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Show REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF INDIAN SCHOOLS. 477 the INn reli?iolla 5pirrr. Thew ir little ,lulrl,t 1l.nt thc uhcrle 1,rrioJ of adolesc~~rirtie inkllnely rr,li,oiouu in rhe ~piritunl SQIIFR. 'Plie pwater nllluber oi convenione oL*.trr durinv thie Dvriod. 0 1 1 r~an r ~ ,dtu ubt that t l b i i3 tlre tint<.w hen wliuiww wmnrra* tion, with i& increased sense of res~onsibilitiesa nd ita moral and,zaT %"ni-&d =. ... ,-, -......... -. -. p. - .. Vinally, the Hdulesut,nt is rcr . ~ u w ~ t i b l eS.u ~e6t ionie oitrn H wrioue inflnen~p. It has laen .shown beyoud a doubt illat the period of adoI~21.enecf orgirlj may he Ilastmed I,\. hum n icu months lo on- or two rr;ab m6n."l ~,h v~ !."I....: . 4.-1DO1.1...4...~. 1 i 0 1 t qo f .. environmeGt, a fact that should be noted, especidly in i%ictlon in matters of sex. THE TEACHER: A DETERMINING FORCE IN THE CHILD'S LIFE. Dr. MERB~LLE. GATES Secretary of Board of Indian Commissioners. "When a man dies," says Schopenhauer, "a world perishes--the world which he bore in his head." Each one of us has felt this sense of an irrepamble loss when the clear-seeing, virtue-loving soul of a wise friend has passed away. If his individuality was marked and atrong, if he had skill to work w~th head or hand, if his technical knowledge was special and peculiar, we feel that the world is oorer by so much subtracted from its working force. He knew relations of things wfich no other knew. He eaw truth from oints of view whence it had not been revealed to others. His store of knowl-ed e,%1. s trai'n ed ability to use that knowledge, his affections, the garnered wisdom an% the powem for good which come from lifelong friendships, the far-reaching, com-prehensive views of liie, its needs and its duties, which "years that bring the philo- 3ophic mind" had given him; all these are lost with him, out of our life here below. His personality ceases to touch upon and modify ours, m e through memory. For knowledge to which he could turn at once, others must rope in darkness or in half light. The whole coordinate world of matter and minf that la orderly and clear beiore his eyes, as far as our communication with him isconcernek, has been resolved into its elements again, and is lost to us. So profoundly does nature teach us the value of a single welldirected life, the importance of each man's o m pemnality, that we are ready to say emphatically, "When a man dim, a world perish-the world he carried m his head." If the ceasin of a life among us is so serious a loss, the beginning of a conscious soul-liie is surefy a matter of the gravest importance. If it is h e that a world of knowledge perishes when a man's eyex close m death, it is no less true that a world ,f knowledp be ins to be when a little child's soul opens to consciousness with the Iawninz of mte1Egence in its eves. And thev who work wiselv with little children :ome nearer God'iown work of creation thanho those eng.ag- ed ;n any other em-ploy.- nent. The divine f r d n e s s and direchess, the absolute sincerity, of little children must llways atuse the thoughtiul teacher to stand with awe in the presence of- The million stas which tremble O'er the deep mind of dauntless infancy. VWID- AND PERMANENCE OF EARLY 111PRESS102i8 1kvall yonr own rarlimt memories. See hn. lliv whole world a4 you now knoxr it ,mQh rld ior yuu irr rhr small circle ui home ar~rlf rienold m.l~icl?~n rroun~lt.dy ~ auu a i t t l ~ch ild. l h ~ ! ht m o i man and wontan voll hare since known wns Illerr. Tho ace of each one kndWn in that little circle hie always since stood for vou as a t"me.. Pakr that sr4f-~.rifiringm, rurry,and InvIl~Iul wutrkti ~YIIOIIyIt .11 l , ~ ki n ew- 10111 uctl~er,p erhaps; her fare prr.irr.rr itrelf van, \\.l~erhv\r.O IL will or not, wlren juur I>o>whttu mb 10 the cla~nof v h awrm to uiriclr vuu havr.'sinrr lc.rrrnc,l to know tlnr ihe 6elon~ed. She was the incarnate class-the"tvpe and the individual in one.& horeenrly days when yoor life ~ a t*ak ing color iionl its mrroundulpa. Even ilre o<.inr~ut lf~ erorupw,ayso u lint learned theu.ir1 y<rurfather'ahou+el,l aw unchangc- ~Llvth ey are naintnl on vour rnrmorv. 1.a it rlor 1 1 1 c~x uerir.u..c...e. o f -lnn. n.v. .o.f v,a- ,t-l t-n- ;his day'that %hen you wkh instranrksurroundines "tobrient ~our sel f . ',(~to make rrjur eGt and i~onl~c' 'o me rigltt, "<go back in\.<il~~nr;~troi ly;,u r homt., arlcl !el ruurnorth and ,our WI Ly pilt-ing youreli DnIOIIg the ol~mlmundm$ then', Si in srxudardd <w,aitr . of eocinl intzrroular. and reuw1sl.v of morals. 1owe16.r ..A........, .. , - - . . - . -- nuch we may think we hive changed, the earsest standards of our home in child-lood again and again resent themselves with the feeling that here is, after all, the .me norm-the really $xed standard. These thin were about us when there was n process of creation that little ordered univeme, &t microcosm of conscious exist- |