Wabash Express, Volume 11, Number 16, Terre Haute, Vigo County, 31 March 1852 — Page 1

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DATED S. DAHALDS01T, Proprietor.

.WHOLE NO. 536,

speak

ions of the existing law, sewn (,0 j(, eight hundred district trustees entitled toj pay. The gentleman from Warren. Mr. |1|lv^ Bryant) better acquainted with the munite details of this system than.1. estimates the

time usually employed by each district trustee to be from six to ten days. I .take the smallest number six days at seventylive cents, making four dollars each and thus we have upwards of thirty thousand dollars a year, as the present expense of these district officers alone.

This bill abolishes the office and (Unless the tdiVnship trustees charge more

than formerly) we tints save this enure!

amount, to the school fund.

in this change, beyond the mere reduction of officers and saving of money. By ma king the township tlie smallest legal subdivision, we have the township trustees free to locate schools wherever they are

most needed governed, so doing by,^

the relative density of population other

words, by the actual wants of the people,

and not bv arbitrary lines, llus reform

has been aikf^ed Massachusetts, with

in one county, partly in another. some-

stream and part on the other. .»c uwww, a natural diWwn iuslcd of artificial .nJdim, ro«f».i«n of

«W

V.U'

Proposed Hew Common School Law. law, a man may live within three hundred SPEECH OF MR. OWEN, jyards of a district school house, a dry Delivered in the Hooae of Representative*, footpath leading direct to its door and

March 9,1832. may yet be compelled to send his children, One of the advantages to result from perhaps through a miry swamp, two miles the adjournment which takes place

to-'off,

morrow, is, that consultation may be had, township line, run by compass, passes beby members, with their constituents, on tween his cabin and the school of his many important measures not yet passed choice. Such cases, of great hardship, upon by this Legislature and

especially

The bill before vou, reported by me, a schools should be classified, according to few weeks since, from the committee on the age and attainments of Hie scholars education, is an extraordinary one. I ascending from the primary school where call it so, not because of the changes, young beginners are received, to the high sweeping and radical, which it proposes school where every essential branch of a

influence ou the moral and intellectual improvement of oar people considerations necessarily of somewhat intangible character and uncertain measure and, alas! too often passed by, as empty words. I

speak of its financial effects, of its dollar- stilution required us to do. To this point, artd-cent character and I assert, not only also, the gentleman from Warren wili that it is, in its machinery and details, the speak. I therefore dismiss it with the remost economical, and by far the most ef- mark, that the change, though it would fective, ever offered to the State, but that. very greatly facilitate and simplify the it will save in actual cash, to the citizens whole accounts of the school fund, is not of Indiana,'AN ANNUAL AMOUNT MORE THAN indispensable, in carrying out the details KQUAL TO THE BNTIRE EXPENSES OF OUR of this bill. And I turn to the most im STATE GOVERNMENT. If I fail to make good this assertion, extravagant as it may j,appear, to the very letter, I ask no man's vote for this bill.

What would you say of a man, who should devise a system to carry on, without taxing you one dollar, the whole machinery of our Slate Government, legislative, executive, judicial?—to pay this, and all the thousand other items that make up our yearly budget? Would you not hail such a man as a public benefactor? Would you not think weeks, months, well spent, in discussing and adopting a system so fraught with benefit to every tax payer?— Then devote, I pray you, an hour or two, to a bill, productive of pecuniary results that overpass those I have here imagined.

But before I proceed to give proof of these positions, suffer me to pass in review the more important changes provided for, in the bill of the committee.

First.—The division of townships into school districts and the office of district trustee, are abolished.

There are about six thousand organized school districts in the Suite. By the school law of 1843, three trustees were chosen in each district eighteen thousand in all truly an army of office-holders! And of these officers, twelve thousand (namely a treasurer and a clerk in each district,) were entitled to pay. (See section 74 of school law of 1043.)' What they received no one knows. They made their own charges. These were passed upon by the district and no record of the amount ever reached the Legislature or the lVople. It \vo suppose that they charged even three dollars each for their *11 tiro annual services the amount paid to them out of the school fiAuds, was thirty-six thousand dollars a year.

