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1840, Aug. 3. 1840, Dec, 7. 1841, Sep. 27. 1841, Sep. 30. Tyler.

1841, Dec. 6.

Extra session of the Legislature.
Legislative session.

Henry Dodge elected delegate to Congress."
James D. Doty appointed Governor by President John

Legislature met.

1842, Oct. 4. Chippewa treaty at La Pointe; lands ceded. 1842, December 6. Legislative session commenced.

1843, September 25. Henry Dodge re-elected delegate to Congress. 1843, December 4. Legislative session commenced.

1844, Sune 21. Nathaniel P. Tallmadge appointed Governor by President John Tyler.

1845, January 6. Legislative session commenced.

1845, April 8. Henry Dodge appointed Governor by President James K. Polk.

1845, September 22. Morgan L. Martin elected delegate to Congress. 1846, January 5. The legislature met.

1846, April. A vote of the people in favor of a state government. 1846, August 6. Act of Congress authorizing a state government. 1846, December 16. A state constitution adopted in convention. 1847, January 4. The Legislature met.

1847, April. The proposed state constitution rejected by a vote of the people.

1847, September 27. John H. Tweedy elected delegate to Congress. 1847, October 18. Special session of the Legislature.

1848, February 1. 1848, February 7. lature.

A new state constitution adopted in convention.
Sixteenth (and last) session of the Territorial Legis-

1848, March 13. The state constitution adopted by a vote of the people, and Wisconsin became one of the states of the American Union, being the seventeenth admitted, and the thirtieth in the list of states.

USEFUL INFORMATION.

NAMES OF THE STATES.

A correspondent having inquired why the states are called by their present names, and what are their derivation and meaning, an exchange answers as follows:

Maine-So called from the province of Maine, in France, in compliment to Queen Henrietta, of England, who it has been said, owned the province. This is the commonly received opinion.

New Hampshire-Named by John Mason, in 1639, (who with another obtained the grant from the crown,) from Hampshire county, in England. The former name of the domain was Laconia.

Vermont-From the French, verd mont, or green mountain, indicative of the mountainous nature of the state. The name was first officially recognized January 16, 1777.

Massachusetts-Indian name, signifying "the country about the great hills."

2-[VOL. II.-No. 5.]

Rhode Island-This name was adopted in 1664, from the Island of Rhodes, in the Mediteranean, because of its resemblance to that island. Connecticut-This is the English orthography of the Indian word Quon-eh-ta-cut, which signifies "the long river."

New York-Named by the Duke of York, under color of the title given him by the English crown in 1664.

New Jersey-So called in honor of Sir George Carteret, who was Governor of the Island of Jersey, in the British Channel.

Pennsylvania-From William Penn, the founder of the colony, meaning "Penn's woods."

Delaware-In honor of Thomas West, Lord de la Ware, who visited the bay, and died there, in 1810.

Maryland-After Henrietta Maria, Queen of Charles I., of England. Virginia-So called in honor of Queen Elizabeth, the "virgin queen," in whose reign Sir Walter Raleigh made the first attempt to colonize that region.

North and South Carolina were originally in one tract, called "Carolana," after Charles IX., of France, in 1504. Subsequently, in 1666, the name was altered to Carolina.

Georgia-So called in honor of George II., of England, who established a colony in that reigion 1732.

Florida-Ponce de Leon, who discovered this portion of America in 1512 named it Floriday in commemoration of the day he landed there, which was Pasquas de Flores of the Spaniards, or "Feast of Flowers,' otherwise known as Easter Sunday.

Alabama-Formerly a portion of Mississippi territory, admitted into the union as a state in 1819. The name is of Indian origin, signifying "here we rest."

Mississippi Formerly a portion of the province of Louisiana. So named in 1800 from the great river on the western line. The term is of Indian origin, meaning "long river."

Louisiana From Louis XIV., of France, who for some time prior to 1763 owned the territory.

Arkansas-From "Kansas," the Indian word for "smoky water," with the French prefix "arc," bow.

