Items.

Prof. CALEB MILLS, of Wabash College, has been elected State Superintendent of Schools in Indiana, by a majority of nearly 15,000. Prof. Mills is a veteran laborer for the promotion of Common School Education: we rejoice that our sister State is to have the benefit of his long experience and practical skill.

Mr. M. C. STEVENS, formerly Principal of Farmers' Institute, near Lafayette, Ia., is employed as Teacher of Mathematics, in Green Mount Seminary, Ia. Mr. W. D. HENKLE has taken the department of Languages, in the same Insti tution, (near Richmond, Ia.)

Mr. HOLLINGSWORTH, formerly of Richmond, has taken charge of Farmers Institute, near Lafayette, Ia.

Mr. GEO. W. BATCHELDER has resigned his place as Superintendent of the Public Schools of Zanesville, on account of his health: he has removed to Oriskany Falls, N. Y.

Mr. L. T. COVELL, late Principal of Public School, No. 4, in Allegheny City, Pa., is to succeed Mr. Batchelder, in Zanesville.

Mr. DAVID PARSONS, late of Wellsville, has been employed to superintend the Schools of Bellefontaine, at a salary of $800. A fine building has recently been erected, at a cost of $18,000, and the Schools are to open early this month.

Mr. H. W. PERSING has been appointed Superintendent of the Union School of Republic, Seneca county, instead of Clyde, as stated in the October number.

To County School Examiners.

The members of the Boards in some thirty counties have concurred in the opinion that it is highly desirable to hold a Convention of County School Ex. aminers, at some convenient time during this year, and have suggested that it should be held in connection with the meeting of the State Teachers' Association. Should others who may be consulted approve the plan, the Agent of the Teachers' Association has been requested to call such a Convention, to meet in Cincin nati on Tuesday, the 26.h of December next.

Will the Clerks of all the Boards who have not already expressed an opinion to the subscriber, please write him their views on the subject as soon as consistent? Address, A. D. LORD, Columbus.

TO TOWNSHIP BOARDS OF EDUCATION. —If any Township Boards are desirous to secure the Journal, but have not the money in hand to remit, they can order it, and forward the subscription price, one dollar per copy, when they receive the funds, in February next.

TO OUR PATRONS. It is hoped that all who have not forwarded the subscrip tion for the current volume, will do so, if practicable, before the middle of Dec.

next.

Several gentlemen of experience in teaching are desirous to secure situations as Principals of Union Schools or Academies. Inquiries may be directed to A. D. Lord, Columbus, O.

A graduate and an experienced teacher would accept a situation as teacher m some Academy or good Union School. Application should be made soon. Address K. L., Chillicothe, O.

Teachers' Institutes are yet to be attended as follows:

Seneca county, at Tiffin, November 6th, one week.

Mahoning county, at North Benton, November 6th, one week.

Warren county, at Lebanon, November 16th, one week.

THE

Ohio Journal of Education.

COLUMBUS, DECEMBER, 1854.

Close of Volume Third.

HE close of the volume furnishes a suitable opportunity for looking back on the labors of the past, and forward to the signs of hope and encouragement in the future. A comparison of the third volume with the two which have preceded it, will show that our work has not failed in the accomplishment of some of the great objects for which the Journal was established. On glancing over the table of contents, we feel confident that the friends of education in our own and other States will regard this volume as a valuable addition to their libraries.

It has ever been the aim of the Editors to give to the Journal the highest possible amount of permanent value, as well as to make it of immediate practical utility; and, as far as practicable, to give to its volumes such a character that they shall be prized as highly ten or twenty years hence as they are now. Among the articles in this volume are many which deserve special mention as of this character. Those on the use of Geometry in the solution of numerical problems, on the Schools of Sandusky, and several of those on the long-neglected subject of Moral Culture, have already received from numerous sources the warmest commendation.

The fact that this volume contains all the published decisions of the Commissioner of Common Schools, with an index referring to every question, will make it permanently valuable to every school officer and teacher in Ohio. In addition to these communications and the contributions of the corps of Editors, there are original articles by forty different writers, most of whom are experienced teachers; while more than one hundred correspondents have furnished us items or facts.

As a record of the progress of education in our country, it has claims upon the consideration of every friend of schools. It contains the Transactions of the sixth annual and semi-annual meetings of our State VOL. III, No. 12.

23

Teachers' Association; notices of the doings of similar Associations in other States; more than one hundred personal items, in regard to changes in the location or compensation of Professors and Teachers; and over two hundred notices of Colleges, Schools, etc., and of the movements in the cause of education during the year.

But we hope to do much more during the coming year, for the promotion of our cause, and the benefit of those who favor us with their patronage.

Sandusky Public Schools.

NUMBER III.