By the bill of 1840-9, which is the present law, the number of trustees in each district, in all counties where free schools were voted for, is reduced to one and he is entitled to seventy-five cents a day, for cnch day necessarily employed. Sixty-four counties, with say 1.200 district^, voted for free schools and in these there is one trustee for each district.— Twenty-seven counties, with about 1,000 districts, voted against free schodls, and in these there are still two paid trustees in each district. In the whole Stafc there are therefore, at this tirtie, by the provis-,i."Mu.u»,

"v ^Tfr

TCi w# ka«

r. •:.

'V H" V' :3Pr'-'

to another school merely because the

arc common, and demand a remedy,

on this bill, the most important of all.— Fourth.—The bill authorizes the system Glad am I, before we separate, to have of graded schools, heretofore adopted, an opportunity to direct attention to the: with eminent success, in other States.— leading changes therein made, and to the' In populous districts, it is essential, to effects thence resulting. {anything like an efficient system, that

my friend from Warren proposes

to speak to this point, I shall not enlarge upon it. Fifth.—The bill consolidates the entire Common School fund. This, the majority of the Committee believe# that the Con-

portant feature in the whole bill, namely: Sixth.—The creation of the office of Circuit Superintendent. The State is divided into fifteen educational circuits, usually consisting of six counties, and never of more than seven or less than five and by the voters in each circuit, a superintendent is to be elected, to whose charge the entire educational interests of the counties comprised within his circuit are entrusted. These Superintendents meet once a year, at the scat of government, then constituting the State Board of Education. erlan

To this feature of the bill, (chiefly pe haps on account-of its novelty) more tiir to any other, objection has,been made.— And yet it is precisely this provision which not only gives to the system vigor and vitality, but results in a saving, already alluded to, in actual dollars and cents, of greater amount than all the expenses of our State Government. The very stone which many builders would reject is the same which should be made the head of the corner.

I invite your earnest attention for a few minutes, while I substantiate an assertion which to some of my fellow members may seem too marvellous for truth.

First I ask, whether you are willing to entrust to one man, without counsel or check save his own individual preferences, predilections, or prejudices, the selection of uniform text books, for all the public schools in the State? You are not. I know you are not. am well assured, that, for such a proposition, placing in the hands of a single man such dictatorial power, ten votes could not be gotten in this House.

But are vou willing td triist, in this niatter, to the vdte of a majority df the educational representatives of the people, elected by popular vdte and coming together from every section of the State, Ironl tlie North, frpm the South, from the Bast, from the West, as ail educational Congress? Yes. There would hardly be a dissenting voice on this floor to such a proposition. It is accordingly incorporated in Section 183 of this bill the provision being, that the Stato Board of Education shall take measures for the introduction of uniform school books throughout the State.

Now you think this, perhaps, but a small, an unirnDdrtant matter. Let us an unimportant matter.

Tell me. you who are parents, and who been sending your children, for years, to our piiblic schools—answer and

u,n mo wh)ltt according your

books-

one avoiding great confusion of accounts between counties and allowing the dection of township thistees to come on, at the regular meeting for the election of other township officers. In regard to these township trustees, there is no change off number proposed in Uii*bill. Bot if •1h«!?b"',u

So™ P"

1 1

to one fof «»ch l»w»«tip.lB» ,h.||

without *iny IUP38 of ibti IMII. a hv uuuiv^i ui (own*

oamber "Sf' "iomli

huod„d.

expen-

ence. has been your actual loss, in cash, by the cdntinual chrtnge in school books?

A teacher assumes the charge df the school to which your children resort. He remains four, six, possibly twelve months. He departs, and another titkes his place. What happens? The first day your children return from the teachings of the new

.... ,i.T comer, there is a demand for some change

.l .w hook won't d«j vou must eet Thomas Bui thor„ ,s „tl*r awl grea! «K'»nU^ „r)wnV

John Smith's spelling

Th(.'m.w

out of Jones' arithmetic he must have Thompson's, or Jackson's, or Wilson's, or some other equally distinguished niariV The grammar in which your children have been studying is prononnced worthless

matuCr

lappits resu ?. whether he is a whit better judge of school Second, iVe have adopted the dirision books than was his predecessor. of civil, instead of congressional townships. Is not this the experience of every pain *h«s way we avoid the great evils re- ^nt that now hears me? Have not your suiting Ciora having a township (bounded pockets suffered, again and again, after the by inexorably straight lines) lying partly

vcry

attas dedared out

of lwo or three dollan5 must

expt nded U)

.^fy the literary likings, or

the of

jie

m°n no

how strongly you vmj doubt,

fashion I here describe?

