BUREAU OF EDUCATION 
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This new department at Washington has in 
yiew national statistics, wide information and 
broad plans for popular education. It is 3 nthor- 
jzed by act of the last Congress, and is now 
organized so far as possible. Congress was 
enthusiastic to adopt this plan and to show its 
appreciation of the educational interests of the 
land; but it forgot to make an appropriation to 
render that enthusiasm practical. Dr. Barnak d 
is, perhaps, the best man for the place; and his 
eminent attainments and zealous fife-labors in 
behalf of education render it certain that if the 
National Bureau of Education can be made of 
advantage that purpose will be achieved. There 
being no appropriation to defray the expense- 
of the establishment, of course there is no cleri¬ 
cal force. Mr. Barnard is busily engaged in 
distributing circulars to the different States, 
asking information concerning their educational 
interests. This measure has Us advocates and 
its opponents — both strong and bitter—but it 
were well to thoroughly test the experiment. 
It may be of great advantange to the country. 
SURFACE AND DEPTH. 
Length and breadth are often very desirable 
properties. There are times wheu they are all 
that is needed—when superficial measurement 
answers every purpose. But not always are 
they enough. You may have a shallow lake 
in which there is more water than in the deep 
river, but the river is much the best for navi¬ 
gation. Your lake is a beautiful erxpnuse—a 
perfect liquid gem—we grant, asd serves a cap¬ 
ital turn for floating pleasure-craft; but it is 
worth absolutely nothing for practical business. 
So with nearly everything, and especially so in 
regard to education. Surface knowledge may 
glitter and dazzle most brilliantly; if there be 
no depth it is of little account. 
Depth of knowledge does not, necessarily, 
imply profound erudition. At least wo shall 
not use the phrase with that meaning. One 
must master many things before he is pro¬ 
foundly erudite; he may master but one thing, 
and still go into the depths. In this sense, then, 
the «hild may sound the depths of knowledge; 
In another, and broader sense, the gray-haired 
philosopher has never sounded them, nor cun 
he ever hope to. 
And ir, is just this matter of leadiug the child 
into the depths, in the sense in which we use 
the word, that we wish to allude to particularly. 
The idea which many teachers seem to enter¬ 
tain, that young minds are merely receptacles, 
into which a certain amount of information is 
to be put every day and then left alone, is a 
very injurious one. To follow out the pro¬ 
cess, in accordance with the idea, is but to 
lumber up the minds with a mass of dead ac¬ 
cretions. There is no expansion, no lively 
growth. Knowledge should stimulate thought. 
Unless it is made use of, by whoever imparts 
it, as such stimulant, the full mission of the 
teacher is unfulttlled. More than many Imagine, 
does the young mind long for the Why and the 
Wherefore. A mass of facts—a bundle of dry 
accretions — pages of history, of philosophy, or 
of logic, laid away in the memory and carefully 
labelled—may satisfy the parents, and may win 
for the teacher their commendation as a good 
instructor, but if with them there never Is min¬ 
gled any full solutions, any clear explanations 
— if the mind is not led down into the depths 
of whatever may be treated of—the child is not 
satisfied. Or if there be satisfaction, all around, 
it is a satisfaction born of that which ought not 
to satisfy. With no encouragement given to the 
child’s questioning spirit, it soon ceases to mani¬ 
fest itself. Thereafter, bare statements are all 
he expects, and very soon he cares for nothing 
more. Declare to him any Bimple fact whatever, 
and he at once accepts it as 6uch, unhesitatingly, 
and with never a thought of query. And thus is 
his after-thought and life materially moulded. 
For the early habits are strong ones. A lesson 
of repression,—a curbing of the inquiring dispo¬ 
sition—in the childish years, lasts through a life¬ 
time. 
In the common school, as well as in later 
study, may thought probe more deeply. All 
over our land, in every country school house, 
there are little questioners who want to go 
deeper into simple every-day philosophies than 
they are able to go alone. It ehould be a pleas¬ 
ure to the teacher to take them by the hand 
and walk with them as far soever as he may, 
in the curiously winding paths of their query- 
ings. They may want to go beyond his own 
depth, now and then, and may ask when he 
literally cannot answer. But until they do this, 
let him be not chary of patient replies, couched 
in language adapted to their understanding. 
