After the greater portion of the matter for this number was prepared, it was decided to delay its publication till after the annual meeting, so that the proceedings might be included.

At the meeting of the Executive Committee, held immediately after their election, the persons whose names appear on the cover were appointed Associate Editors, and Rev. ANSON SMYTH, of Toledo, Resident Editor and Agent. As Mr. Smyth could not at once decide whether he would accept the situation, and could not be in Columbus to take charge of the Journal, this number has been superintended by the former Editor. The committee voted to continue to publish an edition of 4500 copies of the Journal; and decided to discontinue the Mathematical Department, in its present form, and to have articles or solutions of special interest inserted under the Scientific Department.

The Editors' Table is omitted to make room for other matter of present interest.

Correspondence.

DR. LORD: It will be out of my power to attend the approaching convention in Columbus, which is to me a source of great regret. As one of the Board of Examiners of this county, I have assumed the agency of the Journal, and promise you that the subscription of Athens county shall increase the coming year at least two fold. W. H. Y., Athens.

You can hardly conceive what the Journal, and the Association under whose auspices it is published, have done and are doing for the North-Western portion of the State. Five years ago, Teachers, or rather those who kept the schools in this section, received $12 to $15 per month: now I have applications for Teachers almost daily at wages ranging from $25 to $30 per month. So far as I can judge, the present law gives satisfaction, and Boards of Education do not hesitate to levy the additional two mills allowed by the law.

In this township, notwithstanding the almost total failure of crops, we are building two new school houses. Our school, here, though nominally a district school, is supported 44 weeks in the year, at an expense for teachers of $710 per annum. The district enumerates but 188 scholars. Instruction is given in the primary branches usually taught in common schools, together with the higher mathematics, Latin, Philosophy, etc. E. W. L., Waterville, Lucas Co.

I am happy to inform you that Felicity is doing nobly in the educational cause. Our Board recently purchased the Female Seminary in this place. The building is of brick, two stories, containing four good school rooms and a library room, and is surrounded by two acres of ground. The situation is beautiful: our Board have planted 100 forest and evergreen trees this fall, and we intend to make it the most desirable location in the county, if not in the State. Our school is now organized in the new building. We have 250 scholars. I have three assistants, all females. W. C., Felicity, Clermont Co.

I was present at a recent meeting of the Board of Examiners for Clermont county. The gentlemen composing the Board, are, by their thorough examinations, strict impartiality, and gentlemanly deportment, advancing the cause of education very much in this County, and securing the confidence and esteem of the public. I deeply regret that the same can not be said of every examiner in every county in the State. F. Cedron, Clermont Co.

Mr. CHAS. S. ROYCE, Agent of the Ohio Phonetic Association, has recently introduced Phonotypy into the Granville Union School, of which Mr. J. S. Bailey, late of Zanesville, is Superintendent. During his stay in Granville, Mr. Royce also organized a Phonographic class in the College.

Mr. Royce, a self-made man, is at once a scholar, a teacher and a gentleman. We hope he may long continue in his present employment, and would bespeak for him the cordial reception of which he is worthy.

Phonography has also been introduced into one of the Granville Female Seminaries. We think the present high prosperity of these schools results, in no small degree, from the enterprise of their presiding officers. They are men who keep up with the times; men who do not unceremoniously pitch overboard every improvement, through fear of innovation.

The Trustees of Denison University are erecting a new building, at a cost of $18,000. This institution-to use a nautical phrase—is raising steam; we think she will soon be under way.

We learn that a new era has dawned upon Kenyon College, since the election of the new President. A. J., Granville.

Selections.

Life is a fountain fed by a thousand streams, that perish if one be dried. It is a silver cord twisted with a thousand strings that part asunder if one is broken. Thoughtless mortals are surrounded by innumerable dangers which make it more strange that they must all perish suddenly at last.

We are encompassed with accidents every day to crush the decaying tenements we inhabit. The seeds of disease are planted in our constitution by nature. The earth and atmosphere whence we draw the breath of life, are impregnated with death; health is made to operate to its own destruction. Death lurks in ambush along the paths. Notwithstanding this truth is so palpably confirmed by the daily examples before our eyes, how little do we lay it to heart. We see our friends and neighbors die, but how seldom does it occur to our thoughts that ou knell may give the next warning to the world.

Take up the cycle of history that preceded the advent of Christianity, and compare it with the present period; and is there not an entirely different expression on the face of things, so far as conceptions of humanity and influence of philanthropy are concerned? Contrast "a Roman holiday," its butchery and its blood, with a modern anniversary that clasps the round world in its jubilee, and see if humanity has not been helped by religion. Or look back upon Grecian art and refinement, and tell me what oration or poem, or pantheon of marble beauty, is half as glorious as the plain brick free-school; the asylum of industry; the home for the penitent, the disabled and the poor.

Proposition to convert the Ohio River into a Slack-water Canal.—At a late meeting of the Pittsburg Board of Trade, a gentleman submitted a proposition on the subject of improving the Ohio river, by converting it into a slack-water canal. These suggestions were unanimously approved by the Board, and were earnestly recommended to public consideration. The distance from Pittsburg to the mouth of the Ohio is 977 miles, with an aggregate fall of 425 feet. It is assumed that to convert the entire river into slack-water, would require only fifty locks of an average lift of 8 1-2 feet, which would create pools of an aggregate length of 132 miles. The estimated cost of the work is from seven to ten millions of dollars for the whole work, which is supposed to be about half the expense of an ordinary canal, or about one third the average cost of a railroad.

Selected Anecdotes.

