Her favorites were Addison and Milton, about whose works she was always delighted to talk; and I have often recalled her observations upon striking passages in 'Paradise Lost' as among the best and most delicate criticisms that have ever come to my knowledge. My boarding constantly with Captain Hatch was an experiment. Always before, the schoolmaster had 'boarded round,' a week with each substantial householder in the district. A pleasant relic of this custom was that the schoolmaster should sup with some one family, with each in turn, every week during the term. The supper was very good,--as good as the resources of the farms and forests and streams could furnish. It was always early, and was followed by dancing and games, frolic and fun, continued to a very late hour. It was sometimes eleven o'clock before I reached home at Captain Hatch's.

It was the fashion in those days for some good scholar to test the capacity of the teacher by offering some very difficult questions in arithmetic; and in the course of the first week, a very bright fellow, nineteen or twenty years old, was authorized to puzzle me. He brought a question which was really a very hard one, as merely an arithmetical question; but I had learned something of geometry, and this question depended upon the proposition of Euclid. I saw into it at once, and showed him not only how he might solve that question, but several others depending upon the same theorem. I was tried no more. On the contrary, I had a perfectly pleasant school from beginning to end,—not a harsh word nor a disrespectful look.

During the winter of the Sophomore year, I was not well enough to teach; but in the Junior year I was persuaded to supply the place of a much older man, in a school in Saco, ten miles from my father's. It was made up of the sons and daughters of saw-millers on Saco Falls, who kept the mills going, night and day. The girls were always well disposed, and gave me no trouble; but the brothers, taking after fathers who were almost always profane and unprincipled drunkards, were as impudent and stubborn as boys could be. I had, for the only time in my life, to depend upon the ferule and other implements of brute force. It was only when they found that I was fearless, and resolved, at any cost, to be master, that they submitted. It was with as great pleasure, for a moment, as I ever felt, that, sitting at breakfast one Monday morning, on my return from my father's, where I always spent Sunday, I was surprised by a sudden light, and looking back, saw from the window the ruinous old schoolhouse in flames.

In the Senior year I kept, as many other fellow-collegians did, a school in the country for ten or twelve weeks. My school was in Bolton, and was superintended by the minister of the town, the excellent Father Allen. The parents of nearly all the pupils were farmers, well-behaved and respectable people, whose children never gave me the least trouble, but made very surprising progress in all the branches then commonly taught in the country schools,—reading, spelling, arithmetic, and geometry.

Several of my college friends taught in the same town, all of whom took respectable positions in after life; and we had some very pleasant evening meetings at Mr. Allen's, and in the houses of other hospitable gentlemen. By their frequent conversation with me, some of the young ladies acquired a taste for reading valuable books.

Private School at Lancaster-Tutorship at Harvard.

I graduated at Harvard College in 1817, and went, immediately after my recovery from an illness which almost overpowered me on Commencement day, home to my father's in Wells. I had lived economically, but was indebted for about one-fourth part of my college expenses, so that I felt somewhat anxious. I had been at home two days when a letter came from Dr. Kirkland, offering me the place of master in an excellent private school in Lancaster, established by several most respectable men, with a salary of $500 a year. This was then a large salary, and I thankfully accepted the offer, which relieved me from all anxiety. The school had been limited to twenty-five pupils, who paid, each, five dollars a term. I had not been at work more than five or six weeks before the discovery was made, or was thought to be made, that I had uncommon skill as a teacher and as a manager of boys, and men came from the neighboring towns begging that their boys might be admitted, so that, before the end of the second quarter, there were forty-two pupils, as many as the house could hold. The conductors of the school, in their generosity, saw fit to increase the price of tuition twenty-five per cent, so that my pay was more than twice as much as they had offered, and my indebtedness soon ceased.

The discipline in my school, though such as was common in those days, was bad in every respect. I kept a switch and a ferule, and used them both, often feeling, as I did so, like a malignant spirit, and sometimes acting in an evil spirit. I have many times wished that I could ask the pardon of one boy whom I had punished unjustly and in passion. But he never came to see me, and I have no doubt he retained, perhaps always, a righteous grudge against me. I had a head to every class, and urged my boys to strive to reach and to retain it, by medals and commendation,-medals for daily ornament, and medals for permanent holding. So far as I knew, nobody objected to the punishments or to the rewards. I had, occasionally, my own scruples and doubts in regard to both. It is a melancholy fact that, notwithstanding the objections, my school was considered as, on the whole, very kindly and well managed. I certainly was reasonable and kind towards all my good boys, and the two youngest of them all, whom I now meet every week, have always been and are among my best and kindest friends.

