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FEMALE EDUCATION.

-lies of the first water in diamonds of paste, and unblushing blushes of lies to No woman is educated, says Burnap, which a shower would give quite a differwho is not equal to the successful man- ent complexion-the politician's lies who, agement of a family. Although it does like a circus rider, strides two horses at not require so much talent to rule a once-the coquette's lies, who like a prohousehold as it does to govern a state, fessor of legerdemain, keeps six plates still it requires talent of the same kind.-dancing at a time-lies sandwiched beAs he makes the best general who has tween bargains-lies in livery behind rebegun at the lowest post and passed up publican coaches, in all the pomp of goldthrough every grade of office-as he en bands and buttons-lies of red tape makes the best admiral who entered the and sealing wax-lies from the cannon's navy in the most inferior station, because mouth-lies in the name of glorious printhey, and they alone, are acquainted with ciples that might make dead heroes clatthe whole compass of a subaltern's duty, ter in their graves-Malakoffs of lies, --so that woman will manage a family standing upon sacred dust and lifting with the greatest ease and efficiency who their audacious pinnacles in the light of knows, experimentally, the duties of ev-eternal Heaven.

ery member of it. Daughters who neg- Need we say what an uneasy, slavish
leet this part of education are entirely vanity is that which won't let a man ap-
without excuse, and mothers are still pear as he really is, but makes himafraid
more to blame. The very apology which of the world and himself, and so keeps
is often made for the neglect of it is the him perpetually at work with subterfuges
greatest condemnation of those who offer and shams. He is dissatisfied with na-
it. It is said by those who are growing up ture's character, and so issues false stock.
in ignorance of these things: Any one 0, how much better for himself and the
can learn how to keep house when it is world for a man to be brave and true--
necessary. Any one who loves her hus-what God and unavoidable circumstances
band, and is devoted to his interests, will have made him-to come out and dare
make herself accomplished in those things say I am poor, of humble birth, of hum-
when she is married." As well might ble occupation, or don't know much.-
the young man say, "Of what use is it for What a curse this ingenuousness would
me to learn a profession, or make myself be for social rottenness and financial
acquainted with the details of any busi- earthquakes! How much sweeter and
ness? When I am married, if I love my purer those actual rills of capacity and
wife, it will then be time enough to learn possession than this great brackish river
a profession, or to accomplish myself in of pretension, blown with bubbles and
the details of business." Would there evaporating with gas-how much better
be any surer omen of total failure and than this splendid misery, these racks
discomfiture? That which a woman can and thumb-screws that belong to the in-
learn to do in a few months under the quisition of fashion, and thousands of
tuition of love, can certainly be learned shabby things-the shabbiest of all being
to much greater advantage under the tui- those who are too proud to seem just
tion of a mother. If it is all so easy to what they are.- -Chapin.
learn, then certainly they are utterly in-
excusable who neglect it. It is no deg-
redation to the finest lady to know all
the details of domestic affairs. It is hon-juries is oblivion. Light injuries are
orable, and ought to be her pride.

LYING.

Lies of action are blood relation to lies of speech, and oral lies constitute but a small share of the falsehoods in the world. There are lies of custom and lies of fashion-lies of padding and lies of whalebone

INJURIES. The noblest remedy for in

made lighter, and heavy ones have their
weight taken away, by not regarding
them.

ETERNITY.

A solemn murmur in the soul
Tells of the world to be,
As travelers hear the billows roll
Before they reach the sea.

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HOME INFLUENCE.

three important objects at the same time. It affords a pure test of the pupils knowledge of the subject; it is one of the best methods of cultivating freedom and acfill.curacy in the use of language; and it furnishes a valuable discipline to the pupil's mind, by throwing him entirely on his own resources. The task of examining So many separate written exercises, and I labor of the teacher, but the gain to the of estimating their value, increases the pupil is more than an equivalent for the extra service required.-Mass. Teacher.

