his work-shop, or his counting-room. The toilsome duties of the day are performed, not only without complaint, but without a thought even of their hardship, and he returns at night doubly happy in the consciousness of duty done, and the anticipated welcome home. Yet how few would have the resolution to go forth to discharge the duties of life, were it not for the divine command, "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread"? But the same Being who gave the command, has wisely ordered that we shall find both health and happiness in the performance of labor that would be shunned, were it not laid upon us as a necessity.

So the school-room, notwithstanding its duties and its restraints are distasteful to the young, will ever be regarded by them as the scene of their happiest hours. And as they leave its pleasant walls and go out into the busy scenes of the world to grapple with its stern realities, they will often, very often, sigh for the return of their school-boy days; and around the humble roof or the stately edifice where they received their early education, will be clustered some of the sweetest associations of life. And when in later times, their locks whitening for the grave, and their labors almost done, after years of separation, they look again into the smiling faces, and grasp the warm hands of those who were dear to them in childhood, who played with them in the brook, and who sat by their side in the little weather-stained school house under the hill, then will there come thronging back upon their minds and their hearts, in all the fresh

ness of early morning, the most sunny memories of their most sunny days.

a

If the view which we have taken be correct, it is evident that punishment must sometimes be necessary in the government of a school. It would be useless to inquire what may be done in that good time coming, when teachers and pupils shall all be perfect; but regarding schools as they are and not as they should be, as we find them and not as we would have them; it may be safely affirmed that penal discipline is a necessity, necessary evil, if that phrase be better liked, — but still a necessity in the system of public school instruction. Now in reference to one form of punishment, that of the infliction of bodily suffering, there are prevalent some very foolish notions, to give them no harsher name. The opinion has obtained to a considerable extent that this method is degrading and debasing; while the soul, the immortal part of our nature, may be full of corruption and all uncleanness, the body, its frail tenement for a day, is holy, sacred, and inviolable. With this notion I have no sympathy, and but little patience. I am not arguing for the frequency or severity of this form of discipline. I am ready to admit, without argument and most cheerfully, the claims of all the higher motives that can be, and should be, brought to bear in the management of childhood. I am only contending that when discipline becomes necessary, a proper infiction of pain is not only the simplest and most efficacious form of punishment, but is also far less objectionable

than the thousand and one methods often resorted to by teachers, to avoid the odium of corporal punishment. On this point let us take the testimony of the first Secretary of the Board of Education, In treating of this subject, he remarks of a class of teachers, that they "have discarded what they call corporal punishment, but have resorted to other modes of discipline, which, though they may bear a milder name, are, in reality, more severe. To imprison timid children in a dark and solitary place; to brace open the jaws with a piece of wood; to torture the muscles and bones by the strain of an unnatural position, or of holding an enormous weight; to inflict a wound upon the instinctive feelings of modesty and delicacy, by making a girl sit with the boys or go out with them at recess; to bring a whole class around a fellow pupil to ridicule and shame him; to break down the spirit of self-respect by enforcing some ignominious compliance; to give a nick-name; these and such as these are the gentle appliances by which some teachers, who profess to discard corporal punishment, maintain the empire of the school-room-as though the muscles and bones were less corporeal than the skin; as though a wound of the spirit were of less moment than one in the flesh; and the body's blood more sacred than the soul's purity." This testimony is important as coming from an impartial witness; from one, who certainly had no love for corporal punishment, and who has done more, perhaps, than any other to bring it into disrepute and disuse.

Now what is there in the infliction of a little pain upon the palm of the hand for example, that is in the least degree debasing or improper? If inflicted judiciously and in a right spirit, it causes only momentary suffering, and produces no injurious effect upon the body or the mind. Let a candidate for punishment be allowed to select between this form and one of the objectionable modes just mentioned, and he would be almost sure to choose the latter; and for the same reason that a patient will suffer for weeks with the toothache or a festering wound, not having sufficient courage to meet the cold iron of the dentist, or the keen knife of the surgeon.

Let me, before leaving this subject, guard against the danger of misapprehension. I am no advocate for frequent punishment, and he, who is obliged to resort to it on every trifling occasion, proclaims his own incompetency in unmistakable language. My position is simply this; that in schools as we find them punishment is sometimes a necessity; and that when it becomes necessary, the infliction of bodily pain is one of the simplest, most efficacious, and least objectionable, of all the forms that are usually adopted. I am aware that this is an unpopular doctrine, and may subject me to the suspicion of belonging to the ante-diluvian age. But the view which has been presented is honestly entertained, and I have only to say to those who differ," Strike, but hear."

III. The Character and Use of Text-Books.

It is natural to think that a man who excels in teaching any particular branch is the best fitted to write a text-book in that department. Such is the opinion which almost any one would form on first view; farther reflection, however, may modify it materially. Uncommon success in any department is to be attributed to the degree of attention bestowed upon it, to the peculiar method of instruction adopted, or to both. So far as it depends upon the greater amount of time devoted to any branch, the teacher's success has nothing to do with the question under consideration; but the very peculiarity of his method, however successful in his hands, disqualifies him, in my judgment, from writing a text-book for others. Such an one could not, or rather would not, write a book without having it embody his own views and his own peculiarities; and though the mode of instruction presented be the very best for himself and for others who can heartily adopt it, yet it must act as a perpetual cramp upon all those who have a way of their own. To make a good text-book, requires a perfect knowledge of the subject, and a large share of practical common sense. The work should contain the principles of a science, simply, clearly, and concisely stated, leaving each teacher free to adopt his own method in the presentation of them to his pupils.

But very different opinions exist, and the most erroneous views prevail,- if they be erroneous, in reference to the use of text-books. Because