more intelligence would his instructions be received, and how much more would be accomplished for the good of the pupils.

The home influence is the greatest of all influences; and, if this be defective, no other can repair the injury. Such is the Creator's plan. The home is the child's first and chief school, and only for auxiliary culture are other schools established. To educate to the best of their ability the children whom they have brought into the world is the duty of parents, a duty from which nothing can free them; and schools are sustained because parents can accomplish a part of the work better by bringing the children together and delegating so much of their authority as is necessary to accomplish the purpose of education.

To destitute children the state is parent, and governments in most cases nominally accept the trust. In obedience to the same principle, as well as for self-protection, why should not government extend the same care to all children who are so neglected by their parents as to indicate that they will become bad members of the society which the government was instituted to protect? In this way only does it seem to me that government can escape receiving bad members from abroad, and from rearing them in its own midst. Benevolence and self-defence require this.

Let us not so magnify the school as to disparage and forget the home. Is there not more reason now to talk and teach and preach about home influences than school influences? Are not the school duties now better performed than the home duties? Is not more effort made by teachers than by parents, according to the opportunities of each, to secure constant attendance, intellectual culture, habits of order and system, and correctness in the thousand little practices which are the basis of character? Go through the school districts, and are not the teachers better informed on all that relates to education than the average of those whose children they teach? It is my judgment that the teachers observe, read, and reflect very much more on all matters pertaining to education, in its most extended sense, than the majority of parents in the same communities. The teacher's occupation so keeps the subject before his mind that, if he has intellect and soul, he must think and feel. Others have parental and social obligations. He often has these and professional obligations besides. Still, I but repeat an old truth when I say that far more teachers fail in these things than in ability to explain the lessons of the school. To understand the Binominal Theorem requires far less reflection than to comprehend the statement that a child should be sent to school in season.

Let no teacher draw from these remarks an excuse for inactivity, or for diminishing his special or general preparation. He must be careful of his health, for "children have no sympathy with morbid affections of the liver and spleen."

66

Let him cultivate a habit of attention and power of mental control, so that he may be, according to the sentiment of Brougham, a whole man to one thing at once." Let him have opinions, with reasons for them, on educational plans and books prepared for schools. 66 Try the spirits," for "false prophets are gone out into the world." Let him give to his work what Fellenburg demands for it, "a vigilance that never sleeps, and a perseverance that never tires; or let him say with Luther, "Work on earth, and rest in heaven." And, amidst it all, let him not complain, for a teacher cannot succeed unless he is happy in his labors. Let him not be one of those of whom Fenelon says, " They perceive what it deprives them of, but do not see what it bestows; they exaggerate its sacrifices, without looking at its consolations." If it requires a large outlay of the capital of a generous man to endow an institution of learning, it needs the soul of a self-sacrificing man to make it useful afterwards.

But teachers have the care of their pupils only six hours of the twenty-four, leaving ten of activity for them to be subject to other influences, some of them as active as those of the schoolroom can be, others no less potent because insensible. Many pass a large portion of these home hours in the street and byplaces, subject to temptations, witnessing vice, and taking lessons of the base. Within doors, no pleasant and improving employment is provided, and often, instead of kind control, the government exhibits, in its indulgence and severity, an inconstancy and capriciousness, which, in a school-room, would not and ought not to be tolerated for a single day. To have a happy home in youth is almost a guaranty of a good life. I know not who it was that exclaimed, "Blessed is the remembrance of a happy childhood," but, doubtless, he himself possessed that upon which he pronounced the beatitude. I know not whether a happy youth is more to be prized on account of its favorable opportunity for the healthful development of all man's powers, or for the soothing influence which it will exert on him, as he looks back upon it from the turmoil of active life. Perhaps both are surpassed by the quiet comfort which it will shed on his declining days when its fruits are ripened into a well-spent life. powerful is this period, in determining character, that its hopes and aspirations are almost prophetic. It was Schiller who said, "Tell him, when he shall become a man, to reverence the dreams of his youth."

So

To secure a happy childhood, demands all that is requisite to lay the foundation of a good life. A child's physical nature must be subjected to its proper laws, or disease will enter; his

intellect must be healthfully occupied, or the sphere of his enjoyment will be kept narrow; and his moral faculties must have their proper and harmonious supremacy. He must be so accustomed to obedience as to yield cheerfully to all the restraints which may be imposed by those who direct him. How many a child squanders his happiness, and robs youth of its charms, by reluctant obedience; he chafes against the bands which really are but the gentle and kind supports of his weakness. Others, by disobedience, stray from the paths of promise, lose all the rewards of virtue, and are at last led captive by their uncurbed desires. Order must reign, for without it happiness is nowhere long secure. Add to these the lively play of the benevolent and social affections, and how well fitted is home for the growth of all which we most esteem in human character. At home, there is less to stimulate to selfishness, than in the active world where men are arrayed against each other in the struggle for the means of support, pleasure, and display. "Home is a garden, high walled against the blighting north-east of selfish care." Abroad, there is more of caution and reserve, which make men suspicious; at home, there may be absolute confidence and unchecked manifestation of good-will; nor need any gentle or noble sentiment be repressed or concealed.

But only a few of the children enjoy these influences. Many a boy is proud of being "Lord of himself, that heritage of wo,' or has fallen under the curse of Thersites, "Heaven bless thee from a tutor, and discipline come not near thee."

