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THE 
 
 ART OF TEACHING 
 
 ▲ UASttAL 
 
 ron THE USE CF TEAcnrns and scnooL 
 
 C0M3iIISSIO:^ERS, 
 
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 FIlEDErwICK C. EM33EIlSO:rT, M. A- 
 
 Bcho!ar nnd Creek Esliibitioncr of Wadham College, Oxford ; 
 lato Ccxnmissiom r to Inspect tho Model and Ilifih 
 ; • <■ BcJicoIs of tho JPrcvince cf Quebec. 
 
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 PUBLISHED BY DAAVSON BUOTHEHS. 
 
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 ENTErED, according to Act of Parliament of Canada, in the year 
 lo77, ty Dawson Brothers, in the ofiSce of the Minister of 
 Agriculture. 
 
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 .1.1 1 
 
 TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 ' 1 
 
 Chap. Introduction. IIow to do oneself justice fn oa 
 Exaniiimtion. Random Hints. 
 
 I. Thu art of teaching cftiti« ntly and with cnse 1 
 
 II. Best way to tcacli licading, Writing'-, Aiitljmttic, 
 Book-keeping, Spelling, Engli.-li Oranjuiar, Eng- 
 lish Composition, Geography, Hi-story 6 
 
 III. Reasons for training the tj e and ear 19 
 
 IV. The importaneo of tt aching Singing 
 
 V. Teach the young to Draw 25 
 
 VI. Chisbics 28 
 
 VII. How to strengthen the m< mory and njake it (xact. 31 
 VIII. A device to recollect numbeis and dates exactly. 
 
 Grey's memoria ti chnica 29 
 
 IX. The nature of children. Its component parts. 
 
 Ilowr bi st to improve and devolope each pait. . . 42 
 X. School Puni-hniciits enumerated. What arc iho 
 
 best f(.r diflerent purposes 62 
 
 XI. The ait of Discipline 67 
 
 XII. How to secure a hi^h moral tone in a school 61 
 
 XIII. How to make chihlr n like to ccme to school. 
 Eow affected by the length of school hours and 
 
 by school appliances 67 
 
 XIV. School-house and school appliances VI 
 
 XV. Gymnastic appliances. W'^rking specifications to 
 
 make them cheapl}"- and well 77 
 
 XVI. Necessity of checrfulnt ss in a teacher. Practical 
 
 means to cultivate it 81 
 
 XVII, The consolations of a teacher 85 
 
 XVIII. School Organisation. Timc-Tables 88 
 
 XIX. Duties of Scliool Commiesioners and their Secre- 
 
 tary-Treasurers 94 
 
 XX. L'Envoi -- Ill 
 
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 THE VILLAGE MASTER. 
 
 ▲ man lerere ho was and stern to view, 
 
 I knew him well, and every truHut knew, 
 
 Well had the boding tremblers learned to traco 
 
 Thf day's disasters in his morning face. 
 
 Full Well they laughed, with counttrfdted glee, 
 
 At all tiis jokes, for many a joke had be. 
 
 Full well the busy wljisper circling round 
 
 Conveyed the dismal tidings when he frowned. 
 
 Tut he was kind, or if seveie in nught, 
 
 The love he bore to lewrning was in fault. 
 
 The village all declared bow mm h he knew, 
 
 *T was certain he couTd write and cif.lier too j 
 
 Lands he could m 'asur«^, tcims and tides presage. 
 
 And e*en the ^tory ran that be coul ' gauge. 
 
 In ariruine, too, the parson owned bis skill, 
 
 For e'" hough vanquished lie could argue rHU, 
 
 Wh' «* words of Learned length and thundering sound 
 
 An.tz<.' iie gazing rustics ranged around, 
 
 And at they gazed and still the wonder grew, 
 
 Th«t V i fOUtU head could caiTy all he knew. 
 
 OoLDaMlTB, 
 
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INTrtODUCTIOK. 
 
 Those using this book in preparation for an crram- 
 ination in the Art of Teach inpj arc advised to select 
 chapters I., II., X., XL, and XVIII. for special study. 
 The rest of the volume they might read once or twice, 
 just as they would any other dull or amusing book. 
 
 The surest hopes of success in an examination, as 
 in everything else, are founded on full preparation 
 and frequent practice in being examined. The fol- 
 lowing rules may bo found useful: 
 
 1 — Answer the questions in order of seeming difH- 
 oulty; doing those first which j'ou think you know 
 best and on which you can write most fluently. 
 Directly you get puzzled or confused over anything, 
 lay it aside till hist 
 
 Iicscrvo twenty minutes at the end of the morning 
 or afternoon to road over and correct your papers. 
 You will probably find in them many clerical or other 
 errors. 
 
 3 — Use plenty of paper, writing with an ample 
 margin and only on one side of the sheet. In Arith- 
 metic cs[)ccially the use of plenty of paper is a great 
 aid to clearness and correctness. 
 
 4 — In Arithmetic write the word ^'Answer " under 
 each example, and put what is the answer, opposite 
 to it, underlined. .: , . ' ., 
 
 E' !1 
 
 
fl 
 
 introductio:t. 
 
 .. 
 
 I i 
 
 To thoso who arc likely to bo nervous wo wouU 
 Bay " Do n't " There is nothing worLh being r.crvoua 
 about or fretting over in this world, unless it bo sin 
 and debt. Some say that to tako some deep inspira-^ 
 tions with closed lips wiil check nervousness. 
 
 Do not work very hard the day, or indeed the week 
 
 Erevious to an important examination, and go to bed 
 climes the night before. If an examinee knows his 
 work well ho will be pretty 8ure to write correctl}', 
 though he be so nervous as hardly to know what ho 
 is writing. An experienced examiner can mostly 
 distinLTuibh the mi-itakes of nervousness from thoso 
 which betray ignorance. 
 
 In conclll^ion, wo would give the teacher the follow- 
 ing random hint?, which may, perhaps, be the bettor 
 remembered for being put separately. 
 
 Beware of the habit of scolding, or complaining of 
 the general stupidity of your scholars. You will 
 meet with temptation to "scold" all day. Do not 
 yield to it once. 
 
 Have no weak spot in the orderliness of your school- 
 room. Let your very " pointer " be neat and made for 
 its purpo.-e. 
 
 The self-denial required (if any) to become a tee- 
 totaller will, we have observed, in the case of teachers, 
 be repaid, in Canada, at least five hundred fold- 
 
 Your excellence, as a teacher, should be measured 
 by the progress of the stupid and the dull among 
 your pupils. They claim your spec^flZ attention. The 
 clever ones will get along last enough without it. 
 
 The beginnings and foundations of everything re- 
 quire the most careful filling in. For instance, Ad- 
 dition [a used in actual life more than all the other 
 rules of Arithmetic put together. In practising it, let 
 your scholars first add each column upwards (writing 
 under it, in very small figures, what they have to 
 carry) and then add it downwards. 
 
 The "knack of teaching" is to use the known to 
 explain the unknown; — to bo sure, that is, that your 
 
I^'TRODUCTION. 
 
 VII 
 
 pupils understand every word you say; in explana- 
 tions to uso only words and ideas which arc most 
 familiar to Ihcm; to break up every advance in 
 knowledge into the shortest and easiest step3. To 
 olTect this your lessons must be carefully prepared 
 beforehand and with especial regaid to the ignorance 
 of the classes for which they are intended, and you 
 will lind it a useful hint to praciiso the art of speak- 
 inpj and writing as much as possible in words of ono 
 Byllablo. 
 
 The author begs leave to dedicate this book to 
 
 W. A. y., W. J. E. AND R. W. n. 
 
 as ho foresees no other way of showing any acknow- 
 ledgment, however feeble, of past exceptional kind- 
 nesses. 
 
 ! ;> t^ 
 
i 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE ART OF TEACHING EFFICIENTLY AND 
 
 WITH EASE. 
 
 ^*At the first it is no great matter how much you learn but how well you 
 learn it." 
 
 Colloquies of Erasmus 
 
 Tho great way to toach efficiently is to bo thorough. 
 Choose for a motto " Teach little, and leach it well." 
 Give the scholars short lessons and see that they are 
 learnt perfectly. Make them give the substance of 
 each lesson in iheir own words after finishing it, and 
 see that there is not a single word in the lesson that 
 they do not thoroughly understand. In geography 
 and history go over each lesson, rapidly, when it is 
 set, explaining any very great dilficultj^, marking 
 any sentence worth learning by heart in it, and giv- 
 ing them the right pronunciation of tho proper 
 names, so that they will have nothing to unlearn. 
 
 Point out the proper names, dates, &c., which they 
 need not iearn, if any. This need not take more than 
 three minutes, to be thus spent at the Cxid of each 
 lesson in preparation for tho next, and it will save at 
 least ten minutes' labour at tho aforesaid next lesson. 
 To impress any particular proper name on a class — 
 e, g. Vasco di Gama — make the class spell it simulta- 
 neously. And it is well sometimes to make a class 
 write leading names on their slates. 
 
 Another great means of efficiency is to be constantly 
 reviewing back work. Jicview much of the week's 
 work briefly at tiie end of the week. Eevicw again 
 at the end of the month, the term, and tho half jcar. 
 Have a grand review and examination at the end of 
 the year. Written examinations are very potent to 
 stereotype on tho mind all knowledge acquired by it. 
 
 1 
 
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 Z ART OF TEACniNG. 
 
 They also oxposo ignorance, and show a boy how 
 much less ho knows than ho fancies ho docs. Hence 
 they stimulate him to go over the main points which 
 he wishes to learn, over and over again with extra 
 exactness. Give good marks for every lesson, and 
 give your scholars the marks of the school, or part of 
 them, to add up on their slates at the end of each 
 week, so as to interest them in the number of good 
 marks they get. 
 
 " Slow and sure," should be the great motto of a 
 teacher. Force the scholars back rather than on- 
 wards, in the matter of text books, (Readers os])ecially) 
 and give them lessons well within their capacity. 
 
 Thoroughness is the great secret of efficient teach- 
 ing. Now, thoroughness implies the keeping at one 
 item — e. g. the practice of addition — a long time. To 
 prevent the class from getting wearied with this, end- 
 less variety in the way of handling the subject mast 
 be ensured. For instance, in teaching addition make 
 the class get "the addition table" orally by heart. 
 Make them bring the same sums at the same time, to 
 see who is most correct. !Race them against time. 
 Make them work in ink and see who is the neatest. 
 Make up ingenious questions; add the ages of the 
 class and the years each member of it was born in. 
 Suppose a scene, as that they were going out shop- 
 ping, and add their expenses, &c., &c. 
 
 The great secret of ease in teaching is infinite un- 
 ruffled patience. Never be in a hurry ; — more hasto 
 less speed. Never be discouraged. l)o your best and 
 leave the rest. Amid the distractions of a school- 
 room try and keep your mind calm and collected. 
 Kemember that, if you choose, there will always be a 
 quiet little Goshen of light in the recesses of your own 
 heart to which you can retire, however much confu- 
 sion and darkness prevail around you. 
 
 Remember that you, too, were a child, and tr}'- and 
 enter into sympathy with the minds of your children. 
 Punish severely if need be, but always calmly, and 
 
ART OF TEACHING. 
 
 8 
 
 novor in anger. Remember that you did not make 
 your Rcholars, and are not responsible for any of their 
 stupidity. 
 
 Prepare your lessons and the questions you mean 
 to ask, thoroughly. Do not pretend to knowledge you 
 do not possess. This is a'" unwise as it is dishonest. 
 You often gain the respect of a class by confessing 
 that 3'ou do not know everything. 
 
 You are a gardener and your scholars are your 
 flowers. Do not for ever keep grubbing with your 
 eyes fixed on the ground pulling up weed^, but occa- 
 sionally rest j-ourself to take an enjoyable look at 
 some brighter flower or more pleasing parterre. Pic- 
 ture the little brignt faces before you as men and 
 women grown, living, then, happier and more useful 
 lives as citizens and mothers, owing to 3^our exertions. 
 
 Learn the art of discipline. If you foil once, try 
 and try again. Study the character of each scholar. 
 Look upon his heart as a fortress to be stormed in some 
 special and peculiar way, so that you may command 
 his affection and obedience. 
 
 The reward of teaching is to find one unaccustomed 
 to sympathy and kindness, and to have the pleasure 
 of surprising the timid sufferer by kind words and 
 cheering looks, and of seeing in his very face the signs 
 of a new happiness that owes its birth to you. An 
 ounce of praise goes as far as a pound of blame, and 
 gives the greatest encouragement to those who are 
 the least gifted by nature, and therefore need it most. 
 
 Always try to be cheerful; never be morose, and 
 above all, never bo sarcastic. Find some practical 
 rules for maintaining cheerfulness. 
 
 Punctuality in the teacher is a great means of ease 
 in teaching. Its importance can hardlj- be over- 
 rated. 
 
 Perfect quiet in a school-room is a mighty helj) to 
 teach with comfort and a tranquil mind. To secure 
 perfect silence while you are teaching, it may be 
 found useful to allow the scholars a minnle or two at 
 
 ' ' 
 
4 ART OF TEACHINQ. 
 
 tho end of each lesson, each hour or each half hour, 
 to speak quietly to each other and ask each other 
 necessary qiiestiors. 
 
 -After all, we poor mortals depend most humiliatingly 
 upon externals. Perhaps the greatest means to ease 
 in teaching is a well appointed school-room. To se- 
 cure this you may often have to coax tho school au- 
 thorities. These are also bound to give the teacher 
 rules for his guidance. It is well to have some such 
 rules posted in the school room and signed by tho 
 Chairman of the Commissioners. By this means tho 
 teacher can have undeniable authority to have a writ- 
 ten excuse under tho parent's signature brought by 
 every absentee. This will be a great check on that 
 irregularity of attendance which is so discouraging 
 and disturbing. It is well to have the sanction ot'the 
 trustees for requiring the elder scholars to teach tho 
 younger ones at regular intervals. If it be objected 
 that scholars go to school to learn and not to teach, 
 explain that they often learn more when teaching 
 than at any other time. The principal of a large in- 
 stitution should also have authority to keep a stock 
 of books and stationery on hand so that he can sup- 
 ply the scholars (for cash down) when required. 
 And every teacher should be instructed not to teach 
 any child who is without the prescribed text book, 
 and not to permit ttvo brothers to look over the samo 
 book. 
 
 1 A teacher should always have some little schcmo 
 of Folf-improvcment going on, so as not to allow his 
 mind to be injuriously engrossed by school work. 
 The mind must never be allowed to harp on ono 
 string or confined to one horizon. Hence, the teacher 
 should be as chary as possible about taking school 
 work home with him. 
 
 Let us summarise. To teach efficiently bo thorough. 
 To teach with ease, be calm, self-possessed, never in a 
 hurry, never over-anxious, but earnest, punctual and^ 
 wel 1 prepared with your day's work. .: i 
 
<■•. 
 
 «^:«>*» 
 
 ClIAPTErt II. 
 
 IlEADINQ. 
 
 In teaching children their letters, ifc is best to begin 
 with onoat, atimo. Take those of the simplest form — 
 '< round o," '* dotted z," " crooked .9," "crossed r," &c., 
 — firi^t. Let the child take t^o.ao time to learn each, sin- 
 gly, at his seat, and copy each on his slate as ho learns 
 it. I^eading before knowing the letters, — 'Mho touch 
 and eay method," — is highly praised by those who 
 have tried it. Here, again, wo must begin teaching 
 easy words, and those one at a time. We may bo 
 teaching children this and teaching them their alpha- 
 bet at the same time. Wo thus add one to the kinds 
 of lessors which wo can give to very littlo children, 
 which is a great advantage. 
 
 Threo rules for reading are often useful to give out 
 before a lesson: — 1. Rtad slow. 2. Read loud. 3. 
 Read as if you were telling somebody something. 
 
 In teaching most country schools, the main thing 
 18 to try every device to get your scholars out of a 
 Bing-song tone in reading. The most approved 
 method of training even an advanced class nowseemg 
 to bo, for the teacher first to read over the piece aloud 
 to the class with the proper enunciation and pauses, 
 and for the class then to repeat it simultaneously, 
 sentence by sentence, reproducing his exact tones and 
 accent — in fact mocking him. liccitations at public 
 examinations and prize-distributions, well practised 
 befoiehand, will work wonders, as also for the scholars 
 to get up and act little dialogues. 
 
 There is no suLject more important than Jvcading, 
 and yet there is none whicli is, in general, tauglit 
 more carelessly at our country schools. The great 
 rule here as ehewhcre is to lo thorough, that is, to 
 bo "Slow and Sure." Make your scholars read tho 
 samo one piece again and again till they can read it 
 with the most perfect ease and intelligence. Keep 
 
6 
 
 WRITING. 
 
 1 
 
 f 
 
 Ihcm well hack in tho Hoadors thoy uso, instead of 
 pusliing ihcm on to tho advanced numbers in tho 
 Bcrios. See that they thoroughly understand every 
 word in the piece they read ; and when they have fin- 
 ished it make them give the substance of its contents 
 in their own words — firstly, witli their books open, 
 and then with tlieir books shut. You may not always 
 have time to do all this, but aim at doing it as much 
 as possible. The pronunciation of tho hardest words 
 in their lessons should always bo told to a class before 
 they prepare the lesson at their seats. A child should 
 never have anything to unlearn. 
 
 Never be satisfied till each scholar reads in a 
 pleasant tone of voice. 
 
 Reading demands more patience from a teacher 
 than any other study. Patience is the teacher's ono 
 crowning virtue. A reading class should not consist, 
 if possible, of more than ten scholars. In hearing it, 
 keep suddenly pouncing upon dificrent members of 
 the class, selected at random, to correct any mistake 
 made by the scholar who is " being put on." This 
 keej^s the whole cla' ^ on the qui vwe, and they are 
 learning to read during the whole half hour of tho 
 lesson instead of during the three minutes when thoy 
 are being put on themselves. 
 
 il} 
 
 WRITING. 
 
 In writing, legibility, or rather tho '' impossibility 
 of being misread," should be the first aim. To ensure 
 this (until our present semi-barbarous cursive alpha- 
 bet be remodelled for tho Universal International 
 Alphabet of the Future!) the angular hand. Lord 
 Palmerston's bugbear, which sometimes succeeds in 
 making no less than ten letters out of the tvventy-six, 
 all exactly alike and utterly indistinguishable, must bo 
 sedulously eschewed. The " m's " and " n's " must 
 join at the top and the " u's " at tho bottom, and tho 
 "r's" bo very carefully formed. 
 
WRITING. 
 
 Legibility must como first, tho possibility of future 
 rapidity next, and elegance will come of itself. To 
 have a plain alphabet, free from flourishes, painted on 
 a board and put up in the schoolroom, and to make 
 the hoys copy the shape of their individual letters 
 from this, might obviate the difficulty of getting good 
 copy-books. Flourishes might be practised as a sepa- 
 rate exercise to give a bold, free hand, but a child 
 should surely be taught, from the first, to make his 
 letters after one pattern, plain and simple. The advan- 
 tage of tho constant practise of round text copies to 
 give a bold, free hand, does not seem as well recognised 
 hero as it is in England. 
 
 Of all things which need to be written legibly, a 
 man's signature needs it most urgently. It is, after 
 all, the most important part of a document, and cannot 
 bo guessed from tho context like any other word. 
 Signatures are sometimes so illegible that they have 
 to bo cut out and pasted on the envelo^^e which 
 contains tho answer to a letter. 
 
 Three rules may be constantly given out in teach- 
 ing writing: — I. Look well at the head lino before 
 each word. 2. Write slow. 3. Avoid blots. 
 
 Scholars must also be reminded not to scribble on 
 the co7er of their books. Good marks should be 
 assigned to each copy done. Nine is a convenient 
 maximum. To force children to write slowly, one 
 plan is to make the class begin each line simulta- 
 neously. Then those who hurry have to wait, when 
 they have finished their line, till the most painstaking 
 caligraphist scholar has finished his, and their very 
 impatience at this makes them more patient to tako 
 time over the writing of the next lino. 
 
 Of course, in teaching beginners, we must com- 
 mence with straight lines and easy curves, and then 
 rise from middle-band (or ** round text") through 
 largo hand to small hand. Round text should bo 
 frequently practised at all times. Beginners ehould 
 
 1 
 
 ! ^\ 
 
8 
 
 ARITHMETIC. 
 
 frequently practise the writing of their names on 
 their shitoH. 
 
 By purchasing the cheap and excellent "copyslip 
 books" published by the Biirland-Desbarals Com- 
 pany, Bheels of foolscap btitched together may 
 replace copy-books in the poorer districts. The 
 spaces between the lines in ruled foolt-cap suit tho 
 size of round text and largo hand admirably. Somo 
 of tho leaves can bo ruled vertically for tho daily 
 " bookkeeping-writing copy" as described under Book- 
 keeping. Uf copy-books, perhaps the middle numbers 
 of Bayson & Dunton's, and Nos. 3, 4 and 5 of tho 
 Spencerian Series, are tho best. 
 
 Tho teacher should keep tho copy-books, when not 
 in uso, and after they are filled, in her desk. 
 
 t 
 
 ■,ii 
 
 ARITHMETIC. 
 
 Here again, strangely enough, legibility ficems a 
 first and foremost necessit3^ One titho of tho mis- 
 takes in arithmetic, which bar progress and make that 
 vexing which would otherwise be pleasant, aro found 
 to come from mistaking tho 1, 4, 7 and 9 for each 
 other in working sums on a slate. To prevent this, 
 the " 1 " should be a single line, tho ** 4 " have a short 
 cross-down stroke, and the " 9 " should have a curving 
 tail. 
 
 Tho tables of multiplication and of tho weights and 
 measures can be taught to infants in amusing sing- 
 song, accompanied in part with chest-expanding 
 movements of tho arms. It is hnrd to learn ihem in 
 after life, while to have learnt them ineradicably is 
 invaluable. 
 
 In manipulating a large class in Arithmetic the 
 MacVicar apparatus is most useful. By it a class of 
 mere children, at the St. Ann Street School, Montreal, 
 did eighteen sums in addition of fractions in six 
 minutes. ^ .. • ^ - , : , 
 
 An '• Addition Table " should bo composed by tho 
 
BOOK-KEEPINQ. 
 
 teacher, and bo frequently practised, as well as tho 
 Multiplication Tabic. 
 
 To help a child io learn tho Addition Table, every 
 Infant School should have an Abacusor '* bead-lrame." 
 Even tho Japanese use them. To arouse inteiest in 
 tho Multiplication Table make five heaps of beans 
 with six beans in each. Mingle the heaps and count 
 out the result and show that tho Table is correct. 
 Then mako six heaps with five peas or beans, and 
 
 grove that six times five is tho same as fivo times six. 
 y means of a box of cubes a class can see with their 
 own eyes that tho square of three is nine ; that tho 
 square root of sixteen is four, and that a three-inch 
 cube contains twenty-seven inch cubes. In teaching 
 weights and measures it is well to have a two-foot 
 rulo and a set of weights with a pair of scales at hand, 
 and let the class individually examine them, and then 
 guess the size and weight of different objects in a 
 room, 
 
 BOOK-KEEPING. 
 
 None should leave the highest or even tho second 
 class in a school without some knowledge of tho ru- 
 diments at least of simple book-keeping and render- 
 ing of accounts. We have seen this most successfully 
 taught as follows : 
 
 Assume the School to bo a trading firm ; imagine, 
 daily certain pcrsonaixcs of local or historic impor- 
 tance, to buy, to pay, or bo paid. Put these transactions 
 into book-keeping language, and give it as an exer- 
 cise in dictation lor slate and copy-book successively. 
 
 For instance, say *' Jacques Cartier has just come 
 in and purchascu 10 jars of lime juice at $1 a jar. 
 How do you put th'^' into book-keeping language?" 
 Some boy will answer, ''Jacques Cartier to 10 jars 
 lime juice at 81., $10.00." Write some other similar 
 items on the black board and let it be an exercise in 
 writing for tho day, to bo neatly copied, at odd mo- 
 
 it 
 
 ' !' 
 
 n 
 
 I i 
 
 i 
 
 :s l;) 
 
10 
 
 SPELLING. 
 
 , i 
 lit 
 
 IS 
 
 monts, into a book neatly ruled for the purpose. This 
 will teach bills of parcels, and make the scholars 
 familiar with the chief names in Canadian History and 
 their characteristic purchases, &c., &c. A Cash Account 
 must also be opened, and imaginary payments and 
 receipts entered, on one day in the week. Have one 
 day in the week also for posting. The entries, exactly 
 as they are to bo made in the ledger, must also be 
 written on the black-board, after their wording has 
 been established by questions, &c. 
 
 The Cash Account and Bills Receivable and Bills 
 Payable accounts often cause some difficulty which 
 may perhaps be thus removed. On receiving money, 
 say, *' Mr. Cash Box I put $5.00 into you ; therefore 
 you owe me $5.00, and so I put $5.00 to the Dr. side 
 of your account." 
 
 On paying out $5.00, imagine that you take it out 
 of the Cash Box, and therefore credit '' Cash " (i. e. 
 Cash Box) with $5.00. 
 
 On raising money on a note, imagine that you take 
 a slip of paper out of an imaginary JMUs Payable Box 
 and realize, say, $50 on it. Therefore you credit Bills 
 Payable with $50.00. On accepting a note in payment 
 of an account imagine that you put it into a Bills Re- 
 ceivable Box and say, " Bills Receivable you owe me 
 th.s $50.00, and therefore I debit you with $50.00." 
 When you get cash for this note imagine that you 
 take it out of the box and credit the Bills Receivable 
 Account with the money you get for it. 
 
 SPELLING 
 
 is best taught where the classes write picked words 
 from each lesson, instead of saying all of it. Few of 
 us are asked to spell a dozen words in a year, and 
 many are spelling words, while writing^ several hours 
 a day. If the scholars correct one another's slates, a 
 largo class may bo ranked in a short time. Distinct 
 Advantage has been found to result, in Montreal, from 
 
ENGLISH OBAMMAR. 
 
 11 
 
 marking an uncrossed " t," or an undotted "i," or a 
 half-formed letter, as a distinct mistake. 
 
 na 
 
 ENGLISH GUAMIMAR. 
 
 Firstly, choose the shortest standard text-book you 
 are acquainted with. Next, make the scholars learn 
 Iho definitions of the parts of speech. Then devote a 
 lesson or two to each part of speech singly, beginning 
 with the Noun and Verb. Make the scholars pick 
 them out in the grammar itself as they come to them, 
 in reading it aloud, and show how each answers and' 
 fulfils its definition. The teacher must, of courso,\ 
 carefully explain the definition in every possible way 
 to begin with and as he goes along. 
 
 Then those words must bo taken which are some- 
 times one part of speech and sometimes another, such 
 as "/or," ''that," " practise," '' pervert," "want," &c.' 
 The teacher must make up sentence after sentence in- 
 which they shall occur in their diff'erent uses, till the' 
 scholars can readily detect what part of speech they 
 are in each case, and how in each case they come up' 
 to the definition of that part of speech. Simple sen-^ 
 tences may then be dictated or written on the black- 
 board, containing different parts of speech, and the 
 scholars required to write others on the same model. 
 
 A blank form, of how to analj^se sentences may 
 then be taken and kept prominently before the scho- 
 lars* eyes while they analyse sentence after sentence. 
 The different technical words used in analysing must 
 be explained most carefully again and again, to the 
 best of the teacher's ability. 
 
 The briefest possible blank f^rms of how to parse 
 each word may then be drawn up by the teacher,, 
 carefully copied by the scholars, and kept before 
 them in parsing till they can parse correctly and" 
 rapidly without them. The text- book may mean- 
 while be read over by the scholars in class, and every 
 
 y 
 
 i 
 
 ii- 
 
 i il 
 
 
 11 
 
 !'i 
 
 
12 
 
 DEFINITIONS. 
 
 A . 
 
 Bcntonco of it cnrcfnlly c^'plaincd by Iho teacher till 
 ho is Riii'o the scholars understand it. 
 
 Iho rules and the exceptions, tlio parts to bo learnt 
 by heart, must lo cut down to the bmallest possible 
 number of words, carefully underlined in the book, 
 and committed to memory. If copied out in manu- 
 script tliey should not exceed two, or at the most four, 
 pages of foolscap. When tho exact words aro onco 
 fixed they must bo learnt with tho strictest accuracy, 
 and repeated again and ngain whenever tho lesson 
 illustrates them, as also on tot occasions. 
 
 Toxt-book and parsing, study and practice, will 
 thus go hand in hand and throw light and interest on 
 each other. 
 
 This way of learning grammar exemplifies the 
 great rules of thorough and of sound teaching. 
 Choose carefully what is to bo learnt. Understand 
 it thoroughly. Learn it perfectly, and repeat it over 
 and over again. 
 
 Wo subjoin some definitions of tho parts of speech 
 which suit tho system laid down above. It will be 
 eeon that each definition gives tho derivation of tho 
 word it defines as well as a description of it : 
 
 DEFINITIONS. 
 
