130. READING ALOUD.-Chambers' Edinburgh Journal.

1. We know of no accomplishment so valuable, as that of reading "with good emphasis and discretion," of catching the meaning and spirit of an author, and conveying them to others with a distinct and intelligible utterance; and yet, strange to say, there is no department of modern education so much neglected. Indeed, so general is this neglect, that scarcely one young lady or gentleman in a dozen, who boast of having "finished" their education, can, on being requested, read aloud to a private company with that ease and graceful modulation, which is necessary to the perfect appreciation of the author. There is either a forced or unnatural mouthing, a hesitating and imperfect articulation, or a monotony of tone so thoroughly painful, that one listens with impatience, and is glad when some excuse presents itself for his absence.

2. Whatever may be the imperfections of our school tuition, this defect is rather to be attributed to a want of taste and consequent neglect of practice on the part of grown-up individuals, than to any defect in their elementary training.There may be a deficiency of good models; but the main evil arises from the unequal value, which seems to be attached to good reading, as compared with music, dancing, painting, and other fashionable acquirements. Why it should be so, we can discover no good cause, but, on the contrary, see many substantial reasons why reading aloud should be cultivated, as one of the most useful and attractive of domestic accomplishments.

3. To young ladies, for example, the habit of reading aloud has much to recommend it. As mere exercise, it is highly beneficial on account of the strength and vigor, which it confers on the chest and lungs; while the mental pleasure to be derived therefrom is one of the most delightful, that can adorn the family circle Gathered round the winter's fire or evening lamp, what could be more cheerful for the aged and infirm, what more instructive to the younger branches, or more exemplary to the careless, than the reading aloud of some entertaining author, and who could do this with greater grace or more impressive effect than a youthful female?

4. It requires no great effort to attain this art, no neglect of music, painting or other accomplishment; it is, in fact, more

a practice than a study, and one which the interest excited by new books and periodicals, would always prevent from becoming dull or tiresome. Were females of all ranks to adopt the practice more than they do at present, they would bind to their homes many who are otherwise disposed to go in search of unworthy enjoyments, and would add another chain of delightful associations, wherewith to attach the young to the family hearth. Another advantage which it would confer on the fair readers themselves, would be the improved utterance and intonation, which correct reading would produce, instead of that simpering and lisping which are so often to be met with even among females of the higher classes.

5. To young men preparing for professional labors, the art of reading aloud is indispensable; and though not equally necessary to what are called business-men, still to such, it is a becoming and valuable acquirement. Ask your son, who has lately gone to the counting-room, to read you the last debate in Parliament, and ten to one he will rattle through it with such a jumbling indistinctness of utterance, that you are glad when his hour calls him away, and leaves you to the quiet enjoyment of self perusal.

6. And why is this? Simply because the youth has never been taught to regard reading aloud in the light of a graceful accomplishment. At school he learned to know his words, and that was so far useful; but to read as a gentleman, in the spirit and meaning of the author, this is what he has yet to acquire by the imitation of good models, and by frequent practice. That the art of reading aloud, is at the low ebb we mention, any one can readily convince himself, by requesting his friend to read for him the last speech of the British premier, or message of the American president. Twenty to one he will find his friend an apt enough scholar, but a careless and indifferent enunciator-one who has all along read for himself, and whose only object has been merely to acquire the meaning of the works he perused.

7. Singing for the million is cried up on all hands,-why not reading aloud? What Mainzer has accomplished for the one art, might be effected for the other. We have in almost every family and workshop, evidence of what practice in concert has done for vocal music-why not the same for reading aloud? The one art is chiefly valued as an amusement and refining accomplishment-the other is equally entertaining,

quite as necessary for the adornment of public or private life, and certainly more directly productive of utility and knowledge.

The low state of elocution both in England and America, proceeds chiefly from the defective method heretofore adopted in teaching it in schools, academies, and colleges. There is also in both countries, a great "deficiency of good models." An eloquent lawyer in the city of Rochester, John C. Chumasero, Esq. elegantly and truly remarks: "The different intonations, cadences, and inflections of the human voice, so indispensable to the accomplished orator, are to be acquired only by indefatigable study, practical effort, and the most assiduous and strict attention, under the guidance and instruction of a teacher competent and qualified to unfold their various beauties, rendering them and the science with which they are connected, equally beneficial and interesting, to the man of business, the student, the statesman, and the divine." The following remarks of Mr. Sheridan in his lectures on the "Art of Reading," are as true of our own country as of England: "I appeal to the experience of mankind, whether in general any thing else be taught, but the pronunciation of words, and the observation of the stops. We are taught to deliver our own exercises, or the works of others, with little or no variation of voice, or else with some disagreeable, discordant cant, applied to all sentences alike." The business of teaching the various branches of education is laborious, but in the language of the author of "Essays to do Good," "it is most pleasing to God."

