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actions of the human mind, and especially of the minds of children. This he needs in order that he may adapt his instruction to the child's mental requirements. He must know how the mind should develop. Such a knowledge is as necessary to him as a knowledge of the structure and working of the locomotive is to the engineer, or as a knowledge of the instrument upon which he plays is to the musician. This knowledge should be philosophical, and also of a practical character. In applying it the teacher should cultivate accuracy in reading the mental symptoms of the living subject.

Third. He must know something of the views and methods of leading educators, not for servile imitation, but for thoughtful study and as a means of guidance and inspiration. To-day there are excellent facilities for the interchange of thought on educational matters. Every year adds to this valuable information and improves the methods employed. It is very dangerous for the teacher to become isolated from the best educational thought of his time. Such separation leads to mental laziness, ignorance and ridiculous conceit.

Fourth. He must not be a wrangler over details in method. Since the advent of the modern fashion of exhibiting modes of instruction at teachers' meetings and elsewhere, there has been too much of hobby-riding. The disposition to rely on mere methods shows a mental laziness which the pupil ought not to have for a pattern.

Fifth. He must possess, either by nature, or as a result of culture, a sympathetic spirit, the ability and disposition to enter into the feelings and circumstances of children. By this is not meant that the wishes of children are always to be gratified. But they certainly ought to be understood by those who are to control them. Without this active sympathy with childhood's wants and feelings the teacher will fail to reach the hearts or even the intellects of his pupil.

Sixth. He must possess the virtues of cheerfulness and patience. The annoyances of the schoolroom are many, and if the teacher allows himself to be chafed by them; if each one of the little irritating occurrences that are sure to come up during the day is dwelt upon, souring the temper and driving out the sunshine, then the teacher's peace will vanish also. His occupation will become to him a dismal and discouraging business-an occasion of ever-recurring agony. This tendency must be sturdily resisted. The teacher must take a cheerful view of his trials, learning to see a lesson or an opportunity in each one, and meeting discouragement with unruffled temper but with added determination. If the teacher is faithful this course of conduct is a guaranty of final triumph.

Seventh. He must have and exercise common sense,- -a quality so named, not because it is a common possession, but because it ought to be.

Eighth. He must possess a good moral character, not alone in the legal and social sense, but also in the sense of being moved and actuated by the highest and purest motives. Extravagant demands are sometimes made upon the teacher in respect to the influence he is expected to wield over his pupils. It seems to be required that during the six hours of his daily control of them, a control extending over only five days of the week, and over but a few years of their lives, he will, by the energy of his moral power, undo and overcome all the evil influences exerted over them at home and on the streets. Such a demand is unreasonable. And yet it remains true that in all moral aspects the teacher ought to be to the pupil a fit pattern. Among the teachers of antiquity were Socrates and Plato and Quintillian, the noblest men of their times. So it ought to be Hence the teacher ought to be in all respects, the best, the purest, the most truthful of men.-Intelligence.

now.

Over-Schooling.

We doubt if the boys who are pushed through a full course in the famous Boston schools will be as well fitted for action, either in the professions or the trades, as their fathers who got all their education in the little country school-houses, when the school term included only four months during the fall and winter. Four months of schooling in book knowledge, and eight months of schooling in play and work during each year, gave these men their start in life; and a good start it was, too, as their success in business has proved. Let us see what the old system gave them. In the first place, a fair average knowledge of the essential rudiments of book education. At sixteen they were not illiterate. They knew artithmetic well enough for business purposes. They had a fair knowledge of geography. They knew how to read. Not only was the knowledge of reading theirs, but the taste was theirs also. Having fewer books, they naturally digested their contents better. Moreover, they had sturdy bodies, healthy stomachs, clear heads. Better than all, they had formed the habit and the love of labor. Their necessities made them practical. The prime object of education, which is to teach everyone how to get his own living, to make him self supporting and independent,

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was realized. Now, how is it with the boys of to-day? What do they do? Study, study, study! What do they learn. Books, books, books! The whole system might be likened to a huge conspiracy not to put vitality into boys, but to take it out of them. The stomach is fevered. The brain is wearied by premature strain put upon it. The nerve force is exhausted by continuous toil. The physique is neglected in its culture. The boy that takes the prize at the Latin school is famous among his mates at the close of the term, and that is all the world ever hears of him. The education which books give, they have. But the education work gives, they have not. And the worst of it is, the forces which should make them strong in performance have been weakened and drained out of them.-California Teacher.

