other part is diseased. Wholeness is health, soundness, integrity. Etymologically, if not theologically, wholeness is holiness.

Above all, make the most of the best there is in you. And that, be it remembered, is not the body nor the intellect, but the conscience and the heart; not genius or imagination or learning or taste, but truth and right and wisdom and goodness. Be true to your whole nature, but especially to your moral nature, Do right by men; by all men, but above all, be right in the sight of God. Dethrone every idol in your heart, and let not genius, but moral excellence, not self or the world, but humanity and God, be the ruling idea of your private and your public life. That idea has in it elements of more than earthly, of more than human power. It can refresh the weary body, as with etherial sustenance, and revive the exhausted mind, or the sinking spirit, as with a new inspiration from the breath of the Almighty. It can give understanding to the simple. It can almost put a soul within the ribs of death. It can electrify learning, which were otherwise dead matter, and impart to genius itself a higher life, which is like the life of God.

ARTICLE IV.

GERMAN EDUCATION.

By Anthony Lamb, Jr., Providence, R. I.

THE question has frequently been asked of late, why the instructors of Germany succeed so much better, generally, than our teachers, in imbuing their pupils with a love for science, and an ardor in the pursuit of knowledge. The inquiry has been suggested by the remarks, upon that subject, of a popular writer of travels, who has lately presented, in a strong light, the contrast observable in this respect between the pupils of the German schools and universities, and those of our own. We allude to the work of Mr. Brace, entitled "Home-Life in Germany," in which is given a faithful picture of life, and particularly of

domestic manners, in that country of happy homes. The question is a very interesting one, fruitful in suggestions, and highly important to the interests of education in our country. We have thought, therefore, that the communication of such observations and reflections in relation to it as have occurred to us, during a brief residence in that country, and a brief experience as a teacher at home, might not be uninteresting to the friends of education.

Among the causes to which we attribute the result just named, we present the following:

1. That delightful state of the domestic relations which, as has been universally remarked by travellers, so generally prevails throughout that country. The Germans are eminently a sociable and domestic people. Their highest earthly pleasures, while they are at the same time among the most hospitable and philanthropic people in the world, are enjoyed at home; and their highest temporal gratification springs from the promotion of the comfort and improvement of their families, and particularly from successful exertions in forming the characters, disciplining the intellectual faculties, and storing the minds of their children with useful knowledge. In their ordinary intercourse with each other, and especially in the domestic relations, there is much more expression given, than with us, to the best affections of our nature; much more of an opening of the heart, of that spontaneous and cordial interchange of good feelings by which those who are bound together by the ties of consanguinity or friendship, "are melted into one." The consequence of this state of society is, that the attachments are very effective in the formation of good habits, and of a love of improvement, not only for its own sake, but also as a means of increasing the good-will and interest of friends. In all families, of any degree of intelligence, the children are objects of more interest and consideration than they are in general with us. Much more attention is devoted to assisting them and encouraging them. The parents and friends of the family frequently converse with them concerning their studies, manifest an interest in the pursuits in which the children are interested, and in every appropriate manner endeavor to impress upon their minds the vast importance of disciplining their moral and intellectual powers, of the acquisi tion of knowledge, and of preparation for usefulness. The rewards and punishments are addressed to the sense of duty, VOL. XII. No. 46.

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of honor, and of filial affection. Good conduct and improvement are rewarded by the favor of friends, by permission to take the accustomed walk on a leisure day or holyday with the family, by being taken to some exhibition of works of art, or place of innocent amusement, and similar gratifications; in the gymnasia, by being permitted to pass in the regular succession from one grade to another, and finally to the university; and bad conduct and indifference to study are punished, among other methods, by withholding or depriving them of these privileges. We know of nothing more touching to a feeling heart, than to see a number of those respectable and intelligent family groups, on their leisure days or holydays, full of innocent glee and merriment, or engaged in animated or improving conversation, walking in the streets, or public places, or environs of their cities, or sitting around the tables in their gardens, partaking of some simple refreshment, or one reading aloud while the rest are listening, or all quietly chatting together; the ladies, young and old, plying all the while the knitting or sewing needle. In this way, the foundation is laid of that amiability of manner, goodness of heart, and love of knowledge, for which the German is so justly famed.

2. The ample provision made by the government for the compensation of teachers; in the gymnasia by salaries, and in the universities by allowing the professors, in addition to their salaries, to receive the fees paid by those who attend upon their lectures; so that the best talent can be, and is, secured..

