greater, it would be more than counterbalanced by the pleasure afforded to the eye. Many towns and villages already possess beautiful schoolbuildings, and suitable plans are to be found in several of the volumes of the Minutes of Council on Education.

We treat here, however, chiefly of the interior of school-buildings, and of their adaptation to purposes of moral education and æsthetical culture; and in doing so we must necessarily enter into very simple details. A first and essential requisite is cleanliness. The floors of every room ought to be swept twice a day if possible, and they should be frequently scoured. Before sweeping, the maps should be rolled up, and all tablets and pictures turned or covered. Desks, forms, apparatus, and window-ledges should be dusted as soon as the dust has subsided. If the desks are varnished, all ink spots can be removed by a wet towel; and if they are not, the stains can be taken out by a solution of oxalic acid. Earthenware ink-wells are the most suitable, as they can be easily washed. Children should be taught not to dip their pens too far into the ink, and to avoid shaking any excess of it over the floor. So, also, they should be told not to throw upon it scraps of waste and dirty paper.

The school-windows should be frequently cleaned, both inside and outside, and all broken panes should be removed. Covering with paper or any similar device should not be permitted, except as a very temporary expedient. If the sections are separated by curtains, they ought to be of a cheerful colour, and capable of easy removal, in order that they may be readily shaken and any rents repaired.

The upper part of the walls ought to be covered with a light colourwash; a belt of black boards should occupy the centre; and the lower part should be wainscoted or painted. When the room is scoured the walls should be dusted, and cobwebs should be removed as soon as they

are seen.

To diminish the dust of the school-room, scrapers ought to be fixed outside the doors, and kept in efficient repair. Mats, also, should be placed in the entrance-lobby, and the pupils must be directed to use both. The employment of mats will involve some expense, but the outlay will be amply repaid by the formation of a desirable habit.

In the lobby, or in some suitable recess, cap and cloak racks ought to be fixed, and a monitor or pupil-teacher should be held responsible for the neatness of its appearance. A large but inexpensive umbrella-stand would be a welcome addition.

Open fire-places ought to be guarded by neat and strong fenders. All ashes should be removed, and the general appearance should be as tidy as in a well-regulated home.

Every school should be provided with sufficient offices, and these ought to be kept scrupulously clean and in perfect repair. They should be separated from the rest of the playground by a wooden or brick partition.

The orderly appearance of the school-room is next in importance to its cleanliness. To maintain it, it is essential that all apparatus be kept in repair. Black boards, easels, and stands, when broken, should be mended; and maps, if torn from their rollers, should be repaired without delaya stitch in time saves nine." Notices and time-tables should be re-written as soon as they are injured or dirty; and damaged charts and pictures should be replaced. It is desirable that chalk and dusters should be kept

in boxes provided for the purpose, instead of being placed on window-sills or other ledges.

In some schools children are tacitly permitted to cut their names in the desks, and to make chalk and pencil marks on the walls. Such destructive and mischievous practices ought to be put down with a strong hand. School apparatus should be held as sacred as household furniture; and training of this kind is peculiarly valuable apart from its influence in the class-room. Those of us who are in the habit of visiting dismantled edifices, castles, churches, and buildings with which important events are associated, are intensely annoyed at the damage done by thoughtless people, many of whom probably acquired a love for cutting and carving initials on these buildings from school habits; and there is little doubt that interesting places have been closed to the public from this vandalism of ours.

The embellishment of the school-room finds no place in the thoughts of many teachers. Even some who insist on scrupulous cleanliness will not attempt anything further. We think that in all cases maps ought to adorn the walls, for they serve a twofold purpose: they diminish the bareness of the school-room, and an acquaintance with the contour of continents and the topography of countries is almost unconsciously acquired. If the maps were fixed on rollers like window-blinds, they could be easily rolled up at the close of each day and whenever the school is being swept.

Besides maps, we would add diagrams to illustrate lessons in natural philosophy, pictures of animals, trees, plants, and fruits, well-drawn representations of the homes and customs of foreign countries, sheets of ornamental penmanship, and an illuminated copy of the Lord's Prayer. A set, to illustrate the manners and customs of the Israelites, is published by the Religious Tract Society, and the brightness of their colouring renders them peculiarly attractive. Excellent pictures are also published by the Christian Knowledge Society. By covering the diagrams and pictures with a pure varnish, they will last for years and will be readily cleaned. In all schools where figure or map drawing and illuminating are taught, some of the best specimens should adorn the walls; and if it were esteemed an honour, the cleverest pupils would present some of their productions. When soiled, others should be substituted.

We have often thought that a series of cheap, well-executed portraits of eminent men, placed in inexpensive frames, ought to grace our school walls; and we should be glad to find them generally in use. Even fern cases and aquariums would not be out of place. To a popular school, where the teacher took a pride in making it attractive, many gifts, we feel sure, would be presented by those who appreciated his efforts to improve the taste of his pupils.