rery tasiiton here describe! I have asked many gentlemen. what

times even in three different counties. p«r-1 .. *We estimate they place on the annual loss to haps, also, part on one side of a navigabw -, parents, for each child going to school in

dolT"r

year, some at seventy-five cents no one to whom I have put the question, has rated it lower than fifty cents, foreaeh scholar. To judge from the pile of half worn

school booksWingabout'inaimosteverv:shoWn -TOU' V*4fven

the Stole where a family of chil-!

pu, itat

doli^noral'SW"

#1 Third. I arcnts may, in all cases, send truth. I put the loss, then, at twenty-Ju* f*0?1 ®onvonwat school. (Sec Sec-' cvnts for each school child each year. Uon 31 of the but.) Inder the present The number of children within the State it A

,|. •*k *t ••"*,* *4* nr'p Wit?

is estimated by the Superintendent of Common Schools, in his last report, at 400,000. Suppose that more than one-third of these do not attend, and that the remainder, say 250,000, frequent our public schools. Two hundred and fifty thousand children, at twenty-five cents, gives an annual loss to parents, by change of school books atone, or sixty-two thousandJtv£hundred dollars/.

But this is not all.^lAt the present lime, school books, in a merchant's store, are a species of fancy stock, of very uncertain sale. The caprice or prejudice of one or two teachers may render them wholly unsaleable. As upon other fancy stocks, therefore, a high profit is put upon school books to compensate the risk of loss. But ifauniform series were introduced throughout the State, they would become a staple article, like tea, or coffee, or sugar, of certain sale kept by all country or village merchants and, as on other staples, competition and the certainty of ultimate sale would reduce the profit upon them to the lowest rate.

The experience of other States where uniform text-books have been introduced is, that the price is thereby reduced at a rate of from fifteen to twenty per cent.— Let us assume the lower rate, and let us suppose the school books purchased for each child to amount to a single dollar only, each year. Then the annual saving to the parent, by reduction of price of books is fiftfceh cettts per scholar or, on 250,000 school children, thirty-seven thousand fioe hundred dollars a year. This, added to the former sum of sixty-two thousand live hundred dollars gives, as the saving to parents by the proposed plan of making text-books for public schools uniform over the State, the round sum of ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS, a year!

And I am satisfied that the estimate is tob low. I believe a hundred and fifty thousand dollars would be much nearer the truth. But say a hundred thousand dollars only. And let Us thence deduct the entire cost of State and Circuit Superintendents namely» $1^,000 for salaries of Circuit Superintendents $2,000 for salary and all incidental expenses of State Superinteiidont arid say another $i,000 for mileage of the State Board, clerk hire, &c. in all fifteen thousand dollars. Take this amoiint frdni a hiindred thousand dollars. and it leaves a nett saving of eighiyJioe thousand dollars a year.

But, by the report df tlie Aiidltor of State showing tllu Ordinary expenses of the State Government, and which was laid on our tables yesterday, we find (at page 11) that the average df tllc^e expenses for the last fourteen yeftts, has been 81,938 dollars and 42 ceiits less ly more than three thousand a year, than the nett saving effected by one single provision in this bill the provision which requires the State Board of Education to establish uniformity of text-books in our public schools.

Have 1 not made out niy case? Let those who deny it show, wherein, throughout these calculations,! liavg, in tlie slightest degree exaggerated. Let candid men say, whether, ill every item I have assumed, I have not kept within the truth.

There is one thing which men seldom do in this world and which it especially behooves all public men, charged with the duty of law-making, to learn. It is, to give to tilings their relative importance.

See, in the case before us, an eminent example, illustrative of this truth. We spend ldng hours, and stir up etcited feel ings, in discussing whether a Circuit Judge, or a State officer, shall have two or ,three hundred dollars a year beyond what we now give him whether our Governor's salary shall be five hundred dollars more or less nay, we have committees of conference between the Houses to determine whether three Law Commissioners for a month or tvfo, shall be paid four, dollars a lay or five or perhaps we exhaust an entire morning's debate—three hundred dollars worth of legislation—in deciding whether that vcry sum, or less shall be saved to the people of the State, in the wages of a Sergeant-at-arms Matters, that, to settle either one Way or Other, as far as tlie ndoney goes, I would hardly take the trouble to walk across this Hall for they have no appreciable influence on the rate of our taxes. All of them put together scarcely swell that rate to the value of two or three cents a year to each inhabitant of the State

