If the teacher's influence is thus permanent and powerful, surely then he ought to be awake and in earnest. It is said of Longinus, and said to his praise, that

" He was himself the great sublime he drew.”. So the teacher should seek to realize in himself his own ideal of excellence, and be a model man.

He should labor, not for money merely, nor for reputation even, but for something higher, holier. He should remember that every child has a deathless mind—and that every mind is a priceless gem, which he should seek to polish with the skill and assiduity of an artist. He should bring to this work his best energies, his brightest powers, his holiest resolutions. I would fain have him able to look upon his pupils, and say, as did the Roman matron, turning to her children, “THESE ARE MY JEWELS." I would fain have him touch, with a skilful hand, that mysterious instrument-the human mind

" That harp, whose tones, whose living tones,

Are left forever in the strings."

7*

LECTURE IV.

THE ESSENTIALS OF EDUCATION.

BY THOMAS H. PALMER,

OF PITTSFORD, VT.

MR. PRESIDENT, AND GENTLEMEN OF THE INSTITUTE,

When I had the honor of addressing you some fifteen years ago, this society was in its infancy. The field of education then lay comparatively untilled. All were alike pioneers. Every part of the great subject was fresh and new. The schools in no part of the country were prominently in advance. Whatever sentiment, therefore, would apply in one part of the country, was equally suitable in every other.

How very differently stands the case now! In the states where most of you reside, the science of education has been kept steadily before the public mind for a long series of years. The legislatures have from time to time granted every facility for improvement. The highest order of talents, too, has been consecrated to the one grand purpose of elevating the community through the only medium by which it can be elevated, the COMMON SCHOOL. Here, in Vermont, on the contrary, we are only just beginning to move. Our schools are hardly better than yours were fifteen or twenty years ago. And, worst of all, our community have not as yet awakened even to a dim conception of the objects for which they should strive. From these circumstances, a serious difficulty arose in my mind. You have invited me to address you. But to whom shall I speak? To your society—a body that has for so many years been ardently engaged in the study of the science ? or to the people of Vermont, who may be considered as mere tyros on this great topic, and to whom of course elementary principles are the most improving and interesting? Such was the dilemma which presented itself on first receiving your call. My hesitation, however, was but for a moment. For surely, thought I, the members of the Institute do not visit these distant regions in search of their own improvement. Np. They come to enlighten us with their long experience, to encourage us to perseverance, to urge us to push forward on the noble career on which we have just entered.

I shall devote this discourse, then, chiefly to the wants of Vermont, confining my attention principally to the defects of her schools. But, although this will be my main object, let me here say to the gentlemen of the Institute, that I shall be very pleasingly disappointed, if many, very many of my remarks be not found applicable to the best of schools, be they where they may.

For every where, I fear, will still be found too much parrot-training; too many artificial processes; too many words without ideas; too much

cramming with the notions or dogmas of others; too little development of our own powers.

But enough of explanation and apology. Let us turn in earnest to our subject.

The essentials of a good school education. What are the essentials of education ? What is it we seek for, or, rather, what is it we ought to seek for in sending our children to school? All will admit that reading forms one of the most important items in school education. But there are two kinds of reading, which, for the want of more appropriate terms, I shall distinguish as artificial reading and intellectual reading. As very serious evils arise from the want of clear ideas on this subject, and as one of these terms is often practically mistaken for the other, it will be well that both be distinctly defined.

By artificial reading, then, is meant correct utterance of language, without the slightest attention to the sense of the passage; the accurate emission of mere sounds, with the delivery of which the mind is wholly engrossed, or (which is quite as probable), is floating about in a sort of dreamy reverie. This is the kind of reading commonly heard in the schools. No matter whether the passage is intelligible or unintelligible. Every phrase, nay, every word, may be perfectly clear and simple, still, if the mind of the reader be exclusively engaged with the pronunciation of the words, or if his thoughts be occupied with matters of an entirely different nature, the reading in either case is purely artificial.

Intellectual reading, on the contrary, implies attention to the ideas of the author. It may, or may not