Christian teacher should be simple in her attire, and that the most educated, and also the most genteel, are invariably the most unpretending in their garb. There is nothing to attract attention,-nothing finical, -nothing extravagant. Let not

your persons, female teachers, be unduly decorated. If the children see, by your ornaments, by the attention which you concentrate on the exterior, that dress is the principal thing regarded, you will not be respected, you will do little, indeed, your instruction will be effectually neutralized.

V. Be unassuming. Keep your place,-maintain your standing,properly magnify your office,-still, be unpretending,-uniformly develope a lowly spirit. Scarcely anything, teachers, will beautify you more, or recommend you more powerfully, than humility. It will lend a charm to all you say and all you do. When you are modest in the estimate which you form of yourselves,-unpretending in your intercourse with each other, and without assumption or arrogance in imparting instruction to the young, or maintaining discipline among them, there is peculiar attractiveness given to your character and conduct; and it is most gratifying to observe frequently, how powerful and beneficial is the effect produced on the minds of children by the tone of voice, by the uniform spirit, by the arrangements, discipline, and labours of a truly humble teacher.

VI. Be amiable and kind. Ever remember, teachers, that in the work of education, whether purely

intellectual or religious, nothing, comparatively, can be effected without kindness,-a bland and amiable demeanour. Children, like adults, are to be won, generally, by love. If you are rigid, inflexible, and endeavouring continually to coerce them and terrify them, thinking of nothing but punishment-severe discipline-you will not accomplish much, and you are acting in the most unphilosophical and foolish, as well as in the most unscriptural

manner.

We do not want you to be too kind to relax unduly; this would be wrong and injurious; still, be it always observed, that the law of intelligent, and especially of Christian kindness must be the only law to govern the school, pre-eminently the Sabbath-school, and no other is required. By this kind and amiable spirit, children and youth are drawn, powerfully and universally influ enced, and, indeed, savingly blest.

VII. Be active and energetic. Vigilantly guard against inactivity -against anything like an indifferent, slothful, lazy temper. If you are not active and full of energy, who should be?

You must be energetic now; teachers, or you will bring dishonour on yourselves and the cause with which you are identified. Every department of society, and of the church, is, at the present time, full of animation, and are you to be cold, sluggish, and insensible? A sleepy teacher now must make way for the preceptor who is awake, -who is animated,-who is all energy, who is concentrating his powers and efforts.

A drone among teachers, at the present working period, must be driven out of the hive; all now must labour in the school-room, and labour more vigorously and entirely than ever. Be then resolved to develope from day to day the enlightened and "full-toned energy" which an efficient teacher will be sure to discover. Such energy will never be lost. It will infallibly yield fruit both to yourselves and others.

VIII. Be self-denying. You will invariably find this temper, valued teachers, most necessary in the school-room; indeed, you can do nothing without its habitual cultivation. Self-sacrifice will be uniformly requisite when instructing children and youth, and those, especially, who are dull, wayward, perverse,-what condescension is necessary! what labour is demanded! what difficulties must be overcome! what struggles and hardships, which none but the teacher knows, must be endured! and if an instructor be in the Sabbath-school, educating children in the great principles of the Gospel, he must live not to please himself but his Divine Master; and if he wish to resemble the Great Teacher, when he enters the school, his motto must be,-"Here I labour, not to please myself, but to serve and honour the Redeemer."

IX. Be patient. This is a prime quality for you to unfold; an essential feature for you to express; an indispensable habit for you to cultivate. Unless, teachers, you uniformly exercise this spirit, you will be soon discouraged, your la

bours will be unblest, and you yourselves will fail in exemplifying one of the most desirable and important features which the character and efforts of an educator should discover.

You must be patient and forbearing, else you cannot long sustain the office of the teacher. Children and youth sadly try the temper: there is, assuredly, much to bear with-much to endure under the, most favourable circumstances,still, if you wish to accomplish any. thing, you must bear with them,you must pity their infirmities,you must pass by their occasional listlessness and waywardness,-you must forgive their sins of omission and commission, remembering that you were children once yourselves. Never be implacable with a child; never give up a child hastily; or, in a fit of impatience, abandon a youth too soon! This is a golden rule for every-day or Sabbath-school instructor.

"Patience" is a word which the educator must have engraven in capital letters, not on his desk merely, but on his memory and on his heart, and which he must keep ever before him.

X. Be persevering. Never let it be seen that you are fickle, inconstant, capricious,-that there is no confidence reposed in you,—that you cannot be depended on for steady and unremitting effort. Teachers, you must be no changelings! You must be fixed in your sentiments, decided in your character, unceasing in your endeavours. You must be the same persons from year to year,-only, if there be any

change, it must be developed by your increased energy, and by the untiring character of your efforts. Enter the school from principle. Let all your labours spring from love to the children, and from an earnest desire to be useful; then you will and must persevere. You cannot flag; you cannot be fitful and uncertain; but devoted, undeviating, and increasingly fervent in your exertions.

