LETTER TO PUPIL TEACHERS.
No. IV.

and the lectures delivered, though
homely and unpretending, were full of
sound information, and such as could
only be understood by those who lis-
tened with thoughtful, and, to a certain
extent, well-furnished minds; and on
looking upon the students there was an
appearance of simplicity, and earnest-

My dear young Friends, There is, perhaps, no evil so universal as pride: we all know too well what it is from our own painful experience, and it is hardly possible for us to be placed in circumstances which are calculated to draw it forth without being tempted to give way to its suggestions. Whenever, therefore, we are consciousness, and lowliness of deportment, such of being in such a position, it becomes necessary for us to be doubly on our guard, and to watch and pray against the temptation. Now, have you ever felt that this is a danger to which you are peculiarly exposed as Pupil Teachers? You are raised above the children, and have to exercise some degree of authority over them; in all cases to be raised above others is a temptation to pride and self-conceit; and the temptation is generally strongest when the change of position is recent. No one can have noticed the general tone and manner of children when set to be monitors of classes without feeling how great is this danger. And I fear that a visit to all the Schools where Pupil Teachers are apprenticed would give little reason to doubt that the danger extends to them. You have been making, too, some progress in your studies, and have advanced a little in these beyond your former companions; true, it is but a little; still you will be apt to think it more than it really is; and the less it is, the more likely is it to prove a snare to you. Had you acquired anything that deserves the name of deep and solid learning, you would be fully conscious of how little you knew, and find it easier to form a modest estimate of your own attainments; but it is those who are gaining the mere rudiments of knowledge who are ever found most apt to think highly of the progress they have made. The contrast was once very forcibly impressed upon my own mind in visiting two Training Institutions in London: in one the instruction given was of a very superior character,

as I had never observed at any Train-
ing Institution before. At the other
Institution on the contrary, the charac-
ter of the instruction given seemed
rather to be superficial, and the manners
of the students were proportionably
conceited: one young man especially
excited my attention, (though there
were others almost as bad,) with a head
of long hair which he was every now
and then shaking with that peculiar
toss which silly young men get into the
habit of giving; he seemed by every
moment to bent upon saying,
"See
what a fine fellow I am! See how well
I teach;" and however he may have
fancied that he was gaining the admira-
tion of beholders, he certainly succeeded
only in exciting disgust. My dear
young friends, if you would secure the
esteem of all whose esteem is worth
having, guard against everything that
borders upon the appearance of vanity,
self-conceit, and affection; strive "not
to think of yourselves more highly than
you ought to think, but to think soberly;"
and let your whole conduct be one be-
coming those who are humbly and
earnestly endeavouring to fit themselves
for a station, which, if not highly ex-
alted, may yet be one of deep responsi-
bility and extensive usefulness. Re-
member, too, that though you may have
the good sense not to tell everybody by
your outward manner how vain and
self-conceited you are, yet pride lies
deeply seated in every human heart, and
nothing but the grace of God can re-
strain its inward promptings. Then be
earnest in prayer for that grace which
alone can enable you to cultivate a

'The Bames of England."

Set to Music for the Magazine.

3rd.

The free fair Homes of England,
Long, long, in hut and hall,

May hearts of native proof be rear'd
To guard each hallowed wall;

And green for ever be the groves,
And bright the flowery sod,

Where first the child's glad spirit loves
Its country, and its God.

* In the 2nd and 3rd verses, this note must be sung as a quaver.

EXTRACTS.

"He had a strong belief in the gene- | manliness have been united with faith ral union of moral and intellectual ex- and goodness.' And in the case of boys, cellence. I have now had some years' his experience led him, to use his words. experience,' he once said in preaching in a letter to a friend, 'more and more at Rugby, I have known but too many to believe in this connexion, for which of those who in their utter folly have divers reasons may be given. One, said in their heart, there was no God; and a very important one, is, that but the sad sight for assuredly none ability puts a boy in sympathy with can be more sad of a powerful, an his teachers in the matter of his work, earnest, and an inquiring mind seeking and in their delight in the works of truth, yet not finding it the horrible great minds; whereas a dull boy has sight of good deliberately rejected and much more sympathy with the unedu. evil deliberately chosen-the grievous cated, and others to whom animal enwreck of earthly wisdom united with joyments are all in all.' 'I am sure,' spiritual folly I believe that it has he used to say, 'that in the case of boys, been, that it is, that it may be-Scrip- the temptations of intellect are not ture speaks of it, the experience of comparable to the temptations of dullothers has witnessed it; but I thank ness; and he often dwelt on 'the fruit God that in my own experience I have which he above all things longed for never witnessed it yet; I have still-moral thoughtfulness, the inquiring found that folly and thoughtfulness love of truth going along with the dehave gone to evil; that thought and voted love of gooodness.—Arnold's Life.

"Look, then, at the neglected igno- | comprehensive purpose, paramount to rant class in their childhood and youth. One of the most obvious circumstances is, that there is not formed in their minds anything of the nature of an estimate of the life before them. The hu man being should, as early as possible, have fixed within him a notion of what he is in existence for, of what the life before him is for. It ought to be among the chief of the things which he early becomes aware of, that the course of activity he is beginning should have a leading principle of direction, some predominant aim, a general and

the divers particular objects he may pursue. It should be be as much in his settled apprehension as the necessity of his having an employment in order to live, that there is something it imports him to be, which he will not become, merely by passing from one day into another, by eating, growing taller, and stronger, seizing what share he can of noisy sport, and performing appointed portions of work; and that not to be, that which it so imports him to be, will of necessity be to be worthless and miserable."-J. Foster.

REVIEW.

the difference between an inflected language like the Latin, and an uninflected one like the English. The principles of syntax require that every word should be separately accounted for; and there is as much sense in describing "I will love,' as a tense, as there would be in resuscitating the six cases of the noun. Have not "to" and "by" a

OBSERVATIONS ON TEACHING ENGLISH | but bad English ones, and there is all GRAMMAR, &c.; a Paper read before the Church School Masters' Association, by one of the Members. London: T. B. White, South Lambeth. The above is a very praiseworthy contribution, from a Member of a Society formed for the highly creditable object of mutual improvement. If other proofs were wanting in favour of the fitness of its author to deal with a difficult sub-right to be termed auxiliary prepositions ject, the excellence of its composition would be sufficient, while the humility with which his views are maintained would disarm the critic who was disposed to impugn one or two of his positions. His wise remark, that with little children we should teach "without technicalities," may be extended to other subjects besides grammar. The least satisfactory portion of the Paper is that which treats upon the old and new methods of conjugating verbs. He favors the older plan of multiplying imaginary moods and tenses after the model of the Latin, and assigns as his reason that "it is calculated to make good grammarians, as in all our Grammar Schools it is well known that English is taught through the medium of the Latin." The Grammar Schools may have made good Latin grammarians, |

forming a dative and an ablative case, as much as "will" and "may," and we will add, "must" and "need" and "dare" to be called auxiliary verbs? The remarks upon the advantage of learning grammar are very good, and we have pleasure in making the following useful quotation:- "Our safety lies in the conviction of the solemn responsibility which rests upon us, as well as upon the ministers of the Gospel, to seek before all things the welfare of the souls entrusted to our charge. Taking care that this is never lost sight of, the teacher who is actuated by a sense of duty will remember that, in addition to and subservient to this, he has to educate his pupils for the discharge of the duties of that state of life to which it shall please God to call them, and who knows what that state may be ?"