elling farther and farther into the depths of space, until the influence of our puny globe is diffused throughout the measureless universe, until its existence is known and its power acknowledged by the most distant star that inhabiteth the suburbs of creation.

Thus wide is your sphere; thus vast your power. A simple thought you may communicate to day, shall awake a fellow thought, create a new desire, excite a new motive, inflame a new aspiration, and each of these shall beget in endless generation, kindred emotions, until the one original little thought shall have so multiplied itself as to pervade and leaven the whole character,- till it shall have become an integral part of the being. And thus bearing about through life the indelible impress it at first received, it will, it must communicate thereof to others' minds, and they in their turn to others and to others in an everwidening and ever-expanding sphere, until it shall have compassed the world and traversed all time. This is no idle fancy. Cæsar and Alexander are in a real measure responsible for the bloody career of a Napoleon; and a Washington shall animate to patriotic thought and patriotic deed so long as one generous impulse resides in the human heart.

Thus does the teacher reproduce himself perpetually. Our influence can never die. These bodies shall go to their graves and be forgotten. But that which through life has been radiating from our spirit, shall be ever living and ever busy. And if we are faithful and true, it shall be a part of our future delight, with the acute vision of the redeemed, actually to perceive those impulses which have had their parentage in our own hearts, become our faithful ministers, perpetuating our character, going to and fro among men, restraining the reckless, whispering courage to fainting virtue, inspiring a love for the good and true, animating to lofty purpose, and guiding the nobler yearnings of the spirit upward, heavenward. Thus a single word kindly and fitly spoken may foster a holy principle, which in its endless succession of saving influence, shall garner into eternity a golden harvest of good fruits and rich rewards, that shall abundantly repay the labors of a life.

With faith, with faith, then, behold the recompense of your present toils, when with this vast retinue of results you appear before your Judge, with happy confidence exclaiming, "Here, Lord, am I, and those whom thou hast given me." Then, and not till then, shall we receive final and complete compensation. Yet even here do we receive rich reward, as those who have been moulding their minds under our guidance go forth from us bearing our image, to do the great battles of life, and we discern the results of our school-room toils in their conduct and successes. Wherefore in the midst of vexation of spirit, of weariness of soul and flesh, disheartened by the appearance of unproductive and

unrequited devotion, take courage, have faith. Your wages shall come. You are daily making investments, which shall yield increase either of good or ill. This God himself has made infallible by the very constitution of mind. So sure as influence is sown, so sure shall it return to thee again with its vast harvest of results, having faithfully fulfilled its mission to ten thousand hearts, ministering of good or ill. Wherefore, fellow teacher, in patience and in faith, "learn to labor and to wait."

A WORD FITLY SPOKEN, HOW GOOD IS IT! "LITTLE things" make up the sum of human existence. In the natural world, objects, animate and inanimate, are composed of particles. Innumerable shining sands form the barrier against which old Ocean loves to fret. Crystal drops compose the vast extent of water which covers nearly three-fourths of our globe. The "blessed light," which cheers us day by day, may be separated into an infinite number of rays, each blending with its neighbor while faithfully performing its work. And the rich odors, so greatful to the senses, which float in our atmosphere, are actually tiny atoms, escaping from the dewy petals of the rose or lily, which blossoms at our feet. Meet emblems are those odors, floating round us all unseen, of the influence of "fitly spoken" words.

Words are among the "little things" which determine our influence for good or ill.

Speak they of sympathy, or encouragement, or reproof, if so be they are spoken kindly, they are like "apples of gold, in pictures of silver."

And no class has the privilege or opportunity of distributing so largely these small but precious coins, as the teacher. True, many are the words of counsel and instruction that fall from a parent's lip. But they are confined chiefly to those of his own household. The faithful pastor, as he kindly cares for all his flock, passes not by the lowliest, even without some "fitly spoken" word, which may, perchance, sink deeply in the youthful heart, there taking root, to bring forth fruit, long perhaps after he who planted the good seed shall have passed away. But his intercourse is limited, while the teacher meets daily with his band. And daily is his own character partially recreated in each one of his number, through the medium of his words. It is his to prune and fashion the slender sapling, which shall hereafter become the mighty oak. To his keeping is given the gold, while molten, and he may mould it in what form soever he pleaseth. To him is entrusted the fertile soil of deathless. intellect, and whether the seeds there scattered shall produce flowers that will cheer and bless with their life-giving fragrance,

or blast and destroy with their poisonous breath, depends very

much on him.

