Dr. Young. Even one's faults may instruct us. as delineated by Dr. Young, may not be denied to teachers. "Hast thou no friend to set thy mind abroach? Good sense will stagnate. Thoughts shut up want air, And spoil like bales unopened to the sun.. Had thought been all, sweet speech had been denied. Thought, too, delivered, is the more possessed: But not only should teachers visit one another,—it is profitable also for them to visit each other's schools. I have never spent an hour in the school of another without gaining some instruction. Sometimes a new way of illustrating a difficult point, sometimes an exhibition of tact in managing a difficult case in discipline, sometimes an improved method of keeping up the interest in a class, would suggest the means of making my own labors the more successful. And even should one's neighbor be a bad teacher, one may sometimes learn as much from witnessing glaring defects as great excellencies. Some of the most profitable lessons I have ever received, have been drawn from the deficiencies. of a fellow teacher. We seldom "see ourselves as others see us ;" and we are often insensible of our own faults till we have seen them strikingly exhibited by another; and then by a comparison we correct our own. Besides, by a visitation of a friend's school we may Stated teachers' meetings.-Their use.-Employ the pen. not only receive good, but we may impart it. If there is mutual confidence, a few words may aid him to correct his faults, if he has any,-faults which but for such suggestion might grow into confirmed habits, to his permanent injury. So important is this mutual visitation among teachers as a means of improvement, that I doubt not employers would find it for their interest to encourage it by allowing the teachers to set apart an occasional half day for this purpose. It would, moreover, be very useful for the teachers of a town to hold stated meetings, as often as once a month, for the purpose of mutual improvement. It would cultivate a fellow-feeling among them, and it would afford them an opportunity to exchange thoughts on most of the difficulties which they meet in their schools, and the best methods of surmounting them. At these meetings, a mutual exchange of books on the subject of teaching, would extend the facilities of each for improving his own mind and his methods of instruction and government. 2. By the use of the pen. Every teacher should be a ready writer. Nearly every teacher could gain access to the columns of some paper, through which he could impart the results of his experience, or of his reflection. Such a course would benefit him specially, and at the same time it would awaken other minds to thought and action. In this way the attention, not only of teachers but parents, would be called to the great work of education. One mind in this way might move Teachers' Associations.-Institutes.-Their utility.-Should be practical. a thousand. If a teacher does not feel qualified to instruct, let him inquire, and thus call out the wisdom of others. This could be done in nearly every village. The press is almost always ready to promote the cause of education. By the use of it, teachers may profitably discuss all the great questions pertaining to their duty, and at the same time enlighten the community in which they live. This is an instrumentality as yet too little employed. 3. By Teachers' Associations or Institutes. These are peculiarly adapted to the diffusion of the best. plans of instruction. Rightly conducted, they can never fail of being useful. Every man who lectures or teaches, is profited by the preparation. If he is a man of wisdom and experience, he will benefit his hearers. If otherwise, the discussion, which should ever follow a lecture, will expose its fallacies. It has often happened in such associations, that an honest and experienced man has, in a half-hour, given to the younger portion of the members, lessons of wisdom which it would take them years to learn by their own observation. Errors in principle and practice have been exposed, into which many a young teacher was unconsciously falling, and hints have been given to the quicker minds, by which their own modes of teaching and governing have been speedily improved. As far as possible, such meetings should be made strictly practical. The older teachers, who usually have the most to do with the management of them, A perversion.-Talk.-Encouragement by meeting friends. should bear in mind that they are mainly designed to diffuse practical ideas of teaching, particularly among the younger members. Too often, these meetings are made the arena of debate upon questions of very little practical importance to the teacher. I have seen a body of men spend an entire session of a half-day, in discussing a series of overwrought resolutions, upon some topic scarcely at all connected with any duty of the teacher, frequently leaving the main question to wrangle about some point of order, or of "parliamentary usage ;" and after the resolutions were passed or rejected, as the case might be,-(and it was of very little consequence whether "carried” or "lost,")—the ladies and younger teachers who had borne no part in the talk, would find it difficult to tell "wherefore they had come together." Nothing had been said or done by which they could be aided in their schools. Lecturers, too, have frequently mistaken their aim. Ambitious to shine out as literary men, they have given orations instead of practical lessons. In these meetings, it seems to me, nothing ostentatious, nothing far-fetched is what we need ; but rather the modes and experience of practical men. We need to come down to the schoolroom, to the every-day business of the teacher, and thus prepare him to do his work more successfully on his return to his duties. Another, and no inconsiderable advantage of such associations, is, that the teacher gains encouragement and strength, by being thus brought in contact with Illustration.-A professional feeling.-Light breaks in. others engaged in the same pursuit. Toiling on alone, in his isolated district, surrounded by obstacles and discouragements, weighed down by care, and finding none to sympathize with him, he is almost ready to faint in his course, and perhaps to abandon his calling. At this crisis, he reads the notice for the teachers' meeting, and he resolves to go up once more to the gathering of his friends. From the various parts of the county, from the populous and crowded city, and from the byways of the country-towns, a goodly number collect together and greet each other. Smile answers to smile, the blood courses more freely through the veins, the spirits, long depressed perhaps, partake of the general glow, and each feels that he is not toiling alone. He feels that a noble brotherhood of kindred spirits are laboring in the same field, under trials and discouragements similar to those which have oppressed him. He derives new strength from the sympathy of friends. A professional feeling is engendered, which will accompany him to his schoolroom; and when he goes home, it is with renewed vigor and fresh aspirings to be a better man, and a better teacher. He labors with more confidence in himself; and, enlightened by what he has seen and heard, he is far more successful than before. His pupils, too, respond to the new life they see enkindling in him, and go to their work more cheerfully. One difficulty after another vanishes, and he begins to think teaching, after all, is not the worst employment in the world, |