ordered schoolhouses and from neglected school-grounds. Old school-buildings should be examined and put in good order, and made wholesome, before the children or their teachers are required to occupy them for a day; for it will avail little to train the intellect into a state fitted for the service of an active life, and at the same time expose the body to disease and death.

Whenever new buildings are to be erected, the builders should begin their work by choosing suitable school-grounds, and by planning the construction of the houses that are to stand upon them, with special reference to comfort, convenience, health, and beauty. In furnishing the buildings, and in arranging the grounds, it should not be forgotten that the presence of beauty in either nature or art produces happy influences on the minds of children, and has a tendency to lead them to have a high regard for beauty in moral actions.

COURSE OF STUDIES.

A course of studies is a collection of subjects arranged in the order in which they should be pursued. A complete course is one that includes all subjects necessary to be taught as occasions for all required knowledge and mental discipline.

As there are kinds of knowledge to be obtained, and kinds of discipline to be produced, a course of studies may be divided into groups or grades. The number of distinct grades of studies will determine the number of grades of schools a school system will contain. In our system we have three grades. The first is called the primary grade, and is distinguished from the other two by confining itself to subjects relating to the qualities of objects and to language. The second grade, called the intermediate, directs the attention of the learner to an analysis of the objects of his study, for those characteristics which furnish the basis of classification. The third is the scientific grade, and directs the student to a study for causes, for principles, and for a knowledge of classes.

The right selection and arrangement of studies in the different grades are of the highest importance, as they determine the kind and amount of knowledge and culture the pupil is to acquire.

The principles to be observed in making a course of studies. are: 1st, Select such subjects as will furnish occasions for useful knowledge. 2d, Select the subjects best adapted to excite

that activity which will produce the best mental training. 3d, Make such an arrangement of the subjects as will allow the pupil to acquire the different grades of knowledge in the order of their dependence. 4th, Make such an arrangement as will occasion that activity only which is natural for the powers to

exert.

Ths following is a simple outline of the topics arranged in course by the Plymouth County School Committee Association.

This course may not be considered a model for close imitation, but it may serve to aid those who are laboring to do what has never yet been done,—to construct a perfect course of studies for the public schools.

The course thus sketched is for nine years. In addition to the topics named in the course, the teacher is to provide for physical and moral training.

Physical Training. It should be the constant endeavor of the teacher to influence his pupils to perform such physical acts as will occasion health, strength, and an easy, graceful carriage of their bodies; such as will lead to the formation of good habits in taking food, exercise, sleep, and recreation; in sitting, standing, and walking; in breathing, and in the use of the vocal organs; and in protecting the body against the unfavorable effects of the weather. Attention should be given to the conditions of the schoolroom, with reference to light, temperature, ventilation, and the physical comfort of the pupils. Gymnastic exercises should be given for physical training.

Morals and Manners. The right training of the moral nature is the most important of the teacher's duties. He should teach his pupil what ought to be done in the various relations of life. He should train him to do what ought to be done, and that it should be done with a good spirit, until right habits of acting are formed. The young should be trained to habits of obedience to human and divine authority, of truthfulness, honesty, industry, order, cleanliness, and neatness; to the observance of the Golden Rule; to behave well in the school, on the playground, on the street, and in all places where the duties of life may call them. The teacher may give effective object-lessons in morals by his own good example.

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Order of Teaching. The order to be followed in teaching every subject is: 1. To present the object of thought to the mind of the pupil. 2. To direct his mind in the acquisition of knowledge, and in the exertion of its power. 3. To lead the pupil to use good English words and constructions in expressing the ideas and thoughts he acquires.

For a more complete plan of studies and mode of teaching, see Report of Board of Education, 1879-80.

Means of Teaching.

Color. Standard primary colors, palette, chart of colors, cards, worsteds, colored balls.

Form.Box of forms, clay for modelling, natural objects. Size. -Solids of various sizes, surfaces of various sizes, rods of various lengths.

Measured Size.

A foot-rule, yard-stick, Gunter's chain. For Practice in judging of Size.— Rods of various lengths, surfaces of one kind but of various sizes, solids of various sizes. A system of weights, and a balance.

Weight.

The teacher should provide himself with the units of all the measures belonging to both the English and French systems of weights and measures.

Numbers. Numeral frame, oblong blocks, bundles of small rods, marbles, etc.

Elementary Geography.— Large terrestrial globe, small globe made of wood and covered with slate-surface, moulding-board, maps, a compass, and materials for constructing maps.

Botany, Mineralogy, and Zoology. In the study of natural objects, there should be, first, an examination of the objects themselves for facts. In the scientific study of these objects, a knowledge of the facts is to be generalized, and classes formed. The means, then, of teaching natural objects must always be the objects themselves.

For Elementary Knowledge, and for Classes. The objects needed for the means of teaching will be suggested by the teacher's plan of study. See Report for 1879-80.

Means for teaching Extension. A rod, a thin board, and a thick book, for the three dimensions.

Impenetrability.— A hard stone, a nail and a hammer, a popgun, a bottle for water, a tunnel, and some tissue-paper, for illustrating that no two solid or gaseous or liquid bodies can occupy the same place at the same time. As the means of testing the truth of what has been illustrated, use a piece of pine board, some cloth, and a needle. Show by these that a nail entering the wood, and a needle the cloth, push aside the atoms, but they do not penetrate them.

By means equally simple, all elementary topics in physics may be illustrated. Teachers, aided by their pupils, will find it possible to prepare for themselves all necessary means to be used in teaching and in study of both elementary physics and chemistry.

The first step to be taken in preparing to teach objectively elementary knowledge in either of the above-named branches,