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And again, after the most charmingly fanciful description of the winged steed and his heroic rider, he closes the winning story with: "Then Bellerophon embraced the gentle child, and promised to come to him again, and departed. But in after years, that child took higher flights upon the ærial steed than ever did Bellerophon, and achieved more honorable deeds than his friend's victory over the Chimæra. For, gentle and tender as he was, he grew to be a mighty poet!" The Wonder Book, Tanglewood Tales, The Whole History of Grandfather's Chair, are well, but not widely known. The great bulk of our boys and girls have never heard of them; and yet, "by their simplicity, by their reliance upon elemental truths of the soul, by their homely instincts, by their free spirit of wonder and belief" they are as valuable to the child mind. and character as any of the first classics of the language to the mature intelligence and heart of men and women. To how many are they treasure hid!

But there are "children of a larger growth," whose first spring-tide never enjoyed the advantages of education that cluster thickly around our young people of today; and to them also would I appeal, as to the educational value of Hawthorne.

"Genius is the great educator." From the well springs of the creative mind our own dimmer intelligences are refreshed, invigorated and inspired. But we must not merely sip the sparkling fluid, and amuse ourselves with its glittering surface-play. We must drink deep and long. And then only shall we know the treasure to our lives in the men of creative power God has

given us; - then only shall we begin to realize what we hold and possess in the rare and shrinking genius. of Nathaniel Hawthorne. How many in the world of culture and imagination gratefully acknowledge their mind's prime indebtedness to the inspiring study of Shakespeare. But if Hawthorne were studied as well as read, how many, too, would pay grateful tribute to the quickening influence of his imaginative insight, his emotional and moral power, and his exquisite refinement of thought and feeling, all shining through the transparent medium of his perfect English. Hawthorne is a master, shy and humble as he was; he is a philosopher and poet. You read his tales or sketches for the first time and you have only opened the door into the chambers of his genius, not entered there. The first glance through the open door-way is charming to be sure; and so winning and attractive that the great crowd of comers pause, and never go any farther in; satisfied that no other can be more beautiful than this very entrance view. You read a second. time; now the draperies are pulled aside, and you see down through long corridors, where light floats in through prismatic glasses, brilliant, yet tender; where music, not so much sweet in itself as wondrously inspiring, impels the ear and enters at the heart; where rich and beautiful designs of form and color trace their shining way from sunny floor to arching, shadow-haunted roof; and where the very atmosphere invites the soul to a meditative repose that is all action, and yet peace. But the best part of this new vista is that in opening our eyes to what we had not even suspected there before, it con

vinced us also that there are still new charms and wonders, undiscovered as yet, but only waiting to open out their treasures to our growing sympathy, and keener reverence. Then we shall read, and re-read, and always find something more.

If "intellectual insight is the purest ray that falls from heaven," do we not owe richer gratitude to Hawthorne's vision? To the deepest problems and most common questionings of human nature has not his genius transmitted the light of truth? Does that human heart he studied so patiently, and with so much reverent desire to find and ease its burdens,*"burrowing to his utmost ability," as he tells us, "into the depths of our common nature for the purposes of psychological romance, and pursuing his researches in that dusky region, as he needs must, as well by the tact of sympathy as by the light of observation;"-does that heart of humanity yield no loving recognition of his sympathy and his pains?

It is his airy fancy that makes Hawthorne a romancer; in his lofty imagination he is a poet; but it is his "richveined humanity" that makes him a teacher while all three of these characters work together in educating and uplifting the mind that studies him. His psychological romance, his fine imagination, and his rich human sympathy are three springs, to one or to all of which we may go for intellectual and moral nourishment, and drink deep and long all our lives through, without exhausting them. Genius, in a way, is limitless. Is The House of the Seven Gables a powerful and absorbing fiction that lures us for a little

while from the prosy surroundings of our daily lives into the airy realm of fancy? It may be so, but undoubtedly it is much more. It is a drama of life in one of its most striking phases; it is a powerful and finished conception of the retributive judg ment of crime, of "the wrong-doing of one generation living into the succeeding ones," it is the characterization of a group of beings, each one distinct, finished, and warm with the breath of life; it is a mosaic of thought and feeling, rich with fruitful suggestiveness and interpretations of human problems,-to any mind that will think, as well as read.

