LB 1037 .W76 ^^^4=' •' ^ (O ft « ^ ->. "■ X^^" O^.* -^'-r Q-> .-V ^<>''\ . .d^.«-'.>c"' ^^•'.J^. ^P-'j LETTERS , ^ ,^a^ ^h^ y^. A^^^ /^ SCHOOL-CHILDREN; m on their relation to their teachers, and to one another; on their duties as school-children; ON the necessity of government in schools ; ON the dangers to which school-children are ex- posed ; ON the means of improvement in moral excellence ; on the nature, object, means, and advantages of education \ AND ON THE VALUE OF time. BY E. C. WINES, Author of "Hints on Popular Education," "How shall I Govern my School,'' &c. &;c. ^) BOSTON: PEN 1 1839. MARSH, CAPEN AND LYON '■ ♦ > LB/0C^7 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1839, by Marsh, Capen & Lyon, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts; 3^ ^ Printed by William A. Hall & Co. DEDICATION TO MY OWN CHILDREN. My Beloved Children^ — Though none of you are yet able to read, I dedicate this volume to you. There is a propriety in doing so, which I will explain. Many of these letters were first written to you nearly two years ago. I did not then intend to have them printed in a book, but meant to leave them in manuscript, so that, if I should die before you grew up, you might still have some advice from your fa- ther, when you became old enough to read and understand it. I felt then, as I feel now, very anxious that, while you are young, you should make the best use of your time, and IV DEDICATION. prepare for the many important duties you will have to perform when you become men. Knowing how liable I was to die, and thus to be forever prevented from giving you those lessons which every father desires to give to his children, I began the writing of these Letters, as I have informed you. I was, however, not able to go on with my work at that time. Since then I have thought that what would be useful to you, would be useful to others ; I have, therefore, carried out my intention of writing the Letters ; but, instead of address- ing them to you, I have addressed them to all the school-children in the United States. They are now printed in a volume, and I hope that many children will read them, and be profited by the reading. Should God spare me, your education will form one of the principal occupations of my future years : should He see fit to take me away from you by death, I now bequeath to you the instruc- tions and counsels contained in these Letters, as an inheritance of greater worth than gold, or lands, or houses. The best return you DEDICATION. V can make for the labor I have bestowed upon them, will be to receive and follow the advice I have given in them. Accept this dedication in testimony of the deep and unalterable affection of Your Father. 1* PREFACE The following work embodies the substance of familiar lectures many- times delivered to the author's own pupils, while he was principal of the Edgehill School. He can bear witness to the good effects produced by the counsels they embrace, as thus present- ed to the youthful mind. Whether equal results may be anticipated from them in their present form, he cannot pretend to predict. It is much easier to talk to children, than to write for them. The author believes that in these Letters he has occupied ground hith- Vm PREFACE. erto untrodden. He trusts that it has yielded some fruit, '' pleasant to the sight, and good for food ; " and which will be found to be not altogether un- worthy the acceptance of the public. In this hope he gives to the light the results of his labor, after expressing his sense of obligation for the generous reception given to his previous literary efforts by a liberal community, Boston, January, 1839. CONTENTS. LETTER I. Reasons for writing to school-children— Clueer defini- tion of man — Explanation of it — Memory — Imagina- tion. ..._.. 9 LETTER II. Building castles in the air — Not useful — Another mode of employing the thoughts with regard to the future which is useful — Children ought to think of their fu- ture responsibilities, and prepare for them. - 14 LETTER III. The same subject continued — Children will have much to do when they grow up — First, for the good of man- kind — Secondly, for their country— And thirdly, for their families, neighbors, &c. &c. — Object of writing these letters — Statement of subjects. - - 20 LETTER IV. Importance of pupils' understanding their true relation to their teachers— Explanation of this relation — It is like that of parent and child— Wherein and why. 27 CONTENTS. LETTER V, Watchfulness on the part of teachers — Is their duty — Is beneficial to the pupils — How - - 32 LETTER VL Pupils ought to love their teachers — This duty ex- plained and enforced — Respect is the second duty of school-children — Reasons on which this obligation rests. ------ 36 LETTER VII. Obedience the third duty of pupils to teachers — Polite- ness — Teachableness. - - - - 42 LETTER VIII. Pupils owe it to their teachers to be frank and ingenu- ous with them — Why — The last duty of school-chil- dren towards their teachers is co-operation with them — Power of children over each other. - - 48 LETTER IX. The interesting relation existing between teachers and pupils chiefly for the advantage of the latter — Should be so regarded by themselves — Explanation of the pupils' relation towards each other — Their inter- course should be like that of brothers and sisters. 54 LETTER X. Necessity of government in schools — Should be vigor- ous and strict — Advantages of it — Duty of pupils in reference to it. - - - - - 59 CONTENTS. Xl LETTER XL Dangers to which school-children are exposed enumer- ated and explained. - - - - 65 LETTER XII. Means to lae employed by children for self-improvement in moral character — Choice of companions. - 76 LETTER XIII. The same subject continued — Why children should know by what means they can improve their charac- ter — These means stated— Acting from principle. 79 LETTER XIV. Same subject continued— Every child must correct his own faults — Means to be employed — 1st, Confession — 2d, "Watchfulness— 3d, Resistance of temptation. 