Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1868-06-18
SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY SERIES OF SCHOOL BOOKS.

SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY SERIES OF SCHOOL BOOKS.
PUBLISHED BY RICHARDSON & COMPANY, New
YoRK.-For many years past, the school books
prepared at the North, have become more and more
unfit for the purposes of education at the South.
Besides being prepared generally for the ,oholesale
system of instruction pursued in Northern public
schools-a system not yet in vogue among us
they are commonly filled with illusions, illustra-
tions, and Statements calculated to wound our
self-love, and to give to our children erroneous
views ofour resources, characteristics and civza-
ton, past and present Too evidently is the latter
objection true of the Biographies and Histories
lately published, or orrevised. Through selfrespect,
many of our thoughtful teachers have been forced
to the less evil of adopting antiquated works on
those several subjects. Now we are very far from
advocating sectionalism, or partizanship, in the
grave business of instructing youth: the knowledge
which is necessarily impaired during the process Of
mental training, should be cuAed with scrupulous-
| ly impartial. care from the broadest commons Of
moral, historic and scientific truth. But if this
cannot always be done in history and descriptive
works. let U.s. by yameans, select such these as are
most in sympathy with the genius and traditions Of
the South. But FEW attempts have been heretofore
made, by Southern scholars to remedy the increas-
ing evil alluded to; aud these attempts have been,
for the. most part, .1hsuccessful and ilsustaned.
The truth is, We have had able and brilliant wri-
ters and thinkers III abundance, but no professional
Jook-naakers, no Parkers and Quackenboses who,
for stated sum Of money, within stated time,
will compile very respectable textbook upon any
given subject, within the whole range Of human
knowledge. As natural consequence, Southern
teachers have been forced to choose from North
ern works, Objectionable as they are, and to con-
tend as best they may, with all the disadvantages
arising from the want of progressive continuity in
their most careful Selections To them, therefore,
and to parents and pupils also, the appearance of
the series mentioned at the head Of this article,
brings with it an emancipation long desired and
full of brightest promise Simplicity in the plan
of instruction, economy of time and labor, and the
substitution of impartial truth and the most recent
developments Of science for sectional preudices and
exploded hearsays are the cheering promises it
gives. Any one Of these alone is sufficient to re-
commend the series to the most favorable reception
among US, but the combination of them all, renders
its adoption matter of duty. Of the many dis
advantages attendant upon the diverse selection Of
Textbooks, now in use in Southern schools we will
cite but one, namely the loss of time and increase
of labor consequent upon every change of school or
teacher At every such change, the pupil must
generally unlearn much of what he has acquired,
and begin again in new textbooks, with new tech
nicaties and modes of treatment, subjects which
he has already been studying year or more. Now
these changes are frequently unavoidable and the
only remedy we know for their i'll consequences to
both pupil and teacher, is the general introduction
of the University series which is complied upon o
plan at once uniform, progressive, and complete.
All honor, then, to the accomplished Southern
scholars who have undertaken with ZEAL the Ia
borious task of producing these books and to the
enterprising publishers who are bringing all the
sources of the topographic art to bear in their pub
lication.
But however enthusiastic we may be in welcom-
ing this series and advocating its adoption through
out the South, we are, nevertheless, unwilling to
give our humble sanction to any particular book
belonging to it which does not come fully up to the
promised standard. We propose to examine, with
candor and care, theseveral parts as they success
sively appear and to express our honest convic-
tons of their merits or dement's. The dignity and
importance of the enterprise, and justice to those
of our readers who may be influenced by our opin-
IONS alike demand this of u.s.
The first instalment which We have received and
examined consist First, of the following complete
series of Readers, prepared by Prof George F.
Holmes, of the Virginia University, viz: Primer,
Elementary .Speller and First, Second, Third,
Fourth and Fifth Readers-to the whole of which
we give unqualified appreciation. The Primer
sets aside the humdrum alb, ab, b..a ba plan of
the old books, and proceeds upon simple, natural
method calculated to attract the attention of the
little beginner, and by the association of sensible
images with the letters and elementary sounds, to
make permanent impressions on his mind. This
little book should be in every household which con-
tains an abecedarian. If the authors directions
in the preface be we'll considered and patiently
followed, we will guarantee the most satisfactory
results The Speer is arranged upon some
what similar plan, and after the most approved
standards of syllabication, photography, and pro
nunciation In the Readers, which are all filled
with pictorial illustrations, except the last, in
which such embellishments are unnecessary-scr
puous care has been observed in the selection and
progressive arrangement the matter. Beginning
in the First and continuing throughout the others,
upon the lne-upon-line principle, are chapters on
punctuation, accentuation, infection, and modula-
tion covering all the rules of the art Of Eocution
To this series, we believe School Speaker is to
be added; which will leave nothing further to be
desired It may seem to some that the books OF
this department are too numerous; but this obec-
ton is apparent merely for there is necessity for
review. The pupil passes without difficulty from
one to the next higher, and, in the course OF two
or three years, is in possession Of all the leading
principles of an art, Of which very many lawyers,
divines and we regret to state, teachers too, are
lamentably ignorant.
iSecondhy, of the first three of the Mathematical
series-by Prof G. s. Venable, of the same Uni
versity-consisting of First Lessons IN Numbers
Mental Arithmetic, and an arithmetic, Pure and
Commercial The first is most admirable little
book-simple, we'll graduated, filled with little pic
lures to interest the child and give him vivid ideas
of numbers and Of the relations which subsist be-
tween them 1t is just the book the mother needs.
To her, and to other teachers of little beginners,
we commend it without hesitation. The Mental
Arithmetic is, like the former, prepared after the
Pestolozzian method, and is intended to follow it,
and to be used in part as companion to the next
hook of the series It is capital drill ll-book, comes