him, who notices his pupils shrinking from him, from fear of pain, at his approach. Above all, we ought never to strike the head of a child. Of all modes of torture invented, we know of none more fiendish than that of pulling the hair or ears. Let us beware of giving way to this impulse of revenge. Where this spirit rules, all is flowerless-not a virtue can grow on its cold, barren soil. It begets a host of meaner passions in the breasts of those towards whom it is exercised. The child must believe the teacher incapable of it, or his confidence in him is shaken.

5th. The teacher is tempted to violate the conscience of the child. This may need explanation. We suppose every pupil under our charge possessed of a power of perceiving a difference in the character of acts.

Almost all can determine right from wrong, according to the usual standard. Now it is possible for a teacher to fail in securing the assent of the pupil's conscience in favor of a certain measure, although the measure may be right. In such a case he has done violence to the pupil's conscience, and consequently has injured him. This should be avoided. The teacher ought never to commit an act, the reason for committing which will not be apparent to the unprejudiced part of his school. Is it said, "there is no conscience to appeal to?" We answer, the germ must be there-if it has not grown, let the teacher pour upon it the rain and the sunshine-let him devote all his time to this, until there is a growth sufficient to create a public opinion in the school, that shall be on the side of virtue. Were I in a penitentiary as overseer, I would never exact that of an offender which his conscience does not approve, except in cases of moral insanity. Teachers ought to keep the conscience of the school on their side, otherwise the peace that reigns is desolation.

These are a few of the evil habits that may grow in the teacher's heart; but there are virtues that may bloom there also. We believe that there is no profession more favorable to the growth of all that ennobles and refines character than ours. If we are watchful, prayerful, and workful, flowers will spring all" around our path." Life will not be a dull, dreary round of blasted anticipations and unrealized hopes.

The sculptor spends years in fashioning the soulless marble, but our work shall last when the marble has crumbled away. The painter toils many a day, to represent on canvas what the eye can see and the taste admire, but we are each daguerreotyping on the soul those images that shall only be brought fully out by the light of eternity. The musician takes no note of time, if he can but arouse the hidden soul of harmony. The harp we play on has a thousand strings, and each should be touched with a master's hand.

TEACHING AND TRAINING.

MANY teachers fail to accomplish what they wish, because they do not understand the difference between teaching and training. "To teach is to communicate instruction, to impart information; to train is to exercise, to discipline, to teach and form by practice," says Webster. With those who are already educated, measurably, mere teaching or precept may suffice; but for young persons, those who are to be educated, training, practice, must be superadded, or much of our labor will be lost.

THE PHILANTHROPY OF COMMON LIFE.

THERE are those who, with a kind of noble but mistaken aspiration, are asking for a life which shall in its form and outward course be more spiritual and divine than that which they are obliged to live. They think that if they could devote themselves entirely to what are called labours of philanthropy, to visiting the poor and sick, that would be well and worthy, and so it would be. They think that if it could be inscribed on their tombstone, that they had visited a million couches of disease, and carried balm and soothing to them, that would be a glorious record, and so it would be. But let me tell you that the million occasions will come, aye, and in the ordinary paths of life, in your houses and by your fire-sides, wherein you may act as nobly as if all your life long you visited beds of sickness and pain. Yes, I say, the million occasions will come, varying every hour, in which you may restrain your passions, subdue your hearts to gentleness and patience, resign your own interest for another's advantage, speak words of kindness and wisdom, raise the fallen, cheer the fainting and sick in spirit, and soften and assuage the weariness and bitterness of the mortal lot. These cannot indeed be written on your tombs, for they are not one series of specific actions like those of what is technically denominated philanthropy. But in them, I say, you may discharge offices not less gracious to others, not less glorious for yourselves, than the self-denials of the far-famed sisters of charity, than the labours of Howard and Oberlin, or than the sufferings of the martyred host of God's elect. They shall not be written on your tombs; but they are written deep in the hearts of men, of friends, of children, of kindred all around you: they are written in the secret book of the great account!-Orville Dewey.

PREPARED NOTES.

