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

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 loathes 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 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 instruc

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

tion 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 lodgment 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.

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 in the pupil; and I may venture to add, as a scholium to what has already been said, that the teacher who was

Wise instruction will aim at making learning pleasurable.

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.

Wise instruction will certainly aim at making the process of learning pleasurable; but it is easy to apply this test too rigorously. When pupils manifest a distaste for any kind of learning, it is usual to assume either that the instruction is unskillful, or that the knowledge presented is not adapted to the pupil's present needs; but there is often a deeper and more significant indication. The pupil may have a predisposition to certain modes of mental activity, and the exercise of these will always be pleasurable; but there may be other modes of mental activity that have not yet been established, and the exercise of these will at first be painful. As one dominant aim of education should be symmetry, these dormant modes of activity should be stimulated, and though this stimulation may be unpleasant, it should be kept up till habit has made the exercise agreeable. Under the same conditions of age, sex, and quality of instruction, some pupils will find a delight in mathematical study, while to others it is a repulsive drudgery, the difference being due to the cause just assigned. That a certain study is agreeable, is no reason in itself why it should be pursued; nor is the fact that another study is disagreeable, a reason in itself why it should not

The best teachers sometimes miss their ideal.

be pursued. But in all cases the aim of the teacher should doubtless be to make study pleasurable, to inspire what Mr. Bain has happily called "intrinsic charm"; but the best of teachers will sometimes fall short of this ideal through no fault of their own.

CHAPTER X.

IT

SCHOOL GOVERNMENT.

T is not necessary that any space in this work should be occupied in speaking of the importance of order in our schools. Every body 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