Wouldst thou listen to its gentle teaching, All thy restless yearning it would still. Leaf, and flower, and laden bee are preaching Thine own sphere, though humble first to TRULY it has been said, that our duties are like the circles of a whirlpool, and the innermost includes home. A modern writer has designated home "heaven's fallen sister;" and a melancholy truth lies shrouded in those few words. Our home influence is not a passing, but an abiding one; and all powerful for good or evil, for peace or strife, or happiness or misery. Each separate Christian home has been likened to a central sun, around which revolves a happy and united band of warm, loving hearts, acting, thinking, rejoicing and sorrowing together. Which member of the family group can say, I have no influence. What sorrow, or what happiness, lies in the power of each!

"A lighted lamp," writes M'Cheyne, "is a very small thing, and it burns calmly and without noise, yet it giveth light to all who are within the house." And so there is a quiet influence, which like the flame of a scented lamp, fills many a home with light and fragrance. Such an influence has been beautifully compared to a "carpet, soft and deep, which, while it diffuses a look of ample comfort, deadens many a creaking sound. It is the curtain which, from many a beloved form, wards off at once the summer's glow and the winter's wind. It is the pillow on which sickness lays its head and forgets half its misery. This influence falls as the refreshing dew, the invigorating sunbeams, the fertilizing shower, shining on all with the mild lustre of moonlight, and harmonizing in one soft tint many of the discordant hues of a family picture.

A HOME PICTURE-OLD AGE.

AN old man sat by the chimney side-
His face was wrinkled and wan-
And he leaned both hands on his stout oak cane
As if all his work was done.

His coat was of good old fashioned gray,
With pockets both deep and wide,
Where his specs and steel tobacco box
Lay snugly side by side.

The old man liked to stir the fire,
So near him the tongs were kept;
Sometimes he mused as he gazed at the coals,
Sometimes he sat and slept.

What did he see in the embers there?

Ah! pictures of other years;
And now and then they awakened smiles,
But oftener they started tears.

His good wife sat on the other side,

In the high back cane seat chair;
You see 'neath the frill of her muslin cap
The sheen of her silvery hair.

She wears a blue checked apron now,
And is knitting a sock for him;
Her pale blue eyes have a genle look,
And she says they are growing dim.

I like to call and tell the news,
And chat an hour each day,

For it stirs the blood of the old man's heart,
To hear of the world away.

Be kind unto the old, my friends,

They're worn with this world's strife, Though bravely once, perchance, they fought The battle erst with life.

They taught our youthful feet to climb
Upward life's rugged steep;
Then let us lead them gently down
To where the weary sleep.

FREQUENT Written reviews are among the most successful means that teachers can employ for securing thoroughness and accuracy of scholarship. Several topics are written distinctly on the blackboard, and the pupils are required to expand them as fully and accurately as possible. Each pupil is seated by himself and furnished with pen ink and paper; TO DAUGHTERS.-The secret you dare but receives no assistance from either not tell your mother, is a dangerous seteacher or text-book. This mode of ex- cret, and one that will be likely to bring amining a class accomplishes at least you sorrow and suffering in the end.

Ann R. Porter.

OF KINDNESS.

NO YOUNG HEART WITHOUT ITS GERM | Every pupil was surprised; parents were surprised; David himself was surprised that he was, for the first time, a friend to schoolmaster."

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THE following case occurred during my experience as an instructor in a distant Time wore away, and David, under the part of the country. The morning for influence of genial treatment, became as commencing a school in a strange place eminent as a scholar, as a dutiful, upright arrived. All were boisterous and noisy; boy, as he had ever before been notorious but, one among them, a boy of fourteen, for being the very reverse; and in little whose very countenance seemed to have more than a year he was taken as a clerk been moulded under the influence of un- into the very store from which he stole ; holy passions, was the most truly disgust- two years ago the writer heard of him in ing candidate for education and the teach- the same situation and a member of the er's favor that I had ever seen. The church.

teacher noticed his almost fiendish pro- I have used this instance to illustrate pensities for mischief and roguery, and, the remark that if a youth be known to with a fearful heart his name and circum- possess one good trait, his whole heart stances. The result of his inquiry was may be unlocked by it as with a key.— that he was the neglected son of drunken David loved the exhibition of manly courparents, a trouble and terror to every age. The abuse of this quality made him teacher, notorious troughout the whole a complete bully among his schoolmates; town as having been once in jail for steal- but the teacher caused him to experience ing money from a merchant's drawer;-pleasure from his exercises. and that most probably had come to make He also possessed a wish to oblige, trouble in the school about to be com- when respectfully asked to do so. menced. Indeed, he began his career by teacher made him feel that he could renchoosing his seat upon the girls' side of der great service to himself and to the the house, and asserting, in the hearing school.-Indiana Schoolfellow.

of the teacher, that all the schoolmasters this side of a place not heaven, could not move him.

