carried over the
history of the world from the deluge to the present day. Let him be
helped to read a single history wisely, to apply the principles of
historical evidence to its statements, to trace the causes and effects
of events, to penetrate into the motives of actions, to observe the
workings of human nature in what is done and suffered, to judge
impartially of action and character, to sympathize with what is noble,
to detect the spirit of an age in different forms from our own, to
seize the great truths which are wrapped up in details, and to discern
a moral Providence, a retribution, amidst all corruptions and changes;
let him learn to read a single history thus, and he has learned to read
all histories; he is prepared to study, as he may have time in future
life, the whole course of human events; he is better educated by this
one book than he would be by all the histories in all languages as
commonly taught. The education of the laborer's children need never
stop for want of books and apparatus. More of them would do good, but
enough may be easily obtained. What we want is, a race of teachers
acquainted with the philosophy of the mind, gifted men and women, who
shall respect human nature in the child, and strive to touch and gently
bring out his best powers and sympathies; and who shall devote
themselves to this as the great end of life. This good, I trust, is to
come, but it comes slowly. The establishment of normal schools shows
that the want of it begins to be felt. This good requires that
education shall be recognized by the community as its highest interest
and duty. It requires that the instructors of youth shall take
precedence of the money-getting classes, and that the woman of fashion
shall fall behind the female teacher. It requires that parents shall
sacrifice show and pleasure to the acquisition of the best possible
helps and guides for their children. Not that a great pecuniary
compensation is to create good teachers; these must be formed by
individual impulse, by a genuine interest in education; but good
impulse must be seconded by outward circumstances; and the means of
education will always bear a proportion to the respect in which the
office of teacher is held in the community.

Happily, in this country, the true idea of education, of its nature and
supreme importance, is silently working and gains ground. Those of us
who look back on half a century, see a real, great improvement in