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diff --git a/31067-h/31067-h.htm b/31067-h/31067-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..da54f0d --- /dev/null +++ b/31067-h/31067-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,8080 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of In The School-room, by John S. Hart. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: 10pt; + text-align: right; + font-weight: normal; +} /* page numbers */ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of In the School-Room, by John S. Hart + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: In the School-Room + Chapters in the Philosophy of Education + +Author: John S. Hart + +Release Date: January 25, 2010 [EBook #31067] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN THE SCHOOL-ROOM *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + +</pre> + +<h1><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_i" id="Page_i">[Pg i]</a></span>IN THE SCHOOL-ROOM.</h1> + +<h2>CHAPTERS IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION.</h2> + +<h2>JOHN S. HART, LL. D.,</h2> + +<h3>PRINCIPAL OF THE NEW JERSEY STATE NORMAL SCHOOL</h3> + +<h2>1868.</h2> + +<h4>PHILADELPHIA:<br /> +ELDREDGE & BROTHER,<br /> +17 and 19 South Sixth Street.</h4> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ii" id="Page_ii">[Pg ii]</a></span></p> + +<h4>Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by +ELDREDGE & BROTHER, +in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States +for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.</h4> + +<h4>J. FAGAN & SON<br /> +STEREOTYPE FOUNDERS,<br /> +PHILADELPHIA.</h4> + +<h4>PRINTED BY SHERMAN & CO.</h4> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h3><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</a></span>TO THE<br /> +Teachers of the United States,<br /> +AND ESPECIALLY TO THE ALUMNI OF +THE PHILADELPHIA HIGH SCHOOL, AND OF THE<br/> +New Jersey State Normal School<br /> +THE FOLLOWING CHAPTERS ARE MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_v" id="Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span> +<a name="PREFACE" id="PREFACE"></a>PREFACE.</h2> + + +<p>The views contained in this volume are the result of a prolonged and +somewhat varied professional experience. This experience includes the +training of more than five thousand young men and of nearly one thousand +young women, a large portion of them for the office of teachers; and it +has been gained in College, in Boarding School, in a city High School, +and in a State Normal School. In all this prolonged and varied +experience, I have constantly put myself in the attitude of a learner, +and my aim in the present volume is to place before the younger members +of the profession, in the briefest and clearest terms possible, the +lessons I have myself learned. Beginning with the question, What is +Teaching? and ending with the wider question, What is Education? the +book will be found to take a pretty free range over the whole field of +practical inquiry among professional teachers. The thoughts presented +are such as have been suggested to the writer in the school-room itself, +while actively engaged either in teaching, or in superintending and +directing the instruction given by others. These thoughts are for the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg vi]</a></span>most part purposely given in short, detached chapters, each complete in +itself. Such a method of presentation, though less imposing, seemed to +have practical advantages for the reader too great to be neglected for +the mere vanity of authorship. Often one can find leisure to read a +chapter of five or six pages on some point complete in itself, when he +might not feel like reaching it through an intervening network of +connected and dependent propositions. At the same time, it should be +observed, the topics though detached are not isolated. There is +everywhere an underlying thread of connection, the whole being based +upon, if not constituting, a philosophy of education.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg vii]</a></span><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS.</h2> + +<blockquote> +<ol style="list-style: upper-roman;"> +<li><a href="#I">What is Teaching?</a></li> +<li><a href="#II">The Art of Questioning</a></li> +<li><a href="#III">The Difference between Teaching and Training</a></li> +<li><a href="#IV">Modes of Hearing Recitations</a></li> +<li><a href="#V">On Observing a Proper Order in the Development of the Mental Faculties</a></li> +<li><a href="#VI">Teaching Children what they do not Understand</a></li> +<li><a href="#VII">Cultivating the Memory in Youth</a></li> +<li><a href="#VIII">Knowledge before Memory</a></li> +<li><a href="#IX">Power of Words</a></li> +<li><a href="#X">The Study of Language</a></li> +<li><a href="#XI">Cultivating the Voice</a></li> +<li><a href="#XII">Eyes</a></li> +<li><a href="#XIII">Errors of the Cave</a></li> +<li><a href="#XIV">Men of One Idea</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span></li> +<li><a href="#XV">A Talent for Teaching</a></li> +<li><a href="#XVI">Teaching Power</a></li> +<li><a href="#XVII">Growing</a></li> +<li><a href="#XVIII">Loving the Children</a></li> +<li><a href="#XIX">Gaining the Affections of the Scholars</a></li> +<li><a href="#XX">The Obedience of Children</a></li> +<li><a href="#XXI">Rarey as an Educator</a></li> +<li><a href="#XXII">A Boarding-School Experience</a></li> +<li><a href="#XXIII">Phrenology</a></li> +<li><a href="#XXIV">Normal Schools</a></li> +<li><a href="#XXV">Practice-Teaching</a></li> +<li><a href="#XXVI">Attention as a Mental Faculty, and as a Means of Mental Culture</a></li> +<li><a href="#XXVII">Gaining the Attention</a></li> +<li><a href="#XXVIII">Counsels:</a> +<ol style="list-style-type: decimal;"> +<li><a href="#Counsel1">To a Young Teacher</a>;</li> +<li><a href="#Counsel2">To a New Pupil</a>;</li> +<li><a href="#Counsel3">To a Young Lady on leaving School</a>;</li> +<li><a href="#Counsel4">To a Pupil on Entering a Normal School</a></li> +</ol></li> +<li><a href="#XXIX">An Argument for Common Schools</a></li> +<li><a href="#XXX">What is Education?</a></li> +</ol> + +<ul style="list-style-type: none;"> +<li><a href="#MODEL_TEXT_BOOKS_FOR_SCHOOLS_ACADEMIES_AND_COLLEGES">Model Text Books For Schools, Academies and Colleges.</a></li> +</ul> +</blockquote> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="IN_THE_SCHOOL-ROOM" id="IN_THE_SCHOOL-ROOM"></a>IN THE SCHOOL-ROOM.</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>I.<br /> + +WHAT IS TEACHING?</h2> + + +<p>In the first place, teaching is not simply telling. A class may be told +a thing twenty times over, and yet not know it. Talking to a class is +not necessarily teaching. I have known many teachers who were brimful of +information, and were good talkers, and who discoursed to their classes +with ready utterance a large part of the time allotted to instruction; +yet an examination of their classes showed little advancement in +knowledge.</p> + +<p>There are several time-honored metaphors on this subject, which need to +be received with some grains of allowance, if we would get at an exact +idea of what teaching is. Chiselling the rude marble into the finished +statue; giving the impression of the seal upon the soft wax; pouring +water into an empty vessel;—all these comparisons lack one essential +element of likeness. The mind is, indeed, in one sense, empty, and needs +to be filled. It is yielding, and needs to be impressed. It is rude, and +needs polishing. But it is not, like the marble, the wax, or the vessel, +a passive recipient<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> of external influences. It is itself a living +power. It is acted upon only by stirring up its own activities. The +operative upon mind, unlike the operative upon matter, must have the +active, voluntary co-operation of that upon which he works. The teacher +is doing his work, only so far as he gets work from the scholar. The +very essence and root of the work are in the scholar, not in the +teacher. No one, in fact, in an important sense, is taught at all, +except so far as he is self-taught. The teacher may be useful, as an +auxiliary, in causing this action on the part of the scholar. But the +one, indispensable, vital thing in all learning, is in the scholar +himself. The old Romans, in their word education (<i>educere</i>, to draw +out), seem to have come nearer to the true idea than any other people +have done. The teacher is to draw out the resources of the pupil. Yet +even this word comes short of the exact truth. The teacher must put in, +as well as draw out. No process of mere pumping will draw out from a +child's mind knowledge which is not there. All the power of the Socratic +method, could it be applied by Socrates himself, would be unavailing to +draw from a child's mind, by mere questioning, a knowledge, for +instance, of chemical affinity, of the solar system, of the temperature +of the Gulf Stream, of the doctrine of the resurrection.</p> + +<p>What, then, is teaching?</p> + +<p>Teaching is causing any one to know. Now no one can be made to know a +thing but by the act of his own powers. His own senses, his own memory, +his own powers of reason, perception, and judgment, must be exercised. +The function of the teacher is to bring about this exercise of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> +pupil's faculties. The means to do this are infinite in variety. They +should be varied according to the wants and the character of the +individual to be taught. One needs to be told a thing; he learns most +readily by the ear. Another needs to use his eyes; he must see a thing, +either in the book, or in nature. But neither eye nor ear, nor any other +sense or faculty, will avail to the acquisition of knowledge, unless the +power of attention is cultivated. Attention, then, is the first act or +power of the mind that must be roused. It is the very foundation of all +progress in knowledge, and the means of awakening it constitute the +first step in the educational art.</p> + +<p>When by any means, positive knowledge, facts, are once in possession of +the mind, something must next be done to prevent their slipping away. +You may tell a class the history of a certain event; or you may give +them a description of a certain place or person; or you may let them +read it; and you may secure such a degree of attention, that, at the +time of the reading or the description, they shall have a fair, +intelligible comprehension of what has been described or read. The facts +are for the time actually in the possession of the mind. Now, if the +mind was, according to the old notion, merely a vessel to be filled, the +process would be complete. But mind is not an empty vessel. It is a +living essence, with powers and processes of its own. And experience +shows us, that in the case of a class of undisciplined pupils, facts, +even when fairly placed in the possession of the mind, often remain +there about as long as the shadow of a passing cloud remains upon the +landscape, and make about as much impression.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span></p> + +<p>The teacher must seek, then, not only to get knowledge into the mind, +but to fix it there. In other words, the power of the memory must be +strengthened. Teaching, then, most truly, and in every stage of it, is a +strictly co-operative process. You cannot cause any one to know, by +merely pouring out stores of knowledge in his hearing, any more than you +can make his body grow by spreading the contents of your market-basket +at his feet. You must rouse his power of attention, that he may lay hold +of, and receive, and make his own, the knowledge you offer him. You must +awaken and strengthen the power of memory within him, that he may retain +what he receives, and thus grow in knowledge, as the body by a like +process grows in strength and muscle. In other words, learning, so far +as the mind of the learner is concerned, is a growth; and teaching, so +far as the teacher is concerned, is doing whatever is necessary to cause +that growth.</p> + +<p>Let us proceed a step farther in this matter.</p> + +<p>One of the ancients observes that a lamp loses none of its own light by +allowing another lamp to be lit from it. He uses the illustration to +enforce the duty of liberality in imparting our knowledge to others. +Knowledge, he says, unlike other treasures, is not diminished by giving.</p> + +<p>The illustration fails to express the whole truth. This imparting of +knowledge to others, not only does not impoverish the donor, but it +actually increases his riches. <i>Docendo discimus.</i> By teaching we learn. +A man grows in knowledge by the very act of communicating it. The reason +for this is obvious. In order to communicate to the mind of another a +thought which is in our own mind,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> we must give to the thought definite +shape and form. We must handle it, and pack it up for safe conveyance. +Thus the mere act of giving a thought expression in words, fixes it more +deeply in our own minds. Not only so; we can, in fact, very rarely be +said to be in full possession of a thought ourselves, until by the +tongue or the pen we have communicated it to somebody else. The +expression of it, in some form, seems necessary to give it, even in our +own minds, a definite shape and a lasting impression. A man who devotes +himself to solitary reading and study, but never tries in any way to +communicate his acquisitions to the world, or to enforce his opinions +upon others, rarely becomes a learned man. A great many confused, dreamy +ideas, no doubt, float through the brain of such a man; but he has +little exact and reliable knowledge. The truth is, there is a sort of +indolent, listless absorption of intellectual food, that tends to +idiocy. I knew a person once, a gentleman of wealth and leisure, who +having no taste for social intercourse, and no material wants to be +supplied, which might have required the active exercise of his powers, +gave himself up entirely to solitary reading, as a sort of luxurious +self-indulgence. He shut himself up in his room, all day long, day after +day, devouring one book after another, until he became almost idiotic by +the process, and he finally died of softening of the brain. Had he been +compelled to use his mental acquisitions in earning his bread, or had +the love of Christ constrained him to use them in the instruction of the +poor and the ignorant, he might have become not only a useful, but a +learned man.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span></p> + +<p>We see a beautiful illustration of this doctrine in the case of +Sabbath-school teachers, and one reason why persons so engaged usually +love their work, is the benefit which they find in it for themselves. I +speak here, not of the spiritual, but of the intellectual benefit. By +the process of teaching others, they are all the while learning. This +advantage in their case is all the greater, because it advances them in +a kind of knowledge in which, more than in any other kind of knowledge, +men are wont to become passive and stationary. In ordinary worldly +knowledge, our necessities make us active. The intercourse of business, +and of pleasure even, makes men keen. On these subjects we are all the +while bandying thoughts to and fro; we are accustomed to give as well as +take; and so we keep our intellectual armor bright, and our thoughts +well defined. But in regard to growth in religious knowledge, we have a +tendency to be mere passive recipients, like the young man just referred +to. Sabbath after Sabbath we hear good, instructive, orthodox +discourses, but there is no active putting forth of our own powers in +giving out what we thus take in, and so we never make it effectually our +own. The absorbing process goes on, and yet we make no growth. The +quiescent audience is a sort of exhausted receiver, into which the +stream from the pulpit is perennially playing, but never making it full. +Let a man go back and ask himself, What actual scriptural knowledge have +I gained by the sermons of the last six months? What in fact do I retain +in my mind, at this moment, of the sermons I heard only a month ago? So +far as the hearing of sermons is concerned, the Sabbath-school<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> teacher +may perhaps be no better off than other hearers. But in regard to +general growth in religious knowledge, he advances more rapidly than his +fellow-worshippers, because the exigencies of his class compel him to a +state of mind the very opposite of this passive recipiency. He is +obliged to be all the while, not only learning, but putting his +acquisitions into definite shape for use, and the very act of using +these acquisitions in teaching a class, fixes them in his own mind, and +makes them more surely his own.</p> + +<p>I have used this instance of the Sabbath-school teacher because it +enforces an important hint already given, as to the mode of teaching. +Some teachers, especially in Sabbath-schools, seem to be ambitious to do +a great deal of talking. The measure of their success, in their own +eyes, is their ability to keep up a continued stream of talk for the +greater part of the hour. This is of course better than the embarrassing +silence sometimes seen, where neither teacher nor scholar has anything +to say. But at the best, it is only the pouring into the exhausted +receiver enacted over again. We can never be reminded too often, that +there is no teaching except so far as there is active coöperation on the +part of the learner. The mind receiving must reproduce and give back +what it gets. This is the indispensable condition of making any +knowledge really our own. The very best teaching I have ever seen, has +been where the teacher said comparatively little. The teacher was of +course brimful of the subject. He could give the needed information at +exactly the right point, and in the right quantity. But for every word +given by the teacher, there<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span> were many words of answering reproduction +on the part of the scholars. Youthful minds under such tutelage grow +apace.</p> + +<p>It is indeed a high and difficult achievement in the educational art, to +get young persons thus to bring forth their thoughts freely for +examination and correction. A pleasant countenance and a gentle manner, +inviting and inspiring confidence, have something to do with the matter. +But, whatever the means for accomplishing this end, the end itself is +indispensable. The scholar's tongue must be unloosed, as well as the +teacher's. The scholar's thoughts must be broached, as well as the +teacher's. Indeed, the statement needs very little qualification or +abatement, that a scholar has learned nothing from us except what he has +expressed to us again in words. The teacher who is accustomed to +harangue his scholars with a continuous stream of words, no matter how +full of weighty meaning his words may be, is yet deceiving himself, if +he thinks that his scholars are materially benefited by his intellectual +activity, unless it is so guided as to awaken and exercise theirs. If, +after a suitable period, he will honestly examine his scholars on the +subjects, on which he has himself been so productive, he will find that +he has been only pouring water into a sieve. Teaching can never be this +one-sided process. Of all the things we attempt, it is the one most +essentially and necessarily a coöperative process. There must be the +joint action of the teacher's mind and the scholar's mind. A teacher +teaches at all, only so far as he causes this coactive energy of the +pupil's mind.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span><a name="II" id="II"></a>II.<br /> + +THE ART OF QUESTIONING.</h2> + + +<p>The measure of a teacher's success is not what he himself does, but what +he gets his scholars to do. In nothing is this more noticeable, than in +the different modes of putting a question to a scholar. One teacher will +put a question in such a manner as to find out exactly how much or how +little of the subject the child knows, and thereby encourage careful +preparation; to give the pupil an open door, if he really knows the +subject, to express his knowledge in a way that will be a satisfaction +and pleasure to him; to improve his power of expression, to cultivate +his memory, to increase his knowledge, and to make it more thorough and +definite. Another teacher will put his questions so as to secure none of +these ends, but on the contrary so as to induce a most lamentable degree +of carelessness and inaccuracy.</p> + +<p>Let me illustrate this point, taking an example for greater convenience +from a scriptural subject. Suppose it to be a lesson upon Christ's +temptation, as recorded in the 4th chapter of Matthew. The dialogue +between teacher and scholar may be supposed to proceed somewhat in this +wise:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p><i>Teacher.</i> Who was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be +tempted of the devil?</p> + +<p><i>Pupil.</i> Jesus.</p> + +<p><i>T.</i> Yes. Now, when Jesus had fasted forty days and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> forty nights, he +was afterward a—— what? How did he feel after that?</p> + +<p><i>P.</i> Hungry.</p> + +<p><i>T.</i> Yes, that is right. He was afterward "a hungered." Now, then, the +next scholar. Who then came to Jesus and said, If thou be the Son of +God, command that these stones be made bread?</p> + +<p>(Scholar hesitates.)</p> + +<p><i>T.</i> The t——?</p> + +<p><i>P.</i> The tempter.</p> + +<p><i>T.</i> Yes, you are right. It was the tempter. Who do you think is meant +by the tempter?—the devil?</p> + +<p><i>P.</i> Yes.</p> + +<p><i>T.</i> When a man has fasted, that is, has eaten nothing, for forty days +and forty nights, and feels very hungry, would the suggestion of an easy +mode of getting food be likely to be a strong temptation to him, or +would it not?</p> + +<p><i>P.</i> It would.</p> + +<p><i>T.</i> Yes, you are right again. It would be a strong temptation to him.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>I need not pursue this dialogue further. The reader will see at once how +there may thus be the appearance of quite a brisk and fluent recitation, +to which however the pupil contributes absolutely nothing. It requires +nothing of him in the way of preparation, and only the most indolent and +profitless use of his faculties while reciting. He could hardly answer +amiss, unless he were an idiot, and yet he has the appearance, and he is +often flattered into the belief, of having given some evidence of +knowledge and proficiency.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p> + +<p>The opposite extreme from the method just exhibited, is that known as +the topical method. It is the method pursued in the higher classes of +schools, and among more advanced students. In the topical method, the +teacher propounds a topic or subject, sometimes in the form of a +question, but more commonly only by a title, a mere word or two, and +then calls upon the pupil to give, in his own words, a full and +connected narration or explanation of the subject, such as the teacher +himself would give, if called upon to narrate or explain it. The subject +already suggested, if profound topically, would be somewhat in this +wise:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>The first temptation of Jesus.</p> + +<p>Or, more fully: Narrate the circumstances of the first temptation of +Jesus, and show wherein his virtue was particularly tried in that +transaction.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>The teacher, having propounded the subject clearly to the class, then +waits patiently, maintaining silence himself, and requiring the members +of the class to be silent and attentive, until the pupil interrogated is +quite through, not hurrying him, not interrupting him, even with +miscalled helps and hints, but leaving him to the free and independent +action of his own faculties, in giving as full, connected, and complete +an account of the matter as he can. When the pupil is quite through, the +teacher then, but not before, makes any corrections or additional +statements that may seem to be needed. In such an exercise as this, the +pupil finds the absolute necessity of full and ample preparation; he has +a powerful and healthy stimulus thus to prepare, in the intellectual +satisfaction which one always<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> feels in the successful discharge of any +difficult task; and he acquires a habit of giving complete and accurate +expression to his knowledge, by means of entire sentences, and without +the help of "catch-words," or leading-strings of any kind.</p> + +<p>Some classes, of course, are not sufficiently advanced to carry out +fully the method here explained. But there are many intermediate +methods, founded on the same principle, and suited to children in every +stage of advancement. Only let it be understood, whatever the stage, +that the object of the recitation is, not to show what the teacher can +say or do, but to secure the right thing being said and done by the +pupil.</p> + +<p>To recur once more to the same subject, the temptation of Christ. For a +very juvenile class, the questioning might proceed on this wise:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p><i>T.</i> Where was Jesus led after his baptism?</p> + +<p><i>P.</i> He was led into the wilderness.</p> + +<p><i>T.</i> By whom was he led there?</p> + +<p><i>P.</i> He was led by the Spirit.</p> + +<p><i>T.</i> For what purpose was he led into the wilderness?</p> + +<p><i>P.</i> He was led into the wilderness to be tempted.</p> + +<p><i>T.</i> By whom was he to be tempted?</p> + +<p><i>P.</i> He was to be tempted by the devil.</p> + +<p><i>T.</i> What bodily want was made the means of his first temptation?</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>If the class is quite young, and this question seems too difficult, the +teacher, instead of asking it, or after asking it and not getting a +satisfactory answer, might say to his class, that Jesus was first +tempted through the sense of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> hunger. He was very hungry, and the devil +suggested to him an improper means of relieving himself from the +inconvenience. He might then go on with some such questions as these:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p><i>T.</i> What circumstance is mentioned as showing how very hungry he must +have been?</p> + +<p><i>P.</i> He had fasted forty days and forty nights.</p> + +<p><i>T.</i> Mention any way in which <i>you</i> might be tempted to sin, if you were +suffering from hunger?</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>The foregoing questions, it will be perceived, are very simple, being +suited to scholars just advanced beyond the infant class. Yet no one of +the questions, in its form, or terms, necessarily suggests the answer. +No one of them can be answered by a mere "yes" or "no." No scholar, +unacquainted with the subject, and with his book closed, can guess at +the answer from the way in which the question is put. Not a question has +been given, simple as they all are, which does not require some +preparation, and which does not, to some extent, give exercise to the +pupil's memory, his judgment, and his capacity for expression.</p> + +<p>If the class is more advanced, the questions may be varied, so as to +task and exercise these faculties more seriously. For instance, the +teacher of a class somewhat older might be imagined to begin the +exercise thus:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p><i>T.</i> After the baptism of Jesus, which closes the 3d chapter of Matthew, +we have an account of several temptations to which he was exposed. Now, +open your books at the 4th chapter, and see if you can find out how many +verses are occupied with the narrative of these temptations, and at what +verse each temptation begins.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span></p> +</blockquote> + +<p>The teacher then requires all the class to search in silence, and each +one to get ready to answer, but lets no answer be given until all are +prepared. When all have signified their readiness, some one is +designated to give the answer.</p> + +<p>The books being closed, the questioning begins:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p><i>T.</i> Name the different places into which Jesus was taken to be tempted, +and the verse in which each place is named.</p> + +<p><i>P.</i> It is said in the 1st verse that Jesus was led up into the +wilderness; in the 5th verse, that he was taken up into the holy city, +and set on a pinnacle of the temple; and in the 8th verse, that he was +taken up into an exceedingly high mountain.</p> + +<p><i>T.</i> What was the condition of Jesus, when the devil proposed his first +temptation?</p> + +<p><i>P.</i> He had been fasting forty days and forty nights, and he was very +hungry.</p> +</blockquote> + +<p>I need not multiply these illustrations. I have not made them entirely +in vain, if I have succeeded in producing in the mind of the reader the +conviction of these two things: first, that it is a most important and +difficult part of the teacher's art, to know how to ask a question; and +secondly, that the true measure of the teacher's ability is, not so much +what he himself is able to say to the scholars, as the fulness, the +accuracy, and the completeness of the answers which he gets from them.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span><a name="III" id="III"></a>III.<br /> + +THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TEACHING AND TRAINING.</h2> + + +<p>These two processes practically run into each other a good deal, but +they ought not to be confounded. Training implies more or less of +practical application of what one has been taught. One may be taught, +for instance, the exact forms of the letters used in writing, so as to +know at once by the eye whether the letters are formed correctly or not. +But only training and practice will make him a penman. Training refers +more to the formation of habits. A child may by reasoning be taught the +importance of punctuality in coming to school; but he is trained to the +habit of punctuality only by actually coming to school in good time, day +after day.</p> + +<p>The human machine on which the teacher acts, is in its essential nature +different from the material agencies operated on by other engineers. It +is, as I have once and again said, a living power, with laws and +processes of its own. Constant care, therefore, must be exercised, in +the business of education, not to be misled by analogies drawn from the +material world. The steam-engine may go over its appointed task, day +after day, the whole year round, and yet, at the end of the year, it +will have no more tendency to go than before its first trip. Not so the +boy. Going begets<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> going. By doing a thing often, he acquires a +facility, an inclination, a tendency, a habit of doing it. If a teacher +or a parent succeeds in getting a child to do a thing once, it will be +easier to get him to do it a second time, and still easier a third time.</p> + +<p>A teacher who is wise, when he seeks to bring about any given change in +a child, whether it be intellectual or moral, will not ordinarily +attempt to produce the change all at once, and by main force. He will +not rely upon extravagant promises on the one side, nor upon scolding, +threats, and violence on the other. Solomon hits the idea exactly, when +he speaks of "leading in the way of righteousness." We must take the +young by the hand and lead them. When we have led them over the ground +once, let us do it a second time, and then a third time, and so keep on, +until we shall have established with them a routine, which they will +continue to follow of their own accord, when the guiding hand which +first led them is withdrawn. <i>This is training.</i></p> + +<p>The theory of it is true, not only in regard to things to be done, which +is generally admitted, but also in regard to things to be known, which +is often ignored if not denied. A boy, we will say, has a repugnance to +the study of arithmetic. Perhaps he is particularly dull of +comprehension on that subject. We shall not remove that repugnance by +railing at him. We shall never make him admire it by expatiating on its +beauties. It will not become clear to his comprehension by our pouring +upon it all at once a sudden and overpowering blaze of light in the way +of explanation. Such a process rather confounds him.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> Here again let us +fall back upon the method of the great Teacher, "Line upon line, precept +upon precept." We will first patiently conduct our boy through one of +the simplest operations of arithmetic, say, a sum in addition. The next +day we will conduct him again through the same process, or through +another of the same sort. The steps will gradually become familiar to +his mind, then easy, then clear. He learns first the practice of +arithmetic, then the rules, then the relations of numbers, then the +theory on which the rules and the practice are based, and finally, he +hardly knows how, he becomes an arithmetician. He has been trained into +a knowledge of the subject.</p> + +<p>You wish to teach a young child how to find a word in a dictionary. You +give at first, perhaps, a verbal description of the mystery of a +dictionary. You will tell him that, in such a book, all the words are +arranged according to the letters with which they begin; that all the +words beginning with the letter A are in the first part of the book; +then those beginning with the letter B, then those beginning with C, and +so on; you tell him that all the words beginning with one letter, +covering some one or two hundred pages, are again re-arranged among +themselves according to the second letter of each word, and then again +still further re-arranged according to the third letter in each, and so +on to the end. Arouse his utmost attention, and explain the process with +the greatest clearness that words can give, and then set him to find a +word. See how awkward will be his first attempt, how confused his ideas, +how little he has really understood what you have told him. You must +repeat your directions patiently, over<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> and over, "line upon line;" you +must take him by the hand day after day, and train him into a knowledge +of even so apparently simple a thing as finding a word in a dictionary.</p> + +<p>While teaching and training are thus distinguishable in theory, in +practice they are well nigh inseparable. At least, they never should be +separated. Teaching has never done its perfect work, until, by training, +the mind has learned to run in accustomed channels, until it sees what +is true, and feels what is right, with the clearness, force, and +promptitude, which come only from long-continued habit.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV.<br /> + +MODES OF HEARING RECITATIONS.</h2> + + +<p>The first that I shall name is called the Concert Method. This is +practised chiefly in schools for very young children, especially for +those who cannot read. There are many advantages in this method, some of +which are not confined to infant classes. The timid, who are frightened +by the sound of their own voices when attempting to recite alone, are +thereby encouraged to speak out; and those who have had any experience +with such children, know that this is no small, or easy, or unimportant +achievement. Another benefit of the method is the pleasure it gives the +children. The measured noise and motion connected with such concert +exercises, are particularly attractive to young children. Moreover, one +good teacher, by the use of this method, may greatly multiply his +efficiency. He may teach simultaneously fifty or sixty, instead of +teaching only five or six. But in estimating this advantage, one error +is to be guarded against. Visitors often hear a large class of fifty or +more go through an exercise of this kind, in which the scholars have +been drilled to recite in concert; and if such persons have never been +accustomed to investigate the fact, they often suppose that the answers +given are the intelligent responses of all the members of the class. The +truth is, however, in very many such cases,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> that only some half dozen +or so really recite the answers from their own independent knowledge. +These serve as leaders; the others, sheep-like, follow. Still, by +frequent repetition, even in this blind way, something gradually sticks +to the memory, although the impression is always apt to be vague and +undefined.</p> + +<p>The method of reciting in concert is chiefly useful in reciting rules +and definitions, or other matters, where the very words are to be +committed to memory. The impression of so large a body of sound upon the +ear is very strong, and is a great help in the matter of mere verbal +recollection. Children too are very sympathetic, and a really skilful +teacher, by the concert method, can do a great deal in cultivating the +emotional nature of a large class.</p> + +<p>Young children, too, it should be remembered, like all other young +animals, are by nature restless and fidgety, and like to make a noise. +It is possible, indeed, by a system of rigorous and harsh repression, to +restrain this restlessness, and to keep these little ones for hours in +such a state of decorous primness as not to molest weak nerves. But such +a system of forced constraint is not natural to children, and is not a +wise method of teaching. Let the youngsters make a noise; I had almost +said, the more noise the better, so it be duly regulated. Let them +exercise, not only their lungs, but their limbs, moving in concert, +rising up, sitting down, turning round, marching, raising their hands, +pointing to objects to which their attention is called, looking at +objects which are shown to them. Movement and noise are the life of a +child. They<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> should be regulated indeed, but not repressed. To make a +young child sit still and keep silence for any great length of time, is +next door to murder. I verily believe it sometimes is murder. The +health, and even the lives of these little ones, are sacrificed to a +false theory of teaching. There is no occasion for torturing a child in +order to teach him. God did not so mean it. Only let your teaching be in +accordance with the wants of his young nature, and the school-room will +be to him the most attractive spot of all the earth. Time and again have +I seen the teacher of a primary school obliged at recess to compel her +children to go out of doors, so much more pleasant did they find the +school-room than the play-ground.</p> + +<p>Quite the opposite extreme from the concert method, is that which, for +convenience, may be called the individual method. In this method, the +teacher examines one scholar alone upon the whole lesson, and then +another, and so on, until the class is completed.</p> + +<p>The only advantage claimed for this method is, that the individual +laggard cannot screen his deficiencies, as he can when reciting in +concert. He cannot make believe to know the lesson by lazily joining in +with the general current of voice when the answers are given. His own +individual knowledge, or ignorance, stands out. This is clear, and so +far it is an advantage. But ascertaining what a pupil knows of a lesson, +is only one end, and that by no means the most important end of a +recitation. This interview between the pupil and teacher, called a +recitation, has many ends besides that of merely detecting how much of a +subject the pupil knows. A far higher end is to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> make him know more,—to +make perfect that knowledge which the most faithful preparation on the +part of the pupil always leaves incomplete.</p> + +<p>The disadvantages of the individual method are obvious. It is a great +waste of time. If a teacher has a class of twenty, and an hour to hear +them in, it gives him but three minutes for each pupil, supposing there +are no interruptions. But there always are interruptions. In public +schools the class oftener numbers forty than twenty, and the time for +recitation is oftener half an hour than an hour. The teacher who pursues +the individual method to its extreme, will rarely find himself in +possession of more than one minute to each scholar. In so brief a time, +very little can be ascertained as to what the scholar knows of the +lesson, and still less can anything be done to increase that knowledge. +Moreover, while the teacher is bestowing his small modicum of time upon +one scholar, all the other members of the class are idle, or worse.</p> + +<p>Teaching, of all kinds of labor, is that in which labor-saving and +time-saving methods are of the greatest moment. The teacher who is wise, +will aim so to conduct a recitation that, first, his whole time shall be +given to every scholar; and secondly, each scholar's mind shall be +exercised with every part of the lesson, and just as much when others +are reciting, as when it is his own time to recite. A teacher who can do +this is teaching every scholar, all the time, just as much as if he had +no scholar but that one.</p> + +<p>Even this does not state the whole case. A scholar in such a class +learns more in a given time, than he would if he were alone and the +teacher's entire time were given<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> exclusively to him. The human mind is +wonderfully quickened by sympathy. In a crowd each catches, in some +mysterious manner, an impulse from his fellows. The influence of +associated numbers, all engaged upon the same thought, is universally to +rouse the mind to a higher exercise of its powers. A mind that is dull, +lethargic, and heavy in its movements when moving solitarily, often +effects, when under a social and sympathetic impulse, achievements that +are a wonder to itself.</p> + +<p>The teacher, then, who knows how thus to make a unit of twenty or thirty +pupils, really multiplies himself twenty or thirty-fold, besides giving +to the whole class an increased momentum such as always belongs to an +aggregated mass. I have seen a teacher instruct a class of forty in such +a way, as, in the first place, to secure the subordinate end of +ascertaining and registering with a sufficient degree of exactness how +much each scholar knows of the lesson by his own preparation, and +secondly, to secure, during the whole hour, the active exercise and +coöperation of each individual mind, under the powerful stimulus of the +social instinct, and of a keenly awakened attention. Such a teacher +accomplishes more in one hour than the slave of the individual method +can accomplish in forty hours. A scholar in such a class learns more in +one hour than he would learn in forty hours, in a class of equal numbers +taught on the other plan. Such teaching is labor-saving and time-saving, +in their highest perfection, employed upon the noblest of ends.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span><a name="V" id="V"></a>V.<br /> + +ON OBSERVING A PROPER ORDER IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE MENTAL FACULTIES.</h2> + + +<p>Education may be defined to be the process of developing in due order +and proportion all the good and desirable parts of human nature. On this +point all educators are substantially agreed. Another truth, to which +there is a general theoretical assent, is, that, in the order in which +we develop the faculties, we should follow the leadings of nature, +cultivating in childhood those faculties which seem most naturally to +flourish in childish years, and reserving for maturer years the +cultivation of those faculties which in the order of nature do not show +much vigor until near the age of manhood, and which require for their +full development a general ripening of all the other powers. The +development of a human being is in some respects like that of a plant. +There is one stage of growth suitable for the appearance and maturity of +the leaf, another for the flower, a third for the fruit, and still a +fourth for the perfected and ripened seed.</p> + +<p>The analogy has of course many limitations. In the human plant, for +instance, one class of faculties, after maturing, does not disappear in +order to make place for another class, as the flower disappears before +there can be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> fruit. Nor, again, is any class of faculties wanting +altogether until the season for their development and maturity. The +faculties all exist together—leaf, flower, fruit, and seed—at the same +time, but each has its own best time for ripening.</p> + +<p>While these principles have received the general assent of educators, +there has been a wide divergence among them as to some of the practical +applications. Which faculties do most naturally ripen early in life, and +which late in life?</p> + +<p>According to my own observation, the latest of the human powers in +maturing, as it is the most consummate, is the Judgment. Next in the +order of maturity, and next also in majesty and excellence, is the +Reasoning power. Reason is minister to the judgment, furnishing to the +latter materials for its action, as all the other powers, memory, fancy, +imagination, and so forth, are ministers to reason, and supply it with +its materials. The reasoning power lacks true vigor and muscle, the +judgment is little to be relied on, until we approach manhood. Nature +withholds from these faculties an earlier development, for the very +reason, apparently, that they can ordinarily have but scanty materials +for action until after the efflorescence of the other faculties. The +mind must first be well filled with knowledge, which the other faculties +have gathered and stored, before reason and judgment can have full scope +for action.</p> + +<p>Going to the other end of the scale, I have as little doubt that the +earliest of all the faculties to bud and blossom, is the Memory. +Children not only commit to memory<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> with ease, but they take actual +pleasure in it. Tasks, under which the grown-up man recoils and reels, +the child will assume with light heart, and execute without fatigue. +Committing to memory, which is repulsive drudgery to the man, is the +easiest of all tasks to the child. More than this. The things fixed in +the memory of childhood are seldom forgotten. Things learned later in +life, not only are learned with greater difficulty, but more rapidly +disappear. I recall instantly and without effort, texts of Scripture, +hymns, catechisms, rules of grammar and arithmetic, and scraps of poetry +and of classic authors, with which I became familiar when a boy. But it +is a labor of Hercules for me to repeat by memory anything acquired +since attaining the age of manhood. The Creator seems to have arranged +an order in the natural development of the faculties for this very +purpose, that in childhood and youth we may be chiefly occupied with the +accumulation of materials in our intellectual storehouse. Now to reverse +this process, to occupy the immature mind of childhood chiefly with the +cultivation of faculties which are of later growth, and actually to put +shackles and restraints upon the memory, nicknaming and ridiculing all +memoriter exercises as parrot performances, is to ignore one of the +primary facts of human nature. It is to be wiser than God.</p> + +<p>Another faculty that shoots up into full growth in the very morning and +spring-time of life, is Faith. I speak here, of course, not of religious +belief, but of that faculty of the human mind which leads a child to +believe instinctively whatever is told him. That we all do thus believe<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> +until by slow and painful experience we learn to do otherwise, needs no +demonstration. Everybody's experience attests the fact. It is equally +plain that the existence and maturity of this faculty in early childhood +is a most wise and beneficent provision of nature. How slow and tedious +would be the first steps in knowledge, were the child born, as some +teachers seem trying to make him, a sceptic, that is, with a mind which +refuses to receive anything as true, except what it has first proved by +experience and reason! On the contrary, how much is the acquisition of +knowledge expedited, during these years of helplessness and dependency, +by this spontaneous, instinctive faith of childhood. The same infinite +wisdom and love, which in the order of nature provide for the helpless +infant a father and mother to care for it, provide also in the +constitution of the infant's mind that instinctive principle or power of +faith, which alone makes the father's and mother's love efficacious +towards its intellectual growth and development. Of what use were +parents or teachers, in instructing a child which required proof for +every statement that father, mother, or teacher gives? How cruel to +force the confiding young heart into premature scepticism, by compelling +him to hunt up reasons for everything, when he has reasons, to him +all-sufficient, in the fact that father, mother, or teacher told him so?</p> + +<p>It may seem trifling to dwell so long upon these elementary points. Yet +there are wide-spread plans of education which violate every principle +here laid down. Educators and systems of education, enjoying the highest +popularity, seem to have adopted the theory, at least they<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> tacitly act +upon the theory, that the first faculty of the mind to be developed is +the Reasoning power. Indeed, they are not far from asserting that the +whole business of education consists in the cultivation of this power, +and they bend accordingly their main energies upon training young +children to go through certain processes of reasoning, so called. They +require a child to prove everything before receiving it as true; to +reason out a rule for himself for every process in arithmetic or +grammar; to demonstrate the multiplication-table before daring to use +it, or to commit it to memory, if indeed they do not forbid entirely its +being committed to memory as too parrot-like and mechanical. To commit +blindly to memory precious forms of truth, which the wise and good have +hived for the use of the race, is poohed at as old-fogyish. To receive +as true anything which the child cannot fathom, and which he has not +discovered or demonstrated for himself, is denounced as slavish. All +authority in teaching, growing out of the age and the reputed wisdom of +the teacher, all faith and reverence in the learner, growing out of a +sense of his ignorance and dependence, are discarded, and the frightened +stripling is continually rapped on the knuckles, if he does not at every +step show the truth of his allegations by what is called a course of +reasoning. Children reason, of course. They should be encouraged and +taught to reason. No teacher, who is wise, will neglect this part of a +child's intellectual powers. But he will not consider this the season +for its main, normal development. He will hold this subject for the +present subordinate to many others. Moreover, the methods of reasoning, +which he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> does adopt, will be of a peculiar kind, suited to the nature +of childhood, the results being mainly intuitional, rather than the +fruits of formal logic. To oblige a young child to go through a formal +syllogistic statement in every step in elementary arithmetic, for +instance, is simply absurd. It makes nothing plain to a child's mind +which was not plain before. On the contrary, it often makes a muddle of +what had been perfectly clear. What was in the clear sunlight of +intuition, is now in a haze, through the intervening medium of logical +terms and forms, through which he is obliged to look at it.</p> + +<p>A primary teacher asks her class this question: "If I can buy 6 marbles +with 1 penny, how many marbles can I buy with 5 pennies?" A bright boy +who should promptly answer "30" would be sharply rebuked. Little +eight-year old Solon on the next bench has been better trained than +that. With stately and solemn enunciation he delivers himself of a +performance somewhat of this sort. "If I can buy 6 marbles with 1 penny, +how many marbles can I buy with 5 pennies? Answer—I can buy 5 times as +many marbles with 5 pennies as I can buy with 1 penny. If, therefore, I +can buy 6 marbles with 1 penny, I can buy 5 times as many marbles with 5 +pennies; and 5 times 6 marbles are 30 marbles. Therefore, if I can buy 6 +marbles with one penny, I can buy 30 marbles with 5 pennies."</p> + +<p>And this is termed reasoning! And to train children, by forced and +artificial processes, to go through such a rigmarole of words, is +recommended as a means of cultivating their reasoning power and of +improving their power<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> of expression! It is not pretended that children +by such a process become more expert in reckoning. On the contrary, +their movements as ready reckoners are retarded by it. Instead of +learning to jump at once to the conclusion, lightning-like, by a sort of +intuitional process, which is of the very essence of an expert +accountant, they learn laboriously to stay their march by a cumbersome +and confusing circumlocution of words. And the expenditure of time and +toil needed to acquire these formulas of expression, which nine times +out of ten are to those young minds the mere <i>dicta magistri</i>, is +justified on the ground that the children, if not learning arithmetic, +are learning to reason.</p> + +<p>Let me not be misunderstood. I do not advocate the disuse of +explanations. Let teachers explain, let children give explanations. Let +the rationale of the various processes through which the child goes, +receive a certain amount of attention. But the extreme into which some +are now going, in primary education, is that of giving too much time to +explanation and to theory, and too little to practice. We reverse, too, +the order of nature in this matter. What it now takes weeks and months +to make clear to the immature understanding, is apprehended at a later +day with ease and delight at the very first statement. There is a clear +and consistent philosophy underlying this whole matter. It is simply +this. In the healthy and natural order of development in educating a +young mind, theory should follow practice, not precede it. Children +learn the practice of arithmetic very young. They take to it naturally, +and learn it easily, and become very rapidly expert practical +accountants. But the science of arithmetic is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> quite another matter, and +should not be forced upon them until a much later stage in their +advancement.</p> + +<p>To have a really correct apprehension of the principle of decimal +notation, for instance, to understand that it is purely arbitrary, and +that we might in the same way take any other number than ten as the base +of a numerical scale,—that we might increase for instance by fives, or +eights, or nines, or twelves, just as well as by tens—all this requires +considerable maturity of intellect, and some subtlety of reasoning. +Indeed I doubt whether many of the pretentious sciolists, who insist so +much on young children giving the rationale of everything, have +themselves ever yet made an ultimate analysis of the first step in +arithmetical notation. Many of them would open their eyes were you to +tell them, for instance, that the number of fingers on your two hands +may be just as correctly expressed by the figures 11, 12, 13, 14, or 15, +as by the figures 10,—a truism perfectly familiar to every one +acquainted with the generalizations of higher arithmetic. Yet it is +up-hill work to make the matter quite clear to a beginner. We may wisely +therefore give our children at first an arbitrary rule for notation. We +give them an equally arbitrary rule for addition. They accept these +rules and work upon them, and learn thereby the practical operations of +arithmetic. The theory will follow in due time. When perfectly familiar +with the practice and the forms of arithmetic, and sufficiently mature +in intellect, they awaken gradually and surely, and almost without an +effort, to the beautiful logic which underlies the science.</p> + +<p>How do we learn language in childhood? Is it not<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> solely on authority +and by example? A child who lives in a family where no language is used +but that which is logically and grammatically correct, will learn to +speak with logical and grammatical correctness long before it is able to +give any account of the processes of its own mind in the matter, or +indeed to understand those processes when explained by others. In other +words, practice in language precedes theory. It should do so in other +things. The parent who should take measures to prevent a child from +speaking its mother tongue, except just so far and so fast as it could +understand and explain the subtle logic which underlies all language, +would be quite as wise as the teacher who refuses to let a child become +expert in practical reckoning, until it can understand and explain at +every step the rationale of the process,—who will not suffer a child to +learn the multiplication table until it has mastered the metaphysics of +the science of numbers, and can explain with the formalities of +syllogism exactly how and why seven times nine make sixty-three.</p> + +<p>These illustrations have carried me a little, perhaps, from my subject. +But they seemed necessary to show that I am not beating the air. I have +feared lest, in our very best schools, in the rebound from the exploded +errors of the old system, we have unconsciously run into an error in the +opposite extreme.