L- F STACK ANNEX I Cage Bates The ^odel Teacher THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES THE MODEL TEACHER. LECTURE DR. THOMAS ARNOLD, MASTER OF THE RUGBY SCHOOL, ENGLAND, DELIVERED BEFORE THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF INSTRUCTION, AT TROY, NEW YORK, AUGUST, 1852. BY JOSHUA BATES, JR. PRINCIPAL OF THE BRIMMER SCHOOL, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS. BOSTON: TICKNOR, REED, AND FIELDS. M OCCC Mil. TUtRSfOXj TORKY, ASD fiMEtiSOX, PtUNTEnS. Stack Annex LECTURE. MAN is so constituted, as to crave a perfect stand- ard of excellence. In every department of life, he sets before himself a faultless model. The beau- ideal of the sculptor is perfect. He pictures to him- self a human form more symmetrical than is found in actual existence. Excluding every blemish and deformity, and concentrating every charm and beauty of limb and feature, he erects in his imagination an ideal upon which to exercise his art. The hero takes as his guiding star, an imaginary character, who com- bines all those qualities, which constitute military eminence. The scholar proposes to himself a stand- ard higher than is found in actual life. The good man is not satisfied with a rule of life, which does not demand conformity to the purest virtue, and enjoin every perfection of character. Any ethical rule, that falls short of this, his moral sense condemns, 841503 MR. BATES S LECTURE and he approves of the law of God, because it is a perfect law. "Bfce teacher adopts a high ideal of professional superiority. He forms, in his imagination, an image of a perfect teacher ; of one, who, free from every fault and deficiency, possesses in harmonious combi- nation, and in the highest possible degree, all the requisitions of character and scholarship, which qualify for complete success in teaching. This law of the mind, which leads men in all the pursuits of life, to set before themselves an exemplar as an object of imitation, is of great practical benefit. The man, who is satisfied with what he now is, intellec- tually or morally, will make little effort to improve, while he, who keeps before himself a high standard, will continue to make progress. A finished, complete and faultless model, alone satisfies the cravings of the heart ; yet the impossi- bility of copying such a pattern, renders one, which may be attained by human powers, needful, and oftentimes more immediately useful. I know of no way, therefore, in which a teacher may be better qualified for the general duties of his office, or make successful advances towards his ideal of professional perfection, than by studying the character and life of a great master of his art, of acknowledged and conspicuous celebrity. " He, that walketh with wise men, shall be wise;" and that teacher, w r ho, with earnest scrutiny, studies the character of an artist in his profession, seeking to understand the elements of his success, and to catch his spirit, will be, according to the law of assimila- ON DR. THOMAS ARNOLD. 5 tion, conformed to the pattern he contemplates, and to a degree changed into the same image. I know not, then, how I may do a better service for the members of the Institute, whom I have the pleasure of addressing at this time, than to endeavor to present a portraiture of the character of that prince of teachers, Dr. Thomas Arnold, late Head Master of the Rugby School, England. Presuming that most of the teachers, whom I address, have heard of the name of Dr. Arnold, and are more or less acquainted with his history and influence, it will not be necessary for me to give here a detailed account of his outward life and the events in his history; and the more, since his was a life interesting, not from the variety of its incidents or the thrilling nature of its vicissitudes. What renders his life worthy to be enshrined in the memory of every teacher, is, that it is the record of the development of a great mind, of the inner life of a scholar, a theologian, a brilliant historian, an affectionate father, an enthusiastic and cele- brated teacher. What he has said of others, is emphatically true of himself. In his inaugural address, upon entering on the duties of the Pro- fessorship of Modern History, in the University of Oxford, he says, in speaking of the true office of biography, " We have another life besides that of outward action, and it is this inward life, which determines the character of the actions and of the man. And how eagerly do we desire, in those great men, whose actions fill so large a space in history, to l* D MR. BATES 8 LECTURE know not only what they did, but what they were ; how much we prize their letters, or their recorded words, and not least, such words as are uttered in their most private moments, which enable us, as it were, to look into the very nature of that mind, whose distant effects we know to be so marvellous." A brief statement of the events in the outward life of Dr. Arnold, is, therefore, all that is needful, before proceeding to a delineation of those qualities, social, intellectual and moral, which made him the great teacher of his country and the present age. Dr. THOMAS ARNOLD was born June 13th, 1795, at West Cowes, in the Isle of Wight. In 1807, when twelve years of age, he entered Winchester Classical School. In 1811, in his sixteenth year, he was elected as a scholar at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. In 1815, he was chosen Fellow of Oriel College, taking there a high rank as a scholar, and gaining, while a member of the college, two of the Chancellor's prizes; one for the best essay. in Latin, and another for the best essay in English. In 1818, when twenty-two years of age, he was admitted to Deacon's Orders in the Church of England. The next year he was settled at Laleham, where he remained for nine years, preaching and also having from time to time, in his family, seven or eight young men, as private pupils, in preparation for the Universities. In 1827, he was elected to the Head Mastership of the Foundation School at Rugby. The next year he was admitted to Priest's Orders, and received the degree of Doctor of Divinity. ON DR. THOMAS ARNOLD. 7 We may infer from his rapid promotion to posts of honor and responsibility, that he thus early in life, " gave the world assurance of a man." It was at Rugby that he pursued, during the fifteen years of his mastership, that brilliant course that procured for him so wide a reputation. In 1841, he was offered, by Lord Melbourne, the Regius Professor- ship of Modern History at Oxford, which he ac- cepted without resigning his Mastership at Rugby, and with the understanding, that his Lectures at Oxford should be given during the vacations of the Rugby school. This was the realization of his brightest hopes, and kindled his enthusiastic spirit to an intenser brightness. But it was destined to be the brief gleaming of a setting sun, for he was permitted to deliver but a single course of eight lectures, when his earthly career was abruptly closed. On Saturday, June llth, 1842, the last day of the school term, he closed the last recitation of his class by giving out to them, as a theme for composition, to be read at the opening of the next term, the words, " DOMUS ULTIMA." As if the dark shadow of a coming event was cast before, early on the morning of the next day, the day that completed his forty-seventh year, his useful life was suddenly terminated, by disease of the heart; and from the midst of life's unfinished plan, he was summoned to that " last and narrow house," which had been the subject of his vale- dictory words to his beloved pupils. His remains were deposited beneath the chancel of Rugby 8 MR. BATES's LECTURE Chapel, and on the first Sabbath of the next school term, there was read in that Chapel, in the presence of his nine children and their mother, and the assem- bled pupils, one of his manuscript sermons, on the theme, " Faith triumphant in Death." This brief outline comprises the most important events in the objective, visible life, of one of the greatest and best men of the present century ; a man, who exerted a most important influence in his lifetime, and who, through his pupils and by his writings and character, is likely to be felt for good through successive generations. It does not often fall to the lot of one man to be so renowned, as was Dr. Arnold, for several dissimilar