Many of my boys were from Boston, and boarded in families where no control over them was even attempted. I saw the evil of this state of things, and wrote to the parents, proposing, if I should be sustained, to hire a large house, and get a respectable family, and take all the boys with me to it, so that I might have them all near me, and maintain a constant oversight of them. This plan was approved and carried into execution, to the manifest benefit of some of the boys. I rejoiced, and was thus rewarded for the increased care. But I gradually, without suspecting why, lost my vigorous health and my spirits, which I endeavored to retain by buying a horse and riding every day before breakfast. The country is very variegated and pleasant, with hills and forests and little lakes, and the beautiful Nashua winding among the cultivated fields and Wachuset rising up behind them in the west, so that riding was very pleasant. The elms and hickories of Lancaster are finer, I have always been inclined to think, than those I have seen in any other part of Massachusetts; the native willow on the banks of the Nashua are larger than I have found elsewhere, and the sugar-maples along some of the roads are not less promising and beautiful.

I continued my pleasant work at Lancaster for two years, at the end of which I received a letter from President Kirkland, inviting me to become a tutor in the Mathematical Department in Harvard College.

From the glimpses of his college life as tutor in the Mathematical department, at the head of which was Prof. Farrar, with Caleb Cushing as associate tutor, and Edward Everett, professor of Greek language and literature, and George Ticknor, lecturer on French Literature, Mr. Emerson's experience must have been delightful.

I enjoyed my life at college very heartily. There was always a meeting, every Sunday evening, at the president's, at which Dr. Popkin, Mr. Brazer, tutor, and afterward professor of Latin, and some others were sometimes present; and always Mr. Everett, Mr. Cushing, and myself. Mr. Farrar and his wife, who had been Miss Buckminster, kept the president's house, and were always present when she was well; usually a niece of the president, and, almost always, Mrs. Farrar's three sisters. These were far the most pleasant and really the most brilliant parties I have ever attended. Mr. Everett was always full of fun and pleasant stories and anecdotes; Mr. Cushing often gave a foretaste of the brilliant powers which he afterward exhibited in other scenes; and the pre-eminent talents of the Buckminsters gracefully showed themselves in their natural light. We young people usually grouped ourselves in a corner round Mr. Everett, who always, when he saw the door of the study open, stilled us instantly with, 'Hush now! the president is coming.'

One of the greatest advantages of my residence in Cambridge was the kindness I received from Dr. N. Bowditch, the great American mathematician. He was a member of the corporation, and, seeing the interest I took in teaching, or rather hearing lessous, in that department, he invited me to come and see him at Salem. I gladly accepted the invitation, and enjoyed, very greatly, more than one visit. He perceived the difficulties I had with my eyes, and once told me that, at about my age, he had suffered in the same way, trying doctors and their prescriptions in vain; but it occurred to him that the eye was made for the light, and light for the eye, and that, when he went out, he ought to take the sunniest side of the street, and not the shady side; and that the irritation in his eyes might be allayed by the application of cold water. He tried that, opening his eyes in cold water, first in the morning and last at night, and whenever they seemed to need it, and continued the act till the irritation was gone. In a few weeks his eyes were well, and had so continued all his life. I tried the experiments, in every particular, and in a few weeks my eyes were perfectly well, and have so continued up to this day.

I was very much interested in mathematics, and when it became necessary for Professor Farrar to go to the Azores, on account of the health of his wife, I undertook to go on with the translation of a French work on the Calculus, and get it ready for the press. This I did, and had it printed, with my introduction and notes, so that, when Mr. Farrar returned, he found it ready for use of the college. He was agreeably surprised and highly gratified, and almost immediately urged me to remain in college, and become professor in mathematics.

Although the proposal was sustained by President Kirkland, it was declined from a strong desire to govern and teach a school for a purpose and after an ideal of his own.

Inauguration of the English Classical School.

It was Mr. Emerson's privilege to open in March, 1821, and conduct for two years, the English Classical School, in Boston, after his own views as to instruction and discipline, which differed widely from the prevailing practice of the city schools. The story of his success is thus told.

An intimation from the committee that a leading object in the establishment of this school was to raise the standard in the grammar schools, rendered it my duty to make the examination pretty thorough. Accordingly I carefully examined, in small divisions, for six hours every day for two weeks, the one hundred and thirty-five boys who presented themselves, of whom I judged seventy-five to be admissible.

The lower story of the school-house on Derne Street, on the spot now covered by the Reservoir, was prepared for the English Classical School, and on a Monday morning the seventy-five boys were present. I spent half an hour or more, every morning of the first week, in explaining, fully and clearly, the principles according to which I should manage and teach. I told them:

'I do not believe in the necessity of corporal punishment, and I shall never strike a blow unless you compel me. I want you to learn to govern yourselves. I shall regard you and treat you all as young gentlemen, and expect you to consider me a gentleman, and treat me accordingly.

