—that the three essential requisites of good schools had been obtained, good school houses, efficient teachers, and ample means to maintain them in uninterrupted operation.-Abridged from a Belleville Paper.

Literary and Scientific Intelligence.

THE AUSTRIAN VOYAGE OF CIRCUMNAVIGATION.-The first Austrian man-of-war intended to circumnavigate the world, the frigate Novara, left Trieste on the 30th of April, for Gibraltar. The Novara carries 1,800 tons weight and 30 guns; the deck is 147 feet long, and 42 in width. The vessel draws about 19 feet water. The Novara has 354 men on board, seven of whom belong to the scientific commission, and will principally be engaged in scientific pursuits. The astronomical, meteorological, and magnetical observations, however, will be made by the officers of the navy, under the command of Commodore Wullerstoff. Dr. Hochstetter, from the Geological Institution of the Austrian Empire, will be occupied with the geological and physical; Messrs. Fraunfele and Zelebor, with zoological; Drs. Schwarz and Tellinek, with botanical; and Dr. Scherzu with astrological and national-economical researches and investigations. The last of these gentlemen will also keep the journal of the expedition, and make the reports on its progress and results to the different political and scientific authorities at home. The expedition is likewise accompanied by a renowned Austrian painter, M. Selliny, who will be occupied in illustrating the most interesting points visited by the Novara, and likewise make drawings for different scientific purposes. Alexander Von Humboldt honoured the expedition with a beautiful memoir on the volcanoes of the South Sea and the western coast of South America, which he called, in his modest style, physical and geognostical remembrances (Physikalische und Geognostische Erinnerungen.) This most beautifully written memoir had been addressed to the leader of the expedition, Commodore Wullerstorff, an excellent naval officer, who was formerly professor of astronomy at Venice, a man of excellent qualities, and a sincere love for science, whose appointment to the command of the expedition must be called an exceedingly fortunate one. The Novara is accompanied by the corvette Carolina, and will be towed as far as Messina or Stromboli, according to circumstances, by the steamer Lucia, Captain Littrow, an Austrian man-of-war. In Rio Janerio, the corvette Carolina will leave the Novara, and probably visit the La Plata territory; while the Novara will take her course to the Cape of Good Hope, and to two remarkable little islands, St. Paul and Amsterdam, south-east from the Cape, lat. 38 deg. south, which are yet, in respect to their noctural history, totally unknown. We hope to be able to offer to our readers a full account of the visit of the frigate Novara at St. Paul and Amsterdam, from the pen of one of the members of the expedition.

Departmental Notices.

To Municipal and School Corporations in Upper Canada.

PUBLIC SCHOOL LIBRARIES.

augmented, upon receiving a list of the articles required by the Trustees. In all cases it will be necessary for any person, acting on behalf of the Trustees, to enclose or present a written authority to do so, verified by the corporate seal of the Trustees. A selection of articles to be sent can always be made by the Department, when so desired.

PENSIONS--SPECIAL NOTICE TO TEACHERS.

Public notice is hereby given to all Teachers of Common Schools in Upper Canada, who may wish to avail themselves at any future time of the advantages of the Superannuated Common School Teachers' Fund, that it will be necessary for them to transmit to the Chief Superintendent, without delay, if they have not already done so, their annual subscription of $4, commencing with 1854. The law authorizing the establishment of this fund provides, "that no teacher shall be entitled to share in the said fund who shall not contribute to such fund at least at the rate of one pound per annum." This proviso of the law will be strictly enforced in all cases; and intimation is thus early given to all Teachers, who have not yet sent in their subscriptions, to enable them to comply with the law, and so prevent future misunderstanding or disappointment, when application is made to be placed as a pensioner on the fund.

SCHOOL REGISTERS.

School Registers are supplied gratuitously, from the Department, to Grammar and Common School Trustees in Cities, Towns, Villages and Townships by the County Clerks-through the local Superintendents. Application should therefore be made direct to the local Superintendents for them, and not to the Department. The supply for the present year has been sent to the County Clerks.

