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This pleasure abates in after life.-Mind may be surfeited.

nerves of touch. Every new idea that enters into the presence of the sovereign mind, carries offerings of delight with it, to make its coming welcome. Indeed, our Maker created us in blank ignorance, for the very purpose of giving us the boundless, endless pleasure of learning new things."

It is, of course, not to be expected that the same degree of pleasure will attend the learner in every acquisition as the novelty diminishes, and as he advances in age. The bodily appetite is less keen in after life than in childhood, so that the adult may never realize again to the full extent the delicious flavors which regaled him in his earliest years. Still there will ever be a delight in acquisition; and to carry our illustration a little further,—as the child is soonest cloyed whose stomach is surfeited with dainties, and stimulated with condiments, and pampered with sweetmeats, till his taste has lost its acumen and digestion becomes a burden; so the mental appetite is soonest destroyed, when, under the unskillful teacher, it is overloaded with what it can neither digest nor disgorge. The mind may be surfeited; and then no wonder if it loaths even the wholesome aliment. Artificial stimulants, in the shape of prizes, and honors, and flattery, and fear, and shame, may have impaired its functions, so that it ceases to act except under their excitement. But all must see that these are unnatural conditions, superinduced by erroneous treatment. There is still a delight in acquisition, just as soon as the faculties are aroused to the effort; and the skillful

A desire to know.-Instance of God's wisdom and goodness.

teacher will strive to wake up the mind to find this delight, and if he understands his work, he will scarcely need a stronger incentive. If he understands the secret of giving just so much instruction as to excite the learner's curiosity, and then to leave him to discover and acquire for himself, he will have no necessity to use any other means as stimulants to exertion.

To this might be added that irrepressible curiosity, that all-pervading desire to know, which is found in the mind of every child. The mind, as if conscious of its high destiny, instinctively spreads its unfledged wings in pursuit of knowledge. This, with some children, is an all-sufficient stimulant to the most vigorous exertion. To this the teacher may safely appeal. Indeed, it is a convincing proof of the wisdom as well as the goodness of God, that this desire to know, as well as the delight of acquisition, are the most active at that early period of childhood, when a just appreciation of the utility of knowledge, and the higher motives already detailed, could scarcely find a lodgement in the tender mind. It seems to be, therefore, an indisputable dictate of our very nature, that both these principles should be early employed as incentives.

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If, then, the desire of the approval of parents and teachers, the desire of advancement,—the desire to be useful,—and the desire to do right, can be superadded to the natural love in the child for acquisition, and a natural desire to know, there will, as I believe, be but little occasion to look further for incentives to exertion

A scholium.

in the pupil; and I may venture to add, as a scholium to what has already been said, that the teacher who has not yet learned to call into exercise these higher motives, and to rely for success mainly upon them, and who dares not abandon the system of exciting stimulants for fear of a failure, has yet much to learn as a true educator of the young.

Order necessary in school.-Self-government in the teacher.

CHAPTER IX.

SCHOOL GOVERNMENT.

Ir is not necessary that any space in this work should be occupied in speaking of the importance of order in our schools. Everybody who has written or spoken on this subject, has conceded the necessity of obedience on the part of the pupil. "ORDER IS HEAVEN'S FIRST LAW;" and it is scarcely more essential to the harmony of heaven, than it is to the happiness and success of the school.

If such be the necessity of order in the school, then the ability to secure and maintain it is no mean part of the qualification of the good teacher. It is lamentable that so many fail in this particular; and yet this frequent failure can in most cases be traced to some defect in the constitutional temperament, or some deficiency in the mental or moral culture of the teacher himself. It shall be my first object, then, to point out some of the

SECTION I.-REQUISITES IN THE TEACHER FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT.

I. SELF-GOVERNMENT. It has frequently been said that no man can govern others till he has learned to

Angry passions.-Manner.-Levity and moroseness,

govern himself. I have no doubt of the truth of this. If an individual is not perfectly self-possessed, his decisions must fail to command respect. The selfgovernment of the teacher should be complete, in the following particulars :

1. As to the passion of anger. The exhibition of anger always detracts from the weight of authority. A man under its influence is not capable of doing strict justice to his pupils. Before entering upon teaching, therefore, a man should somehow obtain the mastery over his temper, so that under any provocation he car control it. He should consider that in school his pa tience will often be severely tried. He should not expect, indeed, that the current of affairs in school will for a single day run perfectly smooth. He should, therefore, prepare for the worst, and firmly resolve that, whatever unpleasant thing shall occur, it shall not take him entirely by surprise. Such forethought will give him self-command. If, however, from his past experience, and from the nature of his temperament, he is satisfied he cannot exercise this self-control, he may be assured he is the wrong man to engage in teaching. A man who has not acquired thorough ascendancy over his own passions, is an unsafe man to be intrusted with the government of children.

Either

2. As to levity and moroseness of manner. extreme is to be avoided. There are some teachers who exhibit such a frivolity in all their intercourse with their pupils, that they can never command them with authority, or gain their cordial respect. This is a

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