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must be viewed) was the settlement of the National Religion." Now we may express this better and more briefly thus: Elizabeth, on coming to the throne, first attended to the settlement of the National Religion; and all the transactions of her reign must be viewed in connection with it."

3. Another obvious mode of shortening sentences is to knock out words put in simply for the sake of rhetoric. Dr. CUMMING sins grievously in this tawdry redundancy; often at the sacrifice of his meaning: here is a shocking instance of it :-"Love is to a Christian what a coronet is to a noble-a crown to a monarch-a cowl to a monk. It is his badge, the ensign of his greatness, the mark of his birth; the absence of it is fatal to every claim to be a Christian-it is the pulse of life."

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Well may Cobbett say that figures of rhetoric are sharp-edged tools. Imagine an intensely Protestant preacher, famed for eloquence, and, one would suppose, for a correct use and appreciation of English, likening a Christian first to a noble, and then to a monk, and love to coronets and cowls! What is an ensign of greatness?" A "claim to be a Christian" is not sense. He means a claim to the reputation of Christianity. If a man be a Christian, he need not "claim" what he is, or what he has and if he be not a Christian, no "claim" can make him what he is not. The whole gist of the sentence lies in the beginning and the end, and may be thus perfectly expressed (omitting only the nonsense): "Love is to a Christian what the pulse is to life."

As candidates for the Civil Service are expected to write correctly, and as it is rapidly becoming an essential requirement in all ranks of society, this subject will have our frequent attention. It is, we incline to think, a branch of education too little thought of in public schools, and seldom well taught at home.

NATURAL EDUCATION.- "Alas! how many examples are now presented to our memory, of young persons the most anxiously and expensively be-schoolmastered, be-tutored, be-lectured, anything but educated; who have received arms and ammunition, instead of skill, strength, and courage; varnished, rather than polished; perilously over-civilized, and most pitiably uncultivated! And all from inattention to the method dictated by Nature herself,-to the simple truth, that, as the forms in all organized existence, so must all true and living knowledge proceed from within; that it may be trained, supported, fed, exerted; but can never be infused or impressed.”—Coleridge.

LIFE IS NOT A STATE OF REST, but of incessant operation; the most perfect perpetuum mobile; a continual circulation of action and being; a compound of working powers, maintained by one principle, for one end. Everything bodily in man is subject to changes and alterations; everything on which the vital principle exercises its action is in a continual alteration of increase and decrease, of loss and reparation, of growing old, renovation, and restoration. Scarcely have a few years elapsed when our substance, in regard to the bodily part, is entirely renewed, and, as it were, again created from the surrounding elements.-Strave.

REMINISCENCES OF AMERICAN SCHOOLS BY AN

OCTOGENARIAN.

[It is a rare privilege (says the “Massachusetts Teacher") to receive from a living man an account of what he himself saw, and was a part of, eighty years ago; to be carried back with the vividness of personal narrative, and the interest of personal sympathy, nearly a century of the world's progress, and that a century so fraught with change, and thickly studded with great events, as the last. Through what throngs of inventions, discoveries, adventures, compositions, wars, battles, dynasties, and revolutions, must memory force its way to reach the year 1776! We are thus transported by the following extract, which, through the kindness of its venerable author, we are permitted to make from a Lecture delivered before the Hampden County Teachers' Association, by the Rev. Timothy Mather Cooley, D.D., of East Granville. We find a brief sketch of its author in the valuable "History of Education in Western Massachusetts," by Mr, Parish, of Springfield.

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Through the first 150 years or more of the educational history of Western Massachusetts, much instruction was given by ministers. Of one who still remains, Rev. Dr. Cooley, of Granville, an interesting chapter might be given. His school education commenced in 1776. He says, 'the only school-books were Dilworth's Spelling-book, the Primer, and the Bible. The furniture, as I recollect, was a chair for the master, a long hickory, and a ferule. Reading, spelling, a few of the business rules of arithmetic, the catechism, and writing legibly, was the amount of common school education for sons; and for daughters, still less. The luxury of a slate and pencil I never enjoyed till I entered college. Previous to 1796, no academy existed in Western Massachusetts, except a well-endowed institution at Williamstown. In the autumn of 1796, I commenced my family school. Probably as many as 800 have been under my tuition, and as many as 60 or 70 have entered the ministry; others have been high in office and members of Congress, &c. I have had between 20 and 30 under censure (rusticated) from colleges. A few lads have been sent me that were irreclaimably reckless. Almost without exception they died in their teens!' Dr. Cooley had a remarkable tact in influencing those under his care by moral suasion and kind address. He has performed a great work as a teacher as well as minister." The Rev. Dr. Cooley, as we are informed by one who is well versed in the philosophy, history, and biography of education, was born in East Granville, March 13, 1772. His mother was Sarah Mather, of Windsor, Ct., a descendant of Rev. Richard Mather, of Dorchester. He graduated at Yale College in 1792, and was ordained pastor of the church in his native town, February 3, 1796. He continued his pastoral charge nearly sixty years,-until May, 1855. In the very year of his settlement, he added to his ministerial labours the work of preparing young men for college or for active business, to which allusion is made in the extract above. He also did much to stimulate and assist the young of his parish in the acquisition of useful knowledge. He procured a library of valuable reading, and those whom he instructed in a Bible Class on Sunday had the privilege of drawing-books in the week. He has been rewarded by the eminent success and gratitude of many of these. has served as a member of the School Committee of Granville forty-eight years. New England furnish another case of equal length of service? He has also, during most of his public life, been a faithful trustee of a neighbouring Academy, and of Williams College; having, it is said, never failed, notwithstanding the mountain-range which intervened, to attend Commencement at the latter, with one exception when his class after their long separation held a meeting in connection with the Yale Commencement. What an envied life of abundant and varied usefulness!

