grandmothers to the intellectual education and bad servants of the present day, we can point with satisfaction to the noble and good who have shown us in Lancashire, sewing classes and in sick-rooms and industrial schools, that plain needlework and domestic economy are not entirely neglected. The bad housewife is not the accomplished musician whose touch is steady and whose ear is accurate, or the artist whose eye is straight and colouring harmonious; rather, the bad housewife, the extravagant woman, the confirmed dyspeptic, are made up of the slatternly girl, the daughter who always exceeded her allowance, and the self-indulgent lie-a-bed who ailed nothing save love of self, which led her, in common parlance, to "enjoy bad health." It is impossible to give any general rules for home duties. Each household needs a different ordering, and each class of society has its own requirements; but it may be said that every class teaches the one immediately below it; and if the highest class be ignorant, uneducated, loving display, luxurious, and idle, the same spirit will prevail in humbler life. How great, then, is the responsibility of those who "guide the house"-how important the acquirement of home-happiness! No discernment, no observation, no self-denial, no drudgery is thrown away which secures such an end. Lavish upon your home, affection, attention, unselfishness, and banish from it every morbid feeling, all craving after excitement, ever remembering that "The trivial round, the common task, Will furnish all we ought to ask: SCHOOL TEACHING. There is no work which will employ the graver hours of the girl with more certainty of blessing, both to herself and others, than that of Sundayschool teaching. It is a work of souls, wherein it seems scarcely possible that young zeal can outrun discretion or be brought into contact with evil hitherto unknown and unsuspected. To feed Christ's lambs, to give instruction to the young, is the great work of prevention and charity which shall hide a multitude of sins and save many a soul from destruction. What better labour of love, then, can be commended to girls? Let them undertake it for the honour of God and the good of their neighbour, and success will certainly attend their teaching. But some will say, "I am quite willing to do what I can, but I have never taught in a Sunday-school, and I should not understand it: I do not know how to set about it." "She hath done what she could," was the high commendation of Him, who did all that could be done for us. A willing mind is, therefore, the best preparation for any work; and it is more hopeful for a young teacher to enter on her duties in this spirit of humility, than to exhibit the self-reliance and conceit which have led many of the clergy to prefer the more experienced, and therefore the more modest, women as helpers in their Sunday-schools. It being certain, then, that you have this willing mind, and are really desirous to do what you can, put yourself into communication with your parish priest. It may be that his school is so well supplied with teachers as not to require your aid-it may be that he thinks you in some way unfitted for the work; and if your services are declined, you must be thankful that there are those who will do the work as well as yourself; but most probably your clergyman will thankfully accept your offer of help, and will make it easy for you to begin, by instructing you in the hours and details of the school, and selecting for you such a class and number of children as shall be suited to your age and powers of management. Do not be disappointed or feel yourself depreciated if a small number of children are given you instead of the large class which you perhaps expected. There is no greater mistake than a large class. When children are beyond the range of the teacher's eye, much of her influence is lost, for children are guided by the eye as much as by the tongue, and a look is often more eloquent than speech. Ten or twelve, at the most, are as many as you can manage without distraction, and, even then, you will find it necessary often to make them move places, so as to bring each child in turn under your observation, otherwise a habit of inattention is formed, and "out of sight out of mind" is soon realized. The position of children in a class is a matter of some importance, and should be frequently changed, for when they are grouped around the teacher, as is commonly the case, those at the left hand will engross more attention than those at the centre and right hand. This changing may sometimes be managed where it is customary for children to take places, but even this practice is subject to the same defect, the clever children standing always in the most advantageous situation at the top of the class, and having always the eye and the ear of the teacher, while the slow and lazy escape observation. It is, however, difficult to give rules in this particular, as the size of the class and its general arrangement must, of course, depend much on the regulations of the superintendent, and every one engaged in Sunday-school teaching should make herself subordinate to the head of the school, and assist in supporting the authority and carrying out the plans of those to whom the school is intrusted. Punctual and regular attendance must be scrupulously observed by the school teacher; especially must she strive to be present at prayers. If God's grace be needful for the scholar, much more for the teacher. Nay, all are children and scholars in God's sight, and all need the Father's blessing and the Master's help for the work