IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) :-••/•. «9- 1.0 I.I 1.25 '1M 2.2 2.0 1.8 U 11.6 ^ ^^ ^^i c^: jSs ^^ w w C-.V'^ Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 o 1p. i6 CIHM/fCMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical iVIicroreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiques Technical and Bibliographic Notas/Notes techniques et bibliographiques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Features of this copy which may be bibliographically unique, which may altar any of the images in the reproduction, or which may significantly change the usual method of filming, are checked below. D Coloured covers/ Couverture de couieur I I Covers damaged/ Couverture endommagde □ Covers restored and/or laminated/ Couverture rastaurie et/ou pelliculie □ Cover title missing/ Letit titre de couverture manque □ Coloured mans/ Cartes gAogr«phiques en couieur □ Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ Encre de couieur (i.e. autre que bleue ou no que bleue ou noire) trations/ Planches et/ou illustrations en coul:aines pages blanches ajouties lors dune rcstauration apparaissent dans Ie texte, mais, lorsque cala dtait possible, ces pages n'ont pas iti film^es. Additional comments:/ Commentaires suppl^mentaires; L'Institut a microfilm* Ie meillenr exemplaire qu'il lui a eti possible de se procurer. Les details de cet tixemplaire qui sont peut-dtre uniques du point de vue bibliographique, qui peuvent modifier une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent eriger una modification dans la m^thode normale de filmage sont indiquAs ci-dessous. I I Coloured pages/ Pages de couieur Pages damaged/ Pages endommagdes Pages restored and/oi Pages restaur^es et/ou pellicul^es I I Pages damaged/ J I Pages restored and/or laminated/ Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages d6colorees, tachet^es ou pinuees □ Pages detached/ Pages ddtachees I I Showthrough/ t^ Transparence □ Quality of print varies/ Quality in^gale de I'impression □ Includes supplementary materfal/ Comprend du materiel supplemen supplementaire Edition disponible □ Only edition available/ Seule □ Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to ensure the best possible image/ Les pages totalement ou partiellement obscurcies par un feuillet d'errata, une pelure, etc., cnt 6t6 fi!m6es i nouveau de facon a obtenir la meilleure image possible. This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document est film* au taux de riduction indiqui ci-dessous. 10>^ 14X 18X 22X 26X 1 12X 30X 16X 20X 24X 28X 32X The copy filmed here hes been reproduced thenks to the generosity of: Douglas Library Queen's University The images appearing here are the best quality possible considering the condition and legibility of the original copy and in keeping with the filming contract specifications. Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed beginning with the front cover and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All other original copies are filmed beginning on the first page with a printed or illustrated impres- sion, and ending on the last page with a printed or illustrated impression. The last recorded frame on each microfiche shall contain the symbol —^-(meaning "COfi- TINUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END "), whichever applies. IV^aps, plates, charts, etc., may be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: L'exempiaire filmi fut reproduit grflce A la gAn^rosit* de: Douglas Library Queen's University Les images suivantes ont 6t« reproduites avec le plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition et de la net.et« de l'exempiaire film*, et en conformity avec les conditions du contrat de filmage. Les exempiaires originaux dont la couverture en papier est imprimde »ont film«s en commenpant par le premier plat et en terminant soit par la dernlAre page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration, soit par le second plat, selon le ces. Tous les autres exempiaires originaux sont filmds en commengant par la premiere page qui comporte une empreinte d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par la dernidre pagn qui comporte une telle empreinte. Un des symboles suivants apparattra sur la dernidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbols — ^ signifie 'A SUIVRE ", le symbols V signifie "FIN". Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., pauvent dtre filmds d des taux de reduction diffdrents. Lorsque lo document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clich«, 11 est fiimi d partir de I'angle supdrieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images nicessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mithode. 32X 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 \. (^iwtna Imviermts Ctbrarg Kl NOSTON, ONTARIO TEACHERS AND TEACHING a DELIVERED BEFORE THE TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION FOR THE SOUTH DIVISION OF THE COUNTY OF WELLINGTON, AT ELORA, 1877. B-5r OI3:.A^IiIl,ES OXi-A^UKZE, J^.JP. Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: 'HILE, with a feeling of diffidence, I accept the invitation kindly extended to me, an outsider, it affords me pleasure, neverthe- less, to comply with the request to say a few words on the present occasion. My only valid excuse *" trespassing upon your time is the fact that, for many years, I have been connected with the School Boards of Elora, and have thus, although never acting as a Teacher, come often in contact with Teachers, fand so acquired some knowledge of their ways, their wants, their value, and,— will you permit me to add?— their deficien- cies. This acquaintance, more or less extensive, with matters in which you feel a common interest, prompts me to make the remarks which I now veriture to offer to you. Let me start out with the statement, that he is sadly behind the times who does not accord to the experienced Teacher that position in the work- aday world to which he is justly entitled. As important to us as may be the laborer m the pulpit, or on the newspaper, the toiler at the desk and blackboard is as essential to the world's progress, and ought to be as well rewarded, as the one or the other. Education of the masses, the higher the better, is a necessity which can be no longer pushed aside. Ignorance IS now, more than ever in the world's history, an enemy to stability, law, order, and all that is comprehended in the term "good government." He who IS behind his fellov^-man, in a fair acquaintance with the common branches of an ordinary education, is heavily handicapped in the race of and for life, and apt to be thrown out and distanced. 'I'he uneducated are sinking, more rapidly and certainly than ever, into the position of mere "hewers of wood and drawers of water," socially, mentally and politically, io be "without schooling," as the phrase runs, is to be condemned to the galleys for life, to sink into the mud which clings to the wheels of progress, and to be at a disadvantage, at every turn, in whatever this world finds for / 51^083 2 TEACHERS AND TEACHING. man to do. There are those who, adhering to the traditions of the past contend that education unfits and gives distaste for i)hysical labor, and ought not, therefore, in the interests of a common humanity, to be pushed so far as, with general consent, is now being done. Neither you nor I can have a moment's sympathy with such belief. No unprejudiced man can conceal from himself the fact that education has lightened the toil of the laborer, increased his productive ability, surrounded him with comparative luxuries, and materially increased the purchasing power of his daily wages That It would be advisable, on any ground whatever, to abandon these fruits of a quickened intelligence, no person, whose opinion you could respect, would venture to assert. The very security of property,— and this IS a term fuller of meaning to the average man of to-day, than to him of one or two centuries ago,— renders the cost of education an insurance premium which we must pay, even if we do not extend a very hearty welcome to the tax-collector. To be totally ignorant is to be anomalous- to be taught, something or other, is unavoidable: to live without teachers IS impossible. It seems like the assertion of the merest truism to say that a common education is a requisite of civilized society. But, having reached fhis point, upon which all agree, a divergence of opinion is at onee percept- ible. What shall be taught? How shall it be taught? By whom shall it be taught? Here are questions which are s?ill, to a great extent, unsolved problems. After a fashion, we Canadians have endeavored to find the answer, and it is not claiming more than is justly due to us as a people when we assert that our fashion is, in many of its features, one of the best the mind has yet conceived, and worthy, in its chief characteristics, of imitation by older countries. We have set machinery to work, in each Province, by which the education of every child is made possible. We have gone beyond the experimental stage, and although the results of our system may not be so high as the most sanguine expected, they are satis- factory. We know enough of its working to be able to mark its principal defects, and every succeeding year will see obstacles removed, and the way to complete success made clearer. In Ontario its operation has been complicated by difficulties existent before Confederation, and bequeathed to us by the dead Parliament of Old Canada. Twe cry of "Godless Scho''ls" has, unfortunately, marred what would otherwise have been an almost faultless plan for general education. A large and important class oi' ouf fellow citizens has, in consequence, been condemned to remain at a disadvantage, and another generation, at least, must pass before the bad effect of a groundless panic can be, to any extent, done away with. We have dissipated a portion of our intellectual strength, as a people, in a fruitless discussion of the question "What shall be taught?," and split into two unequal, but antagonistic bodies, over what is in reality, whatever it may be in appearance, but the shadow of a grievance. "A school without a Catechism is Godless," cry some, "A school teaching all sorts of Cate- chisms, and all sorts of Creeds, is an impossibility," reply many others. And thereupon two armies of little learners are formed, one much more largely and liberally officered than the other, and therefore capable of doing much more effective work, and we have combatants where we ought to see united forces. This is the one blot upon our educational scheme, the one great cause of much weakness, the one excrescence of which others, copying our system, would do well to prevent the growth, and the one error in our TEACHERS AND TEACHING. 3 Confederation plan which we as a people have cause to mourn. Let us hope that the comparative failure of the experimeni may speedily convince Its supportc-s that a common school is better than a separate one, and that the church and the fireside are suited, more than the school-room, to the teachmg of the various shades of religious belief upon which good men and women sensibly agree to quietly differ. When that day comes, and when the friends of our semi-religious schools, convinced ' that education can be safely and much more cheaply given in an institution open to all creeds, agree to cast m their means with those of their fellow-men, and niake the common fund do much better work than can be hoped for in its divided state, our school system will more nearly approach what its pro- jectors desired, and proudly boast itself superior to any which man has yet established. If we are debarred from discussing these questions of how and what to teack, from what may be termed the politico-theological stand-point, we are at full liberty to examine them from what is a more practical one. 