hope I may that t was, fort was to e enough, tself, and not as it produce pted to attempt inking, adge, in ng into tell s is at geneneous the o its clu the ace, ore VS he ne power and right of a conqueror; in the other a memory occupied by a useless heap of notions;—without a single opinion or idea it could call its own,-and an understanding indolent and narrow, and from long indulged inactivity, almost incapable of exertion. As the fundamental principle of the system, I would therefore say, let the children think for themselves. If they arrive at erroneous conclusions, assist them in attaining the truth; but let them with such assistance arrive at it by their own exertions. Little good will be done if you say to a child,—that is wrong, this is right, unless you enable it to perceive the error of the one and the truth of the other. It is not only due to the child as a rational being that you should act so, but it is essentially necessary for the development of its intellectual faculties. It were not more ridiculous for a master in teaching arithmetic to give his pupil the problem and answer, without instructing him in the method of working the question, than it is for a person to give a child the result of reasoning, without showing how the truth is to be arrived at." To any one who has attentively observed the acts of little children, the art of teaching them will no longer be a mystery. They are in fact, eager to learn, it may be said they never cease learning. To make them do this usefully and methodically, we have only to direct their ever active perceptions to proper objects, and to supply their eager craving for knowledge, with mental food suited to their age. There are indeed some dry subjects which require to be translated as it were into suitable language, but the right clue once found, will lead us through all difficulties. It will often happen that the mind of a child remains dull and inert, without any apparent cause; in most cases this arises from our not having discovered the peculiar taste or bias of the individual. While we are knocking at the outer gate, and groping in the dark, the mind is asleep within, and will not awaken until we D can establish some means of aroused, it is all bustle and a As an extreme instance we in the Model School. A little boy whose vision w could not see at a distance of inches had been long an obje us. He could learn nothing, nor happy. At last accident teresting him; watching him of school, we observed, as he had been newly gravelled,) tha person who had charge of him, ground, began attentively to ex ing each close to his eye, and the occupation. The next day minerals, and placed in his han whose bright colors gave him t I patiently allowed him to ex another, and learn their name know them by touch, and to jud weight, &c. From this the tran was quite easy, and by degrees changed in expression, he volun other lessons, fighting manfully vantage, and in the end made children, who at first appear d thus awakened by the gratifica taste; hence the use and necess subjects presented to the infant essentially necessary in themsel a taste for study, which can easi itself to other branches. It must be the constant care of forth the latent powers of each p each the credit due to his efforts. not in all cases be equally success the classification of the children: fect that he four or five and pity to her cheerful means of in- ect after arned to parative objects quite in the disadMany , are iginal the e not inate cend ing to ay Оп ch reference to each separate subject. How absurd would it be to prevent a pupil from progressing in arithmetic, for which he may have a peculiar talent, because he is not quick in learning to read, or not to allow him to extend his knowledge of geography, because he is not a good arithmetician! rather let us encourage the development of peculiar talents in each individual, thereby to give to all the consciousness of successful progress, and the self-respect arising from this feeling, will impart energy and motive to grapple with those studies which are difficult. If you give a child the character of a dunce, you extinguish all hope of improvement; but if you succeed in convincing him that he has talent, no matter in what branch, you awaken the desire of progress, and the work of development is begun; and surely if we consider the difficulties of learning, and that we are taxing the natural impulses, by pursuing a course of training, to a great extent artificial, we must own that the learner is entitled to every encouragement we can give. The great rule of making the lesson interesting, on whatever subject, must never be lost sight of. It must ever be our aim to produce a cheerful activity, to restore the waning attention by some mirthful sally or novelty of thought, and above all not to overtax the powers of the mind by too long lessons. To keep a step-by-step progress, travelling at an easy pace, and by short stages, never to forget that we are leading little children, and that we must regulate our pace by theirs, and not burthen them above their strength, or expect too much from them. The teacher who will be thus considerate, will reap a rich reward in the steady, (and in the end) surprising improvement of his charge. Nothing is of more importance than to watch the progress of the pupils, and remove them from class to class, as soon as they are fit. The child who is not advanced in proper time will retrograde. The spirit of learning flags when allowed to stand still, and it is often D 2 difficult to re-commence the subjects placed before each cl tural order and succession, a advances of the mind. The first efforts should be di perceptions. The blending of singing with the earlier lesson dry character, and assists to ke bringing them to the level of repetition of very simple rh amusing exercises, and rendere explanations, is also of great of instruction. And here, we often been objected to the rhym that they are not true poetry. able as it would be to object tha grams made to instruct children art; for in both cases, the state the work is intended must be vated intellect may understand poetry, but for children the acti be palpable and simple, and qualities incompatible with the Yet, while denied the higher be on the other hand, avoid vulgari A little child has sensations w but which we now forget. It wa might do in a new country; the s every class of natural objects, gi tions, for each of which it seeks fore it has words to characterise t with many qualities and circumsta But its faculties are chiefly employ most closely allied to its own natu lives has a special interest; motio as a sign of life; but it is hum relations, that comes home most thies. Whatever is useful and necessa he culti sions of gmust ivid, poetry. emay, shad, as we light, ensa bented em. Ings hat cts its a an interest to the child. It wants to know about the food it eats the house it lives in-the uses of each article of furniture-of tools men use-about its clothes -who makes them, and how-what they are made of -of its own body-of every thing relative to man, as well as the habits and economy of animals and plants; in fact, its curiosity is insatiable, because a knowledge of these things is necessary to its existence and wellbeing. It is evident that by taking advantage of this propensity, while only gratifying a natural impulse, an immense amount of information may be imparted, and at the same time, the perception and the judgment cultivated. It may be asked, what is the use of all this teaching about things? Were it only as a preparation of the mind to receive religious impressions, a knowledge of the laws and wonders of nature would be of the first importance; but it has also a direct utility in the common concerns of life; it is necessary to teach children the uses and qualities of things around them for many reasons. A child does not know how to avoid the dangers which surround it, without warning and instruction. How many are burned or drowned, or otherwise dangerously hurt by being left in ignorance of how to escape these dangers? Why is it that children cannot be trusted with furniture, or articles of domestic use, but that the real uses and nature of these things have not been explained to them, and how much sooner would children become helpful, if their intelligence were earlier cultivated. The different modes of intellectual instruction may be divided into 1st. Intuitive teaching, by which the senses and perceptive faculties are trained, and the mind stored with a knowledge of surrounding things. This in an infant school is the first and most important mode. 2nd. By comparison-as when you exhibit two ob |