The material upon which the teacher operates differs from that employed in any other profession. The painter and the sculptor operate on dead, inaminate matter, which receives without resistance and retains without change whatever impression is made upon it. Even the lawyer and the preacher, whose efforts are directed to the human mind, operate on material already developed and trained. But the teacher has for his material a bundle of untrained faculties, constituting the essential man, to be developed by their self-activity, under the stimulus and direction of the teacher, into the ideal man or woman. The painter who wishes to depict on canvas a landscape spread out before him, forms a mental picture of the scene, and then with such skill as he may possess spreads it out on the canvas. The sculptor who wishes to exemplify some abstract idea must first determine in his own mind what representation in marble will best express his idea, and then by the skillful use of hammer and chisel set free the form which is poetically said to be imprisoned in his block. In each case there is a demand only for the skill of the agent exercised upon dull, lifeless matter. The case is different, however, with the teacher. He too must have his ideal formed in his own mind. He too must so manage his material as to evolve from it his ideal. But he must do this by arousing and directing the activities of the material itself. He does not exercise his skill upon passive matter, but he must so work upon his material that it will shape itself into forms of beauty and nobility. If we could conceive of a sculptor, filled with his ideal, standing before a block of marble, and by a look or word so arousing some activity in the marble itself that it would push off, particle by particle, its superfluous matter till there was left only the artist's ideal in all its beauty, we should have a somewhat adequate presentation in one direction of the teacher's work. Yet this is not all; for his material does not passively receive his impressions. There is often opposition to their reception. It is essential, therefore, to the teacher's success that he should know the nature of his material-the nature of the human mind, its faculties, their mode of action, how they may be reached and how developed and trained. I should give, therefore, as a fundamental, in the library of a well-equipped teacher, a good book on Mental Science and Culture.

Yet so far as actual school work is concerned, experience has shown that it is best to confine the attention to comparatively few subjects. For the successful conduct of life, even in its lower sensethat of mere bread-winning-knowledge of certain branches, with

skill and facility in their use, has been found necessary. Not only is this true, but it has been found that these branches may be admirably used for the development and training of the faculties of the human mind. Arithmetic, for example, which is so closely connected with every-day affairs, furnishes in some directions the best possible means of training the mind. And language-both the instrument of thought and the vehicle of expressing thought-is a most useful means of training the mind. The problem is then presented to the teacher of so presenting these matters of instruction to the mind of the pupil as to inform the mind and develop and train its faculties. The mental faculties do not appear in equal strength at the same time. They unfold gradually and in an established order. The teacher must know the order of their development and must determine which of the subjects of school instruction is best suited to develop each faculty, the place it shall occupy both in general and in detail in the scheme of instruction, and how it shall be so presented as to avoid harm and produce the very best results. Especially valuable at this point is the experience of others. A book, therefore, on Methods of Teaching ought to form an important element of the teacher's professional library. These books are essentially a collection of the methods which have proven valuable and successful in the experience of former teachers. It is one of the great advantages incident to the invention of printing, that we easily get access to the experience of the past. Yet books on methods can only be suggestive. No teacher will be able to carry out blindly the methods of others. These may suggest and stimulate, but to be truly valuable they must be thought over, sifted, compared, and incorporated into the mental constitution of the teacher, modified by his own experience and adapted to suit his own peculiar circum

stances.

To the thoroughly equipped teacher it is not enough to know simply the best methods of teaching. The activity of his own mind will constantly suggest methods that in his judgment seem better. In developing his ideas and testing their worth he may waste much valuable time-valuable to himself and still more valuable to his pupils. Yet the same thought may long ago have been submitted to the crucial test of experience and found wanting. A very brief examination of the history of educational thought and effort would save him much weariness and show the impracticability of his ideas. It is important, then, that he should know not only the successes, but also the failures of the past. This may be found in a History of Education-a history not diffuse and extended, but presenting

clearly and concisely every phase of educational thought and effort in all the past, its merits, its defects, its success or its failure.

But educational thought is progressive. Each year chronicles new successes or new failures. New methods are evolved or valuable modifications of well-known principles are suggested. New social conditions occasion new educational wants and demand new educational appliances to meet them. That the teacher may keep abreast of current thought on educational subjects he must have periodicals especially designed for the discussion of such subjects. Here, then, is the place of Educational Journals-journals that give the salient points of all these discussions and help the teacher to decide what is best and wisest in his circumstances. On many interesting topics there are no other sources of information. Within the past few years there have arisen heated discussions of theories and methods, (as for example the question of "Text-books, or no Text-books," the renewal of the Scientific and Classic Controversy, Industrial Education, &c.,) a knowledge of which can be obtained in no way except through the periodicals. No history of them has yet been written. A good Educational Journal is, therefore, an important factor in a teacher's library.

