and the present condition of the schools, is unquestionably the most direct and efficient instrumentality for thoroughly educating and training young men and young women for the work of teaching; and if in its practical operations, the staff of professors could be so numerous, and of the peculiar qualifications required, as to conduct the county institutes, examine, in connection with a county school officer, all candidates for teaching, and with your board, all normal classes in institutions participating in the funds which you administer-such a normal school, organized in connection with other parts of the school system, and other agencies for the professional improvement of teachers, would be an unmixed blessing to the state, and improve at once, and largely, both the quality and quantity of instruction given in the public schools. But in the present state of popular feeling, and of wide-spread financial embarassment, such a normal school can not be looked for; and even if it could be established at once, the Teachers' Institute, under your general direction, and the educational lecture, in connection with the operations of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, can do more to create a demand for, and appreciation of the services of well qualified teachers, and at the same time, in connection with the state university, the colleges, academies and high schools, contribute more largely to the better qualification of such teachers as the districts will employ for the present to teach their schools, than even such an institution, unless under the favorable conditions above supposed. The men employed to conduct institutes and examine normal classes, must be men of normal training and capable of giving normal instruction; and if such men can be employed, they will constitute, if not a normal school, an itinerating normal agency, which will, every year, be felt directly in every county, and indirectly through the teachers, on a majority of the public schools and children of the state.

With these general views of the importance of the Teachers' Institute, in the form it has now assumed in this country, and in its power to reach, interest and instruct both teachers and parents, and in accordance with numerous applications, I decided to organize, as your agent, a series of Institutes, which should reach in one season, every section of the state. I availed myself of the meeting of the State Teachers' Association, at Madison in July, to spread before its members an outline of my plan of operations, and had the pleasure to receive from many prominent and active teachers, as well as from the Association itself, an expression of their kind feelings toward me personally, and a pledge of their hearty coöperation in my labors in your behalf.* I was thus enabled to make more extensive

*Resolved, That as an association and individuals we rejoice in the progress of popular education in Wisconsin, and welcome the promise now dawning upon us of attaining a systematic, comprehensive scheme of public instruction in the state-a scheme rising in legitimate gradation, and bound in one symmetrical whole, from the primary school to the University.

Resolved, That we hail the advent of Hon. Henry Barnard among us, and pledge him our hearty cooperation in his labors in behalf of our Common Schools.

Resolved, That we recognize in the "American Journal of Education," conducted by Dr. Barnard, a work honorable to our country, and deserving of our support."-Proceedings of State Teachers' Association in 1859.

and immediate arrangements for the series, than I could otherwise have done. I accordingly issued a circular, proposing to appoint as many Institutes as I could arrange to attend and provide instruction for, upon receiving reasonable assurances, that at least thirty teachers would be present for five days, and that the citizens of the place, where the Institute was held, would entertain, free of charge, all teachers who should attend. In compliance with these conditions, an Institute was held as follows: at Elkhorn, with 175 members; Sheboygan, with 65; Waupun, with 120; Appleton, with 75; Mineral Point, with 67; Richland, with 60; Galesville, with 40; River Falls, with 70; Eau Claire, with 31; Baraboo, with 125; Milton, with 225; Kenosha with 100; Beloit, with 150, and Madison, with 120; or 14 sessions with 1,438 members. In addition to these a session of two days or longer was held at La Crosse, with 35 members; at Oshkosh, with 24; at Palmyra, with 20; Milwaukee, with 100, and Waukesha, with 100; making an aggregate of over 1,700 members, most of whom are now engaged in teaching, reached directly by the instructions and lectures of the Teachers' Institute in 1859.

In the regular session of four days and five evenings, there were usually from twenty-five to thirty class exercises, and five evening lectures. Although no attempt was made to pursue the same programme at each Institute, it was my general direction to those who assisted in conducting them, to give some attention, during each day, to the elementary sounds, to the spelling, reading and writing correctly, the English language, to arithmetic (mental as well as written) and geography—with special reference to the most successful modes of teaching these branches, and of classifying and managing a school. No attempt was made to treat any one subject comprehensively, and thoroughly, but to suggest hints, illustrate methods, solve difficulties, and correct erroneous notions. In some of the sessions, prominence was given to elocutionary training, and in all the efficacy of vocal music as a recreating and devotional agency was exemplified. In a few, the facility with which drawing might be taught as introductory to penmanship, and its importance in the culture of the hand and eye, as well as of the taste, and its many uses in all the industrial pursuits of society, were pointed out. In all, the importance and method of moral training were presented and the order, classification, and discipline of schools discussed.

