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 LIBRARY OF PRINCETON 
 
 MAY 2 4 2005 
 
 THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2010 with funding from 
 
 Princeton Theological Seminary Library 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/addressuponeducaOOhenr 
 
AN 
 
 ADDRESS 
 
 UPON 
 
 EDUCATION 
 
 AND 
 
 COMMON SCHOOLS, 
 
 DELIVERED AT 
 
 COOPERS-TOWN, 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. 
 
 ALBANY: 
 
 FROM THE STEAM PRESS OF C. VAN BENTHUYSEN AND CO. 
 
 1S43. 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 Cherry-Valley, September 26, 1843. 
 
 Dear Sni: — 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 oificers ; 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 Herrt, Jun. Esq. JABEZ D. HAMMOND. 
 
 Having heard a portion of Mr. Henry's address read, and being acquainted with his views on 
 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, h'ov. 7, 1943. 
 
 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. 
 
 v S. YOUNG 
 
 Balliton, Aocr. 9, 1843. 
 
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 fell 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, 
 that you came into the administration of the Department in times of almost unequalled em- 
 barrassment; when an entirely new and untried organization had just been called into 
 being ; an organization admirable in its conception, but against which, (or 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 
 conception of it was wholly erroneous; that from the moment you discovered its true cha- 
 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 
 powers to perfect that organization in all its ramifications, and to provide adequate securities 
 for the public moneys, which had been in but too many instances lost by the faiihlessness 
 of the agents to whom their keeping had been entrusted ; in all of which you have been 
 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 Common School System 
 is to become a part and parcel of ordinary party arrangements; and that its offices are to 
 be bestowed as rewards of parlizan exertions. A more lamentable error than this cannot 
 take root in the minds of the citizens of this Slate, and if unchecked and uncorrected, this 
 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 
 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 perservingly 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 officei, 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. 
 
AN ADDRESS, &c. 
 
 Fbiends 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 be 
 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 of 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 which were seen and acknow- 
 ledged upon all hands, were made, but without 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- 
 
ADDKESS, ETC 
 
 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 maxi:n of the British Parlia- 
 ment, that however wise one man may be, the whole Parliament uni- 
 
 * See Appendix A. 
 
ADDRESS, ETC, 
 
 led, 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 ever}" 
 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 the 
 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- 
 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, doat when they doat, 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 recognized, 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- 
 jtes : 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 pood Spell in g-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 
 
ADDHESS, ETC 
 
 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 benefitted, have arrived at the con- 
 clusion that of the one hundred and twenty Spelling-Books now extant, 
 purporting to exhibit a correct arrangement of the elements of our lan- 
 guage, two onlv 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 — it 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 the 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 of 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. 
 
 Hale'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 
 Abridgement 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 Abridge- 
 ment are works of unrivalled merit, and it is hoped that the Abridge- 
 ment will be generally read by classes in the schools, and her larger 
 work procured for all the District Libraries. 
 
 Palmer's Moral Instructor, 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 
 
 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 meagre catalogue will be liberally extended ? May not 
 Book-keeping, the elements of Anatomy and Physiology, Natural and 
 Moral Philosophy, Chemistry, Agriculture, Mechanics, Political Econ- 
 omy, 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 great 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 embodied 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 maybe 
 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 Cagsars, 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 laws 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, sometimes 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 further 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- 
 mal 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 nearljr 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 licences 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. 
 
 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 Licences, 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 further 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 
 
ADDRESS, 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 Wadsworth, 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 cdvancement 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 tetter prepared to discharge success- 
 fully 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 stupendons 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 profoundesl statesman and 
 philosopher of his age. Such will our system be, when the outline 
 
 * Appendix C, 2. 
 
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- 
 publ ; c, 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 for transcending in deli- 
 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; wbile 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, further, 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 Caesar 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 bes t t 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 friends 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 
 false 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 practiced 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, Avas never uttered by human 
 tongue, than that 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 they are nobly evincing u, 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, is 
 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 aad 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 pots 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 tenderest 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 
 
2S 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 xoho 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, were 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 
 
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 hy the simple presence of his unsophisticated fellow coun- 
 trymen, who gathered arourld 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. 
 
 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, there 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 
 :n the discharge of all their duties. 
 
 Lastly, religion itself, whose principle, deeper and firmer than all 
 other things, is rooted and rivetted 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 too 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 is 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 recognizes 
 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 meagre 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 r 
 
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 Lommon 
 School system has had a legal existence in New-York ; yet, such has 
 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 firsts 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 bauble, 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 
 
32 ADDRESS, ETC, 
 
 reclaimed. Call down the astronomer from the skies : call upon 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, where 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 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 Ulica, 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 lo 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 supplythe 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 Ayith 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. 
 
34 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 winch 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 given 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 
 
APPENDIX. 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 schoolmaster, and 
 infusing new vitality in the school. 
 
 An attentive examination of the interesting reports of the deputy su- 
 perintendents will clearly shew that the accomplishment of several of 
 the most important of these objects is already iii a state of encouraging 
 progression. 
 
