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THE FIFTIETH BIRTH-DAY OF AGASSIZ, THE NATURALIST.

MAY 28, 1857.

FROM DWIGHT'S JOURNAL OF MUSIC.

[The following lines (as one will hardly need be told) are by Longfellow, and were read among friends at a birth-day dinner, which they will long keep in fresh remembrance.]

Ir was fifty years ago,

In the pleasant month of May,
In the beautiful Pays de Vaud,
A child in its cradle lay.

And Nature, the old nurse, took
The child upon her knee,
Saying: "Here is a story-book

Thy father has written for thee."

"Come, wander with me," she said,
"Into regions yet untrod;
And read what is still unread

In the manuscripts of God."

And he wandered away and away,
With Nature, the dear old nurse,
Who sang to him night and day
The rhymes of the universe.

And whenever the way seemed long,
Or his heart began to fail,

She would sing a more wonderful song,

Or tell a more marvelous tale.

So she keeps him still a child,
And will not let him go,

Though at times his heart beats wild
For the beautiful Pays de Vaud;

Though at times he hears in his dreams
The Ranz des Vaches of old,
And the rush of mountain streams
From glaciers clear and cold;

And the mother at home says "Hark!
For his voice I listen and yearn;

It is growing late and dark,

And my boy does not return!"

A FEW WORDS TO THE TEACHERS OF OUR SUMMER SCHOOLS.

As the season approaches for the commencement of our summer schools, we desire to call the attention of those who are to teach, to a few points. It is presumed that such have already qualified themselves for their high calling, so far as relates to the requirements of the law. But, in order that their efforts may be crowned with success, and that they may accomplish the greatest amount of good, we would urge upon their attention the following considerations:

1. Strive, from the beginning, to make your school pleasant and profitable. Let your pupils see and feel that your heart is in your work; that you wish to do them good. To this end, always wear a cheerful countenance, and do what you can to make every exercise pleasant and attractive.

2. Have order. Without good discipline, you cannot hope to accomplish much; indeed, with inefficient or lax discipline, your school may prove an injury and not a blessing. "Order is heaven's first law;" and earth and the school-room are nearest like Heaven when under the most perfect influence of the law of order. Therefore, aim to have system and order. Have but few rules, and see that they are reasonable and that they are implicitly and promptly obeyed. Strive to make every lesson so interesting that it will secure attention, and never proceed with a recitation, unless the school is orderly, and the class intent on the exercise of the hour.

3. Insist on neatness. Habits of personal cleanliness and of neatness in the school-room will do much to secure order. Hence do what you can to promote right feeling and action in this direction. Encourage your pupils to come into the school-room with tidy apparel, and with face and hair in proper condition, and be sure not to allow them to make the floor a substitute for a spit box. Neatness and order are twin sisters. They thrive best together; and, often, when separated, they languish and die. Therefore, cherish both. They will greatly help each other, and together, will much assist you and make your labors light and attractive.

4. Manifest a kindly interest in the little ones under your charge. Make them feel that you are their friend, and that you wish to do them good. Remember that every hour of the day you are making impressions upon living, growing material. Let those impressions be right. Let them all tend to mould the little ones into the likeness of perfect men and women.

5. Instil into the minds of your pupils correct views as to the objects for which they attend school. If possible, cause them to feel that they come to learn those things which will make them wiser, better, happier, and more useful. Tell them that diligence and order will do much to elevate them and prepare them for the business of life, and that they cannot hope for success without them.

6. Strice, daily and hourly, to inculcate good moral lessons. Teach your pupils that if they must be happy, they must be good. Teach them lessons

of love, of kindness, of patience, of cheerfulness, of charity. Teach them to speak pure words, to think pure thoughts, to perform pure acts. Cause them to feel that the eye of God is ever upon them, and that they are dependent upon Him for life and all of life's blessings and privileges.

7. Do what you can to interest parents, and induce them to visit your school. As often as may be convenient, visit the parents at their homes, and invite them to call at the school. No school can be, in the highest degree, successful, unless the three great parties,-teacher, pupils and parents,feel and manifest the right spirit. Therefore feel that it is a part, and an important part, of the mission of the true teacher, to labor for the promotion of a right feeling and right action on the part of pupils and parents. Labor constantly, labor earnestly, labor judiciously, labor cheerfully, and in due time "if you faint not, you will reap your reward.-Connecticut School Journal.

C.

From the New York Teacher.

TEACHER'S

SALARIES.

In our own experience hitherto, we have not found increase of salary, however desirable for every man of whatever business, to be productive of a more plethoric state of the pocket, except when certain principles of laying out money have been adopted. If men choose to spend their funds for whatever the impulse of the moment may dictate, it matters little whether their salary be $400 or $800; for in every position of life, the higher the rewards, the greater the opportunity to disburse without reference to the future. If strict rules be laid down at the outset, and lived up to through the year, then the greater the salary, the greater is the amount available for the future. Teachers are proverbially a poverty-stricken set; they start poor, they continue poor, and so far as we know, they die poor. Indeed, a teacher who should have cleared five thousand dollars by long industry in his profession, would be a standing marvel--especially from our public schools. But is five thousand dollars too much for an educated professional man to hope for as the result of twenty or twenty-five years of devoted attention to his business?

If we can hint at any means by which so desirable an amount may be secured, whether by showing directly how it may be acquired, or indirectly by giving causes why it is not acquired, our intention will have been accomplished.

