tal); "Robinson's Progressive Practical ;" "Robinson's Higher," designed for High Schools and Academies; "Key for the Progressive Practical, and for the Analysis of the Miscellaneous Examples in the Progressive Intellectual" (written).

The above report was accepted.

S. C. HURD, Amador,
GEO. H. PECK, San Francisco,

Committee.

Dr. Gibbons, of the committee, made a minority report, objecting to the presentation of five text-books on arithmetic for the study of pupils; was of opinion that one book was sufficient for a Grammar School. He illustrated his views of the subject on the black-board. On motion, the discussion on the report of the committee was postponed until to-morrow's session.

ON READING, SPELLING, AND DEFINING.

The Committee on Reading, Spelling, and Defining, reported as follows:

The committee to whom was referred the arduous duty of examining text-books upon the following branches, to-wit, reading, spelling, and defining, would respectfully submit the following report.

Owing to the great importance of the above-named branches in the great field of instruction, the members of this committee have given their undivided attention to the consideration of the merits and defects of the various text-books now before the public, and by comparison and contrast they trust they have succeeded in prescnting a series of books that will meet the approbation of this Convention; and where a change is recommended, it has been done on account of marked superiority of those recommended over those now in use, and against the pre-established preferences of the committee. The books now in use in our various schools are in many respects books of merit, but still fall far short of the requisites of the pupil. The committee, in presenting to this Convention the series of Readers issued by Parker and Watson, would state that, regarded as a whole, we would give our unqualified support to them in preference to all others. "The National Elementary Speller" commends itself to the attention of Teachers in these important particulars: In its systematic and progressive arrangement, in its combination of orthoepy with orthography in so clear and simple a manner as to render it impossible for a pupil using it not to become perfectly familiar with the correct pronunciation of all the words it contains. Another very commendable feature of this book, we consider, is that it marks all the silent letters, or combinations of letters, in italics, thus making it, in a great measure, a phonetic spelling-book. To make it completely so, all that is necessary is to remove the italicised letters. The book contains copious dictation exercises framed with the design of explaining the meaning of very many of the terms used, and the plan of the work suggesting the foundation of others by the Teacher. It is well adapted to Primary Schools and also to the lower grade of Grammar and Intermediate Schools. Sargent's small "Speller" is a work of seventy-two pages, and contains many excellencies, but contrasted with this we think it is not sufficiently progressive in its arrangement, although far superior to the old books of this department, while it can hardly be said to combine the kindred subjects of orthography and orthoepy, and does not attempt to illustrate the phonetic at all, while the "National Speller" by Parker and Watson supplies all those deficiencies. It will be seen by Teachers immediately that this little work has combined in a perfectly easy and intelligent treatise, subjects that have been heretofore regarded as incongruous.

The advanced "Speller," by the same author carries out the design with marked ability, and is designed for higher classes.

The "National Primer" is a superior work of its kind. It is, we think, well calculated to excite interest and enlist the attention of the young. It is finely illustrated by engravings of such things as fall under the observation of the child. Experience proves that the great point to be gained in the education of the young is to fasten the attention of the child and explain principles by familiar objects.

The First and Second "Readers" of this series are calculated to supply the wants of juvenile learners in an eminent degree. The system of progression that has been adopted by their authors should meet the approbation of every Teacher in the land. The gradation of lessons seems to be peculiarly adapted to the development of the young pupil's mind. The First Reader" contains one hundred and eight pages, and the "Second Reader" two hundred and twenty-four pages.

The great and marked characteristics of superiority of this series over Sargent's, now in use in many parts of the State, commences with the "Third Reader." Its definitions of terms, its oral exercises, and its arrangement of all difficult words upon every page, with their proper pronunciations and full and complete definitions, render it superior to any heretofore presented. It contains two hundred and eighty-six pages, and in its typographical features is noted for plainness, neatness, and beauty.

The "Fourth Reader" of the "National" series is nearly the size of Sargent's "Fifth." Its division and arrangement of the principles of Elocution are concise and clear.

This work carries out the plan set forth in the "Third," as regards copious exercises in defining and spelling, with marked ability and success. It contains one hundred and eighty-nine selections from the productions of the best writers of the past, besides copious examples and exercises in the different phases of oratorical instruction, and comprises four hundred and thirty-two pages.

The "National Fifth Reader" contains six hundred pages, and as a class-book for advanced schools and students in oratory stands unrivaled. The authors have succeeded in combining in a book not too voluminous to be convenient, both a system of literature and a thorough course of instruction, there being appended to each production a short biographical sketch of the author, and such information as would serve to instill into the mind of the student a love of literature and a desire to search those exhaustless fields of literary productions. Such we deem the characteristics of the "National Fifth Reader," and we doubt not that this series of "Readers" will meet with a cordial reception by Teachers and patrons.

In regard to class-books on defining and etymology, the committee would recommend to the consideration of the Convention "Lynd's First Book of Etymology," and "Lynd's Class-Book of Etymology," as works of superior merit and worthy of trial, and well calculated to impart a critical knowledge of the English language.