The teacher learned, among other things, that he was really courageous and hated a coward; and that he was willing, at times, to oblige his school-mates.

He accordinaly addressed him kindly as follows:

A SHORT ARGUMENT.

The

A GENTLEMAN was railing, a few days since, at a public table, against the law of Massachusetts, as depriving men of their natural rights to buy and sell and get gain; and turning to his neighbor, he asked him if he did not think it highhanded oppression. The gentleman re

"David, our school-house bell is out of order, and we want some scholar who is plied: not afraid, and is something of a mechanic "Sir, call it oppression if you please. to climb up in the belfry and fix it. Will I will state one fact well known to myyou go?"

"Yes, sir," said David, and he went up promptly, and after thoroughly putting it in order, came down with a smile of satisfaction, saying:

44

self. A tax bill was recently brought to me on my city property, of $800, for which I gave my check. I carefully looked into the subject, and found that $650 of it was for the support of drunkenness. "I have fixed it, sir." Now what is this but oppression? But I "Thank you," said the teacher. The suppose I have no rights. Rumsellers bell was rung school was organized. Da- have all. They may tax me to support vid, without a word or look from the the criminals and drunkards they make, teacher, had quietly removed his books $650, and I must be still." and taken a seat among the boys. At the Sir," said the gentleman, "Massachuvery first, when some trusty boy was setts is right. It is the best argument I wanted for any little office in school, Da- every heard. It has overthrown all my vid was selected; and he proved himself theory about free trade. I will say no worthy of such confidence. Days passed more, but go the whole with you."on, and David needed no reprimand.- Ohio State Journal.

THE STUDY OF NATURAL HISTORY.

highest importance in an economical point of view. The same general princiOf the importance of the study of nat-ples will apply to every form of life. The ural history as a branch of education, student should be encouraged to write there can be no question. Even inde-down what of such operations and actions pendently of the practical applications of he may have seen in his rambles. No the different departments of the science matter how trivial these may seem, a rein the various processes of agriculture, cord should be made, as cultivating a commerce and the arts, the mental train-habit of great importance. The difficuling it imparts is of the highest benefit. ty so often experienced in the writing of The cultivation of the perceptive and compositions may be remedied to a great reasoning faculties, the acquisition of extent by assigning some particular subskill in composition, as involved in re-ject in natural history to be investigated cording the facts observed, the habits of and reported upon. Students may be healthful exercise of body in pursuing the encouraged to procure living animals and study, and a rational and suitable occu-keeping them in confinement, to work pation for leisure hours, are among the out the details of their history. Indeed ends readily to be gained in the pursuit with many species this is the only way of natural science. When I speak of nat- in which anything can be learned reural history, I do not refer simply to a specting them. I have obtained vastly string of dry, harsh names in a foreign more information respecting the frogs language, and referring to many objects and salamanders, by watching them in which a youth never has seen nor may my own room, than I ever could in the expect to see, except possibly in a draw-fields and by the ponds. In order howing, I mean the study of nature as dis-ever to systematize the studies first replayed in the woods and fields, under the ferred to, it will be necessary to proceed eye of any and every looker on. The to the formation of local cabinets. Each child should be taught to analyze every- school should be provided with some sets thing he sees, to examine into the why of shelves as well as bottles, alcohol, etc., and wherefore, to take up some particu- by means of which to exhibit the results lar act of animal life and trace it back to of Saturday afternoon forays, or incidenits inception, and follow it to its conclu- tal gatherings throughout the week.-sion. He should be taught to watch how The object should be to procure as comthe bird builds its nest, of what materials, plete a collection as might be convenient, what number and character of eggs it of all the different minerals, fossil relays, the duration of incubation, the num- mains, animals and plants of the neighber of broods in the year, the date of ap-borhood. This will be very easily acpearing and disappearing, the abundance complished by the help of the teacher, or scarcity as compared with other spe- who should know enough of the art of cies, the kinds of food, etc. The frog taxidermy to skin a bird or quadruped. should be watched, to learn when he The processes involved are all exceeding leaves his mud retreat, how the eggs are ly simple, and will be found detailed at deposited, whether in spherical masses, sufficient length in the little pamphlet or in long ropes, how long before the em- published by the Smithsonian institute bryo emerges from the shell and the in- which might be re-produced for distributerval of attaining full development of tion among schools. Collections of skulls limbs. The fish should be traced to its and skeletons, detached or combined, secret haunts, to learn when the period might be made of the domestic and other of spawning takes place, whether it animals of the vicinity. The collections builds a nest of grass, sticks or stones, thus made or in process of accumulation, what arts of defence it employs, what are now to be labelled as accurately as changes it undergoes in the different sea- the means at command will allow. sons. The transformations of the insect the scientific names cannot be obtained, should be followed out through its suc- then some provisional ones may be adoptcessive stages, so as accurately to deter-ed serving to identify them temporarily, mine the kind of food, duration of the until better can be done. It must be the different conditions, etc., points all of the teacher's business to procure all the