86 LETTER XV. The same subject continued — Prayer — Self-watchful- ness and self-examination. - - - 94 LETTER XVI. Same subject continued— The Bible— Observance of the Sabbath. 101 LETTER XVII. Nature of Education — All are educated, but in different wa5'^s — Objects of Education — 1st, The cultivation of our powers— 2d, The attainment of knowledge— 3d, The formation of good habits. - - - 109 Xll CONTENTS. LETTER XVIII. Means of Education— Diligence and Study— Obedience to teachers and parents— Self-examination — A con- scientious discharge of duty — Self-denial — General Reading — Writing — Amusements — Study of the Bi- ble; 119 LETTER XIX. Advantages of Education — Improvement of Time. 130 LETTERS TO SCHOOL-CHILDREN. LETTER L Reasons for writing to school-children — Glncer definition of Man — Explanation of it — Memory — Imagination. My Young Friends^ — 1 CALL you friends^ though I have never seen you ; and I am going to write many let- ters to you. Perhaps you will wonder w?iy a stranger should trouble himself so much about you. I will tell you why. You will not remain always children ; you are fast growing up to be men and women. Your fathers and mothers will, in a very few years, die ; and then you will have to take their places. Some of you will be mothers, and will have children of your own to take care of and to educate. Some of you Avill be 1 10 LETTERS TO SCHOOL-CHILDREN. lawyers, some doctors, some ministers and teachers, some law-makers, some judges and governors, and some merchants, farmers, me- chanics, &c. Do you not think it impor- tant that you should become good men and women ? I am sm"e you think so, and that you desire to form a good character. There are very few children who do not feel that they should like to be good when they grow up. Now it is to help you in trying to be- come good and wise, that I write these letters to you. I have been many years a teacher ; I have seen a great deal of children ; I have learned much about their dispositions, habits, and capacities ; and I think I can give you some advice, which will be useful to you while you are getting your education. Many of you, I dare say, have heard some- thing about the Greeks, who lived many hun- dred years ago. They were a strange people, and said a great many queer things. One of them said that " Qiian zvas an animal that looked behind a7id before.''^ Perhaps you will laugh at this, and think that he who said it must have been a crazy man ; but he was not crazy. He did not mean that men have eyes in the back part of their heads. He spoke of their minds. He meant that they have oinemory^ with which, as with an eye, they can look back on what is past ; and that they LETTERS TO SCHOOL-CHILDREN. 11 have imagination^ which, Hke another eye, enables them to look forward to what is to come. That this is so, you all know perfectly well. Do you not remember what happened yesterday, or last week ? Do you not re- tnemher that pleasant visit you made last year to your cousins, and what fine sport you had with them ? So also you are constantly look- ing forward to future events. True you do not know what will happen next year, next week, or to-morrow. No ! you cannot even tell with certainty what a single hour may bring forth. You are now well and free from pain. In less than an hour you may have an arm broken ; you may be taken violently ill ; you may be a lifeless corpse ! You know this well ; yet you look forward to bright scenes and happy days. Is it not so ? Do you not expect much pleasure on your next holiday, when you will be released from the confinement and duties of school, and can roam at large through the woods and fields, or go to visit some dear friend, or to see some interesting show ? II you are away from home, at a boarding-school, what delight does the near approach of vaca- tion give you ! How do your hearts over- flow with gladness when your thoughts an- ticipate the time that is to give you back to 12 LETTERS TO SCHOOL-CHILDREN. your parents, brothers, and sisters, and all the pleasures of home ! How do you count the weeks, the days, and the hours, and at last the very minutes, that must intervene, before the wished-for moment arrives, that is to free you from your present restraints, and make you perfectly happy ! Nor is this all. Some of you already be- gin to send your thoughts forward to the time when you will become, as the phrase is, " your oion master s.^^ None of you expect to die in youth ; all are looking forward to old age, or at least to mature manhood. And what are your anticipations ? What do you expect to be ? What do you hope to possess ? Alas ! alas ! the seeds of ambition and avarice have already taken root in your hearts, and begin to shoot their branches upward to the air. How many are the day-dreams that float be- fore your childish fancy ! Ships freighted with rich cargoes, piles of ledgers, the crowd- ed warehouse, the splendid dwelling, the ex- tensive farm, the costly equipage ; — do not some of you look forward to such possessions and pleasures as these ? Do you never think of the victories that may be in reserve for you over rival fellow-students, the fame you may acquire at the bar, the eminence to which you may rise as statesmen, the renown you may gain as orators, the political honors that may LETTERS TO SCHOOL-CHILDREN. 13 be showered upon yon, the distinction even which you may win upon the field of author- ship? Such anticipations, high as they seem, are no strangers even to the youthful bosom. Have you never indulged them ? Do you not sometimes, even when your attention ought to be wholly occupied with your books, detect yourselves in giving a loose to the reins of imagination, and awake from some pleasing reverie as from a dream ? I think you will, many of you, have to an- swer these questions in the affirmative. 