(--- qdr .R '..--- I..iau. ~ l;%. P..,TV1L.3.3,-- 77 , - "....... ta ttltflnoib t lit 0 _ .. ~ . -;.... - t I .. -Ne. BY J. A. HALL Correspondence. Huntingdon, Afrov. 80, 1852, Ma. H. B. SWOOPE, Dear Sir We were present it the exhibition of Mr. Barr's school, and listened, in common with the large audi inme there assembled, to your address up- On Common Schools with unusual pleasure. Believing that the address is worthy of be ing more widely diffused, and that the in formation contained in it, presented in a form so condensed, will be useful, we would respectfully solicit you to furnish it for publication. Yours, JAMES OWIN, S. S. WHARTON, M. F. CAMPBELL, HENRY W. MILLER, JOHN SCOTT, T. K. SIMONTON, OEO. TAYLOR, J. WILLIAMSON, OWEN BOAT, THOS. ADAMS, A. S. HARRISON. To .Messrs. Gwin, Wharton, Campbell, and others, Gentlemen In reply to your polite note of this date, by which I am so highly flattered and honored, I beg leave to say—that, if you deem my address, written as it was, hastily and only with a view to delivery, worthy of publication un der your auspices, it is placed at your dis posal. With the highest sentiments of respect and regard, believe me, gentlemen Your Obt. Servt. H. BUCHER SWOOPE. Huntingdon, Nov. 80th, 1852. ADDRESS On Public Schools, DELIVERED AT THE FIRST SEMI-ANNUAL EXHI BITION OF THE MOUE MALE SCHOOL OF TILE BOROUGH OF HUNTINGDON, UNDER THE CHARGE or MR. J. S. BARR Y ON TUESDAY EVENING THE 33RD NOVEMBER, 1852. 11. Bucher Swoope. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN :- An apology, on an occasion like the present, would be worse than presumption, as my very ap pearance here this evening must be suffi cient evidence of preparation. Neverthe less, I deem it due to you, as weal as my self, to say, that I can promise you nothing more than a dry, imperfect, and brief his tory of public schools. Speeches and wri tings on the subject of education, are in almost every instance of a declamatory character. The advantages that result from it both to individuals and society, form the chief topics of discourse, while no one has ever been so hardy as to call them in ques tion. Requested to deliver an address upon a specific subject, but two courses were left me to pursue, either to confine myself to the unadorned relation of facts, or to in dulge in the illusions of declamation and fancy. I have chosen the former, and shall endeavor, this evening, in the language of Goldsmith, to be just--not uncommon— and ask your attention a few moments, while I discharge the duty imposed upon me, and glance hastily at the origin and history of Public &hoots. _ . From the remotest period df antiquity, history demonstrates, that the wisest rulers and the most eminent stiteihnen, regarded the establishment of institutions of lea'rning among their subjects as a ►natter of the deepest importanbe; and that those govern ments winch were longest perpetuated, were those most brilliant* illumined by the light of knowledge. Greece, the land of Homer and of Hesoid, was celebrated for public libraries and schools, by whioh her people were enlightened and instructed in the several liberal arts of grammar, rher tonic, logic, arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy. The most celebrated of her schools were the gymnasia, which con sisted of the Lyceum, the Cynosarges, and the Academy—three magnificent establish ments, instituted and maintained at the public expense. Here, the Athenian youth were taught the arts of wrestling, leaping, boxing, tennis, and foot-racing, as well as the more refined intellectual branches to whioh I have just alluded. Rome, also, in her most cultivated and classical era,—the period immediately pre ceding the Augustan age, had schools inti mately connected with her government, and supported by its fostering care. The ori gin of the Roman Schools is to be attribu ted to the influence of the thousand Achse- Ana who were sent as a deputation to plead the cause of their country before the &n -ate of Rome, but, instead of being heard, were retained in captivity for a period of seventeen years. These Acha3ans were nearly all men of taste and elegant accom plishments, as well as ripe scholars of pro found and diversified eruditioM The whole Republic soon became enamored of their various acquisitions, and schools were es tablished under their saperintendenoe, when, but a short time elapsed ore all the Roman youth were engaged in the exercise of rhetoric and eloquence. China and Persia have also been cele brated for their systems of Public Schools, by which they have been enabled to wield a despotic sway over more than one fourth of the population of the habitable globe.