 1. Noun — tho name of a person, place or thing — 
 (goodness being "a good Hung.'") 2. A Pronoun 
 stands for a noun. 3. Adjective— a word added io a 
 noun to quality it. 4. Verb — the word averring an 
 action or condition of somo person, place or thing. 
 5. An Adverb is added to a verb (or other part of 
 epcech) to qualify it. G. A Conjunction conjoins. 7. 
 A Preposition governs tho noun it is jmf before. 8. 
 An Interjection, a word ihrcun in. 
 
 ENGLISH COMPOSITION. 
 
 This is one of tho most directly and immediately 
 iscful studios in tho curriculuai. Parents perceive 
 
ENGLISH COMPOSITION. 
 
 13 
 
 ''I 
 
 progress in this sooner than in anything else. It is 
 well for all scholars to bring an English composition 
 of some kind once a week — say every Monday. 
 Occasionally it is well to tell the class to get np some 
 subject by means of books, conversation, &c., and to 
 eet them down to write olT an essay on it at school in 
 perfect silence. A formal letter addressed to the 
 teacher should be brought at intervals. 
 
 Good has resulted from making a backward privato 
 pupil write a diary for a few weeks. It strengthened 
 his powers of observation and supplied him with 
 plenty to write about. 
 
 Great moral good may occasionally bo effected in a 
 school by a careful choice of subjects for composition. 
 Make a frivolous girl write on '* What actually j'ielda 
 her the greatest pleasure in life," and she may bo 
 stimulated to careful self examination ; and self- 
 examination is the portal and doorway to the 
 entrance on to ''The Higher Life " hero below. 
 
 At times, in the hist.Ty of a school^ an essay on 
 '* What arc and what ought to be the staple subjects 
 of our daily conversation," may be of special use. 
 The young talk and write more obscenity often than 
 is dreamt of by their parents or their unsuspecting 
 teacher. An essay on the biting couplet, 
 
 " Indecent words admit cf no defence, 
 For want of decency is want of sense," 
 
 4 
 
 may do something to stop this silly habit. 
 
 Other subjects wiiich have Veen found good for 
 compositions are " The wild fruits of Canada," — " The 
 wild flowers of our neighborhood," — "The duty of 
 pnrents in sending their children to school," — " The 
 pleasures and anno3'ance3 of school life,'' — '■ Tho 
 effect of growing up without education," — "What 
 distinguishes man fi'om the brute." — "The duty of 
 children towards their parents," — '' What are tho 
 good works tho young can do/' — "' How to find out 
 
 v» 
 
 
14 
 
 GEMS OF ENGLISn VERSE BY HEART. 
 
 our besetting sin,'' — " Sprinc:," — " Summer," — " Au- 
 tumn," — '' Winter," — " Adr cription of our village," — 
 " A visit to a workshop." 
 
 But the careful teacher will find a pleasure in 
 choosing his own subjects, and lie may often chooso 
 them so as to check some tailing which ho finds to bo 
 getting fashionable in his school. 
 
 i % 
 
 
 GEMS OF ENGLISH VERSE BY HEART. 
 
 Lot US add one more to the numerous subjects 
 taught now-a-days. Next to the songs they sing 
 nothing would more shape the style and character of 
 our boys than to learn by heart the noblest poems of 
 England's noblest j^oets — the best and noblest in the 
 world. Not only are they abiding treasures ready 
 for golden use in every lonely walk and hour of sick- 
 ness and sleeplessness, but, if well ground in and oft 
 repeated, they insensibly influence the words a man 
 Bays, every sentence he writes, almost every thought 
 he thinks. No man should be robbed of the deep 
 pleasure and deeper profit, for life, na}^, for death 
 itself, of knowing indelibly such ins2:)irations as Gray's 
 Elegy, Goldsmith's Village Parson, Eeade's Good 
 Night, Shelley's Ode to a Skylark, &c. Perhaps they 
 are best -'got up" for Public Speech and Eecitation 
 Days, which having, like everything else, some few 
 drawbacks, are on the whole of incalculable utility, 
 
 GEOGIIAPHT. 
 
 In teaching Geography give the scholars at the 
 end of one lesson the pronunciation of all the hard 
 words in the next. Again, we repeat that children 
 must never have anything to unlearn. If you cnnnot 
 get a full supply of maps, never bo satisfied till you 
 have a map of the Two Hemispheres at least, hanging 
 up in the school. If School Commissioners will not 
 buy one, get a subscription taken up from house to 
 
tpll 
 
 'If 
 
 GEOaRAPHY. 
 
 15 
 
 houso for it. Ono of tho required size costs 83.75. 
 Make tho scholars show with a, pointer in Ihis map 
 the approximate position of tho places mentioned in 
 the lesson. 
 
 Map-drawing is also most important. Make tho 
 children draw rough plans or maps of their school 
 room, the school grounds, and tho town in which 
 they live. For the last mentioned you may draw 
 them a copy on tho black-board yourself. Children 
 take great pleasure and interest in map-drawing, and 
 it trains at once the eye, the hand, and tho mind. 
 
 It is Avell sometimes in teaehing Geography to tako 
 a long imaginary journey. Let the class get up tho 
 places they will pass through, tho necessaries to bo 
 provided on starting, and what things will most pro- 
 bably be bought in each country. Trace your travels 
 on tho map. Ask the class sometimes where all tho 
 things they eat and wear come from. 
 
 Some say that to teach boys to recollect what they 
 arc told as distinguished from what they read in 
 books, it is best to teach somo one subject without a 
 text-book. Geography has been tried with success 
 for this purpose. 
 
 It is well for a teacher to inculcate a love for 
 scenery and the beauties of nature by occasional 
 carefully prepared, enthusiastic descriptions of the 
 marvels of geographical discovery. Enthusiasm is 
 catching. Take a vivid interest in your lesson your- 
 self, ancl your scholar will probably tako an interest 
 in it too. 
 
 For heights and distances, areas and populations get 
 some standard, as well known as possible to the 
 school, for comparison. For such standards some 
 take the height of the nearest big mountain or church- 
 steeple, the length of tho nearest river, the size and 
 population of the town they are in, — or of the Pro- 
 vince of Quebec — or of Great Britain. Deduce the 
 rough proportion which you assert by measuring with 
 
 i:-. 
 
 
 ■.'■.' i 
 
 i; i 
 
 I' 
 
' 
 
 If 
 
 11 
 
 16 
 
 niSTORY. 
 
 tho cyo on the map, (when feasible) as well as hj 
 actual divibion of tho figures given in the book. 
 Choose your own Blandards, choose them carefully, 
 and use them constantly. For small areas, tho sizo 
 of 3'our school-room is a very convenient standard. 
 Learning numbers, in lieu of some such rough pro- 
 portion as this, is cruel waste of time, and is that ono 
 process so mortally injurious to the memory — teach- 
 ing it to learn, parrot-like, by heart what it is sure to 
 forget, and has not even any serious intention of per- 
 manently remembering. 
 
 HISTORY. 
 
 To teach tho history of a country wo would suggest 
 that a very brief outline of tho chief events of tho 
 whole history of it be committed to memory by all 
 the class, and rapidly repeated by some one member 
 of it before every lesson. 
 
 Lines might be drawn across the black-board, ono 
 for each of tho centuries under review. These can bo 
 divided into decades by five vertical cross-lines and 
 breaks between them. An initial letter to suggest 
 each of the '' chief events" above alluded to, must bo 
 placed in its proper ])laco on these lines. The rela- 
 tion of tho subject matter of each lesson to the '' chief 
 event" which preceded and followed it, and its posi- 
 tion on the century lines must be briefly ])ointed out. 
 Scholars must draw these history charts for themselves. 
 
 Occasionally a rough map might bo drawn on tho 
 black-board, and the movements in a campaign be 
 given by moving i:)ins from place to place. Ai.uched 
 to the head of each pin might be a round ])ieco of 
 card-board with tho initial of the General it represents 
 on it. 
 
 It has been well said that " tho best way to teach 
 history is by a succession of weli-told talcs." Special 
 pointa of interest should occasionally bo got up by 
 
OBJECT LESSONS. 
 
 17 
 
 the scholars from more extended histories lent them 
 by the master. 
 
 OBJECT LESSONS. 
 
 The subject of object lessons is too large to be more 
 than alluded to here, nor can the art of giving them 
 be easily learnt from a book. Where object lessons 
 have reference to animals, a careful teacher would be 
 sure not to overlook so important an animal .as man ; 
 and in treating of man, would be sure to dwell on the 
 most important part of the subject — the conditions 
 under which he flourishes most; the laws of health, 
 that is, or hygiene. The points to which attention 
 would have to be called are fortunately few in num- 
 ber — the necessity of cleanliness, plain food, ventila- 
 tion, exercise, and early hours being the principal. 
 I could wish, indeed, that brief pointed treatises on 
 these subjects were in all the school readers (except 
 the first), so that a copy of them would be in every 
 house in the land. 
 
 In talking about the domestic animals, various ways 
 in which they are in the habit of being treated with 
 thoughtlessness or cruelty (whether it be by check- 
 reins, or unwarmed bits in winter, or any other way), 
 may well be alluded to. 
 
 PLAIN SEWING. 
 
 Plain sewing is one of the most delightful and pro- 
 fitable occupations of a housewife. It is ceasing to be 
 delightful, just because girls do not know how to do 
 it. It is, in its nature, as pleasant as fancy work. It 
 is useful and profitable. Fancy work is wasteful and 
 expensive, if not extravagant. Girls like to do what 
 they can do well. Now-a-days, they are not taught 
 sewing at home. They must be taught it at school. 
 The art of '' cutting out " garments of all descriptions 
 especially requires instruction. It is soon learnt, 
 easily taught, and a most valuable acquisition. Thq 
 
 
 i ^ 
 
 I I 
 
■It 
 
 18 
 
 PLAIN SEWING. 
 
 ^i|| 
 
 great complaint agaiiiHt our schools is that they teach, 
 our misses to be above helpiua^ their mothers. How 
 much more likely they will be to help to make their 
 brothers' and sisters' clothes, if they know how to do 
 it ! They will then be proud to show their superior 
 skill. What we do well, we do with pleasure. What 
 we do with pleasure, we are anxious to do. Mothers 
 will pay more in country parts to have their children 
 taught dress-making than they will to send them to 
 school. How much more will the parents, how much 
 more will the children, value their education, if it 
 leads directly to something useful and practical? 
 The Pharisees all taught their children a trade to fall 
 back on in adversity. We may well imitate them in 
 this, instead of inculcating that Pharisaic spirit of** I 
 am better than others/' which is fostered by a useless 
 education. 
 
 Our leading authorities on insanity are speaking 
 loudly of the evil effects of over-intellectual training. 
 There is no better medicine for the brain than the 
 work of the fingers. If a lunatic will do manual 
 labor, his cure is almost certain. By introducing 
 sewing into our girls' schools, Commissioners will avoid 
 the risk of being responsible for an evil too insidious^ 
 to be plainly detected, and too frightful in its effects 
 to contemplate. 
 
 But without any strain on tho brain, the art of 
 French conversation may be pleasantly acquired by' 
 an afternoon's sewing at regular intervals. That the 
 vocabulary required is restricted, is a great advantage. 
 Words can bo learnt at other times, but to get over 
 the mauvaise honte which prevents the young from 
 speaking a foreign language, the occasions for speak- 
 ing it should be natural, and tho vocabulary required 
 b*e very small. 
 
 Now, that we are speaking of French, we may sug- 
 gest that school directions be given in French, or 
 some one or more studies, — say, for instance, 'the 
 History of Canada — be pursued with the advance'd 
 
* REASONS FOR TRAINING THE EYE AND EAR. 19 
 
 classes, in that language. Boys often seem to be 
 taught the language of a foreign nation very unsuc- 
 cessfully by a member of that nation. An Englishman , 
 in teaching Fi'cnch to English boys, is at once more 
 quick to see the difficulties which the French language 
 presents to English minds, and is likely also to be more 
 ready and apt in explaining these difficulties; and, 
 finally, finds less difficulty, for the most part, in 
 securing attention and keeping order. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 REASONS FOR TRAINING THE EYE AND EAR. 
 
 "Choose the best life, and custom will make it the pleasantestT 
 
 CiCEKO. 
 
 We have wonderful power over ourselves. We can 
 train ourselves to enjoy anything, from living upon^a 
 pilaster (like St. S. Stylites,) or drinking absintiie,, 
 down to chewing tobacco. 
 
 Our happiness ought to arise mainly from the play 
 of our affections. But with most of us it depends/ 
 alas I in the main, on the use of our five senses. 
 
 Now we share these five senses in common with 
 most of the other animals. Even fishes hear, and mole§j 
 have eyes. Are, then, the pleasures derived fromi 
 each of these five senses all alike animal and alike 
 sensual ? No ; some senses yield very little pleasure 
 to brutes, and some yield pleasure to man alone. 
 This seems the law : '' In the exact order in which the, 
 '^ senses become less rudimentary, and able to appre- 
 "ciate more qualities in what they are exercised 
 " upon ; in the order in which their bodily organs are 
 ''(More curiously and wonderfully made; in the order, 
 *' in which they become more subject *lo scientifi<^ 
 "investigation and sc'jntific laws — in that exact order 
 " they become less shared in by the brutes and more 
 
20 REASONS FOR TRAINING THE EYE AND EAR. 
 
 *' enjoyable to man." And in this exact order, inter- 
 estingly enough, tliey are found to be less appreciated 
 by the uncultured and barbarous among men, and 
 more deserving of cultivation and appreciation by 
 you and me. 
 
 The subject is fraught with the deepest interest, 
 both in the way of knowledge, and also that one im- 
 portant thing in our lives, — Self-management. 
 
 Let us take the senses in order, beginning with the 
 lowest and most brutish. 
 
 
 (iip: 
 
 i 1;!! 
 
 TOUCH. 
 
 Touch is the most rudimentary. Looking to the 
 nicety of touch in Laura Bridgman, in the blind gener- 
 ally, in jewellers, &c., we should, at first sight, pro- 
 nounce it capable of much education. But it is com- 
 paratively capable of very little, as wo shall see further 
 on. It recognizes merely heat and cold, hard and 
 soft. 
 
 TASTE 
 
 yields the greatest pleasure in the life of the ordinary 
 brute and the ordinary man. Brutalized men recog- 
 nize very few and very coarse tastes in their viands. 
 The very degraded appreciate only the sense of touch 
 as food passes down the gullet, like the Greek who 
 wished ho was a giraffe, that he might have six feet 
 of swallow to feel his food with, forgetting that this 
 exposed him also to " six foot o' sore throat." The 
 highest intellectual life, the world over, is led by men 
 who derive a very great amount of pleasure, twice a 
 day at least, from having the sense of taste nicely, 
 yea, even artistically, ministered unto. *'What are 
 you crying for ? " said the Parisian to his daughter, 
 who had just lost her mother, " Haven't you three 
 meals a day?" And those who talk of "blighted 
 hopes and broken hearts " must find their flow c^ 
 grief diverted awhile when they ask for the pepper 
 
REASONS FOR TRAINING THE EYE AND EAR. 21 
 
 or complain of the absence of mustard. In a false 
 civilization, like that of Imperial Rome, the j)leasures 
 of the palate are made the great end of life — so much 
 so that they, the Romans, used to take emetics and 
 enjoy (?) two meals for one. In a crude civilization, 
 we have the chew of tobacco, the salt herring of the 
 saloon bar, and the spasmodic scathing of the throat 
 with alcoholic fire, 
 
 SMELL. / 
 
 yields but little pleasure to the animals. Cats seem 
 to like the smell of valerian. A battle was once 
 gained by knowing that elephants were driven half- 
 crazy by the smell of camels. Horses, it is said, pine 
 amid the reek of a pigsty. The poor seem often to 
 lack the sense of smell. On the other hand very few 
 men of deep minds seem to care much for the pounce 
 box or the perfuming of their handkerchiefs. The 
 sense of smell seems incapable of education. 7/e 
 have heard, indeed, of a scent-organ, by touching the 
 different keys of which, diiferent perfumes, in melo- 
 dies and even harmonies of odour, were let forth on 
 the astonished air so as to play a tune on a man's 
 nose. But we never saw it. 
 
 Scents have never been divided into orders and sub- 
 orders, and would seem to have been counted only at 
 the old Roman Colonia, sacred to the Eaux and Ughs ! 
 of Cologne. 
 
 " Cologne 's a town of martyr's bones 
 And pavements fanged with murderous stones, 
 It is a place of dirty wenches. 
 And celebrated for its stenches ; 
 A man, who in that city dwells, 
 Counts five-and-thirty different smells, 
 All well-defined and separate stinks" 
 
 And again : — 
 
 " The river Rhine, as is well known, 
 J Washes the city of Cologne ; 
 
 But tell me, O ye powers Divine I 
 
 What power on earth can wash the Rhine ? ' 
 
22 
 
 THE IMPORTANCE OF TEACHING 6INGIN0. 
 
 !i I 
 
 The eye and the oar are the senses we must labo- 
 riously train ourselves to enjoy. Choose the highest 
 pleasures, and custom will make them the most en- 
 joyable. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE IMPORTANCE OF TEACHINO SINGING. 
 
 " Let me choose the sonys qf a nation^ and let who will make its law»" 
 
 Plato. 
 
 Firstly, let us assume that singing interferes with 
 other studies. 
 
 Let us see what claims it has for preference. Why 
 should we not have a little less geography and history, 
 and a little singing instead ? 
 
 The character is more important than the mind. 
 Other studies train the mind, singing trains the cha- 
 racter. Music has the most powerful effect on the 
 moral nature of a child. 
 
 " Good children " are well-behaved. The better a 
 boy is, the more obedient will he be found. As sing- 
 ing, therefore, improves the character, it might be 
 expected to improve the obedience of the scholars 
 and the discipline of the school. And it is actually 
 found to do so. A careful inspection of every " supe- 
 rior school " in the Province shewed that where 
 singing was practised, the discipline was, without 
 exception^ good. 
 
 Of mental studies, reading comes first. In three 
 common schoc s out of four a child never reads (in 
 the real sense of the word) as he should, viz., with a 
 sympathetic and intelligent enunciation of the sen- 
 tence as distinct from the individual words, except 
 during the singing lesson. Singing may be made 
 one of the best ways to teach a child how to read. 
 
 «n;; :' 
 
THE IMPORTANCE OF TEACHINQ SINGING. 
 
 23 
 
 All tlio Five Senflos give us ploasuro. The lowest 
 senses are Touch, Taste, and Smell — being shared by 
 the animals, sensual, and incapable of training or 
 high development. 
 
 Music and beauty are the avenues to the highest 
 and most refined enjoyments. The nation that does 
 not by singing and drawing train the eye and the ear 
 to appreciate these, lags behmd in the march of civi- 
 lization, and even, strange to say, in wealth. 
 
 The eye and ear can be made to yield infinite plea- 
 sure, inasmuch as they can be infinitely refined and 
 cultivated, and many of the greatest pleasures enjoyed 
 through them cost nothing. Seethe immediate effect 
 of songs in making children happy. This alone 
 ehould insure their practice, even if they taught 
 nothing, instead of teaching (as they do) more than 
 any other subject. 
 
 Happy is he who makes children happy. Singing 
 makes scholars love their school, and thus, indirectly, 
 love the teacher. 
 
 Education should be moral, mental and bodily. 
 Singing not only improves the mind and the morals, 
 but strangely enough it affects the body, and that in 
 a vital point. 
 
 Lung and throat diseases '' slay their (thirteen or 
 fourteen) thousands '* in New England and New York. 
 Physicians attribute the freedom of the Germans from 
 these complaints to their national training in singing. 
 Hence, too, the German national broad chest. Hence, 
 in part, their orderliness, discipline and contentment, 
 and it certainly has not injured them intellectually. 
 
 And now it can be shewn that singing, instead of 
 interfering with, actually 
 
 HELPS OTHER STUDIES. 
 
 A boy will learn more reading, writing and arith- 
 metic in two sessions of eighty minutes, with twenty 
 minutes singing bc^^een them, than in three hours 
 of solid study straight off. We need not prove this. 
 
 i: 
 
 
24 
 
 THE IMPORTANCE OF TEACHING SINGING. 
 
 iii^^ 
 
 It is obvious. *' You do not seem to attend to yourles- 
 sonD," said a wise teacher, " Let us have a song." 
 They sang, and after the song they worked well 
 enough. It has been carefully estimated that even 
 lads of seventeen do not yield intelligent attention to 
 their studies for more than eighty minutes, and chil- 
 dren of nine for not more than twenty minutes at a 
 stretch. Hence we would suggest a singing lesson at 
 10 a. m., a recess at 11 a. m., a drawing lesson at 2 
 p. m., and school out at three o'clock. 
 
 A master shrinks from giving his first singing lesson 
 as a diver from his first plunge. ^' Novice-like, he 
 shivers on the bank," as Juvenal says. Force him to 
 make his dive, and ho will find it delightful. Now 
 everywhere it can be done. It has been shewn at Bos- 
 ton that ninety children out of a hundred can be 
 taught to sing, and it has been estimated that at least 
 ninety-five out of one hundred profit materially by the 
 singing lessons in the Montreal Schools. Teach the 
 children the words of some song. Everywhere some 
 kindly person can be found to drop in once or twice 
 and teach them some tunes. The scholars can theL 
 start the tunes themselves. Only one child in eighty 
 cannot sing ! 
 
 There is one more reason for teaching singing, 
 which, to the wise man, caps all the rest. It trains 
 men to take part in religious worship, and hence in- 
 duces them to go to church. The regular church- 
 goers are the support, mainstay and blessing of every 
 town where they live. Verhum sapienti satis. 
 
 We will conclude with some 
 
 RULES TO GROW A VOICE 
 
 1. Once or twice a day stand erect and throw the 
 arms slowly back five or six limes, in such a way as 
 to expand the chest. At the same time put your lips 
 in a position to whistle, and draw in your breath so as 
 to fill the lungs as full as they will bold. Do this 
 once before breakfast 
 
TEACH THE YOUNG TO DRAW. 
 
 25 
 
 2. Begin with half-an-hour's practice of singing a 
 day, and increase it very gradually to two or three 
 hours. Try one practice before breakfast. 
 
 3. Never sing after a heavy meal or when you are 
 hoarse, or have a cold or sore throat, or are in a very 
 damp atmosphere. Never eat indigestible things. 
 Avoid strong tea or coifee before singing. A glass of 
 cold water is the best thing to clear the throat. 
 
 4. Breathe at all times as much as possible through 
 the nostrils and as little as possible through the 
 mouth. 
 
 5. Practise singing the sounds " Ah " or " La," 
 or the syllables Do, Ee, Mi, Fa, &c., instead of the 
 words of a song. Practise scales a good deal. Open 
 the mouth very wide when singing. 
 
 6. Do not practise very much on any note which 
 you cannot strike true, and with ease. Avoid most 
 carefully any false or affected or '' put on " tones, or 
 ring of the voice, in singing, and urge others to tell 
 you of anything of the kind. 
 
 ?,■• ;«| 
 
 CHAPTER y. 
 
 
 ■4 
 
 TEACH THE YOUNG TO DRAW. 
 
 " Those who can draw hai>e always had the same power of daring all 
 else they likeP 
 
 Horace, Ars Poetica. 
 
 The eye and the ear are the only senses that yield 
 no pleasure to brutes, except by association. English, 
 and '' Canadian nightingales " indeed, evidently en- 
 joy the sound of their own voices, but they are like 
 Erasmus who could not enjoy a good concert for more 
 than thirty minutes, but could listen to his own poor 
 voice with delight for hours. 
 
 The eye and ear are the only senses spoken of as. 
 yielding pleasui'e in Heaven. 
 
 li 
 
26 
 
 TEACH THE YOUNG TO DRAW. 
 
 1^ 
 
 Who that has regularly "gone in" for real music 
 and real mountain scenery but would say, 
 
 " One hour of a passion so holy is worth 
 Whole ages of base gastronomical bliss ! " 
 
 The enjoyment of melody, harmony, pictures, ar- 
 chitecture, scenery, are free even from Satiety, that 
 Demon which, the Greeks believed, haunted all human 
 bliss. From the fount of their delicious springs, no 
 bitter flings its bubbling venom over the flowers, nay, 
 the appetite for them grows by what it feeds upon. 
 A musician and art student is like a man climbing a 
 mountain. Fast as by a little self-denial he learns to 
 appreciate a higher grade of art or music, so fast a 
 vista of other and higher grades still, opens out on his 
 delighted eye and ear. The rule is simple. Gaze at 
 the best pictures, hear the best classical music within 
 your reach. You will soon learn to enjoy it. 
 
 The higher senses divert us from sensuality. The 
 artistic eye or ear beguiles the mind, like a diverted 
 river, into moving less strongly in the channels of 
 lust and gluttony. 
 
 We double human happiness then by training our 
 children to take pleasure in these two higher senses. 
 Our daughters must be gently turned this way when 
 young plants. As the twig is bent the tree is inclined. 
 We need not restrict their enjoyment of delicately 
 flavoured fruit or food. These,»too, are God's good 
 gifts. But we should speak somewhat scornfully of 
 the pleasures of the table. 
 
 And we can do more than this. We have already 
 advocated that every child in our national schools 
 should be taught to sing. It is good for health and 
 for school discipline, and increases the amount of 
 other studies learnt. But also in Canada, 
 
 
 EVERY BOY SHOULD BE TAUGHT TO DRAW. 
 
 By this means the Dominion will be somewhat di- 
 verted from the costly national outlay for spirits and 
 
 I'' 
 
TEACH THE YOUNG TO DRAW. 
 
 27 
 
 tobacco, and lured to take the inex})ensiv^e unlimited 
 pleasure offered by the " beauty that's all around our 
 paths" For no one enjoys scenery like the artist; 
 and, moreover, a half hour's drawing (alternately 
 with singing) in the middle of a forenoon of book- 
 study, increases the amount of book-lore permanently 
 acquired. Besides the importance of design as a means 
 of practical education, the knowledge of design is also 
 of great practical value in many of the circumstances 
 of life. The knowledge of drawing is indispensable for 
 complete success in almost all the trades. He who 
 can reproduce his ideas by the aid of the pencil, rises 
 to the front rank in his profession. He traces as well 
 as executes, and naturally takes his place as leader 
 and director. The carpenter who designs well be- 
 comes a foreman, and often enough an architect. The 
 mechanic who designs, in many cases, becomes a suc- 
 cessful inventor. 
 
 To know how to draw is frequently a great help 
 to the farmer; he can thus make the plan of hi» 
 house, adapt it to its surroundings and to the various 
 uses which it is to serve. Drawing enables him to de- 
 scribe the particular vegetation, of which the name in 
 unknown to him, and the kind of insects which de- 
 stroy his harvests. He can fashion his tools and imple- 
 ments, and communicate his thoughts to others in a 
 multitude of cases where ordinary language would be 
 powerless. Again, the spread of artistic knowledge 
 is proved to enormously increase the value of a nation's 
 manufactures. At the exhibition of 1851, England 
 was last but one and the United States last in the list 
 of nations exhibiting manufactures requiring artistic 
 skill. England took alarm and established art schools 
 throughout the country. At the next Exposition, 
 England was first, and the United States still con- 
 tentedly last. And these manufactures pay the best 
 in the world. 
 
 The mere commercial man, anxious to see hi* 
 
 i 
 
 ip 
 
 country increase in wealth, can do it best by directing 
 
28 
 
 CLASSICS. 
 
 national attention to Art. Art is too often mistaken 
 for the foe instead of the foster mother of money, 
 while it is art alone that enables us to enjoy that 
 wealth with which her own teeming womb is pregnant. 
 
 1 
 
 l-l 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 fl 
 
 t^ 
 
 i:ii 'i' 
 
 CHAPTER YL 
 
 CLASSICS. 
 
 " Thumb well by nighty thumb well by day 
 The classics^ 
 
 HOBAOB. 
 
 Are we to give up classics ? This is just now the 
 all-important question in Canada. For if the happi- 
 ness of a country depends on its education, its educa- 
 tion surely depends upon what it learns. 
 
 One thing is certain ; if a boy can be so trained that, 
 when thirteen or fourteen years old, he will be a fair 
 accountant, a good jDcnraan and reader, and able to 
 write a good letter, a wise parent will secure this 
 before all else. Now boys are so trained in the Mon- 
 treal Protestant Public Schools. If classics prevent 
 this, classics must "fall by the board," and classics do 
 prevent this as taught in our so-called classical schools. 
 
 In favor of classics we have the voice of antiquity. 
 But are we not wiser than the aged ? Is not the voice 
 of antiquity wrong ? To obtain a final answer to this 
 question England appointed a Poyal Commission of 
 men of the most untrammelled and liberal minds. 
 They were not loth, we may well believe, to immor- 
 talize their names by inaugurating an entirely new 
 system of education. They reported unanimously in 
 favour of classics. This is surely conclusive. 
 