No such paper as the present can even begin to suggest the many and various lines of study that may be most profitably and enjoyably pursued in the world of Hawthorne; and among his lighter tales and sketches, as well as in the great romances. We may remark how The Birthmark, The Artist of the Beautiful, and The Great Stone Face illustrate three different classes of the soul's ideals;-how Ethan Brand, Lady Eleanore's Mantle and The Man of Adamant pierce to the core of human nature's triple pride;-how The New Adam and Eve, The Procession of Life and Earth's Holocaust cast the penetrating light of genius upon social problems and questionings; or again, -how Buds and Bird-Voices, and his other nature studies, show the keen, sympathetic insight, and fine appreciation of the analogies existing between the exterior world of nature, and the interior world of man, that betray the imagination and the glow of a poetsoul. But this is merely to suggest; leaving to separate discussions the

* Preface to The Snow Image and Other Twice Told Tales, Nathaniel Hawthorne.

analysis and study of individual works. While the writer hopes that this mere sketch, springing, as it does, from her own grateful realization of what Hawthorne study has been to her intellectual development, and also to that of many others under her direction, may help towards a new

impulse in the appreciation and study of that "rarest genius America has given to Literature," so that growing numbers of intelligent and receptive minds, both young and old, may be brought to realize the high educational value of the study of Hawthorne.

TEACHERS' COUNCIL

EDITED BY MARC F. VALLETTE, LL. D.

'THEY WHO INSTRUCT OTHERS UNTO JUSTICE SHALL SHINE AS STARS FOR ALL

ETERNITY."

THE WORK OF PARENT AND TEACHER.

It has been the aim of the Teachers' Council to endeavor to guide and help the teacher in the work of teaching the young. But, it must not be forgotten that the duty of teaching and training the young is not confined to the teacher alone. The responsibility of the parent does not end the moment it has turned the child's face towards the school house with the admonition to "be good boys and girls and study their lessons." True, the child has been turned over to the care of one who stands in loco parentis, but the obligation of the parent must not stop here, any more than its interest and affection for that child should stop here. The duty of the parent is to strengthen the hands of him or her who becomes the custodian of the child. If the parent respects the teacher the child will do likewise. If the parent criticises the teacher and uses language about that teacher that would be impudence if re-echoed by the child, then the parent does a great injustice to both teacher and child. The first duty of the child to its parents is honor, respect, obedi

ence. "Honor thy father and thy mother" is the command of God, and the words "father" and "mother" here do not merely mean the natural parents of the child, but those also who stand in loco parentis, the aged, their superiors. The child will follow the bad example of its parents or elders much more readily than it will their good example. It will repeat things said by its parents and elders that should not be said much quicker than it will repeat the things that should be said, hence it behooves parents to be exceedingly careful what they say of one another before their children, and equally so what they say about the teachers who stand in their places during school hours.

Next to teaching their children proper respect for their teachers, par→ ents should see to it that their children attend school regularly, and prepare their "home work" properly. Notes to leave school before the expiration of the session, to remain at home for unreasonable causes should never be given. How little parents realize the

extent to which they teach children prevarication, and even falsehood, by the contents of these notes. "Please let Katie stay home this afternoon; it is necessary." "What is the necessity, good mother?" "O, well, it is a nice afternoon, and I think a little fresh air will do the child good." "But, you say, in your note, it is necessary!" "O, well, you know that's only a matter of form: you must make some excuse!" And that excuse is a lie! How long will it be before the child adopts the "matter of form" of the mother to the mother? Mistaken kindness on the part of the mother often does a world of harm, harm which that fond mother would, too often, give half her life to undo, but sees only when it is too late to remedy.

