windows, graceful' entrances have been added, and the interior has been freshly painted and decorated. The small chapel and the lecture and recitation rooms have been renovated in a neat and commodious style. The council room, said the Chancellor, has been made what the council room of an University ought to be; a becoming reception chamber for the learned and distinguished men of other states and climes who almost daily visit the institution. The Chancellor concluded by remakring that some years since a gentleman in this city had inserted in his will a bequest of $20,000 to this University; but afterward, seeing its embarrased and helpless condition, and fearing its ultimate failure, had revoked the bequest, and died too soon to see the hopeful opportunity which is now afforded our men of wealth to confer durable benefits upon posterity by making such bequests to the institution...By the last returns of the public schools in the six New England States, the whole number of pupils in attendance during the year was 541,983. The whole cost of instruction for the year was $2,055,131.65. In Vermont the average cost of each pupil was $2.22; in Maine $1.34; in Connecticut, $1.35; in Rhode Island, $1.64. In Massachusetts the law requires each town to raise by tax at least $1.50 per child, between five and fifteen years of age, as a condition of receiving a share of the income of the State School Fund. All the towns complied with this condition last year....The city of Boston appropriated the past year $330,000 00 for the support of public schools. It has invested in school houses $1,500,000.00. The average number of pupils is about 22 500; making the yearly cost of educating each child about $15. The number of pupils taught in the schools of Detroit during the year preceding the last annual report, was about 5,000, and the cost for each pupil was $1,50. The attendance in the district schools of New York last year was 866,915. The annual cost for each was about $2.22. SCHOOLS IN NEW YORK. The 216 public schools in New York city reopened a few days since. The number of teachers is 1094, and their aggregate salary amounts to over $300,000. The number of schools average 140,000. There are also 36 denominations or parochial schools, not under the special charge of the Board of Education. These have an attendance of about 8,000. AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF INSTRUCTION. The recent meeting of the American Institute of Instruction, was one of the most successful ever held by that body. Nearly two thousand teachers, and friends of education from different parts of the country, mostly, however, from New England were present; and among these, were some of the most distinguished educators in the land. We doubt if a larger company of teachers ever assembled in this country; and rarely is it that an association of any kind brings together so many individuals, noted for their ability, intelligence, and earnestness. The lectures delivered during the session were of the highest order. The introductory, by Dr. Wayland, detailed the progress of education during the last quarter of a century, and indicated the direction of its progress in future. It was characterized by that complete knowledge of facts, philosophical analysis, clearness of illustration, and aptness of expression, for which he is so distinguished, and was listened to with marked attention. It received much praise, and will, we believe, do great good. The Rev. Mr. Huntington's lecture was mostly a comparison between uneducated and educated individuals and communities, for the purpose of showing the development of a love of Beauty. It was well written, and happily delivered. The lecture of Mr. Smith, was a fine scholarly production. It evinced a thorough knowledge of the subject, and a warm love of all the works of genius. We heard this lecture highly praised by those whose commendations are not easily won. Dr. Beecher's lecture was philosophical, forcible, and eloquent; Dr. Hooker's, illustrative and practical. Mr. Sumner's was full of interesting facts and observations relating to the state of education in some of the European countries. His language was elegant, and his manner of delivery graceful and winning. This instructive lecture was a most fitting close to the series, and like all the rest was marked by high thought and progressive aims. There was not so much time for debate as usual, and, therefore, the discussion did not take so wide a range, nor call out so great a variety of talent, as on previons occasions. The remarks of Messrs. Hedges and Colburn upon teaching Arithmetic, and those of Mr. Edwards upon Geography, were eminently practical, and illustrative of the best methods of teaching. The most extended discussion was upon the resolutions referring to the murder of Prof. Butler.-Massachusetts Teacher. Literary and Scientific Intelligence. MONTHLY SUMMARY. Hon. Mr. CHAUVEAU has moved for an address to His Excellency the Governor General praying His Excellency to cause to be printed, in addition to the documents mentioned in an address of this house, such of the documents that have been obtained from the public archives in Paris and in London, and are now in manuscript in the library of Parliament, and in the library of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, or that may be procured hereafter, as shall be found of sufficient interest in a legal or historical point of view; and also to cause to be reprinted such of the works published in the early history of the country as may be of great value and have become very scarce, the said works or documents to be printed in such form and with such notes and maps as may be found proper, and assuring His Excellency that this house will make good the necessary expense to be incurred for the aforesaid