considered as fixed. There is a universal faith that light as well as liberty, knowledge as much as material comforts, justly belong to every human being. Every year the popular interest in education increases, and sooner or later we shall have and use the best means of intellectual culture which the wit of man can devise. But a still more important question is to be settled, which is, By what means shall intellectual refinement and energy be so inwrought with noble moral faith and purposes, as to create and sustain a life at once pure, useful and heroic? No doubt education has been the greatest blessing to this country; and it is because it has been conducted on a larger plan than that of mere mental culture - because high moral aims have been infused through every department of education.

The question, what the teacher has to do with the moral deportment, was then considered at length. No one has a greater opportunity for exerting a moral power, and thence arises the responsibility of the teacher to exert a moral influence. The bearing of the teacher has much to do with his moral power but his influence does not depend wholly upon this. The relation which he establishes between himself and his pupils is of great importance. Every teacher should make it an object to study to secure the affections of his pupils.

Sometimes, said Mr. Reynolds, bare authority should be made prominent; sometimes, perhaps, emulation may be used to stimulate a careless mind. But the less we have of these motives, and the more we appeal to the child's sense of what is right, just and proper, the more healthy will be the influence of school instruction and discipline.

But, above all, the conduct of a teacher must show that he reverences his own work, and will use, for its furtherance, no instruments but the noblest and truest. How efficaciously many persons are toiling to efface the hand-writing of truth from the young heart. Thirsting for popular applause rather than real success; toiling for transient and not permanent results; putting all that is brilliant and attractive in the foreground, and studiously covering up what is weak and unsound; what are these teaching their charge but lessons of deception, and leading them to value the appearance above the reality? I instinctively shrink from all shams and shows in this noble cause of education. I dislike all that would tempt a teacher to put his trust in outward props of any sort, rather than in the solid worth of his teaching. I can never witness what are so appropriately called exhibitions, without more than doubting their utility; without feeling that they cost more than they are worth, that the momentary power they give does not compensate for the wound they inflict upon the teacher's moral influence, and the temptations they offer to the child's moral nature. No doubt the instructors who resort

to such methods, do so with the most honorable motives. But when we consider how much special training these exhibitions necessitate, how the true interests of the school are for weeks, and even for months, made subservient to their success; when, especially, and as having direct reference to our subject, we remember how much dulness and ignorance must be put out of sight that they may succeed, and so how poor, nay, often false an indication they are of the real advancement of the pupils, I cannot understand how their use can be defended. I verily believe that, generally, they weaken a teacher's moral power. Sometimes they must degrade the moral standard of every thoughtful pupil.

Of course there are many exceptions to these remarks. When an exhibition shows in its face its real purpose, and so does no injustice to the truth, and especially when it is of an elocutionary character, and presupposes careful preparation, it is certainly innocent, and may, by awaking popular interest, increase a teacher's power to do good. But, after all, as a law, the less the sacred cause of education has to do with shows and ⚫ spectacles the better. And the more plainly the teacher makes it manifest by his whole conduct, that he intends to be loyal to the truth, even to his own loss, that he will not stand anywhere for more than his real value, that he desires that everybody should know the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, about his teaching and its results, the more sincere will be the reverence which his pupils will cherish for him, and the more wholesome and abiding the influence which he will exert over them.

On the subject of the proper estimate of the teacher's character, Mr. Reynolds said, I am satisfied that nothing has warred more with the teacher's usefulness, in times past, than the low ideas of professional character which have prevailed. What must have been the general conception of the office and work of an instructor of youth, when a genial, loving spirit, like Washington Irving, could create that miserable effigy of a man, Ichabod Crane, and call it a teacher? Does it not bear witness to a very poor state of public feeling, when it was believed by too many, that he who was fit for nothing else, would do very well for a schoolmaster? When he who was neither strong enough to guide the plough, nor eloquent and learned enough to dignify a profession, was thought to be quite equal to holding the rod and teaching the elements? When many a man was willing to trust the education of the mind and heart of his children to one into whose hands he would scarcely have thought of committing the care of his flocks and his herds? What could be expected from such a state of public sentiment but mediocrity, or worse?

In conclusion, Mr. R. congratulated the Institute on the change which has been wrought in public sentiment during the last few years. Said he, I welcome everything that ennobles your conception of your work. I rejoice in the establishment of these Normal Schools, if for no other reason than because they declare that teaching is a profession, distinct and important, requiring its own peculiar training and discipline. I rejoice in the multiplication of these Teachers' Associations, if they accomplish nothing else than to awaken in you a profound sense of professional dignity and responsibility. Let them justify their existence. Suffer them to exercise a beneficent influence upon you. I bid you foster every noble sentiment concerning your chosen work. Enlarge the scope of your duties. Feel that the solemn work entrusted to your charge is nothing less than the culture of the whole nature of childhood. And be assured that nothing beneath religious fidelity, and nothing short of entire consecration, will enable you to achieve, as you should, full success in your mission.

At the close of the lecture, the topics presented in it were discussed with much animation by several gentlemen.

Mr. Greenleaf, of Brooklyn, N. Y., said he agreed with the lecturer, so far as he went, but thought he did not go far enough. To show the necessity for more moral training, he stated a fact respecting an individual who said that he was the only one remaining, of thirteen young men, fitted for business at one academy, who had not gone down to graves of infamy. The necessity for making early efforts to impress the mind with moral sentiments was urged. The great question now is, not who shall instruct best in the sciences, but who shall form characters that will stand.