-- And in more modern times, the govern ments and statesmen of Europe have turn ed their attention to the institution and support of schools as a means of self pres ervation. This has been the case especi ally in Norway, Denmark, Prussia,—Switz erland, portions bf Germany and Great Britain. As early as 1616, the Scottish Parlia ment adopted measures for supporting a public school in each parish, at the expense of the landed proprietors, a system of edu cation that had a propitious and enduring influence on the moral and enterprising character of the nation. In Austria the supervision and control of the whole school system resides in the government, and their institutions, from the primary village school up to the classical gymnasium and the uni versity, are gratuitously open to all the youth of the Empire. In Prussia,Com mon Schools were established by rederic 11, in 1750. Under his system, a school was maintained in every village, by a tax levied on the lord of the village and his tenants. The scholars were to be sent from their sixth to their thirteenth year, and every parent who neglected to send his child, unless for a sufficient cause, was doubly taxed. The law, under strong pen alties, still imposes the duty upon parents to send their children to school. Primary Seminaries, for the instruction of teachers, are also maintained at the expense of the State, and the departments. The Prussian System, with a few slight alterations, was introduced and adopted in - France in 833: Every commune is obliged to have a school, but parents are not compelled by law to send their children, as in Prussia, and it is therefore much neglected by the inhabi tants of many of the districts. No country of Europe presents a more brilliant illustration of the progressive in fluence of popular education, than England. One hundred years ago, nine tenths cf the population of Great Britain were entirely uneducated. News received from distant countries wore as marvelous to them as a communication from the inhabitants of the Moon would be to their descendents of the precept day. The world, beyond the shores of their own sea-girt isle, was entirely un known, while science and the arts were en veloped in equal obscurity. But a centu ry has elapsed, and how changed? Slave ry has been abolished; the middle classes and the working people begin to appreciate their position as freemen, the education of the masses, though far behind that of our own land, has been greatly extended and improved; Catholics have been emancipa ted; capital punishment for trivial offences abolished; and their whole political condi tion has been changed. It is true that the bulk of her people are yet poor and degra ded, and they must so continue until such efforts as those of the patriotic Lord Brougham are successful, and a popular system of education is established. Turning from Europe to our own coun try, we find that the cause of education has occupied the attention of the American people from the first landing of the Pil grims an the barren rock of Plymouth ; among whom we discover a law existing 4,That every township, when the Lord bath increased them to the number of fifty house holders, shall appoint one to teach all, children to read and write; and when any town shall increase to the number of one hundred families, they shall set up a gram , mar school; the master thereof being able I to instruct youth so far as they may be fit ted for the UniversltY." And it haS ever continued to be a principle in New Eng taffd, that it is the duty of government to provide for the education of all the Youth, at least so far as it consists in the elements of learning, morals, and religion. The first legal provision made to enforce the duty of education in this country, was in 1647, when the compulsory system was adopted in Massachusetts. In Connecticut we find legislation upon the subject as ear ly as 1650, and in 1700 their system of Common Sohools was permanently estab lished. Their school fund, which was first created in 1795, and was yielding a yearly income in 1831 of $78,000, is declared by the constitution to be inviolate and perpet ual. More attention has been paid to Pub lie Schools in Connecticut than in any oth er State in 'the Union. Tile result is, that Chief Justice Reeve was able to inform us, that during a period of twenty-seven years practice as a lawyer, he never met with but one person iti that State who could not write. In New Jersey the Legislature have at various times, made provision for a fund for the support of free schools; and in 1838 they organized a system of com mon schools, which, though very chifeetive, has been productive of much and lasting benefit. In New York an excellent system has been adopted, and a splendid provision made for its support , . The first establish- HUNTINGDON, PA., THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1852. anent of a permanent school fund was in 1805, and in 1821, the amount distributed in addition to that raised by taxation in the several school districts, was $BO,OOO. In 1842, the productive capital of the Com mon School fund was two million, thirty six thousand, six hundred and