Record of a School; Exemplifying the General Principles of Spiritual Culture

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1835 edition. Excerpt: ... RECORD OF A SCHOOL. SCHOOL ROOM. Mr. Alcott re-commenced his school in Boston, after four years interval, September, 1834, at the Masonic Temple, No. 7. Considering that the objects which meet the senses every day for years, must necessarily mould the mind, he felt it necessary to choose a spacious room, and ornament it, not with such furniture as only an upholsterer can appreciate, but with such forms as might address and cultivate the imagination and heart. In the four corners of the room, therefore, Mr. Alcott placed upon pedestals, fine busts of Socrates, Shakspeare, Milton, and Sir Walter Scott. And on a table, before the large gothic window by which the room is lighted, the God of Silence, "with his finger up, as though he said, beware." Opposite this gothic window, is his own table, about ten feet long, whose front is the arc of a circle, and which is prepared with little desks for the convenience of scholars. On this table he placed a small figure of a child aspiring. Behind him is a very large bookcase, with closets below, a black tablet above, and two shelves filled with books. A fine cast of Christ, in basso-relievo, is fixed into this bookcase, so as to appear to the scholars just over Mr. Alcott's head. The bookcase itself is surmounted with a bust of Plato. On the northern side of the room, opposite the door, is the table of the assistant, with a small figure of Atlas, bending under the weight of the world. On a small bookcase behind the assistant's chair, are the figures of a child reading, and a child drawing. Two old pictures; one of Harding's portraits; and some maps hang on tho walls. The desks for the scholars, with conveniences for placing all their books in sight, and with black tablets hung over them, which swing...