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books he can get relating to the subjects mind an idea distinct and definite at first collected, and by their means as well as sight. Instruction in writing as well by conference and correspondence with, as reading should be confined to the "Experts," find out what is already known of their history as well as the purely mechanical part only so long as names by which they are recognized. In will be found necessary to fix in the mind possession of such cabinets, it will then of the pupil the proper mode of forming be proper to introduce some text book the elementary characters and their simon natural history, and the course of inplest combinations. Words written are struction, selecting one suited to the comprehension of the classes. Unfortunate-but the clothing of ideas. The intellecly, we have nothing new at our command tual part of writing should be connected bearing upon the generalities of natural with the mechanical far earlier than history and adapted to this country, ex usual. This must be done first by recepting the text book of Zoology by

Communications.

Agassiz and Gould, which covers only quiring copies of sentences or paragraphs the physiology of zoology. This work, easily understood and containing some however, is very admirable as far as it important truth, extending this process goes and most highly to be recommended. gradually with the increasing capacity of S. F. BAIRD, Smithsonian Inst. the pupil. Nor should the practice be too long neglected of requiring the scholar to give shape to his own ideas in simple narrative or familiar letters. Thereby thought is developed and a knowledge of the practical part of English Grammar is obtained. Let this course be pursued as long as the pupil remains in school,

[For the Journal of Education. COURSE OF INSTRUCTION FOR OUR SCHOOLS.

NUMBER TWO.

sooner does the scholar begin to ac-and it matters not if the theory of Gramquire the ideas of others, than there mar be neglected, at least until its philosarises in his mind a natural desire to imophy can be appreciated. Far too much part them together with the thoughts en- time is wasted in simply imitating stale gendered by them, to others out of the expressions or trite sayings, that have reach of the voice. "It is true," says little or no influence on the mind of the Beecher, "that dress does not make the copyist. Writing, as an art merely, has man, but when a man is made he looks little value. It assumes importance promuch better dressed up." The charac-portionate to the ideas it addresses to the ters used to represent ideas do not make mind through the eye.

the ideas, but when the thoughts are ful- When the child has knowledge enough ly developed their dress has much to do of Reading to gain a distinct idea of simwith their influence upon others. Hence ple statements, then may he commence the importance of a good style of pen- Intellectual Arithmetic. Among the first manship. Writing is, then, in my opin- developed thoughts of the child are those ion, of importance secondary only to of number. An acquaintance with Intelreading. It should be the aim of the lectual Arithmetic lies at the foundation Teacher to attend carefully to the forma- of all correct reasoning, whether analytition of the elementary characters that they cal or synthetical. No other study has may be attractive to the eye, and easily so wide a range of influence or exerts distinguished from each other, and when such a power in the formation of characcombined, that they may convey to the ter as this. Its influence is felt in all de

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