 Extract from Mr. Hulburd's Report on the Petitions for abolishing tin 
 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 1S42, 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 
 all 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 ui^xplored ; they have hardly been able to survey the extent, 
 and much less to examine the nature of it. If here and there they 
 have found 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 moft 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 Be 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 be absorbed in learning what can be acquired in 
 a short period? Perhaps one-fourth of our population is annually in- 
 structed in our Common Schools, and ought the minds and the morals 
 of the future generations to be entrusted 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 boohs 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 xoorthy 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 
 
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, 1S43. 
 
 " 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, tbe 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- 
 nefl' 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 at 
 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. 
 
 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, and 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 be also 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 
 he 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 Licences 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 proceedings 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 Avho 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 theic allowance, encou- 
 ragement and sanction ; and it will show to the world tha* 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 and 
 society have bestowed upon you." 
 
 APPEALS TO THE COUNTY SUPERINTENDENTS. 
 
 The passage of several acts of the Legislature renders necessary a 
 revision of the regulations concerning appeals : And the following are 
 therefore substituted for those heretofore established : 
 
 Any inhabitant of a School District conceiving himself aggrieved 
 in consequence of any proceeding or decision of any School District 
 meeting, or of the Town Superintendent, either separately or in con- 
 junction with the Supervisor and Town Clerk, relative to the forma- 
 tion or alteration of any School District, or of the Trustees or Libra- 
 rian, in the discharge of any of the duties devolving upon them, or 
 concerning any other matter arising under the School Laiv of what- 
 ever description, is now required to bring his appeal, in the manner and 
 within the time now prescribed by the regulations of the Department, 
 to the County Superintendent, whose decision thereon is final, unless 
 appealed from to this Department within fifteen days after service of a 
 copy thereof. 
 
 CASES IN WHICH APPEALS MAY BE MADE, 
 
 Under the WQth Section of the Common School Act. (No. 160.) 
 
 1. Where any decision has been made by any School District meeting. 
 This includes the whole class of cases, in which district meetings 
 
 have the power to decide on any proposition or motion that may legally 
 be made to them, under any section of the School Act. 
 
 2. Where any decision has been made by the Town Superintendent 
 of Common Schools, or by him and the Supervisor and Town Clerk, 
 in the forming or altering, or in refusing to form or alter any School 
 District, or in refusing to pay any school moneys to any district ; and 
 under the general provision, " concerning any other matter under the 
 present title," appeals will also lie from the proceedings of such Town 
 Superintendent in any erroneous distribution of public money, in pay- 
 ing it to any district not entitled, or more than it is authorized to re- 
 ceive ; and in fact from any official decision, act, or proceeding, and 
 from a refusal to discharge any duty imposed by law, or the regula- 
 tions of the Superintendent, or incident to the duties of his office. 
 
 3. Where any decision has been made by Trustees of school dis- 
 tricts in paying any teacher, or refusing to pay him, or in refusing to 
 admit any scholar gratuitously into the school : And under the same 
 general provision referred to, in improperly admitting any scholar gra- 
 tuitously, in making out any tax-list, or rate-bill, or in any act or pro- 
 ceeding whatever, which they undertake to perform officially; and also 
 for a refusal to discharge any duty enjoined by law, or any regulatioa 
 of the Superintendent, or incident to the duties of their office. 
 
APPENDIX. 45 
 
 4. Where Town Superintendents have improperly granted or an- 
 nulled a certificate of qualification to a teacher, or have refused to 
 grant or annul such certificate ; and where they have undertaken to 
 perform any official act, or refused to discharge any duty imposed by 
 law or under its authority, in the inspection of teachers and visitation 
 of schools. 
 
 5. Where Clerks of Districts, Clerks of Towns, or other ministerial 
 officers, refuse to perform any duty enjoined by the Common School 
 Act. 
 
 6. Where any other matter under the said act shall be presented, 
 either in consequence of disputes between districts respecting their 
 boundaries, or any other subject ; or in consequence of disputes be- 
 tween any officers charged with the execution of any duties under the 
 laws concerning Common Schools, or disputes' between them and any 
 other person relating to such duties or any of them. 
 
 Under the 4th Section of the " Act respecting School District Libra- 
 ries." (No. 183.) 
 
 7. Appeals may be made from any act or decision of trustees or 
 school districts concerning the Libraries, or the books therein, or the 
 use of such books. 
 
 8. Any act or decision of the Librarian in respect to the library. 
 
 9. Any act or decision of any district meeting in relation to their 
 school library. 
 
 10. Appeals also lie from the acts of Town Superintendents of Com- 
 mon Schools in withholding or paying over library money to any dis- 
 trict. 
 
 Under the 40th Section of the Act of 1841, relating to Common Schools. 
 
 (No. 161.) 
 
 11. All proceedings under any authority conferred by this act upon 
 any of the officers connected with the Common Schools, and all omis- 
 sions and refusals to perform any duty enjoined by said act, is subject 
 to appeal in the same manner and with the like effect as in cases aris- 
 ing under the 110th section above referred to. 
 
 BY WHOM APPEALS ARE TO BE MADE. 
 
