to all," where rulers are raised to office by the voice of the majority, the majority should know how to act. The physical power of the state and nation should have that mental and moral culture, which will operate as a preventive of the violation of the rights of citizens, by contributing its aid to the administration of law, and the support of social order. And I deem our common schools, and of course the proper qualifications of those who have charge of them, immeasurably important in this relation. Whether they are all that they ought to be, at this interesting period, is worthy of every one's dispassionate consideration. With thoughts like these, and I will not permit myself to extend them,-the duties of the female teachers of common schools are intimately connected. I close with a single remark. In the character of female teachers of common schools should be united,-with adequate knowledge, with affable and attractive manners, with facility in teaching, with the power of adapting instruction and discipline to the subject and occasion,-those qualifications in their moral principles and example, which may be advantageously transferred to the young; which all reflecting and wise parents would fear not, but desire to have their children in manhood possess and imitate; and which, if generally prevalent, would promote the interests of our republican institutions. METHOD OF TEACHING ELOCUTION. THE value of true eloquence can only be estimated by its immense power. It is more dreadful to despots than opposing armies, or secret conspiracies. Philip of Macedon forgot the allied forces of the Grecian States, while he trembled at the denunciations of their orator, Demosthenes. Cæsar was absolute master of his country's fate, save when the voice of Cicero thwarted his plans. The eloquence of a single hermit aroused all Europe from the lethargy of the eleventh century, and rolled her armies, with resistless force, upon the usurpers of the Holy Land. Eloquence, in free and enlightened communities, is a sure means of advancement to respectability and influence. In the hands of the dauntless patriot, it is a means of defence from foreign invasion and from treasonable designs. In the hands of the advocate, it is a sure supporter of injured innocence. In popular assemblies, it delights, convinces, persuades. From the pulpit, it withers vice. It pierces and probes the conscience. By the appointment and blessing of God, it aids in reforming the life and in restoring the heart to allegiance to its Maker. It cannot be a matter of surprise, therefore, that eloquence has been eagerly sought after, in all ages. We cannot wonder at the labors of ancient orators to attain it, nor at the influence and affluence of its successful teachers. But, while no age has been destitute of true eloquence, while the experimental views of ancient orators are in our libraries, and, especially, while so large a portion of our countrymen actually obtain a polite education, it cannot fail to excite our astonishment and regret, that so few eloquent men adorn our public stations. There are, indeed, orators in our Congress, at our bar, and in our pulpit. But they are stars which shine alone. They are so rare, that the universal rush to hear their every effort singles them out, as objects of public curiosity. We cannot believe, that this dearth of orators arises from physical causes. Eloquence has often been acquired by the maimed and the deformed. Yet thousands of well-balanced and educated minds, of noble, graceful forms, of melodious and powerful voices, never become eloquent. We must look to our systems of education, for the cause of this deficiency. Two radical errors seem to adhere to these systems, and to mar all efforts towards the formation of orators. In too many of our seminaries of learning, the attention of youth is exclusively directed to mental preparation for public life. The tyro, at the academy, is taught to feel, that mind, mind only, makes the man. Accordingly, he plods through Latin and Greek, entirely forgetful of external cultivation. He enters college. Here, too, mind receives his whole attention. He masters mathematics, sounds the depths of philosophy, and receives his diploma, with rich stores of learning, and with a mind well-disciplined. But the poor, neglected body has been long treated as a drudge, appears jaded and worn out, and is fitted only to clog the usefulness of its possessor. Among a large portion of our college graduates, if the body has received any education, it has been merely trained to the arts of external civility, or to survive the effects of surfeitings and neglects. Three years of hard legal or theological study afford little time |