'Let us spend a few minutes in looking at them in this spirit. And, fiist, a word or two upon "how to teach." To you it may appear presumptuous in one, who has never had practical acquaintance with the art of teaching, to utter a single sentence upon this subject, but you must remember that there are theologians who are not in the pulpit, critics who are not on the press, politicians who are not law-makers, sanitarians who are not doctors, farmers who never touch a plow, financial authorities who are impecunious,' and fault-find£rs who are not perfect. And as much of what is about to be said IS intended specially for the ears of new beginners, I trust that the veterans m the ranks will not criticise too closely, because, it may be nothing of a strictly novel character is placed before them. ' If I have never taught, other than as a monitor in my youthful school- days, I have seen many teachers and closely watched their methods when opportunity offered, and this is the outcome of my observation. To teach properly, you must enlist the sympathy of the scholar, magnetize him with kindness, if you so like to word it, and get him on your side. He must become your partizan. He must believe that you know all, even if he does not know all you believe. Your word must be unto him a law, not merely because you are a strict disciplinarian or an efficient drill-sergeant, but because he has no reason to doubt your veracity or to question its reliability. Faith in the teacher is generally the mainspring of success ;n the student, Implicit confidence, in all said and done by the superior leads to that attentive and intelligent obedience which is the first element of progress in the inferior. Whatever else you may study, learn to be a good talker. Tell, plainly and earnestly, all that it is necessary to impart Depend upon yourself more than your book, but first master the book. Spare no i)ams to acquire all knowledge within your reach upon any given subject, and then think it no trouble to place the gist of all that you know at the disposal of those seeking to know. Do not forget that it is part of your business to learn something new daily, so that you may the better illustrate old truths. And bear in mind the fact, that you must make sure ot the perceptive in your pupils before you can be confident that you com- mand the receptive, and, still more, the reflective. Children think, and think correctly and quickly, but they must first have something to think about. "Seeing is believing," with the child as with the man. Fix the eye 4 TEACHERS AND TEACHING. of the scholar, and you have his ears and brain. In teaching, use objects it matters not what, so long as you understand and can describe them and you at once attract the attention of the learner. Let every reading lesson have, if possible, itj, most accessible illustration. A common stone can be made to tell the story of the formation of the crust of the earth upon which the school-house stands, the wayside weed will serve as a starting- point for a description of its bounteous covering, a piece of wood, with its marvelous grain and fibre, will exhibit the wonderful process of vegetable growth, and the burning of a pinch of salt in the school-house stove or the melting o( a few grains of sugar in the drinking-cup, will afford a practical lesson in chemistry. There is nothing in or about the school-house which cannot be u.Mlized by the thinking, active teacher. The history of the very chair upon which he sits may be employed to illustrate several of the studies in which his scholars have an interest. He can give a simple chapter from Boiiny while tracing the progress of the tree, whence its component parts were derived, from the tiny seed, through the growth of years, it m.^y have been for two or three centuries, until the axe- man selected it for his purpose. A lesson in History may be given while speaking of the changes: upon this continent, which that monarch of the forest has witnessed and survived. Natural History may be brought in to enumerate the many forms :n which it has exhibited itself in the surround- ing woods and streams. Mechanics may find a place in a description of the wedge-like axe which fellod the giant, the leverage of heavy limbs which brought the lofty tree toppling and crashing down to earth, the power of the saw which converted it into boards, and of the turning-lathe which gave them form, and the force of the smoothing plane, the driving hammer, and the binding nail which invested the whole with shape and utility. Dynamics may deal with the force of the falling arm, of the moving sled of the lumberman, and of the buzzing saw. Mineralogy may be made to tell of the source of the iron of the tools, and screws, and nails, and of the paint which covers the whole vith ornamentation. The very glue, which plays such useful part in the structure, has its own story to be profitably told. The Maps upon the wall are capable of being invested with new interest, and may have other uses than the primary and important ones for which they were purchased. The paper, and cotton, and printing, and coloring, and varnish which go to their make-up, have biographies, if the expression may be permitted to me, of nearly as great attraction to the young as the life histories of the brave discoverers and voyagers who suc- cessively, for ages, have gathered, bit by bit, the knowledge which has enabled the chartographer to lay down so accurately the outlines of the world's continents, and to place, at small cost, in every school, a bird's eye view of the earth's surface. Subjects for the object lesson need never be wanting, and, however humble, are not to be despised. The coat you wear, the cup from which you diink, the stove which gives heat, the broom which cleans the floor, has each a separate story worth repeating, and an acquaintance with which cannot fail to have its deep meaning for the little listeners to whom you relate it. But you must supplement your stock of familiar objects. The black-board, a comparative novelty when I was a lad, IS now an indispensable, and to use it effectively the teacher must not only educate his brain but his hands. As every man can learn to write, so TEACHERS AND TEACHING. every man can and ought to learn to draw. Some make better letters than others, and some will use the chalk more deftly than others, but every teacher ought to be, more or less, an artist. Drawing a house or tree, without being compelled to write under it, "This is a house," or "This is a tree," will yet be as necessary a part of education as learning how to sign a marriage contract, a deed, or a note. Making intelligible representations of everyday objects upon the black-board is one of the pre-requisites to the model teacher. With this ability, common to all, the art of teaching will be materially simplified. Ideas will be conveyed to the student with almost telegraphic facility. The rough way will be made smooth, and the toils of the upward march considerably lessened. We are on the threshold of the Picture Age. Our books are rapidly becoming as much indebted to the artist as to the author. The pencil wil^ before long, be as powerful as the pen. There are old-fashioned folks who regret this, but much as I respect old-fashioned folks, and many of their good old-fashioned ways, I cannot join with them in their belief that thought will go out as art comes in. The imagination is as much strength- ened by the realistic picture as the incomprehensible poem, and the robust intellect may learn as readily, and retain as permanent impressions from that which is written in artistic short-hand, as from that which is clouded in abstruse terms and elaborate verbosity. Do not understand me as underrating the value of books or their study. The world will never dis- pense with the alphabet. There are many thoughts, many facts which can be conveyed from mind to mind through the use of words alone. What I am anxious to impress upon you is, the great value of the object as illus- trative of the written or spoken idea, and the use of the eye as the most ready avenue to the young brain. So convinced am I of the utility of the Picture method, and of its advantages over the ordinary and laborious committal to memory of mere words, by the juvenile student, that I would willingly see every School Board instructed to subscribe to some one of the many illustrated periodicals of the day, — notably the Lmdon Newt, the Graphic, or Harper't Weekly, — and set every teacher to exhibit and explain its contents to his pupils. I would cover the walls of every school-room, not with maps alone, but with well-selected engravings and chromos, con- veying at once to the young mind correct ideas of the manners and costumes of varied peoples, of the vegetation of different climes, of the animals which are scattered over our earth, of modern discoveries and ancient methods, of all that interests and regulates our every-day life. Thus, at a glance, I would familiarize the student with the doings of the past and present, and carry him round the world while sitting at his desk. There are some who may think that this would convert the school-house into a play-room, and do away with the mental discipline which is necessary to the success of the pupil. The idea is erroneous. Boys and girls, young men and women, are sent or go to school with a settled purpose — an intention to obtain ideas which may be useful in their after career. Convey these ideas in as effective a manner as is practicable. Appeal to a: many senses as you can, but make a lasting impression. At the best, many of our rural schools are but fitfully attended, and it is impossible to give a liberal education in a few brief intervals of a broken course of study. This is a deplorable fact, but we cannot ignore it, and it supplies us with O TEACHERS AND TEACHING. the strongest reasons for making the school as attractive and utilitarian as we can, so that the greatest possible good may be effected in a limited time. Therefore would I employ objects, wherever practicable, for the purpose of hastening tiie mind to something like maturity. And thi« brings me, rather abruptly, I confess, to another branch of my subiect— "What to teach." ■* The law restricts our teachers in the number of subjects to be taught, but this is not a cause of complaint. The general belief is that the pro^ gramme of studies is too extensive. My lack of practical acquaintance with the actual work of teaching may account for a want of sympathy with this belief, but I must confess to looking suspiciously ujwn the cry that the teacher has too much work to do. The programme, however, affords to the head of the school ample opportunity to impact to the public all that he knows. A necessarily large share of attention is give.i to the three leading branches of education,— reading, writing and arithmetic,— a some- what disproportionate length of time is devoted to grammar, and geography and history have their claims sufficiently recognized, but with a well-devised scheme of monitorial help for the younger members of the school, even in rural sections where but one teacher is employed, there is surely time every week,— I would willingly believe in every day,— to instruct the more advanced scholars in that useful knowledge which the merest acquaintance with the physical sciences plainly implies. Why it is, appears difficult to determine, but this important branch of education too often seems to receive a willirig neglect from the average teacher. To know something of the bodies which we possess, of the world which surrounds us, of the soil upon which we tread, of the growth and decay which are constantly going on, of the air which we breathe, the heat which we enjoy, and the cold which we dread, of the unerring laws which govern ourselves and the Universe, of the progress of invention and discovery, are surely things to be desired. To be able to form a conception, however crude, of the force, be it varied or one, which produces dew and launches the hurricane, which gives life to the vegetating germ and shatters huge blocks of granite, which upheaves continents and congeals oceans, which conveys the telegraphic despatches along the wire or destroys the lofty pine, which carries the sound of the human voice over miles of space or bellows forth the roar of echoing thunder, is to give a fresh fillip to the awakened intellect, and elevate man still higher above the