£ljc -farmer's itlontljlij iUsitov. 



143 



one-half or two-thirds of what must lie paid to 

 the other sex for t lie same servicer. The school 

 is, therefore not only proportionately lengthened, 

 mid corresponding advantages are afforded to 

 the pupils, but in very many cast's a teacher act- 

 ually superior in all the requirements to he 

 sought, has been obtained. It would also prevent 

 the constant change to which our schools have 

 been subjected, and which has proved so ruinous 

 to their best interests. 



Neither sex on the present plan of alternating 

 teachers can afford to make suitable preparation, 

 for so brief a period of employment, when they 

 would cheerfully do it, provided there was a 

 prospect of continuing throughout the war. 



Another great evil would also be obviated; the 

 confusion and waste of time arising from igno- 

 rance of the acquirements <>f his respective pu- 

 pil--, the consequence of which is that ever) new 

 teacher orders hack his class to the beginning of 

 their text-hooks, SO that the second, third and 

 fourth winter's labor is only o repetition of that 

 of thi! first. 1 have seen many pupils who had 

 attended school live or six winters, and each 

 year passed over the same ground, without be- 

 ing encouraged or permitted to penetrate into 

 unknown regions. No wonder that such schools 

 become a dead monotony, and the minds of 

 such pupils so alarmingly sluggish. 



[We commend the following article to the readers of the 

 Visitor. It is from one of the earliest and firmest 

 friends of popular education in the State.] 



Dublin, Sept. 10, 1849. 

 To Prok. R. S. Rdst: 



Dear Sir — The opening of the columns of the 

 Monthly Visitor for the admission of articles on 

 the subject of popular education, is a favorable 

 omen. The friends of common schools must, 

 every where, accept it as such, anil take fresh 

 courage in the farther prosecution of the great 

 and good work, which lies near their hearts. 

 The people at large need information on this 

 subject. No one is really unfriendly to the insti- 

 tution of Ono schools, hut many are exceedingly 

 cold in their friendship. They stand aloof, he- 

 cause they are not informed of the want-, even 

 pressing necessities under which many of our 

 schools are struggling, as it were, for life. Our 

 legislators, when they enacted the law establish* 

 ing the office of commissioner of common 

 schools, did wisely, and their successors have 

 acted w uli equal wisdom in continuing the said 

 office. They were influenced, no doubt, not on- 

 ly by the manifestations of new interest among 

 portions of their constituents, but also by a con- 

 viction of the need of more exact information on 

 the subject being diffused throughout the State. 

 The commissioner was ordered to collect the 

 needed information. In each of the last three 

 years, this has been done to as great an extent 

 as the time allowed. .Much may be learned 

 from these reports. But that the information 

 they contain may prove effective to the end de- 

 signed, they must be read by those on whose in- 

 terest and action the welfare of schools depends. 

 Fathers and mothers should have access to them, 

 for otherwise, they will not know what delects 

 adhere to our schools and what remedies to ap- 

 ply, or what improvements are feasible, and what 

 efforts may best secure them. lint these reports, 

 important as they are, have as yet been very 

 sparsely circulated. Two copies to a town have 

 been about all that have been provided. It is 

 true that an additional number of copies was 

 struck off in 1848; but this was done late in the 

 season, arid the time for their doing most good 

 hail passed. In the present year, it appears that 

 additional copies were not ordered. It must 

 have been through some strange misapprehen- 

 sion, attributable to lack of due attention to the 

 subject, that our legislators thus withheld from 



the people at large the very information, which 

 it was made an important part of the commis- 

 si i's duly to collect. If we consider the 



amount of labor bestowed upon the report by 

 yourself, and by the superintending committees, 

 and, we may add. by the teachers also, we can- 

 not regard it as an inexcusable oversight, on the 



part of the General Court, not to authorise the 



printing of a sufficient number of copies to sup- 

 ply every school district in the State with one 

 copy at least. Such a report, containing, as it 

 dues, valuable statistics, needs to be read with 

 care, ami ninny persons would be desirous "f re- 

 ferring to it afterwards. 'I he copy fur the use 

 of a district should be put into the hands of the 

 teacher, and certain portions, as occasions serv- 

 ed, might be read b_v him to his pupils. In the 

 appendix are many valuable suggestions respect- 

 ing the instruction and discipline of schools, and 

 the go id influence* which they are calculated to 

 exi it must certainly, in a great measure, he lost, 

 unless a larger number of copies tire printed and 

 circulated. 



Extracts from the report inserted in the news- 

 papers and periodicals of the State will do some- 

 thing towards making up for the deficiency of 

 reports; but this can he only .a partial remedy. 

 The report should he read and consulted as a 

 whole, not in the fragmentary manner in which 

 newspapers are obliged to present it. Many per- 

 sons, who would be benefited by the reading of 

 the report, do not take newspapers, and some 

 newspapers do not contain extracts. 



The influence of females in regard to our 

 schools is very great. We all know ihe perse- 

 vering character of women, when they become 

 heartily engaged in a project. The pupils in 

 our common schools are specially under their 

 influence. Mothers have it in their power more 

 than fathers to elevate or depress the schools sit 

 which their children attend. Often has it been 

 found that when the father was making disturb- 

 ance in a school, the prime mover was the mo- 

 ther at home, and on the other hand, the father's 

 interest and efforts in behalf of improvement in 

 schools are often prompted by the mother. The 

 commissioner's report, therefore, should he put 

 into the hands of mothers. They will do much 

 in the way of securing a practical application of 

 its valuable suggestions. 



