D

PUBLIC INSTRUCTION

AND OF THE

STATE TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION.

we want infallibility? The man who mourns because infallibility cannot be had in a church, or a guide, or a set of standards, does not know when he is well off. How could God develop our minds, our power of moral judgment, if there were no "spirit to be tried," no necessity for discrimination, no discipline of search and challenge and choice? To give the right answer of the problem to a boy is to put him on the side of infallibility so far as that answer is concerned, but it is to do him a wrong touching his real education. The blessing of life's schooling is not in knowing the right answer in advance, but in developing power through struggle.-M. D. Babcock.

PROBABLY more arrant nonsense can be talked by a body of "educators" in a given time than by any other body of adults in the world. At the late session in Chicago mothers were told that to give the reason for a command to a child would "impair the authority of the parent." And no spirit, God be thanked, will resent unreasonable and indefensible authority more quickly than a child. A parent has no more right to play the tyrant than has the Czar or the Sultan. Then too we are informed that "there should be no reading, writing or arithmetic before a child is nine." In spite of all which the best part of a child's education is accomplished before it is nine, or it is never accomplished; and that may be done while permitting the child unusual freedom of recreations. The speaker must have been seeking to ascertain how much nonsense his hearers

No. 1.

could swallow when he insisted that before the child is nine years old it should devote its time "to nature study" rather than to reading. Just what a child could learn of "the toad, the rabbit, the rat and the bed bug" without reading may be left to the imagination. But honestly and seriously, if our educators cannot do better than this at their Associations, let them get together annually and have readings from Mother Goose.-Interior.

A PLAN culled from an educational journal may be passed along to my fellow teachers with my good will. I found that my habit of questioning each pupil on the paragraph he had learned in his history lesson palled after a time. Children weary of the same methods, so when I read this device I was delighted. After a lesson has been learned and the class has come up for recitation I call upon one pupil to give the substance of a page or a section. When he has finished I distribute cards on which each pupil will write a number of questions bearing upon that chapter or section. I limit the questions to five or six. Several pupils then read their questions in turn and call upon volunteers for answers, or call upon other pupils. The method serves as an excellent review and it also shows me what pupils know their lessons best. It is a wholesome stimulus.-School Journal.

WATCH a boy at work upon a puzzle, and you will be convinced that he finds genuine delight in thinking that which is difficult. The most popular teachers are not those who smooth away every

difficulty in the pathway of the student, but those who stimulate his thinking, and help him to a sense of mastery over intellectual difficulties. A boy who was pronounced incorrigible, and who had been transferred from school to school because he could not get along with his teachers, at last met a teacher who discovered that he could take apart and put together watches and clocks. She allowed him to fix her clock and thus won his heart. She asked him to explain to the school the mechanism of instruments for keeping time. His interest in the clocks she connected with the numbers twelve and sixty, then with the timetable, with denominate numbers, and finally with the whole subject of arithmetic. Interest in the exercises of the school converted the incorrigible boy into an obedient and studious pupil.-N. C. Schaeffer.

I WANT to repeat what I have said before. Give much time to spelling, but spend it wisely. Do not drill on words that are seldom or never missed. The column in the old spelling-book, beginning "Baker, lady, etc.," can be passed over lightly. But select words that are commonly missed and drill on them till they are surely mastered. A pupil will rarely or never miss the word lady, but, how is it with the same word in the plural, or in the possessive case, or in the plural possessive? These grammatical changes in the spelling of words need much more attention than they commonly receive. Observe in your reading-of newspapers, for instance-what words are commonly missed. Keep a list of them on the board. Drill on those words till accuracy is secured. You will find such spellings as 'supercede," "exhorbitant," and many others, very common. In a single copy of a carefully printed newspaper, I found to-day the word consensus used three or four times, and spelled concensus " each time. In the same way, make a list of words frequently misused, and drill on sentences, using them correctly. Use a good spelling-book.