</p> + +<p>My positions on the particular point now under consideration may be +summed up briefly, as follows:</p> + +<ol> +<li><p>In developing the faculties, we should follow the order of nature.</p></li> + +<li><p>The faculties of memory and faith should be largely exercised and +cultivated in childhood.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span></p></li> + +<li><p>While the judgment and the reasoning faculty should be exercised +during every stage of the intellectual development, the appropriate +season for their main development and culture is near the close, rather +than near the beginning, of an educational course.</p></li> + +<li><p>The methods of reasoning used with children should be of a simple +kind, dealing largely in direct intuitions, rather than formal and +syllogistic.</p></li> + +<li><p>It is a mistake to spend a large amount of time and effort in +requiring young children formally to explain the rationale of their +intellectual processes, and especially in requiring them to give such +explanations before they have become by practice thoroughly familiar +with the processes themselves.</p></li> +</ol> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI.<br /> + +TEACHING CHILDREN WHAT THEY DO NOT UNDERSTAND.</h2> + + +<p>It is not uncommon to hear persons declaim against teaching children +what they do not understand. If by this is meant that children should +not learn a set of words as parrots do, merely by the ear, and without +attaching any idea to what they utter, no one will dissent from the +propriety of the rule. But if the meaning is that they should learn +nothing except what they fully comprehend, the rule certainly needs to +be hedged in by some grave precautions.</p> + +<p>There are indeed few things which any one, the oldest or the wisest, +fully comprehends. Who knows what matter is? Certainly not the most +eminent of philosophers. They do not pretend to know. We pick up a +pebble. Who can tell what it is, absolutely? We say that it is something +which has certain qualities. But even these we know mainly by negations. +The pebble is hard, that is, it does <i>not</i> yield to pressure. It is +opaque, that is, it does <i>not</i> transmit light. It is heavy, that is, it +does <i>not</i> remain still, but goes towards the centre of the earth unless +intercepted by some interposing body.</p> + +<p>Who knows the meaning, absolutely, of a single article<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> of the Creed? +Certainly not the most eminent of divines. We know certain things about +the great mysteries of the Godhead, and even these things we know, not +directly, but by certain faint, distant analogies, and we express our +knowledge in terms chosen mainly from Scripture and arranged with care +by wise and learned men. These venerable formularies, containing the +most exact verbal expression which the Church has been able to frame, of +what the Scriptures teach about God and his ways, we commit to memory, +and we repeat them with comfort and edification. But we do not pretend +to penetrate the very essence of their meaning. Who by searching can +find out God? One must be God himself to understand him.</p> + +<p>We read that Christ was tempted of the devil in the wilderness. There +are many things in this transaction which we may be said, in a certain +sense, to know. But a man will not proceed far in analyzing this +knowledge before he will discover that there are mysteries underlying +the whole, which he cannot penetrate. He knows some of the surface +relations. But the things themselves, in their essence, are unknown. Was +Christ tempted, as the devil tempts us, by suggesting thoughts in the +mind? Was the devil present in a bodily shape? Did he utter an audible +voice, by undulating the air, as we do? Has he direct relations to +matter, as we have? How could his offer of worldly power and riches be +any real temptation to the Saviour, when Jesus knew that Satan had no +power to make his offer good?</p> + +<p>There are indeed few things, in revelation or out of revelation, in mind +or in matter, which we really and fully<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> comprehend. If, therefore, we +are to teach children nothing but what they understand, we must either +teach them nothing at all, or our rule must be materially qualified. No +one knows absolutely but God. Among created beings, there are almost +infinite gradations of intelligence, although the highest created +intelligence begins its range infinitely below that of the Divine mind. +A given formula of words, therefore, may express very different degrees +of truth according to the degree of intelligence of the party using it.</p> + +<p>A catechism or a creed may convey twenty different degrees of meaning to +twenty successive persons, varying in age, character, and culture. Yet +the very youngest and feeblest shall understand something of its +meaning, while the wisest and oldest shall not have exhausted it. The +young and feeble intellect, receiving a formula of truth with suitable +explanations of its terms, takes in at once a portion of its meaning and +gradually grows into a fuller comprehension of what it has received. A +statement of doctrine received by a child at the age of five, conveys to +him a few feeble rays of light. The same statement at the age of ten, +means to him far more than it did before, while at twenty it is all +luminous with knowledge.</p> + +<p>The mind itself grows and expands, and with every addition to its own +vigor and stature, does it find new truths in those expressive and +pregnant formulas of doctrine with which it has from childhood been +familiar. It is like looking at a material object, first with the naked +eye, and then with glasses of continually increased magnifying power. +The more we increase the power, the more we see in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span> same bit of +matter. Yet no glass will ever reveal to us the very interior essence of +even the smallest particle of dust. God only knows fully either any +single thing or the sum of things. Because, however, we cannot see into +the essence of a pebble or a grain of sand, shall we shut our eyes to it +altogether? Shall we not look at it, first as an infant does, then as a +child, then as a youth, then as a man, then as a philosopher? We can +never see it as God does. But we shall see it with ever-growing powers +of vision, until that which was to us at first only a rude mass becomes +an exhaustless organized microcosm of wonders.</p> + +<p>I do not advocate the overloading of children with verbal statements of +abstruse doctrines, whether of religion or of science. Much less would I +turn them into parrots, to repeat phrases to which they attach no +meaning at all. But when it is demanded, on the other hand, that they +shall learn nothing but what they understand, I demur. I ask for +explanation of the rule. I insist that, every statement of truth which +they learn, even the most elementary, contains depths which neither they +nor their teachers can fathom. I insist that, both in science and +religion, there are certain great, admitted elementary truths, reduced +to forms of sound words with which the whole world is familiar; and that +while these formularies contain many things which a child cannot +understand, they yet contain many things of which even the youngest +child has a fair comprehension. I insist that a carefully prepared +religious creed or catechism, even though it contains many things beyond +a child's present comprehension, is a fit subject for study. Memory in +childhood is quick<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> and tenacious. The treasures first laid away in that +great storehouse are the last to be removed. They may be overlaid by +subsequent accumulations, but they are still ready for use. Forms of +sound words are certainly among the things which parents and teachers +should store away in the young minds of which they have charge. If the +child does not understand all that he thus places in his memory, he +understands portions of it just as he sees certain qualities of the +pebble which he holds in his hand, and he will see and understand more, +as his mind expands and his powers of spiritual vision increase.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII.<br /> + +CULTIVATING THE MEMORY IN YOUTH.</h2> + + +<p>Many educators now-a-days are accustomed to speak slightly of the +old-fashioned plan of committing to memory verses of Scripture, hymns, +catechisms, creeds, and other formulas of doctrine and sentiment in +religion and science. Many speak disparagingly even of memory itself, +and profess to think it a faculty of minor importance, regarding its +cultivation as savoring of old-fogyism, and sneering at all memoriter +exercises among children as the chattering of parrots. It is never +without amazement that I hear such utterances. Memory is God's gift, by +which alone we are able to retain our intellectual acquisitions. Without +it, study is useless, and education simply an impossibility. Without it, +there could be no such thing as growth in knowledge. We could know no +more to-day than we knew yesterday, or last week, or last year. The man +would be no wiser than the boy. Without this faculty, the mind would be, +not as now like the prepared plate which the photographer puts in his +camera, and which retains indelibly on its surface the impressions of +whatever objects pass before it; but would rather be like the window +pane, before which passes from day to day the gorgeous panorama of +nature, transmitting with equal and crystalline<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> clearness the golden +glory of the sun, the pale rays of the moon and stars, the soft green of +meadow and woodland, images of beauty and loveliness, of light and +shade, from every object on the earth and in the heavens; but retaining +on its own surface not a line or a tint of the millions of rays that +have passed through its substance, and remaining to the end the same bit +of transparent glass, unchanged, unprofited by the countless changes it +has received and transmitted.</p> + +<p>Memory alone gives value to the products of every other faculty, +stamping them with the seal of possessorship, and making them truly +ours. In vain reason forges its bolts, in vain imagination paints its +scenes, in vain the senses give us a knowledge of the shapes and forms +of external nature, in vain ideas of any sort or from any source come +into our minds, unless we have the power to retain and fix them there, +and make them a part of our accumulated intellectual wealth. To do this +is the office of memory, and whatever increases the activity and power +of the memory, gives at once value and growth to every other power.</p> + +<p>Memory has been well called the store-house of our ideas. The +illustration is true not only in its main feature, but in many of the +minor details. The value of what a man puts away in a store-house +depends much upon the order and system with which the objects are +stored. The wise and thrifty merchant has bins and boxes and +compartments and pigeon-holes, all arranged with due order and symmetry, +and every item of goods, as it is added to his stock, is put away at +once in its appropriate place,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span> where he can lay his hands upon it +whenever it is wanted. There should be a like method and system in our +mental accumulations. The remembrance of facts and truths is of little +value to us unless we can remember them in their connections, and can so +remember them as to be able to lay our hands upon any particular thought +or fact just when and where it is wanted. Many persons read and study +voraciously, filling their minds most industriously with knowledge, but +such a confusion of ideas prevails throughout their intellectual +store-house, that their very wealth is only an embarrassment to them. +The very first rule to be observed, therefore, in cultivating the +memory, is to reduce our knowledge to some system. Those who are charged +with the training of the young should seek not only to store their minds +with ideas, but to present these ideas to them in well ordered shapes +and forms, and in due logical order and coherence. Hence the peculiar +value of requiring children at the proper age to commit to memory the +grand formulas of Christian doctrine, on which, in every church, its +wisest and ablest men have expended their strength in placing great +truths in connected and logical order and dependence. The creeds and +catechisms of the Christian church are among the best products of the +human intellect as mere specimens of verbal statement, and are valuable, +if for nothing else, as a means for exercising the memory. A child who +has thoroughly mastered a good catechism has his intellectual +store-house already reduced to some order and system. His mind is not +the chaos that we so often find in those children who are gathered into +our mission schools.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p> + +<p>The objects that are put away for safe-keeping differ in one respect +from those things which are stored away in the memory. The material +object is the same, whether we visit and inspect it from day to day or +not. The banker's dollars are not increased in fineness or value by his +handling them over carefully every day. Not so with intellectual coin. +The more frequently we re-examine our knowledge and pass it under +review, the more does it become fixed in its character, the more full +and exact in its proportions. Handling it does not wear it out. Even +giving it away does not diminish it. In short, so far as the cultivation +of the memory is concerned, the next best thing we can do, after +reducing our knowledge to due order, is to give it a frequent and +thorough re-examination. Constant, almost endless repetition is the +inexorable price of sound mental accumulation.</p> + +<p>A distinction is to be made between memory as a power of the mind and +the remembrance of particular facts. One or two examples will illustrate +this difference. The late Dr. Addison Alexander, of the Theological +Seminary at Princeton, had memory as an intellectual power to a degree +almost marvellous. The following instance may be cited. On one occasion, +a large class of forty or fifty were to be matriculated in the Seminary +in the presence of the Faculty. The ceremony of matriculation was very +simple. The professors and the new students being all assembled, in a +large hall, each student in turn presented himself before the +professors, had his credentials examined by them, and if the same proved +satisfactory, entered his name in full and his residence, in the +register. When the matriculation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> was complete and the students had +retired, there was some bantering among the professors as to which of +them should take the register home and prepare from it an alphabetical +roll,—a work always considered rather tedious and irksome. After a +little hesitation, Dr. Alexander said, "There is no need of taking the +register home; I will make the roll for you;" and, taking a sheet of +paper, at once, from memory, without referring to the register, and +merely from having heard the names as they were recorded, he proceeded +to make out the roll, giving the names in full and giving them in their +alphabetical order. This was a prodigious feat of pure memory; for in +order to make the alphabetical arrangement in his mind, before +committing it to paper, he must have had the entire mass of names +present in his mind by a single act of the will. Some of the wonderful +games of chess performed by Paul Morphy are dependent in part upon a +similar power of memory, by which the player is enabled to keep present +in his mind, without seeing the board, a long series of complicated +evolutions, past as well as prospective and possible. The same is true +of every great military strategist.</p> + +<p>In all these cases, there is an act of pure memory, a direct and +positive power of summoning into the mind its past experiences, such as +can only take place where, either by natural gift or by special +training, the memory as a faculty of the mind is in a high state of +vigor. But there are other cases, in which a man is enabled to recall a +great number of particular facts by a species of artifice or trick, +which does not imply any special mental power, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span> study of which +does not tend, in any marked degree, to develop such power. More than +thirty years ago, the late Professor Dod, of Princeton College, in +lecturing to a class on the subject of light, was explaining the solar +spectrum, and after exhibiting the solar ray, divided into its seven +primary colors, violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red, +said, "If you will form a mnemonic word of the first letters of each of +these words, you will be able, without further effort, to remember the +order of the prismatic colors the rest of your lives," and he +accordingly wrote upon the board and pronounced the uncouth and almost +unpronounceable word, <i>Vibgyor</i>, which probably not one of us has ever +forgotten. An ingenious Frenchman some years ago traversed the country +and collected large audiences by his exhibitions of skill in this +species of artifice, and by undertaking to initiate his hearers in the +method of remembering prodigious numbers of historical facts by means of +such artificial contrivances. Mnemotechny, the name which he gave to his +invention, is merely a trick of the memory. It is a means of remembering +a particular set of facts or things by the aid of contrivances purely +artificial and arbitrary. Its possession does not imply, and its +cultivation does not produce, real mnemonic power. It undoubtedly has +its uses. But it is rather wealth gained by a lottery ticket than a +wealth-producing power acquired by wise habits of business.</p> + +<p>In teaching the young, it is well not to neglect either of these +principles. We should give our children from time to time ingenious and +interesting contrivances for remembering important facts. These +contrivances, if judicious<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span> in plan and execution, will be great helps +to them. We may in this way bridge over the difficulty of remembering +many of the important facts and dates in history.</p> + +<p>I would not discourage these artificial methods. Though they are mere +tricks, they are valuable. But they have by no means the same value as +those methods of teaching which cultivate and produce true mnemonic +power. This power, like every other mental power, is given in unequal +measure to different individuals. Like every other mental power, also, +it grows mainly by exercise. No power of the mind is more capable of +development. I have mentioned some things which tend to the growth of +this power, such as presenting knowledge to children in logical and +orderly arrangement, and frequent re-examination of knowledge already +obtained. Perhaps there is no quickener and invigorator of the memory +equal to that of reciting to a judicious teacher before a large class of +fellow-students. By a proper and skilful use of the art of questioning, +under the excitement of answering before a large class, the mnemonic +power is subjected to a healthy and invigorating test, and all such +exercises promote powerfully the mental growth. A child may absorb +knowledge by mere solitary reading and study, just as a sponge absorbs +water, but the knowledge so acquired readily evaporates, or is squeezed +out. Something is needed to fix in the mind the knowledge that has been +lodged there, and no process is more effectual to this end than that of +class recitation. It is by telling other people what we have learned, +that we learn it more effectually, and make it more completely our own. +A good teacher, by good methods of recitation,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span> can do more than all +other persons and all other things to secure a sound and healthy growth +of memory in the young.</p> + +<p>Another thing highly necessary in cultivating a really good memory, is +attaining the utmost possible clearness in our ideas. If the knowledge, +when it first comes into the mind, is clearly and sharply defined, so +that we really know a thing, instead of having vague and confused +notions about it, we shall be the more likely to remember it +permanently. Nothing is more conducive towards giving these sharp and +definite impressions than the use of visible illustrations. Actual +exhibition before a class of the objects talked about, actual +experiments of the operations described, and the constant use of the +chalk and the blackboard, presenting even abstract truths in concrete +and visible symbols, as is done in algebra, chemistry, and logic, are +among the means by which, chiefly, knowledge becomes well defined to the +mind. Such is the constitution of the mind, that we have a clearer +apprehension of what we see than of what comes to us through any other +sense, and the knowledge which comes to us by means of the sight, is, of +all kinds of knowledge, the most lasting and the most easily recalled. +Hence, in teaching, it is hardly possible to exaggerate the importance +of visible illustration.</p> + +<p>Another condition extremely favorable to the growth of memory, is the +existence of a considerable degree of mental excitement at the time that +knowledge enters the mind. Metals weld easily only at a white heat. If +we would obtain a vigorous grasp of knowledge, and incorporate it +thoroughly into our other mental products, so that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span> it shall become +really ours, there should be the glow of mental heat at the time of our +acquiring such knowledge. Ideas that come into the mind when we are in +an apathetic state, make no permanent lodgment. Hence the importance of +exciting a lively interest in that which is the subject of study. If the +teacher has failed to excite this interest, and finds in his class no +animation, no sympathy, no eagerness of attention, he may be sure that +he is not accomplishing much. The child must, if possible, acquire a +fondness for that which is to be remembered. Love, in fact, is the +parent of memory.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII.<br /> + +KNOWLEDGE BEFORE MEMORY.</h2> + + +<p>I have had frequent occasion to urge upon teachers the importance of +cultivating the memory of their pupils. The old-fashioned plan of +requiring the young to commit to memory precious truths, in those very +words in which wise and far-thinking men have handed them down to us, +has too much gone out of use. I have felt called upon, therefore, from +time to time, to recall to the minds of teachers the unspeakable +importance of early exercising the memory of children, and of storing +their memories with wise sayings and rules. I would not take back +anything I have said on this subject, but rather repeat and reiterate +it. At the same time, I am aware that there is an extreme in this +direction, and I therefore put in a word of caution.</p> + +<p>The danger to which I refer is that of requiring children to commit mere +words, to which they attach no meaning, or without their having any real +knowledge of the things expressed by the words. Of course there is much +in the formulas and rules of science that the immature minds of children +cannot entirely comprehend, and I am far from saying that a child should +commit nothing except what it can comprehend. But whatever in a rule or +a doctrine<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> they can understand, should be diligently explained to them, +and the ingenuity of teachers should be exercised in awakening the minds +of their scholars to the apprehension of real knowledge as a preliminary +to the act of committing it to memory.</p> + +<p>An example or two will illustrate my meaning. Children at school are +required to commit to memory the tables of weights and measures. The +exercise is one of acknowledged and indispensable importance. But it is +possible for a child to repeat one of these tables with entire glibness +and accuracy, pretty much as he would whistle Yankee Doodle, without any +apprehension of the actual things which the terms of the table +represent. He may learn to say "sixty seconds make a minute, sixty +minutes make a degree, three hundred and sixty degrees make a circle," +with no more idea of the things expressed by this formula of words, than +the parrot who has been taught to say, "You are a big fool." If the +teacher will show the child an actual circle, with the degrees, minutes, +and seconds marked, and will let him count them for himself, so that he +has a real knowledge of the things, he will then not only commit this +formula of words to memory more easily, but the knowledge itself will +promote his mental growth. He will be feeding on real knowledge, not on +its husks. So in learning about inches, feet, yards, rods, and miles, +let the teacher, with foot-rule and yard-stick, show what these measures +really are, let him by some familiar instance give the child an idea of +what a mile is, and then let the memory be invoked to store up the +knowledge gained. So with ounces, pounds, and hundred-weights.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span> So with +gills, quarts, and gallons. The common weights and measures are as +necessary in the school-room as are spelling-books and arithmetics. The +actual weights and measures, so far as possible, should be exhibited, +should be seen and handled, and the child's mind made to grasp the very +things which the terms express, that is, he should first get real +knowledge, and then he should store his memory with it in exact words +and forms of expression.</p> + +<p>This is the true mental order. Knowledge first, then memory. Get +knowledge, then keep it. Any other plan is like attempting to become +rich by inflating your bags with wind, instead of filling them with +gold, or attempting to grow fat by bolting food in a form which you +cannot digest.</p> + +<p>Some teachers, in their fear of cramming children with words, spend +their whole time and energy in awakening thought, and none in fixing +upon the memory the thoughts which have been awakened. They are so much +afraid of making children parrots, that they discard rules entirely in +teaching, or require pupils to frame rules for themselves. This is to go +into the opposite extreme. The rules and formulas of science require the +greatest care and consideration, and a large and varied knowledge. Few +even of men of learning and of those specially skilled in the meaning of +words and the use of language, are qualified to frame scientific rules +and propositions. To suppose that young children, just beginning to feel +their way into any department of science, are competent to such a task, +is simply absurd. Yet this is by no means uncommon.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span> A teacher will +conduct a boy intelligently and skilfully through the process of doing a +sum in arithmetic, or analyzing a sentence in grammar, and then say to +him, "Now, form a rule for yourself, stating how such things should be +done." The first step here is right. Take your pupil by the hand, and +conduct him through the process or thing to be done. This is necessary +to enable him to understand the rule. But when he thus gets the idea, +then give him the rule or principle, as it is laid down in the book, in +exact and well considered words, and let him commit those words +thoroughly to memory, without the change or the omission of a word or a +letter.</p> + +<p>What is thus true as to the method of teaching the common branches of +knowledge, is equally true in the study of religious knowledge. I would +not set a child to framing a creed or a catechism, nor, on the other +hand, would I require him to commit such formulas to memory, without +making some attempt to awaken in his mind previously an apprehension of +the ideas which the creed or formula contains. I do not say that a +child's mind is competent to grasp all the truths embraced in these +symbols. But there is no portion of any religious creed or catechism +that I have ever seen, some of the terms of which are not capable of +being apprehended by children. A wise teacher, in undertaking to +indoctrinate a child in such a formula, will begin by showing him as far +as possible what the words mean, by exciting in him ideas on the +subject, by filling his mind with actual knowledge of the truths +contained in the formula. Then, when the words of the formula have +become to the child's mind instinct<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> with meaning and life, the teacher +will pause to stamp them in upon the memory. That is the way to study a +catechism. First, give the child, so far as possible, the meaning, then +grind the words into him. Do not set him to making a catechism; do not +let him stop at understanding the meaning, without committing the words.</p> + +<p>Two phrases will cover the whole ground. Knowledge before memory. Memory +as well as knowledge.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX.<br /> + +THE POWER OF WORDS.</h2> + + +<p>Words govern the world. Let any one who doubts it, canvass the motives +by which his own action is decided. Considerations are presented to his +mind, showing him that a certain course of conduct is right, or good, or +expedient, or pleasant, and he adopts it. The considerations presented +to his mind decide his action. But those considerations are in the form +of arguments, and those arguments exist in words. The true original +power, indeed, is in the thought. It is the thinker who generates the +steam. But thought unexpressed accomplishes nothing. The writer and the +speaker engineer it into action.</p> + +<p>Thought, indeed, even in the mind of its originator, exists in words. +For we really think only in words. Much more, then, must the thought +have some verbal expression, written or spoken, before it can influence +the opinions or the actions of others. A man may have all the wisdom of +Solomon, yet will he exercise no influence upon human affairs unless he +gives his wisdom utterance. Profound thinkers sometimes, indeed, utter +very little. But they must utter something. They originate and give +forth a few thoughts or discoveries, which minds of a different order, +writers and talkers, pick up, reproduce,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span> multiply, and disseminate all +over the surface of society. When a man unites these two functions, +being both an original thinker and a skilful and industrious writer, the +influence which he may exert upon his race is prodigious. If any one, +for instance, would take the pains to trace the influences which have +sprung from such a man as Plato, he would have an illustration of what +is meant. Plato, while living, had no wealth, rank, or position of any +kind, to add force to what he said or did. Whatever he has done in the +world, he has done simply by his power as a thinker and a writer. There +were many Grecians quite as subtle and acute in reasoning as he. But +their thoughts died with them. Plato, on the other hand, was an +indefatigable writer, as well as an acute and profound thinker. He gave +utterance to his ideas in words which, even in a dead language, have to +this day a living power. When Plato was dead, there remained his written +words. They remain still. They have entered successively into the +philosophies, the creeds, and the practical codes, of the Grecian world, +the Roman, the Saracen, and the Christian. At this very hour hundreds of +millions of human beings unconsciously hold opinions which the words of +that wise old Greek have helped to mould. The mere brute force of a +military conqueror may make arbitrary changes in the current of human +affairs. But no permanent change is ever made except by the force of +opinion. The words of Plato have done more to influence the destinies of +men than have a hundred such men as Genghis Khan or Tamerlane. Four +hundred millions of Chinese, in half the actions which go to make up +their lives,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> are now governed by maxims and opinions which have come +down to them from remote antiquity, from a man whose very existence is +almost a myth. Those military heroes whose influence on society has been +permanent have been propagandists as well as warriors. Opinions and +codes have gone with, and survived, their conquering armies. The armies +of the elder Napoleon were routed at Waterloo. But the Napoleonic ideas +survived the shock, and they are at this day a part of the governing +power of the world. It was the Koran—the words, and the creed of +Mahomet—that gave to the Mahometan conquest its permanent hold upon the +nations.</p> + +<p>Spoken words have in themselves greater power than merely written ones. +There is a wonderful influence in the living voice to give force and +emphasis to what is uttered. But the written word remains. What is lost +in immediate effect, is more than gained in the permanent result. The +successful writer has an audience for all time. He being dead still +speaks. Men are speaking now, who have gone to their final account +twenty centuries ago. Paul possibly may not have had the same influence +with a popular assembly as the more eloquent Apollos. But Paul is +speaking still through his ever-living Epistles. He is speaking daily to +more than a hundred millions of human beings. He is exerting through his +writings a power incomparably greater than that even which he exercised +as a living speaker.</p> + +<p>All men have not the commanding gifts of the apostle Paul. Yet after +all, the main difference between ordinary men and men of the Pauline +stamp, is not so much<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span> in their natural powers, as in the spirit and +temper of the men, in that entire consecration to the service of Christ +which Paul had, and which they have not. It is wonderful to see how much +may be accomplished even by men of ordinary talents, when they have that +zeal and single-mindedness which may be attained by one as well as by +another. We are accountable for the talents which we have, not for what +we have not. But let each man see to it that he uses to the utmost every +talent which his Lord has committed to his trust.</p> + +<p>How much, for instance, may be accomplished by a man who has a gift for +addressing a popular assembly! Such a man by a few wise words, spoken at +the right time and place, may do as much in five minutes, in pushing +forward a general cause, as another man can do by the laborious drudgery +of years. The words of the speaker touch the secret springs of action in +a thousand breasts. He sends away a thousand men and women animated with +a new impulse to duty, and that impulse is propagated and reproduced +through hundreds of channels for long years to come.</p> + +<p>Words are never entirely idle. They have at times a power like that of +the electric bolt. They may sting like a serpent, and bite like an +adder. In the ordinary intercourse of society, a man of good +conversational powers may, even in discharging the customary civilities +of life, put forth a large influence. The words dropped from minute to +minute, throughout the day, in the millions of little transactions all +the while going on between man and man, have an incalculable power in +the general aggregate of the forces which keep society in motion.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p> + +<p>As with spoken, so with written words. The man who knows how to weave +them into combinations which shall gain the popular ear, and sink into +the popular heart, has a mighty gift for good or evil. The self-denying +and almost saintly Heber, by all his years of personal toil on the +plains of India, did not accomplish a tithe of what has been +accomplished for the cause of missions by his one Missionary Hymn. It +would hardly be an exaggeration to say that those few written words are +worth more to the cause than the lives of scores of ordinary +missionaries. How many anxious souls, just wavering between a right and +a wrong decision, have been led to make the final choice, and to decide +for Christ, by that beautiful hymn beginning "Just as I am, without one +plea"? Who can doubt that the patient invalid of Torquay, in the hour +that she penned those touching words, did more for the conversion of +sinners than many a minister of the gospel has done in the course of a +long and laborious life? What a fund of consolation for pious hearts +through all time is laid up in the hymns of that other sweet singer, +Mrs. Steele?</p> + +<p>But as with spoken, so with written words, the great aggregate of their +force is not contained in these few brilliant and striking exceptions, +but in the millions of mere ordinary paragraphs which meet the eye from +day to day, in the columns of the daily and weekly press, and which have +apparently but an ephemeral existence. The dashing torrent and the +mighty river are the more noticeable objects to the casual observer. But +it is the minute myriad drops of the rain and the dew that cause the +real wonders<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span> of vegetation. So these words which we read, and think we +forget, hour by hour, all day long, are continually sinking into the +soil of the heart, and influencing imperceptibly the growth of the germs +of thought. The aggregate of all these minute, unnoticed influences is +prodigious, incalculable.</p> + +<p>Whoever can put words together wisely, either by the tongue or the pen, +has a precious talent, which he may not innocently lay up in a napkin. +The gift, like that of wealth, is not his by right of ownership, but +only as a steward. It is his as a means to do good for the honor of his +Lord, and the welfare of his fellow-men. As I said in the beginning of +these remarks, the world is governed by words. Let Christian men, by the +industrious use of the gifts they have received, see to it that a +greater proportion of this governing force in the world is contributed +by the friends of Christ. Let them unceasingly fill up with the words of +truth and righteousness every accessible channel of thought and opinion, +and thus occupy till Christ come.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span><a name="X" id="X"></a>X.<br /> + +THE STUDY OF LANGUAGE.</h2> + + +<p>The study of language has ever been considered a study of high +importance, regarded merely as a means of intellectual cultivation.</p> + +<p>There are obvious reasons for this. The analysis of language is the +analysis of thought. Resolving complex forms of speech into simple ones, +and again combining simple expressions into those which are complex, and +investigating, alternately by logic and aesthetics, the varying +properties of words and phrases, are operations which come nearer, +perhaps, than any other in which we are engaged, towards subjecting +spirit itself to the crucible of experiment. The study of grammar, the +comparison of languages, the translation of thought from one language to +another, are so many studies in logic and the laws of mind. The +subtleties of language arise from the very nature of that subtle and +mysterious essence, the human mind, of which speech is the prime agent +and medium of communication.</p> + +<p>The class of studies under consideration bears nearly the same relation +to the spiritual that anatomy does to the bodily part of us. It is by +the dissecting-knife of a keen and well-tempered logic, applied to the +examination of the various forms which human thought assumes, that we +most truly learn the very essence and properties of thought itself. It +is this intimate, immediate, indissoluble connection<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> and correlation +between mind and language, between human thought and human speech, +between the soul itself and the mould into which it is cast, that gives +such importance to the general class of studies known as philological.</p> + +<p>The study of language, more than any other study, tends to make the mind +acute, discriminating, and exact. It tends also, in a most especial +manner, to fit a person to train the minds of others to acuteness, +discrimination, and exactness. The person who has learned to express a +thought with entire exactness and idiomatic propriety in two languages; +or where, from the want of analogy between the two languages, he finds +this impracticable, to perceive the exact shade of difference between +the two expressions; who can trace historically and logically the +present meaning of a word from its original starting-point in reason and +fact, and mark intelligently its gradual departures and their causes; +who can perceive the exact difference between words and phrases nearly +synonymous, and who can express that difference in terms clear and +intelligible to others,—that person has already attained both a high +degree of intellectual acumen himself, and an important means of +producing such acumen in others.</p> + +<p>The study of language is, in the profession of teaching, like the +sharpening of tools in the business of the mechanic. Words are the +teacher's tools. Human knowledge, even before it is expressed, and as it +is laid up in the chambers of the mind, exists in words. We think in +words. We teach in words. We are qualified to teach only so far as we +have learned the use and power of words.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span><a name="XI" id="XI"></a>XI.<br /> + +CULTIVATING THE VOICE.</h2> + + +<p>If we except the lower kinds of handicraft, nine-tenths of all that is +done in the world is done by means of the voice,—by talking. It is by +talking we buy and sell; by talking, the lawyer, the doctor, the +minister, the teacher perform the chief of their functions; by talking, +the intercourse and machinery of life are chiefly kept in motion. As it +was by a word that creation was accomplished, as the worlds came into +being and were moulded into shape, not by the hand, but by the omnific +voice of God, <i>saying</i>, "Let there be light and there was light," so in +this lower sphere of human action, the tongue is mightier than the hand. +The moulding, propelling forces of society come from the use of words. +By words, more than by all other means, we persuade, convince, alarm, +arouse, or soothe, or whatever else leads men to action and achievement; +and while written words are full of power, yet even these are feeble as +compared with spoken words, the living utterances of the human voice. +Not only so, but the manner of speaking, the tone and quality of the +voice influence us quite as much as the words spoken.</p> + +<p>Yet how strangely we neglect this wonderful instrument. The mechanic +sees to it that his tools are as keen and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> strong as it is in the power +of art and labor to make them. The sportsman spares no expense or care +to have the articles that minister to his pleasure in the highest +possible state of finish and perfection. How lavish we are in the +purchase of instruments of music, and in keeping them properly tuned and +cared for. Yet this most wonderful organ, the voice, which God has given +to every one of us, and which is worth more to us than all the +instruments of music, all the inventions of pleasure, all the tools of +trade, that human skill has devised, is left for the most part in utter +neglect, without intelligent guidance, its wonderful powers almost +totally uncultivated and undeveloped. We all feel the sway that a well +cultivated and modulated voice has upon us, its power to give us +pleasure and win our assent, and yet the great majority of us neglect to +cultivate in ourselves that which may give us such a power over others. +We are not oblivious of other advantages. We strive to make ourselves +acceptable and to increase our influence, by attention to dress, by the +adornment of our persons, and by the cultivation of our minds, by stores +of knowledge and by accomplishments of various kinds, while the voice, +which more than anything else is the direct instrument of the soul, is +treated with neglect.</p> + +<p>We mumble and mutter what should come out clearly and distinctly; we +speak with a nasal drawl, or in a sharp key that sets all the finer +chords of sympathy ajar; we use just so much of the vocal power that is +given us as is needed to express in the faintest way our most imperative +wants, and indolently leave all the rest of its untold and exquisite +resources to go to waste.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p> + +<p>Mrs. Siddons once made a shopkeeper turn pale with affright and +unconsciously drop his goods upon the counter, simply by the tone in +which, by way of experiment, she asked him the price of a pair of +gloves. Undoubtedly Mrs. Siddons had natural gifts of voice which do not +belong to every one. But a great part of the wonderful fascination which +she and the other members of that remarkable family exerted, was due to +cultivation.</p> + +<p>If ministers of the gospel, and others who undertake to influence the +minds of a congregation on the side of religion, would give this matter +more attention, they would find it very greatly to their own advantage +and that of others. The manner in which the words of eternal life are +read and uttered from the pulpit is often such as to kill all vitality +out of them. It is not enough that a preacher should be a good +theologian, and that his sermon contain sound and valuable thoughts. The +influence which they are to exert upon the people, is largely dependent +upon the voice which gives them utterance. A competent teacher of +elocution is quite as important a part of the machinery of a theological +seminary, as a teacher of Hebrew. Yet, in organizing our seminaries, +this matter is usually entirely ignored.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span><a name="XII" id="XII"></a>XII.<br /> + +EYES.</h2> + + +<p>I have spoken much of blackboards, maps, pictorial cards, natural +objects, and apparatus of various kinds, as among the urgent wants of +the teacher. But there is one thing which he wants more than all these, +and that is EYES. A good pair of eyes are to the teacher, in the +government of his school, worth more than the rod, more than any system +of merit or demerit marks, more than keeping in after school, more than +scolding, reporting to parents, suspension, or expulsion, more than +coaxing, premiums, and bribes in any shape or to any amount. The very +first element in school government, as in every other government, is +that the teacher should know what is going on in his little kingdom, and +for this knowledge he needs a pair of eyes.</p> + +<p>Most teachers, it is true, seem to be furnished with this article. But +it is in appearance only. They have something in the upper part of the +face which looks like eyes, but every one knows that appearances are +deceiving. They look over a school or an assembly of any kind, and are +vaguely conscious that things are going on wrong all around them, just +as people sometimes grope about in a dark room filled with bats, and are +aware that something<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span> is flitting about, but they have no power of +seeing distinctly any one object. It is amazing how little some people +see, who seem to have eyes.</p> + +<p>The fact is, there is an entirely mistaken notion on this whole subject. +Having the eyes open, and seeing, are two distinct things. Infants have +their eyes open, but they do not see anything, in the sense in which +that word is generally used. Light comes into those open windows, the +moving panorama of external nature passes before them, but distinct +vision, which recognizes and individualizes objects, is something more +than a mere passive, bodily sensation. It is a mental act. It is the +mind rousing itself into consciousness, and putting forth its powers +into voluntary and self-determined activity. Nothing in the history of +childhood is more interesting than to watch this awakening of the mind +in infancy, to notice how the whole face brightens up when the little +stranger first begins actually to see things.</p> + +<p>The misfortune with many people is, that in this matter of vision they +seem never to get beyond the condition of infancy. They go along the +street, or they move about in a room, in a sort of dreamy state, their +eyes open, but seeing nothing. A teacher of this kind, no matter what +amount of disorder is going on before him, never sees any one particular +act. He sees things in the mass, instead of seeing individual things. +The difference between teachers in this faculty of seeing things is more +marked probably than in any other quality that a man can have. Two +teachers may stand before the same class. One will merely be aware that +there is a general disorder and noise through<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>out, being unable to +identify any scholar in particular as transgressing. The other will +notice that John is talking, that James is pulling his neighbor's hair, +that William is drumming on the desk with his fingers, that Andrew is +munching an apple, that Peter is making caricatures on his slate, and so +on.</p> + +<p>To have this power of seeing things, it is not necessary that one should +be sly, or should use stealth of any kind. Knowledge gained by such mean +practices never amounts to much, and always lowers a teacher in the +estimation of his scholars; it weakens instead of strengthening him. +Whatever a teacher does in the way of observation of his scholars, +should be done openly and aboveboard. And after all, more can be seen in +this way, by one who knows how, than by any of the stealthy practices +usually resorted to. Darting the eyes about rapidly in one direction and +another, is not a good way to make discoveries. Seeing is accomplished, +not so much by the activity of the bodily organ, as by mental activity. +The man's mind must be awake. This in fact is the secret of the whole +matter. The more the face and eyes are quiet, and the mind is on the +alert, the more a man will see. Seeing is rather a mental than a bodily +act, though of course the bodily organ is necessary to its +accomplishment. To be a good observer, one must maintain a quiet and +composed demeanor, but be thoroughly wide awake within.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span><a name="XIII" id="XIII"></a>XIII.<br /> + +ERRORS OF THE CAVE.</h2> + + +<p>Improvement comes by comparison. One of the most profound observations +of Bacon is that in which he remarks upon the dwarfing and distorting +influence of solitariness upon the human faculties. The man who shuts +himself up in his own little circle of thought and action as in a cave, +having no consort with his fellows, evolving all his plans from his own +solitary cogitation, must be more than human if he does not become +one-sided, narrow, selfish, bigoted.</p> + +<p>A like result, but not so aggravated, is produced, when a man limits his +range of thought and action to those of his own special calling or +profession; when the merchant mingles only with merchants and knows only +merchandise; when the teacher knows nothing but teaching and books; when +the medical man spends every waking hour and every active exercise of +thought upon his healing art; when any man forgets that, in the very +fact of his being a man at all, he is something greater and nobler than +he can possibly be in being merely a merchant, or teacher, or doctor, or +lawyer, or the possessor of any other one special art or faculty.</p> + +<p>It is true, indeed, that in order to attain to eminence in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> any one +department, a man must bend his main energies to that one thing; and he +must give to it much solitary thought and study. But no department of +action is isolated. No interest is unconnected with other interests. No +truth stands alone, but forms a part in the great system of truth. Study +or action, therefore, which is entirely isolated, must needs be dwarfed +and distorted.</p> + +<p>A man must go occasionally out of his own sphere in order fully to +understand those very things with which he is most familiar. A man must +study other languages, if he would hope fully to understand his own. A +man must study more than languages merely if he would become a perfect +linguist. The only way to understand arithmetic thoroughly is to study +algebra. A parent who has only one child, and who gives his entire and +exclusive attention to the study of that child, in order that he may, by +a thorough understanding of its nature and disposition, be better able +to teach and train it, will not be so likely to attain his object as he +would if he were to spend a portion of his time in mingling with other +children and in becoming acquainted with childhood generally. A teacher +who should shut himself up in his own school-room, giving to it every +moment of his waking hours, would not be likely to benefit so largely +his own pupils, as if he were to spend a portion of his time in +communing with other teachers and observing other methods besides his +own. A teacher even who should mingle freely with those of his own +profession, and get all the benefit to be derived from observation of +the views and methods of other teachers, but should stop there, would +not yet obtain that broad, comprehensive<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span> view, even of his own calling, +and of the duties of his own particular school-room that he might have +if he would travel occasionally beyond the walk of books and pedagogy, +and become acquainted with the views and methods of men in other spheres +of life, with merchants, lawyers, and doctors, with farmers, mechanics, +and artisans.</p> + +<p>It is only by mingling with those outside of our own little specialty +that we are disenthralled from the bonds of prejudice. It is wonderful +to see the change produced in the minds of men of different religious +denominations, when by any means they are thrown much into the actual +fellowship of working together in some cause of common benevolence. How, +without any argument, merely by the fact of their being brought out to a +different point of view, the relative magnitude and importance of +certain truths change in their estimation! The points in which +Christians differ become so much smaller; the points in which they agree +become so much larger. The little stone at the mouth of the cave no +longer hides the mountain in the distance.</p> + +<p>Let the teacher, the merchant, the mechanic, the banker, the lawyer, the +minister of religion even, still remember that he is a man, and that he +can never reach a full and just estimate of his own position without +sometimes going outside of it and placing himself in the position of +other men.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span><a name="XIV" id="XIV"></a>XIV.<br /> + +MEN OF ONE IDEA.</h2> + + +<p>There is between the teacher and other operatives one obvious +difference, arising from the difference in the materials upon which +their labor is bestowed. That class of laborers whose toil and skill are +exerted in modifying the forms of matter, succeed generally in +proportion to the narrowness of the range to which each individual's +attention is confined. It is possible (the writer has known it to be a +fact) for the same person to sow the flax, to pull and rot it, to break +it, hatchel it, spin it, warp it, weave it, dye or bleach it, and +finally make it into clothes. I say this is <i>possible</i>, for I have seen +it done, and I dare say many of my readers have seen the same. But how +coarse and expensive is such a product, compared with that in which +every step in the progress of production is made the subject of one +individual's entire and undivided attention.</p> + +<p>If we were to go into the factories of Lowell, or into any of the +thousand workshops which are converting Philadelphia into a great +manufacturing centre, we would find the manufacture of an article +approaching perfection just in proportion to the <i>im</i>perfection (in one +sense) of the individual workmen employed in its production. The man<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span> +who can make a pin-head better and cheaper than any one else, must give +his attention to making pin-heads only. He need not know how to point a +pin, or polish it, or cut the wire. On the contrary his skill in that +one operation increases ordinarily in proportion to his want of skill in +others. His perfection as a workman is in the direct ratio to his +imperfection as a man. He operates upon matter, and the more nearly he +can bring his muscles and his volitions to the uniformity and the +precision of a mere machine—the more confined, monotonous, and +undeviating are his operations—the higher is the price set upon his +work, the better is he fitted for his task.</p> + +<p>Not so the instructor of youth. The material operated on here is of a +nature too subtle to be shaped and fashioned by the undeviating routine +of any such mechanical operations. The process necessary to sharpen one +intellect may terrify and confound another. The means which in one +instance serve to convince, serve in other cases to confuse. The +illustration which to one is a ray of light, is to another only +"darkness visible." Mind is not, like matter, fixed and uniform in its +operations. The workman who is to operate upon a substance so subtle and +so varying must not be a man of <i>one idea</i>—who knows one thing, and +nothing more. It is not true in mind, as in matter, that perfection in +the knowledge of one particular point is gained by withdrawing the +attention from every other point. All truth and all knowledge are +affiliated. The knowledge of arithmetic is increased by that of algebra, +the knowledge of geography by that of astronomy, the knowledge of one +language by knowing another. As no one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span> thing in nature exists +unconnected with other things, so no one item in the vast sum of human +knowledge is isolated, and no person is likely to be perfectly +acquainted with any one subject who confines his attention with +microscopic minuteness to that subject. To understand thoroughly one +subject, you must study it not only in itself, but in its relations. To +know one thing well you must know very many other things.