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sented to the minds of those who may feel desirous of forming a union for prayer; and these I will now endeavour, briefly, to solve.

1st. What time can be fixed for the meeting?

Many of our teachers, by being apprenticed to some retail trade, are so situated that they have no time at their own disposal. Any evening in the week which may be allotted for this purpose will, therefore, to these teachers, be unavailable. I would suggest the Sunday morning. The usual hour for the commencement of school business is nine o'clock; and I propose that some time previous to this be set apart for the meeting under consideration. Why may we not meet at eight o'clock, and spend an hour, or half an hour, in prayer and praise? There would surely be sufficient time before this for dressing and the secret devotions of the morning. Some, perhaps, will object to this on account of the late hour at which they retire to rest on Saturday evenings. This hour is with myself, and many others, midnight. But if for six mornings in the week, to please our earthly masters or ourselves, we rise at five, six, or half-past, ought we not to rise at least as early for one morning to please our heavenly Master, and for our spiritual interests? Let us bring to mind the words so frequently repeated to us in boyhood, when we complained of inability to perform any duty-"Where there is a will, there is a way.' With the prospect of so delightful a meeting with which to commence the holy duties of the day, no Christian teacher would waste his hours in needless slumber.

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2nd. There being many of us who have neither the ability nor the confidence to pray aloud before others, who is to lead the devotion?

Allow me to ask, Did you ever try? Many difficulties which, at first, appear to be insurmountable, would almost vanish, if we would but act in accordance with these two little words in our language, try and trust. If you cannot pray fluently, you can, if you are sincere, offer such prayers as will be acceptable with God; and no one would come to these meetings, I hope, to gratify the unholy desire of criticising your prayers.

The advantages which would arise from the adoption

of this suggestion are numerous. The greatest of these, and the one for which we are the most anxious, is the efficacy of united prayer. But there are others, which, though of minor importance, are not to be disregarded. Brotherly love would be increased in the hearts of the teachers; confidence would be inspired in opening their minds one to another, so that we should be enabled to bear each other's spiritual burdens. How pleasing would be the smile with which a teacher, when entering upon the scholastic duties of the day, would be welcomed by his fellow-labourers. There would be no more that solitary feeling which sometimes fills the mind, but we should feel as one body. The early hours of the Sabbath would become endeared to each heart; and instead of being spent in carnal indulgence, as they now too frequently are, they would be gladly devoted to the work of prayer and praise.

Hoping that this subject will receive your attention, and praying that a blessing may rest upon the labour which you undertake for our advantage, and that a spirit of earnest prayer may be poured into the hearts of the fraternity, I have the happiness of subscribing myself, A SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHER.

Bilston, September 2nd, 1845.

[The Editor thinks this suggestion most worthy of consideration. Properly conducted, such an arrangement could not fail to have a beneficial influence over the minds of the Teachers throughout the day; and where the Clergyman could meet his Teachers, and conduct their devotions, it would be a great advantage.]

ON LEVITY AND GRAVITY.

AMONG the many things required by the Teacher, is a complete control over himself, particularly a control over his risible faculties. Children often say and do such strange things in the very midst of the most solemn exercises, that it requires a summoning up of all the religious feeling of the sacredness of our duties, to overcome the almost irresistible desire to laugh. The subject is one to which young teachers especially would do well to pay some attention. All laughter or appearance of

levity ought to be carefully avoided, if it was for no other reason than because it makes sacred things to be lightly thought of. Abbott, or Todd, makes mention of a teacher who gave way to laughter once in a class, at some absurd thing which a boy had said, and the evil effects of which were seen afterwards, by the class getting into bad order, the teacher having, in consequence, lost to a considerable extent, his power of control over them. In order to show the nature of the things that occasionally are so very trying to the Teacher, a few instances may be given from the writer's own experience.