IN communicating some facts in relation to our public schools, it was our original purpose to present, briefly, such information in regard to details, respecting our primary and secondary schools, as would not ordinarily find a place in a regular school report; and, in conclusion, to enumerate such miscellaneous features of our system, relating both to the methods and course of instruction in the higher schools, and the tendencies and aims of the system itself, as might be supposed to be worthy of the attention of persons interested in the establishment or progress of classified or union schools. In approaching this last duty contemplated, however, we feel impelled to ask for more indulgence, more latitude, more freedom, in the discussion of the several topics, than would be admissible in simply speaking of them as features of our own system. While it is our constant purpose to reduce to the closest practice whatever is found valuable in theory, it must still long remain unsafe to speak of the plainest and simplest theories of human culture, as actually and fully realized in any department of education. Let it be understood, then, that, in discussing our remaining topics, we are only speaking of theories adhered to, of features adopted, and not of any actual proficiency in any method, further than may be essential to test its value and practicability, and enable us, after fair trial, to speak in strong terms of its utility or its superiority.

It will be remembered by those who read the articles in the two previous numbers of the Journal, that daily moral instruction is regarded as necessary, indispensable, and practicable, in all the lower grades of schools. The subject deserves a further and distinct consideration in reference to older pupils and higher grades of schools. Shall we, need

we, add another sentence to all that has been said or written respecting its importance? See here: Has not every child an element of his nature called a CONSCIENCE, SENSE of DUTY, a sense of RIGHT and WRONG call it by what name you will? Is not that conscience capable of culture, as much so as the memory or the judgment? Will it not grow sensitive, grow vigilant, grow powerful, by exercise? And if left undisturbed and neglected, will it not timidly, stupidly, "slumber and sleep," all unconscious of its high functions—a stranger to the kingly glory that awaited it? And, again, can there be, as man is constituted, symmetry and beauty in any partial culture? Can the human soul be valiant, be joyous, with the loss of such a companion as the moral sense? Can there be order and law in any dominions, where there is no authoritative law-giver-where the ruler has less power than the ruled where the sovereign is less honored, less revered, than the subject? Strange, indeed, that the faculty deserving the highest consideration, the most vigilant guardianship, the richest resources, and the rarest skill in its culture, should receive the least attention, should even be given up, in recklessness, as unworthy of development, or, in despair, as incapable of being aroused to more than a spasmodic, painful activity. Slow, and almost imperceptible, it is true, the culture of this faculty may often prove; but let it be seriously undertaken. Let every teacher, in his own or her own way, begin to regard daily moral culture, in the school room, as an imperative duty. Study the subject, study all its bearings, and faithfully, courageously, heroically, devise your own methods for carrying it forward. You are now without methods, it is true, or nearly so; but be all the more vigilant, because you must work your way alone. Respect and adopt every good method that may come from any source; but be profoundly, unmistakably certain, that you have some good ones of your own, some that you have thought out and wrought out in the stillness of your own bosom, in the quiet of the morning or the evening twilight. Promise this, and then all that we can say or do to help you shall be cheerfully said and done.

Passing over many considerations that might deserve very great attention, we come directly to the indisputable statement, that, if you would cultivate and develop the conscience, you must see that IT is exercised. If you would have its sovereign decisions, you must appeal to its kingly court. You must "play its sweet keys, if you would keep them in tune." Proceed as you do to cultivate the intellect. Give it simple, obvious things, at first; afterwards, the more complex, myste

rious, and profound. For illustration: Is it right for a man to give his brother fruit that he feels certain will endanger his health? No, says conscience. If he may not give it to a brother, may he to a stranger? No, says conscience. May a man sell fruit to his brother, if he feels certain that it will endanger his health? No, says conscience. May a man sell fruit to a stranger, if he may not to his brother? No, says conscience. May a man offer his green vegetables on the market to any thoughtless stranger who will buy, while the cholera is busily searching for its victims? Will conscience, after teaching two or three simple lessons in universal brotherhood, now allured by the prospect of gold, sneakingly reply, “Am I my brother's keeper?" or will it begin to assume its rightful dominion, and, in the simple majesty of its undoubted attributes of sovereignty, unhesitatingly declare, that "Love worketh no ill to his neighbor"?

Thus, proceeding from the simple to the more complex of all the duties and relations of life, may the conscience be excited, quickened; ready ever to assert, and, more still, to enforce its rightful power. Conceding, of course, that other particular stimulants may be applied in, perhaps, a far more successful manner, the general principle must ever hold true, that conscience can only be enthroned as the supreme ruler of the whole man, by a long, a regular, a patient, a faithful course of exercises and culture; and that system and those methods, when revealed to the earnest seeker after professional excellence, which will most faithfully and most successfully accomplish this, will merit the highest place in human achievements.

As a further illustration of the manner in which appeals may be made to the moral sense, and an interest awakened which may lead to higher culture, the following examples, taken from the course pursued in our High School Department, are presented:

LESSON XX.-RIGHTS AND DUTIES.

FAITHFULNESS TO CONVICTIONS.

120. Is it right to engage earnestly and with all our powers, in the defence of a position or a cause that we believe to be wrong, merely for the pleasure of an intellectual triumph?

121. May we earnestly and with our whole intellectual strength, engage in the defence of a friend whom we know to be guilty, for the purpose of saving his reputation, or of saving him from the penalties of the law?

122. If my friends or my neighbors advocate principles that I feel certain are dangerous to the welfare of the community, may I remain silent, or must I undertake the defence of the truth?

123. Suppose that one of my neighbors, with whom I have long been acquaint