 Oxford is par excellence the classical university of 
 England ; Cambridge, the mathematical. Is it a 
 mere coincidence that Oxford has certainly led the 
 world in religious thought, the deepest subject on 
 
CLASSICS. 
 
 29 
 
 %i 
 
 which the human mind is exercised? Is it a more 
 coincidence that Oxford turned out Wesley, Newman, 
 Pusey, &c ? Is it a mere coincidence that the most 
 delightful companion wherever we go the world over, 
 is more or less of a classical scholar ? 
 
 There are many schools divided into classical and 
 commercial divisions. In all we have inquired into, 
 the boys on the classic side surpass their commercial 
 school-fellows in their own subjects! To such an 
 extent do classics enable the mind to grasp other sub- 
 jects with exact precision. At Oxford those who give 
 two years to classics, and six months to modern his- 
 tory, often obtain higher honours in the history 
 schools than those who have devoted the whole two 
 years and a half to modern history alone. 
 
 Let us now see why the study of classics is so po- 
 tent a brain-stretcher to train the human mind. It 
 necessitates the most intense concentration on the 
 part of the student. A boy can glance over his 
 geography lesson and chat meanwhile to a school 
 mate. But even to learn Musa^ he must think of 
 Musa and nothing else. 
 
 In classics a master can in a few minutes pick out 
 any single boy in a large class who has not learnt his 
 lesson, and hear in a few minutes what has taken 
 hours to learn. 
 
 In classics, small differences are all important. All 
 often turns on the one vowel that marks a difference 
 of case or tense. They thus train the mind to that 
 nicety of observation without which all observation 
 is nearly always useless, and often misleading and abso- 
 lutely harmful. 
 
 Again^ brutes reason. Articulate speech is the one 
 prerogative of man. Thought itself is unconsciously 
 conducted in unspoken words. What then can be 
 said of a man who does not understand his own lan- 
 guage ? English in forty more years (at its present 
 rate of increase) will be the language of the world. 
 Now the only way to understand — or " stand under " 
 
 ) Ivl 
 
Hi 
 
 30 
 
 CLASSICS. 
 
 ■ — the English language is on the foothold of Latin and 
 Greek. The ordinary words in Latin are used to 
 make up the extraordinary words of English, and the 
 shortest way to make a man sure to understand the 
 Bciontific portion of the English language is by a 
 short course of Smith's Latin and Greek Principia. 
 
 A lady once told us that she learnt more of what 
 language really is by an accidental glance at a list of 
 Latin and Greek roots and their English derivatives 
 than in all her previous training in a good school. 
 
 Grammar, again, is one of the sciences of language. 
 Accurate thought depends on accurate grammar. It 
 is therefore important to study the most accurate 
 grammars of the world — those of the languages of 
 Greece and Home. 
 
 The foundations of modern knowledge were laid in 
 the masterpieces of Greek and Eoman authorship. 
 Those who aim at improving the superstructure must 
 surely have some acquaintance with the foundation. 
 
 As " delivery " is all-important in oratory, so 
 " style " is all-important in writing. Surely then it is 
 indispensable to read the best models of style which 
 the literature of the world has produced, and it is well 
 known that all but a few of the foremost orators in 
 England have been foremost in attributing their suc- 
 cess to a study of the Greek and Latin classics. And 
 even Mr. Lowe, who deplores his classical training, is 
 a living instance of its efficiency. Lastly, every Pro- 
 testant at least will wish his son to read the New Tes- 
 tament in the original tongue in which it was 
 written, and drink the waters of Salvation in the lan- 
 guage in which they first flowed. 
 
 Some say that it is about as cruel to put a Yirgil or 
 Horace into an English boy's hands to teach him 
 Latin, as to put a Tennyson or a Eobert B. Browning 
 into a French boy's hands to teach him English. 
 They suggest that a book of easy conversational 
 Latin, like the Colloquies of Erasmus, should be used 
 as a text-book, and the boy's mind not confused with 
 
m 
 
 TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 31 
 
 a multiplicity of text-books. TVe found the De Officiis 
 of Cicero very easy and entertaining, and the De 
 Amicitia and the De Senectute, -which arc usually- 
 read in schools, very hard. 
 
 The conclusion of our argument is as follows: 
 Firstly — A boy should not begin classics to ani/ great 
 extent till he is eleven or twelve years old, when his 
 intellect will bo so far matured as to make pleasant 
 (because rapid) progress. Secondly — Vigorous mea- 
 sures must be taken to ease the drudgery of the study, 
 the inflections, the genders, the prosody. Thirdly — 
 Latin Yerse Composition may be deferred till the 
 age of thirty, if by that time a man finds nothing bet- 
 ter in the world to do. 
 
 ■! It 
 
 CHAPTER YII. 
 
 th. 
 ual 
 led 
 1th 
 
 HOW TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY AND 
 MAKE IT EXACT. 
 
 Teacher — " Have you a good memory ? " 
 
 Late-to-learn. — " That depends. If I am owed anything, I have 
 
 a capital memory. But if I am in debt / am rather forgetfulP 
 
 The Clouds. 
 
 This time-honoured joke of Aristophanes gives us a 
 clue to the best way to strengthen the memory. It 
 suggests that we remember best what we take the 
 most interest in. To remember a thing, then, we 
 must rouse ourselves to take a lively interest in it. 
 To make his pupils remember a thing, the teacher 
 must induce them to take a lively interest in it. This 
 will necessitate three things : — 
 
 Firstly — They must understand it, or they will not 
 care for it. 
 
 Secondly — The lesson must not be so long that the 
 interest will flag in learning it. 
 
 m 
 
1i 
 
 I ill 
 
 
 32 
 
 TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 i ■ 
 
 P : 
 
 
 Thirdly — The teacher must try and make the 
 scholars feel that it is important to them to learn the 
 task set, either to win the teacher's praise, or because 
 it bears on their interests in life. 
 
 Eoger Ascham enumerates three requisites for a 
 good memory. He says that the memory must be 
 trained to be, 1. Quick in receiving. 2. Sure in 
 keeping. 3. Ready in delivering forth again. 
 
 Now, 1. The memory will be quick to receive, if it 
 yield vigorous attention to the thing to be remem- 
 bered. 2. It will be sure in holding, if it doe3 not 
 try and grasp too much and if it also frequently goes 
 over its store. 3. It will be quick in delivering, if it 
 is practised in giving prompt answers to quick ques- 
 tioning, 
 
 VIGOROUS ATTENTION. 
 
 One rule that helps us here is eighteen centuries 
 old. It is, that the mind is impressed more keenly 
 by what flashes through the eye than by what passes 
 through the ears. Reduce what has to be learnt to a 
 tabulated form and draw it on the blackboard. In 
 many minds the exact position of a word or mark 
 will help the memory. A most successful lecturer on 
 anatomy in England used to draw bold sketches in 
 coloured chalks on the blackboard, of the chief plates 
 to be got up, and the same sketches always on the 
 same part of the blackboard. 
 
 The attention is kept vigorous by a constant use of 
 pen and note-book. Very brief abstracts should be 
 made of what is chosen for remembrance, but the 
 greatest care should be taken not to choose too much. 
 Between twenty and a hundred words are enough for 
 an ordinary chapter on history. Instead of proper 
 names the initials only should be written. This tries 
 and tests (and therefore strengthens) the memory in 
 going over the note-book. 
 
 Some recollect best by using symbols. Crossed 
 
 w 
 roi 
 
 tn 
 
 tal^ 
 chi 
 Hel 
 
 ta] 
 kn( 
 do 
 will 
 
TO STRENGTHEN TUE MEMORY. 
 
 83 
 
 in 
 
 swords, for instance, will represent a battle. Different 
 nations may have differently shaped Rwords. The 
 initials of tlie generals engaged may bo written at 
 the hilts. The initials of the place where the battle 
 was fought should crown the whole. An olive branch 
 will symbolise a treaty of peace. The death of a 
 man is suggested by the initial of his name with a 
 line drawn through it. 
 
 The discovery of an ajipropriato symbol for an 
 event is excessively interesting, and will cause some 
 subjects to be studied with eagerness which would 
 otherwise bo crammed with disgust. And intellectual 
 is like bodily food. If wo do not enjoy our meal, 
 we do not digest it bo well. 
 
 If a piece has to bo learnt by heart, some minds 
 will recollect it best by writing it out. 
 
 Others again learn a thing more quickly and surely 
 by repeating it aloud. A boy was once set the 
 singular of Mensa to learn by heart. lie tried to do 
 it and failed. The ])lural was then added to the 
 lesson. IIo looked tlie picture of despair. lie was 
 tlien made to read them out loud, and learnt both in 
 seven minutes. Wo once learned some Gorman poetry 
 very easily by reading it over once or twice just 
 before going to bod. Wo then lay down in perfect 
 quiet and forced the memory to recall it word for 
 word. 
 
 The above hints are suggested merely as aids to 
 rouse the attention. 
 
 When the mind is fagged with study it is no use to 
 try and force its attention. The student must then 
 take a rest, a breath of fresh air, a song, anything to 
 change the current of his thoughts ; and begin again. 
 Hence we must never pw^^^e over anything. Directly 
 you get confused, put tho matter aside and do not 
 take it up again till after some interval. If a well 
 known name has slipped the memory for the nonce, 
 do not worry about recalling it. Wait a while and it 
 will probably come of itself. 
 
 i'i; M 
 
34 
 
 i !fl 
 
 liii^ 
 
 TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 SURE DETENTION. 
 
 Our memory is like a pack-horso which should 
 accompany us through lifo carrying what wo want in 
 such a shape that wo can get it at a moment's notice. 
 But this pack-horse when suddenly overweighted has 
 a peculiar habit of slipping off its whole load. If by 
 an unnatural force of attention we prevent its doing 
 this and it once breaks down under its burden, then 
 we may have no chance of getting another such pack- 
 horse all our Uves. 
 
 It is true that we must strengthen our memory by 
 making it constantly carry all that it can bear with 
 ease. But we must put on small loads at a time^ 
 neatly arranged, and at first keep continually looking 
 to see if they are being retained in good condition. 
 
 The greatest injury to the memory is caused by 
 cramming up a lot of facts for a lesson, to be dis- 
 gorged when the lesson is being said, and then for- 
 gotten. The very few leading points in a lesson must 
 be carefully picked out by the teacher, the rest of the 
 lesson grouped round these in the way of illustration 
 or accessory, but these few leading points must be 
 constantly repeated in frequent reviews of back lessons^ 
 and on paper at regular intervals. 
 
 Marking the really important sentences in a book is 
 a great aid to the memory. The art of judiciously 
 marking his book should be learnt by every scholar. 
 
 In learning history a very brief synopsis with dates 
 of the whole period under review should be carefully 
 composed by the teacher, committed to memory by 
 all, and rapidly repeated by some one scholar before 
 each lesson. When a clear outline of the whole is 
 distinctly impressed on the memory, it is much more 
 easy to put any individual fact in its proper position, 
 where it will be readily remembered without special 
 efibrt. * ; 
 
 All this represents what is after all the great prin- 
 
TO STUENOTIIflN THR AJKMORY. 
 
 86 
 
 ''i:' 
 
 krin- 
 
 ciplo of the iirt of memorising — the observance of 
 order. Get a brief outline of the Kubject vividly 
 before you. Jot down the chief points of it on paper, 
 one under the other, leaving spaces between each . 
 Fill in the minor details in imai^ination or write down 
 some little word in small characters to suggest the 
 most important. Try and discover some law of 
 devdopment or reaction (the two great laws of history) 
 between the different parts of the scheme thus writ- 
 ten out. The mind will then retain surely, what you 
 have thus carefully committed to its keeping, for you 
 must load the memory with the very brief outline 
 alluded to, and that alone. The impressions inade 
 by this you must strengthen by frequently going over 
 it. All else will recall itself when needed, by the 
 mere force of association. You must make no effort 
 to load the memory with it. 
 
 The best way of learning English verse, which is a 
 common and good study to strengthen the memory, 
 and accustom it to carry reasonable loads, is shewn 
 by the principles laid down in the earlier part of the 
 chapter. The master must first see that the child 
 understands every line and every word of the lesson. 
 The scholar must then try to picture to the mind's 
 eye the event or scene described. The piece to be 
 *' learned by heart" must bo very short compared to 
 the learner's powers, but should be so learnt as to bo 
 repeated with rigid verbal accuracy, without the least 
 hesitation, and in spite of such distractions as each 
 member cf the class saying a line in turn, &c. Very 
 few pieces must be given to be learnt in a year (hence 
 the necessity of selecting the very choicest gems of 
 the best poets), but these pieces must be repeated 
 over and over again till they are indelibly engrained 
 into the memory for life. A teacher who, while 
 teaching one class, has to keep another occupied, can 
 make the latter write out the poems they know, or 
 the first half of each line, or the first word of each 
 line, without a book . 
 
 %m 
 
 •I 
 
 i. !l i 
 
 - ■ -f1 
 
 \ i 
 
36 
 
 TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMOUY. 
 
 i'l 
 
 % 
 
 CRAM. 
 
 But, after all, nearly every subject requires a certain 
 amount of "cram." Cram has been defined as intel- 
 lectual food, swallowed without previous ap))etito or 
 Bubsequent digestion. Such are strings of names, 
 lists of rules or exceptions to rules, inflections, para- 
 digms, kc. If these pills are to be bolted, it is surely 
 well to make them up in as small a com])as8 as possi- 
 ble. This is Fuller's advice, " Marshal thy notions/' 
 he says, *' into a handsome method. One will carry 
 twice as much when trussed, than when it flaj^s unto- 
 wardly about his ;shoul(lcrs." So Napoleon said that 
 "he had all his knowledge put away in drawers, and 
 he had only to open a particular drawer to get all he 
 wanted." 
 
 In learning a string of names, try and make some 
 word out of the initials. Thus Anzimebi gives the 
 initials of the names of the tribes of Israel on the 
 West side of Jordan, in order from North to South. 
 The consonant?? in the word ManGeK give the three 
 tribes on the East of Jordan. A name is generally 
 suggested almost instantancou«ly by its initial. By 
 the word Anzimebi the names of the tribes and their 
 pc ' n are recollected in one-fiftieth part of the time 
 .vise required. 
 
 ^x string of words is often learnt much quicker in a 
 tiing-song way than any other. Thus the Latin i)ro- 
 nouns : 
 
 "Ego, mei, mihi, me. 
 Tu, tui, tibi, te. 
 
 Wanting, sui, sibi, ee." 
 aro learnt all at once, in sing-song, quicker than any 
 single one of them w^ould be impressed on the memory 
 in the ordinary method. So it is with the Greek 
 pronouns, singular and plural. 
 
 Here the rhyme helps us, and rhyme, like rhythm, 
 is an important adjunct to the art of memory. How 
 quickly the signs of the zodiac are learnt in rhyme : 
 

 TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 37 
 
 ! 
 
 ok 
 
 " The ram, the Imll, the heavenly twins, 
 And lu'xt the (.rab the lion Hhinen, 
 The virgin and the scales ; 
 The 8e(ir[U(in, aivhor and sea goat, 
 The man that holds the watering pot 
 Andfish(s with glittering tails." , 
 
 Hero the voi-y tJiiilts in tho rhyme help to make us 
 rcmcmlier ii . 
 
 Tho rules when to put a capital letter in English 
 can bo reduced from two pngos to six lines. 
 " After note of exclamation ! 
 And of interrogation ? 
 Full stop . Proper names, words O and I, 
 Book, chapter, writing, line of poetry, 
 Words very reverential and very emphatical, 
 These nine begin with letter capital." 
 Tho teacher can eat>ily warn the scholar not to bo 
 misled by the last lino but one. 
 
 The rules for tho quantities of letters final in Latin, 
 which used to cover a couple of pages in tho gram- 
 mars of our unlucky boyhuod, may be reduced to a 
 score of short words, viz.: 
 
 Long are : — all vowels final except e, and c, as, 
 
 (( 
 
 n 
 
 es, OS. 
 
 " Short are — o final, and all consonants final except 
 " c, as, es, OS." 
 
 The exceptions are not numerous. 
 
 So the neuter terminations of tho third declension 
 in Latin are learnt at one effort of the mind by work- 
 ing them into the words " caletarmenurus," "Armen- 
 urus is hot." How much more quickly this is learnt 
 than such a list of terminations as al, ar, e, c, ur, us, 
 t, men. The masculine terminations of the third 
 declension make tho words " osor Neronis," i. e. cSy 
 cr^ A^, er, and o, making onis in the genitive. 
 
 ^[any Latin grammars devote a page or two to 
 those verbal notions which, when expressed by Latin 
 verbs, govern a dative. F ^ ressed in rhyme they fall 
 (exceptions and all) into six lines — 
 
 '] M 
 
 \\ 
 
 
I I! 
 
 
 I HI" 
 
 
 38 TO STRENGTHEN THE MEMORY. 
 
 <' To envy, spare, persuade, displease, 
 Heal, favor, pardon, study, please, 
 Command, obey, resist, or serve, 
 To threat, tell, trust, be angry with, 
 All take a dative case, observe. 
 Rut lasdo, juvo, jubeo, tli' accusative." 
 
 So with Mio rules for verbs governing llio genitive 
 and ablav.v'o, and all the otherwise dreary exceptions 
 to the rules of Latin grammar. 
 
 Tliose are all crams. But they belong to the things 
 which must bo crammed, and we maintain that the 
 fewer these are the better, and that the shorter they 
 are the better. 
 
 Things can be expressed in a shortei* form in verse 
 than in any other way. That is why Pope wrote his 
 Moral Essays in verse. So he claims. Truly, English 
 poetry admits of a wonderful display of terseness. 
 Take this excellent example — 
 
 " Whence but from Heaven, could men unskilled in arts, 
 
 In ditforent ages born, in different parts, 
 
 So wondrously agree ? Or how, or why, 
 
 Conspire together to contrive a lie? 
 
 Thankless their pains ; unpleasing their advice ; 
 
 Nothing their gains ; and martyrdom their price." 
 
 We subjoin the complete table of the Latin genders, 
 as an example of the rules we have laid down. 
 
 LATIN (lENDERS. 
 
 DOMINANT RULES. 
 
 Masc. are males, months, mountains, pi^oples, rivers, and winds. 
 
 Neut. are all indeclinable nouns. 
 Fem. are females, countries, cities ; Isles, most plants and trees. 
 
 GENDER BY TERMINATION. 
 
 Dec. I, II, IV, V. — Masc. us and er. Fem. a andes. JVeut. uand um, 
 Except. Masc. Adria and dies ; (but dies is fem. also, in sing, wheo^ 
 it means time). ,, 
 
A DEVICE TO RECOLLECT NUMBERS. 
 
 39 
 
 i 
 
 Fern. II. Coins, domus, nardus, 
 Alvus, humus, vannus. 
 IV. Colus, domus, idus, 
 Acus, marxus, tribus. 
 Neut. virus, vulgus, pelagus. 
 Dec. III. 3Iasc. Osor Neronis [i. e. os, or, n (except men) er and o 
 making onis in the Genitive.] 
 Fern. Is, es, As, Aus, and o making iuis and tio, us — utis, 
 
 nouns in 2 cons, and x. 
 Neut. C, al, e, t, Ar, men, ur, us (Armmurus is hot.) 
 Except. Masc. as and its compounds ; sal and sol ; ordo, carbo, 
 turbo, margo ; grcx, cortex, calix, vortex ; pes, paries, 
 vepres. 
 Nouns in is. Amnis, axis, cinis, collis, crinis, 
 
 Fustis, Fascis, Funis, Follis, Finis, 
 Unguis, anguis, ignis, orbis, ensis, 
 Sentis, sanguis, vermis, vectis, meusis, 
 Panis, Postis, Piscis, Pons, 
 Lapis, torris, hostis, dens, fons, mons. 
 Fern, cos and dos, caro carnis, incus, palus, pecus, tollus ; 
 arbor ; opinio, legio, regio. 
 Neut. vas, vasis, os and a^s. 
 
 Iter verber ver et, uber et cadaver 
 Acer slier piper, tuber et papaver. 
 
 ii; • ( I 
 
 CHAPTER YIII. 
 
 A DEVICE TO BECOLLECT NUMBERS AND DATES 
 
 EXACTLY. 
 
 um, 
 
 <*UKY's MeMORIA TK(mNICA. 
 
 a 
 
 e 
 
 1 
 
 o 
 
 u 
 
 au 
 
 01 
 
 ei 
 
 ou 
 
 >•• 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 
 7 
 
 8 
 
 9 
 
 0. 
 
 b 
 
 d 
 
 t 
 
 f 
 
 1 
 
 s 
 
 P 
 
 ck 
 
 n 
 
 g^,l" 
 
 "Deary me," exclaimed an old woman from the 
 country," '' I've forgotten that lawyer's name. But he 
 
 lives in Yorke street; number 857 or 587, or 
 
 875." 
 
 " It was number 758, aunty, I think," said lier 
 niece, " or 578 for sure," 
 
 It was neither. 
 
 Hi! ! 
 
 Wii 
 
40 
 
 A DEVICE TO RECOLLECT NUMBERS. 
 
 I 
 
 1 ■■:^i 
 
 
 I m 
 
 ji' 
 
 I'! 'f -' 
 
 One person in about ten has a vivid recollection of 
 numbers which never gets confused. The remaining 
 nine-tenths of the world will find Grey's famous 
 Memoria Technica, which can be learnt in ten min- 
 utes by word of mouth, almost invaluable to them 
 through life. 
 
 Wo despair of explaining it on paper. We will 
 however try to do so. 
 
 It consists in letting each of the ten digits be repre- 
 sented both by a vowel and a consonant, — and when 
 you have a long number to remember to combine the 
 representative letters into some funny or striking 
 word. 
 
 Firstly, as to the vowels. Of course a, e, i, o, u, 
 represent 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, respectively, as in the game of 
 Magic Writing. 
 
 Now a which means 1, and u which is 5, added 
 together make the dipthong au, which is 6 ; similarly 
 and i combine, and the dipthong oi means 7 ; and ou 
 similarly means 9. Eight is represented by its first 
 two letters ei. Y is neither vowel nor consonant, 
 (neither '' fish, flesh, fowl, nor good salt herring,") 
 and very properly stands for 0. 
 
 In consonants, B, the first in the alphabet, means K 
 
 D, the first letter of deux, is 2. 
 
 T. of course, is 3 ; and F is 4 ; and S is 6 ; and N is 9. 
 
 Big L stands, in Eoman numerals, for 50, and so 
 little I well represents 5. 
 
 P the^ in septem means seven, and the c in octo is 
 eight. 
 
 G and R stand for nought. 
 
 " Z stands for zero, 
 Which is nothing at all." 
 
 Now, supposing the old lady from the country wished' 
 to remember the number of the lawyer's house. It 
 wag 785. The equivalents of 7 are p and oi ; of 8 are 
 c and ei ; of 5 are I and u. So 785 could be " worked 
 into" pell and oiku. As she would expect to lose a 
 
 
A DEVICE TO RECOLLECT NUMBERS. 
 
 41 
 
 pile of money by going to a lawyer (if she knew any-, 
 thing of law) she would remember the number of th^ 
 house by the word '' peil " very easily. 
 
 Take another example. Cartier planted civilized 
 life on Canadian soil in 1534. Write down 1534 with 
 i':8 representative vowels and consonants under it, 
 thus: 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 a 
 
 u 
 
 fl 
 
 t 
 
 jO 
 
 b 
 
 I 
 
 t 
 
 / 
 
 From these we can make the words alif, alio, buiJ, (h\ 
 Of these we choose alif, and say to ourselves, '• Car-, 
 tier planted a lif. "We may soon forget the date, 
 1530, but we shall not so easily forget the word alif. 
 The whole outline of the history of Canada is 
 iriven with the 
 
 1 
 
 EXACT DATES REDUCED TO AYOEDS 
 
 in these three hexameter lines. 
 
 Cartialif, Champsyk, Assep, Kirksen^ Peasid Mai- 
 sod. 
 
 Lavalsun, Dollsassy, Phipsour, apar Walker, Acad- 
 pul. 
 
 Wolphun, Montgomerapps, Chatcat, Pa2:>inip, Do- 
 miniksoi. 
 
 Which is thus to bo interpreted: — Cartier brou^dit 
 European life to Canada in 1535. Jn 1608 Champlain 
 founcled Quebec and his men got sick. The com^mny 
 of 100 associates was founded in 1627. Quebec fell 
 before Kirke in 1620. But the English ownership of 
 Canada was set aside by the peace of 1632 and Maison- 
 neuve turned the first sod of Montreal in 1642. Tho 
 founding of Laval University in 1659 shewed that tho 
 sun of France was not set here, but lasted through tho 
 heroism of the model of the hero of Cooper's famous 
 ** Last of the Mohicans," in 1660, and the sotir tima 
 Admiral Phipps had at Quebec in 1690, as also the 
 
 I (11 
 
m 
 
 Mf 
 
 42 
 
 THE NATURE OP CHILDREN. 
 
 Wf 
 
 , i 
 
 appearance of "Walker in 1710. In 1755 England was 
 forced to pul the Acadians from their homes, a necessity 
 taken full advantage of in Longfellow's Evangeline. 
 Then Wolfe had the phun of taking Quebec in 1759, 
 followed by the raps Montgomery got in 1776. In 
 1813 America thought that England's adversity was 
 her opportunity, which is typified by the defeat, by a 
 handful of English troops, of overpowering numbers 
 of the enemy. In 1837 came Papineau's rebellion 
 with its many grave consequences. Lastly, in 1867 
 Canada became a Dominion. For as the destruction 
 of Canada, be it called Independence or Annexation, 
 will not come, we hope, before the Greek Calends, and 
 the time for pigeon-milking and ass-shearing, we 
 here end our chronicle. 
 
 By this device may be recollected the pages which 
 men's accounts are on in a ledger, &c. Thus, if a 
 man's account is on page 166 remember him by 
 the word ass. If on page 172 think of the word ape. 
 It has obviously countless similar uses. 
 
 Enough has been said to show that no teacher 
 should let his pupil leave school or college without 
 taking ten minutes to teach him the Grey system of 
 memoria technica. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE NATURE OF CHILDREN. ITS COMPONENT 
 PARTS ENUMERATED. HOW BEST TO IM- 
 PROVE AND DEVELOPS EACH PART. 
 
 lii 
 
 '* J/ our soul be a garden full o/ flowers and weeds, it were well we 
 began betimes to cultivate the one and pull up the other^ 
 
 Baooh. 
 
 If the business of teachers is to cultivate the young, 
 it is well that they should know the nature of the soil 
 they have to till. The human mind is a garden full 
 
1 
 
 'r'l 
 
 THE NATURE OF CIIILDllEN. 
 
 43 
 
 ^f plants which, according to tho way thoy are culti- 
 vated, will become noxious weeds, producing their 
 kind, or healing plants scattering blessings around 
 them. It is a complicated machine full of forces 
 which teachers may turn to their profit, or which will 
 surely work them harm. 
 
 Now the teacher can S( w no new moral plants in 
 the human mind. She can only check, trim, or do- 
 velope those that are there, in germ at least, already, 
 and according as they are properly or improperly 
 cultivated, they will work for good or ill. These 
 motives to action may be said to bo of three kinds — 
 appetites, de ; ; es and affections. They may be looked 
 upon as three sets of main springs to a watch, and 
 Plato would say that the appetites are made of iron, 
 the desires of silver, and tho affections of gold. Tho 
 appetites require to be somewhat checked, the desires 
 to bo guided, and the affections to be encouraged and 
 developed. 
 
 Every attempt to enumerate all these may be ac- 
 cused of being imperfect. But for the teacher's pur- 
 poses we will assume that there are six appetites, five 
 desires, and four affections, "Duty" is the sum and 
 oxpression of the due gratification of them all. 
 
 The appetites concern the body. They are the 
 strongest motives, as if made of iron, and are the moat 
 active in the undeveloped child and tho undeveloped 
 nation. Any asceticism, or attempt to crush them 
 out, is unnatural, and found to result in a violent and 
 ruinous reaction. Thej^ may be said to be six in 
 number ; the appetites for food, for dress, for shelter, 
 for exercise and rest, (alternately) and for sex. 
 
 FOOD. 
 
 We v'oro meant to enjoy our food. If we do not 
 enjoy it, we do not digest it perfectly. Indigestion 
 injures mind and morals. But the mind is best 
 diverted from its natural gourmandism by having it« 
 
 
»Tq?^., 
 
 44 
 
 THE NATURE OF CHILDREN. 
 
 'I I 
 
 il^'' 
 
 H 
 
 attention turned to higher objects. Man was possibly 
 made to eat that ho might have a pleasant chat with 
 his wife three times a day. At the same time a good 
 national education should result in producing good 
 national cookery. 
 
