SPECIAL WORE TO PREPARE PUPILS FOR CITIZENSHIP. 217 
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hen discuss with the pupils the duties of the moderator of a town meet- 
ng, of the town clerk, the selectmen, the constable, assessors of faxes, 
wverseers of the poor, school committee, and other officers. 
Wherever the township system is not made so prominent, the county 
system and county officers should be considered in like manner. Then 
he State officials and State institutions can be followed step by step, 
antil by a series of carefully elaborated lessons and familiar talks by the 
seacher, taking up one thing at a time, the groundwork of our whole 
system of government may come to be clearly understood by the children. 
5. We come now to a consideration of what many believe to be the 
most important part of this discussion. There remains for us to consider 
the direct and specific study of civil government in the upper grades of 
the grammar school. I believe that in schools sustained by public taxation 
there should certainly be taught, as a definite subject, to all the scholars in 
the upper grades of the grammar schools, the government of our country 
—its principles, its genius, its institutions, its offices and officers, their 
Juties and their responsibilities, and the duties and responsibilities of citi- 
zens. There are many elementary treatises on civil government prepared 
axpressly for this use, and some one of them may be used as a text-book 
in the last year’s work in every grammar school. ere can be systematic- 
ally unfolded the facts of our local government, whether township or 
sounty, the State government, its powers and limitations, and the pecu- 
jar province and characteristics of the National government. 
This study is not beyond the comprehension of grammar school pupils. 
(t can be made of special interest to them, and is of the highest practical 
value to them in after life. 
In presenting this study before a class in the upper grades of grammar 
schools, great advantage will be found to accrue from acquainting the 
oupils directly with the doings of the citizens in town meetings, in county 
conventions, the State legislature, and the courts. Wherever it is possible, 
the class in civil government should at least once a year make a visit to the 
State capital and attend a session of the Senate and of the House. In like 
manner, a visit should be made to some one of the State courts, so that 
she pupils can observe the forms by which a trial is conducted. 
6. Another excellent practice is to carry on, in due form, an election by 
-he pupils of the school on Election Day. If it is a town clection, let the 
oupils carry out the form of electing the town officers. If it be a State 
slection, let the political parties hold their caucuses, make their nomina- 
sions, and, on the day appointed, let the election take place in due form, in 
accordance with the State Jaws, with all the paraphernalia that is actually 
used, with a subsequent counting of votes und announcement of the result. 
[f it be the day of the election of presidential electors, let that be carried 
on by the school in like manner. 
[ am fully persuaded, from long experience and wide observation, that