Devotion to the Profession.

Not one of ease.

great masters, and be able to converse intelligently in a company of educated people upon any topic connected with its structure and allusions. If any young man thinks this too much for him to accomplish, then he had better quit the profession.

To the genuine, whole-souled teacher, nothing is impossible. He will never submit quietly and tamely to pass in the company of well-bred people, as a boor and a novice. He will work when others sleep. He will gather his knowledge from every source, from conversation, from his daily walks, from his scholars, and from his own quiet meditations. He will forego the gratification of sense and the pleasures of the passing hour, for that higher pleasure which flows from the consciousness of intellectual superiority.

The life of the teacher is not one of ease. Though his labors are not apparent, and he does not create so much noise and stir in the world as some who are engaged in other occupations, yet they are not on this account the less arduous and real. A few of the elements of success have been named. It is only by possessing these, and indeed vastly more, that the teacher can claim any part of that dignity which is inherent in the profession. He must never expect that it is to endow him with any honors if he has not first earned them. If he depends upon the profession for his dignity, without any real claims, he

No dignity without merit.

will be of all men the most undignified. For the more honorable the profession, the more shame to the man who proves himself unworthy of belonging to it. If we are scholars and play the man, we shall at least merit the reward. The great lights of the past are the companions of our labors. The future teems with opportunities. The field is already white for the harvest. We have only to thrust the sickle in. He who is worthy shall wear the crown, and vindicate the dignity of the Teacher's Profession.

LECTURE II.

A

THE BOYHOOD OF NAPOLEON.

TRUTHFUL history of the youth and educa

tion of one, who in manhood has manifested transcendent powers of mind, must always be of interest. If the conduct and glory of his life has attracted unusual attention, there is a natural desire to be acquainted with that portion of it which transpired before he had come to public notice. But to the rising generation, to those who are now receiving that education which is to guide and support them through life, the early history of such a man is of vital importance. If a certain course of training has conducted him to success in what he has undertaken, it is fair to infer that similar training will exert a corresponding influence. If a well-spent youth has been rewarded with fortunate results, it will yield encouragement for others to go and do likewise. If his education has borne rich fruits in mature years, it will be profitable for us to inquire, what was the course of studies that he pursued, and what was the manner of pursuing them. When a man has arisen

Labor and genius.

Observation of Sir Sydney Smith.

from poverty and obscurity to such a brilliant career as that of Napoleon, the force of his early example speaks to us in a voice that commands universal attention.

We are apt to look upon every marked achievement of human effort as having been secured by genius-by gifts the special manifestation of Providence. The young especially, are ever ready to believe that labor and genius are incompatible. They would transfer that halo of glory, that surrounds the reputed feats of the gods of antiquity, to the real heroes of history. There can be no belief more fatal to the claims of true greatness, and at no period of life is it more disastrous to entertain it than in youth.

Sir Sydney Smith has appropriately observed, that "it would be an extremely profitable thing, to draw. up a short and well authenticated account of the habits of study of the most celebrated writers with whose style of literary industry we happen to be most acquainted. It would go very far to destroy the absurd and pernicious association of genius and idleness, by showing that the greatest poets, orators, statesmen, and historians-men of the most brilliant and imposing talents, have actually labored as hard as the makers of dictionaries and the arrangers of indexes; and that the most obvious reason why they

Genius and idleness.

Five talents ten.

Napoleon the warrior.

have been superior to other men, is that they have taken more pains than other men."

Could such a collection be made, it would but add another proof to the many which already exist, that the only true glory of man is labor; and that so far from labor being incompatible with genius, it is in fact the creator of it. The most brilliant powers with which Heaven is pleased to endow men, must inevitably grow weak under the blighting influence of sloth and inactivity. While labor makes the five talents ten, and secures those habits of mental action which are absolutely indispensable to the loftiest achievements. Let no youth despise labor, and court the position of a luxurious life who hopes to walk the paths of glory. The muscles pine, and the strong sinews perish beneath the withering touch of inactivity; while the smith at his sooty forge can show a brawny arm and sinews like the steel he has wrought. The faculties become weak and the purpose wavering when pampered with inglorious ease, but the mind that is accustomed to bend steadily to its tasks will be ready to seize with firm grasp the object of its labors.

It is common for us to think of Napoleon only as a warrior, as General Bonaparte. At the mention of his name the presence is a lofty form, with a sword flashing by its side, and a plume bending from its