a pupil's readiness in thinking, for instance, several topics for composition are given out, and after the lapse of a certain number of minutes, whatever has been written must be handed in to the examiners. So questions in arithmetic are given, and the time occupied by the pupils in solving them, is a test of their quickness of thought, or power of commanding their own resources. This facility, or faculty, is considered of great importance in a teacher.* In the second class of subjects, the pupils were examined orally. Two entire days were occupied in examining a class of thirty pupils, and only twenty-one were admitted to the seminary school;-that is, only about two-thirds were considered to be eligible to become eligible, as teachers, after three years' further study. Thus, in this first process, the chaff is winnowed out, and not a few of the lighter grains of the wheat.

It is to be understood, that those who enter the seminary directly, and without this preliminary trial, have already studied, under able masters in the common schools, at least all the branches I have above described. The first two of the three years, they expend mainly in reviewing and expanding their elementary knowledge. The German language is studied in its relations to rhetoric and logic, and as æsthetic literature; arithmetic is carried out into algebra and mixed mathematics; geography into commerce and manufactures, and into a knowledge of the various botanical and zoological productions of the different quarters of the globe; linear drawing into perspective and machine drawing, and the drawing from models of all kinds, and from objects in nature, &c. The theory and practice, not only of vocal, but of instrumental music, occupy much time. Every pupil must play on the violin; most of them play on the organ, and some on other instruments. I recollect seeing a Normal class engaged in learning the principles of Harmony. The teacher first explained the principles on which they were to proceed. He then wrote a bar of music upon the blackboard, and called upon a pupil to write such notes for another part or accompaniment, as would make harmony with the first. So he would write a bar with certain intervals, and then require a pupil to write another, with such intervals, as, according to the principles of musical science, would correspond with the first. A thorough course of reading on the subject of education is undertaken, as well as a more general course. Bible history is almost committed to memory. Connected with all the seminaries for teachers are large Model or Experimental Schools. During the last part of the course much of the students' time is spent in these schools. At first they go in and look on in silence, while an accomplished teacher is instructing a class. Then they themselves commence teaching under the eye of such a teacher. At last they teach a class alone, being responsible for its proficiency, and for its condition as to order, &c., at the end of a week or other period. During the whole course, there are lectures, discussions, compositions, &c., on the theory and practice of teaching. The essential qualifica

*The above described is a very common method of examining in the gymnasia and higher seminaries of Prussia. Certain sealed subjects for an exercise are given to the students; they are then locked up in a room, each by himself, and at the expiration of a given time, they are enlarged, and it is seen what each one has been able to make out of his faculties.

tions of a candidate for the office, his attainments and the spirit of devotion and of religious fidelity in which he should enter upon his work; the modes of teaching the different branches; the motivepowers to be applied to the minds of children; dissertations upon the different natural dispositions of children, and consequently the different ways of addressing them, of securing their confidence and affection, and of winning them to a love of learning and a sense of duty; and especially the sacredness of the teacher's profession,-the idea that he stands, for the time being, in the place of a parent, and therefore that a parent's responsibilities rest upon him, that the most precious hopes of society are committed to his charge, and that on him depend to a great extent the temporal and perhaps the future well-being of hundreds of his fellow-creatures, these are the conversations, the ideas, the feelings, amidst which the candidate for teaching spends his probationary years. This is the daily atmosphere he breathes. These are the sacred, elevating, invigorating influences constantly pouring in upon his soul. Hence, at the expiration of his course, he leaves the seminary to enter upon his profession, glowing with enthusiasm for the noble cause he has espoused, and strong in his resolves to perform its manifold and momentous duties.

Here then is the cause of the worth and standing of the teachers, whom I had the pleasure and the honor to see. As a body of men, their character is more enviable than that of either of the three, socalled, 'professions.' They have more benevolence and self-sacrifice than the legal or medical, while they have less of sanctimoniousness and austerity, less of indisposition to enter into all the innocent amusements and joyous feelings of childhood, than the clerical. They are not unmindful of what belongs to men while they are serving God; nor of the duties they owe to this world while preparing for another." pp. 146–49.