The works on defining that present the greatest excellencies consist of the series issued by W. W. Smith, and entitled "Smith's Juvenile Definer," "Smith's Grammar School Speller," and "Smith's Definer's Manual," as comprehending the most thorough treatise upon the subject that the committee could obtain; also, for books of reference, in connection with the above, we would recommend Webster's or Worcester's "Academic" and "Unabridged Dictionary."

The committee would, also, recommend “Russell's Elocutionary Chart" as an invaluable assistant, although the committee would add that owing to the multiplicity of duties they have been unable to procure charts for examination.

H. A. PIERCE,

Chairman. THOMAS C. LEONARD, MARY D. PAGE,

HANNAH MARKS,

The discussion on this subject was postponed.

Committee.

Mr. Daken, of Calaveras, gave notice that on to-morrow he would move to reconsider the vote by which the amendment was adopted, striking out "four to eighteen," and inserting "six to twenty-one," as the ages at which children should be admitted into the Public Schools.

The President announced that a lecture would be delivered to-morrow, by Mr. Janes, before the Institute.

The Convention then adjourned to one, P. M. to-morrow.

The Institute was called to order at ten o'clock, A. M.

The President introduced the Instructor of the day, Mr. Henry B. Janes, who proceed to deliver the following

Address on Primary Instruction-Its Philosophy and Practice. Mr. Janes said:

Mr. PRESIDENT, LADIES, AND GENTLEMEN

Were there to-day, in the most secluded mountain district of our State, a meeting of its Board of School Trustees for the purpose of electing a Teacher; were I to offer a resolution directing our Secretary to telegraph to them that this Convention awaited in deep anxiety the result of their deliberations, and warmly sympathized with them in the discharge of such a duty, would it be received and adopted without a call for explanations? Yet, would it not be worth our cordial indorsement? We do not often enough stop to think that it is of importance to us in San Francisco, to our countrymen in the older States, whom the Trustees may select to train and mold the minds and hearts of that little group of children gathered in the secluded gorges of the Sierras. To-day, it may not be shown to be so, but in times when men are needed, true men, brave men, men true to the public welfare, from out that mountain recess one of that same little band shall leap, a Chieftain to defend the right, or a traitor to destroy it.

True, well-trained, rightly educated, minds, in your State Legislature, may, in a single year, advance the interests of agriculture, of commerce, mining, the mechanic arts, and education, so that your valleys shall blossom with beauty, your commerce increase, your mines pour forth their hoarded treasures, your mechanical art and science rear villages and cities, and your schools be made the wellsprings of truth, virtue, and patriotism; or one mind, distorted in its education, perverted by bigotry, blinded by ignorance, and the full glare of a selfish ambition, may fetter them in chains that years will not suffice to loosen.

The least conspicuous individuals are often of the most importance to mankind. The ocean hides beneath a smooth surface, the reef which the little coral insect has been for ages constructing, yet that reef is not less dangerous than the bold, exposed, rock, thrown up in a moment by a convulsion of Nature.

If we would not undervalue, or misconceive, our influence, then we should look not so much to the position in which we act as to the results of our acts.

Take an illustration. Step on board that ocean steamer as, with her banners to the wind, she fires her parting gun; hundreds are on her decks about to realize the fondly cherished anticipations of weary years; linked to distant homes by chains that seem almost ready to break by their very length. Far away in the distant hills of "Fader Land" the old people await the return of that youth whom you see seated on the forward deck; years agone, with manhood's courage he left his native hills for the golden land of the west; he has written home that he is coming back, and their parental hearts swell with joy at his coming. By the cabin door sits a young mother bending over her infant child to hide the tears that are struggling through smiles as she welcomes the moment of starting for her old home amid the fertile stone-patches of New England. Nightly, there, for years of her absence, have arisen prayers for the coming of this happy day of her return. "Sister is coming!" rings through the house; and the little boy who has so often sent her that message of love and beauty, "Tell her I kiss her good night in my heart," now shouts his joyous anticipations of her welcome.

There is another on that deck; stalwart, rough; a face deep marked with care; a rude exterior; tall and firm he stands, unheeding and unheeded. The same bright images of his wife and child that have so often blessed his dreams in his solitary cabin in the mines, now rise more freshly bright and joyous as he finds himself ticketed for a berth, and actually on the steamer homeward bound.

The heavy beam rises slowly, wearily, at first, as if afraid to test its own strength; quicker and quicker it moves, until the noble ship has waked to life, and lightly "walks the waves" on its ocean course.

But now let us descend to the hold. There, begrimed with dust, sits one who bears no mark of importance, one whom the struggling hearts above have not once thought of as connected with their bright hopes, or the realization of their life dreams of happiness. He is humble in occupation, plain in appearance and dress, and he is alone; but he guards the safety-valve! Let him but for one moment forget his duty, and the ocean would claim hundreds for its victims, while in the distant homes we have pictured, joys would be turned to sorrow, while imprecations and curses on his head would mingle with mourning for their loved ones dead.

