Year: 1861

The minds of children are as different
as the shifting scenes of Kaleidoscope,
which, at every turn OF the glass presents
to the eye some new form of beauty now
light fairy wreath; aud now figure more
compact in form but equally beautiful in
its arrangement and color In regard to
beauty the comparison may not apply very
closely to the minds of those around us,
yet there is in every human life varied
changes of coloring, which, though family
seen at first, gains in tone and strength un-
til it at last dazzles US by its undying lus-
ire, or disgusts US with its hateful uniform
ity of shade.


In the sehoolroom how perceptible is
this varied change. What teacher has
not painted upon the walls of his memory,
imperishable pictures of every child under
his care? He recalls the form of one as
he sat diligently coming his allotted task
of another dancing, leapiug, or frolcing
over the play ground; of one whose gentle
guilelcss life won the bliss of Heaven, or
Of one whose rough uncultivated nature
had never supped with the gentle eraces


There is class Of scholars who esteem
it high privilege to be heroes This,
when strlycn for with commcudaLle zeal
aud honorable motive, is praiseworthY; but,
among the more uncultivated there is sort
Of feeling predominant, that, to be great,
IS TO be the strongest boy N school, the one
always ready to avenge wrong at the risk
of personal injury, the one who darcs to
disobey the rules and exhibits on every
occasion his contempt for everything but
unbeunded lawlcSsness. With many of
the scholars, such azbey is a hero for, in
many schools there are but few who have
the moral courage to openly condemn such
a course of conduct, The smaller scholars
hold him in reverence for, he is the big
gest boy in the school, so they cheerfulIy
tender him their marbles, balls, or even the
contents of their dinner baskets, if he but
intimates a desire to possess them; this is
done because they fear him, for his name
is a terror to the more timid ones, and thus
to calm the quakmg of their little coward
ly hearts, they willingly yield their pleas
ure to his. We can, in Imagination, easily
trace the onward course of such hero !;
from his boyhood to manhood and old age,
through all his ailnless, worthless life tarn-
ishing the earth with his polluted footsteps,
until at last he leaves it unregrettcd and
forgotten. But turn to another picture,
Teacher, did you ever have in your school,
an aristocrat, in the shape of little girl,
say from six to twelve years of age? Mark
with what an air she passes to her seat and
!, e h. Il hoE
tide her neighbor's hat if it occupies her
peg it soon lies ingloriously on the floor,
She does not study much ma says it will
hurt me, and pa is SO rich that ] need'n
unless | want to- The little girl with the
patched Calico is an object of extreme
aversion to her; and if game is deter
mined on the calico girP is sure to be
half an inch shorter or taller than the
standard heighth agreed on, so she sits
alone down by the fence, and forces down
the great choking Jumps that will come up
from her childish heart until it seems that
she has more grief than she can weep for.
O, there are indeed sad pictures amid the
brightness of a teachers life. How often
do the hands fall YEARLY, and the heart
grow faint, when striving, planting and wa
tering with tears seem in vain; and, des-
pite our wishes to the contrary, how dis
tasteful is the memory of those who, By
reason of false teaching at home or from
want OF good common sense in the family
circle, forfeit all claim to the love and res
pect of the teacher How long will par
ents be blinded in this matter? Is there
not something higher and nobler in your
children, than asenseless, slayish doserence
to the folIies and foibles of the day. Is We
can not, soiU not believe you are wiling
agents in this matter. For your childrens
own good, now and hereafter, throw aside
this demeaning conformity to the unsatis-