the labor of preparing a number of the "Teacher" has been seriously felt, still teachers who have been called upon to serve as editors have not felt at liberty to decline. Want of time and the unwillingness of others to furnish communications have sometimes compelled an editor to send out a different number from what he desired; still, each one has cheerfully done what he could, and we have reason for believing that the readers of the "Teacher" have been abundantly satisfied with the labors of its editors. To them its reputation at home and abroad is mainly due. They have gained for it its present standing and influence, and made it an efficient instrumentality in the work of education. Whether the present system of editing is the best or not, is a question worth considering. Perhaps a better one can be devised when the publisher's receipts will allow an appropriation for editorial purposes.

The action of the Massachusetts Teachers' Association has been extensively imitated in other States. The "Teacher" has now many worthy coadjutors in the field. New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Connecticut, Illinois, Georgia, Rhode Island, Michigan, each has its Teachers' Journal. Some of these are conducted upon the same plan as our own, and all are conducted with ability. We heartily commend them to those of our readers who wish to extend their observations abroad, and receive light from all quarters. Possibly a knowledge of what the teachers of other States are accomplishing may not be without its advantages in leading our own teachers to more active efforts for the advancement of educational interests here. We have read the journals upon our exchange list with interest, and would make our grateful acknowledgment for many valuable ideas. We regard it as no small honor for the "Teacher" to have been the pioneer of this class of journals. We trust that the teachers of Massachusetts will see that it is so well sustained and conducted that it will never suffer when brought into comparison with them.

It is in the power of our teachers, we verily believe, to produce a better educational journal than has yet been seen. We wish they would just now take the subject of the "Teacher" into more earnest consideration, and each one manifest a willingness during the coming year to do his part towards making it what he conceives it ought to be. The burden of sustaining it would be comparatively light, if it could be more equally distributed. One or two articles each year from each one, embodying his best thoughts, or most successful methods, would furnish all the matter desirable. The articles that have filled the pages of the eight volumes now completed, have been drawn from but a small portion of our teachers. They are but the harvestings of a narrow field. The crop has been excellent; and it is its excellence that makes us look with longing upon

the far wider field whose rich soil has not yet produced anything which the "Teacher" could gather in. Let all our teachers, of all the different grades of schools, manifest only a small degree of interest even, and allow the "Teacher" to draw upon them once in a while for the fruits of their experience, and it will at once increase in usefulness and efficiency. It would thus receive a greater variety of articles, and be able to do full justice to all departments of education.

Before all the improvements that are desirable can be made in the " Teacher," it must have a more earnest support. Not one quarter of the teachers of the State are its subscribers. The receipts will not allow the publisher to go to any extra expense in enriching its pages. This ought not to be so, and it is unworthy our State that it is so. Let our subscription list be doubled, and there will be something to spend in improvements. Can it not be doubled? If only half of our teachers subscribe, it will be more than doubled. More than quadrupled will it be, if all subscribe. And why should not. all subscribe? One dollar a year is but a small contribution to the cause, even though it yielded no individual return. There are but few teachers who cannot afford to make it. But it would yield a return in every instance; for the funds thus secured would enable those having the Teacher" in charge to produce a journal that would be worth something to all, one no teacher could afford to do without. We should like to ask all the teachers in our State to try the experiment for one or two years of subscribing for the "Teacher," and paying for it in advance. Try the experiment upon the next volume. Let its first issue fall into the hands of thousands of friends. You will find it not ungrateful. It will come to you each month more and more worthy of your support.

The "Teacher" has, and always has had, a large number of subscribers in other States. It is held, we believe, in good repute everywhere. No doubt, this number will be increased. But it is to the teachers of our own State it must look mainly for its support. As this number of the "Teacher" will not go to all, let us ask of those who do receive it to lend their influence in extending its circulation. Will not some friend, or friends, see that every city and town is canvassed, and every teacher invited to subscribe? Members of School Committees and friends of education would find the " Teacher" of interest to them. From them, if proper means were taken, we might obtain much aid. We do not want to fall into the fashion of the day, and offer this and that to those who will obtain subscribers for the "Teacher." We desire only a legitimate interest to be manifested in it. We want substantial support. All that is received for the "Teacher" will be expended on it. The only aim

of those having it in charge will be to produce the best journal possible with the means at their command. Let all those who would see the "Teacher" constantly improving, and occupying a position among educational journals worthy of Massachusetts, the pioneer State in education, labor to multiply those means.

LETTER FROM GOTHA, GERMANY.

[From our Foreign Correspondent.]

GOTHA, the capital of the "five acre patch" sneered at by the coach driver in one of Mrs. Trollope's books, is one of those charming cities which one finds scattered through Central Europe, which are so lovely, embosomed by the thousand trees which line the streets and crown the eminences, that it requires an effort for the traveller to tear himself away, after a single day's sojourn. When after my return to America I shall hear one of our countrymen sneer at the little German States, and say that their names are hardly worth the learning, I shall always wish that he may sometime visit one of the cities which form their capitals, not large, judged by the common measure of size, but enriched by more art, beautified by more taste, and cherished with more care than any city of which we can boast.

