The Teacher's Manual

ing poor, agreed to meet on a certain day, at twelve o'clock, precisely. Seven of them attended punctually, at the appointed hour; the eighth did not arrive till a quarter of an hour after. She came in, according to the usual mode, with "I'm very sorry to be behind in the time appointed, but really the time slipped away without my being sensible of it. I hope your goodness will excuse it."

One of the ladies, who was a quaker, replied, " Truly, friend, it doth not appear clear to me that we ought to accept of thy apology. Hadst thyself only lost a quarter of an hour, it would have been merely thy concern; but, in this case, the quarter must be multiplied by eight, as we have each lost a quarter; so that there have been two hours of useful time sacrificed, by thy want of punctuality."

If every one had to pay for the time he caused others to lose in this way, what a bill some of us would run up ! The teacher should be careful to check this spirit in the young.

CHAPTER XII.

MORAL EDUCATION.

Recapitulation.

THE following appear to be the results of our inquiries on the subject of moral education :

I. That, at present, there is a total want of moral training in our schools.

II. That, though the branch of morals relating to religious faith and modes of worship is properly excluded from the public schools, this circumstance only serves to enhance the necessity of attention to the other parts of moral instruction.

III. That the practice of virtue and the avoidance of vice should be carefully cultivated and enforced, in early youth, it being too late to commence, when opposite habits have become fixed, and the passions fully developed.

IV. That the conscience should be developed, on the first dawning of reason, and cherished and strengthened, by constant use.

V. That this may be done by a suitable mode of questioning on the reading lessons, and on the occurrences in the school and neighborhood.

VI. That a Daily Record for self-examination, with an appropriate series of questions, would be highly useful. VII. That every school ought to be provided with a Tabular Catalogue of the Virtues and their opposite Vices, with suitable explanations, to which constant reference should be made by the pupils.

VIII. That the teacher ought daily to ask himself, whether he has performed all his duties towards his school.

CHAPTER XIII.

CONCLUSION.

THE following quotation, from Mrs. Austin's Preface to her translation from Cousin's Report on Education in Prussia, forms an appropriate close to the whole subject.

"It seems to me, that we are guilty of great inconsistency, as to the ends and objects of education. How industriously have not its most able and most zealous champions been continually instilling into the minds of the people, that education is the way to advancement, that 'knowledge is power;' that a man cannot better himself' without some learning! And then we complain, that education will set them above their station, disgust them with labor, make them ambitious, envious, dissatisfied! We must reap as we sow. We set before their eyes objects the most tempting to the desires of the most uncultivated men; we urge them on to the acquirement of knowledge, by holding out the hope that knowledge will enable them to grasp these objects: if their minds are corrupted by the nature of the aim, and embittered by the

failure which must be the lot of the mass, who is to blame?

"If, instead of nurturing expectations which cannot be fulfilled, and turning the mind on a track which must lead to a sense of continual disappointment, and thence of wrong, we were to hold out the appropriate and attainable, nay, unfailing, ends of a good education; the gentle and kindly sympathies; the sense of self-respect, and of the respect of fellow-men; the free exercise of the intellectual faculties; the gratification of a curiosity that grows by what it feeds on,' and yet finds food for ever; the power of regulating the habits and the business of life, so as to extract the greatest possible portion of comfort out of small means; the refining and tranquillizing enjoyment of the beautiful in Nature and art, and the kindred perception of the beauty and nobility of virtue; the strengthening consciousness of duty fulfilled; and, to crown all, the peace that passeth all understanding;' if we directed their aspirations this way, it is probable that we should not have to complain of being disappointed, nor they of having been deceived. Who can say, that wealth can purchase better things than these? and who can say, that they are not within the reach of every man, of sound body and mind, who, by labor not destructive of either, can procure for himself and his family, food, clothing, and habitation ?"

In our country, if a young man take a single step beyond a common English education, it is considered as a matter of course that he is preparing himself for one of what are called the learned professions; as if general knowledge and well-disciplined minds were totally unnecessary for farmers, mechanics, and tradesmen! Go, little book! if thou shouldst succeed, in any degree, in undeceiving the community of this grievous error, in demonstrating the practicability and necessity of a thorough education for all, my time will have been well spent, my labors will have met with an ample reward.

APPENDIX.

LIST OF BOOKS FOR A DISTRICT SCHOOL LIBRARY; AND FOR A LIBRARY FOR AN AGRICULTURAL TOWN, OR A CENTRAL SCHOOL.