our dullest and laziest youth, our stocks and stubs, from the infinite desire of such a happy nurture, than we have now to hale and drag our choicest and hopefullest wits to that asinine feast of sow-thistles and brambles which is commonly set before them, as all the food and entertainment of their tenderest and most docile age. I call, therefore, a complete and generous education, that which fits a man to perform justly, skilfully, and magnanimously, all the offices, both private and public, of peace and war. THE CITY OF ROXBURY. It appears from the Annual Report of the School Committee of the City of Roxbury, which has just made its appearance, that the principal school for girls in that city, is under the superintendence of a Principal, with whom are associated ten female Assistants. The whole number of pupils is 412, giving to each teacher, including the Principal, about 37 pupils on an average. Here the number of teachers is larger, in proportion to the number of scholars, than in any other school within our knowledge. This example of liberality in furnishing the means of thorough instruction is worthy of imitation. PROBLEM. To inscribe within a given circle, three equal circles touching each other, and each touching the given circle internally. Also, to find the general formula for inscribing any number of circles, upon the conditions above stated. C. C. CHASE, Esq., Principal of the Lowell High School, has been appointed to fill the vacancy in the Editorial Committee, which was occasioned by the resignation of G. B. Emerson, Esq. Keep your head cool by temperance; your feet warm by exercise; and go soon to bed; and if you are inclined to grow fat, keep your eyes open and mouth shut. OLD PARR. DICKINSON PRINTING HOUSE, To whom all letter should be addressed. TERMS-One Dollar per annum in advance, or One Dollar and Fifty Cents at the end of the year. Twenty-five per cent. allowed to agents who procure five subscribers, and all payments by them to be made in advance. THE subject of drawing, as a part of education, has hitherto received but very little attention in our country. It has occasionally been taught as an accomplishment, not very extensively useful, but rather ornamental. It has not been regarded as a means to important ends, but rather as a matter affording harmless relaxation. It has not been viewed as an attainment within the reach of the general mass, but as an acquirement suited to those only who have "the organ of form largely developed." Indeed, it has pretty generally been condemned, as the idle and unprofitable resort of those who are prone to make caricatures of visible objects, rather than puzzle their heads with close application and hard study. But has not the art of drawing high claims to consideration? And can it not be made a part of common education, not only without diminishing the attention given to other branches, but even with an increased facility for progress in those branches? Time and experience, it is believed, will answer these questions in the afirmative. We rejoice that this subject is beginning to receive increased attention, and we trust that the period is not very remote, when a tolerable degree of skill in drawing shall be considered an essential element of a good education. What, then, are the uses of drawing? and what classes of the community would be particularly benefited by skill in the art? An answer to the first question will, in a great measure, be comprehended in a reply to the second. Some of the pupils of our schools are to be employed in engineering and surveying. The number engaged in these pursuits has, within a few years, increased tenfold, and will still ६ continue to increase in time to come. In these professions, ability to draw well is essential to success. However great the scientific knowledge of a young engineer, his progress is very much retarded by a lack of skill, necessary to give a correct and handsome delineation of his work; and there are many instances to prove, that the ultimate success of a beginner has been very materially owing to the accurate and beautiful drawings, which he made of his earliest surveys. A second class who must draw well, or remain unemployed and in obscurity, is architects; and, from the increased and increasing attention to taste in the construction of both public and private edifices, the demand for this class of artists will be greater in future than it has hitherto been. Then come the multitudes employed in the various mechanic arts. The machinist always finds his account in an ability to delineate skilfully. He finds it of great use, not only in his attempts at new inventions and new modifications in machinery, but also in the preparation of working plans, which are to guide his operatives in the execution of their labors. The carpenter, the cabinet-maker, the jeweller, the silversmith, the shoemaker, the tailor, and indeed every one who may be called a mechanic, will be a better workman, and will meet with greater success in his business, by knowing how to sketch accurately any thing which he wishes to make; and especially will he be benefited by his superior ability to originate new and improved patterns, or to make new and improved combinations of the elements of his art. It is stated in a public journal, that a goldsmith, in a neighboring city, lately employed an artist to draw some models for spoons. From these he selected one, for which he paid thirty dollars. Meeting the artist a few days afterwards, he affirmed that he should make ten thousand dollars from the drawing; moreover, that he had had in his own mind the conception of a similar pattern, and should long before have realized that sum from it, if he had been able to draw. Drawing would be of no inconsiderable advantage to professional men. Not unfrequently might a lawyer have a suit to manage, in which, by a graphic delineation, he could make the matter perfectly clear to the