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Surely we may say, with the gentleman to whom we are indebted for these facts, that Dr. Cooley, if any man living, "has a right to speak on the subject of Education." Those who had the privilege of listening to his Lecture, must have felt as did the Greek host, when, as Homer tells us,

"Slow from his seat arose the Pylian sage,
Experienced Nestor, in persuasion skill'd;
Words, sweet as honey, from his lips distill'd.
Two generations now had pass'd away,
Wise by his rules, and happy by his sway;
Two ages o'er his native realm he reign'd,
And now, the example of the third, remain'd.
All view'd with awe the venerable man,
Who thus with mild benevolence began."]

REMINISCENCES OF AMERICAN SCHOOLS BY AN OCTOGENARIAN.

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"My own common school education commenced, I suppose, in '76,—the memorable year of our country's strife for independence. Not far from the nation's birth-day was my first day at school. The first rude-built schoolhouse, probably the first erected on the Green Mountain range, I remember well, and can describe it. The building was limited in dimensions, low and narrow, and had no clapboarding without, or plastering within, to give comfort to the scholar during the intensity of cold in winter. In one corner stood the rough stone chimney, where one cord of wood a week would scarcely suffice. A long table, with a

bench upon each side, was the privilege of the class of writers. The other furniture was a low bench for the abecedarians, a more elevated one for the next older classes, a swing table for the master, a broom— seldom used,—a ferule, and a fearful rod of correction.

"The burning of the master's ferule was an incident among my early reminiscences. One morning the master was detained from school. It was a cold winter morning, and a large fire was glowing on the hearth. It was decided by the older scholars to burn the ferule; but who could dare do such a deed? No one would take the responsibility alone. As many as could take hold of it at once, united; and, thus dividing the responsibility, the ferule was committed to the fire.

"The result I do not remember. But I remember another case. A scholar who had some taste for the languages, learned the Latin phrase for asking leave to go out. Instead of employing it himself, he suggested it to a coeval, who, much delighted, went to the master with his 'Licetne mihi exire, Domine?' The master took it as an insult, and inflicted a scourging, which even the spectators would never forget. Years after, the master died in the poor-house, and the reckless scholar had long before gone down to the drunkard's grave.

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It would amuse you to hear a class read the spelling-book in the antiquated style: A by itself, a, b-a-s-e, base, abase. I by itself, i, d-o-l, dol, idol. A by itself, a, m-a-ezzard-e, maze, amaze, m-e-n-t, ment, amazement. Perhaps there will be a smile at the ludicrous in these early arrangements for educational purposes; but if the picture looks dark and ludicrous, I present it as it was threescore and eighteen years ago.

"There are, however, light shades of a serious and delightful character. In all my recollections of the common school, there was no instance of vulgarity or profanity. And if an old man with silvery locks passed near the play-ground, it was not,—' Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head!' All noise was hushed; and the lads and misses, arranged in order and stillness, paid their tokens of reverence to the old man.

"The standard books in school were Dilworth's Spelling-book, the Primer, and the BIBLE. First of all, the Bible, especially the discourses and acts of the Saviour, poured forth their heavenly instructions upon the school-room, every hour in the day. Every child, in every day of life, was thus imbued with the teachings of Him who 'spake as never man spake.' The Saturday catechising, in the best uninspired system of doctrine and duty, was the closing exercise of every week.

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My respected friends, it was such schools and such nurturings, that formed the 60,000 soldiers furnished by Massachusetts alone for the army of the Revolution. They furnished the men who fell at Lexington, at Bunker Hill, and in the bloody massacre at Stone Arabia. Not a few

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REMINISCENCES OF AMERICAN SCHOOLS BY AN OCTOGENARIAN.

of the army at Ticonderoga,* at White Plains, at Princeton, and in the last decisive action at Yorktown, were the sons of the Pilgrims. Many fell without leaving a stone to designate the spot of the soldier's sepulchre. Early common schools were also the nursery of such mighty spirits as Franklin, Hancock, the Adamses, Sherman, and many others in civil life; and of such luminaries in the church as Shepard, the Mathers, Stoddard, the Edwardses,

"Whose fame will spread from shore to shore,

Till moons shall wax and wane no more."

