ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS ON THE SCHOOL LAW.

BY THE STATE COMMISSIONER OF COMMON SCHOOLS.

QUESTION 6. (S.) If directors furnish a Teacher with a set of written rules, and he gains the disapprobation of some parents by trying to carry them into effect, have the directors power to close the school before the term expires? Or, if a Teacher is discharged while he is complying with the reasonable requirements of the directors, can he not recover pay for the full term, according to the article of agreement?

ANSWER. Inquiries similar to the above, are frequently received at this office. Sec. 6 of the general School Law, makes it the duty of the school directors "to employ Teachers, * * * and to dismiss any Teacher, at any time, for such reasons as they may deem sufficient."

Section 11, of "An Act to amend, and supplementary to an act, entitled 'an act to provide for the reorganization, supervision and maintenance of Common Schools,' passed March 4, 1853," dated April 17, 1857, provides that "If the directors of any sub-district dismiss any Teacher for any frivolous or insufficient reason, such Teacher may bring suit against such sub-district, and if, on the trial of the cause, a judgment be obtained against the sub-district, the directors thereof shall certify to the Clerk of the Board the sum so found due, and he shall issue an order to the person entitled thereto, upon the township treasurer, to pay the same out of any money in his hands belonging to said sub-district, and applicable to the payment of Teachers. In such suits, process may be serv. ed upon the the clerk of the sub-district, and service upon him shall be sufficient." These provisions are so clear and explicit as to render explanations unnecessary. Directors have power to dismiss a Teacher for such reasons as they may deem sufficient. But should the court before which the Teacher should bring suit, deem these reasons "frivolous or insufficient," such Teacher can recover such an amount as the court shall judge to be just and proper. Whether this amount, in any case, shall be the same as the "pay for the full term, according to the article of agreement," will, doubtless, depend upon the facts pertaining to each litigated case.

Competent and worthy Teachers are liable to be dismissed by incompetent and unworthy directors. But such cases will be exceedingly rare. The chief danger in regard to this matter is that worthless Teachers will be suffered to continue in charge of schools, when both justice and mercy demand that they should be dismissed from an employment for which they are utterly unqualified. Because a Teacher has obtained a certificate from a Board of Examiners, it does not of necessity follow that he is competent to take charge of the instruction of children and youth. In practical knowledge, tact and discretion, the directors may find him to be so deficient as to render his dismission their imperative duty. In such a case, the Teacher could not, and should not recover damages.

QUESTION 7. (S.) Some two years since, the Board of Examiners for county, granted a certificate of qualifications for teaching school to a certain young man of said county. He sustained the examination with great credit to himself, and gave satisfactory evidence of an excellent moral character. Bút upon trial, he failed in regard to government. He could not preserve due order in the school room, and before the time for which he had been engaged had ex

pired, he was dismissed by the directors. He subsequently engaged in another school, and although he continued till the close of his engagement, he failed to maintain order, and the school was of little or no utility to those who attended it.

A few weeks since, he applied to be examined for another certificate, which the Board refused to grant, on the ground of his repeated failures in governing his pupils. Are the Examiners justifiable for this refusal ?

ANSWER. Most certainly they are. Scholarship and moral character are not the only requisites required of Teachers. No qualifications are of higher importance than the ability to maintain due order in the school room.

Some young Teachers may fail for one term in governing a school, but after that experience, achieve satisfactory success as disciplinarians. For a single failure of this kind, they should not be rejected. But when it becomes a settled point that candidates are particularly deficient in the matter of government, they should be rejected by the Board.

Examiners need exercise discretion in deciding such cases.

AN ALPHABET FOR BEGINNERS, ON THE BEGINNING OF EACH

MONTH.

Above all rules observe this, Honesty is the best policy.

Be just to others, that you may be just to yourself.

Cut your coat according to your cloth.

Desperate cuts must have desperate cures.

Enough is as good as a feast.

Fair and softly go surely far.

Gentility, without ability, is worse than beggary.

Half a loaf is better than no bread.

Idle folks take the most pains.

Jokes are as bad coin to all but the jocular.

Keep your business and conscience well, and they will keep you well.

Live and let live; that is, do as you would be done by.

Misunderstandings are best prevented by pen and ink.

Never take credit; and, as much as possible, avoid giving it.

Out of debt, out of danger.

Passion will master you, if you do not master your passion.

Quick at meat, quick at work.

Revenge a wrong by forgiving it.

Short reckonings make long friends.

The early bird catches the worm.

Unmannerliness is not impolite as over politeness.

Venture not all you have at once.

Wade not in unknown waters.

'Xamine your accounts and your conduct every night.

You may find your worst enemy or best friend in yourself.

Zealously keep down little expenses, and you will not incur large ones.

Editorial Department.

SOCIAL SYMPATHY

-READING PARTIES.

