one after another into dishonor, and infamy, and death;we might not think ourselves faithful unless we used all proper means to strengthen all good purposes, to confirm all right principles, till our pupils, like beacons amid the ocean waves, could stand firm and unshaken by the driven tempest, and in the darkest hour of adversity, shed a bright and beaming light on the pathway of life.

The reading of a short portion of Scripture every morning, to be followed by prayer, and a song of praise, is an admirable preparation for the duties of the day. And if in addition to this, each of the pupils is allowed to repeat one verse a day, of their own selecting,-the whole of which, with all necessary explanations, need not occupy more than fifteen minutes,-and if the teacher will live a christian life,—be, himself, what he would have his pupils become,-" allure to brighter worlds, and lead the way," he will have cause, ages hence, to rejoice in his fidelity.

II. A teacher, to be faithful, should take good heed to himself, to secure his own physical, moral and intellectual well-being; and, in this home department, if an equilibrium be preserved, there is little danger of excess. No teacher's health can be too good,-and if pure air, and regular exercise, are needful to the scholar, they are doubly so to the teacher. Without these he will soon become stupid, morose, and unfitted for his station. Every bodily accomplishment also, that he would prize in a scholar, he ought himself to strive to possess. And so of all accomplishments, whether mental or moral. Let him be what he would have his pupils become, and his task is half accomplished. In the highest department of the teacher's office, the forming of character, let him

be especially faithful. In this matter how circumspect ought we to be! Here nothing is great,—nothing small.

"A little word in kindness spoken,

A motion or a tear,

Has often healed the heart that 's broken,

And made a friend sincere.

A word-a look-has crushed to earth

Full many a budding flower,
Which, had a smile but owned its birth,
Would bless life's darkest hour.

Then deem it not an idle thing

A pleasant word to speak;

The face you wear, the thoughts you bring,

A heart may heal, or break."

Let the teacher remember that there are moments in every one's life that carry with them all the future. Let him seize upon these and improve them well. A single kiss made Benjamin West a painter. A single remark, made to some frolicksome children, sent six missionaries to bless heathen lands. A single command, given on the instant, in 1066, placed William the Norman on the English throne, and, by consequence, thirty-six of his descendants, including her present Britannic Majesty.

Time will only permit me to enumerate some of the remaining duties which a faithful teacher owes to himself, to his fellow teachers, and to the community. 1. To love his profession, and to regard it as a profession. 2. To govern himself. 3. To be patient and persevering. 4. To be punctual. 5. To keep out of debt. Franklin's advice on this point is not without meaning. 6. To learn how to teach, and how others teach. The several

School Journals and Reports, as well as the published volumes of the American Institute of Instruction,-and other associations of teachers, are mines of information. 7. In teaching to take nothing for granted,—and to have no patent methods. 8. To be ever ready to receive, and to impart, instruction. 9. To maintain the true dignity and respectability of his office. 10. To secure parental coöperation. 11. To love the brotherhood, and be ever ready to facilitate the progress of the younger members of the profession. 12. "To make his mark," to leave upon his pupils, and his age, the impress of his own character, ever remembering that it will be a blessing to the world in proportion as it resembles the perfect example of the Great Teacher, our Saviour.

Members of the Institute,-Let us, as faithful teachers, strive to hasten the period when every pupil that goes forth from our schools, through the length and breadth of the land, shall be able to think what he pleases, and as he pleases, and to declare his thoughts both in written and verbal language; with a mind disciplined by the study of the exact sciences; having a familiar knowledge of his own and other countries, and of the history of his own and other times;-with a heart to love and a hand to defend his native land, because he duly estimates her value; ready to yield to right, and truth,-but never to oppression; with an eye disciplined to read and appreciate the volume of nature, and the no less varied, beautiful, and sublime volume of Revelation. May such be the monuments that we erect to perpetuate our memories. So may we leave the world the better for our having lived in it, and receive from our Master in heaven the plaudit of "Well done, good and faithful servants."

LECTURE VIII.

ON

SOME OF THE DEFECTS

OF OUR

SYSTEMS OF EDUCATION.

BY R. B. HUBBARD.

The nature of man is three-fold;-physical, intellectual, and spiritual. A full and harmonious developement of all these, is the proper business of education.

Why does the character of man exhibit so many blemishes? The reason is obviously this: because of the unequal development of his faculties. I propose briefly to illustrate this remark.

We e are told that God created man in his own image. But this image was certainly not in physical form; for God is a spirit. It must then have been an intellectual and moral likeness. We admire the character of God, not for its display of one attribute, or one class of attributes, in the absence of all others; for a being of almighty

power, for instance, without benevolence, would be an object of terror, not of love. But in the character of God we find a full and perfect developement of all his attributes, natural and moral; and this it is which we admire.

tance.

A perfect system of education has due regard to this unity; and seeks a simultaneous enlargement of the several faculties, just in proportion to their relative imporA course of training, which promotes the health and vigor of the physical faculties, to the utter neglect of the intellectual and moral, will produce a monster in human form. With the growth of his physical frame, his animal propensities, his appetites and passions, subject to no restraint from his moral powers, will exercise unlimited control. Endowed with faculties, which, if cultivated, would have likened him to angels;-neglecting them, he sinks even below the brutes.

Again, when the mind is cultivated, at the expense of the moral and physical powers, an intellectual giant may be seen stalking about in the frame of a pigmy, contemning God and man.

Again, when the whole training is bestowed upon the moral faculties, this result is a mere apology for a man;

a thing with lofty aspirations, having no power to ascend, an eagle, with his wings clipped, gazing at the Horace says,

sun.

"If in a picture, Piso, you should see
A handsome woman with a fish's tail,
Or a man's head upon a horse's neck,
Or limbs of beasts of the most different kinds,
Covered with feathers of all sorts of birds,

Would you not laugh and think the painter mad?"