brute. The Book of Life is opened by the modern scientist, with its first pages so simply worded that all may read, tells us of a world which our forefathers knew not, and introduces us to a library of which the volumes are ever varied and endless. Ihat which has, until recently, been the possession of a few, is now within the reach of all, and the teacher is unfitted for his work, and an immeasurable distance behind the times in which he lives, who does not introduce his scholars to the new wonders which the researches of the last quarter-century have made common property to all who care to take the little trouble necessary to possess them. The day has passed, or is rapidly passing away, in which men asked each other of what use are the labors of the diligent student of science. Improved general health, extended means of rapid locomotion, a system of higher and more productive agriculture, an increase of labor- saving machinery, a profitable use of raw products, once waste and worth- TEACHERS AND TBACHINO. less, economy in the consumption of material, a cheapening of the coat of production, an intelligent direction of labor, a spread of the little neces- saries, once luxuries, which make the life of the man of small means more and more endurable, are practical effects of the diffusion of scientific teaching which brings home its value to the fireside of every citizen, how- ever humble the sphere which he may occupy. The prejudices against scit.ice, — always unfounded, but not the less bitter on that account, — are rapidly wearing away. He is no longer heterodox who declares that the earth has revolved on its axis for millions of years, and he is not heretic who expresses the belief that it moves around the sun. Ignorance is yielding everywhere to Truth, and it is difficult to startle us with a novelty, even when it is incomprehensible. We have almost ceased to marvel, and accept the aew, however striking, as but a nine days' wonder. The Telephone is a child of three short years' existence ; the Phonograph was born yesterday ; and yet each seems to be an old acquaintance. There are some in this room wiio can remember when gas was almost unknown, when railways had not even a legal existence, when the lucifer match was unthought of, and when the telegraph, the daguerreotype, the sewing machine, and the reaper were in the future. Aniline dyes were the products of a few years ago, gun cotton has not lived more than a quarter-century, dynamite is of recent origin, the coal-oil lamp is a comparatively modern improvement upon the tallow candle, chloroform and the other anaesthetics are blessings vouchsafed to us by the scientific investigations of but a generation back, and even the mohair so commonly used was foreign to the grandmothers of many o( us. Every decade has its swarm of novelties. There may have been nothing new under the sun in the days of Solomon, but we have fallen upon different times. Soon the cry will be that there is nothing old but Truth and the Planet. The ancient will be constantly thrust aside by the modern, and the time-worn ever displaced by the latest discovery. Can the teacher of such an age afford to ignore Science ? A knowledge of its alphabet, at least, is as necessary to him as his accjuaintance with the first book of lessons. And to acquire it in the most easy and thorough manner, he must not be satisfied m'u the written observations of other men. None has better opportunity than he to become an observer in turn, for to none is the book of nature so widely opened. I often envy the rural teacher the many chances within his reach for outside studies. In his morning and evening walk to and from his school, his summer holidays, his unbroken Satuwiays, he has more time for such work than has been at the disposal of many of our noted scientists. One sixth, at least, and often more of his waking hours, could be profitably devoted to the studies which have made men eminent as the greatest benefactors of their race. Hir, usefulness would be increased, his health benefited, his mind improved, his intellectual powers strengthened, his whole manhood braced, by such an acquaintance with natural laws as lies within his daily reach, and there is no study which would yield a larger return of pleasure and consciousness of well spent iabor. I have dwelt somewhat lengthily upon this point, because earnestly believing in the value and urgent desirability of greater attention to this practical education, through our public schools, than we have yet been g TEACHERS AND TEACHING. bk'sed with. If we are to fill Canada with a prosperous, intelligent race, capable of taking advantage of their great opportunities, and fitted to develope our natural resources to the fullest extent, we must teach some- thing more in our school-rooms than the mechanical art of reading a booV , writing a name, and casting up an account. With the teacher, to a large extent rests the near future of this great country, and of the enormous territory stretching towards the setting sun, over which we hold dominion, and I do hope that he will thoroughly arouse himself to the importance of the task and the high mission which he is called upon to fiilfil. Pardon me if, tempted by my opix)rtunity, I venture to suggest another subject to which the teacher may worthily and properly direct his attention. We Canadians are pre-emJnently a self-governing people. We are fairlv entitled to assert that we have institutions for the protection of life property, and the general welfare of all classes, second to none which the wisdom of man has produced. Free from the expensive burdens which are necessitated by the circumstances of the old world, we have no stand- ing army to maintain, no favored church to supijort, no privileged classes to salary, and no enormous national debt to hamper our movements. If we borrow money, it is not to arm against foreign foes, but to build rail- roads construct canals, open up our forests, dram our owamps, and make home's for the present and future generations. We are truly governed by the people, through the people, for the people. Here Jack is really as good as his Master, and sometimes better than that little more than pro- verbial parsonage. Liberal laws have invested nearly every male with the franchise, and a free education is the birthright of every child. Property is safe taxes are such as we like to make them, and our moral standard is at least equal to that of the old wcrld. We have our party differences always our depressions at times, and our comforting grumblings just before an election. But, as a rule, we are happy, contented, and prosperous. The chain which attaches us to the old empire is too light for us to feel as galling or even binding, and to-morrow we could assert our independence if we cared for a distinct nationality, without any to say us nay. We have all the elements of future greatness, a territory almost boundless m extent, and a population hardy, prolific, energetic and enterprising. Four millions to-day we may be twenty before another half-century passes away. Worn Fort William to the Saskatchewan, the sun rises and sets daily upon long trains of settlers who go up to possess the land. 1 o the toot of the Rocky Mountains they carry with them the institutions of Ontario. The school- house will rise up wherever a handful are gathered together. Our municipal system will be r-ipidly adopted in its entirety by the prosperous settlements. Our form of gove.nment, with all its seeming intricacies to the uncultivated, will speedily prevail where Sitting Bull and his braves now hold their simple council. Has the teacher nothing to do with all this? Has he no responsibility in the matter? Has he no duty to discharge m preparing the boys of to-day,— the young men of to-morrow,— for the part which thousands of them will be called upon to take? He cannot answer No and yet how few of those who mould the future man from the impres^able child placed under their care, ever think of explaining to the youthful student, our system of government, the admirable legislative and executive machinery which we possess, and the working of the municipal and school TEACHERS AND TEACHING. 9 laws whi::h govern us daily. There are few children in this country, I fear, who can point out the difference of the functions of the Local and Federal Governments, and of the obligations ot the one to the other; who know ariy thing of the moduM openmdi cf a law Court ; who understand the meaning of "Vote by Ballot;" v -. have the faintest conception of the modes by which revenue is collected and expenditure checked; who have more than a vague comprehension of the terra " The Government;" and who could sit down and write the barest essay upon the ther. ♦• How we arc governed." And vet many of them can tell you when Trial by Jury is supposed to have originated, how the Feudal System declined, how, when, and where Magna Charta was signed, what distinguished the reign of the Tudors, and from what cause the union of England and Scotland came about. In a country like this, where almost every boy, in one capacity or other, is destined to become a law-maker, or law-executor, at some period or other of his Ufe, it is surely worth while to teach him how laws are made, and in what fashion administered, and there is no place in which the work can be more thoroughly done than in the school-room. Having thus cursorily discussed the questions "What and How to Teach," I will turn, for a brief space, to the third point: "By whom should our schools be taught." Our Legislature has answered this query by declaring that none other ihan "a duly qualitied Teacher" shall be employed in our Public Schools, and that the qualification shall be deter- mined by an educational test, impartially administered; and this is, probably, as far as, with a view to keeping up a supply equal to the demand, any statute or regulation can go. We must all admit, however, that it is but a meagre and unsatisfactory proof of any person's fitness for teaching. Literary attainments, alone, valuable and essential as they may be, are but half the outfit of the successful teacher. It is probably true that the best teachers must have an intuitive knack and liking for their profession. However that may be, it is certain that the simple ability to secure a third, or even second-class certificate, is not all that is requisite to make an effective instructor of the lowest class in the school. The brain may be saturated with the contents of books as a sponge with water, and yet unable to communicate its absorbed treasures to thirsty minds. A know- ledge of human nature, of men and places, is as important as profound acquaintance wiih the most valued literary treasures. Some inherit this familiarity with human nature and its workings : some can only acquire it through experience, and intercourse with the world: and it is by that inter- course, rest assured, coupled of course with literary ability, that the really vrJuaMe teacher is formed. Circumstances, the want of n eans, may have prevented the young beginner, the simple apprentice to the profession, from making acquaintance with much beyond the radius of the home circle, but, by the expenditure of a liberal share of the first moneys received from the Trustees, should this self-improvement commence. The methods of communication have been so multiplied and simplified, the cost of travel has been so cheapened, that the recipient of the smallest salary, paid by the most economical Trustees, can now utilize a fair proportion of the summer holidays in learning something of the great land in which we live, and of the bustling, active people of whom we form a part. A few dollars, not more than a fifth of the average income of the worst paid of 10 TEA€Hl6RS AND TEACHING. our youngest tescher, will carry a caieful person to the head of our chain of mighty inland seas: a similar sum will give a view of the glories of the St Lawrence, and enable the traveller to visit Toronto, Kingston, Montreal, and Quebec, and gaze on the sublimities of the Saguenay: little more will suffice to convey the sight-seer to New York and the ocean, or to Chicago, the