and expect that the noble heritage of free institutions 
 which we have received from the valor, wisdom and patriotism of wor- 
 thy ancestors, will be cherished, improved and perpetuated to the latest 
 times. f 
 
 It is unspeakably encouraging to the friends of education, to see an 
 intelligent and virtuous people employing so generally, this great power 
 for the promotion of sound education and for the elevation of the Com- 
 mon Schools. Wherever there is a competent and faithful teacher, a 
 deserving author or compiler, an able and efficient officer, theie do the 
 honors and applause of his countrymen meet him to encourage him on- 
 ward in the path of duty, and to bestow upon him an appropriate re- 
 ward for his labors. This is the most glorious and encouraging day 
 that the friends of popular education have ever beheld ; but cheering 
 as it is, it is only the harbinger to one far more brilliant and glorious, 
 if teachers, authors and officers shall continue active and persevering 
 in the discharge of all their duties. 
 
 Lastly, religion itself, whose principle, deeper and firmer than all 
 other things, is rooted and riveted in the inmost recesses of the human 
 soul, imperatively demands the right instruction and thorough educa- 
 tion of every human being. It is true that a law-established Church, 
 filled with a self-seeking spirit, has loo often shown itself an oppres- 
 sor and scourge ; but it is equally true that an enlightened Christian 
 
 3
 
 30 ADDRESS, ETC. 
 
 ministry, imbued with the spirit of the Gospel, has ever been the advo- 
 cate of equality, liberty, justice, and truth, and in all its acts given full 
 and lucid proof that it has been sent by Heaven on errands of mercy to 
 mankind, and that the design and object of its office are to enlighten, 
 to purify and to save. Such a ministry has always taught and always 
 will teach, that the " Christian worships a God of intelligence as well 
 as of love, and that exalted piety requires no less the cultivation of the 
 intellect than the purity and warmth of the affections." It recognises 
 the works and the commands of the Creator in the world around us, 
 as well as in the written Word ; and it has long since proclaimed, that 
 in the process of converting the world, the development of intellect 
 must ever precede or accompany the truths of the Gospel. This is only 
 a single mode of announcing the grand fundamental truth which is ex- 
 pressly declared on some of the pages of the inspired Volume, and may 
 be clearly traced upon many others, that all material forms of the outer 
 world are but symbols of the deeper spiritual truths of the universe. 
 
 The godlike plan of thoroughly educating the entire mass of peo- 
 ple, is one of the most astonishing achievements of modern times ; 
 nay, there is nothing in human history, if you contemplate the intrin- 
 sic value of the thing, the profundity of its conception, and the mag- 
 nificent results produced, that can surpass it. Compared with this, all 
 our wonderful victories, over physical nature, as exhibited in our unri- 
 valled canals and railroads, dwindle into utter insignificance. The 
 Common School system surpasses in value and importance the system 
 of internal improvements in the' same proportion that mind and morals 
 surpass in excellence inanimate matter. The Croton Aqueduct, by 
 which a whole river is raised from its bed, borne over hill, valley and 
 stream for the distance of forty miles, and poured in copious effusion 
 over the whole area of the largest city of the western hemisphere, 
 supplying in unmeasured abundance a population of more than three 
 hundred thousand souls, with one of the chief elements of physical 
 cleanliness and health, is one of the most stupendous achievements of 
 science and labor, and will be a land-mark of our times in the eye of 
 .posterity. But how rapidly the grandeur of the Croton Aqueduct fades 
 from our view before the matchless glory of the Common School Aque- 
 duct, which lifts up from their lowest deeps, and draws down from the 
 highest heavens, the elements of knowledge, and pours them with 
 boundless profusion, not over the meager area of one solitary city only, 
 but throughout the entire domain of the Empire State, filling as freely 
 and impartially as the light of heaven, the merchant palace of the city,
 
 ADDRESS, ETC. 31 
 
 and the log-built hut of the forest, with the elements of mental and 
 moral life. 
 
 It is but little more than a quarter of a century that the Common 
 School system has had a legal existence in New- York ; yet, such have 
 been the wisdom and efficiency of our legislation upon this subject, 
 that we have now by far the most perfect educational organization in 
 the Union. I hope this fact, however, creditable as it is, and grateful 
 as it must be to a patriotic people, will not cause us to relax our exer- 
 tions, or in any way to retard our progress in the noble career upon 
 which we have so auspiciously entered. Upon this subject, above all 
 others, may we ever be mindful of the duty enjoined upon us by the 
 glorious motto of our State, EXCELSIOR. 
 
 Whatever may be the action of others, I have the strongest assu- 
 rance that the people of Otsego will ever sustain the enviable relation 
 which they now bear to this great mission of philanthropy and patriot- 
 ism. History accords to a citizen of your county, Jedediah Peck, a 
 distinguished rank among the early fathers of the Common School sys- 
 tem of New-York ; and to another citizen of your county, Hon. Jabez 
 D. Hammond, history will hereafter accord the high honor of a leading 
 and commanding position among those virtuous and enlightened men 
 who have cherished, defended, protected and made popular the system 
 which Judge Peck and hjs noble compeers called into being. 
 
 In conclusion, I cannot better place before you the great duty which 
 is incumbent upon us all in relation to this subject, and the fearful and 
 appalling consequences of its non-performance, than by adopting the 
 language of one of the most accomplished, able and eloquent advocates 
 of the Common Schools. * 
 
 " Remember the child whose voice first lisps to-day, before that 
 voice shall whisper sedition in secret, or thunder treason at the head 
 of an armed band. Remember the child whose hand to-day first lifts 
 its tiny bawble, before that hand shall scatter firebrands, arrows and 
 death. Remember those sportive groups of youth, in whose halcyon 
 bosoms there sleeps an ocean as yet scarcely ruffled by the passions 
 which soon "shall heave it as with the tempest's strength. Remember 
 that whatever station in life you may fill, these mortals these immor- 
 tals, are your care. Devote, expend, consecrate yourselves to the holy 
 work of their improvement. Pour out light and truth as God pours out 
 sunshine and rain. No longer seek knowledge as the luxury of a few, 
 but dispense it among all as the bread of life. Learn only how the 
 ignorant may learn ; how the innocent may be preserved, the vicious 
 * HON. HORACE MANN.
 
 32 ADDRESS, KTC. 
 
 reclaimed. Call down the astronomer from the skies : call up the 
 geologist from his subterranean explorations ; summon, if need be, the 
 mightiest intellects from the Council Chamber of the Nation ; enter 
 cloistered halls, where the scholiast muses over superfluous annotations ; 
 dissolve conclave and synod, Avhere subtle polemics are discussing their 
 barren dogmas ; collect whatever of talent, or erudition, or eloquence, 
 or authority the broad land can supply, and go forth, AND TEACH THIS 
 PEOPLE. For in the name of the living God, it must be proclaimed 
 that licentiousness shall be the liberty, violence and chicanery shall be 
 the law, and superstition and craft shall be the religion ; and the self- 
 destructive indulgence of all sensual and unhallowed passions, shall be 
 the only happiness of that people who neglect the education of their 
 children."
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 A. 
 
 Extract from the Report of the HON. SAMUEL YOUNG, Superintendent of 
 Common Schools, January 12, 1843. 
 
 When the law, creating the office of deputy superintendent of com- 
 mon schools in the several counties was first promulgated, having 
 been passed in a period of the most profligate and reckless legislative 
 expenditure, it was, in the minds of many, associated with the broad 
 and impudent system of felonious enactment, " eating out the sub- 
 stance of the people," and stealing the bread, and plundering the means 
 of education from myriads of unborn children, which has brought upon 
 this State the terrific desolation of a debt of twenty-seven millions of 
 dollars. He who now occupies the station of State Superintendent, 
 derived his first impressions of this law from such an association of 
 ideas ; and on entering upon the duties of the office, felt a decided pre- 
 disposition to exercise whatever influence he might possess, to save 
 the expense by an abolition of the system. But to have passed an ir- 
 revocable sentence of condemnation upon it, without first subjecting it 
 to the test of a rigid scrutiny, would have been manifestly unjust. A 
 meeting of the deputy superintendents of the several counties was ad- 
 vertised to be held in the city of Utica, in May last ; and one of the 
 prominent objects of the Superintendent in being present at that con- 
 vention, was to obtain, if possible, an accurate knowledge and to form 
 a satisfactory opinion of the intelligence, zeal and capacity for useful- 
 ness of its members. The proceedings of that convention have been 
 widely circulated and extensively read ; and it is no unmeaning com- 
 pliment to allege, that for the purpose of illustrating and improving the 
 important principles of elementary instruction, no body of men of equal 
 information and devotedness, has ever before assembled in this State. 
 But the practical utility of the system, its adaptation to supply the de- 
 ficiencies of supervision, to point out the extent of existing evils, and 
 to suggest the most feasible remedies, to allay the bitter feuds and 
 animosities which often mar the peace and retard the prosperity of 
 school districts, and to rouse and inspire parental indifference with a 
 love for the advancement and happiness of children, by the acquisition 
 of useful knowledge in well regulated schools, were yet to be tested. 
 How far these important objects have been effected, will, to a conside- 
 rable extent, be seen and appreciated by the Legislature, on reading 
 the able reports of the deputy superintendents herewith transmitted.
 
 Ml APPENDIX. 
 