accomplishments. He stood in the first rank, as a man, a scholar, an historian, a controversialist, a theologian. As a teacher, it may truthfully be said, he was THE teacher of his country and age. It would afford me pleasure to give a portraiture of the man in all these particulars for which he was so eminent. But in so doing, I should be compelled to engross more of your time, than the proprieties of this occasion will permit. Yet I cannot forbear, before proceeding to an analysis of his character, as an instructor, to linger a moment amidst the scenes of his domestic and social life ; for what he was as a man, had much to do in making him what he was as a teacher. Could we follow him through the various circles in which he mingled, and observe his conduct in all his private relations, we should admire his affability and his careful observance of the " small, ON DR. THOMAS ARNOLD. sweet courtesies of life ; " we should see how he lived on the love of his friends to himself, and on his own love to them ; how he sympathized with the poor and humble, and how, keenly feeling the wrong done them, by their too wide separation in England from the higher classes, he sought intercourse with them, and strove to benefit them by his society and sympathy, as well as to plead their rights with his pen. His attachments were of the strongest kind. Archbishop Whately, one of his intimate friends, said of him, " He was attached to his family as if he had no friends, to his friends as if he had no family, and to his country as if he had no friends or relatives." In his family, he was a model husband and father. The reader of his memoir is charmed with the views, which are given of him in his household life. There he is seen, now passing through his dwelling with a cheerful voice, in the early morning, calling up his children ; now, with kind urbanity in his tone and manner, dropping a word of encouragement to the servants ; now catching a new impulse in his occu- pations, as from his library \vindow he sees his children at play ; now imparting new merriment to their games, by joining them with all the glee of youth ; now taking them abroad, he the happiest of the group, in the fields and by the hedges, hunting for flowers ; now seizing on some little incident in domestic life, to fix in the memory of his children some important fact in history, or principle in science; now instructing them in the great truths of religion, and leading them to the throne of heavenly grace, 10 MR. BATES'S LECTURE and always diffusing around him a charm, which the most casual visitor in his family could not but feel and admire. But Dr. Arnold was known and honored most, as a Teacher. This was the niche, the God of nature had clearly ordained he should fill. In instruction, his greatness was most conspicuous. Here he ex- pended with an ever-glowing enthusiasm, his best energies, for this he poured out the overflowing of his ardent soul. Teaching was the great, the chief business of his laborious and useful life. Although an historian, a preacher, an interpreter and theo- logian of uncommon merit, and as one said of him, " born to be a statesman," yet all was subordinate to his duties and relations as a teacher. He gave the whole energies of his masterly mind to the great work of education. " My interest," said he, " in the school far exceeds what I feel in any sort of compo- sition of my own, or in any other matters. Neither at Rugby, nor at Laleham, have I allowed my own writings to encroach upon the time or spirits, and vigor of mind or body, which I hold that my pupils have always a paramount claim upon." It was his eminence and success as an instructor, that invested his character with its chief interest for those of us, who, like him, are called to the high office of teaching the young. I must therefore hasten to present him before you, more directly in the character and sphere of a teacher. I trust that I shall render the analysis of his char- acter interesting, by speaking, ON DR. THOMAS ARNOLD. 11 1. OF DR. ARNOLD'S QUALIFICATIONS AS A TEACH- ER. 2. OF HIS PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF INSTRUC- TION. 3. OF HIS PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF DISCI- PLINE. 1. THE FIRST SOURCE OF INTEREST FOR INSTRUC- TORS IN THIS DISTINGUISHED EDUCATOR, IS THE FACT, THAT HE POSSESSED A RARE COMBINATION OF THOSE CHARACTERISTICS WHICH CONSTITUTE A GOOD TEACHER. Not that he possessed every desirable quality ; not that he was satisfied with his attainments, or success, or that his friends saw in him no deficiency; not that all his principles and methods of discipline and instruction were faultless. This were too much to expect in any man. Yet it is only once in an age, that so many natural and acquired qualities, requisite for success in teaching, are concentrated in one person. In his scholarship. Dr. Arnold was accurate and thorough. He stood out before his pupils as an eminent scholar, acknowledged and honored as such by the whole brotherhood of the learned in England. This was his first, and essential requisite, for exerting a commanding influence over students. He had the peculiar advantage of superior instruc- tion and severe intellectual training. He possessed 12 MR. BATES's LECTURE a discipline of mind, a fulness of knowledge, a chasteness of taste, and that graceful harmony in the movements of his mind, which nothing but such a training can supply. His knowledge of the classics was perhaps unsur- passed in accuracy and profoundness. At some periods of his life, almost his entire reading was in the Greek and Latin. He delighted often, as a mere recreation of an evening, to translate aloud, book after book of the Greek historian, Herodotus, by the bedside of his sister, who had become especially endeared to him by protracted sickness. Aristotle, Thucydides and Homer, were his favorite and ever- present companions. His knowledge of history, both in its principles and facts, was extensive and correct. He under- stood, better than most men, the philosophy of his- tory. This qualified him for his professorship at Oxford, and for writing his great work, the History of Rome, a history undoubtedly among the best in the language, and one which will ever be read by scholar and statesman with the deepest interest. Scholarship was, in his view, one of the highest callings to which man could be summoned. This sentiment he aimed to impress upon his pupils, and he was more successful than most men could have been. Dull, vicious and devoid of all honorable ambition was the boy, who could be long at Rugby, without catching a portion of the spirit of the place, and being awakened to earnest efforts to attain to the grace and excellence of scholarship. ON DR. THOMAS ARNOLD. 13 Dr. Arnold was an industrious man, and possessed in an eminent degree, the faculty of infusing into his pupils the same spirit of diligence and application, by which he was himself animated. The reader of his life is again and again im- pressed with the amount of labor he performed, and with the ease and rapidity with which he dispatched it. His mental activity was truly astonishing. At the time he was Head Master at Rugby, he had the general supervision and entire responsibility involved in the care of three hundred boys. He was then preacher on the Sabbath, and was occupied each day several hours in direct instruction. The amount of time, which he devoted to his pupils, was remarkable. Lessons began at seven, and, with only the interval of breakfast, lasted till three. Then he would walk with his pupils, or join them in their sports, and dine at half-past five o'clock. At seven he would attend a long recitation of the Sixth Form, the highest class in the institution ; and it was only after tea, and when the school labors of the day were over, that he sat down in his drawing-room or library, with his children and many of his pupils around him, to commence work for himself, in writing letters to his numerous correspondents, or composing his pamphlets on political economy, his theological essays, his educational articles, or laboring on his Roman History, or his edition of Thucydides. In spite of the multiplicity of his school duties, he found time at Rugby, without slighting those duties, to write many reviews for Quarterlies on educational 2 14 MR. BATES'S LECTURE and theological subjects ; to print