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Mr. "Warren said that those were sensible views, at any rate, and he hoped that, being so, they would be sensibly adhered to, and also, that religion and education would take good root in the soil with other things. "They are the two great important foundations of society, sir."

"Undoubtedly they are," replied the pastor.

"We have a large school fund in this State," said the old man. "It pays about one hundred and twenty thousand dollars a year, to be divided among the children of the State. But I think there is a fault somewhere in the distribution; the principle on which it is given out is defective."

"I fear it may be," said Mr. Rodman.

"Yes, it is so, I think. We should give to every town its proportion, but making it actually incumbent on the town to raise at least a dollar for every one the fund gives it. This would inspire zeal in the cause, (save those little peculations on the State by which some districts take the whole money due them on the scholar for the year, and putting it all together, hire teachers for as long a time only as it will pay -- perhaps three, perhaps four or six months,) and insure progress. That is what we most need in our district schools."

"I confess to a similar opinion," said Mr. Rodman. "I do think there is far too little generosity in the support of common-school education in this State. We have too much money, unless it is more wisely disbursed. We want advancement -- 'progress' as you say, sir -- in the common schools. Fresh books, higher standards, more emulation, better school-houses, the best of teachers, and terms of proper and consecutive length."

"Do we not, in all our large towns, need a high school as well as a graded grammar school, where Latin, French, German, Spanish, and so forth, may be thoroughly taught?" inquired Mrs. Rodman.

"I am of that opinion," said the old gentleman, "from what I hear and read. It seems that the country is filling up most rapidly with a foreign population, whose language our children at least ought to acquire."

"One is struck with this at the West," she replied.

"And in all the cities," said her husband.

"Yes, and even here," said Mr. Warren, "I frequently have a foreigner at my door for work, or offering my people goods, or entertaining us with music, of whose language I am as ignorant as though he were from the South Sea Islands."

"Yes, indeed!" said the pastor.

"I have thought," continued Mrs. Rodman, "that unless we introduce these studies fully and freely into our high schools, nothing can save us from incurring the charge of superficially educating our children."

"The English language will undoubtedly prevail over the world," said her husband; "but it will undergo changes, and form new phases in the actual and certain mingling of the different tongues. It will not stand alone, either. It will range and rank with others, and be the more potent if those who speak it also understand the various idioms and dialects of other peoples."

"I see no objection to the study of living languages," said Mr. Warren; "nor do I object to the ancient classics, although I never enjoyed the opportunity of acquiring them."

George, who came in during this discussion, ventured to say here --

"I am thinking that too much is said on these things now-a-days, and too much relied on education, any way. I go for good common-school teaching, such as arithmetic, geography, grammar, writing, and spelling. If you have these, with good bible-reading, the boys and girls will do pretty well, I guess, without Latin or Greek."

"But this seems to be a bright, smart age, Mr. Herring," said the pastor. "Our lads and girls who are in the schools seem, at a very early period, to develop uncommon powers of mind, and to yearn for advanced studies before the period when the law shuts them out of the schools."

"Ah! well, if they get their learning early," said George, "they can go to trades and on to farms earlier; that will be a gain, you know, to both masters and apprentices."

"Yes; but we want they should learn all they can," said Mr. Rodman.

"I don't care for that," he replied. "Give them plain English while they do learn, and good common sense, and the sooner they get it the better."

"But, then, consider how many foreigners there are here, and what wonderful facilities we enjoy for visiting other lands, and for trading with different nations -- would it not be well to understand their language?"

"No; no great need of it, for you can always make use of signs to understand foreigners. And if you can't talk with them any way, they won't have so much temptation to come over here. I don't like foreigners myself. And as for trading with them, it's just taking the bread and meat out of the mouths of the poor people here to put the value in silks and gewgaws on the backs of the rich, or to support the tyrannical governments of the old countries. All the gold of California isn't enough to pay these foreign silk bills, besides our produce. Now, for my part, I wish half the big stores in New York were shut, and half the vessels on the Atlantic were rotting at the wharves. What are they doing, all of them? What! Why, they are as busy as ten thousand hives of bees all the time, running us into debt, and ruining the country. Now, the smarter the boys and girls become -- 'learned,' as you call it -- the more they'll do these very things; and I say I don't like too much schooling."