One Sabbath, during the time of prayer, I looked round to see that all the children were conducting themselves properly, and to my great discomposure, observed one of my boys, at a little distance, with great gravity, going through the operation of shaving; brushing away with one hand, and then using a finger of the other, in imitation of a razor. I was afraid to move, lest I should attract attention to him. I was equally afraid to take my eye off him, in case he might continue his ex. travagances, and so set the whole class a laughing. With great difficulty I managed to conceal a smile under an appearance of great sternness, and having caught his eye at last, he stopped abruptly. I had much pain for some minutes in the effort to overcome myself. On another occasion, a boy had fallen asleep on his seat, and in one or two seconds, a boy on one side had taken a string from his pocket, passed it round his big toe, (it being summer, he was barefoot,) and the other end having been taken by the boy on the other side, they commenced to see-saw it up and down, making the boy, of course, awake with a start from feeling the pain. It was done so rapidly that, before I could interfere, it was over, leaving the same painful feeling as before. But the last instance I shall mention is perhaps of a kind more common than the others. A boy was reading a verse of the New Testament, and instead of saying "The Scribes and Pharisees," said, "The Scribes and paraphrases." The ludicrous mistake was too much for me, especially when he immediately read it over again in

the same manner, and I could not resist a smile: the boys giving a glance at me, but too willingly joined, and laughed outright. I found, to my sorrow, that I could not get them again to listen seriously that night; and for several nights afterwards, some of them were always trying to say things to make me laugh. It took me, I dare say, four or five nights to overcome the effects of that smile. With a great many children, and with Teachers too, (and they are happy teachers,) such an incident would do no permanent harm; the effects would pass away in a few minutes: but still there is a very large class of children, with whom to give way to a smile, even on such an occasion, is almost to give up authority over them.

The best method I found, to keep down the ludicrous feeling, was to speak immediately and rapidly on the the lesson, so as to turn attention from the subject. I had asked the question of a boy, "What did Christ do, when he had done preaching?" the answer immediately was, “He would precent." (For the sake of the English reader, I mention, that the precentor in Scotland is the person who leads the tune in the congregation.) I said at once, Just look at the few verses before, and answer me this," putting a few questions that had nothing to do with what we had been speaking about. This plan perfectly succeeded in leading my mind and theirs from the answer given. To some, feeling that they could not be moved by such things, it may seem strange that a person should be so easily made to laugh; allowance must be made for different constitutions.

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But, no doubt, the best way to overcome all these light and ludicrous feelings, is to breathe a secret prayer, that God would, at this time, so tune our hearts, that we may be led to feel more and more the importance of conducting ourselves aright in our sacred duties, and that we may allow nothing trifling to interfere with or mar the progress of our pupils in the way to eternal life. A constant attention to praying and meditation about eternity will, no doubt, be the means of bringing our feelings of this nature under more complete subjection to our divine Master.

EXAMPLE AND ENCOURAGEMENT FOR
SABBATH-SCHOOL TEACHERS.*

"I COULD not help feeling very low on Monday. Like Hezekiah, I thought the Lord was about to cut short my days. Oh! that I could have made use of his language, and said, 'I beseech thee, O Lord, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight.' But, my beloved Eliza, I have to mourn how little I have done for him who hath done such great things for me. Let me entreat you to pray that, if my life be prolonged, I may be more anxious for the spiritual welfare of others. And oh! may I more than ever magnify the riches of his grace. May he suffer me never more to wander from him; but may his love be the prevailing principle in my life, his word the rule of all my actions, and his blessed self my all in all, my portion for ever."

To another dear friend (who considers her advice and counsel the means in the hand of God of impressing upon her mind the reality of divine things, and awakening her to a deeper concern about her eternal interests,) she wrote in a similar strain, with allusion to her Sabbath-school labours.

"I tremble lest, while I have been anxious about the souls of others, I have neglected my own. How awful if, in the great day, these dear children should be found in the kingdom of God, and I myself cast out! Let me then, while anxious for their spiritual welfare, be more concerned for the salvation of my own soul. May I ever seek a humble and a contrite spirit! May the prayer of the publican be mine, 'God be merciful to me a sinner."

ADDRESS TO THE GIRLS OF MY
DAY-SCHOOL.

THE readers of the "Teacher's Visitor" are doubtless well pleased to find the subject of rewards taken up by

*From a "Memorial of a departed Sister," by the Rev. Thomas Page. London: Simpkin and Marshall.

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