And yet —for lack of a section or two in'a school bill to regulate the matter— here, year after year, we have left untouched an evil of so» grave a character, that it entails upon us an annual loss, not of a few hundreds, not of a few thousands, the sole amount at issue in the question of high or ldw salaries, b'ut a loss which outweighs not only all the salaries of Governor, Judges, and State officers, -but also the whole expenses of legislation, pay of members, printing of laws atld journals, and all other incidentals that make up the total ordinary expenses of the State.— Hundreds we think of, talk of, sedukMsly save. Tens of thousands escape tfur sight them. And then ow they areimpdsed and how fortunate it was they elected us, the Argus-eyed friends

of economy! ,mm$

But this matter has not been placed be-

the whole year round, but decide on

urremtte. one mi.rht ,nnnm» ih*' six or seven fokh But what are ^. after careful exaidination, after acfcw aetata! A single day's deliberation of the thought, deliberately settles down oard of Education will probably ny great decision, it is the Peopled —v.

J—What

theydol What other duties are deiaaii-. js

\dtt

•—V -*-L-^RFS|!J(I'

W E E I

least four days in each, counseling with the township trustees, imparting information to them, as to their official duties, visiting the schools, observing the mode of teaching and government of the children, suggesting remedies for defects,.and plans for improvement. He will thus remain about six weeks in each couftty, eVefy year, stirring the indolent, enlightening the uninformed, and infusing new spirit into the whole system.

But again, it is made his duty to hold teachers Institutes. The experience of other States has shown, that, without this levei* to excite the emulation and awaken the energies of teachers, their character, as a class, cannot be effectually raised, and their qualifications will never reach the.point, at which alone we may entrust to theiii, with confidence, and with reasonable hope of progress, moral and intellectual, the training of our children.

It is also a part of the Superintendent's official duty to examine and license teachers. That this duty is, at present, sometimes entrusted to the incapable, and often but unfaithfully fulfilled by those who know better than they act, cannot bu doubted and of this the frequent incapacity of our teachers is the certain result. Sd long as men are picked Up, as now, almost at bap-hazard, each, perhaps, with a different standard of qualification, and required, without remuneration, to examine all comers, littleResponsibility will be felt, and carelessness in granting certificates will continue and will increase.

Yet again, to the Superintendent is assigned the important duty of examining and reporting the condition of the school funds, in each county within his district. These funds are large, the Congressional township fund and surplus revenue fund alone exceeding two millions of dollars and, by a recent report from our Auditor, a considerable proportion of them is regarded as in jeopardy. In the discharge of this duty alone, the Circuit Superintendent may often save from ultimate loss an amount exceeding his salary.

But lastly, he is required to collect and yearly to report, from every township in his district, the statistics of education the number and condition of schools, number df scholars, amount of extra tax voted, length of time schools are kept by public fitnds, number of seledt schools, aVerage wages of teachers* and other various items

I' 1.«U AF AM

T?A1* 1

cirtlr i(

1.1^PSP

of similar character. For lack of these we have hitherto legislated, irt a measUre, in the dark and without these, as a foundation to build upon, no school systeni can be framed or conducted understandingly, or with any certainty that it will meet the wants of the people.

These, briefly sketched, are the duties of the Circuit Superintendent. I assert, that there is not a class of officers in our State, to whom are entrusted duties of greater importance, more essential to the well-being and improvement of society.— They give to this system its vigor, its very life. They are tlie necessary link between the State Superintendent and the officers of the township. Strike this feature from the systeni, arid you fatally cripple Its action you virtually destroy it. You destroy it just as effectually as you would arrest the power df a nlanufactory, by taking out the connecting shaft between the steam-engine artd the machinery it is intended to pUt iri motion.

And wherefore, I ptay you, this suicidal mutilation of a connected plan?— What is the vast object to be gained, that will justify the rejection of a class of agents, charged With functions thus essential, thus indispensable? The expense! you reply the salaries tlie number of officers and the ddllars and cents required to pay them.

And have you ever calculated, in honest figures, what that expense, fairly distributed, amounts to? I have shown you that the annual cost of State and Circuit Superintendents, State Board of Education and every incidental connected therewith, does not exceed fifteen thousand dollars that is, a million and a half of cents a cent and a half yearly for each inhabitant of our State. Or apportion It dut among tllo children, say three hundred thousand, who do, or should, attend our public schools and what is the result? What is the vast sum to be paid yearly for each scholar, in order td support this new fangled, this extravagant host of Superintendents!

