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ANSWER. By Sec. 63 of the general School Act, it is declared that all the real and personal property in the State shall be taxed for the purpose of " affording the advantages of free educatirn to all the youth of this State." Hence, every inhabitant may reasonably demand of the Board of Education, in the tonwship in which he resides, the establishment of a School within such a distance of his residence, and with such facilities for reaching it, as would enable his children to attend it, without travelling an unreasonable distance, or over impassable roads or through swamps. Until such roads are rendered passable, and the swamps drained or bridged, the inhabitants who are incommoded as already stated, should apply to the Township Board for permission to send their children to the Schools in other sub-districts, more accessible; and the Board would be in duty, and in law, bound to grant such permission, if the facts are as stated. And if the Board should refuse, without good cause, to grant the privilege solicited, the parties feeling themselves aggrieved, could then apply to the District or Supreme Court for writ of mandamus, to compel the Board to do its duty in this regard. H. H. BARNEY,

Commissioner of Common Schools.

BREVITIES.

Theodore Hook once said to a literary man, at whose table his publisher had become intoxicated, "My dear sir, you seem to have emptied your wine-cellar into your book-seller."

A Yale College student lately perpetrated an amusing classical pun. Seeing a box of tea at the door of a dealer, he printed on it, in bold letters, the Latin words tu doces, to the no small'amusement of the collegians who frequented the place. The Latin words tu doces (thou teachest) being of course rendered Thou Tea Chest!

The stepping-stone to fortune is not to be found in a jeweller's shop.

A gentleman was promenading a fashionable street with a bright little boy at his side, when the little fellow cried out:

"Oh, pa, there goes an editor !"

"Hush! hush!" said the father, "don't make such sport of the poor man-God only knows what you may come to yet."

LOST.-Yesterday, somewhere between sunrise and sunset, two golden hours, set with sixty diamond minutes. No reward is offered, for they are gone forever.

"Even this will pass over!" was the proverb which the wise Solomon gave to an Eastern friend, who desired such a motto as would make the soul strong in misfortune, and humble in prosperity.

Infinite toil would not enable you to sweep away a mist; but by ascending a little, you may often look over it altogether. So it is with our moral improvement; we wrestle fiercely with a vicious habit, which would have no hold upon us if we ascended into a higher moral atmosphere.

The liar is the greatest fool; but the next greatest fool is he who tells all he knows. A prudent reticence is the highest practical wisdom. Silence has made more fortunes than the most gifted eloquence.

EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT.

WHERE AND HOW WE MEET.*

"To Athens !" was the joyful cry of Grecian scholars, when returned the seasons of their literary festivals. To Athens philosophers, orators, and poets journeyed. To Athens went the ambitious young, to treasure up wisdom from the lips of sages, to gather inspiration from the tongues of the eloquent. In Athens met the Teacher and the pupil, the lecturer and the learner. There, 2500 years ago, they met, and in social intercourse, and in literary entertainments, their festal days passed swiftly away,-passed joyfully away. Then to their homes they went, strengthened for new studies, inspired with new purposes, and looking forward to the day when again the cry would be heard66 To Athens!"

Teachers of Ohio, twice every year we meet for a purpose similar to that which hastened to their one capital of science, literature, eloquence and art, the teaching profession of ancient Greece. Twice every year. to some chosen Athens we repair, to speak and to hear, to teach and to learn, and to exchange joyful greetings. Ohio, of which Plato, Pericles, and Pindar never heard, has its literary festivals. Our Colleges have their annual commencements, to which re-unions Alumni and Literati repair. To their Alma Maters these sons return, glad again to visit the classic halls where, in youth, their minds had been trained for those activities of life in which they now engage.

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But no more joyous or profitable meetings are ever held in our great State, than our own semi-annual gatherings. When the year is closing when the hoarse blasts of winter are mingling with the jubilant greetings of Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, we avail ourselves of our Holiday Recess, to go up to our Capital City-the seat and center of our political power, our civil and benevolent institutions-and there, as at a common home there, as the sons and daughters of one family, we pass no heartless "compliments of the season; but, glad in each other's presence, our hearts beat with new hopes, and throb with more noble purposes, sending a stronger and warmer current of life-blood to

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* This article is the introductory portion of an address, by the Editor of the Journal, given at Mansfield, at the opening of the eighth semi-annual meeting of the Ohio State Teachers' Association, July 2, 1856.

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nerve our arms, to make strong our hearts for the great work to which

we soon return.

One half-year we give our strength, souls, and hearts, to our professional work. Winter and spring are gone; summer, with burning heat, is upon us; our school-year closes; we take leave of our loved pupils; worn with long labors, we hail the coming of a long vacation. Many of us are about to visit that dear place, like which earth has no other, the homes of our childhood, our parents and others, dear to our souls. But, ere we thus go, we turn our eyes to some provincial Athens, as a center for our summer gathering. Cleveland, Sandusky, Dayton and Zanesville are visited. Another summer is upon us, and another gathering is before us, and at what town shall that gathering be?

