ing of the whole Committee, in order to present their opinions to the Board in an authentic and definite form; and letters were sent to the Salem teachers particularly, because mixed schools have been for a long time in operation in that city, a place in many respects like Charlestown.

As these letters are all before your Board, and as they will be read for your information, the majority of your Committee do not think it necessary to state in detail the different means of information which the different teachers have had, or the different conclusions to which they arrive. The majority of your Committee would only say generally, and once for all, that in their opinion, both as respects more extended sources of information and a larger experience, the weight of authority is decidedly against the mixed system, and in favor of the separate system.

The arguments adduced in favor of the mixed system are, that it favors discipline, making the schools more easy to be governed;-that it stimulates both sexes to exertion and increases the amount of study, and that it renders both sexes more chaste and circumspect in their language, and more attentive to their dress and personal appearance.

This statement embraces, so far as the majority of your Committee recollect, the arguments in favor of the mixed system, and these they purpose to examine briefly, in detail.

And first as regards discipline. It cannot be said that heretofore the discipline has been bad in the schools of Charlestown, or that good order is not now kept in the schools of Boston, and of other places where the separate system prevails. The first thing to be taught in. any school is obedience. The master who does not teach obedience, or who fails in government, is not fit to be a master. Obedience must be taught as a fixed principle and rule, and must be required unhesitatingly and implicitly of all scholars, whether boys or girls, whether in mixed or in separate schools. The argument, then, that the mixed system favors discipline, has little or no weight in settling the question at issue, for perfect discipline can be kept, and is kept in separate schools, and the difficulties in the way of discipline are such that a teacher who could not keep a separate school in discipline, could not control a mixed school. Indeed, the argument does not state that the mixed system is necessary to discipline, but only that it favors discipline. On this point, the majority of your Committee believe that the mixed system renders the discipline more difficult, for two reasons. It gives incitement and opportunity for the commission of offences which are the inevitable result of the union of the sexes in the same room, that would never be thought of in separate schools, and at the same time it makes the punishment of all offences more difficult, from the different modes of discipline necessary for the two sexes. If a boy and girl commit the same offence, it may be necessary to use the rod upon the boy, while a different punishment would produce the desired effect upon the girl. If the teacher makes a difference between the sexes in the punishment of the same offence, he is accused of partiality, and the punishment loses most of its effect; while if he makes the flesh of the girl quiver under the rod or the ferule, he is liable to be charged with undue severity. The majority of your Committee would subject

neither the discipline of the schools to such peril, nor the masters to such an unpleasant alternative.

Secondly. The argument that it stimulates both sexes to exertion and increases the amount of study, is thought to be untrue in its full extent, and it is considered one that, from the necessary evils consequent upon it, should have no decisive influence in favor of the mixed system. The argument must be founded upon this,-that the best scholars of a class help on the poorer ones, and that as a general rule, girls of a certain age are quicker to learn and better scholars than boys of the same age, and so, if put in a class of boys, will aid the class. The principle here stated is undoubtedly correct, but it is incorrectly applied. Good scholars in a class do help the poorer ones; but it is not necessary that all the good scholars should be girls, and that the poor ones should be boys; nor is it invariably the case that the good scholars are girls and that the poor ones are boys. The working of the principle is as satisfactory and as advantageous, when the two grades of scholars in a class are of the same sex, as where they are of different sexes; and the reason, in the opinion of the majority of your Committee, why the two grades of scholars may as well be of the same sex, is, that any peculiar influence of the different sexes that may be relied on as the immediate consequence of the mixed system, will fail when the novelty of the affair is worn off, and when the sexes are accustomed to each other's presence from their first entrance into the primary schools. But there is another side to this question. In the same proportion that the boys are helped, the girls will be injured, for the influence is reciprocal; and where the good scholars help the poor ones, the poor ones are a drawback and a weight upon the advancement of the good ones. And, in the opinion of the majority of your Committee, no advantage should be sought for the one sex which brings with it an equal and corresponding evil to the other sex.