Prairies, and the Mississippi. Of the advantages of such a series ot summer trips it would be idle to speak. Upon the necessity ot so.ne such actual knowledge of what is going on around us it is unnecessary to dwell. Our \raerican cousins understand this better than we. Every summer-day our steam-boats and railway cars are crowded with tourists, from the otbjr «ide of the lines, and common amongst them are bevies of schc^l girls and school teachers. Young women cannot conveniently travel long distances alone, but they can have no scruples which would prevent them from join- ing a friendly party of their own sex, under the guidance of some experienced person, and so overcoming the little difficulties which might otherwise beset them. And slender purses, under such co-operative arrangement, would not be so depleted, probably, as would be that of the single traveller, for a large party often commands cheaper rates than ordinr.ry and lessens individual expenditure. There are no such obstacles, however, in the the path of the young man. To him the whole Dominion is open, whether as a traveller b" rail or boat, or as a pedestrian, and there is nothing to pr-vent him from seeing every nook and corner of our land. •In Germany, the young mechanic is compelled to complete his education as a woAman, by years of travel in search of fresh employers, and is not admitted by the State to the full privilege of citizenship until he has finished his term as a wanderer. Here, as we are proud to declare, we are a freer people, and such a law is an impossibility, but it would be well that the higher law of public opinion and common sense should be brought to bear uix)n thi. question, and that the teacher should be valued for what we know him to have seen of the world around him, as well as for that which we believe him to have acquired through the school-room. Between two men of equal abilities, one of whom has travelled and the other of whom has staid at home, there is a wide difference in teaching value. He who tells of what he has seen, conveys his ideas to the mind of another much more readily than does he who retails, at second-hand, what he has heard or read. His own impressions are more vivid, his descriptions more natural, his ideas fuller, his ability, and, let me add, desire to convey knowledge more intense. Travel, too, removes that self-adoration,— some call it self- conceit,— which mars the best o. us, and which is apt to become stronger in a limited home world in which we are nearly supreme, than in an extended one where we rub coats with better men, and find that we are not taken at exactly our own estimate. It deveiopes our originality, and prevents that parrot-like repetition of others which makes mere machines of us. He who is a simple echo of the very phrases and thoughts of other men, however lofty the plane on which he stands, is an intellectual monkey, an empty chatterer, performing to the often indifferent music of his own barrel-organ. Contact with the world, such as travel affords, which is within the easy reach of every young teacher, and will be availed of by all who care for the work in which they are engaged, does umch to correct this growing evil, and is, next to hard study, the best possible educator of tEACHERS AND TEACHING. II ., •*■ him who specially sets himself apart to become the guide of others. I have thus, rapidly and imperfectly, surveyed the ground over which I purposed to carry you when netting out to write this paper. I have endeavored to answer the question " How to teach " by dwelling upon the advantage of object lessons over the simple exercise of memory in the committal of words without accompanying ideas. I have sought to impress upon you, in considering " What to teach," that more prominence should be given to the practical than is now the rule. And I have ventured, in looking at the question "By whom shall our children be taught?," to suggest that experience and culture are quite as requisite to the successful teacher as a certificate, of however high a character, obtained before a Board of Examiners of whom none, probably, has become personally acquainted with or even seen the candidate. It would have been possible to go much further in illustration and elaboration, but that would have been unfair to you, and I must content myself with the hope that one or two of the hints roughly thrown out will bear fruit somewhere, and that the work of putting together these words, which to me has been an agreeable if somewhat unsatisfactory task, has not been altogether thrown away. In conclusion, let me, as an old Trustee, impress two or three other things upon young teachers. You complain that your efforts to make changes, which you regard as improvements, are not always seconded by your Trustees. If this is the case, you are, depend upon it, nearly altogether to blame. Let your employers be convinced that you are iii earnest ; show by your acts that you are anxious to serve your scholars, and so enlist the sympathies of their parents; don't be afraid of asking boldly for what you want; and, in nine cases out of ten, (and I could almost assure the tenth itself,) any reasonable plan for the advancement of the interests of the school will certainly be adopted by those who hold the purse-strings. As faint heart never won fair lady, so the teacher afraid of Trustees never succeeded in building up an efficient school., Do not become dissatisfied with your profession because the salaries of beginners are low. Remember that, as new beginners, you are but apprentices, and that, generally, you are really not worth more than you receive. A young lawyer, a young doctor, a young preacher is, as a rule, not so well paid as you, and few young mechanics realize such large profits on their year's work, at the commencemient of life. SticF tq your profession, however, and it will stick to you. It has prizes for those who deserve and struggle on to win them: comfortable homes and com])etency for those who remain long enough at the work to become entitled to them. And do not abandon study because you have already gained a certain status. When you have your third-class, if you remain at the desk, you mutt obtain a second. After you have gained that second, strive for its higher grade, and then work for a first. He who does this is sure of a money return for his labors, and will never regret that he has become a member of one of the highest of our professions. Do not run away u ith an idea, common to many, that teaching is the worst paid of all methods of obtaining a living. I^ook arouod you and see how many failures there are in life, and then compare notes, and it is venturing little to a sert that, when you have completed the compiuison, you will find that, numuers considered, the tcucher has "belter times" than the members of almost any other working class in the 19 TEACHERS AND TEACHING. community. Thatthis .may ^/-^-'"S^^u'&'^S^ S.°'ardrim1SSS iUil^fu^^iir o^Iment. is the earnest wish with which I close this paper. THEN AND NOW. READ BEFORE A PUBLIC MEETING, HELD UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE teachers' association for THE FIRST DIVISION OF •VELLINGTON, AT GUELPH, 14TH MAV, 1880. BTT OS:-A.IlX-E!S OX..A.IIBZB3, IMI. 'HEN AND NOW! A short text, but full of meaning. Three little words, yet covering all time. Ten letters only, but sufficient to comprise the history of the world. With them, we can travel in imagination from creation to the present, call up visions of the rise and fall of empires, rebuild the foundation and super- structure of every religious system, and trace the progress of commerce, civilization, education and freedom. Then peoples Eden, sets afloat the Ark, passes with the children of Israel through the desert, reinvests Babylon and Nineveh with barbaric splendor, fills the sacred places of far-off India with mighty images of Eastern Gods and the prostrate forms of devout worshippers, crowds the Coliseum with an excited throng of brutal pleasure seekers, presents to us Athenian athletes, supple in body, every curve in form a line of beauty, contending for the simple prize more valued than gold, carries us to the fierce struggle at Thermopylae, recalls the fortitude of Spartan heroes, re-enacts for us the fall of Byzantium, and brings down from the north the hordes of Goths and Vandals who trampled rising civilization under foot. Then takes us back to days when toiling thousands, with appliances of which we are ignorant, slowly erected those huge pyra- mids amidst the sands of Egypt, for purposes unknown to us, theorise as we may, and which stand, defiant of time, vast monuments of man's industry and his imperfect records. Then marched with Alexander, over- whelming all until he found no more foemen with whom to do or die, was with Hannibal on that Alpine pass whence he looked on fair Italy, a rich prize for ruthless conqueror, and was with Xerxes and Darius when they marshalled theif mighty hosts and wrote a blood-red page in history. 14 THEN AND NOW. s^hoSlS-X^Jfn Tlf"^'^' With priest and devotee, lands Cxsar on the shores of Britain, builds Roman cities in our fatherland, and floats across the German Sea the hardy Saxon adventurers who have given to the woHd and SS^Xr"' ^^^"-^Wuering race. .THLaifts the cur^ n ana exhibit* a Vivaria of — '•o""" '»*- nave cxchuugca rne, THEN AND NOW. »s pack-horse for the railway, the flint-lock for the Martini^Hennr, the dash- churn for he dog-power, and the "bet een " needle for the seS rnachhe We save labor in everything, and dignify the laborer evei^where E^^^^^^^ the old names of household things, which were common in^our childhoJ are becoming obsolete. Rush-bottomed chairs, rushlights, tallow candS' a^tTn '"''^^^hes, pattens and clog.s,. leather breeches^a'nC troufer^^^^ and mops, are almost unknown, save by repute from heir elders °o the present generation, There is scarcely a young lady unc^er twerltv now present who could snuff a candle with a pair of snuffers! at the firit ^^emm without extinguishing it, and it would puzzle some, of tLLiorsTsuc cessfuUy manufacture a. light out of a piece of flint, a bit o7 ben Lit , (ow burnt mg^ a.sphnt of wood, and a little roll sulphur. Yet with such materials did their mothers go to work to create a fire, or lighra tXw d.o And we are growing aesthetic as we become more comfortable In our citie. and towns,^our centres of intelligence, -Art is a rage bur walls Ste'r' ?nH H^"'' "'''"T'' °' engravings, or photograph? or sometWng nfnn ' ^^'"^ '« "o homc SO jxjor, if the habitadon ofan inteS manor woman, as to be entirely destitute of pictures. tZZIS change of Christmas, New Year, Easter and Birthday cards, the produS on of which has grown m a few years from nothing to enormous magnS^s haTkepfpat^^^^^^ The%rfTsou'nd nas Kept pace with the desire for the gratification of sight. Nearlv everv tZ anVnTatht'^'^r^"^' "^ ""^^^"^^ °^^«^^- ^ '* ^V^S rwors and a bath is no longer the rare possession of the wealthy onlv mltZ ^^""P""^^^' ^^^'■y h^^^' by more conveniencies than the wiS^ flig t of ancient Eastern story-teller ever compassed, and- our evervdav rnatter-of-course necessaries out-do the luxuries of our not very remote ancestors. Now is the opposite of Then in nearly ever^partTcular and he world IS in almost every respect the better for the change And whHe SoTv Each 'if n,n H ' *" ^"' T.^^' ^'"^^ 'P^" «^^''"^' ^^^ a miniature* n story. i^ach, if called upon, could tell a tale of happy youth of hoiirs of sorrow of rough-and-tumble contest with the worldfof hop^ defer^^^^^ Jc nJ/"^ ^A^^ °/ which I have come here more directly to soeak to vo.. ^ no buried m the dim pages of old-^vorld chronicles, nJr s i^of whatTe the h'Zr^ l'^l^Z''ZTJS^±°L .he^country, now known as Uuelph was aln,os. un.