will be cancelled, that the soured temper will be restored to sweetness, or the clouded brain cleared by any skill in teaching, or by any System of Education you can desire? If such a child learns anything, and is trained to any sort of decency in behaviour, is it not as much as the parent can expect? The Governor-General was reported the other day to have made some remarks on the fractiousness and rudeness of the American children you meet on the Cars and Steamboats. The travelling American is not the best specimen; and when you come to live in American homes, you will find many of them as well governed as any you see elsewhere. Still the general unruliness of children in the States is a fact that cannot be denied; and as the social conditions are pretty much the same, I suppose we are not safe against the contagion here. It is the excess of the democratic spirit in their raw democracies which extends to the Household, and prevents the due exercise of authority there. Added to this is the premature mannishness produced among the Boys in these growing Commercial Countries by the prospect of early independence. Early independence is a great thing in itself, but the effects on domestic relations and private character are not always pleasant. I have seen a whole party of Schoolboys, mere children, waiting for a street car, go into a neighbouring tavern to get their nips, and you find Cigars in the mouths of mannikins not much bigger than a monkey. The nippers and smokers, when at home, are probably not remarkable for paying respect to grey hairs. Here, again, it is only to a very limited extent that the School can be expected to contend against the general bent and bias of society. We must look mainly to other influences, which, as things settle down in these new communities, will probably come into play. It is to be hoped, among other things, that some day Government itself, the centre and pattern of all authority, will become again an object of reverence and a source of reverential feeling, though without ceasing to be based upon the national will. While it is a partisan fight, and a domination of such Persons as nature selects by that mode of struggle for political existence, the evil influence will be felt in all our relations and in every Home. The direct moral influence of learning to read and write has perhaps been overstated. Statistics are produced to show that the majority of Criminals are ignorant. But is their crime the consequence of their ignorance, or are both the consequences of their having been brought up in the gutter? Besides, when I was a member of a Popular Education Commission in England, it came under my notice that these statistics were vitiated by another unsuspected circumstance,-a strange tendency on the part of Criminals to conceal the fact of their having received education. Perhaps they thought it might be deemed an aggravation of their case; at all events, the Chaplain of the Gaol found that Prisoners set down as unable to read or write, could really do both. That ability to read and write may be used for very objectionable purposes we have. unfortunately, proof enough. Education gives a man larger powers, which may be used for good, or evil. It opens new avenues to his mind through which good or evil influences may find their way. There is happily, however, no doubt on which side practically the balance lies. A comparison of the educated with the uneducated nations demonstrates that in the gross Education leads to virtue. Perhaps there is no nation in which the distinction between intelligence and morality is more marked than among our neighbours to the South; yet no one can have lived among the Americans without being convinced that their intelligence is on the whole a moral force. Most direct, and probably most effective, among the moral elements of the system is the discipline of the School. It is of especial importance in a Country like ours, where, as I have said, authority and respect for authority are impaired by the excess of the democratic spirit, but yet unchecked by political experience, and still in a state of violent motion against the well-remembered evils of despotism and privilege in the old world. It is needless to tell you, who know so well, in what a good discipline consists. Reasonable laws, such as the child, as its intelligence opens, may clearly see to be for its good, inflexibly enforced, or relaxed only for reasons as strong as those for which they were made. Nothing needless and vexations either in the way of rules, or interference. Gentle admonition, when an offence is not wilful-reproof when necessary, but measured

and appropriate to the offence. In the last resort punishment, not inflicted in anger, but so inflicted that the culprit shall fear to offend again. Such are the well-known and commonplace elements of a good discipline in Schools, or elsewhere. It is well to remember that reproof as well as punishment may be made ineffective, and worse than ineffective, it may be made the means of deadening a child's moral sensibility by indiscriminate use. If we would have a child mind what we say, we must let him see that we mind what we say ourselves. In children obedience itself is a virtue, and a habit which it is necessary to cultivate; yet so far as their understanding goes, it is well to let them know the reasons for the laws they obey, especially in a Country where they are law-makers in posse themselves. They will thus see that punishment in case of breach of the law is necessary, and brought on them by their own act. Perhaps an hour, or two, in the course of each School year might be well employed in explaining to the School the reasons of the discipline they are under. A system of School discipline based on these obvious principles, and administered with steadiness, may produce a good and lasting effect on the character of our young democracy.

