ful hints.

While we do not accept all his methods, or his conclusions, we do not hesitate to commend the book to the careful perusal and study of all the teachers of this State. Teachers, go and get it; read it carefully, it will do you good.

.6

THE CAMP, THE BATTLE FIELD, AND THE HOSPITAL," is the title of a handsome volume, just issued by the New England Publishing Company, Boston, Mass. The author has delved most industriously amongst the masses of curious incidents, which have marked the late war, and has grouped and classified them under appropriate heads, and in a very attractive form.

There is a certain portion of the war, that will never go into the regular histories, and will not get embodied in romance or poetry, which is a very real part of it, and will, if preserved, convey to succeeding generations, a better idea of the spirit of the conflict. than many dry reports, or careful narrative of events, and this part may be called the gossip, the fun, the pathos of the war.

These illustrate the character of the leaders, the humor of the soldiers, the devotion of women, the bravery of men, the pluck of our heroes, the romance and hardships of the service. From the beginning of the war, the author, Dr. L. P. BROCKETT, has been engaged in collecting all the anecdotes connected with, or illustrative of it. The volume is profusely illustrated with over 100 engravings, by the first artists, which are really beautiful; worthy of examination as specimens of the art. The book's contents include reminiscences of camp, picket, spy, scout, bivouac, siege and battle-field adventures; thrilling feats of bravery, wit, drollery, comical and ludicrous adventures, etc., etc.

Amusement as well as instruction, may be found in every page, as graphic detail. brilliant wit, and authentic history, are skillfully interwoven in this work of literary art.

It is just such a volume as will find numerous purchasers, and just such a one as persons seeking to act as book agents, should add to their list.

OUR YOUNG FOLKS.-Good at first, is constantly improving. Read the following "Special Notice. The conductors of Our Young Folks have great pleasure in announcing that they have completed arrangements for adding as a new feature of their magazine a series of Full Page Illustrations. These will be drawn by the first artists, engraved in the best manner, and printed upon fine tinted paper. Each number of the magazine will contain one or more of them. The first picture of the series, to be given with the September number, is "The Wanderers," designed by W. J. Hennessy. The Colored Illustrations, which were promised for this year, are now printing, and will be given in the November and December numbers. The first of these will be entitled Florinda and Florindel;' the second, 'The Old Man of the Mountain,' designed by Alfred Fredericks."

THE HERALD OF HEALTH, for August, contains an article on "Tobacco," by Horace Greeley; "English Pluck," by Moses Coit Tyler; "The Cycles of Life," by F. B. Perkins; "Study of Physiology," by Prof. Rufus King Browne; "Personal Habits," by Rev. John Pierpont; Poems by Alfred B. Street, George W. Bungay, Dr. J. E. Snodgrass and J. B. F. Walker, M. D.; Health of Girls; Uses of the Turkish Bath; Treatment of Spinal Curvature; National Longevity; Causes, Prevention and Treatment of Cholera; Botany for Invalids; Anæsthetics; Ventilation; Lead Pipe Poisoning; Children Teething; Home Treatment of Cholera Morbus; Cholera Infantum; Nose-bleed; Difficult Breathing; Sleeplessness, etc. $2 a year20 cents a number. Address Miller, Wood & Co., 15 Laight Street, New York.

THE NEW ILLUSTRATED EDITION OF WEBSTER'S DICTIONARY. This seemingly dry and certainly ponderous book has its peculiar charms. Here is collected and tersely set down a vast quantity of various and useful knowledge, such as is indispensable to educate men and women. Here are a hundred and fourteen thousand words, defined with a clearness, fullness, precision, and wealth of illustration, that denote the soundest scholarship, and the most entire fidelity to laborious details. Altogether the work is a marvelous specimen of learning, taste and thorough labor. We praise it heartily, because we believe it deserves the heartiest praise.-New York Albion.

OUR pilgrimage to the American Mecca was made on a recent beautiful but sultry day of June. As we stepped aboard the steamer at Washington, fresh berries laden with fragrance from the woods, and newly-mown fields on the shores of the Potomac, pleasingly contrasted with the stagnant air of a crowded city, and the sickening effluvia of its unswept streets. A sail of an hour and a half, brought us to the venerable and substantial fort Washington, in view of which, on the opposite shore, lay the consecrated spot, about which cluster so many associations dear to American hearts. There we took on board a squad of soldiers for guard duty on the grounds, and in a few moments afterwards, were safely landed at our destination.

"This, then," said we, "is the home and the resting-place of Washington; over these grounds he walked, and in yonder mansion he ate and slept and died." Wending our way up the winding pathway, we came to the humble brick tomb, where, amid overhanging trees and shrubbery, reposes the dust of the "Father of his Country." Over the entrance we read, "Within this enclosure rest the remains of General George Washington." The sarcopage of the illustrious dead and of his wife, are plainly seen through the strong iron railing that guards the entrance, on one of which is the word "WASHINGTON," and on the other by its side, "MARTHA, the consort of Washington." Within and on the farther wall, is inscribed the hopeful language of Jesus, "I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live.”