</p> + +<p>Let us return then to the point from which we set out, namely: that one +important difference between the teacher and other operatives arises +from the difference in the objects on which they operate. The one +operates upon matter, the other upon mind. The one attains perfection in +his art by a process which in the other would produce an ignoramus, a +bungler, a narrow-minded, conceited charlatan. Hence the necessity on +the part of those who would excel in the profession of teachers, of +endeavoring continually to enlarge the bounds of their knowledge. Hence +the error of those who think that to teach anything well it is necessary +to know only that one thing. That young woman who undertakes to teach a +primary school, or even an infant class, has mistaken her calling if she +supposes that because she has to teach only the alphabet or the "table +card," she has therefore no need to know many other things. There are +some things which every teacher needs. Every teacher needs a cultivated +taste, a disciplined intellect, and that enlargement of views which +results only from enlarged knowledge.</p> + +<p>We all know how much we are ourselves benefited by associating +habitually with persons of superior abilities.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span> So it is in a still +higher degree with children. There is something contagious in the fire +of intellect. The human mind, as well as the human heart, has a +wonderful power of assimilation. Every judicious parent will say: Let +not my child be consigned to the care of an ill-informed, dull, +spiritless teacher. Let it be his happy lot, if possible, to be under +one who has some higher ambition than merely to go through a certain +prescribed routine of duties and lessons; one whose face beams with +intelligence and whose lips drop knowledge; one who can cultivate in him +the disposition to inquire, by his own readiness and ability to answer +childish inquiries; who can lead the inquiries of a child into proper +channels, and train him to a correct mode of thinking by being himself +familiar with the true logical process, by having himself a cultivated +understanding. Such a teacher finds a pleasure in his task. He finds +that he is not only teaching his pupils to read and to spell, to write +and to cipher, but he is acquiring an ascendancy over them. He is +exerting upon them a moral and intellectual power. He is leaving, upon a +material far more precious than any coined in the Mint, the deep and +inerasible impress of his own character.</p> + +<p>Let me repeat then, at the risk of becoming tiresome, what I hold to be +an important and elementary truth, that the teacher should know very +many things besides what he is required to teach. A good knowledge of +history will enable him to invest the study of geography with new +interest. Acquaintance with algebra will give a clearness to his +perceptions, and consequently to his mode of inculcating the principles, +of arithmetic. The ability to de<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>lineate off-hand with chalk or pencil +the forms of objects, gives him an unlimited power of illustrating every +subject, and of clothing even the dullest with interest. Familiarity +with the principles of rhetoric and with the rules of criticism, gives +at once elegance and ease to his language, and the means of more clearly +detecting what is faulty in the language of others. A knowledge of Latin +or of French, or of any language besides his own, throws upon his own +language a light of which he before had no conception. It produces in +his ideas of grammar and of language generally, a change somewhat like +that which the anatomist experiences from the study of comparative +anatomy. The student of the human frame finds many things that he cannot +comprehend until he extends his inquiries to other tribes of animals; to +the monkey, the ox, the reptile, the fish, and even to the insect world. +So it is with language. We return from the study of a foreign language +invariably with an increased knowledge of our own. We have made one step +at least from the technicalities of particular rules towards the +principles and truths of general grammar.</p> + +<p>But it is not necessary to multiply illustrations. I have already said +enough to explain my meaning. Let me say, then, to every teacher, as you +desire to rise in your profession, as you wish to make your task +agreeable to yourself or profitable to your pupils, do not cease your +studies as soon as you gain your election, but continue to be a learner +as long as you continue to be a teacher, and especially strive by all +proper means, and at all times, to enlarge the bounds of your +knowledge.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span><a name="XV" id="XV"></a>XV.<br /> + +A TALENT FOR TEACHING.</h2> + + +<p>There can be no doubt that some persons have a natural aptitude for +teaching. As there are born poets, so there are born teachers. Yet the +man born with the true poetic temperament and faculty will never achieve +success as a poet, unless he add study and labor to his natural gift. So +the man born with a talent for teaching needs to cultivate the talent by +patient study and practice, before he can become a thoroughly +accomplished teacher. No man probably ever showed greater native +aptitude for anything, than did Benjamin West for painting. Yet what +long years of toil and study it took for him to become a really great +painter? In teaching, as in every other profession, while men doubtless +differ as to their original qualifications and aptitudes, yet the +differences are not so great as they are often supposed to be, and they +are by no means so great as those produced by study and practice. The +man who has no special gift for this employment, but who faithfully and +intelligently tries to perfect himself in it, is sure to be a better +teacher than the one who has the natural gift, but adds to it no special +study and preparation. Indeed, if we exclude from consideration those +very nice and delicate touches in education, which are so rare<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> as to be +quite exceptional, there is nothing in the business of teaching which +may not be acquired by any person of average ability.</p> + +<p>When, therefore, we see a teacher not succeeding in gaining the +attention of his scholars, or in securing obedience and respect, or in +bringing them forward in their lessons, we are not disposed to free such +a person from blame on the plea of his having no natural aptitude for +teaching. We would respectfully say to such a teacher: if you know not +how to impart knowledge, learn how; if you have no tact, get it. +Teaching is a business, as much as knitting stockings, or planting corn. +Either do not undertake to teach at all, or learn how it is to be done.</p> + +<p>If one-fourth of the labor bestowed upon the work of teaching were +devoted to studying the business, the value of the remaining +three-fourths would be quadrupled. It is painful to see the amount of +hard work done in school with so little proportionate effect. If a man +who knew nothing of farming, but who had a desire to be useful, were to +dig a pit and bury therein a bushel of corn, and imagine that he was +planting, his labor would not be wider of the mark than much that is +bestowed in school. A man must learn how to do even so simple a thing as +planting corn. Let the teacher also learn how to plant the seeds of +knowledge, how to prepare the soil, how to open it for the reception of +truth, where and when to deposit the precious grains.</p> + +<p>I have no desire to discourage those faithful men and women who are so +nobly striving to do good as teachers. But I cannot help expressing the +regret that so much of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> this labor is without adequate result. Why +should persons act so differently in this matter from what they do in +any other? If a woman wants to make a pair of stockings, she goes to +some other woman who understands knitting, and sees how it is done, and +learns the stitches, tries and experiments, and studies the matter, +until it is all familiar to her. So of any other ordinary business. Yet +when it comes to teaching, anything like definite study or observation +of the mode of doing it, is almost unknown! It is really no exaggeration +to say that many teachers bungle in their work as egregiously as would a +woman who should put yarn into a churn, and expect, after a proper +amount of churning, to draw out stockings.</p> + +<p>In our schools are many professional teachers of approved skill. Why +should not a school-teacher, who is conscious of not succeeding as he +would desire, spend an hour occasionally in observation? Find out the +name of some teacher who is particularly successful, and look on while +the work is being done, and if possible see how it is done.</p> + +<p>Then again, there are books on the subject, in which the business of +teaching is explained in all its branches. Get some of these books and +read. The mere reading will not make you teachers. But it will set you +to thinking. It will quicken your power of observation. It will help you +to learn from your own experience.</p> + +<p>Make a note of the difficulties you encounter, and the points in which +you cannot accomplish what you desire. Very likely you will find these +very difficulties discussed in the books on teaching which you are +reading. If not,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> lay your difficulties before some friend who is a +successful teacher, and get advice. <i>Anything</i>, rather than going on, +week after week, without improvement. There <i>is</i> a way of interesting +your class in their lessons, of securing good order and punctual +attendance, of making the scholars learn. Only make up your mind that +you will find out what that way is. If you think it cannot be done, of +course it will not be done. If you have fairly made up your mind that it +<i>may</i> be done, and that <i>you</i> can do it, it is half done already.</p> + +<p>You have no idea how much more pleasant the work will be, when you have +once learned how to do it. One reason why so many teachers desert the +ranks, is the irksomeness produced by want of success. Few things are +more intolerable than being obliged to do a thing while conscious of +doing it in an awkward and bungling manner. On the other hand, almost +any work is a pleasure, which one is conscious of doing well.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span><a name="XVI" id="XVI"></a>XVI.<br /> + +TEACHING POWER.</h2> + + +<p>Teachers differ greatly in their ability to bring a class forward in +intellectual acquisition and growth. With one teacher pupils are all +life and energy, they take hold of difficulties with courage, their +ideas become clear, their very power of comprehension seems to gather +strength. With another teacher, those same pupils, studying the same +subject, are dull, heavy, easily discouraged, and make almost no +progress. The ability thus to stimulate the intellectual activity of +others, to give it at once momentum and progress, is the true measure of +one's teaching power. It may be well to consider for a moment some of +the conditions necessary to the existence and the exercise of this +power.</p> + +<p>In the first place, we can exert no great, commanding influence over +others, whether pupils or not, unless we have in a high degree their +confidence. Pupils must have faith in their teacher. I never knew an +instance yet, where there was great intellectual ferment going on in a +class, that the pupils did not believe the teacher infallible, or very +nearly so. This principle of confidence in leadership is one of the +great moving powers of the world. In teaching, it is specially +important. This feeling may in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>deed be in excess. It may exist to such +an extent as to extinguish all independence of thought, to induce a +blind, unquestioning receptivity. Such an extreme is of course opposed +to true mental progress. But short of this extreme point, there is +almost no amount of faith that children can have in their teacher, that, +if well founded, is not of the highest advantage. Seeing the firm, +assured tread of father or mother, or of an older brother or sister, is +a great aid to the tottering little one in putting forth its own steps +while learning to walk. So the child is emboldened to send out its +young, unpractised thoughts, by the confidence it has in the guidance +and protection of its teacher. To acquire and retain the proper +ascendancy over the mind of a child, two things are essential, ample +knowledge and entire honesty. Shallowness and pretension may mislead for +a while. But to hold a child firmly and permanently, the teacher must +abound in knowledge, and must have thoroughly honest convictions.</p> + +<p>The next condition to great teaching power is confidence in one's self. +A timid, irresolute, hesitating utterance of one's own convictions fails +to produce conviction in the minds of others. I do not recommend +self-conceit. It is not necessary to be dogmatic. Yet a certain style of +self-assertion, bordering very closely upon these qualities, is needed +in the teacher. In the higher regions of science and opinion, there are +of course many points about which no one, at least no one well informed, +would undertake to speak with authority. Such subjects it becomes us all +to approach with reverent humility, as at the best only inquirers after +truth. But the case is very different with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> teachers of the common +branches concerned in our present remarks. On these points the teacher +ought to have a certainty and a readiness of knowledge, so as to be +thoroughly self-reliant before the class. Teaching is like fighting. +Self-reliance is half the battle.</p> + +<p>Equally important with the former is it to have the affection of one's +pupils. Writers on metaphysics now-a-days dwell much, and very properly, +on the influence of the body upon the mind, and the necessity of a +healthy condition of the former in order to the full clearness and +strength of our intellectual apprehensions. There is a still more +intimate connection between our moral emotions and our mental action. +The wish is father to the thought, in more senses than that intended by +Shakspeare. If the intellect is the seeing power of the soul, the +affections are the atmosphere through which we look. The same object may +appear to us very differently, as it is seen through the colorless +medium of pure intellectual perception, or as it is enlarged and +glorified by the mellowing haze of fond affection, or as it is distorted +and obscured by the mists of prejudice and hate. When a child has a +thorough dislike for a subject or for his teacher, the difficulty of +learning is very greatly increased. Not only is the willingness to study +weak or wanting, but the very power of mental perception seems to be +obstructed. The power of attention, the power of apprehension, the power +of memory, the power of reasoning, are all paralyzed by dislike, and are +equally vitalized by love and desire. Mental action, in short, is +influenced by the state of the heart as much as by the state of the +body. If you do not expect great<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> mental efforts from a child that is +sickly, burning with fever, or racked with pain, neither may you expect +the best and highest results from one whose heart is diseased and +alienated, who approaches a subject with feelings of aversion and +dislike, whose conceptions are clouded with prejudice.</p> + +<p>A teacher of great intellectual force, and with an overbearing will, may +push forward even a reluctant and a rebellious class with a certain +degree of speed. On the other hand, a teacher who enjoys the unbounded +love of his scholars, may accomplish comparatively little, on account of +lacking the other qualities needed for success. The highest measure of +success in teaching is attained only where these several conditions +meet,—where the teacher has and deserves the full confidence of the +scholars, where he has full confidence in himself, is self-reliant and +self-asserting, and where at the same time he has the warm affection of +his pupils. Love, after all, is the governing power of the human soul, +as it is the crowning grace in the Christian scheme. Love is, in +teaching, what sunshine and showers are in vegetation. By a system of +forcing and artificial culture, the gardener may indeed produce a few +hot-house plants, but for all great or general results, he must look to +the genial operations of nature.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span><a name="XVII" id="XVII"></a>XVII.<br /> + +GROWING.</h2> + + +<p>Children often use the term "grown-up people." By it they mean persons +who have come to the age of twenty, or twenty-one, and whose bodily +growth is complete. But there are other kinds of growth, besides that of +the body.</p> + +<p>What is a "grown-up" <i>teacher</i>? It is not difficult, certainly, to find +some, in every locality, to whom this term could <i>not</i> be applied, with +any propriety. They have been engaged for years in the work, and yet +they are the merest babes. They have no more skill than when they first +took a class in hand. When a boy begins to use a penknife, he is very +awkward. He cuts himself about as often as he cuts the stick. After a +while, however, he learns to manage the matter better. He finds out how +to handle the curious instrument with skill and even with elegance. But +you will see teachers, so called, who seem never to make any of this +progress in their work. They have no more idea now, than they had when +they gave their first lesson, of what they must do to secure attention +and silence, how they must manage to keep all the children busy, how to +secure good attendance, or study of the lesson, how to gain affection +and confidence, how to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span> enforce order and obedience, how to do anything, +except to sit, book in hand, and ask the questions one after the other +round the class, and see that John, George, and James severally say the +answers correctly. This is the idea of teaching with which they begin, +and they make no progress towards anything better. They acquire no +skill. They make no growth. They are "grown-up" bodily. But in all that +pertains to teaching, they are still babes. They whittle as awkwardly +and unskilfully as when the delicate instrument was first put into their +clumsy fingers. They go on from year to year and learn nothing.</p> + +<p>Some persons are born teachers, just as some are born poets or +mechanics. That is, they are gifted with a natural aptitude for that +particular work. But those most gifted by nature, are capable of +improvement, and those having least natural gifts for teaching, may +acquire a certain and a very considerable amount of skill, by proper +observation and study. The point which I wish to make, and which I deem +important, is, that teachers should not rest content with their present +qualifications, whatever they may be, whether large or small. Let it be +the aim of every one to be a growing teacher. We come short, if we are +not better teachers this year than we were last. We should aim and +resolve to be better teachers next year than we are now. Our education +as teachers should never be considered as finished. Forgetting the +things which are behind, let us ever press forward. Let us constantly +aim upward. Skill in teaching admits of infinite degrees, and no one +will ever be perfect in it. Efforts at improvement, if persistently +followed up, are always rewarded with suc<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>cess, and success in such a +work brings a most sweet recompense. What satisfaction is equal to that +of feeling that one is steadily increasing in the power of guiding and +moulding the minds of others? Growing skill in anything, even in works +requiring mechanical ingenuity, brings joy to the mind. How much more +intense and pure the joy, when there is a consciousness of growth in +this higher department of mental power?</p> + +<p>Will the teacher, who reads these paragraphs, consider the matter? Are +you, as a teacher, growing? or are you working on in dull content in the +same old routine? On your answer to these questions depend very largely, +not only the welfare of your scholars and the amount of good you will +achieve, but your own happiness and satisfaction in your work. The +artist, who produces some great work of genius, has his reward not +merely in the dollars which it may bring to his coffer, but in the +inward satisfaction which successful achievement produces. The true +artist is always struggling towards some unattainable ideal, and his joy +is proportioned to the nearness of his approach to the imagined +perfection. So in proportion as we approach in skill the great Teacher, +will be our joy in the work itself, apart from our joy in the results.</p> + +<p>To be a growing teacher requires a distinct aim to this end, and a +resolute and persistent effort. It does not come by chance. It is not a +weed that springs up spontaneously, and matures without culture. It is +not the fruit of mere wishing. There must be <i>will</i>, A DETERMINED AND +RESOLUTE WILL. Rules and theories will not accomplish it. There are +books and essays in abundance on the art and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span> practice of teaching. But +back of means we must have, first of all, the propelling power. Have you +made up your mind to be stationary, or have you resolved to go forward? +Will you remain in the wilderness, or will you advance into the promised +land and take possession? Are you a deliberate, predetermined, contented +dwarf, or will you resolutely grow? You may never become a giant, but do +not remain an infant.</p> + +<p>If there is any one duty of the teacher more imperative than another, it +is that of continued, persistent self-improvement. No element of +progress is so efficient as a wholesome discontent. "I count not myself +to <i>have</i> attained," says the great apostle of progress. To sit down +self-satisfied with present attainments is in itself a sign that you +have not yet risen much. It is to belong to the owls and the bats of the +lower valleys. One must already have ascended to lofty heights before he +can even see the higher Alps towering beyond.</p> + +<p>The teacher who would improve must, in a good sense, be restless. He +must bestir himself. He must study and read and experiment, attend +teachers' meetings and conventions, and take teachers' papers, and find +out what other teachers are doing and have done, ever remembering that +improvement comes mainly by comparison.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span><a name="XVIII" id="XVIII"></a>XVIII.<br /> + +LOVING THE CHILDREN.</h2> + + +<p>Some teachers make the mistake of supposing that a love for the work and +a love for the children are one and the same thing. The two things are +certainly separable in thought, and they are often actually separated in +action. It is of some importance to teachers to remember the difference.</p> + +<p>We see persons every day struggling with all their might to accomplish +certain results. They have certain ideas which they wish to realize, +certain theories which they wish to verify. To bring about these +results, is a matter of pride with them. So that the end is gained, the +means to be used are a matter of comparative indifference. Their heart +is set on the result, they care nothing for the machinery by which it is +brought about. Now, so long as the work is of a nature which requires +only the use of mechanical powers, or of mere brute force, it is all +very well. The sculptor need not fall in love with the block of marble +on which he is working, in order to realize from it the conception of +his mind. The engine which carries us thirty miles an hour towards the +goal of our desires, will not speed us more or less for not being an +object of our affections. But every man has a natural<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> and proper +dislike to becoming a mere machine for carrying out the schemes of +others. Children especially revolt at being treated in this way. If a +teacher takes the charge of a class or of a school, for the purpose of +showing to himself or to others how certain things may be done, the +children are quick to find it out, and to resent it. No child, however +humble or obscure, but feels indignant at being considered as a mere +pawn upon a chess-board, or a mere wheel or pulley in some complicated +piece of machinery. Every individual child is to itself the centre of +all human interests, and if you are to have any real and abiding +influence upon him, he must first feel that you have a regard for +himself, in his own proper person, independently of any schemes or plans +of your own.</p> + +<p>You may love to see your children all present punctually, to see them +making a good appearance, and by their orderly behavior and manners +helping forward the school generally; you may love the work of teaching +as giving you honorable and useful occupation. But something more than +this is wanting. <i>You must love the children.</i> You must love each +particular child. You must become interested in each child, not for what +it is to you, or to the class, or to the school, but for what it is in +itself, as a precious jewel, to be loved and admired, for those immortal +qualities and capacities which belong to it as a human being. No matter +how degraded or depraved or forbidding in appearance that child may be, +it has qualities which, if brought out, may make it more glorious than +an angel. If Jesus loved him, you may love him. Jesus did not stand off +at a distance from the loathsome and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> filthy leper, while performing the +miracle of healing. He first "<i>touched</i>" the leper, and said, "Be thou +clean." We are sometimes too fastidious in our benevolence, and shrink +too much from coming into contact with those whom we would befriend.</p> + +<p>Little real influence is ever produced upon any human being, without +creating between you and him a bond of sympathy. If we would work +strongly and efficiently upon the minds of children, we must really love +them, not in the abstract, not in a general way, but concretely and +individually. We must love John and William and Mary and Susie, simply +and purely because he or she is, in himself or herself alone, an object +of true interest and affection. In looking over a school, it is not +difficult to discover at a glance which teachers thus love their +children. It speaks in every word from the lips. It beams in every look +from the eyes. It thrills in every tone of the voice. It has a language +in the very touch of the hand and the movements of the person.</p> + +<p>Some persons are naturally more fond of children than others are. But +those not naturally thus inclined may cultivate the disposition. They +<i>must</i> do so if they mean to be teachers. No one is fitted to be a +teacher, who has not learned to sympathize with the real wants and +feelings of children. Pretence here is all wasted. Shams may do with +grown persons sometimes, never with children. They have an instinctive +perception of what is genuine and what is pretended, in professed love +for them. In fact, the way to win the affection of a child is to love +him, not to make professions of love.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p> + +<p>It is not always the easiest thing in the world to exercise this love. A +teacher may have the charge of a class of children whose appearance, +manners, and dispositions are exceedingly forbidding, perhaps even +loathsome. Yet observation and study will ordinarily discover some good +quality even in the worst and most degraded. A talent for discovering +what is good in a child is much more important in the work of elevating +him, than the smartness at detecting and exposing his tricks, in which +some teachers take pride. It is a bad sign, though not an uncommon one, +to see evidences of cunning in a teacher. Better by far to be outwitted +and duped occasionally, than to forfeit that character of perfect +sincerity and straightforwardness which secures the confidence of a +child. The teacher who would love his children, particularly if he +happens to have been entrusted with an unpromising class, must learn to +wear the spectacles of charity. He must cultivate the habit of seeing +things in their best light. While not blind to faults, he must be prompt +and eagle-eyed to spy out every indication of good. Above all, he must +remember that no human soul, however degraded, is without some elements +and possibilities of good, for whom there is the possibility that Christ +died.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span><a name="XIX" id="XIX"></a>XIX.<br /> +GAINING THE AFFECTIONS OF THE SCHOLARS.</h2> + + +<p>The importance of this point is not to be measured by the mere +gratification it affords. It adds undoubtedly to the happiness of the +teacher in his work, to know that his scholars love him. Nor is this a +small consideration. The teacher has many vexatious rubs. He encounters +much toil and self-denial; and whatever tends to mitigate these +asperities, and to make his labor sweet, is for that very reason +important. The teacher has, for a part at least of his reward, the +enjoyment of a love as pure and unselfish as any known upon earth. He +will doubtless go forward in duty, even where he fails of obtaining this +precious foretaste of the heavenly bliss, and he has doubtless higher +aims than any arising from mere gratification, of whatever sort. Yet a +boon so great is not to be despised or ignored. The ardent love which +scholars sometimes give to their teachers is a high gratification, and +something to be greatly prized for the mere pleasure it gives.</p> + +<p>And yet, after all, this is not its main value. The fact that children +love their teacher, gives to the teacher almost unbounded influence over +them. There is hardly a point, necessary to the success of a school or +of a class, that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span> scholars will not readily yield to a teacher whom they +love. By this silken cord they can be drawn whithersoever the teacher +wills. To please teacher, they will attend regularly, will come +punctually, will be quiet and orderly, will learn their lessons, will be +attentive to instruction. More than all this, many a child, by the love +of an earthly friend, has been led to the love of his heavenly Friend. +The young heart is opened to receive the Saviour, by the warmth of its +love for one who so manifestly bears his image. Perhaps there is no one, +not even excepting a mother, who can so easily bring the young to the +Saviour, as the teacher who has thoroughly succeeded in winning his +scholars' affections.</p> + +<p>There is another consideration in this matter, not so weighty as the one +named, yet of great importance, and the more worthy to be named, because +it is generally not rightly understood. I refer to the fact that +children will learn so much more readily under a teacher whom they love. +Not only will they study better, and be more attentive, for the sake of +pleasing their teacher, but by some mysterious process of the mind, love +helps us to understand, as dislike disturbs and beclouds the +understanding. When a child has a dislike or prejudice or ill-feeling of +any kind against a teacher, or a subject of study, the effect upon the +mind of the child is like that produced upon a spring of pure and +sparkling water by stirring up the mud and sediment from the bottom. In +the human organization the heart is at the bottom, and disturbing +influences there cause us to see things through an impure medium. The +calmness and serenity, produced by perfect love and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span> trust, are the +proper conditions for the right and best working of the understanding. +We must get the heart right if we would see truth clearly, and that +teacher who has won the love of his scholars has done much towards +making the path of knowledge easy for them.</p> + +<p>Let the teacher, then, aim to win the love of his scholars, first, +because this love is in itself a boon to which the teacher has a +rightful claim; secondly, because it gives him a powerful influence in +moulding the character and habits of the children, and especially in +bringing them to the Saviour; and, thirdly, because it helps the +scholars intellectually, enabling them to understand better and to learn +faster.</p> + +<p>But how is this love to be gained?</p> + +<p>Assuredly, <i>not</i> by demanding it as a right, or by fretting, +complaining, or scolding because your scholars do not love you. Love +only is the price for love. If you wish your scholars to love you, you +must first love them, not pretend to do it,—children are quick to see +through such pretences,—but really and truly love them.</p> + +<p>Many teachers, however, sincerely love their scholars, and yet do not +succeed in winning their affections. Something in their manner and +appearance is repulsive. There is in the face of some good people a hard +and forbidding look, at which the heart takes alarm and retires within +itself. The young heart, like the young buds in spring-time, requires an +atmosphere of warmth and sunshine. If we would draw forth their warm +affections towards us, we must not only feel love towards them in our +hearts, but we must wear sunshine in our faces. A pleasant smile, a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> +loving word, a soft, endearing tone of the voice, goes a great way with +a child, especially where it is not put on, but springs from a loving +heart.</p> + +<p>Some teachers in avoiding this hard, repulsive manner, run to the +opposite extreme, and lose the respect of their scholars by undue +familiarity. Children do not expect you to become their playmate and +fellow, before giving you their love and confidence. Their native +tendency is to look up. They yearn for repose upon one superior to +themselves. Only, when the tender heart of youth thus looks up, let it +not be into a region filled with clouds and cold, but into a sky +everywhere pervaded with a clear, steady, warm sunlight. Let there be no +frown upon your brow, no harsh or angry word upon your lips, no exacting +sternness in your eye. Let the love which you feel in your heart beam +forth naturally and spontaneously in loving looks and words, and you +need not fear but that you will meet with a response.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span><a name="XX" id="XX"></a>XX.<br /> + +THE OBEDIENCE OF CHILDREN.</h2> + + +<p>There is much misapprehension as to the true nature of obedience. +Wherein does obedience really consist? What is its essence?</p> + +<p>Merely doing a specified act, which has been required, is not +necessarily an act of obedience. A father may have a rule of his +household that the children shall rise in the morning at five o'clock. A +son who habitually disregards this rule, may rise at the appointed time +on a particular morning, in order to join a companion on a fishing +excursion, or for some object connected solely with his own pleasure and +convenience. Here the external act is the one required. He rises at the +hour enjoined by his father's command. But his doing so has no reference +to his father's wishes. It is not in any sense an act of obedience. +Something more than mere external compliance with a rule or a command is +needed to constitute obedience. In other words, not only the act itself +must be the one required, but the motive must be right.</p> + +<p>If I am led to do what my father or my mother requires, by mere dint of +coaxing, or by the expectation of cakes or pennies or promised +indulgence of any kind, if it is a bargain, in which I give so much +compliance for so much<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> per contra of self-gratification, the compliance +rendered is not an act of obedience. As well might a man profess to obey +his neighbor, because he gives him a bag of oats for a bag of corn. A +great deal of what passes for obedience in families and schools, is mere +barter. Strip the matter of all glosses and disguises, and the naked +truth remains, that children are hired to do what the parent or the +teacher wants to have done. They do not obey, in any legitimate and +wholesome use of the word. They are quiet when they should be quiet, +they learn the lessons which they should learn, they abstain from +whatever things they should abstain from, because they have learned that +this is the only way to gain the indulgences which they desire. The +parent and the teacher use a motive adequate to secure the outward act, +but they do not secure obedience.</p> + +<p>It is not obedience for a child to do a thing because his reason and +conscience tell him that the act in itself, without reference to his +parents' wishes, is right and proper. At least it is not filial +obedience. I may be obeying my conscience, but I am not obeying my +father. Many parents, who are above the weakness of bribing their +children, satisfy themselves by reasoning with them. Far be it from us +to say a word against any legitimate appeal to the reason and conscience +of a child. Children, at the proper age, should be taught to reason and +to judge for themselves, in regard to the right and wrong of actions, +just as they should learn to walk alone, and not be forever dependent +upon leading strings. Only, let it be understood that just so far as the +child acts on its own independent judgment, the act is not one of filial +obedience.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p> + +<p>Obedience is doing a thing because another, having competent authority, +has enjoined it. The motive necessary to constitute any act an act of +obedience, is a reference to the will and authority of another. It is +submission of our will to the will of another. The child receives as +true what his parents say, and because they say it; so, he does as right +what they command, and because they command it. That fact is, and in the +first instance it should be, to the child's mind, the ultimate and +sufficient reason for either believing or doing—for faith or obedience. +This faith and obedience rendered to my earthly father, which is only +partial and temporary, besides serving its own immediate ends, in +securing a well-ordered household and my own best interests as a child, +has the further end of training me for that unqualified faith and +obedience, which I am to render to my heavenly Father, and which is of +universal and permanent obligation. One object of the parental relation +seems to be to fit the soul for this higher obedience. I must, however, +learn to obey my father simply because he is my father, and because as +such he has the right to command me, if thereby I am to learn, for a +like reason, to obey my heavenly Father. No lower motive will secure the +end.</p> + +<p>Submission to parental authority is not always the instinctive impulse +of childhood. Where this submission is not yielded, it must be enforced. +Authority, in other words, requires sanctions. The father has no right +to command, unless he has the right to punish in case of disobedience. +Furthermore, if he does not, especially in the early childhood of his +offspring, train them to a habit of real obedience and submission to +authority, he does his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> children a great wrong. He deprives them of the +benefit of that habit of obedience, which will be of the utmost value to +them in their future religious life.</p> + +<p>A man forbids his child to eat green apples. The child abstains. That +abstinence is not necessarily an act of obedience.</p> + +<p>He may abstain because his mother offers, in case of his doing so, to +give him sugar-plums, and he prefers the sugar-plums to the apples. This +is not obedience.</p> + +<p>Or, his reason and experience may have taught him that the eating of +green fruit will cause him sickness and pain, and so he abstains for the +same reasons that his father, mother, or anybody else does. This is not +obedience.</p> + +<p>But children often have not the forethought to look at remote +consequences, or they have not the strength of purpose to deny a present +gratification for the sake of a distant good, and especially for a good +of which they have only a vague idea through the representations of +their parents or teachers. Suppose such a case. Suppose a child with a +strong inclination and desire for the thing forbidden, and with no clear +apprehension that there is anything wrong or hurtful in the indulgence, +except in the fact that the father has forbidden it, and with no +temptation of a higher indulgence as a reward for abstaining. If, in +such a case, the child abstains, he performs a true act of obedience. He +really subjects his will to the will of his father.</p> + +<p>This kind of implicit obedience is greatly needed. It is to be secured +just as our heavenly Father secures obedience to some of his laws. If a +child thrusts his finger into the candle, he violates a law, and he +instantly suffers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span> for it. We are surrounded by many such laws, without +the observance of which we could not live a day. To teach us obedience +to these laws, the penalty of transgression is immediate and sharp. +There are other laws of our physical well-being, the penalties of which +are remote, and in regard to those we have room for the exercise and +cultivation of our reasoning powers. Now in childhood, there are many +things which a child should be taught to forbear doing as promptly as he +forbears to thrust his hand into the fire. Yet for these things there is +no natural penalty. Here the command of the parent should be interposed, +and transgression should be promptly followed by penalty. The authority +of the parent and the penalties by which he sustains it, guide the child +during those years when reason and the power of self-denial are weak. +But to make this discipline easy and effective, there should be no +hesitation or uncertainty about the exercise of it. Parents often have +to strain their authority, and use very largely their right of +punishment, because they are so unequal and irregular in their methods +of government. A child soon ceases to thrust his finger into the fire. +Fire is not a thing which burns one day, and may be safely tampered with +the next. So, if disobedience, invariably and promptly, without passion +or caprice, and with the uniformity of a law of nature, brings such a +penalty as to make the disobedience painful, there will be little +transgression and little need of punishment. A child does not fret +because he cannot play with fire. He will not fret because he cannot +transgress a father's direct command, if he once knows that such +commands <i>must</i> be obeyed.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span><a name="XXI" id="XXI"></a>XXI.<br /> + +RAREY AS AN EDUCATOR.</h2> + + +<p>Parents, teachers, and all who are charged with the duty of training the +young, may learn important lessons from the example of the late Mr. +Rarey. The principles on which the horse is rendered obedient and docile +do not differ essentially from those to be employed in the government of +children or of men.</p> + +<p>Some of the accounts of Mr. Rarey's system, however, which have been +published, are liable to mislead, and to foster a mischievous error. His +procedure was eminently kind and gentle. The horse became fully assured +that no harm was intended towards him. This conviction is essential to +success in securing a perfect and willing obedience, whether from brute +or human. But the distinctness with which this feature of the treatment +was brought out in Mr. Rarey's exhibitions, led some apparently to think +that this was the main, if not the only feature. Kindness alone, +however, will not tame, and will not govern, brutes or men. There must +be power. There must be, in the mind of the party to be governed, a full +conviction that the power of the other party is superior to his +own—that there is, in the party claiming obedience, an ample reserve of +power fully adequate to enforce the claim. The more complete<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span> this +conviction is, the less occasion there will be for the exercise of the +power. The most headstrong horse, once convinced that he is helpless in +this contest of strength, and convinced at the same time that his master +is his friend, may be led by a straw.</p> + +<p>Mr. Rarey went through various preliminary steps, the object of which +was to make the horse acquainted with him, and to prevent fright or +panic. But obedience was not claimed, and was not given, until there had +been a demonstration of power—until the horse was convinced that the +man was entirely too much for him. By a very simple adjustment of straps +to the forefeet of the animal, he became perfectly helpless in the hands +of his tamer. The struggle, indeed, was sometimes continued for a good +while. The horse put forth his prodigious strength to the utmost. He +became almost wild at the perfect ease and quietude with which all his +efforts were baffled, until at length, fully satisfied that further +struggles were useless, he made a complete surrender, and lay down as +peaceful and submissive as an infant.</p> + +<p>This point is of some importance. I do not underrate the value of +kindness and love in any system of government, whether in the household, +the school, the stable, the menagerie, or in civil society. But love is +not the basis of government. Obedience is yielded to authority, and +authority is based on right and power. The child who complies with his +father's wishes, only because a different course would make his father +grieve, or give his mother a headache, or because his parents have +reasoned with him and shown him that compliance is for his good, or who +has<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> been wheedled into compliance by petty bribes and promises, has not +learned that doctrine of obedience which lies at the foundation of all +government, human and divine. God has given to the parent the right to +the obedience of his children, and the power to enforce it. That parent +has failed in his duty who has not trained his child, not only to love +him, but to obey him, in the strict sense of the word, that is to yield +his will to the will of a superior, from a sense of appointed +subordination and rightful authority. This sense of subordination and of +obedience to appointed and rightful authority, is of the very essence of +civil government, and the place where it is to be first and chiefly +learned is in the household. To teach this is a main end of the parental +relation. The parent who fails to teach it, fails to give his child the +first element of good citizenship, and leaves him often to be in +after-years the victim of his own uncontrolled passions and tempers. The +want of a proper exercise of parental authority is, in this age of the +world, the most prolific source of those frightful disorders that +pervade society, and that threaten to upturn the very foundations of all +civil government. The feeling of reverence, the sense of a respect for +authority, the consciousness of being in a state of subordination, the +feeling of obligation to do a thing simply because it is commanded by +some one having a right to obedience—all these old-fashioned notions +seem to be dying out of the minds of men. The popular cry is, Don't make +your children fear you. Govern them by love. Conquer them by kindness. +Treat them as Mr. Rarey did his horses.</p> + +<p>I protest against the notion. It is a mistake of Mr.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span> Rarey's system, +and it is not the true basis for government, whether of brutes or men. +The doctrine may seem harsh in these dainty times. But, in my opinion, a +certain degree of wholesome fear in the mind of a child towards its +parent, is essential, and is perfectly compatible with the very highest +love. I have never known more confiding, affectionate, and loving +children, than those who not only regarded their parents as kind +benefactors and sympathizing friends, but who looked up to them with a +certain degree of reverence. The fear spoken of in the Bible, as being +cast out by perfect love, is quite a different emotion. It is rather a +slavish fear, a feeling of dread and terror. It sees in its object not +only power but hostility. It awakens not only dread but hate. The +child's fear, on the contrary, sees power united with kindness. It obeys +the one, it loves the other. It is the exact attitude of mind to which +Mr. Rarey brought the horse that was subjected to his management.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span><a name="XXII" id="XXII"></a>XXII.<br /> + +A BOARDING-SCHOOL EXPERIENCE.</h2> + + +<p>I have often wished I had the descriptive power of the man who wrote +"The Diary of a Physician." My experiences in another profession have +not been wanting in incident, often of a curious and romantic kind, and +sometimes almost startling. But the "Diary of a Schoolmaster," to be +read with interest, requires something more than a good basis of facts. +He who writes it must have, also, graphic and narrative powers—a +special gift, of which nature has been sparing to me. I had one +experience, however, many years ago, so remarkable in some of its +features, that perhaps the bare facts, stated in the simplest form, +without artifice or embellishment, will be found worthy of perusal. The +youth who was the principal actor in the scene which I am about to +describe, has been dead these many years, and I believe the family have +nearly all died out. The only survivor that I knew anything of ten years +ago was then blind, and ill of an incurable disease. There would, +therefore, perhaps be no harm in giving the youth's real name; but as +the name is one widely known, and as it is always best to avoid +unnecessary intrusion upon private affairs, I have concluded to use a +fictitious name, both for the person referred to and for the place from +which he<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span> came. In other particulars the following incident is a simple +narration of facts.</p> + +<p>At the time of which I am writing, I had a large boarding-school for +boys, at Princeton, New Jersey. Particular circumstances gave me, for +several years, quite a run of patronage from a town in one of the +Western States, which for convenience I shall call Tompkinsville. Among +those who applied for admission from this town were two brothers, Bob +and Charlie Graham. Bob was only ten years old. Charlie was fourteen, +and as mature as most boys at nineteen. Mature, I mean, not so much in +his intellectual development, for in that respect he was rather +behindhand, but in his passions, and in his habits of independent +thought and action.</p> + +<p>I had many misgivings about the propriety of receiving these boys into +the school. Most of those that I had already from Tompkinsville were of +the fire-eating class, whom it had taken all my skill as a +disciplinarian to bring into subjection, and I did not know what might +be the effect of adding to their number two such combustible youths as +these Grahams were reputed to be. Tompkinsville, indeed, had long been +notorious for the fiery and lawless character of its inhabitants. While +containing many most estimable families, where a generous and +warm-hearted hospitality reigned supreme, yet no town, probably, in all +the Western States witnessed annually a greater number of street-fights +and other deeds of violence of the most desperate character. No family +in Tompkinsville were more noted than the Grahams, on the one hand for +the passionate warmth of their attachments, and on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span> other for the +fierceness and violence of their resentments. Nothing was too much for +them to do for you when their affections were touched. On the other +hand, no law, human or divine, seemed to restrain them when their blood +was up. When roused by what they regarded as an insult, they were human +tigers, no less in the quickness than in the desperate ferocity of their +anger. The father once, in open court, in a sudden rage, actually strode +over the tables and heads of the lawyers, and seizing the presiding +judge by the collar, dragged him from the bench and horsewhipped him in +the presence of all his officials. Charlie himself, of whom I am +writing, gave, about two years after leaving school, a similar +demonstration of violence. Hearing that a young man, who was a +fellow-student of his in a law office, had done something insulting, +Charlie drew up a formal written apology and presented it to the young +man to sign, intending afterwards to post it. On the young man's +refusing to sign the paper, Charlie drew a weapon of some kind and +sprang upon him. The young man being several years older, and very large +and powerful, had no difficulty in disarming his assailant, throwing him +upon the floor and holding him there. While thus down upon his back, +bound hand and foot, and completely at the mercy of his antagonist, +Charlie still demanded, as fiercely as ever, the signing of the +"apology," giving the young man, as the only alternative, either to kill +him or to be killed. "If you let me up alive, I will shoot you at sight, +as sure as my name is Charles Graham." Knowing the desperate character +of the family, and feeling too well assured of his own social<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span> position +to care for any effect the signing of such a paper might have, the young +man courageously let the ruffian up and signed the apology. Two days +after, Charlie came back to the office, thoroughly mortified and +penitent for his outrage, voluntarily gave up the paper, and apologized +in the amplest manner for his folly.</p> + +<p>I might enumerate other instances by the score, were it necessary, to +show the character of the boy with whom I had to deal. But these are +probably sufficient. His passions were as quick as gunpowder, and as +indiscriminate. Had I known all that I afterwards knew in regard to his +disposition and his antecedents, I certainly would not have undertaken +the charge of his education.</p> + +<p>The Grahams had been with me nearly a year without the occurrence of +anything to attract attention or call for discipline. The school had +considerable reputation among the people of Tompkinsville for the +strictness of its discipline. Though the relations between the pupils +and myself were for the most part thoroughly kind and friendly, yet it +was well understood by every boy who entered school that the will of the +Principal was supreme. Mr. Graham had probably brought his boys to the +school for that very reason. The routine of obedience had been so +thoroughly established, that his boys, he thought, would submit through +mere force of example. Bob was too young to give any uneasiness. He +fell, of course, into many of the peccadilloes of boys of his age, and +received, without demur, the treatment of a little boy. Charlie, for a +long time, was almost a model of propriety. He was diligent in his +studies, and observed the rules of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> school with scrupulous care. He +was fair, almost girlish, in appearance, and gentle in his speech. No +one, merely observing the quiet, modest boy, going about his usual +routine of duty, without noise or turbulence, would have dreamed of the +sleeping volcano that lay beneath this placid exterior.</p> + +<p>About the middle of the second term I began to notice in Charlie +symptoms that I did not like. The harness evidently chafed him +somewhere, and there was no telling when he might kick out of the +traces. The crisis at length came. One morning, when the boys were in +the washroom, under the charge of the senior teacher, Charlie, with what +precise provocation I could never ascertain, drew back his basin of +water and threw it full into the teacher's face.</p> + +<p>Here was a case. We were about to have an explosion. Evidently the young +fire-eater's blood was up. He was bent on having "a scene;" and, while +his hand was in, he would quite likely make up for all the long months +of peaceful inaction. All the tiger within him stood revealed.</p> + +<p>The matter was reported to me of course. After some little thought, my +plan was chosen. Not a word was said on the subject for several hours. +Meals, play-time, study-hours, lessons, everything went on as usual. At +length, about eleven o'clock, Charlie was summoned, not to the +principal's desk, in the public school-room, but to my private office, +in a remote part of the premises. As he entered the quiet apartment, it +was evident that the intervening hours of reflection had not been lost +upon him. He was pretty sure, of course, that I had sent for him in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> +consequence of the occurrence of the morning. Still he was not certain. +Not a word had been uttered in school on the subject—no allusion to it +even. Altogether there was something about the affair that mystified +him.