ILLUSTRATED GEOGRAPHY & HISTORY OF THE BRITISH COLONIES.

J

BY J. GEORGE HODGINS.

UST PUBLISHED, an ILLUSTRATED GEOGRAPHY AND HISTORY OF BRITISH AMERICA, and of the other COLONIES of the Empire.

In addition to the usual Geographical information, this Geography contains a summary of the history of each of the British Dependencies in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America; a short sketch of the Indian Tribes of Canada; and biographical notices of eminent individuals whose names are associated with our earlier Colonial history, &c.

With seventy-four illustrations. Cloth, gilt, lettered. pp. 128. Price 50 cts. per copy, or $5 per dozen.

Maclear & Co., Publishers, Toronto. May be obtained through any bookseller. Orders solicited.

Toronto, Sept. 12th, 1857.

UPPER CANADA COLLEGE.

THE SENATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO having es

PRIZES IN SCHOOLS.

The Chief Superintendent will grant one hundred per cent. upon all moneys transmitted to him by Municipalities or Boards of School Trustees for the purchase of books or reward cards for distribution as prizes in Grammar and Common Schools.

SCHOOL MAPS AND APPARATUS.

The Legislature having granted annually, from the commencement of 1855, a sufficient sum of money to enable the Department to supply Maps and Apparatus (not text-books) to Grammar and Common Schools, upon the same terms as Library Books are now supplied to Trustees and Municipalities the Chief Superintendent of Education will be happy to add one hundred per cent. to any sum or sums, not less than five dollars, transmitted to the Department; and to forward Maps, Apparatus, Charts, and Diagrams to the value of the amount thus

to instruction in the highest branches of the English Language and its Literature,-Candidates are invited to forward their testimonials to the Provincial Secretary, on or before the FIRST DAY OF DECEMBER NEXT.

The Emoluments are as follows:-Salary £300, Halifax currency, with his share of the Fees, amounting at present to about £60, and a free house. Toronto, August 27th, 1857.

SCHOOL FURNITURE. ACQUES & HAY continue to make School Desks and Chairs of the most approved patterns, and can execute orders promptly and at moderate prices. Samples may be seen at the Educational Depository. Toronto, March 3, 1857.

ADVERTISEMENTS inserted in the Journal of Education for one penny per word, which may be remitted in postage stamps, or otherwise.

TERMS: For a single copy of the Journal of Education, 5s. per annum; back vols. neatly stitched, supplied on the same terms. All subscriptions to commence with the January number, and payment in advance must in all cases accompany the order. Single numbers, 74d. each.

All communications to be addressed to Mr. J. GEORGE HODGINS, Education Office, Toronto. TORONTO: Printed by LOVELL & GIBSON, corner of Yonge and Melinda Streets.

their sports. And, therefore, allusions to the passing events of their experience, to the little incidents of the community, and to their individual trials, if made in a manly tone and with some delicacy of expression, are apt to engage their interest, and aid the best impression of the service. The differing usages of sects, as well as early associations, will have much to do in determining the frequency and particularity of such allusions. It is of the utmost consequence to avoid what may provoke comments, excite curiosity, or raise so much as a question of taste. Undoubtedly those are everywhere the best public prayers which at once enlist the most entire and respectful attention, by their fitness, variety and earnestness, while they are being offered, and are afterwards treated with silence. For, in respect to worship, considered as a product of human thought or originality, silence is a higher tribute than the most approving criticism-except, perhaps, in those confidential intimacies where friends take sacred counsel together about the deepest things. And whatever the specific mention of the supplication may be, it will never be invested with so august a dignity, nor raised so completely above all cavil or levity, as when it can be put into some words out of the Inspired Book.

