closely observe the habits of birds and animals,
and the appearances of the sky and sea, and these come in as natural
illustrations, possessing a remarkable interest for these wild little
vagrants, who by nature belong to the "sporting" class.

A man must have a boy's tastes to reach boys.

BIBLE IN SCHOOLS.

In treating of this subject of religious education for the youth of the
dangerous classes, the question naturally arises, how far there should
be religious expression or education in our Public Schools. If it were a
_tabula rasa_ here, and we were opening a system of National Schools,
and all were of one general faith, there could be no question that every
one interested in the general welfare, would desire religious
instruction in our Public Schools, as a means of strengthening morality,
if for no other purpose. As it is, however, we have at the basis of
society an immense mass of very ignorant, and, therefore, bigoted
people, who suspect and hate every expression even of our form of
Christianity, and regard it as a teaching of heresy and a shibboleth of
oppression. Their shrewd and cunning leaders, knowing the danger to
priestcraft from Free Schools, use this hostility and the pretense of
our religious services to separate these classes from the Public
Schools. The priests and demagogues do not, of course, care anything
about the simple prayer and the reading of a few verses of Scripture,
which are now our sole religious school exercises. But these furnish
them with a good pretext for acting on the masses, and give them ground,
among certain liberal or indifferent Protestants, for seeking a separate
State support for the Catholic Schools.

Were Bible-reading and the Lord's Prayer discontinued in the Schools, we
do not doubt that the priests and the popular leaders would still oppose
the Free Schools just as bitterly; but they would not have as good an
apparent ground, and any pretext of opposition would be taken away. The
system of Free Schools is the life-blood of the nation. If it be
corrupted with priestcraft, or destroyed by our dissensions, our
vitality as a republican people is gone. The whole country would realize
then the worst fruits of a popular government without intelligence.
Demagogism and corruption, founded on ignorance, would wield an absolute
tyranny, with none of the graces of monarchy, and none of the advantages
of democracy. Jarring sects would each have their own