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 AN APPEAL 
 
 LEGISLATURES OF THE UNITED STATES 
 
 IN RELATION TO 
 
 PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 
 
 By CHAKLES BROOKS, 
 
 MEDFORD, MASS. 
 
 CAMBRIDGE : 
 
 PRESS OF JOHN WILSON & SON. 
 1867. 
 
AN APPEAL 
 
 LEGISLATURES OF THE UNITED STATES 
 
 I 
 
 IN RELATION TO 
 
 PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 
 
 By CHAKLES BKOOKS, 
 
 " MEDFORD, MASS. 
 
 < 
 
 V 
 
 CAMBEIDGE : 
 
 PRESS OF JOHN WILSON & SON. 
 
 1867. 
 

To the, Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the 
 State of -. 
 
 Gentlemen, — A self-appointed missionary, now a sep- 
 tuagenarian, who has labored gratuitously for free public 
 schools since 1835, asks permission to address you as fellow- 
 workers in the great national cause of Education. I hold 
 your office in highest respect, and have the fullest confidence 
 in your wisdom, justice, and patriotism, and would now give 
 you in brief the results of my study and experience in this 
 country and Europe, so far as relates to the action of State 
 Legislatures. 
 
 CHARLES BROOKS, 
 June 27, 1867. Medford, Mass. 
 
PRESENT DUTIES 
 
 LEGISLATURES IN THE UNITED STATES 
 
 IN RELATION TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 
 
 CAELTI.E says, "It is the clearest duty, prescribed by Nature 
 herself, under silent but real and awful penalties, of govern- 
 ing persons in every society, to see that the people, so far as 
 possible, are taught ; that, wherever a citizen is born, some 
 chance be offered him of becoming a man. This is for ever 
 the duty of governors and persons of authority in human 
 societies." 
 
 The State Legislatures, in our American Union, have the 
 sole power of creating public free schools within their limits. 
 In those States where such a system of elementary education 
 does not exist, it is the present duty, and will be the highest 
 interest, of such States to create and foster such a system of 
 pure, democratic, republican instruction. 
 
 What form should legislation take ? Any State Legisla- 
 ture might pass such laws as these : Towns having fifty 
 families shall provide one public free school, to be kept six 
 months in each year ; towns having one hundred families, 
 one school for one year ; one hundred and fifty families. 
 
6 
 
 two schools of nine months each ; five hundred families, two 
 schools for one year ; and so on. Larger numbers and 
 longer times may be substituted for the above. 
 
 GovERNiMENTAi. ORGANIZATION. — The Supervisory pow- 
 ers should be, — 
 
 1. The local School Committee, chosen by the town or 
 city, and clothed with the largest powers that can be given 
 to a town or city ; their salaries to be fixed and paid by the 
 town or city. 
 
 2. County Superintendents, to be chosen by ballot in each 
 county; their salaries to be fixed by the Board of Education, 
 and paid by the counties. 
 
 3. Board of Education, composed of the Governor and 
 Lieutenant-Governor {ex officiis), three County Superinten- 
 dents, and five other distinguished citizens, who shall be 
 chosen by the Legislature. The Secretary of the Board shall 
 be chosen by the Board, and be a member of it. The sala- 
 ries shall be fixed by the Legislature, and paid by the State. 
 
 Duties of the above Officers. — The local School Com- 
 mitee shall organize and control the public schools of their 
 city or town. They shall decide what text-books and appa- 
 ratus shall be used in their schools, what time shall be 
 devoted to certain studies, what rules and regulations shall 
 be enforced, and whatever else may relate to the improve- 
 ment and happiness of the pupils. They should elect the 
 teachers after the most comprehensive and searching exami- 
 nation ; never forgetting, that as is the teacher, so is 
 
 THE SCHOOL. 
 
 It should be the duty of County Superintendents to deliver 
 lectures on educational subjects in all the schools Avith which 
 they are connected ; to assist in the semi-annual examina- 
 tions ; to be the teachers in the Teachers' Institutes ; and 
 to do all they can to elevate the standard of instruction and 
 government. 
 