It is now an axiom that as much of kindness and even of affectionateness should be infused into the system as possible, and that the child should be allowed to feel as little difference as possible between School and Home. Perhaps in many cases already, if the child feels a difference, it is not to the advantage of Home. But still School, compared with Home, must be a place of discipline; it cannot be all sweetness and picnics. Men in after life do not work for love of labour, but under the pressure of need; and I am afraid children will never learn their lessons entirely from love of learning. The idle will need the spur, and the unruly will need the rein. It will be well if spur and rein can be so applied as to improve the character instead of injuring it, as they did in the old flogging times.

Of the Prize System, so much discussed, this perhaps may be said that, as the world now goes, competition is the law of after life, and competition at School may at least be fair, which that of after life is often far from being. But, on the other hand, there is truth in the objections urged in a poetic form by Cowper against the use of emulation as a stimulus.

"Boys once on fire with that contentious zeal

Feel all the rage that female rivals feel;

The prize of beauty in a woman's eyes

Nor brighter loom in them the scholar's prize,
The spirit of that competition burns
With all varieties of ills by turns;
Each vainly magnifies his own success,
Resents his fellow's, wishes it were less,
Exults in his miscarriage if he fail,
Deems his reward too great if he prevail,
And labours to surpass him day and night,
Less for improvement than to tickle spite,
The spur is powerful and I grant its force;
It pricks the genius forward in its course,
Allows short time for play, and none for sloth,
And felt alike by each, advances both;
But judge when so much evil intervenes,

The end, though plausible, is not worth the means."

On the whole, I would submit that the principle of Rewards, given to all who come up to a certain standard, is better than that of Prizes given by competition, and if the stimulus afforded by it is not equally powerful, I believe it is powerful enough.

I put the moral influence of the system before that of the character of the individual Teacher, because I believe that in a general way more is to be hoped from system in all its departments than from the individual. The ideal Teacher, the Teacher who is painted in all essays on Education, and whom School Trustees and Parents expect to get,-may be defined as an archangel at Five hundred dollars a year. But even the more attainable excellence, the excellence of the man who has a special genius for

education, is as rare as any other kind of excellence. Among all the eminent and highly paid Teachers I have known, I think I could count on the fingers of one hand those who had a special genius for their calling. There is no use in laying on ourselves, or on others, burdens of expectation and responsibility too heavy to be borne. We only discourage ourselves from doing that which is really within our power. The most that can be expected of an ordinary Teacher is that a good system being given, he, or she, shall faithfully carry it into effect. For this it will suffice to have, in addition to common sense, diligence, punctuality, ordinary good temper, and ordinary selfcontrol, without the magnetism and electricity which we are sometimes told it is almost criminal in a School Teacher to be without, although magnetism and electricity are not often found in Parents, or Trustees. With the qualities I have named and a tolerable System, a Teacher may be sure that he is improving the character as well as informing the minds of children, and doing a good work in both ways for the Commonwealth, although he may not be a village Arnold. The very numbers would render it impossible for a Public School Teacher to be a moral missionary to each child.

The moral parts of the teaching are Moral Science, Social Science and History. Physical Science has a moral aspect, as it impresses on us the necessity and duty of conformity to the Physical Laws of our being; but this idea, although its influence in the adult world is daily growing, hardly yet penetrates the mind of a child.

The modicum of Moral Science communicable to children is not perhaps yet very potent. A child knows what it is to be good; the great thing is to make him desire to be good. And this is to be done, not so much by analyzing goodness for him as by presenting to him its image in a way to make it the object of his affection. This may be done either by History and Biography or by Fiction.

