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go far towards the removal of the difficulty. Let the District Committees, on whom rests the responsibility, see to it then that these requirements are faithfully complied with. Let there be no infringement, directly or indirectly, upon the injunction now existing against out of school lessons on the part of the girls. provision, it has been said, - and from personal observation we know it to have been truly said, - is now violated both directly and indirectly. "In some schools," says the Report above named, "it is put to the vote of the children to decide whether they will consent to get lessons out of school. The provision is violated indirectly by permitting or requiring pupils to come before school hours, or remain after school hours, for the purpose of learning their lessons. The rule in regard to recess is violated. Pupils are permitted or required to study at recess, instead of occupying the time prescribed in exercise and relaxation and recreation." Let this be reformed altogether. Let the time appropriated for recreation and physical exercise be sacredly devoted to these specific objects, not curtailed or hurried over, or taken from out of school hours. Above all, let the physical condition and development and sound health of the pupils come in for their full share of credits, in determining the. merits of each school; and let those schools stand confessedly first in estimation and in rank, which are found to have most benefited their pupils physically and morally, as well as intellectually; and, finally, let such teachers as continue systematically to persist in subjecting their schools to undue pressure, receive openly and unqualifiedly the condemnation of this Board.

Another subject, always important in its bearing upon the educational welfare of a community, and which, at the present time, perhaps, is receiving more than its usual share of attention, is that of school discipline. In this connection the question of corporal punishment in our schools naturally comes up. In our code of Regulations it is made the duty of all instructors in the public schools, " to aim at such discipline in their schools as would be exercised by a kind, judicious parent in his family, and to avoid corporal punishment in all cases where good order can be preserved by milder measures." And it is also made the duty of the several masters and teachers in the public schools to keep a record of all instances of inflicting corporal punishment, which they shall submit to their respective Committees at each quarterly examination, when said record shall be erased. During the past year a Special Committee was raised to inquire how far the above rule had been complied with, and to what extent corporal punishment had been carried. The Report of that Committee does not fall within the transactions of the school year with which we have to deal, and is not, therefore, within our scope to consider. As applicable to this point, however, and at the same time as fully expressing the views of your Committee, we beg leave to quote from the recent admirable Report of the Board of Education for Massachusetts:

"There are two extremes, in the management of children, one in the line of corporal punishment, the other in that of moral suasion, - which are alike to be avoided. An excess of beating was the special vice of former ages. The strong reaction of public sentiment was sometimes carried to the injudicious extreme of totally discarding the ferule and the rod. Love is the power which was thought to be omnipotent in control. In later years, a healthful medium has been more generally attained. But either because the tendency to the old system of flogging has been increasing or from other reasons, the subject has come up again in some quarters for renewed discussion. The Board are not of the opinion that scolding and beating are the most efficient modes of government. Nor do they believe that large numbers of children can be permanently controlled by any measure of mere love and tact which the largest-hearted teacher may possess. There is an Infinite Love ever yearning over man, but its influence has never yet of itself alone been paramount over the race. In the arrangements of Providence, law, penalty, meets us wherever we go. No wisdom or moral force in rulers or administrations, were ever sufficient of themselves to sustain an orderly government. Nations, States, armies, navies need compulsion as well as advice and persuasion. If this be true of men, it is especially true of children, who are only men of smaller growth, and more unformed and undisciplined. If a few of them can for a time be managed by a head full of expedients, and a great heart of patience and affection, and where little else beyond management is attempted, masses of them together, if progress is expected, must feel the presence of authority and the influence of fear.

"It is moreover well for children that they should learn to obey and submit themselves, without questioning, to legitimate rule. But irritating remark and excess of penalty should be avoided. The same Scriptures which say, Children obey your parents,' and, Chasten thy son while there is hope,' say, also, Fathers provoke not your children to wrath. The counsel applies to school teachers. While they insist on obedience, they should make the schoolroom pleasant and the children happy. But when teachers depart from these principles of humanity and justice, when they are suspected of severity and excess of punishment, care should be taken by parents, and especially by committees, if they must criticise the school management ad

versely, that they do not weaken the hands of its authority, and by license unconsciously given, multiply occasions for penalty. The only safe course is to entrust the teacher with authority and restrain him in the exercise of it. If he abuses the trust, and is incorrigible when advised, let committees exercise the power which the Commonwealth has given them to dismiss them quietly and obtain a better."

An important consideration, which should not be lost sight of in our efforts to advance the standard of education in our Public Schools, is that of the moral and religious training of the pupils. "The highest use of all learning," says President Hill, " is to fill the pupil with a deeper sense of the power, wisdom, and love of God, and to lead him to a more perfect consecration to the service of God, - finding the highest beauty in virtue, the highest truth in the knowledge of Him and of our relations to Him." The Report of the Board of Education, from which we have before quoted, pursues the same strain when it says:

"There is a higher education than we have yet noticed, and which cannot too often be brought to view. Wisdom is of more importance than knowledge. Character is better than intellect. It takes great virtues to make truly great men. No republic is safe without moral excellence in its citizens. The Commonwealth has taught us in her Bill of Rights that a frequent recurrence to the fundamental principles of the constitution, and a constant adherence to those of piety, justice, moderation, temperance, industry, and frugality, are absolutely necessary to preserve the advantages of liberty, and to maintain a free government. In the constitution, it is made the duty of legislatures and magistrates, in all future periods of this Commonwealth, not only to cherish the interests of literature and the sciences, and all seminaries of them, but to countenance and inculcate the principles of humanity and general benevolence, public and private charity, industry and frugality, honesty and punctuality in their dealings; sincerity, good humor, and all social affections and generous sentiments among the people.

"How are public officials to be qualified for their trusts, how are a people to maintain their ability for free government, how is true greatness to be obtained in the character of the masses, unless the virtues which lie at the foundations of civil and moral excellence are taught in the schools? There is, then, an attainment for our youth which is higher than knowledge, more important than the discipline of their intellectual powers. But there is a practical difficulty in the case which needs to be considered, or moral teaching in the schools will be a failure.

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"These virtues of charity, honesty, sincerity;' these principles of piety, justice, and moderation,' may be faithfully taught, and the counsels and inspirations of patriotism freely imparted, and the whole moral tone of a school be elevated, while this great work shall furnish no exhibition of itself and receive no commendations. Progress in justice, in kindliness, in sincerity, in love of country, in generous sentiments, can neither be possibly measured nor exactly exhibited. In consequence of the time spent in correcting wrong habits and imparting high motives of action, the amount of correct answers, at a given examination, may be diminished instead of increased, and a school which has enjoyed this superior teaching may be assigned, for the time at least, to a lower rank than another in which all the strength has been expended on mere order and recitation."

Let the Committees in their examinations take note of these important elements of a true excellence, and in their awards of approval and of praise place such attainments higher in the scale than either physical or intellectual superiority merely.