t sure ground,
a source of intellectual delight, and a further intellectual gain and
triumph. Need we say, this is the _ideal_? Practice must fall somewhat
short of it; but Practice must first aim at it; and as yet she has
scarcely conceived about the thing, or begun to attempt it. In truth,
Practice is very busy, dashing on without a due amount of consideration,
striving to project in young minds noble rivers of knowledge without
their fountains; and building up therein grand trees of science, of
which either the roots are wanting, or all parts come together too much
in confusion.

First, then, we are not to make the presentation of any topic or lesson,
even to the youngest learner, needlessly inconsecutive; but with the
more advanced learners--with those in the academic and collegiate
courses--we should insist on the display, and in so doing best insure
the increase of the true _robur_ of the intellect, by positive
requirement that all the topics shall be developed logically; that
sufficient facts shall come before all conclusions; and rigid, sharp,
and satisfactory analysis before every generalization or other
synthesis. So, the more advanced mind would learn induction, and logic,
and method, by use of them upon all topics; it would know by experience
their possibilities, requirements, and special advantages; and it would
be able to recognize their principles, when formally studied, as but the
reflex and expression of its own acquired habitudes. Such a mind, we may
safely say, would be _educated_. But secondly, the foregoing
considerations show that we are not unnecessarily to jumble together the
topics and lessons; to vacillate from one line of study to another; to
wander, truant-like, among all sorts of good things--exploiting, now, a
_color_; then _milk_; then in due time _gratitude_ and _the pyramids_;
then _leather_, (for, though 'there's nothing like leather,' it may be
wisest to keep it in its place;) then _sponge_, and _duty to parents,
lying_, the _points of compass_, etc.! And here, for all ages above nine
or ten years, is a real drawback, or at the least, a positive danger, of
the Object-Lesson and Common-Things teaching. Just here is shadowed
forth a real peril that threatens the brains of the men and women of
the--we may say, 'rising' generation, through this fresh accession of
the object-lesson interest in our country. _Objects_, now, are
unquestionably good things; and yet, even objects can be 'run int