 12. The person aggrieved by the act complained of, only, can ap- 
 peal. Generally, every inhabitant of a district is aggrieved by the 
 wrongful act or omission of a Trustee or Town Superintendent, by 
 which money or property is disposed of, or not secured for the benefit 
 of the district. But no one is aggrieved by another being included in 
 a tax-list, or rate-bill, although other inhabitants are by the omission 
 of one who should be taxed; and appeals may be made by trustees in 
 behalf of their districts, whenever they are aggrieved. 
 
 FORM AND MANNER OF PEOCEEDING. 
 
 13. An appeal must be in writing and signed by the appellant. 
 
 4 
 
46 APPENDIX. 
 
 When made by the trustees of a district, it must be signed by all the 
 trustees, or a reason must be given for the omission of any, verified by 
 the oath of the appellant, or of some person acquainted with such 
 reason. 
 
 14. A copy of the appeal, duly verified, and of all the statements, 
 maps and papers intended to be presented in support of it, must be 
 served on the officers whose act or decision is complained of, or some 
 one of them ; or if it be from the decision or proceedings of a district 
 meeting, upon the district clerk or one of the trustees, whose duty it is 
 to cause information of such appeal to be given to the inhabitants who 
 voted for the decision or proceeding appealed from. 
 
 15. Such service must be made within thirty days after the making 
 of the decision, or the performance of the act complained of: or within 
 that time, after the knowledge of the cause of complaint came to the 
 appellant, or some satisfactory excuse must be rendered for the delay. 
 
 16. The party on whom the appeal was served, must within ten 
 davs from the time of such service, answer the same, either by con- 
 curring in a statement of facts with the appellant, or by a separate an- 
 swer. Such statement and answer must be signed by all the Trustees, 
 or other officers, whose act, omission, or decision is appealed from, or 
 a good reason on oath must be given for the omission of the signature 
 of any of them, verified by oath, and a copy of such answer must be 
 served on the appellants or some one of them. 
 
 17. So far as the parties concur in a statement, no oath will be re- 
 quired to it. But all facts, maps or papers, not agreed upon by them 
 and evidenced by their signature on both sides, must be verified by 
 oath. 
 
 18. All oaths required by these regulations must be taken before a 
 Judge of a Court of Kecord, a Commissioner of Deeds, or a Justice 
 of the Peace. 
 
 19. A copy of the answer, and of all the statements, maps and pa- 
 pers intended to be presented in support of it, must be served upon the 
 appellants or some one of them, within ten days after service of a copy 
 of the appeal, unless further time be given by the County Superintend- 
 ent, on application, in special cases ; but no replication or rejoinder 
 shall be allowed, except by permission of the County Superintendent, 
 and in reference exclusively to matters arising upon the answer, and 
 which may be deemed by such County Superintendent pertinent to the 
 issue : in which case such replication and rejoinder shall be duly veri- 
 fied by oath and copies thereof served on the opposite party. 
 
 20. Proof or admission of the service of copies of the appeal answer, 
 and all other papers intended to be used on the hearing of such appeal, 
 must, in all cases, accompany the same. 
 
 21. When any proceeding of a District Meeting is appealed from ; 
 and when the inhabitants of a District generally are interested in the 
 matter of the appeal ; and in all cases where an inhabitant might be an 
 appellant, had the decision or proceeding been the opposite of that 
 
APPENDIX. 47 
 
 which was made or had ; any one or more of such inhabitants may an- 
 swer the appeal, with or without the Trustees. 
 
 22. Where the appeal has relation to the alteration or formation of 
 a School District, it must he accompanied by a map, exhibiting the 
 site of the school-house, the roads, the old and new lines of districts, 
 the different lots, the particular location and distance from the school- 
 houses, of the persons aggrieved ; and their relative distance, if there 
 are two or more school-houses in question. Also, a list of all the taxa- 
 ble inhabitants in the district or territory to be affected by the question : 
 the valuation of their property taken from the last assessment roll, and 
 the number of children between five and sixteen belonging to each per- 
 son, distinguishing the Districts to which they respectively belong. 
 
 23. When the copy of the appeal is served, all proceedings upon or 
 in continuation of the act complained of, or consequent in any way 
 upon such act, must be suspended, until the case is decided. So where 
 any decision concerning the distribution of public money to one or more 
 Districts is appealed from, the Town Superintendent must retain the 
 money which is in dispute until the appeal is decided. And where 
 Trustees have money in their hands claimed to belong to any person, 
 or any other District, after the copy of an appeal is served on them in 
 relation to such claim, thev must retain such moneys to abide the re- 
 sult, and must not expend them so as to defeat the object of the appeal. 
 
 24. Whenever a decision is made by the County Superintendent, and 
 communicated to the Town Superintendent of Common Schools, re- 
 specting the formation, division or alteration of Districts, he must cause 
 the decision to be recorded in the office of the Town Clerk. All other 
 decisions communicated to him, or to the Trustees of Districts, are to 
 be kept among the official papers of the Clerk of the Town or District, 
 and handed over to his successors; and the District Clerks are required 
 to record all such as come to their hands in the District book kept by 
 them. 
 
 APPEALS TO THE STATE SUPERINTENDENT. 
 
 25. The following regulations respecting the mode of bringing an 
 appeal from the decision of the County Superintendent are hereby pre- 
 scribed in pursuance of the authority conferred by the seventh section 
 of the late act. 
 
