Oh, teach the children, the little children to pray! Years of sin may come, but the memory of those early prayers may yet soften the heart and prepare the way for better things. Or, never neglected, this habit may grow with their growth, strengthen with their strength, become a strong shield against the temptations of life, and through faith at last, free immortal souls from earthly sin. So, let us teach the children, to pray.-Boston Recorder.

For the Journal of Education.

READING.

1. Unless the scholar is very small let him stand when he reads. If allowed to sit he becomes careless and listless. Let the advanced classes write the lesson, and read it from the manuscript with care.

2. Do not allow a class to read in the Fourth and Fifth Readers until they have mastered the Third. Let the best pieces be committed to memory and recited with taste. Let them be written and sent to parents and to other schools for examination. Let the lessons be paraphrased and the paraphrases examined and corrected by the teacher.

3. Keep the class as far from the teacher as possible in order that the voice may be exercised and thus acquire strength and volume. Do not require scholars to look at what another is reading, except in the primary class, but allow them to listen, and then ask them to repeat what has been read. 'This requires care on the part of the reader, and attention on the part of those not engaged in reading. The teacher should never have a reader in hand except when reading for the class. Never offer a reader to a vistor. If your class reads well a visitor will enjoy listening, but if ill, there is no pleasure in seeing the mistakes they make.

4. Attach importance to the reading exercise. Never engage in it until after knowing that the class have studied the lesson assigned. Hence the position of the scholar, his tones, his manner, his feelings and his conduct need attention. A child may sometimes read what he does not understand, but he should never read what he cannot comprehend, so far as language is concerned.

5. Accustom scholars to read from newspapers. They may thus be taught much that is useful in regard to stocks, moneys and commerce. Besides they will thus be induced to read at home. While many who read much in newspapers know very little, those, who do not read them, know less. If scholars and teacher sit during the exercise, if number two reads after number one and so on, if the words are indistinctly pronounced, and the sense imperfectly expressed, if the teacher takes no more than a slight interest in the lesson, if a book is necessary to enable the teacher or a visitor to know what the pupil is reading, if the tone is the usual monotonous drawl, if the eye does not light up and the cheek does not flush, in short, if the exercise is lifeless, heartless, soulless, it may be called reading but it is not.

The time given for reading should not be so long as to tire the class In the Primary school, ten minutes is usually enough, and in the Grammar school half an hour is usually too much.

Reading, when properly taught, has reference to the manners, the voice, the emotions, the taste, the mind and the heart. When it becomes an exercise merely mechanical, it usually disgusts the pupils, and this precludes all progress in knowledge or virtue. OLD SCHOOL MASTER.

MANNER OF CONDUCTING RECITATIONS.

It

In considering the requisite qualifications of a teacher, the power of exciting an interest in the recitations of his school should not be overlooked. All have not this faculty in an equal degree; he who possesses it as a natural gift, has a very great advantage as a teacher. The ability to tell what he knows, is of more consequence to the teacher than the highest attainments can be without it. Combine high attainments with the ability to communicate, and you have the accomplished teacher. This power is not necessarily a natural gift, it comes not always by intuition; it can be acquired. is founded on philosophy, and he who can understand anything of the workings of his own mind-who can revert to the mental processes he went through in order to comprehend a principle-who can go back to the state of mind in which he was before he comprehended that principle, and then by one step more can put himself in place of the child he is teaching-can become the apt teacher. To acquire this rare qualification should be the constant study of the teacher. He can scarcely ask himself a more important question than this: What is the natural order of presenting my subject? The ability to determine this, is what constitutes in a great degree the science of teaching; for he who can ascertain the order of nature will be almost sure of exciting an interest in the subject he is endeavoring to teach. No one can teach successfully what he does not fully understand himself. It is destructive of all life in the exercises to have the teacher confined to the text book; he has not half the vivacity of one who is thoroughly acquainted with the subject, and who, not being confined to the text, has the use of his eyes, and when he speaks or explains, can accompany his remarks with a look of intelligence. Besides securing the attention, he reads the minds of his pupils—there is a world of meaning in the expression of his countenance. It betrays, better than words, the clearness or obscurity of the mind's perception when a thought is presented. How different the beaming of the eye, when the soul apprehends, from that almost idiotic stare which shows that the words used carry no meaning to the listening ear. The teacher should be able to use language correctly and fluently. Every look and motion of the teacher teaches; therefore he should have proper animation, speak in a sprightly tone, and move with an elastic step; the attitude should not be one of coarseness or indolence

when he moves from his seat to the black-board to illustrate any point; it should be done gracefully and with reference to this fact. A teacher should never proceed without the attention of his class. A loss of interest is sure to follow inattention. An impression made when the interest is excited is enduring, and one idea then communicated is worth a hundred at another time. Nothing will sooner abate the interest of a class than dull, dragging recitations; therefore it is the duty of the teacher to insist on promptness and accuracy. When the class is deficient, the temptation for the teacher to assist them is very strong; but to do that will only make the matter worse. The dull recitation calls for the teacher's aid, and that aid granted reproduces the dull recitation. The only way is to stop at once, and refuse to proceed until the lesson is committed. It is just as easy to have good recitations as bad ones, and the teacher should insist upon having none but good. It is a great saving of time, and then the class feel that they have done something, and their own and their their teacher's approval will inspire them to learn the next lesson still better.