Tennessee-Indian for "the river of the big berd," i. e., the Mississippi, which is its western boundary.

Kentucky-Indian for "at the head of the river."

Ohio-From the Indian, meaning "beautiful." Previously applied to the river, which traverses a greater part of its borders.

Michigan-Previously applied to the lake, the Indian name for fishweir. So called from the fancied resemblance of the lake to a fish-trap. Indiana-So called in 1802 from the American Indians.

Illinois-From the French "illini," men, and the French suffix"

together signifying "tribe of men.”

Wisconsin-Indian term for a "wild rushing channel."

ois,"

Missouri-named in 1821 from the great branch of the Mississippi which flows through it. Indian term, meaning "muddy." Iowa-From the Indian, signifying" the drowsy ones.'

Minnesota-Indian for "cloudy water."

California-The name given by Cortes, the discoverer of that region. He probably obtained it from an old Spanish romance, in which an imaginary island of that name is described as abounding in gold.

west."

Oregon-According to some, from the Indian Oregon, "river of the Others considers it derived from the Spanish" oregano," wild majoram, which grows abundantly on the Pacific coast.

NICK-NAMES OF THE PEOPLE OF THE DIFFERENT STATES.

Alabama, Lizards; Arkansas, Toothpics; California, Gold Hunters; Colorado, Rovers; Connecticut, Wooden Nutmegs; Delaware, Muskrats; Florida, Fly up the Creeks; Georgia, Buzzards; Illinois, Suckers; Indiana, Hoosiers; Iowa, Hawkeyes; Kansas, Jayhawkers; Kentucky, Corn Crackers; Louisiana, Creoles; Maine, Foxes; Maryland, Craw Thumpers; Michigan, Wolverines; Minnesota, Gophers; Mississippi, Tadpoles; Missouri, Pukes; Nebraska, Bug-eaters; Nevada, Sage Hens; New Hampshire, Granite Boys; New Jersey, Blues or Clam Catchers; New York, Knickerbockers; North Carolina, Tar Boilers and Tuckoes; Ohio, Buckeyes; Oregon, Webfeet and Hard Cases; Pennsylvania, Pennamites and Leatherheads; Rhode Island, Gun Flints; South Carolina, Weasles; Tennessee, Whelps; Texas, Beefheads; Vermont, Green Mountain Boys; Virginia, Beadles; Wisconsin, Badgers.

TERRITORIES, ETC.-Utah, Polygamists; Dakotah, Squatters; New Mexico, Spanish Indians; Idaho, Fortune Seekers and Cut-throats; Nova Scotia, Blue Noses; New Brunswick, Fishheads; Canada, Canucks.

TWO OPINIONS-I speak it without exception, and I know what I say to be true, all our men are overworked and underpaid. There is no class of men, in the world or in the church, at this day, who require so much intelligence, attainments and expense for their education; who are so miserably paid and so prodigiously overworked, as those who are engaged in education, in all its departments, from the highest to the lowest. We can never become a civilized people in the highest sense of the word, until we are willing to pay for the brain work that is engaged in the work of education.-PRESIDENT ANDERSON.

The poverty of scholars is of inestimable worth in this money-getting nation. It maintains the true standard of virtue and honor. The poor friars, not the bishops, saved the church. The poor scholars and preachers of duty defend the modern community against its own material prosperity. Luxury and learning are ill bedfellows.-PRESIDENT ELLIOT.

INFLUENCE OF THE TEACHER. The teacher in the common school or the Sabbath school may, with the sunlight of truth, photograph on the tender minds committed to his charge, a thousand forms of holy beauty. The humblest and most quiet man may write upon his neighbor's heart good thoughts and kind. deeds, which will last forever. And such a monument will be a real immortality, more enduring than brass, and loftier than the real majesty of the pyramids. Such a record, instead of growing dim with time, will grow deep with eternity, and will still be bold and legible, when the sculptures of Nineveh, which have outlasted the centuries, shall have all faded out, and the steel pictures of modern arts shall be forgotten. And when the things which time obscures shall be revealed by the light of eternity, the names of those unknown artists shall be found written, not only on tablets of stone or brass, but on the fleshy tablets of the heart and the unfading pages of the soul.-DANIEL WEBSTER,

Official Department.

