THE SCHOOL-HOUSE. 
365 
them, will employ those powers, both of body and mind, to 
the best, the most just, the most worthy pm^poses ? 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 com- 
panions ; his will be the healthful, quiet conscience, his that con- 
tentment 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 Avhich 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 faith- 
fully 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, what- 
ever be his position in life. 
To a looker-on — and one very sincerely interested in the sub- 
ject — 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- 
