CHAPTER II.

LIFE IN NEW YORK-BISHOP HOBART-EDUCATIONAL PLANS AND WORK.

OF Dr. Barry, my Father said "he rightly judged of his vocation as a teacher, as only not a priesthood." And he always felt, and often said, and realized it in many cases, that the grace of orders, gave power, and principle and motive, to the teaching of secular things, which made it most important. This was the groundwork of my Father's theories and practice, and wonderful results. He owned education to be, the *drawing out of a man, in the fruit of sown seeds, the richness of the soil of his soul and heart, as well as of his mind. The mere rudiments of knowledge, were to him, the thing man sowed, which could not quicken, except it die; which could be quickened only by the Holy Spirit of God; which, being quickened, brought forth a fruit, governed in kind by the seed planted; every seed having its own body; and yet depending for its excellence, and the peculiarity of its character, upon the depth and richness of the soil, prepared by skilful care, kept by constant watchfulness, blessed by Almighty God. Cramming knowledge into people's heads, to draw it out again for mere show, came never into his ideas of education. And he was, in every sense a great Educator. Great, in breadth of principle; great, in height of motive; great, in the glory of his object; great, in capacity of adaptation; great, in unfaltering patience; great, in most blessed results. His greatness was great enough, not only to be patient with other people's littleness; spending hours of every week, in careful corrections of school-boys' and school-girls' compositions; but it was great, in no display of itself; in no overburdening questions with learning; in no effort to puzzle and shame, but always to help and encourage a scholar. He measured the length of his rope, by the depth of the well, from which he was drawing. His first teaching was in New York, where he

*Educere.

established a classical school for boys, which yielded ample support. His success and popularity were so great here, that he attracted Dr. Brownell's notice, who secured him, for a Professorship in Trinity College, to which he went in A. D. 1825; and remained there three years, with very great distinction. At a later time, his absorption in parochial work withdrew him for a while from the sphere of teaching, except in the pulpit, and at the chancel-rail. There, as everywhere, as a teaching-preacher, and a catechiser, he was unrivalled and unequalled. But, no sooner had the full commission to St. Peter "to feed the Lambs," been given him, in the Apostolic office, than he returned, with renewed earnestness and further reaches, both of effort and success, to the great work of education. Those noble foundations, St. Mary's Hall and Burlington College; the increasing parochial schools, throughout his Diocese; and the care and attention, paid all through our Parishes, to the duty of catechising, are witnesses to the truth of his own estimate and use of his life, as the instrument in God's Hands, to found,* and promote, and perfect, the great work of Christian education, in the American Church. I may begin here, what as soon as may be, in this memoir, I shall adopt and keep up, the plan of letting my Father write his own life, in the record of his works, and in extracts from his writings. And not intending to make Education and Christian Education, mean two things, I may still introduce his advice, upon the practical points of teaching, first. The "Counsels for Teachers," which are gems of proverbial wisdom, both in expression and in their truths, were published in "the Missionary," mainly for the Teachers in the College and Hall. And few of us, have not felt our unworthiness, in contrast with their standard, which he not only taught us, but lived before us. They were at once the results of his experience, who had worked up, every step from the lowest to the highest; and they were his unvarying habit, in all their severity of detail, until his last class. In this way, their weight was immense, while he lived; and their value now is untold, as pictures of himself, in the class-room, where so many have learned so much, and all learned, to love him.

COUNSELS FOR TEACHERS.

I. The Catechism, in explaining the Commandments, classes "teachers," with "spiritual pastors and masters;" and puts all under the protection of " the first commandment; with promise." "Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land,

*"For myself, I ask no words upon my grave,-the only land that I can ever own-but the record that it holds the dust of him, whom God employed, to found St. Mary's Hall."—Address to the Graduating Class at St. Mary's Hall.

which the Lord thy God giveth thee." This is very significant. It shows, that the teacher is in the place of a parent; that the office of a teacher is pastoral; that it has "exceeding great and precious promises," for its encouragement: as, in Daniel, (xii. 3,) where the margin reads, "They that be teachers, shall shine, as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness, as the stars, for ever and ever." Let every teacher think of these things; and ever strive to realize the weight and tenderness of a relation, which combines the parent, with the pastor. Parental interest, parental tenderness, parental patience; pastoral watchfulness, pastoral diligence, pastoral faithfulness.

