venerable, hoary-headed friend of his country, day after day, standing on the floor of the Senate, breasting alone the opposition of the many, and asserting alone the right of petition; yet it was not till I recently read his mother's letters to him, that I comprehended whence he derived his solitary courage, or how he was so deeply imbued with the principle which sustained him still in old age. Was not Mrs Adams as truly serving her country, in rearing such a son, as was her husband in his long years of separation from his family, amid vexatious and ever-varying negotiations? The generous enthusiasm, the reasonable and life-giving patriotism which glowed in her bosom, was transferred into that of her children, and was expended in cheering and strengthening her husband under a separation which, to her devoted heart, was but one long pang of suffering. It is most interesting and amusing to see her complain that the paper she writes on cost a dollar a sheet, and beg for an importation of pins, as there is not one left in the town-and of needles, for the tailor has the cloth still, but no tools to make it with-in the same letter in which she wisely comments on the history of her new-born country, cheers on the patriot to greater endurance and firmness, and selects parallel cases, or pattern characters, from Greece or Rome. Bravely did she live through many painful trials and dangers, and was, after all, in spite of much privation, as happy in her strenuous exertions for the good of her large

family, and her wide circle, as she could ever have been after, even when she saw first her husband and then her son elevated to the Presidential chair. She was a Mother!-suited to the trying times on which her lot fell, and nobly fulfilling her part to her children and her country-such a mother as Napoleon said France needed, but such as France has not yet found.

But America had still a higher style of parental discipline in the parents of her Washington, which she most justly appreciates. Every schoolroom has rung with the story of that father who embraced his erring boy, because he spoke truth even though he accused himself; and every parish library can produce the narrative of the patriot's early training. When, as its fruit, we find the self-denying hero and brave warrior retiring to the forest to seek a place of prayer, which the throngings of a restless camp denied him-when we see him refusing the perpetual honours and government which his grateful country pressed upon him, we gladly trace back all these heroic virtues to parental training, and to the early reception of those Christian principles which made him what he was, and enabled him so well to accomplish the work for which God raised him up; and do we not sympathise with the quiet confidence of his wife, when asked if, during his long absences in such stirring times, she were not wretched with anxiety, she replied, "I know that wherever George Washington is, he is doing

his duty, and thus I am calm." Happy and hon oured wife, successor of happy and honoured parents! Who would not exert themselves to produce such fruits as these?

To rule a household well, and to rear children with the view of the early home being the nurseryground from which plants will be removed first to flourish as trees in the Church on earth, and again to grow for ever by the river of crystal, and under the glorious tree with its twelve manner of fruits, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations— these are objects worthy of the noblest ambition, and the most indefatigable pains.

Prayerful teaching accompanied by the earnest eloquence of a full heart, and the original illustrations of a yearning spirit, never passes unrequited on this side the Atlantic or on that-in the wilderness on this side the Jordan, or on the glorious shores of the Promised Land.

CHAPTER III.

THE COMMON SCHOOLS AND FREE ACADEMY.

In

FROM observing the smiling crowd, which is to form the men and women of the succeeding generation, we turn naturally to the means of education. this department it is very pleasant to adopt the language at which one is apt to smile when you hear its mistaken application on some other subjects, and to say gladly, that "no country in the world" has a more just appreciation of the importance of universal instruction than the United States-and, also, that the Eastern States have been surpassed by "no country in the world" in the extent and energy of their educational schemes.

The knowledge which is reckoned necessary to every man, no matter what his business or position, and which forms the subject of instruction in the common schools, is to "spell accurately, read well, write legibly, understand the principles of grammar, have a fair knowledge of geography, arithmetic, and the history of the United States." One of the annual reports of the Board of Education for the

city and county of New York gives its judgment on the subject thus: "The education of no citizen should fall below this standard, whether his interests and happiness as a man, or his influence as the head of a family or a member of society, be alone regarded," and at this object the Common Schools aim. It may be needful to state that the word common, in the designation of the schools, does not mean schools for the common people, but schools common to and suited for all. The basis of education is satisfactory so far as it goes; but while for the multitude this is as much as their destined occupations permit them to reach, for those whose prospects, ability, and leisure may induce them to desire to go further, more is wanting and in consequence the Free Academy has recently sprung up in the city of New York, which receives youth who have attained all that the common school offers, and who wish to advance to classical, mathematical, and scientific studies. This Free Academy is founded by the city, and, like the common schools, sustained by a self-imposed tax. The Board of Education took up the initiative in this manner—a committee was appointed to report, and ultimately a memorial was laid before the legislature. By it an act was passed under which the institution was established, but with the provision that the question be submitted to the people at the ensuing school and judicial election. The result of this election is interesting, as shewing to which side the balance for ignorance