practical benediction, the possessors of the present bestowing on the heirs of the present the blessing of a higher culture. The stay of monarchies and oligarchies is the ignorance of the multitude: the stay of republics is universal knowledge; but this is only attainable through close alliance between intellectual skill and active moral consciousness. Thence no citizens more cherished, more honored, should a democratic community have than its teachers; no edifice more costly, more beautiful, more perfect, than its school-houses. To them we should be able to point, and to the stranger say,"These are our proudest monuments,-monuments keeping us in mind, not of the dark and pulseless past, but of the luminous, palpitating future, these are our holiest temples;" and towards the inmates every citizen should be a mother of the Gracchi, exclaiming,-"These are my jewels."

Ye who think I am building school-castles in the air, imagine a report of the present condition of our public schools presented as a project, a hope, a remote possibility, presented, not to Asiatics, but to our own immediate predecessors, to the American parents and elders of 1805. Who doubts that they would have scouted it as an inane vision, a preposterous impossibility. Between what then was and what now is, the chasm is not wider than between what now is and what may be, and may be in much less than fifty years. Fear not, despise not, ideal presentments of life's possibilities. Nought that man has ever done, but first lived in his brain as idea; and the more aspiring his ideas the higher

his life. The Ideal is the most fruitful mother on earth, the mother of the real. All that man has contrived, all that he has invented, all that he has created, is her progeny. And man's thought is then most creative when most in co-action with God's thought. Where can it breed more fruitfully, more radiantly, than on the hearts of children? "Of such is the kingdom of Heaven." With such, then, what may we not make of the earth?

"Heaven lies about us in our infancy."

Project this heaven into mankind. Is the opening of human life not its dawn? This morning light, shall it not wax stronger as it mounts? Let us say that it shall, and it will. This heavenly illumination we have the power to perpetuate, and thus through children re-edenize the earth.

"Heaven lies about us in our infancy."

Keep it about us.

LECTURE II.

SOME OF THE ERRONEOUS OPINIONS THAT ARE PREVALENT IN THE COMMUNITY UPON THE SUBJECT OF EDUCATION.

BY DANIEL MANSFIELD,

OF CAMBRIDGE.

MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF INSTRUCTION :

IN the laudable desire of your Executive Committee to cater for the tastes of all, the coarsest fare could not be wholly omitted, and an humble part has been assigned to me. Selected as a teacher, and because I am a teacher, acquainted with the workings of the school-room, I am aware that the invitation was given in the expectation that a practical subject would be chosen and be treated in a practical manner. But as I continually witness the unsatisfactory results of my previous discipline and methods of instruction, I become entirely dissatisfied with my own course, and almost daily inquire," Who will show me a better way?" How

then can I, with any confidence, or with any propriety, recommend that course to you?

I propose, therefore, to offer a few considerations on what I regard as Some of the Erroneous Opinions that are prevalent in the Community, on the Subject of Education. This topic will admit of a somewhat practical treatment, and I trust it may not be entirely devoid of interest to professional teachers. Satisfied that our opinions will differ widely in many particulars, I hope to throw aside the dogmatism incident to our calling, and present my views modestly, and at the same time with entire frank

ness.

I. As to the Objects of Common School Instruc

tion.

If the question were directly put in regard to these objects and a definite answer required, there might be a unanimity of reply, while there would be a great diversity in opinion. Perhaps no one would deny that the great object of common school instruction is intellectual culture; and yet the prominence given to moral instruction in reports of committees, in educational journals, and in lectures before Teachers' Institutes and Associations, would lead us to infer, that the cultivation of the heart was the great purpose in the establishment of common schools. In respect to the greater importance of this object there can be no difference of opinion; indeed, its importance cannot well be over-estimated; and yet, I maintain, that houses have been built and furnished, teachers employed, and schools es