A desire to know.-Instance of God's wisdom and goodness.

teacher will strive to wake up the mind to find this delight, and if he understands his work, he will scarcely need a stronger incentive. If he understands the secret of giving just so much instruction as to excite the learner's curiosity, and then to leave him. to discover and acquire for himself, he will have no necessity to use any other means as stimulants to

exertion.

To this might be added that irrepressible curiosity, that all-pervading desire to know, which is found in the mind of every child. The mind, as if conscious of its high destiny, instinctively spreads its unfledged wings in pursuit of knowledge. This, with some children, is an all-sufficient stimulant to the most vigorous exertion. To this the teacher may safely appeal. Indeed, it is a convincing proof of the wisdom as well as the goodness of God, that this desire to know, as well as the delight of acquisition, are the most active at that early period of childhood, when a just appreciation of the utility of knowledge, and the higher motives already detailed, could scarcely find a lodgement in the tender mind. It seems to be, therefore, an indisputable dictate of our very nature, that both these principles should be early employed as incentives.

If, then, the desire of the approval of parents and teachers, the desire of advancement,-the desire to be useful,—and the desire to do right, can be superadded to the natural love in the child for acquisition, and a natural desire to know, there will, as I believe, be but little occasion to look further for incentives to exertion

A scholium.

in the pupil; and I may venture to add, as a scholium to what has already been said, that the teacher who has not yet learned to call into exercise these higher motives, and to rely for success mainly upon them, and who dares not abandon the system of exciting stimulants for fear of a failure, has yet much to learn as a true educator of the young.

Order necessary in school.-Self-government in the teacher.

CHAPTER IX.

SCHOOL GOVERNMENT.

It is not necessary that any space in this work should be occupied in speaking of the importance of order in our schools. Everybody who has written or spoken on this subject, has conceded the necessity of obedience on the part of the pupil. "ORDER IS HEAVEN'S FIRST LAW;" and it is scarcely more essential to the harmony of heaven, than it is to the happiness and success of the school.

If such be the necessity of order in the school, then the ability to secure and maintain it is no mean part of the qualification of the good teacher. It is lamentable that so many fail in this particular; and yet this frequent failure can in most cases be traced to some defect in the constitutional temperament, or some deficiency in the mental or moral culture of the teacher himself. It shall be my first object, then, to point out some of the

SECTION I.-REQUISITES IN THE TEACHER FOR GOOD GOVERNMENT.

I. SELF-GOVERNMENT. It has frequently been said that no man can govern others till he has learned to

Angry passions.-Manner.-Levity and moroseness.

govern himself. I have no doubt of the truth of this. If an individual is not perfectly self-possessed, his decisions must fail to command respect. The selfgovernment of the teacher should be complete, in the following particulars:

1. As to the passion of anger. The exhibition of anger always detracts from the weight of authority. A man under its influence is not capable of doing strict justice to his pupils. Before entering upon teaching, therefore, a man should somehow obtain the mastery over his temper, so that under any provocation he car control it. He should consider that in school his pa tience will often be severely tried. He should not expect, indeed, that the current of affairs in school will for a single day run perfectly smooth. He should, therefore, prepare for the worst, and firmly resolve that, whatever unpleasant thing shall occur, it shall not take him entirely by surprise. Such forethought will give him self-command. If, however, from his past experience, and from the nature of his temperament, he is satisfied he cannot exercise this self-control, he may be assured he is the wrong man to engage in teaching. A man who has not acquired thorough ascendancy over his own passions, is an unsafe man to be intrusted with the government of children.

2. As to levity and moroseness of manner. Either extreme is to be avoided. There are some teachers who exhibit such a frivolity in all their intercourse with their pupils, that they can never command them with authority, or gain their cordial respect. This is a

Ridiculous assumption of smartness.-Mr. Abbot's case.

grievous fault; and the teacher should at once find an antidote for it, by serious reflection upon the responsibility of his position. If this will not cure it, nothing else can.

There are others who are characterized by a perpetual peevishness, so that a pleasant word from them is indeed a strange thing. They can never expect to gain the affections of their pupils; and without securing the love of children, the government of them will never be of the right kind. This habit of snappishness should be broken up at once.

There are some very young teachers, who sometimes assume one or the other of these peculiar modes of address, or perhaps both, to be used alternately,— fancying that they will gain popularity by the one, or give themselves greater authority by the other. This is a very mistaken notion; for children have more discernment than most men give them credit for, and they usually see directly through such a flimsy disguise, and the teacher becomes ridiculous rather than great in their estimation, whenever he takes any such false position.

Mr. Abbot, in his "Teacher," states a fact which well illustrates this point. "Many years ago," says he, "when I was a child, the teacher of the school where my early studies were performed, closed his connection with the establishment, and, after a short vacation, another was expected. On the appointed day the boys began to collect, some from curiosity, at an early hour, and many speculations were started as