It should be the duty of the Board of Education to watch 
 over and direct the whole subject and interests of public free 
 schools through the State. They should collect authentic 
 information on educational topics from all quarters of the 
 civilized world ; and recommend such new legislation as 
 the advances in science, literature, arts, government, and 
 religion make necessary. 
 
 Every town and city in the State should report annually, 
 in full, to the Board of Education, upon every thing relating 
 to the condition, prospects, and needs of the public schools 
 within its limits. Each County Superintendent should 
 annually report to the same Board an account of his labors, 
 and suggest such changes in the management or teaching of 
 the public schools as he deems important. 
 
 The Board of Education should report annually to the 
 Legislature a minute and comprehensive account of every 
 thing important relating to the public schools of the State ; 
 which Report should be printed, and sent to every School 
 Committee in the State. 
 
 The condition of our country now calls very emphatically 
 upon every State Legislature in our Union to act on this 
 subject as patriots and philanthropists. The aim should be 
 to establish public free schools on every inhabited square 
 mile where they do not now exist. To secure the utmost 
 efficiency and success in schools thus established, it will be 
 necessary to have competent and purposely prepared teach- 
 ers : therefore it will be great economy, as well as wisdom, 
 to establish Normal Schools, through whose agency the best 
 modes of teaching and governing may become universal. 
 The Primary, Grammar, and High Schools are found to 
 be the necessary and successful grades ; beginning with 
 children at the age of five, and ending with those at the age 
 of fifteen. This system of individual and national education 
 is perfectly simple. It has been tried with success in differ- 
 
ent countries. It is admirably suited to our present condi- 
 tion, and will be found equally useful to our future nameless 
 millions of inhabitants. It will make the United States a 
 united brotherhood of intelligent and happy citizens. 
 
 Each State Legislature in our republic has the sole right 
 to introduce and support such a system for the benefit of all 
 its citizens. 
 
 It has been asked, " What results do you expect from 
 your system of public free schools?" We answer, — that 
 children should be taught in school what they will most need 
 in the world ; and w^e think they will most need to live 
 religiously, to thinh comprehensively, to reckon mathe- 
 matically, to converse eloquently, and to write grammati- 
 cally. If children properly learn and understand these 
 five sources of happiness and prosperity, they will be able 
 to make the most of themselves, and do the most good to 
 others. 
 
 A Legislature establishing the true system of free public 
 instruction may be sure of securing many thousand instances 
 of such success. Education, especially moral education, 
 underlies all the sources of human power, action, and hope, 
 lieligion, enthroned in the lives of its citizens, is the cheapest 
 police that any country or government can maintain. 
 
 We accordingly ask each Legislature in our Union so to 
 recognize the highest motive powers of the human mind in 
 their public free schools, that the physical, intellectual, and 
 moral powers of the rising generations may be developed in 
 their natural order, proper time, and due proportion ; each 
 power occupying the exact place in the grown-up character 
 which God ordained in the infant constitution. The most 
 will be reached by aiming at the highest. As national char- 
 acter is manufactured, we should see that the elements which 
 should compose that character are doing their proper work 
 upon the formative periods of youthful development. 
 
[PRO] 
 
 Philosoph; 
 this point in 
 subject of ed 
 partial, dem 
 cure to each 
 velopment c 
 powers. 
 
 The repu| 
 Raleigh, M^ 
 respectable \ 
 of the State, 
 equal prop( 
 spoke, votec 
 seven impo 
 this: "Reso 
 "means by 
 "perity, we 
 "edge and < 
 "attainmen 
 "persistentl 
 "of free di; 
 "public int 
 
 This is tl: 
 white men 
 harmonious 
 leges and o| 
 "potent an(j 
 power. W 
 namely, — t 
 of the Unit 
 religion, th 
 deeply will 
 They will i 
 free States 
 have the n 
 friends and 
 
 I would 
 Congress si 
 tional educ 
 
 1. We 
 lished in 'V 
 head. Th? 
 getber in 
 free public 
 several St£ 
 take for itE 
 latight in si 
 Powerful 
 thinkers, 
 must no 
 
ent countries. It is admirably suited to our present condi- 
 tion, and will be found equally useful to our future nameless 
 millions of inhabitants. It will make the United States a 
 united brotherhood of intelligent and happy citizens. 
 
