his assertions, but whoever swears seems to say that in his own opinion his word is not above suspicion. It is reputable for a man to be able to speak his mind, but whoever interlards his speech with oaths seems to confess that he cannot endow his purposes with words to make them known.

It is reputable for a man to shun himself what he blames in others. He who would pluck a mote out of another's eye must have no beam in his own. But many who swear themselves denounce their own habit when they see it in others, or in such as teach it to their children, or even in the parrot that echoes unseasonably their maledictions.

The swearer soils his good name because he does that which he is ashamed to have come abroad, and yet which he fails to keep secret. Whoever indulges in profaneness will let fall impious expressions in company where he will be mortified and driven to ask pardon. This may be his experience after long and sincere endeavors to reform, as it seems to have been the experience of the apostle Peter, holden by the cords of a long forsaken sin, so that when angry, he began to curse and to swear. He who thinks to swear in secret hideth the wind and the ointment of his right hand, which bewrayeth itself. Tell-tales or children will repeat his impieties in the ears by which he would have. them heard last and least. Good reason, then, is there to say,"Curse not in thy bed-chamber, for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter."

Profaneness, then, inasmuch as it tramples on the laws of etiquette and of the land, betokens ignorance or insincerity, outrages public opinion and religious sentiment, and is incapable of concealment, must be shunned by every man who would secure an unsullied reputation.

For the Massachusetts Teacher.

MR. EDITOR: The lesson which the following article, recently published in the Christian Register, contains, is worthy of all imitation. Habits of neatness, order and industry should be constantly inculcated in the school-room; not merely by theoretical regulations, but by practical example in the teacher's own life. From a combination of these two influences is society to be moulded; for not only "as is the teacher, so is the school;" but, as is the school, so is the society from which the pupils come.

And it is not to what of literary acquisition the school is instrumental in furnishing, that the community is principally indebted for its character, its happiness, or its usefulness to our race; but rather to collateral instructions, which aid in finish

ing the man as a moral and social being. And yet, how almost universally is this matter overlooked in the estimate made of the public schools! When will school committees learn to give that prominence to this department of common education, which its importance demands ?

THE DOOR SCRAPER,

OR THE INFLUENCE OF SCHOOL ON HOME.

G. F. T.

IT is to be regretted that our school committees pay so little regard to manners, in the selection of teachers, and if their morals are good, and their acquaintance with the common branches of study respectable, employ them without much regard to the question whether they are courteous, refined and gentlemanly in their address and behavior. Now, what the teacher is, in this respect, the pupils will generally be, and, unless they see better patterns at home, the standard of the teachers will be theirs also. If they see the teacher addicted to any habit, they will think it manly to imitate him if he spits upon the floor, the child will do the same. If his boots are seldom cleaned, the child will be more likely to boast that he brings more mud into the school than the master does, and that his shoes are clean and the master's dirty.

We were led into this train of remarks, by an incident which took place in a village of Massachusetts where the teacher was accustomed to regard his personal appearance, and to require some attention to theirs from his pupils. When he took charge of the school, he noticed that the pupils, in muddy weather, were accustomed to enter the school-room and stamp the mud upon the floor, or carry it to their seats and soil the floor for a

large space around them. No sweeping could clean such a floor, and, of course, none had been attempted more than once a week. Determined to make an attempt at reform, the teacher obtained a piece of iron hoop, and nailing one end to the door, he fastened the other to a walnut stake, that he drove into the ground. Every child was required to scrape his shoes before he entered the room, and the consequence was that the true floor became visible through the crust that covered it. The next step was to get a rug for the entry, and a neat farmer's wife very readily gave him an old rug that she could spare. It did not take him long to induce the habit of scraping and wiping the shoes, and a lad or miss who did not do this, was soon noticed by the rest, and made to feel that he or she had not done all that was required. Soon after the rug was introduced, the teacher ventured to have the whole floor of the school-room washed,-washed, not scoured, for he had to do it himself one Saturday afternoon, and washing was all he was

competent to do. When the scholars came on Monday morning, it was evident they were taken by surprise. They had never seen the like before; the very knots in the floor were visible, and they gave several extra rubs and scrapes before they ventured to set foot on the beauties so strangely exposed. This is always the case; and we have known a man who exercised the muscles of his under jaw by chewing tobacco, and who would have spirted the saliva without compunction upon the floor of a school-room, running round a carpeted room like a crazy man, to find a place of deposit for this filth. So true is it that neatness begets neatness, and a nice school-room is better treated by the unneat than a neglected one. The teacher thus introduced one thing after another, taking care not to go too fast, and, although he had no penalty for a breach of the rules of neatness, he introduced a public sentiment which restrained the pupils more effectually than the rod; and, as his own example was always made to second his rules, the children found no hardship or injustice in them.