It is time that our School Histories should be written on some definite principle, and with some definite object; for at present they are written for the most part without either. Yet their character is not without importance. I doubt whether a more active, or a more virulent poison was ever infused into the veins of a Nation than that which is infused into the veins of the American Nation by such School Histories as are used in the United States. What can be expected if people are fed through their childhood on such stimulants of national vanity and malignity? But our Common School Histories, although not positively noxious like the American, are generally poor stuff. If they are not poison they are sawdust,-dry epitomes with mechanical duties devoid alike of power and of nourishment. It would be almost better that children, instead of being thus repelled from the subject should pick up their notions of History as they can. There may be said to be two elements in History, the philosophical and ethical. The Philosophy of History is hardly yet in a condition to be presented to the young, but of the ethical part more might be made by simple and vivid descriptions of great characters and great events, such as would fix them in the imaginations and touch the heart. History thus taught would be no ineffective school of public virtue, especially of the love of our Country, which is specially needed to correct the somewhat selfish and self-isolating tendencies of our race, and which we may cultivate in its good and moral side without running into the extravagance of Americans. Examples of private virtue will be furnished by Biography, and I believe that well-written lives such as that model of Biography "Southey's Life of Nelson," make a real and lasting impression on the minds of the young. I am almost afraid to speak of fiction. Charles Kingsley said the other day that he would as soon think of eating a dead dog as of reading a senation novel. But good tales are, and always have been, powerful instruments of moral education, both for children and for adults. I mean by a good tale not a goody tale, rewarding precocious virtue with plum-pudding, but those which present moral beauty in a winning way, and enlist the child's heart on the side of right. Few literary men have rendered greater service to this generation than Hans Anderson. I cannot help thinking that if instead of the dry reading to which children are condemned in Reading Books, it were possible to introduce a few good short Tales, something might be done towards giving a right direction to their sympathies and tastes.

There is reason to hope that the day is approaching when Social and Economical Science will be made available for educational purposes in a way that will have a good effect on national character. I do not mean dry Political Economy, or the things that are discussed by Social Science Associations. I mean the great laws of our social and economical being. The one great lesson now taught our Pupils from childhood upwards is to rise in life. It is not only the Prize System that fosters this notion in our young citizens; it is instilled into them at every pore. To clamber over the heads of our fellows is the only way to respectability and happiness; to exist contented and do your duty in the station of life to which you are called is degradation and misery. Thus Education, especially in the United States, becomes a preaching of universal discontent. Hardly a Farmer's child there is willing to remain quietly on the Farm. It would be injurious to the Commonwealth as well as to the individual to check honest ambition, whether commercial, or of any other kind. But the number of those who can really rise must be small. The great majority must, after all, look for their happiness in the sphere in which they are born. They must find their dignity and their comfort in their position as members of humanity, and as fellow-workers in a work the lowest part of which is as necessary as the highest, or rather in which there is no lowest, or highest, but all the parts and all the workers are really equal, and the wages of all who do their appointed work will be the same in the end. This is the lesson which Social Science and Political Economy, rightly studied, are calculated to teach. They show our relations to each other, our dependence on each other, and the equality of all, except idlers, in the social and industrial frame. A calming hand might thus be laid upon the feverish ambition and cupidity which, amidst the exciting influences of a new Commercial Country, threaten alike the virtue and the happiness of society.

I need not dwell upon the effects of Drill and of regular and rythmical movements which have a certain influence on character, or on those of Decorations, Pictures, and so forth, which give effect to character through the taste. But I would say one earnest word in favour of Music, all the more as it unhappily was not taught in English Boys' Schools when I was a Boy. Surely it is an influence greatly needed by human nature everywhere, and above all in these restless, eager, hard gold-digging communities in the new world. That the love of Music need not interfere with practical energy, the land of Bismarck and Von Moltke is a proof. It conduces to domesticity, and it may supply one antidote to that most fatal of all the plagues that have ever ravaged humanity, the growing passion for strong drink.

There is no use pitching anything too high. The first duty of a School must be to teach the elementary subjects which it purposes to teach, and by its results of that kind the School must be mainly judged. But the moral effects are not to be left out of sight. We must remember, and in times like these it behoves us especially to remember, that we are training not only the Trader or the Mechanic, but the Canadian and the man. Mr. J. Hunter moved a vote of thanks to Professor Smith for the admirable and practical lesson he had just given to them; seconded by Mr. Harrison; carried amid applause.