CONTRACTS WITH TEACHERS OF COMMON SCHOOLS.

"The most fruitful source of difficulty in school districts, and applications to the superintendent, has been the looseness and irregularity with which these contracts have been made." "It is strongly recommended, that all contracts with teachers be made in writing, and a duplicate kept by each party. In no other way can justice be done to the parties in case of any dispute." Extract from the N. Y. superintendent's instructions, pages 141, 142.

For the convenience of trustees and teachers, I insert the following general form of a contract between them:

"This agreement, made the .

in the town of

day of...

eighteen hundred and between A. B., C. D. and E. F., trustees of school district No. county of..... and state of of the one part, and G. H., of the other part, witnesseth, that the said G. H. hath agreed and hereby doth undertake, to take charge of the school in said district, to instruct the pupils therein in the branches of education usually taught in district schools in the said county, [or town,] and generally to administer and govern the said school as teacher thereof, according to the best of his ability, for the term of ..... to commence on the day of .....

and also during the said term, to comply with all the regulations and requirements of the laws of this state and the school officers having jurisdiction within said district. And for his services as such teacher of said school, during the said term, the said trustees do hereby agree to pay to the said G. H. ... dollars. Witness our hands on the day and year first above written."

131. THANATOPSIS.-William C. Bryant.

1. To him who in the love of nature, holds
Communion with her visible forms, she speaks
A various language. For his gayer hours
She has a voice of gladness, and a smile,
And eloquence of beauty; and she glides
Into his dark musings, with a mild
And gentle sympathy, that steals away
Their sharpness, ere he is aware.

2.

3.

When thoughts
Of the last bitter hour, come like a blight
Over thy spirit, and sad images

Of the stern agony, and shroud, and pall,
And breathless darkness, and the narrow house,
Make thee to shudder, and grow sick at heart,-
Go forth into the open sky, and list

To Nature's teachings, while from all around-
Earth, and her waters, and the depths of air-
Comes a still voice:-Yet a few days, and thee,
The all-beholding sun shall see no more

In all its course.

Nor yet in the cold ground Where the pale form was laid, with many tears, Nor in the embrace of ocean, shall exist

Thy image. Earth, that nourished thee, shall claim
Thy growth, to be resolved to earth again;

And, lost each human trace, surrendering up
Thine individual being, shalt thou go
To mix forever with the elements,
To be a brother to the insensible rock,

And the sluggish clod, which the rude swain
Turns with his share, and treads upon.

The oak

Shall send his roots abroad, and pierce thy mould.
Yet not to thy eternal resting place

Shalt thou retire alone,-nor couldst thou wish
Couch more magnificent. Thou shalt lie down

5.

6.

With patriarchs of the infant world, with kings,
The powerful of the earth, the wise, the good,
Fair forms, and hoary seers of ages past,
All in one mighty sepulchre.

The hills,

Rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun; the vales,
Stretching in pensive quietness between;

The venerable woods; rivers that move

In majesty; and the complaining brooks

That make the meadows green; and, poured round all, Old ocean's gray and melancholy waste,

Are but the solemn decorations all

Of the great tomb of man.

The golden sun,

The planets, all the infinite host of heaven,
Are shining on the sad abodes of death,
Through the still lapse of ages. All that tread
The globe, are but a handful to the tribes
That slumber in its bosom. Take the wings
Of morning, and the Barcan desert pierce,
Or lose thyself in the continuous woods
Where rolls the Oregon, and hears no sound
Save his own dashings, yet, the dead are there;
And millions in those solitudes, since first

The flight of years began, have laid them down
In their last sleep,-the dead reign there alone.

7. So shalt thou Test; and what if thou shalt fall
Unnoticed by the living, and no friend

Take note of thy departure? All that breathe
Will share thy destiny. The gay will laugh
When thou art gone, the solemn brood of care
Plod on, and each one, as before, will chase
His favorite phantom; yet all these shall leave
Their mirth and their employments, and shall come
And make their bed with thee.

As the long train

Of ages glides away, the sons of men,

The youth in life's green spring, and he who goes