3. The manifestation of the same affectionate and kind-hearted interest for the improvement of the pupil; the practice of the same gentleness of manner but rigor of requisition by the teacher as by the parent; the mutual attachments formed between them, and their constant interchange of expressions of respect and good will. In the words of Mr. Brace: "I like very much the bearing of the professors and students toward one another in these universities. The manners are gentlemanly, but nothing more. There is no repelling distance on one side, or excessive deference on the other. They walk together and meet each other in society, and make excursions in company in summer; and the feeling between them is that of friends, though of friends differing in years and experience."

4. The impossibility of obtaining any office of honor or emolument, admission into any profession, or an elevated rank or posi

tion in society, without a university education, and proof of the possession of the requisite qualifications by passing honorably through two, and sometimes three, severe examinations made under the authority of the government. With us, on the contrary, the facility of acquiring wealth, political distinction, and position in society, with comparatively small attainments, has the effect of withdrawing the attention from the severer studies, and turning it to the cultivation of those popular talents, and to the acquisition of that practical skill and tact, so necessary to speedy or immediate success in life.

5. The respect and gratitude everywhere felt and manifested, and the emolument and reward bestowed, for large attainments in knowledge and science, and for intellectual power employed for the benefit of society. On this cause and its effect upon the minds of the children and youth, in the constant and daily exhibition before them of those feelings towards the literary and scientific persons who are associates and friends of the family, and generally towards persons of that character in the community at large, we need not expatiate.

6. The greater degree than with us of heartiness, spirit and abandon with which the German students and scholars, and the people at large, in their intervals of relaxation, engage in their innocent amusements and recreations, particularly in gymnastic exercises, in the cultivation and practice of music, and principally in conversation. In this manner, the vigor and freshness of the mind is preserved, and they return to their serious duties refreshed and strengthened, and prepared to throw the same spirit and zeal into their higher intellectual efforts.

7. The manner of training from the earliest years in the public schools. The principle upon which this training in the gymnasia or preparatory schools is founded is this: that the primary object in those schools is not so much the imparting of knowledge in the several branches of learning or science, as it is to excite in the pupil a vivid consciousness of his own powers of mind, and to train him to their appropriate and effectual exercise. The rule, therefore, is, while all readiness is manifested to give proper aid, not to do anything for him which, by the appropriate exercise of his own faculties, he can do for himself, but rather to show him, when he is at fault in any particular, how the thing is done, and to train him to do it himself, and thus to develop and strengthen his intellectual powers, and make him self

dependent. We will illustrate by example; and, as our attention while in that country was particularly devoted to languages, our illustrations will be drawn from that department of learning, premising, at the same time, that the same course is pursued so far as it can be done, mutatis mutandis, in other branches of learning and science. If a student should accost his teacher, requesting to be told from what root a certain form of a verb, noun, or other part of speech was derived; what is the nominative case of the noun, or the present tense of the verb, for instance; or to be informed what is the aorist tense of a certain verb, or the accusative case of a certain noun, the teacher, instead of giving him immediately what he requested, would first ascertain where the difficulty lay which prevented him from acquiring the information himself, and what was its nature, and would then apply the remedy by pointing out to him the principle upon which the change of the word in the particular instance was founded, and the manner in which it was to be applied. If the pupil wished the teacher to translate a sentence for him which he had been unable to make out, instead of immediately reading off the translation for him, he would, as in the preceding case, ascertain where the difficulty lay, and by giving him, or reminding him of, the rule which was applicable to the case, enable him to translate the sentence for himself. This course, besides the improvement of the mind, causes a great saving of time to both teacher and pupil, for if the contrary course should be pursued, upon every occasion of the occurrence of a similar difficulty, the pupil would run to the teacher, and thus the time of both be unnecessarily consumed; but by reminding the pupil of the principle which applies to the case, and to all similar instances, all future difficulty of that kind is obviated. In those schools with which we bacame acquainted, where the greatest activity and vigor of mind, and the greatest improvement were manifested, the manner of conducting the ordinary recitations in the classics was as follows: The pupil would be directed first to read a sentence or passage from the book in the original. The teacher would note down such mistakes, if any, as were made in his reading, with reference to accentuation, quantity, emphasis, pointing, pronunciation in general, etc. He would then ask the class if they observed any errors in their fellow student's reading. Those of them who did observe any, would, either by the voice, or by the raising of the hand, or by some other conventional sign,