first place, because it is in their province to
know the peculiar turn of mind possessed by their children, and also for
the equally plausible reason, that they are under a great obligation to
educate them. Now, there is much truth in the observation of Seneca's,
that people carry their neighbors' faults in a bag before them, which
are easily to be seen, and their own behind them unseen; and, without
doing parents too much injustice, we may say that they are inclined to
carry the failings of their children tied up with their own. The fact
is, generally speaking, parents are so confident that their children do
not lack in honesty and integrity, at a time when these principles
should be forcibly impressed upon them, that they let the occasion for
moral training pass until bad habits are deeply rooted in their
character. There are, we know, many cheering exceptions; yet, if moral
instruction is neglected in the school, to a majority of the scholars
that neglect will nowhere be provided for, until some bad results have
ensued.

To carry out, then, the primal purpose of our system of education,
instructors should seek to mould the character of their pupils.
Supervisors and committee-men should require a faithful discharge of
this trust. When they come to examine the school, if the standard of
intellectual attainments is not so high as might be desirable, they
should yet bear testimony to its advancement, if they find that those
"virtues which adorn life" have been held up in all their attractiveness
to the imitation of the pupil.

Thus have we seen that the system itself contemplates the culture of the
heart as well as the mind; and that it is wise, practical, and just in
doing so. We now propose to show that this object is generally
disregarded, if not entirely lost sight of, in our common schools; and
to illustrate, if possible, the means whereby it can be more completely
carried into operation. In the first place, the present state of society
testifies to a neglect somewhere of inculcating habits of rectitude.
There is a want of CONSCIENCE in the community. The prevalence of crime,
as seen by the returns of public prosecutors and magistrates, is but a
small part of the evidence of this fact. We might as well judge of a
man's wealth by his dress, as to form an opinion on public morals by the
number of punishable offences committed. And, indeed, the records of
courts furnish but incomplete evidence of the number of punisha