hurt themselves; at other times they are rendered cowardly and superstitious, by being frightened with imaginary objects of terror, as the readiest means of quieting them. When the period of study has arrived, some are allowed to waste a considerable portion of their time in bed or in trifling occupations, whilst others are kept at hard mental labour longer than the law would permit them to work in manufactories, thus acquiring habits of indolence in the one case, and a hatred of books in the other. But one of the worst consequences of this general ignorance in educational matters is the difference of opinion which not unfrequently exists between the father and the mother about family discipline, and which is sometimes most imprudently allowed to break out into disputes in the very presence of their children. If Often also do we see disunion and enmity engendered among the members of one family, either by unjust and unnatural preferences, or by invidious comparisons between them. young persons so frequently disregard the advice and injunctions of their parents, it is, in many instances, because they have early witnessed their injustice and inconsistency; and, in others, because their early caprices have been too much consulted, and their disobedience has been suffered to pass unpunished: they lose respect for, and confidence in those who promise rewards and punishments without any serious intention of performance, and whose words and actions are in constant discord. It is lamentable to reflect how many thousands, who ought to be deeply interested in the temporal and eternal welfare of their children, never trouble themselves about the nature, purpose, or methods of education. Many, it is true, in this as in religion, assent to doctrines and principles, but few are in earnest about them. Not one person in five hundred, even among the middle and upper classes, really knows in what education consists. The parents themselves, being in general ill-educated, cannot properly direct the infant mind; yet they, for the most part, imagine that they understand the management of children, so that, under this conceit, very few ever think of inquiring what are the best means of bringing them up, and of preparing them for the school-master. SECT. III.-MEANS OF ENLIGHTENING PARENTS. The universal ignorance which, with a few honourable ехсерtions, prevails about the importance, objects, and process of education, is most deplorable and most hostile to the best interests of society. It demands a prompt and energetic remedy. The public mind ought to be enlightened on these points. It is particularly the office of a paternal and wise government to take education in hand, and enforce it upon all classes of the community as the only safeguard of their morals and liberties. A sovereign is entitled to call himself the father of his people, only inasmuch as he causes his ministers to diffuse widely among them the benefits of education. Governments should adopt every means to inspire the people with a love of order and selfimprovement, to impart to them a knowledge of their social rights and duties, to rouse them to a consciousness of parental responsibility and obligations, to offer them useful suggestions on domestic training, to propagate the best methods of instruction, to excite and gratify their desires for information, to elevate the qualifications, and, hence, the character of their teachers: in short, they should instil into the minds of all a deep conviction of the extreme importance of education, and afford to all classes, from the lowest to the highest, facilities for availing themselves of its benefits, according to their respective spheres in life. The state ought not to rely on individuals for the execution of its own duties in matters of education, any more than in other matters of public interest. However, a general feeling favourable to education must be created before either the government or the legislature can interfere with any chance of prompt efficiency; for legislative interference is often abortive when unsupported by public opinion. To effect this object, associations must be organised throughout the country; the conductors of the press and all enlightened philanthropists must join in a crusade against ignorance thus will humanity complete the great work of regeneration commenced by its crusade against slavery. As all great measures of public interest have been accomplished by the combined efforts of thousands, so must education reform be accomplished. The discipline of prisons has had its Howard; Catholic emancipation, its O'Connell; free trade, its Cobden ; temperance, its Mathew ;-education, also, needs its champion and : its apostle like religion, it must send forth its missionaries in all directions to distribute publications by thousands, and to lecture every parent in the empire. Let the men of influence give their patronage, and the men of education their talents, to this great cause; let the ministers of the gospel make it a constant theme of instruction and exhortation; let all those who feel the benefits of education set to work in their respective localities by addressing parents either through the press or in public assemblies. Extemporaneous lectures will, however, more effectually than printed pages combat the ignorance and rouse the apathy of parents in respect to education. The high office of educational missionary would, therefore, demand some powers of oratory. Many generous minds so gifted could be found willing to come forward in support of so noble a cause. Other persons could be appointed, and paid either by private associations or by the state; and, if economy were an object, the office of delivering public lectures on education might devolve on those who should be intrusted with the inspection of schools and the examination of candidates for the scholastic profession. If the educational missionaries are eminent in virtue and knowledge—if, above all, their hearts beat high with the desire of improving their fellowmen and elevating their own country, they will easily awaken and