1* LETTER II. Building castles in the air — Not useful — Another mode of employing the thoughts with regard lo the future which is useful — Children ought to think of their future respon- sibilities, and prepare for them. My Young- Priejids, — " Building castles in the air," is the name commonly given to that indulgence of im- agination of which I spoke in my last letter. It is an indulgence to which most persons, and especially those of your age, are not a little prone. It is, however, never a profita- ble employment, and is often very hurtful. Children who think much about how great, rich, and happy they will hereafter become, waste the time they ought to spend in gain- ing knowledge and preparing themselves to be useful. Yet, there is a way of employing the thoughts with respect to the future, which is not only excusable, but worthy of praise. It is even your duty to think about the years that are to come. Your principal occupations LETTERS TO SCHOOL-CHILDREN. 15 at school have respect to your future lives. Do you think you go to school, as you Avould go to see a balloon ascension, an illumination, or the tricks of a juggler, merely for your present amusement ? You know you do not. You feel well assured that your parents would not be at so much expense to send you to school for such a purpose as this. i\o ! You go to school for a far better and nobler purpose. It is that you may prepare yourselves, by study and discipline, to perform, with credit to your- selves and advantage to others, those duties which God, your country, and the world will require of you, when you grow up to be men and women. You are old enough to begin to think about this, and you ought to remember that, in a few years, you will have to fill the places now occupied by your fathers and mothers. You will yourselves, many of you, soon be mothers, and how will you govern and edu- cate your children, unless you prepare your- selves now ? If our present form of govern- ment continues, who, fifty years from this time, will fill the high ofiice of President of the United States ? Some one who is now a school-boy. Who, in less time than fifty years, will make most of our judges, legis- lators, foreign ministers, military and naval officers, professional gentlemen, authors, art- 16 LETTERS TO SCHOOL-CHILDREN. ists, teachers, merchants, farmers, and me- chanics ? Those who, like you, are now subject to all the restraints put upon school- children, and engaged in the daily round of school duties. What an interest does this give to your present occupations ! Can you realize the thought without being affected by it? There is not a school in the land, in which there may not be some future governor, judge, statesman, or even j^resident of the Union. I say not this to point a sentence, or to flatter your vanity. No, indeed. My aim is much higher. You live in a free republic, where every one owes his best services to his coun- try ; and where every one ought to be ready and willing to serve his country in any way that she requires. I want to remind you how important may he the post which your coun- try will hereafter assign you, and, in doing this, to impress upon your minds the great lesson that you ought to prepare yourselves now, by diligence in study, and by all the other means which will be pointed out to you, for whatever your future station may be. Spring, as you well know, is the seed-time of the year. It is then that the husbandman ploughs and sows his fields, — waiting ever after for the early and the latter rain in their season, to cause the seed to sprout and grow, LETTERS TO SCHOOL-CHILDREN. 17 and ripen into fruit. So youth, which is the spring-time of Yiie, is the period when the seeds of knowledge and virtue must be sown in the heart. It is the season of preparation ; and if any of you neglect the opportunity you now enjoy for becoming wise and good, you can never, in after life, however much you may exert yourselves, make up for the want of present diligence. Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage, and he could never get it back, though he afterwards mourned bitterly over his folly. So time once wasted can never be recovered. You may lament over its loss, like Esau over the loss of his birthright ; but your sorrow will not bring back the hours you now pass in idleness ; nor can all your efforts then gain for you that amount of knowledge which is at present within your reach. Now, there is one thought that I wish to call your particular attention to in this matter. It is well and very plainly expressed by our Saviour, in the two following sentences. '' Where much is given, much also will be required." '' The servant which knew his Lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes ; but he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes ; for, unto 18 LETTERS TO SCHOOL-CHILDREN. whomsoever much is given, of him shall he much required ; and to whom men have com- mitted much, of him they will ask the more." Suppose a gentleman employs three persons to trade for him in China. To one he gives one thousand dollars, to another ten thousand, and to the third twenty thousand. Do you think he will expect the first to make as much money for him as the second, or the second as the third ? There is not a child in your school who does not know better than that. Well, it is the same in education. God will expect and require more of those to whom he gives great opportunities for gain- ing knowledge, than of others who enjoy less means. You have parents who know the value of a good education, and are willing both to spare your time and to spend money in sending you to school. Do you think that if you waste your time in idleness and grow up in ignorance, you will be no more to blame for it, than if you had had no oppor- tunity of going to school ? Before I finish this letter, I will tell you about a family that I have heard of, living in one of our western cities. One of the first lessons which the father and mother teach their children is, that they ought to think less of themselves than of others — that they should drive out selfishness from their hearts, LETTERS TO SCHOOL-CHILDREN. 