 Each State Legislature in our republic has the sole right 
 to introduce and support such a system for the benefit of all 
 its citizens. 
 
 It has been asked, " Wliat results do you expect from 
 your system of public free schools ? " We answer, — that 
 children should be taught in school what they will most need 
 in the world ; and we think they will most need to live 
 religiously, to thinh C07npreJie7isively , to reckon mathe- 
 matically, to converse eloquently, and to write grammati- 
 cally. If children properly learn and understand these 
 five sources of happiness and prosperity, they will be able 
 to make the most of themselves, and do the most good to 
 others. 
 
 A Legislature establishing the true system of free public 
 instruction may be sure of securing many thousand instances 
 of such success. Education, especially moral education, 
 underlies all the sources of human power, action, and hope, 
 lieligion, enthroned in the lives of its citizens, is the cheapest 
 police that any country or government can maintain. 
 
 We accordingly ask each Legislature in our Union so to 
 recognize the highest motive powers of the human mind in 
 their public free schools, that the physical, intellectual, and 
 moral powers of the rising generations may be developed in 
 their natural order, proper time, and due proportion ; each 
 power occupying the exact place in the grown-up character 
 which God ordained in the infant constitution. The most 
 will be reached by aiming at the highest. As national char- 
 acter is manufactured, we should see that the elements which 
 sJiould compose that character are doing their proper work 
 upon the formative periods of youthful development. 
 
[FBOMTHE BOSTON DAILY ADVEETISEB.] 
 
 '^ 
 
 Congress Tl^ Education. 
 
 Philosophy, politics and religion ask Congress, at 
 this point in our national history, to take up the great 
 sabject of edaeation, and provide such a uniform, im- 
 partial, democratic and republican system as shall se- 
 cure to each child in the United States a natural de- 
 velopment of its physical, intellectual and moral 
 powers. 
 
 The republican party in Norih Carolina met in 
 Raleigh, March 29, 'G7. It was composed of the most 
 respectable whites and blacks from the different parts 
 of the State, and in their convention both colors, in 
 equal proportions, were elected to oSice, and both 
 spoke, voted and acted harmoniously. They passed 
 seven important resolutions; the fifth of which was 
 this: "Resolved, That as the most potent and efficient 
 "means by which the South can regain her lost pros- 
 "perity, we earnestly advocate the spreading of knowl- 
 "edge and education among all men; and that to the 
 "attainment of this great end, we demand and shall 
 "persistently and firmly insist upor^ the absolute right 
 "of free discussion and free speech on all subjects of 
 "public interest." 
 
 This is the right step in the right direction. Both 
 white men and black men are here pledged to work 
 harmoniously for the establishment of schools, col- 
 leges and other seminaries of learning as "tjie most 
 "potent and efficient means" of progress, safety and 
 power. We may here be sure of this one fact, 
 namely, — that the more advanced the colored people 
 of the United States become, in knowledge, truth and 
 religion, the more clearly will they see and the more 
 deeply will they feel thetr indebtedness to the North. 
 They will never forget that Abraham Lincoln and the 
 free States were their emancipators. The negroes 
 have the most loving hearts, and will not desert their 
 friends and benefactors. 
 
 I would state briefly some reasons why the 40th 
 Congress should take up the great problem of na- 
 tional education. 
 
 1. We have a Department of Education just estab- 
 lished in Washington, with a veteran educator at its 
 head. That depirtment and Congress should act to- 
 gether in devising the safest nod largest system of 
 free public instruction, which can be adopted by the 
 several States in the Union. That system should 
 take for its motto these words: — Children should be 
 taugitt in school what they will most need in the world. 
 Powerful actors are made out of powerful 
 thinkers. As the Bepirtment of Education 
 must now begin to act, it needs the 
 
 cooperating, strong thought of Congress to help it act 
 wisely. The discussion of the incipient questions and 
 measures by Congress would direct the attention of 
 practical educators to the subject, and elicit from all 
 parts of the Union their maturest plans, Never, in 
 this country, was there such a wise, sober and genu- 
 ine excitation of the public mind on the subject of 
 education, and it will be a sad loss to the cause if 
 Congress neglects to do its part when the best oppor- 
 tunity is present. 
 
