bid in estimation by a dancing-master who knows only enough to shake his heels. He will leave the business first. This is just the state of things now in town. The common school teacher is under par,-entirely out-bid in the estimation of a large portion of community. Another thing that has caused this low state of our schools, is their neglect on the part of parents. The Registers that have been kept by the teachers, as required by law, show, in most of the districts, an entire neglect of the school by the parents. Many of the teachers never saw one of the parents of their pupils in the school-room. They show more interest in their sheep and cows than in their children. They do not trust them to a hired man without a personal supervision, however well the man may be recommended for the business. These Registers show, too, that parents have been careless, if not culpable, in relation to the attendance of their children. In many of the districts not more than one-half of the scholars have been present at the opening and closing of the school; and in some of the schools a large portion of the school days are marked as absent. In one school the days of absence nearly equal those of attendance. This does not result from distance from the school-room. Those near are quite as often marked absent. The village schools are generally the most inconstant and irregular. Nor is it the small scholars that are remiss here. There are more small scholars than large that show a clean Register during the year. The Superintendent, in his visit to the schools, frequently found but a fraction of the scholars present. The teacher would apologize by saying, "Since the season for berries commenced, I have had but a few scholars, and these are inconstant." About the middle of the afternoon she is beset with requests for dismission, on the plea, "Father or mother said I might go for raspberries," as the case might be; and go the dear creatures must, and the teacher is left," Poor soul, all alone." Now no lady or gentleman that has any self-respect will engage in a business that has so little esteem. The whole business will go into the hands of boys and girls that have not passed the frolicsome period of life. Westminster, Vt. A. S. WORK TO DO! Work to do! Work to do! Work that will weary the body out, Work that will torture the mind with doubt, Work to do! Work to do! Teaching the body its highest power; Work to do! Work to do! Work to do! Work to do! Souls must have freedom from Passion's thrall, Be their deliv'rer from sinful strife, Angel to show them the truer life. Work to do! Work to do! Gain for this labor,-what shall it be? Nobler and freer heart-throbs for thee; Good that shall make thee with rapture glow. L. C. SENATOR C.-A SKETCH FOR BOYS. It was in the winter of 185-. We were stopping for a short time in Washington city, and had just been listening to one of Senator C's soul-stirring and patriotic speeches a speech that won the admiration alike of friend and foe. "Do you know anything of C-'s early life?" said I to my friend who had just been descanting on the great speech of the session. "Do I know anything of it? Why, bless you! Yes, I know all about it," was the reply. "Not quite all, per. haps, but enough to be able to say,He has turned out just as I expected.' Well do I remember the mellow autumn morning that he and his elder brother, Walter, entered Mr. B's' Grammar School for boys.' They were fine, manly looking lads of fourteen and sixteen, perhaps. Walter, the handsomer of the two, had an air of gentility, spite of his hard hands, sun-browned face, and homespun clothes. William, the speaker of to-day, had then the same massive brow, the same clear blue eyes, the same air of decision, that mark him now. There was, however, an awkward bashfulness in his manner, half-pitiable, half-comic. Their father, we understood, was a poor farmer up in the Saranac country, who, by dint of his own and his boys' savings, had scraped together money enough to send them for one term to our school, as the first step towards fitting them for col lege. We soon found that their recitations were not to be laughed at, however it might be with their manners. William, however, was the better scholar. How he had contrived to master the Latin Grammar and translate half of Virgil on that backwoods farm, with no help but an old borrowed dictionary, was more than we could understand. Walter was a quick, showy scholar, but he lacked William's steady perseverance. Fond of popularity, with a genuine love of fun, and an easy, complying disposition, he soon became a favorite with the boys though he had little money to spend. William was always obliging and frank, entering heartily into our lawful boyish sports, but he could never be induced to join in any attempt to deceive the master. He scorned the meanness of a lie as much as he detested its wickedness, and a little fellow we had nearly all been in the habit of teasing, more because we found he was easily vexed than from a worse motive, found in him so fearless a defender that we grew ashamed of our cowardice, and instead of being the jest of the school, little Hal soon found himself quite a hero. There was something about William that attracted me, and when in the spring a weakness of the lungs, which I inherited, made it necessary to suspend my studies, I begged my father to send me homo with the C- boys for the summer. In that little brown house on the rugged hill-side, I learned to really know and love my friend Wiliam. He labored cheerfully and constantly with his father, improving the leisure moments he could now and then find when waiting for meals, and the like, in study. But it was there that his moral qualities shone most brightly. His mother was a woman of some culture, with sterling common sense and one of the kindest hearts. I saw that it was to her second son, and not her eldest, that she looked for sympathy and aid. To him his sickly sister turned for companionship and amusement, never in vain. His cherished books were cheerfully laid aside to read to, or converse with, her, and his little brother was always sure of attention and help from Willie, in fashioning his sleds, carts, and boxes. Besides, Willie had caught the pretty gray squirrel that he loved so much. Willie, too, had made the house for his rabbits. In the autumn, only one of the boys could return to school, and William conceded the right to his eldest brother, but I saw the tear in his eye and knew how sorely he was disappointed." "You make him a pattern boy, indeed," said I. "He was a most noble boy, yet he had then one fault. He was passionate. His eye would flash and his lip quiver, sometimes, at slight provocation, but he struggled manfully with his besetting sin, and even then was striv ing to be peaceable and gentle, as Christ was gentle. Several years elapsed before I met him again, but I never lost sight of him. He fitted for college under difficulties which would have discouraged an ordinary mind, and graduated at with the highest honors. Soon after, while pursuing his prcfessional studies, the sudden death of his mother broke up the little family at home. He then removed his invalid sister to the city where he was living with the strictest economy, hired for her pleas ant lodgings, and procured for her every comfort, softening, in every possible way, the trials, and brightening the closing days, of her brief life. To do this, he was obliged to suspend, partially, his studies and find employment as a writer, for I believe he always made it a rule to 'pay as he went,' resolving not to commence life in debt." "But the elder brother, what became of him?" "Poor Walter! With many fine traits of character, and a superior intellect, he became the victim of his appetites. The cigar and spiced confectionery he learned to love at school, and which his richer companions were ever ready to exchange for his funny stories, created a desire for stronger stimulants. At college, lack of means only kept him from being first among the roystering blades, and he left at the end of two years. Since then, his course has been down-down. He is still living in an almost imbecile state, supported by his generous brother who has sought unceasingly and untiringly to reclaim him. And now, do you wonder that I say, while I admire Senator C.'s highly cultivated and masterly intellect, that I acmire much more his unselfishness, his purity, his self-control, or, to include all in a two words, his Christian manliness." Boys, you cannot all be like Senator C. in intellectual greatness, but all may imitate his nobleness of heart. M. E. L. |