Here it is (holding up a coin.) Can you see it, Sir, at that distance? Scarcely, I dare say. It is the tery smallest coin that circulates amongus,except where a few stray coppers may have made their recent way: a five cent piece. Five cents is the enormous amount required to be yearly paid, on the average, for each school child, in order to support this overEfrown system, this prodigal expenditure of fees and salaries. F1 fi CENTS! the same petty coin which—-Without a thought, Without a scruple—many of us (alas, how many!) daily toss over the grog-shop counter in payment of a gulp of miserable whiskey, or of a single Havanna cigar! Oh wise objectors 1 On sage guardians of the public purse 1 Oh Pharisees of oar modern day, sti ll, as in Jesus' time, strain-, ing at a gnat, swallowing a camel! Open your eyes! Tarn them inward, on your

consciences and tell ua, whether in very deed, you will mar and mutilate a system

aeea, you win mar ana mouiue ojovcm

blds fa

fore you yet. in its full force. I have made ^vate the mind* and rescue from vice out my calculations as if these Sriperm-! of your children—all far a sum ten dents. Sate and Circuit, did nothing,

sa,an.es^S*Te l*e® peP*,dl*°

regenerate the land, us

paltry, for a consideration so utterly con-

temptible. as that!

uniform series of school books arid have j" public man has two duties* and one

«*se,all the jof them is often shamefully neglected.—

When popular opinion, after full enquiry,

else do! representatives to carry out its decree.—

suffice for such a decision they do! What other dc dedof them, under this bill! &m- thousands are too indolent or too faint-

In (he first place the Circuit Saperintfcn- [hearted to fulfill it. to inform, to instruct, dent is required to visit, annually, every direct public opinion, when, for a time, township in his district, and to spend at! seduced by demagoguism or misled by pre-

datj quite asimperadve, though

TEME-HAUTE, INDIANA, MARCH 31, 1852. ^. r,^ VOL. XD 'NO 16.*.

judice, it strays from the right path. He merits in no sense, the character of Statesman, who Supinely suffers his bark, at all times, to float along with the current

:t)f

the

hour, let it carry him where it will. The good of our race—nay a decent sense of self-respect—bid us, from time to time, pull sturdily at the oar. ojwj/wrif the current till the tide changes, and we have the satisfaction to feel, that we have aided to lead, when it would have been wickedness, to follow.

So it may be, in the case before usU* It may chance, that in some portions of the State, the public sentiment of the day, started by vague rumor, in advauce of any careful examination of the details of this bill, never having weighed its provisions against those of the existing law or compared the expenses of its management with those now incurred and acctually paid out of our school fund—it may chance, that public opinion, acting in the dark, will scruple, in some sectlous, to endorse the plan proposed. It is your. duty, fellow members! if this should be so. if you think the proposed system good but unpopular to strike in boldly, aud lay the truth before your constituents. It may even become your duty, to give your vote, not so much with a view to please popular sentiment, hasty, half formed, hot yet possessed of the facts nor supplied with the materials for judgment as to satisfy public opinion, fully informed, deliberate, and as you feel assured it will be, whenever the facts and the arguments of the case are spread out, at length, before it. Believe me, you will gain, not suffer, in public esteem, in the end, by courageously assuming so proper a responsibility.

I pass now to the last among the chief changes embodied in this bill the provision which establishes, in each township of the State, a public library.

I anticipate no serious opposition to this proposal. The tax, light as it.is, will suffice to place in every organized township in the State, a select library of the most practical and useful works, amounting, in a single year, to three hundred volumes. Not children only, every adult also in the township, is privileged to use this library, a volume at a time. It is proposed to continue the tax av imposed for this object, two years only "C* In that time it will suffice to cast among us (each library of six hundred volumes witliin eanv reach of every citizen of Indiana) one million oj volumes, embracing voyages, travels, history, science, morals and every other Useful department of human knowledge. A walk dr ride of three or four miles at the farthest, will place these at the disposal of every man, woman or child, who desires to spend the sultry sUmmer noon, or the long winter's evening, not in listless idleness, or debasing intemperance, but in storing the mind and brightening the faculties and improving the heart.