One of the most difficult, as well as one of the most important subjects connected with school life is that of discipline-a subject that inquires how the pupil may be influenced to respect the law of the school, how he may be restrained from evil, and how he may be turned into a direction that will build up a noble character. The school that fails in its discipline fails in everything. The community demands, as the result of school work, intelligence and virtue, and so far as the school fails to secure these, just so far does it fail to meet the purpose of its organization. Many other questions also come up in conducting a school—the relation of parents and teachers; the arrangement, heating and ventilation of school-houses, &c., &c. These all have to be considered and adjusted by the teacher. That he may know the best ways of accomplishing these duties, he must have a book of methods relating to them. Hence arises the necessity for books on School Economy, or School Management.

The following then, would seem essential to the minimum professional library of the true teacher:

1. A good book on Mental Science and Culture.

2. A good book on Methods of Teaching.

3. A good book on the History of Education.

4. A good book on School Management. 5. A good School Journal.

F.

Woman as an Educator.

Sidney Smith says, that "as long as boys and girls run about in the dirt, and trundle hoops together they are precisely alike." distinguished author remarks, after quoting the above, that, "they are alike, but not precisely alike; men and women have all the same faculties, whether pertaining to the intellect, sensibilities or will, but they have them with a difference; and it is by this difference that they are so admirably, so wonderfully adapted to their spheres in life."

By referring to the "Mosaic account of the Creation," we find that it was the design of God that a difference should exist, for while He gave to both equal privileges of enjoying the comforts of life, He gave to man the naming of the "Fowls of the air and the beasts of the field."

In what consists this difference, and what is the sphere of each, are questions almost as old as creation itself and even in this enlightened nineteenth century it is regarded by many as an insoluble problem. They graciously acknowledge she is to man what poetry is to language, what sunlight is to flowers, or what music would be to a silent world, but apart from beauty, rythm, idealty and inspiration, she is nothing. The mere dependent and ornament of man, it is extremely foolish to think that her work in this life is as exalted and as earnest as his, that in the realm of thought she is his equal, or that she can ever look down upon an admiring world from as dizzy an eminence.

We would combat this sophistry and endeavor to show that her mission in life is as exalted as his, and that by simply living out that life to its highest responsibilities she can exert as noble an influence upon the world.

With these convictions, let us view woman with the bondage of circumscribed sphere set aside, rejoicing in the crown of honor that Religion and Enlightenment have placed upon her brow.

There are few stations of life that have not been filled by women noted for moral, intellectual and professional abilities. As illustrative of woman's administrative talent, we will name Catherine of Russia and Margaret of Sweden. The mere mentioning of such a name as Mrs. Browning will remind all that the gentle sex is honored by the muses. And leaving the rythmic numbers who has written with more solidity and power than those twin-born French

spirits De Staël and "Scholastica." Among those who have reflected lustre upon the claims of art we will proudly mention Harriet Hosmer. Jennie Lind and Christina Nilsson have signalized themselves as vocalists. Nor would we forget, in making this rapid survey, the higher claims of science as the devout Caroline Herschel pierces the thick veil that envelopes God's workings and tells us of new lights in Heaven. In the medical profession she has been successful and performed many works of philanthrophy. That woman will dare to do anything when prompted by a sense of duty and tender love of humanity, has been exemplified by the Maid of Orleans, Charlotte Corday and Florence Nightingale.

In the legal profession her talent might win her success; but here we pronounce her a cloud upon society, a counterfeit of the last and finished work of God, and confess that when she takes her stand upon the rostrum and claims that as her sphere, she crushes her diviner element and is morally shattered forever. Politics, too, has its votaries among the fair sex but it is far too degrading to her holy mission to have her name connected with the fraud and injustice of a political age. The pulpit too has been filled by her, but we cannot think that this is her sphere. She has been ordained by the "Great Founder" of the Church to minister to those over whom she presides; it is at home and in the school-room that she should exercise her priestly functions; the family, school and her own altar are the ones before which to offer her intercession for those committed to her charge. Having briefly shown the different spheres of life that have becn occupied by woman, we will next glance at her culture and pass on to her abilities as an educator.

In the earlier ages of civilization, Plato declares that woman is but the lesser man," and urges his countrymen to educate their daughters as well as their sons; modern minds accept his convictions as potent truths.

Difference of temperament and constitution exist, nature decreed the distinction and the requirements of life demand that it should be preserved, but when opportunities of culture are given to woman they are as likely to be turned to wealth as when extended to her masculine competitor. In many of our higher institutions of learning the brother and sister may be found, conversing, as it were, with Homer, the renowned Greek poet, or with Cicero, the golden-mouthed Roman orator, or deeply interested in Plato, as he reasons like one inspired, or vieing with each other in solving the beautiful but difficult problems of the curves of Conic Sections. And with what degree of