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Recite without book.-Geography and History.

child. When the scholar has learned to read, and has attained the age of six or seven, he may be allowed a book in preparing his lesson, but never during the recitation. Those who have not tried this kind of mental discipline, will be astonished at the facility which the child acquires, for performing operations that often puzzle the adult. Nor is it an unimportant acquisition. None can tell its value but those who have experienced the advantage it gives them in future school exercises and in business, over those who have never had such training.

Geography may come next to Mental Arithmetic. The child should have an idea of the relations of size, form, and space, as well as number, before commencing Geography. These, however, he acquires naturally at an early age; and very thoroughly, if the teacher has taken a little pains to aid him on these points in the earliest stages of his progress. A map is a picture, and hence a child welcomes it. If it can be a map of some familiar object, as of his schoolroom, of the school district, of his father's orchard or farm, it becomes an object of great interest. A map of his town is very desirable, also of his county and his own state. Further detail will be deferred here, as it is only intended in this place to hint at the order of taking up the subjects.

History should go hand in hand with Geography. Perhaps no greater mistake is made than that of deferring History till one of the last things in the child's

course.

Writing.-Written Arithmetic.-Composition.-Grammar.

Writing may be early commenced with the pencil upon the slate, because it is a very useful exercise to the child in prosecuting many of his other studies. But writing with a pen may well be deferred till the child is ten years of age, when the muscles shall have acquired sufficient strength to grasp and guide it.

Written Arithmetic may succeed the mental; in deed, it may be practised along with it.

Composition-perhaps by another name, as Descrip tion-should be early commenced and very frequently practised. The child can be early interested in this, and he probably in this way acquires a better knowledge of practical grammar than in any other.

Grammar, in my opinion, as a study, should be one of the last of the common school branches to be taken up. It requires more maturity of mind to understand its relations and dependencies than any other; and that which is taught of grammar without such an understanding, is a mere smattering of technical terms, by which the pupil is injured rather than improved. It may be said, that unless scholars commence this branch early, they never will have the opportunity to learn it. Then let it go unlearned; for as far as I have seen the world, I am satisfied that this early and superficial teaching of a difficult subject is not only useless but positively injurious. How many there are who study grammar for years, and then are obliged to confess in after life, because "their speech bewrayeth" them, that they never understood it! How many, by the too early study of an intricate branch, make

How to study.-Not words, but thoughts.

themselves think they understand it, and thus prevent the hope of any further advancement at the proper age! Grammar,then, should not be studied too early.

Of the manner of teaching all these branches, I shall have more to say in due time. At present I have only noticed the order in which they should be taken up. This is a question of much consequence to the child, and the teacher is generally responsible for it. He should therefore carefully consider this matter, that he may be able to decide aright.

2. The manner of study. It is of quite as much importance how we study, as what we study. Indeed I have thought that much of the difference among men could be traced to their different habits of study, formed in youth. A large portion of our scholars study for the sake of preparing to recite the lesson. They seem to have no idea of any object beyond recitation. The consequence is, they study mechanically. They endeavor to remember phraseology, rather than principles; they study the book, not the subject. Let any one enter our schools and see the scholars engaged in preparing their lessons. Scarcely one will be seen, who is not repeating over and over again the words of the text, as if there was a saving charm in repetition. Observe the same scholars at recitation, and it is a struggle of the memory to recall the forms of words. The vacant countenance too often indicates that they are words without meaning. This difficulty is very much increased, if the teacher is confined to the text-book during recitation; and par

Teacher's duty.-Books but helps.-Study objects.

ticularly, if he relies mainly upon the printed questions so often found at the bottom of the page.

The scholar should be encouraged to study the subject; and his book should be held merely as the instrument. "Books are but helps," is a good motto for every student. The teacher should often tell how the lesson should be learned. His precept in this matter will often be of use Some scholars will learn a lesson in one tenth of the time required by others. Human life is too short to have any of it employed to disadvantage. The teacher, then, should inculcate such habits of study as are valuable; and he should be particularly careful to break up, in the recitations, those habits which are so grossly mechanical. A child may almost be said to be educated, who has learned to study aright; while one may have acquired in the mechanical way a great amount of knowledge, and yet have no profitable mental discipline.

For this difference in children, as well as in men, the teacher is more responsible than any other person Let him carefully consider this matter.

3. Collateral study. Books to be sure are to be studied, and studied chiefly, in most of our schools. But there is much for the teacher to do toward the growth of the mind, which is not to be found in the school-books; and it is the practical recognition of this fact which constitutes the great difference in teachers. Truth, in whatever department, is open to the faithful teacher. And there is such a thing, even in the present generation, as "opening the eyes of the blind," to

Teaching to observe.-Mind not to be crammed.

discover things new and old, in nature, in the arts, in history, in the relation of things. Without diminishing, in the least, the progress of the young in study, their powers of observation may be cultivated, their perception quickened, their relish for the acquisition of knowledge indefinitely increased, by the instrumentality of the teacher. This must of course be done adroitly. There is such a thing as excessively cramming the mind of a child, till he loathes every thing in the way of acquisition. There is such a thing, too, as exciting an all-pervading interest in a group of children, so that the scholar shall welcome the return of school hours, and, by his cheerful step and animated eye, as he seeks the school-house, disclaim, as false when applied to him, the language of the poet, who described the school-boy of his darker day,

"with his satchel,

And shining morning face, creeping, like snail,
Unwillingly to school."

The teacher, who is responsible for such a result, should take care to store his own mind with the material, and exercise the ingenuity, to do that which is of so much consequence to the scholar. The chapter on "Waking up Mind" will give some further hints to the young teacher.

III. The teacher is in a degree responsible for the MORAL TRAINING of the child.

I say in a degree, because it is confessed that in this matter very much likewise depends upon parental influence.

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