134 CULTIVATE GENTLENESS. lead the singing himself, if practicable. If not, some one should be associated with him who can. I may add here, that not unfrequently, if not generally, a lady will manage an infant class better than a gentleman. She has more patience, can descend to the minutiae better, has more elasticity and versatility, more softness and kindness in look, voice, and manner, and can work through difficulties with ease, in cases where he would either stand still or burst through at any cost. One of the most interesting Infant schools within my knowledge is taught by the young wife of a clergyman in New England. She spends the whole of the sabbath afternoon with her little charge. The school contains about one hundred and twenty; and I doubt not she is doing more for the good of the human race than many who wear plumed hats on their heads, and swords by their sides. It is important to remember that at first, and for a long time, there should be no one present except the teacher and the little pupils. It is impossible for a teacher to do justice to the school, if a single adult individual be present. I would by all means insist on this. As a general rule children ought to be separated and by themselves as much as possible while receiving instruction. You will need to be careful that your school is not like a prison. Little children must have motion frequently; nature requires it, and you must follow the leadings of nature. At the same time do not cherish constant restlessness, as if the great object of the school was to keep the children in some kind of motion. 3. Let the teacher remember that he must cultivate deep and ardent piety, if he would be successful. The romance of an infant school will be soon worn off. It cannot be made a plaything; it cannot be made an exhibition. It is not to be the wonder of visitors, or the astonishment of parents. It is not to be made a mere reciting or repeating machine. Nothing of this will regenerate the soul, or train it up for the trials of earth or the glories of heaven. It must be the gate of heaven; and the aims of the teacher must be pure, holy, lowly, and yet lofty. He cannot meet the trials, the vexations, and the troubles of his station without piety, deep piety. If there be a station upon earth which requires the heart to be warmed and cheered and sustained by love to Jesus Christ, it is this. Redeeming love must be the theme on which the soul never tires. He must be a man of prayer. No one can fill the station without help drawn from the everlasting hills. Prayer must be the morning offering, and prayer the incense of the evening oblation, and prayer must carry on the work. Oh! if you feel desirous of teaching a class of infants in the sabbath school, and are not guided to the work by much prayer, I do hope you will weigh the subject well before you go any further. No part of the EXAMPLE OF A GOOD SCHOOL. 135 sabbath school is so difficult to instruct and manage as this; and no part is more interesting, more important, or will receive more good from right instruction, than this. It is a little fountain, but from it several little rills flow, small indeed now, but one which will swell and grow till each becomes a mighty river. There may be an infant class or an infant school in connexion with every sabbath_school in the land. It ought to be so; and why is it not so? Is it not because we have considered these little ones too young? But may not this impression be a mere prejudice? Some thirty years ago our churches thought that every one must serve the devil till at least twenty years old; and the consequence was that it was a very rare sight to see young men and women under twenty entering the church with the purpose of living for God. Few young people then professed to serve God. Was not this a very great mistake? And shall our churches let Satan still have the very best part of life with which to take possession of the soul? No, they must not do it. Let every minister and and every officer in our churches, and every superintendent, at once take up the subject, and resolve that there shal be such a class or classes connected with every sabbath school in the land. Then shall we have begun at the right period of life to sow the seed, and then will our blessed Redeemer gather to himself a glorious harvest for the garners of immortality. 136 VARIOUS SERVICES OF MUSIC. CHAPTER IX. Singing in the Savvath School. THE Soul seems formed for music. The savage cannot be found so barbarous as not to have some way by which to create musical sounds; and the savage who, for the first time, hears the notes of a well-regulated band, will crouch down upon the ground, entranced by notes so far exceeding anything of which he has ever before conceived. The band in passing through the street will draw every family to the window; the flute whose soft notes float over the still waters on the summer's evening, will cause the Indian to lift the paddle from the water, and let his canoe drift noiselessly down the stream. And the proudest monarch on earth will kneel and weep during some of the strains of the mighty organ, and the choir as they sing the Messiah. Was has presssd music into her service, and made the heart leap even upon the field of death, by the notes of the bugle, the trumpet, and the clarion. The horse and his rider both feel its power, and by it rush into the ranks of death. The charge is made, and man is brought breast to breast, under the united influence of music and the war-shout. What notes, deep, awful, and spirit-stirring, were those which rose over the field of Waterloo, as Death rode through the ranks on his pale horse? The roar of cannon, the groans of death, and the murderous shout of battle, are all softened down by music. Pleasure has made music her waiting-maid. The ball, the dance, the theatre, would all expire, were it not that music gives her constant presence, and pleads with a voice so sweet that the world qannot resist it. Any price will be paid