on Institutes, and several other practical papers complete the number.-New York Teacher.

We return the compliment of Bro. Cruikshank, editor of the Teacher, by remarking that every number which he issues is filled with good things. We always find the most varied educational intelligence in its pages, and have borrowed pretty freely therefrom for the present number.

By the way, the R. I. Schoolmaster has further complimented Prof. Blaisdell and Miss Vail, by republishing her report of his address. It was delivered again, we observe, before the Illinois State Association at its late meeting; and both that and Prof. Butler's racy lecture on common place books were warmly received.

UNIVERSITY NORMAL SCHOOL.

The commencement of the first term is definitely fixed, as will be seen by the advertisement, for the 17th of March, which is the earliest period that the south building can be vacated and got ready for the purpose. There are indications, we learn, of a good attendance at the outset, and several applicants have signified their purpose to go through the entire course of study. This is encouraging. It will be seen that Miss Moody, who has been teaching with much success at Geneva, is to fill the place of Preceptress.

GUYOT'S MAPS.

Judging from the specimen which we have seen, these Maps are by all odds the most truthful and striking yet published, besides being most beautiful to the eye. Instead of exhibiting a mere dead level or ground plan, the bold drawing and ingenious coloring almost produce the effect of actual relief. The advertisement on another page gives a full idea of these maps. South America and the United States are now ready. Published by Charles Scribner, New York.

FOR SALE.

We have a School Harmonium, of the kind advertised on the last page of the cover, which has been used a short time, (thus testing its excellence,) and which will be sold at less than cost.

ATWATER'S SCHOOL GOVERNMENT.

This system is much liked by those who have tried it. The advertisement on the last page gives a full and clear idea of the plan.

A CLASS BOOK OF GEOGRAPHY, containing a complete Syllabus of Oral Instruction on the method of Object Teaching; also, Map Exercises, systematically arranged for class drill. Adapted to any Series of Geographies. By E. E. White, A. M., Editor of the Ohio Educational Monthly.

This little book is one of a class destined to come into extensive use, as the art of teaching advances. We mean manuals for oral teaching. Any teacher who has intelligence and energy enough to break away from the dead round of mechanical question and answer, will find this book a very valuable help. The suggestions on "primary ideas" of the subject, "home geography," &c., are excellent. Published by W. B. Smith & Co., Cincinnati, Ohio. Price (we judge) about 10 cents.

On the present occasion I propose to make a brief and cursory review of educational changes and operations in this country within the last thirty years. All changes are not improvements, and yet we have reason to feel that the interests of popular education have been steadily and surely onward and upward.

It is now less than forty years since a general and wide spread apathy prevailed over all the land in relation to common schools. School houses, were unseemly in appearance, inconvenient and uncomfortable in their arrangements, uninviting in their location and surroundings; teachers were poorly paid and more poorly qualified; apparatus was almost unknown; blackboards and charts and maps were unthought of, and had any one proposed the purchase of a clock, he would have been regarded as a fit subject for a mad-house.

Schools were seldom if ever visited by parents or citizens; the teacher kept school because hired so to do, and the children were sent to keep them out of the way. The public school was well enough for the poor, but not to be thought of for the sons and daughters of affluence.

It was under such a state of affairs that a few true friends of education set themselves about the work of reform. To accomplish the ends desired, it was deemed indispensable that there should be associated action and effort.

In August, 1830, several hundred persons, mostly teachers, assembled from as many as eleven different States, and organized the American Institute of Instruction, the oldest educational association in our land. They have met from that time to the present, annually, devoting at least

*Abstract of an address before the Vermont State Teachers' Association, Jan. 8, 1863, by Charles Northend, editor of the Connecticut Common School Journal, and Assistant State Superintendent of Schools.

three days at each session, in listening to lectures from leading educators, comparing observations and opinions, and contributing in various ways, each to a common stock for the benefit of all. For thirty-two consecutive years have the annual meetings of the Association been held in different parts of the northern States, and many thousands of teachers have been profited by its lectures and discussions. From small beginnings at first, crowded audiences now attend upon its sessions.

In 1839, the first teachers' institute ever held was convened in the city of Hartford, under the direction of Hon. Henry Barnard, assisted by the late lamented T. H. Gallaudet and others. From the beginning, the number of institutes bas continued to increase until at least one thousand are now held annually in the northern and western States, and at least fifty thousand teachers yearly participate in their benefits.

The next and higher step was the establishment of normal schools. The first of these was opened at Lexington, Massachusetts, in 1839. The attendance at first was very limited, and considerable opposition was manifested, but it grew in numbers and favor continually, and now the State of Massachusetts has four normal schools, well supported by the State, and all well filled with students, even in these times of war. In addition to this the city of Boston supports an independent normal school for the purpose of training young ladies to become teachers in the schools of the city. New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Rhode Island and Connecticut, have each a normal school in successful operation, while California has recently made a liberal appropriation for the establishment of a similar institution on our Pacific borders.

