Errors in regard to Sunday Schools.

17

dispensable to their permanency and usefulness. In this opinion we have been confirmed by the following

Extract of a letter from a Clergyman in one of the Western States.

'How are the Bible, Tract and Sunday School schemes to be accomplished without a corps of qualified teachers of common schools? I have been, and am, officially interested in these objects, and our experience is that our Bibles and Tracts are refused because they cannot be read. But few of the Sunday Schools that the noble Mississippi valley scheme has been the means of establishing, live through even a single season, because there are no teachers; or rather because there is not in each neighborhood in which a school is started, some one individual interested from principle, and qualified by experience, to sustain and encourage it. This great enterprise appears much more plausible to its generous projectors, living at a distance, than it does to us who reside in the immediate neighborhood of the evils to be remedied.

'We are an excitable people, captivated with what is new, and wonderfully large, and abundantly impatient, in our expectation of results. A Sunday School Agent comes along, (not always the best judge of human nature,) proclaims a meeting at the neighborhood church or school house, (which is crowded,) spends half of the time in preaching to the people, hastily forms a company of volunteer teachers, tells them to have a Sunday School, then mounts his horse, and hastens off to meet some other appointment, and in the course of a month or two, the Sunday School Journal teems with reports of one or two hundred new Sunday Schools. But suppose him, at the end of the time alluded to, to repeat his round ;-the mushroom crop is gone.

There may be, and doubtless are, some schools sustained by teachers found or created in the neighborhood; but I do not know (and I ain a Vice President of a Sunday School Union,) a single school in the country which is not kept up by some young man delegated from a school in town, where he has had an opportunity of acquiring some experience.'

An article in the Boston Recorder, some time since presented these evils in another form. On a few points it is an argumentum ad hominem, addressed to the individuals directly engaged in this benevolent object, and it is written in a homely style; yet we hope it will interest some of our readers, and lead some friends of Sunday Schools to feel the importance of uniting the whole family' of Schools, in the work of educating our youth.

name.

A Complaint from a Sunday School at the West.

MR. EDITOR,-I am one of a large family, of great antiquity and respectability, as you will see by looking at my family We have multiplied exceedingly for the last hundred years; and some changes have taken place which I do not exactly like, but which, they say, the times demand, and the divisions of labor require,' &c. &c.; but though this may be true of some of these changes, I think you will allow, when you hear me, that they are not all necessary.

A long time ago, we used to live together, all in one house, and every thing went on harmoniously; one helped the other, and there was no division' of labor or effort. We took in all the children of the neighborhood and joined in giving them the best instruction we could, each in our part; and we helped each other in taking care of them; and the children were taught to fear God, and honor their parents, and learn their lessons, all in the same place, and every day in the week. But when society grew more cultivated, as they say, people thought they must put us in separate houses,-that they could not trust the same man to teach their children such different things as reading, writing and ciphering, and the Bible. Besides, these things belonged to the week, and the Bible belonged to Sunday; and as they had to work hard all the week, and found time to think of the Bible only at Church, they did not see why their children should not do the same. And then, some did not like to have anybody teach their children about the Bible, whose coat was not cut just like theirs—Quaker, or Presbyterian, or Methodist fashion; and some began to say, they would not have them learn anything at all about the Bible; so that our branch of the family was turned out of doors. And for a long time we were without house or home; except that once in two or three months, the minister would give us shelter for a few hours, just to see whether the children could say their catechism, or a hymn or two. I am glad to say, that since that time, we have been better provided for. Some of the friends of the Bible have taken great pains to get us good houses, and fit us out with school books, and have given us all the 'help' they can, (some rather poor to be sure) and paid a great deal to support us. But I wish you would tell them they make some sad mistakes; and I wish to tell you now, because I see they are trying to help our family as much as they can.

I will tell you what the great mistake is, among all their good plans and benevolent works; they only do it half way, -and they do the wrong half first, in some places. The truth is, schools all belong to one family? We must help each other to live; and if they do everything for us and nothing for our relations, we only have to give away to them, or wait till they have taken their share of the work.

Let me give you some instances. My sister Infant School and my brother Common School, live both in the same town; but they put us all in separate houses. This I will not say a word about now. But then, it is of no use to send children to me, one day in the week, unless they have been to my

Mistakes in Organizing Schools.

19

brother or my sister six days before;-or rather, I mean, that, if they have never been to them, I cannot do any good until I have sent for my brother or sister to get them ready for me. To be sure, it all goes under my name; but it is only doing week day work on Sunday, and taking up my time, that ought to be otherwise spent. And then, if it could be done on a week day, that shows, that after all, the fourth command is broken; for if people did not choose to work to get their bread in the week, it would be just as much a work of 'necessity and mercy' to do it on Sunday, as it is to teach children to read on Sunday, because they do not teach them during the week.