</p> + +<p>The following brief dialogue ensued.</p> + +<p>"Where are your skates, Charlie?"</p> + +<p>"In my box in the play-room, sir."</p> + +<p>"Where is your sled?"</p> + +<p>"That is hanging up in the outer shed."</p> + +<p>"Where is your fishing-line and your ball?"</p> + +<p>"They are in the play-room."</p> + +<p>"I wish you would get these and all your other playthings together +before dinner. Peter (this was the head waiter) has collected your boots +and shoes, and Sarah (the seamstress) has got your clothes together and +packed your trunks. I have made out your accounts, and will be ready to +send you home to your father by the afternoon train. You may help Bob +also to collect his playthings; he has not done anything wrong, but he +is so young I think your father would not like to have him here alone so +far from home."</p> + +<p>All this was said in a tone as utterly emotionless as I would have used +if asking him whether he would be helped to beef or lamb at table.</p> + +<p>Charlie was taken aback. If I had attempted to chastise him, if I had +even used towards him the language of invective or reproach, he could +have met the case. But here was an issue which he had never +contemplated. After a moment of blank amazement, he said:</p> + +<p>"Mr. H., I don't want to go home thus. It will grieve<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span> my father, and it +will be a lasting stigma to me in Tompkinsville, where it is counted an +honor to belong to this school. I know I have done wrong, but can't you +inflict some other punishment? I will submit to anything rather than be +sent home in this way. Put me in 'exile' and at the 'side-table,' for +three days, or any time you please!"</p> + +<p>This was an extreme penalty, sometimes used in school for very grave +offences. The boy who was subject to it was obliged to stand at a table +by himself in the dining-room and eat bread and water, while the other +boys and their teachers were at their meals. Besides this, during the +continuance of the penalty the culprit was not allowed to go upon the +play-ground, or to speak to any one, nor was any one allowed to speak to +him, under the penalty of being himself similarly punished. The +punishment was, of course, a severe one in itself, and was very +mortifying to a boy of high spirit. It was only resorted to in extreme +cases, and was limited to one day. Charlie begged that I would "exile" +and "side-table" him for a week, if I pleased; only not send him home +thus.</p> + +<p>"No, Charlie; I am not sure that your father would approve of your being +thus publicly disgraced before the school and the family, nor am I +myself sure that it would be right in the case of a boy so far advanced +towards manhood as you are. In assuming the charge of you, I never +contemplated anything in our intercourse but such as occurs between +gentlemen. Since I have been mistaken in my estimate of you, let our +intercourse cease. It would not alter your character to subject you to a +humiliating punishment before the assembled school. If it were your<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> +brother Bob, the case would be different. But you are almost a man. You +have been treated here, as at home, with the consideration due to a +young gentleman. I would myself revolt at seeing one of your years and +standing treated as you request me to treat you. I cannot do it. You +must go home."</p> + +<p>"Oh, no! no! Do not send me home! Do anything else. I will submit to any +punishment you please. Flog me; <i>please</i>, flog me!"</p> + +<p>"Flog you! Never! I have no scruples, as you know, on the subject of +corporal punishment, for I often chastise the smaller boys; but boys as +old and mature as you are have sense enough to be governed by other +considerations than fear, and especially fear of the rod. If they have +not, I want nothing to do with them."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Mr. H., won't you <i>please</i> to flog me?"</p> + +<p>And the boy actually went down on his knees and begged me to thrash him. +He, Charlie Graham, whose veins ran fire, who, six hours before, would +have leaped at my throat had I so much as raised my finger at him, was +now begging me, as a special boon, to give him a whipping! I could +hardly believe my senses. Yet there was no doubt of the boy's sincerity, +or of his earnestness. So, to give me time to reflect as to what should +be done, I finally said, "Charlie, I will think of what you have asked, +and let you know at three o'clock."</p> + +<p>Three o'clock came, and Charlie again made his appearance.</p> + +<p>"Do you still wish me to whip you?"</p> + +<p>"I do. I will make any apology you think proper to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> the teacher whom I +insulted, and I will be most thankful to you to chastise me for the +offence."</p> + +<p>"Please to take off your coat."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>When the painful affair was over, I gave him my hand cordially and +frankly, and said, "Charlie, you have honorably and courageously atoned +for a grievous fault, and I assure you, I restore you not only to your +position in school, but to my respect and confidence."</p> + +<p>I never had any further difficulty with Charlie Graham. Years +afterwards, when I met his father at the Springs, he could hardly +contain his amazement when I told him that I had once flogged his oldest +son Charlie, at his own particular request. It was, I suppose, the first +and last time the hand of correction was ever laid on him.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span><a name="XXIII" id="XXIII"></a>XXIII.<br /> + +PHRENOLOGY.</h2> + + +<p>In the previous chapter I gave a leaf from my experience of life in a +boarding-school. I propose now to give another leaf from the same book. +The incident about to be narrated, however, is not given as an +illustration of boarding-school life, but merely because it happened at +school. It might have happened elsewhere, though the circumstances on +that occasion were particularly favorable for giving to it a curious +point.</p> + +<p>While I was at the head of the Edgehill school, at Princeton, N. J., a +stranger called one day and announced himself as Prof. ——. The name is +one almost as well known in the history of Phrenological science as that +of Prof. Combe. He said he was about to give a lecture in Princeton on +the subject of Phrenology, and as he was an entire stranger to myself +and to all the pupils and teachers in the school, he thought it would be +a good opportunity for making an interesting and critical experiment. He +proposed, therefore, with my consent, to spend an hour, in presence of +the school, in examining the heads of any of the boys that I might call +up for that purpose. From the very intimate relations existing in a +boarding-school, the characters of the boys would be well known to me +and to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> their companions and teachers, and we would have therefore the +means of knowing how far he succeeded in his experiment.</p> + +<p>Thinking that an hour spent in this way would not be misspent, that it +would at least give some variety to the monotonous routine of study and +lessons, and, let me add, being not entirely without curiosity as to the +result, I consented to his proposition, and called the school together +in the large assembly-room. All the boys being in their seats, together +with the teachers and the ladies of the household, I stated briefly the +object of their assembling and the method in which it was proposed to +proceed with the experiment. They were to observe entire silence, and to +give no indication, by word or look, so far as they could help it, to +show whether the Professor was hitting the mark or not, as he read off +to them the characters of their companions. The boys took to the idea at +once, and the excitement very soon was at fever-heat.</p> + +<p>Placing a chair upon the platform, in full view of the school, and the +Professor alongside of it, I called up</p> + +<p><i>Boy No. 1.</i>—This happened to be a lad about fourteen, from the +interior of Alabama. He was the most athletic boy in school. "Full big +he was of brawn and eke of bones," as Chaucer says, in his picture of +the Miller. He could beat any boy in school in wrestling, and no doubt +could flog any of them in a fist-fight, though on this point I speak +only from conjecture, as this part of boys' amusements is not always as +well known to their teachers as it is to the boys themselves. The +Professor, after some little manipulation of the cranium, read off the +boy's character<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> with tolerable accuracy. Any one, however, with a grain +of observation, who had seen the boy stalking up to the platform, with +bold, almost defiant air, or had noticed his bull-neck, hard fist, and +swaggering gait, could not have had much difficulty in guessing what +kind of a boy he was, without resort to his bumps for information. It +was written in unmistakable characters all over his physical +conformation, from his head to his heels.</p> + +<p>I noticed, however, that while the Professor's fingers were busy with +the boy's cranium, his eyes were not less busy with the faces of his +youthful auditors. Whenever his interpretation of any bump was a +palpable hit, his success could be all too plainly read in the upturned +faces before him. If the success was very marked and decisive, the +youngsters were entirely unable to restrain their expressions of +surprise and admiration. It was very evident, from his method of +procedure, that he was guided by these expressions, quite as much as by +his fingering of the bumps. He would first mention lightly some trait of +character. If it attracted no particular attention, he would quietly +fall on to something else. But if the announcement seemed to create a +little breeze, showing that he had made a hit, he would then dwell upon +the point, and intensify his expressions, until, in some instances, the +school was in quite an uproar of satisfaction.</p> + +<p>Possibly there was a spice of malice in what followed. At all events, it +seemed to me that that was a kind of game at which two could play, and +if, under the circumstances, he chose to palm off for knowledge gained +by the fingers, what he was really getting by means of his eyes<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> and +ears, there would be no great crime in punishing him a little for his +impertinence. So, in calling the following boys, I selected some who +were notorious in school for certain marked traits, but whose general +appearance and manner gave no indication of their mental peculiarities; +and I questioned the Professor, in regard to each boy, after a method +suited to the case.</p> + +<p><i>Boy No. 2</i> was a youth of moderate abilities, and was, in all things, +save one, just like other boys. But, in one matter, he had a peculiarity +about which there could be no mistake. That was in the matter of music. +So, after questioning the Professor about various indifferent points, +moral and intellectual, such as reverence, combativeness, secretiveness, +language, ideality, etc., I asked incidentally something also about tune +and music. The answer was such as might be safely given in regard to +ninety-nine out of every hundred persons—some vague, indefinite epithet +that would apply to almost any one. But, seeing a little sparkle in the +eyes before him, the gentleman manipulated the cranium again, and then +expressed himself somewhat more strongly. As his expressions increased +in strength, the excitement of the audience increased, until he was +quite lost in hyperbole, as they were in uproar. He even went into +particulars. "Now," said he, "though I never saw this boy before, yet I +venture to say that his ear for music is so quick that he can pick up +almost any tune by once hearing it played or whistled in the street. [A +general rustle through the school, boys winking and giving knowing looks +one to another.] I dare say he could now sing or whistle a hundred tunes +from memory.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> [More knowing looks.] Possibly he may never make a very +accurate performer, on account of the very ease with which he picks up a +tune. He learns a tune so easily by the ear, that he will not submit to +the drudgery of studying it scientifically."</p> + +<p>"You think, then, Professor, that the boy has decided indications of +musical talent?"</p> + +<p>"Undoubtedly. He has musical talents of a very high order [suppressed +shouts] amounting almost to genius!"</p> + +<p>The fact was, poor Charlie was the butt of the whole school, on account +of his utter inability to learn the first elements of either the art or +the science of music. He could neither sing, whistle, nor play. He could +hardly tell "Old Hundred" from "Yankee Doodle." Although he had been +taking music-lessons for two years, he could not rise and fall through +the eight notes, to save his neck. His attempts to do so were a sort of +indiscriminate goo, goo, goo, like that of an infant; and the excitement +among the boys, which the Professor had mistaken for applause and +admiration, grew out of their astonishment. They were simply laughing at +him.</p> + +<p><i>Boy No. 3</i> was a youth over fourteen years old, regularly and +symmetrically formed in face, features, and person. There was nothing in +his make or bearing to indicate any marked peculiarity. Yet he had a +peculiarity as marked as that of the preceding. He was singularly +deficient in the capacity for mathematical studies. He was studying +English grammar, geography, and Latin, and got along in these branches +about as well as the majority of his class. But when it came to the +science of numbers, he seemed to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> stick fast. Neither I nor any of my +teachers had been able to get him beyond Long Division. It was as clear +a case as I have ever known of natural deficiency in that department of +the mental constitution. Yet this boy was declared by the manipulator to +have a decided talent for mathematics.</p> + +<p><i>Boy No. 4</i> was my crack mathematician. He was really in mathematics +what our manipulator had made out No. 2 to be in music. His quickness in +the perception of mathematical truth was wonderful. Besides this natural +readiness in everything pertaining to the science of quantity and the +relations of numbers, he had received a good mathematical training, and +he was in this department far in advance of his years. Whenever we had a +public exhibition, George was our show-card. The rapidity with which he +would fill the blackboard, in solving difficult problems in quadratics, +was almost bewildering. It was not every teacher even that could follow +him in his quick but exact evolutions of complex algebraical formulæ. In +Greek and Latin he hardly attained to mediocrity, being always behind +his class, while in mathematics he was superior, not only to every boy +in school, but to any boy of the same age that I have ever had in any +school. But this boy received from the Professor only a second or +third-rate rank for mathematical indications, while highly praised for +linguistics, in which he was decidedly inferior.</p> + +<p>The fact was, I saw that the gentleman was trying to read <i>me</i>, as well +as the more youthful part of his audience; and so, in questioning him +about this boy, I was malicious enough to be very minute and specific in +my inquiries<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span> about any indications of a talent for language, while the +questions about mathematics were propounded just like those about half a +dozen other points; that is, with no special stress or emphasis, but +just enough to draw from the Professor a clear and distinct expression +of opinion.</p> + +<p><i>Boy No. 5</i> was perhaps the most critical case of all, yet the one most +difficult to describe. He was good, and about equally good, in all his +studies. He stood head in almost every class. He was so uniformly good +that his character became monotonous, and would have been insipid, but +for the manly vigor that marked all his performances. His moral were +like his mental traits. He was indeed our model boy. In two years he had +not had one demerit mark. He was on all sides rounded and +complete—<i>totus teres atque rotundus</i>. The uniformity of his goodness +was sometimes a source of anxiety to me. There was danger of his growing +up with a self-satisfied, pharisaical spirit.</p> + +<p>Thus far, however, I have not named the feature which I regarded as the +critical one, and which had led me to select him as one of the subjects +for examination. Model boys are to be found in all schools. But this boy +had a power of reticence which was to me a continual study, and it was +this feature in his character that I wanted to bring out in the +examination. He was not a sneak. There was nothing sly about him. His +conduct was open and aboveboard. What he did was patent to all. But what +he thought, or how he felt, no one knew. Not Grant himself could more +perfectly keep his own counsel. If a new rule was promulgated, Joseph +obeyed it to the letter. But<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span> whether it was agreeable or disagreeable +to him, no teacher could ever find out. Nor was his obedience of that +tame, passive sort which comes from indifference and lack of spirit. We +all knew him to be resolute, and to be possessed of strong passions. But +his power of self-restraint was equal to his power of reticence. He had, +indeed, in a very marked degree, qualities which you look for only in +those who have had a long schooling in the stern realities of life, and +which you find rarely even then. He was as self-poised as a man of +fifty, with not a particle of that easy impulsiveness so nearly +universal at his age.</p> + +<p>None of the gentleman's performances surprised me so much as the +character which he assigned to this boy, and all the more because +something of the boy's self-continence and reserve was written upon his +face and manner. He was represented by the Professor, in general terms, +as having a free and easy, rollicking sort of disposition—not being +really worse than his companions, though probably having the reputation +of being so. 'If he got into more scrapes than the others [Joseph was +never in a scrape in his life], it was more owing to his natural +impulsiveness than to anything inherently bad in him. And then, when he +did get into a scrape, he had no faculty for concealing it. His organ of +secretiveness was unusually small. The boys would hardly admit him to a +partnership in their plans of mischief, so sure was he inadvertently to +let the cat out of the bag,' etc., etc.</p> + +<p><i>Boy No. 6</i> was the weakest boy, mentally, that we had in school. He was +barely able to take care of himself. Some of his mistakes and blunders +were so ridiculous, that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> they were handed down among the traditionary +jokes of the school, and I am afraid even at this day to repeat them, +lest they may be recognized. If the manipulator had had the cranium of +Daniel Webster under his fingers, he could not have drawn a mental +character more marked by every trait that belongs to intellectual +greatness of the highest order. Finding that he was making a decided +impression upon his young hearers, the Professor continued to pile up +qualities and powers, until the scene became almost too much for the +most practised gravity.</p> + +<p>The examinations occupied an hour, and I made copious notes of the +whole, writing down, as nearly as I could, the exact expressions used by +the operator. The report which I have now given of it is as nearly +literal as it is safe to make it.</p> + +<p>When the Professor was through, and was about to leave, he asked me +privately to tell him how far he had succeeded in his experiments. Not +wishing to say anything disagreeable, I evaded the question to the best +of my ability, answering with some vague generalities, but indicating +sufficiently that it was not agreeable to be more explicit. He pressed +me, however, to tell him candidly and explicitly whether he had +succeeded, and how far. I then told him frankly that he had failed +point-blank in every case. "Ah," said he, "you are skeptical." "No, +sir," said I, "skepticism implies doubt, and I have no longer any doubts +on the subject. <i>My skepticism is entirely removed!</i>"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span><a name="XXIV" id="XXIV"></a>XXIV.<br /> + +NORMAL SCHOOLS.</h2> + + +<p>The term Normal School is an unfortunate misnomer, and its general +adoption has led to much confusion of ideas. The word "Normal," from the +Latin <i>norma</i>, a rule or pattern to work by, does not differ essentially +from "Model." A Normal School, according to the meaning of the word, +would be a pattern school, an institution which could be held up for +imitation, to be copied by other schools of the same grade. But this +meaning of the word is not what we mean by the thing. When we mean a +school to be copied or imitated, we call it a Model School. Here the +name and the thing agree. The name explains the thing. It is very +different when we speak of a Normal School. To the uninitiated, the term +either conveys no meaning at all; or, if your hearer is a man of +letters, it conveys to him an idea which you have at once to explain +away. You have to tell him, in effect, that a Normal School is not a +Normal School, and then that it is something else, which the word does +not in the least describe.</p> + +<p>What then do we mean by a Normal School? What is the thing which we have +called by this unfortunate name?</p> + +<p>A Normal School is a seminary for the professional<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> education of +teachers. It is an institution in which those who wish to become +teachers learn how to do their work; in which they learn, not reading, +but how to teach reading; not penmanship, but how to teach penmanship; +not grammar, but how to teach grammar; not geography, but how to teach +geography; not arithmetic, but how to teach arithmetic. The idea which +lies at the basis of such an institute, is that knowing a thing, and +knowing how to teach that thing to others, are distinguishable and very +different facts. The knowledge of the subjects to be taught, may be +gained at any school. In order to give to the Teachers' Seminary its +full power and efficiency, it were greatly to be desired that the +subjects themselves, as mere matters of knowledge, should be first +learned elsewhere, before entering the Teachers' School. This latter +would then have to do only with its own special function, that of +showing its matriculants how to use these materials in the process of +teaching. Unfortunately, we have not yet made such progress in popular +education as to be able to separate these two functions to the extent +that is desirable. Many of those who attend a Teachers' Seminary, come +to it lamentably ignorant of the common branches of knowledge. They have +consequently first to study these branches in the Normal School, as they +would study them in any other school. That is, they have first to learn +the facts as matters of knowledge, and then to study the art and science +of teaching these facts to others. Instead of coming with their brick +and mortar ready prepared, that they may be instructed in the use of the +trowel and the plumb-line, they have to make their brick and mix their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span> +mortar after they enter the institution. This is undoubtedly a drawback +and a misfortune. But it cannot be helped at present. All we can do is +to define clearly the true idea of the Teachers' School, and then to +work towards it as fast and as far as we can.</p> + +<p>A Normal School is essentially unlike any other school. It has been +compared indeed to those professional schools which are for the study of +law, divinity, medicine, mining, engineering, and so forth. The Normal +School, it is true, is like these schools in one respect. It is +established with reference to the wants of a particular profession. It +is a professional school. But those schools have for their main object +the communication of some particular branch of science. They teach law, +divinity, medicine, mining, or engineering. They aim to make lawyers, +divines, physicians, miners, engineers, not teachers of these branches. +The Professor in the Law School aims, not to make Professors of law, but +lawyers. The medical Professor aims, not to make medical lecturers, but +practitioners. To render these institutions analogous to the Teachers' +Seminary, their pupils should first study law, medicine, engineering, +and so forth, and then sit at the feet of their Gamaliels to be +initiated into the secrets of the Professorial chair, that they may in +turn become Professors of those branches to classes of their own. Nor +would such a plan, if it were possible, be altogether without its value. +It surely needs no demonstration to prove, that in the highest +departments, no less than in the lowest, something more than knowledge +is needed in order to teach. An understanding of how to communicate +one's knowledge, and practical skill in doing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> it, are as necessary in +teaching theology, metaphysics, languages, infinitesimal analysis, or +chemistry, as they are in teaching the alphabet. If there are bunglers, +who know not how to go to work to teach a child its letters, or to open +its young mind and heart to the reception of truth, whose school-rooms +are places where the young mind and heart are in a state, either of +perpetual torpor, or of perpetual nightmare, have these bunglers no +analogues in the men of ponderous erudition that sometimes fill the +Professor's chair? Have we no examples, in our highest seminaries of +learning, of men very eminent in scientific attainments, who have not in +themselves the first elements of a teacher? who impart to their students +no quickening impulse? whose vast and towering knowledge may make them +perhaps a grand feature in their College, attracting to it all eyes, but +whose intellectual treasures, for all the practical wants of the +students, are of no more use, than are the swathed and buried mummies in +the pyramid of Cheops!</p> + +<p>A Teachers' Seminary, if it were complete, would include in its +curriculum of study the entire cycle of human knowledge, so far as it is +taught by schools. Our teachers of mathematics and of logic, of law and +of medicine, need indeed a knowledge of the branches which they are to +teach, and for this knowledge they do not need a Teachers' Seminary. But +they need something more than this knowledge. Besides being men of +erudition, they need to be teachers, no less than the humbler members of +the profession, who have only to teach the alphabet and the +multiplication table; and there is in all teaching, high or low,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span> +something that is common to them all—an art and a skill which is +different from the mere knowledge of the subjects; which is not +necessarily learned in learning the subjects; which requires special, +superadded gifts, and distinct study and training. There is, according +to my observation, as great a lack of this special skill in the higher +seminaries of learning, as in the lower seminaries. Were it possible to +have a Normal School, not which should undertake to teach the entire +encyclopædia of the sciences, but which, limiting itself to its one main +function of developing the art and mystery of communicating knowledge, +should turn out College Professors, and even Divinity, Law, and Medical +Professors,—men who were really skilful teachers,—it would work a +change in those venerable institutions as marked and decisive as that +which it is now effecting in the common schools. Of course, no such +scheme is possible; certainly, none such is contemplated. But I am very +sure I shall not be considered calumnious, when I express the +conviction, that there are learned and eminent occupants of Professors' +chairs, who might find great benefit in an occasional visit to a good +Normal School, or even to the class-room of a teacher trained in a +Normal School. I certainly have seen, in the very lowest department of +the common school, a style of teaching, which, for a wise and +intelligent comprehension of its object, and for its quickening power +upon the intellect and conscience, would compare favorably with the very +best teaching I have ever seen in a College or University.</p> + +<p>I come back, then, to the point from which I set out,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span> namely, that a +Normal School, or Teachers' Seminary, differs essentially from every +other kind of school. It aims to give the knowledge and skill that are +needed alike in all schools. To make the point a little plainer, let me +restate, with what clearness I can, some of the elementary truths and +facts which lie at the foundation of the whole subject. Though to many +of my readers it may be going over a beaten track, it may not be so to +all; and we all do well, even in regard to known and admitted truths, to +bring them occasionally afresh to the mind.</p> + +<p>As it has been already said, a man may know a thing perfectly, and yet +not be able to teach it. Of course, a man cannot teach what he does not +know. He must first have the knowledge. But the mere possession of +knowledge does not make one a teacher, any more than the possession of +powder and shot makes him a marksman, or the possession of a rod and +line makes him an angler. The most learned men are often unfortunately +the very men who have least capacity for communicating what they know. +Nor is this incapacity confined to those versed in book knowledge. It is +common to every class of men, and to every kind of knowledge. Let me +give an example. The fact about to be stated, was communicated to me by +a gentleman of eminent commercial standing in Philadelphia, at that time +the President of one of its leading banks. The fact occurred in his own +personal experience. He was, at the time of its occurrence, largely +engaged in the cloth trade. His faculties of mind and body, and +particularly his sense of touch, had been so trained in this business, +that in going rapidly over an in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>voice of cloth, as his eye and hand +passed in quick succession from piece to piece, in the most +miscellaneous assortment, he could tell instantly the value of each, +with a degree of precision, and a certainty of knowledge, hardly +credible. A single glance of the eye, a single touch, transient as +thought, gave the result. His own knowledge of the subject, in short, +was perfect, and it was rapidly winning him a fortune. Yet when +undertaking to explain to a younger and less experienced member of the +craft, whom he wished to befriend, by what process he arrived at his +judgment, in other words, to teach what he knew, he found himself +utterly at a loss. His thoughts had never run in that direction. "Oh!" +said he, "you have only—to look at the cloth, and—and—to run your +fingers over it,—thus. You will perceive at once the difference between +one piece and another." It seems never to have occurred to him that +another man's sensations and perceptions might in the same circumstances +be quite different from his, and that in order to communicate his +knowledge to one uninitiated, he must pause to analyze it; he must +separate, classify, and name those several qualities of the cloth of +which his senses took cognizance; he must then ascertain how far his +interrogator perceived by his senses the same qualities which he himself +did, and thus gradually get on common ground with him.</p> + +<p>Let the receiving-teller of a bank be called upon to explain how it is +that he knows at a glance a counterfeit bill from a genuine one, and in +nine cases out of ten he will succeed no better than the cloth merchant +did. Knowing and communicating what we know, doing and explain<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>ing what +we do, are distinct, separable, and usually very different processes.</p> + +<p>Similar illustrations might be drawn from artists, and from men of +original genius in almost every profession, who can seldom give any +intelligible account of how they achieve their results. The mental +habits best suited for achievement are rarely those best suited for +teaching. Marlborough, so celebrated for his military combinations, +could never give any intelligible account of his plans. He had arrived +at his conclusions with unerring certainty, but he was so little +accustomed to observing his own mental processes, that he utterly failed +in attempting to make them plain to others. He saw the points himself +with perfect clearness, but he had no power to make others see them. To +all objections to his plans, he could only say, "Silly, silly, that's +silly." It was much the same with Cromwell. It is so with most men who +are distinguished for action and achievement. Patrick Henry would +doubtless have made but a third-rate teacher of elocution, and old Homer +but an indifferent lecturer on the art of poetry.</p> + +<p>To acquire knowledge ourselves, then, and to put others in possession of +what we have acquired, are not only distinct intellectual processes, but +they are quite unlike. In the former case, the faculties merely go out +towards the objects to be known, as in the case of the cloth merchant +passing his eye and finger over the bales of cloth. But in the case of +one attempting to teach, several additional processes are needed, +besides that of collecting knowledge. He must turn his thoughts inward, +so as to arrange and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span> classify properly the contents of his intellectual +storehouse. He must then examine his own mind, his intellectual +machinery, so as to understand exactly how the knowledge came in upon +himself. He must lastly study the minds of his pupils, so as to know +through what channels the knowledge may best reach them. The teacher may +not always be aware that he does all these things, that is, he may not +always have a theory of his own art. But the art itself he must have. He +must first get the knowledge of the things to be taught; he must +secondly study his knowledge; he must thirdly study himself; he must +lastly study his pupil. He is a teacher at all only so far as he does at +least these four things.</p> + +<p>In a Normal School, as before said, the knowledge of the subject is +presupposed. The object of the Normal School is, not so much to make +arithmeticians and grammarians, for instance, as to make teachers of +arithmetic and grammar. This teaching faculty is a thing by itself, and +quite apart from the subject matter to be taught. It underlies every +branch of knowledge, and every trade and profession. The theologian, the +mathematician, the linguist, the learned professor, no less than the +teacher of the primary school, or of the Sabbath-school, all need this +supplementary knowledge and skill, in which consists the very essence of +teaching. This knowledge of how to teach is not acquired by merely +studying the subject to be taught. It is a study by itself. A man may +read familiarly the <i>Mechanique Celeste</i>, and yet not know how to teach +the multiplication table. He may read Arabic or Sanskrit, and not know +how to teach a child the alphabet of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> mother tongue. The +Sabbath-school teacher may dip deep into biblical lore, he may ransack +the commentaries, and may become, as many Sabbath-school teachers are, +truly learned in Bible knowledge, and yet be utterly incompetent to +teach a class of children. He can no more hit the wandering attention, +or make a lodgment of his knowledge in the minds of his youthful +auditory, than the mere unskilled possessor of a fowling-piece can hit a +bird upon the wing.</p> + +<p>The art of teaching is the one indispensable qualification of the +teacher. Without this, whatever else he may be, he is no teacher. How +may this art be acquired? In the first place, many persons pick it up, +just as they pick up a great many other arts and trades,—in a +hap-hazard sort of way. They have some natural aptitude for it, and they +grope their way along, by guess and by instinct, and through many +failures, until they become good teachers, they hardly know how. To +rescue the art from this condition of uncertainty and chance, is the +object of the Normal School. In such a school, the main object of the +pupil is to learn how to make others know what he himself knows. The +whole current of his thoughts and studies is turned into this channel. +Studying how to teach, with an experimental class to practise on, forms +the constant topic of his meditations. It is surprising how rapidly, +under such conditions, the faculty of teaching is developed; how fertile +the mind becomes in devising practical expedients, when once the +attention is roused and fixed upon the precise object to be attained, +and the idea of what teaching really is, fairly has possession of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span> +mind. For this purpose every well-ordered Normal School has, in +connection with it, as a part of its organization, a Model School, to +serve the double purpose of a school of observation and practice.</p> + +<p>Thus, after these pupil-teachers are once familiar with the branches to +be taught, and after they have become acquainted with the theory of +teaching, as a science, it is surprising how soon, with even a little of +this practice-teaching, they acquire the art. If the faculty of teaching +is in them at all, a very few experimental lessons, under the eye of an +experienced teacher, will develop it.</p> + +<p>The fact of possessing within one's self this gift, or power of +teaching, sometimes breaks upon the possessor himself with all the force +of a surprising and most delightful discovery. The good teacher does not +indeed stop here. He goes on to improve in his art, as long as he lives. +But his greatest single achievement is when he takes the first +step,—when he first learns to teach at all. The pupil of a Normal +School gains there a start and an impulse, which carry him forward the +rest of his life. A very little judicious experimental training redeems +hundreds of candidates from utter and hopeless incompetency, and +converts for them an awkward and painful drudgery into keen, hopeful and +productive labor.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span><a name="XXV" id="XXV"></a>XXV.<br /> + +PRACTICE-TEACHING.</h2> + + +<p>One feature of a Normal School which distinguishes it especially from +other schools, is the opportunity given to its matriculants for +practising their art under the guidance and criticism of an experienced +teacher. This practice-teaching is done in a Model School, maintained +for this purpose in connection with the main school. Such is the theory.</p> + +<p>But serious difficulties are encountered in carrying the plan into +practical effect, and these difficulties are so great as in some +instances to have led to the entire abandonment of the plan, while very +rarely have the conductors of Normal schools been able to realize +results in this matter commensurate with their wishes or with their +views of what was desirable and right.</p> + +<p>Some of the difficulties are the following: Parents who send their +children to the Model School object to have their children taught to any +considerable extent by mere pupil-teachers. The teachers of the Model +School, having little or no acquaintance with the Normal pupils sent to +teach under their supervision, do not feel that entire freedom in +criticising the performance which is essential to its success. The +irregularities produced by these<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> practice-teachings have a tendency to +impair the discipline of the classes in the Model School.</p> + +<p>For these and other reasons which I need not dwell upon, I at least have +always been obliged to be somewhat chary in regard to the amount of +practice-teaching that was done in the institution under my care, and +have never felt quite satisfied as to the result. At the beginning of +the year 1867, I determined to try the plan of having a considerable +portion of the practice-teaching done in the Normal School itself, the +Model School still holding its place in the system as furnishing an +unrivalled opportunity for observation, and to some extent of practice +also. The effect of thus extending the opportunity for practice by +including the Normal School in its operations has been most happy. The +pupils have attained a degree of freedom in the exercise which is +working the most marked and decisive results. They enter into it with +more zest than into any other exercise of the class, and derive from it +in some instances as much benefit as from all their other exercises put +together.</p> + +<p>Some detailed account of the method may perhaps be of interest to other +laborers in the same field. The method is substantially the same as that +followed in the Girls High and Normal School of Philadelphia, from which +indeed I borrowed the idea.</p> + +<p>Once a week I make up a programme containing the names of those who are +to teach during the following week, and the classes and lessons which +they are severally to teach. The practice-pupils are thus enabled to +prepare themselves fully for the exercise. It is an indispensable<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span> +condition in all these exercises that the lesson be given without the +use of the book. When a pupil enters a room to teach one of these +assigned lessons, he is to bring with him only his crayon and pointer, +and is expected to assume entire charge of the class, maintaining order, +hearing the pupils recite, correcting their mistakes, illustrating the +subject, if necessary, by diagrams or experiments, giving supplementary +information drawn from other sources than the text-book, and acting in +all respects as if he were the regular teacher. The regular teacher +meanwhile sits by, observing in silence, and at the close of the day +writes out a full and detailed criticism upon the performance in a book +kept for this purpose, and gives the pupil an average for it, the +maximum being 100. These criticisms, together with the teaching +averages, are read next day by the Principal to the pupil in the +presence of the class to which he belongs, with additional comments in +regard to any principles of teaching that may be involved in the +criticisms.</p> + +<p>An essential element of success in this scheme, is that the teachers +should be thoroughly faithful in the work of criticism, and point out +the errors and shortcomings of the young practitioners, not with +harshness, but with unsparing truthfulness and wise discrimination. +Practice-teaching under such conditions cannot fail to have a powerful +effect. The pupils are stimulated by it to put forth the very best +efforts of which they are capable, and the talent which they often +develop is a surprise equally to themselves and their teachers.</p> + +<p>I cannot better give an idea of this practice-teaching,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> and especially +of the criticism which is its vitalizing principle, than by quoting a +few of the actual criticisms made during the last year. I feel sure they +will interest teachers and perhaps the public.</p> + +<p>In making these extracts, I suppress, of course, the names of the +parties.</p> + + +<h3>NOTES ON PRACTICE-TEACHING.</h3> + +<p>Miss —— gave the C class a lesson in Elocution. She was animated and +energetic in giving the vocal exercises, but she pitched her voice too +high. The same shrill tone characterized the concert reading. Many of +the criticisms given by pupils were not loud enough to be heard by the +whole class. One of the ladies, in giving a sketch of Shakspeare, said +"his principal works <i>was</i> 'Much Ado About Nothing,' 'Merchant of +Venice,' etc.;" but the error passed unnoticed by pupils and teacher. +Miss —— herself, said "Hamlet thought it wasn't <i>him</i>." She marked +the pupils too high, the worst readers in the class receiving 8 and 9. +Teaching average 85.</p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the D class a lesson in History. She was herself well +prepared with the lesson, but she allowed the pupils too long a time to +think and <i>guess</i>. A chronology lesson is apt to be dry and +uninteresting; and unless the teacher calls upon the pupils in <i>rapid</i> +succession, thus keeping them wide awake, the interest will flag, and +even good pupils will be inattentive. One of the pupils, after gaping +two or three times, indulged in short naps during the recitation; the +teacher evidently did not see her. Miss —— marked the pupils +judiciously. Teaching average 90.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span></p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the D class a lesson in Arithmetic. She assisted the +pupils too much. She did not require them to be accurate enough in +answering questions; otherwise she taught well, the subject being rather +a difficult one. Miss —— marked the pupils judiciously. Teaching +average 85.</p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the D class a lesson in Grammar. She began the recitation +well, spoke in a loud and decided tone, and was well prepared with the +lesson. She failed to keep her class in order; she allowed pupils to +speak without being called upon, and all to criticise and ask questions +at the same instant—thus she became confused and sought refuge behind +her book. Teaching average 80.</p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the C class a lesson in the Constitution of the United +States. She was too quiet in conducting the recitation. The entire +period was spent in repeating the mere words of the book; but once or +twice the lady asked for the explanation of clauses, and then the +answers given were neither full nor satisfactory, yet the lady ventured +no comment of her own. Many practical questions might have been given by +the teacher respecting the executive departments, ambassadors, consuls, +treaties, and so forth. The lesson contained many subjects of interest +sufficient to occupy more than the allotted time. Teachers should call +more frequently for definitions, and always take it for granted that +their pupils are ignorant of the meaning of even the simplest words. I +venture to assert that more than one third of the class left the room +without knowing the difference between a <i>reprieve</i> and a <i>pardon</i>. +Teaching average 80.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span></p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the D class a lesson in Arithmetic. She was well prepared +with the lesson, seemed to understand the subject fully, and readily +answered questions proposed by pupils; but she allowed too many pupils +to speak at once, and did not pay enough attention to <i>signs</i>. One of +the pupils began a sentence with a small letter, and Miss —— took no +notice of it. Miss —— marked judiciously. Teaching average 88.</p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the C class a lesson in the Constitution. She failed +entirely in teaching. She became embarrassed, and soon lost the respect +and confidence of the class. Pupils assumed all sorts of positions; and +one picked up a ruler and began fanning himself, but was not rebuked by +the teacher. The lady, not familiar with the names of the scholars, made +several mistakes, (perfectly excusable); but, there being no sympathy +between the teacher and the class, the pupils laughed immoderately, and +seemed to enjoy the lady's embarrassment. The words of the book were +repeated over and over again, without a word of explanation or comment, +until the teacher, tired of the monotony, announced that the lesson was +finished, and called upon me to fill up the remainder of the time. The +lesson was one that needed thorough preparation on the part of the +teacher, but Miss —— had merely studied the <i>words</i> and not the +<i>subject</i>; when asked a very simple question by one of the pupils, she +was completely nonplussed. Teaching average 50.</p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the D class a lesson in Map Drawing. She became somewhat +confused in her work, and so did not distinctly enough give the points +of criticism. I think<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> she was not familiar enough with the map drawn to +notice, with sufficient readiness, the great points of error in the +work. Several of the pupils were allowed, in one or two cases, to speak +at the same time. She marked well, using a good scale of markings. +Teaching average 85.</p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the D class a lesson in Arithmetic. She was either very +careless or had not prepared the proper lesson, as she gave pupils +problems to solve that were not in the lesson; in consequence of which +some good pupils failed, as they had not prepared an advance lesson. She +was too quiet, and spoke in so low a tone that many of the pupils did +not hear her. The pupils were more animated than the teacher. Miss —— +marked some pupils too high, others too low, and in one instance did not +mark at all. Teaching average 65.</p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the D class a lesson in History. She was thoroughly +prepared with the lesson, and did not confine herself to the mere words +of the text-book. She asked many good general questions connected with +the subject, thus compelling pupils to think; and whenever the class +failed to give the desired information, the lady very promptly gave it +herself; she thus won the confidence of her pupils. Miss —— lacked +animation and did not speak loud enough; otherwise she did well. +Teaching average 92.</p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the D class a lesson in Grammar. She has improved since +teaching for me before, but she still lacks energy and decision. She +gave the pupil who was reciting all her attention, thus allowing an +opportunity to some (who took advantage of it) to assume lounging +posi<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>tions, in which to await lazily for their turn to recite. Some +remained wide awake, and embarrassed Miss ——, by speaking at any time, +even interrupting her in the middle of a sentence, to ask questions. +Teaching average 87.</p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the C class a lesson in Grammar. She taught well. She +spoke in that decided tone which conveys a conviction of truth to +pupils, and by so doing gained their confidence. She used the +blackboards to advantage, and thoroughly inspected and criticised all +writings that she had required to be put upon the boards. The facts she +taught were correct, except one, which was, that "is ashamed" was a verb +in the passive voice; in this she was corrected by a number of the +class. Teaching average 93.</p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the C class a lesson in Elocution. She failed in +teaching. The pupils read badly, and many errors were made, but there +were no criticisms. The lady spoke in a very low tone, and seemed to be +afraid of the class. She did not read a single line for the pupils. +Reading cannot be taught properly by arbitrary rules, the voice of the +living teacher is indispensable. Teaching average 65.</p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the D class a lesson in Elocution. She cannot become a +successful teacher until she studies the pronunciation of words. Not +only did she permit mistakes made by the pupils to pass unnoticed, but +she mis-pronounced many words herself, hos-<i>pit</i>-a-ble, for +<i>hos</i>-pi-ta-ble, <i>in</i>-tense for in-<i>tense</i>, etc.; the errors consisted +chiefly in changing the accented syllable. In the word <i>machination</i>, +however, though the accent was correctly marked,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span> she taught the class +to call it "mash-in-a-tion." There can be no possible excuse for such +carelessness, or rather ignorance, since the lady had three days for the +preparation of the lesson. The dictionary should be kept in constant use +by pupils and teacher. Teaching average 65.</p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the C class a lesson in the Constitution. She did well. +The lesson was a long one, and somewhat difficult, but the lady evinced +thorough preparation. She ought to have disturbed the repose of the +drones in the class, by calling upon them more frequently. Explanations +given by the teacher should be repeated by the pupils: first, to +ascertain whether or not they have been properly understood, and +secondly, to make a deeper impression upon the minds of the scholars. +Indeed, the whole business of teaching might be summed up in two words, +namely, <i>simplify</i> and <i>repeat</i>. Teaching average 95.</p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the D class a lesson in Map Drawing. She was quite well +prepared for the lesson, but did not always speak quite distinctly +enough; she required all those pupils, who had criticisms to make, to +stand, and then designated one to give them—a very good plan. Miss —— +must be more careful in regard to the grammatical construction of her +own sentences. Teaching average 90.</p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the C class a lesson in Mental Arithmetic. She became +somewhat confused, and so made several mistakes in her work. She +attempted to solve several examples, but each time made some error, +either of statement or solution. She was not careful enough in her +markings, omitting to mark one of the pupils for absence, and two for +recitation. Teaching average 88.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span></p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the D class a lesson in Map-Drawing. She should have kept +one of the divisions at the board drawing while the other were reciting. +It was the first day of map description, she should therefore have given +them an example of the work desired; instead of this she scolded them +for not knowing her method. Teachers should be careful never to ask for +anything but what the pupil would reasonably be expected to know. If you +insist that they shall give anything not found in the lesson, or not +before given by the teacher, they will become angry and careless, as +shown in the class to-day. She did not criticise the map drawn. Teaching +average, 82.</p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the C class a lesson in Constitution. She did well. She +used the blackboards to advantage, and very carefully examined and +criticised the work placed there by the pupils. She should speak in a +louder and more decided tone. Teaching average 93.</p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the C class a lesson in Elocution. She gave a very short +vocal exercise and omitted the concert reading. During the recitation +she read <i>remarkably</i> well; her voice was clear and full, her emphasis +and inflections were correct, and her whole manner free from +embarrassment. The entrance of three or four visitors did not in the +least disconcert her; for her calmness and dignity, she deserves much +commendation. Teaching average 95.</p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the D class a lesson in Geography. She taught well. She +did not call upon enough members of the class for recitation. A subject +that can be divided into portions small enough to enable the teacher to +call upon each member of the class at each recitation, should<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> be so +divided. She made it still worse by calling upon several members to +recite twice. With a little more energy on her part she could have had +more work performed in the forty minutes. Teaching average 90.</p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the D class a lesson in Arithmetic. She taught very well. +The subject, Repetends, was a difficult one, which required careful +preparation on the part of the teacher and close attention during the +recitation. Miss ——, conscious of this, made herself perfectly +familiar with the lesson before appearing in class, and when pupils +failed to explain examples from a want of knowledge, she was ready and +able to give the necessary information. She marked judiciously. Teaching +average 90.</p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the C class a lesson in Ancient History. She was +sprightly and animated. She spoke in a clear, decided tone; but she +pursued no regular plan in conducting the recitation. Events in Egyptian +and Assyrian history were indiscriminately mixed, the pupils became +confused, and the lady herself was somewhat bewildered. Teaching average +88.</p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the D class a lesson in Grammar. She did not speak loud +enough for the class to understand her. There was much disorder in the +class, but no notice was taken of it by the teacher. Some carried on a +conversation among themselves, others asked questions without +permission, often at the most inappropriate times. Many errors passed +unnoticed, and the lady gave corrections herself which she should have +required of the pupils. Several times, in attempting to correct, she +made the errors worse; for instance she parsed verbs that were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span> +transitive and in the passive voice as being intransitive and active. +She must endeavor to gain more confidence in herself. Teaching average +75.