several political pamphlets ; to edit an edition of Thucydides with extensive and elaborate notes ; to publish several volumes of sermons and his History of Rome. The example of a life of such intense earnestness, and of unhasting, unresting diligence, was not with- out its influence upon his pupils. It gave them a daily and a living enforcement of the truth, " Life is real, life is earnest." The emanation from his ex- ample permeated the atmosphere around him, and evinced to the visitor of an hour even, what was the genius of the place. Thomas Carlyle, having spent a week at Rugby in term time, remarked at his departure, that he " was leaving a temple of industrious peace." The fol- lowing extract from a letter of one of the students at Laleham, and afterwards one of the assistant masters at Rugby, shows how the zealous and dili- gent life of Dr. Arnold influenced his scholars, and illustrates, how the same stamp of character in any teacher, will stimulate his pupils to ardent and useful industry. " The most remarkable thing, which struck me at once on joining the Laleham circle, was the wonder- ful healthiness of tone and feeling, which prevailed in it. Everything about me, I immediately found to be most real ; it was a place where a new comer at once felt, that a great and earnest work was going forward. " Dr. Arnold's great power as a teacher resided in this, that he gave such an intense earnestness to life. Every pupil was made to feel, that there was a work for him to do ; that his happiness, as well as his ON DR. THOMAS ARNOLD. 15 duty, lay in doing that work well. Hence, an inde- scribable zest was communicated to a young man's feelings about life ; a strange joy came over him on discovering, that he had the means of being useful, and thus of being happy. This hold upon all his pupils, I know, perfectly astonished me. It was not so much an enthusiastic admiration for genius, or learning, or eloquence, which stirred within them ; it was a sympathetic thrill, caught from a spirit, that was earnestly at work in the world, whose work was healthily sustained, and constantly carried forward in the fear of God ; a work, founded on a deep sense of its duty and its value, and coupled with such a true humility, such an unaffected simplicity, that others could not help being invigorated by the same feeling, and with the belief that they, too, could, in their measure, go and do likewise." Dr. Arnold was also characterized by a constant desire for self-improvement. He repudiated the idea that anybody would do for a schoolmaster. One of his maxims was, " He is the best teacher, who is best taught himself." He believed the office of teacher to be so important, as to demand the highest order of scholarship as well as talents. Dr. Arnold's estimate of the teacher's office was exalted, and he was ever striving after a nearer approach to that standard of professional per- fection, which was constantly in his imagination. He never remitted his efforts for self-improvement. Whatever labor he bestowed upon his literary or theological works, was only part of that constant 16 MR. BATES'S LECTURE progress of self-education, which he thought essen- tial to the right discharge of his duties as a teacher. He had a remarkable facility for redeeming the hours, as if " they bore report to heaven ; " turning to account spare fragments of time, and mastering the contents of a book by a very rapid perusal. And his reading was not for himself alone, but equally for his pupils. Thus he was constantly furnishing himself with new facts and fresh illustra- tions, with which he enriched his instructions at the hour of recitation. Believing with a contemporary, that, " Whoever makes truth disagreeable, by pre- senting it in an unprepossessing garb, commits high treason against virtue," the manner of im- parting instruction was an object and an aim with him. In answer to a letter from one of his former pupils, asking his advice as to the discharge of his duties as a teacher, he thus writes. " You need not think, that your own reading will now have no object, because you are engaged with young boys. Every improvement of your own pow- ers and knowledge tells immediately upon them. Whatever you read tends, generally, to your own increase of power, and will be felt by your pupils in a hundred ways. And I hold that a man is fit to teach so long only, as he is himself learning daily. If the mind once becomes stagnant, it can give no fresh draught to another mind; it is drinking from a pond, instead of from a spring." On this principle Dr. Arnold constantly acted. He felt that a teacher ought to be perpetually learn- ON DR. THOMAS ARNOLD. 17 ing intellectually, as well as morally, and so, con- stantly keeping himself above the level of his pupils. Speaking of his students at Laleham, he said, " I am sure that I do not judge of them, or expect of them, as I should, if I were not taking pains to improve my own mind." He well knew, that as the teacher engages month after month, and year after year, in treading the same round of instruction, and in attending daily to recitations on subjects familiar to him as the alphabet, he is ever liable to be satis- fied with his present attainments, and to slide into a mechanical routine and stereotyped methods of instruction. Against this, he guarded himself by diligently maintaining habits of study and intellec- tual activity. Hence, he was ever engaged in new investigations, and in enlarging the sphere of his knowledge, particularly in his department of in- struction, history and the languages. He was ever aiming to be a better teacher, by being a better scholar. He mastered the German, after he went to Rugby, amid the pressure of other engagements, chiefly for the sake of reading, in the original, Nie- biihr's History of Rome. Dr. Arnold was endeavoring, even in his latest years, to acquire a knowledge of the Sanscrit and Sclavonic languages, and he was engaged, to the end of his life, in correspondence with scientific men and classical scholars, on minute points of philology, his- tory and geography. He seemed to be deeply imbued with the idea, (one which every teacher ought to ponder,) that, if he would be successful, and to the highest degree useful in his office, he must guard 2* 18 MR. BATES's LECTURE with a watchful eye, against dulness and mannerism, by constantly increasing his stores of knowledge, and thus imparting an attractive freshness to his instructions, and giving to his school, at all times, a pleasing air of intellectual activity and vigor. He was constantly striving after intellectual growth, and cultivating a spirit of sympathy with the educational reforms and improvements of the day. Thus he never suffered himself to remit his efforts, nor to sit down with the feeling, that no improve- ments could be made in his plans and methods of instruction. The example of Dr. Arnold in his efforts for self-advancement, is worthy of the imitation of all teachers. We are prone to be satisfied with our present attainments, and our present views of educa- tion and methods of instruction. But this is an age of progress, and unless we advance with the age, we cannot long be successful or acceptable in our calling. If we would cultivate in our pupils habits of intellectual activity, if we w^ould render the reci- tations of our classes always attractive, and to the highest degree useful, we must be ever seeking for new facts and illustrations, and be ever enriching our own minds by study, that we may bring out of our treasures, things new as well as old ; that we may be- able to refer our pupils from time to time to new authorities and sources of information ; that we may stimulate them to increased diligence and the love of knowledge, by spreading out before them wide and comprehensive thoughts, and opening to ON DR. THOMAS ARNOLD. 