24

6

Effects of Action in an Orator.

from us in a smooth continued stream, without those strainings of the voice, motions of the body, and majesty of the hand which are so much celebrated in the orators of Greece and Rome. We can talk of life and death in cold blood, and keep our temper in a discourse which turns upon everything that is dear to us. Though our zeal breaks out in the finest tropes and figures, it is not able to stir a limb about us. I have heard it observed more than once by those who have seen Italy, that an untravelled Englishman cannot relish all the beauties of Italian pictures, because the postures which are expressed in them are often such as are peculiar to that country. One who has not seen an Italian in the pulpit, will not know what to make of that noble gesture in Raphael's picture of St. Paul preaching at Athens, where the apostle is represented as lifting up both his arms, and pouring out the thunder of his rhetoric amidst an audience of Pagan philosophers.

It is certain, that proper gestures and vehement exertions of the voice, cannot be too much studied by a public orator. They are a kind of comment to what he utters, and enforce every thing he says, with weak hearers, better than the strongest argument he can make use of. They keep the audience awake, and fix their attention to what is delivered to them, at the same time that they show the speaker is in earnest, and affected himself with what he so passionately recommends to others. Violent gesture and vociferation naturally shake the hearts of the ignorant, and fill them with a kind of religious horror. Nothing is more frequent than to see women weep and tremble at the sight of a moving preacher, though he is placed quite out of their hearing; as in England we very frequently see people lulled asleep with solid and elaborate discourses of piety, who would be warmed and transported out of themselves by the bellowing and distortions of enthusiasm.

If nonsense, when accompanied with such an emotion of voice and body, has such an influence on men's minds, what might we not expect from many of those admirable discourses which are printed in our tongue, were they delivered with a becoming fervor, and with the most agreeable graces of voice and gesture?

We are told that the great Latin orator very much impaired his health by the laterum contentio, the vehemence of action, with which he used to deliver himself. The Greek orator was likewise so very famous for this particular in rhetoric, that one of his antagonists, whom he had banished from Athens, reading over the oration which had procured his banishment,

On the Character of Teachers.

25

and seeing his friends admire it, could not forbear asking them, if they were so much affected by the reading of it, how much more they would have been alarmed, had they heard him actually throwing out such a storm of eloquence.

How cold and dead a figure, in comparison of these two great men, does an orator often make at the British bar, holding up his head with the most insipid serenity, and stroking the sides of a long wig that reaches down to his middle? The truth of it is, there is often nothing more ridiculous than the gestures of the English speaker; you see some of them running their hands into their pockets as far as ever they can thrust them, and others looking with great attention on a piece of paper that has nothing written on it; you may see many a smart rhetorician turning his hat in his hands, moulding it into several different cocks, examining sometimes the lining of it, and sometimes the button, during the whole course of his harangue. A deaf man would think he was cheapening a beaver, when perhaps he is talking of the fate of the British nation. I remember, when I was a young man, and used to frequent Westminster Hall, there was a counsellor who never pleaded without a piece of pack thread in his hand, which he used to twist about a thumb or a finger all the while he was speaking; the wags of those days used to call it the thread of his discourse, for he was unable to utter a word without it. One of his clients who was more merry than wise, stole it from him one day in the midst of his pleading; but he had better have left it alone, for he lost his cause by his jest.

I have all along acknowledged myself to be a dumb man, and therefore may be thought a very improper person to give rules for oratory; but I believe every one will agree with me in this, That we ought either to lay aside all kinds of gesture, (which seems to be very suitable to the genius of our nation) or at least, to make use of such only as are graceful and expressive.

ON THE CHARACTER OF TEACHERS OF COMMON SCHOOLS.

THE following extract of a letter from a devoted friend of common education to the editor, contains so much that is true and important on the subject, that we cannot withhold it from our readers. It will serve as an introduction to a succeeding article.

26

Should Teachers be properly trained?

'You have been struggling long alone but do not give up your efforts. I believe many others will soon come to your help. The christian community of New England, and the good citizens, will not always sleep over a subject so totally important as that of their schools; they will not spend their hundreds of thousands to sustain schools, which often prove worse than useless for want of proper attention.

The American School Society I have thought much of, since I saw you. I am convinced the state of our country calls for such a society, and that no time should be lost. There are some circumstances respecting our common schools, that should arouse the feelings of every christian and patriot. The family institution excepted, all other institutions unitedPublic Worship-Sabbath Schools-Academies and Colleges -do not have so much influence in giving a character to New England and New York, as common schools. More than fifteen thousand teachers are employed in New England every year, in the primary public schools, and as many in New York. Who are these teachers? Nine tenths of them are inexperienced youth, from 18 years of age to 25 and 30. Yes-that institution which probably does more than all others to form the character of our citizens, is in the hands of head-strong, unqualified and often dissipated youth. And what is worse, I fear it is the voice of public opinion, that the common schools must be and ought to be taught by young persons. Now it is wonderful, that men require the experience and wisdom and stability of mature age, to manage all their money concerns, and their political affairs, but carelessly turn over to inexperienced young men, the great and holy business of forming that character on which rests the whole fabric of civil society, and on which depends our very existence and happiness as a nation. Is there a merchant in Boston who would give up the whole management of his shop, even for a day, to a 'green,' inexperienced boy? Is there a farmer in Massachusetts, who would give up his farm, his cattle or his sheep, to such an one? Yet he turns over his own children to such an one, to form their characters for time and eternity-to one whom he would not trust to manage his beasts-and then thinks they should be very grateful to him, for making such good provision for their education!