II. Children are tender, in their nature. It is the petulance and impatience of parents that hardens them and teachers too often complete, by captiousness, what parents have begun. A child is a tender thing.

III. It should always be presumed, with children, that they tell the truth. To suggest that they do not, is to help them to a lie. They think, that, if it were so bad a thing, you never would presume it.

IV. From want of sympathy with children, much power with them is lost. You traverse a different plane, from theirs; and never meet. V. That is well, which is said of Agricola, by Tacitus, "Scire omnia, non exsequi: " he saw every thing; but did not let on. This is great, in managing children.

VI. Teachers under-estimate their influence, with children. In this way, they, commonly, lose much of it. A child is instinctively disposed to look up to a teacher, with great reverence. Inconsistencies weaken it. By unfaithfulness, it is lost.

VII. Every thing is great, where there are children; a word, a gesture, a look. All tell. As, in the homoeopathic practice, to wash the hands with scented soap, they say, will counteract the medicine. VIII. Nothing is more incumbent on teachers, than perfect punctuality. To be late, one minute, is to lose five. To lose a lesson, is to unsettle a week. Children are ready, enough, to run, for luck." They count upon a teacher's failures; and turn them into claims. At the same time, none are so severe, in their construction of uncertainty, in teachers, as those who take advantage of it. It is with children, as with servants; none are such tasking masters.

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Children

IX. Manner is much, with all; but, most, with teachers. live with them, several years. They catch their ways. Postures, changes of countenance, tones of voice, minutest matters, are taken and transmitted; and go down, through generations. Teachers should think of these things. Carelessness in dress, carelessness in language, carelessness in position, carelessness in carriage, are all noticed; often imitated; always ridiculed. Teachers should have no tricks.

X. There is great need of prayer, for teachers. Parents should pray for them. Their scholars should pray for them. They should pray for themselves, and for their scholars. That is well for them to do, which the Son of Sirach says, of Physicians: "they shall also pray unto the Lord, that He would prosper that which they give, for ease, and remedy, to prolong life." When teachers lament small progress.

with their children, may it not be, as St. James saith, "Ye have not, because ye ask not"? Pastors and teachers, beyond all others, should be "instant in prayer."

XI. Few things are so important, in life, as a just estimate of the value of time. Every thing, in a course of education, should promote its attainment. It will be learned or unlearned, practically, every day. If a teacher is in his place, at the minute; if he has every scholar in his place; if he has all the instruments and apparatus ready, down to the chalk, the pointer, and the blackboard wiper: if he begins at once; if he goes steadily on, without interval or hesitation; if he excludes all other topics, but the one before him; if he uses his time up, to the last drop: such an one is teaching the true value of time, as no sermon can teach it.

XII. Gossip is the besetting sin of some good teachers. The thread of their association is slack-twisted. It is apropos, to every thing. Gossiping should be banished from every recitation room.

XIII. Nothing can be more radically wrong, in education, than the attempt at false appearances. It rots the heart of children; and makes them chronic hypocrites. And it fails of its immediate end. The children know, and tell, it. The teacher, who has crammed his scholars, for an examination-assigning this proposition, to one, and that passage in an author, to another-is like the silly bird, that hides its head; and thinks, it is not seen.

XIV. In all good teaching, "multum, non multa," is the rule; not many things, but much.

XV. Teachers must not lose courage, at slow progress. The best things come, little by little. "Gutta, non vi, sed sæpe cadendo."

XVI. Teachers that are teachers, cannot be paid. Alexander's conquests would have been no compensation for Aristotle's instruction. Their name is written, in heaven.

XVII. Irony, sarcasm, and the like, should never be employed, with children. They only irritate. Oil softens better than vinegar.

XVIII. Teachers err, by giving too long lessons, at first. If necessary, occupy the whole hour, with a single sentence, or a single rule. The next hour, you can take two or three. Let nothing be passed, that is not mastered. It will seem slow, at first. Afterwards, it will be fast. "Festina lente."

