et and orderly, will learn their lessons, will be
attentive to instruction. More than all this, many a child, by the love
of an earthly friend, has been led to the love of his heavenly Friend.
The young heart is opened to receive the Saviour, by the warmth of its
love for one who so manifestly bears his image. Perhaps there is no one,
not even excepting a mother, who can so easily bring the young to the
Saviour, as the teacher who has thoroughly succeeded in winning his
scholars' affections.

There is another consideration in this matter, not so weighty as the one
named, yet of great importance, and the more worthy to be named, because
it is generally not rightly understood. I refer to the fact that
children will learn so much more readily under a teacher whom they love.
Not only will they study better, and be more attentive, for the sake of
pleasing their teacher, but by some mysterious process of the mind, love
helps us to understand, as dislike disturbs and beclouds the
understanding. When a child has a dislike or prejudice or ill-feeling of
any kind against a teacher, or a subject of study, the effect upon the
mind of the child is like that produced upon a spring of pure and
sparkling water by stirring up the mud and sediment from the bottom. In
the human organization the heart is at the bottom, and disturbing
influences there cause us to see things through an impure medium. The
calmness and serenity, produced by perfect love and trust, are the
proper conditions for the right and best working of the understanding.
We must get the heart right if we would see truth clearly, and that
teacher who has won the love of his scholars has done much towards
making the path of knowledge easy for them.

Let the teacher, then, aim to win the love of his scholars, first,
because this love is in itself a boon to which the teacher has a
rightful claim; secondly, because it gives him a powerful influence in
moulding the character and habits of the children, and especially in
bringing them to the Saviour; and, thirdly, because it helps the
scholars intellectually, enabling them to understand better and to learn
faster.

But how is this love to be gained?

Assuredly, _not_ by demanding it as a right, or by fretting,
complaining, or scolding because your scholars do not love you. Love
only is the price for love. If you wish your scholars to love you, you
must first love them, not pretend to do it,--children are quick to see
through