 On tbe 9th of January last the Hon. Martin Walker 
 of Ohio presented to Congress a "bill to provide a 
 "system of education for the public schools of the Dis- 
 "trict of Columbia." It was ordered to be printed, 
 and waits the action of the House. When Congress is 
 introducing a true democratic, republican system of 
 education fitted to the District of Columbia, can it 
 not, ought it not to suggest to each State in the Union 
 a system equally fitted to theai? Why stop at the 
 District of Columbia? The late rebel States 
 need free public schools in them, as much, yes more, 
 than the District does, and now is tbe time to provide 
 for them. 
 
 2. Schools for the freedmen in the South are in- 
 creasing through private charity and Christian labor, 
 but they everywhere suffer from the absence of gov- 
 ernmental patronage. In some places the teachers 
 have been subjected to so many annoyances and oven 
 crueltie.», that neither teachers nor pupils hiive been 
 able to perform their duties properly. 
 
 3. The third reason tor cungresuonul action is this: 
 Within the last year a surprising change of mind and 
 feeling has come over the freedmen on the subject of 
 education. They begin to see that it is education 
 that makes the striking difference between them and 
 others, and therefore they believe that it is education 
 only which will certainly enable them to understand 
 their rights, make their bargains, perform their du- 
 ties, save their money, elect their rulers, and provide 
 for their children. The idea of an orgaoiiud civil 
 and Christian community is getting into their minds; 
 and the place they should occupy in it is getting into 
 their calculations. These movements among them 
 are natural consequences, and are of inestimable 
 value. They are the necessary preparations for an 
 eventful journey. In this condition no agencies can 
 help them half so much as congressiooal direction 
 and encouragement. 
 
 4. Another reason for legislative action now is 
 this: The poor whites in the Southern States and 
 elsewhere are to be brought out of their suspended 
 humanity and introduced into intellectual, political, 
 moral and social existence. Held so long incomplete 
 and abysmal duress, they will need all tbe gentle and 
 
 steaoy influences of governmental oversight and oheer- 
 ing to conduct theii feet safely to true freedom and 
 dignity. A well-devised national system, somewhat 
 like that in Prussia, would act with that uniformity, 
 kindness and power unknown iu any other orgauiia- 
 tion. We have now materials to work with and 
 upon; the groator need therefore of a system that will 
 work without friction. The national goverumout, 
 working through the "Department of Kduoatiou" at 
 Washington, would be the parental heart of the na- 
 tion, sending the pulsations of Ufa and lov« to every 
 e.^tremity of the body polilio. 
 
 j. Another rea.-ion for the earliest congressional 
 aotim is this: The old slave Suites are already 
 thinkiag ot organizing public schools, us a 
 measure of ei-pediency. How very important it is thai 
 the best measures should be adopted iu the bpgiuuiug ; 
 and that uniformity should bo ono of its obaruotoris- 
 tios. C ingress, through its Uducationul liuroau, 
 should be able to secure the wisest models at tbe 
 least expeu^e. 
 
 (). The sixth reason is this: The fulness of lime, 
 lor tbe iutroduutiou uf this groat change in tho edu- 
 cational lite of our country, bivs come. It has ouma 
 through the more thau priuooly muuillconoo of our 
 illustrious oountrymito, Ukoiuib Pkauody, Ksg. Ho 
 seems to have aUopteJ tho Dwinr ii/r.i uf lienrficmif, 
 and therefore scatters tho mnnna uf knowledge and 
 strength around tho poor, the studious and tho 
 worthy, as (lod showered tho m;inni in the wildoruo.'S 
 around II is chosen people, asking no ruturu but thulr 
 wise use uf the benefaction. 
 
