soon totter into a drunkard's grave, to meet that being who has said, "No drunkard shall inherit the kingdom of God."

"What a commotion in our community! What has happened?" Why that richly appareled, supercilious gentleman, who has lately been elected President of our Bank, is just discovered to be an embezzler of funds belonging to a neighboring Insurance Company, to the amount of thousands. "What! that person who has driven that pair of splendid blacks about town so much of late- he a swindler?" It so seems; and furthermore, he is now known to have committed that gigantic forgery concerning which our citizens were so highly excited a few months since. "Is it possible!" Reader, this wily knave is just being promoted from the Preparatory department of this infernal seminary of his Satanic majesty !

That young man about to be hanged for beating out, with his flail, the brains of a police officer who had come to arrest him for forging a check to pay a bill made during a night of reckless dissipation and drunken revelry-what is he but a proficient in the Collegiate department? He is about to graduate! Ah! yes; our world abounds with those who have received diplomas from the faculty of some one of Satan's institutions; their whole education has been antagonistic to the pure doctrines of the Savior; and long, and faithfully, and patiently must the good labor, before these erring ones can be won to the side of virtue.

But I have almost lost sight of my subject. The expelled pupilyes, and he that is suspended, also comes under influences thus perverting, degrading, ruining, Then, is there not a serious, insurmountable objection to punishment by expulsion? The Teacher in his dealings with his scholars should regard the well-being of all concerned. Not merely the good of the wayward pupil should be his desire: he should act in reference to his entire school and the community in which he is called to labor.

I recur to the question respecting corporal punishment in schools. Can a school be governed without it, except by suspending or expelling the incorrigibly disobedient? The days of Puritanism have passed. The stern integrity of the old, and the simple reverence of the young, that characterized that period, are now rarely witnessed. Then, a lad required maturity of judgment and the schooling of experience, to render him a man. Then, he felt his ignorance, and sought to learn of his parent, his teacher and his pastor. Then, he paid proper deference to their admonitions, and he was therefore enabled to avoid dashing his frail bark upon the shoals and quicksands of youthful indescretion.

Then, remembering that the good alone are great, and that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, they trusted not to the wisdom of uninspired man, but sought aid from a higher source, and were thus enabled to fill stations of honor, usefulness and emolument. Such a lad was George Washington, now greatfully remembered as the Father of his country.

How is it with the youth of the present day? Alas! they are sadly degenerated. Before they can talk plainly, they question the wisdom and authority of their praents; at the age of ten, they have learned to ehew tobacco, smoke cigars, and swear like free-booters; before they are sixteen years of age, they have learned to tip the social glass, shuffle cards, and spend whole nights in Bacchanalian revelry; at twenty-five they deliver their opinions with all the gravity of an oracle; and so few of them number the three score and ten years allotted to man, that those few are considered instances of remarkable longvity. Why is this? Is the nature of man more corrupt than it was fifty years ago? Are parents more vile and infidel now than parents were in those days? Some may so think, and perhaps these are the causes that in a great degree produce the present lamentable waywardness of our youth; but in my opinion the difficulty lies not there. It is because parental government has become so loose. Not that parents have grown more vile, but that they have become less rigid in administering family discipline. The wholesome restraints so well adapted to curb the impetuosity of youth and check their waywardness are too seldom brought into requisition; and as a consequence, like a bark without a rudder, they become the sport of every tempest, and founder in the sea of folly, or are wrecked upon the sunken bars of crime. Not respecting those to whom they owe their being, and whom graditude should prompt them to love and cherish, they become selfish, heedless, willful, unthankful and regardless of others' feelings, which characteristics they are but too apt to retain throughout life.

In this doleful state they are sent to school. The Teacher is a stranger, and he must first win their love and esteem. This he can readily do, perhaps, if experience has given such renown as to inspire awe and respect in the minds of his pupils; but, if he is inexperienced, a long time is necessary, however wisely he may conduct himself, to obtain their love and confidence. Not until they have tried every plan and device peculiar to the school-room, will they yield cheerful obedience. Hence, it is requisite that the Teacher should be feared, as well as loved.

In one of the counties of our State, and in the same District and building, are both a Common and a Central school. The latter has been in operation something less than a year. Previously to its being ⚫pened, the Township Board of Education which has the supervision of it, decided that both schools should be governed without the aid of corporal punishment. The District school was placed under the charge of a young man of little experience; and the principal of the High School was not much older, but he had longer been engaged in the business of teaching. The schools were of the same size, but the scholars of the Central School were older, and, as a general thing, they took greater pride in conducting themselves becomingly. The prineipal of the High School had little difficulty in keeping excellent order, there being during a term of eighteen weeks, but one instance of suspension, and none of expulsion. The suspended scholar, was deprived of the benefits of the school, one week. Many of the pupils in this Department were notoriously vicious, having recently graduated from the various Common Schools in the vicinity.