 Whenever any party to an appeal shall be desirous of appealing to 
 the Superintendent of Common Schools from the decision of any County 
 Superintendent, such party shall, within fifteen days after service of a 
 copy of such decision, serve a written notice upon such County Su- 
 perintendent either personally or by leaving the same at his residence, 
 of his or their intention to appeal from such decision. Such County 
 Superintendent shall, within ten davs thereafter, transmit to the Su- 
 perintendent of Common Schools, a statement setting forth all the al- 
 legations and proofs of the respective parties before him, or the origi- 
 nals or certified copies of such papers as were presented on such ap- 
 peal, together with a copy of hi6 decision thereon, for which he shall 
 
48 APPENDIX, 
 
 be entitled to receive the sum of one dollar, to be paid by the party ap- 
 pealing on service of notice of his intention to bring said appeal. The 
 respective County Superintendents shall annually render a correct ac- 
 count of the money so received by them, verified by their oath, to the 
 Boards of Supervisors of their counties ; who, in their discretion may 
 deduct the said amount from the postage account of such Superintend- 
 ent. The final decision of the Superintendent in the premises shall be 
 communicated by the Count}'- Superintendent to the respective parties, 
 on application by them, or either of them. The bringing of such ap- 
 peal from the decision of the County Superintendent, shall not operate 
 as a stay of proceedings, unless such stay shall be specially directed by 
 such County Superintendent ; in which case a copy of the order stay- 
 ing such proceedings shall be served upon the opposite party. 
 
 Samuel Young, Sup't Common Schools. 
 Albany, June 15, 1843. 
 
 The meeting of the Herkimer County Common School Association, 
 for the installation of its officers, was holden at the brick church 
 in the village of Herkimer, on Wednesday the 4th inst. The attend- 
 ance of the people — probably owing to the fact that the Court of Com- 
 mon Pleas was then sitting — though respectable, was not so large as 
 was desirable. A majority of the town superintendents, and most of 
 the members of the Association, were present. The constitution was 
 so amended as to fix the anniversary of the Association on the Wed- 
 nesday next following the second Monday in September. Rev. O. R. 
 Howard, principal of Fairfield Academy, was selected as orator, and 
 J. Henry, Jr., Esq., of Little Falls, as substitute, for the next anniver- 
 sary. Too little time had elapsed between the election of officers and 
 the time of their installation, to allow formal addresses to be written. 
 
 The remarks of Rev. David Chassell, President elect, on taking the 
 chair, were such as were expected from ripe scholarship and sound 
 judgment. He was heard with evident pleasure and profound atten- 
 tion, and the truths he uttered will, it is to be hoped, make a lasting 
 and salutary impression. 
 
 At the conclusion of the address, the following resolutions were read 
 and unanimously adopted : 
 
 Resolved, That right, general, and thorough education is the only 
 sure foundation of popular liberty and free institutions ; and that to 
 make ample provision to secure to all its children such an education, 
 is the first and most important duty of a republic. 
 
 Resolved, That the inestimable blessings of right education can be 
 made certain to all children and youth, only through the medium of 
 an enlightened and comprehensive system of common schools, and that 
 it is the imperative duty of every citizen to use all means in his power 
 to make the common schools so thorough and complete as to leave no 
 cause, or even apology for the establishment of private select schools. 
 
APPENDIX. 49 
 
 Resolved, That as principals of academies, school officers, teachers 
 of common schools, parents, and the friends of education generally, 
 we will not relax our efforts until the common schools have been made 
 ' good enough for the richest, and cheap enough for the poorest.' 
 
 Resolved, That the Hon. Sam'l Young, for the able, impartial, and 
 efficient manner in which he has discharged the high and responsible 
 duties of State Superintendent of Common Schools, by which he 
 has infused, through the whole department of public instruction, a 
 good degree of that ardent devotion, eminent ability, high moral sense, 
 and indomitable resolution, for which he has been so long distinguished, 
 is justly entitled to the public and cordial approbation of this Associa- 
 tion, and of all virtuous and enlightened citizens. 
 
 Resolved, That the Hon. J. C. Spencer, late Superintendent of Com- 
 mon Schools of this State, has richly merited the lasting gratitude of 
 the friends of education, for his deep foresight and untiring industry 
 in that department; and that the establishment of district school libra- 
 ries, in conformity to his suggestions and recommendations, will conse- 
 crate his name and memory to a late posterity. 
 
 Resolved, That our present State organization for the direction and 
 supervision of the common schools through the agency of county and 
 town superintendents, is more perfect, efficient, and salutary, than any 
 other system that has preceded it, and that we respectfully and earnest- 
 ly recommend to our citizens to give it a fair, candid and impartial trial, 
 fully persuaded that experience will demonstrate that it is not only the 
 best system we have ever adopted, but also, the best that can be found 
 in the Union. 
 
 Resolved, That the New-York District School Journal is a well con- 
 ducted and able educational paper, which has rendered important ser- 
 vices in the cause of popular education ; that it justly merits the con- 
 tinued support of the State, and that each member of this Association 
 will exert himself to extend its circulation. 
 