objects. Hon. Mr. MORIN said the documents would throw a great deal of light on the early political history of America, and that the maps embraced the whole country from Canada to Florida. Any gentleman who would look at the catalogue, would see that a vast amount of valuable information was comprised in the documents; many of which were never yet published. The documents did not relate to Lower Canada merely, but contained also many letters and several plans re lating to Upper Canada. The motion was then carried....His Excellency the GOVERNOR GENERAL has been pleased to appoint a number of gentlemen to compose a Provincial Com.nittee, to take the necessary steps to ensure a fitting representation of the industry and resources of this Province at the WORLD'S EXHIBITION, to be held in PARIS, in the year 1855,-with power to appoint an executive committee and local committees throughout the Province....A pension of £200 a-year has been conferred upon Mrs. Fullerton, widow of the late Lord Fullerton, who was for twenty-five years one of the Senators of the Scotch College of Justice. Also, £100 to Mrs. Taylor, the discoverer of steam navigation....Captain Cook's Chronometer has been presented to the united service institution, by Admiral Sir Thomas Herbert. It has undergone some adventures; after two voyages with Cook, Lieutenant Bligh took it out in the Bounty; the mutineers carried it to Pitcairn.'s Island; it was sold to an American, who sold it again in Chili; finally, Sir Thomas Herbert bought it at Valparaiso, for fifty guineas.... The French Exhibition building, has consumed 822,000 square yards of cut stone, 4,500 tons of castings, 3,600 tons of iron, and 33,000 square yards of unpolished glass. The surface of the ground floor is 27,068 square yards. The surface of the gallery of the circumference counts 18,072, giving a total of 45,140 yards. "The building unlike its predecessors," says the correspondent of the N. Y. Tribune, "is to be a permanent monument of the most elaborate finish, and the most studied perfection of style." Among the curiosities to be sent from the East Indies to the French Exhibition is a carpet of ivory, it is twenty feet long and six wide, and cost $1,500.... The German Philosopher Schelling, died at Ragaz, in Switzerland on the 20th August last.... The Italian Papers mention the death of Cardinal Angelo Mai, a prelate who owed his rank to the position which he had created for himself in the world of literature by his curious discovery of palimpsestes. He was born March 7, 1782, in the diocese of Bergamo, created a cardinal in May, 1837, but reserved in petto and proclaimed in the following year. The cardinal continued his learned labours after his elevation, and only very lately succeeded to the post of librarian of the Vatican, rendered vacant by the death of Cardinal Lambruschini.. Mr. W. H. Bartlett, whose premature death at sea has just been announced, was well known to the public by the historical and illustrated works "Forty Days in the Desert," "Nile Boats," "Walks about Jerusalem," and other works of biblical and classical interest. His last published work, "The Pilgrim Fathers," is a historical narrative of great interest; and, like its predecessors, is beautifully illustrated by drawings taken on the spot. Mr. Bartlett's last visit to the East was under. taken only a few months ago, with the express design of inspecting some ancient remains, and of furnishing a series of illustrations for a new work on the subject. But on his return from that hallowed ground, he was taken suddenly ill on board the French steamer Egyptus, and in the course of the following day expired, in the prime of life, and when almost in sight of land. To the talents of an accomplished artist, an able and agreeable writer, and a traveller, whose graphic description of society, as well as scenery, in every quarter of the world, are so generally admired, Mr. Bartlett added those higher qualities of mind and heart, which, to all who knew him, formed a bond of attachment which only strengthened with years....The first stone of the monument to the late Mr. Daniel O'Connell, was lately laid by Sir John Power, in Glasnevin cemetery, Dublin. There was no public display on the occasion. A monument has also been erected in Glasgow, to Mr. O'Connell....King Max, of Bavaria, has just granted an allowance of 500 florins, to be repeated next year, to Melchior Meyr, a young Bavarian poet. Meyr's "Duke Albrecht" has been represented with applause in seventeen chief towns of Germany, and his "Village Histories," published in the Morgenblatt, are very popular. The allowance is granted to enable him to employ his undivided energies in the composition of a poetic work of larger scope than he has yet published, and on which he has long been engaged. Herman Ling is another Bavarian poet who receives similar assistance from the King. The young German poets Geibel, Bodemstedt, and Paul Heyse, who have similar reason to thank his Majesty, are not Bavarians.... Alexander von Humboldt celebrated his 85th birth day on the 14th of October. The illustrious philosopher is in the enjoyment of full bodily health and intellectual vigor, and continues, as heretofore, to devote himself with wonderful activity to the interests of scietice....From an account of Assyrian researches and discoveries in the last annual report of the Royal Asiatic Society, made by Colonel Rawlinson, we learn that the most recent, as well as the most important discovery, in an historical and geographical point of view, is that of another obelisk, in the south-east corner of the great mound of Nimrod, and erected by Shamasphul, the son of Shalambara, or Shalamchara, who raised the similar and well-known obelisk in the British Museum. The Colonel states shat he has been down the river to