the practice, will be allowed to retire or absent themselves from the room. If they persist in remaining there, they must conduct with the decorum and propriety becoming the occasion. If they do not so conduct, they may be dealt with as intruders."

In the same State, it was held by Gen. John A. Dix, an eminent statesman and jurist, that "the teacher of a school may open it with prayer, provided he does not encroach on the hours allotted for instruction, and provided the attendance of the scholars is not exacted as a matter of school discipline."

In a case which came before Henry S. Randall, Superintendent, and which set forth that in a certain common school "the religion and faith of Catholic children were interfered with by their being compelled to 'join in prayers,' and 'to read and commit' portions of a version of the Bible of which the Catholic Church disapproves," he said: "In theory, I have never been able to doubt that intellectual and religious instruction should go hand in hand. To divorce them entirely, and to bestow attention on the former only, is to draw forth and add to the pow. ers of the mind, without giving any moral helm to guide it; in other words, it is to increase the capacity without diminishing the propensity to do evil. To banish religious education from the schools is, in a multitude of instances, to consign it to the care of the vicious, the ignorant, the careless, or those who feel that they have no time to attend to it. The placing of it in its natural connection with intellectual education in the school room, has met, however, in our country, with serious practical obstacles.

"The government, not relying on the ability or willingness of every part of the State to maintain efficient schools for the education of the young, by voluntary contributions, and recognizing the imperative necessity of universal education for the maintenance of our civil and political institutions, organized a general common school system, and made provisions to aid those sending to school, in sustaining it by the payment of a large sum annually from the treasury. To prevent this money from being misapplied, it prescribed the conditions on which it shall be received and expended; and it created a special State officer, with administrative and judicial powers, to carry out and enforce the system. The common schools were thus clearly made a government institution. To introduce into them, or permit to be introduced into them, a course of religious instruction conformable to the views of any religious denomination, would be tantamount to the adoption of a government religion-a step contrary to the constitution, and equally at variance with the policy of a free government and the wishes of the people. To form for the schools a course of instruction which could bear the name of a religious one, and which would meet the views of all, was manifestly impossible. To give every sect a pro rata share of the school moneys to enable it to support its own schools, and teach its own system of religious faith in them, would be to divide into a dozen or more schools the children within the territory convenient for attendance on a single school, and in which the support of all the inhabitants is frequently scarcely adequate, with the aid of the public moneys, to sustain a single efficient school. Indeed, under this arrangement, a single indigent family would often be required to support its own school, to go without any, or to violate its conscience by joining with others in one in which a religious system was taught wholly at variance with its own. There are other reasons which have gone to convince the public mind of the impracticability of carrying out such a plan so as to attain the object sought-the education of all the people-which do not require enumeration.

"In view of the above facts, the position was early, distinctly, and almost universally taken by our statesmen, legislators and prominent friends of education-men of the warmest religious zeal, and belonging to every religious sect

-that the instruction in our public schools should be limited to that ordinarily included under the head of intellectual culture, and to the inculcation of those general principles of morality in which all sects, and good men belonging to no sect, can equally agree.

"We have seen that even prayer-that morning and evening duty which man owes to his Creator-which even the pagan and savage do not withhold from the gods of their blinded devotion-which, conducted in any proper spirit, is no more sectarian than that homage which constantly goes up from all nature, animate and inanimate, to the bountiful Giver of all things-has been decided by two eminent jurists as inadmissible as a school exercise within school hours, when seriously and conscientiously objected to by any portion of the inhabitants of a school district.

"This decision has been acquiesced in without a murmur, by the whole relig. ious public. The intelligent religious public have felt that there was no middle tenable ground between religious instruction-strictly so called--in our common schools, and the broadest toleration.

"Compelled by circumstances to adopt the latter position, they have embraced it in its most comprehensive import, and have nerved themselves to the task of supplying a lamentable omission in the public schools, by increased assiduity to the spiritual wants of their offspring in the family circle, in the Sunday School, and in the Church. In our crowded cities, where poverty sinks to its lowest ebb, and vice puts on its most unmitigated forms, where multitudes of children would receive no religious instruction from or through the instrumentality of their parents, voluntary Church and individual organizations are putting forth their endeavors to supply such instruction. Many, doubtless, are not reached by these efforts; nor would they be reached if religion was taught in the common schools, for the children of the extremely poor and the vicious oftentimes could not or would not attend them."

Believing that the foregoing opinions and decisions may now be regarded as the well settled rule in the premises, and that they are founded on principles of equity, and in accordance with that spirit of entire religious toleration which characterizes our constitution and laws, and which ought to characterize every institution founded by the State, I feel no inclination to gainsay them.

Let it be distinctly understood, however, that if no objections are raised against religious exercises in school, if the exercises are of reasonable length, and if the teacher takes care to avoid the discussion of all controverted points, or sectarian dogmas, he may conduct those exercises during school hours.

H. H. BARNEY, Com. of Common Schools.

We were conversing with a young lady, some few evenings ago, at a literary re-union, and as she had been introduced as a poetess, we of course touched on poetry. It was not many minutes before she had run through the stereotyped list of favorite authors, when she concluded with Byron, asserting her conviction that he was the greatest poet that ever wrote. We modestly hinted that we preferred according that distinguished position to Shakspeare, upon which, with an unaffected laugh at our simplicity, she cried, "Why, Shakspeare wasn't a poet; his plays don't rhyme!"-Ex.

A GOOD TOAST.-Woman, the morning star of our youth; the day star of our manhood; the evening star of our old age. God bless our stars!