But before we open upon this, let us offer one word to a class of teachers whom we have purposely avoided in our former papers on this subject. There are many working in our broad state for the means of obtaining that of which poverty, hitherto, has prevented the enjoyment-a complete mindculture, so far as the schools can give it. There is many a maiden working

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in the wayside school-house for little reward, who purposes from her savings to collect enough for a course at the Normal Halls, that then she may go forth on her life-mission of doing good, prepared for its duties as an intelligent, noble-hearted woman. We honor all of them; and on these Teacher pages would bid them "God speed." May the change from the lowest rank - at one dollar per week and board around- -to the highest, at $800 per annum, which we believe is near the limit for female teachers, be speedy; for we need them, disciplined by just such toil, to help us along.

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There is many a youth, too, struggling on in doubt and in darkness, with a firm resolve to become a man, equal in scholarship to the best in the land. We would grasp the brave hands and acknowledge even the brave hearts of such teachers, laboring with Christ-like ardor for their charge, and striving daily to become more full of the power for effecting good in the world, either as teachers of youth or teachers of men. We need not tell them to save their dimes, for amid the scorn and reproach of the present they can see in the misty future a time when these shall be changed to words of trust and confidence. All honor, we say, to the youth or maiden, thus working in our profession, and developing in themselves and in others that noble thing which men call character. Gentle words come not often to them now, but they shall come hereafter.

And now, why don't teachers as a class, succeed in laying up a little money, or how can they do it? That's the question before us, interesting to all, unprofitable to none.

1. Teachers change their places too often. If a storm is imagined in the distance, they are ready to run before it, as if they could find a place where no storms shall come. Brother pedagogue, you can't do that in this world; and this world is where your services are more peculiarty needed just now. If your place is a "hard" one, so much the more need exists of a true-hearted, resolute man to make it easy. If your salary is small, make yourself a necessity to the place, and it will be made larger. Teachers should never despair, while one supporter remains firm. Storms do not last forever, and there is glory in overcoming all the obstacles of ignorance and superstition, rather than in turning from the way dismayed, downcast, cowardly. Heed Carlyle's rough words: "Who is he that says there is a lion in the way? Sluggard! thou must slay the lion then; the way has to be traveled."

Besides, if a small salary won't sustain life, how will it be with none at all? We believe that teachers are more likely to be called to good posts from poor ones, than from idleness. Trustees, have found it better to get those who have a heart which compels them to work, rather than those having hearts indifferent to labor. Above all, we think that too many teachers keep poor by just working long enough in a place to obtain enough funds for carrying themselves away, and then spend that little amount in finding another spot for another toiling hour. We appeal to the experience of half the teachers who read these pages to sustain this position. One great remedy then is stick to your work. The tradesman must do it for success; the lawyer must do it; the physician must do it; the farmer, the clergyman,

the teacher-all must stick to their work in order to succeed in making a living, and in saving for the coming years.

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2. Teachers are too fond of traveling. We know that the breadth of vision which traveling secures is eminently desirable for those whose very profession is apt to make small things appear great, and we would join most heartily in securing such a sum as would satisfy the desire of the eye for seeing, and of the ear for hearing. But as things are in our times it is im-" practicable. Is it not truc, as we have charged, that teachers like traveling too well for their pocket's interest? Do we not always hear the question as soon as vacation begins, "Where are you going this vacation?" But railroads are not saving banks, except for stockholders; and first class hotels—' professional teachers will use no others are expensive not only to their proprietors for the mirrors and the furnishings, but to the guests for the enjoyment thereof. If teachers would make money they must be keepers at home. They must believe in Chicago, and the prairies; they must exercise more faith in the Geography and in Bayard Taylor's travels. Young teachers must remember that the fifty dollars of a vacation trip, if put at interest will be fifty dollars still, but if invested in railroad tiekets will cease to be their own forever. It is hard to cut off this great joy of traveling, but it must be cut off for the first few years of life, if the last would be made comfortable from the teacher's stipend."

3. Avoid all accounts at dry goods or at bock stores. If you must have them, cast then up every week, to be certain they are not growing too rapidly. We suppose that most teachers will call that parsimony which Dr. Franklin would call economy; but it may be remembered that Dr. Franklin made money and teachers don't. Speaking of books--the question occurs as to the library of the teacher. We suspect that our professional brethren are not usually, as a class, quite select enough in their books. It is 80 pleasant at the close of a hard day's work to take some light book and content one's self with its prettily turned phrases, instead of turning to some of the world's master spirits, whose thoughts in rough garb demand an effort of the weary mind. Yet, because we believe that teacher is useless, who has ceased himself to grow in mental strength, we would lift up our voice against the cessation of toil when school hours are past. The teacher's library need not for the first five years grow fast, but it should grow well.. A few dollars rightly expended will secure many great thoughts, and thus the mind and the pocket become "harmoniously developed." Our modern wiseacres will pardon the desecration of their favorite phrase, but it expresses an idea in this connection worthy of their attention.

In conclusion, let us say, if teachers can not be economical without being miserly, they ought to profer remaining in poverty. A stingy old schoolmaster is the meanest object in Christendom, as a provident, broad-souled, heaven-working schoolmaster is one of the noblest; but the thought of the great Dr. Arnold-that big-hearted teacher and carnest man-is not an unnatural one: " Depend upon it, the comfort of an income already secured is great, when a man feels at all unwell.”

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