The argument that the mixed system makes both sexes more chaste and circumspect in their language, must have reference to the deportment of the sexes out of the school-room, if it has reference to any thing; for in the school-room the only language permitted is that of the recitation, where answers are given to the questions of the master; and it is not easily seen how, in the recitations in schools under the separate system, under the eye and in the hearing of the master, there can be any improprieties of speech or manner which the presence of pupils of the other sex would be necessary to correct or improve. But if the argument has reference to the language of the play-ground or street, the majority of your Committee have not yet been shown how the intermixture of the sexes makes either sex more chaste or circumspect in its language or manners while engaged in the rough plays of thoughtless childhood.

So in regard to the remaining reasons assigned in favor of the mixed system. If the children of the different sexes are neat and attentive to their personal appearance because they are to be seen by the other sex, and for this reason only, a low and unworthy inducement is held out to the sexes for the formation of these important habits, while, as the principle can act only in the presence of the two sexes, it must be inoperative when they are separated, and the opposite habits

might be formed. Besides, it is by no means admitted that habits of neatness cannot be formed in separate schools, and that they have not been so formed in previous years. It is not known that there has been any complaint upon this subject. The majority of your Committee are of opinion that under the mixed system there would be but few, if any, instances in these respects, and they think that it may well be questioned whether the feeling that makes boys or girls, who when in separate schools were untidy and unattentive to their personal appearance, suddenly go to the other extreme, does not arise from a disposition to gallantry which no parent could wish to see fostered in our public schools.

If, as the majority of your Committee believe, the above opinions and reasoning are correct, the arguments adduced in favor of the mixed system are inconclusive, and open to objections which utterly destroy their weight.

But besides, there are objections to the mixed system which the majority of your Committee believe the petitioners have rightly described in their "brief summary of reasons, as being of a strong, serious and decisive character. The majority of your Committee would refer generally to that "brief summary," and will also briefly state the objections to the mixed system which press most strongly and decisively upon their minds.

And first in respect to instruction. The difficulties which present themselves in regard to discipline have been heretofore stated-and now the objections are given in respect to instruction purely. In the opinion of the majority of your Committee a wise plan of education points out a different course of instruction for the different sexes. They believe with the petitioners that girls should not be instructed as though they were to be our "future engineers, merchants, navigators, lawgivers and rulers," but that they should be so taught as to perform appropriately the peculiar duties of their sex. The majority of your Committee do not think it necessary to enlarge upon this point; for they suppose that its truth is generally admitted. Nor do they consider that by the establishment of the High School for advanced scholars, the force of this argument will apply in its full force to a large class of scholars who will, from necessity, receive all their education in the Grammar Schools. And if the course of instruction for the different sexes ought to be different, the separate system is the only one that can be used to advantage. Another difficulty in the schools under the mixed system, will arise from the nature of some of the studies taught. It is thought to be the universal opinion that Physiology, for instance, should be taught to some extent at least in all the Grammar Schools. No prudent teacher would venture to instruct boys and girls in this subject in the same class, or even in the same room.

Secondly, in respect to morals. Here the majority of your Committee think that the effect of the mixed system is decidedly bad. In small schools in towns of sparse population, and even in country villages where the scholars and the parents of the scholars are all known to each other, the evils may be less felt, and more easily corrected. But in the large schools of densely populated maritime cities, which it is alike the boast and glory of our Common School system are open to

