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Leader (1850-1860), 14th September 1850, Edition Town of 1, Page 595

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      Untitled Article

      BOOKS ON OUR TABLE . Uffo Horn . Aus drei Jahrhunderten . Three Historical Novels . Uffo Horn ' s Bb'hmitche Db' rfer . London : Franz Thimm . These tales of Uffo Horn , a writer who has contributed largely to the periodical literature of Germany , are not without merit , although very unequal in execution . His book , Aus drei Jahrhunderten , contains three tales , from 1690 , 1756 , and 1847 , but they are neither sufficiently historical nor sufficiently finished ; an historical event slightly intervowen in a tale does not make that tale substantially historical . Superior to these three tales are his Bohmische Darfer ; for Uffo Horn is eminently Bohemian , and in these two volumes he introduces us to Bohemian life and customs , to the history of the people and their political grievances . The " Bauer - nesel" is one of these politico-historical tales , and , in our opinion , the most finished of the collection . It brings

      grievances peasantry viviaiy us , ana despotism practised upon the Bohemian people by outworn laws and customs . The " Robot " service of the peasantry is the revolutionary nucleus around which the entire story is placed . The secret machinations of the Jesuits , the old jurisdiction , and the feudal duties which the peasantry had to perform , roused these people into rebellion , a rebellion which was not only without a leader , but without that moral demeanour without which every cause must be unsuccessful . The tale is interspersed with documents that bear thequaintness and the

      Slavonic character of the time . Uffo Horn has , no doubt , talents for the historical tale ; his " Smugglers " and his " Two Students" prove it ; but he has less talent for fiction and little for the legend , his " Old Fiddler " is coarse : he is a Bohemian , and is intimately acquainted with the manners and customs of the country ; he is an admirer of nature , and sketches mountain scenery with skill ; he has deep sympathy for the sufferings of his countrymen , and is desirous to make known their grievances so that their burdens may be lightened ; he does it through the medium of his novels , which will pleasantly fill up a leisure hour of the German scholar .

      Penny Maps . Fart II . Chapman and Hall . The second part of this publication , which cannot be too highly applauded , contains a map of North and one of South England , one of Scotland , and one of Ireland , admirably executed . The selection , we presume , is made with reference to the season now " everybody" is going out of town .

      Untitled Article

      The Embroidered Banner , and other Marvels . Ry Lieutenant-Colonel Hurt , Author of the Horse Guards , " "The Days when we had Tails on us , " &c . John and O . A . Darling ' . Half Hours with the Best Authors , Fart V . C . Knight . Pictorial Half Hours . Part IV . C . Knight . Imperial Cyclopaedia ; The Cycloptedia of the British Empire . l ' urt IV . Buckland—Carn . tic . C . Knight . MacPhaiVs Edinburgh Ecclesiastical Journal for September . Edinburgh : Mylcs MacPhail .

      Untitled Article

      Slowness of Change in Opinion . —Changes in the be ( ief and practical application of principles are so very slow that God seems to have purposely rendered us tenacious even of error , to prevent our being cast loose without compass or guide of any kind . The more we cling to error , in ignorance that it is bo , the more shall we cling lovingly to truth when we come to see it in all its manliness , purity , and beauty . So necessary , indeed , does the adhesion to even erroneous views seem to me as a part of the benevolent scheme of Providence , that some time ago I resolved to write an edifying essay " On the uses of prejudice , passion , misrepresentation , and abuse , as means of moral improvement and intellectual progress "; arid I am confident I could make out as clear a case in their favour as in favour of physical pain as a

      protector to the animal economy . —From the Life of Andrew Combe . ¦ mmtm Centralisation op the Human Race . —The story of Cadmus , who sowed dragon ' s teeth , and harvested armed men , who became the builder of cities ; the confusion of tongues at the Tower of Babel ; and the beautiful allegory of the lion lying' down with the lamb ; are all types of San Francisco . The first , of its sudden rise ; the second , of the varieties of the genus Man it has congregated ; and the third , of the extremes of those varieties , which range from the Polynesian savage to the most civilised individuals that Europe can produce . It is a

      coincidence well worthy of note , that , besides the intense attraction possessed from its gold , Upper or New California is of all other places the best adapted , from its geographical position , to become a rendezvous for all nations of the earth ; and that the Bay of San Fransisco is one of the best and most convenient for shipping throughout the western margin of the American continent . It is precisely the locality required to make a constant communication across the Pacific Ocean with the coasts of China , Japan , and the Eastern Archipelago

      commercially practicable . Its situation is that which would have been selected from choice for a concentration of delegates from the uttermost ends of the earth . If the Chinese , the Malay , the Ladroue , or the Sandwich Islander had wished to meet his Saxon or Celtic brother on a matter of mutual business , he would—deciding geographically—have selected California as the spot of assembly . The attractive powers of gold could not , therefore , have struck forth over the world from a better point than in and around San Francisco , both for the interests of commerce and for those of human intercourse . —Dickens ' s Household Words . No . 14 .