XI. Be anxious to fulfil your mission. You have noble plans to form, and you must form them. You have great undertakings to execute, and you must accomplish them. You have not entered the school-room, teachers, without a purpose-without an object-without having a great result in view. Do, then, your work! Regard, then, your end! Let the nature of your mission, the importance of your mission, the means to accomplish your mission, and the result flowing from the execution of your mission, be always before your minds. Let everything you do bear, either di

rectly or indirectly, on the fulfilment of your high mission.

XII. Uniformly rely on the Divine blessing. The enjoyment of that blessing will be everything to you, without it, your services will be poor and ineffective indeed. You need the Divine blessing to illumine the youthful mind, to prepare the minds of children and youth for listening to your instructions, for appreciating your counsels, and for rendering all your efforts permanently beneficial. Rely, then, simply on that blessing, that you may not labour in vain. An educator of the youthful mind cannot commit himself too simply to the direction of Infinite wisdom,-cannot confide too earnestly in Infinite power, goodness, and love. If Heaven bless your plans and endeavours, you cannot be inoperative: knowledge will be imparted, the mind will be disciplined, character will be formed, and impressions, of the utmost value, will be produced, which will never be effaced.

sent and sanctified his children, and rose early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings, according to the number of them all. "Thus did Job continually."

David, having spent one day in bringing the ark from the house of Obededom to the place he had prepared for it, and in presenting peace-offerings before the Lord,

returned at night to bless his household, that is, to pray for a blessing upon his family, or to attend upon family devotion.

Cornelius, the centurion, it is said, "feared God with all his house," meaning, worshipped him with his family.

The apostle speaks, in his epistles, of churches in private houses. By this phrase, he means families where religious services were observed.

In the Lord's Prayer, we have a command for social devotion. "After this manner, therefore, pray ye: Our Father who art in heaven." The form of prayer is plural. It must, therefore, mean social prayer, and, if social, then it comprises family prayer-for a family is the most proper society to engage in this devotion.

Paul, in his epistle to the Colossians, having pointed out the duties of husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and servants, adds, "Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving." The subject upon which he was speaking, and the manner of his speaking, leads us to conclude he meant family prayer.

In his epistle to the Ephesians, he enjoins it as a duty, to "pray always with all prayer; " that is, to offer prayer of every kind, and in every form, and at every proper season. Family prayer must, therefore, be included in this injunction.

The apostle Peter exhorts husbands and wives to live together in the discharge of the duties of conjugal affection and Christian obedience, that "their prayers be not

hindered;" that nothing may occur to indispose them to social or family devotion.

AN UNNATURAL MOTHER. IN March, 1837, a Russian woman named Maria Nikoforocona, the widow of a peasant, received a letter from her son Novix, a soldier in the stationary battalion of Tambow. In this letter the son stated the barbarous treatment which he and others endured at the hands of the regimental officers, had driven him to the resolution of deserting, and that in a few days he hoped to see his mother. The mother on receipt of this letter carried it to the governor of the province, who, astonished at the unnatural character of the action, sent the woman away without taking any notice of her disclosure. Some days later, the deserter arrived at the dwelling of his mother, who received him with open caresses. But she took an opportunity immediately afterwards to go to the police officers, to whom she delivered up the child to whom she had given birth,andwhom she had nursed at her breast. Compelled by his duty, the governor addressed a detailed report of the case to the Emperor. Nicholas viewed the matter differently from the governor. The autocrat issued a ukase, decreeing a silver medal to Maria Nikoforocona, with these words engraven on it: "Devotion to the Throne." This medal was to be suspended from her neck by the ribbon of the Order of St. Ann, and the woman was further secured for the rest of her life, against the chances of want. It was moreover decreed that the circumstances of

the case should be published in all the journals of the empire, that its subjects might imitate this example of fidelity and devotion to the throne. The young soldier, in accordance with the military regulations of Russia, was subjected to the knout, and died under the blows. The unnatural parent wears the decoration assigned to her, with as much pride as if she had won it by the most virtuous action.

A STREET EDUCATION. A CITY missionary visited an unhappy man in gaol, waiting his trial. "Sir," said the prisoner, tears running down his cheeks, "I had a good home education. It was my street education that ruined me. I used to slip out of the house and go off with the boys in the street. In the street I learned to lounge; in the street I learned to swear; in the street I learned to smoke; in the street to gamble; in the street I learned to pilfer. Oh, sir, it is in the street the devil lurks to work the ruin of the young."

A MOTHER'S REWARD. A CHRISTIAN mother in New Hampshire had nine children, and sought their salvation more than their earthly welfare. She taught this, and tried to "live out" her teachings. Time passed onward, her children were men and women. In the grave on the north bank of the Ohio, is buried one of them, who died in the hope of a blessed immortality. In Pennsylvania is a son, said to be a devout elder in the church. In Ohio is another son, pastor of a church into which he has