In the face of all modern ideas of equality, the government of the family -as well as that of the school-must be absolute; mild, not tyrannical. The laws of nature and the voice of reason have proclaimed the dependence of the child upon the parent and upon his representative. The weakness of youth must be repressed by experience. Parental kindness is too apt to degenerate into parental weakness. "Won't you do this for mamma?" is too often answered with, "No, I won't!" The reins should always be gently drawn; not jerked like a curb line at one time and dangled loose at another. Uniformity in parents produces uniformity in children. To whip one minute. and to caress, or let the culprit go unpunished for the same offense, at another, cannot fail to weaken parental authority. Let parents-and teachers as well-think before they threaten, and then do what they threatened to do.

"I will whip you, if you don't mind me," says the angered parent. "I aint afraid," says the child. The parent flies towards it in a towering rage, and the boy prefers flight to broken bones. "You may go this time, but you will get your punishment with interest the next time you disobey me." "Will I?" thinks the boy. It is experience that gives the parent the lie. "But," you will tell me, fond parent, "whips and birches and rods, were the scourges of by-gone ages; the present age is more enlightened. Now, law is reason and authority is mildness." Parent, beware of that reason which makes your child dogmatical and of that mildness which makes him obstinate.

There is such a thing as the rod of reproof; and it is true that in many cases, reasoning produces a better effect than corporal punishment; but this is only in those cases in which parents have recognized their responsibilities and met them only as true parents can meet them, and where they began to do so in time.

Let children, then, be properly admonished in case of disobedience; when this fails, try the harsher method. But, be careful never to begin to punish until your anger has subsided. It you do, punishment fails in its ob ject and your authority over the of fender is at an end. The aim of punishment is reformation, not revenge. It too often happens that the penalty visited upon a youthful transgressor by both parent and teacher proceeds less from reprobation of the offense than from anger at disobedience. Remember that scolding is directly the reverse of weighty reasoning. It is the dying groan of good government.

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Never let it be heard under your roof, unless you want to turn your home into a nursery of faction, which may some day turn, not against you alone, but in opposition to the parents and guardians of your country.

Patriotism as well as charity begins at home. Let, then, the voices of concord and truth be heard in the family; they will be re-echoed in the schoolroom; they will beget a love of order

in both, and, spreading to society at large, will, crowned by God's blessing, fill our land with useful and law abiding citizens. Let parent and teacher work hand in hand for the advancement of the child, and in the grand work of raising to life its buried intellect. By so doing they will open to themselves the path of true glory and merit to shine forever like the stars in the firmament. M.

MORAL OBLIGATIONS OF THE TEACHER.

The true teacher will always bear in mind that the child entrusted to his care is to be fitted to cope with the questions and issues that surround men and women in everyday life. By this it is not intended to imply that moral and religious instruction are not to be considered, because they form very important questions in everyday life; but God has given Cæsar claims upon us as well as upon Himself, and He has commanded us to "render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's and unto God the things that are God's." There are certain eternal truths that children are to be taught to fit them for their eternal home hereafter, and these truths it is a mortal sin not to teach, and a mortal sin not to know, the opportunity for learning them being at hand. But, inasmuch as God has placed us in this world to prepare for the next, we must be furnished, also, with the means necessary to meet the requirements of this world. Hence the wise teacher while imparting knowledge, should always keep in mind the various faculties of the child, and under no circumstances permit his penchant for any department of knowledge to allow him to ignore the fact

that it is his mission to develop the child-mind, rather than pour into it a mass of disintegrated and disconnected facts which are intended to pass for knowledge.

It is the duty of the teacher to know the value of each study, its relation to the mental faculties, and how best to teach it so as to give each of these faculties its due share of culture.

The man or woman, no matter what his or her position in life may be -who would command the respect of pupils or associates, must always be careful to avoid condemning, or even venturing an opinion upon subjects with which they are not thoroughly acquainted, and in which their prejudice plays a more conspicuous part than their knowledge. It does not take long for them to make this state of their mental condition evident to some of their associates, at least, and this done, it will not take long for others to share this knowledge, and the teacher's standing is impaired for

life.

The "fad worshipper" is not an honest teacher. He is narrow, sees but one thing at a time, and that darkly, and, too often, imagines that what he

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