The star of the north. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1849-1866, 1857-02-18

been received and present much interesting
matter for reflection. The mos,froubIe seenla
10 exist IL Bradford county, and ibs most op-
position came from there last winter The
Bucks cennly report contains The following
pssssees.
/ "An exposition Of The condition Of few
schools, as extracted from my mole boob, /,
will give as just q view OF them as can be
ob,aiesd and by exposing the defects Of
some and showing The goodness of olhep,
may cause the plans Of operation in the for
mer to be shunned and those Of The latter 10
be adopted.
:" In one school where had drawn q map
Of Pennsylvania on The blackboard, the same
diagram had remained for year, The board
never having been used in the iieim.
sin another not a scholar in The school
could iell me in whal country he lived, and
when held up Holbrook's five inch globe,
The oceans on which were painted blue, and
asked what ii was, a large boy, at least IL
years of age, replied, "a birds eggp
"At one school, where called, the leach
er came 10 the door; il was storming severe :
ly; without any salutaon or token OF recog-
niiion, be hastily Withdrew, and by the time
my horse was tied and blanketeG, anI my
school apparatus placed in the doorway, he
had roughly sketched map Of his own State
on each of the TWO black boards, which the
directors had recently procured for him.
Divesting myself Of my we. hat and over
coat. stepped 10 one of the boards, aud ex-
pressing my pleasure at the interest thus
manifested in the study of geography, COM
menced pointing out with ruler the bound
aries and rivers, inquiring OF the scholars at
the same time what they were. l was una
BILE TO get single answer from any of them,
because this was their first "dr.ll" They
| inierchanged sly looks with each other, as
boled This lime.'
"Al the time of my visit 10 another school,
with eight good windows in III 9 room, three
of them only had The shutters open. The
mephitic atmosphere was very oppressive
and offensive but il was not long before the
! sashes OF oil were raised and free circula-
tioa of pure air admitted. Although this was
lale in the summer, the house had not been
whilewashed this season, nor The desks, seats
and floors scrubbed aud cleaned. The room
might be fairly characterized as filthy and
unbe alihy, and bu, little wonder need be ex.
| pressed that child compos mentis, should be,
| ae hara "a ras ituaIuo he
ing its letters! This teacher asked me if I
thought The schools throughout the county
were any better than before the County Su-
perinendency. Judging from things about
| him, the question was natural enough.
"Soon after this visited another of an up
! rorious character. There were several infants
hete who were moi old enough, according 10
1 law, 10 be admitted. The teacher said she
bad been infoE,ned b, . director that the pa
rents Of lhsss psbss wolM pay her for ta-
king care of ihein, and very sfilessly inqur.
"a. e ~ ekaf ske opet q skarsei or late
YEAR, 81 hsv,ae best 4qzk accustomed to
nursing, was unabIs to hx the rate, and
surprised her very much by informing heI
she had no business TO have them in school
at ALL"
The following case from Monroe county is
much like some we could give of Columbia
ifitwould do any good and illustrates what
kind of men taught SCHOOLS before examina.
tons we're required
| "There was one man who came TO me,
who was wiser than all the rest, with a teach
er for examination. Here said he, is a
schoomaster want you 10 inspect; he is
good enough to leach our schools; have
been a school director for fourteen years and
have hired all the teachers. We don't want
any law we don't wan, you TO visit ou: dis
tric,; we gel this man chap fOI ten dollars
and board give him certificates so he can
get his money! Ithen addressed the teacher
and tried 10 make myself sociable. | wished
10 know where his native place was. q don'l
know he answered. His friend told him
only wanted 10 know where he lived when
be was at l,ome.' 'Op said he, Il live in
Bushkill township, Northampton county,
How far are your best scholars advanced in
arithmetic p About three miles said Mr..
Pedagogus. His friend looking a little sur.
prised, put lbe question in his own language
| How far has your biggest boy ciphered g
%! l believe my biggest boy has ciPheied
as far as the single rule Of tourIF There
happened TO be number Of intelligent per-
sons present who were excited 10 laughter
and they remarked that this and similar in.
stances would have tendency to awaken
the people on The subject Of educsiiou. Itis
needless TO say ihst the old man and his
school teacher went home somewha, disap-
pointed"
OF course we have only selected the mosl
elaring instances of ignorance and folly from
the pamphlet before US, and the publication
of these will we are confident, do greaI
deal OF good. There are hundreds of Other
paragraphs, showing tie progress made IN all
| Ihe counties in the mode of teaching, the
improvement in schoo-housss, and the in.
creased interest in education among the whole
people, which are very encouraging. Lord
Palmerston lately undertook (aud very hap.
PLY succeeded) TO prove the fallacy Of the
oft-quoled line,