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cause, and dispose of their birthright for less than a supply of a present and transient necessity. We do not overlook the fact that many hail the very thing we deplore, as one of the fruits and proofs of the excellence of our school system, on the plea that the facilities for acquiring knowledge are so much increased, that a sufficiency of learning may now be gained in a much shorter period than formerly; nor do we intend to waste words upon the false and narrow basis upon which the plea is founded. For, if "wisdom is better than riches," if "the merchandise of it is better than silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold," and yet the choicest viands of the feast of knowledge are all untasted by multitudes who are bidden to it, - if thus the crown is withheld from the head of that system to which it most justly belongs, or at the least is deprived of many of its jewels, — if, in fine, the generous and protracted efforts of the wise and good to inspire a love of knowledge, and provide the means of attaining it, are to result in any thing higher than hastening the day of entrance into the warehouse or the workshop, or in any thing worthier than thwarting the munificent designs of that Providence, which has assigned so long a duration to the period of youth, as if for the very purpose of guarding its mental and moral development; then we cannot err in opposing that spirit, which assigns to the various occupations of life what it deems a competency of knowledge, and hastens to close the door to all which lies beyond. That spirit which not only errs in assigning the highest value to the lowest quantity, and thereby exalting what should be the means to the position of an end, but with equal blindness overlooks the surest method of securing even the fancied end itself.

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The causes which are usually assigned for the evil in question, we do not wish to discuss. They are various, and all more or less efficient; and all, moreover, frequently and fully exhibited. But there is one so general and efficient, and either embracing or supporting so many others, as to merit a special consideration, and that is, erroneous or defective views of the true nature of the Practical, and consequently of the Practical Nature of Education.

Few indeed, at the present day, lightly esteem education as such all acknowledge and eulogize its worth. But most persons are devoted to a practical life, and whilst they would covet a practical education, they do not esteem education in the abstract, as practical. Here may the earnest and enlight ened teacher take his stand, and do good service to the cause in which he is enlisted. Let him listen with favor to the usual request of parental solicitude, that practical studies should alone be taught. Let him have the wisdom to direct the current which he cannot oppose and instead of attempting to

allay the passion for practical pursuits, let him be foremost in demanding them. But, in answer to the question, "Who will show us any good," what is practical? let his voice be heard, clear and firm, asserting and maintaining an unqualified "Eureka." Nay, more. Let him not be satisfied with convincing the understanding; but follow up his conquest by appeals to the conscience; and because knowledge, in its widest sense, shall have been proved to be practical, let its acquisition, to the fullest possible extent, be urged as a duty. If, in this general method, no success shall be achieved, little but adventitious improvement may be expected from any other.

The diffident and desponding, to whom the fruits of knowledge seem inviting, but "too high" for them to attain to, will be aided by sympathy, and may yield to words of counsel. And happy he, who, drawing from the archives of the past, and the bright examples of living men, the innumerable incentives to persevering industry and self-denial, may incite them forward in the pathway of the scholar, to the scholar's reward. A more thankless task will await him, who, by his own personal influence and efforts, shall hope to make any considerable advance against that eagerness for material pursuits, and impatience of mental discipline, which characterize the larger portion of the young, and that apathy towards any decided efforts in study, beyond those essential to the mere purposes of business, so universally prevalent. But let the judgment be set right, and motives to intellectual exertion be drawn from the right source, and much will be secured, and secured permanently. Now we know of no surer method of attaining these results than the frequent and earnest illustration of the proposition already stated; that, in whatever manner or degree any of the ordinary employments of life are practical, education is eminently so. Are patience, self-control, and a close and exclusive attention to one's own affairs, practical? Where shall they be more successfully acquired than in the exercises of a well-regulated schoolroom? Are quickness of perception, the power of communicating knowledge, correctness of judgment, and refinement of taste deemed practical acquisitions, let it be shown, as with a sunbeam, how the various studies of an extended course, in a hundred ways, contribute to their growth. Is providing for the nourishment of the body, and the increase of goods, the "one thing" practical? Educated industry will not fail of the preeminence here. Is the improvement of mankind, the doing good to our fellow-men, an object of paramount desire? Lay aside that musty volume; Greek and Latin will do for the recluse; we wish for something practical. Thus may one have addressed the poor monk of Erfurth, as he toiled in the solitude of the cloister. But Reformation lay hid in the knowl

edge he was acquiring, and the Protestant world is to-day the practical result of Luther's study of the classics. And so might every step in the world's progress be a triumphant rebuke of a similar demand to banish abstract study.