'I shall always believe every word you say, until I find you guilty of lying, and then I can not; nobody believes a liar, if he has any temptation to lie.

'Never tell me any thing to the disadvantage of any fellow-student. I mean to have strict rules, and to have them strictly obeyed; but I shall never make a rule which I would not more willingly see broken than I would have any one of you violate what ought to be his feeling of honor towards a fellow-student. It is the meanest thing that any boy can do.

'I have examined you very carefully, as you all know, and have taken every means of finding out your character and capacities, and your opportunities. Some of you have enjoyed every advantage. You have lived in pleasant homes, with intelligent and well-informed parents and friends, and you have formed habits of reading good books, and being otherwise pleasantly and well employed. Others of you have been blessed with none of these privileges, and have had no opportunities of forming good habits. Now I am going to examine you, for some weeks, carefully and severely, in a considerable variety of studies. I shall do this that I may arrange you according to your attainments and capacities, so that no one may be kept back from doing what he is capable of, and that the slow and ill-prepared may be fairly tried.

After I shall have ascertained, in this way, of what each of you is capable, in all the studies, I shall, when I fiud that a dull boy has done his best, feel for him the same respect, and give him the same mark that I shall to the brightest boy in school who has only done his best.

'I beg of you, boys, never to try to surpass each other. Help each other in every way you can. Try to surpass yourselves. Say, 'I will do better to-day than I did yesterday, and I resolve to do better to-morrow than I can do today. In this way, you who are highest and most capable will always, through life, be friends, and the best friends. But if you try to surpass each other, some of you will inevitably be enemies.'

I said this with a vivid remembrance of the bitter feelings entertained by individuals in several of the classes I had known in Cambridge, towards some of their classmates, who might have been, all their lives, their best friends, if this terrible ambitious desire of acknowledged superiority had not prevented.

These principles of action, which I have here given in a few sentences, occu

pied half an hour or more, every morning, for the first week. I explained and enlarged till I felt sure that I was fully understood.

When I told them I should always believe them, I could not help seeing a generous resolution fixing itself more and more firmly in the expression of every countenance. When I enlarged upon the nobleness of refusing to betray each other, I rejoiced to see a surprised but delighted feeling of exultation on the faces of most of them, and something like inquiry on other faces. When I enlarged upon the beauty of generously helping each other, and the meanness and poor selfishness of trying to climb over others, I observed a dubious expression in some faces, as if they were trying to settle a question, and of proud satisfaction in others, as if rejoicing to see it rightly settled. When I told them that I intended to be perfectly just towards them, as soon as I knew them well enough to see what would be justice, I saw hope beaming in the eyes of some sad faces where it seemed as if it had always, till then, been a stranger.

I have always felt, as I became acquainted with my pupils, (which I sought to become, as soon as I could): Here is a boy who is able to take care of himself; he only wants opportunity. But here is a poor fellow who is discouraged; he wants aid and encouragement in every thing; he can not do without me; I must win his affection; if possible, make him love me. Then he will draw near me, and learn to rely upon me, and I shall be able to help him. I have constantly been convinced, from the time I first felt the divine character of the truths of the New Testament, that invariably the best thing to be done for every child is to educate his conscience, to make him feel the enormity and ug liness of falsehood and evil, and the preciousness and beauty of truth and good. This is the one great truth which every teacher and every parent, especially every mother, should learn, without which, indeed, no noble character can be formed. Educate the conscience.

By a careful examination of many weeks, I found what each of my pupils had done, and pretty nearly what he was capable of doing, so that I could arrange them in little classes, according to their capacity and attainments. In this way I could lead some of them to do very much more than they could have done if they had been arranged together, those who were diligent and bright and had made actual progress, with the dull boys, who were without much real attainment. This was something; I could hear lessons, but I could not, in most cases, give much instruction.

There was a single exception. I had long been acquainted with Warren Colburn, had taken many long walks with him, on which we had discussed, somewhat fully, different modes of teaching; and I had been very particularly struck by his original ideas as to the true way to teach arithmetic. He had then a private school, which occupied much of his time. I told him that if he would, beginning with the simplest numbers, write out questions in the order in which he thought they ought to be put, I would try them with my pupils, and tell him how far I agreed with him, and, if I found any thing to correct or alter, I would let him know. This he was glad to do; and I gave out, according to his arrangement, all the questions in the manuscript of his first edition. I found scarcely a word to correct, and was surprised and much delighted with the successful experiment.

The effect upon my boys was most satisfactory. They soon found themselves