EDITORIAL.

LETTERS TO THE CHILDREN OF OHIO.

DEAR CHILDREN:

NUMBER I.

In the March number of the Journal of Education, I promised to commence in this number a series of letters to you. I do not know all the children in Ohio, but I very often think of them all. I hope in these letters to write some things which will please and instruct you. I shall not write in such a style as I should use if addressing older people. Nor shall I write as though I were addressing very young children, say, children three or four years old; for while you are not men and women, you are not babies. If there are some people who know more than you do, there are also some who do not know as much. It is to the school children of Ohio that I write. There is a good deal of difference between school children, for some of them are not more than years of age, while others are three times as old. But I shall adapt my style to the capacities of the youngest, while I hope that the facts which I shall mention will interest the older.

six

Now, children, do you wonder what put it into my head to write you these letters? Well, I will tell you. In one of the towns of Ohio, there are more than one thousand children with all of whom I am acquainted. I think a great deal of those children. Indeed, I can say that I love them very much. A few weeks ago all the children of one of the schools in that town, united in writing me a letter that is, they appointed one of their number to write for them all. I was very happy to receive their interesting communication, and while thinking about writing back to them, the thought struck me that it would be a good idea for me to write some letters for all the children in the State. I shall call you all my children, though I do not wish you to call me father. For if had all the children in this great Buckeye State to provide with board, and clothes, and books, and slates, and every thing else that children need, I should want more dollars than I now have cents. I do not expect ever to visit you all at your homes, or in your schools. I shall sometimes visit different parts of the State, and very likely some you will see me in some of your schools, or elsewhere. But I will invite all to come and visit me at Columbus. I should be very happy to see you here, and would do all that I could to make the visit

of

you

pleasant to you. There are a great many things in Columbus which would excite your interest. This city, you know, is the Capital of Ohio. The Capital of a State, you are aware, is the place where the Governor and other State officers reside, and where the Legislature meets to make laws for the government and welfare of the people. I think that Columbus is a very pleasant city. It is beautifully situated upon the east bank of the Scioto, and contains about 25,000 inhabitants. When you come here to visit me, I shall go all about the city with you, and show you the "lions." One day we will go to the State House. It is not completed yet, but when finished it will be the best building of the kind in America. It has already cost about a million of dollars, and it will take about as much more to complete it. Some parts of it are exceedingly beautiful, and it is all built in a very substantial way. I should think it would last about as long as the mountains will, for it is almost all made of stone and iron. You will be surprised when you see the stairs. They are very long and high and beautiful, and are made of nothing in the world but stone. Each step is composed of a single block of stone, cut and carved in a very handsome manner. These steps are locked one into another, and thus hold themselves up without any other support. At first you will think it very dangerous to step upon them, for fear that they will fall and you get your heads broken. But when you come to look at them closely, you will find that they are perfectly safe.

Another day we will look in upon the Senators and Representatives, those wise and learned men, - about two hundred in all, — who have come here from the different counties of the State, to make laws and speeches for the good and glory of the Buckeye people. Children ought to understand better than most of them do, the government and laws under which we live. I have not time to tell you much about these things now, but when you come here we can talk more on the subject, and when I have told you all I know about it, you can call on Governor Chase and Governor Ford, and they will tell you all the rest.

Another day we will visit the Lunatic Asylum, where you will see nearly three hundred insane, or crazy people. From there we will go to the Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb. There you will find about one hundred and fifty boys and girls who talk, not with their tongues, but with their fingers. It is a funny way to talk, but it does very well for those who are used to it. Then we will go to the Institution for the Blind, where you will see one children and youth, not one of whom can see you.

hundred and fifty

They cannot see

their dearest friends, nor the sun in the heavens, nor the flowers, nor any thing else. You will feel very sorry for them, but you will be greatly interested in your visit. And then I will go with you to the Penitentiary, or State Prison, where we shall find five hundred men and boys who are there confined on account of the crimes which they have committed.

But, dear children, I can write no more at present. In the next Journal you shall hear from me again. I do not pretend that this letter is on any particular subject. It seemed to me best to make it introductory to future letters. I have now introduced myself to you, and we shall meet again in the May Journal as old acquaintances. Good bye, for awhile.

EDITOR.

SPIRIT OF THE EDUCATIONAL PRESS FOR MARCH.

THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, Hartford, bi-monthly, Henry Barnard, LL. D., Editor, contains eighteen able and well written articles, of which the first is a notice of the Peabody Institute, at Danvers, Mass., with a portrait of its generous founder, George Peabody Esq., of London. Among the other articles are— -Education among Hebrews-Improvements practicable in American Colleges—Method of Teaching Greek and Latin-Biography of Ezekiel Cheever-from which we copy the following lines:

"Wherefore, my child, behave thyself,

so decently in all assays,

That thou may'st purchase parents love,
and eke obtain thy Master's praise."

the

Scientific Schools in Europe; Moral Education; System of Public Instruction in St. Louis, with a splendid engraving of the High School in that city. The number contains a vast amount of Educational Statistics. It is a work of high interest, invaluable to those who are able to appreciate it, but to most Teachers not so well adapted for usefulness as are the Educational Papers of the several States.

THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF EDUCATION AND COLLEGE REVIEW, New York, Absalom Peters, D. D., and Hon. S. S. Randall, Editors, contains articles of the highest value. Among the more interesting are Bem's Method of History; Public Libraries; a Review of the life of Amos