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I have always looked forward to this period of Laura's life with great anxiety. She is now passing through it; and it is not given to me to conceive any wiser course than her present teacher has followed. Indeed, I believe that no one has conceived so high an idea of woman's patience, devotion, tenderness, and capacity, that it would not be raised, if he could see as minutely as I have seen the whole of them exemplified in the daily intercourse between Miss Wight and Laura. Any praise of this kind bestowed by one person upon another, who is in any way connected with him, is usually in bad taste, to say the least. But I am constrained to give it in this case, because I feel, that, unless I do so, I shall receive -- what does not belong to me -- the credit of another's good works.

There have been a few moments during the year, when, either from the developing tendency to independent individualism above alluded to or from constitutional irritability, or both, Laura has manifested a spirit which threatened violent explosions of temper. I am certain, that, if at such times she had been treated with the slightest sternness, or even with coldness and indifference, the effect would have been most unfavorable. But her teacher, never for a moment losing her temper, never ceasing to manifest the tenderest interest in her pupil, yet not obtruding it upon her, or making it the pretext for overruling her will, has succeeded in making Laura judge and condemn herself; so that, without being accused, she has perceived her fault, and, without being punished, she has come out of the trial stronger and better than before. This I hold to be a rare attainment in the art of teaching; -- it is more, -- it is the best kind of moral training.

It will be seen by the extracts which will follow, that Laura has acquired much greater facility and copiousness of expression than before; nevertheless, a great portion of the year has been spent in teaching her the use of language. It is often said, that, in order to have precision of language, there must be precision of thought; but the converse is equally true, -- in order to have precision of thought (over a great range of objects), there must be precision of language. Hence appears the great importance of storing the mind abundantly with words to which a precise meaning is attached, during that period of life which nature clearly points out as the only one well fitted for the task, namely, the period of childhood and early youth.

It may be proper here to remark, that, whenever any expression of hers is quoted in the Reports concerning her, it is done with a sense of the importance of a scrupulous adherence to the exact form which she used; no change and no correction is ever made, not even of the orthography.

I shall endeavour to make the extracts illustrate the mode of teaching her, as well as her own course of thought.

One day, her teacher had remarked to her that the first settlers of this country sometimes had difficulty in procuring enough to eat; whereupon she asked, suddenly, "What repast did one man eat?" She explained herself by adding, "When there was but one man on the earth." The answer was, that there were fruit and berries. "But," said she, "when he was very small?" She paused awhile, and then added, "I guess God took care of him, and gave him some milk."

Her teacher was reading, the same day, something in which a compass was mentioned; upon which, she was desirous of knowing all about it. Her teacher showed her a magnet, and applied it to a toy in the shape of a swan floating upon the water. When she felt the bird to be attracted by the magnet, her face grew very red, and she said, much surprised, "It makes it life; it is alive, for it moves." Her teacher then asked her if the bird ate, or slept, or walked, or could feel. "No," she replied; but still seemed hardly convinced that the magnet did not give life to the bird, until she was shown its effect upon a needle.

This led to an explanation of attraction; and she soon afterwards showed her disposition to apply all new words in as many senses as she can, by suddenly embracing her teacher, and saying, "I am exceedingly attracted to you, because you are always so kind."

A little reflection upon the mental process by which she converted a term expressive of a physical relation into one expressive of a mental emotion will explain the difficulty which many persons find in understanding how she ever learned abstract terms, and words significative of mere emotions.

Laura, of course, cannot convert those terms which usually express physical relations into terms expressive of moral relations, so easily as other young persons can; but in her case, as in theirs, the mental process is a natural and almost involuntary one. All children go through it without any special instruction, and use metaphorical language long before they know what a metaphor is.

The teacher plays a much humbler part in the intellectual development of children than he is usually supposed to do; his influence in the formation of moral character may be greater; but too often he labors upon the former to the neglect of the latter.