for the guidance of others seeking the point of his destination, all his extended preliminary work would have to be wrought over again by those who might have been benefited through his experience and observation. If, however, each successive traveler were to add his testimony to the trustworthiness of the first worker-out of the route, or the rut, confidence in that track would strengthen continually, and those who foilowed it would do so nothing doubting.

Ruts, have their value, so far as helpful guides, not only in travel, but in conduct, in speech, in study, in belief, in thought, and in every other sphere of living or of being. The routes that have been marked out by former generations of pioneers and of pursuers cannot with safety be ignored in one's course of progress through any one of these spheres. It would be a waste of time and of strength to start out for one's self in the direction of a well-known terminus, without making available the discoveries and the experiences of those who had gone that way before. On the face of it, a rut indicates the better course of travel. As a rule, the safer and more desirable mode of dress, and of behavior, and of language, and the correcter and more 'trustworthy view of truth in matters of opinion, or even of feeling, is that which has been pointed out by the travel of the ages. To turn away from the ruts while you are seeking an approach to the place whither these ruts tend, is always more or less perilous, and it should not be attempted without an understanding of its possibilities of peril. Hence it is that keeping in the ruts is an impulse of a cautious nature, and is ordinarily the duty of one who is unable to observe and act for himself intelligently, without the help of a trusty guide.

But with all the advantages of ruts, they clearly have their limitations, and thereby they cause the loss of whatever good may be beyond their bounds. He who adheres to the ruts of travel can see what is to be seen along that route, from the observing-point of those ruts; but he can see nothing else. He can make no discoveries in regions adjacent, not even to the extent of the glimpse of a bit of scenery which opens itself in rare beauty only a stone's throw from the well-traveled roadway. The tourist who follows the itinerary of one of the personally-conducted excursion-parties can know beforehand just what he is to see on each day of his journeying and he need have no fear of being wrongly guided in the course of that itinerary. But he can explore no out-of-the-way recesses apart from the common course of travel, nor can he secure any of the results of research which might come from his independent ramblings in the

direction of his own impulses, or deliberate preferences day by day in his journeyings. Neither can a traveler thus guided in the ruts ever gain for those who come after him a comparison of this itinerary with another of his own choosing. And so an intelligent improvement of an itinerary is out of the question while the ruts are its limitation.

It is the same in the course of conduct as in travel. He who does just what others have done before him, has the justification of precedent, and he may be doing the best thing possible in the premises. But if he never departs from the ruts he can never be the means of correcting an error originally made in the starting of those ruts, nor can he know just where his course has an advantage or a disadvantage in comparison with another possible route in its same general direction. Similarly is it with modes of speech, or of study, or of thought, or of belief. He who follows the ruts will have all the advantages which come from usage and custom and habit, but he can never give a new shade of thought by a fresh-coined word, nor gain an original stand-point of observation in his examination of truth, nor secure the best results of absolutely independent individual thinking, nor be able to know why his opinions and beliefs are better founded than those of persons who differ with him at points which he and they deem vital. The ruts will guard against new errors, but they will continue the power of errors which entered into their first forming.

A great thinker was spoken to about his rare originality of thought. "Oh!" he said modestly, "I merely look at truth from another corner of the room." And that was only a fresh manner of saying, “I keep clear of the ruts in my traveling." But most men prefer to be told just where to stand in order to look at a given truth so that they may see that truth just as others see it; and probably it is well for them that they do so. If the average thinker is newly interested in a theme of thought he is likely to ask to begin with, "Who has written best on that subject?" The approved ruts of thought being then pointed out to him he moves along in them with a sense of restful security, knowing more of the subject than he knew before. But with all his gain from these ruts of thought, such a man loses what might have been his through original thinking on the subjectbefore looking up those ruts for a comparison. The first impulse of most Bible-students on coming to an obscure passage in their Scripture reading is to turn to a commentary, instead of studying closely and prayerfully the text by itself-before seeking any human help to its unfolding. As a consequence of this method of Bible-study there

are constantly being disclosed errors of definition or of exegesis which had come down uncorrected through the centuries, simply because so many scholars have preferred to follow the ruts of comment, instead of seeking for themselves the track of truth. is a loss as well as a gain through such rut-following as this.

There

The Romish Church had for centuries run its ruts of belief across the field of religious truth. Martin Luther was led to leave those ruts and to point out a safer and more scriptural course. John Calvin and John Knox, and later, John Robinson, and Roger Williams, and William Fox, and John Wesley, and other independent leaders were convinced that the old ruts of ecclesiastical or of popular religious opinion were not in conformity with the Bible teachings, and they, each and all, marked out ruts of opinion which were more conformable to God's requirements. From their day onward their followers have inclined to travel in the ruts which these leaders sev erally indicated, and just so far as these denominational ruts are thoroughly scriptural there is a gain in their following, while there is a loss through the following of any of them which lack entire conformity to Bible teachings.

