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month ; or they will seek compensation for their services as 

 masters of select schools. It seems to me certain that no be- 

 nefit, not the most inconsiderable, is to be felt by the common 

 schools from this instruction of teachers, unless, as a necessa- 

 ry part of the very plan itself, the means of payment for the 

 enhanced value of their services be devised and supplied. 

 This result is evidently apprehended by the able Superintend- 

 ent of Common Schools. But the hope seems to be indulged 

 that the people, on this subject, will break theii* own lethargic 

 slumbers, and rouse themselves in gladness as the light ap- 

 proaches. In my opinion, the first feeling would rather be to 

 turn from it, as painful to the vision. And besides, what is to 

 wake them up? Is it to be some inward motion, or some out- 

 ward impulsion? Will the offer of a competent teacher, and 

 a lecture on the importance of better instruction, answer the 

 purpose? It is warring with all experience to think so. 

 Moreover, why cannot the truth be understood at once, and 

 once for all, that no plan for the amelioration of the popular 

 condition, being designed to operate through the active and 

 voluntary agency of the people themselves, which does not ad- 

 dress itself to the known composition and constitution of the 

 human mind, ever can become a successful one? If we in- 

 tend to put this machine in motion, we must employ the pow- 

 ers which it has, and not idly attempt to task it for any which 

 it does not possess. In short, we must employ mind as an 

 agent, just as we do sohd matter, and water, and air, and 

 steam— according to its properties and laws: and if otherwise 

 attempted, we shall only reap disappointment and ruin. When 

 we talk to the ignorant and the uninstructed about education, 

 and the moral elevation it gives, we are uttering harmonious 

 sounds to the deaf, and exhibiting brilliant colors to the Wind. 

 We address no intelligent faculty, and no known motive, and 

 we excite no favorable feeling beyond that of a mute and stu- 

 pid wonder. If we go one step farther, and, pointing to the 

 higher classes, and to the visible effects of cultivation on indi- 

 viduals, in advancing them in the eye and consideration of the 

 world, make an appeal to the spirit of emulation and ambi- 

 tion within them, we shall probably strike a chord that will 