How many generations must pass before the mass of parents can educate their children, even as well as some do now? When shall a rational idea of home be realized by the whole community? Not a poet's or a romancer's idea, but the idea of common sense and Christianity? How few of us have half the qualities requisite for the home in which children can be truly educated. How far, in this respect, the actual of human achievement falls below the possible.

P.

I shall detain you no longer in the demonstration of what we should not do, but straight conduct you to a hill-side, where I will point you out the right path of a noble and virtuous education; laborious, indeed, at the first ascent, but else so smooth, so green, so full of goodly prospect and melodious sounds, on every side, that the harp of Orpheus were not more charming. I call, therefore, a complete and generous education, that which fits a man to perform justly, skilfully, and magnanimously all the offices, both public and private, of peace and war.-Milton.

LABORARE EST ORARE.

[To labor is to pray.]

BY THE LATE MRS. FRANCES SARGENT OSGOOD.

PAUSE not to dream of the future before us;
Pause not to weep the wild cares that come o'er us;
Hark! how Creation's deep, musical chorus,
Unintermitting, goes up into heaven!
Never the ocean wave falters in flowing;
Never the little seed stops in its growing;
More and more richly the rose-heart keeps glowing,
Till from its nourishing stem it is riven.

"Labor is worship!" -the robin is singing;
'Labor is worship!". the wild bee is ringing;
Listen! that eloquent whisper upspringing,

Speaks to thy soul from out Nature's great heart.
From the dark cloud flows the life-giving shower;
From the rough sod blows the soft-breathing flower;
From the small insect, the rich coral bower;

Only man, in the plan, shrinks from his part.

Labor is life! "Tis the still water faileth;
Idleness ever despaireth, bewaileth;

Keep the watch wound, for the dark rust assaileth;
Flowers droop and die in the stillness of noon.
Labor is glory! the flying cloud lightens;

Only the waving wing changes and brightens ;

Idle hearts only the dark future frightens;

Play the sweet keys, wouldst thou keep them in tune!

Labor is rest-from the sorrows that greet us;
Rest from all petty vexations that meet us;
Rest from sin-promptings that ever entreat us,
Rest from world-sirens that lure us to ill.

Work and pure slumbers shall wait on thy pillow;
Work-thou shalt ride over care's coming billow;
Lie not down wearied 'neath woe's weeping willow:
Work with a stout heart and resolute will!

Labor is health!-Lo! the husbandman reaping,
How through his veins goes the life-current leaping;
How his strong arm, in its stalwart pride sweeping,
True as a sunbeam the swift sickle guides.
Labor is wealth in the sea the pearl groweth ;
Rich the queen's robe from the frail cocoon floweth;
From the fine acorn the strong forest bloweth;
Temple and statue the marble block hides.

Droop not, though shame, sin, and anguish are round thee! Bravely fling off the cold chain that hath bound thee!

Look to yon pure heaven smiling beyond thee;

Rest not content in thy darkness

a clod!

Work-for some good, be it ever so slowly;

Cherish some flower, be it ever so lowly;

Labor! - all labor is noble and holy;

Let thy great deed be thy prayer to thy God. - Living Age.

THE TRUE THEORY OF EDUCATION.

"SUFFER me to remind you, young gentlemen, that it is only by close application to your studies that the higher powers of your minds can be developed. The plants in our gardens advance to maturity without any effort on their part. The senses seem to educate themselves. But it is not so with the fac ulties of the mind. The memory, the judgment, the reason if they become strong-must be made so by discipline; and this cannot be effected without the efforts of the student himself. Books cannot do it; lectures cannot do it; the best teachers in the world cannot do it; no scheme, or knowledge made easy, can do it. Indeed, if we wished to ruin the minds of our youth, and raise up a generation of mental weaklings, we could not do it more effectually than by smoothing the path to science,planing down its asperities, and leaving no difficulties for the youthful mind to grapple with. When study shall be made all play, then men will be boys; wholly unfitted for the hard service of life. If the object of education were simply to pour into the mind, as into an empty vessel, a certain quantity of information, it might be desirable to make every dose as palatable as possible. But if the grand object of education be, as it unquestionably is, to unfold what is within, - to bring out the faculties of the boy, and to make him conscious of his own powers, that he may be able to use his faculties in the investigation of truth, in the detection of error, and, in all the affairs of life, wisely and effectively, there is but one way in which this can be done, and that is by the discipline of severe study. Persevering application, close, consecutive, and even painful thinking, the bracing up of the will to overmatch difficulties, this, this alone can make strong minds. There is no other process by which you can produce this result. Hence, young gentlemen, if you would excel -if you would stand foremost in your several professions in after life if you would be ranked among the strong-minded ones of your day, you must not shrink from severe study. If the lesson be difficult, remember it is by wrestling with difficulty and overcoming it, that you are to attain the high ends of education. But for the difficulty of the task, the task would be comparatively useless to you. Conquer it, and the victory will be of incalculably more value than almost any amount of mere information conveyed to your minds without any effort on your part, or with only feeble effort.

"If this be the true theory of education and who will presume to dispute it? - a very little knowledge of yourselves will suffice to satisfy you, that stern appliances may sometimes be necessary on the part of those who are entrusted with the train