The Chairman announced that Professor Smith had consented to become President of the Ontario Teachers' Association. Professor Smith thanked them for the honour done him. He would be most happy to do anything he could to help the Association.

Township Boards versus School Section Boards.-Mr. James Turnbull, B.A., read a Paper on the above subject. He remarked that it would be unjust to undervalue the services which the present School Section Boards have rendered to the Province in the cause of Education. The following is a recapitulation of the supposed disadvantages and advantages in the Township Board System. The change has not been demanded by the mass of the people. The difficulty in making a proper division of School Property. The lack of a suitable distribution of the Trustees, and consequent neglect and favouritism. Poor and small sections assisted by the more wealthy part of the Township. Let what is considered by some well enough alone. A desire to retain power, and a

fear that the new Board wouuld not take sufficient interest in all the Schools. Advantages: -Economy in time and money and in the number of School Officers. The convenience to Parents by the abolishing of Section boundaries. The saving of expenditure in having a sufficient number of School Houses, and no more, in each Townhsip, thus effecting a saving in the erection of Buildings, keeping them in repair, with their Grounds, etcetera, and economy in the number of Teachers employed. The permanency of Teachers in their position, tending to increased efficiency in the Schools, and a saving of time on the part of the Pupils. An impartial tribunal, from which the Teacher will never fail to secure justice, which he does not always receive at the hands of the present Boards. Payment of Salary quarterly. Teachers' Residences. Increased remuneration and consequent adherence to the profession, if not for life, at least for a greater length of time than is usual on the part of many at present. The example of many of the States of the American Union, which have adopted the system with excellent results, there being no tendency to return to the old system. Increased zeal on the part of Inspectors, and more efficient supervision in conjunction with the Board in each Township. A superior School in each Township, to which the older Pupils could be promoted, introducing the principle of Township Competitive Examinations, and serving, to some degree, as a sort of Normal and Model School for the whole Township. A vote of thanks was unanimously passed to Mr. Turnbull for the able paper read.

A discussion ensued. The subject was considered an important one. There were many practical objections to the present Section System, but there were a few obstacles in the way of changing it. Mr. Inspector Carlyle, of Oxford, said if there was a change it would be the emancipation of Trustees and Teachers. The Schools were at the mercy of local prejudice, the Teachers were under the thumb of the children, backed up by Parents, and who in their turn make the Trustees back them up. Mr. Inspector Grote said he felt very earnest on this question. If there was a change in the present Section System the people would have more control over the Schools then they now had. There were not only local prejudice but local differences in having a change. He spoke of two Trustees employing a Teacher two years in a School against the wishes of ninetenths of the people in the place. Until they could show the people the benefit of a change, they would not get rid of the present System, which he contended was working against the efficiency of Schools, and there was no question but the money voted for Schools was thrown away under the present System. He advocated a Central Board. Mr. Inspector Smith spoke of the arbitrariness of Trustees, and referred to the question of Equalization of the Assessment in Townships for School purposes, mentioning that in one Township the people were paying nine mills towards the School, whereas in adjoining Townships the people only paid one and a half mills, and had the same School accommodation. Several other speakers condemned the present system, and considered that there should be an immediate change.

Rural Schools.-Mr. G. W. Ross, of Strathroy, Ontario, stated it was the intention of himself and Mr. McColl to offer a Prize consisting of Books to the value of $20, for the best Prize Essay on "The Necessity of Rural Schools."

Council of Public Instruction.-There was a long discussion with respect to the manner of selecting a Representative to the Council of Public School Instruction, which will be in the power of the Association on the passing of the Bill to amend the Public School Act, introduced by Mr. Mowat. Some contended that the power of selecting a Representative should be left in the hands of the Executive Committee, whilst others maintained that the whole Public School Section should convene for that purpose. Ultimately it was decided by a Resolution that the Chairman of the Association should be empowered to call a Meeting to take into consideration the nomination of a Candidate for the representation of the Public School Teachers' 'Section of the Association.

Attendance at School.-Mr. Inspector Fotheringham moved, and Mr. McCallum seconded the following Resolution:-"That the evils of Irregular Attendance and Non