Resolved, That the Association tenders its most cordial thanks to Messrs. Charles Northend, A. Norton Lewis, Augustus Morse, and Rev. Lucian Burleigh, for the able and instructive lectures with which they have favored us, and also to the other gentlemen who, by their suggestions and speeches have contributed so greatly to our pleasure and profit on this occasion.

Resolved, That as we return to our several fields of labor,. we will cherish the memories and inspirations of this annual meeting, and under an increased sense of the greatness and responsibility of our work, we will address ourselves with renewed energy and fidelity to the promotion of the highest temporal and spiritual good of our pupils.

The editor of the Waterbury American thus speaks of the gathering:

The number of Teachers present we understand was between three and four hundred, about three hundred of whom were ladies. That such a constellation of educated women, ranging from 20 to 30 years of age, devoted to a noble profession, should attract attention, was nothing more than would be expected; but few, we believe, were prepared to see such an array of beauty, intelligence, refinement and lady-like demeanor; whether in their assembly or on the promenade, their remarkably fine physique, intellectual expression, their tasteful costume and graceful air, was a subject of general remark; and Connecticut may well be proud of her schools, where the education of the rising generation is committed to the custody of such estimable and accomplished hands. The favorable impression they have left behind them will not easily be erased from recollection. During the hours of recess, our promenades were made gay by their presence, and pains were taken to show them the prominent points of interest in the city, our large manufacturing establishments, &c., which evidently gave them great satisfaction. We have said little of the men teachers, not because they do not merit notice, but because they can take 'care of their own interests.

As a parting testimony of respect, on the night before the Teachers left town, at the suggestion of some of our prominent citizens and his honor Mayor Bradley, the ladies were serenaded by Tompkins' Band, between 11 and 12 o'clock, beginning at the Scovill House and visiting other residences in near proximity, where they were guests. The Scovill House parlors were thronged with the fair guests and others, who sang some fine songs, which added not a little to the joyous occasion.

The next morning the Teachers bade adieu to their entertainers, and took the cars for their homes, which we presume they reached in safety. May happiness and success attend them.

"WORK BUT DON'T WORRY."

SUCH was the advice given by one of the speakers at the late meeting of our State Association. It was good advice and we wish it might be heeded. There is nothing more wearing and destructive to the mind than "worrying." And yet how many are constantly indulging in it. The minister too often worries because he cannot see better results of his labors; the farmer worries lest the weather shall be too hot or too cold, too wet or too dry for the benefit of his crops; the merchant worries through fear that his sales or profits may be too small; the rich man worries lest his wealth may be decreased; the poor man worries through fear that he may come to want; the manufacturer worries lest his cloth may be rejected for its excess of "shoddy," or lest he may fail to realize a little more profit than others; the teacher worries because his pupils are not angelic in their deportment and knowledge. And so there are worriers in all departments. We are a race of worriers,-wicked, foolish, needless worriers.

"But," says the teacher, "how can I help worrying. My scholars are dull and heedless; I have to tell them over and over again; they pay no attention to my words. How can I help worrying?" We answer, work earnestly, faithfully, wisely. Let your work be well done, and seasonably done, and then you'll have nothing to worry about. The indolent, careless, unfaithful teacher ought to worry and be worried; but the good teacher never. The husbandman who carefully prepares his ground, sows the seed and cultivates his crop has no reason to worry even if he fails to reap a full harvest. He has done his part and whatever the result may be he may and should feel cheerful and satisfied.

Teacher, don't worry, and that you may not have occasion to, be sure that you work "with all diligence" and with a

strong and persistent desire to be faithful. If your pupils do not learn as fast as you may wish you need not worry unless you have been negligent or unfaithful, in which case you ought to be worried and troubled.

Cheerfulness is a virtue; it is more, it is a christian duty. The nearer one approaches to fidelity in duty the more cheerful he may feel. Therefore, teacher, aim to be cheerful; not trifling,—but cheerful and hopeful; hopeful because faithful, and cheerful, because your work, well done, was a good one. A faithful and cheerful teacher will fill the school-room and the hearts of his pupils with sunshine, while a sad, desponding, worrying teacher will produce an atmosphere of gloom and despondency. As the teacher, so the pupils.

REPLY TO "HINTS FOR THE TIMES."