      Untitled Article

      GIRAI < DA . "Piquillo , " the Miller , is about to be married to the prettiest and—what he prizes more—the richest girl in the village , " Giralda , " who has the smallest possible regard for him , and the greatest possible regard for another . With a frankness truly charming , she states those two facts to him , telling him she has an unknown , unseen lover , who rescued her once from Brigands , and has since accompanied her every night in her not very prudent course through the forest . " Piquillo " cares very little about this mysterious lover , but a great deal about " Giralda ' s " three hundred ducats , so that he receives her confidence perfectly unmoved . She has made a clean

      breast of it , and now says if he insists on marrying her he must " take the consequences . " He is somewhat staggered at first , but makes up his mind that he will take the consequences . Does not every man when he marries " take the consequences ? " Is he daunted by visions of annual little strangers mottled and musical , with attendant Gamps ? Is he cowed by a prospective mother-in-law and cold meat ? " Piquillo " looks at life philosophically ; the three hundred ducats are certainties , as to the " consequences "—

      they must take care of themselves ! At this juncture appears a good-looking young gentleman in slashed doublet and buff boots , whom we know at once must be a lover . What lover ? Why , ' Giralda ' s , " of course . Our friend in the buff boots , whom we detect to be " Don Manuel , " bribes "Piquillo" with six hundred ducats to let him , " Manuel , ' take his , ** Piquillo ' s , " place at the altar , and , as the marriage is to be performed rather in the dark , he may thus be united to his loved " Giralda . " The " Miller" can have

      no objection , and consents . The lovers are married , and are returning from church , when the arrival of the * ' Princess Isabel of Arragon " frightens " Manuel , " who dares not discover to her his marriage . He slips away . " Giralda " believing she is the wife of " Piquillo , " that worthy but mercenary individual is called forward to acknowledge his wife , and is ordered to conduct her to his mill . The • Prince" meanwhile , being a young gentleman of amorous complexion and loose principles , has cast sheep ' s eyes at " Giralda " ( though why sheep ' s eyes are supposed to be so irresistibly seductive we have never learnt ) , and determines on her conquest . For this purpose he steals in the dead of the night to the mill . But " Manuel" has been before him

      and already claimed his wife . Here the imbroglio rivals that of the Spanish comedies , and would occupy some columns for us to narrate , though it does not take long to act . Scribe ' s utmost dexterity is displayed , and the laughter of the audience is incessant . At every ire-h turn of the labyrinth , which seemed endless , there was a genuine roar of delight . The surprise was always just at the right moment ; and , by a daring defiance of probability , the author contrives to keep up the ball from the lise to the fall of the curtain . It was

      admirably acted by Compton , Leigh Murray , and Mrs . Stirling . The dry intensity- of Compton , who never lets a good bit slip through his fingers ; the graceful ease and feeling of Leigh Murray , the best of jeunes premiers ; and the truthfulness of Mrs . Stirling in the affectionate passages , wero sufficient to carry off a worse piece . But , in truth , the pieco is so amusing that it could not be spoiled by any acting . We forgot to say that it is a translation of the opera comiquo by Scribe and Auber , now performing with great success in Paris .

      Untitled Article

      " When the question of education comes up , we talk big of the independence of the individual , and of the liberty of the subject . But we have already surrendered these upon the altar of public order and public justice . We have delegated to society the sharp cures of crimethe whips , the fetters , the dungeons , and scaffolds of the law ; but we say there is an end to freedom if we place in the same hands its mild preventives . The truth is , there is no abstract principle involved , and no general rule to be laid down with respect to the functions of the state . Their number and extent is to be determined solely with reference to expediency and the public good ; and then only are they too numerous and extensive , when they

      interfere unnecessarily with the action of the individual , or are opposed to the public good . If , for instance , it could be shown that the necessities of the poor were sufficiently met by the charity of individuals , or by religious institutions , or other agencies of a private nature , to levy a compulsory poor rate would doubtless be an impertinent and impolitic measure , and , if forced upon the people by their government , a tyrannical one . There is nothing in the question of education to take it out of the same category ; the analogy is almost complete throughout ; for if , on the one hand , the necessities of the body are most pressing and urgent , so , on the other , a well nourished soul is the best security that its fleshly companion will not become a burden upon public or private alms . "

