Portland gazette and Maine advertiser. (Portland, Me.) 1805-1818, 1815-06-05
@isfelianv.


~
Perhaps nc subjec,, al his Imc, IS more In
tel sting 10 eve man, he is a member Of
free ale, than .n&t of schools. THIS proposition
may be tboughl by some 10 be stated in 100 gen.
eyal Germs, and TO require some modification 81
least but il appears 30 me strictly and literally
true. Does il rot admit OF logical demonstra.
ton Every citizen has right 20 vote; and
he suff. age of The most ignorant has equal
weight with that of he best informed. lgno-
rance, then, is as fatal 10 our political institu>'
tons ss vice. Indeed political vice is sure con-
mi, ant of ignos ance. This subject presented
itself, in all its importance, to The sagacious
mind Of MI Ames. He saw cleatly the aaboun-
ded influence of the education OF The conimon
,eople upon such government as ours
To charge the public with neglect might
sound big, and pass for defamation (: and 1t
would doubtless be unjust in the sense, in
winch such charge would be understood.
Mass chusetts, IN her legislative caPaclty, has
perhaps done all size Can do for the improve.
ment of common schools Much must uaayoid-
ably be letk 10 the patriotic exetuons OF boards
md individuals. They must encourage they
must reform j; they must suggest improvements;
or legislative exerllon will fail OF halt It's object
Under these Impressions / wife. ask espe
cisIiy the attention of those gentlemen, who are
-mpioy d, usually ia The wlDier, IN hs csre and
that been my own employment i'll Tie same sea
son Of The year !; and have myself contrbu ed
0 perpet uate The same esils, on which shall
aow have occasion 10 anlmadyert. .t
My first remark is, that lie practice OF keep
ing manuscript copyo OF Arlthmetc, or what
Is usually called cyphering~book, is injurious TO
ne Individual, Injurious 20 .he whole school, and
unnecessarily laoorious 10 he tescher. THESE
ehree positions we will take up separately.
But before we proceed 10 Tue proof OF Them,
let Us enquire what gave rise to the prsctce OF
keeping cYpher books. Ii IT shall appear
chat me Cause, winch introduced them, no Ion
ger exists, then The horny and practice OF
our forefsthers cannot sane ion the present prac.
flce q
Veee not manuscril made at frst because
Arithme,ics were scarce and dear Some old
aeo lie, believe, can tell us At least this
W.. the eene, al reason Of their being used.
teV Schools, OF some individuals might to!losp
the fashion. MANY school, when his Country
was new, and printng.prease scarce, had ou'
4 single Arithmetic in II, and that belonged y
the teacher. Boys often had no more than three,
six, or nlne months schooling. Part OF tins
lre, as we have always been commercial peo-
nie, they would devote 10 the study u arithmetic.
AS they had no time to establish principles anu
perhaps their instructors were unable 10 ssss
them in the work they would naturally write
down the rules for tear OF forgetting them. The
tran ialon from writing rules, 20 writing rules
and :. aam," both. is very easy and 10 a cy-
phering book is made.
Now ask, is fot the cause entirely removed
Twenty eve cents will now buy more Afiihme-
nc in print, than ever saw IN single maui
script. Let us not then weary ourselves 20 wIitt
like one Of the Ancients. since the art OF print
ing is iayenlcd and books are so cheap. In
our next We will prove the three polnts, staten
above. AhAOo' r