May these suggestions be carried by each one to his school room, and assist him to render his labors efficient, that each day may bring to him somewhat of the teacher's reward.-California Teacher.

YOUTHS' DEPARTMENT.

Written for the Journal of Education.

IMPROVE THE MOMENTS.

Look upon each flying moment as a golden treasure, never staying for idle hands, but fleeting away even while we wait its nearer approach and dream of what we will accomplish in its duration. Where are our activity and perseverance, that the days go swiftly past us, and yet we have no firmer grasp upon improvement? Let us step into the spirit of this day (though it be half spent) and act; store away those sparkling gems of knowledge, those priceless treasures of truth which we are able by study and perseverance to gather up. Let us search for something which will enable us the better to fill that station which we are called to occupy. It is our duty to do justice to that employment in which we are engaged. If it is worthy of our notice it is worthy of our best abilities and attention; if it is worthy of our time it is worthy of the economy of that treasure. Shall we be content with past and present attainments? Should we not rather look forward to the future as that which shall bear to us on its wings some more noble attainments and deeper thoughts? There is much that is new and true that lies hidden to us, and yet all there is between us and the understanding of some of these great truths is a mist of idleness,

and a shadowy forgetfulness of how the moments hasten us on toward that time when the eye shall be dim, but not with searching, and the hair silvery with days spent in unprofitable dreaming. Let us beware lest we find ourselves rushing on toward an ignorant old age, with no wealth of mind, no jewels of ennobling thoughts to lighten the burdens of the evening of life. Will not the hours seem long and lingering when, the pleasantness of idle dreams of youth all o'er, we see the vast mountains of unknown truths surrounding us, and no longer have the ardor of a young and vigorous mind to make them thoughtfully plain? We start with frightened look, as if age were already with us, for though it is in that future to which we are looking for higher attainments, still old Time is wafting it rapidly toward us, and we have no leisure for inertness, we are determined to improve the fleeting moments. Waushara Co.

HOW DO YOU SPEND YOUR EVENINGS ?

J. M. S.

Joseph Clark was a fine looking and as healthy a lad as ever left the country to go into a city store. His cheek was red with health, his arms strong, and his step quick. His master liked his looks and said, "That boy will make something."

He had been a clerk about six months, when Mr. Abbott observed a change in Joseph. His cheek grew pale, his eyes hollow, and he always seemed sleepy. Mr. Abbott said nothing for awhile. At length, finding Joseph alone in the counting-room one day, he asked him if was well.

"Pretty well, sir,” answered Joseph.

"You look sick of late," said Mr. Abbott.

"I have the headache sometimes," said the young man. "What gives you the headache ?" asked the merchant. "I do not know as I know, sir."

"Do you go to bed in good season ?"

7

Joseph blushed. "As early as most of the boarders," he said. "And how do you spend your evenings, Joseph ?"

"O sir, not as my pious mother would approve," answered the young man, tears starting in his eyes."

Joseph," said the old merchant, "your character and all your future usefulness and prosperity depend upon the way you pass your evenings. Take my word for it, it is a young man's evenings that make or break him."Evangelist.

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THE world may not have improved much since it was first made, yet every spring it turns over a great many new leaves.

CHILDREN should be joyous and happy. If childhood does not blossom, manhood will be likely to bear no fruit.

1

The highest rank in the United States army is that of Lieutenant-General, which is only filled by brevet in the case of General Scott. Gen Grant is the present acting Lieutenant-General. When an officer receives the rank of major by brevet, it is only an honorary title, and he still draws a captain's pay, and he is entitled to any vacancy that may occur in the rank of major in the order of his brevet.

A Major-General commands a division, which consists of two or more brigades. Two or more divisions united form a Corps d'Arme, as those commanded by Gen. Meade, Sherman, Canby, &c. But these armies are oftener called by some local name, as the Corps d'Arme ef Gen. Meade is called the Army of the Potomac, or by the name of the general commanding it, as Gen. Sherman's Army, or Division.

A Brigadier-General commands a Brigade, which is composed of two or or more regiments.

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A Colonel commands a Regiment, which consists of ten companies. A Battallion is composed of two or more companies, and is commanded by a Major. The Colonel, Lieutenant-Colonel and Major, are called Field Officers. The first commands the whole; the second commands the right wing; the third, the left wing-each wing being half the regiment.

The staff officers are the Surgeon; Assistant Surgeon; the Adjutant, who forms the regiment, keeps the books, and carries on the correspondence of the regiment; the Quartermaster, who attends to the purchase and distribu