It is an interesting inquiry, what other exercises should attend the offering of prayer. But in this regard we apprehend there is already a considerable uniformity of usage, and that the simple schedule usually followed is not far from the best. Of course the Scriptures will be read. Here again let there be no formality. Let the passages be selected from different parts of the volume; and they may be profitably selected from almost every part of both the New Testament and the Old. Sometimes a consecutive passage, or even a short book, may be read on successive days, with a certain advantage in keeping up the connection in the narrative or argument But sequences of that sort often fall, we have thought, into a kind of visible mechanism, which young men do not love. It looks like a saving of trouble, and they feel put upon. Further, the Bible is not to be read as if it were an exercise in elocution. The grand object is to bring out the meaning, and get it in contact with the hearer's soul, with as little showing of self as possible. Whoso has reached into the depths of the Bible's heart will read it well. Some men's reading of it is more original, more suggestive of new ideas, than some other men's sermons. And this is no declaimer's device. It comes by a profound spiritual acquaintance with the inmost sense of that revelation of the mind of Christ. Whether brief remarks could be profitably thrown in, not to convey doctrine, but simply to uncover and explain the text, is worthy of consideration. In some of our colleges the Scriptures and the prayer are accompanied by a hymn, sung by a choir, or, perhaps better yet, by the general body of the students. We are convinced the value of this addition cannot well be over-estimated. In all true, simple sacred music there, is a nameless effect of good, against which few exceptional breasts are wholly steeled. It falls in with the better inclinations and hopes. It soothes irritability. It abates appetite. It shames meanness and lust. It assists the incipient resolves of the penitent. It comforts grief. It puts the whole mind into a more appropriate attitude for the prayer that comes after, unconsciously opening the hidden avenues by which heavenly blessings flow down to nourish the growths of character. Probably this effect lies more with the strain of harmony than with the words. Hence the greatest pains and discretion are to be used in fixing the style of the music,-seeking to combine the noblest practicable artistic with the purest religious expression, attaining animation without a florid movement, and solemnity rather than surprises or startling transitions. Operatic flourishes and complicated fugues are as much out of place in chapel as rhetorical confessions of sin. Chants, if there is patience enough for the discipline and practice, are more appropriate for praise than any kind of psalmody. If a hymn is sung, let it be a hymn. A hymn is not a chapter of didactics, nor a moral essay, nor a piece of reasoning, nor a precept, nor a creed, nor an exhortation, nor a narrative, nor a catalogue of virtues, nor an inventory of the animal and vegetable kingdoms. A hymn is an aspiration cast into poetical language. Its purpose is to stir devout feelings,-at the same time conducting the soul in a penitential or jubilant frame to heaven, and quickening within it those social affections of humanity which prove mankind to be of one blood, in one brotherhood, under one Father. Nor can any group of human beings be anywhere found in whom these sentiments may be often waked to a grander purpose than a band of companions, already associated in the little commonwealth and the intense politics of their academic economy, and destined soon to take central and commanding places in the nation, for Christ, or against him.

Recent debates, in many quarters, have broached the question whether congregational worship is not, in some sense, disowning its own name, by being practically the least congregational of any worship in the world. Even if the sacerdotal idea has gone out, a service confined exclusively to one officiating individual retains the priest. To what extent a liturgical practice might be advantageously introduced into our colleges, where meu of all denominations are assembled, is a point to be determined rather by cautious and guarded experi

own.

We

ment than by preconceived opinion, or precipitate guess-work. cannot conceive why such experiment should not be freely made, and conducted with forbearance and good-will on all sides. Among all parties there is, as we suppose, a common interest in finding out the best mode. Surely we can afford, at this time of day, to purify ourselves of the sectarian suspicion and the ecclesiastical narrowness which would reject the best, or refuse to search for it because it might involve the adoption of a neighbor's way, instead of the pursuit of our We confess ourselves inclined to believe that if the Scriptures could be generally read alternately, as according to the Hebrew parallelism, or responsively, between the minister and the congregation, in our colleges as well as in the churches, it would aid the whole object, by giving the laymen something to do, by enlivening the mind, by fixing the eye, by engaging two senses and a tongue in the service, instead of hearing alone. A free use of different methods is better than bondage to any one. Respecting the prayer itself, we feel very sure of this; it should be either expressly and obviously liturgical, or else be strictly extemporaneous, having the natural verbal variety of a spontaneous exercise. What pretends to be the latter, and yet consists of a familiar repetition of clauses, whether following in a certain order or not, is almost certain to become subject, at last, to unfavorable notice, and to fix upon the service a reputation of heartless routine. Common sense and observation teach that the entire daily service should be short,--not extending over twenty minutes, altogether, at the longest. Fifteen are better than twenty. It is idle to attempt settling this matter by abstract notions, or to chafe at necessity, or to expect a promiscuous troop of boys, or men either, to be saints, and to keep positions of discomfort all the more quietly because they fatigue the limbs. Edification is the object, and edification should supply