Bassorah, whence he has shipped off several cases to the British Museum and Crystal Palace, by the Acbar Steam-frigate, which was sent up from Bombay for that purpose. A further very curious discovery made by Colonel Rawlinson is, that the employment of the Babylonian cuneiform writing was continued down at least so low as the time of the Macedonian dominion in Asia, the commencement of the third century B.C....A free library and museum is about to be established in Preston...An important discovery has recently been made in regard to a new material from which to make paper....This discovery is the "Everlasting paper (Gnaphalium)No such great results could, however, be properly expected from it unless this plant, the flower of which has only served hitherto to stuff beds, might be obtained without culture, and in unlimited quantities. Mr. Andrews has procured information which settles incontestably that the "Everlasting" is found abundantly every where over Canada and North America....It is designed to erect a monument at Quebec, to the memory of Generals Wolfe and Montcalm, and the gallant fellows who fell with them. MELANCHOLY FATE OF SIR JOHN FRANKLIN. The Montreal Herald of the 21st Oct., has the following:-In an extra of yesterday evening we informed the public that a rumor was current that the remains of Sir John Franklin and his crew, and their ships had been discovered. We immediately despatched a special messenger to the Hudson Bay Company's House at Lachine, and through the kindness of the Governor, Sir George Simpson, are enabled to lay before our readers the following outlines of a despatch received by him yesterday from Dr Rae, who has been absent on the coast since the first of the month of June, 1853, and returned to York factory on the 28th August last; from whence he forwarded letters by express to Sir George Simpson, via Red River settlement. After briefly noticing the result of his own expedition and the difficulties with which he had to contend, he proceeds to state that from the Esquimaux be had obtained certain information of the fate of Sir John Franklin, who had been starved to death, after the loss of their shps which were crushed in the ice, and while making their way south to Great Fish River, near the outlet of which a party of whites died, leaving accounts of their sufferings in the mutilated corpses of some which had evidently furnished food for their unfortunate companions. Although this information, is not derived from the Esquimaux who had communicated with the whites, and who had found their remains, but from another band who obtained the details from theirs, no doubt is left of the truth of the report, as the natives had in their possession various articles of European manufacture which had been in the possession of the whites. Among these are silver spoons, forks, &c., on one of which is engraved "Sir John Franklin, K. C. B.," while others have crests on theirs, which identify the owner as having belonged to the ill-fated expedi tion. Drawings of some of them have been sent down. This fearful tragedy must have occurred as long ago as the spring of 1850. EXTRAORDINARY EXPERIMENTS WITH THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.-Some experiments have, within the past fortnight, been made at Portsmouth, with regard to this science, of a most important and remarkable character, and which would appear to open up and promise to lead to further triumphs in electricity equal in importance to any that have already been achieved The experiments in question were for the purpose of ascertaining the possi bility of sending electric telegraph communications across a body of water without the aid of electric wires. The space selected for the experiments was the mill-dam (a piece of water forming a portion of the fortifications) at its widest part, where it is something near 500 feet across. The operating battery was placed on one side of the dam, and the corresponding dial on the other side. An electric wire from each was submerged on their respective sides of the water, and terminating in a plate constructed for the purpose, and several messages were accurately conveyed across the entire width of the mill. dam, with accuracy and instantaneous rapidity. The apparatus employed in the experiments is not pretended to be here explained in even a cursory man ner; this is, of course, the exclusive secret of the inventor. But there is no doubt of the fact, that communications were actually sent a distance of nearly 500 feet through the water without the aid of wires, or other conductors, and that there appeared every possibility that this could be done as easily with regard to the British Channel as with the mill-dam. The inventor is a gentleman of great scientific attainments, residing in Edinburgh, and lays claim-and we believe with some justice-to being the original inventor of the electric telegraph; but from circumstances, he was unable to carry out the invention to his own advantage. The experiments at the mill-dam were of a strictly private character, although they were carried out by Captain Beatty and other engineering officers belonging to the garrison. N EXAMINATION OF COMMON SCHOOL TEACHERS. OTICE is hereby given, that a MEETING of the BOARD OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION of the SECOND SCHOOL CIRCUIT, County of Peel, will be held at BRAMPTON, in the SCHOOL HOUSE, on TUESDAY the 14th day of NOVEMBER next, at 9 o'clock, ▲ M., for the EXAMINATION OF COMMON SCHOOL TEACHERS (for 1855.) All Candidates for License, previous to being admitted for examination, must furnish the Board with a certificate of good moral character, from the clergyman whose ministrations they attend. Teachers who hold First and Second Class Certificates of License will not be re-examined. But such