which animals rise and children sink, yoked and harnessed, owned by our Durhams, and Alderneys, and Morgans, and perhaps fatted for their advanced and dominant appetites. The spiritual forces must be started soon in States like this, and trained to ten times their present vigor, or we shall be unable to wield the majestic armor and implements of our science and materialistic culture. And this building, which lifts the torch of education higher, as a beacon to the State, which will turn out nobler specimens of young manhood and womanhood, invites us, by peculiar fitness, in this harvest-time, to rejoice in its completion, and to express our gratitude by elaborate ceremonial and reverent prayer. And we should rejoice also to be here, to-day, in order to pay a -conscious and deliberate tribute to the service of teachers in our civilization. Every time I enter a school-building I travel back to the time, twenty years ago (when I was a young man), when my name was enrolled in the army of instructors. During the three years of service appointed to me in that department, I learned so much of the difficulties and responsibilities of the office, that the stepping into a pulpit seemed like passing into an easier sphere of duty. It is not on abstract grounds and observation, but on trials which gave me my first knowledge of what serious responsibility is, and of how closely moral forces must be allied with intellectual ones in every successful school, that my own reverence for the teacher's call and duty is based. And from that day to this it has been widening and deepening. We do not pay our social reverence wisely as yet, even in our most advanced and thoughtful communities. The men who do the most for the world are those who work scientifically upon the land, increasing its productiveness without exhausting its fertility-and the men who increase the mental and moral forces of the State. These classes are the fountains of lasting power, and the true conservators of public health and vigor. In a truly ordered society, these classes would receive the heartiest and most stable honor. But as yet, alas, even in the most Christian districts of society, the question is scarcely raised, as a condition and gauge of respect, what the relation is between his employment and the permanent benefit of the community-what the moral aroma is of a man's gold and position. And so the best men work with very little recognition. The most useful ministers are those who work through years of quiet fidelity, encouraging good purposes in the village circle, warning with sincere and uneloquent unction, the humble and steady friend of humble people, threading the life of a small community, through more than the years of a generation, with a golden influence of charity, and fortunate in not having to see their names in half the issues of the newspaper press. Some of the purest pages of heroism might be copied from the long careers of country physicians, who spend themselves without the patronage and solace of cultured society, and cross the line of old age without a competence. In the case of teachers, however, the fact is peculiarly striking. Think what an influence, during the past ten years, has been exerted upon the intellect and character of the best portions of our country, by the ambition of teachers to be more efficient in their work, by the establishment of journals of education, by county, district and State conventions of instructors, not sunned by public applause, not paid for by the public either, in which the wisest unfold the best results of their experience, and the youngest are stimulated by the contagious enthusiasm of the leading masters of the profession! "Profession," did I say? No. Here is the injustice; here is the proof of the marvelous infidelity of our public as yet to the service which can hardly be surpassed by any other type. American liberty and hopes are based on comprehensive education—mental and moral-and we do not yet recognize the teacher's calling as one of the "learned professions." There is the degree of M.D., a title of respect for every one who enters the ranks of the healers by the regular door. Every clergyman has his prefix of "Rev.," which floats him sometimes like a cork upon waters where he could not swim. "D.D." is conferred, every year, upon many a man who is no scholar in Christian history or dogmatics. I have known cases where LL.D. has been affixed, by prominent colleges, to the names of men who could not have told what the two L's, with a period after them, were the abbreviation of. But there is no title for teachers. And I am ignorant of the fact if any University or College has yet sought out an eminent, consecrated, thoroughly efficient teacher, to confer upon him or her any title of honor as an acknowledgment of personal service to society, or the rank of the calling to which he or she is pledged. We must do what we can to repair this injustice-we who know the value of the office, the grand proportion of the gifts that are so often brought to it, and the nobleness of the spirit in which those gifts are frequently dedicated. Let us make this festival time, in the consecration of this building, a season in which we pledge ourselves to greater interest in the school cause in this city and State. It is not in the structure we are interested, so much as in the edifice of education itself, which has been erected here by faithful, far-seeing