such a fool as to measure the happiness of my condition by what others thought of it.

It was pleasurable to behold my pupils enter the school over which I presided; for they were not composed only of truant boys, but some of the fairest damsels in the country. Two sisters generally rode on one horse to the schooldoor, and I was not so great a pedagogue as to refuse them my assistance to dismount from their steeds. A running-footman of the negro tribe, who followed with their food in a basket, took care of the beast; and after being saluted by the young ladies with the courtesies of the morning, I proceeded to instruct them, with gentle exhortations to diligence of study.

Common books were only designed for common minds. The unconnected lessons of Scott, the tasteless selections of Bingham, the florid harangues of Noah Webster, and the somniferous compilations of Alexander, were either thrown aside, or suffered to gather dust on the shelf; while the charming essays of Goldsmith, and his not less delectable Novel, together with the impressive work of Defoe, and the mild productions of Addison, conspired to enchant the fancy, and kindle a love of reading. The thoughts of these writers became engrafted on the minds, and the combinations of their diction on the language of the pupils.

Of the boys I can not speak in very encomiastis terms; but they were perhaps like all other school-boys, that is, more disposed to play truant than enlighten their minds. The most important knowledge to an American, after that of himself, is the geography of his country. I, therefore, put into the hands of my boys a proper book, and initiated them by an attentive reading of the discoveries of the Genoese; I was even so minute as to impress on their minds the man who first descried land on board the ship of Columbus. That man was Roderic Triana, and on my exercising the memory of a boy by asking him the name, he very gravely made answer, Roderic Random.

Among my male students was a New Jersey gentleman of thirty, whose object was to be initiated in the language of Cicero and Virgil. He had before studied the Latin grammar at an academy school (I use his own words), in his native state; but the academy school being burnt down, his grammar, alas! was lost in the conflagration, and he had neglected the pursuit of literature since the destruction of his book. When I asked him if he did not think it was some Goth who had set fire to his academy school, he made answer, 'So, it is like enough.'

Mr. Dye did not study Latin to refine his taste, direct his judgment, or enlarge his imagination; but merely that he might be enabled to teach it when he opened school, was his serious design. He had been bred a carpenter, but he panted for the honors of literature.

Mr. Davis accounts for his fidelity in teaching more hours than he was required to do by his contract, by his interest in the lessons of one of his female pupils; Hence I frequently protracted the studies of the children till one, or half past one o'clock; a practice that did not fail to call forth the exclamations both of the white and black people. Upon my word, Mr. Ball would say, this gentleman is diligent; and Aunt Patty the negro cook would remark, 'He good coolmossa that; he not like old Hodgkinson and old Harris, who let the boys out before twelve. He deserve good wages!'

Having sent the young ladies to the family mansion, I told the boys to break

up, and they who had even breathed with circumspection, now gave loose to the most riotous merriment, and betook themselves to the woods, followed by all the dogs on the plantation.

There was a carpenter on the plantation, whom Mr. Ball had hired by the year. He had tools of all kinds, and the recreation of Mr. Dye, after the labor of study, was to get under the shade of an oak, and make tables, or benches, or stools for the academy. So true is the assertion of Horace, that the cask will always retain the flavor of the liquor with which it is first impregnated.

'Well, Mr. Dye, what are you doing?'

'I am making a table for the academy school.'

'What wood is that?'

'It is white oak, sir.'

'What, then you are skilled in trees, you can tell oak from hickory, and ash from fir?'

'Like enough, sir. (A broad grin.) I ought to know those things; I served my time to it.'

เ

Carpenter.—I find, sir, Mr. Dye has done with his old trade; he is above employing his hands; he wants work for the brain. Well! larning is a fine thing; there's nothing like larning. I have a son only five years old, that, with proper larning, I should not despair of seeing a member of Congress. He is a boy of genus; he could play on the Jews-harp from only seeing Sambo tune it once.' 'Mr. Dye.-I guess that's Billy; he is a right clever child.'

Carpenter.--How long, sir, will it take you to learn Mr. Dye Latin?' "Schoolmaster.-How long, sir, would it take me to ride from Mr. Ball's plantation to the plantation of Mr. Wormley Carter?'

'Carpenter. Why that, sir, would depend upon your horse.'

'Schoolmaster.-Well, then, sir, you solve your own interrogation. But here comes Dick. What has he got in his hand?'

