diously, at the expense of the other, it is a very different affair, and then, certainly, comparison's are odious. But I cannot understand why any one, writing for the information of his own countrymen, should not make use of those resemblances or contrasts which strike his eye as existing be tween circumstances with which his readers are familiar, and those with which they are not acquainted, and are never likely to see. His object should be—at least my object has been-to describe, not how things might, could, or should be, but truly how they are; or, to speak in language still more critically correct, what they seem to my

eyes.

Now, if it shall appear that the most faithful way of doing this consists in drawing comparisons, why on earth should I not draw them? What is it that every other mortal is doing every hour of his life, when he wishes to illustrate his meaning to those he is conversing with, by reference to circum stances familiar to his auditors? And why should a traveller in an unknown country like America, be debarred of this common privilege? Because, forsooth! that country is young, and we are old ! Why, this, independently of all purposes of mere description, seems one of the strongest reasons possible for instituting these comparisons, if we wish

to see whether any, and what advances have been made.

But there seems a fair enough argument, if so it can be called, in answer to objections on the score of national parallels-furnished, too, by the very parties making the difficulty-I mean the Americans themselves, who, if we are to judge from their own writings and conversation, are almost as fond of inviting such comparisons as if they had really nothing substantial to boast of, yet hoped to make us think better of them, by thinking worse of ourselves; and fancied that every thing subtracted from Europe, must, as a matter of course, be added to America.

CHAPTER IX.

Ar nine o'clock, on Saturday the 20th of October, 1827, one of our most active friends called to take us round some of the schools of Boston. We could not visit them all, for a reason which will be obvious enough when I state, from an official document in my possession-the School Report of 1826-that the number of these institutions in this single town of Boston is no less than two hundred and fifteen, though the population is somewhat under fifty thousand! We thought we did pretty well in visiting three out of this grand army. Two of these were for the instruction of boys, and one for girls, or Misses, as they are called, in contradistinction to females, which, I observe, is the term applied in the Reports to the girls in the poorer and less aristocratic institutions. With all the outcry against ranks and classifications, no opportunity, I observed, was ever omitted of drawing lines of distinction, wherever they could be safely traced.

In many of the States of America much attention is paid to elementary education, and in Massachusetts, in particular, a great number of public schools are maintained by a tax, which I believe amounts to about three dollars and a half upon every thousand of income. Thus, while every person has a right to send his children to these establishments, the poor get this description of education almost gratis. The rich, it is true, may also do the same, without further payment. But, as might naturally be supposed, most people who can afford it prefer sending their children to schools which they select for themselves, where they pay more or less according to the nature of the tuition.

The Bostonians are very proud, and perhaps justly so, of this system of public instruction. When I ventured, however, to insinuate something of its having a charity look about it, I was answered, that education, being considered in America essential to the maintenance of the republican form of government, it deserved to be made a matter of national establishment, like that of the Courts of law or the Police, the benefits of which are common to all. The institutions alluded to, and many others, are supported essentially by the rich; "and therefore," say the advocates of this system, "there is no more degradation in a poor man ha

ving his children educated at the expense of the public, than there is in his deriving the advantage resulting from the administration of public justice, or the protection of his person and property, on the same terms precisely." I confess this looks specious, and though not quite satisfied, I had no very good answer to make. The obligation incurred by the parents who have their children thus educated almost gratuitously, brings the matter, I think, too near home-in too tangible and eleemosynary a shape-giving them, at the expense of the rich, advantages which, in order to be useful, ought to be earned. I may be wrong-and probably am so -for the gentlemen I conversed with, while they admit the soundness of this doctrine in theory, assured me that the poorer people who benefit by the tax, do not feel any degradation in profiting thereby. This, by the way, does not perhaps mend the matter much; for it is not always those who are least indebted to their own exertions, who feel the most scruple in being aided by others. And I may further observe, that this remark applies with particular force to a community, where the laws regulating the distribution of property are not framed by those who have the greatest pecuniary interest at stake.

At the high-school for girls, we found the young ladies working away at Algebra in a surprising