May-bugs and devour them; and it is with the utmost difficulty that these disgusting habits are broken up. An ordinary man might suppose that the task of restoring such poor creatures to decency and good morals was entirely hopeless. Not so with Mr. Wichern. He took hold with the firm hope that the moral power of the word of God is competent even to such a task. His means are prayer, the Bible, singing, affectionate conversation, severe punishment when unavoidable, and constant steady employment, in useful labor. On one occasion, when every other means seemed to fail, he collected the children together, and read to them, in the words of the New Testament, the simple narrative of the sufferings and death of Christ, with some remarks on the design and object of his mission to this world. The effect was wonderful. They burst into tears of contrition, and during the whole of that term, from June till October, the influence of this scene was visible in all their conduct. The idea that takes so strong a hold when the character of Christ is exhibited to such poor creatures, is, that they are objects of affection; miserable, wicked, despised as they are, yet Christ, the son of God, loved them, and loved them enough to suffer and to die for them-and still loves them. The thought that they can yet be loved, melts the heart, and gives them hope, and is a strong incentive to reformation.

On another occasion, when considerable progress had been made in their moral education, the Superintendent discovered that some of them had taken nails from the premises, and applied them to their own use, without permission. He called them together, expressed his great disappointinent and sorrow that they had profited so little by the instructions which had been given them, and told them that till he had evidence of their sincere repentance, he could not admit them to the morning and evening religious exercises of his family. With expressions of deep regret for their sin, and with promises, entreaties, and tears, they begged to have this privilege restored to them; but he was firm in his refusal. A few evenings afterward, while walking in the garden, he heard youthful voices among the shrubbery; and drawing near unperceived, he found that the boys had formed themselves into little companies of seven or eight each, and met morning and evening in different retired spots in the garden, to sing, read the Bible and pray among themselves; to ask God to

forgive them the sins they had committed, and to give them strength to resist temptation in future. With such evidence of repentance he soon restored to them the privilege of attending morning and evening prayers with his family.-One morning soon after, on entering his study, he found it all adorned with wreaths of the most beautiful flowers, which the boys had arranged there at early day-break, in testimony of their joy and gratitude for his kindness. Thus rapidly had these poor creatures advanced in moral feeling, religious sensibility, and good taste.

In the spring, Mr. Wichern gives to each boy a patch of ground in the garden, which he is to call his own, and cultivate as he pleases. One of the boys began to erect a little hut of sticks and earth upon his plot, in which he might rest during the heat of the day, and to which he might retire when he wished to be alone. When it was all finished, it occurred to him to dedicate it to its use by religious ceremonies. Accordingly, he collected the boys together. The hut was adorned with wreaths of flowers, a little table was placed in the centre on which lay the open Bible, ornamented in the same manner. He then read with great seriousness the 14th, 15, and 24th verses of the cxvIII. Psalm :

"The Lord is my strength and my song, and is become my salvation."

"The voice of rejoicing and salvation is heard in the tabernacles of the righteous." "This is the day which the Lord hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in it."

After this, the exercises were concluded by singing and prayer. Another boy afterwards built him a hut, which was to be dedicated in a similar way; but when the boys came together, they saw in it a piece of timber which belonged to the establishment, and ascertaining that it had been taken without permission, they at once demolished the whole edifice, and restored the timber to its place. At the time of harvest, when they first entered the field to gather the potatoes, before commencing the work, they formed into a circle, and much to the surprise of the Superintendent, broke out together into the harvest hymn :

"Now let us all thank God."

After singing this, they fell to their work with great cheerfulness and vigor.

I mention these instances, from numerous others which might be produced, to show how much may be done in reclaiming the most hopeless youthful offenders by a judicious application of the right means of moral influence. How short-sighted and destructive, then, is the policy which would exclude such influence from our public institutions! The same effects have been produced by houses of reformation in our own country. I would mention, as one instance,

the institution of Mr. Welles in Massachusetts.

