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blessed eras of goodness and joy all along the future course of his pupils' lives.

Surrounded by these motives, and summoned onward by these hopes, if there be any one who can ever talk of the irksome task of instructing the young, or advocate blows as the chief moral instrumentality, the first resort in cases of difficulty;-let him throw aside his books and seize the ox-goad; let his talk no longer be of children but of bullocks;—or rather, let him betake himself to stonehammering, and by cheating his imagination with the grateful delusion that granite blocks are boys' backs, get greater day's work out of his hard bones and harder heart.

What special need is there to exhort teachers to possess their souls in patience? A teacher has no more excuse for passion, because of the thousand oversights and cases of forgetfulness, and carelessness, and waywardness in a group of young children, than an orchardist has for indulging in fits of anger, because his fruits are acrid while they are yet immature, or untouched by the hues of the rainbow while they are yet unripe. Waywardness and what Carlyle calls "un-wisdom," are in the nature of childhood, as much as sourness is in the nature of an apple or a berry, before it has had time to be ripened; or, if any one objects to this expression as too condemnatory of the nature of childhood; still it can not be denied that such have been the transgressions of parents that children do inherit painful susceptibilities of evil. Yet infinitely more blameworthy are the fathers who ate the grapes, than the children whose teeth have been set on edge by their sourness. While human nature remains as it now is, we must expect much of inconsiderateness and aberration in the young. It is the special function and office of a teacher to supply the necessary ameliorating influences. But this transforming work can not be done by one day's labor, any more than harvests can be ripened by one day's sunshine. The sun and clouds might as well refuse to shine and shower, because the various growths of the summer are not perfected in a day. Yet with what calm constancy they pursue their work; and not the waste and loss of the wide wilderness restricts their bounty. Under the slanting beams of the vèrnal sun, the corn germinates, the fruit trees bud and blossom and the vine shoots up its branches. As yet, however, for all purposes of human utility, they are worthless. But is the sun wearied or discouraged? Does he not ascend the heavens; does he not lengthen his day, and pour down upon them his solstitial fervor? Still, neither in the corn, nor in the fruit is there any sustenance for man, and the young grape is more bitter than wormwood to the taste. For weeks and months that sun

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Were teachers animated by the spirit which inspires the martial hero, such a union and for such an object would not be postponed to be seen by happier men in some happier age, but we ourselves should behold it. And can not the sublimer motive give birth to the sublimer effort? Can not those whose office it is to reform their fellow-men, be as devoted and as valiant as those whose office it is to destroy their fellow-men? Is not theirs as good a fight? Will their songs of triumph be less exultant? Will not palms as fadeless crown their victories? If we marvel greatly at the bravery of men engaged in war, have we not far greater reason to marvel at the lukewarmness and unconcern of those who are engaged in the holy cause of enlightening and redeeming the race? Look at the pages of history for thousands of years, and see what those who have sought for military glory,-such lurid glory as it is,-have borne and done. Not commanders only, but subalterns and common soldiers perform feats of valor that seem incredible; and their bodies might be blown to pieces a thousand times, before the bravery of their hearts could be subdued. They scale mountainlifted forts, whose sides are precipices, while rocks like hail-stones are falling around them. The blazing hill of the terraced battery. they charge to the topmost tier. They rush to the field where the grape is showered whose vintage is blood. As siegers and besieged, they fight by day and sleep by night, within range of that newly-invented and terrific engine of destruction, which can be compared to nothing earthly but a volcano upon wheels. At the battle of Waterloo, Marshal Ney had five horses shot under him, and he dismounted from the sixth and charged the British infantry sword in hand In naval engagements, how often do officers and men ply their guns, till the very ship, which to them is the earth, and their only earth,—is swallowed in the waves. When Paul Jones engaged the Serapis, he Jashed his ship to the foe in the embrace of death. He received the enemy's broadsides, until his own vessel was almost reduced to a heap of floating splinters. Apparently sinking, he was summoned to surrender. "Surrender," said Jones, "I hav'n't yet begun to fight." Where in our ranks are the Neys and Joneses and a thousand others of the mighty men of valor? Where, amongst us, are the men who will forfeit all prospects of worldly distinction, surrender their ease, pledge their fortunes, sacrifice health, and life too, if need be, to uphold and carry forward the cause of education, which, more than any other, is the cause of God and humanity? If our motives are stronger than those of the shedders of human blood, why should not our arras and hearts be stronger than theirs also? And what do we know under

