they did not mean what they said, it is clear that had those feelings never existed in the heart they could not have found expression on the tongue. Moreover, there is so much self-esteem mingled with all our actions, we so greatly like to be acknowledged right, and so little wish to be proved wrong in our estimate of others, that having once expressed an opinion adverse to the character of any one, we almost rejoice in anything which may justify that opinion: we feel ourselves bound, in a manner, to maintain our own cause, even at the expense of truth and honesty; and I fear that if we had any proof of the incorrectness of our assertion, we should be inclined to refrain from giving it the same publicity which we did to our former.

Thus we see that the love of being in the right, which is a part of our human nature, may be so enlisted on the side of evil as to lead us into positive crime. On the other hand, if we make it a rule to ourselves to say nothing but good of the absent, this same natural feeling will lead us to seek for and to perceive the excellences of the person we have been defending; and thus we shall acquire a habit of seeing the bright side of a friend's character instead of its imperfections. If, indeed, there are great errors in the conduct of one we love, and we cannot be blind to them, it is not our duty to justify those errors; but at the same time it is equally not our duty to bring them prominently before the eyes of others. If we speak of faults, it should be to those who commit them, privately and lovingly, in such a way as to show that it is sincere affection which leads us to fulfil a painful duty. But generally speaking this does not form any part of the duty of the young, who cannot be judges of the motives of others, of their position, their trials, or their circumstances. Be contented to watch your own heart, and the actions of your daily life, and assuredly you will find too much occupation in correcting your own deficiencies, to leave you much either of leisure or inclination for scanning the faults of others. Do not think that your example will be without its weight in your own circle, however humble your position and small your influence. There is an old saying, and a very true one, "It takes more than one to make a quarrel." The proverb may be applied to scandal-mongering; for it is certain that if one. of a party only is inclined to gossip, there will be very little harm done. It should be the aim of the better disposed or the more thoughtful to turn the conversation the moment the evil spirit of detraction makes its appearance, to introduce books, or music, or anything that will alter the current of thought. It is particularly the duty of a hostess to take this part; indeed, she is morally accountable for any evil speaking that take? place in a society of young people under her parent's roof; since no guest could offer her such an affront as to continue a style of conversation that was obviously displeasing to her entertainer. Let the young

hostess, therefore, feel that she is responsible for the conversation of her guests, and whilst exerting herself to procure them every possible amusement, let her show that any appoach to scandal will be offensive to her, and she will soon find that there are infinitely more interesting topics for discussion than the faults and follies of our neighbours.

Do not imagine that whilst thus avoiding injuring our neighbours we are doing no good to ourselves.' If there is one cast of mind more certain to insure happiness than any other, it is that which "thinks no evil," which habitually sees and seeks for the good points of others, and is more bent on seeking their happiness than its own. The bee sucks the honey and rejects the poison presented to it; and it is our wisdom and happiness too to discover all the good we can in those about us, and to reject the evil, while, in contributing as much as we can to the welfare of our family, friends, and country, we acquire, by the very effort to do them. good, a deeper interest in their welfare, and a warmer affection for them. So true it is that some of the strongest attachments the world exhibits have arisen from having conferred on another numerous and important benefits. We love those we have aided, more perhaps than they love us, and such is the constitution of human nature that we may confer kindnesses merely at first from a feeling of benevolence, we may defend the character of an absent person from the abstract sense of justice, but the very act itself will give us warm and kindly feelings to the person we have benefited, until our hearts are interested in their fate, and we continue from affection what we began from duty.

It is one great step gained, then, towards present and future happiness, to consider, in every transaction of life, whether we are acting in the spirit of entire honesty. Are we paying a just price to those we employ? Are we giving in charity whilst we are neglecting the requirements of justice? Are we, by our neglect of little accounts, embarrassing some honest tradesman, whose life depends on our punctuality? Are we, above all, allowing in ourselves a slighting, detracting mode of speaking of others? If so, there is a deficiency of moral honesty in our character which can only be supplied by the closest watchfulness of our every thought, word, and action, aided by earnest prayer to Him who, having commanded us to "do justice," will not leave us unassisted in our endeavours to perform His will.

PRACTICAL LESSONS FOR THE NURSERY OR

SCHOOLROOM.

By WILLIAM MARTIN, Author of "The Intellectual Calculator," "Intellectual Primer," &c., &c. NO. I.-PRACTICAL METHOD OF TEACHING ARITHMETIC.

EDUCATION should always be carried out so as to draw forth the observing powers, the thinking faculties of the child, and there is no subject in the whole range of instruction better adapted to develop the faculties of observation and reflection than that of Arithmetic; but it is indeed very rarely that this truly mental science is propounded in a manner worthy its importance. Arithmetic is one of the most beautiful of the sciences, because it is one of the most demonstrative. It, if properly taught, proceeds by series of regular gradations from the known to the unknown, and thereby exercises largely that kind of reasoning which is of so much importance in the common every-day matters of life, being mathematical demonstration in little matters. In some cases the pupil is called upon to trace a truth upwards, and proceed from all the inferior parts of its anatomy to the heart of the mystery; at others he is obliged to proceed from a base of operations to minute yet intelligible detail.