«..,.ed;t>ey™d •the'i^;„shiVrorSi,"Z'the I^ THEN AND NOW. m settled portion possessed but few residents. In Wellington, the upper tier of Townships had scarcely been entered upon, and names of places now "familiar as household words" were unknown. Such roads as there were had been simply cut through the bush, and had experienced little other improvement than that which the axe, the handspike, the logging chain and fire had afforded. Peel was in the early stage of settlement; Maryboro was almost unknown; Minto was really a (crra incognita; Luther was, in • popular estimation, a vast and irreclaimable swamp; Arthur had a mere handful of settlers; Mount Forest was a nameless and unbroken govern- ment reserve for a town plot, covered with a virgin forest ; Elora possessed some half-dozen housea; such places as Harriston, Palmerston and Drayton were not even a dream of the *uture; and the gravel roads, thrifty villages, and smiling farms which now make pleasant travel from the northern bank of the Grand River to the utmost bounds of Wellington, were covered with thick and luxuriant growth of maple, hemlock, elm and cedar. Everything was in primitive shape, and yet the mark of future progress was made, here and there, and coming events cast their shadow. Oxen were far more numerous than teams of horses, and neither couldbe regarded as plentiful. The axe was more busy than the plough, ind regularly prepared more acres for the annual sowing. Money was scarce, produce was low in price, barter was the rule and not the exception, postal communication was defective, wages were poor, and "hard times" were as commonly talked about and as earnestly believed in as to-day, when, measured by the past, the term is comparatively meaningless. There was a feeling of despondency throughout the community, and people were divided as to the cause of the general depression. Some blamed the Rebellion of a few years before: others said that the effects of Family Compactism had not yet died away: and still others attributed all evils to the newly effected Union between Upper and Lower Canada. There is little wonder that, at such a time, schools and schoolmasters were under the weather, and reckoned as but of "small account" by many of our people. Thanks to the energy, however, of a noble few, prominent amongst whom stood Egerton Ryerson, the Government of that day took steps to obtain information as to the system of public education in force in some of the States of the American Union and in Europe, and, taking Massachussetts and Prussia as a guide, enacted a sweeping amendment to the School Act for Upper Canada, in the ninth year of Her Majesty's reign, and put it into operation in 1847. In 1841, the first Common School Law had been passed, and in 1843 it was amended, but the system was defective and unproductive of expected results. Under it, townships were divided into school sections, by Town- ship Superintendents, who were practically uncontrolled, and therefore, in many instances, arbitrary, and these divisions were unequal in size, often unnecessarily small, and frequently unfairly made. The consequence of this state of things was unpopularity of the law, and a pretty general con- viction that common schools were too often common nuisances. The Report of the Superintendent of Education, for 1847, tells us that the system produced "miserable school-house^ poor and cheap teachers, inter- rupted and temporary instniction and heavy rate-bills." In some Districts, before the passage of the amending School Act, 9 Vic. Chap. 20, the uiiitrict Council had never imposed a school assessment, depending for THBN AND NOW. «7 e upper tier places now 5 there were little other ?ging chain ; Maryboro her was, in lad a mere :en govern- a possessed nd Drayton fty villages, them bank Dvered with Everything made, here e far more IS plentiful. >ared more »w in price, ication was )nly talked »y the past, !spondency ause of the ars before: died away: n between ich a time, d as but of ', however, rerson, the the system can Union le, enacted 1 the ninth In 1841, 43 it was " expected , by Town- lerefore, in size, often :quence of neral con- :es. The s that the Kers, inter- B Districts, p. 30, the ending fcH* i?J»' school mamtenance entirely upon the small legislative Grant apportioned to each District, and an equivalent raised solely by rate bills or voluntary contributions. No uniformity existed in the use of Class Books, the Township Suiierintendent or the Teacher, or even the Parent dictating what should be employed in each particular section. In 1846, no fewer than 13 different Spelling Books, 107 Readers, 35 Arithmetics, ao Geogra- phies, 21 Histories, and 16 Grammars, were used in our Common Schools besides varying Class Books on other subjects. The methods of teaching were almost as numerous as the teachers, and followed no specified rule Sometimes it was by classes, often by individuals, and in other cases by an extensive use of monitors, being generally a mixture of the three styles and nearly always a higgledy-piggledy, go-as-you-please arrangement as* easy as possible to the teacher, and as unproductive of good results to the pupil as such indefinite work might be fully exijected to be. And the character of the teachers, si^eaking in general terms, and not forgetting many bright exceptions, was not above suspicion. Certificates were granted by Township Superintendents, who too often relieved the charitable and the District Council, by. thrusting into the school-house the ne'er-do-wells the infirm, the crippled, the sickly and the unfortunate, who, under ordinary circumstances, would have become dependent upon the good nature and benevolence of their fellow-citizens. In one District, a Superintendent after the passage of the new School Law, was comi^elled to give notice that he would not grant certificates to any candidates unless they were strictly sober, and that he would cancel the certificates of all teachers who suffered themselves at any time to become intoxicated. And we are gravely informed, the result was that a majority, not all, of the hitherto intemperate teachers became thoroughly temperate men, and that the incorrigible were dismissed. The quality of the teachers may be guessed at very fairly, it is safe to say, from the salaries paid to them. In 184 c the average was ^26 2s, or $104.40; in 1846, ^26 4s, or $104.80; and in 1847, ^a8 los, or $114, and this, too, for the most part, exclusive of board Had the schools been kept open during the whole of the teaching months of these years, the salaries would have averaged $114 in 184c $147 in 1846, and $148 in 1847. It must be borne in mind that, in those days, male were much more numerous than female teachers, so that the smaller amounts generally paid to those of the gentler sex had compara- tively little influence in lessening the general average. The parsimony and |K)verty of the people had much to do, of course, with the quality of the teacher, for men who could obtain higher wages at almost any other occu- pation, through physical or intellectual superiority, would not waste time and opfiortunity to earn more than the paltry pittance paid to the peda- gogue, simply through philanthropic desire to advance the interests of the rising generation Says Dr Ryerson, in the Report to which I am indebted for these :acts: "This small comi)ensation of teachers is the great source o inetficiency in the common schools. Persons of good abilities and attainments will not teach for httle or nothing so long as they can obtain a more ample remuneration m other ixirsuits." He adds, ii language as truihful, and as worthy of notice to-day, as when it was written- "People cannot obtain good teachers any more than good lawyers or ohvsicians, wiinoui paying lor their services." And, as he says in'the next sentence rt THKN AND- HOW. SO say we all, and so I am happy to observe are many of our school corpor- ations saying all over the Province: "The intelligence of any school section or corporation of trustees may be tested by the amount of salary they are disposed to give a good teacher." If Egerton Ryerson had said and done nothing more tlian this, he would have deserved the gratitude of every teacher in Ontario, simply because he had the courage to put upon record a sentiment which, at the time when he used the words, was eminently unpopular, and a direct and stinging rebuke to nearly every school-board then existent. In those days, cheap teachers were wanted, and the supply equalled the demand, while the pockets of the charitable were saved, a semblance of education was kept up, and County Poor Houses were not required so long as every other school-section provided for one, at least, of those who would, in these days, be generally regarded as eligible candidates for admission thereto. The amount of interest taken in educational mat- ters was not evidenced in small salaries alone. The school-house, in its quality, too often matched the teacher. Of 2,572 school-houses in Upper Canada in 1847, 49 only were of brick, and 84 of stone, the others being frame and log. Of the 2,500, 800, or about one-third, were in good repair; 98 had more than one room; 1,125, ^^ ^^ss than half, were properly furnished with desks and seats; only 367 were provided with a suitable play-ground; and not more than 163, out of 2,572, had necessary out- buildings. Coming nearer home, we find that the municipalities now com- prised in the County of Wellington contained, in 1847, 43 school-houses, of which one was built of stone, 9 were frame, and 35 were log, and the Report states that only 13 were good, 25 were middling, and the balance were inferior. When we remember the standard of ''goodness" in those days, when school authorities at Toronto were thankful for small favors in rural districts, we can have some faint idea of the character of the buildings pronounced inferior. It is probable that they came up to the style of accommodation of the Mapleton school, in Manitoba, which I find described in the last report of the Superintendent of Protestant Schools for that Province, as follows: "Found that since my last visit the school- house had been floored ; it still required plastering and ceiling and weather- boarding." What sort of a building it was before these improvements were effected, it doesn't recjuire a very active arain to imagine, and when you have the picture in your mind's eye you will have some conception of the pleasures of teaching in the "good old times," of less than half a century ago, in Upper Canada. Returning to 1847, we are told that in the wliole of Wellington District, comix)sed of the territory now forming the three counties of Wellington, Waterloo, and Grey, there were 102 schools, of which only 22 possessed good buildings. Let us glance for a moment at the then state of finances of the school corixjrations in which we feel most interested. Guelph Township, including the Village of Guelph, raised $507'38 by municipal assessment, for school purposes, realized $556.75 from rate bills, and received 416.69 from the Legislative Grant, or a total of $1,480.82, wherewith to pay seven Teachers, maintain, more or less efficiently, ten schools, and afford instruction, good, bad or indifl'erent, as the case might be, to 5 1 7 scholars, The Townshi]) uf Puslinch was nearly abreast of Guelph, and kept up ten schools, paid 13 Teachers, and had II must I — 11'! m THEM AND NOW. ool corpoT- ool section ry they are i and done B of every pon record eminently hocl-board the supply i saved, a were not It least, of candidates lional mat- luse, in its 5 in Upper ^lers being s in good e properly a suitable essary out- now com- )ol-houses, I, and the le balance ' in those I favors in : buildings e style of :h I find It Schools lie school- d weather- lents were when you ion of the a century the wlxole the three chools, of loment at feel most ph, raised I $556.75 or a total re or less fll'erent, as vas nearly , and had «f remembered that if iwo or three Teachers were employed, at different por- tions of the year, in one school, th«;y increased the grand total of Teachers for the year. It may have been that, while 13 appear to have been engaged, there were not more, and probably less than 10 employed for the full tcachmg year. In 1847, Erin had the highest number of scholars of any municipality m the County, having returned a total of 58-. in six schools, and with 11 Teachers, at an outlay of $1039,06. Amaranth was at the foot of the list, with one school, one Teacher, 38 scholars, and an outlay, made up from rate-bill, assessment