the rule.

a

And, as to the bodily posture, there is still occasion for experiment. It ought certainly to be uniform throughout the room. Sabbath assemblies may continue to affront decency, by the present mixed and vulgar manners, if they will; but in the decorum of a college or school such irregularity should be forbidden as an offence. If principles of absolute adaptation and correspondence were to govern the matter, there could be no doubt that the three appropriate postures for the house of God would be standing during praise (i. e., in all singing and the responsive readings of the Bible), kneeling or inclining the head and body during confession and prayer, and sitting to hear the discourse, or the lessons read, by the minister. In daily chapel services this order may be found impracticable, on the score of the maintenance of stillness, or the supposed necessity of keeping the persons of the pupils exposed to the eye of the government. Certainly the body during the prayer-the most important of the services---should have the greatest degree of ease consistent with a proper dignity, so as to furnish the least possible disturbance to the mind. Trifling accessories are not to be overlooked. Where it can be done, palpable help would be gained to the silence, and thus to the just impression of the place, by some sort of carpeting on the floor. The chief perplexities attending the subject arise from what was just referred to,-the connection of the devotions with the discipline. Just so far as it can possibly be accomplished, that connection ought to be at once and completely dissolved. That this has not been more generally done in our colleges betokens an indifference to the highest claims of religion, and the laws of the spirit, painful to think of. In this direction, as it seems to us, is the great call for reformation. The secular administration of a college is one thing, and should rest on its own legitimate resources. The worship of God is another thing, and should have no other relation to the former than that of a morally pervasive and sanctifying influence The chapel is not a constabulary contrivance, nor the chaplain a drill sergeant. The Bible is no substi tute for a policeman's club, nor for a proctor's vigilance. In some seminaries, it would appear as if the final cause for prayers were a convenient convocation of the scholars, as a substitute for a roll-call. A spiritual approach to the Almighty Source of Truth should not be compromised by an extrinsic annoyance. If any students come to prayers reluctantly, their reluctance should not be aggravated by the additional odium of an academic economy put under a sacred disguise. Physical constraint should not thrust its disagreeable features unnecessarily into the sanctuary. And therefore such arrangements should be secured that, by classes or otherwise, the presence of the students on the spot might be certified at the given hour, independently of the chapel service.

On the other hand, one is easily satisfied that the attendance should be universal, and should be required; and also that entire order and a decorous deportment should be positively enforced under strict sanctions. These are indispensable conditions of any proper effect of the service, whether on the devoutly disposed or the reckless. Moreover, the reasons for them are plain, and find a substantiating authority in every human breast. Let the compulsion be exercised in a kind spirit, and be patiently explained. The reverence that demands it should be evident in the officer's own soul and bearing, Only, behind the rea