ALTHOUGH to the success of a lesson it is necessary that the subjectmatter of it should have been well studied by the teacher, yet it is ques tionable whether notes prepared beforehand, such as those commonly used by teachers, are not a disadvantage. Certainly, the unsuccessful lessons which I have heard have often appeared to me to have been spoiled by the "notes." It is one characteristic defect of these notes that they make the plan of the lesson too complete-more complete than any lesson that can be really taught to children. They begin at the very beginning of the subject, where a lesson never ought to begin, because that is a part which can rarely or never be understood by children, and which, in most subjects, is not understood by any body. A lesson for poor children ought to begin and to end with so much as contains subjects intelligible to them, and useful for them to know. Completeness is of no use to them when it lies beyond these limits. Another evil of this completeness of the lesson prescribed by the "notes" is that it is arranged under so many heads; that only two or three of these can be got through in the time; and, as the lesson begins at the beginning of the subject, these two or three first heads are precisely those least likely to be understood, or to be of any use.-Canon Moseley.

A SUNDAY SCHOOL CANVASS, AND THE BEST MEANS OF EFFECTING IT.

[A Paper read before the Annual Meeting of the Newport Sunday School Union.] By Mr. W. WARD, Superintendent of the Wesleyan School,

Hill Street, Newport, Monmouthshire.

THE subject for this evening's discussion may be very simply stated, but will not permit of being easily disposed of. We propose to discuss the importance of canvassing the town of Newport, for the purpose of bringing a larger number of children under Sunday school instruction; and we shall, of course, have to ascertain what means will most effectually attain the desired object. It is always necessary, in a question of this kind, that we be fully satisfied of the propriety of what we are proposing; and here I may remark, it is not whether there is propriety in bringing children under religious instruction, but whether there is reason for such an effort as that about to be suggested. Let us look, then, at a few facts and figures, which will assist us in our conclusions.

By the returns furnished to the Union a year ago, I find that the schools in the town had upon their books 1,239 scholars of both sexes; and from inquiries which I have made as to the remainder of the schools, I have ascertained that the two Church of England schools educate 561, the two Wesleyan schools 400, the Roman Catholic about 100, and three other small institutions about 50 each, giving a grand total of 2,449 boys and girls, who are being taught on Sundays; and if I add 50 more for those who are being instructed in the Ragged School on a Sunday evening, we shall have here, in round numbers, 2,500. This may be taken as a tolerably accurate statement, I believe, of what is being done to meet a religious necessity. Now let us see how far it comes within the requirements of the town. From an examination of the Census for 1851, I learn that the town of Newport contained the following number of juveniles, taken at quinquennial periods :-Under five years of age, 1,377 males, and 1,310 females; above five, 1,139 males, and 1,090 females; above ten, 936 males and 990 females; above fifteen, 959 males and 952 females; total, 8,753 males and females of ages varying from a day to 20 years of age. That number formed nearly one-half of the inhabitants of the town. Five years have elapsed since those returns were produced, and a large increase has taken placesay, 5,000 have been added, of which 2,000 belong to the class with which we have more especially to do, and dividing these into four, according to the proportions of 1851, we will add 600 to those under 5 years, which will give 3,287; 600 to those above five, making 2,829; 400 to the children above ten, which will present 2,326; and 400 to those above fifteen, which will give 2,311. The next question is, how are we to analyse the first and last of the quinquennial periods which we have quoted, and it may be worth while asking whether we ought to count any one of those children under five? I should not have hesitated in at once striking out these entirely, were it not that I see, practically, a recognition of those very young ones by some of the Sunday schools of Newport; and, therefore, although the aggregate of children attending Sunday schools under five

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years of age may not be very large, I think it is only fair that we should take some account of them. How many, then, of the 3,287 are likely to be found, or-according to the practice of Newport-ought to be under Sabbath tuition? Taking as an average that which I consider reasonable, viz., 20 per cent., that will give 500 at present in the school, and 640 which ought to be there. In the next division, that is, of boys and girls aged five and upwards, we may at once include them all, as we may rest assured they are capable of attending school; this gives us 2,829. The next, ten and upwards, may be taken as a whole, and that number is 2,326. Further I will not go, for although there are to be found some in our schools who are 15 years of age and upwards—and, therefore, others of that class might also attend--I will not make an estimate of the probable number, because I think it will be seen there is a deficiency on the part of girls from the age of ten to fifteen, who are detained in the domestic circle, and that deficiency is met by those above fifteen, of whom I take no account. To sum up, then, the three items above enumerated, we have an aggregate of 5,795 males and females who are in a position to attend school on a Sunday, and who, if looked after, might to a large extent be induced to attend; and deducting the 2,500 already on the books, that gives us 3,295 who are not in Sunday schools. I think, however, that even that number may be reduced. I do not mean that any of these are in such a happy state as not to need instruction at Sunday schools, but there are many who belong to families of the middle and higher classes who never send their children to those institutions, and therefore I will strike off 795, and reckon 2,500 as the number which we may legitimately look after, and respecting which something ought to be done.

