Q. How many lenses or times are there? A. Thrce: the present, past, and future.

Q. How many do grammarians reckon? A. Six.

Q. Name them? A, Present, imperfect, perfect, pluperfect, and two futures.

Q. How is the present tense known? A. By its express ing the time that now is: as, I read, or am reading.

Q. How is the imperfect tense known? did and didst.

A. By the signs

;

Q. Of what time does it spcak? A. Of the past time but shews that something was then doing, but not quite. finished at the time of which we speak.

Q. Give me an example

A. I read, or did read, or

was reading while you were at work.

Q. How is the perfect tense known? A. By representing the action as completely finished.

Q. Give me an example. A, I have read.

Q. How is the preter pluperfect tense known? A. By the signs had or hadst; it represents the action not only as finished, but as finished before a certain time.

Q. Give me an example. A. I had read an hour before my father came.

Q. How is the future tense known? A By the signs shall and will; it represents the action, as to come

Q. Give me an example. A. I shall or will go to school. How is the second future tense expressed? A. By the addition of have: as, I shall have written.

ON THE ADJECTIVE

Adjectives tell the kind of noun,

As grcat, small, pretty, white, or brown;"
Of these comparisons we scc,

Their number all allow are thrcc:

First, the positive stands in view,

Which merely states what kind to you:

Then the comparative does more,
Adds to or lessens that before:

The last superlative we call,

Which shews the least, or most, of all."

Questions and Answers.

Q. What is an adjective known by? A. Its telling what kind of noun or thing.

Q. How many degrees of comparison have adjectives? A. Three.

Q. Name them? A. Positive, comparative, and superlative.

A. Positive, short;

Q. Compare the adjective short? comparative, shorter; superlative, shortest.

Importance of religious instruction for girls How it should be given What constitutes religious education Deplorable ignorance on the subject Observations respecting the Liverpool Corporation Schools In what parts of the country the mixed system may succccd No system of education can succeed if the Bible is excluded

Recent

Essential difference between the Liverpool Corporation Schools and those under the Irish Board of Education Failure of the mixed system under this Board Their manner of doing business attempts to separate intellectual, moral, and religious instruction The folly of such attempts argued against The infant mind led upward to the Deity through natural objects Duties of the school master explained He should give religious instruction Mode of training masters pursued by the Irish Board Consequences of the system Gratitude for instruction Harsh measures not necessary in instructing girls Importance of Normal schools for inistresses Mental bondage in Ireland Its consequences Scripture lessons Specimens The story of Ruth Mary Magdalene anoints Jesus Solomon's wise judgement The Bible the only text book Importance of religious instruction for girls drawn from it, argued for Effects of rational and Christian treatment on neglc-ted girls Scheme of religious instruction adopted in the Liverpool Corporation Schools Rules for teachers who come to be trained in those institutions Importance of keeping the girls, and infant's system separate.

THIS is the most important part of all education, and surrounded with more difficulties than all the other parts put together. Females are naturally more inclined to devote themselves to religious observances than the other sex, because their fcclings are more casily wrought upon. All our religious meetings, and all our meetings for charitable purposes, are better attended by ladies than by gentlemen; it is, therefore, more important that the views we give them, be founded on genuine and unadulterated truths.

IMPORTANCE OF RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION FOR GIRLs. 217

Each sect seizes hold of them, and tries to give them their own peculiar views, taking it for granted that they are the purest and the best. All contain some truth, or they could not exist; some more than others, but each is anxious to infuse its own dogmas into the young mind. The sectarian means by religious education, his own peculiar views; the Presbyterian his; the Baptist his, the Methodist his; the Roman Catholic his; and so on through all. Now the question arises, are schools the proper places for teaching doctrinal religion? Can a system of national education be adopted to teach all? Are there no other places where this can be done more effectually? Should it be done exclusively in Sunday schools? Can it be done in the churches and chapels? Ought the parents and clergy to do it at home? Do creeds and catechisms constitute religious instruction? Could not these be taught, if thought necessary, by the clergy and parents, and leave the schoolmaster to teach that on which all agree-practical Christianity? These points must be discussed, and in some measure settled, before we can have a system of national education. The clergy of different denominations coming to the schools to do it will not answer. This I say from having witnessed this plan in Ireland, and also its improvement in the Liverpool Corporation Schools; there is not time, many do not know how to do it. Teaching children is different from teaching men, and all are not fit for the work. Besides it very much interferes with the arrangement of the school, and is a great interruption to the regular business. These are the difficulties; to surmount them is no easy matter. Nothing can be more desirable than to bring children of every creed together. As far as they are concerned, the thing might work well; they know no difference; they make none. In schools that I have organized for children of an advanced age, we have had not a single quarrel amongst them. Will men create, then, these divisions when children do not?

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218

WHAT CONSTITUTES RELIGIOUS EDUCATION.

Will they throw an apple of discord amongst the rising generation, and call it religious instruction? Love to God, and charity to men, may be taught by the teachers, under the divine blessing, to all the children; all will agree in this all may add to it, if they please, but not in school; let this be done somewhere else, and then a dead weight is taken off the teachers, and national education is already commenced.

I would not have it understood that I undervalue the well-meant endcavours of those persons who think disserently, and who advocate the necessity of teaching crccds and catechisms in schools; but do not let it be called religious instruction, for it is no such thing; it is like a body without a soul; it is a lifeless mass, and has a deadening influence. Forms of prayer, forms of praise, forms of worship, and forms of goodness, are well in their places, but must not be confounded with educational religion. The fervent desire, the heartfelt gratitude to God, the reverential fcclings, the heavenly principle of love toward all mankind, these are the life-giving principles which may be taught to girls with advantage, without troubling them or the mistress with the mere form without the essence

The deplorable ignorance found in schools throughout the country is dreadful, and must be sccn to be believed. On both sides of the channel the general cry has been, the church! the church! the church! and, as it respects the education of children, the God of the church has bccn. forgotten. But let us appeal to facts. In a late publica tion of Sir Arthur Brook Faulkner, we find the following: My first document is supplied by a deputy lord-lieutenant of the county of Gloucester, and is in the form of a dialogue, which I copy almost to the letter. It presents the results of an examination of one of the children in his parish who was admitted to the right of confirmation, her qualifications for that distinction having been previously vouched by a certificate from her spiritual pastor.