The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1879-12-13

anu III times was as turbulent as the river
itself QUILP.
PUBLIC LIBRARIES AND THE CON-
MON SCHOOL SYSTEM.
The public library is the permanent COM
mon school of the whole community, but its
value depends largely upon the habit of
| reading among those who use it. This ha bit
IS generally unframed. The reader comes
with a desire of knowledge and Of enter
| tainment. There is no direction for his
reading, and he naturally takes to fiction.
An inquiry lately made at the Library of
the State of New York, at Albany, which
is a free reading library, showed that it was
frcquented in Winter by people who came
to sit i'll a warm room and read novels.
| Upon this genera! unregulated desire of
literary entertainment Mr.. Charles Francis
Adams, Jr., would rear a taste for itera-
ture at once entertaining and educative and
elevating, and, to our great pleasure, he Sc
lects Hdrper'S Monthly rs the most powerful
| pioneer aud missionary for that purpose.
| III the course Of the discussion he points out
the heneicent changes in public libraries by
citing from the autobiography Of Stephen
| Burroughs, a gentleman who at times "came
in somewhat violent contact with the laws
of his country He was a New Highlander
| figure of the last century, who was justly
expelled from Dartmouth College, and was
| afterward a preacher, counterfciter, a jail
breaker, 4 school-maSter, and for his mis-
| conduct in the last office came to the whip
| ping post in Worcester in 1890. Having
graduated at the whipping post he appeared
as 4 school-master on Long Island, and,
| finding The community destitute of all read
ing but school books and Bibles, he proposed
| to collect library for the Use of the young
| people.
After consultation and effort some money
was raised, and i committee named to Sc
lcct books.
| Burroughs made a reasonable choice, hut
Deacon Hedges brought forward as hfs list,
| Essays on tie Dirins authority for Infant Bap-
| tism, Terms Of Church Communion, The Care
| ful Ndtcl,man, Age Of Grdre-all doubtless
excellent, but yet not the kind of literary
entertainment for which the young people
of the district could be supposed to be hum
gering and thirsting: Deacon Cook offered
another list Of similar charm: History Of
Martyrs, Rights Of Conscience Modern Phari-
sees, Defense Of Separates: the Rev. Mr..
Woodwork proposed History Of Redcm.ytion,
Edscdyds against Chduncey, Jennings's Iie,c,
and Judge Hurbut concurrcd in the list as
very suitable for youthful reading Dr. Rose,
probably . latitudinarian physician, sng-
geSted G0y'S Fables, Pleasing Compilation,
Tarhish Spy; while Burroughs recommend
ed Hume's History, Ioltaire's Histories, Rol-
Inns -iHcient History, Putorch's Lires, etc.
| There was a tremendous debate, and at last
Il compromise list was adopted. But when,
| subsequently, a book was bought from the
| collection of Judge Hurlbut who had con-
| Cured in Rev. Mr.. Woolworth's selection,
| Burroughs found a destical treatise in it,
and, as Mr.. Adams says, he proceeded, so
| to speak, to make it uncomtortaby warm
| for the judge and his reverend friend. The
| committee had hot discussion about ex-
| Guiding the venomous work. but when a
| motion to have the obnoxious parts read
aloud to the committee failed, the commit
| tee also voted against excluding it, because,
| as Burroughs says, those who had read it
| were more afraid for others than for them
| selves, and those who had not read it had
| an eager curiosity to sec for themselves the
naughty thing. "Could anything better
mark the advance which has, OF late years,
been made in a correct understanding of
| that intellectual food which the popular
taste demands ." says Mr.. Adams; and we
say amen. "Frem Edicdrds against ChauR-
cey and Rollins IncieM History to Harper
MonM'y' What giants they must have been,
or what husks they Suh>isted OIL, in those
days
Mr.. -ilamsS caustic criticism upon some
aspects of the common school system are
| not less valuable. OE- of his pictures will
b. universally recognized, and it will sug-
sest certainly great deal of reflection. He
is speaking of the examination at the
| district school "These examinations were
= study for the humorist. y day was pub
| licly assigned for each school, and on that
| lay the children We're present in their best
| clothes; the benches We're crowded. and q.
| tolerablc representation of parents and
| friends occupied the vacant spaces of the
room. The committee sat upon the plat
| form in dignifed silence, and the teacher
| conducted the exercises over safe and famil-
;r,- 70. friIr -,
some peculiarly unnatural bit of childish
defamation. Then the chairman aud other
mem berS of the committee We're asked to
| crafty the children with Il few remarks,
| which it is unnecessary to say were of :,
| highly conmcndatory character. The whole
| thing was sham. After it was over the
| committee knew nothing more about the
school than they did before it began; and as
| for tests, there We're none"
Six years ago, however, a change was in
troduced. The committee themselves OK
amined the scholars. "The result was de-
| plorablc. The schools went to pieces
| That is to say, the scholars who recited
| .libly by roto could not apply the rules
| which they repeated. This discovery led to
| thorough reorganization of tho system,
| and the result was not only instruction
| which was both intelligent and effective,
| but a method SO attractive that the whin-
| ing school boy became a willing disciple
| And this was due to the selection of super
| intendent who understood that teaching was
| 4 science and who had carefully trained
| himself in it by study OF the best foreign
| methods. 1t is singular that in the land of
| common schools it should have been only
| recently discovered that teaching is sci
ence for which training is as useful as for
any other. With ruthless sincerity Mr.
| Adams says: every much as Bentham de-
| fined a judge as an advocate run to seed,
| the ordinary superintendent is apt to be a
| grammar school teacher in n similar cendi-
| ton. Where he is not this, he is usually
some retired clergyman or local politician
| ont Of job, who has no more idea of the
| processes Of mental development, er the
| science Of training than the average school
master has of the object of teaching Eng
fish grammar" The University OF Micni-
gan has recognized the necessity OF training
by founding 4 chair for tcachin. the science
of teaching.
Massachusetts is regarded rs 4 model