Mrs. Swisshelm says, in her Letters to Country Girls, "it is very natural for people to like to go to parties; and it is very right." Now every neighborhood in the country, towns and villages, should get up a little party to meet once a week, first at one neighbor's house, then at another's. Let all dress to look as well as possible; and those who are hosts for the evening, have some nice refreshments. Let old and young come, for an old people's party, or young people's party, is too stiff and silly; and when you meet at your party, read. Let the lady whose house it is in, ask whomsoever she thinks best, to read; or regularly by turns. Any thing funny, or any thing good you find through the week, take along and read it there. Laugh at one another's mistakes, and when any word occurs that any one present does not understand, let him or her ask about it. If no one knows it, hunt for it in a dictionary; or let every one write it down, take it home and find out the meaning before next evening's meeting. Nothing is more agreeable than one of these reading parties. It accustoms all to reading aloud; and what is more pleasant in a country home in long evenings, than talking with the great and good of all ages? We intend beginning these reading parties in our neighborhood in a week or two, and more "fun" is expected than you can find in one of your stiff parties, where you have all to sit like a row of cups and saucers on a dresser, looking at one another in mute despair, and afraid to move for fear you may get broke, or else play "Dear Sister Phoebe," or dance until the perspiration rolls down your cheeks, as if you had been carrying melted metal at a furnace. Try a reading party, and make it a rule never to read any long article, and never to get angry for being laughed at."

School teachers, male and female, might be leading spirits in this enterprise; and we shall charge them nothing for the suggestion, but if they, in these happy and profitable assemblages, fill up one of the subscription papers of the Ohio Journal of Education, at their successive "Reading Parties," they will much gratify the Editor, who hopes that the Journal may furnish many happy topics, ranging

"From lively to severe."

In large towns and cities, social and literary reünions have been formed that have been of lasting improvement, and of historic interest. Prof. Mansfield speaks of such, held in Cincinnati, at the hospitable mansion of Dr. Drake, which possessed all the charms of information, genius, wit and kindness. He gives us this lively picture, from memory, of these social meetings:

"The Doctor's plan of entertainment and instruction was peculiar. It was to avoid the rigidity and awkwardness of a mere literary party, and yet to keep the mind of the company occupied with questions for discussion, or topics for read. ing and composition. Thus the conversation never degenerated into mere gossip, nor was it ever forced into an unpleasant and unwilling gravity. We used to assemble early-about half-past seven - and when fully collected, the Doctor, who was the acknowledged chairman, rung his little bell for general attention. This caused no constraint, but simply brought us to a common point, which was to be the topic of the evening. Sometimes this was appointed before

hand, sometimes it arose out of what was said or proposed on the occasion. Some evenings compositions were read on topics selected at the last meeting. On other evenings nothing was read, and the time was passed in a general discussion of some interesting question. Occasionally a piece of poetry or a story came in, to diversify and enliven the conversation. These, however, were rather interludes, than parts of the general plan, whose main object was the discussions of interesting questions belonging to society, literature, education and religion. "The subjects were always of the suggestive or problematic kind, so that the ideas were fresh, the debate animated, and the utterance of opinions frank and spontaneous. There, in that little circle of ladies and gentlemen, I have heard many of the questions which have since occupied the public mind, talked over with an ability and a fullness of information which is seldom possessed by larger and more authoritative bodies. To the members of that circle, these meetings and discussions were invaluable. They were excited to think deeply of what the many think but superficially. They heard the ring of the Doctor's bell with the pleasure of those who delight in the communion of spirits, and revel in intellectual wealth.

"Nor was that meeting an unimportant affair; for nothing can be unimportant which directs minds whose influence spreads over a country; and such were here. I do not say what impressions they received; but I know that persons were assembled there, in pleasant converse, such as seldom meet in one place, and who since, going out into the world, have signalized their names in the annals of letters, science and benevolence. I shall violate no propriety by naming some of them, for those I shall name have been long known to the public. Dr. Drake was himself the head of the circle, whose suggestive mind furnished topics for others, and was ever ready to incite their energies and enliven their flagging conversation. General Edward King (father of Rufus King, President of Cincinnati School Board) was another, who, in spirit, manners and elocution, was a superior man, having the dignity of the old school, with the life of the new. His wife, since Mrs. Peters, and widely known for her active benevolence, and as the founder of the Philadelphia School of Design, and the Cincinnati Ladies' Picture Gallery, contributed several interesting articles for the circle, and was a most instructive member. Judge James Hall, then editor of the Western Monthly Magazine, whose name is known both in Europe and America, was also there. Professor Stowe, unsurpassed in biblical learning, and the person to whom we, in Ohio, are indebted for a valuable Report on the Prussian Public Schools, contributed his share to the conversation. Miss Harriet Beecher, now Mrs. Stowe, was just beginning to be known for her literary abilities, and about that time contributed several of her best stories to the press She was not a ready talker, but when she spoke or wrote, showed both the strength and the humor of her mind. Her sister, Miss Catharine Beecher, so well known for her labors and usefulness in the cause of female education, and, recently, for the physical improvement of girls by means of Callisthenics, was a more easy and fluent conversationist. Indeed, few people have more talent to entertain a company, or keep the ball of conversation going, than Miss Beecher; and she was as willing as she was able.

Conspicuous, both in person and manners, was Mrs. Caroline Lee Hentz, (recently deceased,) whom none saw without admiring. She was what the world calls charming, and though since better known as an authoress, was personally quite remark able. She and her highly educated husband, a man on some sub. jects quite learned, but of such retiring habits as hid him from the public view, were then keeping a popular female seminary in Cincinnati. They were among the most active and interesting members of our coterie."