Society.

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In the family there is the authority of the father, who rules while he protects, and the ever-watchful care of the mother, who provides for the wants of all; and this, in our instruction, will be the type of society. It will not enter into details about different forms of government, or into the political discussions they would entail; for this would be to forget that it is children that we have to deal with. But in order to guard them against errors which are too rife, we shall impress upon them that the nation to which they belong is a vast aggregate of families, among which their own is an almost imperceptible unit. have already alluded to the running account between the child and his parents; and here we shall point out another between the child and society. We shall call the attention of the young citizen to the innumerable benefits which he daily and hourly receives from men in every station and relationship of life. Another thing that should also be pointed out, is the necessity for public authority, which must, after the example of the father and mother in a family, govern the wills of individuals, and turn to the advantage of society at large all that each citizen. undertakes for his own selfish benefit. Your pupils will not be slow in discovering that obedience is as indispensable to the economy of the state as of the household. They will also easily understand, that as all the members of the social state derive advantages from its union, so each is bound to contribute to the general fund, and not to live for himself alone.

The Human Race composed of divers Nations.

Our course of language cannot include one of general geography and ethnography; but it presupposes in our pupils the elements of this important branch of human knowledge, as well as the image of the globe or map of the world, which from the eye will have been transmitted to the imagination. The reading lessons which precede grammatical instruction must be of an interesting and instructive nature, and why should not they be partly

taken from geography, in order to teach children their position in this world, on which they are born, and on which they live, surrounded by the whole human race? This geography requires an introduction; and its first lessons must be taken from the child's native place. He must learn to observe and to reflect on all that surrounds him, in order to lay up in store the points of comparison, which he will afterwards need, that he may picture to himself the earth and its inhabitants. With this preliminary knowledge he will easily pass on from the known to the unknown, from the small to the great. This instruction must begin with the soil itself, and must point out the various objects in nature; then a topographical plan should be introduced, to represent in miniature the localities which the eye will have apprehended, and transferred to that internal mirror where are faithfully recorded the form and the colour of objects. From this plan there will be but one step to geographical maps, to the map of the world, to the globe. But if you overlook this necessary introduction, you will begin at the wrong end, and the child will have difficulty in making out the map even of his own country. If pupils do not bring with them to our course of language these general elements of geography, no time should be lost in imparting them, together with grammatical instruction, which will gain by the combination. Our own country and the earth, our nation and the whole human race; these are two important distinctions to which our course of language will not fail to direct the attention of its pupils, for they too have their own country, in which Providence placed their infancy; and thus have they been incorporated into one nation to the exclusion of every other. This nation and this country are closely connected with them, and innumerable are the benefits they have derived from them, and from them alone. Our course of language will then loudly proclaim this truth; for it will beware of converting its disciples into shallow cosmopolites, who, under pretence of being citizens of the world, and members of the whole human race, abjure their own country and nation, and bring discredit on human nature by their cold and senseless egotism. Never

theless, whilst giving to our country and its children their due, we shall guard youth against that exaggerated patriotism which despises all other nations, and would fain sacrifice them to the interests, or even the vain glory, of one alone.

All the different nations will be represented in our course of language as so many sisters, descended from the same parent stock, having the same race to run, the same rights, the same reciprocal duties; inhabiting the same globe, and encompassed by the same starry firmament. Far from disclaiming brotherhood with the vagrant hordes who still wander at the foot of the Andes, and on the shores of New Holland, or those who still grovel in their kraals, and have never yet risen to the dignity of human nature, we shall pity, and pray for them. We shall still find subject for praise in the primitive hospitality of those whom we style barbarians. We shall teach the child to see a brother in the stranger, and shall lead him to feel, “I am a man, and no human being can be alien to me.”

Nature and its Marvels.

Instruction in language, which has its own special object and process, cannot comprehend even elementary courses of natural history, astronomy, and natural philosophy; but we shall presuppose, as in the case of geography, that these will both precede and accompany our lessons. Our course of language can only, as it were, glean in this immense field, but for its own sake it should do so in various directions; some of which we shall point out now, and others hereafter.

Nature, which surrounds us on all sides, and unceasingly ministers both to our pleasures and our wants, occupies an important place in language, as well as in our thoughts. Our teaching is then in duty bound to bestow much attention upon it, if it were only in order to familiarize our pupils with the expressions which refer to so comprehensive a subject.

Our teaching requires a vast store for its developement; which, commencing with the noun joined to its article and adjective, goes through all the gradations of

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the proposition and phrase. How, then, could we afford to forego that which the face of nature so lavishly offers? for none can be more interesting or attractive to childhood, when once its attention has been awakened to the beauties, the marvels, and the grandeur of the earth and skies. Nature is the school of the human race; it opens our mind to everything that is sublime and beautiful, and feeds it with food convenient for it. To this school we owe all our learning, though, after centuries and centuries of research and discovery, we have advanced no farther than the first elements; and these are so extensive, that the life of man suffices not to comprehend them all.

Our course of language will then display the general face of nature to our pupils; although it will leave to the reading lessons which will precede and accompany it, the task of assisting us in this branch, as in geography, which last will also lend us its aid. To children who have never been taught, the earth is only a rugged surface, intersected by water, and the sky a blue ceiling. raised a little above our heads, and lighted up on bright nights with sparkling lamps; such is their world, their universe. But we must enlarge their meagre ideas. Without aiming at making them astronomers, which would be quite preposterous, we shall give them some knowledge of the heavens, of the multitude of stars, of their diversity, their respective distances, of the fixed nature of some, of the motion of others, of the perfect order and harmony that prevails throughout this heavenly host, thus scattered through the immensity of space.

On earth we shall point out the most remarkable vegetables and their several localities, their structure, their beauty, their uses, and their propagation, which last is often effected by the winds and the birds. We shall also cast a glance below the green turf, and dive into the entrails of the earth, to point out the mineral treasures which Providence has buried there.

We shall touch lightly on the most remarkable features of zoology, both on land and under water; nor shall we overlook the microscopic animals, for children ought to know how all nature teems with life, and that it is to

be found in every modification of form and size. Our zoological remarks will extend to the admirable instinct of animals, which we shall contrast, however, with what is still more admirable, human intelligence; and we shall speak of the dominion given to man over all living creatures destitute of reason. Neither shall we pass over one of his exclusive privileges, the use of fire, which is entrusted to him alone, and denied to all who exist around him.

The visible world is suspended in another, which escapes the observation of children, though it is that world which influences the visible one. It is composed of ever active powers which encircle everything, penetrate everywhere, and produce the varying scene which excites our wonder and admiration. Natural philosophy enumerates in this hidden world light, heat, attraction, electricity; and I know not how many secret agencies it must admit in order to account for the manifold effects which it observes. These learned discussions are illadapted to children, and we shall confine ourselves to what suits their feeble capacity. But when speaking to them of nature, can we pass over what is most surprising? Certainly not: so we shall, as it were, build a bridge between the material and the untangible world, in order to facilitate the transition from one to the other; for man is no better than the brute beast, if he does not soar above the grosser region of the senses.

We shall also touch upon the principal phenomena of nature, the gradation of organized life, the connecting links between its various grades, and the order and simplicity which are throughout combined with profusion and magnificence. On the other hand, we shall allude to the mysteries of nature which are incomprehensible to us, and even to its apparent irregularities, observing that these mysteries and irregularities only exist in our feeble comprehension, which cannot embrace the immense chain of the universe. We shall, therefore, accustom our pupils to say, like Socrates, "What I understand is admirable; how much more so that which is beyond my understanding!"