 DKESS. 
 
 The appetite for dress is instinctive, and can be 
 developed from the daub of woad, which satisfied the 
 naked dandies of aboriginal Britain, to the 3,000 
 dresses left bohind her by Queen Elizabeth. A teachei 
 should, by example, teach her scholars to be neat and 
 bright in their attire, but not gaudy ; to avoid the 
 vagaries of fashion ; to shrink from all shams and 
 imitations ; to wear nothing that is not real, and, 
 above all things, to bo modest. 
 
 SHELTER. 
 
 This instinct is satisfied with the cavo of the Trog- 
 lodytes and discontented in Ihc marble palace of a 
 Stewart or an Astor. The teacher should utilise it 
 by attracting children to school with a bright school 
 room, exquisitely neat, adorned with picture-tablets 
 and maps, and, if possible, with plants and ever- fresh 
 bouquets, or a stained glass window or two. 
 
 EXEHCISE AND REST ALTERNATELY. 
 
 Children should stand nearly as long as they sit in 
 school. They should, if possible, be changed from 
 seat to seat and room to room, in the course 'of the 
 day. The desire to exercise the muscles of the throat 
 should bo gratified by a morning and afternoon song 
 or hymn. 
 
 Next wo come to the five desires. There are one or 
 two more than five. But we will content ourselves 
 with discussing five : the desire to acquire, to imitate, 
 to retaliate, the desire of being noticed, and the desire 
 of knowledge. 
 
 c 
 1] 
 
 I.i 
 
 m 
 
THE NATURE OF CHILDREN. 
 
 ACQUISITIVENESS. 
 
 45 
 
 '1 
 
 This can bo gratified by assigning marks as a re- 
 ward, oven though tho marks lead to nothing, and 
 once given are taken no further account of. Tickets 
 and prizes take further advantage of this tendency to 
 got and keep. 
 
 IMITATIVENESS. 
 
 Example is better than precept. Your scholars 
 will be looking-glasses in which you will see your 
 own virtues and faults magnified. Like master like 
 man ; like mistress like maid ; like teacher like 
 taught. Bo industrious, punctual, low-voiced and 
 "silencieuse." Your scholars, though you may not 
 know it, are becoming so too. 
 
 GRATITUDE AND REVENGE. 
 
 Show your scholars tho greatness of gratitude and 
 tho pettiness of revenge. Anger is the instinct to 
 revenge, and hate is nothing but settled and deliber- 
 ate anger. Show that " anger is a short madness," 
 which makes the angry person unhappy, and tends to 
 shorten life. Ilenco it is devilish to tease or make 
 others angry without cause. 
 
 AMBITION. 
 
 Tho desire of being noticed is most ])otent for good 
 or ill. It dovclopes into emulation or envy, loyalty 
 or mutiny, a love of praise or even an itching to bj 
 punished. As a rule, an ounce of prai^^o goes as far as 
 a pound of blame. And tho best way to punish somo 
 evil-doors is by snubbing them. Teach your scholars 
 to despise tho admiration of poor judges, but to seek 
 the approval of tho good, the approval of their own 
 consciences, tho approval of their God. Taking places 
 in class, marks, reward-cards, prizes, are means of 
 evoking this potent spirit of emulation, which, if the 
 
 il 
 
 
 'i.'iM''MAiX--iJ- 1 
 
w 
 
 46 
 
 THE NATURE OF CHILDREN. 
 
 
 m 
 
 iif: 
 
 .1 Fli'i 
 
 il 
 
 ;■ !• 
 
 B 
 
 '1 P- ■ "'; 
 
 
 
 M 
 
 '■i 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 P 
 
 ' 3 
 
 
 teacher be impartial and equally aflfectionate to all 
 who do their best, will never degenerate into envy. 
 
 cumosiTY. 
 
 This desire of knowledge it is the teacher's main 
 province to gratify. It grows by what it feeds upon* 
 Wo have no word like the Greek Philomatheia for 
 ''the desire to know what we ought to know." The 
 Greeks had no word like our word Inquisitiveness, for 
 " the desire to know what we ought not to know." 
 Children desire to know all about the things they see 
 and the actions of the people they see. Hence the use 
 of object lessons. But they may be taught to love 
 study as a means of obtaining a deeper knowledge of 
 men and things. They love to be taught to sing, to 
 draw, to sew, to w^ork. But the first part of the day 
 should be taken for books, less pleasing at first but 
 more enchanting eventually. The teacher's main 
 object is to stimulate the love of knowledge in a right 
 direction. 
 
 The affections can hardly be over developed. The 
 main rule is that we must take care of our actions, 
 and our hearts will take care of themselves. We learn 
 to forgive by acting as if we forgave. We learn to love 
 by acting as if we loved. The old rule was, " Be what 
 you wish to seem." A more useful rule is '' to seem 
 what you wish to be." The highest of all affections is 
 the love of God. We attain to that by doing acts of 
 love to men. 
 
 He prayeth best who loveth best 
 All things both great and small, 
 For the great God who loveth us 
 He made them one and all. 
 
 To manage our motives aright, that is, to check our 
 iappetites, to control our desires, to develop our affec- 
 tions — this is Duty. But at every moment of our lives 
 we have an idea of duty. It varies according to our 
 previous training. We must both educate our con- 
 
THE NATURE OF CHILDREN. 
 
 4T 
 
 science and obey our conscience. " No honest man,'^ 
 says Butler, " will be long in doubt as to what is his 
 duty in any particular instance." In most cases con- 
 science gives an instantaneous verdict. The teacher 
 must train the scholar to do his duty in any particular 
 instance regardless of consequence, advising him of 
 the necessity of self-examination to see if his idea of 
 duty is not warped by self-interest or blinded by self- 
 love. If we act from duty it will turn out in the end 
 to be both pleasant and expedient. But if we make 
 pleasure and expedience our motive, wo shall end in 
 not doing our duty. Choose the best life, and custom 
 will make it the most pleasant. It will perhaps bo 
 useful to the teacher to have as complete a map of 
 human nature as our humble powers can present to 
 her. She can then train any young charge as Horace 
 was trained by his excellent father. To develop a 
 virtue she can point to the illustrious example of some 
 great man exemplifying it. To check a vice she can 
 point to the animal in which it seems to be a master 
 passion. Most of our actions are affected greatly by 
 force of habit. Any given action may come from 
 some one or more of many entirely different motives. 
 A man may put money into the plate in church, for 
 instance, firstly, because his parents trained him into 
 the habit, or, secondly, from the " Desire of Notice,'^ 
 or, thirdly, from ** Love to man, " or, fourthly, from 
 " Love to Grod," or, lastly, from a mixture of all these 
 four. And yet it is useful to know the motives whence 
 this action may sjDring to help to know the motive 
 power in any given instance. 
 
 A good many points in our " Synopsis of Human 
 Nature " require enlarging upon. We will select a few 
 of them. Firstly, it may be observed by looking at 
 the column of vices that they come mostly from over 
 ! development of the appetites, from under development 
 of the affections, and undxie development of the desires. 
 jThe " Desire of Being Noticed " developes into various 
 'forms, praiseworthy or blameworthy; into ambition, 
 
 i-u 
 
 : 1 
 
 ) 
 
 
 ?. ■', 1 : 
 
im 
 
 '■' ••:' . 
 
 ,1 
 
 (, ■ 
 
 ' III' ' 
 
 
 i 1: 
 
 m 
 
 
 48 
 
 THE NATURE OF CHILDREN. 
 
 emulation, envy, jealousy, vanity, prido besides other 
 and more subtle outcomings. It is coiivenient to refer 
 them to one simple germ, or instinctive desire. . 
 
 All our " Motives to Action" were given us for some 
 v(rise purpose. Take for instance " Imitativcness." 
 Through this, very young children pick up nine- 
 tenths or more of all their practical acquirements. It 
 sometimes seems to die out, or to be killed by some 
 mastering passion, in which case a man becomes 
 eccentric. In other cases men yield to it till they 
 follow their neighbours, right or wrong, like sheep. 
 "Fashion" in clothes is an amusingly foolish develop- 
 ment of " imitativeness." Its votaries are also much 
 influenced by a faulty outcoming of the '' Desire of 
 Notice." Wo despair indeed of seeing our wish accom- 
 plished that Fashion with its vices and its victims may 
 cease to be, and every rational man and woman dress 
 'exactly as is becoming to themselves and the climate 
 they live in. 
 
 It will be seen that no animal but man shares either 
 the highest motive " Love to God," or the lowest, "Love 
 of Clothes." A '-'Desire to Cook" might bo added to 
 the appetites, for man is not only distinctively the 
 clothes-wearing animal, but the cooking animal. 
 (With regard to the Formica Sanguinca, see Kirby & 
 Spenco's Entomology. They are so lazj^ that they 
 make the Negro Ants carry them round for exercise. 
 
 The fourth column reminds us of the classical 
 fancy that when God made man he made his character 
 a compound of all the qualities possessed by all the 
 animals, and is strangely suggestive of the idea that 
 many animals were made to show man the ridiculous- 
 ness of those " master passions " which result from 
 giving any one '' Motive to Action " full sway. The 
 law of " master passions " is hardly, however, such a 
 complete key to the study of human nature as Pope 
 'thought it to be in his day, when men and women 
 leeem to have run to greater excesses in everything. 
 
 The names in the fifth column are mostly those of 
 
ICJ 
 
 THE NATURE OP CEILDREN. 
 
 49 
 
 mon who ought to bo constantly alluded to hy the 
 teacher, as dark warnings or shining cxempUxrs, to 
 point a moral or adorn tales. 
 
 Ummidius is an example of the curious love of 
 coined money, which i.^ at first, we believe, desired as 
 a means, (or from Imilativeness of others) and then 
 rested in as an end. O. W. Holmes sa^'s that the 
 Eomans worshipped tlieir eagles, while the Ameri- 
 cans worship the dollar which is but the tenth part of 
 an eagle, but '*to atone for this," he adds, "they wor- 
 ship it ten times as much." But banks and bank bills 
 have nearly put an end to the absurd love of coins, so 
 prevalent, apparently in the days of the poet Horace. 
 Ho speaks of one rich man who nearly starved himself 
 to death from penuriousncss. His doctor rouses him 
 from his coma by having his bags of gold counted in 
 the room. Tho d^-ing man opens his eyes. *' Doing 
 this," ho says, ''while I'm alive." "Eat this," saya 
 the doctor, putting rice broth to his moulh, 'Ho stop 
 them." " How much did it cost ?" gasps the invalid. 
 "Nine pence." " The ex])ense will kill mo," the miser 
 moans, — and dies. Horace speaks of another who lay 
 in rags by his money-piles, cudgel in hand, trembling 
 at every sound, and at last is found dead from starva- 
 tion on top of them. 
 
 The man named Tarrare in our table hired himself 
 to eat food in quantities for a show till nobody would 
 be at the expense of satisfying his cravings. Ho 
 could hold twelve eggs in his cheek-pouch, and when 
 unfed, could wrap the skin of his belly round his body, 
 Janet McLeod, a native of Wales, laid so motionless 
 that it is said that one pint of water was all the nour- 
 ishment she required in four years, Hero there was 
 doubtless a llttlo imposture, ar.d a working of the 
 " Desire of Notice" which seems so busily omnipre- 
 sent. This latter motive was doubtless strong in tho 
 " Quictists " who lay for years motionless, in hopes 
 of attaining thereby to peculiar spiritual gifts, and iijc* 
 the monks of Athos, who, acoording to Carlyle, gazed 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 •1 
 
 m 
 
f.l I 
 
 60 
 
 THE NATURE OF CniLDREN. 
 
 immovably at their stomachs for years, in anticipation' 
 of a resulting " vision of the indcscribablo and glimpso 
 of the beatific." 
 
 It may bo observed that wo have put tho British 
 down as tho nationality exemplifying the motives of 
 "Love to God" and "Love to Man." Wo are far 
 from ea^'ing that tho ''good time coming" has ar- 
 rived, and that we exemplify those motives as master 
 passions. It is merely asserted that these motives 
 may be phiinly seen to be actually at work in somo 
 of us. And, indeed, at tho present day, who are giv- 
 ing more money towards hos])itals, towards tho build- 
 ing of chui'ches, and towards missionary effort, than 
 tho English speaking races ? Wo would honestly own, 
 however, to much partiality in putting down "Tho 
 British," as exemplifying the highest motives on our 
 list, BO instinctively and promptly as wo did, in making 
 Gilt the table. The missionaries of the other Westora 
 Eaces of Europe have been actuated by, at least, as 
 much pure love to God as tho English have in their 
 zealous and self-forgetful efforts' But that wc frankly 
 own our partiality may help to teach one great truth. 
 One of the main lessons to learn in studying human 
 nature is tho almost universal existence of this par- 
 tiality towards ourselves and all that belongs to us. 
 No man in a nice or complicated case is a fair judge 
 of right and wrong where his own interests aro con- 
 cerned. One of tho profoundest judges of human 
 nature has observed that *• the wish is father to the 
 thought." What wo wish to be true we have a great 
 tendency to think to be true. Our desires influence 
 our judgment and even our memory. If two men 
 start on a trip together, paying all the small contin- 
 gent expenses alternately without keeping account, 
 each is sure to think at the end of tho journey that 
 he, on the whole, has paid the most. It is amusing in 
 a court of law to see how the statements of different 
 honest and truthful witnesses tally, in their diver- 
 "•gence, with the amount of friendship each boars to- 
 
 do; 
 
 ext 
 big 
 
 mai 
 all 
 
r\ 
 
 THE NATURE OF CHILDREN. 
 
 61 
 
 Ivards plaintiff or defendant. Tt is most important 
 that everyone should start in life with a full know- 
 IcdfTQ that this warpini^ of the jiidLcmciit and memory 
 in fiivour of ..olf exists botli in himself and others. It 
 will prevent his passinii; too liarsh jiKli!;ments on liis 
 fellow creatures. It will make him feel that liis own 
 judnjment is not infallible, and Kuspect that where he 
 is disposed to bo quite sure that his estimate of what 
 is duo to him is correct, it miiy nevertheless bo faulty 
 and unfair. One of the most unfortunate things in 
 life is to have a low estimate of one's fellow-creatures. 
 Misanthropy is almost Bynonomous with unhappincss. 
 The misanthrope, or man who hates his fellow man, 
 is proverbially melancholy. If men see that you sus- 
 pect them they Avill in turn suspect you. It is al- 
 most more profitable in the end, to be sometimes de- 
 ceived than to be always suspicious. A man may as 
 well start in life Avithout expecting to got his full 
 rights ; 
 
 " This is a very good world wo live in, 
 To lend in, spend in, or to give in ; 
 But to beg, or borrow, or got a man's own, 
 It's the very worst world that ever was known." 
 
 A man often loses more by doing battle with ani- 
 mosity to get what ho conceives to be his full rights, 
 than by going without some fraction of them. 
 
 So much may bo learnt, perhaps, from imperfec- 
 tions in tho Synopsis of Human Nature, which will 
 be found in the next two pages. 
 
 But the main lesson to be learnt from our Table 
 of Motives is to know which to control; — the appe- 
 tites; which to develope equably and with care ; — tho 
 desires ; while we indulge our affections to their fullest 
 extent till wo rise through tho love of man, to tho 
 highest and most mysterious affection of which a hu- 
 man being is capable, " The Love of God," — and in 
 all this let us act on the Golden Rule, " Wo learn to 
 love, by doing tho acts of love." 
 
 i 1 
 4 
 
 i ill 
 
il 
 
 T ■TJ.'PT-— [7T'-5ipi" 
 
 52 
 
 BINOPSIS OF UUMAN NATURE. 
 
 S"^35ro:psis oif 
 
 Motives to Action, 
 
 Sknsb op Duty 
 
 . fLove to God. 
 
 ^ ■ Lovo to Man. 
 
 m 
 
 in 
 c 
 
 t-i I 
 
 H I 
 
 g ' Lovo (o Animals and 
 
 thin^^a 
 [Lovo to Offspring. 
 
 Of Life 
 
 Of Knowledge ... 
 Of being noticed. 
 
 E I To Imitato 
 
 en 
 
 To do as ono is done bj' 
 
 To Hoard 
 
 To Fight 
 
 Of Money. 
 
 xn 
 
 H 
 
 P 
 
 < 
 
 Hunger 
 Thirst.. 
 Love. .. 
 
 1 
 Exercise and Repose ' 
 altoraatcly 
 
 1 
 
 Shelter. 
 ^Clothes. 
 
 fi J 
 
 FoscB or IlABrr 
 
 ViETUES. 
 
 Piety 
 
 Philanthropy 
 
 Patriotism, &o 
 
 Self-forgetfulnc83 
 
 Courage 
 
 Philomathoia 
 
 Various 
 
 Docility 
 
 Gratitude 
 
 Economy 
 
 Courage 
 
 Liberality 
 
 Temperance , 
 
 Temperance 
 
 Gallantry 
 
 Muscular Chrietianity. . 
 
 Tranquility 
 
 Love of Homo 
 
 Ncatnees 
 
 Vices. 
 
 Ungodliness 
 
 Misanthropy,.. — 
 
 Ileartlcsinesa 
 
 Heartlessneas 
 
 Fear 
 
 Inquisitivonosa . . . 
 Various 
 
 Eccentricity 
 
 Revenge 
 
 Miserliness 
 
 Quarrelsomcnce3 . 
 Avarice > . 
 
 Gluttony 
 
 Drunkenness 
 
 Lust ••• 
 
 Fidgetiness 
 
 Sloth 
 
 Extravagance .... 
 Extrava«axLoe .... 
 
SYNOPSIS OF HUMAN NATURE. 
 
 53 
 
 :e3:tjj^j^ist isr a.i:tjjei:e}. 
 
 to • • ■ * 
 
 Animals Exf-mpltfyixc 
 Each MoTivK. 
 
 Mrn EXFMI'LIFYIVO facii 
 MO'IIVK AS A iMaSTLR 
 
 Pass. ON. 
 
 None- 
 Dog.. 
 
 Cat.. 
 Stork. 
 
 Hare. ■ ■ 
 Magpie. 
 Horse. . 
 
 Ape, Parrot, Mockingbird. 
 
 Camel 
 
 Squirrel, Ant 
 
 St. Paul. 
 Howard. 
 
 Wordsworth. 
 Rispah 
 
 King John. 
 Aristotle.. . 
 Napoleon. . 
 
 ^oldier Crab. 
 
 None. 
 
 Glutton . 
 
 Man 
 
 Monkey. 
 
 Swallow, Negro Ant. 
 
 Pausanias. . . 
 Hamilcar. . . ■ 
 
 S. Elwes 
 
 Charles XII. 
 Marlborough. 
 
 Tarrarre. See Popular 
 Phy biology, p. 113 
 
 Charles Lamb. 
 Byron 
 
 Sloth, Formica Sanguiuoa. . 
 
 Beiiver 
 
 None 
 
 Wandering Jew. 
 
 Janet MoLcod— Pfiilosn- 
 phical Transiictions '07 
 
 Nations Exem- 
 plifying I'jACU 
 Motive. 
 
 Cheops 
 
 Empress Eugenie. 
 
 The British. 
 The British. 
 
 Swiss. 
 Jews. 
 
 E. Indians. 
 
 Germans. 
 
 French. 
 
 Some African 
 Tribes. 
 
 Spanish. 
 
 Irish. 
 Jews. 
 
 Fijlans, 
 Swedes. 
 
 Red Indians nnd 
 Arabs. 
 
 Negroes. 
 
 Americans. 
 
 Parisians. 
 
tmmm 
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 SCHOOL PUNISHMENTS ENUMERATED. WHAT 
 ARE THE BEST FOR DIFFERENT PURPOSES. 
 
 " / too have oft f-om out the orbit dire 
 Of rod descending^ jerked my ha7id" 
 
 Juvenal. 
 
 It is interesting to find our Teachers after thirty 
 eventful centuries of Development and Eeaction, come 
 back to the conclusion that Solomon was wise. All 
 our best schools may bo said to "use t4\o rod." But 
 the rod plucked so unsparingly from Olivet, lias deve- 
 loped into the taws or the raw-hide-switch. The cano 
 puts too seductive a temptation into the master's liand 
 to let out any anger, malice or revenge that may inhere 
 in his natural heart. Even a mild application of it, 
 moreover, leaves on certain cuticles (and most j)rovo- 
 kingly sometimes on those of the worst boys in the 
 school) such black wheals and marks as sometimes 
 afford a serious handle against a blameless master. 
 
 But if occasions to use the birch will occur in the 
 best regulated schools, in the very best they occur the 
 least often. It should bo reserved, says Goldwin 
 Smith, speaking as President of the Ontario Teachers' 
 Association, for wilful idleness or disobedience. In 
 one fine Township Academy of 200 pupils, the cane 
 has only been used four times in four years ; in others, 
 once in two years and so on. And there is no surer 
 sign (as a rule) of a disorganised school than the in- 
 cessant rustling of the birch. 
 
 There is a case on record of a child of morbid or- 
 ganisation who died from excitement, produced by a 
 Very moderate whipping. Whereupon the recorder 
 of the fact argued that corporal punishment should bo 
 ubolished. But there has been more than one in- 
 stance known of a child dying from a fit of temper, 
 produced by the refusal of som^o childish Tperhapa 
 harmful) desire. But would any sane man argue that, 
 
I-I ' 
 
 SCHOOL PUNISHMENTo ENUMERATED. 
 
 56 
 
 jrs' 
 
 In 
 me 
 )r8, 
 irer 
 
 in- 
 
 or- 
 )y a 
 •dor 
 bo 
 in- 
 Iper, 
 liapa 
 phat, 
 
 for this reason, a spoilt child should bo allowed to go 
 on having its own way. Teachers should, however, 
 be very careful never to use a ruler in liitting a child, 
 and never to strike one on the head at all. A mere 
 ordinary box on the ears has been known to break tho 
 drum of the ear. 
 
 Of courso baardcrs must ex])ect and inherit many 
 times more punishment than day boys. In many of 
 imv smaller High and Model Schools, to give good 
 marks, or good conduct cards, for good conduct and 
 l^erfect lessons, — publishing tho results every month, — 
 or even an occasional talking to, is found sufficient. 
 Some call up an unruly big boy and say quietl}', ''You 
 Beem lidgety. Perhaps you want a holiday. Would 
 you like to go homo?" They often pay for their 
 schooling themselves, and do not like to lose it, and a 
 mere hint will help them to check the hot condition 
 of their blood. Odd punishments are in vogue in some 
 places. One of England's great exemplars was thought 
 to bo dying of consumption. Being poor, he wisely 
 took to peddling. Tho open air cured him. He then 
 taught, with a salary of £40 a year, and by his sarinjs 
 and personal influence endowed his school and built a 
 church. His punishment was to swing up his boys 
 in a small basket, head and legs ])rotruding, like a 
 cow being swung a-board ship. This often caused 
 vomiting and seems to have been elfectual ! 
 
 Wo have heard of a Wanderer from the West, said 
 to have kept his quiet school in Bolton, who never 
 punished and never scolded. If a boy misbehaved, lo 1 
 a bowie knife dazzled his eyes with menacing gyra- 
 tions and lodged between his hands or quivered in tho 
 wall behind his ear. A parent once entered his school 
 with "Hero's my two boys. Wollop 'em. Lick'cm. 
 They wants it. But, dang you, do n't you kill 'em." 
 
 A noble girl once had to break in a lot of spoilt 
 children. Ojio baulked all her efforts, he was so incor- 
 rigibly restless, till she stood him on tho floor, a book 
 balanced on his head, with a penalty for its dropping 
 
 '1 (; 
 
W: 
 
 8 ■■ 
 
 66 
 
 SCHOOL PUNISHMENTS ENUMERATED. 
 
 ' 
 
 off. That taught him to keep still and ho soon foil into 
 tho scholastic traces. Tho three last mentionorl forms 
 of punishment can hardly be recommended for imita- 
 tion ! 
 
 In some places tho scholars themselves give in tho 
 number of times they have transgressed tho ordinary 
 school rules of silence, &c. This is supposed to brcol 
 '•honour." But it is known to foster lying. Tho 
 "worst girls come cit with the fewest demerits. Ono 
 honest girl, too lazy to keep track of her crimes, gava 
 in regularly twenty bad marlcs a week. 
 
 Statistics show that taws, ruler, or cano is used in 
 about '(0 percent of our Provincial High and Model 
 Schools. More or less " keeping in " is nearly universal. 
 In ono school, noise, chattering, &c., is stopped (as 
 lucky people, say the Italians, have their meals,) ** at^ 
 tho ringing of a bell." Otlicr punishments are suspen- 
 sion, keeping in at recess or after school, sending home,, 
 reporting to trustees or parents, standing out on tho 
 floor or lines. 
 
 '* Linos," spoil the hand-writing and often keep a 
 boy in longer still, who broke rules from mere rest- 
 lessness owing to his being kept in too long already. 
 But they are a mighty convenience both to tho over- 
 worked and the indolent master. If any " linos " 
 should bo used, they should bo round text copies. 
 
 For rank disobedience a boy should either kiss tho 
 rod or leave the school. For lying, thieving or cruelty^ 
 we prescribe a severe threshing, or change of school. 
 Do not interrupt school WQrk to punish. Note the 
 punishment in a bools: and exact or inflict it after- 
 wards, at recess or after school. 
 
 Tho ideal punishment is not j'ot found, not oven in 
 tho pages of Wilhelm Meister, The Germans suggest 
 '*a form of muscular work not agreeable." ''Drill," 
 would bo excellent but involves a good drilling master.. 
 When will tho Scholastic Millennium come when delin- 
 quent school hoya trot ofF repentantly to saw wood ? 
 
 As to what punishments aro best for diflbront pur- 
 
ri 
 
 THE ART OP DISCIPLINE. 
 
 5T 
 
 posos; — For talking, &c., in school, try standing out 
 on tho floor; round text copies to bo written, and 
 poems, &c., to bo learnt by heart, out of school. For 
 coming late to school keep tho tardy ones outside tho 
 doors for fifteen minutes if tho weather bo not too cold 
 or wet. In somo cases it will bo found enough to 
 make t loso who como in behind time write their 
 names on a card" kept hanging up in tho school-room 
 for this purpose. If this seems to loso its effect wait 
 for tho beginning of a new term and impose somo 
 more severe penalty. For imperfect lessons try keep- 
 ing in at recess or after school. For insubordination 
 whip on the hand with the taws, report to tho school 
 managers or expel. 
 
 Finally, punishment should be certain, not long in 
 duration, sharp enough to bo well felt, seldom given 
 to many at once, never inflicted in anger, and never 
 inflicted on a child to mako him do something and 
 until he does it. 
 
 I' : 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 in 
 
 ■est 
 
 11," 
 
 ter.. 
 Ilin- 
 
 THE ART OF DISCIPLINE. 
 "And tho? she rules him ti,ever shows she rules^ 
 
 >'!. H 
 
 Pope. 
 
 **Boys are miniature men." Of course tho way to 
 discipline them is to emulate the way in which disci- 
 pline is best secured among men — that is, in tho Army 
 and Navy. 
 
 Obedience in battle, which makes men march to 
 death for a ''cause," which they understand littlo, 
 and care for less, — obedience in great things, is secured 
 by tho Ilab/'t of obedience in small things; I mean, 
 in daily drill. 
 
 Thus, orderly ways of behaving in class produce 
 perhaps tho habit of obedience. Tho habit of obeying 
 
 
 
68 
 
 THE ART OF DISCIPLINE. 
 
 l ! 
 
 ■1 
 
 8uch orders as *' Class sit ! " *' Class rise ! " " Seats I " 
 ^' Boys leave the room." &c., insenisibly produces dis- 
 cipline. But an unpractised teacher mm^t feel his way 
 in such things and introduce such things by degrees. 
 
 How else may we emulate Military discij)lino? 
 Pirst let us note that as jolces are unknown to the 
 parade ground and quarter-deck, so we should never 
 joke in school, until ihorour/hhj certain that wo uro per- 
 fect " masters of the situation." 
 
 Shorten the hours of work to five at least, but let 
 work be work and never joke in school. A joke re- 
 lieves the dominie-killing tedium of school. A joke 
 often explains a thing as nothing else can. A joke is 
 a lubricator whereby facts glide into the memory. 
 But jokes are death to discipline. 
 
 The master cracks a good joke. How can he pun- 
 ish some witling pupil for essaying a bad one in 
 repartee, which the class is sure to appreciate much 
 bettor? 
 
 " Full well they laughed with counterfeited glee, 
 " At all bis jokes, for many a joke had he." 
 
 Full often the class laughs at some pointless w^hispered 
 gibe about the master, under cover of laughing at the 
 excellent jest by which he fondly hoped to gain their 
 admiration and good will. The two very best discipli- 
 narians we have ever known in Canada never joked in 
 school. In school they never unbent. Out of school 
 familiar and pleasant enough, for its very rareness, 
 their kindly word was amusingly over-aj)])reciated. 
 