twenty-five dollars. Each school district is furnished with a library, and the aggregate number of volumes in all the districts, was at that time, 630,000. The whole capital perma nently invested for the support of educa tion in New York, was in 1842, ten and a half millions of dollars. This is, perhaps, one of the most splendid provisions for the cause of education, made by any govern ment in the world, and may be viewed with pride by the citizens of other States as an auspicious harbinger of the universal diffu sion of useful instruction throughout the length and breadth of our land. It has uniformly been a part of the land system of the United States, to provide for the maintainance of public schools, and all the States north-west of the Ohio River, have received appropriations of land for this purpose. There is not at this time, a State in the Union, in which some provision has not been made for the support of Com mon Schools, or at least, a general system of education. Having thus traced the origin and his tory of Public Schools, and glanced hasti ly at their present condition, both in this country and in Europe, we come now to regard them as they exist, and have exist ed in our own State, since the landing of William Penn on the shores of the New World, on the 27th of October, 1682. That illustrious law-giver, in his “Frame of Government," of constitution of the pro vince, incorporated the great truth, that— 'Men of wisdom and virtue were requisite to preserve a good constitution, and that these qualities did not descend with worldly in heritance, but were to be carefully propaga ted by a virtuous education of youth.' About one year after the landing of Penn, in a rude hut, formed of pine and cedar planks, and divided by a wooden partition into two apartments, Esocti FLOWErt oponed the first school in Pennsylvania. Under the thick groves of Coaquannock, where the City of Philadelphia now stands,—perhaps where Girard College rears its marble front, was located this "School-house rude As is the chrysalis to the butterfly," from whence issued the following curricu lum and charges—"To learn to read, four shillings a quarter;—to write, six shillings; —boarding a scholar,--to wit—diet, lodg ing, washing, and schooling, ton pounds the whole year.". A few years after, a law was passed by the colonists enjoining it as a duty upon the several courts to see that all the chil dren in the province were taught to read and write, and imposed a penalty upon every parent of ..C5 for every child not thus educated. flow this compulsory system was afterwards departed from, can not now be ascertained. Six years after ENOCH FLOWER opened his school, a Public School was founded, in which the celebrated GOOROE Kuril was the first teacher. The office was then held in the highest estimation, and he was allowed fifty pounds a year, and a house to live in, in addition to all the profits derived from the scholars. The constitution of our State provides that the Legislature shall establish schools throughout the Commonwealth, in such manner that the poor may be taught grat is;—and also that the arts and sciences shall be promoted in one or more Semina ries of learning. But, though the importance of a gen eral system of education, was thus recog nized, and in some degree enforced, at the earliest period of our existence as a Prov ince or State, yet no attempt to establish a common School fund was made until the 2d of April,'lBl. At that time certain moneys arising from the sale of lands, were set apart for that purpose, at au in terest of five per cent. The State was di vided into districts by the act of April '34, and $75,000 were ordered to be paid out of the school fund for the year 1835, and annually thereafter; to the counties en titled to receive it. Provision was also made for levying a tax in the districts not less than double the amount received from the state. Various other acts and supple ments were passed by the Legislature, not materially ohangoing the system, however, until the act of 1849, which revised and consolidated the act§ of former Loigsla tures, and may now be considered as the basis of our Common School system, which may be regarded as in its nineteenth year, of practical operation. Since its establishment in 1835, its pro-, gress has been rapid, and the consequent advance of our State in wealth and intelli gence, is the best evidence of its influence and utility. Then,*the whole number of scholars was 32,544,—n0w more ttian half a million of children aro receiving the benefits and blessings of education in the Public Schools of the State. Then, there were 752 schools, now we have 10,000 in active operation. Then, the whole number of toichere employed was 808, now some 11,000 cf our citizens are engaged in im parting instruction to the future Legisla tors and Statesmen of the Commonweatb. But, though the system has been thus successful in its operation, it is still defec tive, and has had many disadvantages to contend with—many difficulties and ob stacles to surmount. The popular preju dices that at first impeded its progress, have it is true to a very great extent been removed, yet there are still some districts in the State hostile to its operation.