I am more in doubt about the matter of furnishing the books. In this, two things, it seems to me, are to be kept in view-the selection of good books, and the excitement of proper interest on the part of the people." Economy in the purchase of the books should not be overlooked. Should the State send a Library to each town free of all expense, and without invoking any action on their part, it is to be feared that the boon would not be properly appreciated. People take far more interest and pride in what they have got up themselves, and will take better care of that which has cost them something, than of a gratuity. I should say, therefore, that the best plan would be for the State to provide for the selection of a judicious list of books; that a catalogue should be sent to each town; that the offer should be made to furnish each town (within certain restrictions, according to the population, or pupils in the schools,) with an amount of books equal in value to the amount which they should elect to purchase themselves. It would be very easy to indicate in the catalogue, judicious selections of books worth, one, two, five, or any number of hundred dollars, which would be sent to any town, agreeably to the prescribed rules, on receipt of one-half the cost. It is to be presumed that in many towns this course would be preferred. If, however, any towns preferred to select their own books wholly or in part, though they might not always select judiciously, they would at least be confined within the limits of an unexceptionable catalogue. By suitable arrangements with the best publishers, the best books could of course be obtained at a very moderate cost. I trust you may be successful in awakening new interest in this important instrument of public instruction, and that your suggestions will have the weight which they ought to have with the Legislature. The suggestions which I have made, accord most nearly with the Upper Canadian Library system, which seems to me, on the whole, to be the most judicious of any which I have examined. You are undoubtedly familiar with the system. 1 From Col. L. H. D. CRANE, of Ripon, formerly Town Superintendent of Dodgeville. bed d I consider the present system of District Libraries to be a perfect humbug. A State system properly guarded might do well. You are on the right track. Elaborate the system, and if it seems practicable, and not too expensive, count me in. From A. M. MAY, Esq., Ripon. In reply to your Circular, concerning the establishment of Town School Libraries, I would say, that it meets my decided approval. I have long considered the present system as almost useless, and the purchasing of books for our present Libraries almost as a throwing away of the Library money. And I consider the adoption of a Town system, or something like it, for Libraries, as the only means of accomplishing the end for which School Libraries were established. As far as I am acquainted with District Libraries, I know of but two that are worthy of the name; and these two are in small districts; and although many districts have Libraries, (so called,) they are of a class that no parent that wishes to furnish proper food for the minds of his children, would place in their hands. As a secondary matter: The districts of the State are now supplied with Webster's Unabridged; and it seems to me, that the State could do no better thing for the interests of the rising generation who attend her common schools, than to furnish each district with a copy of Lippincott's Gazetteer. It is a work that every teacher ought to have, but which, I am sorry to say, most of them are, or at least feel, too poor to buy; or, at least, on account of their migrating propensities, perhaps, they think it will not pay to get, and carry around the world with them; which evil I hope will be remedied as far as possible, by the adoption of the School System proposed at the last State Teachers' Association. But the State might furnish the districts each with a copy, and it would be a lasting benefit; or, make it one of the books of the Library spoken of. I earnestly hope the Town School Library System will be adopted. From A. PICKETT, Esq., Principal of the Horicon High School. I am satisfied that our present Library system, as well as our general school system, fails of proper results. Í have visited many schools in the State, but have rarely seen a Library, though I think, perhaps, the fault lies most in want of vitality in our general school system. Wherever we find either good schools or Libraries, they seem to be the offspring of individual enterprise, and not the effect of any general plan. There is, in my mind, no doubt of the superiority of your plan over the present. Yet we feel most the want of a school room Library. From JAMES H. MAGOFFIN, Esq., Principal of the High School, Waukesha. Your Circular, dated Oct. 28, 1858, on the subject of School Libraries, was received last evening, and I hesitate not to reply, that my feeble voice may give its mite of encouragement to the head of our Public School System. I am much pleased with the plan proposed. I have often wished for something of precisely this kind. I think, however, that instead of its being merely an advised plan in regard to the sub-division of the towns into sections, it should be a provision of law. From Dr. Wм. HENRY BRISBANE, of Arena. Yours of the 28th ult. is at hand. I approve the idea of having the Town instead of the District Library System, provided we can have the Librarian appointed by the State Superintendent, with a salary of fifty-two dollars a year, so as to allow him to attend every Saturday afternoon at the Library, to receive and give out books. I would have the Librarian give bonds for the safe care of the books; and I would have him to require a deposit of some other book, until the one taken out be returned, the book on deposit being of higher value than the one taken out; or the deposit might be in money, more than the value of the book. In this way, there will be. security for the return of the books. MORAL AND RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS. OFFICE OF SUP'T of PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, DEAR SIR:-I duly received your favor of the 20th inst., in which you inform me, that the Board of Education of Wat town, of which you are a member, have "unanimously resolve. that the reading of the Bible, and all forms of prayer, be continued." You assign, as your justification for this action, the fact that your community is composed of so many diffe national elements; and, in conclusion, you ask my opinion the subject. I very much regret that there should have occurred any soious differences of opinion in regard to the management of the public schools in your city; and, above all, do I regret that such differences should have had their origin with reference to the use of the Bible. The Constitution, very properly, I thick, prohibits "sectarian instruction" in the public schools of he State; but this certainly cannot justly be construed to n the total exclusion of the Bible from the schools, or that si repeating the Lord's Prayer, as has been done in your pr schools, or indeed uttering any other liberal, unobjections o prayer, could, in any just sense, be regarded as sectarian. This is my view and understanding of the matter, and I feel quite confident that this is also the practical, common-sense view taken of it by the great mass of the people of Wisconsin, without any regard to sectarian connections or partialities. You ask if the reading of the Scriptures and offering prayer are the common practice in the public schools in this State? To a considerable extent, I presume it is; perhaps almost invariably so, when in accordance with the teacher's wishes. And such, too, is the practice, to a great extent, in other portions of our own country, and in Europe. And, more than this, religious instruction is imparted in the public schools of the most enlightened countries of the world-in some of them it is sectarian, but in many it is not. In Great Britain, France, Prussia, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Bavaria, Saxony, Austria, Norway, 9 |