which lead in willing captivity the mass of the uneducated and the rude.

What particular branch of knowledge will be most valuable in future life to any given child, it is scarcely ever possible to predict. Circumstances, apparently the most trifling, often determine the settled pursuits of a long and active life. In the year 1828, a school was established, for three months only, among some of the Penobscot tribe of Indians, who resided on the Penobscot river. One of the pupils, Paul Joseph Osson, distinguished himself by unusual intelligence and proficiency. After leaving the school, he returned for a year or two to his Indian habits and manners; but at the end of this time, being on a visit to Bangor, he happened to fix his eye upon some engravings in the shops, which made a very strong impression upon his mind. He was then taken to the room of a painter, and shown a considerable collection of portraits. From that time painting seemed to take possession of his whole soul. He employed himself continually in sketching figures upon wood and bark, and commenced drawing and painting flowers, animals, miniature likenesses of his fellow Indians, and landscapes of considerable compass. He is now under regular tuition, and is said to be making respectable progress. It is related, that a lady, who was some years since visiting Old Town, the Indian village, was so

struck with the fine figure and face of one of the Indian boys, that she sketched an outline of him on the spot: this made a strong impression on the boy, and on the tribe generally; and it is strongly suspected that Osson was the boy alluded to, and that this was the first spark of excitement that kindled his infant genius.*

In many cases it may be that you cannot do more than to impart to your pupils the elements of knowledge. How important then is it, that you let every branch receive attention only in proportion to its probable utility; that you never indulge in favorite pursuits, to the exclusion or neglect of those which are more important to your scholars; and that you conscientiously determine, that the interests of the great majority shall never by you, (as they too frequently are by others,) be cruelly and wickedly sacrificed, to the vanity of displaying the attainments of a small and favored few. branch must receive attention according to its relative importance, whatever may happen to be your own peculiar predilections. Above all, let it be your grand object to teach every thing with eternity in view. That instruction is little worth, which does not embrace man's whole existence; and which has not as distinct a reference to the world that is to come, as to that which now

Each

* American Annals.

obtrudes its claims with such unwarrantable

importunity.

Here, however, let me warn you of the danger a teacher incurs by the too ready adoption of what he

may consider NEW and IMPROVED METHODS of INSTRUCTION. Experiments are often valuable, but then they need to be made very cautiously ; a large number of facts and observations ought to be accumulated, before any practice involving material changes, is introduced into a school. On this subject I should recommend you to read the chapter on Scheming, in Mr. Abbott's Teacher. He very justly remarks, that "in almost all the cases where the wonderful effects of supposed improvements are hastily proclaimed, the secret of the success is, not that the teacher has discovered a better method than the ordinary one, but that he has discovered a newer one. The experiment will succeed in producing more successful results, just as long as the novelty of it continues to excite unusual interest and attention in the class, or the thought that it is a plan of the teacher's own invention, leads him to take a peculiar interest in it. And this may be a month, or perhaps a quarter, and precisely the same, effects would have been produced if the whole process had been reversed."

The men who have really effected improvements in education, and left their mark on the

rising generation, are very few. The three who of late years have attracted the greatest share of attention, are Pestalozzi, Fellenberg, and Jacotot. I cannot do more than briefly to allude to these celebrated names; I must refer you to other sources, for extended information respecting their history and plans.

Henry Pestalozzi was born at Zurich, on the 12th of January, 1745. He was originally intended for the ministry; but after pursuing the usual course of studies, he resigned that profession, and turned his attention to the correction of what he conceived prevailing errors in the education of the young. His great object appears to have been, at once to improve the intellect and amend the heart, by imparting a knowledge of things, rather than of words, and by exciting and developing benevolent affections. The great instrument he employed was love, and he appears to have possessed an amazing talent for so wielding that power, as to secure the most unbounded influence over the young. His long life was singularly chequered, and its end melancholy. He died in 1827, at the age of eighty years, overwhelmed with the disappointments and mortifications which he had in a great measure brought upon himself by a too credulous reception of the extravagant flatteries of his disciples.

Emmanuel Fellenberg, who is a man of rank and fortune, is still living, and his institution at

Hofwyl, about six miles from Berne, is an object of great interest to the philanthropist. The colony of Mey Kirk, at the distance of five or six miles, is a branch of this institution. It consists of eight or ten poor boys, who are placed under the direction of a teacher, on a spot of uncultivated ground, from which they are expected to obtain the means of subsistence. Hofwyl is in every respect a place of education, of which the instruction imparted is only one means, and therefore principles, rather than methods, are to be gathered from its observation. The founder of Hofwyl proposes nothing less than "to develop all the faculties of our nature, physical, intellectual, and moral, to endeavor to train and unite them into one harmonious system, which shall form the most perfect character of which the individual is susceptible, and thus prepare him for every period and every sphere of action to which he may be called." The leading principles of the institution are fully explained and illustrated in the delightful Sketches, to which I have already several times referred; and so far as they can be made to apply to common schools, I have endeavored to embody them. in these letters.

M. Jacotot, who is, or was, a professor of the French language at the University of Louvain, styles his system, "Universal Instruction and Intellectual Emancipation." A compendious exposition of the principles and practice of this