SPECIMENS OF EDUCATIONAL LITERATURE. 713 



him to us in the aspect of a sure-footed resohite guide who, with a 

 firm hand, takes us up an endless variety of the peaks of social and 

 scientific problems, hard to be scaled. He brings his reader skillfully 

 up to the summit, explains tlie prospect, and carefully deposits him 

 again in his proper place. There are few excursions, where a little 

 exertion is needful, so exhilarating and profitable, so much to be rec- 

 ommended to the traveler among questions of the day, as those 

 which are accessible through the good ofiices of Prof. Huxley. 

 The Academy. 







SPECIMENS OF EDUCATIONAL LITERATURE. 



By F. W. CLARKE. 



AMERICA is unquestionably preeminent in educational matters. 

 It has more schools and a greater variety of schools than any 

 other country on the face of the earth. Some of these schools are 

 extremely remarkable. You cannot match them elsewhere. They 

 thrive only upon the freest soil, untrammeled by effete convention- 

 alities. Throughout the West and South they spring up abundantly, 

 as if in proportion to the fertility of the land. The New England and 

 Middle States are too much tied down to routine and tradition to 

 produce such rare developments of the intellect. Such schools deserve 

 to be more widely known and more generally appreciated. We pro- 

 pose to help some of them to a broader fame, by printing a few 

 extracts from their circulars and catalogues. 



First in order -let us take some clippings from a little jiamphlet 

 issued by a school in Faribault, Minnesota. This circular is remarkable 

 for its clear expression of views upon a variety of educational topics, 

 and for the suggestions it offers concerning real school discipline. 

 Here are a few of the wise regulations : 



" Scholars with any contagious trouble or disease are not allowed in the 

 school till cleaned, or till their disease is beyond danger. 



" If a snow-storm is up, the teacher takes the privilege to dismiss the school 

 earlier in the afternoon than it otherwise would have been. 



"It is not allowed to scholars to jump on to or hang to teams except on the 

 way to or from school, and then only with the permission of the driver. 



"Anything belonging to the school-house or to the scholars, broken, torn, or 

 damaged, must be paid or restored by the scholar or scholars who have done 

 it, as well as by those who were accessory to it. 



" Where a punishment is in order it will be applied whether a scholar's parent 

 or any visitors are present or not." 



And so on for about twelve pages. The remai-kably concise and 

 exact wordins: of these valuable rules must attract the attention of 

 every teacher. The circular closes with a four-page essay upon " The 