 Sbaki'spoaro says: "Things in sousun voasuiiod arc." 
 There gifts, for tbe oaudo of education, have put tbu 
 minds and hearts of our fulluw-oitizcns into u warm 
 and generous harmony, prupuring tkum to act to- 
 gether. How many diaicultios would bo avoided and 
 how many advantages scoured, if Air. Poabody'ii 
 agents and tbe Klucationul Department at Waabing- 
 ton could consult together, and then act at right and 
 left bauds to each other. Should Congress tako up 
 tbe patriotic and Christian resolutions on this sulijool 
 recently offered by a Massachusetts tenatur in Con- 
 gress and pass thcin, such action would bo a new votu 
 of thanks to Mr. I'oabody, assuring him that tho gov- 
 ernment of his native land thus promises to bo hid 
 fellow-worker in tho holy cause of republican civili- 
 zation. Such action wuulJ tell the world that wo are 
 pledged to do all wo can for universal light, univer- 
 sal lib'rty and universal love. 
 
 I repeat,— The fulness of time bai oomo. Uod 
 strikes the hour. Let us obey. 
 
 C. D. 
 
 Medford, April 5. 
 
\i 
 
9 
 
 '^The peculiar condition of our country makes this the for- 
 tunate time to unite East and West, North and South, in one 
 harmonious movement for the great interests of national 
 education. On this subject there can be but one aim and 
 one hope, — the aim and the hope of establishing such a 
 system of democratic, republican education as the nineteenth 
 century demands of the first republic in the world. We 
 hope the time is not far distant, when a boy, at the age of 
 five, can enter the free primary school of his native town, 
 o;o throuo^h the grammar and high schools, then enter the 
 free State college, and thence pass to the free national uni- 
 versity, graduating there at the age of twenty-four, qualified 
 for the proper discharge of all the duties of the profession or 
 trade he has chosen. It will be found, that only a small 
 number of all the pupils in a State will go through the whole 
 course ; but it should be made certain, that no pupil of dis- 
 tinguished ability should ever be denied the most copious 
 supply of means through his entire academic life, although 
 his parents may be the most indigent in the State. Such a 
 national system, wisely and impartially administered, would 
 be to our Union as a central heart, sending the nutritious 
 currents of physical, intellectual, and moral life to every 
 extremity of our vast. republic. We have reason to know, 
 that our illustrious American philanthropist, Mr. George 
 Peabody, would welcome the inauguration of such a national 
 system. Would it not be expedient for State Legislatures 
 to co-operate in Mr. Peabody's efforts to establish free 
 schools ? 
 
 It is proposed, in these remarks, rather to make some 
 friendly suggestions to State Legislatures, than to discuss the 
 proposition of a national system ; but we ought to say a few 
 words about compulsion. 
 
 In the kingdom of Prussia, every child is compelled to 
 attend some school, whether his parents will or not. The 
 
 2 
 
10 
 
 Annual Report has these words : " There is not a single 
 human being- in Prussia who does not receive education, 
 intellectual and moral, sufficient for all the needs of common 
 life." This law of compulsion had been in operation but 
 fourteen years when pauperism and crime had diminished 
 thirty-eight per cent. 
 
 In the present relationships of our mixed population in 
 tlie United States, this law of compulsion is called for as a 
 defence of our liberties. We have in our country more than 
 a million of children between the ages of five and sixteen who 
 can neither read nor write ! Do you ask, What are we. go- 
 ing to do with them? That is not the question. The ques- 
 tion is. What are they going to do with us9 Think of their 
 future power at the ballot-box ! We can disarm their animal 
 fei'ocity and traditional prejudices only by intellectual culture 
 and moral principle; and this preventive process can be 
 effectually applied, in nineteen cases out of twenty, only 
 during the period of youth. Society has a right to defend 
 itself against crime, against murder, arson, &c. Has it not 
 an equal and prior right to defend itself against the cause 
 of crime, which is ignorance? If you force a young man 
 into prison because he is a thief, we call upon you to force 
 him, while a boy, into a schoolhouse, to prevent his becom- 
 ing a thief. Here surely " an ounce of prevention is worth 
 a pound of cure." 
 
