them, will employ those powers, both of body and mind, to the best, the most just, the most worthy purposes? That boy, though his talents may be few, his lot humble, will do more for himself, more for the real good of others, than either of his companions; his will be the healthful, quiet conscience, his that contentment which “is great gain:” his will be the example most needed in the day and society to which he belongs. The precise amount of abilities is a point of far less importance than the ends to which those abilities are devoted; wealth is daily won by evil means, honors are daily purchased at a vile price, and fame is hourly trumpeting falsehoods through this world; but neither wealth, nor honors, nor fame can ever bring true health, and peace, and contentment to the heart. He who endeavors faithfully and humbly to use his faculties for truly good ends, by plainly good means, that man alone makes a fitting use of the great gift of life; however narrow his sphere, however humble his lot, that man will taste the better blessings of this world, the best hopes for the world toward which we are all moving. That man, that lad, commands our unfeigned respect and admiration, whatever be his position in life.
To a looker-on—and one very sincerely interested in the subject—there appears a chief error in American education under most of its forms, the neglect of systematic training in childhood and youth. There are two great principles which make up the spirit of all education—impulse, if we may apply the word in this sense, and restraint. These are not equally attended to among us, though both are clearly essential to the good of the individual, and of society. There is no want of intellectual activity in our system; there is no fear that the children in the district school-
