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VIEW OF A SCHOOL-HOUSE l.N FISHERVILLE, 



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Description of School-house in Fishervillc. 



The School-house in Fisherville (District No. 20, Concord) is 50 feet 

 long and 33 wide, two stories, the lower story 12 feet high, and I lie upper 

 story 13 feet. An entry on the lower floor, from the front end, 11 feet 

 wide, extending the width of the building.; one entrance in front and one 

 on either side. In the entry arc stairs down cellar and up into the upper 

 story. There are two doors opening into the lower room, one on each 

 side of the house ; three windows on each side, and two at the farther 

 end of the room ; same ahove. The teacher's platform and desk are be- 

 tween the doors, and in front of the scholars. An aisle extends round 

 the outside of the seats, next the sides and end of the house ; that at the 

 farther end is four feet wide, to accommodate classes in reading and reci- 

 tations, that "Idle standing at one end of the room, and the teacher at 

 the other, they may have an opportunity of allowing full force to the 

 voire. The upper room is the same size, and is designed for the higher 

 department. In each corner af (he house, over the e :lry, is a recitation 

 room. Four ventilators in each room, hetween '.he ceiling and side of 

 the house, into the attic. The desks and all the inside wood finish are 

 painted and varnished. Black-hoards and a clock in each room. In the 

 cellar is a well, and place for wood, &c. The yard extends hack of the 

 house 200 feet ami ICO feet wide, into a tine grove. It is divided hy a 

 fence in the centre, allowing one side for the males and the oilier for the 

 (email's. Between the floors is a laying of lime mortar, half an inch 

 thick. Windows hung with weights. The seals are all numbered, and 

 the honks lor lints and outside clothes, in the entry, are also n II inhered to 

 correspond. 



n.AN OK A SCIIOOL-UOrsE l.N FISHERY ILLE. 



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Geology for Schools and Families— No. 1. lir Jusiah Holbruok. 



The following facts will show the ease with which schools and families 

 can he furni.-hed hy the hands of their own members wiih cabinets of 

 geology, mineralogy, and other specimens of nature, aided hy those of art. 

 A classical and highly accomplished teacher in Washington told his pu- 

 pils it few days since that the next day they might dispense with the use 

 i«l hooks mid take a lesson upon things — requesling them at the same time 

 to procure for the purpose such minerals as they could find and materials for 

 coustrnciing, hy their oic)t hands, cases or small boxes lor containing them. 

 The result was a cabinet of minerals, averaging fifty specimens for each 

 pupil, labelled and arranged in neat though small cases, the whole the 

 ti nit of two days' instruciion from the Hook ol Nalure, taken hy the ac- 

 tive use of hand and eye, wiih ami for the mind. Similar experiments in 

 most of the schools in our National city, within a few days past, have pro- 

 duced similar resuhs, not less to the entertainment than the instruction of 

 those participating in them. 



A few months since the pupils of a public school in New York collec- 

 ted, broke into specimens of a convenient size, labelled, and look to each 

 of their homes, numbering more than five hundred, as the work of one 

 day, six elementary specimens of geology, showing the elements of moun- 

 tains, rocks, and soils, and soon enlarged to valuable cabinets of nalure 

 and art. Following go good an example, most id' the schools and very 

 numerous families in our great Commercial city were furnished in the 

 course of a few weeks (villi instruments of fundamental and " self-instruc- 

 tion" obtained by the pupils themselves from "God's olden volume." 



Similar cases might he given, in very great numbers, showing the prin- 

 cipal cause of I he great, indeed astonishing, progress made by geology 

 within a lew years past lis a branch of elementary instruction in schools 

 and families, also of' the liberal legislative provisions made in most if not 

 all (he Slates of our Union for geological surveys and other measures for 

 developing ihe natural resources of our country, alike for the advance- 

 ment of science and of wealth. 



Such being ihe facts touching the highly practical science of geology, 

 every friend of human progress must he gratified (o know (hat (he Siaie 

 Superintendents of Schools ill several cases are the present season calling 

 special attention to the subject. The progress already made will lender 

 Inline advancement both easy anil rapid, presenting ihe animating pros- 

 pect that ihe time is not distant when geology will receive equal attention 

 with iis sister science, geography, as a subject of early instruction. 



The fact that the first pebble likely to meet the eye in any pari of the 

 world, is the most important letter in the geological alphabet, affording 

 one of the most instructive lessons to be Ibund any where, shows the 

 beautiful simplicity of I his science and the readiness wiih which it can 

 he entered by any member of any school or family. While this mineral, 

 called quartz, is ihe most abundant material in soils and the most impor- 

 tant element of our whole globe, it has also formed much Ihe greatest va- 

 riety of ceius used as ornaments in ail ages of the world since the ri h 

 present of ihe Queen of Sheha (o the, King of Israel. Hence ihe atten- 

 tion of the young is invited to ibis abundant and beautiful material of the 

 globe as ihe first specimen in a geological cabinet. This obtained, others 

 will billow in rapid and rich succession, affording increased energy and 

 pleasure at every step of progress up the hill of science, developing dur- 

 ing the whole course new beauties and new riches, capable of being 

 spread far and wide among all nations and all classes of Hie human 

 family. 



Mr. Thoughtless in Search of a School-Teacher. 



Mr. ThoughtUss. — Mr. Sensible, d'ye kno'v any body't I can hire ter 

 teachour school this sumuiei ? 



Mr. Sensible. — No, I do not. What kind of a teacher do you wish for? 



T. — Why, 'a wios tany body HI du. Our school's small, an dull ihe scho- 

 lars small. 



S. — Do yon know any person whom 1 can hire to work on my farm 

 this summer ? 



T — No, I don't. What kin dur a man du you want ? 



S. — Why, almost any body will do to take care of my calves — they are 

 all small. And I have a small farm; almost anybody will do lo plough 

 and plant ihe land. And I supposed almost any body will do to hoe my 

 corn. It will probably he small when it comes up, and small when it 

 wants hoeing. Ii is no particular matter how it is hoed when it is small, 

 yon know. When it becomes large, later in the season, I shall wan: some- 

 body lo hoe ii well. «'lny body will do to hoe il when ii is so very small. 



Do you know of any body libit I can get lo take care of a sick child ? 

 The child is very small, almost any body will do, you know. Some one 

 thai I can hire cheap. The child is very small. 



Schools in Connecticut. — The total number of children in attend- 

 ance at ihe common schools of Connecticut, in 18-18, was 811,007. The 

 amount paid from the school fund of the Stale for their instruciion, was 

 $133,336, or one dollar and fifty cents lo each child. The lotal capital of 

 ihe school fund is s2.077,(>4 I . One school district in the Slate is so child- 

 less, as lo have but a single child to send to school! 



American Women. — Although the women of the United Slates are 

 confined within the narrow circle of domestic lile, and (heir situation is, 

 in some respects, one of extreme dependence, I have nowhere seen 

 women occupying a loftier position, (that is, of moral influence;) and 

 if I were asked, now that 1 am drawing to the close of this work, in which 

 I have spoken of so many important things done by the Americans, to 

 what the singular and growing strength of that people ought mainly lo be 

 attributed, I should reply: to the superiority of their women. — De Tocoueville. 



