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[The "Rural New Yorker," one of the very best papers for a family, contains the following highly sensible article. We commend it to our readers. RES. ED.]

Most of the District schools through the country have just opened for the winter. Many who are engaged in teaching them have had but little experience as teachers, while not a few, doubtless, are beginners. It may be, therefore, that a few observations upon the subject, at this time, would prove of special interest to such teachers, while any others, who have given attention to the subject, might find a general interest in perusing anything relating to it.

School teaching, as the term is generally used, embraces two things-teaching and discipline. These, though intimately connected, are quite distinct, the one being the end, and the other a means to the accomplishment of that end. Place one pupil under the charge of a teacher to be instructed in the various branches of study. No discipline is necessary, except so far as the inattention of the pupil to his studies may require. Place thirty pupils under his charge, and discipline becomes necessary, simply by reason of the VOL. VIII.

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number; the end to be attained, the instruction of the pupils, being still the same. Discipline is important, as necessary means to the attainment of a desired end. In teaching, it should be regarded as a grand auxiliary, but should never be made a substitute. As in everything else, so here the. means and the end have each their relative importance; without the means, the end can not be attained, and without the end, the means avail but little. This distinction is dwelt upon, because there is reason to believe that many teachers attach undue importance to discipline, to the great neglect of the more important work before them. It can not be doubted that there are schools that are highly popular, not so much from the intellectual improvement of the pupils as from the excellent order and showy discipline maintained.

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The great end at which every teacher should aim, is the intellectual improvement of his pupils. This should be the ruling thought. The pupils are to engage in mental labor; the teacher is to direct and assist them in that labor. Now, the teacher who enters upon his labors with his view of the matter, will not rest satisfied when he has brought his school under proper discipline. He will feel, rather, that he has but prepared the way for the real work before him. His aptness to teach is yet to be tested, and he will consider himself successful as a teacher, only so far as he enables his pupils to attain a clear and full understanding of the subject before them. Here the special work of teaching begins, and to offer a few suggestions upon this point, is the main design of this article.

What, then, is the proper course to pursue in teaching? How shall the teacher instruct his pupils so that they may clearly and fully comprehend the subject taught? In answering this question, one important fact is to be borne in mind, namely, that the mind is very slow to receive and clearly apprehend a new thought-that it requires time to think of it, to examine it, and thus become acquainted with it, and perceive its relation to other thoughts. Now, since several distinct thoughts enter into most of the subjects of

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