these branches probably received more than one half the attention and time of both teacher and pupil.

Several very valuable books for that day came to light near the close of the last, and the beginning of the present century. Authors began to multiply on this side of the water, and Arithmetics, Geographies, Readers, &c., some of considerable merit, began to appear.

To any one, however, who will examine the books used in the schools from twenty-five to fifty years ago, one prominent defect in them will be apparent. It is this; they address the memory rather than the reasoning powers. They aim at imparting knowledge mainly, not at disciplining the faculties of the mind. They seek to be remembered, rather than understood. Had I time, and were it not invidious-for even old school-books must be treated reverently-I could point out various illustrations of the truth of this remark; as it is, I must rely on the memory and observation of those who hear

me.

I shall venture to mention the book which I consider the pioneer in this country in the great reform in school books. It is a book of small size, of no very loud pretensions, but it is THE BOOK which has done more in this country, not only for the particular branch upon which it treats, but for most other branches, by its indirect influence upon the character of teachers and authors, and the method of imparting instruction in general, than any other that has been written in our language. It is that little volume called "FIRST LESSONS IN ARITHMETIC," by WARREN COLBURN. In this book of 172 pages, Mr. Colburn has opened the principles of arithmetic, in a strictly analytic way, as he says, after the

method of Pestalozzi, and in this book, the reason—the understanding is addressed, and led on step by step, till the whole is taken into the mind and becomes a part of it; the memory is little thought of, yet the memory cannot let it slip; for what has been drunk in as it were by the understanding and made a part of the mind, the mind never forgets! To how many a way-worn and weary pupil under the old systems—to how many a proficient who could number up his half dozen authors and twice that number of manuscript cyphering books,-to how many a teacher even who had taught the old systems winter after winter, and yet saw but as "through a glass darkly,"―to how many such was this book on its appearance, their "First Lessons in Arithmetic." Warren Colburn's name should be written in letters of gold for this service.*

Subsequent to the year 1820, very great improvements have been made in most other branches. These improvements have consisted very much in the simplification, to a certain extent, of the subjects themselves, and in avoiding the errors of the old plan, and addressing mainly the reasoning powers by leading them onward by an inductive analysis to a clear comprehension of the subjects, rather than relying simply on the committing of forms of words to memory.

I am aware, as I have before hinted, that this simplifying process has been abused. It has undoubtedly been in some cases carried too far. Authors have sprung up

* It was not my design to mention by name any book published within the present century, but it was necessary to depart from this resolution in order to show where the reform began.

who have assumed that neither teachers nor pupils who should use their books would possess to any extent the power of thought. These authors have not only minced their precepts so very fine as to have nothing left of them, but they have attempted to supply the mental gullets through which they were to be swallowed. They have filled their books with questions whose name is legion, and such questions as absolutely put to the blush the spirit of enquiry itself,-and then, as if mind could not think, from the plenitude of their own wisdom and benevolence, they have added the answers, and such answers as the idiot himself could scarcely miss. We have had “inductive" and "productive" systems, and systems in which the inductive and productive have been joined in matrimony, which, in some cases acting as positive and negative quantities, have cancelled each other, and left the covers of the books with nothing between them !

But while these abuses are justly despised, by judicious teachers, it is very certain there have been within twenty-five years, many solid improvements in this department.

III. A COMPARISON OF THE BRANCHES FORMERLY TAUGHT, AND THOSE NOW BROUGHT WITHIN REACH OF THE PUPILS OF COMMON SCHOOLS WILL SHOW AN ADVANCEMENT.

Under the topic of school books I have mentioned the branches taught in the public schools up to the close of the last century. Among these English Grammar was not found. Except those comparatively few men who were educated at college, scarcely one in a thousand could know anything of the grammatical structure of his

own language, till within the last half century. Teachers of the common schools even within twenty-five years, were not unfrequently found who did not pretend to any knowledge of this kind. And a very large proportion of the common teachers knew little more than the forms of declension and conjugation. Yet now grammar is one of the legally required branches, and scarcely a school can be found, except in some extremely unfavorable locality, where grammar is not respectably-though not now perfectly taught ;-and the number of those who now speak and write grammatically, compared with those who did so in an equal population thirty years ago, is not less than one hundred to one. I confess the imperfect teaching of this branch, and the imperfect learning of it now; I know there are many who acquire the shadow without the substance,-yet the gain is so very great, that it is alone quite an important item of advancement. So too, but a few years ago, the books on Natural Philosophy and Algebra were prepared exclusively for college students, and the common people were shut out from any participation in a knowledge of these useful branches. These are now brought, to a certain extent, within reach of the common scholars, and most of the elements of these branches are grasped and mastered by the youth at the public schools. The same might be said of several other studies now successfully taught in the common schools.

IV. A COMPARISON OF THE TEACHERS AS THEY WERE

AND AS THEY ARE, WILL SHOW A CONSIDERABLE ADVANCEMENT..

It would ill become one of an existing class to detract from the worth or the ability of his predecessors, and

engage in pronouncing a eulogium upon his cotemporaries. This is a task I shall not undertake. I can by no means undervalue those venerable men who have, in past generations, unobtrusively labored, according to their opportunity, to give wisdom, strength and character to the minds of a growing people. Many of these were men who would grace any profession, and would be honored in any age. Many of them, I doubt not, have exerted influences for good which shall extend in widening and in glorious results, and be felt with gratitude long after the name of an Alexander, a Cæsar or a Napoleon shall have faded from the memory and the praise of

men.

It shall content me then to leave the merits of past teachers to the living records they have made for themselves in the memory and the estimation of those who knew them.

Yet, excepting a few who rose above their circumstances and the age in which they lived, I have supposed there would be no arrogance in assuming for the present occupants of the field a moderate superiority. ●The public sentiment surely demands more of a teacher now than ever before, and the legislation of several of the States following up this sentiment, or rather giving voice and utterance to it, has prescribed requirements which would have excluded a large portion of those in office thirty years ago. This sentiment has given rise to a spirit of enquiry and discussion which has resulted in the accumulation of a vast amount of light upon the qualifications, the duties, the modes of government and methods of instruction, the motives to be addressed, the incentives to ke employed, indeed upon every topic that regards the