visitor. In fact I have been greatly surprised to see the courtesy shown by the natives of Africa to strangers. When I first landed at the Banana Islands, every child or grown person to whom I spoke returned my salutation with a smiling face, and pleasantly uttered "Thank you." And in passing through the streets of barbarian and semibarbarian towns, I have seen nothing of that impudence and over-grown greatness which marks some eight year old American boys, and renders a safe passage by certain New England country school houses during "recess" or "noon time" quite a feat for the venturesome traveler.

At Fourah Bay, just on the limits of the city of Freetown, a college was in successful operation for several years, but is now suspended. There are two weekly papers published here, edited and printed by natives, which show considerable talent. With Mr. M. H. Davies, editor of the "Free Press," we formed a very agreeable acquaintance. A monthly sheet, "The Early Dawn," is also published at the Mendi Mission.

A few days since we were present at the closing exercises of a primary school in this city. There were about two hundred boys and girls, nearly of a size, several teachers, and two or three visitors, gathered in the large hall, but not a single white face among them beside our own. The school went through with some interesting general exercises and sung a beautiful hymn. There were three rows of seats running lengthwise through the long hall, and at a given signal the children knelt on both sides of these forms, making six long lines, and repeated in concert an appropriate prayer. It was a touching sight; two hundred of the dark browed children of Africa, kneeling with bowed heads and clasped hands, and two hundred sweet childish voices blending in a petition to God for the forgiveness of their sins, and for his blessing to rest upon them, their teachers, parents and friends. A beautiful sight indeed for a heathen land. As the prayer ended they rose from their knees in perfect concert, and passed out, keeping step to the tap of a rule which the principal held in his hand. On the farther

side of the hall, I noticed the loyal motto, "Long live Prince Alfred," which told me that I was not in a republic.

But, my dear Journal, my paper is already more than full, and though much more might be said concerning African schools, I will forbear, trusting that you will excuse the somewhat frequent occurrence of the first person singular. S. J. W.

WHAT A TEACHER SHOULD BE.

A polished man; so affable and mild,
His very grace should awe the rude and wild;
His smile win love, his slightest frown bring tears,
His gentleness dispel the coward's fears;
His just discernment make no partial choice:
"T is plainest bird that pipes with sweetest voice.
The learned man; with skill to grasp the lore
All but the sages' hieroglyphic store;

To strip the glorious stars of myths and signs,

And teach how God's great wisdom through them shines;

To pluck the flowers, and show His skill who made

The modest violet and the velvet blade;

To smite the rock, and by its sparkling grains
Unfold its nature-born of seas and plains;
To range the universe with varied skill,
And mould rich thoughts to beauty at his will.
A social man; not he whose stately walk
Keeps pompous time to high resounding talk,
Gains the sweet homage of the unfolding_mind-
A trust more sacred than the wealth of Ind,-
But that rare teacher who the lowliest makes
A sharer in his joys, and warmly takes
The little poor boy's hand with zest as great
As though his father steered the 'ship of state.'

A Christian man; all princely virtues meet

In one who sitteth at the Saviour's feet;

Though honors crown, though wealth encompass him,
Their splendor in religion's light grows dim.
Wealth without Christ is but a scorpion-rod,
There is no honor like the love of God.

So should he teach; in every lesson find
Some precious grains for the immortal mind,
And lead his charge not only up the hight
Of great Parnassus, with its founts of light,
But to high Heaven, where he one day may stand,
A godlike teacher, with a godlike band. [Educator.
VOL. IX.

24

TEACHING CHILDREN TO LIE.

CHILDREN are often taught to lie. Very many of them readily accept such teaching. They are apt pupils. Fathers and mothers and teachers teach them to deceive, to be false, to lie. Children take to lying almost as readily as a duck to a green puddle. Moral and religious training alone can make them truthful. Without this training they are certain to grow up into habits of untruthfulness. Liars of every grade, from the gentle equivocator to the deliberate, malicious falsifier are found in almost every school. They need to be watched, taught, reformed. By many good and wise teachers, truthfulness in all its purity and nobleness is faithfully inculcated, and conscientiously exemplified. By many less good and wise, falsehood is taught by precept and example. This bad teaching is given in various ways.