Mr. Pierce, of Newton, expressed his approbation of the lecture. He regarded it as complete in its justness, lucidness and comprehensiveness. He was particularly pleased on account of its true representation of the lamentable indifference. to the subject of moral education, in connection with our schools. The object of all education is, to produce in men the image of God-holiness. What was said on the subject of exhibitions, he was also much pleased with.

Mr. Bulkley, of Brooklyn, N. Y., liked the idea thrown out by the lecturer, that teachers should never grow old. It is impossible to reach the heart of a child, unless in teaching we are children. In proportion to our simplicity will be our success. The good effects of the social gathering in the afternoon were then referred to with approbation.

Mr. Wetherell, of Amherst, Mass., thought that the duty of moral training did not lie with teachers, but with parents. He doubted whether it was in the power of teachers to make a

moral community. It is in vain for teachers to work, unless the work is also done by parents. He did not rely so much on the influence of teachers as Mr. Greenleaf did, and he could not agree with him, that if parents would do their duty, in training children "in the way they should go," there was any fear they would not lead moral lives.

Mr. Greenleaf briefly responded, explaining his views still farther, and expressing his opinion, that, whatever parents may do, many may fail, in consequence of evil influences around them, to become good moral citizens.

Dr. Coles, of Boston, subscribed to the general doctrine of the lecture; but he thought that something more should have been said on the importance of physical education. He felt called upon to express his strong protest against many habits in eating and drinking, and he especially denounced the use of tobacco in any form by pupils, and said that he hoped the American Institute of Instruction would never give its countenance to any teacher who used tobacco.

Mr. Wm. D. Swan, of Boston, then moved, that the subject of the lecture be laid on the table, to be taken up, for further discussion, to-morrow-which was agreed to; and on his motion, the following Committee was appointed, to nominate a list of officers for the ensuing year:-Messrs. Wm. D. Swan, Wm. D. Ticknor, and George Allen, Jr., of Boston, Mr. Woolson, of Portland, and Mr. J. W. Bulkley, of Brooklyn, N. Y. The meeting then adjourned.

SECOND DAY-MORNING SESSION.

At ten o'clock, the Institute was called to order. Prayer was offered by Rev. Thomas Hill, of Waltham, Mass.

Mr. Cyrus Pierce, of Newton, offered the following Resolution:-RESOLVED, That a Committee be appointed by the Chair, to consider the comparative and real merits of Webster's and Worcester's Dictionaries, in respect to definitions, orthography, and orthoëpy, especially in their adaptation, as standard works, to the use of our common schools, and to report at the next session of this Institute.

The Resolution was sustained by Messrs. Pierce and Wetherell, of Amherst, and was opposed by Messrs. Hedges, of Newark, N. J., Perry, of New London, Conn., and Baker, of Gloucester.

Mr. Baker moved its indefinite postponement.

Mr. Bunker, of Nantucket, moved the previous question, which was sustained.

The motion for indefinite postponement, was then carried by a nearly unanimous vote.

Professor J. G. Hoyt, of Exeter, N. H., was introduced as the lecturer of this forenoon. His subject was

THE EVIDENCES OF PROGRESS IN EDUCATION.

Of course a comparison was necessarily instituted as to a great variety of topics. As to the "lost arts," so called, he said he did not believe any really valuable art had ever been lost, though it is true that there is no power known to us by which the stupendous masses of rock can be moved, as they were moved in former ages, nor have we any instruments with which the copper facings of some of their works can be cut so smooth as they were cut by them.

As to the works of literature, those of the ancients were, in a great degree, frivolous, relating to cooking and trifling questions.

The evil effects of a misdirected education were pointed out in a forcible manner, and the importance of right mental and moral discipline to the masses in our country, was set forth and urged by a variety of illustrations. To show the amount of mental progress which has been made, a thorough investigation was entered into as to the difference between the former training in mathematics and our own. The especial fitness of mathematical studies to improve the mind was shown by the fact, that it requires a regular gradation in improvement and power of thought from the plainest propositions to the most abstruse; also, in the fact that no particle of real acquisition which is ever made, is lost it becomes a part of the mind itself. Other peculiar advantages of the study of mathematics in mental training were pointed out, such as that it deals with abstract truths and affords mental exertion without stimulating the passions or emotions. But the crowning excellence of mathematics is its fitness to induce habits of concentrated, continuous and patient thought. The one grand object in mental education is to teach the people to think. It is, doubtless, true that there is less vicarious thinking now than ever before, but there are not a few who are content to stand in the shadow of a great name, and "crook the pregnant hinges of the knee" to a great man. Not a few are disposed to cough when their theological or political hero happens to take cold. But the number of these is growing "small by degrees and beautifully less."

M

The good results of our Common Schools were then shown, by a comparison of the number of patents issued to the Free, with that issued to the Slave States. Of the 16,685 which have been issued previous to 1850, about 14,000 of them were issued to the Free States where Common Schools exist. Of these, New York has received 3,245, and Massachusetts 2,171, while Virginia, "the mother of Presidents," has received only 568.