only instruments we have for representing form, and although this is a duty shared by both, yet they have each their own peculiar mode of fulfilling it. The greater freedom of execution afforded in the handling of the brush is a great temptation to many young painters to place too much dependence upon it for continuing that which the pencil alone ought to have completed, and when this is the case one cannot be surprised at failures; and though we allow that the successful handling of the brush is the result of careful and correct drawing, at the same time, and for this very reason, we maintain that the power thus given by the pencil must be further cultivated to enable us to give effect to innumerable particulars which can best be done by the brush alone. Its fine point can, by gentle pressure, be spread out, and made capable of describing broad markings and effective indications in a way that can by no other instrument possibly be produced; but to handle it in such a manner as to obtain its

reference to the kind of details which must engage our attention, for where there are portions of colour or tone which are in decided contrast with the surrounding parts, and consequently have a distinct recognition, they must be carefully considered both as to their forms and tones, or we should be painting unmeaning patches very much out of place; for we must always bear in mind that wherever we find a great variety of tones and tints there are especial reasons for them, which the painter must endeavour to understand and account for, or, with all his efforts, he will fail in giving the proper effect as it is in Nature. We will now direct our attention to the accompanying illus. trations. As this lesson is intended as an exercise in the use of the brush, we will still confine ourselves to the use of sepia. After the drawing has been made, commence the sky with a moderately light tone of colour, using the brush freely, and with a light hand, across the paper, directing it in such a way as to

fullest capabilities must be the result of much practice, and a correct knowledge of the object to be painted. The duty of the brush is to take up the work where the pencil stops and can go no further. The latter must first define the boundaries and extent of the masses, and all important details, but the brush must fill them in, and, in so doing, lend its assistance to bring out all the characteristic particulars which the pencil has indicated. There must be neither hurry nor hesitation; the brush must be charged according to the extent of the part to be covered, well filled when the space to be covered is large, and partly exhausted on the blotting-pad when there is little to do beyond sharpening out particulars with washes and touches of shadow tint or semi-tone, thus adding brilliancy to the lights by contrast, as well as a means for bringing into notice all less important details, which contribute their share to the work, and also the innumerable accidental projections to be found on uneven surfaces. When washing in broad flat tones, the brush may be held at an angle of about 40°; but for touching in, or making out details, it must be held in an almost perpendicular position, so that we may have an entire command of the point; in such a position, the point may be guided in all directions with the greatest freedom. The above remarks have especial

preserve the forms and masses of the light clouds. There must be plenty of colour in the brush, but it must not be overcharged, as too much will cause blots; too little will not only dry before we are prepared to soften some of the edges, but will very probably produce cut-shades and other disagreeable results that will make the sky look hard and heavy. The brush moderately filled when dragged over the paper will leave many spaces of various forms and sizes untouched; with judicious management, the lights thus left may be converted into bright airy clouds floating across the sky represented by the colour. Whilst it is wet, wash the brush, draw it across the blotting pad, and soften off most of the under edges of these light spaces; some of these, in both figures, are marked a upon the edges to be washed off. We advise our pupils to practise several times this method of partly floating and partly dragging in a sky, either from Nature or (as the colour we are using is sepia only) from good engravings: much profit may be derived from these, as our remarks apply especially to the forms of clouds and the proportions of light and shade employed in representing them. In Fig. 3 only one tone is used in the sky, shadows being omitted. In Fig. 4 the process is further carried out by the addition of shadows. Let the sides turned away from the light-viz., at b b in both

examples-be painted with a somewhat darker tone than the one first used, and break off the edges approaching the light in the same way as before. Our pupils will soon find out that to break off the edges is not to wash them uniformly down to a smooth graduated shade. This would make the clouds too solid, but by breaking the edges with a clean brush (moist, but not too wet, as the water would run into the colour, and spoil the whole), we produce, without any seeming effort on our part, other intermediate tones in unison with the extremes, as well as many sharp and bright prominences peculiar to clouds. On the lower part of the sky, as we approach the horizon, we may pass some light tone nearly over the whole. This may be a broken one also, but no extremes of light and shade must be introduced here, as they would destroy all aërial perspective by bringing the lower parts too forward. The only exception to this last remark is in the case of evening effects. When the sun is low, then its rays