— Truth always enters the world like a hunt ble child, with few to receive her, and it is only when she has grown in years and strength, that she is sought and wooed.— It was this principle that awarded a dun geon to GALLILEO, when he proclaimed that the earth moved round the sun, and that bitterly opposed the philanthropy of Cr.mucsosr, when he denounced the wick edness of the Slave Trade. "When fiction rises pleasing to their eye, Men will believe, because they love the lie, But truth herself, if clouded with a frown, Must have some solemn proofs to pass her .hewn," Thank Heaven! those proofs have, in this instance, been afforded. The prejudice that has existed in some parts of our State for years, is fast yielding to the benign influence of popular education, and thoSe who have heretofore been hostile to it, are,. year after year, becoming reconciled to the system, and are voluntarily adopting its provisions. But there is a prejudice that has not been broken down,—which prevails throughout the whole Commonwealth,—and which is exercising a yet snore baneful influence on the success and prosperity of the common school system;— a prejudice totally unwor thy of men, and especially of freemen. It is the narrow notion that Public Schools are intended for the education of the poor, only, Ilb such! If the meridian sun shed his glorious beams nitre effulgently upon the rich man's palace than on the poor man's cottage,—if the Groat Eternal had provided for the poor a less gorgeous earth and a less brilliant sky,—if the Creator had enstamped the mind of the poor man's child with the imprint of a baser birth then might the pale sons of aristocracy en joy alone the blessings of refined educa tion. But mind is the offspring of immor tality. It wants but light, and misfor tune, difficulty, and poverty, will but stim ulate its vigor. Bestowed by the inspira tion of the Almighty, its energies will not be restrained, its power can not be de stroyed. It is alike invincible in the hov el and in the palace,—the lint of the slave and the home of the free. The son of the poor tallow-chandler, though compelled to sit up and read by the dim li zht of the midnight lamp while the scion of aristocra cy reolinedon his downy pillow,—planted his foot tipon the neck of kings—added new provinces to the domain of science, and bound the lurid lightningti with a hempen cord to a frail chariot of glass. In the lan guage of BISHOE' DoANE-- 4, the common school is comman—not as an inferior,not as the school for poor men's childern,—but as the light and air are common. Another obstacle to the prosperity and success of the system is, that in many of the districts, in fact a large majority of them, as soon as the State appropriation is exhausted, the schools are closed for the remainder of the year. We are reproach ed as a nation by foreigners for the con temptible and selfish vice of avarice,— and, so far as our present subject is con cerned, I fear the censure is not unjust.— There are too many persons even in our own community who, if we judge from the temper displayed when called upon for school tax, would not hesitate, were the opportunity offered, to disregard the exam ple of the Saviour when tempted by the Devil, and by falling down in worship to his Satanic majesty, barter both soul and body, were a sufficient number of acres spread out before them as the recompense. But the greatest obstacle to surmount is incapacity of teachers. There is noth-, ing doing snore to render the system un popular than this. Teaching is an art, in which, to arrive at perfection, long study and training are necessary as well as practice. It is a fatal error, to think that almost any one is competent to teach chil dren in the commencement of their educa tion. Tlsis:is the very period when the greatest injury results from improper in struction and "no unskilful hand should play upon the harp, where the tones are forever left in the strings." It is too fre quently the ease that when men are unfit for, or poet with misfortune in their own legitimate pursuits, that they turn (HAW masters and take upon . ..themselves the, charge of the morals,health and education of those who are one day to bo the guardians of our liberties, and the Statesmen of our country. Time will„not permit me to go into an'exantinathin of the various retue dies proposed for this evil, but its prinej pal cause is—indde4Tiaeg'of ip!fyytsa-. Item. , Jf wo want a good article, we must pay a good price for it; and whenever a sufficient inducement is held out to men of ,r eto education and ability to embrace the pro fession, but