 In every county in the State, where the deputy superintendent has 
 assiduously fulfilled his mission, an improvement in the condition of 
 the schools is manifest. The frequent lectures and expostulations of 
 these officers, at meetings of the inhabitants of districts convened by 
 them, have done much good, by arousing the thoughtless, confirming 
 the wavering,. and exciting to more vigorous exertions all the friends of 
 education. Many compromises of obstinate district quarrels have been 
 effected by the friendly interference, and pacific counsels of these offi- 
 cers. In several of those frequent contests brought up by appeal, re- 
 specting sites of school houses and divisions, and lines of districts, in- 
 volving questions respecting distances and convenience of travel, the 
 statements of which, by the conflicting parties are often utterly irre- 
 concilable, the county superintendent, on a requisition from this De- 
 partment, has repaired to the spot, and carefully collected and trans- 
 mitted the naked facts, upon which a satisfactory decision might be 
 based. The number of appeals is increasing with the multiplication 
 of districts, and now averages nearly one for every two days in the 
 year, requiring the examination of exceedingly voluminous, complica- 
 ted, and often contradictory documents, and the adjustment of a great 
 variety of legal principles and individual interests. The amount an- 
 nually paid from the State treasury for postage on these documents, 
 constitutes a serious item in the aggregate expense of the department. 
 In addition to these appeals, the daily correspondence of the Depart- 
 ment, with the inhabitants and officers of districts' requiring informa- 
 tion and advice for their guidance, occupies a very large proportion of 
 its time, and is constantly increasing. It has occurred to the Superin- 
 tendent that a great saving might be effected in time and money, as 
 well as a greater degree of practical efficiency giv,en to the system, by 
 the reference of all appeals to the deputy superintendent, in the first 
 instance for his decision; with the right to any party aggrieved thereby 
 to bring such decision up for review by this Department. A large pro- 
 portion also of the ordinary correspondence of the Department might 
 advantageously take this direction ; suitable provisions being made to 
 defray the charge of necessary postage. The blundering, inartificial 
 and contradictory statements of litigants might then be elucidated and 
 rectified by an officer, who, if necessary, could go to the district and 
 ascertain the real merits of each case ; and the painful necessity often 
 cast upon this Department, of deciding doubtful questions on crude and 
 conflicting testimony would be obviated, while at the same time a great 
 economy of expense would be secured. 
 
 Deputy superintendents properly qualified for the discharge of their 
 functions, possessing a competent knowledge of the moral, intellectual 
 and physical sciences, familiar with all the modern improvements in 
 elementary instruction, and earnestly intent on elevating the condition 
 of our common schools, can do much more to accomplish this desira- 
 ble result, than all the other officers connected with the system. Act- 
 ing on a broader theatre, they can perform more efficiently all that su- 
 pervision which has heretofore been so deplorably neglected, or badly
 
 APPEND IX. 35 
 
 executed. The system of deputy superintendents is capable of secur- 
 ing, and can be made to secure, the following objects: 
 
 It can produce a complete and efficient supervision of all the schools 
 of the State, in reference as well to their internal management, as 
 to their external details : 
 
 It can be made to. unite all the schools of the State into one great 
 system ; making the advancement of each the ambition of all ; furnish- 
 ing each with the means of attaining the highest standard of practi- 
 cal excellence, by communicating to it every improvement discovered 
 or suggested in every or any of the others : 
 
 It can do much towards dissipating the stolid indifference which pa- 
 ralyzes many portions of the community, and towards arousing, en- 
 lightening and enlisting public sentiment in the great work of elemen- 
 tary instruction, by systematic and periodical appeals to the inhabitants 
 of each school district, in the form of lectures, addresses, &c. 
 
 It can be made to dismiss from our schools all immoral and incom- 
 petent teachers, and to secure the services of such only as are quali- 
 fied and efficient, thereby elevating the grade of the school master, and 
 infusing new vitality in the school. 
 
 An attentive examination of the interesting reports of the deputy su- 
 perintendents will clearly show that the accomplishment of several of 
 the most important of these objects is already in a state of encouraging 
 progression. 
 
 Extract from Mr. Hulburd's Report on the Petitions for abolishing tkt 
 office of County Superintendent of Common Schools, and on Remon- 
 strances against the same. 
 
 The system of county superintendents was established to correct 
 these and other kindred evils ; to make reports on the conditions of the 
 schools, school houses, the best method of imparting instruction, bring- 
 ing before one district the successful experiments of other districts, ex- 
 posing the defects and evils that existed, awakening the dormant in- 
 terests of parents, in short, diffusing generally the better means of edu- 
 cation now enjoyed in the more advanced sections of the State. The 
 principal provisions of the system were many years ago recommended 
 in the counties of Herkimer and Otsego ; its value has been tested for 
 more than a quarter of a century in Holland, and with equal success it 
 has been introduced into every State of Europe, in which schools have 
 received the permanent attention of government. 
 
 It has been recommended in New-Jersey, Ohio and Kentucky. 
 When in 1839, Connecticut awoke from her long apathy on the sub- 
 ject of schools, she passed an act enlarging the powers and stimulating 
 the efficiency of her common school visiters, a class of officers which 
 answer to our deputy superintendents. In 1842, when this renovated 
 system had been little over two years in operation, the able Secretary 
 of the Board of Commissioners of Common Schools, in his report
 
 36 APPENDIX. 
 
 says, " no adequate substitute can be provided for frequent, faithful, 
 and intelligent visitation of schools, carrying along with it wise coun- 
 sel for the future to teachers and pupils, encouragement for past suc- 
 cess, and rebuke for neglect, defective discipline and methods of in- 
 struction. The mode of visiting should be such as to make known to 
 ail the schools the superior methods of any one, and awaken a gene- 
 rous rivalry between the teachers and scholars of the several schools." 
 
 The committee can but think those who are petitioning that the of- 
 fice of the county deputies may be abolished, on the ground that it is 
 a useless expense, are looking too soon for results. These officers 
 have but entered upon the discharge of duties, when, in this State, 
 they had no light of past experience to guide them ; the territory was 
 new and unexplored ; they have hardly been able to survey the extent, 
 and much less to examine the nature of it. If here and there they 
 have foun.d a kindly soil, capable of receiving at once and producing, 
 the greater portion must be regarded " as fallow ground," to be broken 
 up and cultivated, ere the expected fruit matures. It would not be 
 surprising if all the deputies had not come up to the expectation 
 formed ; that when all the duties were new, some should have erred, 
 should have been indiscreet, inefficient, incapable ; but these are evils 
 and defects which every succeeding year will diminish. 
 
 It is not expected that the appointment of deputies will at once cre- 
 ate qualified teachers, build suitable school houses, infuse into parents 
 an interest in their district schools ; but who that reads their reports 
 can doubt but that they have already done something, and are capable 
 of doing much more in renovating our school system ? If there is a 
 probability that their efforts will greatly abate, if not eradicate the 
 most prominent evils and abuses existing, can we hesitate as to our 
 duty ? Were our School Fund sunk like a rain drop in the ocean, then 
 might we safely dispense with our deputy system, for then might we 
 hope to see parents once more the faithful inspectors and supervisors 
 of their children's schools. But if with no equivalent substitute, we 
 abandon the present and relapse back into the past, shall we not be 
 faithless to our trust, false to the true interests of the State, false to 
 the sacred cause of popular education in all time to come ? 
 
 Your committee after a full and deliberate investigation, have una- 
 nimously concurred in recommending the preservation of the deputy 
 system; believing it to be, with the additional power now conferred, 
 not only the most economical and efficient, but the most important pro- 
 vision in our complex and extensive organization of public instruction, 
 and anticipating from its continuance the rapid and thorough reforma- 
 tion of schools. Some may deem these expectations visionary, but the 
 results of one year, and that the first, lead us confidently to look for- 
 ward, in the more perfect working of the system, for greater and more 
 widely diffused, physical, moral and intellectual good, than from any 
 of the numerous measures of social amelioration that claim the thoughts 
 and the aid of the statesman or the philanthropist.
 
 APPENDIX. 37 
 
 B. 
 
 The Voice of De Witt Clinton. 
 
 " The first duty of government, and the surest evidence of good 
 government, is the encouragement of education. A general diffusion 
 of knowledge is the precursor and protector of republican institutions, 
 and in it we must confide as the conservative power that will watch 
 over our liberties and guard them against fraud, intrigue, corruption 
 and violence. Our system of instruction, with all its numerous bene- 
 fits, is still, however, susceptible of great improvements. In two years 
 the elements of instruction may be acquired, and the remaining years 
 must either be spent in repetition or idleness, unless the teachers of 
 common schools are competent to instruct in the higher branches of 
 knowledge. The outlines of Geography, Algebra, Mineralogy, Agri- 
 cultural Chemistry, Mechanical Philosophy, Surveying, Geometry, As- 
 tronomy, Political Economy, and Ethics, might be communicated in 
 that period of time by able preceptors, without essential interference 
 with the calls of domestic industry. The vocation of a teacher, in its 
 influence on the character and destinies of the rising, and all future 
 generations, has either not been fully understood, or duly estimated. IT 
 
 IS, OR OUGHT TO BE, RANKED AMONG THE LEARNED PROFESSIONS. I COn- 
 
 sider the system of our Common Schools as the palladium of our free- 
 dom, for no reasonable apprehension can be entertained of its subver- 
 sion, as long as the great body of the people are enlightened by educa- 
 tion. To increase the funds, to extend the benefits, and to remedy the 
 defects of this excellent system, is worthy of your most deliberate at- 
 tention. I cannot recommend, in terms too strong and impressive, as 
 munificent appropriations as the facilities of this State will authorize, 
 for all establishments connected with the interests of education, the 
 exaltation of literature and science, and the improvement of the human 
 mind. 
 
 " The great bulwark of a republican government, is the cultivation 
 of education ; for the right of suffrage cannot be exercised in a salu- 
 tary manner without intelligence. Ten years of a child's life, from 
 five to fifteen, may be spent in a Common School, and ought this im- 
 mense portion of time to be absorbed in learning what can be acquired in 
 a short period ? Perhaps one-fourth of our population is annually ii> 
 structed in our Common Schools, and ought the minds and the morals 
 of the future generations to be intrusted to the guardianship of incom- 
 petence ? The scale of instruction must be elevated ; the standard of 
 education ought to be raised. 
 