 Similarly all undignified expressions and the calling 
 boys by their nick-name or even christian names, 
 may be eschewed by tho teacher, just as they are 
 unknown to the officer. 
 
 Again, we may infer that those who would govern 
 should be men of very few words. Even the hen that 
 sits silent on an addled egg has a reputation for wis- 
 dom. 
 
I' 
 
 THE ART OF DISCIPLINE. 
 
 59 
 
 pli- 
 
 IC9) 
 
 aro 
 
 crn 
 Ihat 
 
 riS- 
 
 Spoak low. To epeak low to boys and then to tako 
 ono of thcni (to scold or punish many together, has 
 little elfcct or none) severely to task, lor not obeying 
 at once, works like magic. Tennyson's pretty lino, 
 
 " Her low firm voice and gentle government." 
 
 should give Dominie the hint required. " Like mas- 
 ter, like man." A loud voice in the master insensibly 
 makes every voice and noise in the school louder. If 
 the master speaks low the whispers of a pupil may 
 bo detected. It gives him a reserveof power, for when 
 ho does speak loud it startles and overawes from mero 
 novelty. 
 
 Dress well and get the scholars to dross neatly. I 
 know of two masters, whose power of discipline was 
 a '• minus quantity," who kept order for some timo 
 owing to the imposing faultlessness of their dress. 
 A college gown is not without influence. Teachers 
 should, more than other professional men, " starve 
 the belly to feed the back." And many boys put on 
 their good manners with their best clothes. 
 
 A great aid to discipline is to induce the Trustees 
 to get the room put into excellent order and to see 
 that the boys keep it so. The outbuildings should bo 
 made of uiiplaned lumber so as to check the disease 
 of scribbling on walls, which has haunted boys ever 
 ^inco they went to school at Ilerculaneum and Pom- 
 peii. Ink stains can be washed off the tops of brown 
 ash desks well varnished, and from oiled brown ash 
 they can be sand-papered out and leave no trace bo- 
 hind. 
 
 AS TO DESKS, 
 
 arrange the scholars at them so as to separato those 
 likely to be congenial in chattering and tricks. To 
 move a chatterbox's seat to ono among older, uncon- 
 genial boys, will sometimes make him silent as 
 Procno. i'erfect silence can perhaps hardly bo so- 
 
t !il 
 
 
 » if,' ; 
 
 tpifuiilil 
 
 P: 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 1^ 
 
 IB ; 
 
 .h..Mi 
 
 iNf 
 
 60 
 
 THE ART OP DISCIPLINE. 
 
 cured in our acadcmios with caso to tho master, but a 
 near approach to it nhould bo aimed at, except at well 
 understood intervals. 
 
 It is hard to peo how emulation can be secured 
 without making tho scholars take places in class and 
 marking down the places, giving the last pupil '^ one " 
 good mark, the next to the last "two," and so on. 
 Tbis will help to check irregularity of attendance, 
 that bane of Canadian Teachers. A good P]nglish 
 school would never dream of getting on without 
 "taking places." Or nine marks (to save ever having 
 to enter two digits in one column) may be given for 
 good conduct, or each '' perfect lesson," each day, and 
 marks taken off for each offence or mistake. Wo 
 know of ono school kept in order by tho simple 
 monthly publication of such marks. 
 
 BOYS AUE STRICTEST CONSERVATIVES. 
 
 On making any new rule in school a teacher might 
 carefully explain its advantage or necessity. When 
 made, ho must of course hold to it rigidly, right or 
 wrong. If it does not work he may as well fiankly 
 gay so and give it up. The enforced observance of 
 good manners is too often grossly neglected in our 
 echools. Tho Wykamist Motto is that '* Manners 
 Makyth Man." If a teacher fails to require the out- 
 ward marks of respect from his scholars he will soon 
 fail to secure tho inner sentiment. Example hero 
 does much. A nobleman once taught his tenants to 
 touch their hats to him by taking off his hat to them. 
 As to punishments, the less tho better, so long as 
 order is secured. See that tho boys get ])lenty of 
 hard exercise in field, garden or gymnasium, and 
 they w'ill bo much less restless in school. Much bet- 
 ter than keeping in is the reward of lotting boys go 
 at three p. m. in lieu of four, for good br-haviour and 
 when they have done an ample extent of work — 
 which they will do with this stimulus. In six thou- 
 
 ( 
 
now TO SECURE A UIGU MORAL TONE. 
 
 61 
 
 sand 3car8 tho world f-ccms to luivo got as hardened 
 to tho threat of punishnnent as a Public School 
 boy's hand used to ho to the cane, and tho main in- 
 contivo to good action seems to be the hope of sure 
 reward. 
 
 Want of etrict punctuality in the master saps tho 
 foundations of discipline, while to read a portion of 
 Scripture or have prayers on opening school, lias, apart 
 from its other overwhelming recommendations, a 
 magic effect on the discipline of the day. 
 
 To summarise. Talk very little. Speak low. Bo 
 punctual. Never unbend from a scholarly dignity of 
 manner and parlance. Arrange scholars and school so 
 as to promote order. Dress well and never joke until 
 you are sure you have your pupils all thoroughly and 
 completely under control. 
 
 I 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 of 
 and 
 
 DCt- 
 
 go 
 and 
 k- 
 
 lOU- 
 
 HOW TO SECURE A HIGH MORAL TONE IN A 
 
 SCHOOL. 
 
 " Talent divorced/rom rectitude is a demon rather than a God." 
 
 CnANNHfO. 
 
 To secure a high moral tone in a school the teacher 
 must first possess a high moral tone himself. Liko 
 master like man ; liko priest liko people; like teacher 
 like tauGjht. 
 
 A State Inspector once entered a school of high re- 
 pute in Canada as well as in the States, which was ap- 
 parently as perfectly administered as could well bo 
 conceived. Silence reigned supreme. The boys 
 were well up in their work, and moved noisclesslj" 
 about on tiptoe with the precision of soldiers. Tho 
 very corners of the slates were encased in cloth, that 
 they might not rattle against the desks. In looking 
 at the sciiolars' faces our acquaintanco conceived the 
 
 if 
 
 r? 
 
 
 t 
 
 r 
 
 
 . 'i 
 
 
 1. a 
 
 
 ■1 
 
62 
 
 now TO SECUllE A EIGII MORAL TONE. 
 
 iimi 
 
 :'A 
 
 I I 
 
 i I 
 
 impression that he was in the midst of a sot of In^'po- 
 critos. The master, he Icnew, had hccn c^niK}^ of somo 
 '*!smart" business practises. But not till two years 
 afterwards was it found out that under tlio fairest of 
 faces the scliohirs were untruthful and vicious. 
 
 The most important thin<jj to a man is the charac- 
 ter of his children. " Education," said Locke, " is res- 
 ponsible for nin^ ^nths of a child's character," and 
 teachers arc p y responsible for nine-tenths of a 
 child's education, ircncothe importance of securing, 
 at avij costy a thoroughly good and conscientious man 
 or woman to be the educator of our offspring. 
 
 The curious carelessness of parents in this respect is 
 a marvel that dates at least from the time of Eogcr 
 Ascham. Hear his pithy and pointed words : — 
 
 *'Tt is a pity that commonly more care is had 
 " among men to find out, rather, a cunning man for their 
 " horse than a cunning man for their children. God 
 "thatsitteth in heaven laughcth their choice to scorn, 
 " and rewardeth their liberality as it should. For 
 "lie sutfereth them to have well ordered horses, but 
 ''wild and unfortunate children, and therefore, in the 
 " end, they find more pleasure in their horses than com- 
 "fort in their children." Substitute the word "bu* 
 siness" for ''horse" in the above paragraph, and it 
 will apply as freshly to our days as if it were written 
 yesterday instead of three hundred years ago. 
 
 Fortunately, intelligent men and women have, as a 
 rule, finer moral characters than blockheads, and in 
 securing a good teacher we generally secure a good 
 man. 
 
 One great way to make the young honorable is to 
 treat them as if they were so. A boy's word should 
 always be taken, unless the master sees he has the 
 lueans of proving with absolute certainty that the boy 
 has told a lie. When this happens, a very serious 
 hiatter must be made of it. And every chance must 
 bo taken of speaking with the strongest scorn of false- 
 hood, cruelty, dollar-worship, and every kind of dis- 
 
 ac 
 
n • 
 
 now TO SECURE A HIGH MORAL TONE. 
 
 63 
 
 a 
 
 in 
 )d 
 
 honesty. Tlio history lesson will often oiTer such 
 chances. The Ibiindation of a hiiih moral tone is 
 triithl'uliicss. To produce this virtue a n.astcr must 
 ho strictly truthful himself. He must never lay 
 claim, hy im})licati()n or otherwise, to knowledge ho 
 does not j^ossess. He must eschew and discourage ex- 
 aggerations, lie must not only assimie his scholars to 
 bo truthful, but must throw in tlieir way no tempta- 
 tions to falsehood, flaking promises so often leads to 
 falsehood that a car-iful teacher will exact few if any 
 promises from his scholars, and warn them to bo 
 chary of making promises altogether. 
 
 Boys, when asked in a tone of confidence to own up 
 publicly, if they have committed any offence, will 
 generally do so. This strengthens the habit of truth- 
 lulness. If an oftcnco has been committed, and no 
 one will own to it, it is well, sometimes, to withhold 
 some pleasure or reward from the whole school. We 
 have known the perpetrators of an offence discovered 
 by suddenly separating the members of a school a 
 little from each other, and making each write sepa- 
 rately on his slate all he knows of the matter. Tho 
 guilty will then generally confess. This must not be 
 tried too often. 
 
 To make boys honest, make them feel they are 
 honest and be proud of being so. It is a good idea 
 to make scholars bring any article they may find 
 astray about the school, to the principal, and have it 
 publicly owned with a passing compliment to the 
 finder. Broken windo^vs, &c.^ should be voluntarily 
 acknowledged before the master asks any questions. 
 
 The careful educator must not only train his class 
 to obey their consciences, but ho must devote much 
 careful thought to the means of educating their con- 
 sciences. ^^Q folly, the meanness, the unprofitableness 
 of vice ana wrong-doing, may occasionally be pointed 
 out. It is best to do this in a conversational way, ask- 
 ing questions and eliciting and criticising the real 
 opinions of the class. 
 
64 
 
 now TO 6EGUKE A IIIQU MORAL TONE. 
 
 A| 
 
 II,) 
 
 mil 
 
 i {. 
 
 ill 
 
 i'l 
 
 Thoro is a^ood oxaini)lcof this " Soci-atic method " 
 in *' AbboL'w Teacher." The master overheard sorao 
 boya hweai'iiig in tlic ])hiygroinid. lie waits a day or 
 two, stated what he has heard, naming no names. Uo 
 then aslved ail who were wiilijig to aclvnowlcdgo 
 whether they used bad language or not, to stand upj 
 bade tlioso sit down wlio were guiltless ; bade thoso 
 sit down who wished to discontinue the custom; 
 epoko of the phenomenal dilficully of breaking oil' a 
 bad habit, and asked them to try and think out somo 
 means of stopping the practice, and promised to try 
 and think out somo such means himself. 
 
 The careful selection of subjects for compositions 
 may help to educate the consciences of the young. 
 
 Scholars can bo made to write on the follies or 
 vices prevalent in the school — the master cloaking his 
 object by giving a grand title or ]^hilosophical nomen- 
 clature to the subject of the theme. The young will 
 thus often find out for themselves the meanness or in- 
 anity of any, otherwise, pet foible. 
 
 A writing copy may occasionally (though rarely) 
 bo used for this purpose. Vfo knew of a school-boy 
 who had the happy (?) knack, learnt in New York, 
 of being constantly impudent to the master in a sub- 
 tle ^vay, which it was almost impos>iblo to punish. 
 At Iho same time ho was most officious in paying 
 little attentions to the teacher, in handing him book 
 or chair, &c. Long-suffering l)ominie one day quiet- 
 ly wrote him the words ** crawling impudence," for a 
 round text copy. The lad wrote a line or Lwo unsus- 
 
 Eiciously, till, by some mysterious system of school- 
 oy telegraphy, the joke crept round the class. All 
 ©yo3 turned to him derisively, for ho was no favorite, 
 and for the first time ho blusjfied. The final re;^ult jus- 
 titiod the dictum of Terence, " Erubuit, salva res est.*' 
 To rebuke a boy publicly is of little or harmful 
 effect. The dull get case-hardened to ill-reputo 
 among others. The sensitive suffer too much from 
 the fear of shame, in any case. Boys too have a ten- 
 
15 
 
 now TO SECURE A HIGH MORAL TONE. 
 
 65 
 
 i" 
 
 mo 
 
 or 
 
 Uo 
 
 Jgo 
 upi 
 
 lOiO 
 
 )m ; 
 )lVa 
 omo 
 
 ' try 
 
 >ions 
 
 g- 
 )3 or 
 
 g bis 
 men- 
 will 
 or in- 
 
 -rcly) 
 »l-boy 
 York, 
 a sub- 
 inish. 
 
 aying 
 book 
 qiiiet- 
 ' for a 
 insus- 
 Ichool- 
 All 
 rorito, 
 lit jus- 
 U ost.'* 
 irmful 
 'Oputo 
 from 
 a ten- 
 
 dency to feel nhamo for llio wrong thing, for ji bodily 
 defect instead of for moral vices. 'J'lio hcnsso of isliaino 
 pliould not be 83'stctnatically developed. A\ hat arc 
 bitterly needed now-a-days are men ti'aincd to in- 
 deneiidenco of mind, men who care for the aj)proval 
 ot Iheir own free conscience, and not for the '' vulgar 
 breath" of any crowd thathappens to be around them. 
 
 To take away a boy's self respect is to lose the one 
 means of his improvement. Find something in him 
 of which ho may be justly proud, and use that sound, 
 untainted part to work n])on, in trying to improve 
 the whole. Tersuado a boy ho has a repute for any- 
 thing, and ho will try to kec]) up his repuiation for it. 
 
 It improves the character to find for it improving 
 things to do. It has done some big girls good to give 
 them each some ono little girl to look after jnid help, 
 Getyonr scholars to help you, and they will soon love 
 you. Get the bigger scholars to assist to keep order 
 or teach in the scdiool, and you will soon lind them 
 enlisted on the side of discipline and good instruction. 
 
 Self-kr.owledge is a great means of improvement in 
 character. A teacher should see a great deal without 
 seeming to see it. But ho should forget nothing 
 which may help him to get a thorough knowledge of 
 each ])U]nrs character. Then, on I'are occasions, a 
 good, long, airec'tionato talking to, may work won- 
 ders. Ivingsley mentions an instance where a boy 
 found out that he was mean and cowardly and a liar, 
 and set himself humbly and manfully to work' to (caso 
 to be so, till lie grew up to be noble and truihlul and 
 courageous, '* sanspeur et sans 7'epronhe." 
 
 It is great thing lor the moral character to take 
 plenty of outdoor exercise. Athletic sports are the 
 very salt of English University and school life. A 
 master should stimulate the boys to take an interest 
 in school games. 
 
 Late hours injure the health, and therefore tho 
 moral tone. A master should forbid his j^upils to 
 study after nine or balf-past nine at night. 
 
 1 
 
lit 
 
 't 
 
 66 
 
 HOW TO SECURE A HIGH MORAL TONE. 
 
 Music not only Boothea but refines and elevates tlia 
 boyish breast. It is said that tlic ntitural scale of 
 musical sounds can only produce good and kindly 
 feelings, and the scale must be transposed if you 
 would call forth sentiments of a vicious and degraded 
 character. In German reformatories, music has been 
 found one of the best means to induce docility among 
 the vicious. Music, indeed, is not all powerful. Tho 
 ways of choristers arc not always as white as their 
 surplices. But perhaps choristers get too much 
 music, and the law of reaction sets in. Perhaps, too, 
 their moral sensitiveness gets callous by a too frequenu 
 handling of holy things. The general law, however, 
 is certain, viz : — That singing has, on the whole, an 
 im])roving effect on the charactei, and should bo prac- 
 tised in every school. 
 
 A tendency to bo cruel to the lower animals may 
 sometimes be checked by the microscope. A lad is 
 not so likely, lightly to maltreat them after seeing 
 tho marvellous beauty of every astonishing detail of 
 their mechanism. 
 
 A potent means to influence the young for good is 
 to put good story-books in their hands to supplant 
 the trash they will otherwise devour. Every school 
 should have a library, and every school library should 
 contain the works of Tom Hughes, Kingsley, Mar- 
 ryatt, Cooper, Dickens and Walter Scott. 
 
 Eut after all, all may well prove ineffectual so long- 
 as the daily practice of prayer and Bible teaching is 
 forbidden or disregarded. Eeligion is all in all or it 
 is nothing. We profess that it is something by the 
 very act of going to church. If, therefore, wo do not 
 practice it daily in our schools in a quiet business- 
 like way, by religious exercises and religious instruc- 
 tions, then our practice belies our | rinci])les, and wo 
 train our children to regard lightly all iho week what 
 wo unctuou'dy lay down to bo all-important on Sun- 
 day. 
 
H * m i«| Ri^^u'V, I W Hl^fiw^j""**^ 
 
 li 
 
 ha 
 of 
 
 -viy 
 
 ^'OU 
 
 Jed 
 ceil 
 ong 
 Tho 
 heir 
 luch 
 too, 
 ueni. 
 ever, 
 ?, an 
 prac- 
 
 1 may 
 ad is 
 ceing 
 tail of 
 
 ood is 
 )p]ant 
 school 
 hould 
 Mar- 
 long 
 ang is 
 1 or it 
 (by tho 
 'do not 
 siness- 
 istriic- 
 nd wo 
 [c what 
 n Sun- 
 
 TO MAKE A CHILD LIKK TO GO TO SCHOOL. 67 
 
 Well spoke George Washington when ho said 
 '* Eeason and experience forbid us to cx])ect that 
 national morality can prevail iriexcliiyion of religious 
 principlo." 
 
 CIIxVPTER XIII. 
 
 HOW TO MAKE A CHILD TO LIKE TO COME TO 
 
 SCHOOL. HOW AFFECTED BY LENGTH OF 
 
 SCHOOL HOURS AND BY SCHOOL 
 
 APPLIANCES. 
 
 ^* A School ought to be a noble asylum, to which children will come 
 with pleasurCj and to which their parents vjill send them with good 
 will. 
 
 Cousin. 
 
 Tho reason why children do not liko to come to 
 Bchool is rthat they are hajjpier elsewhere. Once 
 make a child happier at school than if ho stayed at 
 homo and tho day when school opens will no longer 
 be ''Black Monday" to him. 
 
 What then makes a child happy ? Play, bright 
 surroundings, physical comfort, being told things ho 
 wants to know, and, above all things, sympathy. 
 
 PLAY. 
 
 Tho real difficulty in attracting a lively boy to 
 school is tlie undeniable fact that he prefci's play to 
 work. ''I do so hate my lessons!" would be +lie 
 open confession of many a clever boy. Vigorously 
 to apply the mind is hard to begiji with, Just as it ends 
 with yielding the greatest pleasure in life, Tho 
 parent must insist on tho son's going to schcob tho 
 teacher must insist on the lessons being learnt — tluit 
 is the beginning of all educat'on. 
 
m T 
 
 68 TO MAKE A CHILD LIKE TO GO TO SCHOOL. 
 
 ; 
 
 :ii 
 
 |l 
 
 1 
 
 
 r 
 
 
 i : 
 
 i 
 
 tfii' 
 
 1 
 
 i''( 
 
 
 [L 
 
 \ 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 It ifl natural to animals, it is natural to children, to 
 love ]^lay. AVhero boys if they stay at homo arc 
 forced to work hard in the workshop or on the farm 
 they generally like going to school. A boy who 
 "hated lessons" was cured by being apprenticed to a 
 blacksmith for a week. But the love for play may bo 
 taken advantage of, to make school pleasant. Stimu- 
 late the boys to get up games daring recess, and 
 before and after school. Provide them with gymnas- 
 tic ap])liances however rough and ready. This was 
 actually found at Hull to increase willingness of at- 
 tendance. 
 
 *' Taking places " introduces a very desirable form 
 of play into the actual saying of lessons. It also pro- 
 motes order in class. 
 
 There is an old saying that ''one way to an Eng- 
 lishman's heart is down his throat." And truly tho 
 esophagus seems to afford only too ready an access to 
 the hearts of the young. A 3'early or half-yearly pic- 
 nic or pleasure party helps, by force of association, to 
 make children like their school. It also aids in gen- 
 erating a sort of csjyrit de corps, which may bo utilized 
 
 lor good. 
 
 BmGIIT SURROUNDINGS. 
 
 Keep tho school-room exquisitely neat. Never bo 
 content till its walls are hung with a few brightly-! 
 coloured maps and tablets. Grow a few flowers inj 
 boxes, ill summer, and encourage the scholars to bringi 
 you a little nosegay now and again. They will learn' 
 to love you by doings the acts of love. If they lovo 
 the teacher tliey will love the school. 
 
 Life is brightened by song. Xj school-day is com- 
 plete unless it is enlivened with song just, as the at-' 
 tention begins to flag, and tho mi ad to recoil from 
 study. 
 
 PHYSICAL COMFORT. 
 No child can bo happy long without. being comfor- 
 
TO MAKE A CHILD LIKE TO GO TO SCHOOL. 69 
 
 1 
 
 cr bo 
 irhtly-! 
 !vs inj 
 briiigi 
 Icarnj 
 lovo* 
 
 com- 
 thc at-^ 
 iTom, 
 
 ^tablo. For comfort a frequent change of posture is 
 incecssary. Cliiklrcn when left to themselves stand a 
 '"good deal more than they do at most schools, llenco 
 ,tliey slionld generally stand when saying their lessons, 
 and, if they like, when learning them. 
 
 One great canseof a feeling of ])hy8ical 0]")pression 
 at school is the unnatural depression (^f the dia])l:ragm. 
 when leaning over a desk. 'I'lie young should L>o 
 taught to sit as upright as possible, especially when 
 .writing. Their shoulders should alwa^^s be well 
 ,throwni back, and their chest well expanded. A little 
 drilling is a great thing. Atsonielessons, they should 
 stand with their arms lianging by their sides, at other 
 lessons with their hands behind their backs, and at 
 others ao'ain with their arms folded behind them. 
 Variety is the spice of life. Seldom if ever should 
 ii lesson last more than twenty minutes, and at each 
 change of lesson there shr)uld bo a change of posture 
 or place in school. A change of room is a great 
 thing, where feasible, to enliven a long school mor- 
 ning. 
 
 The desks should be comfortable. Foot-rests are 
 desirable, for there is always a stratum of cold air 
 close to the floor, and cold feet send the blood to the 
 head and depress the vital action. Children should 
 never be allowed to sit on benches wiihout backs to 
 them, and these backs should slope slightly backwards 
 out of the perpendicular. The edge of the scat should 
 he plumb — or in the same vertical line — with the 
 edge of the desk. This is the ])Osition in which wo 
 naturally put a chair when writing at a table. 
 
 Foremost of all roquii-ements for physical comfort, 
 the school-room must be well ventilated with openings 
 as near the ceilir.g as possible. 
 
 DESIRE OF KNOWLEDGE. 
 
 omfor- 
 
 Thero is a natural desire for knowledge in all minds, 
 
I:l :K 
 
 1 
 
 70 TO MAKE A CHILD LIKE TO GO TO SCHOOL. 
 
 OTily it has lo be turned into the proper channels. 
 Children may be expected to like learning, 
 
 1. If they are taught what they can be made to 
 
 want to know. 
 
 2. If tliey ai'o taught ideas, and not mere words. 
 
 3. If they arc tauglit no one subject, and m r.o 
 
 one place, for too long together.. 
 
 It was the deliberate opinion of the Piolesiant 
 teachers of the Province of Quebec assen)b'.ec) in 
 Montreal in 187G tliat "five hours a day and five days 
 a week is the right time to keep school/' The -iigu 
 ments adduced in favour of these shorter hours were 
 incontestable. Where they had been adopted both in 
 town and country, they were found to liave worked 
 most successfully. As the last feather breaks 'i^,e 
 camel's back, so it is the last liour between three 
 and four in the afternoon which destroys all relish foj* 
 school. This last hour causes often more trouble to 
 the teacher than all the I'cst put together. By thus 
 shortening the school-day a teacher has an hour for 
 an extra class or refractory pupil if necessary; other- 
 wise lie has not, for kee])ing scholars in till five p. m. 
 is known to injure the iiealth. Shorter hours pro- 
 mote work done at home alone, which is invaluable 
 for mental and moral discipline. 
 
 It is absurd to expect children to like school-work 
 if they are kept at it for a length of time which is 
 contrary to the laws of their physical and intellec- 
 tual nature. 
 
 SYMPATHY. 
 
 S^Mupathy touches "the electric chain with which 
 we are darkly bound." It is the thing which best 
 patisties (lor a time) those cravings alter the unat- 
 tainable, which show we are made for a liigher world 
 tlian this. 
 
 How few children get it even from their parents 
 or their school-fellows! It is the good teacher's 
 
iri 
 
 SCHOOL HOUSE AND SCHOOL APPLIANCES. 
 
 71 
 
 blessed privilei^e to give it more or less to all her 
 eclioliirs. It blesses her too in the giving. It blesses 
 those who give and those who receive it. 
 
 Every time the intelligent teacher praises or blames, 
 she can show sympathy. Instead of punishing stu- 
 'Tjidity let the teacher try and realise the difficuhies of 
 the young learner, and do her best to remove them. 
 
 A teacher should not restrict her social intercourse 
 to a lew — much less to one — of her scholars, but try 
 and have a walk or chat Avith almost all of them in 
 turn. They will often, unasked, tell her of things 
 going on in school of which she never dreamed. A 
 few words from her w^ill at times remove strange 
 misconceptions. She must also systematically visit 
 their ])arcnts. 
 
 By getting her scholars to help her in little ways a 
 teacher can often win their sympathies. It is a law 
 of our iiuman nature that we love whatever we benefit 
 and help. 
 
 By showing interest in her scholars a teacher will 
 often, in running across them in after life, be greeted 
 with a kindling e3'e and an amount of alfection and 
 deference which was altogether unexpected. Experto 
 crede. And many a dull scholar will love to go to 
 school, when sure of meeting with a dole of sympa- 
 thy, however small, from a considerate teacher. 
 
 H't 
 
 
 CHAPTER XIY 
 
 'hich 
 
 best 
 
 m)at- 
 
 vorld 
 
 SCHOOL HOUSE AND SCHOOL APPLIANCES. 
 
 " ]\^one hut a genius can do good work without good tools, and geniuses 
 are mostly useless.'^ 
 
 We will describe the best form of school-house we 
 have seen for a school where two teachers are cm- 
 ployod It had two stories. The upper story con- 
 tained a room for the girls. The ground floor con- 
 /tained the room for boys and a. class room. The 
 
1! 
 
 i 51 
 
 ^:l 
 
 ■ 
 
 '1 
 
 : 
 
 
 72 
 
 SCHOOL HOUSE AND SCHOOL APPLIANCES. 
 
 entrtincca were at the p^ablo end of the building- 
 Tvdiich faced the BOiith. One entrance-door, on your 
 left hand as j'ou faced north, was for the girls, and 
 opened almost directly on to the stairway leading 
 up-stairs. The door on the right opened into a ])jis- 
 Bage ten feet long which acted as a porch and for a 
 hat and cap room for the boys. Between this ])assago 
 on the extreme ritj^ht or east 3idc of the bnildini[>: and 
 the stair-case on the left, was a class room wnich com- 
 municaled by one door with the stair-case, and by 
 folding doors with the down-stairs school-room. 
 
 The principal took care of the boys down-stairs. 
 The girls w^ere np-stairs under the lady-teacher who 
 was qualified to teach singing and drawing. When 
 the girls attended the mathematical and classical 
 classes down-stairs they passed into the lower room 
 through the class room. 
 
 A two story shed can be attached to the north end 
 of this buikling, and the closet for the girls be in tho 
 upper part of it and thus kept quite separate and 
 distinct. 
 
 In all cases the teacher's desk should beat the north 
 end of the Rchool-house and the scholars should all sit 
 facing it. Thero should be no windows in the north 
 wall. No one should sit with light facing him., and 
 there should be as few windows and doors as possible 
 on the coldest side of a buildingc 
 
 The prime necessity of a school-house is good ven- 
 tilation. Carbonic acid gas is jioison and every school- 
 boy is giving it off copiously with each breath that 
 comes from his mouth all day long. Bad ventda- 
 tion causes depression always, disease ofien, and at 
 times premature death. Teachers or commissioners 
 who suffer children day after day to attend badly ven- 
 tilated school-houses are unconsciously guilty of man- 
 elanghtcr, We cannot speak too strongly on this point. 
 
