oria, Illinois: Published by N. C. Mason.
Editors, Alexander W. Gow, Rock Island; Samuel A. Briggs, Chicago.

THE MASSACHUSETTS TEACHER: A Journal of Home and School
Education. Resident editors, Chas. Ansorge, Dorchester; Wm. T.
Adams, Boston; W. E. Sheldon, West Newton. May number. Published by
the Massachusetts Teachers' Association, No. 119 Washington street,
Boston.

EDITOR'S TABLE.

THE REVIVAL OF CONFIDENCE.

Perhaps it is an error to assume that confidence has ever been wanting
to sustain the loyal people of the land in their determination to
conquer the rebellion. Yet there have been times when despondency seemed
to take possession of the public mind, and when the failure of our plans
or temporary disaster to our arms revealed the sad divisions which exist
among ourselves, and apparently postponed the success of our cause to a
period so indefinite as to make the heart of the patriot sick with hope
deferred. But ever and anon, through all the changeful incidents of the
momentous contest, there have been gleams of light, in which the
national strength and greatness have made themselves manifest, and have
been so vividly felt as to place the public confidence on a sure and
impregnable basis. The present is one of those periods. Americans feel
that their Government cannot be overthrown: in spite of the sinister
predictions of enemies at home and abroad, they have an instinctive
assurance that our noble institutions are not destined to perish in this
lamentable conflict, stricken down by ungrateful and traitorous hands in
the very outset of a great career. The clouds which have gathered around
us are thick and dark; sometimes they have seemed impenetrable; but
again they separate, we see the blue sky, the stars come out in all
their glory, and even the sun pours his intense rays through the
intervals of the storm. We say to ourselves, Courage! this cannot last
always; there are the firmament, the stars, and the glorious sun still
behind the clouds, and, though long hidden from us, we know they are
there, and will reveal themselves again in all their unclouded splendor.
It is with a confidence as strong as this in the very depths of their
souls that American citizens still look for the reappearance of the
stars of our destiny, the resurrection of the Union in still greater
beauty and strength, and the uninterrupted pursuit of its glorious
career through the coming ages. Such,