exercise of the master's right, in the primary school, to inflict pain, as the extreme penalty of school discipline, must, under judicious management, but very seldom occur; and then, indeed, however painful it may be to the master, the moral uses of it are such as to render it his imperative duty to employ it. The calling in question his right to use this mode of discipline must tend greatly to increase, rather than diminish, the occasions of administering it.

That theory of school government which it is not safe to announce from the teacher's desk, is not safe to announce any where. That system which would naturally find sympathy with boys inclined to be vicious, should never be heard of by them. That good time dreamed of by radical reformers, is never coming, when juvenile delinquents or adult criminals will be less inclined to wrong-doing, by the advocacy of such a theory of moral discipline. That good time is never coming, when indolence will be quickened and passion checked, or the power of temptation be awakened by such a notion. That good time is never coming, until human nature shall no more need moral discipline, being "fixed in virtue though free to fall."

The cause of the discussion is not, we are persuaded, that there has been any general abuse of power by the schoolmasters; but the principle on which the ancient theory of school discipline rests, is unpalatable. The controversy is analogous, in its causes and general bearings, to that which has arisen on the question of capital punishment, and some other topics of a political character. Retiring from places of public notoriety,

such as the halls of legislation and the pulpit, and avoiding controversy with the leading minds who are busily engaged with the engrossing duties of professional life, the advocates of error have entered the school-room, and under the cover of a most zealous regard for universal education, they have undertaken to revolutionize public sentiment by infusing false notions into the minds of the young, as to the principles of obedience to the authority of law, and thus, ere long, will the safety of the State be endangered by a new generation of active citizens, who have been taught to regard not the law of conscience, but of mere inclination, as a correct principle of action.

If these wrong notions of school discipline shall extensively prevail in the common schools, their influence will soon be felt in the higher institutions, and increase a thousand fold the difficulties of maintaining sound discipline in our Colleges and Universities. And no conservative power of any or all of our seminaries of learning will be able to prevent the consequent destruction of public morality, and the introduction of the worst principles of civil government.

Therefore this heresy in the matter of school discipline, should be watched with a most wakeful solicitude by the patriot and the Christian. It is the offspring of a false philosophy of social life, though loud in its pretensions to reform. It is a philosophy which calls crime a misfortune or a disease, and retributive justice, revenge. It is the offspring of a false philanthropy, though loud in its professions of benevolence. It is a philanthropy which sheds crocodile's tears over the

merited sufferings of the guilty criminal, but has no sympathy for outraged justice; and thus have the forms of the law been made to shield the greatest crimes, and penitentiaries have become retreats for the insane, or cities of refuge from the avenger of blood.

We shall not endeavor here to refute these monstrous errors further than to say, that if the principle of punishment under which the criminal is a sufferer, cannot be justified, and those ends of punishment be not legitimate, which are retributive, then we know not what to think of the universal sentiment of mankind which has awarded the highest honors to such names as Aristides the Just; to the elder Cato, the stern old Roman Censor, "who had rather his good actions should go unrewarded, than his bad ones unpunished;" to Sir Thomas More, who could most cheerfully die rather than compromise his integrity; and to our own Marshall, whose love of truth and justice was a burning passion. How shall teachers in our schools commend, as they do, these examples to the admiration of their pupils, and yet exercise over them a system of discipline which tends to the subversion of that idea of truth and justice, the love and the practice of which made these great names immortal?

LECTURE VII.

TEACHING AS A PROFESSION.

BY NELSON WHEELER.

The choice of a profession involves one of the most important questions which a young man is ever called on to decide. It ought, in all cases, to be made the subject of the most careful and anxious inquiry; for according as the choice is wisely or unwisely made, so may virtue, competence, happiness, and honor; or vice, poverty, wretchedness, and ignominy be his portion, and constitute the inheritance which he shall bequeathe to his children. Especially does this become a question of superlative importance in a country, and under a government like our own. Here no castes throw their adamantine chains around the youth, to bind him down to the employments, the habits, and the modes of thought, which, for two thousand years, may have characterized his progenitors. Here no relics of feudal ages, institutions and usages the growth of centuries, rear their menacing forms to check the aspirations of the humble citizen who chooses to aspire to the highest offices in the land. No monopoly of honors, or laws of primogeniture offer to bolster up the royal knave and

princely fool, whose sole expectancy under our institutions would be the certainty of sinking to their proper level. Parental authority, even, may not overstep the limits of minority, and dictate the course which the aspiring youth shall pursue when the laws shall have once pronounced him "his own man.'

And here, too, there is not only freedom to choose, but the most imperative necessity is laid upon every one to exercise that choice. Not only is every man the architect of his own fortune, but every man must have some vocation, though it be but in name. To be without any particular profession or special calling, however competent in fortune a man may be to meet his own wants and those of his family, is a disgrace: it is an unpardonable offence in the eyes of an excessively active and enterprising people.

The motives which for the most part determine the choice of a profession are various, and deserve a moment's consideration. The majority, in this country, are influenced by considerations of wealth; some regarding it as a means, others as an end, and still others having both objects in view. With some, again, honor and fame, immediate or remote, and the love of power and place, are the great controlling influences. Others give themselves up to the passing current, ready to pursue now this course, and now that, as wind and tide may promise to waft them on to fortune, or threaten to engulf them in ruin. A few, whom genius has chosen as special favorites, owe their choice to some uncontrollable bent of their nature, or to some remarkable occurrence or combination of circumstances which has