 Small and suitable collections of books and maps attached to our Com." 
 mon Schools, and periodical examinations to test the proficiency of the 
 scholars, and the merits of the teachers, arc worthy of attention. When 
 it is understood that objects of this description enter into the very forma- 
 tion of our characters, control our destinies through life, protect the 
 freedom and advance the glory of our country ; and that this is the 
 appropriate soil of liberty and education, let it be our pride, as it is 
 
 397466
 
 38 APPENDIX. 
 
 our duty, to spare no exertions, and to shrink from no expense in the 
 promotion of a cause consecrated by religion, and enjoined by patriot- 
 ism." DE WITT CLINTON. 
 
 Extract from Gov. Hubbard's Address to the Legislature of New Hamp- 
 shire, June, 1343. 
 
 " Our primary schools richly deserve at all times the patronage and 
 encouragement of the legislature. Our government is based upon the 
 virtue of the people : that virtue is best preserved as knowledge shall 
 be most diffused. As the means of education, the nurseries of pure 
 morals, and the sources of undefiled religion, these primary institutions 
 of our country have within the last twelve months excited much of the 
 public attention. Anew impulse has been awakened to the importance 
 of our Common Schools for the spread of morality and religion, for the 
 diffusion of intelligence among the people, and for the preservation of 
 our republican institutions. 
 
 " Those patriots who framed the constitution of our State, incorporated 
 into that instrument a sentiment worthy of themselves, " That know- 
 ledge and learning generally diffused through a community were essen- 
 tial to the preservation of a free government, and that it was the 
 bounden duty of legislators and magistrates to cherish the interests of 
 all seminaries and public schools." This injunction of our political 
 fathers should never be forgotten or disregarded by the friends of popu- 
 lar liberty. In my first address to the legislature, I alluded to the 
 republican character of our free school system. I then remarked that 
 in these institutions are imparted to the youth of our State, that love 
 of civil and religious liberty, that high devotion to the cause of human 
 rights, which lead to the unfailing exertion of their energies, and of 
 their efforts for the security of individual and public freedom. The 
 constitution of our primary schools points them out as especially merit- 
 ing public confidence and public support. The scholars in those semi- 
 naries must be on terms of strict equality, and mingle together exclu- 
 sively for instruction. The children of the poor as well as the rich 
 those emanating from the laboring classes, as well as those from the 
 independent portions of our community enjoy the same rights and the 
 same privileges they commence their course of study, enter upon the 
 acquisition of knowledge under like influences and with like hopes. 
 Our primary schools may well be denominated public institutions : they 
 are sustained at the public charge, are dedicated to the use of all the 
 youth of certain ages within the limits of our State ; and a direct be- 
 nefr is periodically realized by the education of the sons and daugh- 
 ' ters of our republic. Our free school system may well be considered 
 as the heart of the body politic, and the streams which are continually 
 flowing from it, give health, vigor and strength to the members of our 
 community.
 
 APPENDIX. 39 
 
 " It has been matter of complaint, that our primary schools were not 
 receiving that encouragement from the hands of the legislature which 
 they ought to receive. Academies and High Schools, it is said, have 
 been multiplied in our land to the neglect of those primary institutions 
 which should be our pride and boast, and which should receive, as they 
 merit, our constant care and support. 
 
 " Far be it from me to say any thing which might tend to discourage 
 that public and benevolent spirit manifested in providing for the tho- 
 rough education of any portion of our community. If the effect of 
 multiplying other literary and scientific institutions be to break down 
 our Common Schools, to change their character and impair their use- 
 fulness, all the true friends of a general diffusion of knowledge and 
 learning would regret the tendency of any causes to produce any such 
 effect. There is, however, within the power of the legislature at any 
 time, a perfect remedy for any such evil. Elevate the character of our 
 primary schools. Place within the reach of the most depressed son of 
 poverty within our State, the means of obtaining a thorough English 
 education through the influence of these free seminaries of learning. 
 Let there be such a division (wherever practicable) of the youth, that 
 the younger scholars may constitute an exclusive class to receive such 
 instruction as they would require ; and let the scholars more advanced 
 in attainments, be placed under the exclusive guidance and instruction 
 of those well qualified to teach the higher branches of an English edu- 
 cation. 
 
 " It is a reproach to our free school system, that the higher branches 
 of Mathematics, Philosophy and Political Economy can only be ac- 
 quired at our Academies and High Schools. This should not be so. 
 An invidious feeling is thereby engendered among the youth of our 
 State, and one of the great objects of our free primary schools is thereby 
 defeated, and that is, the opportunity of giving to the poorer classes of 
 our community as thorough an English education as can be attained 
 elsewhere ; and thus fitting them to perform the duties which may de- 
 volve upon them as citizens of the republic." 
 
 C 1. 
 
 Constitution of a Town Association. 
 
 We, the undersigned, Teachers of Common Schools and friends of 
 popular education, in the town of and in the county of 
 
 for the purpose of promoting our mutual advancement 
 in knowledge, and for the better discharge of our duties as teachers, 
 parents, and guardians of children and youth, do hereby form ourselves 
 into an Association, and agree to be regulated and governed by the 
 Constitution below written : 
 
 Article 1. This Association shall be styled the Common School 
 Teachers' Association of
 
 40 APPENDIX. 
 
 Articled. The Officers of this Association shall be a President, Vice- 
 President, a Recording and Corresponding Secretary, who shall be 
 chosen by ballot by the members of this Association, and who shall 
 hold their offices for one month, and until others are chosen. 
 
 Article 3. This Association shall meet at o'clock on Saturday 
 
 afternoon, once in two weeks, at such place as shall be agreed upon 
 at the meeting next preceding, and the first meeting shall be held al 
 the School House in District No. 
 
 Article 4. The President shall preside at all meetings, and in his 
 absence the Vice-President, and in the absence of both, the Association 
 shall choose by open nomination and hand vote, a president pro tempore. 
 
 Article 5. The Recording Secretary shall keep a book of minutes 
 of the proceedings of the Association, in which all matters discussed, 
 votes taken, and officers elected, shall be recorded in a regular manner, 
 and the minutes of the meeting next preceding shall be read at the 
 meeting ensuing, corrected and adopted. 
 
 Article 6. At every meeting of the Association, an essay shall be 
 read upon the subject of teaching and the management of Schools, by 
 some member who shall have been appointed for that purpose by the 
 President, at a regular meeting two weeks previous. 
 
 Article 7. All matters discussed before this Association shall have 
 reference to teaching and the management of schools, and shall be 
 proposed in writing two weeks previous to their discussion. 
 
 Article 8. The meetings of this Association shall be private, unless 
 otherwise directed by a vote of its members. 
 
 Article 9. It shall be the duty of the members of this Association, 
 by and with the consent and aid of the inhabitants of the districts in 
 which they are respectively employed, once in each year, to prepare 
 themselves, and as many of their pupils as may be practicable, for a 
 public examination; at which all the Common Schools in the town 
 shall be invited to attend and to take part in its exercises. 
 
 Article 10. At the public examination, each teacher shall examine 
 his own pupils for such time as shall have been previously agreed upon 
 in relation to the different studies they shall have pursued. 
 
 Article 11. Any person of good moral character may become a mem- 
 ber of this Association by subscribing its constitution and paying to the 
 President, who is hereby made Treasurer, the sum of twenty-five cents 
 annually. 
 
 Article 12. The New- York District School Journal shall be the 
 organ of this Association; in it shall be published such proceedings as 
 the Association may direct, and each member shall use his influence to 
 extend its circulation. 
 
 Article 13. This Constitution may be amended by a vote of two* 
 thirds of its members, provided notice in writing of the proposed amend- 
 ment shall have been given four weeks previous to the meeting at 
 which the said amendment is to be acted upon.
 
 APPENDIX. 41 
 
 Constitution of a County Association. 
 
 We, the undersigned, regarding thorough and universal education 
 as the first duty of a free State, and the greatest blessing to indivi- 
 duals, for the purpose of elevating the character, increasing the effi- 
 ciency of our Common Schools, and securing more generally to chil- 
 dren and youth the advantages of right instruction, do hereby form 
 ourselves into a County Association, and do agree to be regulated and 
 governed by the Constitution below written : 
 
 Article 1. This Association shall be styled the County 
 
 Common School Association. 
 
 I Article 2. Any person of good moral character may become a mem- 
 ber of this Association by subscribing this Constitution and paying an- 
 nually to the Treasurer the sum of 
 
 Article 3. The Officers of this Association shall be a President, two 
 Vice-Presidents, a Corresponding and a Recording Secretary, who shall 
 hold their offices for one year and until others are chosen. 
 
 Article 4. There shall be an Executive Board, consisting of the 
 officers of this Association, the county and town Superintendents of 
 Common Schools, and such other members as the Association may ap- 
 point at the annual meeting, who shall have charge of the general busi- 
 ness of the Association, and shall also from time to time perform such 
 special duties as may be required. This Board shall appoint from its 
 members a committee, a majority of whom shall constitute a quorum 
 for the transaction of business. 
 
 Article 5. The President shall preside at all meetings of the Asso- 
 ciation and Executive Board, and in his absence, one of the Vice- 
 Presidents, and in the absence of both President and Vice-Presidents, 
 the Association or Board shall choose, by open nomination, a president 
 pro tempore. 
 
 Article 6. The Recording Secretary shall keep full minutes of all 
 the proceedings of the Association and Executive Board. The minutes 
 of each meeting of the Association and Executive Board shall be read 
 at its close, and when corrected and approved, shall be recorded in a 
 fair hand and preserved. 
 
