AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF INSTRUCTION.

FORTY-SEVENTH ANNUAL MEETING.

FIRST DAY'S PROCEEDINGS.

PLYMOUTH, N. H., JULY 11, 1876.

The exercises opened by a full and spirited meeting of the Directors, President LYON in the chair. The arrangements for the various meetings were completed, and the subject of the publication and distribution of the annual report of the Institute was discussed.

At 8 P.M., an audience, which filled Normal Hall, assembled to enjoy what was styled a Ċentennial meeting of the Institute. The great number of members in attendance, notwithstanding the intense heat, testified to the interest of the educators of New England in the work of the Institute, and the addresses of the evening were full of faith, hope, and courage. The President opened the exercises by an introductory speech, in which he congratulated the members upon their devotion to the cause of education, and to the interests of the American Institute of Instruction, which now celebrates its fortyseventh anniversary, and is the oldest educational body

in the country. Mr. Lyon referred to the ability and enthusiasm of the founders of the Institute, when, in 1830, many leading teachers, representatives of fifteen States, met at Boston to establish this association to advance the cause of learning. Among them were Francis Wayland (its first president), Gideon F. Thayer, Geo. B. Emerson, William Russell, William B. Fowle, Henry Barnard, and others of like stamp. Their labors were abundant, and their works follow them.

In the absence of General Eaton, Prof. S. S. GREENE, LL.D., of Brown University, Providence, was introduced as the first speaker of the evening. His first thought was thanks for a new century of educational labor, and from the first century, which is now completed, valuable lessons may be learned by educators. The experiences of the past are our best teachers, which serve to aid and elevate us. A noble work has been wrought in the last fifty years even, of which the country may be proud; and the Professor illustrated by a reference to the old-time methods of teaching and instruction, which had been superseded by the new. Many experiments have been made, and teachers should draw from all plans and methods the secrets of others' success, and will use them on their true merits, "extract and adapt." The tendency oftentimes is to forget fundamental things. Our fathers had the profoundest reverence for the word of God. We must not let go the Bible. The schools must have religious principle. We must sit at the feet of the Great Teacher and learn His methods. Nicodemus said, "Thou art the teacher sent from God." Study his methods, and be inspired by Him.

Prof. Hiram ORCUTT, A.M., of West Lebanon, N. H., was then introduced. He said the thought of the hour

is our centennial growth as a nation, and when we ask its cause, we find it to be in our educational advantages. Thirteen. colonies have grown to thirty-eight States and twelve territories; three millions of people have grown to forty. The country could never have survived an hundred years had it not been for our public schools. Our free schools saved the nation in the rebellion. The relations of the common schools, the high schools, and the colleges, were ably presented. The college is the source of the common schools, as the sun is the source of light, and the ocean is the source of the rivers.

T. W. VALENTINE, of Brooklyn, said that the State of New York had done something for education. In 1842 he went to Albany from New England to teach, and he gave an illustration of New York schools, past and present. He referred in commendatory terms to a bill before the New York Legislature to pension teachers at the close of their professional career, or to retire teachers on half-pay. The teacher is in public service, on small pay, and should be treated as other public officers.

Prof. CROSBY, of Nashua, N. H., was introduced as one of the "boys of the Institute." He wanted to talk on the inundation of text-books, but hadn't time. Where is the teacher who can keep alive, as a private school teacher? is asked. The speaker was one. He did not believe in pensioning teachers; better go to the poorhouse. Are we worthy of our centennial privileges? If so, we shall be a noble people. The speaker remarked that if the Bible was taken out of our public schools, our liberties would be lost. if need be, by force.

Retain the Bible,

W. A Mowry, of Providence, R. I., classed himself

midway between the young and the old men. He spoke of the enterprise of the American people as the power which has advanced our public school interests. Methods not important; do your work well. Utilize methods; do not appropriate them as a whole. Our nation has made greater progress in its first century than any other nation has made in the same period.

Mr. GASTMAN, of Illinois, said that other speakers had spoken historically, but Illinois men could not celebrate her centennial. Illinois has a good history, and in giving Edwards and Bateman to education, and Abraham Lincoln to the presidency, she had done good service. In her institutions of the common schools, her normal schools, and her colleges, she has done a noble work. Illinois stands firm in her defence of all the positions she has taken on public education.

Prof. W. ATKINSON, of the Institute of Technology, Boston, said that a universal school system, grown in an hundred years, is a wonder, and on that principle we must stand or die. It will perpetuate our nation's life, and once abandoned, our nation falls. The augury of our success is in our system of popular school education. We have many battles yet to fight, but the way to assure success is to make education an obvious necessity, which all will recognize. Public schools will aid us in our battles. They put down a great rebellion; they will help us always. Education demands much, and we must be on the alert to keep up with the times. There is no quarrel between science and the classics, and there is no quarrel between science and religion. There can be no antagonism between them. The education of the future depends upon women. They are now in the majority in numbers, and they