"At a later period, the Books of Noah Webster, his First, Second, and Third Part, were introduced, and gave a new character to common schools. Other books were added, and new studies were introduced. The simple expedient of the black-board has imparted a new impulse to the business of teaching the exact sciences.

"Sixty years ago a district school was opened in a respectable town in Connecticut, the brief history of which may cast light on the subject. The number of scholars was thirty-six between the ages of six and fourteen; and the school was kept for one year. In reply to some inquiries of the teacher, the Committee remarked that there would be no difficulty, except that one reckless lad must be punished every day. A brother of President Dwight had kept the school the preceding year, and found this to be the only course. The school opened. The bad boy was noticed the first day, and distinguished by his small flashing eye, his long and quick step, and rapid movements.

"The boy was twelve; and now, if ever, was the time to save him. The teacher resolved on a different course. He was treated with kindness and even favouritism. There was little danger of suspicion of odious partiality, in this case. The poor reckless boy was won and saved. Another year, under the old discipline, would probably have sealed his fate for ever. He yielded to kindness, though he could never be made to yield to the scourge. The teachings of Scripture, on this subject, are perfect. The child, before he can speak or go alone, is to be subdued, effectually and permanently, by the rod of correction. This hopeless lad became one of the best scholars of the thirty-six. Twelve years after he graduated, at a New England College, with the first honours of his class. He became an attorney-at-law, and was at the head of the bar. He was afterwards a judge. He is a professor of religion, 'an honest man, the noblest work of God.'

“You may have a curiosity to hear the biography of a district school, kept sixty years ago. I can give it in part. One of the pupils died during his second year in college. One was governor of a state. One, as you have heard, was a judge; one a State senator; one a physician. One became a maniac. He entered a schoolroom, where was a young lady, the teacher, and inflicted upon her wounds with his penknife which nearly proved mortal. Afterwards, in a new town, out West, he snatched an infant from the cradle, and taking it to a stump, with a hatchet severed its head from its body. One stole a Bible from the college chapel, and carried it home and presented it to his minister. One died at New Orleans; one died at sea; and one by suicide. One

* The wife of the speaker was thus left an orphan at the age of six months.

became president of the Bank at Brattleboro', and one of the Union Bank in New York. Two became eminent as sons of the printer; one at Binghamton, New York; and one in Ohio.

"I need not proceed farther with this commingled detail of the pleasing and the painful. It may seem to you more like the tales of romance than sober, truthful history, that the members of a single district school should travel so wide apart, and present biographical sketches so highly elevated, and so deeply and affectingly depressed. Hence let teachers beware of their high and awful responsibility. You act upon minds whose future destiny may range as wide apart as the chair of state and the dark cell of the penitentiary. Mind, like the smooth ocean, is easily impressible with the slightest touch; and yet the impression, once made, is graven, as with an iron and lead in the rock for ever.' Every movement of the teacher in the schoolroom must strike a chord which will vibrate for ever." [This description of the instruction given in the last century, in American common schools, exactly corresponds with that given in two-thirds of our own at the present time.-ED. E. J. E.]

FONDNESS FOR TEACHING.

TH HE question is often asked by those about to engage in teaching:"I wonder if I shall like teaching." Now, one of the first requisites for success in this vocation is a fondness for the occupation,—an ardent love for the work; and we would have beginners in the profession enter upon their labours with nothing less than a determination to love the work. This determination, before a practical trial has been made, cannot, as we think, be regarded as premature or inconsiderate. No person should engage in teaching, without having first studied the nature of the calling, and his fitness for its duties; and public sentiment now quite generally demands, also, some special professional training for the work. In the case of an individual who has thus studied his vocation and himself (we use simply the masculine pronoun for the sake of convenience, including, of course, teachers of both sexes), and also, perhaps, made some special preparation for engaging in it; and who still has a desire to make a trial at teaching; it is fair to presume that there is enough in such a person's tastes and predilections to constitute a guaranty, that the labours of the teacher will be, in a good degree at least, congenial to him. Hence we think such a beginner in teaching may safely resolve to love the work.

Entering upon the labours of the schoolroom with this resolution, the young teacher will be in a frame of mind to understand properly the nature of his work, to grapple successfully with its difficulties, and to bring the full strength of a willing mind to bear upon the discharge of his duties. This, most assuredly, will lessen his trials. Such a state of mind is to him the achromatic glass, through which he clearly sees the many perplexities and provocations he necessarily encounters, in their true relations, without distortion, and without the confused colour

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