MR. EDITOR: My attention has been called to an article in the September number of your Journal, entitled "Hints for the Times," which contains some sweeping assertions of a most extraordinary character. Let us examine briefly some of the opinions of the author of it.

1. He does not believe in explanation on the part of either text-book or teacher, but the scholar must be put to hard work, and learn what he can unassisted and alone. If any thing cannot be understood by him there is to be no help for him, for help would be of no use, because if it be afforded there is "no discipline, no training, no gymnastics for the mind." Our author longs for the return of the old times when "scholars were called upon to beat their brains over tough and knotty points and do some hard thinking," and recurs in joyous recollection to the scenes of the school-room in those times, and says, "the task, the lesson was difficult, the hours of work long and severe, but how rich the triumph of the recitation-room, how glorious the well-earned and wellenjoyed relaxation of the tri-weekly half holidays." I, like him, remember conquests on "tough and knotty points, with great pleasure; but there are sorrowful remembrances

also, and many more than the joyful ones, for there were many points that I could have mastered with the help of a little explanation from the teacher, but as that help was not given, I was left to suffer the depressing effect which a failure always produces upon the mind. Perhaps if I had been made of as stern stuff as the writer of "Hints for the Times," I should have experienced no such depression; but as it was I did, and it was this sad experience, and not "the triumph of the recitation-room," that made me long for the "relaxation of the tri-weekly half holidays."

There are certain plain principles in regard to explanation which this writer wholly ignores. 1. When explanation is a positive necessity it ought to be afforded. If a pupil cannot possibly understand a point by his own efforts alone, he ought to have the help which he needs. To let him pass over the point without understanding it is doing him an injury. It is not a mere loss of so much knowledge, but a positive injury to the mind. Either he is discouraged, and thus the energies of his mind are impaired; or he contents himself with memorizing the point in, the exact words in which it is expressed, satisfying the teacher, if he be such an one as the writer of Hints for the Times, with a glib recitation, and thus helps to fasten on himself the habit of using words with little thought of their meaning, a habit which is largely productive of the loose thinking, writing, and talking that are abundant in the world. It may be that the amount of explanation requisite is very little—a mere suggestion may answer, or even a question. That it is the duty of the teacher to find out just what help is needed and to render it there is not a doubt. And he must not be satisfied with giving the little help which is commonly required, but he must patiently and perseveringly exercise his skill in explanation in those cases which require much help. How rich the reward to the teacher in such a case when, after presenting the point in various phases, the brightened countenance of the pupil at length tells him that his mind grasps the idea which is the key to the whole, and feels the genial stimulus of the success which has crowned the joint

efforts of pupil and teacher! 2. Explanation, when it excites the mind to farther exertion, so far from doing harm, does positive and sometimes great good. It is by appropriate explanation that the heedful teacher imparts his own interest and enthusiasm to his pupils, and thus leads them to encounter the labor of learning without the feeling that it is mere drudgery. It is only when explanation is not needed that it ministers to indolence, and thus impairs mental energy. 3. The teacher who explains to his scholars, whenever it is proper to do so, creates a community of feeling between them and himself which is essential to successful teaching, the absence of which in the case of the mere hearer of recitations is often painfully evident.

If these views are correct the skillful teacher is a skillful explainer that is, one who is able to adapt the amounts and modes of his explanations to the necessities of the individual scholars. A mere recitation-hearer, with book in hand to test the correctness of the recitation, is not a teacher. He does not teach unless he explains. If he does not explain, the book does all the teaching, whereas it should be done by both, the teacher adapting the teaching of the book to the individual learners by his additional explanations.

So far from its being a prominent defect in the text-books of the present day that there is too much explanation, there is generally far too little, and much of what there is in them is unskillful. So true is this of most of them, that the needless drudgery to which pupils are subjected in going through them, together with the discouragement attending their utter failure to understand many of the points with which the memory is burdened, has a depressing influence upon the mind, upon its enthusiasm and therefore upon its energies, which often more than counterbalances the good which it gets either in the way of information or vigor from the conquest of "tough and knotty points."

Most of the teaching too is not simple enough; that is, it is not attended with sufficient explanation. From a pretty extensive observation of schools, watching recitations, and now and then asking a question, I am convinced that most