 Resolved, That an efficient corps of well trained and thoroughly 
 qualified teachers, is indispensably necessary to the success of the 
 common school system ; that the State provision for the education of 
 Teachers, is an enlightened, judicious and salutary appropriation, and 
 that it is highly gratifying to the friends of education to see so many 
 young persons now availing themselves of the advantages which the 
 State offers them for becoming accomplished teachers. 
 
 Resolved, That this Association does cordially approve of the efforts 
 which are now making by the Academies in this county, thoroughly to 
 qualify teachers for the comJhon schools ; that it will second those ef- 
 forts by all means in its power, and that it does earnest!} recommend 
 to the people of this county and its vicinity, to support and encourage 
 those institutions in the laudible endeavor to elevate the character of 
 the common schools by furnishing them with competent and accom- 
 plished teachers. 
 
 Resolved, That this Association does earnestly and respectfully re- 
 commend to all persons not to enter a common school, as a teacher, 
 
50 APPENDIX. 
 
 until a suitable preparation for the honorable and prompt discharge of 
 the duties of that high vocation has been made, and a legal certificate 
 of necessary qualification has been obtained ; that correct public opin- 
 ion, while it will always view with encouragement all laudable efforts 
 for improvement, will soon imperatively demand that all indifferent 
 teachers shall be dismissed from the common schools. 
 
 Resolved, That the thanks of this Association, and of all friends of 
 education, are justly due to all the conductors of the public press for 
 rising above a partisan character, and by a united and able advocacy, 
 contributing most essentially, to give to the great cause of education 
 the universality and prominency which its unequalled importance so 
 justly claims for it. 
 
 Resolved, That the thanks of this Association are hereby tendered to 
 the editors of our county papers, for the services they have rendered 
 to the cause of education, and that a copy of the proceedings of this 
 meeting be signed by the President and Secretary, and published in 
 those papers, and in the District School Journal. 
 
 DAVID CHASSEL, Pres't. 
 
 I. E. L. Hamilton, Sec'y. 
 
 The Hand-Book of Professor Potter of Union College. 
 This little manual, designed as a guide in selecting and reading 
 books, will be found a most valuable book. Trustees and all other 
 persons who are charged with the duty of purchasing books for District 
 Libraries, will receive essential aid from this little book. It constitutes 
 one number in the Harpers' latest series of District Libraries, but will 
 be furnished separately to such persons as wish to procure it. I hope 
 one copy of each will be immediately placed in all the District Libraries 
 of the State. 
 
HEN RY'S 
 
 FIELD BOOK 
 
 FOE. 
 
 TOWN SUPERINTENDENTS 
 
 O F 
 
 COMMON SCHOOLS. 
 
 NOTE. The following forms are designed only to indicate th e 
 principal matters to which attention ought to be given. No Superin. 
 tendent will suppose these forms perfect, and therefore leave unreport, 
 ed any important matters not named in the forms. 
 
52 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 No. 1.— SCHOOL HOUSES AND APPARATUS. 
 
 No. of 
 Dist'ct. 
 
 Area 
 
 of 
 
 House. 
 
 Height 
 
 of 
 walls. 
 
 Mate- 
 rials. 
 
 New 
 or 
 old. 
 
 Tight 
 
 or 
 open. 
 
 White, 
 red, not 
 paint'd 
 
 No. of 
 rooms. 
 
 Have 
 seats, 
 backs. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 No. 1.— CONTINUED. 
 
 Windows 
 
 open, top, 
 
 bottom. 
 
 Have 
 
 windows, 
 shutters. 
 
 Have 
 
 windows, 
 curtains. 
 
 Stove 
 
 good 
 
 or bad. 
 
 Have 
 
 shovel 
 and 
 
 tongs. 
 
 Air 
 
 good or 
 
 bad. 
 
 Temp. 
 
 high or 
 
 low. 
 
 Have 
 wood 
 house. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 No. 1.— CONTINUED. 
 
 Wood 
 green 
 or dry. 
 
 have 
 have trees 
 yard I in 
 
 lyard 
 
 Have 
 
 black 
 vies, lor dirtyl board. 
 
 have 'Privies 
 pri- I clean 
 
 Have Have 
 
 Mitch- Hadlys 
 
 ells out|Chem. 
 
 lines. ITable. 
 
 Have 
 
 Hadlys 
 
 Have 
 Hol- 
 
 brooks 
 
 Models App'ts. 
 
 No. 1.— CONTINUED. 
 
 Have 
 
 Have 
 
 Have 
 
 
 
 have 
 
 Get 
 
 Site 
 
 Has the house 
 
 terres- 
 
 Celes- 
 
 Alpha- 
 
 Have 
 
 have 
 
 pail 
 
 watr 
 
 dry 
 
 been white- 
 
 trial 
 
 tial 
 
 betical 
 
 cubical 
 
 Or- 
 
 and 
 
 how 
 
 or 
 
 washed this 
 
 Globe. 
 
 Globe. 
 
 Cards. 
 
 blocks. 
 
 rery, j cup. 
 
 far. 
 
 wet. 
 
 season. 
 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 No. 2.— PUPILS, CLASSES AND STUDIES. 
 
 No. of 
 Dis- 
 trict. 
 