Mr. Dye.—A mole like enough. Who are you bringing that to, Dick?' 'Dick.-Not to you. You never gave me the taste of a dram since I first know'd you. Worse luck to me; you New Jersey men are close shavers; I believe you would skin a louse. This is a mole. I have brought it for the gentleman who came from beyond the sea. He never refuses Dick a dram; I would walk through the wilderness of Kentucky to serve him. Lord! how quiet he keeps his school. It is not now as it was; the boys don't go clack, clack, like 'Squire Pendleton's mill upon Catharpin Run!'

'Schoolmaster.-You have brought that mole, Dick, for me.'

'Dick.-Yes, master, but first let me tell you the history of it. This mole was once a man; see, master, (Dick exhibits the mole,) it has got hands and feet just like you and me. It was once a man, but so proud, so lofty, so puffed up, that God, to punish his insolence, condemned him to crawl under the earth.'

'Schoolmaster.-A good fable, and not unhappily moralized. Did you ever hear or read of this before, Mr. Dye?'

Mr. Dye.-Nay, (a broad grin,) I am right certain it does not belong to Æsop, I am certain sure Dick did not find it there.'

'Dick.-Find it where? I would not wrong a man of the value of a grain of corn. I came across the mole as I was hoeing the potato-patch. Master, shall I take it to the school-house? If you are fond of birds, I know now for a mocking-bird's nest; I am only afeard those young rogues, the school-boys,

will find out the tree. They play the mischief with every thing, they be full of devilment. I saw Jack Lockhart throw a stone at the old bird, as she was returning to feed her young; and if I had not coaxed him away to look at my young puppies, he would have found out the nest.'

I had been three months invested in the first executive office of pedagogue, when a cunning old fox of a New Jersey planter (a Mr. Lee), discovered that his eldest boy wrote a better hand than I. Fame is swift-footed; vires acquirit eundo; the discovery spread far and wide, and whithersoever I went, I was an object for the hand of scorn to point his slow unmoving finger at, as a schoolmaster that could not write. Virginia gave me for the persecutions I underwent, a world of sighs, her swelling heavens rose and fell with indignation at old Lee and his abettors. But the boys caught spirit from the discovery. I could perceive a mutiny breaking out among them; and had I not in time broke down a few branches from an apple tree before my door, it is probable they would have displayed their gratitude for my instructions by throwing me out of the school window. But by arguing with one over the shoulders, and another over the back, I maintained with dignity the first executive office of pedagogue.

I revenged myself amply on old Lee. It was the custom of his son, (a lengthy fellow of about twenty,) to come to the academy with a couple of huge mastiff's at his heels. Attached to their master (par nobile fratrum,) they entered without ceremony Pohoke Academy, bringing with them myriads of flees, wood-lice, and ticks. Nay, they would often annoy Virginia, by throwing themselves at her feet, and inflaming the choler of a little lap-dog, which I had bought because of its diminutive size, and which Virginia delighted to nurse for me. I could perceive the eye of Virginia rebuke me for suffering the dogs to annoy her; and there lay more peril in her eye than in the jaws of all the mastiffs in Prince William County.

'Mr. Lee,' said I, 'this is the third time I have told you not to convert the academy into a kennel, and bring your dogs to school.' Lee was mending his pen 'judgmatically.' He made no reply, but smiled.

I knew old Dick the negro, had a bitch, and that his bitch was proud. I walked down to Dick's log-house. Dick was beating flax.

'Dick,' said I, 'old Farmer Lee has done me much evil-(I don't like the old man myself, master, said Dick)—and his son, repugnant to my express com. mands, has brought his father's two plantation dogs to the academy. Revenge is sweet-'

'Right, master,' said Dick. 'I never felt so happy as when I bit off Cuffey's great toe and swallowed it

'Do you, Dick,' said I, 'walk past the school-house with your bitch. Lee's dogs will go out after her. Go round with them to your log-house; and when you have once secured them, hang both of them up by the neck.'

'Leave it to me, master,' said Dick. I'll fix the business for you in a few minutes. I have a few fadoms of rope in my house-that will do it.'

I returned to the academy. The dogs were stretched at their ease on the floor. 'Oh! I am glad you are come,' exclaimed Virginia; 'those great big dogs have quite scared me.'