 Article 7. The Corresponding Secretary shall communicate with 
 kindred Associations, and with individuals who are engaged in pro- 
 moting and advancing the cause of education, aad to procure by all 
 means in his power, such facts and information as will be serviceable 
 to this Association in attaining the objects for which it is formed. 
 
 Article 8. The annual meeting of this Association shall be held at 
 the village of on the Wednesday following the second 
 
 Monday in September. There shall also be special meetings of the 
 Association at such times and places as the Executive Board may ap- 
 point. 
 
 Article 9, An address to the Association shall be made by some
 
 42 APPENDIX. 
 
 competent person at each annual meeting, who with an alternate, shall 
 be selected by the Association at the annual meeting next preceding 
 that at which his address is to be made. 
 
 Article 10. The Executive Board shall at the time of each annual 
 meeting thoroughly and impartially examine such persons as may offer 
 themselves as candidates for State Licenses to teach Common Schools, 
 and shall recommend such as they may deem qualified for that high 
 honor. 
 
 Article 11. The Executive Board shall thoroughly and impartially 
 examine all Text-books which are proposed to be used in the Common 
 Schools of the county, and it is earnestly and respectfully recommended 
 to parents and teachers to abstain from introducing new books into the 
 Common Schools, until the approbation of the Executive Board shall 
 have been expressed. 
 
 Article 12. The President shall appoint such a number of members 
 of this Association as he may deem proper to prepare from time to time, 
 and submit essays upon such interesting topics connected with education 
 as he may designate, or the member appointed may elect, which essays 
 shall be read before the Association. 
 
 Article 13. It shall be the duty of this Association to encourage such 
 persons as it may consider well adapted to become useful teachers of 
 Common Schools, in all practicable cases, to enter the Teachers' De- 
 partment and Class in all Academies, where such a department or class 
 has been instituted, or to unite and form a temporary Normal School, 
 so that thorough preparation may in all cases be made for the prompt 
 and efficient discharge of the duty of teachers. 
 
 Article 14. This Association shall recommend and encourage the 
 formation of Town Associations for the advancement of the cause of 
 education, and for the improvement of the Common Schools. 
 
 Article 15. The New-York District School Journal shall be the 
 organ of this Association ; in it shall be published such pr6ceedings as 
 the Executive Board may direct, and its circulation shall be encouraged 
 and promoted by this Association. 
 
 Article 16. This Constitution may be amended by a vote of two- 
 thirds of the members present at any regular meeting. 
 
 APPENDIX D. 
 
 Extract from the Speech of the Hon. R. D. Davis, delivered before the 
 Literary Societies of Geneva College, on the 1st of August, 1843 : 
 " When society permits men to provide for themselves and to accu- 
 mulate .such property as they can lawfully acquire, that very permis- 
 sion creates a duty and binds, each to work out his own subsistence 
 without any infringement of the same privilege in others. Men are 
 made equal in this chance of accumulation, and it is against all the
 
 APPENDIX. 43 
 
 principles of equal rights, for any one man to take from another what 
 belongs to him ; and they who live on others, whether by force or 
 fraud, by the pretence of business and position, or any other cheating, 
 violate the fast foundations of all society, and ought not to be accounted 
 reputable within it. Educated and professional men are apt to fancy 
 that they must support a certain style in life whatever may be their 
 income, and it is but too common to see them reckless and indifferent 
 to every thing like probity and independence in their pecuniary affairs. 
 I advise you to take the opposite course ; to make it your first object to 
 live within your means, and your next to amass some property. No 
 matter if your income be small, still live within it, and lay up some- 
 thing. A man who. cannot save something out of a small income, 
 never will do it out of a large one. It is of no moment that you can 
 save only a trifle, for it is not the amount that you begin with or can 
 then save, that is any thing, but the art, the secret, the ability to do 
 it, and the habit of doing it ; this is the important matter, the thing 
 that will be of value to you and facilitate and insure your future suc- 
 cess, when you can save-that which will be worth possessing. I do not 
 care to have you grow into great wealth, for that is neither a benefit 
 nor a blessing to any man ; but I am anxious to impress you with the 
 importance of securing a competence, a reasonable independence, for 
 without it the temptations, trials and exigencies of life may impair 
 your integrity, usefulness and honor. If he be dishonest who does 
 wrong to supply his wants, he must be twice a knave who will do it 
 to add to his abundance. 
 
 " Indebtedness is bondage, and the man who allows himself to incur 
 obligations that he cannot pay, to live on at the expense and loss of 
 others, or to risk what he cannot lose, must be so dormant in his moral 
 sense that he is dangerous to himself and others. The course that I 
 have recommended to you to pursue, will do more than to benefit your- 
 selves, for it will lead you into those habits, manners and principles, 
 which lie at the foundation of all private and public welfare ; it will 
 make you patterns and examples of probity, prudence and propriety in 
 your respective communities ; and it will conciliate and reconcile and 
 attach those who cannot have the advantages which you have possessed 
 to that cause of education which shall through you requite to the mass 
 of men a benignant and beneficial return for their allowance, encou- 
 ragement and sanction ; and it will show to the world that education is 
 not and need not be hostile, but may be and through you. is of service 
 to the whole, and not to you only, but to others and to all. Rely upon 
 it, that the plain and every day virtues and excellencies of life make up 
 all that is most valuable in the world. Talent, education, manners, 
 fashion, elegance, magnificence, may and do adorn and grace these 
 homely traits, but without the sterling and standard attributes of cha- 
 racter, they are a nuisance and a curse. You, as educated and elevated 
 men, must cast your influence where it can do the most good, and thus 
 repay to the world an adequate and an honest recompense for the bles-
 
 .44 APPENDIX. 
 
 sings and benefits, the privileges and advantages which Providence ant 
 society have bestowed upon you." 
 
 The following extract from a speech of HENRY BARNARD, Esq., State 
 Superintendent of Common Schools of Rhode Island, delivered at the 
 State Convention at Syracuse, 1845, shows in what light he regards the 
 offices of State and County Superintendents of Common Schools, as 
 they now exist by statute in this State. Mr. Barnard is a gentleman of 
 extensive scientific and literary attainments, and. has for years devoted 
 all his powers to the investigation and defence of Popular Education. 
 He has travelled extensively in the United States and in Europe, and 
 his opinions are the result Of long and attentive observation. 
 
 " The most admirable feature in your school system is the provision 
 for County Superintendents the enlisting the services of fifty or sixty in- 
 telligent men, acting under the specific requirements of the school law, 
 and the general directions of the head of the school department, directly 
 upon every school, and every teacher, and every district and town school 
 officer, and very widely upon the parents of children, as well as the chil- 
 dren themselves, within their corporate limits. There is nothing to be 
 compared with this in the school system of any other State. Under the 
 continued operation of this plan of supervision the spirit of improvement 
 must be aroused, and must pervade every town and every district in the 
 State. Defects in school houses, in methods of government, and instruc- 
 tion, in the classification of schools, in the arrangement of studies, in the 
 character, attainments, and views of teachers, and in school books, must 
 be discovered, discussed, and the appropriate remedies pointed out. Lo- 
 cal and individual improvements must be made known, and become the 
 property of the whole county, and through the District School Journal, 
 and the annual reports of the Superintendents, become the common prop- 
 erty of the whole State. That there should be some friction in the work- 
 ing of this new wheel in your system, that there should be some unwise 
 things said or done, or some wise things unsaid or undone somewhere, 
 over so great a field of operation, is not to be wondered at and that there 
 should be complaints of various kinds, fostered it is to be feared in some 
 cases by demagogues, and in most cases growing out of ignorance and 
 interested motives, is very natural. But these things will disappear un- 
 der the faithful, intelligent, and continued action of these officers, whose 
 reports and whose attendance year after year, in such Conventions as 
 these, is the best evidence of their usefulness and of their fitness for the 
 office which they fill. I should look upon it as a calamity to the cause 
 of school improvement in other States, should this experiment of County 
 Supervision be arrested or defeated at this time. There is nothing in all 
 the wise legislation of your State in regard to public instruction, unless it 
 be in the liberal appropriation for district libraries, which the friends of 
 public education elsewhere are so anxious to see adopted into the school 
 systems* of their respective States. Its abolition would everywhere be 
 regarded as a long stride backward. It would be better to curtail the 
 amount distributed to the schools for other purposes, than to save in the 
 compensation for this class of officers, whose labors at least double the 
 value of all your school expenditures, by awakening and diffusing public 
 and parental interest, and giving life, intelligence, and progress, to teach- 
 ers and local school officers."
 
 APPENDIX. 45 
 
 Extract from MR. HENRY'S Address to the Board of Supervisors of 
 the county of Herkimer, at their meeting in Nov. 1845 : 
 
 The imperative duty of educating, or forming aright the character of 
 the young, is solemnly enjoined upon us in every page of our country's 
 history. The unanimous voice of the Sages, Patriots and Heroes, whose 
 united action gave us the glorious heritage of free institutions, bids us 
 ever preserve a watchful care over the formation of youthful character, 
 assuring us that public liberty cannot, for one moment, exist after intelli- 
 gence and virtue have ceased to be diffused among the masses of the 
 People. This is the grand moral of American History the cardinal 
 maxim of American Politics. 
 
 The late distinguished Superintendent of Common Schools, the Hon. 
 SAMUEL YOUNG whose efficient and judicious action, as a School officer, 
 is cordially and unanimously approved by the wise and patriotic of every 
 sect and party has recently and publicly declared, that the subject of 
 popular education is second in importance to no other claiming the atten- 
 tion of a free People. In the justness of this sentiment, I cannot for a 
 single moment doubt that every gentleman of this Board unreservedly 
 concurs ; and I am confident that each is unalterably resolved that this 
 great and vital interest shall never suffer by carelessness in the perform- 
 ance of any act in relation to it, with which he is charged. 
 
