128 
ladies’ department. 
so much forward, which throws the skirt upon the 
round, and puts her every moment in danger of 
eing tripped up , and having her nose broken. 
Ladies’ Wheelbarrow.—Fig. 39. 
With this supply of tools, a lady can trim her 
shrubbery, transplant and weed with great com¬ 
fort to herself, and advantage to the garden. E. S. 
COUNTRY TcHO OLS. 
Permit me to make a brief reply to the article on 
Country Schools, in your February number, in 
which your correspondent, S. H. R., having, as I 
think, misunderstood me, expresses her dissent from 
my opinions, and intimates her belief that, on more 
mature deliberation, I shall find reason to alter my 
views. As she has done my communication for 
December the honor to notice it at some length, it 
would be discourteous not to thank her for the 
trouble she has taken to correct what she thinks 
my errors; and to assure her, that without chang¬ 
ing my opinions as there expressed, I agree entirely 
with her on most points of this very important sub¬ 
ject. I would, however, request her to re-peruse 
my remarks, and I think she will then see that, in¬ 
stead of differing so widely as she at present appre¬ 
hends, we are occupying the same ground, on 
which she proposes to take a step in advance of 
me in ascending the hill of science. 
I spoke of the present general incompetency of 
the teachers of our public schools, and the conse¬ 
quent necessity for private instruction; while your 
fair correspondent, with commendable esprit de 
corps , proposes that a prior step be taken, by “ in¬ 
creasing the number of those who are now obtain¬ 
ing, in the Normal Schools,” the desired requisites 
for teachers. This, at least tacitly, admits the 
truth of my position, that all our schools are not yet 
supplied with well educated teachers, and hence 
the necessity for increasing the number of students 
who are candidates for the office—in this I agree 
entirely with S. H. R.; and moreover, as I have 
great confidence in the wisdom and ability of my 
New York and Eastern neighbors, I am willing to 
have all the aspirants educated in the schools she 
so warmly recommends, until we, lazy Southrons, 
shall have public spirit enough to establish such for 
ourselves. 
I would have the number of good schools, pri¬ 
vate and public, increased until every child in the 
country should have the opportunity of learning 
everything which can make him or her shine in the 
sphere of life in which he or she is placed ; for, in 
exact proportion to the increase of good schools, 
will be the value placed by the community upon 
education; and when we shall have four times the 
present number, all supplied with competent and 
conscientious teachers, then, but not till then, I 
shall think the necessity for private instruction 
1 - 1 
Again, I spoke of the general unwillingness of 
farmers to pay schoolmasters. S. H. R. thinks that 
those who are qualified for the task should “ re¬ 
ceive an adequate compensation.” Certainly they 
ought to be amply paid for imparting the knowledge 
they have acquired; but first, we must try to re¬ 
move the stumbling-block, and make these farmers 
willing to open their purses. For this evil, my in¬ 
genuity can devise no remedy which would not be 
worse than the disease. 
I honestly trust her fears are groundless, tha v 
“ the irresistible effect” of the adoption of my plan 
“ would be effectually to destroy the public 
schools,” as I believe there are comparatively very 
few parents who would withdraw their children 
from the care of such teachers as S H. R. predicts 
“ every district school in the State” will at no dis¬ 
tant time be supplied with—“ thoroughly impressed 
with the responsible duties of their station—intel¬ 
lectually and morally prepared for their discharge— 
and capable of training the expanding minds of our 
youth in every department of science, from the 
lowest to the highest.” 
I, however, retain my belief, that all the com¬ 
bined advantages of a’public course of instruction 
cannot compensate for the evils which must result 
to the pure minds of children, from the daily con¬ 
tact with numbers—and therefore, for girls espe¬ 
cially, I still advise maternal care, and under paren¬ 
tal inspection, a good governess. S. H. R. will also 
find that I did not allude to wealthy parents, when I 
recommended a union of two or three families to 
employ and pay a private teacher. Those of my 
friends who have made the experiment most suc¬ 
cessfully, are neither able to give their children an 
expensive education, nor have they the time to 
spare from the never-ending duties of plain farmers’ 
wives, to attend as they fain would do, to the in¬ 
struction of their little ones. 
I cordially thank S. H. R., for her invitation to 
visit the Normal School of which she speaks so 
highly, but, alas! my crest is a snail in its shell, 
with the motto, “ I cannot leave home.” I have 
therefore little hope of being at liberty to indulge in 
such an excursive pleasure, as such a visit would 
afford me; but as I am, with characteristic haste, 
maturing a plan for casting my shell, and creeping* 
to the Falls of St. Anthony, exploring the Mammoth 
Cave, and perhaps taking some views from nature 
among the Rocky Mountains, I do not despair of 
being able so to arrange it, that I may find Albany 
in my route thither, or on my return. E. S. 
Eutawah 
To TAKE THE SMELL OF PAINT FROM ROOMS. -Let 
three or four broad tubs, each containing about 
eight gallons of water, and one ounce of vitriolic 
acid, be placed in the new painted room, near the 
wainscot; this water will absorb and retain the ef¬ 
fluvia from the paint in three days, but the water 
should be renewed each day during that time. 
# Aye, when I go, I mean to creep , for, truly, I love 
not railroads, except through an often-travelled coun¬ 
try—one might as well mount upon the wings of the 
wind, to fly with the next flock of wild geese or 
passenger pigeons, and take “ a bird’s eye view” of the 
wonders of nature and art, as to whirl over the ground 
