It is estimated that, during the twenty-two years preceding the general peace of 1815, the unimaginable sum of £6,250,000,000 sterling, or thirty billions of dollars, had been expended in war by nations calling themselves Christian-an amount of wealth many fold greater than has ever been expended, for the same purpose, by all the nations on the globe whom we call savage, since the commencement of the Christian era. The earth itself could not be pawned for so vast a sum as this, were there any pawn-broker's office which would accept such a pledge. Were it to be set up at auction, in the presence of fierce competitors for the purchase, it would not sell for enough to pay its war bills for a single century. The war estimates of the British government, even for the current year of peace, are eighty-five millions of dollars; and the annual interest on the national debt incurred by war, is at least a hundred and twenty millions more ;-or more than two hundred millions of dollars, for a common, and, on the whole, a very favorable year. Well might Christ, in the Beatitudes, pronounce his emphatic benediction upon the "peace-makers."

We have emulated, in this country, the same gigantic scale of expenditure for the same purpose. Since the organization of the federal government, 1789, the expense of our military and naval establishments and equipments, in round numbers, is seven hundred millions of dollars. Two of our ships of the line have cost more than two millions of dollars. The value of the arms accumulated, at one time, at the arsenal in Springfield, in this State, was two millions of dollars. The Military Academy at West Point, has cost more than four millions of dollars. In our town meetings, and in our school district meetings, wealthy and substantial men oppose the grant of $15 for a school library, and of $30 for both library and apparatus; while, at West Point, they spend fifty dollars in a single lesson at target-firing, and the government keeps a hundred horses and grooms and blacksmiths to take care of them, as an indispensable part of the apparatus of the academy. The pupils at our Normal Schools, who are preparing to become teachers, must maintain themselves; the cadets of the academy receive $28 a month, during the entire term, as a compensation for being educated at the public expense. Adding bounties and pensions to wages and rations, I suppose the cost of a common foot soldier in the army cannot be less than $250 a year. The average cost of female teachers for the public schools of Massachusetts last year, was only $13.60 a month, inclusive of board; or, at a rate which would give $163.20 for the year; but the average length of the schools was but eight months, so that the cost of two common soldiers is nearly that of five female teachers. The an

nual salary of a colonel of dragoons in the United States army is $2,206; of a brigadier-general, $2,958; of a major-general, $4,512; that of a captain of a ship of the line, when in service, $4,500; and even when off duty, it is $2,500!! There are but seven towns in Massachusetts where any teacher of a public school receives so high a salary as $1,000; and in four of these towns one teacher only receives this

sum.

Had my purpose been simply to show the pecuniary ability of the people at large to give the most generous compensation to such a company of accomplished, high-minded, noble teachers as would lift the race, at once, out of the pit of vice and ignorance and superstition, as safely and as tenderly as a mother bears her infant in her arms;—had my purpose been merely to show this pecuniary ability, then I have already said too much. But my design was, not merely to carry conviction to the minds of those who would contest this fact, but to make the denial of it ridiculous.-H. MANN'S Eleventh Annual Report as Secretary of Mass. Board of Education.

INDUSTRY IS TALENT.-We often hear persons explain how one man falls in the same pursuit, by attributing to one a talent for business, but refusing it to the other. Yet, without denying that some individuals have talent, we think that the problem in question could be easily solved, by saying that the successful man was industrious, while the other was not.

Bulwer, for example, is considered a man of the highest abilities as a novelist. Yet when Bulwer began his career, he composed with the utmost difficulty, often writing his fictions twice over. He persevered, however, and now stands almost at the head of his class, his latest productions, moreover, being regarded as the best from his pen. Every school-boy is familiar with the fact that Demosthenes became an orator only by pursuing a similar plan. Nor are illustrations of the great truth that industry is talent, confined to the highest intellectual pursuits. When Girard trusted the customer without an indorser, who carried his goods home on his shoulders, the shrewd old Frenchman was acting on this truth, deduced from his own experience of mankind. All eminent persons, whether mechanics, merchants, lawyers, or states. men, were industrious, from Watt and Norris down to Thurlow, and William Pitt. Washington, Franklin, Marshall, Madison, and other distinguished Americans were busy men. Industry, in short, is talent, nine times out of ten.

PROFESSIONAL.

Train Children to Study.