The teacher well knows how, in his dally rou¬ 
tine, much of his education is being continually 
turned over and enlivened. By this means, and 
by numberless new applications, fresh thoughts 
are evolved, and he looks farther into the differ¬ 
ent subjects under consideration. In like man¬ 
ner ought he to endeavor, day by day, to refresh 
whatever of knowledge may be imparted to the 
young,—to quicken the thought, and train it to 
a deeper analysis. We know many believe that 
to answer childish queries, or to give to the 
young learner reasons for specific treatments, 
is labor lost. In the few cases it may be so; 
in the many it is not. To do it may at times 
task the teacher’s patience, but it will be giv¬ 
ing and developing a knowledge that 6hall pos¬ 
sess more than superfice; and it will encourage 
a spirit of inquiry that shall by-and-by be a 
power in searching out the truth. 
nr JK88IB CABROI.I. 
A box or girl In antique costume, enters tlic room, 
books and maps over the shoulder, and staff in hand, 
bearing a small ensign lettered “Perseverance’’— 
bows low and Uiub addresses the scholars: 
1 . Ilow’d do, masters and misses, 
Your faees I’m glad to see; 
To greet this band of children, 
Tve traversed land and sea, 
A pack upon my shoulders, 
A walking stick in hand, 
O’er many a lofty mountain, 
And waters vast and grand. 
2 . I am an ancient mariner [or matron,] 
Of the good old Diligence bark'; 
Aad though no womlrous genius, 
Quito well I have made my mark 1 
Up laarol-crowned Parnassus, 
I never strove to climb, 
And yeL my name has echoed 
Through the corridors of time 1 
3. For Progress was my motto. 
And Perseverance, too, 
See graven on my pennon, 
As f sail life's jouruoy through— 
Which is the secret, children, 
Of my marvelous success; 
So I come with a wand of promise, 
This little band to bless. 
4. A word now at parting, 
You’re all on life's great sea, 
So yon must strike your oars together, 
If successful you would be. 
5. And another word at parting, 
To instruction’s voice give ear; 
Heed the counsels of your teacher, 
Her pathway strive to cheer. 
But lean not upon each othor, 
There's work for ail to do, 
Bach one must learu to puddle, 
To paddle his own canoe. [Exit.] 
* 
Too Much Study. —A Richmond paper speaks 
of a girl thirteen years old who committed fifteen 
hundred consecutive verses of the New Testa¬ 
ment iu one week, wearied out several teachers 
in reciting her lesson, and had brain fever the 
next day. The Hartford Times says that a girl 
of sixteen is dying in that city from the effects 
of the disease caused by over study at school. 
And the Boston Traveler notices the case of a 
young iarly who recently died in a suburban 
town, and her physician says her death wasjuu- 
doubtedly caused by hard stndy. 
STEAM CAE BEAKE 
William Longbutdoe of Paterson. N. J., has 
invented a brake for rail cars which promises to 
substitute steam for brakeruon on railroads. A 
trial of It was made, before the representatives 
of some dozen railroad companies a short time 
since, resulting in a highly satisfactory issue. It 
is thus described; 
“The now steam brake is operated by a steam 
cylinder with 34-ineli throw of pistou. This cyl¬ 
inder is placed under the “foot board” of the 
engine. Nothing Is seen on the engineer’s stand 
but a small lever that opens and shuts a valve, 
and a three-fourths inch pipe, through which 
the steam passes into the cylinder. A chain 
passes around, pulling on the piston head. This 
chain goes through the train, connected by sec¬ 
tions of rods and chains, and the brakes are ap¬ 
plied through the agency of small standards in 
the center of the car. By means of the safety- 
valve in the brake cylinder the steam escapes 
wheu the pressure becomes greater than required 
for the best braking. By this means the great 
evil to railroad economy—of sliding wheels—Is 
obviated. 
At the trial the brake showed a power of 3,500 
pounds, more than double that of seven brake- 
men exerting their full strength with the old 
windlass brake. With the new brake a train of 
cars running at a speed of 56 miles per hour, con 
be stopped In 16 seconds, and in a distance of 
6&i feet. When rnnuing at a speed of 24 miles 
per hour, the usual rate, it can be stopped iu a 
distance of 250 feet. 
