agreeable occupations of life. By the use of these, as well as visible illustrations, a greater interest may be imparted to the subjects of instruction; and a due admixture of the utile with the dulce may be attended to without any attempt to make "Each weary, unwelcome, irksome task Appear in a fancy dress and a mask." These flowers strewed in the path of the child will help to ren der more agreeable the first steps of his pilgrimage to the temple of learning and who will deny that he may one day weave them into chaplets to deck the brows of those who will then look to him for protection and support? Poetry used to illustrate the lesson may be written upon the blackboard, to be afterwards committed to memory by the children. The use of the blackboard can scarcely be overrated: there are but few lessons to which it may not be made a valuable auxiliary. In commendation of it the words of Horace may not unaptly be quoted : "Segnius irritant animos demissa per aurem, Quam quae sunt oculis subjecta fidelibus." In speaking of a constant use of the blackboard, the Rev. H.W. Bellairs remarks-"The importance of this appears to me so great that I am encouraging the pupil teachers in this district to exercise themselves in it in various ways:-viz., in geography, in drawing outlines of maps; in grammar, by writing out the sentences to be parsed; in natural history, by drawing a rough sketch of the animal whose habits, &c., they are describing."* In the Hints on Gallery Lessons, and the notes appended to various lessons in the present work, a constant use of the blackboard is recommended. While this little book is put into the hands of Pupil Teachers, the Master may with great advantage consult the able works of D. Stow, Esq., and the Dean of Hereford. The Training System by the former contains a full account of one of the most successful methods as yet adopted in the education of children: and the Suggestive Hints on Secular Instruction, by the latter, abound in valuable remarks on the subjects of study, as well as in practical hints for making them interesting to children, and applicable to the circumstances of their future lives. The latter work would form an excellent manual of method for Pupil Teachers in the second and succeeding years of their apprenticeship. *See MINUTES OF COUNCIL for 1850-51; Report of Rev.H,W,Bellairs, p. 212, HINTS ON GALLERY LESSONS. The advantages of the simultaneous or gallery method of instruction and training are now generally admitted to be so great as to warrant the universal adoption of this system in schools for the young. It is acknowledged on all sides that the sympathy of numbers is a powerful element for good or for evil. in the education of children, and that the results of the system, when it is worked out with energy and perseverance, are commensurate with the additional labour which it entails on those by whom it is adopted. A few remarks on some of its more prominent features may not be deemed either misplaced or superfluous here. Too often it is found that by gallery-lessons and gallery instruction teachers understand merely the collecting of so many classes in the gallery of parallel benches or desks to listen to a lecture-cherishing the vis inertiae of their nature-or, it may be, to undergo some brief oral examination at its conclusion. To such the task of conducting lessons according to the system will appear comparatively easy of execution. Give us a fair knowledge of the subject-matter, fluency of speech, and facility in framing questions, what more, say they, is essential to the proper conducting of a gallery-lesson? We acknowledge that these are the requisites to giving a lesson, that is, lecturing to the children but that a master may conduct the process of thought in the pupils' minds, strengthen the weak, confirm the wavering, in short, educate or train, requires an infinitely greater amount of tact and watchfulness than some are prepared to admit. When an incorrect answer is given it is not B enough to point out the error: the teacher should be able to investigate the logical process by which the child arrived at such a conclusion, to lead him back again to the commencement, and by careful, and (if necessary,) a more circuitous course of training, once more enable him to advance, supported by new ideas, and in all respects more completely equipped for the mastery of the difficulty which at first might appear insuperable. The main object of gallery-lessons should be education as distinguished from mere teaching or instruction. In such of course the religious element must be the predominant one. Gallery-lessons, so useful on other subjects, may, if given in a suitable manner, help to prepare the mind for the reception of the higher truths and the practice of religion. Our remarks on gallery-lessons will be best given under the following heads : I. Sympathy of numbers. IV. Illustration of the lesson by means of sketches and prints, used in connection with verbal picturing out. I-Sympathy of Wumbers. That there exists between children of the same age a powerful sympathy will not be denied by those who have carefully observed their habits,—who have followed them into the streets, the meadows, and the play ground, and there under every variety of circumstance endeavoured to mark and trace out the secret springs of their actions. This sympathy is more powerful than either precept or example which are external. It manifests itself at all times, in all places, and under every circumstance of the child's life. It is this sympathy which we require to lay hold of and employ as an instrument—a kind of moral lever whose fulcrum shall be the heart of the child. When we assemble a great number in the play ground and the gallery we have such a power within our reach. If pro perly used it will vastly facilitate the work of education; every child will become a helper in the training of his companions; the imaginative will assist those whose powers of reasoning are greater; those whose memories are most retentive will assist and derive profit from both alike; and the benefit of the combination will be exhibited by every member of the little community. In separate individual teaching (as generally carried out,) this power is entirely lost, or is allowed to lie dormant. But in the gallery it may be most forcibly called into action. In order that gallery-lessons may be properly conducted and prove effective, it is necessary that as near an approach as is possible in age and attainments be aimed at in grouping together children. To mix up those of all ages and capacities, with an idea that the same lesson will be alike profitable to the intellectual and the less educated, the child of five years old and the boy at thirteen, is a mistake which may prove fatal to the whole system. In a school where the ages vary from four or five to twelve years and upwards, at least three divisions are necessary. These may be increased according to the number of efficient teachers. II. Simultaneous Answers. The elliptical mode of conducting a lesson is the one which would seem to afford the best opportunity of keeping up the attention and at the saine time strengthening the reasoning powers of the children. By ellipsis we do not mean the omission of some word in the sentence for supplying which every child in the gallery is allowed a guess: but the leaving out some word or phrase which, if supplied by the children, will prove that they are being led (not carried) gradually onwards to deduce lessons for themselves, and are enabled to arrive at new truths by the comparison and elucidation of those they previously possessed. Before quitting this subject we would give the following simple rules. 1. Never let the ellipsis be a word which a mere guess will supply. II. Let it be a word or phrase which may be naturally expected from children who have followed and mastered the previous explanation. III. Never let an ellipsis form part of a question. IV. Do not repeat part of a word, leaving the remainder to be filled in by the children. V. Suit the ellipses to the capabilities of the gallery. VI. Use ellipses most frequently with very young children. VII. Propose questions between the ellipses. Let these two exercises alternate. VIII. Never supply the word or phrase for the children, but lead them back to the starting point, and again advance, drawing out their knowledge of the subject more clearly and fully. Whenever an ellipsis is not filled in by the children, a careful training by the master will be necessary. The fact that they could not supply it should convince him that he attempted too much-that he was endervouring to lead them onward by strides far beyond their power. He must, therefore, lessen the interval by questions and other ellipses having a direct bearing upon the subject. The judicious admixture of questions and ellipses will be found the best method of fixing the attention. In reviewing lessons much longer ellipses may be made, care being taken that nothing is required in these which has not been pictured out during the lesson, or which may not be easily deduced from it. III. Picturing out in Words. The picturing out in words forms another important element in gallery-lessons. It is that upon which the real progress of the children must depend. To picture out to them a word or term is to lead them on by questions and ellipses to see its meaning distinctly and clearly, thus "exercising the understanding before the verbal memory." To repeat such words |