forts; and the other, in so far as it refers to the
rights and the well-being of others, and to our own moral good. The
method which she employs in working out these two principles, is, as we
before explained, very nearly the same; consisting of the perception of
some useful truth,--the deduction of a lesson from that truth,--and the
application of that lesson to corresponding circumstances. On that
account, our attempts to imitate her operations as exhibited by the one,
will, in form, be nearly the same as in the other. We shall here,
therefore, attend to the methods by which Nature may be successfully
imitated under both agencies, and shall then state a few illustrations
and facts which are more peculiarly applicable to each in particular.

Before doing this, however, we cannot help once more pressing upon the
mind of all connected with education, the great importance--the
necessity--of that part of the subject upon which we are now to enter.
We have said, and we again repeat, that _this_ is education; and every
thing else taught to a child is, or ought to be, either preliminary or
supplementary;--_belonging_ to education, perhaps, but not education
itself. It is _practice_, and not _theory_, that constitutes the basis
of all improvement, whether in the arts, or in morals and religion; and
it is to this practical application of what he learns, that every child
should be trained, by whatever name the mode of doing so may be known.
All our blessings are destined to come to us by the use of proper means;
and this general principle applies both to temporal and spiritual
matters. Now "the use of means," is only another mode of expressing "the
practical application of knowledge." And if so, what are we to think of
the philosophy or the candour of the person, who is apparently the
friend of education, but who remains indifferent or hostile to the thing
itself, merely because it is presented to him under another name. He may
be a zealous advocate for the spread of knowledge;--but that is not
education.--Knowledge is but the _means_,--the application of it is the
_end_; and when therefore he stops short at the communication of
knowledge, while he is indifferent to the teaching of its use, he
endangers the whole of his previous labour. One single truth put to use,
is of more real value to a child than a thousand are, as long as they
remain unused; and of this, every friend of the young ought to be
convinced. Our health, our food