 !Next, to securing good ventilation is the securing 
 of it without draught ; what we want is good air and 
 warmth combined. 
 
: I I 
 
 SCHOOL HOUSE and school appliances. 
 
 73 
 
 and 
 ding 
 
 pns- 
 for a 
 )Sagc 
 r and 
 
 com- 
 il by 
 
 itairs. 
 ' who 
 ^Vhcn 
 ssical 
 room 
 
 ;li end 
 in the 
 e and 
 
 north 
 
 all sit 
 
 north 
 
 , and 
 
 ossible 
 
 n 
 
 )d ven- 
 chool- 
 h that 
 
 ^cntila- 
 and at 
 >i oners 
 ly vcn- 
 )t man- 
 8 point. 
 3curing 
 air and 
 
 Now the outer air, admitted low down in a building, 
 passes Btraight to the stove-draught, chilling the 
 lower extremities of the occupants of the I'oom on 
 its Avay, ;ind passes straight up the Htove-])ipo with- 
 out being breathed, or oxygenating our l)lo()d, at all. 
 The hnvcr ])art of a school-room, the door-way esjieci- 
 ally, should be made as air-tiiiht as possible. Admit 
 air high up in a room. Make it ]~>a:-s through a*- 
 pipe or shaft upicanh from wi/houf, and strike against 
 the ceiling; there is tlieii no draught on the person. 
 The warmest air in a, room is that next the ccilin":. 
 Cold air is heavy. On entering a room high uji, it 
 sinks through the stratum of hot air next the ceil- 
 in<r, gets warmed by it>and on its way downwards we 
 get a chance of breathing it. 
 
 It IS plain then that the ventilation of a room should 
 be by pipes jiassing through the wall inwards aiidvp- 
 wards, and as near the ceiling as possil)le. A single 
 window lets in cold with very little air. Double win- 
 aows with an opening near the top (the inner window 
 being also open at the to]>) let in air with very little 
 cold. The sinc^le window alVoids ^url'aces which are 
 very cold and give out cold, just as a stove alturds 
 surfaces which are hot and give out heat. 
 
 Lut with double windows (the still air between the 
 outer and inner sash being a non-conductor) the sur- 
 faces of the inner window will be found comparative- 
 ly warm. The school stove should be close to the 
 door. A pair of clbow.s in the st()ve-])ipe, near the 
 Btove, will increase the heating power oO percent. 
 
 Let then the window\s of a school-houso be always 
 open r.t the top, but in the winter save fuel by a 
 double window. DDublo windows save lifty per cent 
 pel annum on their ])rime cost. A thermometer is a 
 ■useful thing in a scliool room. It should range from 
 60' to G5" Fahrenheit. 
 
 The desks of a school are generally three feet six 
 inches long, but, if four feet long, they will hold two 
 comfortably, and three at a pinch. The top or slab of a 
 
 \\{ 
 
 i .. 
 
 i 3,. 
 
 n 
 
 u 
 
 • 
 
74 
 
 SCHOOL HOUSE AND SCHOOL APPLIANCES. 
 
 ,1 
 
 »' • 'l! 
 
 II : 
 
 lii <i 
 
 desk Hhould bo 14 inches wide, and have a shelf under- 
 neath to hold books. The upriglit front of the desk 
 Bhould be about 30 inches high, and should form the 
 back of the scat of the scholar sitting next in front, 
 "which seat should be made in one with it. It should 
 tilt a litile backwards, and the seat may tilt a little 
 downwards at the back. A vertical section of a desk, 
 such as we describe, may be seen by referring to figure 
 13 of the Frontispiece to this book. Such a desk costs 
 betw^een two and three dollars, if of brown ash. 
 
 The desks should be arranged four in a row with 
 passages between them running lengthwise through 
 the \oom. None of these passnges should be less than 
 fourteen inches wide, while the middle one may bo 
 three feet, and the outside ones, next the walls, should 
 he two feet in width, at least. This will require the 
 Bchool-house to be between twenty-five and twenty- 
 six feet wide. For its length we must allow thirty 
 inches for each row of desks, ten feet for the master's 
 dais and space in front of it at the north end, and five 
 feet at the entrance or south end. Hence a school 
 room 30 feet long will Iiave six rows of desks, and seat 
 50 scholars, or, at a pinch, 70 scholars, putting three 
 at a desk. 
 
 A school-room 45 x 25 will sent 100 scholars allow- 
 ing them 11 square feet of flo( pace, and between 
 110 and 150 cubic feet of air spcao, according to its 
 height. Ten feet of floor space and a hundred cubic 
 feet of air space are the least amounts consistent with 
 the barest requirements of health. 
 
 The desks should be of brown ash, (the ''forest 
 marble " of Canada) the sides and scats being oiled, 
 and the tops well varnished with shellac. Ink stains 
 wash olf from a shellac surface, and its effect on the 
 edge of a knife suggests to school boys the folly of 
 carving the de^ks. 
 
 Brown ash looks very handsome, and will be found 
 cheaper in the end than soft wood lor desks and that 
 
SCHOOL HOUSE AND SCHOOL APPLIANCES. 
 
 75 
 
 its 
 >ic 
 Lth 
 
 "wainscotinc; (or '' sheathing ") whicli must run round 
 the Willis of every school house, to the height of throe 
 feet from the floor, to protect the plaster. 
 
 The cacoi'thes scrihendi which has infected school 
 boys since they scribbled obscenity on the walls of 
 Herculaneum and Pompeii, is cured by having the 
 outbuildings and woodwork near a school either of un- 
 planed himber, or '"sanded," instead of being painted. 
 If ])ainted, daric French Grey is a good colour. 
 
 The other equipments of a school may be divided 
 into — 1. Things indispensable. 2. Things verj de- 
 sirable. 3. Things desirable. 
 
 CD 
 
 It is very desirable that the school should have at- 
 tached to it a foir-sized jday ground, well fenced, sur- 
 rounded with shade trees, and provided with gymnas- 
 tic appliances. A school-clock (its face secured by a 
 locic) and a school library arc such advantages that 
 they almost deserve a place among things indispen- 
 sable. It is also most desirable that the Secretary- 
 Treasurer see that the teachers have access to his 
 copy of the Journal of Education. 
 
 It is desirable that prizes should be jirovided by 
 subscription or otherwise to be competed for at ter- 
 minal examinations. A big bell is desirable for an 
 Elementary School and very desirable for an Academ3^ 
 A bound school register for abstracts of monthly at- 
 tendance, lists of prizes awarded, records of the judg- 
 ments of inspectors and visitors, is required in most 
 couniries by governmental regulation. Flowers in 
 boxes on the window sills, and bright picture tablets 
 on the walls, have an excellent effect on the school. 
 
 As to things indispensable, no teacher should rest 
 contented till she has a desk properly provided with 
 lock and key and raised on a dais which must be at 
 least a foot in heir^ht. She should claim them as a 
 right, and press her claims. The teacher should also 
 secure plenty of hat-pegs for her scholars and one for 
 herself, and each scholar should have and use his or 
 her own peg. 
 
 11 
 
 i! !■• 
 
iu;->^ 
 
 76 
 
 SCHOOL HOUSE AND SCHOOL APPLIANCES. 
 
 Tho School Journal is tho property of the School 
 CommisHioncrH,an(l when iillecl must bo carefully kept 
 on record by tho Scci'etary-Treasurer. Equity, tlierc- 
 foro, as well as law, directs that it should bo provided 
 by thoui. The best (for their ])rico) we know of, ai'o 
 tho^o which can be ^ot by writint!* to the Gazette 
 Odice, Shcrbrooke, V. Q. They cost twenty cents a 
 piece, or $1 .75 a dozen. 
 
 Geograph}^ cannot be taii,L!;ht without maps. Those 
 of the size recpiircd can be obtained t'roni Dawson 
 Bros., Mor.treal, or Williams & Williamson, Toronto, 
 for about S.'j.OO each, or less. If one only be got, get 
 "The Two Hemispheres." 
 
 As well as, or instead of, a blackboard, large S]")ace3 
 on tho walls should bo painted with '• Canadian liquid 
 slating." This is procurable for SI. 50 a gallon. A 
 gallon paints eighty square feet. Common black 
 paint, whether applied to wall or board, makes too 
 "glissant" a surface. 
 
 The MacVicar apparatus is very useful for arith- 
 metic, but expensive. 
 
 A uniform set of text-books is a great desideratum 
 in a municipality. We confidently recommend the 
 following : 
 
 Arithmetic, Smith & McMurchy 25 cents, Sangster 
 25 cents. Book-keeping, Fulton & Eastman 50 cents, 
 Johnson 35 cents. Euclid and Algebra, Todhunter 
 60 cents. Mensuration, Sangster. Geography, Ilod- 
 gins $1. Canadian Atlas, 25 cents. English Gram- 
 mar, T.cnnio 15 cents, Davies 25 cents, Morrison 
 30 cents. History of Canada, ^liles 30 cents and 50 
 cents. Collier's Great Events of (ancient) History 75 
 cents. Maclear's Sacred History, 2 vols., 30 cents 
 each. Collier's British History, 50 cents. 
 
 For Beaders, use the Upper Canadian Series, Books 
 I. to V. ]-)rice 15 cents to (iO cents. (The errata in tho 
 last editions should be corrected.) Mavor's Spelling 
 Book is deservedly a lavourite. Bell's Elocutionist, 81, 
 contains almost all tho best poems by England's (that 
 
I'll 
 
 GYMNASTIC APPLIANCES. 
 
 77 
 
 is tho world'y) best poets. French, Duval's French 
 Grammar, 40 cents. J )uvars Reader, 30 cents. Miles' 
 History of Canada in French is doubly useful if used 
 as a French Feader. 
 
 Dawson's Agriculture (50 cents) and Zoology $1.25, 
 and '* McMillan's Primers'' take the lead in science. 
 
 F^or Singing, Sefton, 30 cents, is a marvel or cheap- 
 ness. 
 
 In claiming or supplying any of tho appliances 
 mentioned, teachers and commissioners should re- 
 member that '' good work needs good tools." Of all 
 places where it is important that work should bo 
 done \v^cll it is most vitally important in a school- 
 room. 
 
 ClIAPTEll XY. 
 
 GYMNASTIC APPLIANCES. WORKING SPECIFICA- 
 TIONS TO MAKE TIIEM CHEAPLY AND WELL. 
 
 <i 
 
 The mind should exercise a gentle, but no despotic control over the 
 bodyP 
 
 ArJSTOTLB. 
 
 The advantage and importance, physically and 
 therefore morall}', of gymnastics, is obvious to all who 
 have bestowed a thought to the subject. Of all tho 
 country High and Model f^'chools in tho Province of 
 Quebec they were in 1875 found in Hull alone. There 
 they were found to draw scholars to the school, to 
 make them come in good time and to improve their 
 physique, their manly bearing, and grace of move- 
 ment. 
 
 An objection has been raised that gymnastics aro 
 dangerous. The power they have to brace the char- 
 acter arises from the fact that they seem dang'^rous 
 
IMAGE EVALUATION 
 TEST TARGET (MT-3) 
 
 
 1.0 
 
 I.I 
 
 1.25 
 
 Hf 1^ 12.0 
 
 18 
 
 14 i 1.6 
 
 V] 
 
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 /a 
 
 % 
 
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 ^1 
 
 
 
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 \ 
 
78 
 
 GYMNASTIC APPLIANCES. 
 
 i ' I 
 
 : 'ff 
 
 i; 
 
 » "I' 
 
 and are not. Few tilings give dignity and self-respect 
 more than the scn^o oftUuiger calmly and voluntarily 
 undergone. Wo have known the history of several 
 large gymnasia for 8(mio years, and have only heaid 
 of one accident in them all, while casualties from 
 cricket, from foot-ball, and even from walking in the 
 streets, are known to evcrvone. The teacher who 
 refuses his scholars the advantage of gymnastics, so 
 healthful phy>ically and morally, for fear of incurring 
 a little blame Irom the narrow-minded, must himself bo 
 of a pitiful spirit indeed. We locdciorward tothetime, 
 when instead of one country school in the whole Pro- 
 vince of Quebec with a swing and giant's stride, there 
 shall bo hardly one '' Superior School " without them. 
 Suffice it to say that gymnasiums are found in the fore- 
 most seats of learning in the world. 
 
 Q'ho following plans and specilications of safe gym- 
 nastic appliances suitable for schools have been drawn 
 out after careful consultation with the very best au- 
 thorities on the subject. The object in them has been 
 to combine cheapness with durability. They are 
 suited both for out of doors and for indoor use. The 
 figures referred to will be found in the frontispiece. 
 
 FIG. 1 — THE PARALLEL BARS, 
 
 pppp. 4 posts (3'' 9') of 4'x4' cedar tapering on the 
 outside towards the top to 4'x2' so as to be flush with 
 
 bb. 2 bars (10" Jong) of 2'x4' spruce, a mortice 
 }'x4'x3' is cut into these bars, into which tenons on 
 .the posts pppp fit, to hold all together. 
 
 The distance between the bars inside is 18'. 
 
 dddd. are braces with a two foot run. 
 
 88. 2 sills (6'^ long) of 5'x5' cedar into which the 
 posts pppp are mortised. Extreme height of top of 
 bar from the ground, 3' 10'. 
 
 The bars project 14' beyond the posts so that the two 
 sills are 7" 8' clear apart. 
 • Price, about $5. , . •„. .• 
 
^^51 
 
 GYMNASTIC APPLIANCES. 
 
 79 
 
 the 
 Ivith 
 'tico 
 on 
 
 the 
 IP o^ 
 
 itwo 
 
 FIO. 2 — THE HINOS. 
 
 pp. 2 posts of 5'xr/ cedar, 12'^ hi<z:h above ground, 
 3'^ underground, (15Un all) fitting with 2'x5'x4' teuona- 
 into mortises in 
 
 c. a cup (5'^ long) of 5'x5' cedar. The tenon is only 
 M high so as not to go right through the cap. This 
 saves rotting. 
 
 rr. rings 5' in diam. of J' wire curved at the top (as 
 in Pig. 3) for the last link of ch. ch., chains 7' long 
 of J' wire with hooks at top so as to enter securely 
 into staples in c. the cap. Extreme height of the 
 top of the cap from the ground 12' 1'. 
 
 The rings will bo 4 ' 8' from the ground and IC apart. 
 
 Price about $8. The rings costing about %\, 
 
 FIG. 4 — THE HOUSE. 
 
 b. a log, rounded, with 4 legs, extreme height about 
 2^ 9' from the ground, of spruce 9' or 11' in diameter. 
 
 00. are round holes about 4' deep sunk in the horse, 
 into which are screwed 
 
 hh. handles of hard wood. 
 
 Price, about 83. 
 
 FIG. 5 — THE RUSSIAN SWING. 
 
 pppp. 4 posts 15'^ long (12'^ above ground, 3^ un- 
 der) of 5'x5' cedar, with tenons 5'x'2'x4' mortised into 
 
 cc. caps of 5'xo' cedar, as in Fig. 2. 
 
 rrrr. 4 rods f wire (10' long) fitting with hooks 
 securely into staples in cc. the caps. 
 
 The rods are fastened firmly with staples to 
 
 k. a plank 12'xl2'x2' ol planed spruce, oiled, which 
 will swing ] • 8' from the ground. 
 
 Extreme height from ground 12'^ 1'. Distance be- 
 tween posts 3' inside. 
 
 The plank projects 2'^ beyond the two sets of posts, 
 wliich will therefore bo 8^ apart, 
 i Price, $12 to $13. • ■ » 
 
I> i 
 
 so GYMNASTIC APPLIANCES. 
 
 FIO. G— HORIZONTAL OH VAULTING BAH. 
 
 pp. 2 posts 15'^ long (13^ above ground, 2"* under) of 
 6'x5' cedar, iii()rti>ed into 
 
 sss. 3 sills (one 12' long, and two of them 5'^ long) 
 of 5'x5' cedar, and braced to them every way; the 
 posts are also mortised into 
 
 c. a cap 8'^ long of 5'x5' cedar, as in the "Rings" 
 and *' Ptussian Swing." 
 
 Three feet from the ground two strips of hard wood 
 (2'' long) are spiked on each post (If apart) of ly 
 stuff pioje^'ting 2' from the post; in these are bored 
 holes of §' bore, 3' apart, into which j^ass pins, IT, 
 chained \ y a chain 2"* long to the posts. 
 
 Between tbe>e stri];)s of hard wood is 
 
 b. a riumd b;ir which can bo moved up and down. 
 If diam , of hickory or white ash, and sheathed with a 
 square foinile of iron If square and 2' in length ; 
 through each end is bored a hole of f bore (see fig. 7) 
 and the ])ins ])as3 through this and the holes in the 
 projecting ])iccci of hard wood, and keep the bar at 
 ary height required. 
 
 The bar may be made a iixture, whereby a saving 
 in cost is effected. 
 
 Extreme height of top of cap from the ground 
 13'^ 1'. 
 
 Price, $8 or $7. 
 
 no. 8 — ROUND-ABOUT OR GIANT STRIDE. 
 
 p. a pole of cedar (barked) 19^ long, 3"^ of it being 
 firmly ])lantod in the ground; the upper or small end 
 is G' in diam., upon which is driven 
 
 b. an iron ba-nd lj-'x|'. 
 
 t. a top piece with 4 hooks (as in fig. 9) of f iron, 
 which revolves on 
 
 c. a centre with a solid shoulder and body tapering 
 to a point (as in fig. 10.) 
 
 rrrr. 4 ropei f knotted at tho lower ends which 
 
NECESSITY OF CHEERFULNESS IN A TEACHER. 81 
 
 It 
 
 nearly reach the ground ; the upper ends are furnished 
 with thimbles (as in fig. 11.) 
 Price, about $4. 
 
 FIG. 12 — SWING. 
 
 pp. 2 posts 14'' long of 5'x5' cedar mortised into 
 
 Fss. 3 bills of 5'x5' cedar, and braced every way and 
 buried 2'^ in the ground. 
 
 c, a cap of 5'x5' stulT mortised so that rain cannot 
 enter to rot the tenons on pp. 
 
 b. a round bar with shoulders to keep it in its 
 place as it moves with 
 
 w^w. w^ires J' or ^' which are securely fastened to 
 
 6. the seat, which is 18' from the ground. 
 
 Price, about $5 
 
 A see-saw and a long narrow pole two feet from the 
 ground, supported on posts, on which boys can learn 
 to balance themselves as on a tight-rope, will bf 
 found cheap and favourite appliances. 
 
 il "! 
 
 <J Mi 
 
 I ••) 
 
 
 
 ing 
 
 )und 
 
 CHAPTEPv XYL . ' . 
 
 NECESSITY OF CHEERFULNESS IN A TEACHER. 
 PRACTICAL MEANS TO CULTIVATE IT. 
 
 J! I 
 
 )Oing 
 end 
 
 iron, 
 
 jring 
 
 rhich 
 
 'L4 merry heart goes all the day. 
 Your sad tires in a mile, oh I " 
 
 SnAEESPEAnB. 
 
 Cheerfulness is the teacher's greatest difficulty, hU 
 main duty, and, we may hope, his ultimate reward. 
 The scholars all sympathise unconsciously more or 
 less with him, and any brightness in his face is re- 
 flected in the faces around him. 
 
 , - .; "A universal largcpse like the sun, 
 
 His liberal eye doth give to everyone." 
 
 6 
 
 h 
 
ir"r 
 
 82 NECESSITY OF CHEERFULNESS IN A TEACHER. 
 
 \i ;iii 
 
 :. ,1 . 
 
 Childhood is naturally bright. Children do not know 
 the dark side of this world, and it must bo kept as 
 long as possible from their eyes. To a boy the world 
 is full of wonderful promise of joys whoso very nature 
 he does not stop to conceive. The teacher must, as 
 Oliver Goldsmith saj-s in the Vicar of Wakefield, 
 " be ever lenient to the innocent delusions which tend 
 to make a fellow-creature happy." 
 
 The teacher must throw aside all gloomy thoughts 
 on entering the school-room or he will be out ol sym- 
 pathy with all inside it. Ho must reflect that he is 
 not responsible for the progress of his scholars, but 
 only for doing his duty. He must be cheerful, too, 
 that he may expect cheerful obedience in them. If 
 we smile at the world, ^he world will smile at us, and 
 much more will the j'^oung do so. Other forces may 
 drive, but it is the teacher's quiet sustained cheerful- 
 ness that is to attract scholars to the school, that is to 
 attract scholars to himself, to their lessons and their 
 duty. 
 
 The teacher must see the bright side of everything ; 
 and, after all, everything has a bright side. All 
 blessings are given us richly to enjo}'. Troubles are 
 but blessings in disguise. The sun shines in the 
 highest heaven unaffected by all the storms of earth ; 
 the darkest cloud has a silver lining, and the blackest 
 hour of night is the one just before the morning. 
 
 The teacher, if any one, has reason to be cheerful. 
 The oiily real troubles in this world have been said 
 to bo two — sin and debt. The teacher knowing the 
 exact amount of his salary, and receiving it for the 
 most part very regularly, is not often in debt. As to 
 Bin, the teacher's profession can be kept more un- 
 spotted by the world, perhaps, than almost any other 
 on oarth. 
 
 Cheerfulness is aifected by habits of mind and by 
 habits of body. In mind the teacher must look on 
 the bright side of things, must take things by the 
 right handle, and must apply Wordsworth's favourite 
 
I i 
 
 NECESSITY OF CHEERFULNESS IN A TEACHER. 83 
 
 now 
 
 t as 
 
 orld 
 
 ,ture 
 
 t, as 
 
 field, 
 
 tend 
 
 ights 
 Bym- 
 ho is 
 5, but 
 1, too, 
 1. If 
 3, and 
 ■->, may 
 jerful- 
 t is to 
 . their 
 
 :hing ; 
 
 All 
 
 es are 
 
 n the 
 
 arth ; 
 
 lackest 
 
 [cerful. 
 In said 
 ig the 
 |br the 
 As to 
 Ire Tin- 
 other 
 
 md by 
 
 )ok on 
 
 |by the 
 
 rourito 
 
 text : " In everything give thanks.'* Many of the 
 little troubles of this life are much lightened by look- 
 ing at them in a comic light. In the words of Figaro, 
 "• We must make haste to laugh at everything for fear 
 wo should be forced to weep." To help him to see 
 vexations in their laughable aspect, the teacher should 
 read frequently the works of the great humourists, 
 Shakespeare, Moliere, Swift, Dickens, Thackeray, 
 AValter Scott and Sydney Smith. As the last-men- 
 tioned happily suggests, any one may well hope to 
 succeed in being humorous by a severe study ot hu- 
 mour. " For if a man," Sydney Smith says, '* apply 
 himself to the study of wit for six months with that 
 application which he would give to the mathematics 
 he will hardly fail in turning out an accomplished 
 wit." 
 
 Sad books, too, may be well eschewed by the 
 teacher. Besides its depressing tendencies, mourn- 
 ing over imaginary sorrows is the most heart-harden- 
 ing thing in the world. A teacher must avoid all 
 melancholy sentimentalism and, as much as may bo, 
 all gloomy companions. 
 
 But, after all, humiliating as the fact may be, our 
 cheerfulness depends very much on our bodily health. 
 If the health be vigorous the spirits are elastic. 
 There is an exultant buoyancy of animal spirits 
 caused hy a brisk and unimpaired performance of tho 
 animal functions which nothing else can give. To 
 secure this we subjoin some practical rules, the results 
 of the united wisdom of half-a-dozen doctors. 
 
 BULES TO KEEP CHEERFUL. 
 
 1. — Live in the open air as much as possible. Tb« 
 open air, especially where you can get a good broad 
 sweep of it, is i?/e; the want of it, Death, 
 
 2. — If a woman, do some housework. It is thd 
 natural work of woman, and those who shirk it fall 
 into unnatural disorders and sicknesses. 
 
 
 HI 
 
84 NECESSITY OP CHEERFULNESS IN A TEACHER. 
 
 3. — The room you occupy must bo sunny and airy 
 and bright and light ; and should bo lofty. 
 
 4. — Never be in.a room by night or day (unless it 
 be very cold or damp,) without the window being 
 open at the top. If endurable open it top and bot- 
 tom. Closed windows save fuel and cause death. 
 The air should be admitted inwards and upwards. 
 
 5. — Take all the exercise you can, short of absolute 
 fatigue. 
 
 6. — Sing, and inhale lungfuls of breath, once or 
 twice daily. 
 
 7. — Ensue early hours, cheerful company and plea- 
 sant little excitements, and plain food. Avoid every- 
 thing indigestible. Beware of quack medicines. 
 Touch them not; taste them not, and handle them 
 not, except to throw them away. 
 
 8. — Teach yourself to enjoy scenery and walks in 
 search of it. 
 
 9 — Bathe, walk, ride and drive. Eub the body 
 hard, night and morning, with the hands. Always 
 get the body into a glow after your bath or sponge 
 bath. If you cannot get a glow after bathing, do not 
 bathe. Have flannel next the skin from head to foot. 
 . 10. — Go through calisthenic exercises, night and 
 morning when undressed, or half dressed. That is, 
 throw the arms and elbows back, in various ways, in 
 such a manner as to open the chest, inhaling lungfuls 
 of fresh air the while. Lady teachers will find it 
 harder to carry this out regularly, than to swallow 
 pints of nauseous medicine, but most beneficial in its 
 results. 
 
 Teachers are apt to suffer from sleeplessness which 
 makes it almost impossible for them to be cheerful. 
 The best cures for it are to bo in the open air as long 
 as you possibly can without fatigue. A bath in hot 
 water, with a good sprinkling of mustard in it, or a 
 hot stick of stovewood applied to the feet will often 
 draw the blood from the head to the extremities and 
 bring on sleep. Cold feet often prevent sleep. A 
 
THE CONSOLATIONS OF A TEACHER. 
 
 85 
 
 pillow Btuffcd with hops makes some people sleep. 
 A change of scene, a change of bed, or ft hearty sup- 
 per, as ihey will sometimes interfere with sleep, so 
 they will sometimes bring it on. Sleepless people 
 should stay in bed longer in the morning, and keep 
 oarly hours. They should also avoid alcohol or any- 
 thing, physical or mental, which excites the brain. 
 
 After all, one of the best general cures is a sure 
 trust in Providence, and a certainty that all things, 
 even the passing fit of sleeplessness, is somehow work- 
 ing mysteriously for good. 
 
 CHAPTER XYII. 
 
 in 
 
 hich 
 
 Irful. 
 
 long 
 
 L hot 
 
 or a 
 
 aften 
 
 and 
 
 A 
 
 THE CONSOLATIONS OF A TEACHEK. 
 
 " Light lie the turf above our father^ headj 
 Who even to the Teacher paid all honour due I " 
 
 JUTENAL. 
 
 It is the " much-despised teachers' trade " of Cana- 
 da which is shaping its whole future history. It is 
 education which ** forms the National mind," and as 
 our nation's twigs are now being bent, in many a 
 quiet school-house, so will incline the future National 
 Tree. 
 
 How hard a thing is perfection ! And yai that act 
 \q perfect which gives innocent pleasure, and that mo- 
 ment of our lives is absolute perfection itself, during 
 which we are making others happy. IIow then should 
 we honour the teacher in hearth and hall if we believe 
 Washington, that *'a nation's happiness depends in 
 .'the long run, on its education," or Solomon, when ho 
 said, *'the price of wisdom is beyond rubies." Solo- 
 mon saw, a thousand years before Christ, that to edu- 
 <5ate a nation is to make it happy. We are only just 
 beginning now, to find this to be true. , ^ 
 
 I: il 
 
 ,1' V 
 
 H 
 
im 
 
 II fM 
 
 86 
 
 THE CONSOLATIONS OP A TEACHER. 
 
 " Tho work of a teacher," said Luther, " is nioro 
 potent than that of preacher. Having a call to tho 
 inferior office of preacher, I reluctantly forego tho su- 
 perior office of teacher." Such is tho uninalleablo 
 force of past habits, that a clergyman's task in tho 
 pulpit, often seems like that of one who is trying to 
 alter tho shape of a church-ful of anvils with a tack- 
 hammer. Tho very people tho preacher wants to 
 abuse for not coming to church are not there to hear 
 him, and those poor patient souls who trudged to 
 churoli to get a crumb of Gospel comfort, get some- 
 body else's scolding instead I 
 
 Not thus the school-master I Woo betide tho tru- 
 ant who stays away from his lectures. Ho has no 
 cast iron to hammer into shape, but plastic clay to 
 mould, and it, as moulded, dries as hard as tho bricks 
 stamped with tho ** laws of tho Modes and Persians 
 which cannot be altered," break them as you may^ 
 
 A law seems to have gone forth against the unedu- 
 cated, like that against Canaan of old, "and a servant 
 of servants " are the ignorant to their brethren. All 
 tho world over tho unlettered are mere hewers of 
 wood and drawers of water to tho educated and tho 
 learned. Our teachers are, under a common Father,, 
 tho true creators of mankind. So true is it, as a 
 novelist of Franco says, " From tho time a man 
 learns to read and write ho must date his existence.**' 
 Ho adds truly, *'Tho man who knows nothing goes 
 through tho world like a beast of burden. He works 
 for others, he helps to increase tho wealth of others^ 
 and when he gets sick and worn out others get rid 
 of him." 
 