The Teacher in the District School succeeded very well for two weeks. He was untiring in his efforts to benefit his charge. But at the end of the first fortnight, the scholars began to manifest a spirit of disobedience. Being crippled in efficiency, because of the rule respecting corporal punishment just adopted, he could not check the rising rebellion, and in a few days his pupils had it all their own way; completely running over him and heaping upon him all manner of indigninities. They talked and studied aloud - what little they did studyleft their seats without permission; chewed gum; threw paper bullets about the room; quarreled and foot-raced going to and from recitation; swore, lied, gambled and fought at recess, contradicted and disobeyed and insulted their instructor in every possible manner that they could invent in a word, that school more resembled a Menagerie, or a Bedlam than a place of instruction.

A young lady Several of the gave the other

A few weeks since, both schools reopened. The corporeal punishment rule was repealed. The High School continued under the same superintendence, regulations and instructions as before. of not much experience is teaching the District School. scholars in the upper room, were among those that Teacher so much trouble last term. Yet, although the Principal of the Central School is obliged to "draw taught," the reins of discipline, both schools are orderly and prosperous. Thus far there has been no instance of suspension or expulsion in the High School, though two

lads left because they could not have their own way; and the Teacher of the District has used the "rod" but a few times.

I do not say but that an older and more dignified Teacher would have done better in the lower room, last term; but one thing is certain : scholars from seven to ten years of age would rather be in the street at play, than in the school-room; and for such, suspension and expulsion have no terrors. They rather seek than avoid punishment of this kind. If it is argued that parents would punish their children when they are sent home, and thus compel them to behave properly; I ask, why may not the Teacher flog them, and have done with it, and save the parents the trouble? And this question becomes more important, when we reflect that in seven out of ten cases, the Teacher would be censured, the ebellious scholar upheld and the object of the Directors thus subverted.

I think I have fairly presented both sides of the subject under consideration; and from the argument advanced, I am fully persuaded that corporal punishment may be abolished in schools that consist of large scholars only; but that it must be used in the management of ordinary District Schools.

SYLVANIA, O.

EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.

LETTERS TO THE CHILDREN OF OHIO.

DEAR CHILDREN:

NUMBER VIII.

The time has come for me to write another letter to my little friends. Since my last, I have received letters from a great many of you; and I think every thing of them, for they are just the nicest letters in all the world. I thank you a thousand times for them. I have not room to print the names of all who have written to me.

A few days ago I spent several hours in "the Ohio Institution for the Education of the Blind." It is a great misfortune to be blind. There are a great many beautiful things in the world which we love to see. But blind people can look at none of them. Not one beautiful person, or animal, or bird, or building, or tree, or flower do they ever behold. They can not see the beautiful blue sky, the sun, the moon, the stars. The pretty hills and vallies, and streams of water, they can

never look upon. But worse than all this, they can not see their dearest friends. They can not look up into the faces of their kind parents, brothers, sisters and associates. Oh! the poor blind children,-are you not very sorry for them?

Well, I am glad that a way has been found out to teach them to read, and to study many other important branches of learning. There are a very great many blind people in the world, and if they can be taught to read, it is the next best thing to being able to see. Valentine Hauy, a Frenchman, first advocated the idea of institutions to teach the blind, about seventy years ago. At present there are a great many such institutions in Europe, and in our own country.

About twenty years ago, an Asylum for the blind was established in Columbus. It is finely situated on the National Road, one mile east of the center of the city. The building is large and well arranged, and the grounds around it are very fine. Dr. A. D. Lord, who was formerly the Editor of the Journal of Education, is Superintendent of this Institution, and I do not think that a better man for the place could be found. He is assisted by several Teachers, a Steward, Matrons, and other helpers; and every thing is managed in the best

manner.

There are now about sixty pupils in the Institution, most of whom are between ten and twenty years of age. You would be very much pleased to see and hear them read. I can not very well describe the books they use. They are printed with "raised letters," that is, the letters stand out from the rest of the paper. The pupils feel along the lines with their fingers, and they know the words by their feeling. I asked a very pretty little girl, Sarah Raymond, of Huron, to read a certain verse in the Bible. She opened the Bible, and felt along over the top of the pages, till she came to the right book. She then felt along till she found the right chapter and verse, which she read without calling one word wrong. Their maps are so made that by feeling of them they can describe countries, boundaries, and localities, without difficulty. They study the same branches that other children do. I heard one class reciting in Grammar, and another in Mental Arithmetic. They pay much attention to music, both vocal and instrumental. Some of them sing well, and many of them are fine performers on the violin, the piano, and the organ. Teachers is devoted exclusively to music. and a fondness for music far more general and marked than most children possess. They can see none of the pretty sights which the world

The time of several of the They have both an aptness