 At this period, when four millions of freedmen are to carry 
 their votes to the ballot-box to help shape the destinies of 
 our republic, what language can overstate the pressing 
 necessity of their being educated to comprehend their new 
 position, exercise their new rights, and obey their new laws? 
 It is the command of Nature's God, that all children should 
 be educated in order to answer the purposes of their crea- 
 tion. If a parent be so weak or wicked as to refuse his 
 child the daily bread of knowledge, let the Legislature stand 
 
11 
 
 in the place of parent to that child, and do for him what his 
 nature demands, and the public safety requires. To enforce 
 the law, let the selectmen of a town be empowered to impose 
 on that delinquent parent a fine not less than one dollar, and 
 not more than five dollars. This fine would not need to be 
 imposed in any neighborhood more than half a dozen times, 
 because public sentiment would so heartily approve its be- 
 nevolent aim, that it would silently change all objections, as 
 it did in Prussia. 
 
 It is the opinion of many sound statesmen and enlightened 
 Christians among us, that the time has come for each State 
 Legislature in our Union to inaugurate and sustain within 
 its borders a system of free public schools, open to all 
 children without regard to locality, condition, sex, or race. 
 
 If it seems to you, gentlemen, that this is the true initial 
 
 step in the great system of free, public instruction in the 
 
 United States, may not the country confidently calculate on 
 
 your early and generous co-operation in the noble enterprise ? 
 
 Shakspeare says, — 
 
 " Doubt not but success 
 Will fashion the event in better shape 
 Than I can lay it down in likelihood." 
 
LETTER. 
 
 [With pleasure, I present the following letter of a distinguished friend 
 of education, assured, that, whenever his modus operandi shall be skilfully 
 tried, it will be crowned with success.] 
 
 West Medfokd, May 17, 1867. 
 Rev. Charles Brooks. 
 
 My dear Sir, — In compliance with your request, I will now 
 o-ive you my very crude notions on the best mode of promoting 
 the spread of education in our Southern and Western States. I 
 agree with you, that the first step is to persuade each State Legis- 
 lature to establish free public schools wherever they are required. 
 This will prove, as I think, not a very difficult matter, if the right 
 mode of proceeding be adopted at the outset. In the first place, you 
 must give the members of those Legislatures a correct idea of what 
 a school should be ; that is to say, what is now meant by educa- 
 tion. They are to be made to understand that teaching is a 
 science, and a very exact and delicate one ; that a teacher is an 
 aHist, who must not only have a training to fit him for his calling, 
 but a natural aptitude for it, and a degree of tact, as well as quali- 
 ties of mind and temper, such as are not given to all. A teacher, 
 in short, must, as you will show them, first be taught how to 
 teach, just as we are all taught our particular trade or occupation 
 before we undertake to practise it. I am supposing that you are 
 to address gentlemen who are much in the state we were in some 
 forty years ago, when yourself, and afterwards other enlightened 
 men, opened our eyes to the true meaning of education. In our 
 boyhood, any one who could read, write, and cipher was thought 
 fitted to heep school, as it was then called ; while the primary 
 schools, for little children, were in the hands of superannuated 
 females, who eked out a poor living by teaching them what they 
 
14 
 
 knew themselves. Now a teacher is required, not only to be well 
 acquainted with the branches he is called upon to teach, but to 
 study the minds and tempers of his pupils, as well as any faults 
 they may have arising from defects of previous training. 
 
 You say very justly in your letter, " As is the teacher, so is 
 the scholar ; " and this maxim applies not only to learning, prop- 
 erly so called, but to deportment. Manners are as important as 
 knowledge, and the teacher should be a model to his pupils in this 
 respect as well as all others. Now, in my view, the best and the 
 only way to make men sensible of all this is to set it before their 
 eyes ; to show them by example what may be done, and what is, 
 in fact, now doing elsewhere. 
 
 My plan, then, would be to propose, in the first place, to the 
 Legislatures to permit a normal teacher to come before them, 
 attended by two or three of his or her pupils. He should go pro- 
 vided with diagrams, maps, plans, and whatever apparatus he may 
 require for a full illustration of his method. Of course, notice 
 would be given of the intended lecture ; and the public, as well as 
 members of the Legislature, would be invited to attend. By this 
 means, unless I am greatly mistaken, one hour would bring about 
 a new revelation and an entire revolution in regard to education. 
 Every parent, and especially every mother, who was present, 
 would never rest till the blessing was secured to her children. 
 More, I am persuaded, would be accomplished in this one sitting, 
 than by volumes of explanation, or years of importunity, in any 
 other way. 
 