sonable persuasion-a silent, retiring, but ever-present force-should stand the imperative figure of law, always in abeyance, but always there. And above all, as just urged, let not the cause of this compulsion be mixed up with a secular regulation, but depend on its own inherent rectitude and conformity with the Divine Will. The student is to understand that he must come; but then this "must" has nothing, to do with the local policy. It is the combined dictate of revelation of history, of human want and welfare, and of the ripest judgment of all wise men. So an external order must be maintained. The intrinsic right of the matter is satisfied in no other way. Disturbance, loud whispering, the furtive use of a book or pencil, a slouched dress, or a longing attitude, should all be prohibited at every cost. If the pupil pleads that his heart is not in the service, and that an outside compliance is an insincerity, the fallacy can easily be shown him. The rule comes to aid his deficiency, and disposes everything to facilitate an interested participation. Besides, there are others close by who are really and thoughtfully worshipping, entitled to decorous surroundings. There is not the least hostility to free and cordial devotions in such regulations. Every sensible man knows that his strongest and happiest and healthiest labors are braced up and kept in place by law. Every transition from term-time to vacation, or from professional tasks to purely voluntary ones, illustrates that. As we lately heard one of our most faithful and unremitting scientific minds, one where we should have hardly suspected the existence of any such reliance, express it," Our most spontaneous studies have to be subjected to some form of constraint." We get our freedom under a yoke. Besides, the fundamental idea of a college or a school is that its members are "under tutors and governors;" and the success of every part of the educational process depends on the forming hand of law. Here, then, seems to be the true principle; the secular discipline of an institution has no right to subordinate the devotions to itself, nor to use them for its purposes; but those devotions demand a rational and gracious discipline of their own, in keeping with their dignity, and precise enough for their external protection.

Though perfect order, or the nearest possible approximation to it, ought to be insisted on, after the form of the exercise is determined, we held that Christian pains should be taken to remove every burdensome element and circumstance pertaining to it. A principal one is often found in an unseasonable hour. The lessons and lectures of college, especially when the numbers of students are large, require a long day. It is a common impression that the day should begin with public prayer. This often brings that service so early that the prayerbell acts as a wrench to pull the reluctant attendants out of their beds. This is laying upon a duty, which needs every accessory to make it agreeable and attractive, a foreign and extrinsic load, giving it a bad reputation. We account it an irreverence to bring inevitable and superfluous dislike on any worship. Morning prayers should be held at an hour when every healthy student may be reasonably expected to be up and dressed. Otherwise, a habit of feeling and of speaking is gradually engendered incompatible with due veneration.

In Harvard University the experiment has been tried, within a year or two, of assembling for morning prayers after breakfast, and indeed at two or three different times, in the first part of the day. The result, on the whole, has been favorable to making the prayers the first exercise, before breakfast; and this appears to be the preference of the students themselves, both on the score of natural fitness and personal convenience. The subject justifies an extensive comparison of different judgments and experiences.

This seems to us quite clear, that whatever sacrifices of comfort, or effort of the will, this attendance may demand, the sacrifices and the effort ought to be borne by the board of government and instruction along with the pupils. With a few allowances, the prayers are indeed just as important for the one class as the other. If the officers are absent, it is at least natural that the pupils should tacitly ask why they are obliged to be present. The great law of voluntary self denial comes into action here, as in so many of the relations of teachers to their scholars. Say what we will about universal principles, the ethics of a college and a school are peculiar. They exempt from no general duty, but they impose special and local ones of their own. The great universal principle is to do the most good in all circumstances. So sensitive are the moral sympathies of these seminaries, that a conscientious, high-principled Christian teacher will put away from him many an indulgence otherwise harmless, and cheerfully take up many a task otherwise needless, solely from a reference to the moral purity of those under his care, and in deference to that grand ethical law so nobly interpreted by Paul in the fourteenth chapter to the Romans. We are persuaded that very much of the present disaffection in these institutions at the exacted attendance would gradually disappear, if it were seen that the officers all regularly came of their own accord. Nor should they come merely to use an oversight of the under-graduates. That may be done incidentally. The prime purpose should be to engage honestly in the worship, to offer praise and supplication to the Lord of life, to learn that august lesson of faith and love toward Him, of whom "day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto

night showeth knowledge," which is just as necessary for the strong and the wise, as for the weak and simple.