Now, laying aside all considerations of benevolence and of religious obligation, is it not for the highest good of the State, that these minds should be withdrawn from vice and trained up to be enlightened and useful citizens, contributing a large share to the public wealth, virtue and happiness; rather than that they should come forward in life miserable criminals, of no use to themselves or the public, depredating on the property and violating the rights of the industrious citizens, increasing the public burdens by their crimes, endangering the well being of society, and undermining our liberties! They can be either the one or the other, according as we choose to educate them ourselves in the right way, or leave them to be educated by the thieves and drunkards in our streets, or the convicts in our prisons. The efforts made by some foreign nations to educate this part of their population, is a good lesson for us. All the schools and houses of reformation in Prussia, do not cost the government so much as old England is obliged to expend in prisons and constables for the regulation of that part of her population, for which the government provides no schools but the hulks and the jails; and I leave it to any one to say which arrangement produces the greatest amount of public happiness.

When I was in Berlin I went into the public prison, and visited every part of the establishment. At last I was introduced to a very large hall which was full of children, with their books and teachers, and having all the appearance of a common Prussian school-room. “What, said I, is it possible that all these children are imprisoned here for crime?" "Oh no," said my conductor, smiling at my simplicity, "but if a parent is imprisoned for crime, and on that account his children are left destitute of the means of education, and liable to grow up in ignorance and crime, the government has them

taken here, and maintained and educated for useful employment. The thought brought tears to my eyes. This was a new idea to me. I know not that it has ever been suggested in the United States; but surely it is the duty of government, as well as its highest interest, when a man is paying the penalty of his crime in a public prison, to see that his unoffending children are not left to suffer, and to inherit their father's vices. Surely it would be better for the child, and cheaper as well as better, for the State. Let it not be supposed that a man would go to prison for the sake of having his children. taken care of, for they who go to prison usually have little regard for their children; and if they had, discipline like that of the Berlin prison would soon sicken them of such a bargain.

Where education is estimated according to its real value, people are willing to expend money for the support of schools; and if necessary, to deny themselves some physical advantages for the sake of giving their children the blessings of moral and intellectual culture. In the government of Baden, four per cent of all the public expense is for education-they have a school with an average of two or three well qualified teachers to every three miles of territory, and every one hundred children; and that too, when the people are so poor that they can seldom afford any other food than dry barleybread, and a farmer considers it a luxury to be able to allow his family the use of butter-milk three or four times a year. In Prussia, palaces and convents are every where turned into houses of education; and accommodations originally provided for princes and bishops are not considered too good for the schoolmaster and his pupils. But, though occupying palaces, they have no opportunity to be idle or luxurious. Hard labor and frugal living are every where the indispensable conditions to a teacher's life, and I must say, that I have no particular wish that it should be otherwise; for it is only those who are willing to work hard and live frugally, that ever do much good in such a world as this.

I pass now to the consideration of a question of the deepest interest to us all, and that is, can the common schools in our State be made adequate to the wants of our population? I do not hesitate to answer this question decidedly in the affirmative; and to show that I give this answer on good grounds, I need only to state the

proper object of education, and lay before you what is actually now done towards accomplishing this object in the common schools of Prussia and Wirtemberg.

What is the proper object of education? The proper object of education is a thorough developement of all the intellectual and moral powers the awakening and calling forth of every talent that may exist, even in the remotest and obscurest corner of the State, and giving it a useful direction. A system that will do this, and such a system only, do I consider adequate to the wants of our population ; such a system, and such system only, can avert all the evils and produce all the benefits which our common schools were designed to avert and produce. True, such a system must be far more extensive and complete than any now in operation among us-teachers must be more numerous, skilful, persevering, and self-denying-parents must take greater interest in the schools and do more for their support-and the children must attend punctually and regularly, till the whole prescribed course is completed. All this can be done, and I hope will be done; and to show that the thing is really practicable, I now ask your attention to the course of instruction in the common schools of Prussia and Wirtemberg, and other European States, which have done the most in the matter of public instruction.

COURSE OF INSTRUCTION IN THE COMMON SCHOOLS OF PRUSSIA AND WIRTEMBERG.

The whole course comprises eight years, and includes children from the ages of six till fourteen; and it is divided into four parts, of two years each. It is a first principle, that the children be well accommodated as to house and furniture. The school-room must be well constructed, the seats convenient, and the scholars made comfortable, and kept interested. The younger pupils are kept at school but four hours in the day-two in the morning and two in the evening, with a recess at the close of each hour. The older, six hours, broken by recesses as often as is necessary. Most of the schoolhouses have a bathing place, a garden and a mechanics' shop attached to them, to promote the cleanliness and health of the children, and to aid in mechanical and agricultural instruction. It will be seen by