Is it not then true that to correctly value our influence we must look to its results?

Nowhere are these thoughts more properly applicable than to the influences and results of Primary School instruction. Humble and alone in the quiet school-room the Teacher pursues his daily task, but what is that task? To mold the elements of society. To form principles. To develop character. The seemingly harmless, powerless, minds, now in his training, are to be the social powers of future years. Human tranquility, peace, and progress, are to be theirs to guard, or theirs to destroy. Let him, then, prove recreant to his trust, and the world will suffer. Far away, in some quiet retreat of virtue and peace, the mind he has neglected will show itself a leader in vice, or a traitor to the liberties of men.

It will be my present purpose to consider primary instruction in relation to its philosophy and practice. An absence of near fifteen years from the practical duties of Teacher, will render it necessary for me to attempt to place before you only the results of my reading and reflections confirmed by their limited application at intervals in the school-room.

Time will not permit me to dwell on the importance of the Primary School in the great work of education. We are all ready to admit it as a general fact, but not as accustomed to ask ourselves why it is so. It is one of the most encouraging signs of the times that the public mind and the thoughts of eminent Educators are earnestly directed to this class of schools.

Here, most emphatically, is carried on "the training and leading forth of each faculty of the mind, the development of the whole mind and character of the child." "It is next to an impossibility to supply in after years the omissions, or correct the errors, of early culture." Habits become so fixed, the mental vigor so weak

ened, that it it is difficult to eradicate the one, or restore the other. The Hon. Mr. Bateman, State Superintendent of Illinois, says on this subject: "At no point in the whole course of study are the results of incomplete teaching so disastrous as at the commencement. At the subsequent stages of education the mind, emerging from the state of implicit trust in the mere dicta of the Master, begins to assert itself, to sift what it receives, and find corrections when they are needed; but at the beginning the mind takes the impress with unquestioning faith, exact as the print of the seal upon the wax."

Are there, then, any fundamental principles to guide us in determining the true modes of teaching in primary education? There are, beyond a doubt.

STUDY CHILDREN'S MINDS, AND FOLLOW THE NATURAL ORDER OF THEIR DEVELOPMENT.

If we desire to know of birds, we go with Audubon to the woods and fields, and there in quiet sequestration observe their natural habits and learn their native instincts. If nature furnishes a guide to us regarding these, how much more is it true of the child. Let us, then, go into a family circle and see that "active, restless, form, pulled and hauled about, legs and shoulders, by roistering companions, rolling on the uncarpeted floor, racing the stairway, yard, or garden, full of motion and life."

Free as a prairie warbler he roams about his home from morning to night, until his day's work of mischief done, the active mind (which a father's chiding, or a mother's expostulation, has failed to conquer) sinks beneath the weight of sleep, recruiting for another day of mischief. He imitates, he experiments, he investigates, anything that comes in his way, apparently with no other object than to determine whether everything within his reach couldn't be some other way than as it is. Parents are puzzled with his inquiries into the mysteries of soap-bubbles, kite-flying, and a thousand phenomena around him. He jumps into the bread-tray in a sly moment, and starts on his imaginary voyage to sea, not forgetting the regular puff of the steam, the shrill whistle of alarm, or the motion of the paddles. Things that have long since been forgotten by his parents, suddenly loom up in his mind, and the brightness which flashes from his eyes tells how keenly his mental appetite enjoys the answers to the rivulet of questions that come rolicking through his lips. Who of us does not know some such chubby-faced odd bundle of faculties, whose most interesting employment seems to be to worry his Teacher and every body around him, by constant demands for the why and the wherefore of everything ho sees? That mind is ever active; but, notice, it deals only with existing things. "It soon learns the names, properties, and uses, of all there is in the house, and longs to be out-of-doors," to continue its investigations there.

It is, then, just such fun-loving, mischief-making, inquisitive, children, as we have seen in this family circle, that are to be transferred from the home school to the Common School. How to transplant them, and at the same time continue unimpaired in the new soil, their healthy, vigorous, growth, is the problem, upon a correct solution of which mainly depends the success of any system of education, but especially that of our Common, or Graded, Schools, for if we render education repulsive to the primary scholar, he is either entirely unfitted for success in the more advanced classes, or his progress will be greatly retarded.

In transplanting trees, horticulturists are careful to retain unbroken the more delicate fibers of the roots; they strive to carry with these as much of the parent soil, as can be made to adhere to them; thus they secure a healthy growth.

So of our children. Rudely disrupt the tender fibers of their minds, force off the accustomed surroundings of affection, amusement, and freedom, and they soon wither and droop. Listless languor takes the place of sprightly activity; fear supplants the incentive of pleasurable interest. The boys and girls of the home school, are and should be the boys and girls of the Common School; the laws of their growth fixed in the former should not be overlooked, or violated, in the latter.