In the science of numbers we have many things so wonderful as to overwhelm the understanding and confound belief, and the whole of which is based on the simple proposition that one and one are two. We look on the child in the cradle, and we say, Who would suppose that sleeping innocent would be able to calculate the sun in his course, or weigh the earth in a balance? We look upon the ten digits and say, Is it by these that we can tell the size, distances, and revolutions of the millions of sunny stars and starry worlds around us ?-calculate eclipses and foretell the return of those eccentric planets, the cometary bodies? We look at a Newton and a new-born babe ;-on the one hand we see a mind soaring beyond mortal ken,-and on the other a fixed and vacant stare, a mukeling, pukeling, drivelling existence, and we are startled at the immense distance between the two. But the true practical teacher, who has grappled with the mind in its various moods and forms, who has tested it and tried it in the crucible of sound philosophy, sees the beautiful chain that connects the two, and knows that in the mutual dependence which link has on link and rivet on rivet, the gigantic form of the one proceeds from the apparent weakness and imbecility of the other. He knows, and he best knows, that all "cracks and flaws” must be filled up, all incongruities worked out, all that does not assimilate with the mind in its operations must be carefully weeded away. He knows that in the immaterial and mental part of man there is a kind of intellectual chemistry to consult; that there is mutual attraction and repulsion, resolution and decomposition, perpetually at work

arranging and rearranging the essences of things, and adapting them to purposes of common usefulness. In unison with these scientific principles he proceeds in his great work of education, and his reward is found in a quicker arrival at truth, whether that truth be physical, intellectual, or moral.

The science of Arithmetic is pre-eminently the science of truth, and as such has high moral characteristics. Figures never deceive. People quarrel about the truths of philosophy and religion, but they do not persecute each other on a controversy of two and two making four.

In proceeding to teach Arithmetic, therefore, to young children, the teacher should bear in mind the principle we have sought to develop, namely, that this branch of education is essentially inductive. We proceed from the base that one and one are two, and that one-not the mere abstract idea,-but that one whole has two halves. Now we must, to a certain extent, but only to a certain extent, proceed in this manner. The first thing we have to do is, to fix in the child's mind a connection between the abstract or conventional sign and the real thing; and you must commence with a first lesson after the following manner :Show me 3 fingers, 4 fingers;

Show me 1 finger,

2 fingers,

and so on till the child knows that the numbers one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, are to be applied to combinations of one; for all number proceeds on the knowledge of another and another. When the child is conversant with the names of the numbers, that two signifies one and one taken in the aggregate, and that three signifies three ones in the aggregate; four, four ones in the aggregate-the next step is to teach him that four ones are equal to two twos; and that two threes are equal to six ones or to three twos: these may easily be shown by the fingers, or by marks on the slate, by peas, beads, or other objects.

And so on; varying or transposing the fingers in combinations of two

through the nine digits. The teacher has here begun with the beginning,

and he has to proceed now through a process a little more complicated. But as a general maxim to begin with, never let a child proceed to a second example till he thoroughly understands the first.

The next process or step will be obvious to the intelligent teacher. He has to show that other combinations of numbers may be used to form a total. These he may show as follows:

proceeding to the various combinations of the totality, ten.

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As yet we have not taught the pupils to represent the sign of number -they are supposed to be unacquainted with the making of figures. We would not trouble them with this for the present, as the object should be first to impress "clear ideas of number" upon the mind. To do this the more effectually the next lesson may be given either to a small or large class of pupils. If a class, we may suppose the intelligent teacher, having his little ones arranged about him, to address them after the following manner :

“Now, my little dears, stand round-look at me-be attentive. What little boy or girl has two noses?" Here some put their hands to their noses. Some say, "I have not;" some will say, "I have got one;" another will perhaps say, "I have got two eyes, sir ;" another will say, "I have got two ears." "Well, John Paine has one nose; George Smith has one nose; Thomas Brown has one nose. These make-how many noses?" Three, sir." "Who has got two eyes?" "I have got two one eyes, sir." "I have two," says a second. "I have two," And I have two," says a fourth. "Now how many eyes have you altogether?" "Eight."

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Question. "What else have you got in twos?" "Two ears, sir." And how many have I got?" "Two." "And how many have you and I got together?" "Four, sir." "How many have Smith and Jones and Brown got between them?" "Six." "And my two make how many?" Eight." "And his two?" "Ten." "What else have we got in twos?" One boy-"I have two hands." Another boy-"I have two feet." Another boy-"I have two thumbs." Another-"I have two fingers." "Ah! how many more?" Another boy-"I have got four fingers on one hand." 'How many on the other?" "Four." "How many are two fours ?" "EIGHT." "How many joints have you on the first finger?" "Three." "How many on the second ?" "Three."

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