 The duty of appointing County Superintendents is by law assigned to 
 the Boards of Supervisors ; and safer and more discreet depositaries of 
 this delicate and responsible power do not exist. The selections which 
 have been made for four years past, almost uniformly attest, that sound 
 judgment and discretion, competent literary and scientific attainments, 
 unblemished moral character, and ardent and untiring devotion to the 
 great cause of popular instruction, have been the only effectual recom- 
 mendations which have led to these appointments ; and while selections 
 for this office shall be influenced only by such considerations, there can 
 be no doubt that the action of these officers will be highly conducive to 
 the prosperity and salutary influence of the Common Schools. 
 
 It has been objected by some that the system of supervising the 
 schools through the agency of County and Town Superintendents, is 
 complicated and expensive. To this objection it may be truly answered, 
 that while this system is far more efficient and salutary, its expense is at 
 least one-third less than that of any system which has preceded it. The 
 true standard by which to determine the value of our Common School 
 System is the influence it exerts upon the character of its pupils and of 
 the public at large. 
 
 To all objections that may be urged against our Common School Sys- 
 tem on account of its expense, it may be properly answered, that it will 
 always be safer and better economy to appropriate hundreds for educa- 
 tion, than hundreds of thousands for the suppression of insurrection and 
 rebellion.
 
 46 APPEND;*. 
 
 The common school system of New York, comprising its eleven thou- 
 sand school districts, with its free library in each of them ; its state, 
 county, and town superintendents ; its Normal school, and Teachers' In- 
 stitutes ; its District School Journal, and Teachers' Advocate ; its State, 
 County, and Town Associations of Teachers; its six or seven hundred thou- 
 sand of pupils; its intelligent, harmonious, and efficient action, has ex- 
 cited the wonder and admiration of every state in our Union many of 
 which have already paid us the high compliment of essentially adopting 
 it by legislative enactments. The record of this glorious system will 
 hereafter glow upon the impartial page of history as the proudest mon- 
 ument of our legislation. Indeed, it has been already pronounced by the 
 Hon. Horace Mann, and a more competent judge does not exist, the best 
 common school system in the world. The following is the description of 
 our system as given by that accomplished, able, and indefatigable cham- 
 pion of popular education in the Massachusetts Common School Journal, 
 of July 15,1845: 
 
 " New York has the best common school system in the world The state has a mag- 
 nificent fund. There is a library in every school district. Provisions are made for intro- 
 ducing apparatus into all the schools. It has a Normal school for the preparation of 
 teachers ; and it has devised the plan of Teachers' Institutes, which are short Normal 
 schools. An educational paper is also sent, at the expense of the state, to every school 
 district in it. The school system of New York is not only superior in its structure and 
 organization, but it is worked with more efficiency than any other. Indeed, the working 
 may be said to result from the structure. It goes easily, powerfully) and with as ^ittle 
 friction as such a vast piece of machinery could be expected to do." 
 
 The history of the reform which has been achieved in our common 
 school system, has Already become a subject of deep interest 5 and those 
 who originated its plan, or afterwards aided in its progress, are now very 
 generally receiving credit for good services performed for their country. 
 
 Perhaps it may not be inappropriate to the present occasion, briefly to 
 review the proceedings of the people of this county for several years 
 past in relation to this interesting topic. In the fall of 1836, a conven- 
 tion of the friends of popular education and common school reform, was 
 called to meet in January next ensuing. 
 
 In pursuance of this call, a convention assembled at the court- 
 house, on the third day of January, 1837. Of this convention, Hon. N. 
 S. Benton was chosen president, Henry Ellison, and Ephraim Tisdale, 
 Esqrs., vice presidents, and E. A. Munson, Esq., secretary. 
 
 From the series of resolutions, reported by Lauren Ford, Esq., and 
 adopted by the convention, the following is an extract : 
 
 " Resolved, That this convention do respectfully suggest to the legislature of this 
 state, the propriety of providing by law for the appointment and payment of a general 
 instructor of common schools for each county, or given number of school districts, whose 
 time shall be exclusively devoted to the personal inspection and superintendence of all 
 the schools in his district or county, with such powers, and subject to such regulations, 
 as .may be adopted by a general superintendent for the state, or by a board of county 
 inspectors, as the legislature may provide." 
 
 From the address to the people, reported by J. Henry, jun., and 
 adopted by that convention, the following is an extract :
 
 APPENDIX. 47 
 
 " It is believed that a more thorough supervision of our schools is necessary to their 
 success. The superintendence of the education of half a million children and youth, is 
 a task equal to the undivided energies of the most competent individual, even when aided 
 by a board of education and all necessary sub-agents. This duty, in our state, has hith- 
 erto been incidentally performed by the Secretary of State, and has been as efficient 
 and salutary as could be expected under the circumstances of the case ; but we believe 
 the able officer now filling that station (Gen. Dix) would unreservedly concur with us 
 in our views upon this subject We hope soon to number a minister of public instruc- 
 tion among our state officers, and to see that minister advised and aided by a state board 
 of education, and also by active county inspectors of common schools." 
 
 Such were the recommendations of the people of this county more 
 than four years before the passage of our present school act ; nor does 
 their action here terminate. The bill, as originally reported, gave the 
 appointment of county superintendents to the secretary of state. On the 
 suggestion of the Hon. A. Loomis, then member of the assembly from 
 this county, it was so amended as to give the appointment of these officers 
 to the board of supervisors ; and when so amended, it was supported by 
 the votes of both Messrs. Loomis and Hoffman. This amendment was a 
 most important one ; for such is the jealousy of central power, that with- 
 out it, the act, in all human probability, would have been long since re- 
 pealed. 
 
 Lastly, a citizen of this county, one who has been most active and 
 prominent. in recommending the reforms which, in practice, have proved 
 so beneficial the Hon. N. S. Benton has been recently called to the 
 superintendency of our unrivalled common school system. At the late 
 Syracuse Convention of County Superintendents, he publicly declared 
 that his original views had been confirmed rather than changed by his 
 observation of the practical effects of our present common school organi- 
 zation, and that it was his fixed resolution to devote his best powers to 
 make it as efficient and salutary in action as it is judicious and compre- 
 hensive in principle. In the fulfilment of this resolution, he will be aided 
 and sustained by the cordial co-operation of the people of New York ; 
 but in no part of the state, judging from their past history, will his 
 efforts be more cheerfully, perseveringly, and effectually supported than 
 in the county of Herkimer. 
 
 One of the most striking and valuable characteristics of our common 
 school system is its entire destitution of sectarian or party prejudice. It 
 is reared in that liberal, though catholic spirit, which so generally per- 
 vades the constitution of the Union ; establishing a perfect equality of 
 rights, and diffusing its benefits, like the dews of heaven, alike on the 
 rich and poor. We trace such a spirit in the conduct of those distin- 
 guished citizens who have, from time to time, been charged with the 
 administration of the system. Hence we see a YOUNG publicly and 
 magnanimously surrendering his preconceived opinions, perfecting the 
 details, and with all the indomitable energies of his soul, entering into 
 and carrying out in practice the admirable arrangements of the sagacious 
 and accomplished SPENCER. On such conduct, indicating the purest and 
 loftiest virtue, the patriot and philanthropist will always dwell with ever- 
 increasing delight. When we contemplate this magnificent system of 
 popular instruction, reared by the united intelligence and wisdom of our 
 whole people ; when we think of the hundreds of thousands of human 
 beings whose minds are to be enlightened, whose souls are to be purified 
 by the precious influences which it is constantly sending forth, is it too 
 much to hope and believe, that in reference to this great cause, " we 
 shall all of us grow candid, and bury in silence the odious epithets of 
 party distinction ?"
 
 48 APPENDIX. 
 
 It is now ten years since I became a resident in this county ; and 
 during that whole period, the improvement of our common schools has 
 been one of the chief objects of my pursuit. For four years past, I have 
 been exclusively employed in investigating the great principles upon 
 which useful and practical education is based, and in the performance of 
 my official duties. In view of this long period of service, I trust that I 
 may now respectfully announce that I am no longer a candidate for the 
 office of county superintendent. 
 
 Be pleased, gentlemen, to accept my cordial thanks for the confidence 
 which you and your predecessors have reposed in me. The relations 
 which have existed between me and the several boards of supervisors, 
 during both my official terms, will ever be a subject of grateful remem- 
 brance. Permit me, through you, to make public acknowledgment of 
 the many tributes of regard bestowed upon me by the good citizens of 
 Herkimer county to return them my sincere thanks for the generous 
 hospitality with which they have ever welcomed me to their well-fur- 
 nished and happy homes. Never will the recollection of their generosity 
 be effaced from my memory. More true and constant friends I have 
 never known ; and to the last day of my life, my ardent prayers shall 
 be offered for their happiness and prosperity. 
 
 On the conclusion of Mr. Henry's remarks, GEORGE AVERT, Esq., 
 Supervisor of Salisbury, offered the following resolution, which was 
 adopted unanimously : 
 
 Resolved, That the thanks of this Board be tendered to JAMES HENRY, Jr., Esq., late 
 County Superintendent of Common Schools, for the ability and fidelity with which he 
 has discharged the duties of that office ; and that in the opinion of this Board, liis retire- 
 ment is a severe loss to the cause of education in this county and State. 