before them. It is therefore your duty to be in time to take your part in morning prayer, and give the children their lesson in reverence and earnestness by your own devout manner and absorbed demeanour. Children will be taught far better how to pray by observing the personal devotion of those set over them, than by lynx-eyed glances or words of angry rebuke for inattention. Impatient expressions and a tone of fault-finding should indeed have no place in a Sunday-school. Sunday should be a day of quiet joy-a day in which the lambs of the flock enjoy the green pastures beside the waters of comfort-not a day of Egyptian bondage, in which the tale of bricks is delivered to hard taskmasters in the shape of cold business-like studies, conned over with the drudgery and toil of the every-day duties. On that holy day the school-room should not be a place wherein to im part historical facts or bare evidences, but rather the gentleness, the sympathy, and the refinement which will naturally result from intercourse with you. If you remember that you are all baptized children of one Father, and that you are all heirs of a common inheritance, you will feel a sisterly interest in the little ones, and will guide them as elder sisters guide the younger, tenderly and gently, towards their Father's home. This will take from you all asperity and harshness, and even an imperfect lesson or a careless mistake will not arouse an angry or impatient reprimand. At the same time, where Sunday lessons are to be learned, care must be taken that they are repeated perfectly. A great injury is done to a child by allowing a collect or a text to be said in a slovenly imperfect manner. Her sense of reverence, truthfulness, and thorough doing is blunted, and a habit of carelessness contracted which extends farther than the ill-said lesson. Do not, therefore, tax the memory overmuch by requiring many tasks from it. It is better in all lessons learned by rote to keep them below the standard of the quicker memories in the class, than to run the risk of overtaxing and discouraging the slower children. Sunday lessons should be looked upon as offerings to God, and the child should be taught to give Him the best; therefore be careful that the little that is done in the way of positive duty is done thoroughly well, and if any one wish to learn more by way of giving you pleasure, which is not unfrequently the case, never omit the reward of praise and encouragement. As a general rule, the particular course of instruction is sketched out for the teachers by the clergyman, and it is an excellent plan, and no little privilege, when they receive weekly or monthly instruction from him, and are enabled to impart the knowledge received from him, and to reflect the general features of his teaching, so that the little ones may the better understand him hereafter in church and in confirmation examinations; but when this personal intercourse cannot be afforded, the young girl should carefully prepare her own plan and arrange her method of proceeding. The Holy Bible, the Prayer Book, and the Church Catechism will furnish "all those things which a Christian ought to know and believe to his soul's health," and each sacred season, such as Christmas, Easter, or Whitsuntide, as it revolves around the Sun of Righteousness, will suggest what portions of instruction should be measured out, so as to bring the great scheme of Christ's redemption before the child, and suit the explanation of it to her age and capacity. The Collect, the Epistle, and Gospel will also be carefully studied during the week, in order that the Church's services may be understood by the teacher, who will carefully instruct herself, that she may better instruct others, and all that she does will be premeditated and pre-arranged, because she knows that where there is no system there is but little success. The Church Catechism will probably be your first lesson. No Sunday should pass without your having heard your class repeat a portion of this invaluable instruction-an instruction provided for and promised to them by the Church at their baptism, and therefore an instruction which you have no right to omit. It is the foundation and building up of all Christian doctrine, meeting the child at the very threshold of life, and carrying him on through faith in Christ, through obedience in commandments, through prayer and sacraments, to the closing day. "Teach the child," says good Mrs. Trimmer, "that he has God for his Father, Christ for his Saviour, the Holy Spirit for his Sanctifier; and, whilst he is educated according to his baptismal vow, in the faith and practice of a Christian, he is safe in the ark of Christ's Church from the assaults of his spiritual enemies, so that, should his life be spared, he will grow up in the favour of God, or should he die, he will be admitted as an heir of glory into the kingdom of heaven." Long before a child can read, she may commit the Church Catechism to memory and learn the heavenly notes at your lips. Much of it will be entirely unintelligible, but the growth of mind and your explanation will unwind the strain and make it more and more musical as years go on, until, with Baxter, she may say at the close of life, "Now it is the fundamental doctrines of the Catechism which I highest value and daily think of, and find most useful to myself and others. The Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments do find me now the most acceptable and plentiful matter for all my meditations. They are to me as my daily bread and drink." Before the child is capable of learning historical