It is impracticable for us to go minutely into an examination of the volume, however edifying the task might be. We have preferred to present in a note* a tabular view of * GENERAL ABSTRACT OF THE SCHOOL RETURNS No. of School Districts in those towns, No. of public schools in do., some districts having none, ...... No. of children between 4 and 16 years old, No. of male children attending school,from 4 to 16 yrs. old, No. of female do. No. of scholars of all ages in all the schools,summer and winter,. No.over 16 and under 21, unable to read and write,......... Average attendance in the schools, winter and summer,... No. of male instructers, ... No.of female instruc The abstract prepared by Mr. Sec'y Mann presents many items not contained in the preceding table, and states some of the old matter in a new form. In consequence of an alteration directed by the Board of Education in the time of making the town returns for 1838, the abstract prepared by Mr. Mann includes a part of 1838 and a part of 1839, commencing in Oct. 1838, and ending with Sept. 1839. a This item includes 1st the money raised for wages by taxation, and 2d contributions of fuel and board. some of the leading facts contained in the various abstracts of the last five years. We have now brought the history of the Board of Education down to the commencement of the last session of our Legislature, in January, 1840. On the 3d of March, 1840, an order was passed by the House of Representatives, "that the Committee on Education consider the expediency of abolishing the Board of Education and the Normal schools." That committee, on the 7th of March, presented their Report, recommending the abolition of the Board and of the Normal schools. This document was the expression of sentiments and opinions entertained by a majority of the committee. A minority report was prepared and presented by the other members, advocating the continuance of the Normal school experiment and of the Education Board. These reports were both printed, and form the 49th and 53d of the House documents, 1840. We now come upon disputed ground, and if our article had not already extended beyond the ordinary bounds, motives of prudence might suggest the propriety of drawing to a close here. But our object thus far has been purely historical, and in this view it remains only to add, that no legislation resulted from either report, and that the Board of Education and the Normal schools are consequently still in operation. ARTICLE VII. CHARLES ELWOOD. Charles Elwood, or the Infidel converted. By O. A. BROWNSON. Boston. Charles C. Little and James Brown. 16mo. pp. 262. THE Conversion of a soul is one of the most interesting phenomena that can be presented to a rational observer. If, as most men suppose, and have ever supposed, there exists some strange perversity in our moral nature; if man be forming habits which involve in their very essence the elements of misery; if the moral be that part of his nature which must give a coloring to his whole destiny; if he be immortal, and the present a probationary state; and if, from the constitution of things, every man must, to a considerable extent, impress upon others the image of his own moral likeness, then, surely, no event in his history can compare in interest with that in which a radical and beneficial change is effected in his inmost soul. It is, surely, a glorious sight, to behold the affections of an immortal spirit raised from the frivolous and transitory pleasures of time, and fixed upon things above, to see the spirit, disenthralled from the dominion of the passions, walking abroad in the liberty with which Christ hath made us free; and the soul, deformed by those tendencies which must ensure her perdition, purified, sanctified and transformed, made meet to be an inheritor with the saints in light. This change, at all times interesting, is peculiarly grateful to the pious mind, when the subject of it has been an infidel. The idea of moral obligation to the Supreme Being, the feeling of confidence in his justice and of trust in his mercy, specially as these are set forth in the gospel of Jesus Christ, are so appropriate to the conditions of our being; they present so emphatically the support which the spirit needs, while encountering the thousand ills that flesh is heir to, that it is difficult to look without pity upon a human being who, from any cause whatever, shuts himself out from all the bland and cheering influences which they shed abroad upon the soul. And hence, when such a man renounces his unbelief, and proclaims, not only that he believes Christianity to be true, but also that he has submitted his heart to its requirements, and has confided his destinies for eternity to its hopes, it might reasonably be expected, that the Christian world should hail the accession of the new convert with unusual expressions of satisfaction. There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. It may, therefore, be supposed, that, as Christian reviewers, we should be among the first to announce to our readers, that another infidel was converted. If we have not, on this occasion, manifested all the alacrity which the nature of the case might seem to demand, it must be imputed to other causes than indifference to the subject of conversion; at least, of conversion as we understand it. We are obliged to add this last qualification, inasmuch as we find that many of our old and well established words are fast losing their personal identity. The conversion of our author, as our readers will have occasion to observe, is a very different thing from all that they have been accustomed to understand by that term. They must not be surprised now-a-days, if they find the words regeneration, religious experience, holiness, and even the sacred name of God himself, in very strange juxtapositions. It has cost us no little pains to ascertain what it was in which consisted the conversion of the hero of this tale. Whatever change these pages record, we can discover none which affects character in any of its important aspects. The man, after his conversion, was the same that he had been before, only that he had learned to entertain a somewhat different estimate of himself, and had brought himself to repose a doubtful belief in facts which he had formerly treated as fabulous. But it is time we addressed ourselves to the consideration of the book before us. We are happy to be able to speak well of it in several respects. It is, we think, unusually well written. The style is clear, manly, forcible, and in general, simple and correct. The only error of any consequence in our author's forms of construction which we noticed, is an occasional omission of the relative, or some other slight inadvertence, such as will readily arise in the course of hasty and earnest composition. Wherever obscurity exists, it is to be attributed mainly to the nature of the subject, and not to muddiness of mind. In this respect, the author is very happily contrasted with very many of the disciples of that school to which he is reputed to belong. Nor is this all. The intellectual system which it embraces is that of Cousin. And we are informed in the preface, that "Mr. Morton has anticipated some of the results" of that celebrated French metaphysician. In other words, we understand the author to say that he, without any aids but his own reflection, arrived at the same doctrines as have given to Cousin so wide a notoriety. This certainly is enough to bespeak for him among the disciples of the Eclectic school a sincere and cordial tribute of respect. Whatever admiration may be due to Cousin, must be shared with him who can establish the claim to have arrived independently at the same results. But it is proper, before we proceed to make any remarks upon the sentiments of this book, to give our readers a brief account of what it contains. The work is written in the form of a narrative. It opens with an interview between the hero, Charles Elwood, and Mr. Smith, a Calvinist minister, who calls to see him for the purpose of religious conversation. There is a revival in the village. Mr. Elwood is an infidel. Mr. Smith attempts to direct his attention to religious subjects, and to remove his unbelief. In this attempt, Mr. S. is signally worsted, and he retires from the field, leaving Mr. Elwood in undisturbed possession of the battleground. In the meantime, Elizabeth Wyman, to whom C. Elwood is tenderly attached, and to whom also he is betrothed, is converted. She brings to bear upon him all the persuasions of affection; and urges him to attend an inquiry meeting. He attends, and encounters another clergyman, who eludes the grasp of his logic by appointing a meeting at a subsequent time. At the hour C. Elwood visits him, and puts him to rout with almost as much facility as he had done his reverend brother Smith. While matters are in this position, Mr. Smith calls upon Miss Wyman, and obtrusively dissuades her from marrying Charles Elwood. She resolves to dismiss him, and does so. Her brother treats him rudely, and forbids him their house. In the state of excitement produced by these events, he calls, by a second appointment, on Mr. Wilson, and becomes, by unkind treatment, greatly exasperated. He leaves his home, wanders for a time without object or aim, until he resolves to set himself in earnest to cure the evils of society by creating a social revolution. This attempt signally fails, and poor, disheartened, and out of sorts with the world, he is on the verge of madness, when a benevolent gentleman, Mr. Howard, makes his acquaintance, and strives to do him good. The kindness of Mr. Howard and his family won upon the heart of our reformer, and he begins to think better of man in general and of Mr. Howard and his family in particular. His |