OFFICIAL OPINIONS.

Prepared by the Assistant Superintendent.

Q. If a district is altered, can it be altered again, within thirty days? A. There is no restriction of law as to the time when districts may be altered, except that which forbids alterations between December 1st and April 1.

Q. When a district has been formed, can its boundaries be altered before it is organized?—if so, who is to be notified?

A. A town board has the general power of revising its own action. As a district, until organized, has only a territorial existence, there is no notice to be given to any party in such district, of any subsequent change in the territory designated for the same.

Q. If a joint, district is formed, and a record of its formation is placed on file with each town clerk, can either town board or town clerk ignore the district, because of alleged illegality in its formation?

A. No, the record that a district has been formed is prima facie evidence that it was formed legally, and stands, until the action is set aside by competent authority, on proof of illegality.

Q. If an order for forming a new district is lost, how can the new district obtain its share of of the property, if the old district refuses to pay over?

A. Although the order be lost, it would probably not be difficult to prove that such an order was made, and that a certain sum was appropriated to the new district. With such proof the old district may be compelled, by mandamus, to pay what was assigned to the new one.

Q. If a district votes 4 months winter and 5 months summer school, has the board discretionary power to lengthen the winter and shorten the summer term?

A. The board in such case has no discretion in the matter; but must conform to the vote of the district. (See section 19, sub-section twelfth, page 51, school code.)

Q. Is it illegal to have two school houses in one district?

A. The law does not prohibit it, but it cannot be said to contemplate it. If there are too many scholars for the school house, it would usually be better to enlarge it, or if the district is very large in extent, to have it divided, rather than build a second and separate school-house. But it is possible that this might, in some cases, be the best plan. Villages and cities, constituting but one district, often have more than one schoolhouse.

Q. When was the law enacted that a clerk cannot hire himself? A. There is no express provision of law on the subject. It is one of those things that is forbidden by common sense. There must be two parties to a contract, and one man is not two.

Q. In case the director and treasurer hire a teacher, against the will of the clerk, and give a contract, (it being the teacher the district wants), can the clerk afterwards be made to give or sign an order cn the treasurer for said teacher' wages; or can the teacher get his pay with the consent of the director and treasurer; or can the treasurer be made to pay the teacher out of his own pocket?

A. Up to the 4th of April, the director and treasurer could not hire a teacher, except under the circumstances named in the proviso at the end of section 49 of the school code. Since that date it has been lawful for a majority of the board to hire. (See chapter 101 of the general laws of the last session, printed on page 192 of this number). But they must hire a teacher, as they are to do other things-in accordance with section 46 of the school code. The clerk must draw orders for the payment of teachers legally hired, though he disproves of the contract, and can be removed or proceeded against, if he neglects or refuses to do so. The treasurer is not individually liable for expenses or debts legally incurred by the board.

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Q. Under Art. X, Sec. 2, of the State Constitution, are not all school districts obliged to apply a portion of the "school fund " to the purchase of suitable libraries and apparatus therefor?" And are not those districts which do not apply a portion of said fund to the" purchase of libraries and apparatus therefor," acting in open violation of law? A. The Constitution restricts the application of the 66 revenue" to certain things. Legislation, under this restriction, has designated which of them it shall be applied to, and in what way, and under what conditions, namely, to the support and maintenance of common schools; in hiring teachers; and that it shall accrue to those districts only which maintain school a certain length of time. Formerly, ten per cent. of the income went for the purchase of school libraries. The law was repealed in 1862.

Q. Is election day a legal holiday?

A. The day of General, or Fall Election, is now a legal holiday, and applies to schools and teachers, like other legal holidays.

Q. If a school-house is used for election purposes, so that school is closed, must the teacher make up the time?

A. Not if school is closed without his consent.

Q. Can a county superintendent annul certificates, given by his predecessor, without cause?

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