Would you have influence with those who look to you for guidance and instruction? bear with you the law of kindness. Would you command their respect? let your words, though they inflict pain for the time, drop kindly from your lips. Would you lead them all in her ways, whose paths are pleasantness and peace? labor constantly, earnestly, kindly. The child has his troubles, as well as the man, and they are as hard for him to bear. Therefore he needs words of sympathy. Let him have them, let him have them too from his teacher. And let that teacher remember, he has done no vain thing, for he has made a human being happier, and perchance saved him the "loss of a day." For it is the wonderful virtue of sympathy to lessen grief, and the troubled spirit soothed, will rouse again its energies, and toil on as before.

The youthful heart, too, however hopeful, will sometimes be depressed, discouraged.

Then a single word, if it be "fitly spoken" by a loved teacher, will, like the magician's wand, work wonders. And when the word of reproof is needed, let not the faithful teacher shrink from duty, but rebuke, exhort, entreat, with all patience, and he shall win the reward of his well-doing.

OLD METHODS AND NEW ONES.

Sempora mutendur et nos mutamus cum illis.

THERE is danger in the adoption of so many new ideas of teaching, that we may neglect many good customs, well tried and tested, but crowded out of notice by the bustle of innovation. Among these is the use of the Sum-book, now discarded, but very useful in forming a good clerk-teaching him to write fig ures and arrange them neatly; giving an interest to the calculation on the slate, that it be correct as about to be registered and dignified with a place in a book. The arguments on the other side are, that it will offer an inducement to idleness; be too much help in review, and take too much time. As to the first, it may be said the moral sense of a school should be a bar to that; and also of the second, that we must ever be putting boys upon their honor. The third reason falls to the ground, when it is considered that pupils write very little with any object beyond writing. Most copies are written to be of no value and with no object. Here is one. It is truly surprising how well boys will write, and compose too, who are engaged in any real occasion of writing; a letter to father for some money, or to mother for some cake and goodies to cheer the pangs of absence from home.

In learning Latin is there any way better than that pursued at the Latin School in Boston, under Master Gould? Does any grammar supersede his? Digging was the word then. The pupil was cast loose with dictionary and grammar, to find his way, to dig out the sense of his author.

Take Columbus sailing into new seas where he knew there must be land; he finds at last the plan of the language, with something of the zest of discovery, and if he conquers the tongue, with something of the joy of conquest. He finds out a philosophy of language by feeling his way from fact to fact, as the observer of nature deduces plan in her operations from repeated evidences of design.

Another old method was, introducing into our schools rewards and punishments. What a difficult question is here! If our schools were made up of American youth, there could be but one reply to the question whether the ferule be laid aside entirely; but our schools are filled up with foreign children, brought up under a religion of fear, accustomed at home to motives of fear. Let the wise decide this question,-what teachers ought to do. Dr. Arnold, of Rugby School, thought bad boys ought to be removed from the school-room. But we cannot afford to do this we want to make bad boys, good; for this our schools are established.

We cannot have select schools for good boys, and leave the

idle and disobedient to the street. Before we do this last hopeless act, after everything else has been tried, let Solomon's rule be applied, and perhaps, I say, in laying on the rod we may save the child.

One of the best schools in a certain elongated part of Massa. chusetts ever taught,-if we may judge a tree by its fruits, and of a school by the gratitude of the pupils in mature life,-was kept by an old man, very kind, but very despotic and impartial. He took his pay in work from the boys when they could not pay money, and received all applicants who desired his instruction. Boys," he would say, "you must not throw stones, nor lie; get your lessons, and study to be kind to every living thing." If his rules were broken, he used the rod freely. He taught many a shipmaster navigation, and lately made safe harbor, we trust, in heaven, following the star of truth for a long life.

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Resident Editors' Cable.

Resident Editors. JOSHUA BATES, JR. WILLIAM_D. SWAN,
J. D. PHILERICK,

GIDEON F. THAYER,

}

OUR JOURNAL.

of Boston.

B.

THIS publication does not owe its birth to accident or chance, or to individual enterprise. It had its origin in the need which teachers felt, of a Teacher's Journal, one which should record the thoughts and experience of practical teachers. To build up the profession, and to carry forward the cause of education, it was felt that something was needed of a different description from most of the matter which comes before the public, on the subject of education. The Massachusetts Teacher was designed to supply this want.

Calls for

The steady increase of its subscription list is an encouraging fact, and seems to promise permanency and success. complete sets are coming in from other States, as well as from our own. The question of its continuance seems to be no longer doubtful. But the question now is, how can it be improved so that it may meet the wants of the greatest number, and more fully accomplish the object for which it was designed? This question the Editors and Publisher are earnestly trying to solve. They hope to make it a publication acceptable and useful to all classes of instructors, and to all the friends of education. It is their design to mingle in its pages the discussion of elevated themes, adapted to the study of the reflecting and philosophic mind, with directions for the elementary steps in commencing the work of school-keeping. They will aim to lay before their