But surely railroads are practical. Yes, but why? Because they furnish facilities for travelling. But of what use is that? Surely, to create and extend business. But of what use is that? To increase the comforts of life; to enable men to build and furnish houses; in a word, to create wealth; and wealth may insure leisure, and freedom from toil. But, once more, of what use are these? of what practical value, what, unless to enable their possessor to devote to purposes of intellectual and moral cultivation, the time and powers which must otherwise be devoted to his physical wants? For none will claim as a practical desideratum that vulgar leisure which, without refinement, displays its vanity or grossness, and which, without the previ ous toil, is as much the possession of the peacock or the swine, as of any of our favored race. Here, then, we find business, in its most material forms, culminating in education. He then, who directly and in early life, secures that, which years of toil and material changes are alone subsidiary to, is the practical man, and the practical is that which most immediately ministers to the highest aspirations of our nature. The stately monument is practical; for it calls up the memories of the past, inspires hope in the future, and strengthens the love of country. Much more does the study of history do the same. But our object is statement, not illustration. The human soul was not designed to be materialized in its passage through this world. It will at length return to God who gave it; and he will be found to have been the most practical, for all the high purposes of his being, whose spirit shall return at last, not a "withered and a sapless thing," but full grown and vigorous, expanded in its powers, to honor "Him who gave it." And here is the moral element of most direct and powerful influence over the young, in promoting their education. Let it be clearly seen that truth, all truth, is the appointed nutriment of the mind; and that, to the extent of one's privileges, he is accountable for its improvement. In a word, let it be well understood and felt, that for one's own happiness, or that of the world, a well-educated mind is more practical than any physical attainment, and that the duty of devotion to study rests on something more authoritative than choice or interest, and we may reasonably expect the evil of which we complain, not, indeed, to be done away, but to be diminished, and education may be more generally welcomed as the truest expediency, and as a mandate of highest duty.

R.

HOME PREPARATION FOR SCHOOL.

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Ir is an old saying, which has lost none of its truth by age, that "Knowledge is power." Power wisely directed is a positive good a desirable acquisition. Whatever tends to promote mental cultivation, by which the mind is enabled to gain knowledge, especially if its influence upon moral culture is also good, deserves the consideration of those who are laboring to promote the interests of education.

"Home preparation for school" embraces a great variety of topics. We shall, however, confine our remarks to that part of "home preparation" which consists in learning at home, every day, one or more lessons to be recited at school; and to the duty of teachers to assign such lessons to their pupils, and of parents to interest themselves so much in these home lessons, as to allow their children ample time to learn them. If we shall succeed in demonstrating the value of such home preparation to the pupil, to the family of which he is a member, to the school, and to society, we shall not need to urge upon teachers and parents the duty alluded to; for those who sustain so important relations belong, or should belong, to the class of wise men and women to whom "a word is sufficient."

1. The advantages of such home preparation to the pupil himself. A good education, the proper cultivation of the intellectual powers, consists not so much in the amount of knowledge acquired, as in the ability to acquire knowledge; not so much in the ability to receive instruction from the lips of another, as in the ability to investigate truth for one's self; not in having difficulties made easy and taken clean out of the way, but in removing them by one's own effort. Such being the design of learning lessons, it is obvious that lessons learned at home are ordinarily much more valuable than lessons learned at school. How are lessons commonly learned at school?

The pupil sits down to his task which is to be recited at a given time. He meets with a difficulty a little time is spent upon it, and if he cannot pretty readily solve it, he applies to his teacher for help, or obtains permission to speak to another in whose power he has more confidence than in his own. He would often study longer by himself, but time passes, and if he waits, the lesson will not be ready in season for recitation. Or, it may be, he passes over with little study the more difficult parts of the lesson, learning only the easier, and depending upon help from the teacher at time of recitation, which is near at hand. Even if the lesson is well learned, the pupil passes directly from

the book to the recitation.

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Contrast this with the manner of learning the lesson at home. It is conned over in the evening; if difficulties occur, they become the subject of careful and deliberate thought. Again and again does he return to his task; it is among the last thoughts before he sleeps, and among the first when he wakes. And he soon learns by experience that difficulties which careful and patient study seem not to remove in the evening, do, frequently, after such evening study, vanish with the night; what was dark, or dimly seen the previous evening, is now bright as the rising sun. Such an exercise begets strength;-strength of intellect; strength of purpose; confidence in one's own powers; and an independence of the aid of others, which he seldom feels whose study hours are confined to the schoolroom. Is not the pupil's education very much more advanced by such home study than by lessons ordinarily learned at school?

Let us suppose a school term to consist of twelve weeks, and that one such lesson is learned per day, making seventy-two lessons in the term. What a stride has the pupil taken in his education, which he has not begun to take whose studies have been confined to the schoolroom. Not only has he learned these seventy-two lessons, but his mind has been more cultivated by the exercise than it would be by learning twice seventy-two lessons in the schoolroom. Nor is this all. His progress in study in school to-day, is all the easier and the more rapid and pleasant, in consequence of the exercise of the last evening. Moreover, each successive evening lesson becomes easier as the mind acquires strength by such deliberate and patient study. Longer tasks are cheerfully undertaken and learned. It is not unlike a daily deposit of small savings in a bank, that allows daily compound interest for the sums deposited. Such daily deposits for three, six, or nine months in the year, for a period of ten years, will swell to a large amount by the time the youth is twenty-one years of age; a capital which almost every young man ought to possess, and which will yield a revenue that will both bless its possessor, and render him a far greater blessing to society than he could be without it.

Were this a capital of Federal money, and should we show how much a daily deposit of five cents for six months of each year, for the ten years from six to sixteen, would amount to at the age of twenty-one, its value to a young man just entering upon life would be justly appreciated. But what is a capital of dollars compared with the capital acquired by time spent in cultivating one's intellectual and moral nature; with that power which superior education gives a man or woman at any period

of life?

But this advantage resulting from such home preparation is of little value compared with another to be mentioned. We all

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