Teachers, notwithstanding, are hereby required to present to the Board the above mentioned certificate of good moral cha racter before that their Certificates of License can be extended beyond the present year. By order of the Board, JAMES PRINGLE, Chairman. Brampton, 23rd Oct., 1854. EXAMINATION OF GRAMMAR SCHOOL MASTERS. HE COMMITTEE of EXAMINERS of CANDIDATES for MASTER TSHIPS of COUNTY GRAMMAR SCHOOLS in Upper Canada, having recently met to make the preliminary arrangements requisite for carrying into effect the provisions of the GRAMMAR SCHOOL ACT, as set forth in the 2nd clause of the 11th Section, have decided on holding their EXAMINATIONS for the present, quarterly,—on the FIRST MONDAY of JANUARY, APRIL, JULY, and OCTOBER, respectively, in the NORMAL SCHOOL BUILDINGS, Commencing at THREE o'clock, P. M. THOS. J. ROBERTSON, Head Master, Normal School, U. C., Chairman. [N. B.-All Candidates are requested to send in their names to the Chairman of the Committee at least one week prior to the first day of examination. WANTS A SITUATION. A SCHOOLMASTER who holds a First Class Certificate, would be glad to hear from any person requiring his services. His present engagement expires on the 1st January next. He is well acquainted with the common and most of the higher branches of an English Education, also with the French, Latin, and Greek languages. He has had several years experience in Teaching, and is well acquainted with the Normal method, both in theory and practice. Address X. Y. Z., Guelph P. 0. Nov. 1854. A SCHOOL WANTED by a MAN whose engagement terminates in Decem ber. He has had several years experience in School Teaching, and at present holds a First Class Certificate from the Board of Instruction for the United Counties of York, Ontario and Peel, and can produce a certificate from the Trustees of each School Section in which he has taught. Apply by letter (pre-paid), stating salary, to W. M. BUTTONVILLE, P. O. Markham. November, 1854. YOUNG MAN of steady habits who holds a First Class Certificate Afor the Counties of York and Peel and whose engagements ter minate about the first of January, wants a School. Apply by letter, (post paid), 1854. stating salary, to 'T'. M'KEE, Holland Landing, P. O. October, 17, ADVERTISEMENTS inserted in the Journal of Education for one halfpenny per word, which may be remitted in postage stamps, or otherwise. TERMS: For a single copy of the Journal of Education, 5s. per annum; back vols. neatly stitched, supplied on the same terms. All subscriptions to commence with the January number, and payment in advance must in all cases accompany the order. Single numbers, 74d. each. ` All communications to be addressed to Mr. J. GEORGE HODGINS, Education Office, Toronto. TORONTO: Printed by LOVELL & GIBSON, Corner of Yonge and Melinda Streets. VII. Has the School Teacher a right to flog a Pupil... VIII. Speeches of the Chancellor and Vice Chancellor at the recent Convocation of the University of Toronto.... PAGE 189 191 192 192 193 193 193 194 IX. MISCELLANEOUS.-The Alma River-2. Literary Women--3. Probable effect of the Anglo French Alliance on the English Language. 4. The Theory of Duration. 5. Population of Ireland. 6. Population of Mexico. 7. Towns in the Crimea. 8. Table of Distance and Population. 9. York Minster.... 195 X. EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE.-1. Canada Monthly Summary. 2. School Attendance in Toronto. 3. Convocation of the University of Toronto. 4. Convocation of the University of Trinity College. 5. British and Foreign Monthly Summary. 6. Oahu College, Sandwich Islands. 7. United States Monthly Summary. 8. New York Evening Schools 198 .... XI. LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE.-1. Monthly Summary. 2. Montmorenci Suspension Bridge. 3. The Victoria Bridge at Montreal.. XII. Advertisements.. 199 200 From the Massachusetts Teacher. TEACHING. [A PRIZE ESSAY.] Canada. No. 12. We must think, that with all the advance recent years have witnessed in the views and methods of popular education, even teachers themselves have hardly begun to have adequate notions in regard to the importance and inherent greatness of their work. We cannot say less of it than that it involves the highest responsibilities, and is, in the best sense most honorable. We are dull in our apprehensions of the peculiar honor there is in fashioning a human spirit into forms of intellectual symmetry and grace, which it shall carry not only through the life that is, but onward into the everlengthening ages of the life that is to be. In all civilized countries the votaries of art have been held in honor. He who could make the canvas glow with imitated life, and he who could cut from the cold, dead marble, the almost living, breathing forms of animated existence, have both alike acquired lasting renown. Some of them lived for back in the past. Ages have passed away since the crumbling dust of their masterpieces has mingled with the ashes of their tombs; yet their names are held in deserved honor. But there is a coloring that outlasts all time, and eternity will for ever add to its brightness. There is a sculpturing too, every line and angle and feature of which, will retain its exact form when the heavens and the earth shall be no more. No less a work than this is every teacher called to perform. Consciously or unconsciously, he is making im THE DUTY OF SELF-CULTURE IN ITS RELATIONS TO pressions every day as lasting as the soul. What work, then, more Personal improvement is the duty of every human being. By virtue of his very humanity, every individual of the race, stands under a sacred obligation to make as much of his mental and moral powers, as his position in life will permit. No one has a right to bury in a napkin any talent God has given him, any more than he has to pervert it