N the year 1860, says Prof. John Trowbridge, a man who occupied himself with a microscope was smiled at as a blear-eyed, narrow specialist, who had little interest in the large affairs of humanity, in the important questions of the time, such as the anti-slavery cause, the question of the Turk, the problems of free trade and the tariff. It was supposed that the microscope was a perfected instrument, and that little more could be done with it than in studying lower forms of life, which were interesting to the naturalist, but had little to do with humanity. At that time the death rate from diphtheria was over sixty per cent., and more than five per cent. of women died in childbirth. To-day, owing to improvements in the microscope, the death rate in diphtheria has been reduced to less than ten per cent., and the mortality in lying-in cases to one-twentieth of one per cent. Zeiss has perfected microscope lenses which have made possible the study of bacilli, and have led to some important results in the treatment of disease. Modern aseptic surgery is the result also of investigations with this new instrument of research. Thus the improvements in the microscope have led to the germ theory of disease, the discovery of antitoxin, and to that greatest boon to mankind of the century just closed, the realization of the importance of aseptic surgery. In aseptic surgery the endeavor of the surgeon is to exclude the small germs which vitiate the blood, and the result of the study of electric

No. 5.

discharges is now leading to methods of communicating electrons to the tissues or to methods of setting them free. Violet light can set free electrons from metals. X-rays can do the same. Moreover, the latter can burn the tissues, setting up some yet obscure form of electrolytic action. It is claimed strenuously by good authorities that there is a healing action in malignant skin diseases, due to this electric radiation.-Atlantic Monthly.

What is the mission of the public schools anyway? Is it to make mathematicians, poets, musicians, physicians, zoologists, geologists, physicists, chemists, botanists, horticulturists, agriculturists and other "ists" ad infinitum? What is to be the end of these constant additions to the curriculum of the public schools? Is there no limit to the demands to be made on teachers and pupils? This taking on new subjects, everything in sight, has gone on to madness. It is no wonder that the doctors are alarmed. What nerves could stand it? It is time to call a halt. It is time to thin out, simplify, improve, but not to multiply. Is it not the simple mission of the public schools to give a thorough drill on the elements of education and turn the boys and girls out of school with healthy bodies, minds and hearts and a love for that branch of learning which is to be the most useful in their lives?

Try this as a spelling exercise for Friday afternoon. I have found it to work well where the number of spellers

is small. It is simply "Pussy wants a corner." One pupil is pussy. The others in the corners spell in turn. If one misses, Pussy has a chance. If he spells the word, he trades places with the one who missed it. The exercise has the greater value if the spellings are assigned and prepared, say, from the readers during the week. The poor speller is generally identical with the poor reader. If the boy can be led to do a great deal of reading (and of course in this his tastes must be consulted), his spelling will improve. My worst speller, being out of school all summer herding cattle in the ravines and bush, and reading E. S. Thompson's books and similar stories, was much better in the spelling of all ordinary words when he returned in the fall. Direct interest, of course, is the best; but for an arbitrary subject like this, where there is little play for the faculty of reason, all indirect interest that can be aroused will be quite in place.

Professor Brander Matthews says in a recent magazine article that "Most of the little manuals which pretend to regulate our use of our own language are grotesque in their ignorance." He says that the best are of small value, because prepared on the assumption that the English language is dead, like the Latin, and that like Latin again its usage is fixed finally. He says, "The English language is alive, and very much alive; and because it is alive it is in a constant state of growth." As one point of interest, he endorses don't as the proper contraction for both do not and does not.

Forestry Commissioner Rothrock is desirous of establishing a State College of Forestry. Considerable interest has been aroused during the last few years in the subject of forestry, and much has been done towards the preservation of the woodland areas of the State. There is, nevertheless, a vast amount of waste and destruction of good timber constantly going on. In fact, the waste and destruction are greater than the economy practiced and the planting that is undertaken. Much of the first is due entirely to ignorance or carelessness, and not to wautonness. Prominent lumbermen, who admit and deplore the waste in their own timber areas, have expressed their willingness to adopt more prudent methods if they only knew how and

had the means.

But they declare foresters with a thorough knowledge of their profession are scarce, and it does not pay to have men with only a smattering of information in their employ. A college such as Commissioner Rothrock wishes to establish would supply just the kind of material the thoughtful lumbermen need. Scientific forestry can be made to yield large financial returns. But Commissioner Rothrock, however anxious he may be to further the forestry interests of the State, will not succeed without a long and disheartening struggle with ignorance and indifference.-Phila Ledger.

