Mann, Horace

Horace (1796-1859), an American educator. He was born at Franklin, Massachusetts, May 4, 1796, and died at Yellow Springs, Ohio, August 2, 1859. Of his boyhood it is said, "It was the misfortune of his family that it belonged to the smallest district, had the poorest schoolhouse, and employed the cheapest teachers in a town which was itself small and poor." When thirteen years of age he lost his father. He was obliged to work his way through school and college. He was educated at Brown University, studied law, and was admitted to practice in 1823. He opened his first office at Dedham, and in 1833 removed to Boston. He served ten years in the state legislature, first as a representative, later as a senator. He was instrumental in the organization of the state lunatic asylum at Worcester. At his suggestion the legislature appointed a board of education to reorganize the common school system of the state. Mann was made secretary, a position which he held for twelve years. He held conventions, lectured, carried on an enormous correspondence, and conducted an educational periodical known as The Common School Journal. His annual reports are still referred to. The seventh, following a trip abroad, gave his observations on the common schools of Prussia. This report is responsible in a large degree for the exaggerated estimate in which the common schools of Germany are held; but it has been of untold service in stimulating Americans to improve the schools of this country. During his secretaryship he succeeded in the establishment of state normal schools in Massachusetts, the first institutions of the kind in the United States.

In 1848 Mann was elected to Congress to succeed John Quincy Adams. He endeavored to induce Congress to establish a national bureau of education, thus paving the way for future action. As a congressman he was opposed to slavery. He was almost violent in his condemnation of Daniel Webster for what he considered a surrender to Southern views. He was offered, it is said, a nomination for governor of Massachusetts, the equivalent to an election; he accepted instead the presidency of Antioch College at Yellow Springs, Ohio, a position which he held until his death.

SAYINGS.

Truth is greater than us all.

Education is the great money-maker, not by extortion, but by production.

Lost yesterday, somewhere between sunrise and sunset, two golden hours, each set with sixty diamond minutes. No reward is offered for they are gone forever.