to an unworthy use. This obvious general duty becomes specific and peculiar in its relation to many callings in life; and every one, we think, will decide that in regard to the business of teaching, it is a necessary and primary qualification. Its limits and methods, however, in that particular relation may, perhaps, give occasion for differences of opinion, where, indeed, any definite opinions at all are held on the subject. Self-culture relates mainly to three things, manners, mind, morals. Attainments in all these directions are essential to the teacher's success. Failure in either of them is fatal. Nor can culture in one of these directions make up for its absence in any other. The instructor ought in a high sense to be a gentleman, a scholar, and a Christian. Whoever else can afford to be other than all these, he cannot. And this, we apprehend, will be manifest if we consicer the peculiar nature of his calling. What, then, is the distinctive character of the teacher's vocation? A somewhat extended answer to this question will furnish forcible arguments for continued self-culture in all who engage in the work, responsible than this? What more honorable, provided it be well performed? But the teacher need not pass the limits of the present life, to find evidence of the high character of his calling. It bears this character when judged by finite standards, and measured by the relations of time. Leaving wholly out of view those higher relations which connect it with a future existence, and regarding it simply as a business connected with the present life, we know of no nobler employment, none more worthy the efforts of the highest order of intellect. The teacher's forming hand is to be found all along the world's history, in the poets, the philosophers, the statesmen and the heroes of every age. Through these he has shaped the destinies of nations. Unrecognized, unknown perhaps, by the subjects of them, he has sent forth influences that have been felt far and wide. Nor has this obscurity rendered these influences any the less effective. It is a fact not usually appreciated, that the true origin of great results lies often entirely back of their reputed causes. It is often forgotten that Alexander the Great was long the pupil of Aristotle, as were Alcibiades, Xenophon, and Plato, o: Socrates. "Who," it has been asked, "hears the name of Caius Laelius? And yet Scipio, the conqueror of Hannibal, speaks of himself as but executing the designs of that philosopher." Is it, then, too much to say that had there been no Laelius, there would have been no immortal Scipio, and the great Carthaginian might not have found a conqueror? The greatest of Roman orators, whose fame yet sends its steady light over the abyss of ages, declares that Publius Nigidius, a name that, but for this circumstance, we should hardly have known, was the author of his noblest deeds. And if Cicero could make this confession, how many more of inferior genius could make similar acknowledgements with yet greater propriety? Indeed, however narrow our observation may have been, instances must have come to our knowledge of great power proceeding from those who dwelt in obscurity, even as the earth is heaved and tossed and cleft asunder, by invisible forces of which we know almost nothing. Of this hidden power of the teacher for good,-and, let it be remembered, it may be for evil likewise, we give a single illustration. We once knew a teacher who, in the judgment of those best acquainted with him, possessed the rarest intellectual powers, which he had cultivated with long and varied discipline. For him it was a pastime to read in the mother tongue of Plato and Plutarch, the deep philosophy of one, and the lofty morality of the other. There is hardly any field of knowledge to which he was a stranger. He seemed to be at home on the classic page, among the higher mathematical studies, or while engaged in unfolding those subtle distinctions which underlie that sublimest of all sciences,-the science of the human soul. And no mind truly awake could listen long to his "wide and large discourse of reason," and not feel something of that awe-inspiring reverence, which the presence of the highest forms of intellectual greatness seldom fails to awaken. And yet he was known comparatively to but few. His personal infiuence over the world at large was but small. The masses were alike ignorant of his worth and his greatness. With a modesty equal to his unusual attainments, he shrank from display; and having no desire of authorship, and passing away from us in the meridian of his days, but few of the results of his profound investigations will go down to posterity on the printed page. But will he have lived in vain? Far otherwise; for deep in hundreds of young and noble hearts, made yet nobler by his sublime teachings, were treasured up the living thoughts his "winged words " bore thither, and there will they be cherished in undying remembrance. Love for Truth and Honor and Duty was inspired in minds that are to iufluence men from high places of authority and trust; from the pulpit, the bar and the halls of legislation. Through his pupils will his influence be transmitted to other minds, and thus has he set in motion a tide of healthful agencies that will ebb and flow to the end of time. Not far from the quiet waters of a New England lake, stands a massive granite shaft erected to his memory by his loving pupils. It bears no flaunting eulogy upon its tablets. It rises in solid yet simple grandeur, an apt symbol of his life, whose name, with the day of his birth and of his death only, is cut in relief upon the solid stone. As we stood, not many months ago, beside that monument, with sentiments akin to those of the pilgrim who has reached some long sought distant shrine, we could but feel how