For quick work in figures read the example to be worked, clearly and distinctly. They work on as rapidly as they can, and the first one that is through says 10 (the number of pupils in the class) quite loudly, and writes it by her work. The next one that is through says 9, the next 8, etc. If there were only seven in the class, the first would say 7. the next 6, etc. After all are through I read the answer. Another example is give out and worked as before. Each time the pupil writes down his number if his answer is right, if not, he writes an O in place of his number, placing the numbers in a column to facilitate adding, to find who has the greatest total when time is up.-Larson.

A good story is told of two great generals in the American Civil War. During General Sherman's last campaign in the South, certain changes in commanders were made. General Howard was placed at the head of a special division. Soon after this the war closed, and there was to be a grand review of the army at Washington. The night before the review Sherman sent for Howard, and said: "The political friends of the officer you succeeded are determined that he shall ride at the head of the corps, and I want you to help me out." "It is my command," said Howard, "and I am entitled to ride at its head." "Of course you are," replied Sherman. "You led the men through Georgia and the Carolinas; but, Howard, you are a Christian, and can stand the disappointment." "If you put it on that ground," said Howard, "there is but one answer. Let him ride at the head of the corps." "Yes, let him have the honor," said Sherman ; "but you will report to me at nine

o'clock, and will ride by my side at the head of the army." Howard protested, but his commander's orders were positive. So in the grand review, the man who had yielded his rights had a place of higher honor at the head of the whole army.

A young man with practical knowledge in his head, skill in his hands, and health in his body is his own letter of recommendation, diploma and references. Mix him up with sixty millions of others, and you can find him again, as he will have a habit of being at the top. Throw him naked on a desert island, without a country and without a name, and he will soon be at the head of something. He does not go whining up and down the land, blaming fortune and saying he has no chance, but goes out and does something, and then does it again and better. Men that can do things, either with head or hands, are the men that are wanted, and the demand is as great here and now as it has been any time since the first sunrise.

SENATOR FAIRBANKS is reported by the Washington Post as telling the following: In a sleeping-car a man was snoring most loudly, and nobody else in the car could sleep. Finally it was decided to awaken him and compel him to quit snoring or stay awake. So after much difficulty, he was aroused. "What's the trouble?" he asked. "Your snoring "Your snoring keeps everybody in the car awake, and it has got to stop." "How do you know I snored?" questioned the disturber of the peace. "We heard you." "Well," said the man who snored, as he turned over to go asleep again, "don't believe all you hear."

AND Yawcob observing his dog Schnitzel, spake unto him as follows: "You vas only a tog, but I vish I vas you. Ven you go mit your bed in you shust durn round dree times und lay down. Ven I go mit my bed in, I haf to lock up der place, und vind ub der clock, und pud der cat out, und untress myselluf, und my frou vakes up and scholds, den der paby vakes up und cries und I haf to valk him mit der house around, den maybe ven I gets myselluf to bed it is dime to get up vonce more again. Ven

you gets up mit your bed you shust stretch yourselluf, dig your neck a leedle, und you vas up. I haf to light der fire,

und put on der kittle, scrap some mit my vife alretty, und git myselluf breakfast. You play mit der day all round und haf plenties of fun. I haf to vork all der day round und haf plenties of drubbles. Ven you die, you vas dead. Ven I die I haf to go to hades yet."

In the business of empire building the importance of athletic sports is more than evident, says John Corbin in the Atlantic. There is a saying that the English colonist plays cricket, drinks Scotch whiskey and flourishes in numbers, while the French colonist drinks absinthe and dies of the climate. And the humanities of sport are no less important than the discipline. Natives of India and New Zealand have learned the delights of polo, football and cricket while playing with English colonists; the Egyptian cadets of Abasayah have been made sportsmen by means of contests with teams from the regiments of occupation. In a few short years a fellow feeling and a mutual confidence have arisen that would otherwise be impossible in generations. Nowadays Ghoorka meets Ghoorka in contests of sportsmanship, Maori meets Maori, Egyptian meets Egyptian, and all are three parts Englishmen. Quite lately the Boer prisoners in Ceylon got up a team to play a British cricket eleven, and ended the day by singing a song, composed by one of their number, invoking peace and good fellowship in South Africa.