The playground should be covered with gravel or asphalt, and wherever large enough it should be edged with flower-beds. These could be easily kept in order by the master and some of the senior pupils. The cost would be trifling, for seeds and flowers sufficient to make a beautiful display would be presented by the parents. Evergreens should be interspersed, as they would make the border look comely even in winter. None but those to whom the master granted the privilege should be allowed to touch the flowers, and this restriction would be a healthy educational influence. What a contrast to this picture is presented by some school-rooms

wnich we have in mind! There may be seen dirty floors, desolate-looking walls, damaged apparatus, tattered maps, broken panes-everything to repel, nothing to attract. However much knowledge is imparted in such schools, they reflect discredit both on teachers and committees, for they are insensibly developing habits which will frustrate no small part of the benefits resulting from intellectual instruction, and will be inimical to the happiness of all who are brought under their sway.

THE ART OF TEACHING-AN ALBUM SCRAP.

Of all the arts cultivated amongst men the Art of Teaching is assuredly one of the most noble

For consider its nature; the material or essence on which it operates; and the effects which it produces.

First, then, as to its nature-which is exceedingly delicate, nice, and subtle. Of course there is more or less of these qualities—even in the roughest and commonest of arts. When man conquers iron or stone, and the force of nature, bending them with wonderful exactness to her various purposes, there is involved a large exercise of skill and patience, and appropriateness of adaptation-of cunning in small devices, and boldness in great ones-and often of gallant persistence, in spite of the stubbornest obstacles. By virtue of these qualities, the commonest arts acquire a certain measure of dignity and nobleness. But the art of teaching adds to courage, ingenuity, and invincible perseverance, a refinement, a subtle delicacy of touch, an etheriality of process, peculiarly its own. The architect with violence blasts the rock, and from its scattered masses rears a palace. The smith, with fierce blows and fiercer fires, fashions the uncouth metal, slowly and with infinite elaboration, into the adze of the woodman, or the lance of the physician. The teacher, by a glance of the eye, by an emphasis of the voice, by a gesture of the hand, can often in a moment dispel an error, implant a principle, or arouse a dormant faculty into life-long activity.

Second. If the nobleness of the teacher's art can be seen in its processes, its refinement of means, and its electric-like power, it can be still more clearly exhibited by considering the material or essence on which it operates.

are

Were there no light in nature, there would be no animation or beauty, and the world would be nothing better than a dreary prison-house. So without mind to appreciate them, the perfection and magnificence of the universe would exist in vain. To the idiot, gold and ashes, diamonds and sand, have the same value; the most ingenious and complex mechanism ever executed by human skill, and the dull "clods of the valley essentially alike in their power over his emotions. Mind, and mind only perceives, estimates, values, and rejoices in the ten thousand wonders and glories of creation; mind alone pierces through the outer forms to the design, destiny, and relations of the multitudinous objects constituting the visible world; and mind alone, crowned with immortality, outlives them all. Than mind, or in larger phrase the human soul, there is certainly nothing nobler known among men; yet it is that to which the art of the

in boxes provided for the purpose, instead of being placed on window-sills or other ledges.

In some schools children are tacitly permitted to cut their names in the desks, and to make chalk and pencil marks on the walls. Such destructive and mischievous practices ought to be put down with a strong hand. School apparatus should be held as sacred as household furniture; and training of this kind is peculiarly valuable apart from its influence in the class-room. Those of us who are in the habit of visiting dismantled edifices, castles, churches, and buildings with which important events are associated, are intensely annoyed at the damage done by thoughtless people, many of whom probably acquired a love for cutting and carving initials on these buildings from school habits; and there is little doubt that interesting places have been closed to the public from this vandalism of ours. The embellishment of the school-room finds no place in the thoughts of many teachers. Even some who insist on scrupulous cleanliness will not attempt anything further. We think that in all cases maps ought to adorn the walls, for they serve a twofold purpose: they diminish the bareness of the school-room, and an acquaintance with the contour of continents and the topography of countries is almost unconsciously acquired. If the maps were fixed on rollers like window-blinds, they could be easily rolled up at the close of each day and whenever the school is being swept.

Besides maps, we would add diagrams to illustrate lessons in natural philosophy, pictures of animals, trees, plants, and fruits, well-drawn representations of the homes and customs of foreign countries, sheets of ornamental penmanship, and an illuminated copy of the Lord's Prayer. A set, to illustrate the manners and customs of the Israelites, is published by the Religious Tract Society, and the brightness of their colouring renders them peculiarly attractive. Excellent pictures are also published by the Christian Knowledge Society. By covering the diagrams and pictures with a pure varnish, they will last for years and will be readily cleaned. In all schools where figure or map drawing and illuminating are taught, some of the best specimens should adorn the walls; and if it were esteemed an honour, the cleverest pupils would present some of their productions. When soiled, others should be substituted.

We have often thought that a series of cheap, well-executed portraits of eminent men, placed in inexpensive frames, ought to grace our school walls; and we should be glad to find them generally in use. Even fern cases and aquariums would not be out of place. To a popular school, where the teacher took a pride in making it attractive, many gifts we feel sure, would be presented by those who appreciated

the taste of his pupils.

The playground should be covered with gr large enough it should be edged with flowe kept in order by the master and some would be trifling, for seeds and flowers su would be presented by the parents. as they would make the border look those to whom the master granted th the flowers, and this restriction wo What a contrast to this pict