At the close of the experiments yesterday, a 
resolution was adopted by the railroad managers 
present, strongly recommending the adoption of 
the new brake on the railroads of the country, 
both on the score of economy and for the safety 
of the traveling public." 
OEIGINAL FABLES, 
I. LOOK TO TUB HOOT OF THE FAMILY TREE. 
“Gentlemen,” said an old Tea Kettle that 
lay in a corner of a shed, in which some worn- 
out Locomotives had been stowed away, “gen¬ 
tlemen, lam sorry to see you in this place; i 
wasn’t brought here till I had more than once 
lost my spout and handle, and been patched and 
soldered till very little of my original was left. 
I concluded therefore that like mo, you have seen 
your best days, and are now to be laid aside aa 
useless.” 
The Locomotives frowned at one another, but 
didn’t answer. 
“Well, gentlemen and brothers,” cried the 
Kettle again, “ don’t be down-hearted; we have 
pldj ed busy and useful parts in our day, and may 
comfort ourselves now in thinking over the 
things we have respectively achieved. As for 
me, the remembrance of the domestic delight 
and refreshment thut I have been the means of 
affording affects me deeply.” 
“ What Li that little old tin thing whistling 
about up in the corner?” asked one of the Lo¬ 
comotives of his companion; “where are his 
brothers?" 
“Hey-day! is that it?” cried the Kettle, all 
alive with indignation; “so you don’t own the 
relationship. Let me tell yon, with all your 
pitiful pride, that though you won’t own me as 
a brother, I am father and mother to you; for 
who would ever have heard of a steam engine if 
it hadn’t been for a tea-kettle?” 
II. LOOK Ur AS WELL AS DOWN. 
“O father! O mother! the moon Is drowned; 
she is, indeed; we have seen her lying trembling 
in the lake,” cried the owlets, bustling back to 
the tower, where their parents sat among the ivy. 
“Children,” said the old birds, “you looked 
down aud saw the image in the lake; if you had 
looked up you would have seen the moon herself 
in the sky; but it is the way with novices to be 
led astray by representations of a subject which 
a little further inquiry would have shown them 
were wholly deceptive.” 
III. A SHUT UP TO AN EVEN QUESTION. 
“How well I whistle!” said the Wind to the 
KeyhoLe. 
“ Well, if that isn’t rich !” said the Keyhole to 
the Wind; “you mean how woll / whistle.” 
“Get me some paper,” said the old woman, 
“aud stuff up that keyhole and stop the draft.” 
And so neither Wind nor Keyhole whistled any 
longer .—Leisure Hour. 
THE PRAIRIE DOG AT HOME 
In the preceding illustration the reader will zled hue, produced by the alternate chestnut aud 
find a spirited representation of the home or city gray color of euch hair. They are of a social 
of the Prairie Dog, (Spermophihtt Lndoeiciamu,) disposition, as would be inferred from their 
ns ho appears to the traveler over the great city-like habit of domiciliation, 
plains of the west. They raise tumuli of earth With respect to their habits Captain Mabcy 
as fortifications or watch towers, at, the apex of j says “ Iu the selection of a site or position 
which are openings to their subterranean habi- ’■ {or their towns they appear to have regard to 
tatlous beneath. These arc numerous, and in j their food, which is a species of short, wiry 
such proximity to each other are these burrows, i grass growing upon the elevated plains, where 
that the entire area of their city or encampment there is often no water near,” a fact which in¬ 
is ouo vast honeycomb, rendering it hazardous , duces the conclusion that they require very 
for mounted men to ride through or over one of little water aside from that obtained upon the 
these dog cities without ■ peeial cure. The. eti grass constituting their principal food. They 
trance to the underground abode, of the dogs is have also a kind of camp discipline, by the aid 
made at an angle of about forty-five degree?, cd’ which any approaching danger La eotnmunl- 
with the plane of the horizon and the holes con- cated to the entire encampment or colony, 
tinned at that angli! to a considerable depth, Perched on a hillock the dog sentinel is enabled 
when they rise with a corresponding inclination to survey ft wide extent of horizon, and should 
till a point within two or three feet of the sur- an intruder appear a sharp yelp of alarm is 
face is reached, where the burrow terminates in given. This is taken up by othons, till the 
the home or hybematlng apartment. There whole camp is apprised of danger and the mol- 
they pass the season of winter, venturing out titudinous population Is soon safely housed in 
but rarely, and then only when a considerable their underground retreats. Soon after this re- 
mitigation iu the wintry aspect outside takes treat they may be seen peeping forth from their 
place. holes in countless thousands, anxious to see 
Captain Maroy, iu his journal of the Red what the cause of the fright was. They arc as 
River expedition, states that his road, during inquisitive as shy, hence this hurry to come 
one entire day, lay through a continuous dog forth after an alarm. 