19 their view newly discovered mines of intellectual wealth. Dr. Arnold was also an enthusiastic teacher, and infused his own spirit into his pupils. He had a passion for the duties of his office. Teaching was in accordance with his natural taste. He was not an intellectual miser, but delighted to bestow upon any, who could appreciate them, his mental riches. His love of teaching, with the lapse of time, grew more strong upon him, so that he often declared, that he could hardly live without such employment; and years before his death, he had formed the plan, if he should live beyond the meridian of life, of receiving from the universities, after he had resigned his post at Rugby, private pupils at Fox How, his country-seat. One of his laconic expressions, as well as one of the rules of his life was, " That which we know and love, we cannot but communicate." It was this, that nourished his glowing enthusiasm ; an enthusiasm that gave him a freshness of spirit, and a vivacity of manner in his work, that imparted vigor to his illus- trations and force to his words ; that created in him an earnest desire for healthful progress in his views of education, and plans of teaching. When asked once if he did not find the repetition, time after time of the same lessons, irksome to him, he replied, " No, there is a constant freshness in them. I find some- thing new in them every time I go over them." This was spoken in the spirit of a true teacher. To such a one his work can never become drudgery. 20 MR. BATES'S LECTURE To such a one, the beating of the beaten track of instruction, and the continually going over the routine of the same books, or the same science, will not be tedious or monotonous ; for he will not cling to his set forms, old methods and thread- bare illustrations ; nor suffer himself to sink into a spiritless mannerism or a technical formality. But a noble enthusiasm, like a perennial foun- tain, will ever invigorate his spirits, prompting him to new researches and progressive studies, and to the application of new illustrations. Such a teacher will never become rusty in his know- ledge, nor permit his interest in instruction to flag. Such a teacher will inspire his pupils with ardor, and awaken in them an earnest spirit of improvement. This Dr. Arnold did. Enthusiasm is contagious. His pupils caught his earnestness of spirit, and, with an indescribable zest, applied themselves to their duties, with a profound con- sciousness, that self-improvement is one great pur- pose of life, and that, by severe study, the mental faculties are to be developed, and the character formed and perfected. Dr. Arnold also possessed a warm sympathy with the young, which gave him a peculiar power over them, and a great advantage in dealing' with them. He was sanguine in his temperament. He was characterized by youthfulness of feeling, and un- common elasticity of constitution. His spirit was instinct with generous sympathy, and especially that ON DR. THOMAS ARNOLD. 21 sympathy, which delights in contact with the fresh- ness and ardor of the young. This liveliness and elasticity of temperament, was one of the elements of his success as a teacher. This vivacity and glow of spirits, prompted him to unusual intimacy with his scholars. He invited them to his table, and his parlor ; assisted them privately in their studies; joined them in their walks and sports, and sympathized with them in their joys and troubles. Yet in all this, he did what few instructors can do. He never allowed his boys to forget, that he was their teacher, nor permitted a kind of familiarity on the part of his pupils, which would tend in the least to impair his authority. He seemed, by a sort of instinct, to maintain at all times the right medium ; a medium most difficult to find, between the teacher's too great distance from his pupils on the one hand, and too great familiarity on the other. A mistake either way in regard to this matter, is injurious to the teacher's influence and usefulness. It is not every teacher, that has that elasticity of mind and youthfulness of feeling, that prompted Dr. Arnold to be so intimate and free with his pupils. It is not every teacher, that has that dignity of character and manner, and maintains that peculiar discipline, which enabled Dr. Arnold, in the free inter- course with his boys, to secure from them, on all occasions, that respectful deference and prompt obe- dience to which his office entitled him. This faculty gave him great power. His pupils were conscious that there was something about him 22 MR. BATES's LECTURE unlike that, which they had been taught to expect of a schoolmaster. Dr. Arnold seldom failed to win the affections and to ensure the respect of those under his care, or to gain a controlling influence over his pupils, and to form with many of them a close bond of affectionate union, which death alone had power to sunder. In a letter to a former pupil, contemplating entering upon a teacher's life, we find Dr. Arnold's sentiments on this subject, which his example so strikingly cor- roborated. " In regard to the question in your letter, I hold that, to a degree, in the choice of a profession, a man's inclination for a calling, is a great presumption that he either is, or will be, fit for it. In education this holds very strongly ;. for he, who likes boys, has probably a daily sympathy with them, and to be in sympathy with the mind you propose to influence, is at once indispensable, and will enable you, to a great degree, to succeed in influencing it. Another point, to which I attach much importance, is liveliness. This seems to me an essential condition of sympathy with creatures so lively as boys are naturally. This appears to me to be in point of manner, the great difference between a clergyman with a parish, and a schoolmaster with youth. A clergyman's intercourse is very much with the sick and poor, where liveliness would be greatly misplaced ; but a schoolmaster's is with the young, the strong and the happy, and he cannot get on with them, unless, in his animal spirits, he can sympathize with them." ON DR. THOMAS ARNOLD. 23 2. THE SECOND GREAT SOURCE OF INTEREST FOR TEACHERS, IN DR. ARNOLD, IS THE PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF INSTRUCTION, WHICH HE SO SUCCESS- FULLY ADOPTED. His principles of teaching were inseparable from the man, and cannot be fully understood without a knowledge of his general character and manner. We need to have a picture of the man before us, as he stands in silence in the presence of his assembled class, the Sixth Form, as he glances his eye around upon them for a moment before commencing the recitation, with an expression, which seems to speak of the importance of the business before them. "We need to observe the attitude in which he stood, turning over the pages of the lexicon, with his full eye fixed intently on the boy who was reciting ; the enthusiastic interest he manifested in the lesson, though heard for the hundredth time ; the pleased and cheerful expression of his countenance, when a correct reply was made ; the sudden changing of his countenance to a look of deepening severity, when a careless or incorrect answer was given ; the courtesy and almost deference of manner to the pupils, while they were attentive and obedient; the dignity and sternness with which he would check the first approach to levity or impertinence; the look of manly pride and tender affection with which, when his class had been doing well, he would say with tears in his eyes, that it gave him great pleasure to be their teacher, and afforded him con- stant delight to give instruction to such pupils. 24 MR. BATES'S LECTURE Dr. Arnold thought it ivise to employ the principle of emulation, to excite in his pupils the spirit of indus- try and application. In this particular, many distinguished American teachers would not approve of his course. But he thought, as prizes and emoluments are held out to men in the great school of life by the Great Teacher, they may properly be offered to the diligent and faithful in the humbler school, which man adminis- ters. He thought, that as Divine Wisdom had judged them to be needful and salutary in the discipline of life, they were equally necessary and useful in the school. With this view, he introduced at Rugby a variety of new regulations, calculated to awaken an honorable rivalry, and contributed liberally himself to the foundation of prizes and scholarships, as in- centives to study. The influence of these prizes upon his students, he confidently believed to be salutary and important. It was a principle with Dr. Arnold, and the tendency of his method of instruction, to awaken the intellect of each individual boy. He did not select the few gifted scholars of his class, and bestow upon them all his sympathies and attention, but he sought to do justice to all. While he appreciated an excellent scholar, and was proud of a pupil of superior talents, and while nothing would quicker excite his displeasure than a boy of good mind, who was heedless and lazy, yet he never suffered himself to neglect boys of small ON DR. THOMAS ARNOLD. 