In the final result there is not much difference between the man who sneeringly refuses to read the Bible and the man who through supreme indifference neglects to read it. Its greatest charm is in its constant and thoughtful perusal. The great fault of this age is that we permit other literature to crowd the Bible out. We are fond of the sensational and the secular, and we come to think the Bible dry and uninteresting. Daniel Webster, who certainly was the greatest American orator, and one of our clearest thinkers, said: "If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible our country will go on prospering, but if we and our posterity neglect its instructions and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity." Again he says: "I have read it through many times. I now make a practice of

going through it once a year. It is a book of all others for lawyers and divines, and I pity the man who cannot find in it a rich supply of thought and rules for conduct. From the time at my mother's feet or my father's knee I first learned to lisp verses from the sacred writings, they have been my daily and vigilant contemplation. If there be anything in my style or thought to be commended, the credit is due to my kind parents for instilling into my mind an early love of the scriptures."

This drill from "Tarbell's Lessons" includes some expressions in which mistakes are often made, especially in conversation. These sentences are all correct. Have pupils repeat them aloud, and drill them on the expressions frequently, until they become familiar with their sounds and use them from habit :

It is I.

It is he. It is she.

It was I. It was he. It was she. It was we. It was they, It wasn't I. It wasn't he. It wasn't she. It wasn't we. It wasn't they. Wasn't it I? Was it not I? Wasn't it he? Was it not he? Wasn't it she? Was it not she? Wasn't it we? Was it not we? Wasn't it they? Was it not they? After "It is" and "It was" use I, we, he, she, they, not me, us, him, her, them.

It is we.
It is they.
It isn't Ï.
It isn't he.
It isn't she.
It isn't we.
It isn't they.
Isn't it I?
Is it not I?
Isn't it he?
Is it not he?
Isn't it she?
Is it not she?
Isn't it we?
Is it not we?
Isn't it they?
Is it not they?

A word on the decoration of classrooms. The first step is to have the walls tinted and the wood-work painted in harmonious colors-and in this connection I take the liberty of advising trustees always to give contracts for painting or other repairs to skillful workmen. Too often such jobs are given to amateurs because they happen to be ratepayers; as a result the work is not good and the outlay practically wasted. most important that the walls and ceiling should be tinted in quiet colors restful to the eye. When about to have work of this kind done, it is advisable to consult some one of recognized taste. The position and lighting of a room has

It is

a bearing on the choice of colors. Plants and pictures are the simplest means of decoration. Now-a-days it is possible to obtain good pictures cheaply; get a few good ones and have them artistically framed; do not waste money in framing tawdry daubs.-Prendergast.

FIAT LUX.

The light which floweth round us from on high,
From that resplendent orb whose dazzling rays
Bid us behold him with averted gaze,
Reveals his presence to the seeing eye,
For by his constant radiance we descry
The source of light and warmth; no doubt
dismays;

Though veiled by clouds, though oft obscured by haze,

We know the glowing sun is in the sky.

The light that shines upon the human soul And by its beams a larger life creates, Reviving, cleansing, making strong and whole, Reveals the Power from which it emanates: Sweet peace enfolds us like a brooding doveWe know that God is, by the light of love. Elizabeth Lloyd.

"This court acknowledges, as I suppose, the validity of the law of God. I see a book kissed here which I suppose to be the Bible, or at least the New Testament. That teaches me that all things whatsoever I would that men should do unto me I should do even so to them. It teaches me further to remember those that are in bonds as bound I endeavored to act upon with them. that instruction. I say I am yet too young to understand that God is any respecter of persons. I believe that to have interfered as I have done on behalf of His despised poor, was not wrong, but right. Now, if it is deemed necessary that I should forfeit my life for the furtherance of the ends of justice, and mingle my blood with the blood of my children, and with the blood of millions in this country whose rights are disregarded by wicked, cruel and unjust enactment-I submit; so let it be done." -These were the words of old John Brown before the Court that condemned him to death.

In speaking of friendship recently, a thoughtful woman whose life has never lacked love, said: "I learned long ago. to pray, 'Make me worthy of friendship and give me friends.'"' How few ever think of a prayer like that, especially of its first petition! Too often friends are considered a natural right, and the lack