few persons will gain access to our schools who are unlit to teach. From this hasty and imperfect el:ctch of the history of Public Schools, and of the character and practical working ef our own system, we discover that the ball of schol astic education has been gradually enlar ging in size and power for the last half century, and is now rolling on with in creasing velocity. We are the heirs to a rich inheritance of knowledge, that has been accumulating from age to age, and from 'generation to generation. The child is now taught at its mother's knee, the or bits of the heavenly bodies,—the diversity of inen,—the geography, of nations,—and the discoveries, of „science, none of which could be grasped by the mightiest intel lects of other days. Thus the reason cf man is at the present day, not merely the reason of a single individual, but that of the whole human family, in 611 ages from which krowledge has descended. Never theless the great conflict that commenced three thousand years ago, of men !striving to advance towards perfection against oth ers striving to degrade them, has not yet ceased, but is still going on, and must con tinue logo on until the inhabitants of the world have conquered the few, who are at tempting to cheat them out of their birth right. In every part of the annals of Atiafikind we behold how knowledge has been struggling against wars, famines, conflagra tions, and corrupt governments, and how all the arts of life are, through its influence advancing nearer and nearer to perfection. As the stream of time steals silently away the bad disappears, and the good it con tained enters into new forms,—its precious seeds to be again scattered for a rich and abundant harvest. But, however much we may rejoice over the diffusion of knowledge throughout our country, and the world; we roust not for get that intelligence,—though an essential, is not the only requisite of civil and reli gious freedom. It was when Greece,—the land of intellect and of thought—the birthspot of eloquence, poetry, andphilos ophy,—had reached the highest pinbacle of her intellectual greatness, that the pillars of her accropolis gave way! It was when Rome had attained the very zenith, of her glory--the proudest point of her intellec tual development, that the palladium of her liberty was dashed into ten thousand atoms! It was when France was most brilliantly illumined by the light of sci ence, that the fearful reign of terror be gan its bloody havoc,—and made her a nation of scientific, philosophic, paracidcs! The chrystal streams of knowledge must be mingled with the pure waters "that flow fast by the oracles of God." This is the lesson which all history teaches, and I fear, alas!. the great lesson America has yet to learn. . . . . From the remarks which you have just heard, my young friends, you may discov er that you are not only objects of solici tude to your parents, teachers, and friends, but also to the government and cotnutuni ty in which you live. It remains for you, who are now slaking your thirst at the olirystal fountains so freely opened to you by the liberality of the Commonwealth, to drink . deep of their bright clear waters, and to prepare yourselves faithfully to dis charge the, obligations. you are under for, the blessings of civil and religious liberty, and the institutions of learning that have filled up the measure of our country'S,glo+ ry. As is evinced by the exercises .of this evening, you have already done much, and for this you, as well as your teacher, de serve great credit. But your career has just commenced. You are yet standing on the first steps that lead to the temple that glitters high up in the cloud, and the most untiring perseverance and industry will be necessary to accomplish the task of mounting even a single stop. Still per severe! "Press on! For it hatit tempted angel• 0, press on!!! ttnd when at last you, enter the portal you will be rewarded with a smile from the bright spirits that cluster there, and who alone can confer upon you— "One of the few, the immortal lames That were not born to (lie." To you, sir, to whom we are chiefly indebt ed for this evening's intellectual entertain ment, permit tue to nay—you occupy a most responsible position in the community —one whose importance time will not now penult me to dwell upon. In you, old and young look for an example, not merely of wisdom and knowledge, but of virtue and &dein truth. To you belongs not only the— " Delightful task: to rear the tenant thought To teach the young idea how et. rho a, To breathe the enlivening spirit, and to fix, The genrotts purpose in the glo,ing breast." but also the duty of instilling into the mind of sour pupil, that. there is proposed to Lim a nobler end than knowledge. A great Philosopher mourned in his old age that boiled wandered picking pebbles on Ithe shore, While the vast, illimitable, and VOL. 17, NO. 49. unknown ocean still