25 powers, who manifested industry and ambition. He regarded them rather as especially entitled to en- couragement and assistance. An incident, which occurred in the early days of his instructing, taught him a lesson which he never forgot, in regard to the encouragement of boys of slender abilities, but diligent habits. It was an inci- dent which ought to teach every instructor the same lesson. At Laleham, he once got out of patience with the slowness of apprehension of a well-meaning, plodding boy, and spoke sharply to him ; when the boy looked up earnestly in his face and said, " Why do you speak in anger, Sir ? Indeed I am doing the best I can." Years afterwards he used to tell the story to his children, and said, " I never felt so much ashamed in my life ; that look and that speech I have never forgotten." This occurrence led him ever afterwards to regard with peculiar respect and care, boys of this class. In speaking of a pupil of this character, a young man, he said, " I would stand by that man, hat in hand." And on another occa- sion he said, " If there be any thing on earth which is truly admirable, it is to see God's wisdom, blessing an inferiority of natural powers, when they have been honestly, truly and zealously cultivated." It was also a principle with Dr. Arnold to adopt such methods of instruction, as would tend to make the minds of his pupils active, and lead them to put forth their powers to meet the knowledge, they were to grasp. He did not wish his pupils to be mere learned pack- 3 26 MR. BATES S LECTURE horses, receiving a burden of facts on the memory, unclassified and not appropriated, nor modified by the reflective powers. But he aimed to cultivate in them the habit of incorporating, whatever knowledge they acquired, with their own associations ; of digest- ing it by reflection, and classifying it for future use. He did not wish his pupils to be mere passive reci- pients of knowledge. Hence, he was not much ac- customed to give them, on any subject, formal and extended lectures. He did not desire their minds to be like cisterns, holding only dead waters, but aimed to make them like living fountains, sending out clear and refreshing streams. " The difference," said he, " between a useful education and one which does not affect the future life, rests mainly on the greater or less activity, which it has communicated to the pupil's mind ; whether he has learned to think and act and gain knowledge for himself; or whether he has merely followed passively, as long as there was some one to draw him." Upon this philosophical idea of the nature and end of education, he constantly acted. Hence, he valued highly the Socratic method of instruction, and taught his scholars by questioning them. It is no small attainment for a teacher to know how to ask questions. No one understood this matter, better than did Dr. Arnold, or could more skilfully lead his pupils to a desired result by a series of interrogations. By this process, he excited the curiosity of his pupils ; called their attention to the important points of the subject under consideration ; gave them hints of what was to be learned, and cultivated in them ON DR. THOMAS ARNOLD. 27 the ability and habit of expressing themselves with facility and elegance. In reference to assisting his students, he endeavored to avoid the evils of the two extremes. He would help them enough to stimulate their curiosity and industry, and to prevent them from being discouraged by appalling difficulties. Yet, he was careful not to gratify excited curiosity, too far, or too soon, by superabundant aid, and thus leave no motive or opportunity for research and study on their part. He often checked himself in the very act of communicating some important fact, or principle, to his class, from the apprehension that it would be better for them to search it out. He wished, that as much as possible should be done by them, and as little as possible for them. He worked not /or, but with his class, and strove, in all his methods of instruction, not to teach directly, but simply to guide in efforts for self-education. He con- sidered the office of the teacher to be like that of the guide-board by the wayside, to direct to the path, which was to be trodden with diligent footsteps. This led Dr. Arnold to attach much importance to the practice of making abstracts of books, and also to the writing of original compositions. He did not deem it wise to permit his boys to write prim and commonplace essays on the usual moral themes. He preferred to assign to them such subjects, as would lead them to read and think. He gave them as subjects, historical and geographical descriptions ; biographies of distinguished persons ; imaginary speeches and letters ; etymological accounts of words in different languages and criticisms on books. He 28 MR. BATES'S LECTURE was always particularly pleased with indications of real thought in composition. " I call," said he, "that the best theme that shows that a boy has read and thought for himself; that the next best, that shows that he has read several books and digested them ; and that the worst, which shows that he has followed but one book, and that without reflection." Dr. Arnold considered, that the object of school education was not so much to teach facts, as principles ; not so much to stock the memory with knowledge, as to develope and discipline the faculties of the mind. He often said, it was not knowledge, but the means of gaining knowledge, he had to teach ; that he desired not so much to impart information, as to prepare the minds of his pupils to use to advantage subsequent acquisitions ; to learn how to study, and how to start aright in the life-long work of self-culture. He therefore valued the study of history and the languages, above that of the natural sciences. Writing to a friend he said, " I must tell you, that I am becoming more and more a convert to the advantages of studying the Greek and Latin, and more and more suspicious of mere fact system, that would cram the mind with knowledge of particular things, and call it information." He maintained that classical studies should be the basis of intel- lectual training. In his view, nothing could be sub- stituted for the study of the Greek and Latin, that could so well secure a thorough discipline of all the faculties ; fixing the attention and strengthening ON DR. THOMAS ARNOLD. 29 the memory, quickening the perceptive and guiding the reflective powers, cultivating the taste and giving acuteness to the faculties of comparison and discrimination. In conducting his recitations in the languages, he did not confine the attention of his class, to the simple exercise of translation and verbal criticism ; but he strove to teach his pupils the historical and philosophical value of philology, and of the ancient writers; to bring before them the author, and the age in which he lived, as well as the one of which he wrote, and to cultivate in them the habit of forming opinions upon the subjects, treated of by the author. In reading a classical historian, Thucydides or Tacitus, for instance, he would induce his pupils, by the interest he could excite, to con- sult many books in relation to geography, military science, civil polity, national customs and domestic manners. In describing his classical recitations he said, " My lessons with the Sixth Form, are directed, to the best of my power, to the furnishing rules or formulas, for them to work with ; for example, rules to be observed in translation, principles of taste, as to the choice of English words, and as to the keep- ing or varying idioms and metaphors." The closing period of his masterly article in vindi- cation of classical studies, exhibits in a few words his views of the great end of education. " It is no wis- dom to make boys prodigies of information, but it is our wisdom and our duty to cultivate their faculties, each in its season; first, the memory and imagina- tion, and then the judgment ; to furnish them with the means, and to excite the desire of improving 3* 30 MR. BATES'S LECTURE themselves, and to wait with confidence for God's blessing on the result. The methods Dr. Arnold adopted