READING.

THE method of teaching children to read by teaching them first phonotypy, and then the Roman letters, was so successful at the Warren Street Chapel, that it suggested to the author of the "Nursery Reading-Book" to make use of what is strictly phonographic in our language, as written by the Roman alphabet, pronounced as the Romans pronounced it, for whose language it was a complete phonography. For the Latin language, properly pronounced, has but five vowels, a, e, i, o, u, as they sound respectively in the words car, féte, machine, old, and Peru; and the consonants b, (c pronounced always hard,) d, f, (g always hard,) the rough aspirate, h, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, (k having originally been adopted as an abbreviation of ca, and q as an abbreviation of cu, and x being a printer's invention for cs and gs, and y and z only found in Greek words.)

Now in English there are four more vowels, viz.: the vowel sounds in man, in pun, in not, and in err, irk, and urge, for which four new characters ought to have been made, either by inventing new forms or pointing the pure vowels as the poles do-to express their redundant vowels.

And in English there are several consonants not known to the Latin language, viz.: the initials of the, thin, shin, chin, and judge, for which characters should have been invented in new forms or by points.

But the time for making this improvement on the Roman alphabet was lost by the lazy monks who endeavored to squeeze the English language into the Latin alphabet; and they were so arbitrary in their use of the old letters for these, to them, new sounds, that the phonographic law has been lost sight of for centuries, and there is a kakography instead of an orthography of English.

But it is a fact that the phonographic law has not been lost except to superficial observation. By pronouncing the vowels (when they are learned at first) in the continental fashion (namely as in car, fete, machine, old, and lunatic,) and by pronouncing c and g hard always, we have the true pronunciation of the majority of English syllables, if not the majority of English words, and on

these words children should be exercised, until the phonographic law is completely impressed on the child's mind. Then we shall have conquered the greatest difficulty in teaching children to read, and really have accustomed them to classify, which is beginning their scientific education. They can then be taught by rote, columns of words which have in them the new consonants and vowels, and it is astonishing how quickly the whole thing is mastered. It has been a uniform observation made on those who have been taught by this method, that they make very few mistakes in writing. The redundant sounds and anomalous words which have been brought about in the course of ages, are compared unconsciously with these words, in which the phonographic law prevails, and the children are amused with the fantastic corruptions, and remember them because they have been amused by them. E. g. A child never forgets how to write phthysic after having once been told, and its want of phonography pointed out. It would be much more intelligible to discribe viva voce, this new way of teaching to read before a blackboard, than to write it, and if the company desires it, the writer will come forward and explain it, by describing the whole process as she has seen it in several instances, and will answer any objections that may be urged on the method.

Could this method be widely introduced, it would save a great deal of public money, besides being of incalculable value to the minds of children, whose first attempts at classification will not be defeated and baffled until fatally checked-as by our Harlequin alphabet, with its various sounds for the same letter until the same sound comes to be expressed by all the vowel characters, as in the case of term, irk, word, and curd, and for the same consonant sound we have the various forms of dst, j, dge, and ch and tsh.

The truth of orthography - its phonography — is to be the first impressed, and the exceptions will fall in afterwards.

This method is the best for teaching a class of adults to read English; and foreigners, after having learnt this way, the pronunciation of Latin is without an exception, and that of all modern languages greatly facilitated.

E. P. P.

GERMS OF THE BEAUTIFUL.

SCATTER the germs of the beautiful!
By the wayside let them fall,

That the rose may spring by the cottage gate,
And the vine on the garden wall;

Cover the rough and rude of earth
With a veil of leaves and flowers,

And mark with the opening bud and cup
The march of summer hours.

Scatter the germs of the beautiful

In the holy shrine of home;

Let the pure, and the fair, and the graceful there,
In the lovliest lustre come;

Leave not a trace of deformity

In the temple of the heart,

But gather about its hearth the germs

Of Nature and of Art.

Scatter the germs of the beautiful

In the temples of our God
The God who starred the uplifted sky,
And flowered the trampled sod;
When he built a temple for himself,
And a home for his priestly race,
He reared each charm in its symmetry,
And covered each line in grace.

Scatter the germs of the beautiful

In the depths of the humble soul;

They shall bud, and blossom, and bear the fruit

While the endless ages roll;

Plant with the flowers of charity

The portals of the tomb,

And the fair and the pure about thy path

In Paradise shall bloom.

HINDU PROVERBS.-The following are translated from the Sanscrit :

"Sweet is the music of the lute to him who has never heard the prattle of his own children."

"The house where there is no Divine worship is filled with the sighs of God."

Resident Editor's Department.

Subscribers will receive their receipts in the March number. Any who have not paid for 1860, will confer a favor by remitting by returning mail.

