SHORT ENGAGEMENTS OF THE CLERGY. 261 



earnest sincerity of manner, reminded me of Dr Sumner, 

 the present Archbishop of Canterbury. In the afternoon, 

 I was conducted by a friend to a Presbyterian place of 

 worship. Dr Campbell, who officiated, had a peculiarity 

 of manner which at first struck me unfavourably, exhi 

 biting, perhaps, an extreme of that something more than 

 self-possession which Yankee preachers occasionally dis 

 play ; but he was a man of much talent, and delivered an 

 eloquent and impressive sermon. 



The relation between the teacher, whether lay or 

 clerical, and the taught, is not so enduring here as with 

 us at home. Engagements are a matter of frequently- 

 repeated and only temporary bargaining. Clergymen 

 are engaged for one year only. If both parties are 

 pleased, he is engaged again, and will sometimes remain, 

 upon renewed engagements, for twenty years. But the 

 average in New England and the State of New York, I 

 am told, does not exceed ten years. Except among the 

 itinerating preachers of the Methodists, this system of 

 engagements would not find favour, I fear, with the 

 clergy of any of our religious denominations. 



In like manner, the trustees of a school district en gage 

 a teacher. Neither party is bound, except by express 

 agreement, for more than three months. A year in a 

 place is considered a long period for a teacher to remain, 

 and it has hitherto been rare for a teacher to follow the 

 profession for more than three years. He has then pro 

 bably saved a few dollars, and quits the ferula for the 

 law, for medicine, for divinity, or for some more pro 

 mising or healthful pursuit. Probably from deficient 

 ventilation of the school-houses, or some other remediable 

 cause, the schoolmasters of the State are said to have 

 been hitherto especially subject to bronchitis and disease 

 of the lungs. 



With all the admirable provisions for common schools 

 in the State, this unsettled character of the teachers must 



