Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1846-03-06


take this School, confessedly, the worst in
Boston. The place was solicited by young
man in whose heart was an all-perSadinv
faith in the power of kind ness to control the
hayward and disobedient. SO strong was.
his conviction that Good was mightier than
Evil, that he Sought a place in this School
rather than any other, because it was %univer-
sally regarded as the worst in the City, and
he wished the experiment of governing chill
dren by the power of Love to be tried under
circumstances which would serve 10 make
the result as impressive as possible. 1t was
in August last, that MIR. AMBROSE WELLING-
TON, the young man to whom we allude, en-
tered the School as its teacher. MOI one Of
his Scholars has he struck Il JbC from TINT day
10 The present. by those gentle means only
which are in strict conformity TO his grand
idea of Moral Influence in distinction from
Physical Force, has he sought to control tho
actions of those under his charge. And what
has bee the RESULT In the first place his
kindness won for him the warm affection and
confidence of his Scholars, and when these
had been secured, the grand obstacle TO the
complete success of his experiment was re-
moved. he fights and brawls which were
common under the old system, grew less and
less frequent, the children gradually acquired
"a CIV CClltlO VI tllNll DdoolOIos III q lOilE IA
a healthy sentiment in favor of good order
and diligence in study pervaded the School.
The hardest boys were subdued to gentleness
by the forbearance of their teacher, and won
to the path of virtu GUS emulation by his deep
interest in their welfare. The change in the
aspect Of the School is said by those who
have witnessed it, to be wonderful indeed.
Thus far we have stated facts as they were
communicated to US not long since in Boston.
Our attention has just been recalled 10 the
subject by a communication in the Boston A.
las, in which we find it stated that the Com
mlttee appointed to inquire into the condition
Of the School since the new Teacher entered
upon his labors have just made a report,
founded upon a very thorough examination,
in which they express themselves most agree
ably disappointed in its condition. They
speak in strong terms Of satisfaction of the
progress Of the Scholars, the good order of the
School and the kind and paternal discipline
of the master. The report is said to be from
the pen Of Rev. DIR. Sharpe, a distinguished
Baptist Clergyman, and his associates were
Rev. Z. W. =. Wells, an Episcopalian, and
Rev. Charles BrOOhs, a Unitarian. Well does
the writer in the Atlas say =
"To those who are familiar with the recent
history and previous condition of the Smith
School, this result, attested by such unex-
ceptionable witnesses as MeSsrs. Sharpe,
Brooks and Wells, is deserving of especial
remark. We have italicised above, the words
good order. We did so, that all those who
look to the rod, the %ferrule, and the scourge,
as the only safe and reliable means Of pre-
serving "gG0I order" in Il school-room, al
though the voice Of public indignation is ban
ishing it from our State Prisons, and the backs
Of convicted felons, may notice the Jact that
good ord:r does erist to an extent that may
challenge comparison with any school-room
in Boston, in the Smith School, Where there
has not been a single BLOW Struch since The pre-
senf master tooA possession Of The scAoo! roqm-
Mark this, all ye who scout at the idea of go-
verning by moral influences, and by moral
%suasion! Here in the Smith School-ac-
knOwledged on all hands to be the worst pos
slble field for the experiment Of governing
children BY kindness rather than by The SAY
T%HORITY, FORCE, FEAR" of the ''thirty-ohe''-
here, among a class Of children, to whom
some of you profess to believe Heaven has
denied the same mental and intellectual adj
Yaniages that he has given to a whittier skin;
here, certainly, among children, the poverty
and even viciousness of the parents of a por-
ton, Of whom neglect and bad treatment at
home, bad associates, and the injustice Of So
clety to a large proportion, have been tho
WORST possible pTeparatlNcS Tor such a trial;
here, too, where a little more than a year ago,
the employment of the bastinado, and the most
lnglorious devices of cruelty, if not justified,
were at least palliated by Mr.. Frederick En-
erson, your great apostle, and the continuance
OF the late master in Office recommended, be-
cause milder government would be out of
place among such children here, in this
most unflvorable Of all fields III t could be-
selected for such an experiment, the trial has
been made, and thus far with a success that
Is surprising only to those who have been so
unfortunate as to have no faith in the supe-
rior advantages of moral influences over tho
degrading appliances of corporeal punishment
and physica! pain. let all those who still
adhere to the belief lhatif you abolish or hang
up the rod, chaos will come again, contrast
the present state of good order in the Smith
school, where the ''perStasice" only is in
torce, with that of Eliot, where the report Of
their committee informs us the 8 impnlsiye"
a%bounds, and my word for it, the state and
prospects of the latter-not their skin perhaps
will be found to be darker than those of the,
former"
We hope this example may do much to aid
The efforts now making in Massachusetts and
elsewhere to abolish the brutal practice or
Flogging in Schools. That the tendency Of
practice is to degrade both Teacher and
Scholar can hardly be doubted by any one,
who will c%andidly reflect upon the subject,
while Its utter want of adaptation to produce
obedience, is a sufficient reason why.