III. EDUCATION OF IMMIGRANTS.

AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE WESTERN COLLEGE OF TEACHERS, DURING THEIR CONVENTION HELD IN CINCINNATI, OCTOBER, 1835, AT THE REQUEST OF THE EMIGRANTS' FRIEND SOCIETY OF CINCINNATI.

BY C. E. STOWE, PROFESSOR OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE, LANE SEMINARY.

I appear before you this evening, in behalf of the "Emigrant's Friend Society," an association, which has for its object the education of the foreign children resident among us. Of our immigrant population several are Scotch, who, speaking our own language, can enjoy the advantages of our common schools, and immediately become amalgamated with our native citizens. There is also a small community of Welsh, who speak their native language. They have a religious society of their own, superintended by a faithful pastor; they are moral, industrious, and valuable members of society, and, I believe, educate their children principally among themselves.

But by far the largest part of our immigrant population is German. There are not less than 10,000 Germans in Cincinnati, and its immediate vicinity, including those only, who live so near the city as to attend church here on the Sabbath. Of these between 2000 and 3000 are Protestant, the remainder Catholic. They are principally from the kingdoms of Wirtemberg, Hanover, and the other northern and western states of Germany; some from Saxony and Bavaria; and a very few from Austria and Prussia. They all speak their native language, in its different dialects, among themselves. Not more than a fourth part of them can speak English well, and many do not understand it at all.

They are generally an industrious and thrifty class of people, most of them depending for their subsistence upon

their daily labor; though some, particularly among those who remove into the country and purchase farms, are men of considerable property. A good farm, owned and cultivated by himself, is a German's paradise; and the highest reward of a noviciate of industry and economy. Recently, the number of men of property among the immigrants has increased. Generally, when they arrive here, they are people of good morals and steady habits; but the numerous whiskey shops, which, under the name of coffee houses, blot our city in every direction, and many of which are kept by Germans, are nearly as efficient an instrument for corrupting them, as the devil could desire. It is but justice to them, however, to say, that their habits in respect to temperance, are quite as good as those of the native population in like circumstances.

Among them there are from 1200 to 1500 children of a proper age to attend school; and from the fact that they are foreigners, and speak a foreign language, most of them are deprived of the advantages of our common English schools. Even those who can speak English, are in many instances deterred from attending the English schools, because their foreign garb and accent expose them to the ridicule of the native scholars. They have had good advantages for schools in their own country, and the parents, and the children who had attained a suitable age before they emigrated, can generally read and write the German with facility. The enlight. ened policy of the Prussian government has rendered it almost impossible for a child to grow up in that kingdom without receiving a good business education; in the other northern states of Germany, among children twelve years of age, there is probably not one in twelve who cannot read and write; and in the provinces on the Rhine, in addition to their native tongue, they generally have a competent knowledge of French.

When they first arrive on our shores they are always anxious to educate their children, and their anxiety never ceases until it is extinguished by the contagious influence of the money-loving habits of our own population. They have made very praiseworthy efforts to sustain schools among

themselves; but owing to poverty in some, penuriousness in others, and in all, the discouraging circumstances which encompass strangers in a foreign land, these efforts have been quite limited; and of the 1500 immigrant children, it is believed not more than 200 have received benefit in this way. Besides, it is their great desire to receive an English education; and this is what they ought to have. Perhaps, also, 200 children of German parents may be found in our different English schools; and after this very liberal allowance there still remain 1100 immigrant children in our city entirely unprovided with the means of education.

The first considerable effort in behalf of these children was made, a little more than two years since, by some students of Lane Seminary, who, with the help of benevolent individuals in the city, established a Sunday-school on Mainstreet, above the canal, and collected a library of suitable books, for the express purpose of instructing the German children in the English language, and the principles of the Christian religion. These efforts were very gratefully received, and the school numerously attended. More than 250 children were at different times received into the school, and the school-room was always crowded with parents watching with delighted interest the progress of their children. These efforts, however, were frequently interrupted by various casualties; and at best they were uncertain and altogether inadequate to the wants of the German population. The necessity of something more permanent and effective was deeply felt.