keep alive a public spirit of inquiry on the subject of education; they will enlighten the people on its importance both to the individual and to society; they will unfold all the objects of which it consists; they will impress on parents a consciousness of their duties, and of the qualities necessary for fulfilling them, dwelling especially on affection, gentleness, patience, consistency, justice, and firmness, as the most indispensable; they will, finally, unfold to them the manner of effectually accomplishing their arduous and responsible tasks in everything which concerns the physical, moral, and intellectual training of their children. It is especially in youth that the future parent should imbibe the notions which he shall afterwards so much need. Education will reach its proper standard only when it is placed on a footing with the highest branches of knowledge. In schools for either sex,—in colleges and universities, the science of education in its three departments should be regularly taught in connection with physiology, ethics, and mental philosophy, as is the practice in some German universities. It should be made an indispensable part of a complete course of instruction. If, by the active solicitude of a liberal and enlightened government, it were universally studied and well understood, parents would carefully prepare their children for the teacher, and aid him to promote their advancement. Thus the rising generation, under the influence of parental morality, early discipline, better systems of instruction, and the mutual regard, as well as combined efforts of parents and teachers, would, one day, by its progress in the various departments of education, raise the moral and intellectual character of the nation. SECT. IV.-THE MOTHER, THE NATURAL PRECEPTOR OF HER God has placed the child under the influence and guardianship of parental love, that he may through sympathy reciprocate that love, and early practise all duties, virtues, and affections thence arising. Nothing can be substituted for such a school; the pleasures which he enjoys there, the pains which he feels, the attentions which he receives or bestows, can never have their place supplied for the training of his mind and his heart. It is especially the mother who is his first preceptor. With sympathy as an interpreter, she enters into communion with her child; she becomes the most zealous of teachers, and he the most apt of pupils; she gives him his first ideas and inspires his first feelings; she actually begins to train her child from the moment he sees the light. The kindness or harshness of her looks, the gentleness or roughness of her tones, act upon his feelings, and hourly excite emotions of love or anger,—of joy or sadness, which, perpetually returning, form the habitual character of the future man. The mother's smile gives the child his first glimpse of heaven, as the tenderness of her affection awakens his first conception of an all-bountiful Providence. Women dwell with interest and patience upon the trifles that make up the lives of children; and it is on the direction of these seeming trifles that their future greatness will depend. "A kiss from my mother," said Benj. West, "made me a painter." When yet a child, he had drawn a rude sketch of an infant relation sleeping in a cradle: his mother chanced to see this childish production, and was so well pleased with it that she took the young artist in her arms and rapturously kissed him. That mark of maternal delight fixed his fate for life. "The future destiny of a child," said Napoleon, "is always the work of his mother." He often declared that he was indebted to his own mother for his elevation. Remarking one day to Madame Campan, that the old systems of education were defective, he asked her what girls required in order to be well educated. "Mothers," was the answer. This word struck Napoleon. 'Well," said he, with his usual rapidity of thought, "this is a whole system of education. You must, madam, make mothers who know how to bring up their children." And he placed her at the head of the Ecouen Institution, which has since been so celebrated. 66 To form mothers worthy of that name ought, indeed, to be the chief end proposed in female education. Every girl is called by nature to become a wife, and bring up a family; she should then be put in possession of the means to forward the best interest of a husband, and to prepare children for the studies of school and for the duties of social life. When a man of sense marries, it is a companion he wants, not an artist. "It is not merely a creature who can paint, and play, and dress, and dance," says Hannah More ; "it is a being who can comfort and counsel him; one who can reason, and reflect, and feel, and judge, and act, and discourse, and discriminate; one who can assist him in his affairs, lighten his cares, soothe his sorrows, purify his joys, strengthen his principles, and educate his children.” * The mother has almost the exclusive direction of the young during the first twelve years—the most critical period of life; that in which habits are being formed and the most lasting impressions received. If her understanding be cultivated and her memory enriched with varied information, she will be able to draw from the resources of her mind endless means of exciting and gratifying the curiosity of her young pupils, of unfolding and improving their judgment. At the same time, it must be borne in mind that the most talented women are not always the most agreeable in their domestic capacity. Moral, more than intellectual, excellence would secure to a mother the power of conferring happiness on those who surround her, and of exercising a proper influence over the youthful mind. "If, above all, the mother makes it a duty to stamp the divine impress deeply in the mind of her son, never can it be effaced by the hand of vice."+ It is time to shake off the prejudice which condemns woman to a life of frivolity: she must be educated seriously; the progress *Strictures of Female Education. † Jos. Demaistre, Soirées de St. Petersbourg. |