</p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the A class a lesson in Geometry. She taught the class +decidedly well. She deserves all the more credit, as it was a difficult +lesson of her own class. She allowed but one error of work—that I +noticed—to pass uncorrected. Her method of calling upon the class for +criticisms was very good. She should strive to speak a little more +distinctly. Teaching average, 96.</p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the B class a lesson in Physiology. She evinced perfect +familiarity with the subject of the lesson. She did not confine herself +to the text-book, but asked many good, general questions. One of the +pupils did not understand a portion of the lesson which was to be +explained by a diagram. Miss —— endeavored to make the matter clear by +an explanation, which was very good, still the pupil did not see it +clearly. I think the teacher would have succeeded in clearing the +difficulty if she had used the <i>pointer</i> instead of designating certain +points by letters. She spoke a little too low. Teaching average, 96.</p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the D class a lesson in Geography. She deserves great +credit for the distinctness with which she speaks, for her care in the +preparation of the lesson for the day, and for the promptness with which +she stops all irregularities in the class. Her marks for the day were a +little too high; she did not make distinction enough between the good +and the poor scholars. Teaching average, 96.</p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the A class a lesson in Elocution. She succeeded +admirably. The vocal exercises and concert<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span> reading were well given. The +lady threw herself entirely into the work, and this was the real secret +of her success. Her grade of marking was too high; otherwise, she did +very well. Teaching average, 97.</p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the A class a lesson in English Literature. She did not +spend enough time upon the lesson for the day, and consumed too much of +the period in reviewing old lessons. She was not careful in examining +the blackboards. <i>Lbs.</i> was permitted to stand as the abbreviation for +pounds sterling, and <i>whimsicalities</i> was spelled with two l's. The lady +made no deduction for errors; all the pupils with but one exception +received 10. She deserves commendation for speaking in a loud, clear +tone. Teaching average, 88.</p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the C class a lesson in Constitution. She did nothing +more than hear the recitations. She did not venture to give any +explanations or to ask them of the class, but spent the whole period in +repeating again and again the words of the text-book. It is probable +that no pupil knew anything more of the subject on going from the room +than when she entered. Teachers should possess and impart to their +pupils some information independent of the book. Teaching average, 55.</p> + +<p>Miss —— taught the A class Geometry. She did not question enough or +criticise enough, but almost always called upon the class for +criticisms. She added no remarks or criticisms herself; thus many +important omissions and errors were unnoticed. She succeeded well in +calling upon almost every member of the class. Teaching average, 75.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span></p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the B class a lesson in Physiology. She was not +sufficiently animated and self-possessed. The substance of the lesson +was recited before the expiration of the period, which left the lady at +a loss to know what she should do with the remainder of the time. It +might have been profitably employed asking questions of importance +connected with the lesson; but instead of doing so, Miss —— turned to +me for assistance. She was asked her opinion of a disputed point, which, +although of slight importance, merited some attention; but she passed it +by, notwithstanding her attention was called to it several times. +Teaching average, 76.</p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the A class a lesson in Elocution. She displayed the tact +and skill of an experienced teacher. She assumed full authority over the +pupils (though they were her classmates), and her whole manner was such +that a visitor entering the room would have supposed she was the +permanent teacher. One secret of her success was that she had given the +reading lesson much home practice and preparation. Teaching average, +100.</p> + +<p>Miss —— taught the A class in Literature. She taught well. Though +rather quiet, she succeeded in awakening the interest of her pupils, and +the entire recitation was very animated. The class is a good one, and +the pupils deserve as much commendation as the teacher. Teaching +average, 96.</p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the D class a lesson in Geography. She came before the +class well prepared for her duties. She did not use the book, though it +was written in the catechetical style—the one most difficult to teach +without<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span> some such reference. She by her questions brought out a number +of points not given in the text-book. Teaching average, 97.</p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the B class a lesson in Rhetoric. She showed a thorough +preparation of the lesson and taught well. She should have worked a +little faster. Pupils were allowed too much time to think. Teaching +average, 98.</p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the D class a lesson in History. She taught with much +dignity and self-possession. She did not teach simply by having the +lesson recited as the author had given it, but asked for the definition +of words, and gave information not found in the text-book. But one error +was allowed to pass, which was that of calling Queen Victoria the +grand-daughter of William of Orange. Teaching average, 98.</p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the B class a lesson in Physiology. She conducted the +recitation in a very dignified and lady-like manner. The lesson was a +difficult one, but the teacher seemed to understand the subject +thoroughly. There was a reference to the <i>retina</i> of the eye in the +lesson; the pupils not having studied that subject, did not know what +the retina was, and called upon the teacher for explanation; she +attempted to describe it, but failed to make them understand because she +did not thoroughly understand it herself. With this exception, she +taught very well. Teaching average, 96.</p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the B class a lesson in Elocution. She is a good teacher, +and reads well. She maintained her dignity and composure during the +entire recitation, though<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> several visitors were present. Nothing tends +to embarrass a teacher so much as the entrance of strangers; the lady's +calmness and self-possession then are worthy of much commendation. +Teaching average 100.</p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the C class a lesson in Mental Arithmetic. She read the +questions distinctly, and had them correctly solved; but for the plan of +recitation, she helped the pupils too much. The method was that called +"Chance Assignment;" in this method, as the pupils have time to think of +the problems, the work should be purely that of the memory, in regard to +the example itself. Teaching average 95.</p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the A class a lesson in Literature. She evinced thorough +preparation, and displayed considerable tact in conducting the +recitation. Every pupil was called on and compelled to recite or confess +ignorance. Teaching average 98.</p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the C class a lesson in Elocution. She selected a very +difficult reading-lesson, and not only read it well herself, but +insisted upon the pupils reading it well too. The lady has a good clear +voice, but it lacks power; nothing will develop this quality but +constant daily practice. Teaching average 97.</p> + +<p>Miss —— taught the C class in Ancient History. She did not succeed. +Her embarrassment was caused in a great measure by not knowing the names +of the pupils. Teachers should obtain lists of the names, if they are +not familiar with them. The lesson being one in mythology, could have +been made very interesting with a slight effort on the part of the +teacher. Many errors in pronunciation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span> made by both teacher and pupils, +were allowed to pass. Teaching average 72.</p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the A class a lesson in Elocution. She taught well, but +would have succeeded better if she had given the lesson a little more +home practice. When delivering a passage requiring considerable force, +she heightened the pitch of her voice, and thus gave an unpleasant +shrillness, where the pure orotund tone was needed. Teaching average 95.</p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the B class a lesson in Elocution. She is a very +sprightly, animated teacher, and reads well. She paid special attention +to the correct orthoëpy of words, and insisted upon pupils' making use +of their dictionaries whenever a word occurred with which they were not +familiar. Teaching average 100.</p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the D class a lesson in History. She is one of the best +teachers in her class. She is sprightly, animated, and critical. The +lesson was well taught; a map having been neatly drawn on the board, the +teacher required the most important places referred to in the lesson, to +be pointed out upon it. Teaching average 100.</p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the A class a lesson in Chemistry. She has improved very +much in teaching. She understood the subject which she taught, and had +given the lesson careful preparation. She requested one of the pupils to +look for the orthoëpy of a word which occurred in the lesson. The lady +turned over the leaves of the dictionary in a very careless manner, then +took her seat, saying she could not find the word, although she must +have been conscious all the while that she was not searching for it in +the proper<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> place. Miss ——, instead of sending the lady to look for +the word again, as she should have done, pronounced it herself. The +teacher should require prompt obedience on the part of pupils. Teaching +average 95.</p> + +<p>Miss —— gave the C class a lesson in Elocution. She is a very +energetic teacher, and manifests a deep interest in her pupils—hence, +her success. A visitor would have inferred from her manner, that she was +the permanent teacher, not a mere substitute for a passing hour. +Teaching average, 100.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span><a name="XXVI" id="XXVI"></a>XXVI.<br /> + +ATTENTION AS A MENTAL FACULTY, AND AS A MEANS OF MENTAL CULTURE.</h2> + + +<p>The illustrations which first led to a satisfactory elucidation of the +subject, were drawn from the eye. There are many facts in the history of +vision, which show that we may experience sensations and perceptions and +other intellectual operations, and may at the time be conscious of the +same, without giving them any attention, or, at least, without giving +them such a degree of attention as to have the slightest recollection of +them afterwards.</p> + +<p>When, for instance, we read a printed book, the eye glances so rapidly +from sentence to sentence, that we can hardly persuade ourselves that we +actually see successively every letter. We certainly have no +recollection of having gone through such an innumerable train of +conscious acts as the theory necessarily implies. That such, however, is +the case, is proved by the fact, that if by accident any letter is +omitted, or transposed, or put upside down, the eye at once detects the +mistake. The fact is familiar to all. It can be accounted for only on +the supposition that, even in the rapid and cursory perusal of a book, +the eye actually passes from letter to letter, and gives to each a +distinct notice. It not only notices each letter, but the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> position of +each in reference to the other letters in the line, and even those nice +diacritical points by which one letter is distinguished from another, as +<i>c</i> from <i>e</i>, <i>u</i> from <i>n</i>, <i>b</i> from <i>d</i>, <i>p</i> from <i>q</i>. This notice, +however, is so slight, the transition is so rapid, that we have no +recollection of it afterwards, and we can hardly persuade ourselves that +such has been the sober and yet most wonderful fact.</p> + +<p>Take another instance. If, on the occasion of an evening assemblage, by +a sudden movement of the gas-pipe, any one should instantly extinguish +all the lights in the room and leave the building for a time in total +darkness, and if, by an equally sudden movement, he should then restore +the light to its previous condition, every one present would notice the +change and have a distinct recollection of it afterwards. Yet, every +time we close our eyes in winking, that is, several times in every +minute of our waking hours, we experience precisely this change from +full and perfect vision to total darkness. But no one ever notices or +remembers the fact of his winking, unless he stops to make it the +subject of special attention.</p> + +<p>Sight however is not the only means of illustrating this point. We are +drawn to a similar conclusion by observing the workings of the mind +itself, in the act of volition. Whenever we make any single volition an +object of special attention, we are conscious of that volition, and we +have a distinct recollection of it afterwards. Yet probably not one out +of ten thousand, possibly not one out of a million, of our simple +volitions, is ever known to us after the moment of its occurrence. In +voluntary muscular action,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> every distinct movement requires a distinct +volition. And how innumerable are the movements necessary to the +accomplishment of any one of the ordinary purposes of life! We sit down +for example to write a letter to a friend. The nimble pen dances from +point to point over the darkening page, and when we reach the bottom, we +have not the least recollection of having willed any one of those +countless muscular movements which have been necessary to what, but for +its every-day occurrence, would be accounted the greatest feat of +legerdemain ever performed by man!</p> + +<p>Take for example the act of reading aloud. Every letter requires for its +utterance at least one distinct muscular contraction. Some letters +require several. Now it has been found on trial that we are able to +pronounce more than a thousand letters in a minute. That is, during +every minute that we are reading aloud, we perform between one and two +thousand distinct muscular movements, and by necessity a like number of +antecedent acts of the will, to say nothing of those other acts, not +less numerous in the case of a speaker, connected with the general +movement of the body in earnest gesticulation. Yet after the hour's +performance, what does the speaker or the reader remember of all these +countless volitions? Nothing but the one general purpose to please, +instruct, or persuade an audience.</p> + +<p>The conclusion, toward which these illustrations point, is objected to +by some writers, on the ground of the incredible rapidity which it +attributes to our intellectual operations. Is it possible, it is asked, +that we can crowd into such a space of time so many acts of the will, +and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> that we are, at the moment when each happens, conscious of its +presence? Is it not more probable that these rapid muscular actions are +resolvable, in some way, into the law of habit? May they not become in +some sense mechanical and automatic, so as to require no intervention of +the will? Take for example, the case of a person learning to play upon a +musical instrument. The first step is to move the fingers from key to +key with a slow motion, looking at the notes, and exerting an express +act of volition at every note. By degrees, however, the motions somehow +cling to each other, and to the impressions of the notes, in the way of +associations, the acts of volition all the while growing less and less +express, until at last they become quite evanescent and imperceptible. +An expert will play from notes or from memory, and with a rapidity of +motion that is perfectly bewildering, while at the same time he himself +is carrying on quite a different train of thoughts in his mind, or even +perhaps holding a conversation with another. Hence, it is concluded, by +the writers referred to, that in these cases there is really no +intervention of that idea or state of the mind called will.</p> + +<p>The authorities for this hypothesis are among the highest that can be +named in the history of intellectual science. Let us see how far the +hypothesis explains the facts of the case. The most rapid performer, it +is obvious, can at any time retard his execution, until his movements +become so slow that each one may be made, as originally it was made, the +subject of special attention, and may be distinctly remembered +afterwards. Now, according to the hypothesis proposed, we will our +actions, and are conscious<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> both of the act, and the antecedent +volition, so long as their rapidity is confined to a certain rate; but, +as soon as the rapidity exceeds that rate, the operation is taken out of +our hands, and is carried on by some unknown power, of which we know no +more than we do of the circulation of the blood, or of the systole and +diastole of the heart! Such a supposition is about as reasonable as it +would be to say that a projectile passes through the intermediate space, +when it is thrown with such a moderate degree of velocity that we can +see it, in its progress; but, when it is thrown with such velocity as to +become invisible, it ceases to pass through the intermediate space, and +reaches the goal only because projectiles have the habit of doing so!</p> + +<p>The hypothesis then breaks down, and we are forced back to our original +supposition, namely, that those actions which are voluntary originally, +never cease to be so; that when, as in the cases supposed, we retain no +recollection of particular volitions, it is because of some law of our +nature by which we are capable of recollecting only those acts upon +which the attention has been fixed with a certain degree of intensity +and for some perceptible space of time; that the volition, in other +words, is too feeble and too rapid to leave any impression on the +memory. To argue that there has been no volition, because we do not +recollect it, is as absurd as it would be to say that there has been no +muscular act, because in many cases we have as little recollection of +the muscular act, as we have of the antecedent volition.</p> + +<p>Besides, there are many other mental acts, as rapid as those which have +been adduced,—so rapid that not the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span> least recollection of them +remains,—where, yet, this mechanical or automatic hypothesis affords +not the least explanation. Thus the expert accountant in a Bank adds up +a long column of figures with the same rapidity and ease with which +ordinary persons would read a passage from a familiar author, and he +brings out in the end the exact sum, which he can do in no other way +than by taking note in passing of the precise character and value of +each figure. Yet, at the end of such a process, the accountant has no +more recollection of those rapidly succeeding acts of the mind, than has +the musical performer of those countless volitions put forth in the +course of a piece of brilliant musical instrumentation.</p> + +<p>As to the objection, that the theory attributes an almost inconceivable +rapidity to some of our mental operations, it may be answered, in the +first place, that there is no reason, surely, why mind should not be +capable of as rapid action as its handmaid, matter; and, in the second +place, that our ideas of time are relative, quite as much as our ideas +of space; and if the microscope has revealed a world of wonders too +minute in point of space to be observed by the naked eye, in whose +existence we yet believe with undoubting confidence, we may without +greater difficulty believe in the existence of mental acts crowded into +so narrow a point of time, so rapid and transitory in their occurrence, +as to leave no impression upon the memory.</p> + +<p>The facts which have been adduced, then, teach clearly two things: +first, that by far the greatest part of what we do and experience and +are necessarily conscious of at the time of their occurrence, +immediately fade from the recollection,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span> as shadows pass over a +landscape; and secondly, that in order to the recollection of any act or +object, it is necessary that the mind be fixed upon it for some +perceptible space of time and with some sensible degree of attention. It +is this indissoluble connection of the attention with memory, this +absolute dependence of the latter upon the former, which gives the +subject such far-reaching import in considering the means of +intellectual culture.</p> + +<p>How it is that we are able to exclude all subjects but one from the +thoughts, is not very easy of explanation. It is obvious that we cannot +do it by direct volition. The very fact of our willing not to attend to +a particular object, fixes our attention upon it. That we have, however, +some power and agency in fixing our attention on one object and in +withdrawing it from another, is a fact within the knowledge and +experience of every one, whether we can explain the mode by which it is +done or not. We have the power of what the chemists call "elective +affinity;" we make our choice of some one of the various objects +claiming the attention, and fix it upon that; and it seems to be a law +of our nature, that when we thus direct the attention to one object, all +others, of themselves, and by some natural necessity, retire from the +thoughts. This is as near an approach, probably, as we shall ever make, +towards an exact verbal expression of a fact, for an intimate knowledge +of which, after all, every man must refer to his own consciousness.</p> + +<p>This power of singling out and fastening upon some one object to the +exclusion of all others,—in other words, this power of +attention—exists in almost infinite degrees in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> different individuals. +The degree in which it exists is the measure of a man's intellectual +stature. No man can be truly great who does not possess it to a high +degree. To command our attention is to command ourselves, to be truly +master of our own powers and resources.</p> + +<p>The subject, then, becomes one of first importance in every kind of +either mental or moral improvement. Its vital connection with the +faculty of memory has been already suggested. Perhaps, however, this +branch of the subject should be set forth with a little more +distinctness. There are many vague, dreamy notions afloat on the subject +of memory, standing comparisons and metaphors, intended to illustrate +its uses and magnify its importance, but not declaring with any degree +of precision what it is. It is called, for instance, the "storehouse of +our ideas." The metaphor conveys undoubtedly a certain amount of truth +in regard to the subject. At the same time, there are some important +particulars, in which the comparison, for it is nothing more, conveys a +wrong impression. Experience teaches us, for instance, that +recollections, unlike other articles of store, are from the time of +their deposit undergoing a continual process of decay, and if they do +not fade entirely from the mind, it is because we occasionally bring +them anew under the review of the mind, and thus restore them to their +original freshness and vigor.</p> + +<p>Dismissing, therefore, the metaphor, I shall, I presume, express with +sufficient accuracy the established doctrine on this subject by the +following statements: that of the great multitude of mental operations +which we experience, by far the larger part perish at the moment of +their birth;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span> that others, to which for any reason we give, at the time +of their occurrence, some sufficient degree of attention, afterwards +recur to us, or are in some way present to our thoughts; that this +recurrence of former ideas to our thoughts is sometimes spontaneous, +without any voluntary action on our part, and sometimes the consequence +of a direct effort of the will; and lastly, that the capacity which we +have of being thus revisited by former thoughts is called memory, while +the thoughts themselves, which thus return, are called memories, or more +commonly recollections.</p> + +<p>How it is that by an act of volition we can summon again into the mind +an idea which has formerly been present, and which is now absent, we +have the same difficulty in explaining which we had in explaining how, +by an act of volition, we can banish a thought which is now present, or +by the power of attention can detain some one thought to the exclusion +of all others. To think what particular thing it is that we wish to +remember, is in fact to have remembered it already. It is an obstruse +and difficult inquiry, into which it is not necessary now to enter. A +more important inquiry, and one connected directly with our present +theme, relates to the different kinds of memory, and their connection +severally with the faculty of attention.</p> + +<p>Quickness of memory is that quality which is most easily developed, +especially in young persons. It is also its most showy quality, and the +temptation to give it an inordinate development is strong. The habit of +getting things by rote, is easily acquired by practice. It is +aston<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span>ishing what masses of Scripture texts young children will get by +heart, when under some special stimulus of reward or display. I have +often refused to publish marvellous feats of this kind, not because I +thought the accounts incredible, (unfortunately, they were too true,) +but because I thought they were a species of mental excess, and they +should no more be encouraged than bodily excesses. A little girl in my +own Sunday-School once actually committed to memory the whole of the +Westminster Assembly's Shorter Catechism in three days! Six months +afterwards she hardly knew a word of it. It had been a regular mental +debauch. A few more such atrocities would have made her an idiot. +College records tell us of what are called "crammed men," that is, men +who literally stuff themselves with knowledge in order to pass a +particular examination, or to gain a particular honor, and who +afterwards forget their knowledge, as fast as they have acquired it. +There is a well authenticated instance of a student who actually learned +the six books of Euclid by heart, though he could not tell the +difference between an angle and a triangle. The memory of such men is +quickened like that of the parrot. They learn purely by rote. Real +mental attention, the true digester of knowledge, is never roused. The +knowledge which they gorge, is never truly assimilated and made their +own.</p> + +<p>A quality of memory vastly more important than quickness, is tenacity. +To hold on to what we get, is the secret of mental, no less than of +pecuniary accumulations. The mind, too, like other misers, clings most +tenaciously to that which has cost it most labor. Come lightly, go +lightly,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> the world over. Knowledge which comes into the mind without +toil and effort, without protracted and laborious attention, is apt to +go as easily as it came.</p> + +<p>But, by far the most important quality of memory, for the practical +purposes of life, is readiness. Like quickness and tenacity, it is to be +greatly improved, if not acquired by practice. It is in the cultivation +of this quality, that the power of a good teacher shines forth most +conspicuously. Quickness and tenacity may be cultivated by solitary +study. But readiness requires for its development a live teacher, and +the stir of the school-room and the class. Here it is that the art of +questioning shows its wonderful resources. Repeated and continued +interrogatories, judiciously worded, have a sort of talismanic power. +They oblige the scholar to bring out his knowledge from its hidden +recesses, to turn it over and over, and inside out, and upside down, to +look at it and to handle it, so that not only it becomes forever and +indestructibly his own, but he can ever afterwards use it at will with +the same readiness that he uses his hands or his eyes. This is what a +skilful teacher may do for his scholars, by a knowledge and practice of +the art of questioning. Unfortunately, teachers in general find it much +easier passively to hear a lesson, than to muster as much intellectual +energy as is necessary to ask a question.</p> + +<p>It was a remark of Bacon's, that, if we wish to commit anything to +memory, we will accomplish more in ten readings, if at each perusal we +make the attempt to repeat it from memory, referring to the book only +when the memory fails, than we would by a hundred readings made in the +ordinary way, and without any intervening trials.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> The explanation of +this fact is, that each effort to recollect the passage secures to the +subsequent perusal a more intense degree of attention; and it seems to +be a law of our nature, not only that there is no memory without +attention, which I have labored at some length to establish, but that +the degree of memory is in a great measure proportioned to the degree of +the attention.</p> + +<p>You will see at once the bearing of this fact upon that species of +intellectual dissipation, called "general reading," in which the mental +voluptuary reads merely for momentary excitement, in the gratification +of an idle curiosity, and which is as enervating and debilitating to the +intellectual faculties, as other kinds of dissipation are to the bodily +functions. One book, well read and thoroughly digested, nay, one single +train of thought, carefully elaborated and attentively considered, is +worth more than any conceivable amount of that indolent, dreamy sort of +reading in which many persons indulge. There is in fact no more unsafe +criterion of knowledge than the number of books a man has read. A young +man once told me he had read the entire list of publications of the +American Sunday-School Union. He was about as wise as the man at the +hotel, who began at the top of the bill of fare with the intention of +eating straight through to the bottom! Depend upon it, this mental +gorging is debilitating and debauching alike to the moral and the +intellectual constitution. There is too much reading even of good books. +No one should ever read a book, without subsequent meditation or +conversation about it, and an attempt to make the thoughts his own, by a +vigorous process of mental as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>similation. Any continuous intellectual +occupation, which does not leave us wiser and stronger, most assuredly +will leave us weaker, just as filling the body with food which it does +not digest, only makes it feeble and sickly. We are the worse for +reading any book, if we are not the better for it.</p> + +<p>There is an obvious distinction on this subject, of some practical +importance, first suggested, so far as I am aware, by the Scotch +metaphysician, Dr. Reid, between attention as directed to external +objects, and the same faculty directed to what passes within us. When we +attend to what is without us, to what we hear, or see, or smell, or +taste, or touch, the process is called observation. When, on the other +hand, dismissing for the time all notice of the external world, we turn +our thoughts inward, and consider only what is passing in the inner +chambers of the mind,—when, for instance, we analyze our motives, or +notice the workings of passion, or scan the mysterious and subtle agency +of the will, the process is called reflection. This latter species of +attention is one much more difficult of development than the former. It +is developed ordinarily much later in life,—seldom, I believe, +developed to any considerable extent before the age of +manhood,—developed by some professions and pursuits much more than by +others,—and in a very large class of mankind, probably the majority, +never developed at all.</p> + +<p>This species of attention, which is thus directed inwards, subjective +attention some would call it,—in other words, the reflective +powers,—are, I doubt not, capable of being cultivated much earlier in +life than the age which I have<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> indicated as the normal period of their +development. I am constrained, however, in opposition to many high +authorities in education, to doubt the wisdom of a precocious +cultivation of this part of our intellectual system. In all our plans of +education, we should closely follow nature, who seems to have reserved +the judgment and the reflective powers for the latest, as they certainly +are the most perfect, of her endowments. We, who are teachers, have +chiefly to do with those whose powers are as yet immature, and whose +attention is to be cultivated primarily in its direction to external +objects. Our business, in other words, is to train our pupils first of +all to habits of observation.</p> + +<p>In doing this, it is of some practical importance to bear in mind the +well-known difference, in respect to memory, between the objects of +different senses. Whether it be attributed to the different degrees of +perfection with which the qualities of bodies are perceived, or to some +difference in the qualities themselves, or whatever may be the cause, +the fact is established beyond a question, that the knowledge which +comes to us through the medium of the eye is of all kinds of knowledge +the most easily and the most perfectly remembered. We remember, indeed, +the temperature of one day as distinguished from that of another; we +remember the sound of a voice; we can conceive, in its absence, the odor +or the taste of a particular object; but none of these ideas come to us +with that definiteness and perfection which mark our recollections of +what we have seen. It requires, for instance, but ordinary powers of +attention and perception, for a person who has one good look at a house, +to recall distinctly to his mind the ideas<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> of its height, shape, color, +material, the number of stories, the pitch of the roof, the kind of +shutters to the windows, the position of the door, the fashion of +panels, the bell-handle, the plate, even the little canary-bird with its +cage in the windows above, and the roses, geraniums, and what else may +be fairer still, in the window below. These are all objects of sight. In +their absence, he can bring to mind and describe them, with almost the +same accuracy that he could if they were actually present. Now, it is +impossible to obtain a like precision and fulness in our conceptions of +a quality which we have learned through any other sense. We form in the +one case a mental image or picture of the object, which in the other +case is impossible. We can by no possibility form a mental or any other +image of the song of canary, of the perfume of a rose, or of any other +quality, except those which address us through the eye. Our conceptions +of taste, smell, touch, and even of hearing, in the absence of the +objects of sense, have a certain dimness, vagueness, mistiness, +uncertainty about them. The conceptions of visible objects, on the +contrary, are definite, precise, and most easily recalled. Hence the +knowledge derived through the sight, is, of all kinds of knowledge, the +most accurate, the most easily acquired, and the most lasting.</p> + +<p>The practical application of these views to the science of teaching, is +too obvious to require more than a passing notice. Every thing which the +young are to make the subject of their attention, for the purpose of +remembering it, should be represented as far as possible to the eye. If +the object itself, on account of its bulk, or its expensiveness,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> or for +any other reason, cannot be exhibited for inspection, let there be some +visible delineation of it by brush or pencil. If the thing to be +remembered be something abstract or unreal, having neither form nor +substance, perhaps it may have, or the teacher may make for it, some +concrete, visible symbol, as has been done with the formulas of logic +and the abstractions of arithmetic and algebra. These visible symbols on +the slate and the blackboard give to those sciences all the advantages +in this respect which were supposed to be peculiar to some of the +branches of physical science. A boy who has forgotten every mere verbal +rule both of arithmetic and algebra, will remember the formula, +<i>x</i><sup>2</sup> + 2<i>x</i><i>y</i> + <i>y</i><sup>2</sup>, +just as perfectly and on the same principle, as he will remember the +face of the man who taught it to him. It is something which he has seen. +Why has geometry in all ages been found to be of such peculiar value as +a means of intellectual training? Because of the visible delineation of +its doctrines by diagrams addressed to the eye. How much more readily +and certainly chemical science can now be acquired, since the adoption +of the present mode of symbolizing its doctrines by combinations of +letters and figures. Arguments, conjectures, theories, respecting +qualities addressed alike to every sense, respecting functions indeed +not cognizable by any sense, are now presented on the board in visible +symbolic formulas, which have the same advantage over the former mode of +presenting the subject, that the sight of a chess-board during the +progress of a game has over a mere verbal description of the movements.</p> + +<p>The truth of this doctrine is strikingly illustrated in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span> the present +mode of teaching geography, as compared with that once in use, when a +child, instead of looking at the map of a country, with its boundaries +and other physical characters painted to the eye, had to grope through a +trackless wilderness of description. The study will be still more +improved, when children shall be universally required to make as well as +to look at maps,—when, to the definiteness of knowledge coming through +the sight, there shall be added that inerasible impression upon the +memory, which comes from fixedness and continuity of attention. It is +impossible for a child to draw a map, without looking intently, and with +continued attention, upon every part of that which is to be delineated. +The two conditions to perfect recollection are combined, and the +knowledge, which is the result, is the very last to fade from the +memory.</p> + +<p>Every teacher of small children knows how much more certainly they learn +to spell by seeing than by hearing. You may repeat to a child five times +over the sounds which make up a word, and he will not recollect it with +half the certainty that he would on seeing it once. The same principle +which leads to this result, and which indicates the propriety, not only +of looking at maps but of making them, in order to the more perfect +knowledge of geography, will suggest to the thoughtful teacher the +expediency of children's not only looking at words, but of writing them, +in order to become perfect spellers.</p> + +<p>Mental arithmetic has its fascinations. It has, too, I am ready to +admit, solid advantages. Its advantages, however, I apprehend are not +precisely those which are some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>times attributed to it. There can be no +doubt, I think, that it helps to cultivate the reflective powers; that +it requires, and by requiring gives, the ability to confine the +attention to continued mental processes. But for making expert practical +accountants, which is generally quoted as its distinguishing benefit, I +confess I am partial to the slate and pencil, and to that venerable +parallelogram, the old-fashioned Multiplication Table, in the shape it +came down to us from Pythagoras.</p> + +<p>The reader will not, of course, understand me as wishing to discard +Mental arithmetic. All that I mean to suggest is the inquiry, whether +its advantages are not looked for in the wrong direction, whether they +are not sometimes over-estimated, and whether this mode of teaching +arithmetic, especially when pursued as a hobby, is not sometimes pushed +too far, and made the means of curious display, rather than of solid and +lasting benefit. In teaching mental arithmetic, too, for I would +certainly teach it to some extent, I would suggest the expediency of +teaching children, in performing these mental operations, to think in +figures, in other words, to form conceptions of the arithmetical figures +and signs, which are visible objects, rather than of quantities and +relations, which are mere abstractions. Multiplication is a mere +metaphysical entity. The sign of multiplication is a simple, visible +symbol, addressed to the eye, and capable of being conceived by the mind +with unmistakable clearness and precision. A child counting its fingers +in the first steps of learning to add and to take away, is a pretty +sight, doubtless. But it is painful to see a person grown to man's +estate, and in other respects<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span> well educated, as I have very often seen, +still dependent upon the same infantile contrivance,—still counting +fingers when required to add long columns of figures. Count the fingers, +if necessary, in order to get the child under way. But the sooner the +leading-string can be dropped, and the child can be made to picture in +his mind the pure figures and signs, their combinations and results, +without reference to fingers, or apples, or cakes, or tops, the better +for his arithmetic, and the better for his mental cultivation.</p> + +<p>The subject has a painful interest for the Sabbath-School Teacher. The +teacher of the infant school, indeed, has some opportunity for employing +this principle of pictorial representation, in teaching the little ones +of his charge. The infant school-room usually has conveniences for maps +and picture cards and diagrams, and even blackboards; and most infant +school teachers wisely avail themselves of the opportunity afforded. But +go into the main school-room—what can the teacher do? Twenty, thirty, +forty classes huddled together into one room, compact as sheep in a pen, +how can the individual teacher, if disposed, use adequate visible +illustrations for the instruction of his class? Where shall he place his +blackboard? where shall he hang up his maps? where shall he suspend his +models? where shall he exhibit his specimens? The utmost that can be +done in most of our schools, as at present provided for, is to have a +few maps on the distant walls of the room which the superintendent may +refer to, whenever he chooses, and which all the children may see who +can! The time must come, however, when the teaching of religious truth +will be considered of as much importance as<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> the teaching of arithmetic +or of chemistry, and the Sabbath-School will have the same facilities +for imparting instruction as the week-day school. But that time has not +yet come. In the meanwhile, let the teacher carefully avail himself of +whatever subsidiary aids are within his reach. No teacher should ever +present himself before his class without a Bible Atlas and a Bible +Dictionary in his hand. Many of those things with which his class ought +to be made acquainted, are here not only described, but delineated, with +equal accuracy and beauty. Thanks to the booksellers and the religious +publication societies, the scenes of sacred history, and indeed +religious topics generally, have been illustrated in cheap pictorial +cards, both large and small, and with admirable fidelity and skill. +These form a part of the indispensable furniture of the Sunday-School +teacher. They are to him as necessary as are experiments, or a cabinet +of specimens, to the lecturer on the physical sciences. The +Sabbath-School teacher should be continually on the look-out for +publications of this kind, not only for instructing and furnishing his +own mind with definite ideas, but for exhibition to his class. A wise +teacher will not only have something to say to his class, but also +something to show. The ideas which the child gets from looking at really +instructive pictures and maps, never leave him. How much also our +intelligent apprehension of the scriptures is increased, by a knowledge +of topography, and by associating each event in the sacred narration +with the place in which it occurred?</p> + +<p>It may be proper to say, too, in this connection, that it is with a view +to the principle now under consideration,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span> that in preparing books and +papers for the young, authors and publishers feel justified in giving so +much labor and space to pictorial illustration. When, indeed, such +illustrations are merely for display, they deserve the contempt which +they often receive. But when these pictorial illustrations have a +definite meaning and design, when they teach something, when they +connect in the child's mind sound religious truth with distinct and +easily remembered visible forms, they are a really valuable aid in the +inculcation of doctrine.</p> + +<p>The power of attention, like all the mental powers, is by nature greater +in some than in others. Still, there is no power more susceptible of +improvement. The importance of its cultivation cannot well be +over-stated. It affects not one study only, but all studies; not one +mode of study only, but every mode of study, by text-book or by lecture; +lessons to be recited by memory, or those by question and answer; not +even study only, but conduct and manners, the regulation of the heart +and the formation of the character. The precise measure of a child's +success, in every thing that pertains to his character and standing as a +scholar, will in nine cases out of ten be his power and habit of +attention. There are indeed lamentable cases of wilful and intentional +disorder. Yet every teacher knows that by far the greater portion of the +things which interrupt and disturb a school arise from thoughtlessness +and inattention. There are also equally undoubted cases of ignorance +that is no crime. Yet the great majority of those who fail in their +studies, fail simply because they do not attend. To attend, however, +means something more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span> than merely to be bodily present, more even than +to have the ears open and the eyes fixed in the direction of the +speaker, when a thing is said, or done. An old lady used to sit in the +same aisle with me in church, and unfortunately lived opposite me in the +street, who was neither deaf nor blind, and who was never absent from +church, and yet she sent over invariably on Sunday evenings to know what +it was the minister said about that meeting on Wednesday night, or that +meeting on Friday night,—she did not rightly understand!</p> + +<p>But it is not necessary to go to church, to find those who "having eyes +see not, and having ears hear not, neither do they understand," who look +without seeing, and hear without comprehending. Publish a notice in your +school, making some change of hours or lessons, or giving any specific +direction. No matter how simple, or how plainly expressed, the notice +may be, or how particularly attention may be called beforehand to the +announcement about to be made, where is the happy teacher who has been +able on such an occasion to make himself understood by all? Teachers and +preachers and speakers of every name have generally very little idea how +much they are misunderstood. Let me give some instances.</p> + +<p>In my own Sunday-School, I had neglected one morning to bring with me +the teacher's class-books. After opening the school, I rang the bell as +a signal for attention. There was a general hush throughout the room. +All eyes were turned to the desk. I said: "Your class-books +unfortunately have been left behind this morning. They have been sent +for, however, and they will soon be here. As<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span> soon as they come, I will +bring them round to the several classes. In the meantime, you may go on +with your regular lessons." The bell was then tapped again, and the +routine of the school resumed. In about a minute, a girl came up to the +desk, with, "Sir, teacher says, will you please to send her class-book; +it was not brought round, as usual, this morning, before school opened!" +Here was a class of ten girls, averaging twelve years of age, and not +one of them, nor their teacher, had heard or understood the notice which +I thought I had made so plain!</p> + +<p>Here is another instance. At the examination for admission to the +Philadelphia High School, as a means of testing among other things how +far this very faculty of hearing and of attention has been cultivated, +the candidates are required to copy a passage from dictation. These +exercises are always preserved for reference, and in order to show the +fairness of the examination. On one occasion, when I was Principal of +the School, I took the pains to copy out a few of the exercises, in +order to show the singular freaks into which an uncultivated ear may be +led. One or two specimens will serve to illustrate the point. The first +clause with its variations, was as follows:—</p> + +<table summary="A list of variations on a single clause."> +<tr><td>Every</td> <td>breach</td> <td>of</td> <td>veracity</td> <td>indicates</td> <td>some</td> <td>latent</td> <td>vice.</td></tr> +<tr><td>"</td> <td>bridge</td> <td>"</td> <td>rascality</td> <td>"</td> <td>"</td> <td>latest</td> <td>vice.</td></tr> +<tr><td>"</td> <td>breech</td> <td>"</td> <td>feracity</td> <td>"</td> <td>"</td> <td>latinet</td> <td>vice.</td></tr> +<tr><td>"</td> <td>preach</td> <td>"</td> <td>eracity</td> <td>"</td> <td>"</td> <td>late</td> <td>device.</td></tr> +<tr><td>"</td> <td>branch</td> <td>"</td> <td>vivacity</td> <td>"</td> <td>"</td> <td>great</td> <td>advice.</td></tr> +<tr><td>"</td> <td>"</td> <td>"</td> <td>veracity</td> <td>"</td> <td>"</td> <td>late</td> <td>advice.</td></tr> +<tr><td>"</td> <td>"</td> <td>"</td> <td>"</td> <td>"</td> <td>"</td> <td>ladovice.</td> </tr> +<tr><td>"</td> <td>"</td> <td>"</td> <td>"</td> <td>"</td> <td>"</td> <td>ladened</td> <td>vice.</td></tr> +<tr><td><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span> + Every</td> <td>branch</td> <td>of</td> <td>veracity</td> <td>in the next</td> <td>some</td> <td>latent</td> <td>vice.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Every</td> <td>reach</td> <td>of</td> <td>their ascidity</td> <td>indicates</td> <td>some</td> <td>advice.</td> </tr> +</table> + +<p>In another part of the passage occurred the following:</p> + +<table summary="A second clause with variations."> +<tr><td>Petty operations.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Petty alterations.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Petty observations.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Patriarchal occupations.</td></tr> +<tr><td>Petty oblations.</td></tr> +</table> + +<p>Now of what use is it to a boy who mistakes "petty" for "patriarchal," +"latent vice" for "great advice," "breach of veracity" for "reach of +their ascidity," who is so untrained that he really cannot hear what is +said, or see what is done,—of what use is it to such a boy, merely +because he has gone through a prescribed routine of books and classes, +or perchance because he has attained a certain amount of years and of +pounds avoirdupois, to be pushed forward into a higher department to +attend lectures on chemistry, or anatomy, or morals, or history, or +literature? It is preposterous. It is an insult to the Professor, and an +injury to the boy.</p> + +<p>This, then, is the burden of my song. We cannot take too much pains in +early life in rousing this power of attention. Depend upon it, no matter +how much learning, so called, is crammed into a youth, his intellectual +development has not begun until this power is roused. He may have a +vague, dreamy sort of knowledge; he may do sums by rule, and he may +parse by rote, and do many other wondrous things; but his powers are not +invigorated, he does not grow, until he begins really to see and hear, +and feel <i>terra firma</i> under his feet.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span></p> + +<p>The principle which I am illustrating applies with special force to that +part of a child's education which consists in learning the meaning of +words. I have serious doubts whether children ordinarily learn much of +the real meaning of words by committing definitions to memory. What is a +definition? It is only expressing the meaning of one word by the use of +another word as nearly as possible synonymous. Now, in the case of a +child, it is at least an even chance that that other word is just as +unknown as the one it is intended to explain. It is like, in algebra, +solving an equation with two unknown quantities, by giving the value of +one unknown quantity in terms of the other. A child, for instance, is +told that "potent" means "efficacious," that "power" means "ability," +that "potion" means a "physical draught," that "potential" means +"existing in possibility, not in act." These are definitions taken at +random from a book in common use in our public schools. The definitions +possibly are good enough for the purpose for which they were designed. I +am not quarrelling with the definitions. But, surely, it is not by these +that a child is to learn the meaning of the words. Whether he is told +that "power" means "ability," or "ability" means "power," that "potent" +means "efficacious," or "efficacious" means "potent," in neither case, +nine times out of ten, is any addition made to his stock of knowledge. +It is not until much later in life,—until in fact our knowledge of +words is already very much extended, that we profit much by learning +formal definitions. But in childhood, we must learn the meaning and +power of words, just as the mechanic becomes acquainted with his tools, +by ob<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>serving their use. A boy, for instance, reads this sentence. "The +drug was very <i>efficacious</i>." If the word is quite new to him, and there +is nothing in the clause preceding or following to indicate its meaning, +it is not at all unlikely that he may suppose it to mean "poisonous." +If, however, from the context, he finds that a person who had been sick, +was made suddenly well, and this statement followed by the remark, that +"the drug was very <i>efficacious</i>," he will probably get the idea that +the word means "healing," or "curative." He reads again, in another +place, that a certain mode of teaching penmanship was found to be very +"efficacious." Here is a new use of the word, quite different from the +other, and he is obliged to exclude from his idea of its meaning every +thing like "healing." So he goes on, every fresh example cutting off +some extraneous idea which the previous examples had led him to attach +to the word, and every step onward coming nearer to the general idea, +though he may never express it in words, of something which accomplished +its object, whatever that object may be. It is, I believe, chiefly by +observing in this way the manner in which words are used, that children +do and must learn their meaning. It is, in other words, by quickening +and cultivating the habit of attention to the meaning,—by training a +child, when he is reading, to imagine, not that he is reading the words, +but that he is reading the sense, by accustoming him to look through the +word, to the sense, just as he would look at objects out of doors +through the window, and to consider the words, as he would consider the +glass, merely as a medium, through which, and unmindful of it, he looks +at something beyond,—<i>which something is the meaning</i>.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span></p> + +<p>Let me not be misunderstood in regard to this matter of definitions. I +believe it to be of the utmost importance that children should be +constantly required to give definitions or explanations of the words +whose meaning they have acquired. All I mean to call in question is, +whether that meaning to any considerable extent is acquired by +committing to memory formal definitions prepared by others. When they +have once learned the meaning of a word, which is to be done mainly, if +not only, by observing its use, then by all means let them be required +to express that meaning by other words which they know. Such an exercise +cannot be too much insisted on. It is one of the best means of securing +that attention to the signification of words, which is so much wanted. +It requires the child, moreover, to bring his knowledge continually to +the test. It cultivates at once accuracy of thought, and accuracy of +language, which is the vehicle of thought. Train a child, therefore, to +the habit of attention, first to the meaning of words as gathered from +observation of their use, and secondly to the expression of that meaning +in language appropriate and intelligible to others.