e teachers' papers, and find
out what other teachers are doing and have done, ever remembering that
improvement comes mainly by comparison.

XVIII.

LOVING THE CHILDREN.

Some teachers make the mistake of supposing that a love for the work and
a love for the children are one and the same thing. The two things are
certainly separable in thought, and they are often actually separated in
action. It is of some importance to teachers to remember the difference.

We see persons every day struggling with all their might to accomplish
certain results. They have certain ideas which they wish to realize,
certain theories which they wish to verify. To bring about these
results, is a matter of pride with them. So that the end is gained, the
means to be used are a matter of comparative indifference. Their heart
is set on the result, they care nothing for the machinery by which it is
brought about. Now, so long as the work is of a nature which requires
only the use of mechanical powers, or of mere brute force, it is all
very well. The sculptor need not fall in love with the block of marble
on which he is working, in order to realize from it the conception of
his mind. The engine which carries us thirty miles an hour towards the
goal of our desires, will not speed us more or less for not being an
object of our affections. But every man has a natural and proper
dislike to becoming a mere machine for carrying out the schemes of
others. Children especially revolt at being treated in this way. If a
teacher takes the charge of a class or of a school, for the purpose of
showing to himself or to others how certain things may be done, the
children are quick to find it out, and to resent it. No child, however
humble or obscure, but feels indignant at being considered as a mere
pawn upon a chess-board, or a mere wheel or pulley in some complicated
piece of machinery. Every individual child is to itself the centre of
all human interests, and if you are to have any real and abiding
influence upon him, he must first feel that you have a regard for
himself, in his own proper person, independently of any schemes or plans
of your own.

You may love to see your children all present punctually, to see them
making a good appearance, and by their orderly behavior and manners
helping forward the school generally; you may love the work of teaching
as giving you honorable and useful occupation. But something more than
this is wanting. _You mus