A fact, melancholy and impressive, is brought before us, when we inspect the census of 1850 and compare it, in one of its items, with the census of 1840. Twelve years ago there are reported, in our State, thirty-eight thousand persons over the age of twenty-one who cannot read or write. Ten years pass by. our population increases from about seven hundred thousand to nearly a million—not, fifty per cent while the number of those who cannot read or write, increases in 1850 to seventy Jioe thousand, almost double an increase of nearly one hundred per cent.*

Are things proceeding among us, as they ought We are prosperous. We are waxing rich. Our lisi of taxables swells, year after year, by tens of millions. The forest disappears, and thriving farnis spring up, by hundreds, in its place. Canals, railroads, plankrdads are constructed, as by magic intersecting, in every direction, our rdpidly grdwlng Stfite. fivery year, as it passes, brings with it physical improvement, increase of wealth, and (must we say it?) increase of ignorance igndraiice! IHchfease in the number of those, frdtH whom the rich harvest of all passed knowledge, gahiered in books, is locked up, is shut away whocannot decipher the terms of the contract to -which they set their mark, nor the provisions of the law that governs them who cannot note down an item in a daily account book nor pen a line, of urgent business,pr kihd remembrance, to a friend f*

#1« r»

He who, from early neglect or misfortune. is thus cast upou the world, to struggle through its toils, umiided everi by the most common rileans through which we gather experience of the Past, or knowledge from the Present, seems to trie like

We must induce adults as well as children, to learn to read. How shall this be done? Easily. Men can be tempted to good is well as to evij. 8uffer these libraries to spring up, in every man's neighborhood. Let the school children tare (he books home, not to con them over, like a

aloud, tcf tbeif unlettered parents and the earnest wish will spinng up in niany an adult heart: "Oh, that 1 had learned to read!" And after a time, it will be more than a barren wish. The sealed treasure will tempt. The man, or the Wcftnan

4iaaiuM. b« kn hitter from other Ruu*.

SSSm

£&$ if

ix $ a $ 2 5 0 a he pi at on $ 3 &

and twenty-five cents poll-tax is the rate

proposed in this bill to which may be added, at the opfioh of the. vofefs Of any township, an additional ta*, in that township. not exceeding fifty cents ad valorem and fifty cents poll-tax.

scarcely suffice, to maintain the system for

a month and a half in each year. Each

five cents ad valorem, netts about $93,-

Fourtht The convenience df parents, the strict supervision of schools and school funds, the examination and improvement of teachers, the creation of township libraries, the collection of educational statistics, are all provided and cared for, to an extent wlich no school law, since tbe first existence of our State, has attempted.

In a word, the systerri is at once simpler, less burthened by machinery, less loaded down with numerous officers, more economical and more effective, than any which an Indiana Legislature has ever submitted to the pieople.

For the sake of the rising geriefatidrt the future men and Wonied of Indiana who may hereafter gite credit and character to our young State, and spread prosperity artd,happiness thrdilghout her borders or who may make her very name a by-word afid a reproach among ner sisters Of tile Cdnfederacy earnestly, anxiously do I hope, that it niay be approved and addptea.^,

Old Job Dandee was at one time dne of the most popular darkies in our city. He was a kind of a patriarch among the col-

to a man turned loose among armed com- ored population, and universally liked by batants, each intent on conquest aud acquisition, he himself being unarmed, defenceless, Witbdut a weapon save the chance club he may pick up in His piith.

guarantee worth, if some men start ih the race, without a guide dr counsellor, deprived of chart and compass?

the white folks. About the time that he stood at the head of NeW street fchurch, he was subpoenaed before Squire (now Judge) Wine man, to testify to the character o'f a negro who Was charged With petit larceny.

We talk of equality. It is an empty sound, a cheating phantasm, under circumstances like these. If you will have equality of power, you must have, in some (yon know of the character of the defenmeasure, equality of knowledge. Youjdant?" cannot separate knowledge and poWer.— "Woll, 1 knows considerable Tout de Knowledge is power social.pecuniary, }K»- colored indiwidual, and I neber fin's him titical. You guarantee to all equal right'guilty of only one 'fence," replied Job, in the pursuit of happiness. What is the with great reverence.

»«p far wary CTfwaw go**- ],ngPj replied, he'and he's convicted.'— •s. wte cunwt re«4 or write. ireaMkiUW hoc* In r. ,.

