The First Round in the Ladder of Education

Excerpt from The First Round in the Ladder of Education
Although I have neither been an instructor of a school, nor a Professor in any Literary institution, I have given considerable attention to the methods, and principles of several books, used both in common schools, and Academies. And I regret that I cannot speak of these works in terms of praise. It is not my intention to give a catalogue of these books. The following paragraphs, taken from "The Pictorial Primer, designed as a First Book for Children in Families, and Schools," will serve as a fair specimen of the merits of all these productions.
"Well, Frederic, what did you see at the fair today? Do you not think you had better have been at home with your mother, and sister Caroline?"
What did you see to-day, is no better than, what did you see next week? And "had have been, is neither better nor worse than the rest of the Pictorial Primer which is almost a fac similie of the numerous books that are decent in nothing but mechanical execution.
"This bird is an owl; he has large eyes, and can see in the night."
Here is a clear intimation, that no creature except an owl, can see in the night! Nor is this all, for it is here strongly implied, that the owls capacity to see in the night, is derived from the size of its eyes!
A substitute: - "This is an owl; and, although he has good eyes, he cannot see except in the night."