Mr. Mann spent about six weeks in visiting the schools in the north and middle of Prussia and Saxony. During that period, he says:

"I witnessed exercises in geography, ancient and modern; in the German language,-from the explanation of the simplest words up to belles-lettres disquisitions, with rules for speaking and writing;in arithmetic, algebra, geometry, surveying and trigonometry; in book-keeping; in civil history, ancient and modern; in natural philosophy; in botany and zoology; in mineralogy, where there were hundreds of specimens; in the endless variety of the exercises in thinking, knowledge of nature, of the world and of society; in Bible history and in Bible knowledge; and, as I before said, in no one of these cases did I see a teacher with a book in his hand. His books,his books, his library, was in his head. Promptly, without pause, without hesitation, from the rich resources of his own mind, he brought forth whatever the occasion demanded."

*

*

*

*

*

"In Prussia and in Saxony, as well as in Scotland, the power of commanding and retaining the attention of a class is held to be a

sine qua non in a teacher's qualifications. If he has not talent, skill, vivacity, or resources of anecdote and wit, sufficient to arouse and retain the attention of his pupils during the accustomed period of recitation, he is deemed to have mistaken his calling, and receives a significant hint to change his vocation." pp. 149-52.

Corporal punishment is not often resorted to in the Prussian schools, nor even harsh language. The law of kindness seems to be the only law employed for the government of these institutions, and it seems to be more effectual in promoting the progress of the pupils, and the good order and healthful discipline of the schools, than loud and opprobrious words, fierce looks and fiercer blows. What will our American teachers say to the following testimony given by Mr. Mann, after having enjoyed the most ample opportunities to ascertain the true facts of the case?

"I can only say," he affirms, "that during all the time mentioned, (six weeks,) I never saw a blow struck, I never heard a sharp rebuke given, I never saw a child in tears, nor arraigned at the teacher's bar for any alleged misconduct. On the contrary, the relation seemed to be one of duty first, and then affection, on the part of the teacher,of affection first, and then duty, on the part of the scholar. The teacher's manner was better than parental, for it had a parent's tenderness and vigilance, without the foolish doatings or indulgences to which parental affection is prone. I heard no child ridiculed, sneered at, or scolded, for making a mistake. On the contrary, whenever a mistake was made, or there was a want of promptness in giving a reply, the expression of the teacher was that of grief and disappointment, as though there had been a failure, not merely to answer the question of a master, but to comply with the expectations of a friend. No child was disconcerted, disabled, or bereft of his senses, through fear. Nay, generally, at the ends of the answers, the teacher's practice is to encourage him with the exclamation, 'good,' 'right,' wholly right,' &c., or to check him, with his slowly and painfully articulated 'no' and this is done with a tone of voice that marks every degree of plus and minus in the scale of approbation and regret. When a difficult question has been put to a young child, which tasks all his ' energies, the teacher approaches him with a mingled look of concern and encouragement; he stands before him, the light and shade of hope and fear alternately crossing his countenance; he lifts his arms and turns his body,-as a bowler, who has given a wrong direction to his bowl, will writhe his person to bring the ball back upon its track; and finally, if the little wrestler with difficulty triumphs, the teacher felicitates him upon his success, perhaps seizes and shakes him by the hand, in token of congratulation; and, when the difficulty has been really formidable, and the effort triumphant, I have seen the teacher catch up the child in his arms and embrace him, as though he were not able to contain his joy. At another time, I have seen a teacher actually clap his hands with delight at a bright reply; and

all this has been done so naturally and so unaffectedly as to excite no other feeling in the residue of the children than a desire, by the same means, to win the same caresses. What person worthy of being called by the name, or of sustaining the sacred relation of a parent, would not give anything, bear anything, sacrifice anything, to have his children, during eight or ten years of the period of their childhood, surrounded by circumstances, and breathed upon by sweet and humanizing influences, like these!" pp. 152-53.

