that however desirable it may be to arrange a school in exact order at the first opening of the institution, much time must be necessarily expended, and much patience quietly employed, before this object can be effectually attained. It will be necessary not to attempt too many points at once; but to begin with the more easy, and proceed by degrees, to the more exact regulations of the system. If we attempt every thing at once, we may preclude ourselves from doing any thing effectually; but if we are content with small attainments at first, our final success will exceed our utmost expectations.

once.

It must farther be remarked, that the difficulty attending the arrangement of an Infants' school is almost entirely confined to its first establishment; when the object is to reduce into order a whole assembly of untaught children at After this has been once effected, it will be preserved with very little attention and labour on the part of the teacher. The new comers will then, in the course of things, be introduced by one or two at a time, and will fall into the established order without any effort, and almost insensibly to themselves.

It will be advisable, farther, not to press those lately introduced into the school into immediate occupation. They may be generally

suffered, at first, to place and to employ themselves as they please. A little observation on the part of the master will lead to a discovery of their proportionate attainments and the place which they are to hold; and when they have become somewhat familiar with the habits of the institution, they will fill whatever station may be assigned to them with cheerfulness and regularity.

CHAPTER VI.

THE TEACHER.

WITH regard to the teacher of an Infants' school, it will be unnecessary that I should detain the reader by any lengthened discussion; as enough has been implied in every part of the preceding treatise. The teacher must be capable of doing all which has been supposed to be required of him, and his efforts must be guided not by a desire of gain, by which they would probably be much circumscribed, but by original pleasure in the company of children, and a capability of accommodating himself to their feelings and their tendencies.

NUMBER OF TEACHERS IN A SCHOOL.—In order to the perfection of the system, it will not be possible to conduct an Infants' school without the constant aid of two persons; the attention of one of whom may be directed especially to the order and the general education of the school, and of the other to the communication of knowledge in the class-room. The necessity of two teachers appears in the fact, that amongst infants of so tender an age, it is not possible,

as amongst other children, to have secured the habit of order, independently of the inspection of the master. The uninterrupted presence of one teacher must, therefore, necessarily constitute a part of the general arrangement.

If the school consist of any considerable number of children, it would be better on every account, that the teachers should be a husband and wife; the former of whom may direct his attention particularly to the boys, and the latter to the girls.

In a school of less number, it is possible that a female of sufficient energy of character, together with a girl of fourteen or fifteen years of age, might be able to perform the duties which would be incumbent on her as teacher.

If it be intended to have one teacher alone, the class-room must be dispensed with; and when any portion of the older children is to be instructed or examined, the rest must be kept in silence. A single teacher should always be a female. She must endeavour to communicate some portion of her personal authority, more than appears to be desirable for a child of such an establishment, to two or more of the oldest children, with whose aid, when she may be pleased to call it into action, she may possibly

proceed, even in a somewhat numerous school, with excellent effect.

QUALIFICATIONS OF A TEACHER---A superintendant of an Infants' school should, in few words, be himself the model of that in which it is proposed that he should educate the little assembly under his care.

Religion. The first qualification of such an individual, it will hence follow, must be excellence of moral character, and the sincere influence of a vital and reasonable religion, which has part in every disposition, and enters into every action of his life. It will not be a sufficient excuse, if the false principle which he may hold, or the evil habit, to which he may be liable, be not yet directly cognizable by the children. The former will not fail to throw a morbid influence over the course of his instruction, and the latter will be hidden only by the arts of a hypocrite ;-arts which not only qualify, but pervert and destroy the real character of religion, and are of too flimsy a texture to hide their degraded principle for any long period from the eye of even an infant. It would be better, for the present, to defer all appeals to the religious principles and feelings of a child, than to place before him that which is calculated to generate disgust; or to give the