in teaching his- tory, are equally interesting and instructive. The principles on which, in his judgment, history should be studied, and which he adopted, are given, in full, in his lectures delivered after his appoint- ment to the professorship at Oxford lectures which every teacher ought "carefully to read and inwardly digest." It was not in his view of any great use to treasure up mere facts and isolated events in a nation's history. But he aimed to derive from the facts certain great principles and conclusions ; to teach the philosophy of history ; the value and sources of historical knowledge, and how to apply the knowledge, derived from research, in the guidance of one's own life, and in judging of the government, customs, social condition, and literary character of existing nations. He was never a slave to the text-book. In- deed, he could find no history of any period with which he was satisfied. Accordingly the class book, whatever it might be, was made sim- ply the groundwork of his own observations, and of other reading from such books, as the school library contained. He cared little that the pre- scribed, historical text-book of the school contained errors in fact or philosophy, for the errors only afforded him the better opportunity to set his stu- dents right in those particulars ; just as many teach- ers of moral philosophy in our colleges, still retain ON DR. THOMAS ARNOLD. 31 Paley's work as their class-book, notwithstanding his errors on the subjects of the Sabbath and the conscience ; as those errors enable them to impress more clearly, on the minds of their scholars, the truth in relation to these subjects. He would often say to his class, " You come here not to read history, but to learn how to read it." This remark is the key to his whole system of instruction. He was accustomed, in accordance with this principle, to direct his boys to read by topics ; to classify facts under general principles ; to engage in researches in different authors for the important facts upon given subjects, or specified periods, as a century, or the reign of some king. He wished to make them work for themselves and think for themselves, while in the institution, that they might be disposed and have the ability so to do in subsequent years. To incite them to this, he would only refer them to authorities for facts, leaving them to find the facts for them- selves ; would withhold his own opinions of the influence of particular revolutions, or distinguished men, to lead them first to form their own ; would sometimes give them, as a subject for a lesson, two wars or campaigns, that occurred eight hundred or one thousand years apart, or would give them two centuries ; for example, the tenth and eighteenth, to examine and compare together. In a letter, he says, " My lessons with the Sixth Form in history are directed to the furnishing of rules of historical evi- dence, or general forms for the dissection of cam- paigns, or the estimating of the importance of wars, revolutions, &c. This, together with the opening of 32 MR. BATES'S LECTURE the sources of knowledge, by telling the class where to find such and such things, and giving them a notion of criticism, (not to swallow things whole as the scholars of an earlier period too often did,) is what I am laboring at, much more than at giving information/' Dr. Arnold regarded the study of geography, as intimately connected with a right understanding of history. He frequently expressed a desire to see constructed more perfect maps and charts. On this subject he said, " How much we need a physical history of countries, tracing the changes which they have undergone, either by violent revolution, or volcanic phenomena, or by the slower, but not less complete change produced by ordinary causes, such as altera- tions of climate, occasioned by enclosing and drain- ing, by alteration in the course of rivers, and in the level of their beds ; in animal and vegetable produc- tions of the soil, and in the supply of metals and minerals ; noticing also the advance and retreat of the sea, and the origin and successive increase in the number and variation in the line of roads, to- gether with the changes in the extent and character of the wood-lands." He was accustomed in the recitations of his his- tory class to illustrate, often by black-board draw- ings, or maps and charts of his own construction, in a most interesting manner, the influence of a nation's geographical position upon its tranquillity, ON DR. THOMAS ARNOLD. 33 territorial consolidation, wars of conquest, and its par- ticipation in commerce. In the same manner would he often illustrate the influence of the soil and rivers, the mountains, and mineral productions of a coun- try, upon the wealth and industrial pursuits, the civilization and general character of its inhabitants. Dr. Arnold had a strong desire to give all his intel- lectual instruction a moral bearing. He prized moral above mental excellence, while he believed in the general union of the two, and in their intimate and mutual dependence. He often said while at Rugby, " What I desire to see here, is, religious and moral principle ; gentlemanly de- portment ; intellectual ability." This led him to give an unusual prominence to moral instruction. The theory of every foundation school in England, contemplates a religious education, and provides for instruction in the Scriptures. This theory Dr. Arnold attempted to carry into practical operation ; not by sectarian instruction, not by the intrusion of relig- ion upon unseasonable occasions, not by giving prominence to religious machinery, not by a studied air of sanctimony, or a formal use of religious phrase- ology ; but by maintaining, himself, a high tone of moral feeling, by showing indirectly in a hundred ways in his intercourse with his pupils, by his methods of discipline, and in his chapel exercises, his high estimate of religious excellence, by investing all study with a deep moral interest, and making all 34 MR. BATES's LECTURE literature illustrate the beauty of Christian truth, and set forth in bright relief the worth of a pure life, sus- tained by Christian love and Christain faith. 3. THE THIRD GREAT SOURCE OF INTEREST FOR TEACHERS IN DR. ARNOLD, IS THE PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF DISCIPLINE, WHICH HE SO SUCCESSFULLY ADOPTED. In the year 1835, Dr. Arnold contributed to the Quarterly Journal of Education in England, an able article, entitled, " The Discipline of Public Schools/' Every teacher would be benefitted by studying that article, while theoretical educational reformers would there find, could they read candidly, some hard logic and common sense, that batter to the ground their visionary theories. Before Dr. Arnold accepted the appointment at Rugby, he ascertained, that his power as master would be absolute, and accepted the office only on that condition. He maintained, that in the actual working of the school, as to the internal plans of instruction and discipline, he must be completely independent ; and that if the Trustees were dissatis- fied, their course was not interference with his measures, but the actual dismissal of him from his post. This is the true ground, and there is reason to believe that it would be a great improvement, if our public schools and the authority of our teachers could be placed on the same basis. " Uniform expe- rience clearly shows," said Dr. Arnold, " the mischief of subjecting schools to the ignorance and party ON DR. THOMAS ARNOLD. 35 feeling of persons, wholly unacquainted with the theory and practice of education." Dr. Arnold recognised, as an element of discipline, the importance of keeping- his pupils busily employed at their studies. He remembered the adage, " An idle brain is the devil's work-shop ; " and he well knew, that, if he would prevent the rising of discontent and insubor- dination, he must keep his boys engaged in earnest work. At the very sight of a knot of vicious or careless boys, gathered in idleness upon the play- ground, he would say, " It makes me think that I see the Devil in the midst of them." It has been truly said, that "idleness is the mother of mischief." The moment a horse is done eating his oats, he turns to and gnaws his manger. Substitute labor for oats, and virtue for manger, and what is true of horses, is equally true of men and boys. Na- poleon used to say, " If a dog has a bone to gnaw, he will not bite;" so, when he was Emperor, he kept the populace of Paris quiet by giving them something to do, and by keeping them hard employed upon great public works. Dr. Arnold adopted a similar course in the management of his school. He would not let his boys be idle, lest they should be discontented and disposed to mischief. He was ever devising new plans, to create in his pupils, from time to time, fresh interest and diligence in their studies. Every experienced teacher knows there was much wisdom in this course. 