- benevolent author out of pure kindness to the poor overworked teacher, and exacting the same pencilled answers, is a matter of no small surprise. That a man should think of effecting anything important for his pupils by such a course, that he should expect to impart any interest, or awaken any enthusiasm, that he should hope to escape the contempt, even, of his scholars, is still more surprising, because it is opposed to the most obvious dictates of common sense. But not only do his own interests, and the duty he owes to his pupils, but also the honor of his profession, demand of every teacher that he make constant progress in his own intellectual attainments. Never can the profession rise to that rank which its importance in society entitles it to take, so long as it is pressed down by such an incubus as is found in the general prevalence of ignorant and indolent teachers. But whilst we thus urge upon teachers the absolute necessity of elevating their standard of personal attainments, we do not think it follows, as a matter of course, that all should aspire to be authors. Not that we have anything to say against the preparation of school-books by practical teachers; on the contrary, we have a very special desire that all the text-books we are compelled to use may be able to claim such a paternity; and besides, we have no doubt that a competent man, by suitable effort, may effect more for the honor of his profession in this, than in almost any other way. What we mainly object to is this; many teachers, eminently successful as teachers, have fallen into the very natural error of supposing that their own method of imparting instruction involved important and radical principles, when, in truth, those methods were little else than mere tact, their own way of doing a thing. Under this erroneous view of the case, they have published what they had supposed would go far towards opening the "royal road to learning;" but what, in the hands of other teachers, has been found less effective than their own previous methods. I venture to say, that in almost any large town in New England, a score of arithmetics may be collected, differing so little from each other in point of merit, that a sensible teacher would not subject himself to the vexation consequent upon this multiplicity for the benefit of a choice. What is here said of arithmetic, may, with equal propriety, be said of the other branches of a common school education. Neither does the evil stop with single books, nor is it confined to any one branch of study. When a man has once contracted the publishing fever, he somehow feels himself impelled to extend the benefit of his lucubrations to the young, in the several departments of study. Hence we have, I know not how many series of text-books, covering the entire ground of school education; books, too, which not unfrequently find their highest and most philanthropic end, in the employment they furnish to book makers and book venders. Now against all this we most earnestly and solemnly protest. We would have no teacher venture to press, with a book on any important branch of study, till he has spent years in extending and maturing his views; till, in the opinion of the best qualified and severest critics, he has made the most decided advance upon previous efforts in the same department. Let it no longer be said, to the disgrace of the profession, that, of all nuisances, the multiplicity of school-books is the greatest. If our own experience suggests anything of value in the mode of instruction, or in anything pertaining to the interests of education, let it at once become public property. We have our journals, which are expected to depend, for their interest and value, on the contributions of practical teachers. If, then, we have made any discovery, if any new and valuable methods have suggested themselves, better calculated to awaken the interest and promote the improvement of the young, let us give them to the world through the medium of these journals. If it be dishonorable to monopolize a discovery in the medical profession, much more ought it to be so regarded in matters of education. Again, we are of the opinion that we may further the interests and credit of the profession, not only by refraining from excessive book-making, but also by lavishing recommendations somewhat more sparingly upon books of doubtful utility. Many, I am aware, recommend with caution; others console themselves with the idea that they have recommended only in appearance, and that their expressed views, when carefully weighed, will not help to give currency to books which, at heart, they do not approve. But in this I think they are mistaken. If recommendations be couched in such terms as to satisfy the authors and publishers of books, even in the smallest degree, they cannot but mislead others who are less interested. Besides, the very names of some men, affixed to what purports to be a recommendation, will go farther, in matters of education, than the most minute and definite specifications from others. Teachers, and especially those who by experience and success have gained a large share of public confidence, are presumed to speak understandingly, when they recommend; consequently, committees, who to a great extent are made up of men too much engaged in other pursuits to allow of their keeping up a very exact acquaintance with schoolbooks, feel very little hesitation in adopting whatever comes recommended from such sources. This, as we all know, is a secret which publishers have not been slow to discover, or backward to use for the furtherance of their own interests. Finally, if we would see the profession of our choice elevated to the highest possible condition of which it is capable, we must make it, in its relations to society, what, in theory, it claims to be. It must be felt and admitted to be all but omnipotent in its living, acting power to form the character. The men and women of the coming age must, through the instrumentality of our schools, be noted for their intelligence, for their practical wisdom, and for their moral and social virtues. Our free institutions, which, in the estimation of our wisest and truest patriots, now totter to their foundations, must be rescued from their perilous state; they must be snatched from the waves of ignorance and crime which are rising and surging at their base, and planted deep and immovable in the affections of an intelligent, virtuous, and patriotic people. But this is a work only for those who are prepared to look beyond themselves, and merge their own interests in the claims of humanity. It is a work for those only who have the stoutest hearts and the strongest faith. If we would contribute to the accomplishment of so great and so glorious a work, we must consecrate ourselves to the business of our calling with a singleness of purpose, and a fervor of zeal, which nothing can divert or abate. This is not a work for associations, nor for Model and Normal Schools, however useful they may be in their own sphere; it is not a work for speculations on the excellences and defects of different systems of education; nor is it a work for those who are constantly sighing for some fixed rule and invariable method of imparting instruction, and controlling the conduct. It is a work for teachers individually, in their separate relations to their own schools. It is a work which will require of every teacher, that he fix no limit to his responsibility, short of preparing every one of his pupils for their career as moral and accountable beings. It is a work in which we must enter the secret chambers of each heart, and ascertain, with precision, by what motives it is to be influenced. It is a work in which we must think little of present ease and comfort, -in which we must look beyond the present, and amidst all the trials, and painstaking, and discouragements, to which we are daily and hourly subjected, be able to draw upon the distant future for the richest consolation, and apply to ourselves the sentiment of the hero of the Mantuan Bard, "Per varios casus, per tot discrimina rerum, |