cleanliness, ought to be awakened before the means of knowledge are increased; and this, not because literary instruction is less important, but because discipline is itself a principal means both of moral and intellectual improvement. Every intelligent being sees and feels the beauty of order when he finds himself surrounded by it, and children do so even more than adults. A good teacher will know how to turn this natural taste for arrangement to account. I will only add that, whatever may in other respects be the talents of an instructor, if he cannot maintain good order, he is worse than useless as a moral governor of the young; he takes rank with the incompetent and the indolent.

23. The question then arises, How is order to be obtained? I should reply, By letting it be understood from the first that you are determined to have it. Good or bad arrangements,—a well or ill-chosen system, (matters with which your pupils have nothing to do,) will, of course, materially affect the degree of order which can be maintained, and will also make a wide difference in the ease or difficulty of obtaining it. I am not now, however, speaking of systems, but of the kind of influence which must be exercised in order to make any system work quietly, regularly, and efficiently. And here nothing can be done without unbending, inflexible determination on the part of the teacher. He must be an absolute monarch, and he must speak and act as a man "having authority."

24. These last words start a new train of thought. They suggest the idea of ONE, before whom, not the waywardness of childhood, but the wickedness of mature and hardened malignity, cowed and was abashed; and yet He was "meek and lowly," a "man of sorrows," in rank a servant, and in temper a lamb. With this example before us, need I add, that the voice and look of authority are quite compatible with a spirit of gentleness, love, and true humility? Ah! you will say, but HE was "the Holy One!" True! that was the secret of his power. While he commanded others, he was himself governed; not indeed by men, but by principles; and so must you too, if, like him, you would be in your appropriate place, the object at once of fear and of love. LAW (not caprice) must rule in your school; law, of which Hooker beautifully says, "Her seat is the bosom of God, her voice the harmony of the world; all things in heaven and earth do her homage, the very least as feeling her care, and the very greatest as not exempted from her power; both angels and men, and creatures of what condition soever, though each in different sort and manner, yet all with uniform consent, admiring her as the mother of their peace and joy." But this is digression.

25. In enforcing authority, especially over numbers, attention must be paid to the tones of the voice. A horse, it has been shrewdly observed, soon perceives the timidity of his rider by the shaking of his legs, and no sooner does he suspect fear than he

refuses to obey. Children, in like manner, instinctively discover by the tones of the voice, when a teacher is unable to enforce obedience; and the moment that discovery is made, his power is gone. He may implore, or he may be imperious; he will only excite their scorn. You will see that what I refer to, has little to do with what is termed a good or bad voice; it is not a question of high or low notes, and still less of loudness and vociferation. It is only as an index to the mind, as indicating the determination within, that the tones of the voice become important; and this kind of demonstration you will at once perceive, may be conveyed as well in a whisper as in a shout. Only let it be a living voice, expressing the calm and quiet determination of a mind conscious of its strength, and it will rarely be resisted.

26. Bear in mind, then, that the first step you have to take, in moral as well as intellectual education, is, TO ESTABLISH YOUR AUTHORITY. There never was a more absurd notion than that which is becoming popular in some quarters, that children may be governed without authority, by moral suasion alone; that is to say, that they may be brought to love duty without any intervention of arbitrary command. Do not listen to this mischievous trash for a moment. To what extent it may be possible to substitute explanations and reasons for commands, I do not pretend to say; but this I am sure of, no good will be done unless the child knows that

authority is at hand if reason should fail; and let me add, I account that moral discipline little worth, which does not teach a child to submit to authority, simply as authority. "There are moments in the course of education, and even of life, when the delay which reasoning demands, would expose us to the danger which it is intended to avert, and where we must learn to yield to authority without a question."* Mr. Abbott, in a paper published in the American Annals of Education, illustrates this principle in his usual happy manner. He says, "Power is not useless because it lies dormant. The government of the United States employs its hundreds of workmen at Springfield, and at Harper's Ferry, in the manufacture of muskets. The inspector examines every one as it is finished, with great care. He adjusts the flint, and tries it again and again, until its emitted shower of sparks is of proper brilliancy; and when satisfied that all is right, he packs it away with its thousand companions, to sleep probably in their boxes in quiet obscurity for ever. A hundred thousand of these deadly instruments form a volcano of slumbering power which never has been awakened, and which we hope never will be. The government never makes use of them. One of its agents, a custom-house officer, waits upon you for the payment of a bond. He brings no musket. He keeps no troops. He comes with the gentleness and civility of

* Woodbridge.

a social visit. But you know, that if compliance with the just demands of your government is refused, and the resistance is sustained, force after force would be brought to bear upon you, until the whole hundred thousand muskets should speak with their united and tremendous energy. Such ought to be the character of all government. The teacher of a school, especially, must act upon these principles. He will be mild and gentle in his manners; in his intercourse with his pupils he will use the language and assume the air, not of stern authority, but of request and persuasion. But there must be authority at the bottom to sustain him, or he can do nothing successfully, especially in attempting to reach the hearts of his pupils. The reason why it is necessary is this. First, the man who has not the full, unqualified, complete control of his scholars, must spend his time and wear out his spirits in preserving any tolerable order in his dominions; and, secondly, he who has not authority will be so constantly vexed and fretted by the occurrences which will take place around him, that all his moral power will be neutralized by the withering influence of his clouded brow. To do good to our pupils, our own spirits must be composed and at rest; and especially, if we wish to influence favourably the hearts of others, our own must rise above the troubled waters of irritation and anxious care."

27. Authority once established, obedience will be prompt, and very soon become habitual. No obedience, indeed, is worth the name, which is not