-0

•peak, however. tha ort«is something about dressing flax.' uenty ike

M1 Ule

«t UUBJI, I

will resolve, that what has been ne^- Hhw Xode »f Building ROOMI. lected ih youth, shall be achieved in Mr. Fowlfer, of New York, has issued a middle "age. Perhaps the parent may not pamphlet in which he earnestly urges a disdain to learn, even ftom his child. jnew mode of buildi'ng Houses, which he

New York has tried this experiment, proclaims to be superior to all others "in with eminent success. Ill that State, there economy, comf°M nealthfulhess and beauare upwards of eight thousand district li- jty. The house must be made bf planks braries, with riefcrly a million and a half and without scantling frabfe-work. Let of-volumes. I learn that no measuce of the stone foundation be established then equal importance ever met there, among tftitoimence by laying bbards alternately of the people, a more cordial appiovttl.

s|^

Well Job,'' said tlie Scfuire, what do

Well, what is the nature of the Offence you allude to?M"''r 'f'WT"Why. de niggar am bigoted."" •'He's what!" "Bigoted, bigoted—doesn't you know warm apple ha at am "Why. no,'' replied Ih much df a Wag "Will you define the term. Job?"

ie S^' uire^who was

Sartinly, sartinly, I does

spelling book, as a dry task, but to readf oted. a colored pUssdn must know too them with interest, with delight perhaps much

four or

,et Indiana imitate the example. We the edges presenting within and without are in the wrong road. Let us turn aside grooves of half all'inch in depth. Thefrom it. In vain our pecuniary prosperity, if .comers, and connections with partition knowledge and learning, declared in our Walls of like character, to form strong Constitution to be essential to the preser- bonds by lapping-—the joists to rest on vatiou of a free government, prosper not these wooden waJls,as also the fafters.—also. Better poverty than ajfluence, if the When built, these walls are to be plastered mind is to remain barren, and the' heart inside and out, to suit the taste. No laths unreclaimed. Riches are but a snare and will be required.

a curse, if ignorance grow -with their' substitute these. But feW nails are. called for—merely* enough, to hold the planks I temporarily in their placed. At every Six

growth,, and strengthen as they increase. "Woe to the land, to hmteniug ills yvey, "When wealth accumulate*, and men decay

But I^inust hasten to a closeiU Fifteen cents on the hundred dollars-ad valorem,

are Sliitable,

*1... 1, .'littr-

destroying the system. But let few items be borne in. mind, before tve decide to .reduce it.

no\v. a.

So that each five

cents added to the ad valorem tax, or fif-. begih. Bother Joe.

ty cents added to the poll-tax, is about one month's additional schooling. Under thb bill reported there will be.received iri all, fVdth school funds and taxes, about $455,000. It fOlldWs, that, except in townships where additional school taxes are voted, public schools can be kept up, between four and five months only, out of the twelve. Will a lower tax redebm our Constitutional dbligatidiis?

Permit me now, very briefly, to sum up aud, in so doing, to remind you, that the question is not between this system and no systeni but but between this bill, with its new provisions, and the present law, with its old officers, machinery and expenses.

First. This bill proposes upwards of seven thousand fewer paid officers than are provided for in the present law, or in any former bill.

Second. While it establishes State and Circuit Superintendents, at a cost of about fifteen thousand dollars a year, It abolishes district trustees at a cost of more than thirty thousand a year.

Third. Its single provision regarding uniform school-books, not heretofore embraced in any school law, will produce a nett saying to parents, eiceeditlg tlie entire ordiuary expefcsbs of our State government.

I 1

.--? "ts %.*$: a .i*.to —'ir*

'M:\y vzct-::*-'A%* .»

tJ H» 3

.- .S TERMS:—In adV&nee 42:

si*

fire inches width on their sided,

.The half inch grooves

I or eight inches eleVati'dn, augur holes are I to be made, and wooden pins inserted.— I The cheapest and roughest kinds of planks

and may be of arty kind of

seasoned wood—pine, oak, poplar, hemlock. The plastering protects all.-r-Such a house is very close} verv diy, is not effected by sudden changes of temper: ature, effectually excludes all kinds of ver-

The rate of tax thus made -imperative having no ndoks or crannlei,^bdLU m.'.y be increased or diminished* without c±ccedin'lv firni

Did anybody eVefr hear the story of two bachelor brothers, dowh ih Tennessee, who had lived a cat-and-dog sort of litW td their own and the neighborhood'a comfort, for a good inany years, but who baying been at 'a camp-meeting, were slightly "convicted,^