 
 51 
 
 The following remarks upon text books are for the most part extracted 
 from a Report on that subject made to a County Convention of Town 
 Superintendents, assembled at Little Falls, N. Y., June 14, 1844: 
 
 While the importance and necessity of text books have been over-esti- 
 mated by many, others have passed to the opposite extreme, and advanced 
 the doctrine that these works may be dispensed with altogether. The 
 latter of these errors will at present, I doubt not, be found in practice the 
 greater evil. If all teachers were such thorough and accomplished mas- 
 ters as to supply promptly and correctly from their own resources, and at 
 the same time, the office of text book and tutor, then would I cordially 
 unite in an effort to discontinue all further discussion upon this vexed 
 question, and lay all text books aside. But sanguine as I am in my an- 
 ticipations of the onward course of educational reform, I do not expect to 
 live to that time when all printed instructions for teachers can be dis- 
 pensed with without detriment to the schools. It is a fallacy to suppose 
 that what a few perfect masters can achieve, may be readily attained by 
 all who will be employed to teach. Text books will be found, for many 
 years to come, eminently useful ; and the author of good ones, and the 
 individual who aids in placing them in the schools, are engaged in worthy 
 and patriotic labors. 
 
 It cannot be reasonably expected that any recommendation that can be 
 made will be universally approved. The subject is one respecting which 
 there is necessarily considerable diversity of opinion. Few, if any, books 
 have yet reached the greatest perfection ; besides, authors, publishers, 
 and booksellers, naturally enough persuade themselves that the works in 
 which they are interested are preferable to their competitors. Still, by 
 the application of some general principles, a harmony of opinion will be 
 developed to a greater extent than would at first view seem possible. 
 
 It is now commonly agreed, that knowledge in every department of 
 study is acquired by regular progression, and that every science naturally 
 unfolds itself in conformity to fixed and invariable laws. The proper 
 test, therefore, to be applied to a text book, is the simple inquiry whether 
 it is accurate in its definitions of principles, and conformed in its arrange- 
 ment to this established order. The test is simple, and its application is 
 less difficult than many suppose. 
 
 I do not profess to have applied this test, patiently and accurately, to 
 all the works I am about to recommend, so that I can pronounce with 
 certainty respecting them. I am guided in reference to many of them by 
 public opinion. 
 
 To indicate the order in which text books are to be used, I cite the 
 following extract from the published instructions of the State Superinten- 
 dent : " The usual order has been found by long experience to be best, 
 namely, the alphabet, spelling, reading with definitions, arithmetic, geogra- 
 phy, history, and grammar."
 
 52 
 
 In conformity to this order, a spelling book is the first one to be used 
 in our schools. Numerous works of this kind are before the public, and 
 each is recommended by some individual excellence ; but I regard Cobb's 
 New Spelling Book as decidedly the best work of its kind for learning the 
 orthography of our language. It is far more extensive in its tables, and 
 more accurate in its classification ; while the numerous anomalies with 
 which our spelling abounds, are so clearly pointed out as greatly to assist 
 the pupils in mastering them. It is fast gaining in popularity, and wher- 
 ever it has been duly examined and compared with other works, so far as 
 I am informed, a general preference has been expressed for it. 
 
 Of the importance of spelling, the State Superintendent has expressed 
 the following opinions. In his published instructions to County Super- 
 intendents he says : " They should urge the absolute necessity of chil- 
 dren being thoroughly and frequently exercised in spelling, so that they 
 may make no mistakes in any words in common use. Without this it is 
 impossible for them to become good readers." These views are evident- 
 ly the result of accurate observation and long experience, and cannot be 
 too often repeated. 
 
 The prominent defects in our reading exercises in the common schools 
 are, a bad articulation, and almost universal neglect of definitions. As a 
 corrective for the former of these errors, I would recommend the intro- 
 duction and use of Comstocks Works ; and to correct the latter, I recom- 
 mend the use of Cobb's New Series of Readers. 
 
 The Phonetic Reader, Elocution, and Charts of Elementary Sounds, 
 by Andrew Comstock, M. D. The author of these works has spent 
 twenty years in the study of the subjects of which they treat, and is 
 probably the best known and the most successful practical elocutionist 
 in the country. He was the first to arrange in tabular and systematic 
 forms, the elements of our language ; and most, if not all, of the numer- 
 ous phonological charts which have appeared, are essentially transcripts 
 from, though not improvements of this author's works. In their latest 
 editions, Comstock's books and charts are, beyond question, unsurpassed 
 by any thing of their kind which has yet been offered the public. Be- 
 sides the great facilities which they afford for habits of correct, elegant, 
 and effective reading and speaking, they present also, in graceful and 
 attractive forms, many of those fundamental moral and political truths, 
 on the right apprehension and practical application of which, by the 
 mass of our people, depend the support and perpetuity of our free insti- 
 tutions. They also contemplate a thorough reformation in our anomalous 
 and barbarous orthography. 
 
 The leading characteristics of Cobb's Series of Readers are thus briefly 
 stated in a report of the Association of Teachers of the Public Schools 
 in the city of New York, dated February 17, 1844 : '' Every word used 
 is accented, pronounced, and defined once in the course of the Series. 
 The lessons and books are also graduated from easy to more difficult, and 
 every new word is defined in the spelling lesson immediately preceding 
 the reading lesson in which it occurs. The particular definition applica 
 ble in the lesson is printed in italics, that the learner may thus ascertain
 
 53 
 
 the exact meaning of every word he reads. The selections are from 
 various authors, chiefly American, carefully avoiding all frightful and im- 
 possible stories, and colloquies of inferior anirmls, such as nourish an ap- 
 petite for fiction and romance. Such are the leading characteristics of 
 Mr. Cobb's books, which the Association warmly recommend to their 
 brother teachers." 
 
 Throughout Cobb's whole Series of New Readers, teachers and pupils 
 are constantly reminded of the capital error in reading exercises, neglect 
 of definitions, and are, at the same time, afforded great facilities for its 
 correction. Were this Series in all other respects only equal with others, 
 this single excellence, in my judgment, is so great and commanding that 
 it should determine the public in favor of their general use in the schools 
 of the country. 
 
 The Bible Reader, by Wm. B. Fowle, of Boston, is a choice selection. 
 of admirable reading lessons from the Holy Scriptures. This book was 
 compiled with special reference to the wants of the schools, and it is so 
 perfectly adapted to fill the place its author designed it to occupy, that to 
 be universally approved it needs only to be universally known. For a 
 reading book it is, in my opinion, far better than the entire Scriptures of 
 either the Old or New Testament ; and I cordially recommend its imme- 
 diate adoption and use in all the Common Schools of this county. 
 
 History, particularly that of our own country, may be made a most in- 
 teresting and profitable portion of Common School exerci&es. Geogra- 
 phy and Chronology are indispensable in the acquisition of historical 
 knowledge, and should always be taught in connection with it. No ade- 
 quate conception of any action can be formed in the mind of a child with- 
 out connecting with it the place where, and the time when, it occurred: 
 Geography and Chronology have long since been properly denominated 
 the two eyes of history. Memory will be taxed in vain to recall impres- 
 sions made by historical narration, unless the ideas of time and place are 
 associated with those impressions. History may also, and should be, a 
 medium for awakening a love of country, and inspiring the young with 
 virtuous and heroic sentiments. Mrs. Willard's Abridgment of her His- 
 tory of the United States is better adapted to answer all these desirable 
 ends than any other small manual with which I am acquainted ; while as 
 a book for reading purposes it is unsurpassed by any that can be produced 
 in the form of historical narration. I hope soon to see this little manual 
 in general use in our schools. 
 
 Porter's Rhetorical Header and VandenhoflPs Plain System of Elocution 
 give the best explanation and illustration of the principles of good reading 
 of any books within my knowledge. They are standard works of their 
 kind, and ought to be read and studied by all teachers and the advanced 
 classes in the schools. 
 
 VVickham's Educational Incentives may be made very useful instru- 
 mentalities in primary and common Schools ; and I cheerfully commend 
 them to the favorable regard of the friends of Education. 
 
 Sweet's Elocution is a judicious selection of exercises in reading and 
 speaking, and well adapted for occasional use in reading and declamation.
 
 54 
 
 by the higher classes. The author's numerous notes, explanatory and 
 historical, will be found entertaining and instructive. 
 
 Hart's Class Books of Poetry and Prose are intended to show the 
 progress of the English Language from its rude condition, several cen- 
 turies ago, to its present cultivated and polished state. The conception 
 is an admirable one, and the work has been well executed. These 
 books will be found both entertaining and instructive. 
 
 Worcester's Comprehensive Dictionary is believed to be the best adapted 
 of any work of its kind for the use of the Common Schools. This Dictionary 
 is in the octavo form, and will therefore be found more convenient for use and 
 more durable than the ordinary small dictionaries. It contains a greater 
 number of words, and more full and accurate definitions ; it gives the authori- 
 ties on each side, wherever a word of disputed pronunciation occurs ; it 
 explains many of those Latin, French, Italian, and Spanish words and 
 phrases so often used in newspapers, pamphlets, and magazines, and 
 which must be wholly unintelligible to the common reader without some 
 similar help ; it contains Walker's catalogue of Greek and Latin proper 
 names, divided, accented, and pronounced ; the same author's catalogue 
 of Scripture proper names ; and lastly, a list of several thousands of 
 geographical proper names, many of them the most difficult to pronounce 
 of any words in the language, and such as cannot be correctly pro- 
 nounced even by most teachers without some aid of this kind. Taken 
 as a whole, this Dictionary is far preferable, for private families and 
 Common Schools, to any other work with which I am acquainted ; and 
 I have long urged its adoption in all the schools under my supervision. 
 I hope, also, that it will be adopted throughout the State. 
 
 Oswald's. Etymological Dictionary I think would be found a useful 
 book in a teacher's library, and I would respectfully recommend it to the 
 favorable notice of all persons who wish to become acquainted with the 
 origin of great numbers of words now in common use. 
 
 For extensive ,and accurate definitions, Doct. Webster's American 
 Dictionary of the English language is by common consent allowed to be 
 the best work that has yet been written. Every teacher should regard 
 his private library as capitally defective until it contains this work. The 
 octavo edition in two volumes contains the Doctor's latest versions and 
 amendments. 
 