 No. of 
 child- 
 ren in 
 district 
 
 No. 
 
 who do 
 
 not 
 
 pay- 
 
 Pres'nt 
 at exa- 
 mina- 
 tion. 
 
 No. 
 
 of 
 
 classes 
 
 Learn 
 Alpha- 
 bet. 
 
 Learn 
 Spel- 
 ling. 
 
 Learn 
 Read- 
 ing. 
 
 Define 
 words. 
 
 
 
 
 w. 1 s. 
 
 w. 
 
 s. 
 
 vv. 
 
 s. 
 
 w. 
 
 s. 
 
 vv. 
 
 s. 
 
 w. 
 
 s. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 53 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 No. 
 
 2.- 
 
 -CONTINUED 
 
 
 
 
 
 Learn 
 
 
 
 Not be- 
 
 
 
 
 
 History 
 
 Learn 
 
 Learn 
 
 yond 
 
 beyond 
 
 Learn 
 
 Learn 
 
 Learn Decla- 
 
 ofU. 
 
 Gene'l 
 
 Arith- 
 
 Divis- 
 
 Divis- 
 
 Geog- 
 
 Gram- 
 
 mation and 
 
 States. 
 
 History 
 
 metic. 
 
 ion. 
 
 ion. 
 
 raphy. 
 
 mar. 
 
 Composition. 
 
 w. 
 
 s. 
 
 w. 
 
 s. 
 
 w. 
 
 s. 
 
 w. 
 
 s. 
 
 w. 
 
 s. 
 
 w. 
 
 s. 
 
 w. 
 
 s. 
 
 winter 
 
 sum. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 No. 
 
 2.- 
 
 -CONTINUED 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Learn 
 
 
 Learn 
 
 
 Learn 
 
 Learn 
 
 Learn 
 
 
 Learn 
 
 Natur'l 
 
 Learn 
 
 Learn 
 
 Moral 
 
 Mental 
 
 Politic. 
 
 Learn 
 
 Writ- 
 ing. 
 
 Philos- 
 ophy. 
 
 Chem- 
 istry. 
 
 Agri- 
 culture 
 
 Mecha- 
 nics. 
 
 Philo- 
 sophy. 
 
 Philo- 
 sophy. 
 
 Econo- 
 my. 
 
 Survey 
 ing. 
 
 w. 
 
 s. 
 
 w. 
 
 s. 
 
 w. 
 
 s. 
 
 w. 
 
 s. 
 
 w. 
 
 s. 
 
 w. 
 
 s. 
 
 w. 
 
 s. 
 
 w. 
 
 s. 
 
 w. 
 
 s. 
 
 No. 2.— CONTINUED. 
 
 Learn 
 
 Learn 
 
 Learn 
 
 Learn 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 - 
 
 Draw- 
 
 Ana- 
 
 Architec- 
 
 Music. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ing. 
 
 tomy. 
 
 ture. 
 
 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 w. 
 
 s. 
 
 w. 
 
 s. 
 
 w. 
 
 s. 
 
 w. 
 
 s. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 No. 3.— CONDITION OF PUPILS. 
 
 No. of 
 
 No. of 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Have 
 
 No. of 
 
 Child- 
 
 Per- 
 
 Per- 
 
 clothes 
 
 clothes 
 
 clothes 
 
 clothes 
 
 Spell- 
 
 Dis- 
 
 ren 
 
 sons 
 
 sons. 
 
 clean. 
 
 dirty. 
 
 whole. 
 
 rag- 
 
 ing 
 
 trict. 
 
 present 
 
 clean. 
 
 dirty. 
 
 
 
 
 ged. 
 
 Books. 
 
 
 w. 
 
 s. 
 
 w. 
 
 s. 
 
 w. 
 
 s. 
 
 w. 
 
 s. 
 
 w. 
 
 s. 
 
 w. 
 
 s. 
 
 w. 
 
 s. 
 
 w. 
 
 s. 
 
 No. 3.— CONTINUED. 
 
 Have 
 
 not 
 
 Spelling 
 
 Books. 
 
 Have 
 Read- 
 ing 
 Books. 
 
 Have 
 
 not 
 
 Reading 
 
 Books. 
 
 Have 
 Gram- 
 mars. 
 
 Have 
 not 
 Gram- 
 mars. 
 
 Have 
 
 Diction 
 
 aries. 
 
 Have 
 
 not 
 
 Diction 
 
 aries. 
 
 Have 
 
 Roots 
 Penman- 
 ship. 
 
 w. 
 
 - 
 
 s. 
 
 w. 
 
 s. 
 
 w. 
 
 s. 
 
 w. | s. 
 
 w. 
 
 s. 
 
 w. 
 
 s. 
 
 w. 
 
 s. 
 
 w. J s. 
 
54 
 
 APPENDIX, 
 
 
 
 No. 3.— CONTINUED. 
 
 
 
 Have 
 
 not Root's 
 Penman- 
 ship. 
 
 Have small 
 
 slates for 
 
 small 
 
 scholars. 
 
 Have not small 
 
 slates for small 
 
 scholars. 
 
 Have 
 Have not 
 Arith- 1 Arith- 
 metics, jmetics. 
 