stretched away before Lim. True, indeed, is the proposition of IMMANUEL KANT, that—'ln intellect is no virtue." There is kwisdom which all the processes of philosoPby cannot find out, but which is present to the free sense of the child. It is higher than all the learn in# of Aristotle, more beautiful than the brightest" gems of Homer, It is better than rubies, more precious than the gold of Ophir. Teach them this, and it will guide their steps in safety through the tangled paths of life, and shed upon their dying couch the dawning radiance of a di vine and an endless day. In conclusion : it is the duty of each and every on. of us to encourage by every means in our power the cause of education, and perhaps, there is nothing which will h:.ve a better tendency, and exert a more propitious influence than public exrecises of the character of ,those: we have this eve ning witnessed; Enlighten the masses and our liberty will be perpetual. But if we disregard the admonitions of history, and close our eyes to the light of reason and eiperi e nee —that Anerica,—which is now the light of the world, an oasis in the des ert—a home to the homeless and an ,asy lum to the oppessed,—will he erusheiblike the shattered Empires and bleeding repub lics of antiquity, beneath the iron heel of a worse than feudal desprtism. The last of those gigantic intellects, to whom were entrusted the education and development of the Union by its immotral founders,—bas lately been quenched in the darkness of the tomb. Calhoun, Clay, Webster—all• are gone, and our tutelage has expired with the last fleeting breath of that great patriot, whose failing hand ho lately un clasped the helm of State. We have en tered upon the illimitable ocean of the fu ture without a precedent, and without a guide. The chaste eloquence of CLAY, the solid wisdom of WEBSTER, will no longer counsel us in the hour of ch.nger, or rejoice with us in the moment of success. A cel ebrated divine has lately said, that—:t has been observed in all time, that when Prov idence is about to work vengenee upep any ; , people, the infliction is begun by liking a way from her places of rule her ablest men:. and then, bereft of wise counsels, public affairs fall into confusion and reuslt in dis aster. It becomes us then, in view of the elements of a mighty change that are work ing within us, whose direction is. unknown, to enlighten our pecple that they may com prehend their position and understand their danger. Let each and every one adopt and act upon the great truth, written in letters of living light . upon ,every ,page of our country's history, that "Human, happiness has no perfect security but freedom—free dom none but virtue—virtue none but knowledge;—and neither freedom, nor vir tue, nor knowledge,.have any vigor or im mortal hope save in the principles of the obviation faith, and in the sanctions of the christian religion." Then may we truly exclaim— "Land of the west—beneath the heaven There's not a fearer, lovelier clime, Nor one to which wee ever given A destiny more high, sublime." Then may we fondly and with reasen anticipate, that our country and our liber ties will endure long after the sceptre shall have passed away from England,—when her proudest temple, and most enduring monument shall have mouldered with the towers of Achia, of Ronie, babylLn, and Egypt MODERN MAcuiNEair.—A writer on the benefits of machineiy as confered upon man, anticipates the day when it will per form nearly all the domestic drudgery now done by hand. It will carry hot and Otild water to all parts of the house, bring coal up stairs, and carry dust down, answer the door, make the beds, clean ahoes,atund.ta the cooking, and perform a thousand other similar offices. In some instances, the wri, ter suggests how these things may bo accom plished. In numerous businesses req king polishing processes, circular, brushes are made fast on a shaft revolving at speed a lathe. Shoes held against ybeSh. 6Pushon would be polished without labor. Coffee, tea, and similar things, might be prepared by gas jets alone, with little trouble, and without the aid of servants. Ascending the stairs to answer bells, might be dispensed with by internal telegraphs. But increased racilities for people to have all things near them, would much diminish this labor; and moreover, using lifts, such as are used for workmen in mills, .wnild rena.VO the toil altogether. Waiting on a table could be ruled by a machine. In fact, all kina of domestic drudgery which requires a large number of servants iu a house, a ill, in limo, the writer thinks, be performed by contri vances requiring no manual labor; and the office 9.1 a domestic servant cease to be, and humanity Acme really emancip..ted from r a slaver;, .create) by these wants, as op pressivo as twee cervitule. Avoid all harshness of behaviour; treat every oLe pith that oourteay which epriage from a mild and gentle heart,