PASSING quickly through the aisles, crayon in hand, place a number on each slate, not going beyond sixty. A boy or girl is then called to the platform, holding the slate so that all can see the number. The children rise in turn, holding up their slates, and, telling what their

numbers are, ask the pupil on the platform a question. When he fails to answer correctly he goes to his seat, and the one who asked the question answers it and takes his place. The following are some questions that may be asked: "My number is thirty-seven; how many more is yours than mine?” "My number is ten; if cents, how many ten-cent tops could you buy, and how much over?" "My number is twenty-seven; add mine to yours. "How many nickels in your number?" "If my number be taken from your number what will be left?" "Your number is how many times my number? etc. This calls for close attention and rapid thinking.-School Journal.

WHAT of the boy? This of the boy: He is the hope of the race. If we lose the boy, we lose all the hopes we have for the future greatness of our beloved land. Every patriotic man and every patriotic woman must be interested in all that pertains to the welfare of those who are so soon to take their places in the great contest which is to settle the problems of the ages. The boy with the cigarette habit is on the high road to ruin. He may be saved, but not with the cigarette in his mouth to deaden his best purposes and weaken both brain and heart.-Col. J. Merriam, Pres. Anti-Cigarette League.

Do not be ashamed to love the flag or confess your love of it. Make much of it; tell its history; sing of it. It now floats over our schools, and it ought to hang from the windows of all our homes on all public days. Every man should uncover when the flag is borne in parade, and every one should rise when a national air is given at a concert or public meeting.-Benjamin Harrison.

"IF I were to give you an orange,' said Judge Foote, of Topeka, "I would simply say, 'I give you the orange,' but should the transaction be intrusted to a lawyer to put into writing he would adopt this form: 'I hereby give, grant and convey to you all my interest, right, title and advantage of and in said orange, together with its rind, skin, juice, pulp and pits; and all rights and advantage therein, with full power to bite, suck or otherwise eat the same, or give away with or without the rind, skin, juice, pulp or pits; anything herein before or in any other deed or deeds, instruments of

any nature or kind whatsoever to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding.'' -Boston Transcript.

HERE are some questions for high school students of English literature to answer: What did William Tell? Whom did David Swing? What did Jane Cook? What made Rider Haggard? What did Charles Reade? When did Julius Cæsar? Whom did Leigh Hunt? What did John Steal? Why did John Kilpatrick? How long was Jane Short? When did J. I.

neatly and tastefully decorated, if the teacher wills it so, and he should will it so.

THERE is one thing that we must put into our work if we would make it a success, and that is ourself. Money, education, time, talents-none of these can balance the dragging weight of a halfhearted interest.-Ed. Independent.

LIBRARY AND SCHOOL HOUSE.

old idea of the public library was

What did Mary M. Teller? Why was Lawrence Sterne? Of what did Chas. D. Warner? Where did Jno. Strange Winter? Whose ears did Franklin Pierce? What made Lady Jane Grey? Whose fire did James K. Polk? Whom did Elisha Kent Kane? What was Charles F. Worth? What did Richard March Hoe? Where did Henry Cabot Lodge? What did Mary Mapes Dodge? In what water did Hamilton Fish? Why did Henry Guy Carlton? What made Hawley Smart? What did Caroline Hazzard? "Merry fun quickens wit."

"BUT the kindergarten costs money, I think I hear some one say; we cannot afford it." But we can afford it, and all other educational facilities necessary for the full education of our people. Cannot a brave and noble people, industrious and economical, make from the right use of the fertile fields, broad forests, rich mines, and the hundreds of singing waterfalls of this vast empire, won for us by our fathers, the few millions necessary to fit our children for all that is best in life? We must do it; it is our first duty to our children, for whom alone we live, and in and through whom we must live after we are dead. The wealth we have is theirs -beyond that which we must consume in the needs of our daily life. Sooner or later we must leave it to them; we are only their stewards and guardians. Shall we invest their money for them in bonds or brains?-in lands or life? Shall we leave them money, or skill to produce money and more than money?-Claxton.