 Have 
 
 Geog- 
 raphies 
 
 Have 
 not 
 Geog- 
 raphies 
 
 w. | s. 
 1 
 
 w. | s. 
 1 
 
 w. | s. 
 
 w. | s. 
 
 ! 
 
 i 
 
 w. j s. Iw. | s. 
 
 [ 1 1 
 
 w. | s. 
 
 I 1 
 
 No. 4.— TEXT BOOKS. 
 
 No. of 
 District 
 
 
 SPELLING BuOKS. 
 
 
 
 Cobb. 
 
 Bentley 
 
 Cran- 
 dall. 
 
 Elemen 
 tary. 
 
 San- 
 ders. 
 
 Town. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 READING 
 
 Cobb's Juvenile 
 Readers. 
 
 
 
 No. 4 
 
 —TEXT BOOKS. 
 
 
 
 READING BOOKS. 
 
 Sequel 
 
 North 
 Am eric. 
 Reader. 
 
 Sanders' 
 Readers. 
 
 1 | 2 | 3 
 
 English 
 Reader. 
 
 Ameri- 
 can 
 
 Manual 
 
 Hale's 
 History 
 U. S. 
 
 Willard 
 History 
 U. S. 
 
 Testa- 
 ment. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 No. 4.— CONTINUED. 
 
 READING BOOKS. 
 
 ARITHMETICS. 
 
 Bible 
 Reader. 
 
 Porter's 
 Rhet'icl 
 Reader. 
 
 Sweet's 
 Elocu- 
 tion. 
 
 Davies' 
 
 First 
 lessons. 
 
 Davies' 
 Com. 
 School. 
 
 Per- 
 kins' 
 high. 
 
 Col- 
 burn 
 1st L 
 
 Ad- 
 ams. 
 
 Erne 
 rson. 
 
 Bu- 
 ffer. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 No. 4.— CONTINUED. 
 
 ARITHMETIC. 
 
 GEOGRAPHIES. 
 
 Pike. 
 
 Smith. 
 
 Mitch- 
 ell's 
 Prim. 
 
 Mitch- 
 ell's 
 School 
 
 Par 
 
 ley. 
 
 01- 
 ney. 
 
 Hun- 
 ting- 
 
 Smith. 
 
 Wood 
 bridge 
 
 Wil- 
 let. 
 
 Morse. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 55 
 
 No. 4.— CONTINUED. 
 
 GRAMMARS. 
 
 DICTIONARIES. 
 
 PENMANSHIP. 
 
 Bull- 
 ions. 
 
 Browns 
 
 Kirk- 
 hams 
 
 Smith. 
 
 Wor- 
 cester's. 
 
 Web- 
 ster's. 
 
 Walk- 
 er's. 
 
 Root's. 
 
 Fosters. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 No. 4.— CONTINUED. 
 
 NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 CHEMISTRY. 
 
 MORAL 
 
 POLITICAL 
 
 
 Com 
 
 stock 
 
 Blakes. 
 
 Swift 
 
 Beck's. 
 
 Corn- 
 stock's. 
 
 PHILOSOPHY. | JfcJUUJN UNL Y . 
 
 Olm- 
 steds 
 
 Way- 
 land. 
 
 Aber 
 crom 
 bie. 
 
 Way- 1 Pot- 
 land, ter. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 | 
 
 No. 4.— CONTINUED. 
 
 POLITICAL JURISPRUDENCE. 
 
 ALGEBRA. 
 
 Wedg- 
 wood's 
 Ques- 
 tions. 
 
 Hurl- 
 burt's 
 Civil 
 Office. 
 
 Story's 
 Constitu- 
 tion of 
 
 u. s. 
 
 Young's 
 Science-of 
 Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 Conklin 
 Citizen 
 Manual 
 
 Davies. 
 
 Perkins 
 
 Day. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 No. 4.— CONTINUED 
 
 PHYSIOLOGY AND 
 ANATOMY. 
 
 LOGIC. 
 
 ASTRONOMY. 
 
 SURVEYING. 
 
 Smith 
 
 Class 
 
 Book. 
 
 Coates 
 Physi- 
 ology. 
 
 Comb 
 And. 
 Phys. 
 
 True 
 
 0) 
 CD 
 
 Blake's 
 
 01m- 
 stead 
 
 Dav's 
 
 Flint 
 
 Gum 
 mere 
 
 Gib- 
 son. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 No. 4.— CONTINUED. 
 
 DRAWING. 
 
 ARCHITEC- 
 TURE. 
 
 AGRICUL- 
 TURE. 
 
 MECHANICS. 
 
 MUSIC. 
 
 
 Peter 
 Parleys 
 
 
 Hol- 
 brook's 
 Cards. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
56 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 No. 5.— MALE TEACHERS. 
 
 TEACHERS' AGES. 
 
 TIME THEY HAVE TAUGHT 
 
 
 Un- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Less 
 
 One 
 
 
 
 
 No. 
 
 der 
 
 IS 
 
 21 
 
 25 
 
 30 
 
 40 
 
 Ov'r 
 
 than 
 
 year 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 Ov'r 
 
 of 
 
 18 
 
 to 
 
 to 
 
 to 
 
 to 
 
 to 
 
 50 
 
 one 
 
 less 
 
 less 
 
 less 
 
 six 
 
 dist. 
 
 yr's. 
 
