you

from an excellent member of the School Committee, "What pause do find after such a word?" referring to an interrogation point. No one could tell. The question was repeated, and repeated in vain. The scholars interchanged frightened looks; and the Committee men present, significant glances, as if to say, “What kind of a teacher must this be, that none of his scholars even know an interrogation point?" I felt that the crisis demanded that I should attempt a rescue. "What point is that after the word?" I asked. The question was instantly answered. I then turned to the teacher, and asked him if he had taught his pupils to call the interrogation point a pause, which of course would not be an accurate desig-. nation for the mark. He said, "No," " Do you think they ever heard it so called before?" He presumed they never had. The threatened storm blew over, and the examination went on successfully.

Sometimes the teacher selects the subjects of examinations and proposes most of the questions, the Committee adding such as they may please. But usually, in such cases, they do not please to add many, nor does the time allow this, and indeed the teacher has already won the battle, if he has resolved upon victory, by his privilege of choosing the ground.

Without attempting to exhaust the variety of modes, may I presume upon your permission to describe the method which, from both theory and experience, seems to me most successfully to combine the advantages and avoid the dangers of the other methods? It is the following: In the examination of a class, the instructor first states to the Committee, or other examiners, the extent of ground upon which the class are prepared to be examined. This is an essential element, but usually quite disregarded, in determining the merit and improvement of the class. Its members may have been very indolent, and their teacher quite neglectful, and yet they may be prepared to pass a brilliant examination upon a few wellthumbed pages, mostly learned, perhaps, in the few last weeks of the term. To ascertain the income of a farmer, is it sufficient to learn how much he has obtained from a single rood of land? Must we not also know how many roods or acres he has under cultivation ? Can we calculate a trader's profits from the simple information that he gains a hundred per cent. on all his sales? Must we not, far

ther, ascertain the amount of these sales? And does not the question, how well pupils have studied and how much they have learned, involve, of necessity, quantity as well as quality?

Secondly, within the prescribed limits, the Committee, or other examiners, select the subjects to be proposed to each individual. This furnishes the needed security of the integrity and impartiality of the examination. Each pupil must be alike prepared to be tested upon the whole ground; and the teacher cannot, even if he would, proportion the difficulty of the subjects to the individual ability of those who are to treat them, giving strong meat to some, and milk to others.

But, thirdly, the subjects so selected are not given out by the visitors directly, but through the teacher as their agent; in order that the subjects may be proposed, and the questions upon them asked, in the familiar voice, the familiar manner, the familiar phraseology. The visitors, having the entire direction and control of the examination, interpose throughout such questions as they please; but, if there is danger that the class would be disconcerted by a strange voice or manner, they do this mostly by communicating the questions to the instructor, who himself proposes them, — or, in some cases, frankly states to the questioner that he does not think the class prepared for such questions, thus saving them from a mortification which might unfit them for doing justice to themselves afterwards, and taking upon himself, to whom it belongs, the responsibility in respect to the points to which their attention has been directed.

In the public examination of schools, it is very important that committees and trustees should pursue that course which will be most favorable to the self-possession of the pupils and the teacher, which will most place them at their ease, and make the dreaded day of examination one of positive enjoyment.

Kind looks and pleasant words are excellent specifics for this. Perfection should not be expected, or failures made too prominent. Least of all should there be any attempt to puzzle, except, perhaps, playfully, when the real examination is mostly over. Young minds are very easily thrown off their balance; and the best scholars are usually the most sensitive. It is easier to draw tears from an excited child, than afterwards to stay them. And in mental,

as in material inspection, an agitation of the waters is not favorable to our seeing what lies at the bottom.

In the private informal visits which should so often be made to schools, the more fully, freely, and directly committees take part in the exercises, without deranging them, usually the better. And when they have thus made their voices and manner entirely familiar to the scholars, some of the cautions that have been suggested for public examinations lose much of their force.

A word for my younger fellow teachers: if you wish positively to enjoy the company of visitors, and to make it both agreeable and useful to your pupils, do not let it interrupt, except by positive request, or in special cases, the usual order of your exercises, but enlist your visitors at once as assistants in the regular school work. Make them pay for the privilege of visiting your school, and as large a price as you can. Convert the critic into a sympathizer and coadjutor.

QUESTION V.

SHOULD THE PUBLIC EXAMINATIONS OF SCHOOLS PARTAKE, IN ANY MEASURE, OF THE CHARACTER OF EXHIBITIONS?

I see no objection to this, if the measure is not too large, and it is distinctly understood by all where the real examination ends, and the exhibition begins. Exhibition has its uses, no less than examination; less valuable, to be sure, but not, therefore, the less real. There are, however, two dangers strictly to be guarded against; the first, that of permitting exhibition, from its more popular and generally attractive character, to occupy an undue proportion of time, either on the public occasion, or in the previous preparation; and the second, far more serious, because affecting truth and honesty, that of allowing mere exhibition to be credited to the school as genuine examination.

"This first and last: Let truth be ever thine;

E'en though the heavens should fall upon thy head;

Thou then canst smile mid universal ruin,

Resident Editor's Department.

