This training continues, as I have said before, for three years in most of the Prussian colleges. During the whole of this time the young men are urged and stimulated to the greatest exertion, by the knowledge that, at the end of it, they will have to submit to a severe and searching public examination, conducted in the presence of the educational magistrates of the county, of the religious ministers, and of the professors of the college; and that on the results of that examination, and on the manner in which they succeed in it, their admission into the teachers' profession, and their future course of life, entirely depend.

Unless they can pass this final examination creditably, they can not become teachers; and even if they do pass it, the value of the situation, to which they may be afterward appointed, depends entirely on the degree of efficiency and diligence which they display at the examination.

Every year at a certain period, fixed and publicly announced beforehand, a meeting is held in each normal college, by the director and professors of the college, and by the religious ministers and the educational magistrates of the country, at which all the young men, who have been three years in the college, are summoned to attend, for the purpose of being examined in all the subjects, in which they have received instruction, during their residence in the college. This examination generally lasts two days.

The young men who have completed their third years' residence in the college are then examined in

According to the manner, in which each student acquits himself in this examination, he receives, as I have before shown, a diploma marked "1," "2," or "3," or else is rejected, i. e. refused admittance into the teachers' profession, on the ground of incompetency.

If a student has succeeded so well in his examination, as to gain a diploma marked "1," he is qualified to take a situation in any school as principal teacher, and to enter at once into the highest and most lucrative situations in the country. This diploma is a guarantee to all to whom he shows it, that he is a young man of good ability, high character and great attainments, and fit to be intrusted with the education of any children of any class in the community.

If a student obtains a diploma marked "2," or "3," he can not, as I have before shown, for the first two or three years, take any situation as principal teacher in a school, but can only officiate as assistant teacher until, by further study and diligent application, he has qualified himself to attend another of the general annual examinations, and has there succeeded in obtaining one of the first diploThose students who obtain the diplomas marked "3," are obliged to return the following year, to the college examination, and, if they do not give proofs of having improved themselves, in the interim, in the branches of education in which they were deficient, they are generally, deprived of their diplomas altogether.

mas.

Any person, whether he has been educated at a normal college or not, may present himself at one of them, at the time when the great annual examination is held, and may demand to be examined for a diploma. If he shows a requisite amount of knowledge, and can produce all the certificates of character, health, &c., which are required of the other students at their entrance into the normal college, he may, equally with the rest, obtain his diploma, and afterward officiate as a teacher.

But no person without a diploma, i. e., without having given to the country undeniable proofs of high character, well regulated temper, high attainments, and a thorough knowledge of the science of pedagogy, is permitted to officiate as teacher in Prussia.

The connection of a German teacher with the normal college does not, however, close when he has obtained a diploma marked “1," and when he has entered upon his duties as a parochial teacher.

The principal of the normal college is commanded by the laws, to pay at least, one yearly visit of inspection to each of the teachers, who have been educated in

his colleges. The expense of these journeys of inspection, advice and encouragement is borne by the state, or rather, as indeed a great part of the expenses of the normal college itself, by the provincial magistrates. If on these tours of inspection, he perceives that any one or more of the teachers requires some further instruction or practice in any department of school instruction; if he perceives, that a teacher, has allowed his knowledge of any branch of instruction to lag behind the progress of the science of pedagogy, or to grow dull from want of exercise; or if the teacher should himself require it, the principal is empowered to remove the teacher for a few months to the normal college, and during the interim, to fill up his place with a young student, or with some young teacher, who has not yet obtained a situation. All the extra expenses, attendant upon this removal, as, for instance, the payment of the young substitute, as well as the keeping of the teacher himself during his renewed sojourn in the college, are defrayed by the provincial government. The teacher's salary continues to be paid by the school committee, and serves to support his family during his absence.