19 and cultivate a feeling of benevolence towards all men. Hence, nothing is more common than to hear the children of that family, the younger as well as the older ones, talk about " living for their country," " serving their country," " being useful to their coun- try," &c. Thus they learn to live rather for mankind than for themselves. One of them is now president of a college, and another is among the best and most distinguished of the female writers of America. And you, my dear children, should think often and a great deal about how much good you may hereafter do, and try and prepare yourselves to be very use- ful to others. You must study the lesson of living for others as well as for yourselves. Nothing is meaner than selfishness ; nothing more noble and generous than to labor for the good of your country and of mankind. LETTER III. The same subject continued — Children will have much to do when they grow up — First, for the good of mankind — Secondly, for their country — And, thirdly, for their fami- lies, neighbors, &c. &c. — Object of writing these letters — Statement of subjects. My Young Fi'iends, — In my last letter I told you that you ought to think about what you would have to do when you grew up to manhood. In this I wish to say something further to you on the duties you will then have to perform. Do you know what the present state of the world is ? You know that in the place where you live, though you have the Bible, the church, the Sabbath school, and much religious instruction, yet there is a great deal of wickedness. Half of the people that you are acquainted with do not pretend to love God, or serve him ; and many of them swear, lie, deceive, steal, drink, and do many other very wicked things. But you live in a Christian land. Much LETTERS TO SCHOOL-CHILDREN. 21 the largest part of the world is not Christian even in name ; and the people who live in that part know nothing abont the true God, or Jesus Christ, or the way of salvation. They have, indeed, more gods than you could count ; but these are made of wood, or stone, or gold, or silver, or some other sense- less and lifeless object. Some of them wor- ship wicked men, and even beasts, and rep- tiles, and monsters of the deep. They think they can please their gods by cruelty ; so they swing on hooks — they cut their flesh — they walk barefoot over rough and stony places — they travel hundreds of miles by prostrating themselves in such a way, that their bodies touch every inch of ground they pass over — they throw themselves before the wheels of a car, on which a huge idol is borne, and are crushed to death ; and, what is worse and more cruel than all, they often kill their little infants as soon as they are born. O, the horrid cruelties that are prac- tised by heathen people ! They have no schools for little girls, because they think that females are not as good as men ; and they do not allow them even to eat with men ; and they have very few schools for boys. They are not only ignorant of the true God, and destitute of most other useful knowledge, but they are also very wicked j '2 22 LETTERS TO SCHOOL-CHILDREN. they lie, steal, rob, and practise all sorts of dishonesty and corruption. And then they know nothing about anoth-er Avorld, as you do, who have the Bible. How unhappy these heathen people must be ! Do you not pity their condition ? Would you not do something to make it better ? God does not mean to have the world continue in this state always. He will have it filled with the knowledge of himself, and all the people in it made good and happy. But this great ■work he will not do by miracle ; he will employ men to aid him in it. You are all called to be co-workers with God, in improv- ing the condition of the heathen world. What a liigh honor is thus conferred upon you ! How anxious should you be to pre- pare yourselves for this duty ! But, your duties, when you become men and women, will not end with your efforts to banish from the world the ignorance, wick- edness, and misery which now abound in it. You will have many other and very impor- tant duties to perform. We live in a free country ; we enjoy a republican form of gov- ernment. The people govern themselves here through the representatives and senators they choose and send to Congress. In for- mer times, as you have probably learned from your histories, all this country belonged LETTERS TO SCHOOL-CHILDREN. 23 to Great Britain. Great Britain was very unjust towards our forefathers, and they de- termined they would not submit to injustice ; so they made war upon her. They said that they would form a nation by themselves, independent of Great Britain ; that they would have a government of their own, and be free. But it took them a great while, and there was a great deal of fightiug, before they gained their freedom and established their independence. They had to spend a great deal of money, and shed much blood, in doing it. At last, however, they succeed- ed. Great Britain acknowledged that she could not conquer them, and said they should have her consent to be free and independent. Then those brave men, that had fought the battles of the Revolution, met together, and formed our present free, wise, and happy government. Almost all those men are now dead ; but they have left us the government they formed, and it is our duty to preserve it, and hand it down, as it now is, to our chil- dren. It requires a great deal of knowledge, wisdom, and goodness, in all our citizens, to do this. This duty Avill very soon belong to you. Your fathers and mothers will, before many years, be sleeping in their graves. Now is the time to qualify yourselves for the important work that is before you. How 24 LETTERS TO SCHOOL-CHILDREN. diligent you should he ! how carefal to make the best use of your time ! how anxious to improve every opportunity that your kind heavenly Father gives you to lay up knowl- edge, and become wise and good ! Nor will your duties stop here. Many of you will become parents, and have families of children around you. How numerous, how varied, and how important the duties which the parental relation will impose upon you ! Every father and mother ought to be qualified to be the instructors of their own children. But how will you be able to teach your little ones, unless you lay in a store of knowledge now, while you are at school ? Parents ought also to set a good example before their children. But, if you ever be- come parents, you will not do this, unless you form good habits now. " Can the Ethi- opian change his skin, or the leopard his spots ? Then shall they who have been long accustomed to do evil, learn to do welV^ Almost every man's character for life is form- ed while he is young. There are very few great changes of character after the season of youth is passed. Bad boys and girls almost always make bad men and women. Besides the duties already mentioned, you will have many others to perform as neigh- bors, as friends, and as relatives. All these LETTERS TO SCHOOL-CHILDREN. 