men, against the opposition of lazy wealth and skeptical hearts. It is not the porch and hall and seats and roof that we are grateful for, so much as the wise management and skilled instruction, which, so successful in the past, are to have a better inclosure for their operation in years to come. Would that the services of this day might be more joyous and welcome by the appearance here of the philosophical apparatus that is needed by the teachers, and would be in various ways a benefit to the community! The $3000 which it would cost ought to be contributed by the wealth of San Francisco the next week, and would be, if we were not still in our public life so blind to the immense meaning and value of public education. And let us cherish a deeper respect for the office and influence of every good teacher, as we recognize here anew the solid truth of a noble American poet's words: "The riches of the commonwealth Are free, strong minds, and hearts of health; The cunning hand and cultured brain. She heeds no skeptic's puny hands, While near her school the church-spire stands; While near her church-spire stands the school." The fervent prayer which every parent offers is, that whatever poverty, destitution, pain or misery, his children may be called upon to bear, God will mercifully grant that they may preserve their purity, and all be found at last worthy to be reunited in that kingdom prepared for the just, beyond the grave. The faithful teacher, occupying as he does, for a time, the parent's place, must feel a similar anxiety, as he looks round upon those placed under his charge. His situation is inferior in responsibility only to that of the parent. Indeed, since so many parents neglect their duty in this respect, his influence upon those who continue for any length of time under his charge, is probably not surpassed by that of any other class of men in the community. He must often seriously ask what will be the lot of those committed to his trust. Could the veil with which Heaven conceals the future be removed, would he behold this noble and ingenuous boy, with heart full of aspirations after all excellence, still rising higher and higher, or would he behold him descend from the lofty heights of honorable renown, and become dishonored, degraded, and corrupt? This fair girl, with the light of Heaven in her eye, and its purity surrounding her as with an atmosphere of holiness, would she be seen still the same in her spotlessness and innocence, or would the light be extinguished, the glory have departed, and nothing remain but the wreck of what was once so lovely and so promising? It is related that an Eastern prince once offered a prize to be given to the most beautiful boy in all his dominions. Many were presented for the premium, but it was bestowed, by acclamation, upon one for his transcendent and angelic loveliness. So beautiful a boy had never been seen upon the earth before. Some years after, the same prince again offered a prize--but this time it was for the ugliest man to be found in all his possessions. Diligent search was made; many exhibited themselves to view, of all kinds and degrees of ugliness, but among them it was difficult to make a choice, until one day there was brought into the royal presence a being, if he could be called a man, so hideous, so loathsome, so bestial, that the people shuddered while they gazed upon him. Sin had stamped its polluting mark upon every feature; from every wrinkle in that horrible face stared out a vice. Upon inquiry, it was ascertained that this frightful and disgusting wretch had been the attractive and lovely boy. A life of intemperance, sensuality, and iniquity, had made the awful change. God save our pupils from any and all the causes tending to produce so terrible an alteration. In view of the great responsibility pressing upon every teacher to do all in his power to train up his pupils to a life of virtue and excellence, I invite your attention to some remarks upon the importance of Moral Instruction. I have a fear that some few teachers (I know they must be very few) may think their duty done if they preserve good order in the school, and give instruction to their scholars in the course of study prescribed. But no teacher, who has an *Read before the State Teachers' Institute, Sept., 1862. adequate sense of the responsibilities devolving upon him, can entertain this opinion. His duty is not performed by merely cultivating the intellect. He must also educate the heart. No parent would consider any teacher fit for his post, who not only did not check even the slightest infringement of morality, but who did not endeavor to elevate his whole school to a high standard of moral excellence. To think otherwise is a great mistake and the popular notion of education falls in with and confirms this mistake. Talk about giving a young man the advantages of education, and the thoughts immediately run on what is taught in schools and colleges. Speak of giving a young lady a finished education, and almost every one wishes to have the seminary pointed out where she can accomplish, in the shortest space of time, botany, French and Italian, music, and drawing, besides a few of the ordinary branches. As if what is taught in schools and seminaries were able, of itself, to make one either great, or good, or happy. The truth is, my friends, that hitherto, all over the world, the cultivation of the head has been regarded