d ornament of a beautiful and flourishing village.

This detail likewise explains why the business of teaching has acquired,
and _justly too_, the reputation of being unhealthy. There is, however,
no reason why the health of either teacher or pupils should sooner fail
in a well-regulated school, taught in a house properly constructed, and
suitably warmed and ventilated, than in almost any other business. If
this statement were not true, an unanswerable argument might be framed
against the very _existence_ of schools; and it might clearly be shown
that it is _policy_, nay, DUTY, to close at once and forever the four
thousand school-houses of Michigan, and the hundred thousand of the
nation, and leave the rising generation to perish for lack of knowledge.
But our condition in this respect is not hopeless. The evil in question
may be effectually remedied by enlarging the house, or, which is easier,
cheaper, and more effectual, by frequent and thorough ventilation. It
would be well, however, to unite the two methods.

In the winter of 1841-2, I visited a school in which the magnitude of
the evil under consideration was clearly developed. Five of the citizens
of the district attended me in my visit to the school. We arrived at the
school-house about the middle of the afternoon. It was a close, new
house, eighteen by twenty-four feet on the ground--two feet less in one
of its dimensions than the house concerning which the preceding
calculation is made. There were present forty-three scholars, the
teacher, five patrons, and myself, making fifty in all. Immediately
after entering the school-house, one of the trustees remarked to me, "I
believe our school-house is too tight to be healthy." I made no reply,
but secretly resolved that I would sacrifice my comfort for the
remainder of the afternoon, and hazard my health, and my life even, to
test the accuracy of the opinions I had entertained on this important
subject. I marked the uneasiness and dullness of all present, and
especially of the patrons, who had been accustomed to breathe a purer
atmosphere. School continued an hour and a half, at the close of which I
was invited to make some remarks. I arose to do so, but was unable to
proceed till I opened the outer door, and snuffed a few times the purer
air without. When I had partially recovered my wonted vigor, I observed
with delight the renovating influence of the current of air that entered
the door, mingling with and gradu