LITERARY NOTICES.

The Teacher or Moral Influences employed in the Instruction and Government of the Young. By Jacob Abbott, late Principal of the Mount Vernon Female School, Boston, Mass.

This work is an attempt to improve the character of teachers, by giving them more correct views of the character of children, by inspiring them with an interest and a love for those under their charge, and by leading them to feel more deeply the responsibility of their situation. It is an attempt to prove that it is more easy to govern and instruct by means of religion, reason, and love, than by authority and force. In all the author's remarks there appears a great love of purity and truth, and a kindness and generosity of disposition. There is no apparent wish to use religion, because he might abuse its sacred sanctions, to frighten the disobedient, and make the task of teaching more easy; but, on the other hand, a desire to make scholars and teachers religious beings, because it is their duty to be so. There is no spiritual pride, because he has accomplished what few teachers have attempted; and no conceited desire to make his views of education appear of any value, unless they may be found to be true. His instructions to teachers are full of sound judgement. He is enthusiastic, but not destitute of caution. He has not advanced crude ideas, with the notion that he has discovered a new plan, by which he is about to convert the world; but he freely allows that his plans may not be the best-only that he has found them successful, and he recommends them to be adopted or copied by other teachers. Indiscriminate praise, however, is of little value. Let those who have not had an opportunity to read Mr. Abbott's volume, judge of its value from the analysis and extracts which follow.

The first chapter is devoted to a consideration of the means to be used to excite the teacher's interest in his occupation. The second chapter, to a consideration of the general arrangements of a school. Instruction is the subject of the third. In this he says

"There are three kinds of knowledge, the means by which all other knowledge is acquired;-writing, reading and calculation. A child who is studying geography, or history, or natural science, is learning facts; he who is learning to read, write, and calculate, is acquiring skill, by which his knowledge may be indefinitely increased. To teach these three kinds of knowledge, then, is the great object of the teacher of a common school. It may be questioned whether all other studies should not be excluded; certainly, that teacher is unjust, who takes a greater interest in teaching a few scholars the higher branches of education, than in teaching a whole population these fundamental subjects." "Never get out of patience with dullness; perhaps I ought to say, never get out of patience with any thing. But, above all things, remember that dullness and stupidity, and you will find them in every school,-are the very last things to get out of patience with. If the Creator has so formed the mind of a boy, that he must go through life slowly and with difficulty, impeded by obstructions, which others do not feel, and depressed by discouragements which others never know,-his lot is surely hard enough, without having you to

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add to it the trials and suffering, which sarcasm and reproach from you can heap upon him. Look over your school-room, therefore, and wherever you find one, whom you perceive the Creator to have endued with less intellectual power than others, fix your eye upon him, with an expression of kindness and sympathy. Such a boy will have suffering enough from the selfish tyranny of his companions; he ought to find in you a protector and a friend. One of the greatest pleasures which a teacher's life affords, is the interest of seeking out such an one, bowed down with burdens of depression and discouragement,-unaccustomed to sympathy and kindness, and expecting nothing for the future, but a weary continuation of the cheerless toils, which have embittered the past; and the pleasure of taking off the burden, of surprising the timid disheartened sufferer by kind words and cheering looks, and of seeing in his countenance the expression of ease, and even of happiness, gradually returning."

"The teacher should be interested in all his scholars, and aim equally to secure the progress of all. Let there be no neglected ones in the school-room. We should always remember that, however unpleasant in countenance and manners that bashful boy, in the corner, may be, or however repulsive in appearance, or unhappy in disposition, that girl, seeming to be interested in nobody, and nobody appearing interested in her, they still have, each of them, a mother, who loves her own child, and takes a deep and constant interest in its history."

"Do not hope or attempt to make all your pupils alike. Let it be the teacher's aim to co-operate with, not vainly attempt to thwart the designs of Providence."

"Assume no false appearances, in your school, either as to knowledge or character. All efforts to conceal ignorance, and all affectation of knowledge not pos sessed, are as unwise as they are dishonest. The fact, that the teacher does not know every thing, cannot long be concealed, if he tries to conceal it; and in this, as in every other case, honesty is the best policy."

Chapter IV. is upon "Moral Discipline."

"Be careful when you first see your pupils, that you meet them with a smile. I do not mean a pretended cordiality, which has no existence in the heart, but think of the relation, which you are to sustain to them, and of the very interesting circumstances, under which, for some months at least, your destinies are to be united to theirs, until you cannot help feeling a strong interest in them. Shut your eyes, for a day or two, to their faults, if possible, and take an interest in all their pleasures and pursuits, that the first attitude, in which you exhibit yourself before them, may be one which shall allure, not repel."

