Selection of Teachers.

No national system of education will ever be successful that does not repose a large measure of confidence in the teachers of the schools. This, of course, implies, in the first place, the most rigid selection of those who are to fill the office of educators. Let the scrutiny be of the strictest order, not only as to a candidate's attainments, but as to his moral character, experience, and sound judgment, and let every one who fails to come up to a fair ideal in all these respects be ruthlessly rejected. And then, when you have got a good man, trust him. If you have satisfied yourself that he is a conscientious man and a man of sound judgment, give him room and scope for action, not bare breathing space. The present loose way of appointing teachers is the greatest obstacle to the removal of the chains that cramp and confine the teacher's action. At present you throw the door open wide, so that objectionable persons may get in, and sometimes do get in, and then you watch and restrain everybody as if you thought all your teachers pickpockets. If education boards had only belonged to the vertebrate division of the animal kingdom, as the Education Act designed, inspectors would almost become superfluous officers. The Legislature intended that