The examiner. [volume] (Louisville, Ky.) 1847-1849, 1849-03-17

their children are entrusted. Do they not know
that those teachers are exerting influences over
the miads and hearts Of the young, which will
not pass away, but remain forever; influences
which. as has been beautifully said, like the
letters written with certain chemical prepare
tons upon paper, remain legible and Distinct
even when the substance upon which they are
written is burned to sshes2 And 10 Il Of no i'm
portance to parents whether the influences be
good OF bad, ennobling or degradingl II is Of
unuttsrabls importance that the influences be
Of the right kind. And. yet, We venture to shy,
that there are schools In Louisville which are
not visited by the parents of the scholars who
attend them, from the years beginning to Its end,
not even on the day of public examination.--
This ought not to be. II is all wrong. Such
indifference Is an injury TO the pupils, who ma
turslly must infer that no Importance is attached
to education BY their parents. Ii Is an injury TO
the teacher, who needs the encouragement which
the sympathy of parents can give. According
to our view the cause of education Is a sacred
cause, one demanding the conservation of the
best powers and the purest affections. The
teacher should enter upon his ofhce with as
much seriousness of purpose as ever minister
entered upon the duties Of his sacred calling;
and parents should cooperate with the teacher
with the same zeal and perseverance, with which
they would second thu efforts Of a respected and
faithful pastor. In fact the relation between
tsachsn, and parents should be characterised by
~ strong frisndship a. ever chsrsctsrssed the
relation between mlnister and his congrega-
ton. Teachers shoull visit the parsab freely
at their homss.- and -psrsnss -ehesld visit the
teschenI freely in their schools. Children, then,
seeing she imporsanct' attached to educational
interests by those whom they most revere and
by whom they are mist powerfully Influenced,
would attach corresponding Importance to the
subject, and engage with new zeal In their ap-
pointed work. Thus ghe labors of the teacher
would at once be rendered more interesting and
more effective. and the moral, no less than the
intellectual, influence Of the schools DO of the
highest order.
One more suggestion we must make. Many
Of the buildings employed for school purposes,
In Louisville, are utterly unfit for use, contrac.
ted. diispidsted. shabby and disagreeabls in the
extreme. Unpleasant as they are to the eye,
they are no less injurious to the health Of both
teachers and scholars. II speaks well for the
fidelity Of the teachers who are so unfortunate
as to occupy such rooms, rooms which, only
by an inadmissible figure Of speech and an un-
Psrdonable stretch of Imagination, can be called
school-rooms, that they have succeeded In
keeping the children together. If the parents
were accustomed to visit the schools, the use Of
such rooms would not be tolerated for a week
That they are tolerated 10 reprosch and dis
grace to our city. We earnestly hope that
change for the better may soon be Effected
The only obstacle in the way is the alleged
poverty ofthe city. A city must be poor indeed
which cannot afford healthy and comfortable
accommodation for its children-while those
children are preparing TO become useful and
respectable citizens. We distrust this plea of
poverty. We respond heartily to the feelings
of pupil in one of the public schools, a bright
and intelligent girl, who said that while the
city was able to waste hundreds Of dollar. in an
appropriation to Presidential dinners" II could
i'll plead poverty an excuse for refusal 10 pro-
vide suitable rooms fer the education of lis
children.
We have used the language of encourage
ment.and hope, in speaking Of the Public Schools
Of our city. We feel encouraged when we
sompare their entire condition at present with
their condition in former years. But we must
confess that in one particular there has been
retrogression instead Of advancement A few
years since We had High School or College to
which thirty pupils from the G Grammar Schools,
possessing the requisite qualifications of char
acter and scholarship might be annually admit
ted. This was beautiful feature in our sys-
tenn, feature which rendered the whole system
attractive TO all Glasses but one 10 children of the
hambesta as well as ofthe more fovored ofour cit-
zens. Then TO all portions of society was freely
granted the privilege of making honorable at
tainments in all the departments of science and
literature. That featur, no longer adorns the
system. We understand that to one class, a
small one we trust, the feature was rep ulsiye
because Of its beauty. II made The schools too
rood for public schools. The Corinthisn CAPT
lal was therefore torn from tho column, and
Torn, not as the graceful works Of Grecian art
were stolen by artistic plunderers to adorn
other lands, but simply TO be destroyed. For
Iunately the column remains, erect and firm,
and it may yet be adorned by more beautiful
capital than graced 1t before. Our city has
ust completed a building for the Academicsl
department. Of the University, building which
ioes great credit to its architect, and we trust
hat ere long course Of instruction may be
therein corresponding in Its excel
enee to the outward beauty Of the building,
md that that course may be freely opened to
III deserving pupils from the public schools.
The Twsnsy-nhh of April. |