fitly it illustrated the enduring influence of him whose ashes are reposiug at its base. vated mind, or an easy conscience, have no business here. They are not the fitting appointments for this most elevated work. The teacher has chosen an office most responsible and most honorable. Let him do it honor, then, by his own manly character and his faithful labors. But this he will fail to do, unless he is ever diligent in work of selfimprovement. We have said that self-culture has reference to external habits, the mind, and the heart. Some more specific consideration of each of these will be pertinent to the subject. teacher are not of minor consequence. Pupils continually copy the Progressive intellectual culture is, if possible, yet more essential to stand here is to be willing to go backward. And yet the temptation the true teacher. He must always be a learner. To be willing to to stand still is as great as the yielding to it is fatal. This may be seen at a glance. The teacher spends hours every day in immediate mental contact with those who are perhaps greatly his inferiors in age and tinued relation, and the consequent feeling which must accompany it, knowledge. He is by his position constantly a superior. This contend to work out at length an overbearing spirit, conceited and pedantic. known in all times as the genuine pedagogue, and deservedly the butt Hence has sprung that peculiar genius, born of Ignorance and Conceit, of ridicule and satire from the time of Solomon downward. We account for the odium that falls upon his luckless head, on the princi as the thing caricatured is really excellent and noble. The pedant is the true teacher in caricature; hence he becomes the object of unmi tigated disgust. Let it not be supposed that the importance or the responsibilities of the teacher's calling are confined to the higher walks of the profession; or that they belong exclusively to those chiefly engaged in finishing the work. The instructor, at every stage of his business, is concerned with intellectual and moral development; and we are yet to be in-ple that the caricature of anything is disagreeable, just in proportion formed that the earliest part of this business is fraught with less important consequences than that of any later period. Of how little value is elegance of finish, or beauty of exterior ornament, to that edifice, whose foundation was laid at first in the treacherous sand! Or, to use a better analogy, of what availis any effort to remove an unsightly crook in the sturdy tree, which commenced while yet the tree was a tender shrub? We know not how soon the infant soul begins to receive from the world without its shapings and tendencies. But we do know, that after this time has arrived, its earliest are its most impressible periods. It is then, that little causes, as we call them, produce great results. A word, a look, a tone, a tear, a smile, every one does its work. Sunny and joyous tempers have sprung into life under the genial influence of a constantly cheerful countenance and voice. At this period too, harsh and irritable dispositions are bred amid strife, in an atmosphere of moroseness and i humor. Thus early does the die give the enduring stamp. A very few years suffice to give full vigor to those elements which expand into a Cowper or a Byron; a Washington or a Bonaparte. "The boy is father of the man," says a poet; and most true it is, that the human character receives its form in childhood. Let no one, then, touch the young soul, that wondrous birth of heaven, with a careless or unpractised hand. Whos does this does it at his peril. Thus in whatever view we regard the teacher's vocation, whether in its relations to this or the future life; in its connection with the earlier or later periods of intellectual development; in its immediate results upon the pupil, or its more remote effects, ever going forth from him as a central source; in each and all these views, we find abundant evidence of its peculiar excellence and responsibility as a calling. The teacher is thus seen to be a fashioner of human souls, moulding them measurably into his own likeness. This character of his work indicates, at once, what that of the instructor should be. He owes it most sacredly to his noble employment. that he be no intellectual s.uggard. Unrefined manners, an unculti There is, we say, in teaching, such a tendency. This tendency brings with it no necessity, however. It can be easily resisted. To do this successfully the teacher must grow intellectually; and this growth implies an ever-widening sphere of knowledge. A higher standard of education, indeed, is now demanded by public opinion, in common school teachers, than formerly. The time has happily gone by when the candidate would answer, provided by dint of digging, he could keep in advance of his classes. A considerable degree of culture is now required-we hope the demand will be greatley increased-in every one who takes charge of a school of any kind. And we doubt not that a teacher may, for a time, be tolerably useful, even if his edu cation is chiefly limited to the studies he has occasion to teach. But if he stop long here; if he make the bare demands of the school-room the limit of his attainments, his mind will contract his self conceit dilate, and pedantry will grow thriftily on its proper soil. Now, in order to forestall such a result, the teacher needs some constant intelleclual employment, calculated to enlarge and discipline his mental powers. In decidi g what his employment shall be, every one, of course, would consult his own preferences. There are, however, many branches of knowledge essential to the highest usefulness of the teacher, and also in themselves most valuable acquisitions, which are not usually required as qualifica ions in a large class of instructors. A