all, where children of every grade and those subject to all sorts of influences at home meet together, the evils necessary to the mixed system are greatly increased. The majority of your Committee will state what some of these moral evils are. No one who knows boys, it is thought can deny, that, as a general rule, by the time they reach the age of twelve years, and with many at a much earlier period, they have become familiar with the common words of vulgarity, obscenity and profanity-with the last perhaps to a less extent. How far this evil extends, in reference to the first two vices, to the other sex no definite opinion is ventured, but it is feared that the contamination is more deeply spread than is generally supposed. It is also believed to be true that a large proportion of the words of vulgarity and obscenity have reference to sexual differences; and that these words are nowhere spoken more freely and unblushingly than when children are collected in large numbers as at schools, and they rarely collect in so large numbers elsewhere. The constant, daily presence of the other sex is continually recalling these sexual peculiarities, and the impure ideas associated with them. And certainly in the opinion of the majority of your Committee, neither sex should be unnecessarily exposed to this peril. The impurity will exist, it is to be feared, in separate schools, but it may slumber at times, while in schools under the mixed system, the flame is constantly fed. These evils exist even when no improper words or communications pass between the sexes, and when such communication is had the evil is increased. That such communication is had, even in spite of the vigilance of the most faithful master, it is not doubted. Discoveries are made by the teacher rarely, while the successful instances of deception are known, if not to the school at large, at least to the little coterie around the wrong doer. The effect of these illicit communications both upon discipline and morals is equally demoralizing.

There are other objections to the mixed system which, from their delicacy, cannot be urged in a written report with the precision and distinctness to which they are entitled. The Board cannot fail to perceive, however, that embarrassment to both teachers and pupils may arise from causes over which nature alone has control.

The above conclusions of themselves would be sufficient to convince the majority of your Committee that the prayer of the petitioners should be granted. They also present another consideration for a return to the old or separate system, which, in their opinion, would be conclusive in a case even more nicely balanced than the present, and that is, the wishes, temperately and strongly stated, of so large a proportion of the residents in the Harvard District. Whatever evil may result from the mixed system, will fall on them through their children, and their warning voice should certainly be heard, when they would attempt to avert the impending danger.

The majority of your Committee, therefore, recommend that the prayer of the petitioners be granted, and that the boys occupy one room of the Harvard School house, and the girls the other, under their respective teachers.

Respectfully submitted.

CHAS. W. MOORE,
GEO. P. SANGER,

Majority of the
Committee.

Charlestown, May 24th, 1848.

We insert the following letter of a teacher to the parents of his pupils. We think the plan a good one. It speaks volumes in favor of the devotedness of the teacher, and it will, no doubt, be attended with deserved success. Let others follow the example.

To the Patrons of the

School.

My object in addressing you, is to seek your hearty coöperation in carrying out my plans for the improvement of those committed to my

care.

The interests of your children are as dear to you as life itself, and next to yourselves, he who occupies the position of their teacher, if he is of the right spirit, can do most toward advancing their interests.

The earnest desire which I feel for their advancement and the reputation of the school, induces me to call your attention to the absolute importance of regular and punctual attendance.

Those who are absent must lose the instruction imparted to the others, or else the classes must be retarded, while the teacher goes over the same ground again, as a special favor to the absentee; hence the absence of a child for a single half-day, is a matter of no little consequence.

Every tardy scholar must disturb the school in entering, and call their attention from study nearly a minute, making in the aggregate, nearly half an hour.

It is estimated that the time of children ten or twelve years old, in school, is worth one dollar per day, and out of school only ninepence! In view, then, of the good of the school, and the importance of training your children to correct and steady habits, will you not determine that they shall be sent regularly? and will you not encourage the learning of at least one lesson at home? and, moreover, will you not encourage all our hearts, and cheer us in our arduous toils in pursuit of knowledge by your frequent visits to the school-room?

Hoping that these few suggestions may be of use in securing unity of action in our efforts to promote the true interests of the school, I remain your and your children's friend,

"MAPLETON, OR MORE WORK FOR THE MAINE LAW."

THIS is a novel, which, as its name implies, and as its author in the preface states, is a "contribution to a great reform in morals and legislation." It presents many graphic pictures, and the story is extremely interesting, and is well interwoven with arguments which make it a valuable as well as an interesting work. We have read it with as much satisfaction as we took in poring over the pages of "Uncle Tom." If its scenes are not so highly wrought as many in Mrs. Stowe's work, it certainly appeals more to the reason, and, we think, is calculated to do much good in its chosen sphere. Jenks, Hickling & Swan, are the publishers.