rod, if faithfully applied, will subdue his stubbornness, make him respect his teacher, and perform his tasks, and restore him to perfect health.

The child, too, is almost always deluded to believe that his wilfulness is true independence of character; that his leaden sullenness is the temper of the true Damascus steel. Dear, precious, independence of character! Of how many hearts art thou the glory and the pride. Admirable, elastic principle, which forbids a man to confess a fault, yet allows him to commit a crime; which forbids him to submit to the claims of law, yet allows him to be a slave to passion; which forbids him to sign a pledge, yet allows him to lie in the gutter; which forbids him to associate with an honest laborer, yet allows him to cheat him of the just rewards of his toil. Pride, sycophancy, profanity, passion, anger, envy, and even meanness itself, all sail under the flag of independence of character.

With such perplexing difficulties, with such idle delusions, must the faithful and conscientious teacher always contend.

But, my fellow teachers, though many trials beset our way, let us faithfully struggle on, in our great work of educating the human mind; reflecting that we are the subjects of our great Master in heaven, and that the trials of our lot are but a part of a plan by which he fits us for glory. Let us maintain the integrity of that plan which, and which alone, a God of infinite wisdom has contrived to meet the moral and intellectual wants of fallen man; and be assured that the consciousness of having taught one mind the ways of life, will be of ten thousand times more value than all the flattery of fond

and doting parents, or the loathsome fawnings of the vicious child.

Let me, in conclusion, say to you all, who have so patiently heard me this morning, that I must be pardoned for bringing before you what, to many, is so unwelcome a theme; but I have only to say that I believe it to be God's plan for educating the human mind, and, therefore, best adapted to secure the present and eternal welfare and happiness of man.

Hard, indeed, I know it is, for the fond parent to wound the tender flesh of a beloved child, but that child, if left to himself, will bring down his father's "gray hairs with sorrow to the grave." Sad task for the young mother, returning from the grave of her only boy, to enter once more the lonely dwelling which had so lately rung with his happy voice, to gather up the little garments which had so lately covered his beautiful limbs, to lay aside the toys which had so lately felt the pressure of his playful hand; but it is God's plan to wean her heart from earth, and allure her soul to heaven. Hard, indeed, for the old man to bow down and weep, over the manly, but stricken form, of the son of his hopes, and the staff of his age; but God is wisely telling him that earth is not his home. And, Oh God! when it shall be our lot to close our probation here, may we not only thank thee for the blessings which have strewn our paths, but for thy chastening rod which has corrected our wanderings and guided our way.

LECTURE II.

POLITICAL ECONOMY, AS A STUDY FOR COMMON SCHOOLS.

BY AMASA WALKER.

MR. PRESIDENT, AND GENTLEMEN :

THE laws of Massachusetts, as they have for many years existed, require that orthography, reading, writing, English grammar, geography, arithmetic, and good behavior, shall be taught in all the schools in the State; and at the last session of the Legislature, physiology and hygiene were added to the list of studies, that may be required by the school committees.

All laws are presumed to be founded on some principle of propriety and right. On what principle then, let us ask, are the studies we have enumerated, prescribed for the schools of Massachusetts ?

Obviously, we think, on the principle that it is the duty of the government to provide for the instruction of the people, in all those branches of education, which are essential to the proper discharge of their duty as citizens.

By a recurrence to the studies just referred to, we shall find them, if I mistake not, of the character demanded by this principle.

Reading, for instance, is required, for the reason that no man can be expected to possess that intelligence necessary to the discharge of his duties as an elector, as one having the right of suffrage, unless he have access to those sources of information, which the press affords, or would be able even to determine, for himself, the character of his own ballot.

Writing and arithmetic, too, are required, because they are indispensable to the prosecution of business, in the usual intercourse of life, and to the proper discharge of the ordinary responsibilities of a citizen.

English grammar is specified, because a competent knowledge of the language is regarded as an essential part of the education of all children, in a country where every person may rise according to his merits, where farmers and mechanics are often called to offices of power and trust, and where a hatter may chance, in the course of his life, to find himself the governor of a commonwealth, or the president of the republic.

Geography is also required for the same reasons, since some general knowledge of the form of the earth, of the localities of different states, of the soil and productions of the different countries, is justly regarded as requisite to give the citizen that general information which he ought to possess, under a government like

ours.

The increased light which the investigations of the present age have thrown upon the science of Physiology and the laws of health, induced the legislature, at

its last session, to add these to its list of prescribed studies; obviously on the ground, that a knowledge of the different functions of the body, and the several offices they perform, was a necessary pre-requisite to their full and perfect development and preservation in vigorous and healthful action, and of course essential to the happiness and welfare of the people.

We observe then that all these studies are demanded by their utility, by the benefits they confer on the individual and the state. Astronomy, botany, and other similar studies, are not required; for however desirable as a means of expanding and improving the mind, they are not to be classed with those demanded by the laws of the state.

This list of studies is not, it would seem, to be regarded as unalterably fixed. The addition recently made shows, that there is no definite limit to the studies that may be required; on the contrary, as the advance of science, and the increasing wants of society, demand new branches of education, the state will be ready, in its parental relation to the people, to provide for their introduction into the schools.

This being the fact, we propose on this occasion to inquire whether there are not other studies that might with propriety be added to the list of those pursued under the authority of the Commonwealth.

To entitle any study or pursuit to a place in this list, it must, as we have said, be essential to the welfare and happiness of the individual, and to the proper discharge of his duties, as a member of the body politic.

There may be more than one such, there probably are, but it will be my endeavor, at this time, to show