36 MR. BATES'S LECTURE As another means of discipline, Dr. Arnold strove to cherish an earnest interest in the welfare and im- provement of his pupils. He had a warm sympathy with them, and though each year presented its new generation of scholars, yet each found in him the same fountain of warm and generous interest in their welfare. This feeling began even before he had any personal knowledge of them. " It is a most touching thing to me," said he, " to receive a new scholar, when I think what an influence there is in this place for evil, as well as for good." Some one expressing to him surprise, that this feeling did not wear away with the succession of fresh arrivals, he said, " No, if ever I can receive a new boy from his father, without emotion, I should think it was time for me to resign my situation." Being well aware that, in a school of three hun- dred boys, sudden fluctuations of public feeling may occur, and that a spirit of insubordination may spread like wild-fire, he watched over his school with an almost sleepless vigilance. Because all was quiet one day, he did not feel assured that there might not be trouble the next. In a letter to a friend, he writes, " What gives me pleasure is to observe a steady and kindly feeling in the school, in general, towards the masters and towards each other. This I say to-day, knowing, however, so well the unstable nature of this boy-sea, that I am well aware how soon any dux-turbidus may set our poor Adria all in commotion." To forestall the rising of insubordination, Dr. ON DR. THOMAS ARNOLD. 37 Arnold was ever seeking to obtain an insight into individual character, and striving to gain an influ- ence, particularly over those pupils, whom he dis- covered to be the leaders of public sentiment in the school. Little things in the conduct of a boy which, to a stranger, would have told nothing, were to him highly significant. His quick eye, familiar with the face and manner of each boy, watched the development of character in the recitation-room and on the play-ground. Walking one day on the sport- ing field with an assistant-master, who had recently come to Rugby, he said, "Do you see those two boys, walking arm in arm ? I never saw them to- gether before. You should make it an especial point to observe the company, which each scholar keeps ; nothing so tells the changes in a boy's character." The acquaintance with the general features of the nature of boys, which he gained by close observation, as well as his peculiar insight into the individual disposition of his scholars, gave him great advan- tage in governing his school. Often, before any other eye had discovered it, he saw germs of coming good or evil. Often, his assistant-masters would be puzzled to understand the course of treatment, he pursued towards particular boys, and it was because they did not understand so well as he, the peculiar temperament and dispositions of the different schol- ars. He sought to adapt his mode of treatment, to the nature of the pupil with whom he was dealing. He well knew that with some, a word of admonition would be sufficient, while others must be dealt with in a strict and authoritative manner. Dr. Arnold 4 38 MR. BATES'S LECTURE possessed a remarkable mingling of those severe and tender elements of character so needful in the govern- ment of a school. Says his biographer, " Those, who had known him only in the bosom of his family, found it difficult to conceive how his pupils, or the world at large, should have formed to themselves so stern an image of one in himself so lovely ; while those, who had known him only in the school, can remember the kind of surprise with which they first witnessed his tenderness and playfulness." He had elements of character which fitted him to be severe and resolute with wilful and vicious boys, and elements which qualified him to appreciate a sensitive and ingenuous lad, and to treat him in a tender and gentlemanly manner. " His generous nature mingled well the lion and the lamb." In his discipline, Dr. Arnold sought to avoid the extremes of too great indulgence, on the one hand, and too great severity on the other. His govern- ment was strong, but not arbitrary nor tyrannical. It was seen and felt by all in his school, that there was such a thing as law, and that there must be obedience to rightful authority. Regarding the habit of obedience as necessary to the welfare of the young, he insisted upon it in his school. If he could not secure it by mild means, he obtained it by a resort to severe measures. Dr. Arnold ivas confidently of the opinion, that corporal punishment is necessary in the government of a school. It was, however, a rule with him to employ it only ON DR. THOMAS ARNOLD. 39 with boys of the younger class, and to confine it, chiefly, to moral offences, such as profanity, lying, and habitual idleness. The offences of the older boys, who, after a fair trial, proved themselves incapable of deriving benefit from the privileges of the school, and whose influence over others was decidedly per- nicious, he was accustomed to punish by direct expulsion from the institution. He used to say "that he would not be a jailer, and that it was not his business to flog the vices out of bad boys." Such is the present constitution of our public schools, and such, perhaps, the genius of our republi- can institutions, that expulsion from school cannot be carried out by teachers among us. It would be well, certainly in some cases, if it could be done. When we must submit to the alternative of retaining under our care, boys whose vicious nature and habits are a trial to our patience, we must strive to be of the faith of the great poet, " But men are moulded out of faults, And for the most, become much more the better For being a little bad ; " that we may bate no jot of heart or hope, nor spare our efforts to reclaim an outcast youth. With all the vigor of Dr. Arnold's discipline, he much preferred to manage his boys by moral influ- ence, rather than by physical power ; to govern by mild means rather than by stern. The birchen rod was not the sceptre, which preserved the laws of order in his realm. It was the last resort when the electric influence, which flows forth from a noble 10 MR. BATES'S LECTURE and superior heart, found no responsive element in the nature of a vicious youth. This master of surpassing skill in the art of government, strove to make the impression, that misconduct grieved, rather than offended him. He aimed to rule, without seeming to rule ; to control his scholars, by indirectly guiding the public senti- ment of his little world ; a faculty most desirable for every teacher to possess. He was disposed to confide in the truth and honor of young men, and to make appeals to their better nature. He felt that it was morally injurious to the young, to treat them with suspicion, and as if one expected they would do wrong. He placed implicit confidence in a boy's assertion, and then if a falsehood was discovered, punished severely. Any attempt at further proof of an assertion, he immediately checked by the remark, " If you say so, that is enough ; of course I believe your word." Hence, there arose among the boys at Rugby the common saying, " It is a shame to tell Dr. Arnold a lie ; he always believes every one ! " Dr. Arnold exerted an elevating influence over his scholars by treating them like gentlemen, and by endeavoring to make them respect themselves by the respect he showed to them. It was his constant aim to impress upon their minds the idea, that their interests and his were one and the same ; that they had with him a moral responsibility, and a deep in- terest in the reputation and welfare of the institu- tion. This impression, Dr. Arnold strove to make, espe- cially upon the Sixth Form ; the class of the oldest ON DR. THOMAS ARNOLD. 