'Besides, we will not trust a man to draw a tooth, or prescribe an emetic, till he has studied his profession three years, and comes to us with a diploma, signed and sealed, from a college of scientific and experienced physicians. A man cannot manage a case before our courts, involving the value

Errors in Discipline.

27

of a shilling, till he has studied the whole science of law, and obtained a certificate from a college of wise and experienced lawyers and judges; and our civil constitutions exclude men from all participation in the business of legislation and even from the business of choosing legislators, till they have attained some maturity. But little or nothing is required as to age, experience, a knowledge of the business, or moral character, to take a part in the great business of education, of forming the moral and intellectual character of the country, on which everything else depends.'

[For the Annals of Education.]

ERRORS IN DISCIPLINE; OR REMINISCENCES OF A SCHOOLMASTER.

[We insert the following account of the errors of a teacher whom we believe to have been among the best and most judicious of his day and neighborhood, as an illustration of some of the remarks of a correspondent, in our last article. We do it also with the hope of convincing those of their error, who think that our common schools need no reform, and of persuading them that it is important to impart some of the lessons of wisdom and experience to a young man, before he is intrusted with the care of the minds and bodies of children. Who can calculate the evils which might result from the frequent employment of such teachers, and who can doubt that among those who enter upon their task, untaught and untrained, many will commit similar errors?]

CAN it be, I sometimes say to myself, that at the commencement of my pedagogical efforts, I seized a pupil by the collar for some trifling act of improprietry, and with evident marks of anger, drew him over a writing desk? Yes, the deed was done; and done by these hands; and under the direction of this understanding and will!

And what, think you, was the consequence? At that time I did not perceive that the act made any impression at all, good, bad, or indifferent, except to excite a prejudice against me in the mind of the victim of my displeasure. The school, in general, took very little notice of it; and those who noticed it, appeared soon to forget it. The truth is, that I was so much in the habit of violent and angry acts, that a single attack on an individual produced very little surprise; though my general conduct had the effect to alienate, by degrees, their affections from me.

Nor is it single acts in schools that produce so much mischief, after all, as the prevailing disposition which the teacher manifests. If he is usually kind and affectionate, and only indulges in an angry fit occasionally, bad as the consequences are, they are as nothing in

28

Dangerous Punishments.

comparison with those which result, where a teacher indulges wrong feelings or wrong temper habitually. In the former case, the pupils only lose their respect for him; in the latter, they not only cease to respect, but they cease to love him.

I loved my pupils, and was generally kindly disposed towards them, and they knew it. They therefore did not cease to love me at once, but their alienation was, as I said before, gradual. I took them all to be young knaves, at the very opening of school, and made laws accordingly; and what I took them to be, many of them slowly became. They constantly watched their opportunity to evade my laws, and I watched my opportunity to detect them, and enforce the penalty.

My punishments were most of them summary. Sometimes there was a formal feruling or flogging, but this was rare. It took up too much time. I knew of a shorter method. This was to carry a rule under my arm, and when I discovered a transgressor, to strike him across the head with the rule. As to endangering the brain, I never thought of that. Indeed I scarcely knew that there were brains in the cranium. I was only eighteen years of age; and as inexperienced in human nature, as you can possibly conceive.

One day, in striking a boy across the head with my rule, I broke it. To add to my confusion, a lady was present in the school, and witnessed the transaction. It was now no longer whispered that 'the master was very severe in school.' It was talked aloud.

The noise of the transaction did me much injury, though it partly cured me of striking the head with a rule. I now used my flat hand, or a book. But my term of teaching, which was only three months, expired about this time, and I was glad of it; and so were most of the pupils and their parents.

However, I was employed, the next winter, to teach again in a neighborhood about two miles distant. Here I commenced with less severity than formerly; but afterwards fell into bad habits. I did not strike with my rule, it is true; but I used to throw it. One day I threw it at little George, who was only six years old, and hit him with the end of it, near the outer corner of one of his eyes. Had it struck an inch further towards his nose, it must inevitably have put out his left eye. But it cured me completely of throwing rules. Indeed, I made my resolution the moment the rule struck, and I rejoice that I have never broken it, from that day to this.

Still I governed too much by force of arms, and too little by the force of suasion and love. I hated monarchy and tyranny; but I thought the exigency of the case required both, and both monarch and tyrant I accordingly became.

But I got through the winter, and without much open complaint; and some said they had enjoyed the benefits of a good school. 1 knew better, however; but I did not contradict the reports.