town, involving the necessity of frequent dc- A species of owl is always found among the 
tours to avoid the mounds raised around their dog-mounds, leading to a suspicion that an oc- 
burrows. While thus passing, these little ani- casional pup is snatched up and borne away by 
mala were seen iu couutless numbera sitting them. Rattlesnakes also find their way into 
upright at the mouths of their domicils, pre- the burrows, making free with the pups, as ap- 
senting much the appearance of stumps of small petite prompts. It is proper tossy that some 
tnees; and so incessant is the clatter of their doubt the correctness of this impntatiOH against 
barking that ir requires but little effort, of the the snakes, but the balance of testimony seems 
imagination to fancy ouesself surrounded by the to be in favor of its truthfulness. Neither the 
busy hum of a city. The space covered by this snakes uor the owls can hardly be regarded as 
city was equal to a square of about tweuty-flve allies of the dogs, but more likely unwelcome 
miles, or to eight hundred and ninety-six thou- guests and difficult of expulsion, 
sand acres. The population of thjs one city was When the Prairie Dog first feels the approach 
estimated to be greater than that of any one in- of the sleeping season, generally about the first 
habited by man in the universe. These dogs are of November, he closes all the passages to his 
remarkably prolific, as they must needs be to dormitory, to exclude the cold air, and betakes 
cover the western prairies with the population himself to his brumal slumber with the greatest 
yiey do. They are a rather pleasant looking, possible care. He remains housed until the 
inquisitive little animal, about sixteen inches in warm days of spring, wheu he removes the ob- 
length, body circular aud rather flat, the head strnction3 from his door and again appears 
especially so. The fur is of a grayish red or griz- above ground as frolicsome as ever. 
AN IMMENSE TELESCOPE 
ALCOHOLIC TREATMENT OF DISEASE 
ous, and there is no good reason for it. In the 
first place the drawer names a rate, which must 
be multiplied with th* conventional value of the 
pound before it can be paid for iu the federal 
money. If the banker offered exchange at §4.85 
it would be very easy both to understand and 
compute it. For every pound to be paid in 
London, four dollars and eighty-five cents is de¬ 
manded here. But instead of this the banker 
will offer his bill at 109%, which means the same 
thing. He means that, a-euming the pound to 
be w«rth $4.44-4-9, he will sell it at 9% pre¬ 
mium; and multiplying §4.44-4-9 by 109%, 
produces §485. Why not say §485 at once ? Be- 
wuise he has fallen into the rut of the other 
system and cannot got out. Our other ex¬ 
changes are easily computed. A hundred cen¬ 
times make a franc, aud when a bill in Paris is 
quoted at 5:20, it is meant that the dollar here 
will bring five francs and twenty centimes there, 
and so on. When Prussian thalers are quoted at 
72, it is meant that a thaler in Prussia will bring 
seventy-two cent? here. Othersimilar instances 
might be quoted. 
Jn an article on this subject iu the Medical and 
Surgical Reporter, the experience of Mr. Iliggin- 
bottom of Nottingham, is quoted, who for thirty 
years has never prescribed stimulants, and finds 
his results perfectly satisfactory. Dr. Collenette 
of Germaay, says: 
“ For twenty-one years I have banished all in¬ 
toxicants from my practice, and during that 
period I have not made fewer than 180,000 medi¬ 
cal visits, and I hesitate not to say that the 
recoveries have been more numerous and more 
rapid than they were during the five years I fol¬ 
lowed the usual practice, and administered 
brandy, wine and beer.” 