facts, you can tell her of the joys of heaven, and make her understand that there is an inheritance and a home laid up for her, to which she is entitled on certain conditions of faith and obedience; and thus the baptismal covenant will be the preparation for the Creed, in which you may instruct her in the history of the creation, and make her know God as the Father, the Redeemer, and the Sanctifier, and so fit her for the fuller revelation of God's word in the Sacred Scriptures. As soon as children can read with ease, let them now and then read the Catechism aloud from the Prayer Book. This will secure due emphasis and expression, and words hitherto unintelligible, from having been said by rote, will be rendered less obscure and unfold themselves in their just meaning. If you vary the question, and make the children substitute one expression for another, you will soon give a good simple knowledge of the Catechism, and your class will be led by this teaching to understand and to love the Bible, which will be your next lesson. To make the Sacred Volume a spelling-book is certainly a mistake, and is apt to produce both irreverence and weariness. When children are unable to read it, it is better for the teacher to read it to them, allowing each child in turn to repeat a verse after her in the very words of the text; for in reading the Bible we have no right either to add to or take from the words of the Book. Children love to dwell on Bible stories, and for very young children these narratives are the best means of awakening interest, and with the help of pictures you cannot fail to win their attention. From isolated histories, such as those of Joseph, Gehazi, and Samuel, you will teach them practical lessons of love, truthfulness, and devotion, and illustrate some point in their duty to God or to their neighbour, as they have already had it suggested in the Catechism. But as soon as a child can read, do not limit her Bible knowledge to mere historical facts or disconnected portions of Holy Writ, but let the Bible be the history of God's family - the Church- and let all your teaching turn Christward. Let historical fact, type, and prophecy all illustrate the great doctrines of atonement and sanctification. No Bible lesson should be too long. Read little, but let that little suggest some duty, warn against some sin, and enforce that personal holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. After reading, question closely. It is only by catechetical instruction that you can know what is in a child's mind-its knowledge or its ignorance. A common mistake with Sunday-school teachers is to attach too much importance to oral instruction, and in this way to lose their own time and the children's attention by overmuch preaching. The old saying, that "what goes in at one ear goes out at the other," is never so applicable as in the case of oral instruction to young children. Many a promising Eutychus, who, if catechetically instructed, would have stood high up on the ladder of learning, has fallen down from the third loft into the deadness of ignorance by reason of long Sunday-school sermons. Ask questions, then, and even when the answer is wrong, and there is an evident misunderstanding of the subject, the surest way to make a lasting impression is to make the child teach herself by additional questions upon the wrong answer, which, after all, will generally have sufficient reason in it to enable an intelligent teacher so to break it up without departing from the main subject or allowing the child to be mortified at her ignorance. If possible, never suffer one who answers in turn to feel that she has made a mistake. Open rebuke or ridicule will often deter shy girls, and the replies will be elicited for the future only from the three or four sharp-witted children, who will assume to themselves the right of answering all the questions. Do not be so anxious about storing the memory, but try earnestly to draw out the higher life. Bible facts and mere word knowledge will produce in themselves no fruit, nor direct your children a step forwarder in their Christian course. What you must aim at is to apply their reading to the practical circumstances of their daily life. The Collects are admirable forms of prayer, and these should always be the one lesson of the day, to be repeated perfectly and laid up as helps to prayer to the latest hour of life. Their connection with the Epistle and Gospel should be pointed out, and the children should be taught to use them as prayers during the week. This duty of prayer will be much enforced by you if you wish for success in your labour of love. Inquire whether the children pray morning and evening, and teach them some short form if you find the duty neglected. Do not take it for granted that the Lord's Prayer is always said intelligibly until you have ascertained the fact. Though frequently repeated collectively, it is often by force of habit said wrongly and carelessly. Neither does it follow that because children kneel down on entering and leaving church, that they really pray; therefore teach them what to say, so that the words of their lips and the meditations of their hearts may be acceptable to your Heavenly Father. Make them understand the Prayer Book in its threefold service of confession, intercession, and thanksgiving, and value it as the calendar of our blessed Lord, and mark its changing cycles and its recurring festivals and holy days. There was a time when the hum of the spinning-wheel was mingled with the sweet songs of David, and every woman could say the Psalms by heart; ard |