jury, when it would otherwise be quite unintelligible; and the physician or surgeon would derive much benefit from the art, in illustrating the various diseases to which he is called to administer, in sketching the different kinds of apparatus used by the profession, or in describing the surgical operations which he might have occasion to perform. To the naturalist, a knowledge of drawing is so important that he can hardly be a naturalist without it. Unless he can delineate the various and changing appearances of the objects of natural history, his progress in the science will be comparatively retarded, and his usefulness much circumscribed. Thus we may easily perceive, that, in a pecuniary point of view, skill in drawing must prove highly beneficial to almost every class of the community. But, independently of its utility as contributing to success in business, its refining and elevating effect is by no means unimportant. He who has learned to depict the beauties of nature and art, more highly appreciates, and more keenly relishes those beauties; and hence has within himself an additional source of innocent enjoyment, and a new motive to moral excellence. The uncultivated eye looks upon the smiling face of nature, and sees little to delight the heart or inform the understanding; but the eye improved by culture sees in every feature much to admire, much to cheer and refine the soul. The untaught peasant gazes with stupid apathy at the Apollo Belvidere; but the man of correct and refined taste realizes in it the perfection of manly beauty and a godlike majesty. Besides the reasons already adduced, drawing should be taught in school as an auxiliary to other studies. It is particularly useful in the study of geography. In many of our best schools, the learner is required, from memory, to construct maps upon the black-board. This is found by experience to be one of the most efficient modes of teaching the subject; and intelligent pupils will, in a few weeks, learn to construct maps with no inconsiderable degree of accuracy, and become intensely interested in the exercise. But it is manifest that regular and systematic instruction in the art of drawing, will have a decidedly beneficial effect in facilitating the acquisition of geography, through the medium of map-drawing. Similar remarks are applicable to the study of geometry, the various departments of natural philosophy, and of natural history. A class of pupils who have learned to draw, and who have been accustomed to construct the requisite diagrams upon the board, will always make more rapid and thorough progress, in consequence of their power of delineation. One great obstacle in the pursuit of these branches, is the difficulty which many learners experience in understanding the plates of the text-book. The magnitude of this obstacle may be estimated from the fact, that students of good abilities and respectable attainments, in other respects, have passed through college without ever perceiving, that the diagrams in solid geometry represented lines and surfaces in several different planes. Had they been taught to construct the figures for themselves, this impediment would have been completely removed. Indeed, so great is the aid derived from a ready comprehension of graphic illustrations, that a scientific man can almost read a new treatise upon a subject with which he is acquainted, by merely looking over the plates. If, then, instruction in drawing is so important to the learner as it has been represented to be, how necessary is it that instructers should be acquainted with it. A professed teacher of the art cannot always be had; he who teaches other departments, must also teach this. But if he does not himself instruct in drawing, it is essential to his success in imparting instruction in several other branches of knowledge, that he have a ready hand in putting upon the black-board such diagrams and other visible illustrations, as are necessary to convey to the student a clear and definite conception of the subject to be taught. We look for the time when drawing will be considered a necessary qualification in a teacher; and we hope that the subject will receive the attention to which it is entitled. MORAL LESSONS SUGGESTED BY THE BOOK OF NATURE. Much complaint is made, and, perhaps, made with reason, that, in our systems of instruction, we teach too exclusively the intellectual, and neglect to inculcate the moral and religious. But, in our endeavors to supply the deficiency, we must not forget the character of our audience. Children dislike long and dry homilies; when too much is said, the effect often disappoints our expectations, and our unwilling and inattentive listeners are worse off than if we had said nothing. But the language uttered by the beneficent provisions and contrivances of nature, ever thrills upon the youthful heart with eloquent strains of conviction and persuasion. This language, indeed, often needs an interpreter; but, when rightly interpreted, it always strikes a chord in the moral being, which vibrates in unison with it. Let the teachers of our schools read and interpret, and the scholars will respond both in their hearts and in the conduct of life. Not only so, but the pupil soon learns of himself to comprehend the characters of living light, inscribed all over the face of creation; he investigates, he reflects, and finds that "the spirit of beauty is everywhere." In the daily exercises of school, there are many opportunities for giving moral instruction, derived from things. This can be imparted, not only without impeding the child's progress in other respects, but also in such a way as to render that progress doubly rapid, by awakening the curiosity, exciting the interest, and securing the attention of the learner. Almost any branch of study may suggest a topic; but if otherwise, the teacher needs never to be at a loss for one. All the sciences are replete with topics. |