Mr. Smith, the governor of the Edinburgh 
jail, states that out of 150,000 criminals who 
had passed through his hands—many of whom 
had been great drinkers, and whose liquor was 
cut off when they crossed the jail door—not one 
case of injury had occurred by the drink being 
taken from the person at once. 
BEAUTIFUL LESSON. 
EDUCATION-CLASSIC AND PRACTICAL 
Some time ago a boy was discovered iu the 
street, evidently intelligent, but sick. A mnn 
who had the feeliDg of kindness strongly dtsvel- 
oped, went to ask him what he was doing there. 
“ Waiting for God to come to me.” 
“What do you mean?” Baid the gentleman, 
touched by the pathetic tone of the answer of 
the boy, in whose eyes and flushed fkce he saw 
the evidence of lever. 
“God sent for mother, and father, and littiu 
brother," said he, “and took them away to His 
home up in t.he sky; and mother told mo when 
6 he waa sick that, God would take care of me. 
I have no home; nobody to give me anything; 
and so l came here, and have beeu lookiug so 
long up iu the sky for God to come and take care 
of me, as mother said he would. He will come, 
won’t He ? Mother never told a lie." 
“ Yes, my lad,” said the man, overcome with 
emotion; “He has sent me to take care of you.” 
Yon should have seen bis eyes flash, and the 
smile of triumph break over his face as he said: 
“ Mother never told me a lie, sir; but you have 
beeu so long on the way.” 
Sir J. F. W. Herschel, an eminent man, in 
a communication to the English Public School 
Commissioners, gives his views as follows: 
“ 1 should consider any system radically faulty 
which should confine itself to the study of the 
classical languages, and to so much of Greek or 
Roman history aa is necessary to understand the 
classical authors as its main and primary feat¬ 
ures ; and should reluctantly admit a minimum 
of extra-classical teaching. Such a system must 
necessarily suffer the reasoning faculty to lan¬ 
guish and become dwarfed for want of timely 
exercise. In those years, from fourteen to 
twenty, it Is quite as important that youthB 
should have placed in their hands for study, 
books which may initiate them into the domain 
of consecutive thought as boote in classical liter¬ 
ature. I would not depreciate grammar, proso¬ 
dy, and all that classic scholarship includes. But 
Greek and Latin is bought too dear, if at the sac¬ 
rifice of any reasonable prospect of improving 
the general intellectual character, by habits of 
concentrated thought, and by Induction, investi¬ 
gation and generalization, while the mind is yet 
plastic and impressible.” 
A POUND STERLING 
once more directs public attention to the com¬ 
plicated and confusing method of reckoning this 
portion of our foreign exchanges. The custom 
of reckoning the pound sterling at $4.41 origi¬ 
nated in causes now ended, and generally for¬ 
gotten, and seldom understood. The price of 
gold, upon which Judge Shipman based his cal¬ 
culation, is stated to have been 199%, making 
the price of a sterling bill §218%, at whic-h rate 
the £90 would cost $874. The pound sterling is 
worth $4.85, but instead of sayiog so it is reck¬ 
oned at $4.44, aud the dealer in exchange adds 
to this a certain premium, often 109%, making 
the result the same us if reckoned simply at the 
real par value of $4.85. The process is circuit¬ 
A Costly' Watch. —The costliest wutch that 
was ever made is said, to Hive been one which 
was constructed in 1814, for the Sultan Abdul 
Medjid, who must nave found it inconvenient, 
since it was five inches in diameter, end struck 
hours and quarters on wires, with a sound re¬ 
sembling that of a powerful oathedral clock. It 
cost 1,500 guineas. 
Dogmatism. 
ere men are the most sure 
and arrogant, thc^are commonly tho most mis¬ 
taken, and have given their reins to passion 
without the proper deliberation and suspense 
which can alone secure them from the grossest 
absurdities.— Hume. 
Debts.— Lose not thy own for want of asking 
for it; ’twill get thee no thanks.— Fuller. 
