. festival day, that he might meet them in their holiday gaiety. He was surprised, on approaching, to hear no merriment. On entering his fields, he found his 'force' all hard at work. As they flocked around him, he inquired why they were not making holiday. They told him, that the crop would suffer in the present state by the loss of a day; and that, therefore, they had put off their holiday, which, however, they meant to take by and by. Not many days after, an express arrived to inform the proprietor that there was an insurrection on the estate. He would not believe it; declared it impossible, as there was nobody to rise against; but the messenger, who had been sent by the neighboring gentlemen, was so confident of the facts, that the master galloped, with the utmost speed, to his plantation, arriving as night was on. As he rode in, a cry of joy arose from his negroes, who pressed round to shake hands with him. They were in their holiday clothes, and had been singing and dancing; they were only enjoying the deferred festival. The neighbors hearing the noise, on a quiet working day, had jumped to the conclusion that it was an insurrection. The proprietor said that no trouble had arisen ; and that for some reasons, ever since this estate had been wholly in the hands of his negroes, it had been more productive than it ever was while he managed it himself." A PEACEABLE SOCIETY IN AFRICA. Ricnard Lardner, who conducted an expedition in Africa in 1830, states that a community of Feiatahs, who reside at Acha, unlike the surrounding population, are very quiet, take no part in war, are unambitious to gain territory, and carefully avoid all the quarrels of their neighbors. The consequence is, that they are highly respected and esteemed by all around them, while they remain entirely unmolested by the most warlike tribes. KINDNESS IN SCHOOL. Hon. Horace Mann, Secretary of the Board of Education in Massachusetts, is engaged in a controversy with certain pedagogues in the city of Notions, on the question whether corporeal punishment is either useful or necessary as a means of securing proper discipline in schools. The Secretary tells the following story, which is a sufficient answer to all that we have ever seer urged in favor of the ferule and switch: In a town not thirty miles from Boston, a young lady, who aimed at the high standard of governing without force, and determined to live or die by her faith, went into a school which was far below the average in point of good order. Such were the gentleness and sweetness of her manners, and intercourse with her pupils, that, for a few days there was nothing but harmony. Soon, however, some of the older pupils began to fall back into their former habits of inattention and mischief. This relapse she met with tender and earnest remonstrances, and by an increased manifestation of interest in them. But it was soon whispered among the transgressors that she would not punish, and this added at once to their confidence and their numbers. The obedient were seduced into disobedience, and the whole school seemed rapidly revolving into anarchy. Near the close of one forenoon, when this state of things was approaching a crisis, the teacher suspended the regular exercises of the school, and made an appeal, individually, to her insubordinate pupils. But, finding no hope-giving response from their looks or words, she returned to her seat, and bowed her head and wept bitterly. When her paroxysm of grief had subsided, she dismissed the school for the morning. After intermission she returned, resolving on one more effort, but anticipating, should that fail, the alternative of abandoning the school. She found the pupils all in their seats. Taking her own, she paused for a moment, to gain strength for her final appeal. At this juncture of indescribable pain, several of the ring-leaders rose from their seats and approached her. They said to her that. they appeared on account of the school, and particularly on their own, to ask pardon for what they had done, to express their sorrow for the pain they had caused her, and to promise, in behalf of all, that her wishes should thereafter be cordially obeyed. Her genuine sorrow had touched a spot in their hearts which no blows could ever reach; and, from that hour, the school went on with a degree of intellectual improvement never known before; and, like the sweet accord of music, when every instrument has been attuned by a master's hand, no jarring note ever afterwards arose to mar its perfect harmony." A LESSON FOR THE THOUGHTFUL. The Smith School in Boston, composed exclusively of Colored Children, was taught for many years previous to August last, by a man who believed it impossible to secure the obedience of his scholars without a constant and vigorous use of the ferule and other kindred appliances. According to his faith were his works; he flogged the children most thoroughly on the slightest provocation-sometimes with blows on their heads with his hand or fist, sometimes with a ferule, and occasionally with the bastinado applied to their backs or feet, according to his humor. We believe it was never doubted that he made full proof of all the instrumentalties known to the science of flogging for the purpose of keeping his school in order. During the latter portion of the period above alluded to, wè have understood he mingled his floggings with prayers and much pious counsel. But in spite of all these means of enforcing obedience, the school grew worse apace; the children appeared to love fighting better than study, and were engaged in the former quite as often as in the latter, and that, too, in the school-room! The scholars complained of abuse, and the parents besought the proper authority for a change of masters. An investigation took place, and, strange to say, the teacher did not want defenders. Christian men were not wanting, who declared that without flogging it would be impossible to govern any school, least of all one composed of colored children, Like the old woman who protested that to take away her total depravity would be to destroy her religion, they contended that to put aside the ferule and the bastinado would be sure to bring nothing but chaos. The cruelties of the master underwent a white washing from the Committee of Investigation, and the hearts of parents and children were ready to sink with despair. They persevered, however, till at length the obnoxious teacher was removed. Then came up the question who should take this school, confessedly the worst in Boston. |