In a few minutes Dick passed the door with his slut. Quick from the floor rose Mr. Lee's two dogs, and followed the female. The rest may be supplied by the imagination of the reader. Dick hung up both the dogs to the branch

of a pine-tree; old Lee lost the guards to his plantation; the negroes broko open his barn, pilfered his sacks of Indian corn, rode his horses in the nightand thus was I revenged on Alexander the coppersmith.

Three months had now elapsed, and I was commanded officially to resign my sovereign authority to Mr. Dye, who, was in every respect better qualified to discharge its sacred functions. He understood tare and tret, wrote a copperplate hand, and, balancing himself upon one leg, could flourish angels and corkscrews. I, therefore, gave up the 'academy school' to Mr. Dye, to the joy of the boys, but the sorrow of Virginia.”

SCHOOLS IN DELAWARE.

ROBERT CORAM, in a pamphlet devoted in part to a "Plan for the General Establishment of Schools throughout the United States," printed in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1791, characterizes the state of education as follows:

action to youth, and not ion, and proud of intro

t letter of the alphabet,

"The country schools, through most of the United States, whether we consider the buildings, the teachers, or the regulations, are in every respect completely despicable, wretched, and contemptible. The buildings are in general sorry hovels, neither wind-tight nor water-tight; a few stools serving in the double capacity of bench and desk, and the old leaves of copy books making a miserable substitute for glass windows. The teachers are generally foreigners, shamefully deficient in every qualification necessary to conve seldom addicted to gross vices. Absolute in his ow ducing what he calls his European method, one calls the aw. The school is modified upon this plan, and the children who are advanced, are beat and cuffed to forget the former mode they have been taught, which irritates their minds and retards their progress. The quarter children lie idle until another master offers, few remaining than a quarter. When the next schoolmaster is introduced letter a, as in mat; the school undergoes another reform, an and retarded. At his removal a third is introduced, who cal hay. All these blockheads are equally absolute in their own by no means suffer the children to pronounce the letter as they were first taught; but every three months the school goes through a reform- error succeeds error, and dunce the second reigns like dunce the first. I will venture to pronounce, that however, seaport towns, from local circumstances, may have good schools, the country schools will remain in their present state of despicable wretchedness, unless incorporated with government."

finished, the place more lls the first qually vexed

e first letter fons, and will

VIII. NORMAL SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS' SEMINARIES.

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT.

I. EUROPEAN INSTITUTIONS.

By a Normal School, or Teachers' Seminary, is meant an institution for the training of young men and young women who aim to be teachers, to a thorough and practical knowledge of the duties of the school-room, and to the best modes of reaching the heart and intellect, and of developing and building up the whole character of a child. It aims to do for the young and inexperienced teacher, all that the direction and example of the master-workman, and all that the experience of the workshop do for the young mechanic-all that the naval and military schools do for those who lead in any capacity in the army or navy-all that the law school, or the medical school, or the theological seminary do for the professions of law, medicine, or theology. In every department of mechanical, artistic, or professional labor, the highest skill is attained only after long and appropriate training under wise superintendence; and the Normal School aims to impart this us training by providing a thorough course of instruction, under petent teachers, with reference to teaching the same things toers. This course of instruction involves the whole art of teaching-a knowledge of human nature, and of a child's nature particular-of the human mind, and especially of a child's min d of the order in which its several faculties should xercise; of the best motives by which good habits. of study cultivated in the young; of the arrangement and classificatio scholars, and of the best means and appliances for securing obdence and order, and keeping alive an interest in the daily exerces of the school. And this art of teaching must be illustrated and exemplified by those who are to apply it, in a model school. The idea of such a school is not a mere speculation of ardent benevolence-it is an existing reality in this country as well as in Europe.

be called

The first school specially destined for educating and training teachers in the principles and practice of their profession, was instituted by the Abbé de La Salle, while Canon of the Cathedral at Rheims, in 1681, and was perfected into the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools, in 1684.

In 1697, Augustus Herman Franké founded, in connection with his orphan school at Halle, a teacher's class composed of poor students, who assisted him certain hours in the day in his schools, in return for their board and instruction. Out of these, he selected, about the year 1704, twelve, who exhibited the right basis of piety, knowledge, and aptness to teach, and constituted them his "Seminarium Præceptorum" or Teachers Seminary. These pupils received separate instruction for two years, and acquired a due