 McElligott's Manual Analytical and Synthetical of Orthography and Definition 
 appears to me as a most comprehensive and valuable work. It is designed to 
 follow the Spelling-book, and the following is a brief outline of its plan. It re- 
 quires each exercise to be written ; it renders necessary a due application of the 
 Rules of Spelling ; it obliges the student to compare words variously related one 
 with another ; it resolves derivatives, as also their compounds, into their ele- 
 ments ; explains the parts both separately and in combination, and thus evolves 
 their literal or primary meanings, going beyond this especially in relation to 
 those derivatives that admit a number of prefixes ; it points out the connection 
 between the primary and the other significations, and so trains the mind to habits 
 of accuracy and logical deduction, and offers, as might thence be inferred, the 
 best possible substitute for the formal and regular study of the Classics. 
 
 Brown's and Bullion's Grammars of our language, are the most popular 
 works of their kind in use in the schools of this State. Both are recom-
 
 55 
 
 mended by high testimonials. I have not made that general comparison 
 and thorough examination that would be necessary to warrant me in ex- 
 pressing a preference for either. I therefore call the attention of teach- 
 ers and trustees to both, and leave to them to decide which is preferable 
 for the use of schools. 
 
 Webster's Philosophical Grammar, Pierce's Grammar, Hazen's Gram- 
 mar, and many others, may be read with interest and profit by teachers ; 
 each will furnish some useful hints to the inquirer, and, to some extent, 
 aid in bringing to order that grammatical chaos which has been so long a 
 source of perplexity to teachers, and of discouragement to learners. A 
 thorough practical acquaintance with the language of one's country and 
 race is of all departments of knowledge the most useful ; and whoever 
 contributes even but a mite to render the acquisition of sucli knowledge 
 more easy, has some just claim to be regarded as a public benefactor. 
 
 Mitchel's Geographical Series is, as a whole, believed to be the most 
 complete and valuable of any thing of its kind. Its circulation, already 
 great, is constantly and rapidly increasing. Take this series, in connec- 
 tion with the outline maps designed to accompany it, and they afford the 
 learner the greatest facilities for becoming thoroughly and practically ac- 
 quainted with this most interesting department of study. The Outline 
 Maps, though the first things of their kind offered to the public, are, by 
 far the greater number of persons, still regarded as the best. They ought 
 to be placed in every school-house in the Union. 
 
 The subject of Natural Philosophy, so intimately connected with Ag- 
 riculture, Mechanics, Manufactures, and the Arts, possessing in its ele- 
 ments a charm which never fails to attract and fix the attention of children, 
 in its higher departments, an interest so great and absorbing as to hold in 
 willing and delightful captivity the most mature powers of thought, and, 
 in its whole influence upon the intellect and heart, so eminently conserva- 
 tive to the formation of a pure and elevated moral character, ought ever 
 to occupy a prominent place in every institution for popular education. 
 In this interesting and healthful department of science, it is confidently 
 believed that the series of text books which have been, with great labor 
 and care, prepared by Professor Olmsted, of Yale College, is better 
 adapted to direct and aid the studies both of the beginner and of the ad- 
 vanced student, than any other which has yet been offered to the public. 
 The series consists of the Rudiments, School Philosophy, and School 
 Astronomy, in one small volume each, and the College Philosophy and 
 College Astronomy, in one large octavo each. The same author's Letters 
 on Astronomy constitute a volume of most delightful reading, which ought 
 to find a place in every private, social, and school library in the country. 
 
 The First Lessons and Common School Arithmetic of Prof. Davies, 
 together with the University Arithmetic, form a common-school series 
 of unrivalled excellence. They are too well known, and too highly 
 appreciated, to render any commendation necessary. The whole system 
 of Davies' Mathematics, including his elementary and higher works, are 
 extensively used throughout the Union, and their circulation is constantly 
 increasing.
 
 Preston's Book-keeping. For beginners, the Primary -classes more 
 advanced, the larger work. 
 
 The Rudiments of Political Science are now very properly and gen- 
 erally becoming a department of study in the common schools, and vari- 
 ous text books, prepared by different authors, are now before the public. 
 The book which has been most extensively introduced into the different 
 counties of this state, is Young's First Lessons in Government. Hurl- 
 burt's Civil Office, Shurtleff's Governmental Instructor, Hart's Class Book 
 of the Constitution, Wilson's Civil Polity, and Wedgewood's Revised 
 Statutes, may all be read and studied with advantage by most teachers 
 and pupils. 
 
 The Child's First Book of Reading and Drawing, by Jerome B. 
 Howard, Teacher of Drawing in the New York State Normal School, 
 is a little volume just published by Gates & Steadman, 136 Nassau St., 
 N. Y. It gives fair promise of being a meritorious and useful work, and 
 it is hereby respectfully commended to the favorable notice of Teachers. 
 
 COMMON SCHOOL APPARATUS. 
 
 By the 16th section of the act of 1843, it is provided that " whenever 
 the number of volumes in the district library of any district numbering 
 over fifty children between the ages of five and sixteen years, shall ex- 
 ceed one hundred and twenty-five ; or of any district numbering fifty 
 children or less, between the ages of five and sixteen years, shall exceed 
 one hundred volumes, the inhabitants of the district qualified to vote 
 therein, may, at a special meeting, duly notified for that purpose, by a ma- 
 jority of votes, appropriate the whole or any part of library money be- 
 longing to the district, for the current year, to the purchase of maps, 
 globes, black-boards, or other scientific apparatus, for the use of the school. 
 
 JjjP" The Library money of every district must be expended for Books or 
 Apparatus on or before the first day of October in each year" Common 
 School System ; by S. S. Randall, page 140. 
 
 The increased employment of the eye in the business of instruction, is 
 one of the greatest improvements of our times. The eye seems to have 
 been designed by the Creator as the great medium for the reception of 
 knowledge in the earlier stages of life. How pleasantly, distinctly, and 
 durably, may many of the most important principles of science be im- 
 pressed upon the mind by a picture, a diagram, or a piece of mechanism, 
 which, by mere oral instruction, the teacher would labor in vain to pro- 
 duce ! Wisely therefore has the Legislature made provision for intro- 
 ducing apparatus into all the common schools. 
 
 The following specimens of apparatus are believed to be the best in 
 their respective departments, and are therefore cordially recommended as 
 worthy of being placed in all the common schools of the state and 
 country :
 
 IN THE ELEMENTARY SOUNDS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, &c. 
 
 Comstock's Phonological Charts, viz. : A CHART comprising -first, 
 the Elementary Sounds of the English language, philosophically ar- 
 ranged second, numerous cuts showing the best posture of the mouth 
 in the energetic utterance of the Elements third, exercises in Articu- 
 lation and Gesture -fourth, a Phonetic Alphabet of the English Lan- 
 guage, in which there is a letter (typic and graphic) appropriated to 
 every elementary sound. 
 
 A CHART comprising exercises in Force and Pitch, embracing 
 Melody and Modulation. 
 
 IN GEOGRAPHY AND ASTRONOMY. 
 
 MitcheTs Outline Maps and Key, $15,00. Too well known to need 
 any description. 
 
 MitchfVs Map of New York, $2,50. 
 
 Vale's Globe and Transparent Sphere, Prices of the above instrument 
 from $12 to $150. Size adapted to private families and common schools 
 from $24 to $30 case and packing extra. 
 
 The above is a new and most surprising piece of Mechanism, by which 
 visible illustrations of all the prominent and most important principles, 
 both of Geography and Astronomy, are so clearly and distinctly given, 
 that the ordinary mind readily understands them. The book accompa- 
 nying contains ample instructions, with all the problems in Keith worked 
 out on this instrument, exclusive of its peculiar uses. Used in the United 
 States Military Academy at West Point, and by the State Normal School 
 at Albany, and well deserving of a place in every common school, and in 
 every scientific institution throughout the Union. . 
 
 Apply to the Inventor and Proprietor, No. 3 Franklin Square, New 
 York. 
 
 Fisher's Dial of the Seasons. A chart illustrating the sun's declination 
 at all seasons ; with the coincident effects of light and heat on vegetable 
 and animal life in all climates. 
 
 Published at Philadelphia; price probably $1,50 to $2,00. 
 
 IN HISTORY. 
 
 WiilarcTs (Mr-s. Emma) American Chronographer. An historical chart, 
 presenting, in a very clear and vivid point of view, the important events, to- 
 gether with the time of their occurrence, in the history of the United States. 
 Designed for Pointer-teaching ; price probably $1,50 to $2,00. 
 
 Willard's Temple of Time, by which is presented, in a striking man- 
 ner, most of the leading data of universal history, is an admirable chart 
 for the school room, library, and office. Price $1,00 to $1,50. 
 
 Bloss^s (Miss) Chronological Chart, to accompany her Ancient History, 
 on which the world's history is divided into six millenniums, or periods of 
 one thousand years each, and these again subdivided into centuries ; pre- 
 sentin'g at one view and in regular succession, the most important facts in 
 universal history, from the creation to the present time. Price of the 
 book and chart, probably from $3 to $5,00.
 
 58 
 
 IN GEOMETRY, TRIGONOMETRY, AND GEOLOGY. 
 
 Holbrookes Apparatus. Price probably from $10 to $12. This appa- 
 ratus was recommended to all the schools throughout the State, by a 
 meeting of the friends of education, convened at the capitol during the 
 late session of the legislature. 
 
 IN CHEMISTRY. 
 
 Hadley's Table and Models. Very valuable works, and eminently 
 worthy of a place in every common school in the country. Price prob- 
 ably from $2 to $3,00. 
 
 IN DRAWING. 
 