Whatever ruts mark the directest, the safest, and every way the best course in the line of personal duty and of absolute truth, are worthy of being followed in preference to any other route. Nothing should tempt one away from them. Whatever ruts, on the other hand, deflect one in the slightest degree from the line of personal duty or of absolute truth, would better be abandoned, in spite of all uncomfortable jolting through leaving their track, or of any apparent peril on the alternative course. A rut which is made by following closely the teachings of Him who is the Way, and the Truth, and the Life cannot be improved on. Any other rut will, at all events, bear a suspicious examination, and possibly it should be turned away from.-Sunday School Times.

Teaching.

Teaching As a Profession.-Grand, noble calling! Chosen, prepared for, entered upon by thousands of the truest women in our broad land! Destined, they followed destiny, and now the cerebrums of countless millions lie in their moulding touch.

Sister, wilt suffer the pen-stroke? Be a teacher. Patiently instruct until imparted wisdom "fixes." Develop all the sides of your manysided pupils. Train them to listen, by the expectancy of good; to

study, by being yourself a skilful questioner; to think, by giving them food for thought.

Be a student. "Teaching we learn," is a weak battery behind which many an indolent professionalist seeks to hide his ignorance. Study the past, and inspire in your pupils a lofty emulation of the undying virtues of dead heroes. Watch the present, and help them to keep step with the steady march of history. Draw from the future the true and only incentive to complete living.

Be yourself. Eat, digest, assimilate the "backbone" flesh of literature, and give it to your pupils as the warm life-blood of a native originality.

My sister, if you are "in" and not "of" the profession, be "of" it. Do, be, now. Nothing fails so utterly as a present failure. Stand forth, O, Success, in present and future, mistress of thy profession!

Teaching As a Moral Rod.-" Genius is a great capacity for receiving discipline," wrote one of England's choice ones; if so, then the American school-room may become the great modern plant bed of the country's future heroes.

Sister teacher, are you the free dispenser of this school-room oxygen? Perhaps you have been pouring out sulphuric acid, or have been letting carbonic acid gas escape? If so, bottle the furies, and meekly accept this "Tri Compound Oxygen."

Be calm, if you would successfully discipline your pupils. Nothing is so disorganizing and risible-provoking to the average student as a disconcerted, "upheaved" presiding teacher. Keep cool, even though Vesuvius rage within.

Again, be firm. Say "Position," and mean it, to the settling of a toe or little finger. Think "Yes" and "No" from principle before speaking, and then utter with a Medo-Persian accent which admits of no peradventure.

Lastly, be patient. Your pupils are human, undeveloped, and, compared with yourself, supremely ignorant. Bear with them. True discipline is the resultant of conflict. Will clashes will. Happy the teacher who can face a climax, and come off "conqueror, and more than conqueror."-Religious Herald.

The Value of Civility.

There would be fewer broken friendships, fewer unhappy unions and family quarrels, were it not so much the custom among intimate

friends and relations to neglect the small courtesies of life, to show less and less mutual deference as they grow more and more familiar. It is the foundation of misery in marriage, and many a serious and life-long estrangement has begun, not from want of affection so much as from lack of that delicate and instinctive appreciation of the feelings of others which makes a person shrink from saying unpleasant things or finding fault, unless absolutely obliged, and in any case to avoid wounding the offender's sense of dignity or stirring up within him feelings of opposition and animosity; for although many persons profess to be above taking offence at honest censure, and even seem to court criticism, yet it must be very carefully administered not to be unpalatable. Even kind and generous actions are often so uncouthly performed as to cause the recipient more pain than pleasure, while a reproof or denial may be so sweetened by courtesy as almost to do away with any sense of mortification or disappointment. Good breeding is always inclined to form a favorable judgment, and to give others the credit of being actuated by worthy motives. It does not wish or seem to know more about people than they themselves desire should be known, but it is always prepared, when necessary, to take an interest in the affairs of others, while self is not suffered to obtrude unduly.

Hygiene of Vision in Schools.

An Address delivered by Dr. JOSEPH A. WHITE (Senior Surgeon of the Richmond Eye, Ear, and Throat Infirmary), before the School Board and the Teachers of the Public Schools, Richmond, Va.

[Continued from June No.]

SPECTACLES.

Having mentioned spectacles, let me observe that there seems to be a foolish prejudice against wearing glasses, even among a number of intelligent people; and when it comes to putting them on children, they consider it ridiculous or useless. Spectacles, like everything else pertaining to the care of the eyes, should receive the consideration their proper adaptation requires.

Persons needing their aid, whether children or adults, should go to some one competent to advise them in regard to so important a matter. It requires frequently more experience and knowledge to adapt glasses than to prescribe for some ailment, and they should not be picked up in a hap-hazard way or be used at all, without having