 Another says, ** He who would see God in all things, 
 must value every particle of knowledge that may 
 help to see Him, as a grain of gold. Is it not tho 
 teacher who goes through tho world scattering thoso 
 golden grains ? " 
 
 Teachers, moreover, aro tho main instruments to- 
 prevent the growth of pauperism, idiocy and ci-imo. 
 
TUB CONSOLATIONS OP A TEACHER. 
 
 8T 
 
 There is the closest connection between the in- 
 crease of education and the decrease of crime. In 
 England, in 1851, one child for every 79 of the popu- 
 lation was under instruction, and one man in every 
 485 was in prison. Twenty years later one child in 
 every 13 persons was under instruction, and only one 
 man in every 1,480 was in gaol. Education increases 
 five fold, and crime decreases by more than two-thirds* 
 And it has been recently proved that since the par- 
 tial introduction of compulsory education, although 
 the population increases rapidly, crimes are, not only 
 proportionally, but actually, on the decrease in the 
 British Isles. 
 
 In the year 1826 there were in uneducated Spain 
 1,233 convictions for murdor; in England and Wales,, 
 with about the same population, there were only (13) 
 thirteen. 
 
 Dr. Elisha Harris has with infinite pains hunted 
 up the records of the descendants of one uneducated, 
 neglected, child. Her name was Margaret. From 
 her he has traced 628 descendants more or less re- 
 mote. Of these he can prove a great number to have 
 been idiots, paupers and prostitutes; parasites that is, 
 sucking the life-blood of the body politic. But actual 
 county records show that no less than two hundred 
 have been absolute criminals. He estimates that this 
 one uneducated child has cost his country not less 
 than one hundred thousand dollars. Truly, preven- 
 tion is better than cure. 
 
 Let not our teachers be discouraged. What if the 
 teacher or mind-moulder in Lower Canada gets an 
 average wage of less than 6450, while the machinist 
 or metal-moulder gets 8600 at least. That teaching is 
 not rewarded in this life, is a humble encouragement 
 to hope that it will be rewarded in the next. Hear 
 some of the greatest words of one of the greatest men 
 France has produced in five decades, "■ The teacher," 
 says M. Guizot (in uttering his fiat that rural France 
 Bhall bo educated, having been uneducated before,) 
 
 if 
 
il 
 
 88 
 
 SCHOOL ORGANISATION. 
 
 " tho toaclier must riso above the fleeting quarrels 
 which agitato Bocioty. Faith in Providence, tho 
 sanctity of duty, respect for tho laws, tho prince, and 
 tho rights of all ; — such are the sentiments he must 
 seek to devclope. Tho teacher's consolation must be 
 within himself. There is no fortune to be made, 
 there is no bright honour to bo plucked, in tho pain- 
 ful obligations which tho teacher fulfils. Destined 
 to see his life pass away in a monotonous occupation, 
 sometimes to be experiencing the injustice or ingrati- 
 tude of ignorance, he would often be saddened, and 
 perhaps would succumb, if ho derived courage and 
 strength from no other source than tho prospect of 
 merely personal reward. He must be sustained and 
 animated by a profound sense of the moral import- 
 ance of his labours. The grave happiness of having 
 served his fellow-creatures, and having contributed 
 unnoticed to the public weal, must be his consolation. 
 This, his conscience alone will give. It is his glory 
 not to aspire to aught beyond his obscure and labori- 
 ous condition, to exhaust himself in sacrifices scarcely 
 known to those they benefit ; to toil in short for man, 
 and to expect his recompense from God," 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 SCHOOL ORGANISATION. TIME-TABLES. 
 
 " 0/ organisation this the beauty is ; — let first 
 Be said what ought to be saidfirst, the rest > 
 
 For the nonce defers 
 
 HOBACB. 
 
 ^' Let us suppose that a teacher has made her maiden 
 appearance in a country school and finds some two 
 Bcore or fifty pupils facing her. What is she to do? 
 "What ought she to have done ? - - - 
 
 j(w;,jU 
 
SCHOOL ORGANISATION. 
 
 89 
 
 Sho ought to have visited tho school-houso a fort- 
 night before, if possible, to sco if tho building was in 
 good order, or to have written to tho Secretary- 
 Treasurer and asked him to tind out. What sh; 
 wants done, either in tho way of repairs or additional 
 school appliances, sho had better try and secure at 
 first, for people will mostly do more for a strango 
 teacher than tor one they know. *' Omne ignotum pro 
 mirifico." She should also have gone to the school- 
 house just before tho opening day and see that it is well 
 swept, provided with firewood, chalk for tho black- 
 board, &c., and that her desk is equipped with Bible, 
 pens, pencils, ink and paper and school register. She 
 should, finally, have been at her desk some timo be- 
 fore beginning work and made a friendly acquaint- 
 ance with several of her scholars, one by one, as they 
 came in, finding out their names and attainments, 
 and giving them each a kindly word to win their re- 
 spect and sympathy from tho first. 
 
 Punctually to the minute, school should be opened 
 with psalm or prayer. This, apart from its other 
 recommendations, has a marked efl'ect on discipline. 
 
 We would advise tho teacher to have with her a 
 sheet of paper ruled in three columns, which must be 
 headed " Class i.," " (7/ass ii.," " Class iii.," respectively. 
 This sheet of paper should bo ample in size. In 
 drawing up all rough copies of tabular statements 
 indeed, it is well to uso plenty of paper, ruling it in 
 ample columns, entering tho names, &c., very small 
 in pencil, so as to have plenty of room to make 
 changes, exchanges and corrections, and write over 
 the final result in ink before making a fair copy. 
 
 Having three columns on tho roll-call sheet, the 
 teacher can saj", " Let those scholars come to my desk 
 who are in tho first reader or who do not know their 
 alphabet." She must then put down their names in 
 the Class i. Column, assigning them places towards the 
 top or bottom of the column, according to their seem- 
 ing proficiency. Those in tho Second and Third 
 
f 
 
 ifl 
 
 si! 
 
 i 
 
 
 1,1 ?'H 
 
 90 
 
 SCHOOL ORGANISATION. 
 
 Eoader.^ can bo entered under Class ii., and those in 
 higher Iieaders under Class iii. 
 
 One of these classes can be ** called up," and the 
 rest put down to an Arithmetic Examination, tho 
 examples being set by the teacher on the black-board 
 and worked by the scholars on their slates. Then 
 the Other two classes can come up in rotation, the 
 roquisit'j sub-divisions made in them, atid the names 
 of those scholars who are to study Gcogra])hy, His- 
 tory, &c., entered on the class lists after they have 
 been briefly examined. By this course the teacher 
 will, in the course of the morning, have passed each 
 scholar under individual examination. Of its results 
 eho must make full and permanent record to use in 
 gauging subsequent progress. 
 
 A new teacher will find it more easy to learn tho 
 names of her scholars, if the classes are entered 
 alphabetically in tho register, and the scholars made, 
 at first, to stand in alphabetical order in class. 
 
 To have as few classes as possible in the different 
 subjects gives the teacher less trouble and the scholars 
 more interest in their work, and more instrur'j . 
 For a careful teacher can so manage her quest" s "" ^ 
 to keep alive the attention of a largo class of v y 
 diffiirent aijres and attainments. If we were force io 
 have two classes in Geography or History, wo should 
 often call both up together and make each hear tho 
 questions and explanations given to the other. In 
 thcso subjects, by tho way, it is often very advanta- 
 geous to make tho scholars in turn ask questions of 
 ono another, taking places in class tho while. 
 
 A main point in organizing a school is from the 
 first minute you declare school open to require perfect 
 Bilonco till you formally give the scholars a set num- 
 ber of minutes to communicate with ono mother. 
 " Cost le premier pas qui coute." ** Well-b^gur. is half 
 done." From tho very first minute tho teacher must 
 resolve to bo perfect master in the school at all hazardii- 
 If any boy on the first day show any tendency to wil- 
 
SCHOOL ORGANISATION. 
 
 91 
 
 .0 
 
 .id 
 
 tho 
 
 In 
 
 ita- 
 
 |s of 
 
 I the 
 jfect 
 lum- 
 ber, 
 lalf 
 
 LUSt 
 
 \rds- 
 Iwil- 
 
 fully break scliool-rcgulationH, the teacher should 
 kindly but firmly request him to wait behind after 
 school is dismissed for a private interview, and on a 
 repetition of tho oflcnce send him out of the room till 
 that time arrives. The teacher should hold tho power 
 of extreme punishment in reserve as long as possible^ 
 Undue familiarity with it only tends to breed con- 
 tempt. The eye is, after all, tho main instrument of 
 discipline. As in a good portrait, it should over bo 
 quietly omnipresent. A teacher should get into the 
 habit of "catching" his pupils' eyes with his own 
 and nipping all misdoing in tho bud by a glance. Ho 
 must practise looking his scholars in the face. Theso 
 are most important points, and must bo sedulously 
 and persistently acted upon. 
 
 •*When a thing is once discovered almost any on o 
 can improve on it," said Aristotle. We will end thi» 
 chapter with some time-tables for teachers to improvo 
 upon as special circumstances suggest. Before doing 
 BO we will enumerate the salient points ih Moseloy'a 
 famous tripartite system of school organisation. 
 
 His great claim is that each scholar should have as 
 much as possible an equal share of tho attention and 
 time of the principal of tho school. Tho principal 
 may be assumed to bo tho master-mind in tho institu- 
 tion, and the smaller pupils (so often neglected) de- 
 rive most benefit from contact with that master-mind. 
 The principal also, by watching it from tho first, will 
 learn much in a child's character which will bo dis- 
 guised from him in the highest classes of tho school, 
 and will be able to correct many tendencies which 
 would after a time become incorrigible. 
 
 Moscley divides each great division of tho school 
 day mtothrce Ql) sub-divisions; tho whole school must 
 then bo divided into three classes, and (assuming that 
 Iho school has a principal, an underteacher and mon- 
 itors) each class is to appear before tho monitors, 
 thu under-teacher and the principal in rotation dur- 
 ing one of these tripartite divisions of time. Thft 
 
 11 :« 
 
 1 
 
 ill 
 
 i 
 
I 
 
 li 
 
 Wt ' 
 
 In i : I'l 
 
 \l s' 
 
 iff;; jl 
 
 92 
 
 SCHOOL ORGANISATION. 
 
 monitors are to superintend the writing of copies and 
 exercises, slate Arithmetic, drawing, committing to 
 memory and even the teaching of *' mechanical read- 
 ing " to small classes of not more than ten members in 
 each. The mistress is mainly to teach reading. Tho 
 business of the principal of the school is to give oral 
 instruction, but he will also hear lessons, and review 
 and examine work done before the monitors and tho 
 mistress, and from time to time he will pause and re- 
 quire the children to write down their recollection of 
 the lessons he has been giving. Moscley thinks that a 
 school of 150 children can thus be well administered 
 by two teachers and three or four unpaid pupil teachers 
 or monitors. 
 
 In making out a time-table the important thing is 
 to assign the right amount of time to tho different 
 subjects. The standard to be aimed at is thought, by 
 good authorities, to be somewhat as follows : 
 
 Wo will divide children into three grades of the 
 average ages of nine, twelve and fifteen years respec- 
 tively. We will call them, for convenience, grades 
 one, two and three, grade one being the youngest. 
 
 Assume 5 school-days to the week. Then allow 5 
 hours schooling a day for grade i. ; 5 hours and 40 
 minutes for grade ii. ; 6 hours for grade iii. 
 
 Out of this, allow, each day, 40 minutes for opening 
 and closing school, intermissions, addresses, &c. ; 20 
 minutes a day each for (1) Singing and Drawing, (2) 
 Geography and Object Lessons, and (3) Scripture 
 History and religious instruction; in all 100 minutes.' 
 
 This leaves us 200 minutes a day for grade i., whiclv 
 may be thus spent: — Reading and preparing readirig, 
 lesson 60 minutes; Writing on copy-book and 8lat^'40 
 minutes; Spelling 40 minutes ; Miscellaneous Exercigos 
 20 minutes; Arithmetic and Tables 40 minutes. 
 
 For Grade ii. we had originally 5 school-days of 340 
 minutes each. Of these 340 minutes we have devoted, 
 100 in all to aosthetics, morals, Natural Science, &c.^ 
 This loaves us 1 ,200 minutes a week. Take for Read- 
 
ies and 
 Aug to 
 il read- 
 bers in 
 . Tho 
 vo oral 
 review 
 ind tho 
 and re- 
 ition of 
 9 that a 
 listcred 
 sachers 
 
 hing ia 
 ifferont 
 ght, by 
 
 of tho 
 rcspec- 
 
 grade3 
 ;est. 
 allow 5 
 
 and 40 
 
 )pening 
 i&c.; 20 
 
 ing, (2), 
 ^ripturo 
 
 tiinutesJ 
 
 ., which' 
 
 readin'g, 
 
 8lato:^0 
 
 xerciS^s 
 
 s. 
 
 8 of 340 
 
 devoted, 
 
 nco, &c.> 
 
 )r Read- 
 
 
 9". 00'— 9°.£0'. 
 90.20'— 9". 40'. 
 9^40'— 10°. 00'. 
 
 10^.00'— 10°. 20'. 
 
 10°.20'— 10<'.40'. 
 10^.40'— IP. 00'. 
 11". 00'— ir. 20'. 
 
 IP. 20'— IP. 40'. 
 IP. 40'— 12". 00'. 
 
 P. 00'— P. 20'. 
 
 P. 20'— P. 40'. 
 P. 40'— 2«'.00'. 
 
 2°. 00'— 2''.25'. 
 2^.25'— 2°. 40'. 
 
 2''. 40'- 3*^.00'. 
 3". 00'— 3°. 30'.. 
 3". 30'- 4^00'. 
 
 CLASS iir. 
 
 • Prayer. Hearing turned lessons 
 
 Euclid Algebra, Mensuration, <kc. 
 Writing 
 
 Arithmetic in class 
 
 Readinf 
 
 Lecture 
 
 Work ^ 
 class. 
 
 Work Arithmetic as explained in class Write B 
 
 Say Geography. On Fridays read Write 1 
 
 tions, 
 
 Write Exercise in History, Book-keeping or 
 Grammar, or learn llecitation, &c 
 
 Say Gee 
 
 Read and then be questioned in History, tho two clas 
 Ihe Readers if no History be taught in tho school — 
 
 Reading. 
 
 Say Grammar and Parse 
 
 Learn Frenchj or come up to Parse . 
 
 IVriting 
 
 Le irn 
 (iram 
 
 Parse a 
 
 • Spoiling and Dictation, the second class onl 
 A Recess, • 
 
 Mental Arithmetic. Say Weights and Mea- 
 sures to teacher. Sometimes Road 
 
 Mental 
 sures 
 Read 
 
 — French ; or work back sums (one sum only from oi 
 Latin. 
 
 . I 
 
 j: 
 
\!t ." •W.^f, "^". 
 
 mm 
 
 (for a school with one tea 
 
 O^.OO'- 
 9'^.20'- 
 
 -9°. 20'.. 
 -9". 40'.. 
 ■10°. 00'.. 
 
 10°. OO'— 10°. 20' 
 
 10°. 20'- 
 10°. 40'- 
 11". 00'- 
 
 11°. 20'- 
 1P.40'- 
 
 -10«>.40'. 
 -11°. 00'. 
 -11°. 20'. 
 
 -IP. 40'. 
 -12°. 00'. 
 
 P. 00'- 10.20'. 
 
 10.20'- 10.40'. 
 1°.40'— 2«*.00'. 
 
 2°. 00'- 2°. 25'. 
 2°. 25'- 2°. 40'. 
 
 2°. 40'- 3°. 00'. 
 3°. 00'— 3°. 30'.. 
 3". 30'- 4°. 00'. 
 
 CLASS II r. 
 
 CLASS IL 
 
 .Prayer. Hearing turned lessons of the day before. Writing " Book-keep 
 
 Euclid Algebra, Mensuration, &o. 
 Writing 
 
 Arithmetic in class 
 
 Work Arithmetic as explained in class. 
 
 Reading 
 
 Lecture on Arithmetic in class, or Road. 
 
 Work Arithmetic previously explained ii^ 
 class 
 
 Write Book-keeping or Geography Ex., c^c . 
 Recess and Singing 
 
 Sti 
 Sa: 
 
 Lt?.' 
 
 Saj 
 
 Say Geography. On Fridays read Write Exercise in History, or learn Recita- 
 tions, tfec 
 
 Write Exercise in History, Book-keeping or 
 Grammar, or learn Recitation, &c 
 
 Say Geography. On Fridays read. 
 
 Read and then be questioned in History, the two classes being heard together ; or read in 
 the Readers if no History be taught in the school 
 
 Reading. 
 
 Say Grammar and Parse 
 
 Learn French, or come up to Parse . 
 
 Writing. 
 
 Learn Spelling or write an Exercise in 
 Grammar 
 
 Parse and say Grammar Lesson. 
 
 Stu 
 
 Re; 
 
 u 
 
 Mo 
 C 
 
 Re 
 
 Re 
 Lc 
 
 Wi 
 
 s 
 
 •Spelling and Dictation, the second class only having learnt the lesson. 
 
 A Recess, or Singing, or Drawing, or Object Lesson. . 
 
 Mental Arithmetic. Say Weights and Mea- 
 sures to teacher. Sometimes Road 
 
 Mental Arithmetic and Weights and Mea- 
 sures to teacher or monitor. Sometimes 
 Read 
 
 . ...French; 
 Latin. 
 
 "k back sums (one sum only from each rule) in " Back Sum Book.''. 
 
 Sa: 
 
*" -L _£2l. JS I ' 
 
 >L WITH ONE TEACHER.') 
 
 (To face p. 92.) 
 
 CLASS I. 
 
 Writing " Book-keeping Exercise " on board 
 
 Study Spelling 
 
 Say Spelling to Monitor. . . . 
 
 iss, or Read 
 
 ly explained iv 
 
 raphy Ex., Ac . 
 
 L!»arn Tables. 
 
 Say Multiplication and Addition Tables to 
 teacher, or Read to him 
 
 mg. 
 
 or learn Recita- 
 
 3 read 
 
 3ther ; or read in 
 
 Study Reading Lesson. 
 
 Read to teacher, who must take ten min- 
 utes from iho Geo. class to hoar them 
 
 Mechanical Reading to Monitors in small 
 Classes 
 
 an Exercise in 
 
 sson. 
 
 Reading and Spelling to Monitor. 
 
 Reading and^Spelling to Monitor and Teacher 
 Learn Multiplication and Addition Tables. . . . 
 
 esson.. 
 
 Qg, or Object Lesson 
 
 Write names and copies of figures on their 
 slates 
 
 sights and Mea- 
 Ltor. Sometimes 
 
 ?um Book.-' 
 
 Say Multiplication and Addition Tables to 
 monitor 
 
 REMARKS. 
 
 A composition may be brought every Mon- 
 day. 
 
 Recitations, and Reading or Spelling Tour- 
 nament, or Miscellaneous Question Class 
 may be held every Friday Afternoon. 
 
 In some cases the teacher might have a 
 Voluntary English Literature Class, some 
 Saturday Mornings, to read Shakespeare, 
 Milton, Dickens, &c., with the elder scholars. 
 
 If more than one History be studied ; on 
 Monday hear Scripture History, on Tuesdays 
 and Thursdays the History of Canada, and 
 on Wednesdays and Fridays hear the History 
 of England, or Scripture History. 
 
 Once or twice a day the teacher should 
 call up some division of class i. for flro 
 minutes' sharp questioning on some subject. 
 
 (These remarks apply to both Time-Tables.) 
 
I' i- 
 
 ii < .1 
 
 •i 
 
 (To face p. 93.) 
 
 O^.OO'— i>".20'. 
 IT. 20'— 9°. 40'. 
 :«. 40'— 10^.00'. 
 
 10^.00'— 10". 20'... 
 lO*'. 20'- 10^. 40'... 
 10^.40'— IP. 00'..., 
 IP. 00'— IP. 20'..., 
 1P.20'-1P.40'.... 
 1P.40'-12''.00'.... 
 
 P. 00'— P. 20'. 
 P. 20'- P. 40'. 
 P. 40'— 2". 00'. 
 2^^.00'— 2°. 15'. 
 20.15'— 20.40'. 
 
 2*. 40'— 3". 00'. 
 3«.C0'— 3°. 30'. 
 8°. 30'— 4". 00'. 
 
 CLASS IV. 
 
 Prayer. Iloaring tun 
 
 Euclid, Algebra, Mensuration, «fco 
 
 Lecture in Arithmetic | 
 
 Work Sums in Arithmetic explained in lec-^Jition 
 turo hmetio 
 
 ,. , ,, s, aba- 
 
 Koad to Master 
 
 .Mapping, Exercist 
 
 Head and 
 
 Geograph; 
 
 Write with Mistress ■daster. 
 
 Groles. 
 
 .Spell 
 
 French Ex( 
 
 tes for 
 
 .Mental Arith 
 
 French, 
 
 Latin or 
 
 Moni- 
 
SSS£S3P=~ 
 
 SCHOOL ORGANISATION. TIME-TABLES. 
 
 ing, 200; Writing, 100; Spelling, 140; Grammar, 
 Composition, French and Latin, 400 ; Mathematics, 
 300; History, 60. 
 
 For Grade iii. we had originally 1,800 minutes a 
 week. From these we subtracted 500 minutes for 
 eesthetics, morals, &c., as before. This leaves 1,300- 
 minutes. Take for Eeading, 100 ; Writing, 100 ; Spell- 
 ing, 100; Languages, &c., 500; Mathematics, 400; 
 History, 100. 
 
 The proportions given above may bo better undor- 
 Btood if the week be divided into lesson periods of 
 twenty minutes each. 
 
 Then deducting for intermissions, &c., Grade i. will 
 have 65 such periods a week; Grade ii., 75; Grada 
 iii., 80. 
 
 Of these, Grade i. (average ago nine years) gives to 
 Eeading, 15; Writing, 10; Spelling, 10; Miscellane- 
 ous Exercises, 5; Arithmetic, 10; Object Lessons^ 5; 
 Morals, 5 ; Singing, &c., 5 ;— in all 65. 
 
 Grade ii. will have for Eeading, 10; Writing, 5; 
 Spelling, 7; Languages, 20; Arithmetic and Book- 
 keeping, 15: History, 3; Geography, 5; Morals, 5; 
 Singing, 5 ; — in all 75. 
 
 Grade iii. will have for Reading, Writing, Spelling, 
 History, Science, Morals, ^Esthetics, 5 each ; for Lan- 
 guages, 25; for Mathematics, 20; — in all 80 lesson 
 periods . 
 
 In regard to the quotation at the head of this chap- 
 ter it may be observed that in our Timc-Tablcs on tho 
 last two pages we have paid ppcciiil attention to tho 
 order in which wo recommend the dilFcrcnt euljcoJs 
 to be taught. We have put the Iiiglicr Mathematics 
 and new Arithmetic first in the morning, for the in- 
 tellect IS the brightcbt then, and should bo so when 
 applied to these subjects. Reading aloud comes last 
 in the morning, for it necessitates a Jrousing of tho at- 
 tention. *' Back Sums " come at the end of the day, 
 for we have found that though the memory flags then,, 
 this work can then be done welL * ' 
 
 i Ij! 
 
 m 
 
I , 
 
 ill. 
 
 11' J 
 
 f • 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 DUTIES OF SCHOOL COMMISSIONERS AND THEIR 
 SECRETARY-TREASURERS. 
 
 
 ! i : • 
 
 Ij '^^'.-y 
 
 II 
 
 
 -1 ' f 
 
 ** Therefore^ for the love of God appoint teachers and schjolmasterSf 
 ye that have the charge of youth, and give them stipends tcorthy 
 ^ their pains, and let them teach, above all things, the Word of 
 God:* 
 
 Bishop Latimer. 
 
 The duties of a School Commissioner are two-fold; 
 those laid on him by the law of the land, and those 
 laid on him by the laws of courtesy and good feeling. 
 
 With regard to the former the first thing he should 
 do after his appointment is to write to the Superin- 
 tendent of Education for a copy of the School Act. 
 By the courtesy of the Department he will receive 
 one gratis, and ho should at once master its contents. 
 
 Ho would do well also to look over the recent 
 minutes of proceedings of his Board, mark their more 
 important enactments, provide himself with a map of 
 the municipality, showing the limits of the school 
 districts and the position of the school-house in each, 
 and satisfy himself that the bond originally given by 
 the Secretary- Treasurer is in due form, and that the 
 sureties to it are solvent. 
 
 The School Act will tell the School Commissioner 
 what he has to k,iow. We will give a brief summary 
 of what it gives him to do, calling especial attention 
 to those points which are generally neglected or seem 
 to require explanation, 
 
 THE DUTY OF VISITING SCHOOLS. 
 
 The duty most generally neglected is that of visit- 
 ing the schools. The law enjoins that each Board of 
 Commissioners shall appoint two at least from among 
 themselves to visit all their schools twice a year or 
 oftenor. The duty of visiting schools is also laic} 
 
DUTIES OF SCHOOL COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 95 
 
 seem 
 
 upon others, and amongst them the clergy. The Pro- 
 testant clergy, we believe, universally neglect it. It 
 is no excuse to a commissioner who fails in the duty, 
 that his minister alike breaks this law of the land. 
 And it is no excuse to the clergyman (to whom the 
 lambs of his flock should be an especial care) that the 
 commissioner can be fined (see chap. 15, sec. 12.'i) for 
 not doing this duty, while his Spiritual Guide and 
 Exemplar can not. 
 
 The visits mentioned above encourage the efl5cient, 
 and are some check on the careless, teacher. The 
 tendency of teachers is to push their scholars on into 
 readers which are too hard for them, in order to 
 please the parents. This pernicious practice is best 
 checked by the visits of commissioners. A backward 
 and ignorant neighbourhood yields little sympathy to 
 thorough and strict teachers. These then need re- 
 minding that it is the School Commissioners who en- 
 gage them, not the parents, and that it is the more 
 enlightened unprejudiced judgment of the Board, and 
 not the predilections of parents, that they have to 
 satisfy. 
 
 SCHOOL MANAGERS. 
 
 In some places, indeed, the engagement of the 
 "school ma'am" is left to a School Manager living 
 near the school. This contravenes the Act. The 
 school-house (with its contents and requirements) alone 
 forms the province of the School Manager. The very 
 first and foremost duty of Commissioners, mentioned 
 in the Act, is to engage teachers. A Manager some- 
 times engages a teacher for a longer term than there 
 are funds to pay for, and is always open to charges of 
 nepotism and favouritism. It is, moreover, as Mr. 
 Inspector McLaughlin suggests in his Report for 1876, 
 very desirable that diiferent salaries bo given to the 
 different schools in a municipality, and the more ex- 
 cellent teachers promoted to the better-paid schools. 
 
 I 
 
 ^ — - 
 
96 
 
 DUTIES OP SCHOOL COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 This is a strong slimulus to teachers to try to excel. 
 It opens out a vista of possible advancement before 
 them, and tends to keep the more ambitious and 
 spirited of them in a municipality till they have taught 
 the best school in it. 
 
 School Managers indeed should bo universally ap- 
 pointed. A teacher should always have some one at 
 hand to whom she can apply for advice and support 
 if any emergency arise, or if rejjairs or fuel are wanted 
 in the school house. She needs also some one to show 
 her a little hos2:)itality or social politeness. Courtesy, 
 indeed, and good feeling, lay this pleasant duty upon 
 School Commissioners and parents as well as on Man- 
 agers, though they seem mostly to forget it. 
 
 If there bo more than one School Manager, the 
 second should be appointed to act only in case of ab- 
 sence or neglect on the part of the first. If anything 
 is the business of two men equally, they act generally 
 as if it was the business of neither. 
 
 ENGAGEMENT OF TEACHERS. 
 
 Another obligation suggested by the Act is to bo 
 very slow to change teachers. This is the spirit of 
 several provisions of the law. All engagements of a 
 teacher it evidently wishes to be permanent. The 
 Act requires two months' notice to terminate them^ 
 even at the end of that year for which only, the writ- 
 ten agreement seems, at first sight, binding. No com- 
 pact tending to evade this two months^ notice has 
 any legal force. A circular issued to School Commis- 
 sioners by the Department of Education in 1857 ex- 
 plains that an attempt to reduce the teacher's salary 
 is equivalent to an attempt at dismissal, and is not 
 legal without the due notice given two months before 
 the end of the engagement. Nor must School Com- 
 missioners remove a teacher without mature deliber- 
 ation at a meeting specially called for the purpose, 
 and then only for incapacity, neglect of duty, insubor- 
 dination or misconduct. 
 
