ter that purity of heart which it every where enjoins, should
conduct devotional exercises in school; but I would respectfully inquire
whether any who do not _delight_ in such exercises, and who do not
esteem it a _privilege_ to lead the devotions of those under their
charge, do not lack an _essential_ qualification to teach school. Our
laws generally require that the school-teacher be, among other things,
_well qualified in respect to moral character_ TO INSTRUCT _a Primary
School._

It would seem that these patriotic sentiments, enforced by such
persuasive eloquence by this venerable man, can hardly fail to find a
permanent lodgment in every truly American bosom. The great principles
of natural and revealed religion, in which all are agreed, ought to be
inculcated in our common school-books,[27] just as every teacher ought
orally to instill these principles into the minds of his pupils. That
will be a happy day, especially to the children of ignorant and vicious
parents, when they shall learn more of that "fear of the Lord which is
the beginning of knowledge" in the school-house than they have ever yet
done. Nor is it discovered that the practice of teaching morals
according to the Christian code, and using the Bible for that purpose,
the great majority adopting it, is any infringement whatever on the
religious rights and liberty of any individual.

[27] The day of writing the above, a lady mentioned to me the following
gratifying illustration of my idea. The subject of it is a little girl
only five years of age, who has never attended school, but has learned
to read at home, under her mother's tuition. After reading in the first
number of one of our excellent series of reading books, the story of
"the honest boy" who never told a lie, for perhaps the twentieth time,
the little girl said to her mother, "Mother, I like to read this story,
for it always makes me feel very happy." Similar instances I have
witnessed scores of times, in the family and in the school. Teachers may
almost invariably lead their scholars to admire and copy the examples of
good children about whom they read, and to dislike and avoid those of
bad ones. This power over children should always be exercised for good.

The anecdote of the Indian touching this subject may arrest the
attention of some reader who would otherwise peruse these paragraphs
without profit, and fix indelibly in his mind the sentimen