The entire amount now receivable yearly from our school fund, (by many imagined to bo almost sufficient to keep lijj Tree schools the year round) is only about $136 P00. It require! between ninety and a hundred thousand dollars to keep up pUblie schools throughout the Statb, for o/id-j inform. month. So that the amount, at present I'Brother Tom," says one* when they available from our whole school funds, *ill *h?,r

f£ind

fk'lb\v

cm,

cohcluded to

U.® 8M°.wa

you ofyour, fau a so

how to go abou^i^g in

,.,j v~

000 and each fifty cents poll-tax not says brother lom. quite the same amount.*

i'^Well. in tlie first place, ydli know, brothfef Tom,ybu wiiLlie.," Crabk! goes brother Tories "pfiw" oe-' tVeen brothel- Joe's, "b'linkehs," ahd considerablb df A "sBrinimagb" ensues, until, iti the coUrse of ten "minutes, neither are able to "come ujp td tihie," and the reformation is postponed sine die.—y. Y. Spirit of th-e Times:

•&****£

*r^1

EXOUSAULK.—Wiiilst a regiment of volunte'ers were marching through Camargo,i a Captain (a strict disciplinarian,) observ-| l'ngtnatone of'the drum§ djd ndt heal, tiF-L dered'thb Lieutenant td ihqulre the reason The fellow'on being interrogated, whisV pered to the lleutfenant-1— "I Havie two ducks and a turkey in m^v drunrf aHd the turkey is for the Captain!"

This beibg Whispered to the Captain hef^ exclaimed: !f "Why didn't tlie drummer say he waMT. lame! I do not Want any of hiy mctl td, do their duty whfen tiieyarenot able!" e* lemm

ranging rlcKnwi'

SINGULAR SAGE oif SLAVES.—-A nearo woman and sbveral children Were sold at Ooldsbord', N. C., a few days ago,

from $711 to $827.

Ooldsboro• Patriot'' says: "They werd

the children of a free negro hy the namd df Adam Wynne who had purchased their mother, his wife, previou? to theii* birth. Tliey were consequently his slaves, and, he having become involved, thejis? Were sold for his debts."

'f, S.

SOMETHING WORTH KNOWIKO.—It is fafct, perhaps not generally known to farmers, and Which, at this seasdii, i& tthpottan t, that, there are two parts in the potatoe, which, if separated ahd planted at the same time, one will produce potatoes, fit for the table bight br ten days sooner than the other. The sttiall ettd of the potatoe whibh is generally full df eyes, is the part Which produces the earliest the middle or body df the potatoe the late and always larger dnes. This we learn front an exchange:

The Maine Liquor Law has been introduced in the Minltesdta Legislature. ^On Monday, the 16th ult„ a large procession, much tlie largest of any that ever turned out in the Territory, marcbed to the building Occupied by the Legislature, and presented a petition praying fof- its ehactmefat. The Minnesb'tlan says "We haye not the least doubt that a large majority of the people are this moment in favor of its passage."

A fnend of ours, who was a few miles in the country the other day, relates the following: A mile or two back from the city he met a boy on horseback, crying with cold. "Why don't you get down and lead the horse?" said our friend "that's the way to keep warm." ''I®'*

To be big- ago," said Mr. Smith With a sigh. know too "Mine left me worse than that," said

for one niggar, and not enough for Mr. Jones, "about two months ago^ Sh$ two mggars V-—tin. Times. Uft me in jail.'

Sammy.' cried an did lady, s* raising up her spectacles, 'what have they apart. ,f done with poor Toby for httcheilling?'—I i.

b-b-bor-

ryed horse, and I'll ride him if I freeze'.

A country editor, describing dance ai a tillage ball, says: "The gorgeous strings of g1&*s beads glistened on the heaving bosoms of the tillage belles, like polished rubies resting on the delica&b surface umplings." 'J

asked

"How is your wife, Mr. Smith?' Mr. Jones. "Ab, she left nfe In sorrow, tWd yeafs

PKAOK is the evening star of the soul, aa I virtue is its sun, and the two are never far

Sot hetchetUmg, granny, 'twas swind- It wud the Austrian Government fa demanding a tax of two hundred and twenty five dollars from every full growft person emigrating to America.

la, swingling, so twas I knew twas

......... ...,

%)C.