Ninety-seven years ago, in that American Eden, New Haven, Jared Mansfield was born. At eighteen years of age he graduated at Yale. He became a Schoolmaster, and in New Haven and Philadelphia, he spent several years in teaching. He was then appointed Professor of Natural Philosophy at the U. S. Military Academy, at West Point. The publication of his "Philosophical Essays" added to his reputation, and he took a front rank among the scientific men of the nation. Fiftythree years ago President Jefferson appointed him Surveyor General of the United States, for the Northwestern Territories. He became a resident of Cincinnati, and died twenty-six years ago.

Forty-eight years ago, in Richland County, there was laid out a town, "beautiful for situation," occupying an elevation, where we look out upon a landscape handsomely disposed in hills and valleys. That town was destined to be occupied by a population second to no other for enterprise, intelligence and morality. It was to be the residence of Governors and Judges, of men high in the councils of the State and the Nation.

A name is wanted for this town of beauty and of fame. What shall men call it? The proprietors cast about for an appropriate name for the embryo village. Shall they go to the classic lands of Greece and Italy, whence to transport the cognomen of some heathen city, or hero, or demi-god? Shall they search the rolls of our American warriors and statesmen for a name with which to christen their prospective city? No! They will name it for the able and earnest Schoolmaster. They will call it Mansfield. Mansfield-which some of its manly citizens may choose to interpret as signifying man's field; a field, in which man, strong-handed-man, brave-hearted-man, courageous to plan and firm

to execute, shall be found. There may be shrewd lawyers and distinguished judges here, who would proudly trace back the name of their beautiful town, and find its origin in that famous English Lord, who just 100 years ago, was made Chief-Justice of the King's Bench. But to no such unjust and ambitious assumptions will we yield. It was a School Teacher, whose name, redolent of every manly grace and virtue, honors the town in which the Teachers of our State this day assemble.

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Teachers of Ohio, thanks we owe to the politeness which invited us to hold this meeting here, and higher thanks for the generous hospitality of the families whose doors are opened wide for our entertainment. But we have a right to be here; we are name of this happy village. School Teachers. And we come, not as pilgrims to worship at his shrine, for his supulcher is this day in the land of his fathers, but we come, claiming a share in the fame of Mansfield. This is our cherished Athens for 1856. True, we here look upon no resplendent marble, in the form of Minerva's Temple. The Academy with its groves, and the Lyceum with its fountains, are not here. We find not here an orator like Demosthenes, a philosopher like Plato, a poet like Euripides. Nor do we desire to find them here. We come up to Mansfield to meet ourselves. We are Teachers, all engaged in the same work; all acting from a common purpose; all meeting like experiences of hope and discouragement. We come here to exchange greetings, to give play to our sympathies, to speak to each other words of encouragement, to impart impulses and influences, and to receive impressions and inspirations which shall make us better and happier men and women; more earnest and successful Teachers. On an errand more worthy, on a mission more sacred, we could not meet. Heaven bless our interview, guide our councils, and direct to such conclusions as shall make it good for us to be here.

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Mansfield was a father in the Israel of

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Teachers, I congratulate you upon the auspicious circumstances in which we gather here to-day. But eight and a half years have passed since this Association was formed. At Akron, on the 30th of Dec. 1847, delegates from eleven counties assembled for the organization of an Ohio State Teachers' Association. Where then were the Union Schools, and the High Schools,-the school houses and School Teachers of to-day? Less than twenty Teachers were present at that Akron meeting.

But what a change have these eight years accomplished. Hundreds of Teachers, high in character and qualifications, are now found at our

meetings. The old dispensation has passed away, and, chiefly through the earnest efforts of the Teachers of the State, a new law has been enacted, which, in my estimation, is the glory of our great commonwealth. This School Law might, in some of its details, be made better. I trust that it will receive certain modifications, which will increase its efficiency and usefulness, and at the same time allay that very general opposition which the operation of certain of its provisions has excited. But in all its prominent principles, our School Law is one of the wisest and grandest State enactments that has ever blessed the world. I congratulate you on the results which have already followed the action of our school system. The late report of our State Commissioner affords indisputable testimony to the truth that this system is a fountain of life to the youth and children of Ohio,—a fountain `whence flow streams to refresh and bless and make glad the intellectual, the social, and the moral interests of the people.

And when we reflect on the change for the better which eight short years have affected in the condition and prospects of popular learning in our State, let us, like St. Paul at Appii Forum, "thank God, and take courage."

STATE SCHOOL COMMISSIONER.

The present School Law of Ohio was enacted in March, 1853; and the Commissioner was elected in October of the same year. It was the wish and effort of the Teachers of the State, that this office should be kept aloof from party politics. This wish, however, was overruled by a large majority of the electors of the State; and it was then decided that this office must take its chances with the other offices of the State.

We took no part in the nominations made for Commissioner in 1853, but we had our reasons for desiring the election of Mr. Lorin Andrews. When first we met the successful candidate, Mr. H. H. Barney, we frankly said to him that Mr. Andrews had been our choice for Commissioner, but that we would cheerfully render him, (Mr. Barney,) any assistance that might be in our power, in the execution of his official duties. We said to him that, in our estimation, he held the most important office in the State, and we hoped that his administration of our School Law would prove eminently successful.

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