I think, my dear brethren, you will agree with me that I have made out a case (and without exaggerating at all,) which is suggestive of serious reflection; and before I proceed to delineate the machinery by which I propose to reach the neglected ones, I have to ask you, the Sunday School Teachers of Newport, an important question-a question causing much regret to my mind, arising from the fact that I have not the pleasure of addressing every Sunday school teacher engaged in this great work. And what is this question? It is this--Are you prepared to take upon you the additional labour which a measure of success in the contemplated canvass may entail? Are you prepared to take upon yourselves the increased care of 1,000 additional children-half of those who are to be sought out? If you are not, then you need not proceed in the work which we are about to sketch.

There may very properly be a diversity of opinion as to what I am about to suggest, and I hope you will discuss the question very fully, resting assured that this, like all other topics, will lose nothing by being well ventilated. The first thing which strikes us as self-evident is this-there must be a house-to-house visitation. Secondly, the town must be mapped out into districts, which must not be too large and cumbersome. Thirdly, it is requisite that a staff of visitors be appointed, under the direction of a committee, who shall act for and on behalf of the Union. Having formed our battalion, with its necessary captains, the next question is, what shall be

the extent of their enquiry? My own opinion is, that the visitors should have a printed form, with headings something like these: Name and occupation of father; number and age of male and female children in each family, specifying whether any and what portion attend week-day and Sunday schools; how many of the boys are at work; and the number of the girls and boys who can read and write. Of course, in addition to this in formation, it will be their special province, where children do not attend a Sunday school, to exhort the parents to send them to one or other without delay, taking a note of those who promise, and also the name of the school to which they will send them, if a preference is shown. I think that two persons ought to be assigned to each district. I cannot say, at the present moment, how many persons will be required to carry out this work; but I would suggest, if this meeting thinks proper to carry on a canvass, that it should first of all appoint a few gentlemen, well acquainted with the town, who will be able to make a judicious apportionment of the town, and who will be able to rally round them a sufficient number of teachers to carry it

out.

I cannot help adverting once more to that cause of regret which I have already expressed, because in suggesting this movement, I have not the slightest desire-and I believe you have not-of making it a class movement; that is to say, I am desirous that anything savouring of an attempt to ignore the large and respectable schools which are in operation, but which are unconnected with the Sunday School Union, should be excluded from our minds. I am sure we have large-heartedness enough to say, when we visit the inhabitants, "We are not anxious that you should send your children to any one of our schools merely; if you prefer, send them to one or other of the many institutions which are established for the same object as our own." I say, then, that I regret exceedingly, there is not a much larger proportion of Sunday schools in union, because I would, if I could, enlist every school in the object which is now engaging our attention. There could be no disadvantage in such an arrangement, and I am inclined to think there would be great advantage.

Allow me to trespass a very short time further on your attention, whilst I direct your thoughts to one or two advantages which I think you will derive from engaging in a town canvass for the enlargement of your borders. One, I think, will be this-the visitation will give you an insight into the actual condition of the poor of this town, which will lead your own minds to a more grateful recognition of gospel blessings. I believe you may prepare yourselves for a large amount of spiritual destitution and ignorance; the effect of which should be twofold-the one I have already suggested, and the other a more ardent love to the souls of those perishing for lack of knowledge. Depend upon it, brethren, we ought to view the spiritual condition of our neighbours with a livelier interest than has been our wont. The peculiar circumstances of our transition state from ignorance to knowledge has had a result which has not been the most striking in favour of spiritual enlightenment; and although this transition has been marked in many respects, there is yet another thing more marked stillthe underlying stratum of the community has not yet been elevated by the