The normal college in Prussia is, so to speak, the home of all the teachers of the district, in which it is situated. They know they can always apply there for advice; that they will always find friends there, ready to sympathize with them and to render them assistance; and that the director and professors understand all their difficulties, and are always able and willing to aid them in obtaining a remedy from the superior authorities. The college is thus the protector and the adviser of the teachers; it is their refuge in all troubles; it is the central point for their meetings and reunions; and it is the place, from which they can, at all times, gain every kind of necessary information, respecting the various objects connected with their profession. They can see there all the best and newest works on the different branches of pedagogy; all the lately improved apparatus and materials for school instruction; and all the more recently adopted methods of teaching. They can obtain information there about the general progress of education in general, and of the different arts and sciences in particular; about their old friends and associates; and about the character and efficiency of particular books, schools, and methods of instruction.

I can not speak too highly of these great and liberal institutions. The spirit in which they have been conceived, is so liberal; the way in which they have been endowed, is so munificent; their tone and teaching are so truly healthy and patriotic; they are so free from the ignorant cant of dogmatism and from the narrow minded feeling of pedantry; their discipline is so severely moral and so invigorating; their domestic life is so simple, laborious, and happy in its arrangements; and they are so entirely in unison with the religious institutions of the country, that no one can visit them without profound satisfaction.

Normal schools or teachers' seminaries in Prussia, are divided into public or private, superior or chief seminaries, (Haupt Seminaire,) and secondary, or small seminaries, (Neber, or nebeusen Seminaire.) By a chief seminary was originally understood such seminaries as were completely organized according to the requirements of the laws. Afterwards they were distinguished by the fact, that a special commission of examination was appointed for them, to which commission the director and head teacher belonged. But by recent regulation, a commission for this purpose is appointed to the small, and even the private, as well as to the superior seminaries. They differ now only by the number of pupils; and in a few instances, the smaller seminaries require a shorter residence, and train teachers exclusively for country schools. Private seminaries are encouraged, because the annual graduates of the public institutions can not yet supply the annual vacancies in the schools created by deaths, withdrawal, and dismission. In addition to the seminaries included in the following table, there are five institutions for female teachers, viz.: at Berlin, Kaisersworth, Munster, Paderborn and Marienweider.

TABLE 11.-LOCATION AND NUMBER OF PUPILS OF NORMAL SCHOOLS, IN 1846.

Prior to 1846 there were two seminaries at Breslau; in that year the Protestant seminary, with 130 pupils, was closed, and the pupils were provided for in two new institutions, one at Löwen, and the other at Heinau. The Small Seminary at Zeitz, was abolished in 1846, and those at Stettin, Pyritz and Kammin, were consolidated into a Chief Seminary at Stettin. The Seminary at Potsdam, is to be transferred (in 1849) to Köpnick, in the neighborhood of Berlin.

REGULATIONS

OF THE NORMAL SCHOOLS OF LASTADIE AND PYRITZ,

IN PRUSSIA.

THE following Regulations of two of the best small (nebeusen) Normal Schools are taken from M. Cousin's "Report on the State of Public Instruction in some of the States of Germany, and especially of Prussia." The author introduces them with some remarks on this class of Normal Schools in Prussia. It is no longer true that all of the smaller seminaries are private establishments.

The small Normal Schools are almost all private establishments, but the government aids and watches over them, without subjecting them to the same publicity it requires of its great schools.

The small Normal Schools differ, generally, from the large, not only in the number of pupils, which is much smaller, but above all as being nurseries of village schoolmasters for the very poorest parishes. This is their proper object; this it is which gives them so peculiar a character, so profound a utility. The great schools, it is true, furnish masters for the country as well as for the towns; and their pupils,-those at least who receive the stipendia, or exhibitions,-are for many years at the disposal of the gov ernment, which sends them where it likes; a right which, from the wellknown rigor of the Prussian government in making all public servants work, we may be sure it exercises. But in every country there are parishes so poor, that one would hesitate to send a schoolmaster of any eminence to live in them; and yet it is precisely these miserable villages which stand in the greatest need of instruction to improve their condition. This need, then, the small Normal Schools are destined to supply. They labor for these poor and backward villages. To this their whole organization, their studies, their discipline, are to be directed. Unquestionably, the great Normal Schools of Prussia are entitled to the highest respect; but never can there be veneration enough for these humble laborers in the field of public instruction, who, as I have said, seek obscurity rather than fame; who devote themselves to the service of poverty with as much zeal as others to the pursuit of riches, since they toil for the poor alone; and who impose restraints on every personal desire and feeling, while others are excited by all the stimulants of competition. They cost scarcely any thing, and they do infinite good. Nothing is easier to establish, but on one condition, that we find directors and pupils capable of the most disinterested, and, what is more, the most obscure devotion to the cause. Such devotion, however, can be inspired and kept alive by religion alone. Those who can consent to live for the service of men who neither know nor can appreciate them, must keep their eyes steadfastly fixed on Heaven: that witness is necessary to those who have no other. And, accordingly, we find that the authors and directors of these small schools are almost all ministers of religion, inspired by the spirit of Christian love, or men of singular virtue, fervent in the cause of popular education. In these humble institutions, every thing breathes Christian charity, ardor for the good of the people, and poverty. I shall lay before you a description of two;-one hidden in a suburb of Stettin, and the other in the village of Pyritz in Pomerania.