1. Children are taught to lie by a teacher who gives them false reasons for his acts. He has an object to accomplish, which he would conceal from his pupils; he therefore presents an untrue reason, or unreal motive, instead of the true or real one. For example. At the public examination of a certain school the teacher of one class said in a low tone to the poor scholar at the foot," You need n't recite to-day. We shan't have time to hear you." The boy instantly replied, "Is that the true reason, sir?" The teacher had lied to the boy, and the boy knew it. What effect that one lesson may have had, time will tell. Children are quick to detect departures from truth on the part of the teacher. They are equally quick to say, "If our teacher does such things, it is right for us to do them." If a teacher is detected in a single instance of falsehood, his moral power over his pupils is weakened-perhaps destroyed.

2. Children are taught to lie, when they are trained to seem to know more than they do know. This is a too common mode of giving this kind of instruction. Public examinations of schools, if real examinations, are highly useful; but if, as is frequently the case, they are shams and humbugs, they are exceedingly pernicious.

When, preparatory to an examination, one part of a book is assigned to one scholar and another part to another, and afterwards they are made glibly to recite their several parts in such a manner as to say in substance to the public, "This is a fair specimen of our knowledge of the whole book," the examination is a downright lie. The children have learned a dreadful lesson.

We once heard at an examination a brilliant exercise in mental arithmetic. We afterwards said to a girl who had distinguished herself in the exercise, "Did you know that you were to recite the particular examples which you performed?" "I did," was the answer. The class had been deliberately taught to deceive the public.

One of our former teachers, wishing a class in spelling to appear well, drilled the class upon six words on each page of the spelling-book. At the close of the term we seemed to the assembled audience to know every word in the book. The teacher and the pupils knew how great a falsehood had been told.

Many a brilliant examination, that has elicited admiration and applause, has been nothing but a deliberate sham-an outrageous swindle. In a moral point of view, the man who thus deceives the public is as blameworthy as the man who obtains money from his neighbor by false pretences aye, even more so; for the man who swindles for the sake of money injures but one person, perhaps, pecuniarily, and no one but himself, morally; whereas the teacher who strives to gain applause dishonestly, does so at the cost of the moral character of every one of his pupils. "If it is fair to cheat in school, it is fair to cheat elsewhere!" So say quick-judging boys and girls.

3. Children are taught practical lying by a teacher who pretends to be doing what he is not doing. For the sake of detecting scholars in wrong acts, the teacher sometimes makes a pretence of being profoundly inattentive to what is going on in the school-room, while every child possessing a particle of brains knows that the teacher is eagerly watching for any violation of rules.

We remember a teacher who used to spend a large part of his time in seemingly profound study. With his book before him and his eyes shaded by his hands, he said by his actions" Boys, I am studying. I shall not see you, if you do play." But the boys soon learned that when the master thus told them he was not looking, he was looking very sharply between his fingers. They soon learned to say, "That is a game we can play as well as you;" and they played it. The lesson in acting falsehoods was quickly learned.

4. The making of promises that are not fulfilled, and the uttering of threats that are not executed, tend to make children think lightly of untruthfulness. The sacredness of one's word cannot be too carefully guarded.

These are but a few of the ways in which children in school are taught to speak and act falsehoods. Believing that teachers have much to do with the moral character of their pupils, exerting an influence upon them which can never cease, we hold it to be the duty of every teacher to be open, aboveboard, true, in all his dealings with his young charge, and to utterly abhor all shams and false pretences. If a man cannot sustain himself in school without lying and swindling, thus teaching his pupils to lie and swindle, let him abandon school-keeping, or die, or do something else equally useful to the public.-Mass. Teacher.

RESULTS OF OUR SCHOOLS.

In a volume recently published, entitled "North America," and written by Anthony Trollope of England, we find a somewhat detailed account of the schools of New York, Boston, &c., in which there is much commendation expressed. After speaking in strong terms of praise of the schools he thus speaks of the results:

[Resident Editor.

"The numbers of the popular books of the day, printed and sold, afford the most conclusive proof of the extent to which education is carried in the States. The readers of Tennyson, Thackeray, Dickens, Bulwer, Collins, Hughes, and Martin Tupper, are to be counted by tens of thousands in the States, to the thousands by which