the heavens, or, I speak it with reverence, what do we know above the heavens, which can excel the high emprise in which we are embarked? The world is to be redeemed. For six thousand years, with exceptions "few and far between," the earth has been a dwellingplace of woe. There has not been an hour since it was peopled, when war has not raged, like a conflagration, on some part of the surface. In the haughtiness of despotism, on the one hand, and the debasement of vassalage, on the other, the idea of human brotherhood has been lost. The policy of the wisest nations has been no higher than to punish the crimes they had permitted, instead of rewarding the virtues they had cherished. Throughout the earth, until lately, and now, in more than three of its five grand divisions, the soldier and the priest have divided and devoured it. The mass of the human race has sojourned with animals, that is, in the region of the animal appetites; and though the moral realms have been discovered, yet how feebly have they been colonized. But it is impiety to suppose that this night of darkness and blood will always envelope the earth. A brighter day is dawning, and education is its day-star. The honor of ushering in this day, is reserved for those who train up children in the way they should go. Through this divinely appointed instrumentality, more than by all other agencies, the night of ignorance and superstition is to be dispelled, swords beat into ploughshares, captives ransomed and rivers of Plenty made to run, where the rivers of Intemperance now flow. At this sight "Angels look on and hold their breath, burning to mingle in the conflict."

But the joys and triumphs of this conflict are not for angels; they are held in trust for those teachers, who, in the language of Scripture, will take them by violence,—that is, by such a holy ardor and invincible determination as will conquer time and fate, and fulfill the conditions, on which, alone, such honors can be won. And if the strongvoiced angel, who flies through heaven crying, "Woe, woe, woe," to the inhabiters of the earth, is ever to be silenced, he will be silenced by the stronger acclamations of those whom teachers have been among the blessed and honored instruments of preparing for the ransom of the world.

NOTE. This Lecture was delivered at over thirty Conventions or Associations of Teachers in seven different States.

I. EDUCATION:-A NATIONAL INTEREST.

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT.

In the ordinance of the Congress of the Confederation in 1785, respecting "the disposing of lands in the Western territory," "section sixteen of every township was reserved for the maintenance of public schools.

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The ordinance of 1787, "for the government of the Territory northwest of the river Ohio," coufirmed the ordinance of 1785, and declared "that religion, morality and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall be forever encouraged."

The Constitution of the United States, after setting forth in the Preamble in words of sublime import the national objects for which the people of the United States had ordained this fundamental law, expressly grants to Congress the power "to dispose" of the public lands and other property-"to exercise exclusive jurisdiction" over the district to be ceded as the seat of government-and "to lay and collect taxes, &c., to provide for the common defense and general welfare."

In the Convention of 1787, which framed the Constitution, Mr. Charles Pinckney, of South Carolina, on the 29th of May and the 18th of August, and subsequently Mr. Madison, of Virginia, submitted propositions "to provide for the establishment of a National University at the seat of government," "for the advancement of useful knowledge," "and the promotion of agriculture, commerce, trades and manufactures." On the 14th of September, both of these delegates moved to insert in the list of powers vested in Congress, “to establish a university in which no preference or distinction should be allowed on account of religion." This motion was opposed by Gouverneur Morris, of New York, and was lost, as reported by Mr. Madison, expressly on the ground that the power to establish such a university was included in the grant of exclusive legislation over the district in which the government should be located. And as we learn from other sources, and from

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