THE teacher is largely responsible for the appearance of school grounds, and the interior and exterior of the schoolhouse. The yard can be kept clean, the fence repaired, the window shutters kept in place and the walls and blackboards

librarian was the jailer, and his chief office was to keep the books well locked up from the public, so that they should remain fresh, clean and uninjured. They were railed off, jealously guarded, and grudgingly doled out when it was absolutely necessary, and called back after a short interval to be restored to their places behind the bars. But all this is now done away, and the public are given free access to the books. The best librarian is the one who knows best how to bring the books and the public into the closest and most vital relation to each other. The books and the libraries are made for man, not man for the libraries. This is a healthful and needed reform. It is founded on reason and common sense, and the old conception has passed away forever.

We mention the matter as an illustration of a similar change that is coming slowly to the consciousness of the people, but surely coming, that the schoolhouse is for the education of the community, and the more freely and fully it is used, under proper supervision, for strictly educational purposes, the better does it fulfill its mission. Many towns and cities have spent large sums of money in building splendid school houses, which are an ornament to the town and a source of pride to the citizens. The main purpose for which they have been erected is, of course, to serve as meeting-places for the pupils and their teachers in the daily work of instruction. But often the indirect and more or less unpurposed influences of a given movement become of great tributary value. A school house that becomes in a large sense the centre of the educational life of the community is fulfilling in the truest way the concept underlying its construction. It is a step in the right direction when, as recently

happened in one of our large cities, five public schools were thrown open for reading rooms, gymnasia and meeting-places for school clubs at night. In the specific In the specific instance referred to, the school board is the directing influence over the affairs of the clubs.

It is believed that this new venture will prove highly educational, morally, physically and intellectually. In many smaller towns school associations are being formed with the schoolhouse as a meeting place. One such association has planned and successfully carried out a season's series of public concerts through their music committee, a very interesting and highly educational "loan exhibition" of paintings by the art committee, besides arranging a number of gatherings which have been addressed by able educators on topics of educational interest. We believe that the more such movements can be fostered and centered in the school houses the more intelligent will the public become, and the better the public school fiulfill its mission.-Education.

TA

RUSKIN ON EDUCATION.

AKE most pains with the best material. Many conscientious masters will plead for the exactly contrary iniquity, and say you should take the most pains with the dullest boys. But this is not so (only you must be very careful that you know which are the dull boys; for the cleverest often look very like them). Never waste pains on bad ground; let it remain rough, though - properly looked after and cared for: it will be of best service so; but spare no labor on the good or what has in it capacity of good.

We must accept contentedly infinite difference in the original nature and capacity, even at their purest. It is the first condition of right education to make this manifest to all persons-most of all to the persons chiefly concerned. That other men should know their measure, is, indeed, desirable; but that they should know it themselves, is wholly necessary. Ruskin asks if this knowledge of self is to be got by competitive examination. "Sternly, no! but under absolute prohibition of all violent and strained effortmost of all envious or anxious effort-in every exercise of body and mind; and by enforcing on every scholar's heart, from

the first to the last stage of his instruction, the irrevocable ordinance that his mental rank among men is fixed from the hour he was born-that by no temporary or violent effort can he train, though he may seriously injure the faculties he has; that by no manner of effort can he increase them; and that his best happiness is to consist in the admiration of powers by him for ever unattainable, and of arts, and deeds, by him for ever inimitable."

In "Time and Tide" Ruskin indicates what he considers to be the elements of general state education. He first emphasizes that the body must be made as beautiful and perfect in its youth as it can be. Therefore, first teach the laws of health and exercise enjoined by them. "To this end, schools must be in fresh country, and amidst fresh air, and have great extents of land attached to them in permanent estate. Riding, running, all the honest, personal exercises of offence and defence, and music, should be the primal heads of this bodily educatior."