Another modern auxiliary in the cause of popular education may be found in the establishment and circulation of educational periodicals. In 1826 Prof. Wm. Russell established The Journal of Education, the first periodical ever published devoted exclusively to educational matters. In 1840 it passed into the hands of the late Wm. C. Woodbridge and its name was changed to Annals of Education. The work received a limited circulation, both in this country and in Europe. But it was in advance of the times; its able articles were not generally appreciated, and it soon died of starvation. In July, 1838, the Hon. Henry Barnard commenced the publication of the Connecticut Common School Journal. This journal continued to be published by Mr. Barnard until 1853, since which time it has been published under the auspices of the State Association. In June, 1839, Horace Mann commenced the publication of the Massachnsetts Common School Journal, and continued its publication for the period of ten years. It then passed into the editorial hands of Wm. B. Fowler, and in one short year it died.

The year 1848 marks a new era in educational periodicals. At the annual meeting of the Massachusetts Teachers' Association the subject of starting a new educational periodical was freely discussed, and while all admitted that much good had been accomplished by those already named, it was still felt that the time had arrived for starting a journal of a more professional character-one which should enlist the sympathies of the teachers, and call from them articles of a more practical bearing. The discussion resulted in the appointment of a committee of twelve teachers, who were to constitute a board of editors-four of the number to act as general managers and resident editors. These were Thomas Sherwin, of the Boston high school, John D. Philbrick, and Samuel Bates, then both teachers in Boston, and one other from a neighboring town. This sub-committee took charge of the new journal, arranged for its publication, made appeals to teachers for subscriptions, and to make the expense as little as possible, they attended to the mailing of the several numbers—and yet, with the most rigid economy, the expenses of the work exceeded the income to the amount of about $150 the first year. It entered upon its second year with more encouraging prospects, and has continued to exist, and to breathe a life-giving influence until the present day,

The plan inaugurated by Massachusetts was imitated by other States in the following order:

New York Teacher, January, 1851. Pennsylvania School Journal, July, 1852. Ohio Journal of Education, now Educational Monthly, January, 1852. Connecticut Common School Journal, January, 1853. Michigan Journal of Education, January, 1854; died recently of neglect and starvation. Rhode Island Schoolmaster, March, 1855. Indiana School Journal, January, 1856. Wisconsin Journal of Education, July, 1856. New Hampshire Journal of Education, January, 1857. Illinois Teacher, January, 1858. Maine Teacher, June, 1858. Missouri Educator, May, 1858. North Carolina Journal of Education, January, 1858. The last two died of the rebellion fever, at the early age of two years and eight months. May they rise again to a higher and better life. Vermont School Journal, April, 1859. Iowa Instructor, October, 1859. Educational Monthly, Louisville, Ky., November, 1859. Died in infancy. Southern Teacher, Ala., August, 1859. Killed by slavery and rebellion, at the tender age of one year and eight months. Its last numbers were filled with sermons advocating slavery. Iowa School Journal, January, 1860. Of these nineteen journals, fifteen were started and supported in States that were thoroughly loyal, and fourteen of these still survive, while not a single educational periodical now exists within the so called Confederate States of America. They have all gone to their proper place.

Another step in the progress of education is the production of books of a professional bearing. Previous to the year 1830, there was not in our country a work especially designed for school-teachers. The first work of this class was prepared by S. R. Hall, soon after the opening of his teachers' seminary at Andover, Mass., in 1830. Many a teacher was quickened and edified for his work, by perusing Hall's Lectures on School Teaching. This was followed by a small, full and very sensible work, entitled The Teacher Taught, by Rev. Dr. Davis, of Westfield, Mass.

Since that time educational works have multiplied, and now every teacher who will may own a professional library. The works of Abbot and Barnard, of Emerson and Potter, of Page and Mansfield, of Mayhew and Holbrook, of Ogden and Orcutt, of Bates and Wells, and others,* contain much of value to teachers, while the able reports of state and city superintendents abound in valuable hints and statistical information.

But time will not allow us to go into details. We think we have already said enough to show that changes many and great have taken place in the educational field within the last two-score years. Let us pass to consider some of the good results of the several efforts to which allusion has been made, and ascertain whether, upon the whole, such efforts have been of a compensatory nature.

1st. The public mind has been greatly aroused and enlightened in relation to the general subject of popular education.

At the time of Mr. Mann's election to the Secretaryship of the Massachusetts Board of Education, it was no easy matter to secure a respectable gathering of citizens to listen to a lecture on education. I need not tell you how it is now. The largest churches and halls in New England have time and again been densely filled with attentive listeners to lectures and discussions on the subject of common schools.

2d. As a result of the preceding, thousands and tens of thousands of old and uncomfortable school houses have forever disappeared, and all over the hill-sides and valleys of the North and West we may behold neat and attractive edifices which at once testify to the increased interest and intelligence of the people, and open a pleasant prospect to the eye and mind of the child as he commences the ascent of the hill of science.

3d. Another evidence of the increased interest in common schools may be found in the more general attendance upon them in many communities. The city of Boston affords a striking proof of this. At the present time the number of pupils in private schools is only 33 per cent. of the number in 1817; and only 5 per cent. of the number in public schools.

*Not the least of whom is Mr. Northend himself.-Er Vt. School Journal.