knowledge of Intellectual Philosophy, for example, is not required by Committees and school laws, in order to teach primary and grammar schools. And yet, if the brief views of teaching we have given are near the truth, how unfit is any one to teach even such school, who is ignorant of the powers of the mind and the laws of its action? As unfit, in truth, as he to build a temple, who is ignorant of the first rudiments of archi tecture. Highly useful, also, to the teacher, is some knowledge of the classical languages and literature. Our own vernacular, as all know, is largely indebted to those wonderful languages; and whoever would understand the full power of those words we have thus borrowed, must learn them in their birth-place and among their kindred. And as to studying those old philosophers, poets, moralists and historians, through translations, it is, for the most part, like looking at the finest landscape in the dim twilight, so that he was not far from the truth who said there really never where but two translations-those of Enoch and Elijah. Every student, moreover, knows how thoroughly and extensively classical allusions are woven into the very texture of the finest English literature. We may now regret this, perhaps, but it will make the fact no otherwise than it is. The great poem of the language is literally full of allusions to the old histories and mythologies. Hence the value of some attainments in this direction to every teacher. And then there is a knowledge of history, far more extended than the school books give, always useful to the instructor. For he is especially concerned to know the great science of man; and this must be studied mainly in language and history. These studies, most appropriately termed the Humanities in the older schools, while they are useful to all, are, on many accounts, especially advantageous in the business of teaching. In fine, that bond of brotherhood, so aptly termed by Cicero, quoddam cummune vinculum, which runs through and binds together all the various branches of science, makes them mutually illustrate each other; so that he who undertakes to teach any one of them will find his capability to do so increased, almost in exact proportion to the extent of his knowledge among the rest. Pushing his researches thus into one and another of the departments of knowledge, the teacher will accomplish two most important results. He will discharge a debt which he owes his noble calling, and cultivate himself as a man. He will thus escape that narrowness of thought and view which so often characterizes the pedantic school master, and which satirists have so often used to the discredit of his profession, and will elevate himself and honor his calling. We are not unaware that we may be met here with the difficulty that the time alotted to many teachers, for their own cultivation in reading and study, is small. It may be said that the greater portion of each day must be given to the school, and that the remainder is needed for physical exercise and social intercourse. We admit the difficulty to some extent; still, judging from what has been done, we are convinced that a proper and systematic arrangement, in regard to time, will give considerable opportunity for so desirable an object. Instances are not wanting of teachers of the very highest usefulness, making large literary attainments. Difficult languages have been learned and abstruse sciences acquired. We have in our mind at this moment a distinguished professor who, years ago, while engaged six hours each day in teaching boys, began the study of Hebrew, and read the Old Testament through several times in that language. Honored female teachers, too, some of whose names are familiar to us as household words, might be named, who have cultivated most assiduously their own minds while actively engaged in the duties of their chosen employment. Almost all of us know the great acquisitions of Dr. Arnold, who, while engaged many hours every day in teaching, found leisure time in which, both as student and author, he gained high and worthy distinction in the republic of letters. Such examples show us what may be done by a careful economy of time and rigid adherence to system. They show us, too, that the business of instruction does not necessarily cramp the mental energies, nor prevent their growth; and that while one is a teacher, he may also become a man of taste and letters. In fact, we think it both the duty and the privilege of every teacher to be such; and unless we greatly mistake, it will be found true on careful examination, that those teachers who are doing the most for their own mental improvement, are, as a general rule, the most useful to their pupils. Tha: moral culture, also, is essential to every teacher, hardly needs an argument. The matter is so self evident as to require little or no illustration. In our own State, where from the very beginning the cultivation of the heart in all schools has been supposed, as a matter of course, to take precedence of every other; and where the school laws not only recognize religion as the highest and noblest possession possible to the mind, but also enjoin it upon the teacher to inculcate piety and Christian morals, love to God, and love to man,-here, we say, it is too obvious also for remark, that the teacher should possess high moral and religious rinciple. "The business of a schoolmaster," said Dr. Arnold, "no less than that of a parish minister, is the cure of souls." This may be stating the matter strongly. But true it is, that he must have clean hand and a pure heart, who aspires to this sacred calling. And this moral element should never be suffered to lose anything of its vitality or force. It should receive the most assiduous cultivation. There should be in the educator a life and a growth