41 and most advanced boys in the school. The system of fagging, which prevails in the English schools, ex- isted at Rugby. According to this system, the highest class was invested with a portion of authority over the younger scholars, both in the school-room and upon the play-ground. This system, though liable to great abuse, and though violently attacked by a class of school-reformers in England, he strenu- ously defended and valued highly. In his judgment, the system was useful, not only in assisting the master in maintaining the government of the school, but also in cultivating in the Sixth Form, self-respect and a manly spirit, by placing them in stations of responsibility, where their reputation and dignity could not be maintained except by consistent and good conduct. He confidently relied on the sustain- ing influence of the Sixth Form, as the key-stone of his whole government. He used to say, " When I have confidence in the Sixth Form, there is no post in England, I would exchange for this ; but if they do not support me, I must go." The genius of our republican institutions would not, perhaps, admit of the introduction of this system of fagging into our schools as a system. But the great idea of the system is an admirable one ; and that idea, it would be well for every teacher to incorporate, to some extent, into the government of his school. By treating his older pupils with confidence, and placing them in stations of responsi- bility, he will cultivate in them dignity of character, while he secures their co-operation in maintaining authority over his pupils. 4* 42 MR. BATES's LECTURE I have, Gentlemen of the Institute, thus en- deavored to draw a portraiture of the character of an eminent and successful Teacher. In so doing, I have spoken : 1. OF DR. ARNOLD'S QUALIFICATIONS AS A TEACH- ER. 2. OF HIS PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF INSTRUC- TION. 3. OF HIS PRINCIPLES AND METHODS OF DISCI- PLINE. Dr. Arnold was truly a model teacher; a Chris- tian, a scholar, a gentleman, a man of energetic mind, cultivated and refined, sincere in every pur- pose of his heart, enthusiastic and devoted to his profession, practical in all his educational plans, and eminently successful in imparting knowledge. Understanding thoroughly the secret springs of hu- man action, he governed, controlled and influenced mind, with skill and success. He wonderfully im- pressed both teachers and pupils with the reality and the great object of life ; he constantly, by example and precept, carried conviction to every mind with which he came in contact, that action and useful- ness were the great purposes of existence. He exemplified in all he did, that principle and moral thoughtfulness were the great and distinguishing marks between good and evil. He wielded, at all times and under all circumstances, a moral power, and maintained and ever exhibited a force of char- acter, a determination to carry out principles, a ON DR. THOMAS ARNOLD. 43 consecration to his work, a complete abandonment of self in the discharge of duty, which convinced every one of the uprightness and purity of his intentions. In the life and character of Dr. Arnold, we find a remarkable instance of the union of dignity and simplicity. The meekness, artlessness, and evi- dent sincerity of the man in his whole behavior and intercourse with his pupils, always divested him of all appearance of moroseness and affectation. With fatherly and affectionate entreaty, he admonished the wayward and cheered the desponding. His pupils looked up to him with confidence, and spoke of him with affection. His life of manner, his sympathy with the ardor and freshness of youth, his familiar intercourse with them and real interest in their im- provement and welfare, gave him a wonderful ascen- dency over the greater part of each generation of his pupils. There subsisted between him and them mutual affection and attachment. It was kindness of heart, sympathy with the young, devotion to his work, sincerity in every act of his life, a visible animation, enthusiasm and love with which he entered upon all his duties, which awakened, kept alive, and earnestly impressed the minds of the young, with the importance of knowledge, and of a life of activity, virtue and usefulness. Dr. Arnold thus writes to an applicant for the situation of teacher in his celebrated school : " What I wish is, a man, who is a Christian and a gentleman, an active man and one who has common sense, and understands boys ; that, belonging to a great public 44 MR. BATES'S LECTURE institution, and standing in a public and conspicuous situation, he should study ' things lovely and of good report;' that he should be public-spirited and liberal, and enter heartily into the interests, honor and gen- eral respectability and distinction of the society which he has joined ; that he should have sufficient vigor of mind and thirst for knowledge to persist in adding to his own stores, without neglecting the full improvement of those whom he is teaching." Are such, fellow-teachers, our qualifications for the important office we hold? Do we daily enter with fresh preparation, with interest, with energy, with the spirit of love and a sound mind upon our labors ? Do we at all times feel that principle of love, and that sincere devotion to our profession, which are to be regarded as the sign and measure of high souls, and which wisely directed will accomplish much? Our calling is honorable ; our labors will be felt and appreciated, if we are faithful. Let us not be satisfied with our past success, nor our present attainments. Let our motto ever be onward, upward. Let us also be impressed with the vast importance of our office. We deal with mind. We are called to educate immortal beings. We are stamping upon their souls impressions, that will endure, " when the sun shall be blotted out, and the moon and stars shall withdraw their shining." Should there be given to each one of us a broad tablet of polished silver, upon which we were required to inscribe some sentiment to be read by thousands on earth and by angels in Heaven, we should tremble in view of the important duty; we ON DR. THOMAS ARNOLD. 45 should desire that the sentiment might be truthful and wise, and such as would be approved above. Now, there are placed in our hands many tablets, not indeed of silver and gold, but tablets, that shall endure when silver and gold shall have perished ; the immortal tablets of youthful minds. Upon these we are inscribing principles and sentiments, which thousands of our fellow-men will read with grief or joy, which all the angels of light will one day look upon with tears, or behold with exultations of joy. Fellow Teachers ; let the character I have been portraying, be a model for us to imitate. Let his name be fragrant in our memory. Let his spirit, grateful as the breath of morning, be diffused through all our professional ranks and all our educational Associations. Let us study his principles and methods of instruction and discipline, till they shall reveal to us an elevating power, that shall give us yet more encouraging success in our noble work. Let us imbibe his ardent desire for the progress of the cause we love, that we may be enabled to do something for its advancement. Let us by fidelity in our labors and a consecration to the work en- trusted to us, secure a measure of that reward, which gladdened his heart while living, and has since per- petuated his fame and his influence ; that we may be honored by our pupils while we live, and be worthy when we are dead of being embalmed in their memory. The names of hero and statesman live in ever-during marble and splendid mausoleums ; but the faithful teacher has a far better shrine in the 46 MR. BATES'S LECTURE. fond and grateful hearts, which he has fashioned for immortality. "What needs our Arnold for his honor'd bones, The labor of an age, in piled stones ? Or that his hallow'd relics should be hid Under a star-pointing pyramid ? Dear son of memory, great heir of fame, What need's! thou such weak witness of thy name ? Thou in our wonder and astonishment, Hast built tl^self a live-long monument, And so sepulchred in such pomp dost lie, That kings for such a tomb would wish to die." \ THE LIBRARY UKIVERSITY OP CAUFORKIA LOS ANGELES Syracuse. N. Y. Sfockton, Calif. 000 962 933 8 LF 795 R8A8b 1UJ CO LIBRARY USE ONLY a I DQ O Qo r