25 duties, which now belong to your parents, will soon devolve upon you. And now is the time to prepare yourselves for them. fSurely, you have not a moment to waste. You have a great work to do, and you ought to be about it in earnest, and with diligence. I know you are yet children ; and I have no desire to see you suddenly converted into men and women. What delights me in chil- dren is the simplicity of childhood. I do not wish you to lay aside your childish plays and gambols. On the contrary, I like to see you engage heartily in them, and I like to join in them myself. But, then, you should remem- ber that you are not always to remain chil- dren ; that your sports must, by-and-by, be laid aside for the serious business of life ; and that, even now, your chief occupations should be very different from mere play. To help you in preparing yourselves for the great duties of life, to aid you in your efforts to become imbued with that knowl- edge and those virtues which will fit you to be useful men and citizens, is the object I have in view, in the Letters I now address you. I shall speak to you of your relation to your teachers and fellow-pupils ; of your du^ ties as school-children ; of the necessity of government in schools ; of the dangers to which you are exposed ; of the means of 2* 26 LETTERS TO SCHOOL-CHILDREN. self-improvement in moral excellence ; of the nature, objects, means, and advantages of education ; and of the value of time. I will endeavor to bring what I have to say on these subjects down to the level of your un- derstanding. My only aim is your good. I do not write to amuse you. If any child has taken up this book merely for amusement, having read thus far, he may now shut it, and lay it aside. But if any sincerely desire to be instructed in what they ought to do in school, and aided in doing it, I think I may, without arrogance, promise them that, if they will not only attentively read what I have written, but honestly strive to practise what I recommend, they cannot fail to be benefited by the counsels they will receive. LETTER lY. Importance of pupils' understanding their true relation to their teacliers — Explanation of this relation — It is like that of child to parent — Wherein and why. My 'Young Fj'icnds,— I AM first to speak to you on your relation to your teachers and fellow-pupils. It is very important that you should understand this subject — especially the relation in which you stand to your teachers. If you look upon your teachers as hard-hearted task-mas- ters, whose sole wish is, to give you as much to do as they can, and to deprive you of ev^ery innocent enjoyment, rather than as friends, who seek your good in all they require and forbid, will you obey them, or attend to their instructions any farther than you are forced to do so ? Will you not rather hate, despise, and ridicule them ? Perhaps, while they are lifting up their hearts to God for you, or anx- iously devising plans for your improvement and pleasure, you may be contriving how 28 LETTERS TO SCHOOL-CHILDREN. you can deceive them, or plotting to weaken their authority and influence. Let me deal plainly and faithfully with you. Do I not speak to some who have often been engaged in such unworthy employments ? I know whiat school-boys are ; for I could not shut my eyes to what I have seen, nor stop my ears against what I have heard. But, in feeling and acting thus, you wrong both your teachers and yourselves. Why not, then, cultivate a friendly feeling towards them ? Why not treat them with proper respect ? Why not manfully determine, that, whatever others may do, your constant en- deavor shall be to aid your teachers, to strengthen their authority, and, by an ami- able and obedient temper, to lighten their labor, and make the task of teaching you pleasant. Ignorance of your true relation to your teachers is one great cause why schools are not more useful than they are — why so little that is good, and so much that is bad, is learned in them. What, then, is the real nature of the rela- tion or position in which you stand, with respect to your teachers ? A school is very much like a family ; it is a family for the time being, to all intents and purposes. Then the relation of teacher and pupil is the LETTERS TO SCHOOL-CHILDREN. 29 same as that of parent and child. Two things, which I will now state, will make this, I think, ver]^ plain to you. First: All the authority your teachers have over you is parental authority. Where did they get their power over you ? Did the President of the United States, or the Gov- ernor of your State, give it to them? Was it conferred upon them by any law of Con- gress, or of a State Legislature ? Have they authority over you merely because they are older and know more than you ? Has every gentleman you see in the street power to command you, and must you obey ? You know better than all this. You would laugh at any body who should tell you so. But you are bound to obey your teachers. This you freel3r acknowledge. Why must you mind them? Because, when your parents sent you to school to them, they gave to them a part of their own power and authority over you. Your parents get their auihority directly from God. God says to you, ^^ Hon- or thy father and mother ; " '' Obey your parents." He tells your parents that they must instruct and govern you, not sparing the rod when you have done wrong, and deserve punishment. Your parents, having this power over you, take you to school, and eay to your teacher, ^' Mr. , I bring 30 LETTERS TO