of all good affections. To all who fall short of this, and bring strange fire to this consecrated altar, the words of the Sybil to the companions of Æneas are a fitting admonition, Procul, o, procul este, profani. We have briefly seen what teaching is, and what it requires. It is surely matter of pleasant reflection that teachers in our midst are coming every year better to understand the true character of their calling, and the relations they sustain to it. This state of things gives promise of a time not distant, when their ranks shall be filled with highly cultivated men and women, and the name of teacher shall be suggestive only of taste, refinement and all good culture. Every teacher is interested in such a result. Let each do his part, and the work will speedily be accomplished. THE RELATIONS OF TEACHER AND PUPIL. An important means of promoting the usefulness of common school is diffusion of a correct knowledge and sense of the relations of teacher and pupil. From the want of just and steady principles respecting these relations, the benefit of schools is often much abridged. Diffi culties not unfrequently arise in school districts, and in schools themselves, from a want of definite views on the part of parents and teachers respecting the legal rights, powers, and duties of the latter. Perhaps the authority of the teacher is too general in its nature to be confined within bounds that shall exactly comprehend the various contingencies that may happen. If we should venture to say that the occasion for the use of authority must determine its limits, there might still be a wide diversity of opinion as to what should constitute an occasion for its use; and if all should agree as to the call for its exercise, they might differ widely as to the measure and the mode of it. As there is great need of discretion in the teacher, there is also much need that discretion be allowed to him. He is an approximation to parental government, and, so far as the one approaches the other, so far should a similar discretion be conceded. Regarding then the teacher as, to a considerable extent, and for the time being, in the place of the parent, we think that, as in the one case, so in the other, the law will not interfere with the exercise of authority, except where the bounds of reason are clearly transgressed, and the exercise of works palpable injury to the subject of it, and tends thereby to make inroads on the social welfare. In doubtful cases pnblic justice will learn to the teacher rather than to the pupil, as it presumes the dis cretion of the parent till the proof plainly forbids such presumption. Unless we widely err, the due authority of teachers has, in many instances, been gradually frittered away, and the art of coaxing has been required instead of discreet government. In schools of from forty to a hundred scholars, where the number is nearly equalled by the variety, a morbid sentiment relies for subordination on the power of persuasion alone. Those who are governed nowhere else, and nowhere else persuaded, are expected to be held under a salutary restraint by the gentle sway of inviting motives. If we may suppose cases where this lenient power is strong enough to curb the wayward and subdue the refractory, we think it must be in cases where rare skill is applied to select specimens of human nature. We urge nothing against the power of persuasion within its reasonable limits, and we could wish that these limits where much wider than they are, as they doubtless would be with improved domestic education. Early and steady respect to authority at home, prepares the way for easy government in school, and whilst it is a perpetual blessing to the child, it is a present comfort to the parent and a service done to the public. Not till an even-handed authority creates the power of persuasion at home, may we expect its triumph abroad. Whatever value, then, we put upon its gentle influence, we think that, at least in schools, it is not good for it to be alone. Law, not a name, but a power, must have a known existence, and if this knowledge cannot be communicated by its letter, it should be acquired by a sense of its wholesome penalties. There are those so headstrong from long indulgence and from their habits of early domination, that to bring them to their duty in school, and to keep them from marring their own and others' good, by the gentle power of motives, would be as unreasonable an expectation as that of subduing the wild colt of the prairie without a thong or a bridle. To say that such should at once be turned out of school, is to say that they shall not have the very benefit which all need, and they more than others, the benefit of a well-governed school, to whose government their submission might be a salutary novelty. To expel a pupil from school should be done only by a cautious decision and as an ultimate resort. To inflict upon him this disgrace, and to deprive him of the advantages of education is, in some sense, to punish the community. Such a result may sometimes be unavoidable, but in most cases it may be shunned by the prevalence of a quick and strong sense, within the District, of the importance of a firm and well-sustained government in the school, and by leaving mainly to the discretion of him, who is held responsible for the success of the school he teaches, to find where persuasion can, and coercion must, do its work. We are unwilling to dismiss this part of our subject, without pressing further the importance of a correct general sentiment respecting schools, both public and private, and of every grade. We think that much of the inefficiency of schools is occasioned by an unintentional and indirect interference of parents with the appropriate authority and influence of the teacher. It is an interference that works no less |