Will S. A. Brown and A. W. Stetson please to forward their Post Office address to this office?

THE PLYMOUTH COUNTY TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION held the Twentieth semiannual Meeting at Hingham, on the sixteenth and seventeenth of December. Though the meeting was in the extreme northern part of the county, it was well attended, and all the members were most hospitably entertained by the citizens of this ancient town.

Gen. H. K. Oliver of Lawrence, delivered a lecture, on Friday afternoon, upon “The allurements to study which a well educated teacher may hold out to his pupils." The scope of this lecture was sketched in the December number of the Teacher; it was well received. In the evening, George B. Hyde, Esq., of the Dwight School, Boston, lectured upon the "Public Schools of Massachusetts." He commenced by referring to the low condition of the schools when the Board of Education was established, in 1837. The Hon. Horace Mann devoted soul, mind, and body, to the cause of education. Such a devotion is rarely equalled. The Board of Education saw that the most important work was the preparation of teachers; and its most important act was the establishment of Normal Schools. They have been great lights in the State. The lecturer then enlarged upon the duties of the teacher, and touched upon those of the parent.

Rev. Chas. S. Porter, of South Boston, gave a lecture on Saturday, upon the subject, "Education is a necessity, and God is the great Educator." It was a very valuable lecture, and Mr. Porter was requested, by vote of the Association, to present it to the Massachusetts Teacher for publication.

The discussions were of a practical character, and unusually suggestive. Among those who participated in the discussions, were Messrs. Oliver of Lawrence, Page of Boston, Grosvenor of Dorchester, Stone and Morton of Plymouth, Conant, Rodman, and Boyden, of Bridgewater, Dickerson of Plympton, Reed of Hanover, and Thomas of East Stoughton.

Mr. Sheldon of West Newton, presented the claims of the Massachusetts Teacher, and the Association appointed an agent in each town in the county to obtain subscribers.

The death of Dana P. Colburn, Esq., Frincipal of the Rhode Island Normal School, was announced soon after the opening of the Convention, and Messrs.

Conant, Boyden, and Stone, were appointed a Committee on Resolutions, and subsequently reported the following, which were adopted:

Resolved, That in the very sudden death of Dana P. Colburn, Esq., formerly a member of this Association, and recently the Principal of the Rhode Island Normal School, New England has lost a skillful and successful educator.

Resolved, That in the character of the deceased we have a model of untiring energy and self-reliant effort for his own elevation and that of his pupils.

Resolved, That his career, though not protracted, is full of encouragement to the young who are striving to fit themselves to become successful teachers.

Resolved, That we recognize in this sad event, which has so suddenly closed his earthly labors, the importance of training ourselves to do with our might what our hands and hearts find to do; and that in our associated and individual capacity we are to remember that the world needs our best services, and that the Great Teacher would have us coöperate with him in its renovation.

Resolved, That in the loss sustained by the friends of education in New England, and by the relatives of the deceased, in his sudden removal, we most heartily sympathize.

The officers elected for the year ensuing were:-E. W. Dickerson, Plympton, President; A. H. Soule of East Middleboro', D. W. C. Bates of Hingham, and I. F. Atwood of Middleboro', Vice Presidents; A. G. Boyden of Bridgewater, Secretary and Treasurer; and A. H. Cornish of Plymouth, J. E. Beals of Middleboro', A. E. Scott of Abington, and Edward Southworth of South Scituate, Executive Committee.

INTELLIGENCE.

A BRIEF RETROSPECT. Charles Northend, Resident Editor of the Connecticut Common School Journal, says, in the first article of the January number:

"So slow is advancement made, that the friends of the cause sometimes almost despair, feeling that many of their efforts have been in vain or to but little purpose. If, however, we will take a survey of a period covering a score of years, we shall be satisfied that much has been gained, and that while more is now expected of teachers, they have more advantages and privileges in return.

Twenty years ago there were but three or four educational associations in the country. Now the number of State, county, and town organizations, may be reckoned by hundreds, and they are rapidly increasing and extending their influence over all the land. Twenty years ago the first Teachers' Institute ever held was organized under the direction of Hon. Henry Barnard, in this State. During the year 1859, probably one thousand of these important gatherings were held in the United States, and nearly one hundred thousand teachers have been aided and quickened by their influence.

"Fifteen years ago there were no educational journals edited and supported by those engaged in the work of teaching. Now such journals are sustained in each of the New England States, in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin, Missouri, Indiana, Kentucky, and North Carolina, with an aggregate circulation of nearly fifty thousand copies monthly. In addition to these, there are many newspapers, in each of the States named, which devote some portion of their columns to the interests of popular education.

"A score of years ago it was an exceedingly difficult matter to induce people to