and legislative grant, of $68 04 Peel and Wellesley, combined, had one school, three Teachers,— employed at some portion or othei; of the year,— and sj^ent $80.52. Nichol, (includ- ing Fergus and Elora), Eramosa, and Garafraxa made returns,— the name Garafraxa being spelt with a double r, as I have found it to be in all old official documents,— but Pilkington, Arthur, Maryboro, Luther and Minto do not appear to have had school organization, not even municiijal exist- ence, while, of the whole County of Grey, Derby and Sydenham were alone mentioned in the return. It may be interesting to know—although I am aware, from painful experience, that listening to strings of figures is not the most enlivening occupation in the world,— that the whole amount paid for school purposes, in the County of Wellington, for that year, was $5,862, of which $5,763 was given to Teachers, and that the average cost for each pupil taught was $2.10. One other fact may be adduced which will enable you to form a still clearer estimate of the educational status of Upper Canada at the date referred to. The Chief Superintendent had, in Forms and Regulations issued by him, specified the lowest general standard of qualification for Teachers, but was forced to believe that a much lower standard had been acted upon by School Visitors. These Visitors were Clergymen, Magistrates, and District Councillors,— equivalent to our Reeves,— and any two of them could examine a Teacher, test his or her qualification, pretty much as they deemed best, and grant a certificate, availab e only for one school and one year, it is true, but nevertheless renewable, and answering every purpose of the certificate of to-day. It is not difficult to imagine a much more easy and varying examination, under such circumstances, than that which an improved system soon rendered necessary, and the quality of Teachers so produced need not be further particularized. We have thus obtained some glimpse of the Then of our educational faculties of a generation ago. 'I'he pi-ture might be elaborated. It would be easy to fill m details from memory; to tell how the blind oft times led the blind; how the ignorant teacher insured the ignorant pupil; and how schoohng" was frequently a farce, and mere waste of time. But it is more agreeable to spend a few moments in looking at the Now which has taken its place. . ,,7'^^' ^^^ Province has made enormous strides in population, wealth inte ligence and importance, during the last thirty years, admits of no doubt. Our torests have disappeared, an improved system of agriculture has followed, manufactories have sprung up, railways have connected every County, a daily press has become an established and indispensable institu- tion, the telegraph has economized time by practically annihilating distance. vfhuc numerous inventions and discoveries have created new wants, and M THEN AND NOW. supplied as rapidly as they have made them. Without losing our charac- teristic love of hard work, — I here speak of everybody in general, and nobody in particular, and purjxjsely avoid all personal allusions, — and that industrial enterprise which springs from it, we have become a reading and much more cultured i^ople. To make money, honestly if possible, but to make it, anyhow and anywhere, is no longer the be-all and end-all of individual existence. While we still regard money-making as the first essential to the solid comfort which ensures human happiness, we begin to see that it is not the only or chief e.id of man. The fine arts have been fostered, a better literary taste has been established, a higher moral tone prevails, and every man aspires to be something more than a mere ani- mated machine. On all hands there is a firm conviction that the educated man is more likely to win in the business race than the ignoramus, and the school has comj to be generally regarded as the main avenue leadnig to wealth. The breadwinner who can read or write, and so better employ his intelligence, counts for more in daily life than the m'ere animal man who delves and cuts and plows by instinct. The soldier, even, who has long been an automaton, is, in these days of individual fighting, more highly prized if able to know why he is told to do this and abstain from doing that, and to intelligently put this and that together. The scholar, endowed with physical capacity equal to that possessed by an illiterate comj)etitor, is worth more than he in the factory, the workshop, the store, the mill, the mine, or on the sea or farm. Cultivated brain has a market value, and book learning is no longer despised, or regarded with half cop.' tempt, as the mark distinguishing the mere dreamer from the worker. To possess the " Reason Why " is no proof now-a-days of physical and practical inferiority: to know a little of everything, and everything of something, is not now the peculiar privilege of the English (ientleman. Little wonder is there, therefore, that what the school has helped to bring about, should tend to make the school more valued. That such has been its effect, we have but to look around to see. Where in 1847, we, in Upper Canada, had 2,863 school-houses, our last returns show that we ix)ssess more than 5,000, and while the number has so largely increased, the advance in value has been in much greater proportion. In 1847 we had, in all Upper Canada, but 49 school-houses built of brick: now we boast of 1,569 built of that material, or over thirty times as many. In 1847, we had eighty- four constructed of stone: now we claim more than 500. In 1847, half of our school buildings were of logs: now not more than a seventh are of that primitive character. There are no returns of money cost of buildings or of amount expended in their erection in 1847, but we find that the expenditure for all school purposes, in that year, inclusive of teachers' salaries, was $350,000, while for 1877, for erection and re|xiirs of school- houses, fuel, etc., alone, we paid $1,035,390, and a total for school purposes of $3,073,489, or, in round numbers, nine times as much as in 1847. The improved financial value of the Teacher is another strong testimony, wil- lingly borne by the people, to their increased interest in education, for, as a rule, a free people will not pay for that which they fail to appreciate. In 1847, there was paid for Teachers' Salaries a total sum of $310,398. In 1877, the amount was $2,038,099. In 1847, there were 3,028 Teachers employed, while in 1877 there were 6,468. In 1847, board was 'K- t M often house U I 11 THEN AND NOW. • I 3ur charac- neral, and — and that :ading and •ssible, but end-all of s the first 'e begin to have been noral tone mere ani- i educated amus, and je leadn^ig :er employ iiinal man I, who has [ing, more stain from le scholar, n illiterate the store, $ a market half con • rker. To i practical nething, is le wonder ut, should effect, we ;r Canada, more than ;e in value all Upper ,569 built ad eighty- 1847, half nth are of buildings 1 that the f teachers' of school- 1 purposes 547. The nony, wil- an, for, as ciate. In >,398. In Teachers was often given in addition to the nominal salary, and was, in fact, part of the teacher's remuneration. (irant that the Teachers here enumerated as serving in 1847 were employed eight months in that year,— which is more than the average,— and put board at $2 per week, which was higher than was the average rate in those days,-— the average payment to each teacher would not exceed $170, and this was fully eiual to, if not greater than was actually allowed. In 1877, the average amount paid to each Teaclier was $315. The larger amount willingly paid in 1877, for the support of Free Schools, than was unwillingly given in 1847, for the maintenance of rate- supported schools,— for payment was then made under protest, and the school law v/as exceedingly unpopular, while rate-bills and contributions were nearly everywhere necessary, in addition to municipal assessments, to make up the teachers' salaries,— is yet another proof of the hold which the educational movement has taken upon the judgment and sympathy of the people of Ontario. In 1847, too, pupils were grudgingly taught, at a cost of $2.80 per head, while in 1877, the average was $6.20. Arid when we add to all these things the fact that, in 1847, only 124,829 pupils attended our Common Schools, out of a school population of 230,975, scarcely one in two, while in 1877, out of a school population of 494,8c not less than 490,860 names were entered on the roll, it is needless to say anything further in illustration of the marked contrast between the two periods, of the immense superiority of the present over the past condition of our schools, and of the public opinion which is necessary to their effective maintenance. And the standard of teaching ability, in so far as literary acquirements go, has kept pace with the progress which has otherwise characterized the history of a scholastic generation. We have long got past the period when any two magistrates, any two reeves, or even any two clergymen, could grant permission to teach, and annually inve.st the teacher with legal status. We subject our examiners themselves to examinations, have uniformity in the character of our examination papers, and propound questions to candidates which fully and fairly test their educational attain- ments. We have gone beyond that, and instituted county Normal Schools — for such our Model Schools may be fairly termed, — at which we require applicants for a certificate to still further establish their fitness for the work upon which they seek to enter. We have not reached per- fection, but we have travelled a long distance in the direction in which it lies. We have made every school practically free, built up a High School system which opens up to all seekers after higher education ample oppor- tunity to prepare for the University course, at a minimum of cost, and placed our University upon such a footing that its advantages are not the exclusive privilege of the well-to-do, but are proffered to even the poorest student, v ho cares to submit to a period of self-denial, and lose a little extra time in early life, for the purpose of securing them. As a people, we have done no more than, probably not so much as we ought to do, with the view of placing educational facilities within the reach of every child born or brought into the Province, but we have, nevertheless, ventured and effected more than has been attempted in many older and more wealthy lands. We have the consciousness of having done our duty, according to our lights. In our long-settled sections of country, the school- house bell is within the hearing, or the school house itself is within sight of aa THEN AND NOW. nearly every family. In newer portions of the Province, wherever half-a- dozen or so of clearances are commenced, in the wilds of Muskoka or Algoma, provision is made for the instruction of the little ones who bless those backwoods' homes. The schoolmaster is abroad throughout the land, and is doing much to ensure a glowing future for our country, and when his work is done, and he is com[xilled to retire from his labors, we willingly open the public purse, and give to him that which kee|)s him above absolute penury, and assures him thatj while Ontario cares only to help those ho possess the disposition to help themselves, she is neither ungrateful nor forgetful. And, seeing all these things, we cannot help feeling that our youthful Province may modestly and yet pioudly lift her head amongst the natic.