Common School Teachers.

First requisite, capacity.

and everywhere the same. It is unchanging as truth. The ignorance or imbecility of its disciples may tarnish its luster and obscure its brightness, and society may be prevented from reaping those fruits which it is capable of bearing. But still the fault is not in the profession.

I am aware that many whom I see about me arc the teachers of our common schools. It may be proper, before concluding, to inquire how the common school teacher, even in his humble sphere, may uphold its dignity and honor

The first claim which he should seek to establish is that of capacity. No man can put confidence in another and intrust to him important duties without assurance of his ability. He should therefore seek first of all liberal culture. He should never be content with proficiency simply in those studies which he is required to teach. The grade of his school may be such that only the common English branches are comprised in the list; but a knowledge of these, however elaborate, should never satisfy him. He can better illustrate to a child the first lessons in arithmetic who has a thorough acquaintance with the higher mathematics, than one who has no knowledge beyond the simple acquirements of the class he instructs. The light of liberal culture throws its rays back upon even the rudiments of knowledge,

Mediocrity.

Trials and perplexities.

Archimedes.

and makes them appear brighter and clearer. The resources for explanation and illustration are at hand, and he has the discretion and judgment to use them intelligently. The teacher who is satisfied with a certificate of perfect qualification in the branches required by law to be taught will soon fall into a stereotype process, and will ere long be left to mediocrity and obscurity, by his more enterprising and ambitious brethren, in a profession whose fundamental idea is progress and development.

There are difficulties and trials which the teacher is constantly obliged to encounter. It is eminently a profession of labor and vexation of spirit. Perplexing questions, involving the knowledge he ought to possess in order to inspire and hold the confidence of scholars and patrons, are constantly arising. But if amid all these harassing cares he has liberal culture, if his mind has felt the strengthening influence of a thorough course in the gymnasium, he has a place on which to stand, from which he can not be moved. He has the spot of solid ground for which Archimedes sighed.

The teacher who expects to become eminent, will also be thoroughly versed in works of a professional character. In each of the other learned professions there are books detailing the theory and the practice of the art, and the young man who desires to enter

Importance of professional reading.

True spirit of teaching.

either of them must become proficient in the princi ples upon which it is based. This should be expected of the teacher. The bare acquaintance with the several sciences should not constitute the maximum of his knowledge. He should in addition to this be familiar with professional books particularly devoted to the practice of his calling. His success mainly depends upon the conception he forms of the duties which his position brings with it. If he has no preconceived plans and purposes, then he will have none to execute when he arrives at the schoolroom, except such as are drawn forth by the emergency, and must be adopted or rejected without meditation. Those methods of governing and interesting scholars, which the best instructors have employed are unknown to him, and he must follow on the old beaten track, which those who taught him employed. But if his mind be thoroughly imbued with the true spirit of teaching, if he has acquainted himself with the opinions of those who have thought and written upon this science, his plans can be formed upon a basis of knowledge and mature deliberation. He has the theory of his profession, and he can weigh the value of different methods, and adopt or reject according to his faith in them. He will have at his command the experience of those who have had eminent success, and have had a life

long acquaintance with its duties. His mind will be rendered fruitful in expedients for managing a school, for conquering the stubborn, for winning back the disobedient to filial respect and submission, for arousing the indolent to a sense of their shame, for quickening the powers of the dull and unthinking, and for animating all with the spirit of enquiry. He learns, instead of the dull routine of enforcing lessons at the point of the rod, to substitute the "waking up process." He experiences the most grateful reward of his labors which a teacher can know, that of seeing his pupils love to learn, and delight most of all to be about him. To this end he should also have the leading educational periodicals, and thus familiarize himself with the improvements which are being made, and those methods which are practiced by our most distinguished educators. He should, in a word, acquaint himself with the last best thoughts which the world has produced upon the subject, and thus keep even with the times.

Finally, the teacher who desires the respect and confidence of cultivated and thinking men, should possess extensive general information. Many of our young men who aspire to this position are shamefully ignorant of the most common and familiar facts. A teacher once enquired of me if Benjamin Franklin lived in Boston now. And that young man was a

Ludicrous error.

Historical reading.

General literature.

proficient in Latin and mathematics, and was a splendid scholar in the Greek, Another, when, in conversation with him, I chanced to mention the name of Alexander Hamilton, wanted to know if he was not the president of Princeton Theological School. When I told him that it was Dr. Alexander to whom he probably had reference, "Oh! yes," said he, "that is the man I meant." This young man was about to graduate from college, and was actually making inquiries about a subject suitable for his graduating oration. Such shameful ignorance of the commonest facts in our history is unpardonable. It is the fruitful source of that derision in which many of our class are held.

Let every teacher possess himself of a few books on history, and especially the history of our own country, so as to be able to trace out our national origin, and the statesmen who have taken a prominent part in public affairs. He should be minutely acquainted with the constitution of the United States, and with the opinions of those who framed and adopted it. He should know something of the history of politics, and the positions which parties have held in the past. He should pursue a course of reading in general literature, acquaint himself with the best authors, and become familiar with their style and peculiarities. Let him study the poetry of the