The evenings were devoted, exclusively, to lectures and discussions, in every instance, on topics of an educational character, and the attendance of parents, night after night, filling the largest hall or church in the place, and invariably, the most crowded on the last evening, was a gratifying evidence of the interest which the meetings awakened.

In all of the places where the Institutes were held, the members from abroad were hospitably entertained by the citizens, and thus, in more than one thousand families, the subject of schools and education, of the teaching and discipline of children, formed the topics of more thorough and intelligent discussion and conversation at the table and the fireside, than could have been secured in any other way. We cannot estimate

too highly the influence of hospitality thus cheerfully extended, in disseminating educational light and warmth, and in bringing the home and the school, the teacher and the parent, into pleasant and profitable relations.

A summary of the proceedings of each Institute was generally reported by the local papers, and in this way, also, the substance of the class exercises, and the topics and leading thoughts of the evening lectures, were more widely disseminated through the several counties than could have been done by any more formal publication.

As a memorial of these pleasant gatherings, arrangements were made at each Institute for publishing an outline of the proceedings, with a list of all the members so far as they filled up the blanks which were distributed for the purpose of getting the names, residence, previous opportunities of professional instruction, experience in teaching, and other statistics, in a pamphlet, to which I promised to append one or more papers of permanent interest and value to the teachers of Wisconsin. A copy of this document, I will present to each member of the Board.

Whatever of interest, in the great subject of human culture, this series of Institutes has awakened, is mainly due, beyond the prompt and thorough action of the local committees and teachers, to my personal friends, who were kind enough to labor in the class exercises day after day, and to take part in the evening lectures and discussions, at great inconvenience to themselves, and without an adequate compensation. To Messrs. John Ogden, of Ohio; F. A. Allen and Chas. H. Allen, of Pennsylvania; C. E. Hovey, of Illinois; Francis T. Russell and William S. Baker, of Connecticut; and A. J. Craig and Prof. J. D. Butler, of Madison, I would in particular make this public acknowledgement. To many teachers of public schools, principals and professors of academies and colleges, I am indebted for valuable aid. They all must find their reward in the satisfaction of having made known many excellent methods of school teaching, management and discipline, and of having quickened many minds, warmed many hearts, and strengthened the good resolutions of many parents, teachers and scholars in this work.

Before leaving this subject I will add, that in another year's operations as your agent, I hope to hold an Institute in every county in which there are thirty or forty teachers willing to come together for one, two, three or four weeks, and in connection with these meetings, and the plans of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, to secure an educational address in at least two hundred localities. In systematizing the details of the Institute, from year to year, I shall aim to give variety and special interest to the different sessions, by giving prominence to particular branches, and to the wants of each grade of school. I propose, (1.) to meet the wishes of those teachers who are willing to spend two, three or four weeks at an Institute, as well as to assist in the discussions and lectures of Associations which meet for only one or two days; and, (2.) to give special character to the exercises of a certain number of Institutes, by adapting one at least to the wants of each

class of Institutions, viz: 1. The ungraded District Schools. 2. Primary Schools, and home instruction of little children. 3. Intermediate and Grammar Schools, and the largest District Schools. 4. High Schools and Academies. 5. Normal Schools and Classes. 6. Colleges and all higher institutions which have substantially a common curriculum.

While I deem it of the greatest importance to make the Institute the common gathering place of teachers of every name, for the consideration of those elementary principles and methods which constitute the basis of all professional success, and for the discussion of topics which concern their common advancement, as well as the awakening of parental and public interest in schools and education, I deem it of no less importance to hold out inducements for the most accomplished teachers, in their respective fields of labor, to bring into the common stock the result of their special and individual experience and help to carry forward and upward on some common plan, every institution of every grade of instruction.

II. VISITATION AND EXAMINATION OF NORMAL CLASSES.

I shall reserve for another communication an account of the visits which I have been able to make, and of the personal interviews I have had with the principals and normal professors of the institutions which apply for participation in the normal fund, as well as the tabular statement of the examinations by written questions and answers, carried out under my instructions, of eighteen of those normal classes.

Respectfully,

HENRY BARNARD,

Agent of the Board of Normal Regents.