"The first thing to be done, as a preparation for reforming individual character, in school, is, to secure the personal attachment of the individuals to be reformed. This must not be attempted by professions and affected smiles; and still less by that sort of obsequiousness, common in such cases, which produces no effect, but to make the bad boy suppose that his teacher is afraid of him; which, by the way, is, in fact, in such cases, usually true. Approach the pupil in a bold and manly, but frank and pleasant manner. Approach him as his superior, but still as his friend; desirous to make him happy-not merely to obtain his good will. And the best way to secure these appearances, is, just to secure the reality. Actually be the boy's friend. Really desire to make him happy ;-happy too in his own way, not in yours."

"In endeavoring to correct the faults of your pupils, do not, as many teachers do, seize only upon those particular cases of transgression, which may happen to come under your notice. These are few, compared with the whole number of faults, against which you ought to exert an influence. The observing and punishing such cases, is a small part of your duty."

To illustrate the value of this precept, he gives a very interesting relation of the manner in which a teacher, who accidentally heard a boy use profane language, in a great measure cured his whole school of the vice of profaneness. 114-116.

In the same chapter, after having shown the means to be used, in order to make boys fond of system and regularity, he says

"Perhaps some experienced teacher, who knows, from his own repeated difficulties with bad boys, what sort of spirits the teacher of district schools has

sometimes to deal with, may ask, as he reads this, 'Do you expect that such a method as this will succeed in keeping your school in order? Why, there are boys, in almost every school, whom you would no more coax into obedience and order, in this way, than you would persuade the north-west wind to change its course, by reasoning. "I know there are; (says Mr. A.) all I should expect or hope for, by such measures as these, is, to interest and gain over to our side the majority

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"There should be a great difference made between the measures you take to prevent wrong, and the feelings of displeasure against wrong when it is done. The former should be strict, authoritative, unbending; the latter should be mild and gentle. It is the morose look, the harsh expression, the tone of irritation and fretfulness, which is so unpopular in school. The sins of childhood are, by nine-tenths of mankind, enormously overrated; and perhaps none overrate them more extravagantly than teachers."

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"Lead your pupils to see that they must share with you the credit or the disgrace, which success or failure may bring. Repeat, with judicious caution, what is said of the school, both for and against it, and thus endeavor to interest the scholars in its public reputation. If the scholars are led to understand that the school is, to a great extent, their institution,-that they must assist to sustain its character, and that they share the honor, if any honor is acquired, a feeling will prevail in the school, which may be turned to a most useful account."

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"Feel that, in the management of the school, you are under obligation, as well as the scholars; and let this feeling appear in all that you do. It will assist very much, too, in securing cheerful, good-humored obedience to the regulations of the school, if you extend their authority over yourself.”

In cases of difficult management, Mr. Abbott advises teachers to go directly and frankly to the individual, who causes the difficulty, and come at once to a full understanding with him, as to what his intentions for the future may be.

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"In nine cases out of ten, this course will be effectual. To make it successful, however, it must be done properly. It must be deliberate, generally better after a little delay. It must be indulgent, so far as the view, which the teacher takes of the guilt of the pupil, is concerned; every palliating consideration must be felt. It must be firm and decided, in regard to the necessity of a change, and the determination of the teacher to effect it. It must also be open and frank; no insinuations, no hints, no surmises; but plain, honest, open dealing. In many cases, the communication may be made most delicately and most successfully, in writing. The more delicately you touch the feelings of your pupils, the more tender these feelings will become. Many a teacher stupifies and hardens the moral sense of his pupils by the harsh and rough exposures, to which he drags the private feelings of the heart. A man may easily produce such a state of feeling in his school-room, that to address even the gentlest reproof to any individual, in the hearing of the next, would be a most severe punishment; and, on the other hand, he may so destroy that sensitiveness, that his vociferated reproaches will be as unheeded as the idle wind.”

Chapter V. is upon "Religious Influence." The subject is introduced by a consideration of the right, which a man has to disseminate his peculiar opinions; because many teachers have failed to satisfy their employers, and have been the cause of much unhappiness to themselves and others, by attempting to teach sectarian opinions, instead of "reading, writing, and calculation." "He is employed for a specific purpose, and he has no right to wander from that purpose, except as far as he can go, with the common consent of his employers." Mr. Abbott then goes on to consider whether a teacher can do good by religious influence without introducing the peculiar doctrines of any sect of Christians. He shows, that "the common ground, on religious subjects, in this country, is very broad," and that if teachers

do universally confine themselves to the limits, which he defines, they may accomplish within them a "vast amount of good."

Religion, he says, is not to be appealed to in order to make it assist in the government of the school; it is not to be brought before the mind of a disobedient pupil, “in a vain effort, to make an impression upon the conscience of one, who has done wrong, and who cannot, by other means, be brought to submission. The pupil, in such cases, understands that the teacher appeals to religious truth, only to eke out his own authority, and, of course, it produces no effect."