SCHOOL-CHILDREN. my son to yon, and place him nnder yonr care. I wish yon to teach him, to govern him, and to try to make him wise and good. I give you entire control over him, while he is with you." If your parents do not say this in words, they say it by placing you in the school. Thus it is that your teachers' power and authority over you are truly parental, and that they themselves are to you in the place of parents, while you are under their charge and care. Secondly : Another thing, which shows very clearly that yom- relation to your teach- ers is like that to your father and mother, is, that the duties of your teachers towards you are the same as those of parents to children, and your duties towards them are the same as those of children to parents. It is the duty of your teachers to instruct you, to love you, to set you a good example, to watch over you, to treat you kindly, to correct your faults, and to use their best endeavors to give you good habits and manners, and to instil into your minds right principles of action. All this is just what your parents are bound to do for you. And many parents send their children to school, merely because they either have not time to perform these duties them- selves, or because they feel that they are not ^operly qualified for ti^^m. LETTERS TO SCHOOL-CHILDREN. 31 What are your obligations to your teachers ? You are bound to love, respect, and obey them ; to conduct yourselves politely towards them ; to show a teachable spirit ; to deal frankly and truly with them ; and to co-op- erate with them in their plans and efforts to promote the improvement and good morals of their pupils. Are not all these obligations duties which you owe to your fathers and mothers ? The duties, then, of teachers and pupils towards each other are really paternal and filial duties. Now, let me ask you, What do you think the effect would be, if all the members of your school looked upon the matter in this light ? If you considered your teachers as employing only a father's author- ity over you, and felt that your mutual duties were those of parents and children, would you, could you, behave towards them as you sometimes do ? I cannot believe it. You would be more gentle, more respectful, more obedient, more anxious to please your teach- ers, and to aid them in their work. LETTER V. Watchfulness on the part of Teachers — Is their duty— Is beneficial to tte pupils — How. My Young Friends, — It would not be proper for me to say much to you respecting the duties of your teacher. But there is one of their duties that I may speak of without impropriety ; I mean watch- fuhiess, or, as children themselves often call it, in contempt, " watching." Boys and girls are apt to have very wrong ideas about this. They often think meanly of their teachers for watching over them, sneering at their faith- fulness, and calling them " spies." Now this is altogether unjust. It is ungrateful. It is unworthy of generous children. Your teachers are not at liberty to do as they please in this matter. There is an obli- gation resting upon them. They have a duty to perform ; and that duty is to watch over youj and try to find out your faults. Do you LETTERS TO SCHOOL-CHILDREN. 33 suppose they do this jnst to gratify a mean curiosity, or for the mere sake of punishing you ? I cannot think it possible that ingenu- ous children should entertain such a thought. Would you like to have your parents cease watching over you ? I am sure you would not ; and yet you think it both hard and mean that your teachers should do the very same thing that you desire your parents to do. Is not this inconsistent ? Is it not unjust ? Is it not ungenerous ? I pray you to consider this matter calmly. Think about it ; look into it ; examine it ; pray over it ; it is well worth your while to do so ; it will repay all the at- tention you can give it. Vigilance is one of the most important of a teacher's duties ; but I can assure you it is not a pleasant one. On the contrary, it is very unpleasant. It is a duty, therefore, as much as possible shunned by unfaithful teachers. What they desire is To see as little as they can, lest the faults of their pupils should give them too much trouble. If, then, you ever go to school to a teacher who is not vigilant, and who seldom sees or punishes the wrong doing of his pupils, you may be assured that he does not care much about your im- provement, and that he loves his own ease more than he does your improvement. What object, therefore, can a faithful 3 34 LETTERS TO SCHOOL-CHILDREN. teacher have in watching over yon hnt your own good ? Do yon ask how yon are benefit- ed by Ills vigilance ? Listen, and you shall be instructed. When you know that your teacher is watchful, and that there is hardly ever any mischief in the school that he does not in some way find out, this knowledge will make you watchful over yourselves. This is not mere opinion ; it is fact. I ask you confidently, if this is not so ? if you do not know it to be so from your own experi- ence ? If your teacher's eye could always be at the same moment in every part of the school-room and play-grounds, would there be any idleness, any fighting, any profaneness, or any other open violation of decency and order ? You know full well that there would not. This is so much the case that school- children themselves can sometimes greatly aid their teachers in correcting general faults by the appointment of committees of vigilance, &c. I have seen a very bad fault entirely driven out of a large school in this way. Such is the effect of watchfulness even of school-boys over each other. And will you indulge the thought that it is either hard or mean for your teachers to watch over you with unceasing vigilance? Let me entreat you to banish such a thought forever from your bosom. If ever you see this parental LETTERS TO SCHOOL-CHILDREN. 