The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-06-04
About School Books.

execute ule WOrk Oi drUiFRilnOuI having
the best material at his disposal. The same
is true with regard to the teacher. No
schoolmaster, however learned, capable'or
faithful, can make good scholars out OF his
pupils, unless the instruments which he EN-
ploys, the school books, are good and tit for
the purpose. We have often heard teachers
blamed for teaching this or that branch OF
education in an unsatisfactory manner. The
objection has been well founded, and yet
may have been unjust, as far as the teacher
was concerned. No school can be kept
without scfool books, no class can be well
taught without good school books. When o
teacher has, as was the case some years ago.
no choice of geographical text books, but is
compelled to use that miserable thing called
"NIitchelrs Geography" which all the now
grown-up boys and girls in Charleston,
no doubt remember with disgust, he has
to 'hear"- geography lesson without a
chance Of making the study interesting;
when he has only Adams's Latin, or Muir
rays English Grammar at his disposal, his
scholars have to wade through hundred
pages and more of dry chronological sawdust,
before they arrive at the pleasant task OF
constructing or translating sentence; when
Peter Farley is the only cook to serve up
silIy,and often incorrect dishes Of history, it
cannot be expected that boy should take
to history, or remember what he has cram
med into his head, paragraph after para
graph. School bo9ks are, therefore, an I'M
portant item in education; they should be
practical, interesting, clear and thorough, at
the same time Fortunately for the school
masters and scholars of this country, there
has been OF late marked improvement in
the construction of school books. PROBES
sional teachers of sound learning and large
practical experience in the workings OF the
classroom, have been employed in writing
them. Peter Farley, Mitchell, Adams and
Murray have disappeared from the stage,
and are superseded by Cornell, Kubner,
McCllntock, Holmes and yenaole Even
eminent men and distinguished savants,
like Lieutenant Maury, have condescended
to write geographical school books, or, like
the eContes, are illustrating the elements
of natural science for our school boys and
girls; experienced teachers OF less note have
furnished grammars and readers, founded
on rational system; in short, the l>Sst edu-
cational talent OF the country has been en-
ployed to prepare the means which the mas
ter requires for successful instruction. The
new era of good text books promises an i'm
proved era in the all-important art of teach
ing.
But o school book should not only be
practical, interesting, clear and thorough,
as we have said before, it should also he i'm
partial and inoffansive, especially in 4 coun-
try like ours, which still consists, in habits
of thought, in opinion and feeling, OF two sec
tions-the North and. the south-whatever
our illustrious politicians in Washington
may say and think to the contrary. We OF
the South don't want Northern books with
Northern notions, unless those notions are
agreeable to US and just in themselves; we
dont't want s'Nationa" books BY name,
when they are sectional in their character To
illustrate: We don't want histories Of the
United States, in which we are called rebels
and traitors, in which General Grant is glo-
rihed and General Lee is abused; we want
silence on that subject Nor do we want
'.National Readers" with nothing but ex-
tracts from Northern and occasionally Eng
lish writers in them; we don't want our
school boys to read what the Rev. MIR. Henry
Ward Beecher said on the ruins OF Fort Sum-
ter, after we had fired our last gun and
had evacuated that glorious spot OF South
Carolina We have no use at all here in this
latitude for Mr. Henry Ward Beecher. We
don't believe in him, neither in his religion,
nor in his politics, nor in his social ideas.
We do not require that Northern school
books should be written especially to suit
the Southern palate, to aatter Southern
SdlllIg VIC QU uOl C-.pSSl SuuS tHS AS"0Oi .
which we place into our boys hands should
contain only extracts from the prose writ
ings OF Simms, Mlury, Legare and Trescott,
or poetry from the pen OF Timrod, Gilman,
Hayne or Randall Though we are hetero-
dox enough, at any time, to prefer Timrod
to Oliver Wendell Holmes, Mrs. Gilman to
Airs. Stowe, and Randall to Cullen Bryant
but we would like TO have at least pleasant
and inoGensiye mixture OF both. We so
even step further-we deem it ON, duty
to urge upon our teachers.as tier duty, not
TO countenance even otherwise good text
books, which contain passages and extracts
like those referred TO above, but rather to
use exclusively either Northern books which
are FREQ from those objections, or what is
still better and more patriotic, to support
exclusively good publications OF Southern
writer's, whenever they can be had
We have been induced to make these re-
marks, because we desire in a future issue
to call the attention Of Southern teachers