with the previous parts, concludes the more immediately necessary and useful branches of study to which the attention of the young has usually been directed. I am aware that some of the subjects here submitted, have been regarded by many as more intricate and less useful than the first rudiments of geography aud history; and that they have also been found, generally, less inviting to the young mind. I know that a few simple outlines of general geography and detached portions of history, accompanied by maps or pictures, possess more novelty, and consequently greater attractions for youthful minds, than the unvarnished technicalities of grammar, and the sober deductions of arithmetic. But I am by no means persuaded that those are so immediately necessary er essentially useful as these; or that the young mind is prepared to profit by an attention to the former, until it has been expanded and strengthened by an acquaintance with the latter. As this is a subject in regard to which teachers are not perfectly agreed, allow me to offer the opinion of Governor Clinton, to whom the plan of this work was early submitted. "Full confidence may be reposed in the feasibility of your undertaking, and I presume there will be but one opinion, as to the judicious manner in which you propose to exhibit to the attention of the scholar, the most necessary and useful branches of a common education." While I express my confidence in the selection of the parts, and the order of their arrangement, it becomes me to acknowledge my deep regret, that, in getting the work through the press, so many errors, seemingly inseparable from a first impression, should have crept into its pages. Aside from those of a purely typographical nature, there are inequalities, disproportions and discrepances which I can dispose of in no better way than to refer them to the diversity of sources from which the compilation has been drawn. Over all these and whatever other imperfections you may discover, either in the plan or its execution, I must entreat you to draw the veil of charity, and to accept my assurances that the effort has been made with a more direct and special reference to your professional aid and the public good, than to any personal considerations that can possibly be involved in the undertaking. In regard to the practical use of this work, I will merely observe that the division of the whole into convenient parts, was adopted in order that the pupil might be furnished, at a cheap rate, with such portions as should correspond with the measure of his attainments; and the collateral order of the exercises, was designed to enable the teacher, after a judicious classification of his charge, to adjust the amount of daily labour to the ability of each pupil; to keep his attention properly employed, and to feed his expanding mind with rich and successive portions of useful instruction. It is supposed the scholar of ordinary capacity will, while engaged in the first part, be able to sustain six perfect recitations each day; and, on on entering the second part, to extend these to eight; to which may be added an exercise in penmanship. It is also supposed that all arithmetical recitations and illustrations, will be performed in class, with chalk upon a black board suspended against the wall of the house. Finally, it is supposed that every scholar, at the return of the fourth recitation, will promptly engage, through the whole course, in the exercise of spelling and pronunciation. It is confidently believed that with this course of studies in the hands of an entire charge of eighty or a hundred pupils, with proper accommodations, a teacher will accomplish more, with less fatigue and turmoil, and to better satisfaction, in one season, than he can possibly accomplish un ter the present system, in a circle of some years. That the compilation may meet your approbation and be productive of all the advantages, in aiding your labours, promoting your usefulness, and building up the public weal, that are here fondly anticipated, is the sincere wish of the AUTHOR. To the Parents and Guardians of pupils attached to the District Schools. FELLOW CITIZENS: Authors may write and printers may publish until subjects are exhausted and materials expended; yet, when all is done, it depends upon you to say that their works shall be read and their labours rewarded. A reference to this and the previous parts of the "Common School Manual" will be sufficient evidence to you that I have written, and that printers have published my writings. I now present myself before you for a decision:-Shall the Common School Manual lie upon my hands, disppomt my hopes, and aggravate my wants, or shall it, thro' your assistance, have free circulation, and exert in community the beneficial influences for which it was originally designed, and of which it is deemed abundantly capable. In forming your reply to this inquiry, I intreat you to divest yourselves of all prejudice; it is the the fabled fish of minnow form which arrests the progress of the stoutest ships. Though single and simple, it may retard the bark of knowledge on the vast ocean of time, more than the adverse blast or the dead calm. Call to mind the extensive and extending variety of different school books which pervade the country and load your shelves; the additional labour and amount of difficulties which they impose upon your teachers;-the turmoil and confusion which they introduce into your schools,-the tax which they successively levy upon your industry, and the wreck they make, throgh the frequent changes of teachers, books, and modes of instruction, of the best hopes and just expectations of your children. Reflect for a moment, of what importance it is to them, that, as they advance to manhood, they acquire a body of knowledge sufficient for all the purposes of free and independent Republicans, destined to act distinguished parts in the busy scenes of public and private life, and in the advancement of the great interests of their country. In the Common School Manual, I have the pleasure of presenting them, through you, with a course of studies, which, under the direction of competent instructers, will furnish them with this knowledge so far as it can be had from books and systems of education, and at an expense of time and money far short of the sacrifice which is made for the stinted and undijested mass which they now receive. Will it please you to examine this production and judge for yourselves? It is a subject of vast moment to you and to your offspring, and therefore should not be entrusted to hireling hands. While I propose its submission to the ordeal of your decision, allow me to apprise you, that, like all other human productions, it has its imperfections. Confident as I am of its great utility in the hands of the teachers and pupils of your common schools, and partial as I may of right be to the 'heir of my old age,' its faults have not escaped my observation. Many of them however may be corrected and several improvements introduced in a future impression. Upon the whole, as a rough finish from an unkind and shapeless block, I cheerfully resign it to be adjudged with that candour and good faith which you will not fail to exercise. May it answer your expectations, receive your approbation and patronage, and yield the advantages and answer the purposes originally contemplated by the AUTHOR. Orlando and Jaques, 520-571 Gen. George Washington, 66 5 syl. act; 1st and 2d, 596 Brig. Gen. D. Morgan, 486-490 Alexander and Thra- cian robber, 443 Macduff, Malcom and Rosse, 446-449 66 Sulton and Howard, 453 66 Ann and her mo- ther, 457-461 Ximenia and mother, 464 468 472 475 479-482 66 "6 syl. act. pro words dif. in spel & pro. 645-658 READING LESSONS. 350 P. Henry's war speech, 353 Objections to independence, 540 359 D Webster's Bunker Hill ad. 553 Compound series, rule 1st, Exclamation point, rule 1st, 374 J. Q. Adams' ad. Lafayette. 571 Parenthesis, rule, 2d, 368 C. Sprague's July oration, Remarks on Inflections, Inflections applied to sen- ment, 580 386 |