^s of the earth, assured that theie are none who can reproach her with neglect of the first and best interests of those little children whom God has entrusted to her keeping. At such a place as this, and on such an occasion as that which has brought us together, it cannot be ill-timed to offer a few of the suggestions which almost involuntarily present themselves to all who consider this question of improved education in its various aspects. As we have seen, and as the tax-collector annually reminds us, it costs more to educate our children than it did those who paid for schooling a generation ago. But while it costs more, is it worth more? In so far as my own observation enables me to offer an opinion, — and I claim to have paid as much atten- tion to the subject as any ordinary and non-professional man is likely to do, — I find no hesitation in replying in the affirmative. The literary prepara- tion of our teachers is more thorough than it used to be, their literary work is better done, and the literary standing of those placed under their charge is superior to that of the average pupil of former years. This is beyond dispute, and arises partly from the fact hat we offer larger salaries than in olden times, and so secure a better class of teachers, and partly from the other fact that the general education of the country is advanced, not merely by an improved system of school management, but by the instructive influences of the press, and the cheap literature of the day. He who runs may read: he who reads at all reads much, — much trash, it may be, but much of something, and in the midst of a pile of chaff there is abundance of wheat for him who winnows it carefully A young Teacher of 1880 would befog a Teacher of the "fifties" and "sixties," as will the Teacher of the "eighties" and "nineties" go far beyond those now daily chalking the blackboard, and holding even the highest second-class certificates. But while this must be frankly admitted, and the improvements, present and to come, gratefully acknowledged and anticipated, it must have stnick every careful observer that there is a something lacking, a something wanting, a something to be desired and obtained, if possible, in the s' ;': now prevalent. To some it may sound ungracious to pronounce, but to more it would seem cowardly to withhold the firm conviction, and one which is beginning to be entertained in many quarters, that while we have gained in literary ability, — the mere increase of book-learning— in our !ost in the worldly experience, the knowledge ri uain^-'vice with the requirements of everyday ■ o' jur old-fashioned Teachers. We grant mstructors, we have serioin! of men and things, and the life which distinguished n i V-Ci tiucaics ui tou ciUiy uiY Mgi^. year uf tVvO ago, Wc giiVc tu Suiari, THEN AND NOW. ft precocious girls of sixteen, the right to control a public school, and it was only as yesterday that we saw and condemned that folly by declaring an additional year's knowledge of life necessary to the female teacher. I venture to express the opinion that we are yet under the mark, and that we must still further raise the standard, by enacting that no young lady shall be qualified to teach until she has reached eighteen. I would go even further, were it possible, and prevent any jjerson from taking charge of a school until fully twenty-one years of age. Just now, that would probably be impracticable, but the day will com. and it is not far distant, when (t will be found feasible and advisable to jjlace such a restriction upon those seeking certificates. It will be a step in advance when it is declared that while assistants must be over eighteen years, none under twenty-one shall be qualified to assume sole control of any school. We are all familiar with the argument urged against such a change as is here indicated. Young men, worth anything, are anxious to get along in the world, —some O! them vi.h to take the University course, —and of these a portion hope to earn sutificient, as teachers, to supply them with the necessary means. This seems praiseworthy, from a certain stand|X)int, and is undoubtedly a conv< nience to sundry promising young men, but no individual has a right to seek his own advancement at the general cost. To place callow youths in charge of our public schools, and to so enable them to acquire a few needed dollars, at the expense of our boys and girls, whose education must, in consequence, be necessarily of an inferior character, and to keep up an exchange of unfledged matriculant after unfledged matriculant, until the ordinary "schooling" of many of the sons and daughters of our farmers is completed, is to throw away much of the advantage which our costly scheme of public instruction ought to confer upon the community, and to get the smallest possible good out of it for the special benefit of a limited number of our citizens. Nor is this the only objection to the employment of very young teachers. For good or ill, character is often moulded in the ' school-room. Life receives its cue, in many instances, from the first contact with life which daily intercourse at school affords. The Teacher, as largely as the parent,— in a majority of cases, much more largely than the parent,— forms the mind, the morals, and, to some extent, the future of the child. How all important is it that he or she who assumes this vast responsibility should enter upon the charge of these little ones, with char- acter somewhat developed, with some knowledge of the world, and possessed of that self-control which, although it may seem intuitive to a few, can only come with experience to the great majority! I know much of the precocity which enables our boys and girls to carry off" certificates at intermediate examinations, and before County Examiners, but I have yet Lo learn that efficient Teachers are necessarily and at once manufactured out of this material. Teachers may all be heaven-born, but I fear that the heaven-born qualities do not often develope ihemselves before manhood and womanhood have imt their stamp on the recipients of such special advantages. It seems almost unnecessary to mention, in this connection, the unfair comi)etition to which Teachers, whose lives have been devoted, wisely or unwisely, to the profession, are thus subjected, by boys or young men who^ use the school salary merely as a stepping stone to something signer, whuse hearts arc never in the work for ihc works sake, and who are «4 THEN AND NOW. ■'/'■ i i 1 ready to leave teaching directly it has netted the coveted purse; or by girls, to whom teaching means $200 or so a year, until marriage brings relief and ends their sufferings. Don't understand, by this, that the young man is to be condemned, who uses fair means to obtain a proper end, or that the young woman is worthy of disapproval who embraces th; first good opportunity which presents itself, for settlement in life, as the helpmeet of a desirable man. On the contrary, the young man is to be commended who avails himself of every legitimate chance offering for his elevation in the social scale, and it must give us all pleasure to remember that many Of the best men in our courts, our pulpits, our surgeries, our offices, our editorial chairs, our legislatures, have taught the first book to young begin- ners in a country school-house. And the young female Teacher, who, intelligently and prudently, assumes the important cares and responsibilities of the married state, seeks that condition which should be and is the chief end of her sex, and has lived to some purpose. Entertaining these con- victions, it 'vould be foUy to raise objections to the fact that the ranks of our school Teachers are yearly depleted by the marriage of scores of the best-looking and most sensible of the young women who hold certificates. But I do object to the regulations which have afforded facilities for crowd- ing the ranks with those, whether male or female> who are too young to teach effectively a school containing pupils ranging from boyhood to adolescence, and who have outbid, in the keen contest for employment, old and tried members of the profession, whose salaries have been reduced by a competition as unfair as it is injurious to the educational interests of .the community. And I especially object to the extraordinary facilities afforded to young girls to enter the profession, when it is evident that but a very small percentage expect to remain in it, and make it a life's work. The fact that early marriage is the primary and proper object of the great bulk of our female population, is proof that few female Teachers hope to con- tinue in the teaching ranks, and to me it seems sheer folly to unnecessarily encourage the enlistment of so many in a labor for which they have little real liking, to which but few become attached, and from which all hope to speedily escape. An overstocked market, crowded with applicant^ for positions which their age and lack of life's experiences render them unqualified to fill, with justice to their pupils or themselves, has neverthe- less presented "tempting bargains" to mistakenly penurious Trustees, for •' cheap goods," in either the educational or dry goods market, ever find most favor with poor judges of quality. As a consequence, we are not receiving that benefit from our costly school system which we have a right to look for, and many of our young people leave the school which they have been attending as pupils, with a bald possession of mere words and phrases, and destitute of that valuable general knowledge which those invariably possess who have been subjected to the training given by a competent instructor. The only remedy for this undesirable state of things is an elevation of the standard, in the matter of age, and it is to be hoped that the day is not far distant, when our Minister of Education wil! boldly grapple with the difficulty. There is another point to which I may be permitted to briefly allude. A cry is going up, in many places, which declares that we are overteaching our young men and women, that education gives a distaste for manual rse; or by ige brings the young er end, or first good Ipmeet of mmended ivation in t many of ffices, our ng begin- :her, who, >nsibilities i the chief these con- : ranks of res of the srtificates. 'or crowd- young to yhood to ment, old duced by sts of the 5 afforded ut a very ■k. The 5reat bulk le to con- ecessarily lave little hope to icant^ for ler them neverthe- stees, for ever find i are not /e a right lich they ords and oh those ven by a of things be hoped in boldly ly allude, rteaching ' manual THEN AND NOW. 25 labor, that to keep a boy at school, after he is twelve or thirteen years of age. IS to alienate hjni from the farm, and enlist him into the vast army of those who live by their wits, and that the number of mere brain-workers thus created, and of whom the necessary force of hand workers is thus depleted IS altogether beyond the requirements of the country. While I have no sympathy with the cry of over-education, and believe that the farmer's son can profitably know as much as is imparted to the son of the lawyer or the merchant, I must frankly acknowledge that it is difficult to combat, nay impossible to refute the statement, that too many of our young men at least, leave the farm in search of an El Dorado which exists only in the pages of the poet or of their own, in this particular, too active brain 1 hat some, who abandon the plough, succeed in finding wealth no farmer could hope for, or would care to enjoy, as the citizen enjoys, even if he found it; tha* many, flushed with the vigor of rural youth, have entered the professions, and secured a competency; that a few, reared on the old homiestead of two or three generations, have reached the highest positions m the state, is beyond contradiction, and we livers in country parts proudly point to such instances of the success of the country lad. But it is safe to say that a largely preponderating majority of those, who desert the farm for the city, commit a capital blunder, and that where one succeeds three absolutely fail in securing more than a tithe of the substa^^tial happiness which rural life affords. Our cities teem with wrecks—with ill-paid clerks broken-down merchants, briefless barristers, needy doctors, and graceless ne'er-do-weels, who followed their father's team when young, and who, had they stuck to the land, would have been comfortable and wealthy farmers now. I he Itch for something better— a valuable incentive to progress, and Its most valuable aid when driving us along in the right path, and therefore not to be despised,— urged them from plenty to penury, induced them to gamble for stakes which but few win, and impelled them into a life for which they were totally unfitted. In too many of such instances, the little learning which the school-house afforded, had been a dangerous thing. Unaffnghted at the warning so pointedly conveyed to all who care to see It, seeing, as they fondly believe, a chance to escape the drudgery of the home-life, and the prospect of affluence without excessive labor, worried otten by unappreciative surroundings, our farmers' sons are continually leaving a certainty for an uncertainty, and solid happiness for a mixture of bitter-sweet, and learn, before middle age comes, that they are on the wrong track, and would retrace their steps if that were possible. That young men sh-^uld desert the farm, when tney obtain that glimpse of the outer world which a smattering of education affords, is not surprising. l.abor, in any form, unless there is some stimulant, some reward, present or prospective, is not in itself attractive to any, and especially to the young. Again and again— I was about to say almost everywhere, but that statement would probably be of too sweeping a character,— we see how the farmer s son does the work of the hired man, without the opportunities and remuneration of the hired man. It is very well for a parent to assert, as many do, that, until a young man is of age, he cannot legally or reasonably expect wages, from his father, but if by working for others that voung man ^hL^^w? me'-e^than board and clothing, and gratify the little ^tastes, call them fancies" if you will, waich raise him abov^^ the i^: — » -"'^ "'»^'-h a6 THEN AND NOW. more remuneration than his father thinks it r&TadvLb^^^ "h?;.