as the principal thing, while the cultivation of the heart comes in only incidentally. Speak of any school, and most probably the conversation will be upon who is the best scholar in the school. Talk about college, and a certain young man is pointed out to you as the first scholar in his class. Ten prizes are offered for intellectual, to one for moral excellence. The student who can make the best Greek verses, or run through a complicated mathematical demonstration, or write the most flowery oration, or deliver it in the most eloquent manner, is the recipient of the honors, while one, perhaps infinitely his superior in moral character, but not possessing his precocity or assurance, is passed by unnoticed. Now this is surely wrong. The heart is of more importance than the head. The essence of greatness, always and everywhere, is a great spirit. Acquisitions and attainments are not the man; they are mere additions to him. Intellectual talents are not the man; they are merely the instruments he uses. The man himself is behind them all, and he may use them either for good or for evil. The spirit with which a man works, the motives which prompt his conduct these show us and constitute the man, and these are moral qualities, springing from and dwelling in the heart. The character is the man; the life, in its every particular, which one lives, is the man; and what is it that makes life what it is but the man's motives, his moral qualities, his heart. Therefore we are told that God judgeth the heart; that with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; that out of that, and out of that alone, "are the issues of life." And, therefore, I repeat, the heart is more than the head. Sir Walter Scott says: "We shall never learn, and feel, and respect our real calling and destiny, unless we have taught ourselves to consider everything as moonshine, compared with the education of the heart." When, after his fruitless journey for health, he had returned to Scotland and to Abbotsford, as he was near his end, he said to his son-in-law, Lockhart, I may have but a minute to speak with you. My dear, be a good man; be virtuous, be religious; be a good man. Nothing else will give you any comfort when you come to lie here." "Here was a man," remarks a writer, "who had won the highest prizes of life; had gained the most splendid literary reputation; had been honored, flattered and caressed as few men have ever been; and yet, at the last moment, falls back for support on moral and religious faith-that possession which all may earn." وو Horace Mann, as the shades of death were gathering around him, was heard to utter the words, "God--man--duty" and shortly after, bidding all near him "Good night," sank quietly into that last, deep sleep, which knows no waking in this world. But who that witnessed his peaceful and joyful end would not say, with the poet, "That deeper shade shall fade away, That deeper sleep shall leave his eyes; Thy love the rapture of the skies." The formation of an honorable, upright, Christian character, is the great business, the great success of life. This must be done, or nothing is accomplished. Do this first; do this at any rate; do this even if everything else is left undone; though that sacrifice is not required of us. What parent would not prefer his child should leave school with good principles, well settled, his heart in the right place, even though he might be deficient in knowledge, to seeing him adorned with all the accomplishments taught in the schools, if, at the same time, he fears that he is compelled to distrust the soundness of his moral character? What man or woman does not demand of his friend that he shall first be true, sincere, hearty, whether possessed or not of any remarkable intellectual penetration or sagacity? Now, I am not decrying intellectual attainments-I value them highly-but I am only placing them on their true level, namely, below moral attainments. It is a matter of great importance that the pupils in our schools should be well instructed in the branches taught in them; and any teacher who succeeds in so doing has accomplished a great good. But it is of the highest consequence, it is absolutely necessary, that we should all become good men and good women. For that purpose, infinitely above all others, we were sent into the world. For that purpose, the world and all that belongs to it were created. For that purpose, the sun shines upon man, the winds ininvigorate his blood, the rains descend upon his fields, society surrounds him with its blessings, and wife and children warm his heart and strengthen his. arm to action. For this purpose, above all others, the school-house, as well as the house of God, was reared. I see no proper use of language in those who speak of the godlike intellect of such a man, or of another as having a gigantic understanding. We have all heard the observation, "Sir, he is the most remarkable man in America." You may be certain that man is not remarkable for moral qualities. A godlike, a gigantic intellect ascribed to a mere creature of an hour! When the more we know only shows us the immensity of our ignorance. How true it is, also, that purely great intellectual achievements cannot be understood by the great majority of mankind! I suppose there are not one thousand persons in the world that can go through the steps of the reasoning by which Leverrier proved the existence of the new planet, |