SEVERAL pages of Intelligence, Mathematical Questions, extracts from letters, and some Book Notices, prepared for this number, are crowded out, and will appear in our July issue.

BOUND VOLUMES. - Bound volumes of the Teacher may be obtained at the office, for 1856, 7, 8, and 9, for $1.50, or 50 cents in exchange for the numbers.

EARLY VOLUMES. LAST OPPORTUNITY.-A very few sets of Volumes I. to VIII., inclusive, (in numbers,) may be obtained at the office of the Teacher. For particulars, see last page of Advertising Sheet in May number.

CONFIDENTIAL. We send, in this number of the Teacher, a second bill to the few who have not remitted the " one dollar."

WE furnish our subscribers, in this number, with a portrait of Cyrus Peirce; the plate had been ordered for May, to accompany the article of B., but arrived too late to be published in our May issue.

THE twenty-fifth semi-annual meeting of the Norfolk County Teachers' Association, will be held at Franklin, June 8th and 9th. Rev. W. M. Thayer, Professor S. R. Calthrop, and S. Tenny, Esq., will lecture.

NATIONAL TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION. — In August last, during the session of the National Teachers' Association, held in Washington, D. C., the Board of Directors, according to the provisions of the Constitution,

Resolved, That the next meeting of the Association be held in Madison, Wisconsin; commencing on the second Wednesday of August (the 8th,) and continuing four days.

But in view of several considerations, and at the request of many of the members of the Board, and others of the Association, it is considered best to change the place of meeting from Madison, to Buffalo, New York.

The Third Annual Meeting of the Association will, therefore, be held in Buffalo, on the second Wednesday of August next, (the 8th,) commencing at 10 o'clock, A. M. This change of place is called for by many, both East and West; indeed, the proposed change meets with the general approbation of all.

The friends of the cause in Buffalo extend to us a hearty welcome. They pledge themselves that every facility shall be afforded for the business of the Association, and that they will do all in their power to make the occasion one of pleasure and profit.

Arrangements will be made with the Hotels, for a reduction in the price of fare. Ladies will be entertained gratuitously. On the principal lines of travel, the usual reduction of fare is expected.

It is well known that the City of Buffalo is a most delightful Summer resort; cool and healthy, and that the people are noted for their public spirit and generous hospitality. It will be remembered that Niagara is within a few miles of the city, and can be visited at any hour of the day.

Arrangements have been made to secure able and popular Lecturers. Several important reports and other papers will be presented. The meeting is expected to be one of the most interesting ever held in the country. Particulars given in a few days, in the Programme of the Meeting.

Z. RICHARDS, SECRETARY.

Brooklyn, April 16, 1860.

J. W. BULKLEY, PRESIDENT.

Now a few words about the village schools, and the children who attend them: "The schoolhouse is not like neatly finished houses. Tamil schoolhouses are called Bungalows, and are made by setting up four posts about eight or ten feet high. On these four wall plates are laid. Upon the wall plates a roof is formed with rafters, and these are covered with the leaves of the Palmyra or Cocoanut tree. The schoolhouse is then completed. There are no walls, no windows, no doors, no stove, and no seats, except on the ground. If you go to the school when the children have assembled, you will be interested in hearing their names. Among the girls there will be Miss Gold, Miss Little Gold, Great Gold, Little Woman, Great Woman, Little Mother, Great Mother, Golden Pearl, Pearl of the Swan; and many will be named after the Tamil female gods. Among the boys will be Little One, Great One, Pearl of the Coha, Mr. Six Face; and perhaps half of those present will be named after the Tamil male gods. You will be surprised at the clothing of the heathen children. None of them wear shoes, nor do any of them wear hats or bonnets. They have neither coats nor vests; but the clothing of each girl and boy is plain cloth wound around the body. When the children study, they all talk aloud, and the teacher does not teach them otherwise. In a school of forty or fifty children, the noise may be heard a quarter of a mile. Those who study the alphabet and spelling write every letter and word with their fingers in the sand. Sometimes a whole class of little children sit in a row, each and all together repeating the letters, and, at the same time, writing them with their little fingers. In a heathen school, all of the children have their faces covered with ashes, or rather their foreheads. This is the sign of their religion. Mohammedan children (and there are many in Jaffna,) wear a little white cap, made of common cloth, on the top of their heads. This is a sign that they are the disciples of Mohammed. The little Sivite, or Tamil children, seem to be proud of the marks on their foreheads. Every morning, after washing the face, and when preparing for school, the sacred ashes are taken from a little box, and put on with great care.". Boston Recorder.

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BOOK NOTICES.

A DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. BY JOSEPH E. WORCESTER, LL. D. Boston: Hickling, Swan, & Brewer. 1860. pp. lxviii. 1786.

It is no small honor to the State of Massachusetts that the two great dictionaries of the English Language should be published within its limits. Every citizen of the Commonwealth has a right to be proud of the fact that such noble works as Worcester's and Webster's quartos now hail from Massachusetts.