^"" ^.^'"'°" ?' ^^'"^ '^ "«' "^^^de specially attrac^^ve to him ^ The hired man" occupies a higher social position, in manyiLtancS' in fh^ eyes of the farmer than does the farmer's son. If the £ "entu e. «n opinion, he is snubbed: if he suggests improvements they are dec" ec as quent ly he is treated as little other than an o. orgrown hd useful' for work hat love of power which is common to all of us. and makes "he oare^ ^^ITV^^ '^^' increasing mental and bodily strenJ^h of fhe son which tkI e 4.U "^^'^^"^^ts iiseit. i he motive is good, m nearlv '^verv rac#^ so to do ?„J h. ? 1, •^'" ""^ P°^^ss«s powers which will enable him Sol houi ,„H f k"""'' ^"'""'' '^ "-e outer world through the scnooi-nouse, and, if ambitious, as most intellieent vni.fh« ar» t,! tZ'T "If """"^ ""'^r"''^ "'=" •>' fa not mS'fitTr anytLg hiXr ^ J'^/Lom^e-l^L^rs'^^^^^^^^^^^^^ E M. K "^°'^^^i'^°•■o"gh understanding of each other. I but reiSit HfeL frrmer's hnv"^' T ""r^ ""''' "S"'"' ^^ "^^"^ ^'^^ '«en who bc!^an out of which Teachers andTL \'' P'^^'^u"^ "^^^^"^^ »" ^»^^ ^«^»d maHe^vI i 1 eachers, and good ones, too, can be made and are beine abldaTcfoTfflfo^ ITu'^'^f^^'"'''''^ but there is Ll s^^J. the-times cuk vltor, .Ak ^""^ intelligent, go-ahead, full-of-snap, up-to- sav To! "^""'^.^tors of the soil can be manufactured. It is verv well to acrit ^d'caL^Vtof P^'Tk""' ^"' T^^^^ great el^rtTand ces, and casts a halo of something or other, and all that sort of THEN AND NOW. 27 thing upon all vho enrol themselves in its ranks Pmn. a c say of the profession of Law, and of Ph sic " nH 3'T^^- '^° y«" may the profession of the Dry Goods Deale? of fh S '^^ Gospel. So of and-Mortar man, and even o^^Le^kuL ^ P^^^e-dnver, the Brick- who have conferred dignitv unl ? i u""'""*"'*'""- ^ have seen men Much depends upon the' ma'nnTof dl? thl'^ ^"h^ ' ^"^'^^^ ^^Z a very common quality amongsfdecenr^ple of a'n "1 T'^''^. ''' ^^''' ^". You may rely upon it that there is no ,11 • '°"^ """^ conditions, of the farmer, none more wS the ^^1. " •"^''^^ truly noble than that yielding more substantia? r^uns or inSentlll'' "'""^ ^''' '"^"' "«"« to call forth our highest qualit"es anT to fnlL ' " u"^ "?°'"^ calculated sympathies. OncI I became a farmer ani f T\^'^'''^y «"'' ^^^P^^t desertion from the ranks. There werrrl'.e f ' ^'^^'"^^ *° ^""'"^^s to draper's counter, in England to a t^ 'hi ^''^^^"'■- ^ ^^"^ from a farm in the Niagara IWt 'in the Ztof''No"fT ^'^'«f' ^^^vered clay wheat which invariably turned to chesf.nH .1.^ P^"^""'' P'"^ ''^""^P^. and and I didn't succeed in becoming a success """"fl^'^'^y'-^^ out of^hree, but, from some cause or other, never exnlain-H a ! ^""^ "'^^ '" '"^ ^^ad, my furrows wouldn't come out s"St Th. k"^ '** "'^ J'"' « '"y^terv five bushels per acre down to zero The Lv ^n .h'"^ "''^"^^^ ^^°"^ consisted of mullein stort. m.-Jn ^ ^' ^"^" there was any to cut believe, but the" S 2t\ em wis^' S T'/^^"^" ^^^^^^o- gre^,"^! with an axe. and that sort of thTng was disco^r. Jl T" ""^^' '^^^^ ^"t it had much experience in chopping' Ts an ad^S.^r' ^^° ^"^ "^^^^ wolves on one side of the farm tjM t additional attraction, there were and rattle snakes scatte ed prLmiscuouslTabonJ'' ''""'l 'T' ^v^^y-bere! you required them. And.^as T caXaf to Tn ? ^' '^ ^^ ^^"^^^ ^^eneve; great regularity every July, and stuck closer ?iL 'k ^"? '^"^ ^^' '" ^"h Under these I^culiaVcircumstances I Ci'^'" t brother until snowfall, accordingly. And that comprises much of ?' 'hat ff '^ l"^""' ""^ '^^' lo me It IS often matter of rem-^r nL, lu , ^ f ''"°'^ ^^^"t farming." Wellington, the centre oTadvanc^d'^^^^^^^^ -hen removing 'to to the farm" as closely as sueaS t^^ I '" 9"^^"°, I didn't "stick I now advise every faLe^sTon' o'/^" faS ^^'""^"^^' P-^^^^'X. no career so satisfactory, in its general restilK f .^/^'f Z"^""^' ^^^'^ »« If followed, by an intelligent, inSrious and 'h? !u' ""^ '^^ agriculturist, thorough his education, the greater h^aoDrei^'''^. "'""' ^"^ ^*^^ ™ore contact with Nature which rural uLaffZ^iIV"^^^'^"^ ""^'^^ ^'"^<^^ to respect themselves and their calling J? .• ^ P"™^" ^o"^ once learn that nothing ^orth having carb^ obtlp/'^ f ' ''?' ^^'^"'^y "^ labor, and they know the more they'cS^ produce an^^^^^^^ "' ^^^^' ^'^^^ ^^^^ «^ore they belong to a class upon"hrsuccess of Jhi.h' ^T^ °^ *^^ *"^^' '^^^ come to be numbered with tt\:iklyirgr;:rhK^^^^^^ opponuX^SnTb^urhti^ gladly allude did .__ .., ...... „„„.„ ,,, ,,, ,,^^,^^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^ .^^^ risk;hoM;ever; 38 THEN AND NOW. of imposing some what upon your good nature, I cannot close this paper without giving utterance to one or two other remarks which seem called for at a meeting of Teachers in the County of Wellington. You have been told, again and again, that we live in a transition age, and in the Scientific Era. Our lines are drawn in places and in the midst of things unknov/n to our forefathers. Each new day seems to be pregnant with some fresh discovery. The Man of Science has gone forth from his study and taken possession of the workshop. The whole world is in commotion in its efforts to cast off the Old and assunii '!J[^^ New. Everything is done by rule, but it is no longer the rule of thurnb? Fixed laws, immutable truths, scientific facts are the bases of our action, even if we do not always know or acknowledge them, where guess, and conjecture, and chance not long ago prevailed. We are leaving the worn ruts, deep mud-holes and rock-obstructed paths of the Past, for the smcydli road-bed and easy pro- gression of the Future. Every workman of to-morrow will know more than the philosopher of yesterday, if our schools and schoolmasters do with ordinary diligence the work which we have a right to expect from them. There never was a time in the world's history when schoolmen had better chance to make tl?eir teachings practically useful. But to be able to teach it is necessary to |cnow, and it is the bounden duty of every educator to keep abreast of the wonders in physical discovery which distinguish the present. To do that is to go ahead of the text-book, to see as well as to read, to enquire, to examine, and to take notes of all that is passing around you. Omit no opportunity, therefore, to acquire all sorts of knowledge other than that which is contained in your duly authorized Manuals. Read magazines and newspapers; make yourselves familiar with the thoughts, the inventions, the history of to-day; visit manufactories and public institutions; learn something of the laws by which your country is actually governed, as well as of those which are said to control the universe; live in the world, be of the world, thoroughly know the world; pick up, and stow away any scrap of information which comes within your reach, for in turn every shred will have its use ; and bear in mind that you are, in great part, the moulders of future citizens, and that the most useful average member of a community is the man who possesses the largest share of general knowledge. As one of the means to the desirable end which you should ever keep in view, convert your school-room into a museum of things useful as object lessons to those under your care. Every neighborhood contains some novelty, some curiosity, valued simply as an ornament, or valueless as a piece of h ■ ^ 'umber, but which may serve to illustrate a lecture on Natural li. , or Mineralogy, or Archaeology, or some kindred subject. Ask for these in the public name, and you will find many men and women willing to help on the public good either by loan or gift of the desired article. How much may be done in this manner is illustrated by the growth of the School Museum in Elora, which has already acquired a Provincial reputation. Compared with Pro- vincial institutions of similar character, it cannot be described as extensive, but it already occupies a room as large as some school-rooms in this county, and has hundreds of objects crowded for space, and of which the classifi- cation is consequently carried out with difficulty. That collection has cost little, comparatively, in the shape of pecuniary assistance, but much in the this paper eem called You have ind in the t of things gnant with n his study :ommotion ing is done immutable not always :hance not [-holes and easy pro- cnow more masters do >cpect from olmen had be able to y educator inguish the well as to ing around knowledge Manuals. • with the ;tori*iS and country is ;ontrol the the world; within your id that you most useful the largest sirable end »om into a your care, ned simply , but which leralogy, or iblic name, public good be done in n in Elora, d with Pro- s extensive, this county, the classifi- ion has cost nuch in the THEN AND NOW. 29 \i labor of its indefatigable curator, but there is ample return in its usefulness, which is demonstrated daily in the pleasurable instruction it affords, not only to the pupils in the Elora Schools, but to the general public, who, during each year, visit it in hundreds. What has been done there, may be done elsewhere— much better in a city like Guelph, than in a country place, and equally well in many other parts of the county. Its utility to the teacher may be readily understood when it is remembered that every reading, every scientific s' 'dy,^every geographical lesson, can be made plainer by the exhibition ui some object taken from this admirable col- lection. There is no village in Wellington, with an enthusiastic teacher to do the work, and with sympathizing teachers in surrounding sections willing to assist in it, which could not, in the course of a few years, obtain similar advantages, and I have I'lus alluded to the matter in the hope that ih the ranks of those now engaged in the education of our children there may be found some willing to imitate that which has been found to be pracdcable, and to resolve that, before the next meeting of this Association, they will unflinchingly "go and do likewise." If I hear of one such resolve followed up by action, I shall feel that this paper has not been written without result. In taking leave of those who have complimented me by such an attentive hearing, permit me to express the wish that the success which has hitherto attended the Teachers' Association for the South Division of Wellington, may mark its future progress, and that, when, a quarter century from this time, some one of the present audience appears before it, in a city containing double or treble the population of the Guelph of to-day, he may be able to draw a more marked contrast between the educational "Then and Now" than that which I have placed before you on this occasion.