Amongst the scholars was one little fellow about eight years old, named Freddy Gerrish, whose parents were poor, and cared but little for appearances, if the children had bread enough to cat from day to day. Freddy was the oldest of five children, and when not at school he was generally minding his brothers and sisters, as the Irish term what we call tending or taking care of them. One day, on his way home from school, he found an iron hoop, and before night he had a scraper at the only door of the house. It so happened that, when his father came home, his boots were covered with bog mud, and almost for the first time in his life, he looked round for something to clean them. The scraper that Freddy had placed there was just the thing, and the little fellow was praised for his ingenuity. Soon after a sheep was killed by a dog in a field near Mr. Gerrish's house, and no one caring for it, Freddy offered to bury it, if he might have the skin, which had but little wool on it. He borrowed a jackknife of a larger boy, and soon stripped off the skin from the body, and then cutting as large a square out of it as he could, he went home and proposed to his mother to nail it down in the entry. This was done to please Freddy, and the baby was allowed to sit on it until father came home.

The effect of Freddy's attempt to reform was soon felt, and his mother was no longer heard to say, as she often had done, "It is of no use to sweep!" "Wife," said Mr. Gerrish one evening, "your floor is whiter than the wall; I must get some lime and whitewash a little, for Freddy's scraper seems to have a tail to it." The room was shining white before another day was passed, and as the cooking utensils began to look ill, standing around the stove, Mr. Gerrish, who was a good farmer,

changed work with a carpenter, and had a set of shelves made, with a cupboard under them. One day after she had scoured the floor, Mrs. Gerrish said to herself, "I wonder whether I cannot paint this floor well enough for poor people; for though a white floor looks well, it is easier to clean a painted one.' Freddy was despatched to the coach-maker's to ask what some suitable paint would cost. "How big is your room?" said the man, who had often noticed that Freddy was never among the boys that were doing mischief. "Four times as long as I can reach one way, and five times the other," said Freddy. The man applied the rule to Freddy's arms, and said, " It will cost you half a dollar." "Who is to do the painting?" said the man. "Mother, sir, is going to try, because she can't afford to pay for the paint and painting too, and she wants to do it before father come home." "You love her, don't you?" said the coachmaker. "I guess I do," said Freddy, "and she loves me too, because I made a scraper at the door, like master Hall's at the school. She says if it had not been for the scraper, she never would have thought of the paint, and we are going to stay in the bed-room or out o'doors till the paint is dry.'

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"I see through it," said the man. "Go home and tell your mother I will come presently and paint the floor for nothing. The boy was starting off, when the coach-maker recollected that half the charm was to consist in the wife's doing the work, and surprising her husband with a floor painted with her own hand, and he called the boy back and asked him if his mother had any money. "A little," said he; "she bought some yarn and knit three pair of stockings while the baby was asleep, and sold them." "Here is the paint," said the man, "I give it to you, my little fellow, because you love your mother." The little fellow's eyes glared with astonishment at the idea of possessing so much paint, and of being paid for so easy a task as loving his mother, and as the big tears began to roll down his cheeks, he said, "Mother will be able to buy the Bible now." "What Bible?" said the coach-maker, who had become interested in the boy. "The Bible for me to read every night and morning, as the master does." "I have some Bibles to give away,' said the man," and if you will not spill the paint, you may take one under your arm." "I declare," said Freddy, "I don't know what mother will say to all this. How will she pay you, sir?" "Would you like to do a little work for me, my little fellow?" "I guess I should," said Freddy, "if I was big enough I'd work for you ever so long." I want just such a scraper at my door, as you made your father, and if you will make me one, I will take it in full pay for the paint and the Bible." "I can't make one good enough for you," said Freddy bashfully. "That is my look-out," said the man,

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carry home the paint, and come when you can and make the scraper." Freddy went home, and when his mother saw him with a book under one arm and both hands holding on the paint pot, she exclaimed, "Why, Freddy, what have you done? I only told you to ask the price of the paint." "I know it," said Freddy, "but the man made a trade with me, and he is to give me all these, if I will make him a scraper for his door, and am going to do it."

To make a long story short, the scraper at the school door was the making of Mr. Gerrish and his family. The entire change of habits introduced into their humble dwelling not only led to neatness and order, but to thrift and comfort. The scraper was made for the coach-maker, who continued to do a hundred other friendly acts for the family. Freddy obtained an excellent education, and is an intelligent and wealthy farmer, and when he built his new house, he carefally placed the old scraper by the side of the door, as if it were a talisman. Master Hall taught from district to district, and being of a slender constitution, his health early failed, and he was quietly laid in the churchyard of a country town, unconscious that the seed he had sown had ever produced any fruit like that we have described. Freddy could never discover his resting place, but he erected a cenotaph to his memory near the school-house, which he also rebuilt, and once a year he collects the children of the village around it, and tells them the story of the scraper at the old school door.

SCHOOL SUPERVISION.

WITHIN a year or two, much has been said and written in reference to the subject of school supervision, and the feeling is rapidly gaining ground that a better and more efficient mode may be adopted than that now in practice. As a general thing the schools of Massachusetts do not receive that watchful and auxiliary supervision which their highest usefulness would seem to demand. This, from the very nature of the case, must be so. The whole business is usually entrusted to men whose time and attention are much engrossed in other concerns. They may be, and usually are, among the best men in the community; but they are also men who have many professional cares or business engagements, and, consequently, they cannot devote very much time or thought to the interests of the schools. We contend that in order that any important department be well looked after and cared for, it should receive direct and primary attention; and we contend, also, that our schools are of sufficient importance to receive the best and first attention of good men as supervisors. Hence we believe that the true method is to