Corporal punishment is, notwithstanding, resorted to in the Prussian schools, where circumstances seem to render it necessary. The relation between the teacher and scholar is one of affection, but until this relation is fully understood and established, moderate restraint, and even punishment. are sometimes deemed expedient. In reply to a question of Mr. Mann, Dr. Vogel of Leipsic replied, "It, (corporal punishment,) thank God, is used less and less, and when we teachers become fully competent to our work, it will cease altogether." In the schools of Holland, which are remarkable for the good order that prevails in them, it is never employed. Mr. de Vries, of Haarlaem, who for the last twenty years has superintended a school of six hundred scholars in that city, informed Mr. Mann, that during that whole period, not a case of corporal punishment had occurred. In cases of incorrigible misconduct, expulsion is the only remedy. In the Scotch schools, corporal punishment is inflicted and is employed, in a very summary manner, for all kinds of offences. In England, there is no uniform plan of discipline adopted. Persuasion, blows and solitary confinement are employed to encourage or enforce obedience, according to the views of government entertained by different teachers. In France, the necessity of corporal inflictions is superseded by the strict surveillance that pervades every department of instruction, and which is adopted under the persuasion, that prevention is better than cure. In the Saxon and Prussian schools, emulation is employed as a motive power, but to a less extent than in the French and Scotch schools, where it is the lever of Archimedes applied to the faculties, and not only moves, but almost creates them :

"In one of the Pensions, or Boarding Schools, of Paris, I was struck by the sight of a large number of portraits of young men. These were hung around the walls of the Principal's room, which was a large apartment, three of whose sides were nearly covered by them. They were the portraits of those pupils of the school who had afterwards won prizes at a college examination. The name of

the pupil, the year, and the subject-matter on which he had surpassed his competitors, were inscribed respectively beneath the portraits. In the room of the Head of the Royal College, at Versailles, I also saw the portraits of those students of the college who had won prizes at the university. This display, and the facts connected with it, speak volumes in regard to the French character, and the motive-powers under which not only the scholars, but the nation works." pp. 173

174.

The Prussian system owes much of its superiority to the parental vigilance and energy of the School Inspectors:

"The kingdom is divided into circles or districts; and for each one of these, there is one or more school commissioners or inspectors. These officers have some duties like those of our town school committees, but their functions more nearly resemble those of the Deputy Superintendents appointed for each county in the State of New York,-the latter being required by law to visit and examine all the schools in their respective counties, summer and winter, and make report of their condition to the State Superintendent.

By visiting schools, attending examinations, and by personal introduction, I saw many of this class of magistrates. They had evidently been selected from among the most talented and educated men in the community. They were such men as would here be appointed as presidents or professors of colleges, judges of the higher courts, or called to other civil stations for which talent, attainment and character are deemed essential pre-requisites. The office is one both of honor and emolument.

It is easy to see how efficient such a class of officers must have been in bringing up teachers to a high standard of qualifications, at the beginning; and in creating, at last, a self-motive, self-improving spirit among them. If examiners, inspectors, school committees,or by whatever other name they may be called,-know little of geography, grammar, arithınetic, or the art of reading, the candidate who presents himself before them for examination, will feel no need of knowing more than they do; and a succession of ignorant and incompetent candidates will be sure to apply for schools in towns which have ignorant examiners. The whole Prussian system impressed me with a deep sense of the vast difference in the amount of general attainment and talent devoted to the cause of popular education in that country, as compared with any other country or state I had ever seen. I must refer to other sources, for information in regard to the municipal or parochial supervision of the schools, and can here only observe, that over all these intermediate functionaries is the Minister of Public Instruction. This officer is a member of the king's council. He takes rank with the highest officers in the government; sits at the council board of the nation with the minister of state, of war, of finance, &c., and his honors and emoluments are equal to theirs. He has no merely clerical duties to perform, and being relieved from all official drudgery, he can devote his time and his talents to the higher duties of his department. Such also has been the case in France, since the late organization of their system of public instruction." pp. 158-59-60.