about it, than that "the colonists. did not want to pay taxes." Our pupil may now go forward, and trace the consequences of that event, some of them—not to the end,— for the end is not yet, either on this continent, or the other. Let it ever be remembered that history furnishes daily opportunities for inculcating great moral lessons, and of exercising the moral faculty of the pupil. Let not the teacher, who omits or overlooks these opportunities, flatter himself that he is faithful to his high trust. Require your advanced pupils to write on subjects upon which you would have them collect knowledge. Suppose, for instance, the question to come up, whether there are facts to sustain the geological theory of a great central heat in the earth. When first suggested, the pupil will, probably, know very little about it. Let him examine the various proofs on which its advocates rest. In doing so, he will collect and remember a vast number of facts having relation to the question. Let him take time to make the examination with a good degree of thoroughness, and occasionally report progress. Give him weeks-months, if need be. So long as the question is before the mind for the purpose of collecting information, the record of every fact which can bear upon it, whether as a proof or an objection, arrests his attention, and secures for itself a permanent remembrance. The temperature of caverns, and of deep artificial excavations, and of thermal springs, is noticed. Trap dykes, and their effect on contiguous rocks, are observed with care. Volcanoes with the materials ejected from them, and earthquakes are objects of attention. All these, and many other phenomena, either as nature presents them to his observation, or the record of other observers brings them to his notice, are collected, and mentally associated with the question, while nine-tenths of them would, probably, have arrested too little attention to be permanently retained in the memory, but for their bearing upon the question under consideration. Now let it be his last work to arrange these proofs under their appropriate heads. Having disposed of this subject, give out some other, which will require similar research, and treat it in the same way. It has been wisely recommended to all persons to keep some important subject before the mind, for the purpose of collecting information in regard to it, in addition to the ordinary occupations of business. In process of time, a vast amount of valuable information is accumulated and well arranged, without interfering in the least with the discharge of ordinary duties. It is a means of improvement especially adapted to the condition and labors of a teacher. Teach by example. We must ourselves have done what we wish our pupils to do. Conduct your exercises without dependence on the book. Having your own knowledge of the subject so familiar and well arranged, that it will come when you bid it, throw your whole self into the exercise. See your pupils eye to eye. Your own spirit and manner will be contagious, to all with very few exceptions, like those to whom neither innoculation nor contact will communicate the most contagious of all diseases. Show your class, by your own living example, that no knowledge of the subject in hand will answer for yourself, but that same familiar, well arranged knowledge, which you enjoin it on them to acquire. You will, of course, remember the difficulties you yourself had to encounter, and be very charitable to their mistakes and failures, and give them full credit for their successes. Human nature works best under encouragement. What is well done commonly requires little comment, and is apt to pass with little notice. Mistakes and failures demand attention. Be careful, therefore, in your zealous endeavors to correct errors and to supply defects, that you fail not to express a just appreciation of successful exertions. It will discourage your pupil, and, perhaps, disaffect him, to find, or think you blind to what he has done as he ought, yet with a full power of keen vision to detect and expose what he has failed to do. Having yourself passed successfully through the trials which now beset your pupils, your sympathies, prompted by your experience of like labors, will gush out,— "Quare agite, O tectis, juvenes succedite nostris ! In this spirit lead the way, and your pupils will follow. If the latent fire within them is not kindled into a glowing flame, I fear it will be because the original spark was infinitesimally small. Some studies are better suited to this discipline than others. Yet, whatever the study, it should be the diligent inquiry of the teacher, what method will elicit and exercise the various faculties of his pupil in the highest degree and best manner. Not how he can lodge in the memory the largest number of facts, but how, together with a knowledge of facts, he can give most strength and symmetry to the whole mental structure. Foremost among these studies, where practicable, I do not hesitate to place the ancient classics and geometry. Language may be studied with advantage at an age when nothing else can be engaged in, that will, at the same time, task so many and so various faculties. The method of studying is all-important. The common fault is, to attempt too much in too little time, and, consequently, to accomplish almost nothing. Imitate the early labors of Ruhnken and Wittenbach—those giants in classical attainments. Ruhnken read thus, "He first attended to single words, learning the meaning of new terms, and those with which he was not familiar, by means of etymology and usage, or by lexicons, and finally fixed upon the sense of the words which the sentence admitted or required. He then examined the composition and structure of the entire passage, and ascertained the true rendering, in view both of the connexion of the sense and the demands of grammar. The passage thus investigated, he reperused several times before he proceeded to the next. Finally, he read the whole treatise once and again. In this manner he insinuated himself, as it were, into the very spirit and usages of his author. When by repeated efforts he could not solve a doubt, he marked the passage, and on the following day he applied himself to it with fresh energy, and if these reiterated attempts were unsuccessful, he sought the aid of Hemsterhuys, his teacher." One result was, he spoke and wrote Latin with as much fluency and correctness as any of us can English. Hear Wittenbach's account of his manner of reading Demosthenes. "I had a copy without a Latin translation, but accompanied by the Greek Notes of Jerome Wolf. Darkness itself. But I had learned not to be frightened at first setting out. I went on. I found greater difficulties than I had ever had before, both in the words and the length of the sentences. At last, with much ado, I reached the end of the first Olinthiac. I then read it a second and a third time. Every thing now appeared plain and clear. Still I did not perceive the fire of eloquence for which he is distinguished. I hesitated whether to proceed to the second oration, or again read the first. I resolved to do the latter. How salutary are the effects of such a review! As I read, an altogether new and unknown feeling took possession of me. I saw the orator on fire, in anguish impetuously borne forward. I was influenced also and carried on upon the same tide. I seemed myself to be Demosthenes, standing on the bema pouring forth this oration, and urging the Athenians to imitate the bravery and glory of their ancestors." In the same manner he read all the orations of Demosthenes, and the works of the other Greek authors. Says his disciple, Philip Van Heusell, "When I applied to him for aid in difficult passages of Plato, after he had explained the structure of the language, the use and meaning of every word and phrase, not excepting even the smallest particles, I usually hastened to another which I also desired to understand. But he would not consent. "We must hasten slowly, my good friend," |