About the middle of March last, some young men in the city and from Lane Seminary, formed themselves into an association for the express purpose of instructing the children of foreigners in the English language, the principles of republican government, and the truths of the Bible, which they denominated the "Emigrant Friend Society." May fourth, they opened an evening school with very few scholars, for the benefit of youths of both sexes, who could not afford to leave their employments to attend school during the day. May 10th they opened a Sunday-school, with 40 scholars, and June 1st, a regular day-school for children. They have

since by their own efforts procured and commodiously finished, a good school house in the centre of the German population, capable of accommodating 300 children; and furnished it with a good library of suitable English books, and considerable apparatus. They have obtained two permanent and well qualified teachers whom they pay for their services, and have just applied to the German Reformed Synod at Pittsburgh, for a third who may be familiar with both the German and English languages. Besides these, they have secured the gratuitous services of several teachers for the Sabbathschool. The present number of scholars, (Oct 7th,) is in the evening-school, 30; day-school, 80, and Sabbath-school, 130; and many more are expected during the winter. There have been 150 different scholars in the day-school since it was opened in June, but from 60 to 80 is the average daily attendance.

As to the capacity and desire of these children for instruction, take the following testimony from one of their teachers:

"They are generally very attentive. There are scholars in the day-school of eight or nine years of age, who commenced with the alphabet, and have attended school about two months, that now read very well in the Testament.

"Three girls about 12 years old, directly from Germany, and having been here but a few days, after being at school five days, were able to spell without the book easy words of four or five letters, articulating the letters and words correctly. Young men who have attended the evening-school, and commenced with the alphabet, read very well in common reading.

"A few girls of the age of 16 or 18 that were instructed I think not more than 12 evenings, and a few times at the Sunday-school, read very well in the Testament, and one or two of them quite fluently."

One of the most active members of the association says, that "the children are uncommonly apt at learning, and much more attentive than American children."-"We are sustained in saying that they manifest an astonishing anxiety and aptness to acquire our language." It is universally true, that no people so easily and accurately acquire a foreign language as the Germans. Ideality and language are their prominent developments.

In view of these facts, is there not encouragement to labor for the intellectual and moral elevation of our immigrant population? and do not the young men who originated and have thus far sustained this noble enterprise, deserve the approbation and assistance of an enlightened community? The means are still altogether inadequate to the end proposed. Allowing two hundred children for the German schools, two hundred for German children in English schools, and two hundred in the schools of this association, there still remain in this city and vicinity, nine hundred immigrant children destitute of the means of education, and the number is constantly increasing.

I have made a plain statement of facts; and to my mind they are facts of thrilling eloquence.

It is a work of the highest benevolence thus to receive the wandering stranger, to provide for the wants of his mind, and prepare him for usefulness, elevation, and happiness as a citizen of our own happy country. None but he who has felt it, can know all the loneliness and heart-sickness, of the poor immigrant when he first finds himself in a foreign land, surrounded by people of strange habits and an unknown tongue. How sweet in such circumstances is the voice of unexpected sympathy, especially from the lips of the intelligent teacher, inquiring after the moral welfare of himself and his children? It is on this account, that attention to the stranger is so earnestly and affectingly enjoined in the Bible. Thou shalt neither vex a stranger nor oppress him-for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. (Exod. 22:21. 23: 9.) Oh, who that by experience knoweth the heart of a stranger, would desire to vex or oppress him, and not rather treat him kindly and do him all the good in his power? Be not forgetful to entertain strangers; for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. (Heb. 13: 2.)

But if neither the feelings of benevolence nor the precepts of the Bible have power to compel us to extend our fostering hand to the stranger; it would seem that an enlightened regard to our own interests might induce us to do it. A