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PREFACE.

THE following Lectures, as the title indicates, were prepared for the use of Teachers' Institutes, and have been delivered at intervals, before these bodies, during the past five years. They were intended to be addressed to an assembly of teachers and citizens, such as are usually found at the evening sessions; consequently, they are not designed for the exclusive reading of teachers.

The attempt has been, to make the opinions developed thoroughly accord with the fundamental principles of our institutions and form of government. The necessity to the safety and prosperity of the State, that every child should be educated, and that the wealth of the country should pay for this education, has been made a prominent feature.

There will not be found in this volume a

systematic treatise for the special guidance of the teacher, but those motives and incentives to preparation, which may serve to awaken inquiry and stimulate thought. In the hope that it may contribute to the development of our noble school system, it is submitted to the public.

MEADVILLE, June 6, 1859.

LECTURE I.

DIGNITY OF THE TEACHER'S PROFESSION.

VERY man should regard his profession with

EVE

pride. He should see in it something to challenge his admiration and win his affections. He should seek to view it on its sunny side and in its fairest aspects. He should feel that love and regard for it that inspires him with energy and enthusiasm in its pursuit, that enables him to triumph over its difficulties, and to glory and revel in its charms.

He who looks upon his profession with disfavor, who thinks meanly of its labors, and speaks disparagingly of those who belong to it, will inevitably be a drone. His labor will press upon him as drudgery. The action of all his powers will be sluggish, and in despising the pleasures of professional pride, he misses the finest enjoyment of active life. There is no feeling more degrading to a man, than the thought that he is engaged in a business of which he is ashamed; than to feel that other men look upon him with contempt because he labors in it. It stifles every attempt to excel. It obscures

Remark of Milton.

Members of the body.

every spark of genius and sinks him to the rank of a slave.

In one sense there is no calling that possesses claims to dignity above another. The man who is engaged in the most menial occupation that is honest, may possess as pure a heart, as he who has won for himself the greatest earthly fame. The humblest laborer, that lugs bricks upon his back the day long, may possess the spirit and honor of a nobleman. "If two angels," says John Milton, "were to be sent from heaven, the one to be monarch of an empire, and the other to be a chimney sweeper, the difference in their minds would not be the value of a straw." Earthly and outward distinctions would have no weight. To do the will of Him who sent them would be their only care. To perform with fidelity the duties of the occupation to which, for the time, Providence has called us, should indeed be the object of our solicitude.

But when we compare the results which the different callings in life are capable of producing, we discover that there are different degrees of dignity to which each is entitled. Aside from the purity of a man's heart, and the fidelity with which he discharges his duties, there are the effects which his labors may produce upon those about him and upon society. The members of the human body are all

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