which it is well to sacrifice it. The preservation of life is not to be compared in importance to the preservation of the soul's integrity. Let education be guarded from the influence of a low materialism. Concrete science is worth much, but abstract science is worth more. The former is but a means of reaching the latter. Let us devoutly study the works of the creation, but let us not forget that God made them.

The Object Lesson system is apt to cramp the imagination, and weaken the trustfulness, of children. Every one has noticed the lively imagination of children. They gild the narrow horizon of their vision with dreams. Elysian fields cover all their future. Unless this characteristic indicates an abnormal condition of the youthful mind (and no one can believe that it does), it is wrong to limit their education to the acquirement of dry, hard facts. Facts must be learned, true enough, but we must allow some room for the play of the imagination. It is a great mistake to suppose "That facts alone are wanted in life." The sunlight plays about the rugged mountain heights, and silver lakes nestle down below frowning crags and cliffs. I would but chasten his imagination, I would not destroy a single air-castle of a child.

God made children trustful. No scheme of edu cation could be worse than one which proposes never to describe anything to a child which he cannot see, never to tell a child anything which he cannot understand, for this would be to weaken the power which was given him to be developed into that faith which lays hold of things unseen-immortality, God. Doubts will come soon enough, and strong enough; childhood is the time for trust.

CHAPTER II.

66

INSTRUCTION IN LANGUAGE.

MAN, in fact," says Sir William Hamilton, "only obtains the use of his faculties in obtaining the use of speech; for language is the indispensable means of the development of his natural powers, whether intellectual or moral." The truth of this statement is unquestionable, and it shows at once the deservedly high place Language holds in a course of study. For its beauty as a science, for its usefulness as an art, for its disciplinary advantages as a study, Language can scarcely be outranked in excellence by any other subject open to the contemplation of finite minds.

The following divisions are deemed proper:

I. Instruction in our Mother-Tongue. II. Instruction in the Dead Languages. III. Instruction in Living Foreign Languages.

I. Instruction in our Mother-Tongue.

Nobody will deny that to be able to read and write our Mother-Tongue with accuracy and facility is a valuable acquirement, but even some teachers hold that its further study is of little use. In these circumstances it may be worth while to make a few

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statements intended to favor the study of the English Language as a science.

A knowledge of the English Language, as a science, is necessary to a nice appreciation of it. One who is accustomed to hear well-spoken discourses, or to read well-written books, may be able in good degree to understand the meaning and perceive the beauty of what he hears or reads; but to enable an individual to appreciate those more delicate shades of thought, or those finer touches of beauty, which may be expressed in words, careful study is necessary. If any doubt it, let them test the matter. Take a poem of Milton's, or an oration of Webster's, and enter upon a critical examination of it with a well-read man who has never studied Grammar or Rhetoric, and you will most likely find that many things relating to its arrangement, its choice of words, its introduction of figures, its construction of sentences, its order of paragraphs, have almost altogether escaped his attention; and that even many things which he has noticed he cannot express in appropriate words. No art, indeed, can be fully appreciated without a knowledge of the science or sciences upon which it is based, and language is no exception.

A knowledge of the English Language, as a science, is necessary to its skilful use. With suitable models for imitation, a child may learn to speak and write correctly. A favored son of genius may be so gifted with speech that without the prepara tion of study he can lead men captive by the charms of his poetry or the power of his eloquence. But these facts do not invalidate the proposition which

heads this paragraph. Suitable models for imitation may, indeed, enable a child to speak and write his Mother Tongue with as much accuracy as is generally required by the common usages of society, but the degree of skill thus acquired would be entirely inadequate to the higher purposes of Literature. If the gift of genius in the use of language, on the part of the one who has it, be taken as a fact indicating that no necessity exists for study on the part of the thousands who have it not, there is no reason why the same principle might not be applied to all human efforts, for in each of these, at some time, genius has enjoyed triumphs. It is not possible for ordinary men to use language with skill who have not closely studied the signification of words, the structure of sentences, the characteristics of style, and the composition of discourse. The Greeks made their language a prominent object of study, and the classic elegance of their writings is the delight of all readers. The Parisians, by the same means, are fast making the French the language of refined society throughout Europe. Demosthenes prepared his unequalled orations with immense labor, and the same is true, with fewer exceptions than is generally supposed, of all great speakers and writers.

A knowledge of the science of the English Language is valuable for its own sake. We study not merely to use, but to know. Knowledge is of much worth in itself. Language is subject to laws which control its growth, its changes, its constructions. If it is worth while to study the laws which relate to the mineral masses of the earth, to plants, to

animals, to stars, it cannot be less worth while to study the laws which relate to human speech. The science of the English Language contains as much worth knowing as any other science, the study of it is as valuable for discipline, and as well calculated to lift the mind up to the contemplation of what is most noble in human life and human thought. Indeed, it would seem that our Mother-Tongue ought to have more interest for us than almost any other thing. It is by means of our powers of speech that we hold converse with our friends, in words we embalm our thoughts, in words our heart's highest aspirations are expressed. Except the soul itself, earth can present nothing more wonderful or more clearly evincing Divine wisdom and goodness than Language.

A knowledge of the science of the English Language is valuable to us on account of the relations of the science of language to other sciences. Language must be used to record all the observations. and discoveries which are made in any department of science, and the scientific man feels the constant want of words adapted to express his meaning. He sees things which he cannot describe; he feels thoughts stir within him which he cannot express. Suffering from such a disability, he says what he does not mean, and is misunderstood, perhaps maligned. The history of science records many "wars of words." Bacon, Locke, and many other writers lament the errors in science which arise from a misuse of language. While language has thus an intimate general relation to all the sciences, its relations are particularly close to History and the