Washington's Acknowledgment.-In 1755, Washington, then a young man twenty-two years of age, was stationed with his regiment at Alexandria. At this time an election for public officers took place, and the contest between the candidates became exciting and severe. A dispute took place between Mr. Payne and Washington, in which the latter (an occurrence very uncommon with him) became warm, and said something which gave Mr. Payne so much offense that he knocked Washington down; instead of flying into a passion, and sending him a challenge to fight a duel, as was expected, Washington, upon mature reflection, finding he had been the aggressor, resolved to ask pardon of Mr. Payne on the morrow. Accordingly he met Mr. Payne the next day, and extended his hand in a friendly manner: "Mr. Payne," said he, "to err is nature; to rectify error is glory. I find I was wrong yesterday, but I wish to be right to-day. You had some satisfaction yesterday, and if you think that was sufficient, here is my hand, let us be friends." It is hardly necessary to state that ever afterwards they were so.

Would persons, who think it honorable to fight, be likely to approve of Gen. Washington's course, as given in the foregoing narrative?

Do you think it was creditable to so great a man as Gen. Washington, to ask forgiveness, as he did, after he had received an injury himself?

Manly to Resent; Godlike to Forgive.-A gentleman went to Sir Eardley Wilmot, at one time Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, and having stated to the Judge an injury he had received, asked him if he did not think it manly to resent it. "Yes," said Sir Eardley, "it would be manly to resent it, but it would be Godlike to forgive it!" This reply completely altered the feelings of the applicant.

Which is the first feeling with most people, to resent injuries, or to forgive them? -From Mr. Cowdery's Moral Lessons.

Items.

Mr. ARIEL PARISH, Principal of the Public High School in Springfield, Mass. has been elected a member of the State Board of Education.

Mr. GEO. L. MILLS, late Principal of Halcyon Academy, has taken charge of the male department of the Public High School in Newark.

Mr. ORRIS P. LAIRD, late of Trumbull county, has recently taken tharge of the Union School in Johnstown, Licking county.

Massachusetts has four excellent Normal Schools in successful operation, beside the one connected with the Public Schools of Boston.

The Dublin University Magazine states that the present war with Russia costs England and her allies $1,250,000 per day!

"What's whisky bringing?" inquired one who dealt in the poison. "Bringing men, women, and children to the poorhouse, the penitentiary, and the gallows," was the just reply.

Persons who forward money for the Journal, will please state distinctly on what Volume it is to apply. It is hoped that those who have not paid for Vol. IV, will do it immediately.

THE

Ohio Journal of Education.

COLUMBUS, FEBRUARY, 1856.

Glementary Classical Study

Study in the State:

A REPORT BY I. W. ANDREWS, PRESIDENT OF MARIETTA COLLEGE, READ AT THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE OHIO STATE TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION, DECEMBER 27, 1855.

HERE have been three classes of schools for general education; common schools, academies, and colleges. The common school was supported by the public funds, and the education it furnished was of the most elementary character. The academy, though sometimes open to young pupils, was, in general, designed for those somewhat advanced. After going as far as the teacher of the district school cared to take them, those desiring higher attainments, sought the academy, either to perfect themselves in the English branches, or to prepare themselves for college. The academy has been the Normal School to most of the successful teachers of the country. Thus in various ways, this middle class of schools has been of signal service to the general cause of education, and, as preparing students for college, has been greatly instrumental in sustaining the higher institutions.

This academical system still continues in most of the older States, and we may safely expect that it will not soon be abandoned. In some of the towns of New England, the academy has given place to the Public High School; but there are many institutions of long standing and large endowments, which were never more prosperous than at present.

In our own State, this system had never been generally introduced. A few good schools of this character had been established, and some still remain. But the great favor with which the graded system of Public Schools has been received, and most justly, has prevented the establishment of new academies, and caused the suspension of some VOL. V, No. 2.

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already in operation. They have been superseded by the Union High Schools. It is not necessary to enter upon any eulogium of the graded system. If any principle may be regarded as settled with regard to popular education, it is this; that, so long as the State shall impose taxes for the education of its children, so long will a regard for the best educational interest of the young, as well as the wisest economy, demand the continuance of the graded system, wherever the compactness of the population will admit it. In most of our towns, these schools are now in successful operation.

One very important function of the academy was, to prepare students for college. But in Ohio, there are scarcely any academies; and how is this particular work to be performed? Of the students now connected with the colleges of the State, a majority were, without doubt, prepared in the preparatory departments of the colleges themselves. Why shall they not continue to perform this work? All the colleges of the State have such departments, and why not devolve upon each the duty of preparing its own students? To this course there are several objections.

It interferes with the real principle of classification, which lies at the basis of our graded system. The college proper undertakes to do a specific work. To do this most successfully, it should not be burdened with other duties. The oldest and most prosperous colleges in the older States, attempt no such additional work. They have no such preparatory departments connected with them, and our western colleges regard such departments, not as desirable in themselves; but, for the time being, as a necessity. If the proper facilities for this elementary work are not found in sufficient measure elsewhere, the colleges must furnish them. In doing it, however, they have always regard for their own prosperity as colleges, and rejoice in any prosperity that may attend their preparatory departments, because of its tendency to cause prosperity in the colleges themselves.

By thus bringing together pupils of great diversity of age, the matter of discipline is complicated. It becomes more difficult to adopt regulations to the various circumstances of the case. Without enlarging on this general topic, it is manifest to all who have any familiarity with the internal workings of a college, that there must be infelicities connected with the introduction into a college community, of a younger class who are not integral members of that community.

The expenses of a liberal education are increased, if the student must pursue his preparatory, as well as his collegiate studies, away