s what we should always strive
to do, extending this symmetry, if possible, to the moral as well as to
the intellectual and physical organization. This man is ignorant of
science, of books, of the world of letters, and the world of art, yet we
respect him. Why? Because nature has chosen to illustrate in him her own
principles, power and beauty.

That we may draw out the qualities of the human mind as they exist, we
must first appreciate our influence upon childhood and youth. Our own
experience is the best evidence of what that influence is. All along our
lives the lessons of childhood return to us. The hills and valleys, the
lakes, rivers, and rivulets, of our early home, come not in clearer
visions before us than do the exhortations to industry, the incentives
to progress, the lessons of learning, and the principles of truth,
uttered and offered by the teachers of early years. In the same way the
lines of the poet, the reflections of the philosopher, the calm truths
of the historian, read once and often carelessly, and for many years
forgotten, return as voices of inspiration, and are evermore with us.

That the teacher may have influence, his ear must be open to the voice
of truth, and his mouth must be liberal with words of consolation,
encouragement, and advice. He rules in a little world, and the scales of
justice must be balanced evenly in his hands. He should go in and out
before his scholars free from partiality or prejudice; indifferent to
the voice of envy or detraction; shunning evil and emulous of good;
patient of inquiries in the hours of duty; filled with the spirit of
industry in his moments of leisure; gathering up and spreading before
his pupils the choicest gems of literature, art, and science, that they
may be early and truly inspired with the love of learning.

The public school is a little world, and the teacher rules therein. It
contains the rich and the poor, the virtuous and the corrupt, the
studious and the indifferent, the timid and the brave, the fearful and
the hearts elate with hope and courage. Life is there no cheat; it wears
no mask, it assumes no unnatural positions, but presents itself as it
is. Deformed and repulsive in some of its features, yet to him whose eye
is as quick to discover its beauty as its deformity, its harmony as its
discord, there is always a bright spot on which he may gaze, and a fond
hope to which he may cling. Artificial life, whether in the select
school or the