</p> + +<p>I have dwelt a little on this subject, because, as in the matter of +hearing, I doubt whether people generally are aware how little children +understand what they read. Nor is this ignorance confined to children. +In our acts of devotion, we are all in the habit of using certain +stereotyped phrases, without attaching to them any definite meaning, +without perhaps so much as having even thought whether they had a +meaning. This same pernicious habit is seen also in our reading of the +Scriptures. We have read the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> phrases over from childhood, until we have +become so familiar with them, that we are obliged often to stop, and by +a sort of compulsory process to challenge each word as it passes, and +see whether it really conveys any meaning to our mind.</p> + +<p>If I were to say to a class, "The Bible tells us of a man who was older +than his father," or some such apparent contradiction in terms, the +sharp antithesis would doubtless arrest their attention, and I would at +least be asked to explain myself. Yet, ten to one, they have read, +hundreds of times, of him who is "the <i>root</i> and the <i>offspring</i> of +David, the bright and morning star," without noticing anything at all +remarkable in the expression. It is to them merely something good and +pious, couched in a very pleasant and sonorous flow of words, and +meaning doubtless something very comforting and edifying.</p> + +<p>I was once teaching temporarily a young ladies' Bible Class. The average +age of the members was at least seventeen. They were the pick from a +large city school, and had been selected for their superior educational +advantages and attainments. Most of them were attending expensive +private schools during the week. Wishing to satisfy myself as to the +general knowledge and the intellectual habits of the members, I took the +plan of simply reading verse about, stopping from time to time to talk +familiarly about anything which might happen to suggest itself. This +verse among others was read: it is from the account of the miracle on +the day of Pentecost: "And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like +as of fire, and it sat upon each of them." I found, upon inquiring,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span> +that <i>not one</i> in that large class had the remotest idea of what was +meant by the word "cloven." One young lady thought it meant "fiery," +another "flaming," another "winged," and so on. Most of them, however, +said that they really had never thought of the matter before. Probably +every one of them had read the passage hundreds of times; and when we +began talking about it, no one of them seemed to have an idea that there +was anything in the verse which she did not understand. It was not until +I took it up, word by word, and challenged a peremptory and sharp +scrutiny into the meaning attached to each word, that the remarkable +fact came out which I have stated.</p> + +<p>One or two more leaves from my professional experience will be given.</p> + +<p>During the greater part of my professional life, it has been a part of +my duty to examine candidates for the office of teacher in the public +schools. Out of ninety-eight candidates for the office of assistant +teacher, whom I examined on one occasion, only one knew the meaning of +the word "sumptuary," although in the public discussion then going on +about the license law, the word was in daily use in the public papers; +in fact, I took it out of the newspaper of that morning. On another +occasion, out of fourteen candidates for the office of Principal teacher +of a boys' Grammar school, four defined "friable" as that which can be +fried; several did not know at all the meaning of "hibernating," and +one, the successful candidate, said it meant "relating to Ireland." By +"successful" candidate, I mean the one who got the vote of the +Directors!<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span></p> + +<p>This sober scrutiny into any one's knowledge of the meaning of words in +common use, is one of the most reliable tests of his general +intellectual progress and cultivation. It is one of the means by which +in many city schools it is customary to test a candidate's fitness for +promotion. To show how little people generally, and even teachers, are +aware of the extent to which children misconceive the meaning of words +in common use, I have transcribed a few examples from an examination of +the kind which I once held. The definitions which I am about to quote +were not the work of oral confusion and haste, but were given in +writing, in circumstances of entire quietude and ample deliberation. The +average age of the candidates, on the occasion referred to, was fourteen +years and ten months, and no one of them was by law under thirteen +years.</p> + +<dl> + +<dt><i>Stature</i> +</dt> +<dd>A picture; "I saw a stature of Washington." +</dd> + +<dt><i>Fabulous</i> +</dt> +<dd>Full of threads; "Silk is fabulous." +</dd> + +<dt><i>Accession</i></dt><dd>The act of eating a great deal; "John got very sick +after dinner by accession." +</dd> + +<dt> +<i>Atonement</i></dt><dd>A small insect; "Queen Mab was pulled by little +atonements." Sound, [orthodox]; "They went to the church of the +Atonement." +</dd> + +<dt> +<i>Auxiliary</i></dt><dd>To form; "The gardener did auxiliary his garden." +</dd> + +<dt> +<i>Ingredient</i></dt><dd>A native-born; "Tobacco is an ingredient of this +country." +</dd> + +<dt> +<i>Fragment</i></dt><dd>Sweetmeats; "It was a fragment." +</dd> + + +<dt> +<i>Develop</i></dt><dd> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> + +To swallow up; "God sent a whale to develop Jonah." +</dd> + +<dt> +<i>Exotic</i></dt><dd>Relating to a government; "Some countries have a very +exotic government." Patriotic; "He was exotic in the cause of +Independence." Absolute; "The government of Turkey is exotic." +Standing out; "The company were exotic." +</dd> + +<dt> +<i>Circumference</i></dt><dd>Distance through the middle. Distance around the +middle of the outside. +</dd> + +<dt> +<i>Callous</i></dt><dd>Something which cannot be effected; "That America should +gain her independence was supposed to be callous." +</dd> + +<dt> +<i>Mobility</i></dt><dd>Belonging to the people; "The mobility of St. Louis has +greatly increased." +</dd> + +<dt> +<i>Anomalous</i></dt><dd>Powerful; "His speech was considered anomalous." +</dd> + +<dt> +<i>Adequate</i></dt><dd>A land animal; "An elephant is an adequate." +</dd> + +<dt> +<i>Transition</i></dt><dd>The act of transcribing; "The transition of that book +was gaining ground in the public mind." +</dd> + +<dt> +<i>Gregarious</i></dt><dd>Pertaining to idols; "The Sandwich Islands worship +gregarious." Pertaining to an oak; "The Druids were noted for their +gregarious exercises." Consisting of grain. Grass-eating. Full of +talk. Full of color. +</dd> + +<dt> +<i>Propensity</i></dt><dd>Dislike; "He had a propensity to study." +</dd> + +<dt> +<i>Artificially</i></dt><dd>Belonging to flowers. +</dd> + +<dt> +<i>Fluctuation</i></dt><dd>Coming in great numbers; "There was a great +fluctuation of emigrants." Setting on fire. Beating. +</dd> + + +<dt> +<i>Odium</i></dt><dd> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> + +That you have a great tact at anything; "Your odium is +very great." A poisonous herb. Pertaining to song; "He was an +odium writer." A sweet smell; "The odium of new-mown hay." +</dd> + +<dt> +<i>Transverse</i></dt><dd>To turn over; "Transverse that bucket and see what is +in it." To change from verse; "Some writers change books from +transverse to verse." To verse again; "He transversed his copy." To +spread abroad; "They transverse the Bible." +</dd> + +<dt> +<i>Utility</i></dt><dd>Relating to the soil; "The ground it remarkable for its +utility." +</dd> + +<dt> +<i>Quadruple</i></dt><dd>Relating to birds; "There was a number of quadruple." +</dd> + +<dt> +<i>Alternate</i></dt><dd>Not ternate. +</dd> + +<dt> +<i>Menace</i></dt><dd>A tare in the flesh; "The dog caused a menace in John's +arm." +</dd> + +<dt> +<i>Vital</i></dt><dd>Relating to death; "Vital spark of heavenly flame." +</dd> + +<dt> +<i>Intrinsic</i></dt><dd>Not trinsic. Weak, feeble; "He was a very intrinsic +old man." +</dd> + +<dt> +<i>Subservient</i></dt><dd>One opposed to the upholding of servants. Stubborn; +"On account of the boy being subservient he was turned out of +school." +</dd> + +<dt> +<i>Perfidy</i></dt><dd>Trust; not to cheat; "Such a man is perfidy; that is, +everything can be trusted to him." Accessible; "Some persons have a +great deal of perfidy." +</dd> + +<dt> +<i>Access</i></dt><dd>Intermission; "Joseph had access of his teacher to go +into the room." +</dd> + +<dt> +<i>Vicinity</i></dt><dd>In the same direction; "Pekin is in the vicinity of +Philadelphia." +</dd> + +<dt> +<i>Subsequent</i></dt><dd>Preceding; "The subsequent chapter." +</dd> + + +<dt> +<i>Infectious</i></dt><dd> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> +To make fectious. +</dd> + +<dt> +<i>Exquisite</i></dt><dd>To be in a quisitive manner. To help. To find out. +Talkative. Not required. +</dd> + +<dt> +<i>Mingle</i></dt><dd>To tear in pieces. +</dd> + +<dt> +<i>Deride</i></dt><dd>To ride down. +</dd> + +<dt> +<i>Manifold</i></dt><dd>Made by the hand. Pertaining to man; "Forgive our +manifold sins." +</dd> + +</dl> + +<p>I have failed entirely in the general drift of this chapter, if I have +not made it obvious that the principle which I have been attempting to +illustrate is one of singularly pervading influence, and of most various +and manifold applications. The subject is indeed eminently suggestive. +One single additional line of illustration, however, must suffice. I +refer to the application of this principle to what may be called the +incidentals of teaching and training.</p> + +<p>A child, for instance, should not only "spell out of book," as it is +called, but his attention should by some means be directed to the way in +which words are spelled. He should be accustomed to form, as it were, a +mental image of each word, to think of it as having a particular form +and appearance, so that his eye will detect instantly a wanting or an +excrescent letter, just as he sees a wen, a defective limb, or a +distorted feature on the person of an acquaintance. Only fire his young +ambition with the aim to spell well, and quicken his attention to the +way in which words are spelled, and every time he reads a book he +receives incidentally a lesson in spelling.</p> + +<p>A child should have stated exercises and systematic instructions in the +art of reading. But quite as much improvement in this important and too +much neglected<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> accomplishment may be gained by not allowing children at +any time to read in an improper manner. Every demonstration at the +blackboard, every text or hymn repeated from memory, every recitation in +arithmetic, grammar, or geography, every exercise of every kind in which +the voice is used and words are uttered, may be made an incidental +lesson in reading. By being never allowed to pronounce words +incorrectly, to utter them in a low or drawling manner, or to crowd and +overlap them, as it were, one upon the other, the ear becomes accustomed +to the correct sounds of the language, and immediately detects any +variation from its accustomed standard. By thus insisting, in every +vocal exercise, upon the full and correct pronunciation of the +elementary sounds of the language, more may be done to make good readers +and speakers than by all the pronouncing dictionaries and elocution +books in print.</p> + +<p>Let a child by all means take lessons in writing. Let him learn plain +text, German text, round hand, running hand, back hand, and the +flourishes. But if he is to become rapidly master of that truly +beautiful and most useful accomplishment, let the teacher insist upon +his always attending to his manner of writing, and always writing as +well as he can. Whether he writes a composition, a sketch, a letter, +whenever for any purpose he puts pen to paper, let him be required to +form each letter distinctly, to write it gracefully, and to give to his +exercise a neat and elegant appearance. Teach him to think of a crooked +line or a blotted page as of an untied shoe, or a dirty face. By thus +making every written exercise an exercise in writing,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> his progress will +be increased beyond your expectations, and you will soon see him looking +with pleasure at the clean and symmetrical forms which flow so +gracefully from his pen, as he goes from line to line over the virgin +page, no half-formed or misshapen letters to embarrass, but all in every +part as elegantly written as it is easily read.</p> + +<p>Grammar should no doubt be taught by text-book and in stated lessons. +The parts of speech, the conjugations and declensions, syntax and +parsing, must all be systematically conned, the rules and definitions +committed to memory, and the judgment exercised upon their application. +At the same time every recitation of a child, as well as all his +conversation, ought to be made an incidental and unconscious lesson in +grammar. Only never allow him to use unchallenged an incorrect or +ungrammatical expression, train his ear to detect and revolt at it, as +at a discordant note in music, let him if possible hear nothing but +sterling, honest English, and he will then learn grammar to some +purpose. If, on the contrary, he is allowed to recite and to talk in +whatever language comes uppermost, and to hear continually those around +him reciting and talking in a similar manner, he may parse till he is +blind without learning "to speak and write the English language +correctly." Banish from the nursery, the school-room, and the +play-ground, incorrect and ungrammatical expressions, and you do more +than can be done in all other ways to preserve "the well of English +undefiled."</p> + +<p>Young persons need systematic instructions in the principles which +should govern their conduct. They need not indeed be troubled with the +more abstruse questions in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> theory of morals. But the great obvious +rules of duty should be taught them, in a systematic manner, by a +competent instructor. But that man would be thought little acquainted +with the influences which go to mould and form the character, who should +suppose the matter ended here. The doctrines inculcated in the lesson, +must be carried out and applied in all the petty incidents of the day. +Not an hour passes in a large family or a school, without an occurrence +involving some principle in morals. A boy of moderate talents, +notwithstanding all his exertions, is eclipsed by one more gifted, and +he is tempted to envy. Imagining himself aggrieved or insulted by his +fellows, he burns for revenge. Overtaken in a fault and threatened with +punishment, he is tempted to lie. Misled by the opinion of others, or +esteeming some rule of his teachers harsh and unnecessary, he is +inclined to disobey. These and a hundred other instances which might be +named, will suggest to the thoughtful parent or teacher so many +opportunities for giving incidentally the most important practical +instruction in morals.</p> + +<p>In these and the manifold other illustrations which might be given, the +essential point is to quicken and keep alive the attention. Whatever be +the subject of study, and whether the instructions be direct or +incidental, let children be preserved from attending to it in a +sluggish, listless, indifferent manner. The subject of study, in the +case of young persons, is often of less importance than the manner of +study. I have been led sometimes to doubt the value of many of the +inventions for facilitating the acquisition of knowledge by children. +That knowledge<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> the acquisition of which costs no labor, will not be +likely to make a deep impression, or to remain long upon the memory. It +is by labor that the mind strengthens and grows: and while care should +be taken not to overtask it by exertions beyond its strength, yet let it +never be forgotten that mere occupation of the mind, even with useful +and proper objects, is not the precise aim of education. The educator +aims, not to make learned boys, but able men. To do this, he must tax +their powers. He must rouse them to manly exertion. He must teach them +to think, to discriminate, to digest what they have received, to work. +Every day there must be the glow of hard work,—not the exhaustion and +languor which arise from too protracted confinement to study,—which +have the same debilitating effect upon the mind that a similar process +has upon the body,—but vigorous and hardy labor, such as wakens the +mind from its lethargy, summons up the resolution and the will, and puts +the whole internal man into a state of determined and positive activity. +The boy in such a case feels that he is at work. He feels, too, that he +is gaining something more than knowledge. He is gaining power. He is +growing in strength. He grapples successfully to-day with a difficulty +that would have staggered him yesterday. There is no mistaking this +process; and no matter what the subject of study, the intellectual +development what it gives, is worth infinitely more than all that vague, +floating kind of knowledge sometimes sought after, which seems to be +imbibed somehow from the atmosphere of the school-room, as it certainly +evaporates the moment a boy enters the atmosphere of men and of active +life.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span><a name="XXVII" id="XXVII"></a>XXVII.<br /> + +GAINING THE ATTENTION.</h2> + + +<p>The teacher who fails to get the attention of his scholars, fails +totally. The pupils may perhaps learn something, because they may give +the lesson some study at home, under the direction of their parents. But +they learn nothing from the teacher. He is really no teacher, though he +may occupy the teacher's seat. There is, and there can be, no teaching, +where the attention of the scholar is not secured. Gaining the attention +is an indispensable condition to the thing called teaching. Not, +however, the only indispensable thing. We have seen a class wrought by +special tricks and devices to the highest pitch of excited +attention,—fairly panting with eagerness, all eyes and ears, on the +very tiptoe of aroused mental activity,—yet learning nothing. The +teacher had the knack of stirring them up and lashing them into a half +frenzy of excited expectation, without having any substantial knowledge +wherewith to reward their eagerness. With all his one-sided skill, he +was but a mountebank. To real, successful teaching, there must be these +two things, namely, the ability to hold the minds of the children, and +the ability to pour into the minds thus presented sound and seasonable +instruction. Lacking the latter ability, your<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span> pupil goes away with his +vessel unfilled. Lacking the former, you only pour water upon the +ground.</p> + +<p>How shall the teacher secure attention?</p> + +<p>In the first place, let him make up his mind that he will have it. This +is half the battle. Let him settle it with himself, that until he does +this, he is doing nothing; that without the attention of his scholars, +he is no more a teacher, than is the chair he occupies. If he is not +plus, he is zero, if not actually minus. With this truth fully realized, +he will come before his class resolved to have a hearing; and this very +resolution, written as it will be all over him, will have its effect +upon his scholars. Children are quick to discern the mental attitude of +a teacher. They know, as if by instinct, whether he is in earnest or +not, and in all ordinary cases they yield without dispute to a claim +thus resolutely put.</p> + +<p>This, then, is the first duty of the teacher in this matter. He must go +to his class with the resolute determination of making every scholar +feel his presence all the time. The moment any scholar shows that the +consciousness of his teacher's presence is not on his mind, as a +restraining power, something is wrong. The first step towards producing +that consciousness, as an abiding influence on the minds of the +scholars, is for the teacher to determine in his own mind and bring it +about. Without being arrogant, without being dictatorial, without being +or doing anything that is disagreeable or unbecoming, he must yet make +up his mind to put forth in the class a distinct power of +self-assertion. He must determine to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> make them feel that he is there, +that he is there all the time, that he is there to every one of them.</p> + +<p>In the next place, the teacher must not disappoint the attention which +his manner has challenged. He must have something valuable to +communicate to the expectant minds before him. He must be thoroughly +prepared in the lesson, so that the pupils shall feel that they are +learning from him. His lips must keep knowledge. The human heart thirsts +for knowledge. This is one of its natural instincts. It is indeed often +much perverted, and many are to be found who even show aversion to being +instructed. Yet the normal condition of things is otherwise, and nothing +is more common than to see children hanging with fondness around any one +who has something to tell them. Let the teacher then be sure to have +something to say, as well as determined to say it.</p> + +<p>In the third place, the teacher must have his knowledge perfectly at +command. It must be on the tip of his tongue. If he hesitates, and stops +to think, or to look in his book for the purpose of hunting up what he +has to tell them, he will be very apt to lose his chance. Teaching +children, particularly young children, is like shooting birds on the +wing. The moment your bird is in sight, you must fire. The moment you +have the child's eye, be ready to speak. This readiness of utterance is +a matter to be cultivated. The ripest scholars are often sadly deficient +in it. The very habit of profound study is apt to induce the opposite +quality to readiness. A teacher who is conscious of this defect, must +resolutely set himself to resist it and overcome it. He can do so, if he +will. But it requires resolution and practice.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span></p> + +<p>In the fourth place, the teacher must place himself so that every pupil +in the class is within the range of his vision. It is not uncommon to +see a teacher pressing close up to the scholars in the centre of the +class, so that those at the right and left ends are out of his sight; or +if he turns his face to those on one side, he at the same time turns his +back to those on the other. Always sit or stand where you can all the +while see the face of every pupil. I have, hundreds of times, seen the +whole character of the instruction and discipline of a class changed by +the observance of this simple rule.</p> + +<p>Another rule is to use your eyes quite as much as your tongue. If you +want your class to look at you, you must look at them. The eye has a +magic power. It wins, it fascinates, it guides, it rewards, it punishes, +it controls. You must learn how to see every child all the time. Some +teachers seem to be able to see only one scholar at a time. This will +never do. While you are giving this absorbed, undivided attention to +one, all the rest are running wild. Neither will it do for the teacher +to be looking about much, to see what is going on among the other +classes in the room. Your scholars' eyes will be very apt to follow +yours. You are the engineer, they are the passengers. If you run off the +track, they must do likewise. Nor must your eye be occupied with the +book, hunting up question and answer, nor dropped to the floor in +excessive modesty. All the power of seeing that you have is needed for +looking earnestly, lovingly, without interruption, into the faces and +eyes of your pupils.</p> + +<p>But for the observance of this rule, another is indispen<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>sable. You must +learn to teach without book. Perhaps you cannot do this absolutely. But +the nearer you can approach to it, the better. Thorough preparation, of +course, is the secret of this power. Some teachers think they have +prepared a lesson when they have gone over it once, and studied out all +the answers. There could not be a greater mistake. This is only the +first step in the preparation. You might as well think that you have +learned the Multiplication Table, and are prepared to teach it, when you +have gone over it once and seen by actual count that the figures are all +right, and you know where to put your finger on them when required. You +are prepared to teach a lesson when you have all the facts and ideas in +it at your tongue's end, so that you can go through them all, in proper +order, without once referring to the book. Any preparation short of this +will not do, if you want to command attention. Once prepare a lesson in +this way, and it will give you such freedom in the art of teaching, and +you will experience such a pleasure in it, that you will never want to +relapse into the old indolent habit.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span><a name="XXVIII" id="XXVIII"></a>XXVIII.<br /> + +COUNSELS.</h2> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3><a name="Counsel1" id="Counsel1"></a>1. <i>To a Young Teacher.</i></h3> + +<p>You are about to assume the charge of a class in the school under my +care. Allow me, in a spirit of frankness, to make to you a brief +statement of some of the aims of the institution, and of the principles +by which we are guided in their prosecution.</p> + +<p>1. "Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it." +I have no professional conviction more fixed and abiding than this, that +no persons more need the direct, special, continual guidance of the Holy +Spirit than those who undertake to mould and discipline the youthful +mind. No preparation for this office is complete which does not include +devout prayer for that wisdom which cometh from above. If any one +possession, more than another, is the direct gift of the Almighty, it +would seem to be that of knowledge. The teacher, therefore, of all men, +is called upon to look upwards to a source that is higher than himself. +He needs light in his own mind; he should not count it misspent labor to +ask for light to be given to the minds of his scholars. There is a +Teacher infinitely<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> wiser and more skilful than any human teacher. The +instructor must be strangely blind to the resources of his profession, +who fails to resort habitually to that great, plenary, unbounded source +of light and knowledge. While, therefore, we aim in this school to +profit by all subsidiary and subordinate methods and improvements in the +art of teaching, we first of all seek the aid of our Heavenly Father; we +ask wisdom of Him who "giveth liberally and upbraideth not." This, then, +is the first principle that governs us in the work here assigned us. The +fear of God is the beginning of knowledge. We who are teachers endeavor +to show that we ourselves fear God, and we inculcate the fear of Him as +the first and highest duty of our scholars; and in every plan and effort +to guide the young minds committed to us, we ourselves look for guidance +to the only unerring source of light.</p> + +<p>2. In proportion to the implicitness with which we rely upon divine aid, +should be the diligence with which we use all the human means within our +reach. It should therefore, in the second place, be the aim of the +teachers of this school to acquaint themselves diligently with the most +approved methods of teaching. No teachers will be retained who do not +keep themselves well posted in the literature of their profession, and +who are not found continually aiming at self-improvement. In whatever +school of whatever country, any branch is taught by better methods than +those practised here, it should be the duty of a teacher in this school +to search it out, and to profit by the discovery. Improvement comes by +comparison. The man, or the institution, that fails to profit by the +experience<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span> of others, is not wise. I hold it to be the duty of every +teacher of this school to be habitually conversant with the educational +journals of the day, and with the standard works on the theory of +teaching, and to lose no opportunity for personal observation of the +methods of others. I have often noticed, with equal pain and +commiseration, that young teachers, after having once finished their +preliminary studies and obtained a situation, are thereupon apparently +quite content, making no further effort at improvement, but settling +down for life in an inglorious mediocrity. The best teachers in this +school are expected to be better teachers next year than they are +now,—with ampler stores of knowledge, and a happier faculty for +communicating it. This, then, is our second aim in this school. We aim +to have teachers thoroughly posted in regard to the theory and the +methods of teaching, prepared to ride upon the advance wave of every +real improvement in the art.</p> + +<p>3. I should, however, fail entirely to convey my meaning, were I to lead +you to suppose that we expect to accomplish our ends mainly by fine-spun +theories. I have no faith in any theory of education, which does not +include, as one of its leading elements, <i>hard work</i>. The teachers of +this school expect to work hard, and we expect the scholars to work +hard. We have no royal road to learning. Any knowledge, the acquisition +of which costs nothing, is usually worth nothing. The mind, equally with +the body, grows by labor. If some stuffing process could be invented, by +which knowledge could be forced into a mind perfectly passive, the +knowledge so acquired would be worthless to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> its possessor, and would +soon pass away, leaving the mind as blank as it was before. Knowledge, +to be of any value, must be assimilated, as bodily food is. Teaching is +essentially a co-operative act. The mind of the teacher and the mind of +the scholar must both act, and must act together, in intellectual +co-operation and sympathy, if there is to be any true mental growth. +Teaching is not merely hearing lessons. It is not mere talking. It is +something more than mere telling. It is causing a child to know. It is +awakening attention, and then satisfying it. It is an out-and-out live +process. The moment the mind of the teacher or the mind of the scholar +flags, real teaching ceases. This, then, is our third aim. We aim in +this school to accomplish results, not by fanciful theories, but by +<i>bona fide</i> hard work,—by keeping teachers and scholars, while at their +studies, wide awake and full of life; not by exhausting drudgery, nor by +fitful, irregular, spasmodic exertions, but by steady, persevering, +animated, straight-forward work.</p> + +<p>4. A fourth aim which we have steadily before us, is to make <i>thorough</i> +work of whatever acquisition we attempt. A little knowledge, well +learned and truly digested, and made a part of the pupil's own +intellectual stores, is worth more to him than any amount of facts +loosely and indiscriminately brought together. In intellectual, as in +other tillage, the true secret of thrift is to plough deep, not to skim +over a large surface. The prevailing tendency at this time, in systems +of education, is unduly to multiply studies. So many new sciences are +being brought within the pale of popular knowledge, that it is no longer +possible,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span> in a school like this, to embrace within its course of study +all the subjects which it is practicable and desirable for people +generally to know. Through the whole encyclopædia of arts and sciences, +there is hardly one which has not its advocates, and which has not +strong claims to recognition. The teacher is simply infatuated who +attempts to embrace them all in his curriculum. He thereby puts himself +under an absolute necessity of being superficial, and he generates in +his scholars pretension and conceit. Old James Ross, the grammarian, +famous as a teacher in Philadelphia more than half a century ago, had on +his sign simply these words, "Greek and Latin taught here." Assuredly I +would not advocate quite so rigid an exclusion as that, nor, if limited +to only two studies, would it be those. But I have often thought Mr. +Ross's advertisement suggestive. Better even that extreme than the +encyclopædic system which figures so largely on some circulars. Mr. Ross +indeed taught nothing but Latin and Greek. But he taught these languages +better probably than they have ever been taught on this continent; and +any two branches thoroughly mastered are of more service to the pupil +than twenty branches known imperfectly and superficially. A limited +field, then, and thorough work. This is our fourth aim.</p> + +<p>5. As a fifth aim, we endeavor, in the selection of subjects of study, +not to allow the common English branches, as they are called, to be +shoved aside. To read well, to write a good hand, to be expert in +arithmetic, to have such a knowledge of geography and history as to read +intelligently what is going on and the world, to have such a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span> knowledge +of one's own language as to use it correctly and purely in speaking and +composition,—these are attainments to be postponed to no others. These +are points of primary importance, to be aimed at by every one, whatever +else he may omit.</p> + +<p>6. We aim, in the sixth place, to mark the successive parts of the +course of study by well defined limits. There are in the course of study +successive stages of progress, and these stages are made as clear and +precise as it is possible to make them; and no pupil is allowed to go +forward until the ground behind is thoroughly mastered. At the same +time, these stages in study should be kept all the while before the +minds of the pupils as goals to be aimed at. There are, for this +purpose, at briefly recurring intervals, examinations for promotion. +While no pupil is permitted to go forward, except as the result of a +rigorous examination, the idea of an advance should, if possible, never +be allowed to be absent from his thoughts. That scholar should be +counted worthy of highest honor, not who stands highest in a particular +room, but who by successful examinations can pass most rapidly from room +to room. That teacher is considered most successful, not who retains +most pupils, but who in a given time pushes most pupils forward into a +higher room. We want no scholar to stand still for a single week. +Motion, progress, definite achievement, must be the order of the day.</p> + +<p>7. We aim, in the seventh place, to cultivate in every pupil a habit of +attention and observation. Youth is the time when the senses should be +most assiduously trained. The young should be taught to see for +themselves, to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span> ascertain the qualities of objects by the use of their +own eyes and hands, to notice whether a thing is distant and how far +distant it is, whether it is heavy and how heavy, whether it has color +and what color, whether it has form and what form. They should learn to +study real things by actually noticing them with their own senses, and +then learning to apply the right words to the knowledge so acquired. We +aim to apply this habit of observation in all the branches of study, so +that in every stage of progress the scholar shall know, not merely the +names of things, but the things themselves. In other words, we would +cultivate real, as well as verbal knowledge, and aim to awaken in every +pupil an active, inquiring, observant state of mind.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3><a name="Counsel2" id="Counsel2"></a>2. <i>To a New Pupil.</i></h3> + +<p>You have just been admitted to the privileges of this institution, and +are about to enter here upon a course of study. The occasion is one +eminently suited for serious reflection. At the close of a school career +it is difficult not to reflect. Thoughts upon one's course will, at such +a time, force themselves upon us. But then it is too late. The good we +might have achieved, is beyond our grasp, and its contemplation is +profitable only as a legitimate topic of contrition. How much wiser and +more profitable to anticipate the serious judgment which sooner or later +we must pass upon our actions, and so to shape our conduct in advance, +that the retrospect, when it comes, may be a source of joy and +congratulation, rather than of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span> shame and repentance. How much wiser to +direct our bark to some definite and well selected channel, than to +float at random along the current of events, the sport of every idle +wave. Men are divided into two classes,—those who control their own +destiny, doing what they mean to do, living according to a plan which +they prefer and prepare, and those who are controlled by circumstances, +who have a vague purpose of doing something or being somebody in the +world, but leave the means to chance. The season of youth generally +determines to which of these classes you will ultimately belong. It is +here, at school, that you decide whether, when you come to man's estate, +you will be a governing man, or whether you will be a mere aimless +driveller. Those who at the beginning of a course in school make to +themselves a distinct aim, towards which day after day they work their +course, undiscouraged by defeat, unseduced by ease or the temptation of +a temporary pleasure, not only win the immediate objects of pursuit, but +gain for themselves those habits of aiming, of perseverance, of +self-control, which will make them hereafter controlling and governing +men. Those, on the contrary, who enter upon an academic career with an +indefinite purpose of studying after a fashion, whenever it is not too +hot, or too cold, or the lessons are not too hard, or there is nothing +special going on to distract the attention, or who are content to swim +along lazily with the multitude, trusting to the good-nature of the +teacher, to an occasional deception, or to the general chapter of +accidents, for escape from censure, and for such an amount of +proficiency as on the whole will pass muster with friends or the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> +public,—depend upon it, such youths are doomed, inevitably doomed, all +their days, to be nobodies, or worse.</p> + +<p>Let me, then, my young friend, as preliminary to your entering upon the +duties before you, call to your mind some of those things, which, as an +intelligent and responsible being, you should deliberately aim to follow +or to avoid while in this school. In the counsels which I am going to +give you, I shall make no attempt to say what is new or striking. My aim +will be rather to recall to your memory some few of those familiar +maxims, in which you have been, I dare say, often instructed elsewhere.</p> + +<p>1. First of all, remember that men always, by a necessary law, fall +below the point at which they aim. You well understand that if a +projectile be hurled in the direct line of any elevated object, the +force of gravity will cause the projectile to deflect from the line of +direction, and this deflection and curvature will be great in proportion +to the distance of the object to be reached. Hence, in gunnery, the +skilful marksman invariably takes aim above the point which he expects +to hit. At certain distances, he will aim 45° above the horizon at what +is really but 30° above it. So, in moral subjects, there is +unfortunately a native and universal tendency downwards, which deflects +us out of the line in which good resolutions would propel us. You aim to +be distinguished, and you turn out only meritorious. You aim to be +meritorious, and you fall into the multitude. You are content with being +of the multitude, and you fall out of your class entirely. So also, as +in physical projectiles, the extent of your departure from the right +line is measured by the distance of the objects<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span> at which you aim. You +resolve to avoid absolutely and entirely certain practices for a day or +a week, and you can perhaps keep very close to the mark. But who can +hold himself up to an exact fulfilment of his intentions for a whole +term? I do not wish to discourage you. The drift of my argument is, not +that you should make no aim, but that you should fix your aim <i>high</i>, +and that you should then keep yourself up to your good resolutions, as +long and as closely as you possibly can.</p> + +<p>2. In the next place, remember that no excellence is ever attained +without self-denial. Wisdom's ways are indeed ways of pleasantness. The +satisfaction of having done well and nobly is of a certain ravishing +kind, far surpassing other enjoyments. But to obtain this high and +satisfying pleasure, many minor and incompatible pleasures must be +foregone. You cannot have the pleasure of being a first-rate scholar, +and at the same time have your full swing of fun. I am not opposed to +fun. I like it myself. No one enjoys it more. Nor do I think the +exercise and enjoyment of it incompatible with the highest scholastic +excellence. But there is a place for all things, and school is not the +place for fun. If you enjoy in moderation out of school the relaxation +and refreshment which jokes, wit, and pleasantry give, you will be all +the more likely to grapple successfully with the serious employments +which await you here. Still do not forget that your employments here are +serious. Study is a sober business. If you would acquire really useful +knowledge, you must be willing to work. You must make up your mind to +say "no" to the thousand opportunities and temptations to frivolous +behavior<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> that will beset you in school. You must not be content with +being studious and orderly merely when the eye of authority is upon you. +This is to be simply an eye-servant and a hypocrite. To have a little +pleasantry in the school-room, to perpetrate or to join in some witty +practical joke, may seem to you comparatively harmless. So it would be +but for its expense. You buy it at the cost of benefits which no money +can measure, and no future time can replace. There are seasons of the +year when the farmer may indulge in relaxation,—may go abroad on +excursions of pleasure, or may saunter away the time in comparative +idleness at home. But in the few precious weeks of seedtime, every day, +every hour is of moment. This is your seedtime. Every hour of +school-time that you waste in trifling is an injury and a loss to your +future. Remember, then, that you cannot reach high excellence in school, +or that pure and noble enjoyment, which is its exceeding great reward, +without self-denial. Resolve, therefore, here and now, steadfastly, +immovably, to say "no" to everything in school, no matter how innocent +in itself, which shall interfere with the progress of study for a single +moment. If you make such a fixed resolution, and live up to it, you will +soon be surprised to find how easy and pleasant the discipline of school +has become.</p> + +<p>3. Among the mischievous fallacies of young persons at school, I know +none that work more to their own disadvantage than the opinion that a +particular teacher is prejudiced against them. Against this feeling it +seems impossible to reason. When once scholars have it fairly in their +heads that a certain teacher is partial, in whatever<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> relates to their +standing, I have been almost forced to the conclusion that it is best +not to attempt reasoning with them. Under such feelings, indeed, by a +singular freak of human nature, scholars are often driven to do, in +sheer bravado or defiance, the very things which they imagine to be +unjustly imputed to them. Allow me, my young friend, to ask you candidly +and in all seriousness to turn this matter over in your own mind. What +adequate motive can you imagine for a teacher's marking you otherwise +than impartially? Every teacher has an interest in having as many high +marks and as few demerits under his signature as possible. It is not to +his credit that he should be unable to maintain order without blackening +his roll with bad marks. A class roll filled with 0's is not the kind of +evidence a teacher covets as to his skill in teaching. Notice the +intercourse between the teachers and those scholars who are admitted on +all hands to be strictly and conscientiously correct in their behavior. +See what a pleasure it affords the instructor to have to deal with such +pupils. See what a satisfaction the teacher experiences when, at the +close of the day, there is not a demerit mark on his book. Judge, then, +whether it is not likely to be a self-denial and a cross to him, when a +sense of duty compels him to do otherwise. Be slow, therefore, to impute +bad marks to injustice, or ill nature. No man of course is infallible, +and teachers make mistakes as well as other people. But the temptations +to do intentional wrong are, in this case, all the other way.</p> + +<p>4. Closely connected with the habit just mentioned is the disposition to +neglect particular branches of study.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span> From disliking a teacher, the +transition is easy to a dislike for his department. Others again, +without any personal feeling in the case, think that they have a natural +fitness for one class of studies, and an equally natural <i>un</i>-fitness +for another class. So they content themselves with proficiency in that +in which they already excel, and neglect that in which they are +deficient, and which therefore they find difficult. Is this wise? The +branches which you find difficult, are precisely those in which you need +an instructor. Besides, the object of education is to develop equally +and harmoniously all your faculties. If the memory, the reasoning +faculty, the imagination, or any one power of the mind, is active far +beyond the other powers, that surely is no reason for giving additional +stimulus and growth in that direction. On the contrary, bend your main +energies towards bringing forward your other faculties to an equal +development. If you have a natural or acquired preference for +mathematics, and a dislike for languages, the former study will take +care of itself: bend all your energies to the latter. So, if languages +are your choice, and mathematical study your aversion, take hold of the +odious task with steady and sturdy endeavor, and you will soon convert +it into a pleasure. The same is true of grammar, of geography, of +history, of composition, of rhetoric, of mental and moral science, of +elocution,—of every branch. If you are wise, you will give your chief +attention in school to those branches for which you feel the least +inclination, and in which you find it most difficult to excel. You +should do so, because, in the first place, this failure and +disinclination, in nine cases out of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span> ten, grow out of defective +training heretofore, and not from any defect in your mental +constitution; and, secondly, if your natural constitution should be, as +in some cases it is, one-sided and exceptional, your aim should be to +correct and cure, not to aggravate, the defects of nature. This advice, +you will observe, relates to your course in school, not to your choice +of a profession in life. When your career in school is finished, and you +are about to select a profession, follow by all means the bent of your +genius. Do that for which you have the greatest natural or acquired +aptitude. But here, the case is different. Your aim in school is to +develop your powers,—to grow into an accomplished and capable man,—to +acquire complete command of all the mental resources God has given you.</p> + +<p>5. There is a practice, common to school-life everywhere, known by the +not very dignified name of cheating. There is, I fear, among young +people generally, while at school, an erroneous and mischievous state of +opinion on this subject. Deception in regard to your lessons is not +viewed, as it should be, in the light of a serious moral delinquency. An +ingenuous youth, who would scorn to steal, and scorn to lie anywhere +else than at school, makes no scruple to deceive a teacher. Is honesty a +thing of place and time? I do not say, I would not trust at my +money-drawer the boy who has been cheating at his lessons, because a boy +may have been led into the latter delinquency by a false notion of +right, which as yet has not affected his integrity in matters of +business. But this I do say. Cheating at school blunts the moral sense; +it impairs the sense of personal honor; it breaks down the outworks of +integrity;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> it leads by direct and easy steps to that grosser cheating +which ends in the penitentiary.</p> + +<p>On this subject, I once had a most painful experience. A boy left school +with as fair a character for honesty as many others against whom nothing +can be said except that they do sometimes practise deceit in regard to +their lessons. I really believed him to be an honest boy, and +recommended him as such. By means of the recommendation, he obtained in +a large store a responsible post connected with the receipt and payment +of money. His employer was pleased with his abilities, and disposed to +give him rapid promotion. After a few months, I inquired after him, and +found that he had been detected in forcing his balances! I do verily +believe, the dishonest purpose, which led to this pecuniary fraud, grew +directly out of a facility at deception acquired at school. He had +cheated his teacher; he had cheated his father; he had obtained a +fictitious average; he had gained a standing and credit in school not +justly his due; why should he not exercise the same ingenuity in +improving his pecuniary resources?</p> + +<p>Independently of the moral effect of these deceptive practices upon your +own character, is there not in the acts themselves an inherent meanness +and baseness, from which a pure-minded youth would instinctively recoil? +Is there not something false and rotten in the prevailing sentiment on +this subject among young persons at school? When by some convenient +fiction you reach a higher standard than your merits entitle you to, is +it not so far forth at the expense of some more conscientious +competitor? And, after all, when you deceive a teacher into the belief +that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> you are studying when you are not, that you know a thing when you +do not know it, that you wrote a composition, or executed a drawing, +which was done by some one else,—whom do you cheat but yourself? You +may deceive the teacher, but the loss is yours.</p> + +<p>6. If there could be such a thing as an innocent crime, I would say it +was that of talking in school. There can hardly be named a more signal +instance of an act so perfectly innocent in itself, becoming so +seriously blame-worthy purely and solely by circumstances. I believe I +express the common opinion of all who have had any experience in the +matter, when I say that three fourths of all the intentional disorder, +and at least nine tenths of all the actual interruptions to study, grow +out of the practice of unlicensed talking. And yet this is the very last +thing which young persons will admit into their serious, practical +convictions as being an evil and a wrong. They may admit that they get +bad marks by it; that it brings them into trouble; but that it is really +an evil, meriting the strictures with which the teacher visits it, is +more than they believe. What deceives them is this. They call to mind +the events of a particular hour. There was during that hour, according +to their recollection, a general attention to study, and no special +disorder; perhaps some three or four of the pupils noted for talking. +This talking, too, may have been about the lesson, or at all events was +not such as to distract very perceptibly the current of instruction. +Hence the inference that a moderate amount of talking, such as that was, +is perfectly consistent with decorum and progress.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span></p> + +<p>So it is. But what is to secure this moderate amount? What right have +you to talk that is not enjoyed by your neighbor? If one may talk, so +may all; if one does it, unchecked, so will all, as you very well know. +How is the teacher to know whether you are talking about the lesson, or +about the last cricket-match?</p> + +<p>This is a perfectly plain question, and I press you to an answer. There +is no practical medium between unlimited license to talk—against which +you would yourself be the first to protest—and an entire prohibition. I +put it to your conscience, whether you do not believe, were this rule +strictly and in good faith observed, that the interests of the school, +and your own interest, comfort, and honor, would be greatly promoted? Is +the inconvenience which this rule imposes so great, or your habit of +self-indulgence so strong, that you cannot, or will not, forego a slight +temporary gratification for so substantial and lasting a benefit?</p> + +<p>7. You will avoid much of the difficulty of observing this rule, if you +give heed to the next counsel which I have now to give, and that is, +that you economize carefully your time in school. On this point some +excellent and conscientious pupils occasionally err. They are very +faithful in home preparation; very attentive at lectures; very +industrious in discharging any set duty. But they have not yet learned +the true secret of all economy, whether of time, money, or any other +good,—namely, the knowing how to use well the odds and ends. Take care +of the pence, was Franklin's motto. If you once have the secret of +occupying usefully, in studious preparation, or in wise repetition, all +those little intervals of interrupted instruc<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span>tion, which necessarily +occur throughout the day, you will in the first place almost insure for +yourself an entire freedom from demerit marks of every kind; you will +secondly add materially to your intellectual progress; and, lastly, you +will acquire a habit of the utmost value in every station and walk in +life; and, depend upon it, the habits you acquire at school, are of all +your acquisitions by far the most important.</p> + +<p>8. But I would be false to my most settled convictions, were I to stop +here. I have been a teacher of the young nearly all my life, and as the +result of such a life-long professional experience, I have no conviction +more abiding than this, that the <i>fear of God is the beginning of +knowledge</i>. I believe that mental growth is just as directly the gift of +God as bodily growth; that the healthy action of the mind is as much +dependent on his good pleasure as the healthy action of the bodily +functions. God has not only made one mind superior to another, but of +two minds naturally equal, he can, at his sovereign pleasure, make one +grow and expand more rapidly than another. As he can give symmetry and +strength to your limbs, and clothe your features with beauty and grace, +so he can make you quick of apprehension, clear of discernment, ready +and tenacious to remember, delicate in your appreciation of what is +beautiful. While, therefore, you are diligent in your studies, remember +that the reward of your labor, after all, is the gift of God. You will +neglect one essential means of intellectual progress, if you neglect +prayer. I mean, not prayer in general, but specific prayer for God's +blessing on your studies; prayer that God will bless your<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> efforts to +learn. Keep your mind, while engaged in study, in a habitual state of +expectancy, especially when grappling with intellectual difficulties, as +if inwardly looking up for help to that all-knowing Spirit, who alone, +of all beings, acts directly on our spirits. I cannot doubt that one who +studies in such a frame of mind, will advance in his intellectual +progress more rapidly for it. I have a most assured conviction that +prayer is a direct and important means of mental growth. Not only will +the fear of God restrain you from many of the usual hindrances to study, +of which I have already spoken, but a truly devout spirit is the very +best state of mind for learning, even for learning purely intellectual +truth.</p> + +<p>There are other and higher motives, why you should cultivate, +habitually, the fear of God. Of these motives, it is not my office to +speak now. They are often pressed upon your attention. The one point to +which I direct you now, is the importance of such a state of mind to +your making the best, and surest, and noblest kind of mental growth. If +you would grow rapidly in knowledge, grow symmetrically and beautifully, +with all your faculties in harmonious preparation and dependence, fear +God. Keep your spirit in habitual intercourse and communion with that +Almighty Spirit who is the source of all knowledge and wisdom. In the +school-room, at your desk, in your recitations, and your exercises of +every kind, let the thought that the eye of a loving Father is upon you, +diffuse habitually a calm and sweet peace through your spirit, and +depend upon it, you will not find your mental vision dimmed by moving in +so pure and serene an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> atmosphere. There are no quickeners to knowledge +equal to love, reverence, and earnest prayer.