In presenting the following views, I may cross the path of some of my fellow laborers in the great cause of education; if so, it is hoped no harm will be done to the cause, or no offense be given to those differing in opinion or practice from the writer. While visiting schools, I have observed that some teachers do not require the younger pupils to study their lessons, but allow them to spend the greater portion of their time, while in school, in amusements of various kinds: such as writing on the slate or blackboard, drawing, playing, etc., for the purpose, as they say, of making the time pass pleasantly, and cultivating within them a love for the school room. All the time improved in learning their lessons is during the recitations; and then with great labor and continued effort on the part of the instructor, the impression is probably made that is necessary to fix the lesson in the mind and memory of the learners. The question now naturally arises, Could not the lesson to be learned be more effectually impressed upon the mind, and more lastingly fixed in the memory, by first requiring the pupils - no matter how young, provided they are old enough to understand what they are doing to study their lessons well before being called upon to recite ? And then by the teacher, in few words and to the point, and by short impressive illustrations, let the nails be clinched that are already driven : let the lesson be impressed that has been studied. Is it not almost selfevident, that by pursuing such a course children will make much greater advancement than though a contrary course was pursued?

Let it not be supposed that I am not in favor of making the school room a pleasant place, or of allowing a proper amount of amusements in connection with study and recitations; or, that I have any objection to a proper use of the slate and blackboard by small children. On the contrary, I believe them to be indispensably necessary to the proper advancement of small as well as large children in their various studies. There is, however, in my opinion, a practical evil growing out of the too frequent and constant use of these things, to the neglect of the more important practice of training the young mind to study, to concentrate its energies upon a particular object or lesson under consideration. It may be argued by some, that small children can not study-that their minds can not be brought to bear upon a lesson independently of assist

ance from a teacher. But the observation of every teacher of experience will justify him in a contrary decision. Has not almost every teacher noticed that in many instances when a juvenile class has been called upon to recite, and in a great measure failed in the attempt, and have been sent to their seats with a stated period of time allowed the mto acquaint themselves with the lesson, and with a fair understanding that at the end of that time they will be expected to know their lessons, that the manner in which it was recited in the second effort was astonishingly different, there having been a decided improvement; the natural result of studying the lesson? Has not every teacher noticed in such cases that his pupils however young have the ability to learn for themselves? I have known some teachers to say that they would not have small children to study even if they were inclined to do so. I think, however, that teachers by such a practice do children great injustice. It is evident that children may very early be taught habits of industry, and the great importance of improving their time in some useful employment. Then just so far as a teacher neglects to require his young pupils to study, does he do them injustice in this important matter. In another respect he does them injustice by not teaching them the important lesson of self-reliance. If children in their daily exercises and recitations are accustomed to rely upon a teacher altogether while young, is it not obvious that as they become older they will to a great degree depend upon the same assistance; or if the aid of an instructor be removed they will be at a loss how to proceed?

Teachers ought frequently to impress the idea upon the minds of their pupils that they have the power within themselves of acquiring a great amount of knowledge independent of the help of any one; and that if they ever expect to rise to any eminence, or fill their stations in life with usefulness and honor, they must to a great degree be independent of aid from a teacher in the acquisition of knowledge. Then they will be prepared for any emergency. If they are deprived of the instruction of a teacher they know that they still possess the power to acquire, or if they continue under the care of a teacher, they have within them a spirit of self-reliance that will insure them success in all their efforts to learn.

HARMONY GROVE, Dec. 1855.

J. R. STARKEY.

Education is a young man's capital - every hour spent in studying, is working for higher wages.

Ancient Mode of Teaching a Boy.

A lesson from Alcuin, the preceptor of Pepin, son of Charlemagne, A. D. 800.

What are letters? The keepers of history.

What is life? The gladness of the blessed; the sorrow of the wretched; the expectation of death.

What is death? The inevitable event; the uncertain pilgrimage; the thief of man.

What is man? The slave of death; a transient traveler; a local guest.

Where is man placed? Between six walls-above, below, before, behind, on the right hand, and on the left.

What is sleep? The image of death.

What is liberty? Innocence.

In how many ways is man changeable? In six-from hunger to fullness; from labor to rest; from wakefulness to sleep.

What are teeth?

The millstones of our food.

What are the hands? The workmen of the body.

What is the sun? The splendor of the world; the beauty of heavthe grace of nature; the glory of the day; the distributor of the

en ;

hours.

What is the moon? The eye of night; the prophetess of the weather. What are the stars? The seaman's pilot; the ornaments of the night.

What is earth? The mother of the living; the nurse of the growing; the store-house of life; the devourer of all things.

What is the sea? The path of audacity; the boundary of the earth;