THE 



NATIONAL SCHOOL MANUAL: 



A 



REGULAR AND CONNECTED COURSE OF ELEMENTARY STUDIES, 



EMBRACING 



THE NECESSARY AND USEFUL BRANCHES OF A COMMON EDUCATION. 



IN FOUR PARTS, WITH A QUARTO ATLAS. 

 COMPILED FROM THE LATEST AND MOST APPROVED AUTHORS, 



BY M. R. BARTLETT. 



The plan of this work was the suggestion of the late 

 Governor Clinton, whose zeal and efforts in the cause 

 of our Public Schools, will be cherished with grateful 

 remembrance to the latest posterity ; and this work, so 

 far as it had advanced, up to the time of his lamented 

 death, received his favorable regard and patronage. 



The object of the National School Manual, is to 

 furnish a System of instruction, for a thorough English 

 education, in a plain, practical, and progressive Series 

 of Lessons, collaterally arranged. 



It is believed that the plan of this work is sufficiently 

 wide and comprehensive for all the purposes of a good 

 English Education, and that it is capable of advancing 

 the pupil much faster in his studies, and to much higher 

 attainments in the useful sciences, than is possible in 

 the present mode, with the help of the best teachers. 



The practical results of a general adoption of the 

 National School Manual will be : 



1st. To introduce system, uniformity and order into 

 our Schools. 2d. To define and regulate the duties of 

 teachers, and give them the means of being more tho- 

 rough, precise, and useful. 3d. To present to the opening 

 minds of pupils, the various subjects of human science, 

 in a clear and lucid manner, and with all the advan- 

 tages of natural order, and philosophical arrangement, 

 adapted to the progress of knowledge : and, 4th. To 

 Parents and Guardians, exemption from the vexation 

 and expense of changing the whole catalogue of School 

 Books, and the whole course of studies, with every 

 change of School or Teacher — a thing of very frequent 

 occurrence in our Country Schools. As to the saving 

 of expense in the article of School Books, the entire 

 cost of the Common School Manual, embracing the 

 Primer and the Four Parts, of upwards of 1500 pages, 

 for the whole course of a good English education, and an 

 Atlas of 20 maps, is between three and four dollars. 



From the Teachers of Public Schools in the city of J^ew- 

 York. 



We have examined the National School Manual, and 

 are pleased with the plan. From our knowledge of the 

 various systems pursued in the country schools, many 

 of which, upon the change of teachers, serve rather to 

 retard, than advance, the pupil, we do not hesitate to 

 recommend the Manual, as having not only a tendency 

 to uniformity and order, but also to save expense, the 

 complaint of which is without parallel.' 



LOYD D. WINDSOR, 

 Teacher of Public School, No. 1. 



JOSEPH BELDEN, 

 Teacher of Public School, No. 11. 

 A. DE MONTFREDY, 

 February 8, 1830. Teacher of Public School, No. 10. 



From the Rev. James Carnahan, President of Princeton 

 College. 



Having examined the general plan of the 1st, 2d, and 

 3d parts of the " National School Manual," and hav- 

 ing also taken a cursory view of some of the details, I 

 am satisfied that it is a work of no common merit. 



The evils which this work proposes to remedy are 

 great and generally felt by parents and instructors. 

 The expense of books, according to the course hereto- 

 fore pursued, is a very serious inconvenience ; and the 

 loss of time and iabor arising from the want of a con- 

 nected series of instruction adapted to the capacities 

 of children and youth, is a consideration of vast mo- 

 ment. 



Comparatively few instructors are competent to select, 

 from the great number of books now used in common 

 schools, those adapted to the improving capacities of 

 their pupils. If a book, which he cannot understand, 



be put into the hands of a pupil, he will lose his time, 

 and what is worse, he will probably contract a disgust 

 for learning. The great art of teaching consists in 

 beginning with the simplest elements, and advancing 

 gradually to things more difficult as the capacity of ac- 

 quiring knowledge expands, presenting something new 

 to arrest the attention and to exercise the ingenuity 

 of the pupil. To answer these ends, the work of Mr. 

 Bartlett seems to me well suited. If these small vol- 

 umes be thoroughly studied, I am persuaded that the 

 pupil will be better prepared to transact the business of 

 life, and by his own exet tions to improve himself after 

 he leaves school, than if he had spent twice the time 

 under an ill-arranged system of instruction. 



It will, doubtless, be difficult to introduce a uniform 

 system of instruction into our common schools ; yet 

 the object is so desirable, that it deserves a vigorous 

 and persevering effort ; and I indulge the hope that the 

 day is not far distant, when the " National School Man- 

 ual," improved and enlarged by its able and experienced 

 author, will be very generally adopted. 



JAMES CARNAHAN. 



J\rassau Hall, April 27, 1832. 



From the Rev. Charles S. Stewart, Chaplain in the United 

 States JSTavy — Author of a Journal of Voyages to the 

 Pacific, d^c. ^-c. 



I have examined with much care, and great satisfac- 

 tion, the " National School Manual," compiled by 

 M. R. Bartlett. The opinion I have formed of its merits, 

 is of little importance, after the numerous and highly 

 respectable testimonials to its value already in your 

 possession. 



A work of this kind has long been a desideratum in 

 the economy of our public schools, and I am persuaded 

 that the advantages which this compilation is calculated 

 to secure to pupils, teachers, and parents, need only to 

 be appreciated to secure its introduction throughout our 

 country. It will be found on trial, I think, greatly to 

 aid the instructor in his arduous service, while the pupil 

 cannot fail, in the use of it, if I am not mistaken, to 

 make a more rapid and understanding progress than by 

 the method now generally pursued. To teacher and 

 scholar the importance and value of the system, I doubt 

 not, would be fully shown after a very brief trial, while 

 the parent and guardian would soon learn its advantage 

 in an exemption from the heavy tax now imposed on 

 them by a constant change of books. 



I should be happy to see the Manual in every common 

 school in the Union, from the conviction that the best 

 interests of education would be promoted by it. 



(Signed) CHAS. SAML. STEWART, 



Chaplain U. S. Navy. 



J^ew-York, March 30, 1832. 



I have examined with care and a high degree of in- 

 terest the work called the " National School Manual." 

 by Mr. M. R. Bartlett, and am so well satisfied with its 

 merits, and that it will eventually be adopted in all our 

 common schools, to the exclusion of every other work 

 of the kind now in use, that I feel authorized to exert 

 my influence to have the work introduced forthwith 

 into my school. 



JAS. W. FAIRCHILD, 

 Principal of the Hudson Academy. 

 Hudson, Jan. 23, 1832. 



The Publishers have similar letters from fifty or 

 sixty Teachers of the highest respectability. 