</p> + +<p>Let me, in conclusion, tender you my best wishes for your success in the +career now before you. That success depends, in no small degree, upon +the feeling and spirit with which you begin. Only summon up your mind to +a serious and determined resolution at the outset; aim high; do not +flinch at self-denial; rise above the unworthy suspicion that this or +that teacher is unfair to you; resist the disposition to shirk those +studies that you find disagreeable or difficult; keep clear of every +kind and degree of trickery; come straight up to a full and strict +compliance with every rule; lay your plans to occupy usefully each +golden moment of leisure; cultivate a constant sense of dependence upon +God for success in study: and your success will be as certain as is the +wish for it, which I once more, most respectfully and affectionately, +tender you.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3><a name="Counsel3" id="Counsel3"></a>3. <i>To a Young Lady on Leaving a Boarding-School.</i></h3> + +<p>You are about to leave school. The occasion is one certainly that cannot +fail to awaken reflection. I suppose that no young lady, who had been at +a place of education as long as you have been here, ever left it without +serious thought. The excitement of the examination, the busy whirl of +preparation for leaving, even the exhilarating anticipations of +home-going, cannot entirely shut out from your mind the sober truth that +the end of school-days is only the beginning of another career,—a +career, the issue<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> of which you can neither foresee, nor can you be +indifferent to it. Let us talk a little about this.</p> + +<p>The day on which a young man ends his College course is called, by an +apparent misnomer, "Commencement" day; that is, the day of commencing, +or beginning. I understand very well that the name has a definite +historical origin,—that in the old English Colleges, from which our +American Colleges were modelled, the young man, on this day, begins his +career as a Bachelor of Arts. His academical rank "commences" and dates +from this point. But there would be a beautiful appropriateness in the +term, even if it had no such special historical origin. The exit from +the curriculum of the College or School, is, in truth, only the entrance +into a more extended course. When your studies are nominally ended, they +have really only begun. The longer you live, the more will you +understand that the period of school-going is not the only, or even the +main time of learning. The more thoroughly you have been taught here, +the more certainly will you be a learner hereafter. I want no better +test of the character of a school than the extent to which the idea +prevails among its pupils and alumni, that it is a place for "finishing" +one's studies. The idea is on a par with that of the young Miss who +reported that she had read through Latin!</p> + +<p>There is, it is true, in this School, a definite curriculum of studies, +and that curriculum you have honorably completed. You have just been +received by public acknowledgment into the community of educated women. +But you will be false to the honorable sisterhood, false, I am sure, to +all the teachings you have received here, if you<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span> entertain for a moment +the thought that no further intellectual acquisitions are before you. +The branches which you have learned thus far are chiefly valuable to you +for the power they have given you to make still further improvement. The +studies pursued at school, and during the period of youth, are mainly +intended for promoting intellectual growth, for giving us power, for +perfecting our mental machinery. Our real acquisitions come afterward. I +speak, of course, of those who occupy the higher stations in society. To +one who has to earn his bread by mere bodily toil, the few studies for +which he has leisure in youth, must, of course, be such as are directly +serviceable in his calling. But to those who claim to belong to the +educated portion of the community, school studies are of right directed +more to the development of the mental and moral powers, than to positive +acquisition. Your instructors return you to your friends and your home +with a mind enlarged, with a taste refined, with a judgment corrected, +ready to take your place and act well your part, as an educated woman. +But remember, she is not an educated woman, who knows no more this year +than she did last. True education is growth, and it never stands still. +The tree which has ceased to grow, has begun to decay.</p> + +<p>This, then, is the one thought that I would have you take away with you +from school. Give no place to the idea that henceforth books and study +and elegant culture are to be laid aside. It would be a dishonor to your +School, and a mistake of the first magnitude for yourself.</p> + +<p>Perhaps you will appreciate this point more adequately, if you will turn +your thoughts inward for a moment, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span> reflect upon the change which +has been quietly going on in your own self and during your residence +here. One whose occupation calls him almost daily to communicate his +ideas to young persons, either by formal address, or by more familiar +ways, feels to a greater degree, perhaps, than any other person can, the +change to which I refer. I mean that increased quickness of intellectual +apprehension produced by a judicious and symmetrical course of study. +Let me give you an instance. It fell to my lot, not long since, to +address a School containing three hundred young ladies, all boarders, +all over seventeen years of age. They were the best audience I ever had. +Among them was not one, who did not appear to be intelligent and +thoughtful, and with a mind more or less disciplined. But there were +perceptible differences among them, and it is to this point that I would +direct your attention. They were divided into four distinct classes, +having attended the School severally one, two, three, and four years, +and they were arranged before me in the order of their seniority as +classes. The discourse was long and didactic, and portions of it were +not easy to follow, containing a discussion of a rather abstruse point +in mental philosophy. Now it seemed to me, on concluding the address, +that I could have gone through that assembly, and marked with tolerable +accuracy, class by class, just where each class ended and another class +began, simply by what I had read in the faces of my young auditors. It +was written as plainly upon those upturned faces, as was the discourse +itself upon the manuscript before me. Those who had been four years in +the School, undoubtedly learned manifold more from<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> the exercise than +the junior classes did. I could see it in the delivery of every +paragraph. Such is the uniform result of a proper course of study. It +enables the student to grasp new truths with increased ease and +readiness. We, who are teachers, feel this the moment we undertake to +communicate our thoughts to an audience. The consequence is, we +involuntarily measure what has been done educationally for a class of +young persons, by the development which has been given to their +powers,—by the manifest facility which they have gained for making +further gains. That young woman is best educated who is best prepared to +learn.</p> + +<p>Let me, then, renew the appeal to your own consciousness. Think for a +moment upon the change which has been wrought in your own self during +your career here. Compare your present self with that other self that +you may remember some three or four years back. How much more you can +accomplish now than you could then! How much more clearly you can follow +out a train of reasoning! How much more easily you can compass an +argument! How much more you can enjoy what is beautiful! How much more +quickly and accurately you can remember! How much more you can command +your attention! Whence this change, and what does it purport? It means +that you are educated. You have now a degree of mental power that you +had not then. Your own consciousness tells you that you are now just in +the condition to enter upon your harvest. The field is before you. You +are girded for the work. And will you now indolently lay aside the +sickle, and let the golden grain fall to the ground<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> ungathered? Could +there be a more egregious mistake? Last week, I saw from my window two +parent birds tempting their young fledglings from the nest. Day by day, +week by week, I had seen the child-birds growing and gaining strength. +Their muscles were now well developed, their bodies were clothed with +feathers, they had learned to use their wings,—they could fly. Would it +not have been passing strange, had they continued as they were, +contented to cower and to crawl, when they had acquired the power to +soar? And will <i>you</i> be content to remain forever only a fledgling, +satisfied with having acquired the power of rising, but never actually +using the wings which these years of honorable industry have given you?</p> + +<p>Some of your sex are willing to admit the force of this argument when +applied to men. A man, after graduating, is expected of course to +continue his studies. His whole profession is one continued study. But +somehow, it is thought, this truth does not hold good for women. Let me +hope that <i>you</i> at least will not harbor such a notion. Whatever may be +said of "women's rights," one right certainly, and one duty, is to keep +yourself abreast of the other sex in continued mental growth and +culture, and in general intelligence. If you would awaken true respect +in my sex, and I hold it a not unworthy ambition, you must in this +matter do as we do, at least as those of us do who are worth your +consideration at all. You must perseveringly, every year, add to your +intellectual acquisitions. You must continue steadily to grow in +knowledge and mental power. Do not cease your studies, because you have +ceased going to school. Manage to have some<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> elegant accomplishment or +acquisition always in hand. A woman who is wise in this matter, never +passes her prime. I speak not, of course, of the decrepitude of old age +and of the decay of the faculties. But so long as the faculties remain +unimpaired, a woman may become, and should aim to become, increasingly +attractive, as she advances in years. Poets sing of sweet sixteen. Let +me assure you, a woman may be charming at sixty. Mrs. Madison even at +seventy was the most attractive woman in Washington.</p> + +<p>In society, how soon one feels the difference between a person who +reads, and one who does not read. Two ladies may be of the same age. +They may dress alike. They may have the same advantages of person. They +may move in the same social circle. Yet you will not have been ten +minutes in their society, though the conversation has been on only the +most common topics of the day, before you will feel that the one woman, +though at thirty or forty, is still only a superannuated school-girl, +with even less resources than when she left the seminary, while the +other is a delightful companion for persons of any age, with ready +knowledge for whatever turn the conversation may take, and so abounding +in resources as not even to be open to the temptation of making a +display of them. The one can talk only so long as the conversation turns +on dress, gossip, or the discussion of private character. In listening +to the talk of such a woman, you hardly hear a sentence which is not +based upon personalities. Her mind has not been fed and nurtured from +day to day with beautiful and noble thoughts, with history and science +and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span> general knowledge. She may be amiable. She may have personal +beauty. But you find her empty and vapid, and you weary of her, in spite +of the very best intentions of being interested. How different the woman +who, in spite of social exactions, and even of accumulating domestic +duties, and of the time-consuming tax of dress, still keeps her mind +fresh and growing, by means of reading and culture,—who is ever adding +to her stores of knowledge some new science, to her varied skill some +new attainment,—who has ever in hand some new book. It is true, indeed, +that some ladies are blessed with more leisure for this purpose than +others. But I fear it is not a question of more and less. It is too much +a question of some and <i>none</i>. I hold that every woman is entitled to +have, and by proper determination she may have, <i>some</i> time for personal +improvement. Remember, we have duties to ourselves, as well as to +others, and we have no duty to ourselves more sacred than this,—to +rescue from our time some portion for the purpose of making ourselves +more worthy of regard.</p> + +<p>To undertake to suggest what particular studies you should pursue, in +this larger school to which you are now admitted, would lead me into a +train of remark entirely too extended. One single practical suggestion +may perhaps be pardoned. Do not willingly relinquish the acquisitions +already made. They are to you the true foundations for future +improvement. You have fairly entered upon several important fields in +the domain of science. You are familiar with the elements of Natural +Philosophy, Chemistry, Botany, Physiology, Mental Philosophy, Rhe<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span>toric, +and with the foundations of Mathematical Science. My advice is that in +coming years you give to each of these branches, and of whatever else +you have studied here, a stated systematic review. You have some skill +in drawing and painting. Let not so graceful an accomplishment die out +from your fingers. You excel in music. I need not say, if you would +retain this excellence, you must give time to practice and study. So, +whatever talent or attainment you now have, let it be your fixed purpose +not to let it pass from your possession. Keep what you have, whatever +else you may fail to do. To this end, as I said before, give to each of +your school studies an occasional well-considered review. You will then +always have in your mind certain fixed points, to which the +miscellaneous knowledge picked up in your general reading will adhere, +and around which it will accumulate in organized form. New studies, too, +will naturally affiliate with the old, and will be easy and pleasant +just in proportion as you keep the knowledge that you now have, fresh +and bright.</p> + +<p>Besides this general advice, there is one accomplishment in particular, +which I would earnestly recommend to you, as I am in the habit of doing +to all of your sex. Cultivate assiduously the ability to read well. I +stop to particularize this, because it is a thing so very much +neglected, and because it is so very elegant, charming, and lady-like an +accomplishment. Where one person is really interested by music, twenty +are pleased with good reading. Where one person is capable of becoming a +skilful musician, twenty may become good readers. Where there is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> one +occasion suitable for the exercise of musical talent, there are twenty +for that of reading. The culture of the voice necessary for reading +well, gives a delightful charm to the same voice in conversation. Good +reading is the natural exponent and vehicle of all good things. It is +the most effective of all commentaries upon the works of genius. It +seems to bring dead authors to life again, and makes us sit down +familiarly with the great and good of all ages.</p> + +<p>Did you ever notice what life and power the Holy Scriptures have, when +well read? Have you ever heard of the wonderful effects produced by +Elizabeth Fry among the hardened criminals of Newgate, by simply reading +to them the parable of the Prodigal Son? Princes and peers of the realm, +it is said, counted it a privilege to stand in those dismal corridors, +among felons and murderers, merely to share with them the privilege of +witnessing the marvellous pathos which genius, taste, and culture could +infuse into that simple story.</p> + +<p>What a fascination there is in really good reading! What a power it +gives one! In the hospital, in the chamber of the invalid, in the +nursery, in the domestic and the social circle, among chosen friends and +companions, how it enables you to minister to the amusement, the +comfort, the pleasure of dear ones, as no other art or accomplishment +can. No instrument of man's devising can reach the heart, as does that +most wonderful instrument, the human voice. It is God's special gift and +endowment to his chosen creatures. Fold it not away in a napkin. If you +would double the value of all your other acquisitions;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span> if you would add +immeasurably to your own enjoyment, and to your power of promoting the +enjoyment of others, cultivate with incessant care this Divine gift. No +music below the skies is equal to that of pure, silvery speech from the +lips of a man or woman of high culture.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3><a name="Counsel4" id="Counsel4"></a>4. <i>To a Pupil on Entering a Normal School.</i></h3> + +<p>You have entered upon a new and untried path. As one having been often +over this way, and well acquainted with the features of the country +before you, its lights and shadows, its roses and its thorns, its safe +walks and its hidden pitfalls, I desire to talk with you a while before +you enter upon the untried scene.</p> + +<p>1. First of all let me say to you, we give you a most hearty welcome. We +are glad to see you here, and we tender to you in advance a warm and +ready sympathy in the many little worries, annoyances, and +discouragements that surely await you. For myself I may truly say, that, +outside of my own home, I have no greater happiness than to be among my +pupils, and few things could pain me more than to believe that any one +who had been for any considerable time my pupil would not almost +unconsciously claim me as a friend; and it is an unceasing well-spring +of joy for me to know that among your companions are many who, in time +of trouble or difficulty or anxiety of any kind, would come to the +Principal of the School, as sure of sympathy as if going to their own +mother.</p> + +<p>This freedom of intercourse between teachers and their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> pupils, this +mutual exchange of confidence on one side and of sympathy on the other, +is a source of good and a source of pleasure, which neither you nor we, +my young friend, can afford to forego; and if in the expression of this +thought I have indulged in a rather unseemly use of the first person +singular, it is not because I would claim for myself anything peculiar +in this matter, but because, from my years and my position, I can +perhaps, better than my associates, afford to speak out thus the inward +promptings of the heart. We <i>all</i> give you the right hand of fellowship, +and trust it will not be many weeks, or days even, before you shall feel +that you have here a home as well as a school, friends as well as +teachers.</p> + +<p>2. A very common feeling at the beginning of a course of study, is a +feeling of discouragement. Nearly all the studies are new, and you enter +upon each with fresh eagerness. Now, it is in the nature of every study +while it is new, to seem boundless. Under the guiding hand of a skilful +teacher, its limits and capabilities are stretched out in one direction +and another, interminable vistas spread out in the distance, and +portentous difficulties rise up before the imagination, until the mind +is bewildered.</p> + +<p>There is not one, of the formidable lists of studies before you, that +might not of itself, so great are its capabilities, occupy your whole +time. When you find yourself called to grapple at once with four or five +such studies, to measure yourself with competitors, many of whom have +had opportunities of preparation greatly superior to your own, and in +the presence of teachers to whom the whole subject is as familiar and as +plain as the alphabet, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span> when, in addition, the methods of recitation +are for the most part new and strange, you are very apt to become +discouraged, to feel that you shall never learn to recite in the manner +required, that you can never master the difficulties before you. This +feeling arises most frequently in the best class of minds, those most +conscientious in regard to duty and most capable of comprehending the +full length and breadth and depth of a subject. The shallow and the +trifling are never troubled with the kind of difficulties now under +consideration.</p> + +<p>I address myself to you, my young friend, because I know you have come +here with an earnest purpose, with a mind acute enough to see something +of the vast work before you, and I say to you, as one who has had large +experience in conducting other pilgrims over the same track, never lose +heart. Difficulties which now seem insurmountable, will gradually +disappear; subjects which now seem impenetrable, will soon lighten up. +Did you never enter a room in the dark? At first the apartment is a +universal blank. After a while, as your eyes become adjusted to the +place, one article after another of the furniture becomes outlined to +the vision, until at length, especially if approaching day lends some +additional rays of light, the whole scene stands out perfectly defined. +So it is in entering upon a new study. Many a passage in it will seem to +you at first a worse than Serbonian bog—a cave of impenetrable and +undistinguishable darkness. But draw not back. Look steadily on. Light +will come in time. Your power of seeing will, with every new trial, +receive adjustment and growth, and you will in the end<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> see with full +and open vision where now you have only dim glimpses and guesses. Do not +be discouraged, therefore, if at first you fail, or seem to yourself to +fail, in almost every recitation you undertake. What seems impossible +to-day, will be only next to impossible to-morrow, and only very +difficult the day after. Your failures are often only the proofs that +you have a glimpse at least of something below the surface of things. A +discouraged pupil is never a source of anxiety to me. It is only the +self-confident and over-wearing that are hopeless.</p> + +<p>3. I have spoken of recitations. Let me urge you to form some definite +idea of what a recitation is, and what kind of a recitation you, as a +pupil of a Normal School, should aim to make. And first of all, on this +point, let me say, the mere answering of questions, and especially, the +mere response of yes and no to questions, is not reciting,—assuredly +not such reciting as is to fit you for the office of a teacher. And, in +the next place, let me say, that repeating verbatim the words of the +book, is not the method of recitation at which you should aim. I do not +agree with those who would dissuade you entirely from cultivating the +faculty and enriching the stores of memory. Not only memory, in its +general exercise, but a purely verbal memory, is important. In your +lessons, are many things, rules, definitions, and so forth, that should +be learned with the most literal exactness, and should be so fixed in +the memory that they will come at your bidding, in any place, at any +moment. There are, too, in some of your books, passages from noble +authors, which furnish food and nourishment to the soul, and which the +mind<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> craves in the very form and lineaments of their birth—passages +which are like nuggets of virgin gold, or coins from the mint of some +great sovereign in the realms of thought. They form a part of your +wealth, and you want them, neither clipped, nor defaced, nor alloyed, +but with every word and point exactly as it came from the hand of the +master. These precious gems of thought, the garnered wealth of the ages, +will not be neglected by any one who is wise. Treasure up in your +intellectual storehouse as many of them as you can possibly compass, +only with this proviso, be careful to select for this purpose the very +best out of the great abundance that is before you, and make thorough +work in what you do attempt to commit to memory. The act of memorizing +will at once strengthen the faculty of memory itself, and will enrich +you otherwise. By all means, therefore, learn by heart the leading +definitions and rules of your text-books, and choice passages from all +famous authors. But do not attempt in this way to commit to memory, or +to recite verbatim, the pages of your history, geography, rhetoric, and +so forth. Such a practice would be a most unwise waste of your time, and +would cause a weakening, rather than a strengthening, of your faculties.</p> + +<p>Let me tell you exactly what I mean by reciting. Your teacher goes to +the board and, chalk in hand, explains to the class some point which +they seem not to have apprehended. That is my idea of reciting. First +get thorough possession of the thoughts or facts of the lesson, and +then, imagining the class and the teacher to be ignorant of the subject, +explain it to them, just as you will expect to do<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span> when the time comes +that you will have a class of your own to instruct. It will aid you in +preparing thus to recite a lesson, if in your rooms you will go over it +aloud to each other, you and your room-mate, taking alternate portions. +Such a method of preparation will doubtless require some time. But one +lesson so prepared will be worth more to you than a whole week of study +conducted in the ordinary manner. Remember, that in a Normal School your +object is, not merely to get knowledge, but to learn how to communicate +what you have learned. First then go over a topic till you are sure you +understand it. Then go over it again and again until you can recite +readily and perfectly every part of it, in its order. Then practise +yourself in telling it in your own words, aloud, if possible, to +somebody else, until you can make the narration or explanation +continuously, from beginning to end, and without the possibility of +being thrown out or confused by any amount of interruptions. Then at +length are you prepared to recite.</p> + +<p>Is this standard of recitation too high? Is it not what every one of +your teachers does daily, and what you yourself will have to do the very +first time you take your position as a teacher of others?</p> + +<p>4. This leads me by a natural transition to the subject of <i>study</i>. You +need to learn how to study, as much as you need to learn how to recite. +Endeavor then to get some definite idea in your mind of what it is +really to study. Mere reading is not study. Muttering the words over in +a low, gurgling tone, or letting them glide in a soft, half-audible +ripple upon your lips, is not study.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> Going over the lesson in a +listless, dreamy way, one eye on the book and one eye ready for whatever +is going on in other parts of the room, is not study. Study is work. +Study is agony. The whole soul must be roused, its every energy put +forth, with a fixed, rapt attention, like that of a man struggling with +a giant. Study, worthy of the name, forgets for the time every thing +else, excludes every thing else, is incapable of being diverted by any +thing else, the whole internal and external man being bent upon making +just one thing its own. Such study of course soon exhausts the energies. +It cannot be long protracted, nor need it be protracted. Take rest in +the season of rest; but, when you study, study with all your might. +Throw your whole soul into it. One hour of such study accomplishes more +than whole days of listless poring over books. And, remember, you cannot +study in this manner by merely willing to do it. It is an art, requiring +training and practice, and thorough mental discipline. You might as +well, on seeing the Writing-Master executing those marvels of +penmanship, or the Drawing-Teacher with deft fingers limning with ease +forms of grace and beauty, resolve to go forthwith to the board and do +the same thing, as expect, by a mere <i>sic volo</i>, to become a student. +You are here to learn how to study, and the art will come to you only by +slow progress, and after many trials.</p> + +<p>Give up the illusion that absolute seclusion and silence are necessary +to study. I do not say that they are not at times desirable. But they do +not of themselves generate earnest thought. The vacant mind, that has +not yet learned to think, is when thus left to solitude and stillness,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> +quite as likely to go a wool-gathering, or to fall asleep, as to wrestle +with some hard uninviting train of thought. The appliances and the +invitations to mental application, if we have really learned to study, +must be mainly in ourselves, not in our surroundings. Besides, the +greater part of the actual thinking and study, that has to be done by +those in professional life, that will have to be done by you, when you +enter upon the practice of your profession as a teacher, must be done in +circumstances not of your own choosing, just as time and opportunity may +offer, by snatches, and at odd intervals, and often in the midst of +distracting sights and sounds. I venture to say that three fourths of +the graduates of this school, who are now teaching, have no opportunity +for daily study and preparation for the duties of the school-room, +except that afforded by a seat in the evening in the common sitting-room +of the family, surrounded by children that are not always models of +behavior, and within sight and hearing of all the petty details of +household life. It is not therefore in itself undesirable that a part at +least of your study at school should be performed in a common room, +where there are some temptations to be resisted, some distractions to be +ignored. Acquiring the ability to study without distraction in the +presence of others and in the midst even of confusion and noise, is as +important to you as is the learning how to think aloud, in the presence +of a class, which I have defined to be the true nature of a recitation. +The ability to study and the ability to recite are intimately +correlated, and the symptoms of both are unmistakable to the practised +eye and ear. I know just as well, by a glance of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span> the eye on entering a +study-room, what pupils are making intellectual growth, as I do on +entering the class-room and listening to the recitations. One might as +well feign to be in a fever, as to feign study. Nothing but the thing +itself can assume its appearance.</p> + +<p>5. I approach my next subject of remark with some hesitation. Yet on no +point, in the whole theory of mental action, have I a more fixed and +assured conviction. Perhaps I may explain my meaning better, if I +introduce it with one or two comparisons.</p> + +<p>Action of every kind, mental or material, is to be aided or accelerated, +if at all, by forces of the same kind with the primary force. If a +certain amount of weight avoirdupois will not make the scale kick the +beam, we may produce the effect by laying on the requisite number of +additional pounds,—by adding force of the same kind with the original. +If the flame of one candle does not produce the illumination required +for a particular effort, the addition of a second or a third will. If we +wish to increase the speed of a locomotive, we do not whistle to it, or +whip it, or say "get up;" we add steam. If on the other hand we wish our +horse to travel faster, we use a motive addressed to his nature. We +appeal to his generosity, his pride, or his fear. So mental action is +influenced and induced by forces of the same nature with itself. One +mind influences powerfully another mind, working upon us often, too, by +mysterious influences that elude analysis. The influence of mind upon +mind, other things being equal, is in proportion to the degree of +perfection in which these three conditions exist, to wit, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span> fulness +of accord and sympathy between the minds that are brought into contact, +the closeness of the contact, and the greatness and power of the +influencing and controlling mind. These three points hardly need +explanation or argument. Nothing is more obvious than that a mind fully +in sympathy with another, does by that very circumstance exercise an +increased mental power on that other. In like manner we all feel daily +how our minds are lifted up, enlarged, enlightened, strengthened, by +intercourse with one of powerful intellect. And how often have we felt, +when ourselves wishing to influence any one, particularly when wishing +to influence one much younger and weaker than ourselves, that we might +accomplish our ends the better, if we could only know certainly and +exactly what he was thinking, if we could as it were actually get into +the chamber of his soul. This indeed we can never do. We think sometimes +that we come very near to each other. But after all we never touch. +Between my mind and yours, between yours and that of the most intimate +friend you have in the world, there is a barrier, high as heaven, deep +as hell, impenetrable as adamant. Thus far can we come and no farther. +We can never enter into the soul of any human being. No human being can +ever enter into ours. Yet, my dear pupil, did it never occur to you, +that there is One Mind, and that a mind of infinitely great and +transcendent power, to which there is no such barrier, and that this +transcendent, all-knowing, all-powerful mind, is continually in direct +contact with the very essence of your mind? Can I influence your +thinking faculties, and cannot the infinite God, who made those +faculties? Can He<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> who gave our bodies all their power of growth and +strength, not give growth and strength to our minds? I do not profess to +understand how the divine mind acts upon the human mind. I cannot always +understand even how one human mind acts upon another. But of the fact I +make no more question, than I do of the powers of flame, of steam, or of +gravitation. And, as one set here to guide you in your mental progress, +in all sober earnestness, I exhort you devoutly to invoke the aid of the +Holy Ghost in the promotion of your studies—not merely to help you to +use your acquisitions rightly, for his honor and the good of your kind, +but to help you in making those acquisitions. If you would rise superior +to discouragement, if you would acquire that mental discipline which is +to enable you to study, and to recite and to teach in the very best and +highest manner, pray. Call mightily upon God the Holy Ghost, who is +after all the great educator and teacher of the human race. Carry your +feeble lamp to the great fountain of light and radiance. Put your heart +into full accord and sympathy with that of your dear elder Brother. +Wrestle mightily with God in secret, as one that feels the burden of a +great want. Thus, my dear pupil, will you best fit yourself for the +duties of a student and of a teacher. For, believe me, there is sound +philosophy as well as religion, in the utterance of the wise man, "The +fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge." Surely that man is a +fool, who in cultivating mind, whether his own or that of another, +neglects to invoke the aid of the Infinite Mind.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span><a name="XXIX" id="XXIX"></a>XXIX.<br /> + +AN ARGUMENT FOR COMMON SCHOOLS.</h2> + + +<p>The argument for popular education is familiar and trite, and yet it +needs to be occasionally re-stated and enforced. There is no community +in which there is not a considerable number of persons grossly and +dangerously ignorant, and there are many communities in which the +majority of the people are in this condition. There is no community in +which the importance of general education is over-estimated; there are +unfortunately many communities in which education is held to be the +least important of public interests. A brief discussion of the subject, +therefore, can never be entirely out of place.</p> + +<p>Before proceeding to the direct argument, let me notice some of the most +common objections.</p> + +<p>It is a not uncommon opinion, that the business of education should be +left, like other kinds of business, to the laws of trade. It is said if +a carpenter is wanted in any community, or a blacksmith, or a tailor, or +a lawyer, or a doctor, carpenters, blacksmiths, tailors, lawyers, and +doctors will make their appearance. If a store is wanted, a store will +spring up. Why not a school-house? Those who use this argument forget +the essential difference between the two classes of wants to be +supplied. All men equally feel<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span> the distress, if naked, or hungry, or +sick, or suffering from any material want. The poor man, no less than +the rich, feels the pinchings of hunger, and will exert himself to +remedy the evil. The sick man, even more than the well, appreciates the +value of medicine and the necessity of a physician. Not so in the matter +of knowledge. A man must himself be educated, to understand the value of +education. There are exceptions, of course. Yet it is substantially +true, that the want of education is not one of those felt and pinching +necessities that compel men's attention, and that consequently may be +left to shift for themselves. A man who has himself enjoyed the blessing +of a good education, expects to provide schools for his children, as +much as he expects to provide for them food and clothing. The wants of +their minds are to him pressing realities, as much as are the wants of +their bodies. Not so with the ignorant and debased neighbors, who live +within stone's throw of his dwelling. They, from their own experience, +know nothing better, and are quite content, both for themselves and +their children, to live on in the debased condition in which we see +them. If these wretched creatures are ever moved to seek a higher style +of living and being, the movement must originate outside of themselves. +It is a case in which the man of higher advantages must think and act +for those below him. It is a case in which people have a pressing need +without knowing it, and in which consequently the laws of supply and +demand do not meet the emergency.</p> + +<p>Another common opinion on this subject is that private enterprise is +adequate to meet the want. Private enter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span>prise in education is not +indeed to be discarded. Where the community as a whole, in its organized +capacity, will do nothing, let individuals do what they can. In such +cases, let those who appreciate the advantages of education, concert +measures for the establishment of schools and the employment of +teachers, and for inducing parents who are indifferent to send their +children. By these private efforts, the community may be gradually +awakened to the importance of the subject, and so be induced to take it +up on their own account. But private benevolence is not sufficient for +so great a work. Private benevolence besides is apt to be fitful. It is +at best subject to interruption by death and by reverses of fortune, +while the cause is one which especially demands steadiness and +continuity. The means for educating a community or a city should no more +be subject to interruption, than the means of lighting it, or of +supplying it with water.</p> + +<p>The argument for depending upon private enterprise for devising and +providing the means for popular education, would apply equally well to +matters of police, and to the protection of property. The strong-armed +and the sagacious can take care of themselves. The stout-hearted and the +good, by due concert and combination, could keep criminals in some +check, even in a country where there were no courts of justice, or +prisons, or detective police. But this is not the ordinary or the best +mode of accomplishing the end, nor could it in any case be thoroughly +efficient. The restraint and punishment of crime belong to society as a +whole, in its sovereign capacity. To the same society belongs the duty +of seeing that its<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span> members do not fall into degrading ignorance and +vice. God, in ordaining human society, had something higher in view than +merely providing for the punishment of crime. Our Heavenly Father would +have his children raised to the full enjoyment of their privileges as +social and rational beings, and he seems to have established society for +this very end, among others, that there may be an agency and a machinery +adequate and fitted to drag even the unwilling out of the mire into +which they have fallen. Without such an interposition on the part of +society as a whole, the work will not be done. The mass of the people +will remain in ignorance in every community, in which the community as +such does not provide the means of education and general enlightenment.</p> + +<p>It is often urged against common schools, that they tend to impair +parental obligation. Let us look this objection fairly in the face. The +argument is stated as follows. If the community, in its organic capacity +as a civil government, provides systematically for the instruction of +the young, the system, just so far as it is successful and complete, +does away with the necessity for any other provision. The parent, +finding this work done to his hands, feels no necessity of looking after +it himself, and so gradually loses all sense of obligation on the +subject. Such a result, it is contended, is in contravention of the +plainest dictates of nature and the most positive teachings of religion, +both nature and religion requiring it as a primary duty of every parent +to give his child a suitable education.</p> + +<p>In meeting this objection, the friends of common schools agree with the +objector to the fullest extent in asserting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span> the imperative, universal, +irrepealable duty of the parent to educate his own child. The duty is +not the less binding on the parent, because a like duty, covering the +same point, rests also on the community. The interests involved are so +momentous, that God in his wise ordination has given them a double +security. It is a case in which two distinct parties are both separately +required to see one and the same thing done. It is like taking two +indorsers to a note. The obligation of one indorser is not impaired, +because another man equally with himself is bound for payment If a child +grows up in ignorance and vice, while God will undoubtedly hold the +parent responsible, he will also not hold the community guiltless. Both +parties will be guilty before him, both parties will be punished. A man +is bound to maintain a certain amount of cleanliness about his +habitation. If he fails to do so, and if in consequence of this failure +the atmosphere around him becomes tainted and malarious, he and his will +suffer. Disease and death will visit his abode. But the consequences +will not end here. The infection will extend. The whole community will +be affected by it. The whole community, equally with the individual, are +bound to see that the cause of the infection is removed. The infection +will not spare the community because the individual has generated it, +nor will it spare the individual because the community has failed to +remove it. Each party has a duty and a peril of its own in regard to the +same matter.</p> + +<p>The fact is, individuals and the community are so bound together, that +on many points their obligations lie in coincident lines. The matter of +education is one of these<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span> points. God has ordained the parental +relation, and has implanted the parental affections, for this very +reason, among others, that the faculties of the helpless young immortal +may have due training and development,—that this development may not be +left to chance, like that of a worthless weed, but may have the +protection and guardianship which are the necessary birthright of every +rational creature brought into being by the voluntary act of another. +But God has ordained society also for this same end, among others, +namely, that his rational creatures may have a competent agency, bound +by the laws and necessities of its own welfare to make adequate +provision for the instruction and education of every human being. The +one duty does not conflict with the other. The one obligation does not +impair the other. Both lie in coincident lines.</p> + +<p>But, as a question of fact, is it true that common schools impair the +sense of obligation in the minds of parents in regard to the duty of +educating their children? I affirm the fact to be exactly the contrary. +Those communities in which there are no common schools, and in which the +people generally are in a state of deplorable ignorance, are precisely +those in which the sense of parental obligation on this point is at the +lowest ebb. Go to a region of country in which not one man in ten can +read and write, and you will find that not one man in ten will care +whether his children are taught to read and write. Those communities on +the contrary which have the best and most complete system of common +schools, and in which this system has prevailed longest and has taken +most complete hold<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span> of the public mind, are the very ones in which +individuals will be found most keenly alive to the importance of the +subject, and in which a parent will be regarded as a monster, if his +children are allowed to grow up uneducated.</p> + +<p>The objection, therefore, has no foundation either in fact or in reason. +There is moreover another consideration not to be overlooked. In this +matter of education, it is after all but a small part which the school +does for a child. The main part of the child's education always takes +place at home. The teacher is at best only an aid to the parent, +supplementing the influences of the home and the street. The child is +taking lessons continually from the father and mother, whether they mean +it or not. Every teacher knows how much more rapidly a child improves at +school, whose parents are well educated, and how difficult it is to +teach a child who at home lives in an atmosphere of profound ignorance. +The mind of the one whose home is a region of darkness and intellectual +torpor, will be dwarfed and distorted, no matter what the efforts of its +teachers. The mind of the one, on the contrary, whose home is the abode +of intellectual light, warmth, and sunshine, will have a corresponding +growth and expansion at school. There is a continual unconscious +tuition, good or bad, received from the very atmosphere of the family. +Besides this, there is a great deal of direct, active duty to be +performed by the parent in the education of the child. No matter how +good the school, or how faithful the teacher, there always remains much +to be done by the parent, even in regard to the school duties. The +parent must see that lessons are prepared, that the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> child is properly +provided with books, that the meal times and the other arrangements of +the household are such as to help forward the child's studies. There are +a hundred things which the father and mother can do to help or to hinder +the work of the school. A child, whose parents give proper home +supervision over his studies, will, other things being equal, make twice +the progress of one whose parents give the matter no attention. The +community, therefore, in establishing common schools, does by no means +take the whole matter of education out of the hands of the parent. On +the contrary, it still leaves with him the most important and necessary +of the duties connected with the education of his children, while it +gives him aids for the performance of the remaining duties, which no +private means can ordinarily supply.</p> + +<p>I come, however, to a much graver objection. It is urged against common +schools, as organized in this country, that religious instruction is +excluded from them, and that without this element they only tend to make +educated villains. Education, it is said, without the restraining and +sanctifying influences of religion, only puts into the hands of the +multitude greater power for evil. If this objection is valid, the most +enlightened and Christian communities of the world have made, and are +making, an enormous mistake. Yet the objection is urged with seriousness +by men whose purity of motive is above question, and whose personal +character gives great weight to their opinions. The objection originated +in England, where all attempts to make legislative provision for the +education of the common people have been steadily resisted by a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> +potential party in the established church. The arguments put forth in +the English religious journals have been reproduced in the journals +here, and have in many instances awakened the apprehensions of +serious-minded persons. It is worth while, therefore, to give the +subject some distinct consideration.</p> + +<p>In the first place, the facts are not exactly as stated by those making +the objection. Though little direct religious instruction may be given +in the common school, there is usually a large amount of religious +influence. A great majority of the teachers of our common schools are +professing Christians. Very many of them are among our most active +Sabbath-school teachers. Now a truly godly man or woman, at the head of +a school, though never speaking a word directly on the subject of +religion, yet by the power of a silent, consistent example, exerts a +continual Christian influence. In the second place, as a matter of fact, +direct religious teaching is not entirely excluded from our public +schools. I think, it by no means holds that prominent position in the +course of study which it should hold. But it is not entirely excluded. +The Bible, with very rare exceptions, is read daily in all our common +schools. It is appealed to as ultimate authority in questions of history +and morals. It is quoted for illustration in questions of taste. It is +in many schools a text-book for direct study. In the third place, nine +out of ten of the children of the week-day school attend the +Sabbath-school. The Sabbath-school supplements the instructions of the +week-day school. The case, therefore, is not that of an education purely +intellectual. Moral and religious<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> instruction accompanies the +instruction in worldly knowledge. The Sabbath-school, the church, and +the family, by their combined and ceaseless activities, infuse into our +course of elementary education a much larger religious ingredient than a +stranger might suppose, who should confine his examination to a mere +inspection of our common schools, or to the reading of the annual +reports of our educational boards.</p> + +<p>But apart from all these considerations, taking the question in its +naked form, is it true that mere intellectual education has the tendency +alleged? I do not believe it. The constitution of the human mind gives +no warrant for such an inference. Recorded, indisputable facts, +overwhelmingly disprove it. So far is it from being true that the mere +diffusion of knowledge has a tendency to make men knaves and infidels, I +believe the very opposite to be true. Knowledge is the natural ally of +religion. To hold otherwise, is to disparage and dishonor religion—to +imply, if not to say, that ignorance is the mother of devotion.</p> + +<p>There is an inborn antagonism between the intellectual and the sensual +nature of man. If you give to the intellect no development, you leave +the senses as the ruling power. We see this strikingly illustrated in +the idiotic, who are for the most part disgustingly sensual. Among a +population grossly ignorant and uneducated, sensualism prevails in its +most appalling forms. The man is a sensualist, simply because he knows +no higher pleasures. He is degraded, because he has no motives to be +otherwise. He is barely above a brute. The amount of crime, of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> the +coarsest and most debasing character, among the uneducated peasantry of +England, is almost incredible. Here is a description of an English +peasant of the present day, given by a competent unimpeached witness, +himself an Englishman. I quote from a work on "The Social Condition and +Education of the People of England," by Joseph Kay, Esq., of Trinity +College, Cambridge, who was commissioned by the Senate of the University +to travel for the purpose of examining into the social condition of the +poorer classes. Says Mr. Kay: "You cannot address an English peasant, +without being struck with the intellectual darkness which surrounds him. +There is neither speculation in his eye nor intelligence in his +countenance. His whole expression is more that of an animal than of a +man. He is wanting too in the erect and independent bearing of a man. As +a class, our peasants have no amusements beyond the indulgence of sense. +In nine cases out of ten, recreation is associated in their minds with +nothing higher than sensuality. About one half of our poor can neither +read nor write, have never been in any school, and know little, or +positively nothing, of the doctrines of the Christian religion, of moral +duties, or of any higher pleasures than beer-drinking and +spirit-drinking, and the grossest sensual indulgence. They live +precisely like brutes, to gratify, so far as their means allow, the +appetites of their uncultivated bodies, and then die, to go they have +never thought, cared, or wondered whither. Brought up in the darkness of +barbarism, they have no idea that it is possible for them to attain any +higher condition; they are not even sentient enough to desire, with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> any +strength of feeling, to change their situation; they are not intelligent +enough to be perseveringly discontented; they are not sensible to what +we call the voice of conscience; they do not understand the necessity of +avoiding crime, beyond the mere fear of the police and the jail; they +have unclear, indefinite, and undefinable ideas of all around them; they +eat, drink, breed, work, and die; and while they pass through their +brute-like existence here, the richer and more intelligent classes are +obliged to guard them with police and standing armies, and to cover the +land with prisons, cages, and all kinds of receptacles for the +perpetrators of crime."</p> + +<p>Surely it must be some hallucination of mind, which leads men to suppose +that the diffusion of knowledge among such a population, even though it +be only scientific and intellectual knowledge, can have any natural or +general tendency adverse to religion and morals. Apart, however, from +speculation, and as a pure question of fact, the recorded statistics of +crime point unmistakably the other way. Criminal records the world over +prove, beyond reasonable doubt, that the overwhelming majority of crimes +are committed by persons deplorably ignorant. Intellectual education, +therefore, I contend, even when deprived of its natural ally and +adjunct, religious training, has no natural tendency to produce knaves +and villains. On the contrary, it is a most efficient corrective and +restraint of the evil and debasing tendencies of human nature. If the +intellect is not so high a region in man's constitution as the moral +powers, which I readily grant, it is at least above the mere sensual +part, in which vice and crime<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span> have their chief spring and aliment. The +question fortunately is one susceptible of a direct appeal to facts. Who +are the men and women that people our jails and prisons? Are they +persons of education, or are they in the main persons deplorably +ignorant? What is the record of criminal statistics on this point?</p> + +<p>I will quote a few of these statistics, from a great mass of similar +evidence lying before me.</p> + +<p>Out of 252,544 persons committed for crime in England and Wales, during +a series of years, 229,300, or more than 90 per cent., are reported as +uneducated, either entirely unable to read and write, or able to do so +only very imperfectly; 22,159 could read and write, but not fluently; +and only 1085 (<i>less than one half per cent. of the whole</i>) were what we +call educated persons.</p> + +<p>In nine consecutive years, beginning with the year 1837, only 28 +educated females were brought to the bar of criminal justice in England +and Wales, out of 7,673,633 females then living in that part of the +United Kingdom; and in the year 1841, out of the same population, not +one educated female was committed for trial.</p> + +<p>In a special commission, held in 1842, to try those who had been guilty +of rioting and disturbance in the manufacturing districts, out of 567 +thus tried, 154 could neither read nor write, 155 could read only, 184 +could read and write imperfectly, 73 could read and write well, and only +one had received superior instruction.