phrases, and never approach the subject of personal piety, or speak of such feelings as penitence for sin, trust in God, and love for the Savior, unless his own heart is really at the time warmed by the emotions which he wishes to awaken in others.  Children very easily detect hypocrisy.  They know very well when a parent or teacher is talking to them on religious subjects merely as a matter of course for the sake of effect, and such constrained and formal efforts never do any good.

Let, then, every thing which you do in reference to this subject be done with proper regard to the character and condition of the youthful mind, and in such a way as shall be calculated to interest as well as to instruct.  A cold and formal exhortation, or even an apparently earnest one, delivered in a tone of affected solemnity, will produce no good effect.  Perhaps I ought not to say it will produce no good effect, for good does sometimes result as a sort of accidental consequence from almost any thing.  I mean it will have no effectual tendency to do good.  You must vary your method, too, in order to interest your pupils.  Watch their countenances when you are addressing them, and see if they look interested.  If they do not, be assured that there is something wrong, or at least something ill-judged or inefficient in your manner of explaining the truths which you wish to have produce an effect upon their minds.

That you may be prepared to bring moral and religious truths before their minds in the way I have described, your own mind must take a strong interest in this class of truths.  You must habituate yourself to look at the moral and religious aspects and relations of all that you see and hear.  When you are reading, notice such facts and remember such narratives as you can turn to good account in this way.  In the same way, treasure up in your mind such occurrences as may come under your own personal observation when traveling, or when mixing with society.

That the spirit and manner of these religious exercises may be the more distinctly understood, I will give some examples.

Let us suppose, then, that the hour for closing school has come.  The books are laid aside; the room is still; the boys expect the few words which the teacher is accustomed to address to them, and, looking up to him, they listen to hear what he has to say.

“You may take your Bibles.”

The boys, by a simultaneous movement, open their desks, and take from them their copies of the sacred volume.

“What is the first book of the New Testament?”

“Matthew,” they all answer at once.

“The second?” “Mark.”  “The third?” “Luke.”  “The next?” “John.”  “The next?” “The Acts.”  “The next?”

Many answer, “Romans.”

“The next?”

A few voices say faintly, and with hesitation, “First of Corinthians.”

“I perceive your answers become fainter and fainter.  Do you know what is the last book of the New Testament?”