"Many teachers make great mistakes in this respect. A bad boy, who has done something openly and directly subversive of the good order of the school, or the rights of his companions, is called before the master, who thinks that the most powerful weapon to wield against him is the Bible. So while the trembling culprit stands before him, he adininisters to him a reproof, which consists of an almost ludicrous mixture of scolding, entreaty, religious instruction, and threatening of punishment. But such an occasion as this is no time to touch a bad boy's heart. He is steeled, at such a moment, against any thing but mortification.'

"Finally (says he, at the conclusion of this chapter) let me insert as the keystone of all I have been saying in this chapter, be sincere and ardent, and consistent in your own piety. Be constantly watchful and careful, not only to maintain intimate communion with God, and to renew it daily in your seasons of retirement, but guard your conduct. Let piety control and regulate it. Show your pupils that it makes you amiable, patient, forbearing, benevolent in little things, as well as in great things, and your example will co-operate with your instructions, and allure your pupils to walk in the paths which you tread.”

Chapter VI. contains a description of the Mount Vernon School. Of the plan of its government and instruction, he says, that he has no idea that it is superior to those adopted in many other schools. In his management there seems to have been no government; the scholars and teachers appear to have lived in that happy and enviable state, in which, as in Israel of old, when there was no king, every one did what was right in his own eyes. In the general arrangements of his school, there was much that was peculiar,-much that could not be introduced into the common district schools of the country; still, every teacher may derive advantage from a perusal of that part of the chapter, which relates to this subject. The most important peculiarity of Mr. Abbott's school is the means of religious instruction; and yet they were so simple, and would so naturally be suggested to the mind of any teacher, who wished his scholars to feel their accountability, not to him, so much as to God, that they need not be more particularly noticed.

The next, and last chapter, is occupied by remarks and cautions upon the new schemes, and new books, which teachers are continually publishing at the present day. If his remarks were read, many a disappointed teacher would perceive why it is that his hopes have been blasted; and were his cautions regarded, many more would be saved the mortification and misfortunes to which the publishers of new school-books are exposed.

Such is Mr. Abbott's "Teacher;"- -a book to which too much praise can scarcely be given. Were its precepts followed by all, and its spirit imbibed by all, who take upon themselves the highly responsible office of a public teacher, there could scarcely be a happier place than a school-room. Instead of the fretfulness, and vexation, and tears, so often to be seen there, happy and contented faces would

appear on all sides; children would dread to become men, and men would wish to be school-boys. The volume is not interesting to teachers alone; the narratives, by which his precepts are illustrated, give the volume an interest on their account; and every one, who wishes well to the improvement of our common schools, will rejoice to see that the young may be educated by religion, reason, and love.

The Token and Atlantic Souvenir. For 1834.

Having survived its contemporary annuals, the Token makes its seventh appearance, with no marks of premature decay. Whether this success has been owing to its literary merit, its style of embellishment, or the management and skill of its publishers, we cannot pretend to decide; but as the simple fact of success is a criterion of merit in politics, we hardly know why it should not be so received in literature. We congratulate all parties on this prosperity, because it is our impression, that the present work has done something for American art, and, if on no other account, is deserving of ample encouragement.

To any one, aware of the difficulty of selecting large pictures, that will prove effective when reduced, it will not be a matter of surprise, that several of the plates, in the present volume, are unfortunately chosen. The Presentation Plate is, perhaps, well enough, with a single exception; we are always in favor of having even statuary billing and cooing carried on in private. Interesting as are the little figures on the pedestal in the back ground, we think they had been better placed in the rear of the tree; such a situation would have been decidedly more natural, as, in all probability, a living couple would have chosen it for the indulgence of similar antics. The title-page, we think, is similarly unfortunate; we do not sufficiently understand the circumstances or the scene, and, unless further informed, shall die in ignorance of the fact whether the back ground is intended to represent the sky and a star, or a brick wall and a candle.

The Fall of Nineveh exhibits an effect that could be well produced by the tasteful application of a blacking-brush. Napoleon might have bivouacked his armies in a nut-shell with as much propriety as that with which an artist undertakes to represent the magnificent ruin of the great city in four inches by three. Rebecca and Ivanhoe form a disagreeable, black-looking picture, some of whose details of drapery and architecture are well done. Its painter would be more successful in designing for upholsterers, or inventing showy fashions for the milliners, than in giving visible expression to the imaginations of a Scott. The human countenances, in which the whole interest and intellect of such a picture should be concentrated, are sorry caricatures; dull and meaningless. Rebecca's attitudinizing is also far from faultless; we cannot imagine in what school the artist studied his graces, any more than we can trace the origin of his beauties.

But to turn to a more agreeable view of the matter. The Orphans, and Why Don't he Come, both by John Cheney, are engravings of a very superior order; their finish is exquisite. That more striking and attractive subjects might have been chosen for the display of his power, we cannot deny; but we think none could have been selected, into which he would have thrown more sweetness, or that would have been