"But Washington is not here, said some one in a low, sad tone.” "Non it est partout," responded a venerable countryman of Lafayette, with a generosity that did honor to his hoary locks. No, he is everywhere. The remains were first deposited in the old family vault overlooking the Potomac, and were removed to this one in 1832. In 1837 they were placed in the marble sarcophagus, where they will probably remain undisturbed through many generations. Near by the tomb are four monuments, in memory of near relatives of the honored dead. On one of them is the following inscription : "Within the vault lie buried the mortal remains of Bushrod Washington, an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He died at Philadelphia, November 26th, 1827, aged 68 years." By his side is interred his devoted wife, Anna Blackburn, who survived her beloved husband but two days, aged 60. "The heart was broke, it aches no more. They were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in death. were not divided." On another is inscribed, "Sacred to the memory of John Augustine, son of Corbin and Hannah Washington," who appointed him one of his executors, and bequeathed to him Mt. Vernon, where he died June 16th, 1832, aged 43. The others are in memory of Mrs. M. E. Conrad, grand-neice of Washington, and Eleanor Parke Lewis, grand-daughter of Mrs. and adopted daughter of General Washington.

The family mansion is a large, plain edifice, commanding on the east side, a fine view of the Potomac and the surrounding country. On the west, a beautiful lawn of several acres lays spread out before it, skirted on the north side by a flower garden, laid out, it is said, by Washington himself, and on the south by a vegetable garden. On the grounds are seen flourishing a variety of trees, among which are the linden, magnolia, tulip, Kentucky coffee, sassafras, Lombardy and white poplars, the holly and cotton-wood, and others common to New England. One tree alone upon the plantation, a magnolia, enjoys the honor of having been set out by Washington's own hands. It is guarded during the visiting season, by a soldier, to preserve it from the ruthless hands of relic hunters.

The mansion was erected by Lawrence Washington, eldest brother of the General, in 1744, who named the place Mt. Vernon, in honor of the British Admiral of that name. The wings were added by General Washington in 1756, and makes the building as it now stands, about a hundred feet long by fifty wide. It is two stories

high, with a projection of the roof on the Potomac side, the whole length of the building, supported by eight columns. Though time has doubtless changed somewhat the appearance of the building and the premises generally, the visitor may walk over the same floor, now more than one hundred and twenty years old, touch the same brass knocker upon the door, and look out of the same windows as did Washington in days of "lang syne."

There are but few relics of value at present in the house, larger collections being found in the Patent Office, and the Smithsonian Institute at the Capitol. We noticed in the hall the key of the Bastile, presented to Washington by Lafayette after the destruction of that prison in 1779. In one of the rooms are the holsters and portmanteau used in his perilous expedition at fort Duquesne, the tripod he used in surveying, and a harpsichord, his wedding gift to Nellie Custis. In the south upper room where the good man "met his fate," is a bedstead on which he slept, and a fac similie of the one on which he died.

The original tract of land consisted of six thousand acres, according to one authority, though Washington in one of his letters, (Irving's Washington,) speaks of 3,260 acres exclusive of the mansion farm. Several ineffectual attempts were made to purchase these grounds, when an appeal was made to the ladies of America by Miss Ann P. Cunningham of South Carolina, an association was formed which resulted in raising $236,000,-$70,000 of which were contributed by Edward Everett, as the proceeds of his lectures on Washington, and his Mt. Vernon papers in the New York Ledger. Of this sum $200,000 were paid for two hundred acres, including the family mansion. About $20,000 have since been laid out for repairs.

It is a pleasing fact that during the war, when so many of the fine estates of the South were laid waste, and the clash of arms resounded on almost every plantation, these grounds were sacredly regarded by both armies. Special pains, we were told, were taken by both sides, to prevent any collision on the premises. The fact is worthy of record as honorable to both parties.

We retired from the place impressed that increased interest will be attached to the place as time passes, and the character of the great Washington becomes better appreciated, and his principles more generally received by the American people.

Centreville.

H. R.

ON TEACHING GEOGRAPHY.

I propose to consider the subject of geography -as it is taught, and one way better, it seems to me - in which it might be taught. It is true that many of the subjects of Physical Geography are of such a nature, that, even if not taught on strict educational principles, the child can hardly fail to gain a moderately correct idea of what he recites. But alas for the unhappy urchins just transplanted from the primary schools, who are set to learning that the earth is roundthat it has two motions, the daily and the yearly,— that the former is that in which it turns on its own axis, and the latter that in which it turns round the sun,- that the former motion produces the change from day to night, and the latter the change of seasons. These must, indeed, cause sore tribulation and vexation of spirit to the poor little victims! And not only are these difficult subjects generally taught by methods wholly at variance with the principles which should guide us in all our teaching, but, with most teachers, they precede many of the simple subjects of Physical Geography, and all of Political Geography. Go into one of our normal schools and test the young ladies' comprehension of the change of seasons,- I think the result would occasion some surprise; yet they studied the subject, or rather committed to memory the words, "The change of seasons is produced by the earth's motion round the sun," before they were ten years old.

This arrangement is a flagrant violation of more than one educational principle. First, this: "Not the order of the subject, but the order of Nature." Is it in the order of nature to teach a child that the earth is constantly revolving round the sun, and that this revolution produces the change of seasons, before teaching him, for instance, that the water he sees from the window is a bay, and that the land on which Fort Independence stands is an island? Is it in the order of nature to teach him that the revolution of the earth on its axis produces the change from day to night, before teaching him that he lives on the continent of North America?

"But," some one will say, "why should he not be taught the cause of these phenomena? He certainly observes them." Very true; so he observes the phenomena of twilight, and of the rainbow: would you, then, teach him the theory of the refraction and reflection of the sun's rays? He hears music: would you teach him to account for it on the undulatory theory?