 In saying this, I do not speak entirely without experience. 
 
 Something less than forty years ago, it became necessary to 
 bring before our Legislature the subject of the hlind, with a view 
 to an appropriation for a State Institution for their education. 
 
 The subject was quite new ; and very little impression was made, 
 until notice was given, that Dr. Howe would, on a certain day, 
 exhibit before the members of the Legislature his method of teach- 
 ing the blind. Several children, totally blind, had previously been 
 taught to read by means of raised letters. 
 
 The meeting was opened, and a little boy was called up, who 
 read, feeling along the page, a passage the teacher had selected 
 from one of the Gospels. This caused great excitement in the 
 audience, and many were incredulous ; one influential member of 
 the Legislature declaring his belief, either that the child could see. 
 
15 
 
 or that he had got that particular passage by heart. The gentle- 
 man was invited to come upon the platform. The green silk 
 bandage, with which the boy's eyes were covered for looks merely, 
 was removed, so that all could see that he was without visual 
 organs. The gentleman was then requested to turn to any passage 
 in the book he might select. He did so, and the boy began slowly 
 to read it. He had not read three verses before the doubter 
 stepped off the platform with tears in his eyes, calling out, " Only 
 tell me what you ivant. I am ready to vote whatever you say." In 
 fact, six thousand dollars a year was voted unanimously a few days 
 after. Unless I greatly mistake, something like this will result 
 from the experiment I propose. All that need be required, I 
 think, is that the expenses of the exhibition, and of the party 
 going and returning, should be paid. The Trustees of Mr. Pea- 
 body's Fund could not do better than to appropriate what may be 
 necessary for this purpose. 
 
 With many thanks, so far as I am individually concerned, for 
 the great service you have already rendered this noble cause, and 
 with warm wishes for your further success, 
 
 I am, dear sir, your devoted friend and kinsman, 
 
 EDWAKD BROOKS. 
 
 CuERENT Events.— The Eer. Charles Sfoelis, 
 
 father of State normal schools in America, was 
 asked by a teacher this question: "What shall I 
 teach my pupils?". He answered: "Teach them 
 very thoroughly these five things : 
 
 1. To live religiously. 
 
 2. To think comprehensively. 
 
 3. To reckon mathematically. 
 
 4. To converse fluently; and, 
 
 5. To write grammatically. 
 
 If you successfully teach them these {aye things 
 you will have nobly done your duty to your pu- 
 pils, to their parents, to your country^ aud to 
 yourself." 
 
 A.iMin» ^9iA the pfeceptor, 
 
EVENINC^ TRAIS8CRIPT. 
 
 T^^ITH sxji?plem:e]vt. 
 
 ^3E»]VES1>AX, APKIIi »8, 1809. 
 
 A National System of Education. That 
 the intelligence and virtue of the people are 
 the only permanent safeguards of a republic, is 
 a self-evident truism, often repeated. But how 
 ■best to promote this intelligence and virtue is 
 a question that has failed of being practically 
 answered to the extent required. One citizen 
 of Massachusetts — Eev. Charles Brooks of 
 Medford — has, however, given thought and 
 time to this important subject, and done all in 
 his power to win the attention and enlist the 
 services of others. As early as 1833 he took 
 pen in hand, and he has five times made his 
 appeal to the public and to the legislators. The 
 events of the last decade have increased his 
 zeal and added new weight to his earnest rea- 
 sonings. He has j ust issued a pamphlet giving 
 "Some Reasons for the Immediate Establish- 
 ment of a National System of Education," 
 which deserves extensive circulation and seri- 
 ous consideration, whether all its views are 
 accepted or not. Mr. Brooks is the advocate of 
 ■what has been properly called "the great silent 
 power of reconstruction;" without which no 
 political machinery will be of any avail finally. 
 He gives the results of wide observation and 
 careful, patient study and reflection; and so 
 he has a strong claim to be listened to by our 
 law-makers, and by all who have the welfare 
 of the nation at heart. 
 
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 BOOKBINDING 
 
 MIDDLETOWN, PA 
 
 DEC. 83 
 
 
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