We come back from the details of method,-none of which can be insignificant where the end is so high,-to the spiritual forces involved, and the infinite object contemplated. God, who alone is true, has promised that he will hear the prayers of his people, and has conditioned the bestowment of his richest blessings on their being sought in singleness of heart. The history of our country is all bright with evidences how he watches over the nurseries of a pure learning, and from the very beginning has turned the seats of Christian education into fountains to gladden the wilderness and the city of God. "Such prayers as Dr. Dwight poured forth in the Chapel of Yale College, when, in the agony of his spirit, he wrestled with God, as well as struggled with men, for the victory over error and sin, never fall powerless on the ear of man or God, never fail to carry the worshipper into the very presence of their maker.' Nor was it ever plainer than now, that the healing branch of devotion needs to be thrown into the head waters of popular intelligence to sweeten their bitterness. Intellectual pride, a cultured self-will, unbelieving science, literary conceit, all lift their disgusting signals to show us that the knowledge of this world is not to be mistaken for the wisdom of Heaven. Knowledge is power, but what kind of power? A power of beneficence or a power of destruction? That depends on other questions For what is knowledge sought? To whom is it consecrated? Into whose name is it baptized? Let us save ourselves, if we may, from a brain developed only to be demonized, and from the delusion of mastering the secrets of nature only to be brought into a poor bondage to ambition. Knowledge is not sufficient of itself. Now, as of old, and forever, it must wait reverently on the Unseen, and kneel in lowly faith. Men may talk of the pure and passionless air of scientific research, of the certainties of scientific deduction, of the absoluteness of scientific conclusions, decrying, at the same time, the strifes, and altercations, and fluctuations of theology, as if thereby to affirm some independence of thought on God, or some superiority of the understanding over the heart. It is an impertinent comparison and an insane jealousy. Let them explore their own fallacies. Let them not confound theology and religion, nor the processes of science with its ultimate results. Let them read the biographies of scholars, and the history of thought; let them trace the course of the principal scientific discoveries within the last dozen years; let them acquaint themselves with the quarrels of authors, and the disputes of schools, and the gossip of cliques. They will soon find that petty contentions are not confined to ecclesiastical councils, though Heaven knows their air is too foul and vexed with them. They will see that everywhere the mind wants the guidance of God's Spirit; that education without piety is only a multiplying of the means of mischief; and that Christ came into the world as much to teach scholars humility, as to comfort the illiterate. No: those who say such things are not the strong friends of science, nor the true advocates of her dignity, but novitiates in her sacred tuition, and flippant champions whom she disowns. Knowledge and faith have one interest, one aim, one God and Saviour to confess and serve; and therefore over every step in education, every lesson in learning, every day of the student's tried and tempted life, should be spread the hallowing peace and the saving benediction of prayer.

Deep down in their souls students feel this. At least in their better moments they realize it. Even the most impulsive and inconsiderate have some dim, instinctive witnessing within them that it is good to call on God. Many an earnest believer has felt his first renewing convictions, the first strong grasp of the hand of remorse, the first touca of penitential sorrow, amidst these apparently neglected entreaties The sure arrow from the Divine Word has there reached many a haughty and obdurate heart. The silent struggle in a young man's exposed nature, between early principle and fierce solicitation, has often received there the blessed help that secured the victory to virtue. Some germ of holy resolution has found nourishment, and light, and air to grow in. Some half-formed plan of dissipation or vicious amusemen thas there risen up in its hideous aspect, and been forever dashed to the earth and broken to pieces. Some yielding rectitude or chastity has been reassured and set on its blameless way again in gratitude and joy. Images of home have come before the closed eyes. The voices of mother and sister, of the affectionate pastor that childhood had revered, and of many a saint on earth or angel in heaven beside, have seemed to speak and plead in the simple, fervent petitions. Could the secrets hid in the hearts of educated men be revealed, we have no doubt it would be seen how large a part the college prayers bore in the initiation or the reinvigorating of their best designs. Many a man has there, in silence, said honestly and faithfully to his own conscience, "To-day I shall live more righteously; meanness and sin shall be more hateful to me, generosity and goodness more lovely ;" and all the day has answered to the pledge. Admonitious, that would have been rejected if offered from man to man, work their effectual plea in the indirect persuasion of a request to the Father of Light. Noble friendships between young hearts have felt themselves more disinterested and more secure for the holy appeal to the Source of Love. The

noble claims of humanity, making each man feel himself a brother in the mighty fraternity, girding him to labor and suffer for his kind as the only worthy calling of his scholarly life, have there pressed their way into the heart of hearts, through a clause of that Bible that speak8 to the rich and the poor, or a supplication for sage and slave alike, for bond and free, for the heathen and the helpless. Eminent servants of the best causes, disinterested patriots, preachers of Christ, missionaries to the ends of the earth, have taken there the first impulse that bore them on to their places of heroic action or martyr-like endurance, faithful unto death, awaiting crowns of life.