The report of the school commissioner has al- 

 ready done great good in spite of its limited cir- 

 culation. From what it has done, we must infer 

 that it would do much more, if it were more 

 widely diffused among the people. Almost every 

 philanthropic object, at the present day, has its 

 peiiodical to advocate and promote it. The an- 

 nual report of our commissioner is the only pe- 

 riodical which New Hampshire has for ihe spe- 

 cial purpose of advocating and promoting popu- 

 lar education. It is a Slate document, anil one 

 of ihe most important that the Slate publishes, 

 lis matter concerns one of ihe highest interests 

 of ihe people. All the people, therefore, should 

 have free access to it. 



Yours, very truly, 



LEVI \V. LEONARD. 



A distinguished friend of popular education in 



New York, in a letter says :" I hope, ere long, 

 yon. will have a Stale Normal School. I think the 

 teachers need a more thorough mental discipline, 

 and more practical instruction in the art of teach- 

 ing than it is possible to give in the short term 

 of our institute. These institutes tiro belter to 

 ivake vp mind than to discipline it." 



School Architecture. 



It should be remembered that the General 

 Court at ils last session, ordered the Treasurer 

 to purchase a copy of Barnard's School Archi- 

 tecture for the benefit of each town in the Stale. 

 The work has been procured and is now ready 

 lor delivery. It can be obtained at ihe Treasur- 

 er's office. 



It should be carefully examined by all those 

 intending to build or re-moih il school houses. 



Read the speech of I'rof. Sanborn on the sub- 

 jecl while the resolution was before the Mouse. 



Remark* of Mr Sanborn of Hanover, on the Joint Reso- 

 lution for the distribution of Barnard's School Arch- 

 itecture among the sever il towns in the Sl.le. 



Mr. Speaker— I confess that I have been dis- 

 appointed ilt.it ihe resolution now under consid- 

 eration has unt with so little favor from this 

 House. It has slept quietly under your table for 

 a week, and there it seemed destined to sleep, 

 unless some kind liieiul should awake the slum- 

 bering intruder and summon him before the 

 House, to receive a sentence of perpetual exile. 

 I cannot believe that the resolution has received 

 ihe attention which ils importance demands. 

 The subject of School Architecture is not with- 

 out ils interest to every man who has a child to 

 educate, to every philanthropist who seeks lo 

 promote the happiness and preserve the health 

 of the rising generation, lo every patriot who 

 aims by legislation, to secure "the greatest good 

 of the greatest number." This House needs not 

 to be informed that many of our school houses 

 are badly located, badly ventilated, imperfectly 

 warmed in winter, having uncomfortable seals 

 and desks, without apparatus of any kind and 

 destitute of the ordinary conveniences of civil- 

 ized life. This House needs not to be informed 

 that some of these buildings are old. dilapidated 

 and ruinous, unfit for the occupancy of human 

 beings, almost unfit for the folding of sheep or 

 herding of svt ine. 



The house where many of the best hours of 

 life are spent should be made attractive to the 

 eye of youth. The young mind is moulded by 

 the objects it contemplates. What is it that 



throws sucl enduring charm about "sweet 



home?" It is the undying recollection of child- 

 ish joys, of parental hue, of little domestic, 

 scenes, which are forgotten by all except the 

 child who participated in them. If the school 

 room be made agreeable and comfortable, ihe 

 child will love it as he does his own home. Let 

 every father who sends a child lo ihe town 

 school examine the house in which his child is 

 imprisoned for six hours a day, for nearly ten 

 years of his life, and see if he cannot detect 

 there some material reasons why his child hales 

 ihe old school house; hates the master ; quar- 

 rels with his associates and refuses to learn. 

 Many a child has been whipped for his aversion 

 io school when, if strict justice were administer- 

 ed, the parent should have been whipped for 

 sending him there. It is the parent's dill} to see 

 that the school house is inviting; that it is pro- 

 perly warmed and ventilated, and provided with 

 all the apparatus and furniture necessary for ihe 

 child's comfort. In many of our school houses, 

 children are suffocated by bad air. It is the 

 opinion of ihe most eminent physicians in our 

 country, that main chronic diseases are engen- 

 dered in our ill-constructed school houses; that 

 the seeds of consumption are planted in many a 

 delicate child by inhaling the noxious air of an 

 imperfectly ventilated school room. If the peo- 

 ple understood Ihe laws of health, would ihey 

 thus torture their children and make their lile 

 one long-continued disease ? Is money of any 

 consideration when weighed against health and 



happiness? Ought we to he governed by mo- 

 tives of economy and parsimony in withholding 

 lion, ihe people ihe information necessary for 

 (he remedy of these evils ? Do we mean to sac- 

 rifice our children to the Moloch of' avarice? Do 

 we intend to confine another generation to ihese 

 modern Black Holes, where the air is, for a large 

 part of ihe day, as deleterious to health and life 

 as Ihe malaria of Campagna ? If we do not, Irt 

 us take ihe proper steps in disseminate light up- 

 on the subject. This book which the resolution 

 proposes to distribute, contains the Literature of 