SCHOOL GOVERNMENT.-A remarkable change of opinion as to the best method of training the young is going forward silently in our schools and colleges. The older view was summed up in the maxim, "Spare the rod and spoil the child." Even when the rod was largely laid aside, the spirit and purpose of the management was unchanged. This was to keep the young in thorough subjection to superior authority. They were to be molded to right doing by a power outside of themselves, which they might not question. They were the clay in the hands of the potter. Young men in colleges, as well as children in primary schools, were to be governed in a military sort of way, under which implicit and unquestionable obedience was the highest virtue. Now we find one college after another devising plans to get the students to govern themselves. They become their own law-makers, and pronounce sentence themselves upon offenders against good order. And this devolving of responsibility upon them develops, as might have been expected, an entirely new spirit. The old control by external authority aroused opposition, cunning, recklessness. It made the governors and the governed into two hostile camps, watching to defeat or overreach each other. The direct appeal to the self-control of the students produces quite opposite results. They are enlisted on the side of good order, and a wholesome tone of public opinion springs up, which effectually subdues any light and heedless spirits. In a word, it is found that in dealing with the young government from within is better and more effective than government from without. There must be obedience indeed, but to recognized right and convenience, and not to arbitrary authority. Can it be questioned that there is more moral formative power in such disci

pline than in the other? In all wise management of the young, authority is kept as much as possible in the back ground, and this power of self-control, this sympathy with right and order, made the dominant force.- Wisconsin Journal of Education.

REV. A. C. KENDRICK, D. D. LL.D.-A JUST AND COURTEOUS ACT.-One morning our Greek recitation was going on as usual. One here and there in the class had recited when the Doctor called on me. I arose to recite, but not till on my feet did I wake up to the fact that I had lost my place. My mind had slipped off on some side topic the Doctor so frequently threw in to enliven the recitation, or perhaps had just been "wool-gathering." I acknowledged my misfortune, and the Doctor put me on the track. In my embarrassment I translated hesitatingly. The Doctor asked me the tense of a verb I had translated. In my confusion I could not tell. "Sit down, sir," said he, with decided sharpness. Others recited, the hour was consumed, and the class dismissed. My failure was purely accidental, and my rebuke was truly a grief. Passing from the room as hurriedly as the rest, I heard my name called and turned round. Dr. Kendrick was near me and said, "I did you injustice to-day in setting you down so abruptly. I was rather hasty; I beg your pardon." It is needless to say how quickly the crushed student was restored by the Professor's hearty apology. I had not dreamt that a man so eminent would apologize for a hasty act to an humble student. I knew his greatness as a Greek scholar, and in every department of literature and in all social relations, but he was now to me greater still for the above considerate act. I remember his impressive manner of teaching. I see him now as he occasionally walked the floor of his recitation room and repeated whole passages of Greek from memory to show the class how the language could be spoken. I remember his every feature, gesture, motion, and all his impressiveness, but nothing more distinctly and pleasantly than the act of courtesy here recorded. It stands on the page of memory an item of his greatness.-G. F. Williams.

THE difference of ability in children must be most thoroughly recognized by the teacher before justice is possible in discipline or skill in instruction. The danger of all graded school work is that a standard be established to which all the brighter pupils are cramped down, and those whose minds move slowly are brought up with a

terrific grip. The graded school system must have a flexibility such that children of active mind, quick perception, keen attention, should not be outraged by being chained to a score of inattentive, sluggish, unaspiring children. Children who sincerely attempt to do their best, but have not talent for quick intellectual effort, should not be kept wretched and depressed by being dragged after those who by nature can distance them without effort. There would be as much impropriety in hitching up a Clyde draft horse with an Ethan Allen racer. If we must have classes of fifty or more, the teacher must recognize the differences in their ability, and give each the opportunity needed.--American Teacher.

It was a beautiful compliment paid to a teacher when one of his pupils, in speaking of him, said that he was the only teacher who ever tried to make a man of him. That teacher has a worthy object in view. We don't want to make so many presidents and governors, but we want to make MEN Character is the great object of all school work. There is something of more importance than mere book knowledge. Give a man strength, but give him the ability of using that strength to the best advantage. It is something noble to inspire a boy with worthy motives. Lift them up. Every boy can become a man and make himself useful to others. There is no need

of so many lives being wasted. They may not be noted men, but they will be true MEN. An education that does not give an inspiration for something better is worthless. Inspire them then with a desire to become honorable men. If you succeed here you cannot fail. The Normal Index.

GOOD FOR THE GIRLS.-The New Orleans Times-Democrat says the experiment tried at the University of Mississippi, in Oxford, of admitting girls to the institution with the same privileges as the male students, is a pronounced success.

It was but a few years ago that this University was thrown open to girls, but in that time they have forced themselves to the front, and this year they won all the prizes. A young lady takes the first honors, and will consequently be the valedictorian. The senior class will be represented by a young lady among the speakers, as will also the juniors, while among the competitors for the sophomore prize declamation is still another of "the fair sex."-American Journal of Education.

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