Now I am sorry to say, that I am often obliged to spend Sunday in this work; and yet people, instead of paying my brother and sister for doing week day work in the weektry to save something, by putting it all into Sunday! And I think it is a strange reason given for it too; as much as to say, that because Sunday is a day of rest, and people never would think of asking pay for working then, they will employ them on that day.

But our town is pretty well provided, compared with some in the neighborhood; for it does not so often happen with us, that we have to teach spelling. But then the 'help' that they give my brother and sister is so poor, that the children do not know what the words mean, after they have spelled them; and then the books they read, and the things said to them, are all like an unknown tongue; and we have to teach them, just as if we were teaching them Latin or French, what half the words mean. Is not this week day work, a great deal of it? Some of our 'help' do not know how, and some of them make the children repeat over their lessons just like parrots; and they might almost as well not come.

In the next town to ours, things are worse still. Some of my brother's and sister's family that went there, could not find even a house to live in ;-and in another town, near that, they were allowed to live but two months in a year; and then they had such poor help,' that they did not do much; and my children tried in vain to supply their place, for they could not find 'help' enough that could read and understand to take care of the scholars. And I am told, that a great many of the relations on my side of the house, have been obliged to shut up house, and move away, after they have had their names published, and been counted and praised all over the landonly because they could not get 'help' to carry on their business.

Now I wish you would tell these good people, not to leave one part of the family to starve, if they mean to support the other; and tell them it is of no use to send people Bibles and Tracts, unless they try to provide some way of teaching them to read them. They might as well send them to the fishes of the sea, as to the million of children that do not know how to read. It makes me think of beginning at the top to build a house. It is not so good as building on the sand. I do not mean that they should stop doing the work; but that they should go on and do it all! These things ye ought to have

done, but not to have left the others undone.'

A SUNDAY SCHOOL AT THE WEST.

REPUBLICATIONS.

THERE is much diversity of opinion and practice in our country, in reference to the manner in which the works of British writers should be republished.

Some practically assert the right to call these productions their own, in the title page, without any reserve, or any acknowledgement of their origin, simply on account of some variation of arrangement or style, or the annexation of questions or notes; and they satisfy conscience by a statement of this kind in the preface. It is enough to say of this course, that the editor or publisher is guilty of falsehood in the title page; and it is a poor apology to reply, that the falsehood is. subsequently retracted in a preface, which three out of five will never read.

But in other cases, a foreign work which is deemed valuable, is placed in the hands of some person for examination and revision, and without any other variation than those which a well educated corrector of the press would make, is sent forth with a preface or essay, from a source which will give it a favorable introduction to the American people. An index, notes, questions, or an appendix, are sometimes added, without any essential alteration of the text. If the title page announces distinctly what is done, no possible objection can be made on the score of injustice to the author, or fraud upon the public. On the contrary, if the editor is able and judicious, the work is not only more likely to gain extensive circulation, but is better fitted to be useful in our own country; and when a valuable work is thus adapted to the use of our

Deceptive Titles of Books.

21

schools, great additional good is done, and our thanks are due to the editor and the publisher.

But the title page is sometimes written or arranged in such a way as to lead most readers to suppose it an original work; and often, we are convinced, without any intention on the part of the editor, the same injustice is done as by the professed pirates of literature. Thus we find a very interesting and useful work recently published, as an assistant to parents and teachers in early education, with the following title:

'Aids to mental development, or hints to parents; being a system of mental and moral instruction, exemplified in conversations between a mother and her children. With an address to mothers, by a lady of Philadelphia.'

When analyzed grammatically, with close attention to the punctuation, it would appear that the address to mothers,' was probably the only part of the work belonging to the 'Lady of Philadelphia;' and the preface gives us reason to suppose it a foreign work. Of this, however, most readers would not be confident, especially as a copyright is claimed, even if they should observe thus closely. On the mass of readers, the title would produce the impression that the whole work belongs to this lady; and the current language and advertisements of booksellers, will complete the deception, seldom anticipated by the editor, by announcing- Aids to mental development. By a lady of Philadelphia."

We need scarcely say, that this indirect mode of leading the public astray, should be avoided as carefully as the other; and our readers will agree with us, that where ambiguous language, or an abbreviated title is used, merely to claim a copyright, or secure the influence of a name, the fraud is equally clear, and equally contemptible. It is sometimes practised, and sometimes we fear excused, for want of sufficient reflection, by reputable publishers. Let them not forget, that the intriguing plagiarist and schemer are thus enabled to supplant and undersell the honorable editor and publisher, and the original writer.

We have thus far spoken only of works which are admitted to be merely new editions. Variations are sometimes made in the body of a work, in every degree, from simple abridgment or occasional alterations, to a course which involves an entire remodelling of the form, by selection, or combination with other materials to form a larger work. In these cases, duty to the public, no less than justice to the author, require that nothing be done which shall make him responsible, or give his authority, for sentiments, or style, or arrangement