out, leaving the sky to appear through the stems and foliage. From the position of the sun, there will be very little of the tree in positive light, excepting some of the tips of the upper branches. These must be painted with a lighter colour. As the tone of the building must altogether be darker than the sky, wash a light tint over the end, side of the tower, and the roof, bringing down the same colour at the same time into the broad shadow on the front, which must be broken (as previously explained in painting the sky), with a light hand scattering it over parts only. This manner of breaking the tints, especially over old walls, has an excellent effect in helping to give that variety of colour and semitone on the surface which is so common to them. As the light of the sky must be reflected in the lake in front, to give the appearance of water, the whole of the ground near it before the building, and in the foreground, may receive a general wash, similar to the lighter parts of the building. The reflection of

illuminate the lower clouds with greater brilliancy. The distant hills of Fig. 4 are painted with the same tone as the upper part. of the sky, the middle distance with the colour of the cloud shadows, and the foreground with a darker mixture. The streak of horizontal light near the foreground is the effect of the reflected light of the sky upon the water, and it gives us the opportunity of bringing the light down into the landscape. The distant hills of Fig. 3 must be treated similarly to those of Fig. 4. The side of the building in shadow may be done with the same colour, and as the sun is behind the picture-that is, the building is between the sun and the spectator (see Lessons in Geometrical Perspective, XVIII., p. 392, Vol. IV.), the whole front of the building will be in shadow, having its cast shadow on the ground before it. This latter may be done with the same colour, although afterwards it will be necessary to make it darker than the broad shadow, as the light reflected from the ground will brighten the broad shadow of the building. Some of the more general tones of the foreground may be painted at the same time. The hedge-row in the middle distance must partake of the same colour as the building, both being about the same distance from the front. Make a darker tint than has been yet used for the tree, with which the greater portion must be made

the building will materially help in giving character to the water. The making out of the reflection should be done with the shadow colour of the building, drawing the brush downwards from the bank, being careful to make the end of the reflection perpendicular to the end of the object reflected, and, before it is quite dry, take a somewhat darker tone, and intersperse it in the same perpendicular manner amongst those parts of the reflection which require it, being guided by the corresponding parts in the building. Lastly, the extreme depths of colour must be confined to the tree and the foreground, which must be executed chiefly in sharp touches, regarding the forms of the objects and their accompanying details. This kind of treatment will give contrast to the lights, and decision of form and character to everything placed prominently in the picture.

As we have often remarked in our "Lessons in Drawing," our pupils must not be disheartened if they do not succeed in producing a fair copy of our illustrations even after many attempts: they must be content to persevere, bearing in mind that perseverance never fails to yield its fruits in due season. It is also almost needless to point out that copies of our woodcuts should not be made of the same size, but on a scale giving a picture of at least four times the area.

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ACCOUNT CURRENT BOOK.

A Running or Current Account is an account of the mercantile transactions, principally in money, bills, and sales of consignments, between two parties who have agreed to allow a settlement to lie over for a limited period. Accounts Current are kept mostly by agents against their principals; and it is usual to charge or to allow interest on the different sums entered to the debit and credit of the parties. Besides interest, a commission, commonly per cent., is charged by the agent on the amount of his payments and acceptances. In any account current, where a sum falls due at a date beyond that to which the account is made up, the interest for the time must be entered as a discount on the opposite side of the interest account, in order that the whole of the balance of the account may be considered as due at that date. This book may be journalised in the same manner as the preceding books. In the following examples, taken from the transactions between White, Smith, & Co. and two of their principals abroad-viz., Nathan Herschell, Barbadoes, and John Henderson, Berbice-the Accounts Current are made up to the 30th of June, 1868, that is, six months beyond the last date of the transactions in the memoranda. We have thus extended the date of the making-up of the Accounts Current between the company and its principals, because in the memoranda no notice was taken of such transactions, and because the dates up to the 31st of December, 1867, would have been rather short to show distinctly the nature of such accounts. In these accounts we have not charged the commission above mentioned, because commission was charged