Whatever appearances of neglect may attend the familiar repetition of these holy occasions, therefore, there can be no apology for discouragement. As in all cooperation with the vast, slow achievements of the Providence that predestines a spiritual harvest from every seed sown in faith, there must be an unhesitating continuance in well doing, and a patient waiting, for results, on Him who is so unspeakably patient with us. Only let the prayers be real prayers; such asking as humbly refers each entreaty to the Supreme, Ünerring Will, yet with the fearless trust that He who hears in love will answer in wisdom; let the things prayed for be such things as those then and there assembled most heartily desire, rather than such things as precedent or old tradition have decided it is merely proper to implore; let Christian care and painstaking be applied to the arrangements of the company and the parts of the service; let the intercessions of thousands of sympathis ing and anxious homes throughout the land arise in unison; and then there can be no ground of doubt that God will accept our offerings, sanctify our scholarship, lead more of our young men to bring their gifts and attainments to the Saviour's ministry, uniting a broad culture with high aspirations and a profound faith in the structure of the civilisation that is to be. Then many a man who enters college ouly with a vague purpose to profit or to please himself, while there shall listen to a higher call, and become a cheerful servant of the King of kings. Then right-minded, pure-hearted youths will not find their collegiate course a perversion from integrity, nor a snare to principle, nor a ruin of honorable hopes, but a confirmation of every worthy desire, and a progress in all manly living. Then the thoughts of parents will not turn to these institutions with regret, with maledictions, or with shame. but with confidence, gratitude and joy. Then the country will not be disappointed when she looks to the University as "the light of her eyes and the right arm of her strength" Then the most powerful agency that can be conceived will be inaugurated to make our literature healthful, earnest, humane. And then, not only by the motto of a seal, and not only in the pious hopes of its founders, but in the daily spirit of its administration, and in the characters of its graduates, shall each college be dedicated to Christ and the church.-Abridged from the American Quarterly Journal of Education for September.

Papers on Practical Education.

PRINCIPLES RELATING TO THE FORMATION OF
CHARACTER.

Two things determine character, the ordinary current of thought when the mind is disengaged from special study, and the motives by which ordinary conduct is determined. A knowledge of these facts is a source of power. Observe an individual when off his guard, and note from his remarks and actions what are his ordinary thoughts and motives, and you know how to excite them at any time.

Endeavour to pre-occupy the mind with throughts and principles that are true, beautiful and good. The Christian teacher can have no sympathy with that false sentimentality, which characterizes the indifferentism of the day, that would have the mind of youth uninformed -unprejudiced is the term-on great religious and moral truths and duties An Authority which every one of our readers will acknowledge, has enjoined us "To train up a child in the way it should go." To effect this pre-occupation of the mind, the teachers must not depend on routine work; set lessons have not much power in altering the ordinary current of thought, he must carry his efforts beyond school hours and seek by all the means in his power-such as ingeniously devised home exercises to give a direction to the constant thinkings of his pupils; he must use his utmost efforts to preserve them from associations and companions that would fill the mind with what is base or impure, and he must supply such motives as would lead to right, generous, and noble conduct.

Every mind is marked by some distinguished peculiarity termed the pre-disposition, bent, or bias of the individual. A considerable part of a teacher's duty is to discover this feature. The play ground is the best sphere for its observation. This is the teacher's school of character. Observe that boy who always manages to be the driver of what he calls his horses-he is ambitious of power. You boy who separates himself from his companions, and is found so frequently

musing with a smile now and then playing over his face is imaginative. That little West who sketches all sorts of things in his book, or on the walls, and among the rest, his baby-brother's face is the future painter. The knowledge thus obtained is invaluable to the educator, who by means of this ruling power may obtain an influence which nothing else can give.

guage.