35 watchfulness opposed by your companions as cruelty, or hear it denounced as spying, or ridiculed as folly, do not, I beseech you, join in such ungrateful and undutiful behavior. Have moral courage enough to defend the kindness of your teachers, even though all besides should laugh at you for what they may call your want of spirit. You will respect yourselves the more for it, and so will those who laugh at you. Do not, as too many school-children do, regard your teachers as hard masters, rather than as friends, and for the time being parents. Do not suppose that their great object is to abridge your pleasures and cross your wishes, however they may sometimes think it necessary to do both. Do not feel as if they delighted in marking, re- membering, and punishing your faults, though duty may sometimes require this at their hands. You ought rather to rejoice that they have the patience and the faithfulness to deal thus with you. In so doing they act towards you like a kind but judicious father ; nay, like God himself, who often punishes us sore- ly, not for his own pleasure, but for our profit. LETTER YI. Pupils ought to love their teachers— This duty explained and enforced — Respect is the second duly of school- children — Reasons on which this obligation rests. My Young Friends^ — Your first duty to your teachers is love. Would that I could explain this obligation so as to make you feel it, and practise it. There is a sense in which you are bound to love every body. " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," is the language in which God speaks to us all. But this is not the kind of love you owe your teachers ; that is an affec- tion including gratitude. It is like the love you owe to God, to your parents, and to other benefactors. When you receive any good from another, what rule shonld regulate the degree of grateful love you feel towards him ? Is it not plainly the degree in which you have been benefited by him ? One man saves you from drowning, another gives you a pen- knife. Which will you love most ? Which LETTERS TO SCHOOL-CHILDREN. 37 ought you to love most ? The former, un- doubtedly. According to this rule, you ought to love God more than all other beings. Has He not done infinitely more for you than the whole creation besides? If people would think more about his goodness, they would love Him more. Next to God, you are most indebted to your parents. Can you think of their care, their tenderness, their watchfulness, their earnest prayers in your behalf, their ten thousand acts of parental kindness and love, without feeling your hearts warm towards them ? Now, apply this rule to your teachers, and judge how much you ought to love them. After God and your parents, who does so much for your welfare, both in time and eternity, as a faithful instructor ? If your teacher were to make you rich, or get some high office for you, how thankful you would be to him ! You would be ready to think that you could not love him enough for such kindness. But, if he were to procure both riches and office for you, he would not do you half as much good as he now does, by training you to knowledge and virtue. Now do you not see how strong your obligation to love your teacher is ? The apostle Paul, in one of his Epistles to the Thessalonians, says, '' We beseech you, 3* 38 LETTERS TO SCHOOL-CHILDREN. brethren, to know them which labor among you, and to esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake." In this passage he tells the Thessalonians what feelings they ought to have towards their religious teachers. And what does he say ? The very same thing I have said to you, viz. that they ought to love their teachers a great deal, be- cause they labored for their good. Your teachers also labor for your good ; they in- struct you ; they admonish you ; they watch over you ; they correct your faults ; they pray for you. Will you not obey the precept of St. Paul, or rather the command of God, and '' esteem them very highly in love for their work's sake ? " Think what their work is. Remember how hard they labor for you ; how diligently they teach you ; how long they bear with you ; how patiently they explain what you cannot understand ; and how sin- cerely they commend you when you do well, and rejoice at every proof you give of ad- vancement in knowledge and improvement in character. If such thoughts as these are familiar to your minds, you cannot feel nor act towards your teachers as many, very many, school-children do. On the contrary, you hearts will warm with grateful love to- wards them for their kindness, and you will show how much you love them by trying to give them as little trouble as possible. LETTERS TO SCHOOL-CHILDREN. 39 Respect is the second duty you owe to your teachers. The instructors of youth have been held in very different esteem among different nations. Among the ancient Egyptians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans, they were held in the highest respect, as being both the wisest and the most useful of men. The Persians always chose, for the teachers of their children, old men, who had passed all the former period of their lives without reproach or dishonor. Juvenal, a Roman poet, says of the Roman people, " Who pious reference to their tutors paid"; As parents honored, and as gods obeyed." As PARENTS HONORED. This is the feeling that you ought to entertain towards your teachers. Are you not bound to "render unto all their dues ? " This is the command of God. Do you suppose that it means merely that you must pay the money that you owe ? It means that, certainly ; but it means, also, something more. Paul expressly says, " Honor to whom honor is due." You are, then, just as much bound to respect those who are deserving of respect, as you are to pay for a quire of paper, after you have bought it. The only question is, who are deserving of your respect ? It is not all who 40 LETTERS TO SCHOOL-CHILDREN. are rich, and live in fine houses, nor even all who fill high offices, that are truly respecta- ble. True worth is not in anything external. It dwells in the mind ; it is a part of the character. All who follow an honest calling in an honorable way are respectable in the true sense ; and none others are. But even these are not all entitled to equal respect. Those who are laboring in a profession, whose aim is to make men wiser, better, and happier, are to be more esteemed than those who are engaged in the commoner pur- suits of life. What class of men, then, have a higher title to respect than those who are engaged in the task of training the youth of a country to become good hasbands and wives, good fathers and mothers, good broth- ers and sisters, good men and women ? What occupation can be more truly respectable than this ? None, surely ; and you cannot help seeing it, and admitting that it is your duty to respect your teachers. But I can show you the same thing, (viz. that you are bound to respect your teachers,) in a different way. You know, and will not deny, that you are under obligation to im- prove yourselves, while at school, as much as possible, both in mind and character. It is only in this way that you can prepare your- selves to perform, usefully and well, your LETTERS TO SCHOOL-CHILDREN. 