on various sums previously, and because the charging of the same would seem to make the subject too complex to the student. Still it is an easy matter for the intelligent stu dent to make out the Accounts Current according to the rule stated above, the principal difficulty being the manner of calculating the interest. In these accounts we have supposed the rate of interest allowed and charged to be 5 per cent. per annum for both principal and agent, and we have shown in the products' column the mode of calculating this interest, according to the following rule :-Multiply the principal by the number of days and by double of the rate per cent.; then divide by 73,000, and the quotient is the interest required. The student will notice that the products in this column are obtained by multiplying each sum by the number of days opposite to it, neglecting the shillings and pence when below ten shillings, and reckoning the same equal to an additional pound when above ten shillings, a practice very common in many counting-houses where much business is done. The student may, if he pleases, multiply the exact sums by the exact number of days as given in the days' column, and he will most likely find, on calculating the interest to a nicety, that the difference is upon the whole very small, or, perhaps, none at all, owing to a balance of small errors in the whole amount. In cases where "Interest Books" are at hand, the actual sums due for interest may be put down in the products' columns instead of the products themselves, and a balance struck as we have done; but it will most likely be found that the trouble, even with an "Interest Book," is nearly the same as by the method we have adopted.

DR.

NATHAN HERSCHELL, Esq., BARBADOES, IN ACCOUNT CURRENT WITH WHITE, SMITH, & Co., LONDON.

CR.

DR.

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ACCOUNT CURRENT BOOK.

30 6485

1634 18 0

JOHN HENDERSON, Esq., BERBICE, IN ACCOUNT CURRENT WITH WHITE, SMITH, & Co., LONDON.

£30 13 0 Interest.

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CR.

THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF

EDUCATION. VI.

DUTIES AND QUALIFICATIONS OF TEACHERS-CONCLUSION.

We have now arrived at the last of our short series of papers on the Theory and Practice of Education; it will be proper, therefore, to review the ground which we have passed over in our previous articles, and to conclude by offering a few practical remarks on the duties and necessary qualifications of the agents by whom the great work of education is carried on. In taking this course, our especial object will be to assist young teachers in day and evening schools, and the teachers of Sunday-school classes. We commenced our first paper by remarking that one of the best tests of the real possession of knowledge is the ability to teach it, and we now earnestly advise our young friends to apply this test on every possible occasion. The POPULAR EDUCATOR classes give them an excellent opportunity of doing this; and if they are unable to join some one or more of these, there still remain many ways by which they can in this manner at once fix their acquirements in their own minds, and become the means of benefiting others. The important fact, that whether we desire it or no, our education is going on from the first days of our existence in this world to the last, was strongly insisted on; and the paper closed by pointing out the necessity of acquiring good habits and useful knowledge, lest evil influences should gain the mastery, and debase and ultimately ruin both soul and body.

The second paper gives a rapid analysis of the powers and faculties of the mind. We were led to take this course by the strong conviction that education, to be sound and effectual, must be so given as to cultivate and train the various parts which make up the mental and spiritual constitution of man. This idea is by no means a new one, but it has hitherto failed to reach the consciousness and guide the practice of the great majority of those who direct and influence the education of the people. Both writers and teachers fail to perceive its importance; thus their action for the most part is empirical, founded on experiments and losing sight of principles. A medical practitioner who is ignorant of the anatomy of the human body, and who judges of diseases and their cure without a competent knowledge of the various structures and tissues of the human framework, and of the various symptoms by which their healthy or diseased condition is indicated, is styled a quack; but we are still without a term by which to designate those who aspire to conduct the far more important work of educating the mind, while they are destitute of any definite and clear knowledge of its various faculties and functions.

Our third paper was fully occupied in presenting an outline of the principal subjects of human knowledge, and in defining the objects which should be borne in mind, both in the selection of subjects and in the methods employed in imparting them. We sought to appraise the relative value of the various studies to which attention was directed, and to give some slight indication of the order in which they should be taught. In the course of these remarks, we took occasion to notice the almost exhaustive series of lessons which fill the pages of the POPULAR EDUCATOR; we know of no other collection so worthy the notice and earnest study of young persons who desire to occupy their leisure time in furnishing their minds with interesting and useful material, and in acquiring information which can scarcely fail to be both pleasant and profitable. The principle which, in our opinion, should guide the student in his selection of studies, and the teacher in the formation of his programme is, first to lay a wide and stable foundation by selecting one or more subjects from each of the four great departments of knowledge-Language, Mathematics, Science and Art; and when these are well worked into the mental being, to select some one subject on which to expend the chief portion of their labour and time, so that they may attain to special excellence in this chosen department.

