The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1844-07-04
COM NJ UNIC TON S.
For tie Voice of Freedom.
READING IN COMMON SCHOOLS.

READING IN COMMON SCHOOLS.
| wish 10 call the attention of parents ant
teachers to series Of new reading books to
our common schools, called the moral In
s,ructor.' The series comprises four books
the first being Primmer for beg inners.-
The I'd and Sd part contain beautiful stories
of high moral character, calculated to in
terest and instruct children in the highest
possible degree. Indeed doubt that moral
lily was ever made so interesting and win
ming 10 the hearts Of children. Piety is ven
Grated but no sectarianism is taught. The
4lh part is called THE Yankee Boy and is
a continuous story of Green Mountain boy.
The author is Vermonter, which every
one would know by reading this story. 1t
seems pity that while these excellent
books are being introduced extensively into
the common schools of Mass. and N. Y.
that they should not also find adtnittance
into the schools of this State, where they
are calculated to be still more interesting
The design of these books is to bring about
reform in our common schools in regard
TO teaching that most important branch Of
intellectual education, reading. The fol-
lowing is an extract from the preface to part
I'd which should like to see inserted in The
Voice. FRANK.
Morality is placed on its real basis, DU.
TY on the RIGHT, the JUST, the TRUE. The
child is led TO look aDithin for the reward oil
virtue and the punishment of vice, and not
10 external things. Here lies the error in
10 which The teachers Of early youth are so
prone TO fall. Tangible rewards and pun
lshmenls, The qualification OF our passions,
or the attainment of our wishes, form the
burden of nearly all the moral instruction Of
childhood, whether written or oral. Does
this accord with the plan Of Providence q
is the reward of virtue bread2 No won>
der that persons bred In such a doctrine
deem the course of Providence mysterious,
when vice appears in a chariot, virtue In
rags! The plan pursued in the Moral ln>
sructor differs altogether from this. The
aim is to show. that, while industry and
economy are generally accompanied by tenn
poral prosperity, idieness and rrodigatity
by adversely, the reward Of Uirtue is difer-
ent in kind, and OF a nature infinitely pref
cradle. That, thong external happiness
and comfort are undoubtedly promoted by a
vrluous course of conduct, YET the chief de-
light attendant on virtue is TO be found, not
10 any thing external, but in the internal
of the soul, a delight which
the world can neither give nor take away.
That the punishment OF vice is of similar |
That it does not consist in pow
erly, or in the lack of worldly honors but |
in discomfort and internal misery, whatever
may be the external situation Of the victim. |
What but mlsanthropy or vicious courses
can arise from the opposite, sensual doe
trine2 When temporal prosperity is held |
up as the reward of virtue; when property |
is considered the grand object of pursuit,
how can it be a matter Of surprise, that men,
in their attempts IL rise in the |
world BY this course OF action, should turn |
TO the shorter road OF knavery and deceit |
Nothing, surely, can be more natural. But, |
while the internal happiness attendant on
virtue, and the misery unavoidably attached |
to vice. are frequently adverted TO, this hap |
piness and misery are presented simply as |
natural results, net as motives to aciion
The question is always, is it right or
wrong is it our duty p never what shall
we gain by it?' No. Sel6shness, even in |
its most refined forms, will find, ii is beiev-
ed, no encouragement here. The constant
aim is, to lead the people to virtue, not so
much because it is profitable, as because it
is just and right, and in conformity to the
oUiH Of God