 Davies* Elements of Drawing and Mensuration, with their applications to 
 the mechanic arts. 
 
 Abbott's Cards. Saxon & Miles, New York. Price probably from 
 $0,75 to $1,00 
 
 Holbrookes Cards. J. Holbrook, New York. 
 
 Peale's Graphics. Philadelphia. 
 
 Music. 
 Lindsley's Chart and Manual. Price $3,00. 
 
 The Pupil's Code of School Regulations 
 
 EXCELSIOR. 
 
 RULES FOR THIS SCHOOL, 
 
 I. I MUST BE REGULAR IN MY ATTENDANCE. 
 
 This rule requires me to attend the School every day it is kept, and in 
 good season in the morning and in the afternoon. 
 
 II. I MUST PRACTISE CLEANLINESS. 
 
 This rule requires me to be neat in person. My face and hands, my 
 clothes, books, and papers, must always be clean. I must not mark with 
 chalk or charcoal upon the walls, either within or without the school 
 house. I must not scribble upon my writing books, reading books, nor 
 upon the desk or table. I must keep my writing books free from blots. 
 I must clean my shoes or boots before entering the school house. I must 
 not spit upon the floor. I must keep the school house yard and out-
 
 59 
 
 buildings clean. I must not cut the desks, seats, or any part of the 
 school house or out-buildings, with a knife. 
 
 III. I MUST SUPPORT GOOD ORDER. 
 
 This rule requires that I shall make no unnecessary noise with my 
 feet, with the door, or in any other way, on going in or on coming out of 
 the school house on getting my place in the class, or my seat from the 
 class. I must make no noise with my lips while reading to myself. I 
 must not whisper to others in study hours. 
 
 IV. I MUST BE INDUSTRIOUS 
 
 This rule requires me to fix my thoughts upon my lesson, and to keep 
 them steadily upon it, until I have learned it well. It forbids me to sit 
 looking carelessly about the school room, neglecting my lesson, and setting 
 a bad example for others. 
 
 V. I MUST UNDERSTAND MY LESSONS THOROUGHLY 
 
 This rule forbids me to use any word in conversation without knowing 
 distinctly what particular thing I intend to represent by it. It forbids 
 me to read any word in a book without knowing clearly and distinctly 
 what the author meant to represent by it. In grammar, in arithmetic, in 
 geography, and in every other study, it forbids me to assert any thing 
 before I can give the right reason for making the assertion. This is the 
 most important rule for acquiring knowledge, and it is the rule which has 
 been the most neglected. I must not be guilty of such neglect. 
 
 VI. I MUST BE OBEDIENT. 
 
 This rule requires me to believe that my parents and teachers know 
 the things that I ought to do, and the way in which they ought to be 
 done, better than I do. I cannot, therefore, be a good child or a good 
 scholar unless my obedience to my parents and teachers is prompt and 
 cheerful. 
 
 VII. I MUST DO TO OTHERS AS I WOULD HAVE OTHERS 
 
 DO TO ME. 
 
 This rule requires me to be just, true, and kind. I must never do any 
 act to another that under the same circumstances I would not willingly 
 have done to me. This is the most perfect rule for regulating our actions 
 towards each other, and no person can be either good or honorable who 
 does not strive to observe this rule. 
 
 VIII. I MUST ALWAYS SPEAK THE TRUTH. 
 
 This rule forbids me ever to misrepresent or conceal any thing which 
 others have a right to know. It requires me, on all occasions, to speak
 
 60 
 
 according to fact, or not speak at all. It is base, cowardly, and wicked 
 to lie, and every child who desires to be either honored or happy must 
 love and speak the truth. 
 
 IX. I MUST NEVER PUT OFF TILL TO-MORROW WHAT 
 CAN BE DONE TO-DAY. 
 
 X. I MUST READ THESE RULES EVERY DAY, AND TRY 
 TO KEEP THEM ALL. 
 
 Works containing accurate and reliable statistical information in the 
 great Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Manufactures, and the 
 Mechanic Arts, are pre-eminently worthy of a place in the District 
 Libraries. The endless controversies in which, for more than half a 
 century past, our country has been engaged, upon the vexed questions 
 of Finance, Protection and Free Trade, can be permanently settled only 
 by the simple, rational process of observing phenomena ; collecting and 
 preserving data ; examining, comparing, and arranging facts in proper 
 tables, whence controlling principles may at all times be developed. 
 
 The establishment of a Bureau of Statistics by the Federal Govern- 
 ment, at Washington, will designate an Epoch in the future history of 
 the country, and it must be a source of just pride to every citizen of New 
 York to remember that this great measure was originally suggested and 
 carried into execution by the foresight and perseverance' of one of the 
 Representatives in Congress from this State.* 
 
 Hunt's Merchant's Magazine is one of our most valuable Periodicals 
 for business men, and no work would be more permanently and exten- 
 sively useful. The work, up to the completion of the 14th volume, is 
 substantially and neatly bound, and sold at retail at $2.50 per volume. 
 The Library of Commerce, by the same author, is also a very valuable 
 work, abounding in information of deep interest to all classes. 
 
 The Farmer's Library, edited by John S. Skinner, and published by 
 Greeley & McElrath, $5.00 per annum ; Lardner's Lectures, by the 
 same publishers ; and the American semi-quarterly Journal of Agricul- 
 ture and Science, comprising about 900 pages per annum, at $2.00 per 
 year, edited by Dr. E. Emmons, A. Osborne, and 0. C. Gardner, 
 New York. These works, and the volumes of the Cultivator, are each 
 and all well deserving of a place in^very District Library, and they are 
 especially commended to the favorable notice of Trustees. 
 
 The admirable series of books by Miss Eliza Robbins comprising 
 
 1. Primary Lessons. 4. School Friend. 
 
 2. Introduction to Popular Lessons. 5. Primary Dictionary. 
 
 3. American Popular Lessons. 
 
 , PROGRESSIVE. 
 
 6. Sequel to Popular Lessons. 10. English History. 
 
 7. Tales from American History. 11. Biography for Schools 
 
 8. Poetry for Schools. 12. Elements of Mythology. 
 
 9. Grecian History. 13. Youth's Plutarch 
 
 * Hon. Zadock Pratt.
 
 61 
 
 are equally adapted for use in the Libraries and for class-reading in the 
 Schools, and they are cordially recommended for both purposes. 
 
 " These books are intended not merely to teach reading for reading's sake, but to 
 suggest an intelligent method of instruction, in preference to -one merely mechanical. 
 They attempt to communicate something of the knowledge of nature, to instil the prin- 
 ciples of a right conduct from the earliest age, to furnish elements of true history, and 
 to form a just literary taste." 
 
 Published by Roe Lockwood & Son, 411 Broadway, New York. 
 Also, by the same publishers, the First Lessons in Human Physiology, 
 to which are added Brief Rules of Health. For the use of Schools. 
 By John H. Griscom, M. D. The author's name is sufficient guaran- 
 tee that this little work is well adapted to the purposes for which it was 
 designed. 
 
 Napoleon and his Marshals, by J. T. Headley, is the title of a deeply 
 interesting work in two volumes octavo, which ought to be placed in 
 every District Library throughout the State and Union. The following 
 just sentences, from the author's preface, contain both the key and moral 
 of the work : " We need not fear the effect of stimulating too much the 
 love of glory in this age of dollars and cents. Cupidity, not love of 
 glory or personal ambition, is to be the source of future collisions. The 
 grasping spirit is to be dreaded most, and for one I should prefer much, 
 a little more of the chivalric sentiment blended in with our thirst for 
 gold." 
 
 Published by Baker & Scribner, 36 Park Row and 145 Nassau-st., 
 New York. 
 
 The Education of Mothers, or the Civilization of Mankind by Wo- 
 men. By L. Aime-Martin. Being the work to which the prize of the 
 French Academy was awarded. Translated from the French by Edwin 
 Lee, Esq., author of " The Baths of Germany," etc. 
 
 Published by Lea & Blanchard, Philadelphia. 
 
 The above work is worthy of being printed in letters of gold. It 
 deserves to be read, studied, and constantly meditated upon, by every 
 Mother and Daughter in the Union and in the world. 
 
 It is earnestly hoped, that the publishers will cause the maxims in 
 French, at the heads of the chapters, to be faithfully translated into 
 English, and also have the work neatly bound in a manner suitable for 
 Family and School District Libraries. 
 
 DISTRICT LIBRARIES. 
 
 The object of the law for procuring district libraries is, to diffuse information, not only, or even 
 chiefly, among children or minors, hut among adults and those who h.-ive finished their common 
 school education. The hooks, therefore, should l>e such as will he useful for circulation turning the 
 inhabitants generally. They should not be children's hooks, or of a juvenile character, or lislit and 
 frivolous tales and romances ; but works conveying solid information which will excite a thirst for 
 knowledge, and also gratify it, as far as such a library can. 
 
 JOHN C. SPENCER, Sup. Cum. Schools. 
 
 " District Libraries are designed to carry onward and complete the process which is but commenced 
 in the schools. The schools are intended to teach children and youth the art of acquiring useful 
 knowledge ; the Libraries are designed to afford them the means of reducing that art to practice. 
 None but standard works in the different departments of knowledge ought ever to be admitted into 
 the District Libraries. It is not from the great number, but from the high quality of the volumes, 
 that the vast benefits expected from these institutions are to flow." 
 
 Approved by SAMUEL YOUNG, Sup. Com. Schoolt.
 
 62 
 
 Catalogue of Books recommended for small School Districts. 
 
 Abbott's Teacher. 
 
 Austin's Voice to Youth to the Married. 
 Addison's Works. 
 
 Adams' (John) Letters to his Wife, 2 vols. 
 Annals of Tryon County, W. W. Camp- 
 bell, 1 vol. 8vo. 
 
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