Stettin has a large Normal School, instituted for the training of masters

for the burgher schools. An excellent man, Mr. Bernhardt, school-councilor (Schulrath) in the council of the department, was the more powerfully struck by the necessity of providing for the wants of the country schools. He founded a small Normal School for this sole purpose, and placed it not in the town, but in a suburb called Lastadie; he laid down regulations for its government, which I annex nearly entire.

Small Primary Normal School of Lastadie, near Stettin.

1. This school is specially designed for poor young men who intend to become country schoolmasters, and who may, in case of need, gain a part of their subsistence by the labor of their hands.

2. Nothing is taught here but those things necessary for small and poor country parishes, which require schoolmasters who are Christians and useful men, and can afford them but a very slender recompense for their toils.

3. This school is intended to be a Christian school, founded in the spirit of the gospel. It aspires only to resemble a village household of the simplest kind, and to unite all its members into one family. To this end, all the pupils inhabit the same house, and eat at the same table with the masters.

4. The young men who will be admitted in preference, are such as are born and bred in the country; who know the elements of what ought to be taught in a good country school; who have a sound, straightforward understanding, and a kindly, cheerful temper. If, withal, they know any handcraft, or understand gardening, they will find opportunities for practice and improvement in it in odd

hours.

5. The school of Lastadie neither can nor will enter into any competition with the great Normal Schools completely organized; on the contrary, it will strive always to keep itself within the narrow limits assigned to it.

6. The utmost simplicity ought to prevail in all the habits of the school, and, if possible, manual labor should be combined with those studies which are the main object, and which ought to occupy the greater portion of the time.

7. The course of instruction is designed to teach young people to reflect, and by exercising them in reading, writing, arithmetic, and singing, to put it in their power to instruct themselves, and to form their own minds. For the humblest peasant ought to be taught to think; but to enlighten him, to make him a rational and intelligent being, does not mean to make him learned. "God willeth that all men be enlightened, and that they come to the knowledge of the truth." 8. The instruction ought to have a direct connection with the vocation of the students, and to include only the most essential part of the instruction given in the great Normal Schools.

9. The objects of instruction are-religion, the German language, reading, writing, arithmetic, and singing. To these are joined the first elements of geometry, easy lessons in natural history, narratives drawn from national history (particularly that of Pomerania), and geographical descriptions. The principal object, and the foundation of all education, is religion, as learned from history and the Bible. The principal books are the Bible, the psalter, and the catechism. The school of Lastadie will also strive to excite and cherish in its pupils a love of nature, and to that end will cultivate a taste for gardening and planting.

10. In treating of all these subjects, the pupils must be trained to speak in pure and accurate language; for after the knowledge of religion and of nature, there is nothing of which the children of peasants stand so much in need, as to learn to express what they know with simplicity, truth, and accuracy.

11. The students know enough, when they speak, read, and write well; when they can produce a good composition in the German tongue; when they can calculate with facility and with reflection, and when they sing well; they know enough when they are thoroughly versed in the Bible, when they possess the most essential notions of the system of that universe which they have constantly before their eyes, of that nature in the midst of which they live: they have attained much, when they are Christian, rational, and virtuous men.

12. The period of study is fixed at two years. The first year the pupils learn what they are hereafter to teach to others; besides which, they assist at the lessons the masters give to the children of the school annexed to this small Normal