merely,
but a divine means of reformation. It is, therefore, a moral discipline
that all should submit to; and especially is it a means by which the
youth here are to be prepared for the duties of life. But industry is
not only near to all the virtues; it is itself a virtue, as idleness is
a vice. The word _labor_ is, of course, used in the broadest
signification. Labor is any honest employment, or use of the head or
hands, which brings good to ourselves, and consequently, though
indirectly, brings good to our fellow-men.

The state has now furnished a home, reproduced, as far as practicable,
the family relation, and provided for a class of neglected and exposed
girls the means of mental, industrial, moral, and religious culture. The
plan appears well; but its practical value depends upon the fidelity of
its execution by the superintendent, matrons and assistants. I venture
to predict in advance, that the degree of success is mainly within their
control. This is a school, they are the teachers; and they must bend to
the rule which all true teachers willingly accept.

The teacher must be what he would have his pupils become. This was the
standard of the great Teacher; this is the aim of all who desire to make
education a matter of reality and life, and not merely a knowledge of
signs and forms. Here will be needed a spirit and principle of devotion
which will be fruitful in humility, patience, earnestness, energy, good
words and works for all. Here must be strictness, possibly sternness of
discipline; but this is not incompatible with the qualities mentioned.
It is a principle at Mettray to combine unbounded personal kindness with
a rigid exclusion of personal indulgence.

This principle produces good results that are two-fold in their
influence. First, personal kindness in the teacher induces a reciprocal
quality in the pupils. The habit of personal kindness, proceeding from
right feelings, is a potent element of good in the family, the school,
and the prison. Indeed, it is an element of good citizenship; and no one
destitute of this quality ought to be intrusted with the education of
children, or the punishment and reformation of criminals.

Secondly, the rigid exclusion of personal indulgence trains the inmates
in the virtue of self-control. And may it not be forgotten that all
apparent reformation must be hedged by this cardinal virtue of practical
life! Otherwise the best-formed expectations will fail; the highe