XIX. There are teachers who say the lesson for their pupils. They learn the trick of it; and lean on it. They have but to hesitate; and the master gives the word. It is, partly, from impatience, in the teacher; partly from over-easiness. Such a master will spoil the best scholars. It is the office of a teacher, to help his scholars : not, to do their work.

XX. To be a teacher is either the most odious, or the most delightful occupation. It is the heart, that makes the difference. The years, that Jacob served, for Rachel, seemed but a few days, to him. The reason was, he loved her.

XXI. To teach, for pay, is to teach, for prey:

To teach, for love, is paid from above.

These are first-water jewels, clear, and pure, and real, and

pointed. The very concentrations of ripe wisdom and earnest experience. So extensive and varied are the published expressions of my Father's educational views, that it is difficult to make a selection. In a future publication of his sermons, and addresses, they will develop themselves, jewel and setting, fully; so that here, I may take up but two points; his views of Christian education, and of Female Christian education. His views of Christian Education; which are stamped, I trust, indelibly upon his Diocese, were broad, and deep, and high. Broad enough, to take in, all cultivation of every grain of soil, in a man's whole nature; deep enough, to lay the foundation, strongly, in the soul; high enough, to raise the cap-stone of the glorious building, among the great mysteries of the Christian faith, in the clouds that veil, and yet disclose, the Throne of God. He had no faith in

Of this it may be said, that as chairman of a Committee, he published an address to the people of New Jersey, on the subject of Common Schools, sustaining the system. Any one who will read it, will find, how fully it is based on the idea of training children “to render unto God, the things that are God's, as well as unto Cesar, the things which are Cesar's." And based on this, its argument is not for what Common Schools are now; not, for what is called a "Nonsectarian" plan of education. His argument is, that men owe to each other the duty of securing and extending knowledge, and that "every free State must provide for the education of her children; " and still further, that there ought to be no distinction, between rich and poor; against the "narrow notion, that there is to be an education for the poor as such." "Has God provided for the poor a coarser earth, a thinner air, a paler sky? Does not the glorious Sun pour down his golden flood as cheerily, upon the poor man's hovel, as upon the rich man's palace? Have not the cotter's children as keen a sense of all the freshness, verdure, fragrance, melody and beauty of luxuriant nature, as the pale sons of kings? Or is it on the mind, that God has stamped the imprint of a baser birth, so that the poor man's child knows, with an inborn certainty, that his lot is to crawl, not climb? It is not so. God has not done it. Man cannot do it. Mind is immortal. Mind is imperial. It bears no mark of high or low, of rich or poor. It heeds no bound of time or place; of rank or circumstance. It asks but freedom. It requires but light. It is heaven-born, and it aspires to heaven. Weakness does not enfeeble it. Poverty cannot repress it. Difficulties do but stimulate its vigour. And the poor tallow-chandler's son, that sits up all the night, to read the book which an apprentice lends him, lest the master's eye should miss it in the morning, shall stand and treat with kings, shall add new provinces to the domain of science, shall bind the lightning with a hempen cord, and bring it harmless from the skies." "The Common School is common, not as inferior, not as the school for poor men's children; but as the light and air are common." He does not touch the Godlessness and irreligion, which the System has grown to now. If he had, he would not have spared it. His address, "Female education on Christian principles," as quoted further on, bears date in this same year, and it gives no uncertain sound. Perhaps he may have hoped to mould the system to the truth; thinking it only imperfect, and not erroneous. But thistle-down never grew up to corn. But to those who still will see an inconsistency, I am free to say, that my Father's name in 1858, would never have been signed to this, which was written in 1838. All that is there, he believed always; but the evils of the system, as wrought out now, would have constrained him, to say more or to say nothing. Then, his plans were but beginning; and the poison, in the other system, was undeveloped. But now, after his mature meditations under the shady leaves, of the fair tree of Christian training, that grew up from his soul; now, since infidel New England, careless America, licentious Young America, have graduated from our public schools, he would have urged the danger, and suggested the one VOL. I.-3