DUTIES OF SCHOOL COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 97 
 
 Every time a child goes to a now teacher it is thrown 
 back a month at least in its studies. Instead of lightly 
 chanL,n*ng teachers, Commissioners might well offer 
 (as is done in Montreal) a yearly increase of salary to 
 those who stay in the same municipality. 
 
 bo 
 it of 
 of a 
 The 
 
 COMPULSORY EDUCATION. 
 
 After all, the main moral obligation of School Com- 
 missioners is one not named in the Act. It is to see 
 that no child in their municipality is growing up with- 
 out education. Neglect of this encourages the com- 
 mission of crime. Almost all our worst criminals 
 can neither read nor write. By increasing the spread 
 of general education wo diminish tho number of the 
 inmates of our jails and penitentiaries. At every 
 meeting the Commissioners should enquire if there 
 are any children within their limits who are growing 
 up without instruction, that is without the moans of 
 living in a way worthy of tho name of life, for a man 
 may well date his existence from the time he can 
 road and write. 
 
 A list of children who go to no school should bo 
 mado out and read at each mooting, and every con- 
 ceivable means anxiously thought over to try and 
 reduce it to a minimum or a nonentity. 
 
 Monthly fees wore specially designed to force chil- 
 dren into school. It was thought that if a parent 
 paid for a particular child's schooling, he would take 
 care that the child got it. Now, if the taxes are re- 
 duced and these monthly fees raised, careless pai'onts 
 can be told that tho Commissioners will force them 
 to pay these high fees if they ^enrich themselves hy 
 keeping their children at homo to work. If they 
 send their children to school, especially if they send 
 them long distances, the law may be stretched to ex- 
 cuse the payment of fees on the ])lea of poverty, whore 
 this plea exists. School fees may thus be used to 
 have the effect of modified compulsion. ... .^._. 
 
98 
 
 m 
 
 m 
 
 
 I 
 
 I i 
 
 DUTIES OP SCnOOL COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 SCHOOL TAXES. 
 
 But neither poverty nor distance from school ia any 
 excuse for the non-payment of school taxes. It is 
 the duty of the Commissioners to cause them to be 
 levied. By neglecting this duty they are liable to be 
 fined, and what is worse, they break the law. 
 
 The school tax is to be fixed and laid in May or 
 June, and as the school year begins in July, it seems 
 the intention of the Act that funds should be collected 
 in advance of the time when the schools open, so that 
 Secretary-Treasurers shall have money in hand to pay 
 the teachers* salaries on demand. It is evidently fair 
 to teachers that their salaries should be paid at the 
 end of each month, and no municipality can be said 
 to be administered to j^erfcction where this is not 
 done. 
 
 It is also much better for the taxed that they pay 
 their school rates at once, /or they lie as a fir.st mort- 
 gage on each farm, bearing interest and not requiring 
 registration, and wo have special informa':ion from 
 the Superintendent of Public Instruction that arrears 
 may be collected for thirty years back. 
 
 There is no need to sue for school taxes. Twenty 
 days after the l^'ecretary-Treasurer has posted general 
 public notice that the collection roll lies in his office, 
 he may serve special personal notices demanding 
 payment, and charge for each the sum established by 
 the local Council for similar notices. This sum 
 ranges between twenty-five and fifty cents. Fifteen 
 days after serving personal notice, the Secretary- 
 Treasurer has to get the Chairman of the School Com- 
 missioners to sign a distress warrant, and give notice 
 of sale, which may take place on the ninth day after 
 distress. All this assumes that the taxes remain un- 
 paid. 
 
 There is no option in this matter. The law says 
 that the Secretary-Treasurer " shall " do it. He must 
 carry out the law or he breaks the law. 
 
DUTIES OP SCHOOL COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 99 
 
 POSITION OF SCHOOL-HOUSE. 
 
 But though the School Commissioners may not 
 excuse a property-holder from paying taxes because 
 of his distance from a school-house (a disadvantage of 
 which he ought to have taken note and account in 
 purchasing his property), though they may select 
 any site they please for a school-hou o (on paying for 
 it by arbitration) — yet, if the position of the place 
 where school is to be taught is not fixed with equal 
 fairness to all, an appeal will lie to the Superinten- 
 dent. The school-house need not (as is popularly 
 assumed) necessarily stand in or near the middle of 
 the district which might be a mountain or a swamp. 
 The school-house should stand where it suits the ma- 
 jority of the inhabitantg; but whore wrong seems 
 thereby done to any minority of families, the Com- 
 missioners may hire or borrow a room in their neigh- 
 bourhood to keep school in for a fair proportion of 
 the year. 
 
 SCHOOL DISTRICTS. 
 
 Excessive sub-division of districts is aprovalent evil. 
 School-houses should not be less than four or five 
 miles apart. Wc have 4cnown boys of nine or ion 
 walk six miles to school and six back, and not sulTcr 
 from it. This was in England. Though the climate 
 is different, children can surely walk two miles hero. 
 There may not be more than one school district in a 
 municipality which contains less than twenty chil- 
 dren. But if there be two outlying settlements, each 
 claiming the privilege of being made a separate school 
 district, the Commissioners may give them this privi- 
 lege i/i turn. For Commissioners have full power to 
 al ter the I; mits o^ school districts as-they please, subject, 
 of course, to ^ppetkL.to the Sujiei.ir,t.ep(}entof Kducation. 
 
 Children have of ce.v* to 'attend' schjcoj. . in ^ neigh- 
 bour! i 
 wilhii 
 
 •ing muiiic,ipaljty,*',^therQ.^ being no . sCihool-house 
 lin reasonable di^tiinee 'in tfibir* wfi.' 'T!) such 
 
ti 
 
 (1 
 
 t 
 
 '.I : 
 
 ii 
 
 i 
 
 » 
 
 100 
 
 DUTIES OF SCHOOL COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 cases parents may petition the Commissioners to 
 Land over their taxes and school fees for the benefit 
 of the school which their children attend. In case of 
 refusal, parents may appeal to the Superintendent of 
 Education, Quebec, who will advise what he thinks 
 equitable in the case. 
 
 DIVISION OF SCHOOL FUNDS. 
 
 In one particular the School Act is commonly 
 broken, and, seemingly, with a beneficial effect, at 
 times, on peace and quietness. The law provides that 
 the total amount of money accruing to any munici- 
 pality in any given 3'ear, shall be divided among the 
 several School Districts, in exact proportion to the 
 number of children of school age in each District. 
 In country parts peo^Dle seem to doubt the ability and 
 impartiality of their Secretary-Treasurer in working 
 out such a difficult sum in proportion. They fear, 
 too, that it may at any time result in some of their 
 money going to help their neighbours — a possibility 
 against which they have a fast routed prejudice. They 
 prefer that the money raised in each district shall be 
 entirely used for the benefit of that district. There 
 are deep reasons — too deep fof many people to arrive 
 at, and opposed, indeed, to their natural predilections, 
 — for the plan of dividing the money laid cl">wn in the 
 Act. It seems, at first blush, indeed, to favour un- 
 fairly the most popular and thickly settled portions 
 of the municipality. It seems a hardship that any 
 district should have a better supported school than 
 our own, especially if our money helps in its support. 
 It is, however, not really a hardship, but a boon to us 
 that there should be one such school at least in each 
 municipality. . - 
 
 Meanwhile It is ih(f (obvious -dutv oi' tht) Boards of 
 Commissioner 8 .to cony out* the* law. li they think 
 the law.imwisQ they, shpvjd try.a)>j .get it altered. 
 But till it is Hiterod tfiey must obey ^,i.' •,.. * • «^ ' ■^' 
 
DUTIES OF SCHOOL COMMISSIONERS. 
 
 101 
 
 ort. 
 ) us 
 ach 
 
 8 of 
 link 
 red. 
 
 The posts of School Commissioner and Secretary- 
 Treasurer are not profitable ones. A healthy public 
 opinion would regard them as the most honourable 
 offices in the Dominion. The Act establishing them 
 has realised one of the dreams of Plato's most dreamy 
 master-piece — the Republic. lie says that people 
 should choose the best men to govern them and fine 
 them if they refuse. He says elsewhere that the good 
 must be maligned and ill-thought of, and adds, 
 strangely enough, (writing, as he did, nearly four cen- 
 turies before Christ) that " the Just One must bo 
 scourged, tortured, and finally crucified that men may 
 know that they ought to fee, and not merely to he 
 thought just." His general idea applies to a School 
 Commissioner. lie gives valuable time without re- 
 oompensc. Ho gets sometimes nothing but ill-will 
 and evil imputations, for his reward. Men speak evil 
 of him for doing his duty. Eitlior then ho is doubly 
 blessed or the beatitudes are false. Forcing people, 
 often against their will, to pay for well equipped 
 school-houses and wcU-rcmuncnitcd teachers, (for in 
 the long run the excellence of the teachers at any 
 given school will depend on the salary paid them), 
 visiting the schools when ho could be earning money 
 iit his business, attending board meetings over bad 
 roads, on many a dark night, the ('hristian School 
 Commissioner can show that the sense of duty is no 
 unpractical conception, and faith no ineffectual un- 
 reality. He and his confreres are the real ''power 
 behind the throne." For the future of the country 
 depends on the education of its rising generation ; that 
 education depends on its schools ; and the schools de- 
 pend on the School Commissioners. 
 
 THE SECRETAHY-TKEASUREIl. 
 
 The Secretary-Treasurer, too, unless his labours are 
 smoothed for him by the School Inspector, is miser- 
 ably under-paid, and often, to our knowledge, strangely 
 
102 
 
 DUTIES OF SECRETARY-TREASURERS. 
 
 unappreciated and traduced. Wo will try and point 
 out Bome means of materially lightening his labour 
 and his troubles. 
 
 Firstly, by a little management it will be found 
 that the j^eurly meeting of Commissioners to audit 
 the Secretary-Treasurer's accounts, and the yearly 
 meeting of rate payers to receive a statement of them, 
 as well as the meeting for the election of new School 
 Commissioners can be held on the same day, the first 
 Monday in July. This will save much time and 
 trouble. 
 
 Secondly, we would advise that the abstract of his- 
 accounts which he is to put j'carly on the church 
 door, should be as full and complete as possible. The 
 Secretary-Treasurer may think the provision of the 
 law which requires that an abstract of his accounts 
 should be put up, is one which it is a great hard- 
 ship to him to carry out. On the contrary, it will be 
 found to be a means of conducing very much to his 
 general advantage. The confidence of those he has 
 to deal with will be at once a pride and a pleasure 
 which few things else can give. Many a poor man is 
 ignorant enough to think it a hardship that his money 
 should be forcibly taken from him to pay for the gen- 
 eral education of his district, but he will feel it ten 
 times more hard if he has the slightest suspicion that 
 his money is being mis-used. And men living lonely 
 lives and not accustomed to handle large sums of 
 money are strangely prone to allow such suspicions 
 to have access to their minds, and it they once allow 
 them access they are apt to brood over them till they 
 assume the shape of certainties. Now, if an abstract 
 of accounts is posted ever}^ year in a public place the 
 men who are too ignorant to understand it will be the 
 last to say so, and without it these very men would 
 bo the most likely to entertain suspicion. 
 
 The following is suggested for the general form la 
 "which the abstract of accounts may be drawn up : 
 
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 w 
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104 
 
 DUTIES OF SECRETARY-TREASURERS. 
 
 The books ho should keep aro four — a cash book, a 
 ledger, a receipt book, and a book of personal notices 
 to pay taxes, called " Form ¥F " in the School Act. 
 The last two should have '* stubs " to the left of each 
 page. 
 
 In the CASH BOOK should be entered daily all 
 receipts and disbursements. The No. of the District 
 concerned should be noted with every item, and also 
 "whether any money paid in, be for taxes or fees. 
 The collection of fees, by the way, should not be left 
 to the school teachers. This is contrary to the spirit 
 of the Act, and causes in the end more trouble than it 
 saves. 
 
 In posting to TBU LEDGER, each item must bo 
 entered twice; firstly, to the man, — and secondly, to 
 the district it concerns. Each inhabitant of the mu- 
 nicipality should bo charged with his assessment and 
 school fees for the coming year directly they aro 
 levied, which is generally in the month of Juno. It 
 may be inconvenient to do this then, at the right time, 
 but it will bo found in the end much more inconve- 
 nient 7iot to do things at the right time. 
 
 A RECEIPT BOOK should always be in the 
 country Secretary- Treasurer's pocket when ho is 
 away from home. It will answer two ends if thus 
 worded : 
 
 ^' 187 
 
 ^' Eeceived of , dollars for for 
 
 " the School Municipality of so and-so. 
 
 When he pays a man money ho should fill in one of 
 these receipts, make the payee sign it, and keep the 
 receipt in the book. When he receives money he should 
 fill in and sign the receipt himself, tear it out of the book 
 and hand it to the payor, entering nnmo, date and 
 amount on the " stub." To give a printed receipt in- 
 spires confidence. If the Secretary authorises his 
 wife or any one to transact business at his house in. 
 
)> 
 
 I 
 
 DUTIES OF SECRETARY-TREASURERS. 
 
 105 
 
 his absence, he can keep a duplicate receipt book 
 there, exactly similar to the one in his pocket. 
 
 October should be the very latest month in which 
 ■a rate payer should be allowed to pay the tax levied 
 in June. The bulk of the taxes should be collected 
 in July or August. After once carr3'ing out the law in 
 issuing and charging for the notices (those, we mean, 
 in the ''form FF,") the Secretary will, we are assured, 
 find the taxes paid in promptly enough in succeeding 
 years. The Act was framed to save the Secretary- 
 Treasurer all possible trouble, and he is wrong 'not to 
 avail himself of all the requirements in it which have 
 this aim and tendency. 
 
 The labour of taking the census will be more than 
 halved eventually if at first slightly increased. The 
 name of every parent in the municipality should be 
 entered in a book small enough to go into the pocket. 
 Under the parent's name and on a separate lino should 
 be the name and exact age of every one of his chil- 
 dren, which the Secretary can enter betimes as he 
 meets each mun. With a few occasional corrections 
 and additions this book will save the necessity of 
 going round to each house QVQvy year, and will check 
 the practise some parents have of deceiving the Secre- 
 tary-Treasurer as to the number of children they have 
 of school ao'c. 
 
 To set about things thoroughly saves trouble in the 
 end. 
 
 The followinii* is sus-Grested as a form of bond to be 
 used on the appointment of a Secretary- rreasurer, 
 When signed it must bo registered without delay. 
 
 ''Whereas of in the County of 
 
 *' , in the district of , following the 
 
 *' occupation of 
 
 , has been appointed 
 
 ^' Secretary-Treasurer to the School Commis- 
 
 ^' sioners of the School Municipality of '■ — 
 
 ** by virtue of which appointment he, from time 
 
106 
 
 BOND FOR SECRETARY-TREASURERS. 
 
 - 
 
 i! S ! 
 
 I! ')<; 
 
 to liniL, receives and becomes responsible for 
 certain sums of money to be expended by him 
 for the school purposes of said Municipality, 
 Know all men by these presents that we the 
 
 undersigned of- in the County 
 
 of , , and of in 
 
 the County of- 
 
 do hereby bind 
 
 ourselves jointly and severally (solidairement) 
 to and in favour of the School Commissioners 
 of said Municipality, in the full amount of all 
 moneys which may at any timt3 have been 
 received by said Secretary-Treasurer for said 
 school purposes, the condition of the above 
 bond being that if the said sums of money be 
 duly expended for said school purposes, this 
 bond be void and of none effect, but that 
 otherwise it have full force, value and effect. 
 
 
 >) 
 
 li-'Vii/ !, 
 
 " Know all men by these presents that 
 
 « at , in the County of , on the 
 
 " day of , 18 , at of the clock in 
 
 ♦» the noon, there personally appeared before 
 
 ** me the aforesaid 
 
 and 
 
 and that 
 
 **they there and then signed and acknowledged 
 *' the above bond, and I have signed 
 
 t( 
 
 :t I 
 
 ''Justice of the Peace,^^ 
 
I 
 
 AGREEMENTS WITH TEACHERS. 
 
 lOT 
 
 Every Board of Commissioners should have printed 
 forms of agreement to be signed by the teacher and 
 themselves in duplicate, each keeping a copy. One- 
 form we have seen runs somewhat as follows : 
 
 "I,- 
 
 "No.- 
 
 — — , engage to teach School in District 
 
 —of the Municipality of for 
 
 "months, commencing the day of 
 
 " 187 — , for the sum of dollars per month, 
 
 " or $ in all, to be paid monthly, I further 
 
 ** agree to do my best to carry out all the regu- 
 '*lations for the management of their schools 
 ** issued by the Commissioners of the aforesaid 
 " Municipality. 
 
 " I hold a Class Diploma, bearing 
 
 date , 18 , and I have signed 
 
 (( 
 
 (( 
 
 Teacher r 
 
 jj 
 
 " I, the undersigned, hereby accept the fore- 
 *' going engagement in the name and authority 
 "of the aforesaid Board of School Commission- 
 
 "ers, and I have signed at on the 
 
 "day of 187—. 
 
 (k 
 
 >» 
 
 School Commissioners are also bound by law to 
 communicate, in writing, general rules for the man- 
 agement of their schools, to tearhers. This duty i& 
 almost universally neglected. We subjoin a list of' 
 rules, copied in part from those in forco in the Mon- 
 treal schools, which may be altered to suit the cir- 
 
ip 
 
 M' 
 
 :■■! 
 
 I' 
 
 if 
 
 108 
 
 REGULATIONS FOR TEACHERS. 
 
 •cumstances of each municipal it 3'. They might con- 
 veniently be printed on the back of the forms of 
 agreement with the teachers. 
 
 The school hours enjoined by Rule 1 were those de- 
 termined to be best by the Provincial Association of 
 Protestant Teachers, in Convention, at Montreal, in 
 October, 1876. 
 
 In rei^ard to Rule 2, each Board of Commissioners 
 18 required by the circular issued by the Superinten- 
 dent of Education in 1857, to furnish trustees with a 
 School .Journal or Register, as also with a book in 
 which Inspectors and others may enter reports of 
 iheir visits. 
 
 
 
 t 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 51 
 
 TT- 
 
 
 
 
 k 
 
 f'-i 
 
 
 i» ' 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 
 h 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 HEGTJLATIONS ISSUED TO TEACHERS BY THE 
 SCHOOL COMMISSIONERS OF THE MUNICI- 
 PALITY OF . 
 
 1. — The school hours are to be from 9 to 12 
 a. m., with fifteen minutes' intermission, and 
 from 1 to 3.30 p. m., with intermission. Scholars 
 may, however, be kept in till 4 p. m., when 
 thought desirable by the teacher. Yery young 
 children may be dismissed at 3 p. m. 
 
 2. — The Teacher shall make re2:ular entries 
 of the attendance of scholars in the School 
 Journal supplied for this purpose. At the be- 
 ginning of each month she shall send the Secre- 
 tary-Treasurer a record of the average atten- 
 dance of scholars, and a list of the children in 
 her district whom she believes to have gone to 
 no school during the past month. ^ 
 
 ; 3.— A " Time Table," or " Programme of Daily 
 
REGULATIONS FOR TEACHERS. 
 
 109 
 
 be- 
 
 Studies," shall be posted up in eacb school, as 
 well as a copy of Rules 6, 7, 9 and 10 as laid 
 down below. 
 
 4. — The work of the day shall begin with the 
 reading of a portion of Scripture, the scholars 
 all standing. 
 
 5. — The teachers are recommended to try and 
 practise the scholars in singing or in the draw- 
 ing of simple objects, for a short time, about the 
 middle of each forenoon. 
 
 6. — The teacher shall not instruct a child in 
 any lesson unless he is provided with the pre- 
 scribed text book' for that lesson. 
 
 7. — The scholars must be warned that the 
 conditions on which they will be allowed to 
 attend school are, punctuality, respectful obe- 
 dience to teachers, pleasant intercourse with 
 schoolfellows, freedom from infection, avoidance 
 of injury to school premises and furniture, and 
 abstinence from immorality in speech and action, 
 
 8. — Scholars breaking these conditions may 
 be sent home for the day. Other punishments 
 allowed are : (1) " Standing out " on the floor 
 or on the form. (2) Tasks to be done at home. 
 (3) Keeping in at recess or till 4,30 p. m , but 
 not later, (4) Whipping on the hand with the 
 taws. (5) Suspension for a week, such suspen- 
 sion being reported to the Chairman of School^ 
 
- ^^mmtm^m^mr^ 
 
 I; lii 
 
 110 
 
 REGULATIONS FOR TEACnERS. 
 
 Commissioners, who shall inquire into the cause 
 and try and see the scholar's parents. It is sug- 
 gested that the hope of reward is more power- 
 ful for good than the fear of punishment. One 
 of the best rewards is private or public com- 
 mendation from a judicious teacher. 
 
 9. — Scholars who absent themselves from 
 school are to be punished on their return, un- 
 less they bring a written excuse signed by their 
 parents. 
 
 10. —Teachers may require their elder pupils 
 to aid them in teaching or keeping order, but 
 not for more than five hours in any one week, 
 except by consent. 
 
 11. — There shall be a Public Examination of 
 the scholars in December and March. Parents 
 and School Commissioners shall be duly notified 
 of the day and hour. 
 
 12. — The holidays shall be : Every Saturday ; 
 the Queen's Birthday ; Good Friday ; Christ- 
 mas Day, and three days annually to attend the 
 Teachers' Convention, if devoted to that pur- 
 pose. Vacation commences on July 1. If their 
 services are not required after that date teachers 
 will receive due notice on or before May-day in 
 each year. Eesignation from a teacher must 
 be sent in before then, or she will be expected 
 to teach the following year. 
 
l'envoi. 
 
 O'er wayward childhood would'st thou hold firm nile, 
 And sun thyself in light of happy faces? 
 Lovo, llopo and Patience these must he thy graces, 
 And in tliine own heart let tliem first Ivcep sciiool. 
 For as old Atlas on his broad neck places 
 Heaven's starry globe, and there su.^tiins it, so 
 Do these uphold the little world below 
 Of Education ; — Patience, Hope and Love. 
 Methinks I see tiicm grouped in seemly show, 
 The 8tialp;htencd arms upraised, the palms aslope, 
 And robes that touching as adown they flow, 
 Distinctly blend like snow embossed in snow. 
 
 Oh, part them never 1 If Hope prostrate lie, 
 Love, too, will sink and die. 
 But Love is subtle, and doth proof derive 
 Frcm her own life, that Hope is yet alive ; 
 And bendiu;^ o'er with soul transfusing eyes, 
 And the soft murmurs of the mother dove, 
 Woos back the fleeting Sj-^irit, and half supplies. 
 Thus Love repays to Hopu .vhat IIopo first gave to Lovo. 
 But hiply there may come a weary day, 
 When overtasked at length, 
 Both Love and Hope beneath the load give way ; 
 Then with a statue's smile, a statue's strength. 
 Stands the mute sister. Patience, nothing loath, 
 And both supporting, does tho work of both. 
 
 COLBBIDOa. 
 
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 ScIlooI Boolcs Published hy Dawson Bros. 
 
 By dr. DAWSON, F.R.S., F.G.S., &c. 
 Principal of the University of McGill College, 
 
 A Hand-Book of Zoology ; With examples from 
 
 Canadian Species, Recent and Fossil. Part 1, Inver- 
 
 tebrata. Price, $1.25. 
 
 This Hand-Book is neatly printed, and profusely illustrated 
 t)y nearly 300 wood-engravings. Prepared by tho author for 
 118C in his own classes, it is peculiarly adapted as a text book 
 for Canadian Schools, as the subjects selected for illustration 
 have been chosen from the animals found in the woods and 
 waters of the Country, or from the leading species of its fossil 
 remains. The advantage and importance of this will be recog- 
 nized by all teachers who have taught this branch of science. 
 
 Br HENRY H. MILES, M.A., LL.D., 
 
 Secretary to4he Pepartment of Public Instruction for the 
 
 Province of Quebec, 
 
 The School History of Canada; Prepared for 
 
 use in the Elementary and Model Schools, with many Wood 
 Engravings, a Map of New France and New England, and 
 a Map of the Operations at the siege of Quebec in 1759, with 
 Appendices, giving an outline of the Constitution of the 
 Dominion of Canada, a Table of Chronology and Questions 
 for Examination. Price, 60 cents. 
 
 The Child's History of Canada ; Prepared for 
 
 the use of Elementary Schools, and of the Young Seader, 
 with Maps and Illustrations. Price, 30 cents. 
 
 Histoire du Canada pour les Enfants ; -^ l'usac;c 
 
 des Ecoles El^mentaires— Traduit de 1 Edition Anglaise, 
 par L. Devisme, B.A., de I'Universitd de FraAce. Price, 
 25 cents. 
 
 The History of Canada under the Trench Re- 
 gime, 1535 — 1763. This volume is recommended as a 
 Beading Book in tho higher Academies. It is a volume of 
 535 pages, and is illustrated by Many Maps and Plans. An 
 Appendix is given containing Notes and Documents explan- 
 atory of the Text. Price, $2. 
 
 This series of Histories has been approved by the Council of 
 Public Instruction for use in the English and French Schools. 
 
- !^ 
 
 the 
 
 iJducaiional Apparatus for sale hy Dawson Bros. 
 
 'HE BOY'S OWN LABORATORY. (Registered.) Con- 
 taining more th&nfiftj/ Chemical Preparations and pieces of apparatus, 
 with a Book of Instructions, to perform nearly 150 Experiments, in a 
 
 I Fancy Box, with wooden partitions. Price, $2. CO. 
 
 •HE STUDENT'S LABORATORY. Containing Seventy 
 Chemical Reagents and Preparations arranged in 23 Bottles and 47 
 I Paper Boxes. A]so, upwarda of Twenty Piecet of Useful Apparatun, 
 I suitable for performing Two Ilnndred instructive and amusing Chem- 
 ical Experiments, with Book of Instructions,--packed in a Wooden 
 Box. Price, $6.00. 
 
 •HE TEACHER'S LABORATORY. Carefully arranged 
 in a neat Wooden Cabinet 21 inches long, 13 inches wide, 9 inches 
 deep, containing twenty-five pieces of useful Apparatus, and seventy 
 Chemical Reagents, &c.^ carefully put up in 51 Bottles and 71 Paper 
 Boxes Price £12.00 
 
 JLEMENTARY SET OP CHEMICALS AND CHE- 
 
 I mical Apparatus. QoniOAxArigiiPiecesofApTKiratus and ^ Bottles 
 1 of Chemicals in BuflBoient quantity to exhibit all the important proper- 
 jt ties of Oxygen, Hydrogen, Water, Nitrogen, the Atmosphere, Nitrio 
 
 Acid, Nitrogen Dioxide. Nitrogen Monoxide or Laughing Gas, Ammo- 
 ' nia, Carbon and Carbonic Acid Qas, Chlorine, Iodine, and Phosphorus* 
 
 —packed in a neat Wooden Cabinet. Price. $12.00. 
 
 ^ ?HE CABINET OP CHEMICAL WONDERS, OR 
 
 Parlour Magic. A neat Wooden Cabinet containing 15 large Bottles 
 I «nd 12 Boxes of Chemicals, with necessary Apparatus and instruc- 
 tions, to perform 70 amusing, instructive and useful experiments. 
 ! Price, $3.00. 
 
 •HE HOME AND SCHOOL ELECTRIC TELE- 
 
 j graph. A complete working model, including Fingle Needle Instru- 
 ment, mounted on neat frame aiid stand, with J3ial, Alphabet, Keys, 
 
 I Line Wire, and Galvanic Batten/, with Chemicals and full instruc- 
 tions for use,— packed in a neat Wooden Box. Price, $2.25. 
 
 IAEA'S METHOD OP STUDYING UNIVERSAL 
 
 History. The Method comprises a Keyboard, Box of Crystals, Chart 
 I No. 1, Chart No. 2 and a Key. Price, $2-00. The Keys, which may bo 
 ' had either in English or French, are also sold separately. Price, 25c. 
 
 17. & A. JOHNSTON'S SERIES OP WALL MAPS, 
 j Comprising Political Geography, Classical Geogra- 
 phy, Physical Geography, Outline Maps, &c. 
 
 ^. & A. JOHNSTON'S SERIES OP SCIENCE 
 CHARTS. Comprising Illustrations of Botany, As- 
 ' tronomy. Natural Philosophy, &c. 
 
 ^. & A. JOHNSTON'S GLOBES, TERRESTRIAL 
 t AND CELESTIAL. 
 
 raE ONTARIO PATENT SCHOOL DESK WITH 
 FOLDINGCHAIRS. 
 
 A detailed catalogue of Educational Apparatus kept in stock will he 
 mailed to any address on application.^