 21 
 
 25 
 
 30 
 
 40 
 
 50 
 
 yr's. 
 
 year 
 
 two. 
 
 4 
 
 6 
 
 yr's. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 No. 5.— CONTINUED. 
 
 Wages and the time they j 
 taught Present School 
 
 BOARD. 
 
 Wages j Have taught 
 present school 
 
 per 
 month. 
 
 how long. 
 
 Yrs. j Mos. 
 
 Boards 
 
 self. 
 
 Boards 
 in one 
 place. 
 
 Boards 
 round. 
 
 QUALIFICATIONS. 
 
 Town 
 license 
 
 County 
 license 
 
 State 
 license 
 
 No. 5.— CONTINUED— FEMALE TEACHERS' 
 
 TEACHERS* DEPART. 
 
 THEIR AGES. 
 
 TIME 
 
 
 Re- 
 
 
 Un- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Less 
 
 Has 
 
 main- 
 
 Has 
 
 der 
 
 18 
 
 21 
 
 25 
 
 30 
 
 40 
 
 Ov- 
 
 than 
 
 enter- 
 
 ed how 
 
 gradu- 
 
 IS 
 
 to 
 
 to 
 
 to 
 
 to 
 
 to 
 
 er 
 
 one 
 
 ed. 
 
 long. 
 
 ated. 
 
 yr's. 
 
 21 
 
 25 
 
 30 
 
 40 
 
 50 
 
 50 
 
 year. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 No. 5. 
 
 —CONTINUED. 
 
 
 
 THEY HAVE TAUG'T. 
 
 Wages and the time they 
 taught present school. 
 
 BOARD. 
 
 
 Two 
 
 less 
 four. 
 
 4 
 
 less 
 
 6 
 
 Ov- 
 er 
 six 
 
 yr's. 
 
 Boards 
 self. 
 
 Boards 
 in one 
 place. 
 
 
 One 
 year 
 less 
 two. 
 
 Wages 
 
 per 
 month. 
 
 Have taught 
 present school. 
 
 Boards 
 round. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Yrs. | Mos. 
 
 
 
 
 No. 5.— CONTINUED. 
 
 QUALIFICATIONS. 
 
 TEACHERS' DEPART. 
 
 
 Town 
 license 
 
 County 
 license 
 
 State 
 license 
 
 Has] 
 enter- 
 ed. 
 
 Re- 
 main- 
 ed how 
 long. 
 
 Has 
 
 gradu- 
 ated. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 67 
 
 No. 6.— DISTRICT LIBRARIES. 
 
 No. of 
 district 
 
 Aver- 
 No. of agecir- 
 vols. in| cula- 
 I library I tion. 
 
 Have 
 
 cata- 
 logue. 
 
 Have Have 
 record | book 
 ofloans! case. 
 
 Books 
 
 cover'd' condi- 
 and I tion of 
 how. books. 
 
 No. of 
 impro- 
 per 
 books. 
 
 No. 6.— CONTINUED.— D. S. JOURNAL*— LAWS, &c. 
 
 Libra- 
 No. of ry in 
 books i school 
 lost. I house. 
 
 library 
 
 distant 
 
 from s. 
 
 house. 
 
 D. S. J. 
 Is re- 
 ceived. 
 
 Is not 
 
 Is not Is bn'd bound 
 
 receiv- and in | nor in 
 
 ed. Ilibrary.llibrary, 
 
 Laws, Decisions & 
 Blank Returns. 
 
 Are re- Are not 
 ceived. ! rec'd. 
 
 No. 7.— MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 No. of No. ofpt's 
 district | in joint 
 district. 
 
 Date of 
 
 winter 
 visit. 
 
 Co 
 
 Date of 
 
 Supt. 
 present or I summer 
 absent. visit. 
 
 Co. Supt. 
 
 present or 
 
 absent. 
 
 Have re- 
 cord of 
 attend- 
 
 No. 7.— CONTINUED. 
 
 Record 
 well 
 kept. 
 
 Dist. has 
 record of 
 proc'ings. 
 
 Has ac- 
 count of 
 property. 
 
 Lectures. 
 
 No. 8.— SUPERVISOR, TOWN CLERK, &c. 
 
 Town, 
 Town, 
 Town, 
 
 Supervisor,. 
 Town Clerk, 
 
 Superintendent of Common Schools, Post-Office 
 
 Poet-Office. 
 Post-Office. 
 
58 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 No. 9.— MALE TEACHERS LICENSED, 
 
 By Town Superintendent the present year, their Names, Age, and 
 Rank as Teachers. 
 
 Name. 
 
 Aa:e. 
 
 Class 
 1|2|3 
 
 Date of License. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
 No. 9— CONTINUED.— FEMALE TEACHERS LICENSED, 
 
 By the Town Superintendent the present year, their Names, Age, 
 and Rank as Teachers. 
 
 Name. 
 
 Age. 
 
 Class 
 1|2|3 
 
 Date of License. 
 
 Remarks. 
 
B5-12-05 32180 MS 
 
LB2325 .L77 
 
 Obituary addresses delivered on the 
 
 Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Library 
 
 1 1 1012 00085 2162