The first building which we passed on our way from the depot to the city, was the stable of Ernest, brother of Prince Albert of England, and Grand Duke of the State of Saxe Gotha. Opposite is his palace, a neat but very unassuming building, in elegance and in architectural design wholly inferior to his stables. The building for the horses is of hewn stone; the palace of brick, covered with the mastic which so generally prevails throughout Germany. High on the hill, over 1300 feet above the level of the sea, is the palace in which the former duke used to reside, filled with cabinets, and historical curiosities, an admirable collection of paintings, ancient statuary, gems and medals, Chinese and Japanese trinkets, rooms splendidly furnished, and sumptuous beyond description, and yet deserted by the duke for a small house near the bottom of the hill, but which has this great advantage, that then he can be near his horses. It will be remembered that Albert's taste, also, is strongly for the chase; the father of these two princes had the same preference, though it was left for the son to build a palace for his horses. William the Third and Great of England, with all his passionate fondness for hunting, would never have been guilty of so senseless a piece of extravagance.

This morning, in company with Prof.

I had the pleasure of visiting the stores of the brothers Perthes, and the establishment for the sale of the porcelain manufactured here.

Time pressed us both, and we therefore did not go over the rooms and inspect the various departments, which, with true German politeness, the proprietors invited us to do. But these German publishing houses are so curious, even with regard to the sales room, that I must devote a moment to them.

We inquired first for the publishing house of Justus Perthes, where the admirable maps of Sprüner, Stieler, and Berghaus are issued, maps of which our countrymen are now beginning to know, and which I wish might be introduced into our schools and libraries and drive out the whole mass of incorrect, badly engraved, and badly painted atlases which swarm in America. These are sold very low, are cheaper every way than our own, and it requires very little knowledge of German to become master of their contents. These maps would do more to incite interest in study and secure thorough scholarship than any other apparatus of double the expense, which could be introduced among us. There is Sprüner's Historical Atlas-the Second Part, for instance. What a luxury is the study of the past with such an auxiliary. Years have I spent, like hundreds in America, in historical reading, with such aid as a badly executed series of maps, representing the divisions of the world at the present time, would afford. Nothing can give falser ideas of history than such a course. Think of reading the story of Charlemagne's conquests by the aid of a map of modern Europe; of trying to gain a conception of what Saxony was, by looking to see what Saxony is; of measuring our Lombardy by the Lombardy which Charlemagne conquered; and of tracing the ancient France by following the boundaries of the modern. Think of the luxury of going again over the old ground with Sprüner's atlas; of having seventy-three colored copperplate engravings representing the different divisions of the world and the boundaries of separate countries at all stages of their history since the time of Christ; thirteen for instance of Europe, thirteen of Germany, six of Italy, seven of France, and so on; the whole seventythree, together with more than a hundred smaller charts, representing cities at various dates in their history, walled towns, battle-fields, and remarkable places, costing bound but eighteen dollars. The sum may seem a large one, but the same book could hardly be published in England for half that number of pounds. This collection is of course for large libraries of reference, and for professed historical students; for schools and families there are smaller atlases, of equal merit, sold for three or four dollars

I have been led into many words upon this subject, but I know that I shall not be accused of advertising the maps published by Mr. Perthes for the sake of that gentleman's benefit. The professors in our colleges and our chief librarians and

teachers are no less anxious than I can be that they should be known; for of all the studies which we neglect, history suffers the most. It is true we have not that inspiring stimulus which is derived from living surrounded by spots, every one of which could tell a story of the past; but wherever among us history is studied, the pleasure which it gives ought at least to be increased as much as the possession of accurate and elegant charts can do it.

The two establishments of the brothers Perthes, one for books and the other for maps, are truly German in their style. We inquired first for the establishment where the atlases and charts known over all Europe are issued, and were directed to a large house, close by, which did not differ in the slightest degree externally from a dwelling house. The door was ajar, and my companion stepped in, but immediately came out saying, "This cannot be the place; this is a dwelling house." But there was no doubting that we had been directed to this place by a gentleman who seemed a resident of the city, and one of us gently opened a door leading from the hall, disclosing a room filled with very miscellaneous contents, and hardly giving a clue from which we could judge whether we were right or wrong. Presently a young man appeared, of rather obtuse understanding however; but soon after, a young woman who was bright enough for two, and from her we learned that this was in reality the publishing house, and that in the room on the other side of the hall, we should find the clerks. To the room on the other side of the hall we went, and found a quiet, cosey place, filled very inconveniently, as a Boston bookkeeper would think, with loose papers. Three persons were quietly writing there, who very politely gave us all the information we wanted. The remainder of the house is devoted to storing the charts, and they are brought out when asked for.

Just so was it with the brother Frederick Perthes, the publisher of some of the best got up books which have come from the German press, and among others an edition of Pliny's Natural History, now almost complete, which it has been the labor of years to make perfect. The newly discovered books will form a part. But the counting room was small, and not a book was to be seen in it but account books; the proprietor was sitting on the sofa quietly eating a sandwich, and drinking a glass of wine. That there were books reserved in the other rooms of the house, we soon learned; for, presently, he began to exhibit copies of the works published by himself, and the little table was soon loaded. The conversation of Mr. Perthes was not of that shallow kind which sometimes decoys the purchaser into the belief that he is talking with a man who values books as coined minds,-as dollars in an oblong form; it was that of a