come expert in teaching those elementary branches which satisfied our fathers, new branches have been introduced, until we seem to be in danger of having a surplus of colleges, without any good schools. It would, in my opinion, be wiser far to teach a little, well, and to have the instruction such only as will be available in the world. Small as the amount of learning is, that our children acquire at school, a large portion of it is as unfit for use as if it were never intended to be used. Grammar is anything but learning the correct use of language; geography is pantology, as I have shown; the too early introduction of algebra has made almost a negative quantity of common practical arithmetic; those who have mastered book-keeping, seem to understand only the waste; proficients in astronomy cannot tell the Little Dog from the Great Bear; profound botanists descant on the structure and repeat the hard names of exotics, without knowing the class, or the name, or the virtues of the plants on which they daily tread; and thousands, who are reported to have mastered a foreign language, cannot pronounce a word of it correctly.

This ought not to be so. Progress is desirable, but not at such an expense. Let me, however, return to my subject. Geography is a science that may, in a great measure, be exhibited to the senses, and it is the duty of the teacher to call in their aid in every possible manner. If the countries cannot be brought under the eye of the pupil, the best maps of them must be; and when, in this way,

a clear idea is communicated to the mind, there is no need of committing words to memory. And, in attempting such illustrations, let not the young teacher be discouraged at the idea that he may not execute a map as readily, or as well as a veteran teacher might do it. Whether he knows how to go to work or not, let him rely on the perfecting power of practice. Be not afraid, therefore, to attempt whatever others have done, and let no fear of failure or love of ease induce you to shrink from any attempt at improvement. Above all, do not impose upon your pupils any system of instruction which mocks them with a show of learning, while, by leaving no useful and permanent impressions on the mind, it really inflicts upon them a punishment not unlike that of the guilty Danaïdes, who were condemned to be perpetually filling with water a vessel whose bottom was full of holes.

LECTURE VIII.

ON

VOCAL MUSIC

IN

COMMON SCHOOLS.

By A. N. JOHNSON.

It is hardly possible to explain the best method for teaching Vocal Music in common schools, within the compass of a single lecture. As there are books accessable to every one which explain that subject far more minutely and plainly than I could do within the space of an hour, I beg leave to occupy your time with the consideration of some of the reasons why music should be generally cultivated, as well as with a few suggestions upon the manner in which it should be taught in schools.

By Music we understand that art which seeks to please the ear and affect the heart by tones. As the

Creator has given us colors to please the eye, and fruits for the taste, so has he provided for the gratification of the ear, by giving to man a capacity for music, and to find pleasure therein. Not only are our senses given us for use, but provision has been made by which each of them may be a source of happiness and enjoyment. This is particularly the case with the sense of hearing. Those who have examined the subject tell us, that nearly every sound possesses, to a greater or less degree, the properties of a musical sound, viz. length, pitch, power. Any sound which does not possess these properties, is to us a source of pain. All will undoubtedly admit that most of the sounds we constantly hear, such as the voices of those around us, the hum of business, the wind, the murmur of the brook, &c., are to us sources of pleasure, and that very few of the sounds which incessantly salute our ears, are otherwise. I once listened to the conversation of a deaf mute, the tones of whose voice were so entirely destitute of the properties which constitute a musical sound, that I can truly say it was painful to hear him speak.

Although nearly all the sounds of every description which we hourly hear, are sources of pleasure to a greater or less degree, those tones which seem to have been given for the express purpose of affording gratification through this sense, are those which are called musical tones. It is not necessary for our purpose to speak of the difference between musical and other sounds; the fact is well known, that while