The history of education engaged our attention in the fourth paper, and short sketches of a few of the leading educators were given; and our last article was entirely taken up by as complete an elucidation of the principal methods of instruction now in use as our limits allowed. We propose to devote the remainder of this, our concluding paper, to the consideration of various matters in connection with the teacher.

The teacher is undoubtedly the keystone of success in every

system of education-the pivot on which all real improvement turns. The Legislature may decree that schools shall be built in every locality in the kingdom, and may persuade or compel all children of school-age to enter them; systems the most perfect may be formed, and methods of greatest power may be elabo. rated; but unless the teacher is well prepared for his work, and puts his whole heart and soul into it, every effort will be in vain, and we shall still be confronted by an uneducated people; day-schools will fail to produce the results for which we are now so earnestly striving, and Sunday-schools will be an eyesore and a blot instead of a blessing. Every possible effort should, therefore, be put forth to train our teachers for their laborious task, and to excite and encourage them to the skilful and conscientious discharge of their duty.

Knowledge is the first and primary requisite of those who take upon themselves the high office of instructing others, and those who enlist in the ranks of amateur or professional teachers, whether in Sunday or day schools, should omit no opportunity of adding to their stock. The various branches of learning are so intimately connected, and bear so closely upon each other, that it is almost impossible to teach one subject well without a fair amount of information on many others. Even in an ordinary reading lesson, whether on a secular subject or one taken from Holy Scripture, it often surprises even the teacher himself to find how much of the knowledge which he possesses on other matters is needed to elucidate the lesson before him. And the better the teacher, the more certain is this to be the case. A large and varied fund of knowledge is, therefore, an indispensible qualification for the teacher's office. But not only does a teacher require a large amount of varied information; he must also learn to reproduce it in a systematic and orderly manner. For the purpose of acquiring this habit, the young teacher should analyse every subject which he has to teach into the several parts of which it is composed, and then exercise his power of synthesis by putting these parts together again in the exact order in which he intends to teach them. He should do this without reference to books, so that he may render his mind familiar with these processes. A similar course should be adopted with every separate lesson before it is presented to his pupils. Proceeding in this way, and arranging every idea in a natural and orderly manner, so that each one may lead without abruptness into that which follows it, his teaching will daily become more useful and pleasant, and the laborious application which such a course necessitates will find its due reward in the rapid improvement and increasing attachment of his pupils.

The ability to teach a large number of scholars at the same time is another most important requirement in a teacher. This is called "collective teaching," as distinguished from the instruction of individual pupils. This power of dealing with numbers while imparting instruction is by no means insisted upon with sufficient earnestness by writers on the teacher's work. It is a most important question to every instructor in a school, in what manner he shall arrange and classify numbers, differing in both knowledge and mental power, so as to lead them on together, without material loss of time to any. When a teacher has acquired this power, his capacity for usefulness is multiplied many times; and experience shows that by thus learning to act on numbers at once, the work of both teacher and scholars becomes more pleasant and delightful. drudgery of mental drill seems to drop out of sight, while students and tutor travel on together in sweet companionship along the same road to the same end.

The

The power to maintain order, and ability to teach, are the prime requisites to success in collective instruction, and the former depends very much on the latter. A few hints on the means of obtaining and securing these will not, therefore, be out of place.

1. The first and most important point is, that the teacher should be well prepared, that his mind should be full of his subject, so that there may be no room for hesitation in his manner. Should he show, by frequent stoppages, by selfcontradiction, and by a doubtful, feeble, hesitating mode of utterance, that he has failed to make himself master of what he professes to teach, and has lost all confidence in himself, he will stand self-convicted of charlatanism; respect for him will pass away from the minds of his hearers, and order and discipline will give place to confusion and riot.