To it

nearly the whole of early education is due, of which we may take as The tendency to imitation is proverbially strong in children. examples, the mastery by a child of its limbs and its attempts at lanThe lessons suggested by this fact to the teacher are "Be what your children ought to be" "Mind what companionship they form." "In your teaching refer more particularly to good than to bad examples." "Remember that discipline is constantly promoted or injured by its operation."

of character. It is this which helps to give permanence to what would The law of association is one of the most powerful in the formation otherwise be evanescent, in conduct or teaching. By its aid, things become so connected in the intellectual and moral nature that on the occurrence of one the other may be expected. This is one of those things which invest the teacher's office with much of its responsibility. A single example may suffice to show the operation of this law;Years after school life is over, the example of the teacher may come up as a palliation of some wrong, or as an incentive to some good. The law of habit requires the careful study of the educator. Repetition, one of its chief instruments, is an element in the production of every result in physical, intellectual, and moral development. No power is required, no facility obtained, no organ strengthened, but by repetition. It is to its aid we owe the power to form words and to utter them at will, without attention to the process while doing so. The infant's use of its limbs, and its power to hold itself erect are due to repeated efforts. The ability to repeat such a thing as the multiplication table, or to play a piece of music, while the mind is otherwise occupied is owing to previous practice.

In all subjects requiring mechanical skill, or intellectual exertion, the teacher must provide for a frequent repetition of the process. If he would have good writing his children must write frequently; if fluent and impressive reading is sought, a large amount of individual practice must be afforded. Physical laws require that the opportun ities of exercising a given faculty until facility is obtained should be frequent rather than prolonged. In learning anything new, the stress of the attention very soon fatigues the brain; while the organs unhabituated to an operation are less able to sustain it. The practice of the drill-serjeant is founded on right principles and is worthy of imitation by the educator. Three times a day, to allow of intervals of rest, the recruits are put through their evolutions, each time lasting long enough to give a set to the organs employed, without being so long as to fatigue. Acting on this principle, our first lesson on a subject should be short and frequent; and generally lessons to an infant shorter than to the first class.

The influence of repetition on the emotions, and its relation to morals, are parts of the subject demanding the teacher's most serious attention. The tendency of repetition is to weaken the force of emotion. A man who has formed a habit of benevolent action feels less, at the sight of misery than one unaccustomed to it, but he will more readily step to its relief. Where appeals to the feelings or to the conscience are frequent, with no corresponding practice, both heart and conscience at length become indurated, and objects which ought to excite regard, and appeals which ought to have force, come at length to awaken no notice or to be regarded with indifference. Thus it is well known that readers of fiction, from having emotions excited to which there is no corresponding practice, become at length so callous to real distress, as to be utterly unaffected by it, and as to its reliefthat never presents itself to their imagination as a possible duty. In like mauner religious teaching, whether of the pulpit or the school, and especially the endless repetition of religous formularies or the memori tor getting up of Scripture truth, where not accompanied by right practice is injurious to the moral nature, an impediment to spiritual growth, or an obstacle to the individual's salvation. Every such repetition lessons the susceptibility of impression, until at length its much to be pitied subject is past feeling. Hence the religieus teaching of schools shuld be of a practical character, bearing on the daily life of the child, and especially on such points as come immediately under the teacher's direct notice and influence.

Another principle belonging to the law of habit is that termed periodicity. This is a tendency to resume the same mode of action at stated times. If we repeat any kind of mental effort every day at the same hour, we at last find ourselves entering upon it without premeditation, when the time approaches. Thus, if school studies are arranged according to this law, and each taken up regularly in the same order, a natural aptitude is soon produced which renders application more easy than by conducting the school as caprice may direct.-Papers for the Schoolmaster.