      This paper is followed by one on a similar subject by Mr . John Mills , and by one on the " Public Schools in America , " by Mr . W . Ferguson , containing very interesting matter . We will quote from it this passage : — " The Massachusetts system , as it at present exists , may be thus described : —Its means are derived from local taxes , aided by grants from a school dispensed by the State . This fund arises from old sales of State property , and claims for military service in the revolutionary war , allowed to the State by the United States Government . It amounts , at present , to seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars , and its increase is limited to a

      million . But the chief support of the schools is from local taxes which are raised by every township as , and along with , its municipal taxes for general purposes . The expenditure is thus divided : —1 . The parent provides books and stationery . 2 . The district provides school-houses , furniture , and apparatus . 3 . The town provides salaries of teachers : and for that purpose , with that of providing necessary fuel , is compelled by law to raise a tax of at least one and a quarter dollar for every child in the town between the ages of four and sixteen . Towns , according to their population , may maintain schools of different grades , and for longer or shorter portions of the year , provided that each raise not less than the above amount

      for each child , to be expended as above . School districts , or territorial subdivisions of the towns , when formed by the towns and authorized by them , may elect their own district officers , and raise money for building and repairing school-houses , and providing apparatus and libraries . Every inhabitant who has a voice in public affairs is recognized in the administration and benefits of the system . Every child , white or coloured , is entitled , as a right , to all the privileges of the schools and library of the district . The executive of the system comprises three grades of officers , which , beginning with the lowest , are—l . The prudential committee for districts ; 2 . The town school-committee for towns : and , 3 , The board of

      education for the State . —1 . The prudential committee consists of one member for each district , when the town is divided into districts . They are chosen by the legal voters of the town , or by those of the district , as the town may decide . Each member superintends a district , of which he must be a resident . His business is to engage the teacher , to provide fuel , to see that the school-house is in good repair , and to attend generally to such matters of management as the town committee may depute to him . 2 . The school committee of the town , which may consist of three , five , or seven persons , is chosen annually to superintend all the schools of the town : its functions are . the apportioning of school money among the schools

      or districts , examining and licensing teachers , monthly visitation of the schools , regulation of text-books , and presentation of an annual written report to the town , respecting their own proceedings and the condition and improvement of the schools ; a copy of this document must be forwarded to the secretary of state of the commonwealth , which he refers to the board of education , as part of the returns which , as above described , that board is empowered to collect . 3 . The board , which is the head of the system , and of which 1 have described the composition , appoints its own secretary , who receives a salary of fifteen hundred dollars , and the members are reimbursed their expenses . "

      The Reverend Mr . Me Kerrow follows with a startling exposure of the want of system in the present arrangement of schools : — " In many quarters schools have been by far too closely crowded . Costly buildings , not a few , are to be seen almost within sneaking distance of each other , where there is not a sufficient population of children to fill them . We find , for example , eight of them ( exclusive of private schools ) in one district of our city within the radius of little more than a quarter of a mile , and some of these

      almost in juxtaposition ; andfourof them in another district not more than two or three hundred years apart . It is not to be wondered at , in these circumstances , that we should have empty rooms and dispirited teachers , as well as an unprofitable investment of money and expenditure of labour . And not having arrived as yet at the millenial period when the wolf shall dwell with the lamb , who can tell how much property may yet be rendered useless by the rivalship of the sects ? We have heard it said that in various parts of the country Churchmen have waited to

      see where Dissenters would place their schools , and then , having allowed them to exhaust their resources , have commenced in their immediate vicinity an oppositional establishment ; and similar charges have been made by Churchmen against Dissenters . These things being so , we attach but little value to the statistics which have been paraded relative to the rapid increase of schools , and the sufficiency of the voluntary principle to supply the necessities of the country . The agencies which are multiplied without order and method , and in places where

      they can be but of little use , —where they generate excessive competition and party feeling—where they lead , as they sometimes do , to the degradation of the poor by the emp loyment of small kinds of bribery , —are not likelyto be instrumental in removing the ignorance which is the curse and disgrace of our nation . We must have , then , a system of regular and judicious distribution—a system which will economize money and labour , and yet extend education on every side—a system which will erect schools and appoint teachers wherever they are needed , and only where they are requisite . "

      His objections to the church and chapel schools are overwhelming . They commonly arise , as he remarks , from an excitement which soon subsides ; a few wealthy and benevolent persons subscribe money in the hope that the schools will soon become self-supporting ; but the excitement dies away and the subscriptions which came cheerfully the first year , are grudgingly bestowed the second , and entirely withheld the third . Want of space prevents our doing more at present than allude to the excellent Essays of Dr . Beard , Dr . Davidson , and Mr . Stores Smith : let the reader get this little volume for himself and study it . In a future number we shall briefly exhibit the plan of this Lancashire Public School Association .

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      Untitled Article

      Sept . 14 , 1850 . ] © & * WLt<et . 5 & 5

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 14, 1850, page 595, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1853/page/19/