Next to these bodily accomplishments, the two great mental graces should be taught, Reverence and Compassion: not that these are in a literal sense to be

taught," for they are innate in every well-born human creature, but they have to be developed exactly as the strength of the body must be, by deliberate and constant exercise. To teach rever

ence rightly is to attach it to the right persons and things; first, by setting over every youth masters whom they cannot but love and respect; next, by gathering for them, out of past history, whatever has been most worthy in human deeds and human passion, and leading them continually to dwell upon such instances, making this the principal element of emotional excitement to them; and, lastly, by letting them justly feel, as far as may be, the smallness of their own powers and knowledge, as compared with the attainments of others.

Compassion, on the other hand, is to be taught chiefly by making it a point of honor, collaterally with courage, and in the same rank (as indeed the complement and evidence of courage), so that, in the code of unwritten school law, it shall be held as shameful to have done a cruel thing as a cowardly one. All infliction of pain on weaker creatures is to be stigmatized as unmanly crime; and every possible opportunity taken to exercise

youth in offices of some practical help, and to acquaint them with the realities of the distress which, in the joyfulness of entering into life, it is so difficult for those who have not seen home suffering to conceive.-New Zealand Ed. Journal.

VIEWED FROM TWO STANDPOINTS.

IN

N a recent number of School Education there are published two sets of questions. The first is a list issued by a county superintendent, and sent to the teachers of the county; the second is a list prepared by a county teacher, and sent to the county superintendent. Both lists are suggestive, and worthy of republication for the mutual benefit of teachers and superintendents.

FROM THE COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT.

Fellow Teachers: A few days more and I will begin my annual visiting tour. What will I find when I visit your school?

Will I find you ready with words of apology to excuse the shortcomings of your pupils, or will I find you ready to show me something done?

Will I find you, your pupils, your school-room and your playgrounds, presenting a neat, cheerful and cleanly appearance, or the reverse?

Will I find obedience and discipline in your school, or disobedience and disorder?

Will I find your school graded, or will I find you following the antiquated, haphazard methods of forty years ago?

Will I find you giving five pages for one reading lesson where five paragraphs would be too much?

Will I find you supplementing every problem in the arithmetic lesson with from three to five bright, original examples, or will I find you teaching only what you find in the text-book?

Will I find you using some wholesome supplementary reading matter in your reading classes, or wearying yourself and your pupils by teaching nothing but the same matter that you have gone over and over?

Will I find you a resourceful, thoughtful teacher, instructing your pupils to see, think and act for themselves?

Will I find you co-operating and working in harmony with the school patrons of your community, or will I find you dignified, with the cloak of self-import

ance wrapped about you, disdaining to associate with the parents of those you are supposed to instruct?

Will I find your primary pupils sitting idle, staring sleepily out of the windows, or will I find them interested and engaged with seat-work suited to their ages and mutual development?

Will I find you ready to assist in devising means whereby we may place a library in every school house in the county?

Will I find that your pupils sing a few songs every day, or that you are neglecting the great civilizing and refining force of music? With good song-books costing only a dollar a dozen, every school pupil should have and should sing patriotic and other familiar songs.

Will I find that you are giving some attention to ventilation, or will the air of your schoolroom smell like a nest of puppies?

Will I find that you give each pupil a monthly report on a card which he shows to the parent, and returns to you, or do you neglect this means of keeping the school in touch with the home? The parent has a right to know the pupil's progress, and this monthly reminder keeps the parent alive to the fact that you regard the home as a factor in the child's training. As an incentive to the child, nothing is more wholesome than the report card properly used.

FROM THE TEACHER.

To the County Superintendent: What shall I find when you visit my school?

Shall I find you sensible, severe or affected?

Shall I find you helpful or flirtatious? Shall I find you a young "know-it-all" or an old "has-been?"

Shall I find you neatly dressed like a business man, or arrayed in ill-cut pedagogical black, with expanses of once white linen, and a soiled neck-tie?

Shall I find you a person whom I can ask for advice about matters of discipline without danger of having an exaggerated tale of my difficulties repeated to every other teacher you visit?

Shall I find that you can talk without vain repetitions?

Shall I find you a person whose reading is not entirely confined to the county papers and text-books for children?

Shall I find you able to speak without