</p> + +<p>In 1840, in 20 counties of England and Wales, with a population of +8,724,338, there were convicted of crime only 59 educated persons, or +one for every 147,870 in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span>habitants. In 32 other counties, with a +population of 7,182,491, the records furnished <i>not one convict</i> who had +received more than the merest elements of instruction.</p> + +<p>In 1841, in 15 English counties, with a population of 9,569,064, there +were convicted only 74 instructed persons, or one to every 129,311 +inhabitants, while the 25 remaining counties and the whole of Wales, +with a population of 6,342,661, did not furnish one single conviction of +a person who had received more than the mere elements of education.</p> + +<p>In 1845, out of a total of 59,123 persons taken into custody, 15,263 +could neither read nor write, and 39,659 could barely read, and could +write very imperfectly.</p> + +<p>In the four best taught counties of England, the number of schools being +one for every seven hundred inhabitants, the number of criminal +convictions was one a year for every 1108 inhabitants. In the four worst +taught counties, the number of schools being one for every 1501 +inhabitants, the number of convictions was one a year for every 550 +inhabitants. That is, in one set of counties, the people were about +twice as well educated as in the other, and one half as much addicted to +crime. In other words, in proportion as the people were educated, were +they free from crime.</p> + +<p>Thrift and good morals usually keep pace with the spread of intelligence +among the people. This has been the result in all those countries of +Europe where good common schools are maintained, as in Iceland, Norway, +Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, and most of the German States. +Pauperism, with its attendant evils and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> crimes, is almost unknown in +those countries, while in England, where the common people are worse +educated than those of any Protestant nation in the world, pauperism has +become an evil which her wisest statesmen have given up as unmanageable. +In 1848, in addition to hundreds of persons assisted by charitable +individuals, no less than 1,876,541 paupers (<i>one out of every eight of +the population!</i>) were relieved by the boards of guardians of the poor, +at an expense from the public purse of nearly thirty millions of +dollars.</p> + +<p>In our own country, the same pains have not been taken to collect +statistics on this subject, because comparatively little controversy +about it has existed here to call forth inquiry. We as a people have +generally taken it for granted that popular education lessens crime and +pauperism. Still, facts enough have been recorded to show the same +results here as elsewhere. When an educated villain is convicted, like +Monroe Edwards or Professor Webster, the fact becomes so notorious by +means of the press, that it is unconsciously multiplied in our +imagination, and we think the instances more numerous than they really +are. We never think of the scores of obscure villains that are convicted +every week all the year round. A quotation or two from the facts which +have been recorded, will be sufficient to satisfy us on this point.</p> + +<p>In the Ohio penitentiary, out of 276 inmates, nearly all were reported +as ignorant, and 175 as grossly so.</p> + +<p>In the Auburn prison, New York, out of 244 inmates, only 39 could read +and write.</p> + +<p>In the Sing Sing prison, no official record has been made<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span> on this +point. But the Rev. Mr. Luckey, for more than twenty years chaplain of +the prison, is obliged by the prison regulations to superintend and read +all the letters between the prisoners and their friends. In this manner +he becomes personally acquainted with the condition of the convicts in +regard to education. He reported a few months since to the writer of +these pages, that while there are always some among the convicts who +have been educated, yet the great mass of them are stolidly ignorant. +There are usually between one and two hundred learning to read, and this +does not include the half of those who are unable to read, as the +attendance upon the class is voluntary, the accommodations are meagre, +and most of the prisoners are indifferent to their own improvement. Not +five in a hundred can write otherwise than in the most clumsy and +awkward manner, and with the grossest blunders in orthography, and not +more than two in a hundred can write a sentence grammatically. Out of +the 700 then in prison, only three were liberally educated, and two of +these were foreigners.</p> + +<p>Throughout the State of New York, in 1841, the ratio of uneducated +criminals to the whole number of uneducated persons was twenty-eight +times as great as the ratio of educated inhabitants.</p> + +<p>In view of the facts which have been given, and which might be +multiplied to almost any extent, it is not easy to avoid the conclusion +that mere intellectual education has some power to restrain men from the +commission of crime. Assuredly, ignorance and sin are natural adjuncts +and allies.</p> + +<p>Schools undoubtedly cost something. The community<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> that undertakes to +educate the masses, or the individual that undertakes to educate his +children, must expect to have a serious bill to pay. It is a pernicious +folly to inculcate the contrary. The advocate of popular education, who +tries to persuade people into the experiment, under the assurance that +the expense will be trifling, misleads his readers, and puts back the +cause which he would fain put forward. But there is a most significant +<i>per contra</i> in the account, and on this there is no danger of dwelling +too much. Nothing is so costly as crime, and no preventive of crime is +more efficient than education. Schoolhouses are cheaper than jails, +teachers and books are a better security than handcuffs and policemen. +There are educated villains, it is true. But they are rare, and they +attract the greater attention by the very fact of their rarity. But go +into a prison, or a criminal court, or a police court, and see who they +are that mainly occupy the proceedings of our expensive machinery of +criminal justice. Nine-tenths of those miserable creatures are in a +state of most deplorable ignorance. Degraded, sensual, with no knowledge +of anything better than the indulgence of the lowest passions, without +mental resources, or any avenue to intellectual enjoyment, they often +resort to crime from sheer want of something better to do. When Dr. +Johnson was asked, "Who is the most miserable man?" his reply was, "The +man who cannot read on a rainy day." There is profound meaning in the +answer. The man who has been educated, who not only can read, but has +acquired a taste for reading, and for reading of a proper kind, is +rarely driven into low and debasing crime.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> He has resources within +himself, which are a counterpoise to the incitements of his animal +nature. His awakened intellect and conscience also make him understand +more clearly the danger and guilt of a life of crime. Many of the deeds +which swell the records of our criminal courts spring from poverty, as +every criminal lawyer well knows, and there is no remedy against extreme +poverty so sure as education. The old adage says that knowledge is +power. It is also wealth. A man with even an ordinary, common school +education, can turn himself in a hundred ways, where a mere ignorant +boor would be utterly helpless. The faculties are developed, ingenuity +is quickened, the man's resources are enlarged. An educated man may be +tempted to crime, but he is not driven into it, as hundreds are daily, +by mere poverty, or by an intolerable hunger of the mind for enjoyment +of some kind.</p> + +<p>Schools, then, especially schools in which moral and religious truth is +inculcated, are the most powerful means of lessening crime, and of +lessening the costly and frightful apparatus of criminal administration. +As schoolhouses and churches increase in the land, jails and prisons +diminish. As knowledge is diffused, property becomes secure, and rises +in value. A community, therefore, is bound to see that its members are +properly educated, if for no other reason, in mere self-defence. The +many must be educated, in order that the many may be protected. A great +city is just as sacredly bound to provide for its teeming population the +light of knowledge, as it is to provide material light for its streets. +The one kind of illumination, equally with the other, is an essential +part of its police.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span> No matter what the cost, the dark holes and alleys +must be flooded with the light of truth, before which the owls and bats +and vampyres of society will be scattered to the winds. A great city +without schools would be a hell,—a seething caldron of vice, impurity, +and crime. No man of sound mind would choose such a place for the +residence of himself and family, who had the means of living in any +other place. If we could suppose two cities entirely equal in other +respects, but in one of them a superior and costly system of free +schools, while the other spent not a dollar upon schools, but depended +solely upon the rigors of the law and the strong arm of avenging justice +for restraining the ignorant and corrupt masses, can there be any doubt +which city would be the safest and most desirable place of residence?</p> + +<p>Whatever view of this subject may be taken in other countries, we in +this country are shut up to the necessity of popular education. We at +least have no choice. Universal suffrage necessitates universal +education. If we do not educate our people, educate universally, educate +wisely and liberally, we can hardly expect to maintain permanently our +popular institutions. The man's vote, who cannot read the names on the +ballot which he throws into the box, counts just as much in deciding +public affairs as yours, who are versed in statesmanship and political +economy. He is a partner in the political firm. You can neither withdraw +from the firm yourself, nor can you throw him out. In the absence of +general education, this tremendous power of suffrage is something +frightful to contemplate. "The greatest despotism on earth," says De<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> +Tocqueville, "is an excited, untaught public sentiment; and we should +hate not only despots, but despotism. When I feel the hand of power lie +heavy on my brow, I care not to know who oppresses me; the yoke is not +the easier, because it is held out to me by a million of men."</p> + +<p>The danger from this source is intensified by the immense immigration +from abroad which is going on, and which bids fair very greatly to +increase. The great majority of those who seek our shores, come here +ignorant. With little knowledge of any kind, and with no knowledge +whatever of the nature of republican institutions, these men, almost at +once, are made sharers of the popular sovereignty, with all its +tremendous powers of peace and war, order and anarchy, life and death. +Not to have a system of public education, by which these ignorant and +dangerous masses shall be enlightened, and shall be assimilated to the +rest, and to the better part, of the population, is simply suicidal. Our +national life hangs upon our common schools.</p> + +<p>Besides this grave political consideration, affecting the interests of +the entire body politic, and the question of the success and stability +of our national institutions, there is another consideration coming home +closely and individually to each man's personal interests. Where the law +of trial by jury prevails, every citizen, whether educated or ignorant, +takes part in the administration of justice. Twelve men, taken +indiscriminately from the mass of the people, or if with any +discrimination, taken more frequently from the lower walks of life than +from the higher, are placed in a jury box to decide upon almost every<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span> +possible question of human interests. The jury decides your fortune, +your reputation. The jury says whether you live or die. Go into a court +of justice. Are they light matters which those twelve men are to +determine? Look at the anxious faces of those whose estates, whose good +name, whose worldly all hangs upon the intelligence of those twelve men, +or of any one of them. What assurance have you, save that which comes +from popular education, that these men will understand and do their +duty? Who would like to trust his legal rights or his personal safety to +the verdict of a jury of Neapolitan lazzaroni?</p> + +<p>In a few short years, the idle boys who are now prowling about the +streets and alleys of our towns, the wharf-rats of our cities, will be a +part of our jurymen. Is it of no consequence to me, whether their minds +shall be early trained and disciplined, so that they will be capable of +following a train of argument, or of comprehending a statement of facts? +How is it possible to administer justice with any degree of fairness and +efficiency, where the majority of those who are to constitute the +jurymen and the witnesses are stolidly ignorant? By common law, every +man has a right to be tried by his peers. Let law then provide that +those shall, in some substantial sense, be my peers, on whose voice my +all in life may depend.</p> + +<p>But let us recur once more to the economical part of the argument. When +a community is taxed for the support of common schools, the question +naturally rises among the taxpayers, Is the system worth the cost? Does +the community, by the diffusion of knowledge and education, gain enough +to counterbalance the large expense<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> which such education involves? Even +if this question could not be answered in the affirmative, it would not +follow that common schools should be dispensed with. Common schools are +needed as the best and cheapest protection against the crimes incident +to an ignorant and degraded population. Common schools are right and +proper, because without them the majority of those created in the image +of God will never attain to that noble manhood which is their rightful +inheritance. But the argument will receive additional force, if it can +be shown that general education increases the wealth of the community.</p> + +<p>That education does have this effect is evident, I think, from two +independent lines of argument. First, an intelligent, educated man is +capable individually of achieving greater material results than one who +is ignorant. Secondly, the general diffusion of intelligence through a +community leads to labor-saving inventions, and thus increases its +producing power.</p> + +<p>In regard to the first line of argument, some curious and instructive +facts were collected a few years since by the late Horace Mann. His +inquiries were directed to the efficiency of operatives in factories, a +class of men who would seem to require as little general intelligence as +any kind of laborers. It was found that, as a general rule, those +operatives who could sign their names to their weekly receipts for +money, were able to do one-third more work, and to do it better, than +those who made their mark. Nor is this at all to be wondered at. There +is no kind of work, done by the aid of human muscle, that is purely +mechanical. Mind is partner in all that the body<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> does. Mind directs and +controls muscle, and even in emergency gives it additional energy and +power. No matter how simple the process in which an operative may be +engaged, some cultivation of his mental powers is needed. Without it he +misdirects his own movements, and mistakes continually the orders of his +superintending workman. A boy who has been to a good common school, and +has had his mental activities quickened, and whose mind has been +stimulated and roused by worthy motives, not only will be more +industrious for it when he becomes a man, but his industry will be more +effective. He will accomplish more, even as a day laborer, than the mere +ignorant boor. When we come to any kind of skilled labor, the difference +between the educated and the ignorant is still more apparent. An +intelligent mechanic is worth twice as much as one ignorant and stupid.</p> + +<p>Many years ago a very instructive fact on this point came under my own +personal observation. A gentleman of my acquaintance had frequent need +of the aid of a carpenter. The work to be done was not regular +carpentry, but various odd jobs, alterations and adaptations to suit +special wants, and no little time and materials were wasted in the +perpetual misconceptions and mistakes of the successive workmen +employed. At length a workman was sent who was a German, from the +kingdom of Prussia. After listening attentively to the orders given, and +doing what he could to understand what his employer wanted, Michael +would whip out his pencil, and in two or three minutes, with a few rapid +lines, would present a sketch of the article, so clear that any one +could recognize it at a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span> glance. It could be seen at once, also, whether +the intention of his employer had been rightly conceived, and whether it +was practicable. The consequence was, that so long as Michael was +employed, there was no more waste of materials and time, to say nothing +of the vexation of continued failures. Michael was not really more +skilful as a carpenter than the many others who had preceded him. But +his knowledge of drawing, gained in a common school in his native +country, made his services worth from fifty cents to a dollar a day more +than those of any other workman in the shop, and he actually received +two dollars a day, when others in the same shop were receiving only a +dollar and a quarter. He was always in demand, and he always received +extra wages, and his work even at that rate was considered cheap.</p> + +<p>What was true of Michael in carpentry, would be true of any other +department of mechanical industry. In cabinet-making, in shoe-making, in +tailoring, in masonry, in upholstery, in the various contrivances of tin +and sheet iron with which our houses are made comfortable, in +gas-fitting and plumbing, in the thousand-and-one necessities of the +farm, the garden, and the kitchen, a workman who is ready and expert +with his pencil, who has learned to put his own ideas, or those of +another, rapidly on paper, is worth fifty per cent. more than his +fellows who have not this skill.</p> + +<p>The example of this man was brought vividly to my mind at a later day, +in Philadelphia, when an important educational question was under +discussion. Rembrandt Peale had two dreams, each worthy of his genius.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span> +One was to paint a Washington which should go down to posterity; the +other was so to simplify the elements of the art of drawing that young +boys and girls might learn it as universally as they learn to read and +write. He spent long years in maturing a little work for this purpose, +no bigger than a primer or a spelling-book, and a determined effort was +made on the part of some of the friends of popular education to +introduce the study into the primary public schools of Philadelphia. It +was introduced into the High Schools. But its benefits were limited to a +comparatively small number. The hope and the aim of the friends of Mr. +Peale's project were to make the study an elementary one—to make a +certain amount of proficiency in drawing a test of promotion from the +lower schools to the schools above it. This would have placed "Graphics" +alongside of the copy-book and the spelling-book. After struggling for +several years with popular prejudice, the friends of the scheme were +obliged to abandon it as hopeless. The idea was too much in advance of +the times. Could the plan have succeeded, and could the entire youthful +population of that great city, which is preëminently a mechanical and +manufacturing centre, have grown up with a familiar practised skill in +the use of the pencil, in ordinary, off-hand drawing, such as our friend +Michael had, there can be no question that it would have added untold +millions to the general wealth. If every boy and girl in that great +metropolitan city were now obliged to spend as much time in learning to +draw as is spent in learning to spell, and at the same age that they +learn to spell, I do<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> soberly believe that the addition to the wealth of +the city, by the increased mechanical skill that would be developed, +would be worth more than the entire cost of her public schools, although +they do cost well-nigh a million of dollars annually.</p> + +<p>What is true of drawing, is true of every branch and accomplishment +necessary to a complete education. A man is educated when all his +capacities bodily and mental are developed, and a community is educated +when all its members are. Now if we could imagine two communities, of +exactly equal numbers, and in physical circumstances exactly equal as to +climate, soil, access to markets, and so forth, and if one of these +communities should tax itself to the extent of even one-fourth of its +income in promoting popular education, while the other spent not a +dollar in this way, there can be little doubt as to which community +would make the most rapid advances in wealth and in every other +desirable social good.</p> + +<p>We happen to have on this subject one most striking and significant +record. In 1670, the English Commissioners for Foreign Plantations +addressed to the Governors of the several colonies a series of questions +concerning the condition of the settlements under their charge. One of +these questions related to the means of popular education. The answers +of two of the Governors are preserved. One of them, the Governor of +Connecticut, ruled a territory to which nature had not been specially +propitious. Its climate was bleak, its coast rockbound, its soil blest +with only ordinary fertility. The other territory, Virginia, had an +extraordinary amount of natural advantages. It<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> had fine harbors, +numerous navigable streams, a climate more temperate by several degrees +than its rival, the soil in its lowlands and valleys unsurpassed in any +of the Plantations for its capacity to produce wheat, corn, and tobacco, +its mountains filled with untold treasures of lime, iron, and coal, +(and, it now seems, with petroleum also,) and withal that wonderful +variety of natural resources, which seems best suited to stimulate and +reward the productive industry of its inhabitants.</p> + +<p>The Governor of the less favored colony replied to the Royal +Commissioners, as follows: "<i>One-fourth</i> of the annual revenue of the +Colony is laid out in maintaining free schools for the education of our +children." The policy thus early impressed upon the colony has been +maintained with steadfast and almost proverbial consistency to this day, +that region being known the world over as the land of schoolmasters. The +Governor of the other colony replied, "I thank God, there are no free +schools, nor printing, and I hope we shall not have, these hundred +years." To this policy she also has until lately only too faithfully +adhered. Now what is the result?</p> + +<p>By referring to the tables accompanying the Census of 1860, we find the +following significant facts.</p> + +<ol> +<li><p>The average cash value of land was not quite $12 an acre in one +commonwealth (Virginia), and a little over $30 an acre in the other.</p></li> + +<li><p>One commonwealth sustained only five inhabitants to every hundred +acres of her soil, the other sustained eighteen inhabitants to every +hundred acres.</p></li> + +<li><p>The value of all property, real and personal, aver<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span>aged by the +population, was in one commonwealth $496 to every inhabitant, in the +other $965 to every inhabitant.</p></li> + +<li><p>The value of all property, real and personal, averaged by the acre, +was in one commonwealth less than $26 to the acre, in the other more +than $177 to the acre.</p></li> +</ol> +<p>To which facts I may add, what is true, though not in the Census, it was +the invention of Eli Whitney, a travelling schoolmaster from +Connecticut, that has trebled the value of land in nearly every Southern +State.</p> + +<p>I have been endeavoring to show that popular education, though it is +expensive, tends to national wealth. The argument is that an educated +population is capable of producing greater material results than a +population uneducated can produce. The example of Eli Whitney, just +referred to, suggests the other line of argument, which I shall now +notice briefly in conclusion. This second argument is, that the general +diffusion of intelligence in a community tends to quicken invention, and +leads to the discovery of those scientific principles and of those +ingenious labor-saving machines, by which the productive power of the +community is so greatly multiplied. The cotton-gin, the steam-engine, +the sewing-machine, and the reaping-machine would never have been +invented in a nation of boors. It is not asserted that every boy who +goes to school will become an inventor. But it is as certain as the laws +of mind and matter can make it, that inventions abound in a nation in +proportion to its progress in science and the general spread of +intelligence among the masses. Multiply common schools and you multiply +inventions. How much these latter increase man's pro<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span>ducing power, and +so add to the aggregate of human wealth, it is needless to say. The +invention of Watt alone has quadrupled the productive power of the whole +human race. The aggregate steam-power of one single country, Great +Britain, equals the muscular capacity for labor of four hundred millions +of men—more than twice the number of adult males capable of labor on +our planet. Its aggregate power throughout the earth is equal to the +male capacity for manual work of four or five worlds like ours. The +commerce, the navigation, the maritime warfare, the agriculture, the +mechanic arts of the human race, have been revolutionized by this single +invention not yet a century old.</p> + +<p>The application of scientific truths to the common industries of life is +becoming every day more and more a necessity. The village carpenter, no +less than the builder of the Niagara Suspension Bridge, makes hourly +reference to scientific laws. The carpenter who misapplies his formulæ +for the strength of materials, builds a house which falls down. The +properties of the various mechanical powers are involved in every +machine. Every machine, indeed, it has been well said, is a solidified +mechanical theorem. The surveyor in determining the limits of one's +farm, the architect in planning a house, the builder in planning his +estimates, and the several master workmen who do the carpentry, masonry, +and finishing, are all dependent upon geometric truths. Bleaching, +dyeing, calico-printing, gas-making, soap-making, sugar-refining, the +reduction of metals from their ores, with innumerable other productive +industries, are dependent upon chemistry.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> Agriculture, the basis of all +the other arts, is in the same condition. Chemical knowledge, indeed, is +doing for the productive powers of the soil what the application of +steam has done for the increase of mechanical power. The farmer who +wishes to double his crops, finds the means of doing so, not in +multiplying his acres, but in applying a knowledge of the laws of +chemistry to the cultivation of the soil already possessed. Even +physiology is adding to the wealth of the farming interest. The truth +that the production of animal heat implies waste of substance, and that +therefore preventing the loss of heat prevents the need for extra +food—which is a purely theoretical conclusion—now guides the fattening +of cattle. By keeping cattle warm, fodder is saved. Experiments of +physiologists have proved, not only that change of diet is beneficial, +but that digestion is facilitated by a mixture of ingredients in each +meal. Both these truths are now influencing cattle-feeding. In the keen +race of competition, the farmer who has a competent knowledge of the +laws of animal and vegetable physiology and of agricultural chemistry, +will surely distance the one who gropes along by guess and by tradition. +A general diffusion of scientific knowledge saves the community from +innumerable wasteful and foolish mistakes. In England, not many years +ago, the partners in a large mining company were ruined from not knowing +that a certain fossil belonged to the old red sandstone, below which +coal is never found. In another enterprise, £20,000 were lost in the +prosecution of a scheme for collecting the alcohol that distils from +bread in baking, all of which might have been saved, had the parties +known<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> that less than one hundredth part by weight of the flour is +changed in fermentation.</p> + +<p>But it is not necessary to multiply illustrations. Suffice it to say, in +conclusion, I hold it to be a most manifest truth, that the general +education of a community increases largely its material wealth, both by +the direct effect which knowledge has upon individuals in making them +individually more productive, and by the increased control which the +diffusion of knowledge gives to mankind over the powers of nature. A +nation or a state is wisely economical which spends largely and even +lavishly upon popular education.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span><a name="XXX" id="XXX"></a>XXX.<br /> + +WHAT IS EDUCATION?</h2> + + +<p>My last chapter, like the first, begins with a question. Strange to say, +no satisfactory definition of education has yet been given, nor has a +definition of it often been even attempted. The literature of the +subject is copious enough. But writers have busied themselves mainly +with details, with methods of teaching, and so forth. A few, of a more +philosophical turn of mind, have discussed the principles of the +subject, and among these some have undertaken to develop their theories +from the true starting-point of a definition. But among all these, from +Plato, who was the earliest systematic writer on the subject, to Herbert +Spencer, the latest and the most pretentious, not one has given a +definition of it which is not open to objection.</p> + +<p>It may seem presumptuous, perhaps, to undertake again that in which so +many have failed. But there can be no harm in making at least an +endeavor. What then are some of the elements which enter into our idea +of education?</p> + +<p>To educate is, in the first place, to develop. It is to draw out and +strengthen the powers and give them right direction. It is, therefore, +something more than merely<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> imparting knowledge. Knowledge is to the +child's mind what food is to the body. Each is a means to an end. It is +to cause growth. As by the proper use of food and exercise the limbs and +muscles expand, and acquire their full and appointed size, symmetry, and +strength, so by acquiring and using knowledge of various kinds, the +various faculties of the mind attain their full power and proportion. +For this reason mainly the pure mathematics and the ancient languages, +Latin and Greek, have held their place in almost every course of liberal +study, not because the knowledge of these branches is likely to be +called for in ordinary professional business, but because the study of +these branches is supposed to be particularly adapted to develop and +invigorate certain important qualities of the mind. This development of +the powers, then, is the first element involved in a just idea of +education.</p> + +<p>But, secondly, nature plainly indicates a certain order to be observed +in the development of the faculties. "First the blade, then the ear, +after that the full corn in the ear." So in the human plant. The time +for the efflorescence of some of the faculties is in early youth. Other +faculties make little growth till near the age of manhood. A wise +educator will carefully observe these facts, and not waste his energies +and mar his work, either by attempting a premature development of those +faculties which God seems to have meant to ripen later, or by neglecting +to draw out and train in childhood those faculties which then most +naturally and aptly spring into vigorous growth. Youth, for instance, is +the season, of all others, when the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> memory is to be cultivated; the +season of all others, when the instinctive principle of faith is to have +free play. So, too, the moral and emotional faculties may receive the +first germs of their development at a very early stage in the history of +the human being. The education of this part of our nature begins, +indeed, with the first smile of recognition that passes between the +infant and its mother. Other faculties and powers, as the reason and the +judgment, for instance, come to maturity nearer the age of manhood, and +the normal period for their cultivation is accordingly near the end, +rather than near the beginning, of an educational course. It is not, +however, my object here to mark out an order for the development of the +faculties, but only to note that there is such an order, and that the +observance of this order is a most important element in our idea of what +education is.</p> + +<p>The next element in this idea is that a certain proportion and symmetry +be observed in the development of the powers. Perhaps it might not be +strictly accurate to say that any faculty may be cultivated too highly. +Yet there certainly is an excess whenever one faculty or power is +cultivated quite out of proportion to the other faculties and powers. A +man in Boston a few years ago, by directing his attention exclusively +for a long time to the single act of lifting, educated his body to the +power of lifting enormous weights. But this power was gained at the +expense of agility, grace, and many other bodily qualities quite as +important as that of lifting weights. So the mental faculties may become +one-sided by injudicious training. The memory may be inordinately +developed at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> the expense of the reasoning power, the reason at the +expense of the imagination, the feelings at the expense of the judgment, +the mind at the expense of the body, the body at the expense of the +mind. In all right education, therefore, the faculties are to be +developed, not only in due order, but in due proportion.</p> + +<p>The next element that enters into our idea is that of a proper +comprehensiveness. The educator must bear in mind that the being +committed to his care is one of a complex nature, and that every part of +this complex nature is to receive its due attention. Physical education +is included in his duties as well as mental, mental as well as moral and +religious. No part is to be neglected. He should aim to secure for his +subject full bodily health, agility, strength, symmetry, and power of +endurance. The bodily senses are capable of a degree of cultivation that +few seem to be aware of. Perhaps, in our ordinary schemes of education, +no part of our complex nature is so inadequately provided for, so almost +ignored, as the physical. But, as in regard to the other points that +have been raised, so here, it is not my object so much to particularize +the several parts of human nature that require attention, as to +recognize distinctly the fact that we are thus complex, and that the +business of the educator is necessarily a many-sided one, requiring most +varied knowledge and experience.</p> + +<p>But there is one important limitation to be observed here, otherwise our +definition would be seriously amiss. In many works on education, it is +stated, without qualification, that we ought to give to all our powers +the fullest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span> development of which they are capable. If we were unfallen +angels, the rule might perhaps be a safe one. But for fallen human +beings, it certainly needs some limitation. We have faculties and +powers, not a few, which we need to repress rather than to cultivate. +Are we to give the fullest development of which they are capable, to +anger, envy, jealousy, cunning, avarice, and lust? To state the question +is to answer it. It is not every faculty of the child, therefore, that +is to be developed, but only those parts of his nature which are good +and desirable, those by which he can best discharge his duties to God +and attain his highest excellence as a man.</p> + +<p>Let us now gather up the several ideas which have been suggested, and +see if we cannot compress them into some brief formula, as a definition +of education, which, if not perfect and exhaustive of the subject, shall +be both more comprehensive and more precise than those now afloat.</p> + +<p><i>Definition.</i>—Education is developing, in due order and proportion, +whatever is good and desirable in human nature.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span></p> + + + +<hr style="width: 100%;" /> +<h2><a name="MODEL_TEXT_BOOKS_FOR_SCHOOLS_ACADEMIES_AND_COLLEGES" id="MODEL_TEXT_BOOKS_FOR_SCHOOLS_ACADEMIES_AND_COLLEGES"></a>MODEL TEXT BOOKS FOR SCHOOLS, ACADEMIES AND COLLEGES.</h2> + +<h3>A NEW EDITION OF THE CLASSICS.</h3> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h4>CHASE & STUART'S CLASSICAL SERIES.</h4> + +<h4>EDITED BY</h4> + +<h4>THOMAS CHASE, A.M., +PROFESSOR OF CLASSICAL LITERATURE, +<i>Haverford College</i>, +Penna.</h4> + +<h4>GEORGE STUART, A.M., +PROFESSOR OF THE LATIN LANGUAGE, +<i>Central High School</i>, +Philada.</h4> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h4>REFERENCES TO +HARKNESS'S LATIN GRAMMAR, +AND +ANDREWS & STODDARD'S LATIN GRAMMAR.</h4> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The publication of this edition of the Classics was suggested by the +constantly increasing demand by teachers for an edition which, by +judicious notes, would give to the student the assistance really +necessary to render his study profitable, furnishing explanations of +passages difficult of interpretation, of peculiarities of syntax, &c., +and yet would require him to make faithful use of his grammar and +dictionary.</p> + +<p>It is believed that this Classical Series needs only to be known to +insure its very general use. The publishers claim for it peculiar merit, +and beg leave to call attention to the following important particulars:</p> + +<p>The purity of the texts.</p> + +<p>The clearness and conciseness of the notes, and their adaptation to the +wants of students.</p> + +<p>The beauty of the type and paper.</p> + +<p>The handsome style of binding.</p> + +<p>The convenience of the shape and size.</p> + +<p>The low price at which the volumes are sold.</p> + +<p>The preparation of the whole Series is the <i>original work</i> of American +scholars.</p> + +<p>The texts are not <i>mere reprints</i>, but are based upon a careful and +painstaking comparison of <i>all the most improved editions</i>, with +constant reference to the authority of the best manuscripts.</p> + +<p>No pains have been spared to make the notes accurate, clear, and +<i>helpful to the learner</i>. Points of geography, history, mythology, and +antiquities are explained in accordance with the views of the best +German scholars. The references to the grammars most in use in this +country, viz.:</p> + +<h4>HARKNESS'S LATIN GRAMMAR<br /> +AND<br /> +ANDREWS & STODDARD'S LATIN GRAMMAR,</h4> + +<p>is in itself an advantage to be gained only by the use of this edition.</p> + +<p>Desirous of affording Professors and Teachers of Latin throughout the +entire country an opportunity of becoming acquainted with these books, +the publishers will send copies for examination, gratis, to every +Teacher of Latin in the United States, on application, accompanied by a +catalogue of the institution with which he is connected, or of which he +is the Principal.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The Series, when complete, will consist of</p> + +<h4>CÆSAR'S COMMENTARIES, +VIRGIL'S ÆNEID, +CICERO'S ORATIONS, +HORACE, SALLUST AND LIVY,</h4> + +<p>Of which there are now ready the following, viz.:</p> + +<h4>CÆSAR'S COMMENTARIES</h4> + +<p>on the Gallic War. With Explanatory Notes, a Vocabulary, Geographical +Index, Map of Gaul, Plan of the Bridge, &c., &c. By Prof. George Stuart. +Price by mail, postpaid, $1.25. Per dozen, by express, $11.25.</p> + +<p>The text of Cæsar has been carefully compared with that of Kraner, +Oehler, Nepperdey, and other distinguished editors. Much care has been +bestowed upon this portion of the work, and it is hoped that whatever +improvements have been introduced into the text by the learning and +research of the German editors named, will be found in the present +edition.</p> + +<p>The Notes have been prepared with a very simple view,—to give the +student that amount and kind of assistance which are really necessary to +render his study profitable; to remove difficulties greater than his +strength; and to afford or direct him to the sources of such information +as is requisite to a thorough understanding of the author.</p> + +<h4>VIRGIL'S ÆNEID.</h4> + +<p>With Explanatory Notes, Metrical Index, Remarks on Classical +Versification, Index of Proper Names, &c. By Prof. Thomas Chase. Price +by mail, postpaid, $1.50. Per dozen, by express, $13.50.</p> + +<p>The text of the Æneid here presented is based upon a careful collation +of the editions of Heyne, Wagner, Conington, Ladewig, and Ribbeck, with +frequent reference to other standard authorities, and with constant and +especial regard to the testimony of the best manuscripts. In the +preparation of the Notes, the endeavor has been made to meet the actual +wants of students in our schools. Frequent references are made to the +grammars most in use, and explanations are furnished of passages +difficult of interpretation, of peculiarities of syntax, and of such +points of history, geography, mythology, and antiquities, as require +elucidation. A metrical index has been added, in which the chief +difficulties of scanning are solved. One thing is presumed +throughout,—that the student will make a faithful use of his grammar +and dictionary, the only way in which true scholars are made.</p> + +<h4>CICERO AND HORACE will be issued about Dec. 1868.</h4> + +<h4>SALLUST AND LIVY, during the following year.</h4> + +<p>The unprecedented demand for the first two volumes of this Series during +the past few months evidences their adaptation to the actual wants of +the recitation room. Testimonials have been received from a large number +of the most flourishing classical institutions of the country, in which +they have already been adopted as text-books, and the Principals of +hundreds of schools have expressed their intention to commence their +next term with these standard works. From every source but a single +opinion has been expressed, viz.: that the publishers have more than +fulfilled their promise in presenting a series of books which will be +eagerly sought after by every student of the classics.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3>A MANUAL OF ELOCUTION.</h3> + +<p>Founded upon the Philosophy of the Human Voice, with Classified +Illustrations, Suggested by and Arranged to meet the Practical +Difficulties of Instruction. By M. S. Mitchell. Price by mail, postpaid, +$1.50. Per dozen, by express, $13.50.</p> + +<p>The compiler cannot conceal the hope that this glimpse of our general +literature may tempt to individual research among its treasures, so +varied and inexhaustible;—that this text-book for the school-room may +become not only teacher, but friend, to those in whose hands it is +placed, and while aiding, through systematic development and training of +the elocutionary powers of the pupil, to overcome many of the practical +difficulties of instruction, may accomplish a higher work in the +cultivation and refinement of character.</p> + +<p>To afford teachers an idea of the character of the work, we append a +list of the</p> + +<h4>SUBJECTS TREATED OF.</h4> + +<p>Articulation, Pronunciation, Accent, Emphasis, Modulation, Melody of +Speech, Pitch, Tone, Inflections, Sense, Cadence, Force, Stress, +Grammatical and Rhetorical Pauses, Movement, Reading of Poetry, Faults +in the Reading of Poetry, Action, Attitude, Analysis of the Principles +of Gestures, and Oratory.</p> + +<p>Among the <i>gems of literature</i> collected in this volume may be named the +following, which will give a general idea of the character of the +selections for practice, of which the volume is largely composed.</p> + +<ul> +<li>A Psalm of Life. +</li><li>Address at Gettysburg. +</li><li>Barbara Frietchie. +</li><li>Bonny Kelmeny. +</li><li>Bugle Song. +</li><li>Charge of the Light Brigade. +</li><li>Death of Little Nell. +</li><li>Dies Iræ. +</li><li>Elegy in a Country Churchyard. +</li><li>Excelsior. +</li><li>Godiva. +</li><li>Invocation to Light. +</li><li>Laus Deo. +</li><li>The American Flag. +</li><li>Oh! why should the Spirit of Mortal be Proud? +</li><li>The Battle of Ivry. +</li><li>The Bells. +</li><li>The Bridge of Sighs. +</li><li>The Great Bell Roland. +</li><li>The Mantle of St. John de Matha. +</li><li>The Raven. +</li><li>The Soldier from Bingen. +</li><li>The Song of the Shirt. +</li><li>Union and Liberty. +</li><li>Woman's Education. +</li><li>Work.</li> +</ul> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3>THE MODEL DEFINER,</h3> + +<p>with Sentences showing the Proper Use of Words. An Elementary Work, +containing Definitions and Etymology for the Little Ones. By A. C. Webb. +Price by mail, postpaid, 25 cents. Per dozen, by express, $2.16.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3>THE MODEL ETYMOLOGY.</h3> + +<p>Giving not only the Definitions, Etymology, and Analysis, but that which +can be obtained only from an intimate acquaintance with the best +Authors, viz.: The Correct Use of Words. By A. C. Webb. Price by mail, +postpaid, 60 cents. Per dozen, by express, $5.40.</p> + +<p>The importance of words cannot be over-estimated. Knowledge can be +imparted and received only by the medium of words, correctly used and +properly understood. The basis of a good education must be laid with +words, well chosen, properly arranged, and firmly implanted in the mind. +From the richness of the English Language, which gives many words to the +same meaning, and many and diverse meanings to the same word, the proper +<i>use</i> of a word cannot be deduced from its <i>meaning</i>. How, then, is the +knowledge of the use of words to be imparted to children? Either by the +teacher, or by conversation and reading. By the latter method the +knowledge acquired is limited in extent; and as it is entirely dependent +on the power of observation, the impressions received are faint and +ill-defined, and the conclusions arrived at, frequently incorrect. The +practice of Arithmetic might possibly be left to such teaching, inasmuch +as Arithmetic is an exact science based on fixed principles, from which +correct <i>reasoning</i> must deduce correct <i>results</i>. But no reasoning can +show to the child who has learned "<i>Deduce, to draw</i>," that he must not +say, "I tried <i>to deduce</i> the horse from the stable;" or, "<i>Deciduous, +falling</i>." "The boy, <i>deciduous</i> from the window, was killed." The +importance and difficulty of the work demands that it shall not be left +to the uncertainties of home teaching. The labor involved forbids that +this essential part of education shall be imposed on the parent. Like +Arithmetic, or any other department of knowledge, it should be performed +by the teacher, in the time specially set apart for mental training. The +plan adopted in the MODEL WORD-BOOK SERIES is not new. All good +Dictionaries illustrate the meaning by a Model. To quote from a <i>good +author</i>, a sentence containing the word, as proof of its correct use, is +the only authority allowed. A simple trial of the work either by +requiring the child to form sentences similar to those given, or by +memorizing the sentences as models for future use, will convince any one +of the following advantages to be derived from the Model Word-Book +Series:</p> + +<ol> +<li>Saving of Time. +</li><li>Increased Knowledge of Words. +</li><li>Ease to Teacher and Scholar. +</li><li>A Knowledge of the Correct Use of Words. +</li></ol> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3>THE YOUNG STUDENT'S COMPANION;</h3> + +<p>or, Elementary Lessons and Exercises in Translating from English into +French. By M. A. Longstreth, Principal of a Seminary for Young Ladies, +Philadelphia. Price by mail, postpaid, $1.00. Per dozen, by express, +$9.00.</p> + +<p>The object of this little work is to present to the young student a +condensed view of the elements of the French language, in a clear and +simple manner, and, at the same time, to lessen the fatigue incurred by +the teacher in giving repeated verbal explanations of the most important +rules of etymology. No attempt has been made to teach the syntax of the +language, with the exception of a few fundamental rules; neither have +many idioms been introduced; the aim of the compiler being to avoid +whatever might perplex or confuse.</p> + +<p>This little work, it will be remembered, is not intended to take the +place of a Grammar, but to prepare the pupil, by careful drilling, for +larger and more comprehensive treatises; and it is believed that any +child, who can distinguish the different parts of speech in English, +will be able to understand and learn the lessons without difficulty; and +that, if they are thoroughly learned, the succeeding course of French +study will be much facilitated. In its preparation, the best authorities +have been carefully consulted and followed, and assistance has been +kindly furnished by several Professors of the French language, whose +experience in teaching enables them to judge of the wants of the young +student.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3>MARTINDALE'S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES.</h3> + +<p>From the Discovery of America to the close of the late Rebellion. By +Joseph C. Martindale, M. D., Principal of the Madison Grammar School, +Philadelphia. Price by mail, postpaid, 60 cents. Per dozen, by express, +$5.40.</p> + +<p>The want of a History suitable for the Schoolroom has long been felt by +educators. In most instances, the Histories presented have been too much +encumbered with details of but little service to the pupils. This has +been one of the causes which has prevented History from being one of the +usual branches of study in our Common Schools outside of cities and +towns; none can so well appreciate the difficulties which have +surrounded this subject as the teacher. Another cause which has +precluded the study of History has been the high price of all the +text-books on this subject. The very low price of the present treatise +will obviate this difficulty. The author of this compend, a man of large +experience in the schoolroom, deserves the thanks of teachers and +scholars, for the concise and succinct form which he has treated this +much neglected subject; ignoring all that does not properly appertain to +the important events of our Nation's existence, he has given us all that +should be memorized, and in so agreeable a form as to be thoroughly +mastered with but little effort.</p> + +<p>With this book in his hand, the scholar can in a single school-term +obtain as complete a knowledge of the History of the United States as +has heretofore required double the time and effort.</p> + +<p>Teachers who are anxious to have their pupils proficient in this +subject, or who are themselves desirous of reviewing the main points of +History in order to pass a creditable examination, will find this <i>the +book for their purposes</i>, and it will commend itself to the <i>live +teacher as a book long needed</i>. The want of such a work suggested its +preparation, and we are satisfied that in every schoolroom its advent +will be welcomed by both teacher and pupil.</p> + +<p>The unprecedented success which has attended this work since its +publication is the best recommendation of its merits, more than <i>Twenty +Thousand Copies</i> having been sold during the past year. It is indorsed +by prominent educators, is used in over fifty Normal Schools, and in +hundreds of cities, towns, and townships throughout the entire country. +Teachers, Directors, and all others interested in Elementary Education +are invited to examine the book.</p> + + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3>PARKER'S GRAMMAR OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.</h3> + +<p>Based upon an Analysis of the English Sentence. With copious Examples +and Exercises in Parsing and the Correction of False Syntax, and an +Appendix, containing Critical and Explanatory Notes, and Lists of +Peculiar and Exceptional Forms. For the use of Schools and Academies, +and those who write. By Wm. Henry Parker, Principal of Ringgold Grammar +School, Philadelphia. Price by mail, postpaid, $1.25.</p> + +<p>Prepared by a GRAMMAR SCHOOL PRINCIPAL, and arranged in the manner that +many years of research and actual experience in the schoolroom have +demonstrated to be the best for teaching, this book commends itself to +teachers as a simple, progressive, and consistent treatise on Grammar, +the need of which has so long been recognized. We ask for it a careful +and critical examination. The thorough acquaintance of the author with +his subject, and his practical knowledge of the difficulties which beset +the teacher in the use of the text-book, and the necessity for the +teacher's supplying deficiencies and omissions and amending the text to +suit constructions found daily in parsing, and in other practical +exercises in Grammar, have enabled him to prepare a work which will, on +trial, be found a labor-saving aid to both teacher and pupil.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<h3>TO TEACHERS.</h3> + +<p>The Publishers desire to call the attention of Teachers to their List of +SCHOOL ROLL-BOOKS, REGISTERS, GRADE BOOKS, &c. These have been prepared +by an experienced, practical Teacher, with the view of meeting a very +pressing want of the schoolroom. It is hoped that in their preparation +most of the defects usually found in school records have been avoided.</p> + +<h4>THE MODEL ROLL-BOOK, NO. 1.</h4> + +<p>For the Use of Schools. Containing a Record of Attendance, Punctuality, +Deportment, Orthography, Reading, Penmanship, Intellectual Arithmetic, +Practical Arithmetic, Geography, Grammar. Parsing, and History, and +several blanks for special studies not enumerated. Price, $3.50, by +express.</p> + +<h4>THE MODEL ROLL-BOOK, NO. 2.</h4> + +<p>For the Use of High Schools, Academies, and Seminaries. Containing a +Record of all the Studies mentioned in Roll-Book, No. 1, together with +Elocution, Algebra, Geometry, Composition, French, Latin, Philosophy, +Physiology, and several blanks for special studies not enumerated. +Price, $3.50, by express.</p> + +<p>These Roll-Books are in use in the leading Schools of Boston, New York, +Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Chicago, and St. Louis, and very extensively +in Select and High Schools throughout the country. They will, on +examination, be found to be the most complete and practical yet +published. All teachers who use them speak of them with unqualified +approval; once used, they will never be relinquished.</p> + +<h4>THE MODEL POCKET REGISTER AND GRADE-BOOK.</h4> + +<p>A Roll-Book, Register and Record combined.</p> + +<p>Adapted to any grade of School, from Primary to College. Handsomely and +durably bound in fine Cloth. Price by mail, postpaid, 60 cents. Per +dozen, by express, $6.00.</p> + +<p>Prof. E. A. Sheldon, of the New York State Normal School, and author of +"Lessons on Objects," and "Elementary Instruction," says of this book:</p> + +<p>"Your Model Pocket Register is just the thing every teacher needs. I +shall never again be without one."</p> + +<h4>THE MODEL SCHOOL-DIARY.</h4> + +<p>Designed as an aid in securing the co-operation of parents. It consists +of a Record of the Attendance, Deportment, Recitations, &c., of a +Scholar, for every day in the week. At the close of the week it is to be +sent to the parent or guardian, for his examination and signature. +Teachers will find in this Diary an article that has long been needed. +Its low cost will insure its general use. Copies will be mailed to +teachers for examination, postpaid, on receipt of ten cents. Price per +dozen, by mail, postpaid, $1.00. Per dozen, by express, 84 cents.</p> + +<h4>REWARDS OF MERIT.</h4> + +<p>As there are many teachers who make use of these incentives to study, we +have endeavored to meet the demand, with what success the teacher can +judge after seeing our specimens. They are printed on the best quality +of Bristol card, colored in gold, silver, crimson, ultra-marine, and +emerald, and are executed in the highest style of the lithographic art. +They are chaste, ornate, and beautiful, and need but be seen to be +appreciated. The teacher will, of course, not connect these gems of art +with the common colored cards in vogue. Price per set by mail, postpaid, +35 cents.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p><i>Please address the Publishers</i>,</p> + +<h4>ELDREDGE & BROTHER,<br /> +17 & 19 South Sixth Street,<br /> +PHILADELPHIA, PA.</h4> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of In the School-Room, by John S. 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