41 future duties. The means for making this preparation, which you enjoy in school, are the instructions and example of your teachers. But these can do you little or no good, unless you respect and confide in those who have charge of your education. This places your duty in the clearest light ; it puts it beyond the reach of doubt or cavil. I am sure you will acknowledge that I am right, in what I have said. Be manly enough, then, though you are yet but children, to act up to what you allow to be your obligation. If any of your companions are mean enough to sneer at their teachers, do not degrade yourselves by joining in their contempt. Let your language to your instructors, your man- ner, and whole deportment, be marked with respect. In this way, you will show that you are yourselves worthy of being respected ; you will win the love of your teachers, and gain the approbation of all wise and good men. You will also please your heavenly Father, which is more important than all the rest. LETTER VII. Obedience the third duty of pupils to teachers— Politeness — Teachableness. My Young Friends,— Obedience is your next duty to your teachers. God says, " Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves." Obedience and submission to all who have just authority over you, are here expressly commanded. That this command requires you to obey magistrates and parents, you will not think of denying. But it requires you equally to obey your teachers ; for they have a real and just authority over you, given them by your parents, as I have already shown you. Every time, therefore, that you disobey your teachers, in any of their just requirements, you go contrary to an express command of God. You break his law just as much as when you disobey your parents. Some of you break the rules of your school every day, and many times a day. Did you LETTERS TO SCHOOL-CHILDREN. 43 ever think it was wicked to do so ? I be- seech you to remember this, and to try and form the habit of obedience. Act from prin- ciple, in this matter. Then you will be prompt in your obedience, and you will obey, whether your teachers see you or not. Tar- dy obedience is not obedience at all. When you receive a command, comply with it in- stantly, and with a cheerful air and manner. Do not be like the eye-servant — -obedient only while you are watched. Remember that the eye of God is always on you ; for he sees every where, and is every v/here. I have seen children, who had been very diso- bedient, change their conduct very much, when they were convinced, that to disobey their teachers was wrong in the sight of God. This is the view you ought to take of diso- bedience, and this the feeling that you should try to cultivate. When you break a good, and proper, and wholesome rule of your school, you break a law of God. For, though God does not say expressly, you must not whisper and play in school, he says, •' Obey your teachers." Now, if your instructors tell you that you must not whis- per and play in school, and you still do it, is it not plain that you transgress a command of God ? Perhaps you have never thought so before ; but do you not see it now ? 44 LETTERS TO SCHOOL-CHILDREN. " Obey them, that have the rule over you^ and subinit yourselves." If your companious entice you to disobey, be firm, be manly, in your refusal to consent. Walk not in the way with them, for their feet run to evil. Such a course may bring upon you the ridi- cule of the foolish ; but why should you care ? It would gain for you the approbation of God, please your parents, secure the love of your teachers, win the esteem of your friends, and promote the good of your companions, and your own happiness. Are not these weighty motives? Ought they not to have influence with you ? If they do not win you over to the ways of obedience, which are truly " ways of pleasantness and peace," I know of nothing that would have that effect. Politeness is another duty you owe your teachers. Children are very apt to be rude to their instructors. When restrained in their wishes, or censured for their miscon- duct, they will allow themselves to become irritated, and to use impertinent language. There is often that in their look, tone, or manner, which is insulting, even when they do not use insulting words. They take pleasure in worrying their teachers, and making disturbance in the school, for the mere sake of vexing them. These acts, and others like them, are offences against good LETTERS TO SCHOOL-CHILDREN. 45 breeding, as well as violations of higher obli- gation. You will meet with many children of this perverse character. Go not in the way with them. I thank God that there are also many children quite different from this. They love to give pleasure to their teachers. They do not frown, mutter, and rebel, when- ever they are crossed in their wishes. They seem to think that teachers have feelings, as well as others. They show their regard for their feelings by various little attentions to their comforts, by giving them as little trou- ble as possible, by an obliging and courteous demeanor, and by making them trifling pres- ents of fruits, flowers, cakes, candies, ^°^ ^^ ^^mN^^/^^^^^. HECKMAN BINDERY INC. ^ JUL 92 ■^'^^ N. MANCHESTER, INDIANA 46962