for music, if it shall have the quality of being exquisite. The man is now living who annually receives more for the music which he creates on his violin than would support eighty of our ordained missionaries. A lady who has earned great fame in the theatres in Europe as a singer, has been offered, if she would come to this country, at least an equal sum. She declined the offer, and probably no sufficient inducements will be offered to cause her to come, and consequently the music of her voice will never be heard this side of the Atlantic. I mention these facts, not to find fault, for that is useless, but to show the strong love which we all have for music. Almost every nation, perhaps all nations, have national airs, by which the love of country is deepened, and a national feeling is created and maintained. The popular air, "Yankee-doodle," will probably create an American feeling as long as our nation exists; and the airs, "God Save the Queen," and "Rule Britannia," will never cease to call the beart of the Briton to his own glorious Isle. The soldier from Switzerland, and from the Highlands of Scotland, will weep at the national airs which call their hearts home to the place of their birth and childhood. It is not a matter of surprise, then, that from the fall of man to the present hour, as we have reason to believe, religion has made great use of music to aid her disciples. It was early taught in the schools of the Prophets, and from them went out through the length and breadth of the land of God's people. Not only so, but God made special provision for its use, in giving to his church those inspired songs which bear the name of David, and which will be sung as long as the church exists on earth. From the days of David down to the third century of the Christian era, music was exceedingly simple, touching, and effective. It was the music of nature, so to speak, and consisted in little else than a refined delivery, superadded to sacred poetry. Music, in the most ancient ages of the world, was the parent of poetry, Deborah wrote her wonderfully sublime song, that it might be sung and committed to memory by the army of Barak. The great poem of Homer, it is said, is the daughter of music; a composition which has had more influence upon the character of the earth, probably, than any other book in existence, except the bible. "From Homer," says Pope, "the poets drew their inspiration, the critics their rules, and the philosophers a defence of their opinions; every author was found to use his name, and every profession wrote books upon him, till they have swollen to libraries. The warriors formed themselves upon his heroes, and the oracles delivered his verses for answer." God has not only created the ear to delight in the melody of sweet sounds, but has created a most wonderful musical instrument for the use of every one. Between the top of the throat and the root of the tongue, he has made an enlargement, a cavity of two or three inches, and most wonderfully lined it with delicate membranes, “so stretched that the air passing through them makes a sound as through the reed of a clarionet. This would be a curious instrument, even if it admitted of no variation of sound; but it is furnished with five cartilages, which contract and expand the cavity at pleasure in different ways, so as to give different vibrations, and of course different tones. In this small space, then, in the throat of every human being, is an instrument with a compass of from two to three octaves, which has the command of every semi-tone, and subdivision of note, swell, trill, &c.; and not necessarily ex 136 VARIOUS SERVICES OF MUSIC. CHAPTER IX. Singing in the Savvath School. THE Soul seems formed for music. The savage cannot be found so barbarous as not to have some way by which to create musical sounds; and the savage who, for the first time, hears the notes of a well-regulated band, will crouch down upon the ground, entranced by notes so far exceeding anything of which he has ever before conceived. The band in passing through the street will draw every family to the window; the flute whose soft notes float over the still waters on the summer's evening, will cause the Indian to lift the paddle from the water, and let his canoe drift noiselessly down the stream. And the proudest monarch on earth will kneel and weep during some of the strains of the mighty organ, and the choir as they sing the Messiah. War has presssd music into her service, and made the heart leap even upon the field of death, by the notes of the bugle, the trumpet, and the clarion. The horse and his rider both feel its power, and by it rush into the ranks of death. The charge is made, and man is brought breast to breast, under the united influence of music and the war-shout. What notes, deep, awful, and spirit-stirring, were those which rose over the field of Waterloo, as Death rode through the ranks on his pale horse? The roar of cannon, the groans of death, and the murderous shout of battle, are all softened down by music. Pleasure has made music her waiting-maid. The ball, the dance, the theatre, would all expire, were it not that music gives her constant presence, and pleads with a voice so sweet that the world qannot resist it. Any price will be paid for music, if it shall have the quality of being exquisite. The man is now living who annually receives more for the music which he creates on his violin than would support eighty of our ordained missionaries. A lady who has earned great fame in the theatres in Europe as a singer, has been offered, if she would come to this country, at least an equal sum. She declined the offer, and probably no sufficient inducements will be offered to cause her to come, and consequently the music of her voice will never be heard this side of the Atlantic. I mention these facts, not to find fault, for that is useless, but to show the strong love which we all have for music. Almost every nation, perhaps all nations, have national airs, by |